We get to meet the villain properly now. It's powerful, and has hostages, but still we don't really ever get the impression that John will lose against it, so what is going to be the real source of conflict here?
Chapter ThirteenThe Shadow
I stepped through the doorway and completely into the honors dorm just in time to see a tentacle lash out at the unconscious form of Ria Hernandez. Her body was already beginning to break down and join with the dark form in the center of the room. I only had time to act because the form wasn’t yet aware of me.
No you don’t, I thought, and my Soul of Darkness flashed. The tentacle blew apart and Ria’s body came back together. The Shadow form turned his attention on me, and I could feel his hunger.
You! the Shadow cried, excited, its voice echoing in my mind. You have so much Duel Energy! Enough for me to feed on forever! I will have it!
The Shadow lashed out at me as it had at Ria, but its tentacles came apart harmlessly before they even got close.
“Sorry,” I said, “but Shadow Manipulation doesn’t work on me since it’s kinda my thing. Now give me the girl.”
The Shadow laughed, Only if you can defeat me. If I can’t fight you directly, then I will fight you in a Shadow Game. If you win, you are free to go and the girl is yours, and of course you will be allowed to enact a penalty on me if you wish. But if I win, your penalty will be absorption into me. Your duel energy and the magical artifact that you wear to amplify it will be mine.
I considered the Shadow’s offer, That thing’s a lot closer to Ria than I am, and I only managed to save her last time because it didn’t see me coming. I might not be fast enough to stop it from absorbing her now that it knows I’m here. But it’s not confident in its ability to absorb her before I can stop it, or else it wouldn’t have offered a game instead. Still, there’s only one safe option…
“I accept your challenge,” I announced, my black Academy Disk transforming into the New Dark Disk.
Very good, the Shadow said. I’ve become quite accustomed to the modern version of “dueling” from the remnants of memory left from the minds of the Duelists I have absorbed. There is not a single aspect of the game of Duel Monsters that I do not understand. And my Duel Energy is already high enough to manifest a deck far more powerful than anything an average Duelist can create.
I smiled, “Too bad for you that I’m no ‘average’ Duelist.”
Karen
As I watched the darkness that had been surrounding the dorm, slowly spreading outward from the walls, suddenly stopped spreading, and I knew. The creature inside was focusing its power on something else.
The battle had begun.
It was then that I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Thomas and I, the only people still conscious in the clearing after the casting of John’s spell, turned in time to see Professor Sheppard approaching calmly, his hands held behind his back.
“Well,” he said cheerfully, “you two seem oddly at ease in the presence of Shadow Magic.”
“Yeah,” I said, choosing not to question the fact that our teacher knew what was happening, probably to a greater extent than we did, “we’re not exactly new to the whole Shadow Magic thing.”
“Actually,” said Thomas, raising his hand, “I am. Technically.”
Sheppard ignored him and continued to address me. “I know a little about Shadow Magic myself,” he said, “and if I’d had to guess which students on this island knew about Shadow Magic, I would have guessed you and your friends, especially the young man, John that you are often with. After all, Academy Duel Disks don’t go turning black all on their own.”
“John and I have fought stuff like whatever is doing this,” I replied. “John is in their right now, fighting for his life.”
Sheppard nodded, “Well then, I hope your boyfriend is strong.”
I turned back toward the building, smiling proudly, “Oh don’t worry, he is.”
John
I believe the term is, the Shadow said, “allow me to begin”.
It held up its arm and a detail-lacking approximation of a duel disk appeared there. Smoke poured into the deck slot of the mysterious creature’s Disk, forming a complete deck, from which the Shadow drew six cards. It was only now that I noticed exactly where we were. I'd never been in the honors dorm before, so I was surprised to see that the room where I stood, right off of the main lobby, seemed to have been designed in the likeness of some kind of ancient arena.
This should be interesting, I thought. I’ve never fought a malevolent soul-eating shadow spirit before. I wonder what deck it’ll use.
I summon, the Shadow began, the monster card ‘Fear from the Dark’.
A humanoid figure made of shadows appeared. It had long, sharp claws and a faded, ghostly lower body (ATK: 1700). I could barely see its black form in the darkness.
I set three cards, the Shadow concluded, and end my turn.
“Then I’ll make this quick,” I said. “I discard the Spell card ‘One for One’ to activate ‘Dark Core’, removing your monster from play.”
Not if I reveal ‘Dark Illusion’, the Shadow countered. A small black hole began to open above the shadow monster, but the monster promptly faded away, avoiding the effects of the Spell for its duration. Once my Spell had faded from the field, the Shadow’s monster reappeared.
“Huh,” I said. “Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t really expect that to work, or else I’d be upset. I summon ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’.”
The demonic rider appeared, pike in hand, his engine revved and ready to go (ATK: 1400).
“Once per turn, I can remove up to two Spells in my Graveyard from play,” I explained, “to raise the power of my monster by three hundred per card until the end of your next turn.”
The only two Spells in my Graveyard ejected and I pocketed them. An aura flared around my monster (1400+600=2000).
“I attack,” I declared, “with Battle Pike!”
