I implied pretty heavily from the beginning that Hiro was more than just some lingering piece of the Forgotten Duelist's power, as he claimed. I call him a shadow in this chapter, through John's inner dialogue. The intention was to show that John was misinterpreting Hiro's explanation for what he was. In Egyptian myth, the shadow is a part of the soul, so Hiro really meant that, since turning into the Duelist to fight Blackheart, he'd realized that he was the part of the Duelist's spirit which still left an imprint on the world (i.e. his shadow). Still, Hiro isn't sure if he constitutes a real, complete person, and he's anxious to find out. I think a part of him likes who he's become, but another part of him wants to be his old complete self again.
Basically he's having the ancient Egyptian supernatural equivalent of an identity crisis, and John doesn't understand enough to actually help.
We also, in this chapter, get to see how this scenario with Hiro appearing as a physical person was achieved, and it's important going forward with the overall story. Finally, we learn that Hiro's deck pretty specifically counters a large portion of John's deck. And the scarey thing is that, as was evident from Hiro's other duels, it wasn't built specifically to do this, it just does. Hiro's deck just counters everything.
Chapter FifteenFinal Round!
Wrath of the Adjudicator
John
Finally it was time. I would finally get the chance to fight Hiro, one of the greatest strategic minds that I’d ever known. I was worried. More worried than when I’d fought Max in the construction zone. More worried than when I’d fought Marik in the temple. I was worried that I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was, as I thought I’d become. I was worried that the gap between us would be too great, and that I’d fail to defeat him. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I lost, but I was counting on this tournament to spread my name around. Winning would definitely help me on that end. Winning against Hiro, who had been built up throughout this tournament as virtually untouchable, would help even more.
On top of everything else, though, I was worried that I would fail without Hiro around to keep me strong. For a while now Hiro had been feeling himself fading. He described it as being pulled slowly toward something else, just out of sight. He had been using all of his strength to remain, predicting no more than a month before he would have to give in.
“What’ll happen after you do?” I’d asked.
“I don’t know,” he’d answered. “I’m only a shadow, so there’s a very real chance that I’ll just disappear, but I’d like to think that I’ll rejoin the spirit of the original Forgotten Duelist, wherever it is.”
I still wasn’t sure who Hiro really was. He wasn’t either. He was afraid, I could tell. He was afraid that if he really was a living memory of The Duelist, and not The Duelist himself that he would cease to exist when he died, rather than going on to the Egyptian afterlife. He wanted to do something amazing to really leave his mark on the world, in case he disappeared and all that he’d experienced during his time with me went with him. I wanted to help him, so I got the idea to use the Soul of darkness to throw Hiro out into an artificially conjured body, the same way that Blackheart had, so that he could fight in the tournament, and Hiro agreed to give it a shot. Even knowing that such a spell would use up most of the energy he had left, he was willing to do it so that he and I could face off in one grand final battle, but once the tournament was over, he’d have to go. In fact, he’d have to give everything he had to hang on that long.
I met Hiro at the center of the stadium floor. It opened up, and a third arena, nearly twice the size of the others, rose up from beneath the ground. We stepped up, and the arena elevated into the air. Two pedestals rose up out of the arena floor, one at each end. “Please set your Duel Disks on the pedestals,” said the announcer. Hiro and I discreetly returned our Dark Disks to their normal Kaiba Corporation Standard configurations and placed them on the pedestals as we were told. Clamps flipped out of the pedestals, holding our duel disks in place. It was nice to get that weight off of my arm. Hiro and I situated ourselves to the left of our respective pedestals, leaving clear paths for our opponent’s monsters to make direct attacks. As soon as we did, three holographic screens appeared, facing the three seating sections, each one showing an enlarged view of the arena with my Life Points in the top left corner, and Hiro’s in the bottom right.
“I’ll move first,” Hiro said, wasting no time. He drew a card for the start of his turn and said, “Two face-down cards, and I activate ‘Dimensional Fissure’.”
Holograms of two face-down cards appeared in front of my opponent, and a massive vortex opened up in the air behind him, far above his head.
“As long as ‘Fissure’ is on the field,” Hiro explained, “any monster that would go to the Graveyard is removed from play instead, canceling any cards in your deck that affect the Graveyard. And if I remember right, there’re a lot. You can try to use ‘Dimension Fusion’ and ‘Return from the Different Dimension’ to recover your monsters, but remember, you pay the costs even if I negate your effects with my Counter Traps.
“I follow up by summoning ‘Bountiful Artemis’ in defense mode,” Hiro continued, “ending my turn.” A caped mech angel with orange crystals beneath its armor and no visible legs appeared. He held his arms in a defensive posture, protecting his body (DEF: 1600). It was a good move.
Here goes, I thought, trying to settle my nerves.
“I draw,” I declared.
“Reveal,” Hiro cut in, “the Continuous Trap card ‘Synthetic Seraphim’.”
“It won’t help,” I countered, though I think he knew that I was bluffing. “I summon my ‘Gemini Elf’ in attack mode.” Twin elves appeared, only to disappear in a flash of light.
“Counter Trap ‘Forced Back’,” Hiro countered, “negating your summoning and returning your monster to your hand. Also, because a Counter Trap was activated, ‘Artemis’ activates and I draw a card. Additionally, my ‘Synthetic Seraphim’ triggers, and a ‘Seraphim Token’ is summoned to the field.” A tiny ceramic angel appeared in defense position (DEF: 300). Hiro drew a card as a result of his larger monster’s effect.