My monster revved his engine and twirled his weapon, and rode straight at the foe. I was confident, until I saw what passed for lips on my opponent’s so-called face curl into a smile.
Reveal, the Shadow declared, the Spell card ‘Level Aura’, raising the Attack of ‘Fear from the Dark’ by one hundred times its Level! Four Level Stars appeared, and sunk into ‘Fear’’s shadowy flesh, and ‘Fear’ gained an aura of his own (1700+400 =2100). The shadowy monster’s claws extended. It sprung forward, meeting my rider head-on. Chaosrider swung his pike, but the shadowy monster struck, snapping the incoming pike in half and piercing my monster through the chest, destroying him (8000+2000-2100=7900).
Well that sucks I thought. “I set a card, and end my turn.”
I don’t give up as easily as you seem to, said the Shadow. In fact, rather than stall, I’m going to move this duel right along. I play ‘Allure of Darkness’, drawing two cards, and removing ‘Fear from the Dark’ in my hand from play! And I combo the Trap ‘Escape from the Dark Dimension’ to summon the removed from play ‘Fear from the Dark’ to the field!
Another shadow monster appeared alongside the first.
Both monsters attack! The Shadow commanded.
Not what I was hoping he’d do, I thought, but either way I can’t take thirty-four hundred damage!
I allowed the first of the two monsters to strike me with his claws, gritting my teeth against the sharp pain (7900-1700=6200). The second monster moved to strike.
“Reveal,” I declared, “the Trap card ‘Flashing Light Barrier’!” The strike of the second monster was slowed by a barrier of swirling light that surrounded me. I was hit, but not as hard as I could have been (6200-850=5350).
“The effect of my Trap also allows me to draw a card,” I explained. I did, not very impressed with what I got.
Make the best of the time you have left! the Shadow exclaimed. I end my turn by tributing both of my monsters to summon the strongest of the shadow monsters, the two shadows merged into a huge shadowy torso, ten times larger than they had been separately, ‘Despair from the Dark’! Now go! The sooner you take your turn, the sooner I can kill you and take you power.
This thing seems a little bit desperate, I thought. Why? I took a second to concentrate and listen to my Soul, and I could feel the spirits of the many students absorbed by the Shadow, still whole within its body. Their spirits were being consumed as their Duel Energy was being expended.
This thing is using up all of its Duel Energy. More than it should be. It must be working overtime just to keep from being yanked back to wherever it is that it came from. It’s slipping away. I have to beat it before it does and takes everyone it absorbed along with it!
I drew, saw my card, and frowned.
Things would be a lot easier, I thought, If I could just draw a good card!
“I set a monster,” I declared, “and end my turn.”
The Shadow chuckled, Splendid! Then I’m one step closer to the emergence into this world that I seek!
And that’s when it really hit me. Wait a minute! This thing is being forced to hold on because it hasn't even fully emerged from wherever it came from yet! It’s already this strong, and it’s not even here! Screw the kids who got absorbed by the thing. If I lose, this thing will fully emerge, with enough power to threaten the entire world!
Karen
I couldn’t see John, but like usual, if I paid attention, I could sense his state of mind, his pain, and his emotions (he doesn’t know about that). Until a few moments ago, John had been annoyed, but relatively confident, but now he was genuinely afraid.
“Professor Sheppard,” I asked, turning to face the older man, “what do you know about that thing in there?”
He was silent, but I could tell that he was thinking hard about something, so I waited. Finally he sighed, “You’re strong, and I’m sure you’re trustworthy, but there are things that I’m not allowed to tell you. So understand if my answers sometimes seem vague. I know nothing about this creature specifically, but the faculty and I did suspect that something like this might happen. That something might come here. But we never expected anything to appear so soon, and never at this level of power. That's why this dorm exists, in fact, to research this exact kind of thing.”
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Sheppard hesitated, and then said, "The honor students in this place were researching magic related to dueling. Shadow Magic and the Shadow Games. Trying to find ways to understand and even counter it. It's possible that one of them may have broken the rules and summoned whatever is doing this."
“Summoned?” I asked. “On purpose?” I was shocked that anyone would willingly unleash something so dangerous on the world.
“It's possible,” Sheppard answered. “We recently ordered a shipment of books, some of which were rumored to hold powerful Shadow Magic spells in them. The books were meant to be delivered straight here, though it's also possible that someone might have done this by accident. It seems that some of the books were not sorted correctly and ended up in the library. A regular student might have found the book and performed a spell without realizing what it was.”
"So you're saying that someone summoned an actual monster," Thomas said, playing catch-up with his companions.
"Yes," Sheppard confirmed. "One which requires a great deal of dueling energy to manifest in our world, hence why it has been absorbing Duelists into itself."
“That’s not good,” I said. “John has a lot of Duel Energy. More than anyone that I’ve personally met. If John loses to that thing, and it absorbs his Duel Energy, there might be nothing in this world that can stop it.”
Card of the Day:
Despair from the Dark
Played by: The Shadow Demon
This is basically the monster form of the Shadow Demon, and it is the strongest monster played in this chapter, so it makes sense to put it here.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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