“In that case,” I said, “all I can do is place two cards of my own face-down, and pass.”
Hiro smiled, “Good.” He drew, “I summon ‘Majestic Mech – Senku’ in attack mode!” The humanoid Majestic Mech appeared, his wings held open wide, his fists raised, ready to strike (ATK: 1000).
“‘Senku’, attack!” Hiro commanded, and the angel monster charged right at me. I could have stopped the attack, but I didn’t want to use a Trap against a monster with only one thousand points. So I let it through (8000-1000=7000).
“After my monster attacks,” Hiro explained, “he’s destroyed, and I get to draw another card.”
The monster shattered, and Hiro drew again. The shards of ‘Senku’’s body reformed, and ‘Senku’ was pulled into the ‘Dimensional Fissure’ “I set the card I drew,” Hiro said, “and end my turn.”
“Then let’s give this another go,” I said. “I summon ‘Gemini Elf’ in attack mode!”
The elf twins appeared again, moments before a glowing horn with feathered wings appeared across from them.
“Reveal ‘Horn of Heaven’,” Hiro declared, “tributing my ‘Seraphim Token’ to destroy your monster.” The ‘Seraphim Token’ disappeared, and a bright light built in the horn, erupting out and engulfing my monster. When the light faded, the horn and my monster were gone.
“Because another Counter Trap was played,” Hiro announced, “I get to draw another card and summon another token.” He drew, and a ‘Seraphim Token’ appeared to replace the one tributed for the effect of ‘Horn of Heaven’ (DEF: 300).
“Now it’s my turn,” said Hiro. “I draw, and I tribute both of my monsters to summon the strongest Majestic Mech, the ‘Majestic Mech – Goryu’.”
‘Artemis’ and ‘Seraphim Token’ disappeared, and they were replaced by the serpentine ceramic dragon. ‘Goryu’ spread his wings and roared (ATK: 2900).
“‘Goryu’,” Hiro commanded, “attack directly!”
“I thought so,” I replied smugly. “I was ready for your dragon. Reveal face-down card ‘Blast Held by a Tribute’! I can activate this card when my opponent commands a monster that was Tribute Summoned to attack!”
‘Goryu’’s torso exploded. The fire from the explosion poured over Hiro (8000-1000=7000), and the pieces of the mighty dragon were pulled into the vortex above their master’s head.
“I didn’t really expect that to work,” said Hiro, “but I figured it was worth a shot. I set two cards and pass.”
I smiled, Just like Hiro to use a monster as important as ‘Majestic Mech – Goryu’ as a decoy. It’s a great strategy, because it’s something that no Duelist would expect.
“I draw,” I declared, looking down at my card, “and I think that your ‘Fissure’ has been in play long enough. I activate ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’ to destroy it.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Hiro countered. “I reveal ‘Magic Jammer’, discarding ‘Layard the Liberator’ to negate your Spell, and destroy it.”
The hologram of my ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’ card appeared. A magic ring appeared below it, erasing my card before its effect could play out. ‘Layard the Liberator’, a six-armed, cape-less version of ‘Artemis’, appeared behind Hiro and was pulled into the vortex. He now had four monsters removed from play. I had one, my ‘Gemini Elf’.
“Because a Counter Trap was activated,” Hiro explained, “I get to summon another ‘Seraphim Token’ to the field.”
Another token appeared at Hiro’s side (DEF: 300).
“I summon my ‘Diskblade Rider’,” I declared, “and attack and destroy your monster.” The green-skinned, blue-clad motorcyclist appeared, throwing his disk immediately at his target, but the disk hit an invisible wall and bounced back. My monster caught it.
“My ‘Negate Attack’ cancels your attack and ends the Battle Phase,” Hiro explained, “and because a Counter Trap was played, I can tribute my monster to summon the God of Judgment, ‘Voltanis the Adjudicator’!”
Clouds built in the air overhead. A bolt of lightning struck the ‘Seraphim Token’, and it was vaporized. The clouds parted, and from them descended the massive blue mech angel, his wings spread wide and his staff held high.
“My monster’s effect activates,” said Hiro. “I choose a monster on the field and destroy it.” The ‘Adjudicator’ raised his staff. Lightning struck it and jumped from the staff to my monster, vaporizing him.
“Now I draw,” said Hiro, “and activate the Spell card ‘Card of Sanctity’, letting us both draw until we hold six cards.”
Hiro drew five cards from his deck. I drew two.
“Next I activate the Field Spell card ‘Sanctuary in the Sky’,” Hiro declared. The ground beneath us took on the guise of clouds. From the clouds, behind Hiro, a large roman temple rose, radiating a bright light. Hiro explained, “Now neither player takes damage from battles involving their own Fairy monsters. I summon ‘Harvest Angel of Wisdom’!”
A humanoid mech angel appeared at Hiro’s side. He wore orange armor with white trim. His body underneath was made of green crystal. He had yellow crystals protruding from the back of his head like hair, and wide, mechanical wings attached to his feet (ATK: 1800).
“You can’t win,” Hiro said.
“We’ll see,” I replied. “Bring it on.”
“Fine,” he answered, very matter-of-fact, “’Voltanis the Adjudicator’, ‘Harvest Angel of Wisdom’, attack!”
Card of the Day:
Voltanis the Adjudicator
Played by: Hiro
This monster is scarey, seriously, and in a deck belonging to a master like Hiro, it gets even scarier.
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