John vs the Sacred Beasts? Huzzah!
Chapter Twenty-FiveJohn vs. The Demon of Flames
I reformed from the darkness in what was left of Kagemaru’s office, where the Beasts stood in Kagemaru’s body.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the Beasts said in Kagemaru’s voice, still looking out the gaping hole created during their duel against my friends. “So ignorant, you humans. This building is coming apart, and not even one of the humans on this island has noticed. I find that truly astounding. It’s one of the reasons that, once I’ve achieved my full power once again, I plan to exterminate you all.”
“You keep saying ‘I’,” I replied. “I thought there were three creatures in there. The demons named ‘Sacred Beasts’.”
“I am,” the Beasts said, “and at the same time I am not. I am three in one, and one in three. I am the best aspects of each Sacred Beast merged into one powerful, unrivaled mind. I am Armityle!”
I wanted more information. I was curious, not to mention the fact that I was going to have to fight this thing. As far as I was concerned, I needed all the info I could get.
I’m gonna press it, I decided, and see what I can get out of them.
“I don’t understand,” I said, only half lying. I had a good idea of what this strange foe was talking about.
“In that case,” Armityle replied, “allow me to explain. Since you will die today anyway, I might as well. The demons that you humans have named ‘Sacred Beasts’, like the three great God Monsters, are little more than three facets of one powerful being, though you probably didn’t know that. Anyway, when those facets act separately, they are acting as the Sacred Beasts. They are little more than a blunt weapon, guided by my underlying personality, but when they come together to act as one, they become me. Of course, either way, it is my intelligence that governs their actions. I aim the barrel of the gun that is the Beasts themselves, so to speak.”
“I see,” I replied carefully. This isn’t good. This thing isn’t at all like anything I’ve ever fought before.
“I’ll be honest,” Armityle continued, “I need to duel you to increase my own power so that I can return to my true, supreme form.”
“Then why the hell would I duel you?” I asked.
“Heh heh,” Armityle replied, “you already know the answer to that. The Shadow spells placed on your friends and allies when I defeated them, and the spell placed on the girl when she was struck down by my proxy, will not end until I am defeated in a Shadow Game. Not to mention the fact that I am still powerful, and I will continue to grow more powerful with or without dueling you. Eventually I will become powerful enough to carry out my plans, and it will be too late to oppose me. But if you duel me now, you might be able to stop me here, today.”
I gritted my teeth, frustrated, “Then I guess I don’t really have a choice.” I gestured and my Neo Dark Disk activated.
“I’m glad you see it my way,” Armityle replied. He turned to face me and activated the Academy Duel Disk strapped to the headmaster’s arm. A Duel Disk that contained Kagemaru’s deck, a deck that many consider to be invincible.
“Against your little friends,” Armityle explained, “I was still much weaker than I am now. You don’t have that luxury. I play ‘Gold Sarcophagus’ to remove the strongest card in my deck from play. In two turns, the ‘Sarcophagus’ opens, and that card is moved to my hand. Just so you know,” he said, smiling tauntingly, “it’s one of the Sacred Beast cards. Next, I play ‘Painful Choice’, which allows me to-.”
“I know what it does,” I interrupted impatiently.
“Well,” said Armityle, “I’ll save us some time and skip to the end.” As he spoke he fanned out Kagemaru’s deck and chose five cards, placing them in his five empty Monster Card Zones. Images of his cards appeared in the swirling, deepening shadows, showing me three copies of the Trap card ‘Delta Barrier’, and two copies of the Spell card ‘Dual Gate’.
I have to beat this guy fast, I decided. Giving him a ‘Delta Barrier’ and putting two more ‘Delta Barrier’ cards into his Graveyard all at once wouldn’t be very conducive to that.
“Keep ‘Dual Gate’,” I said, wondering what exactly my opponent might have planned. I was forcing myself to remain aware of everything around me, even more so than usual, for Karen’s sake. I was aware of the arrogance in my opponent’s eyes. The complete, utter confidence. I was aware of the Shadow Game settling over us, its intensity almost overwhelming. I was aware of my opponent fingering a card in his hand in anticipation. I would not let this guy get the drop on me.
“In that case,” Armityle declared, “I activate the ‘Dual Gate’ that was just put in my hand, removing it and one ‘Dual Gate’ in my Graveyard from play to draw two cards.”
He drew, smiling like an arrogant fool all the while.
“Next,” said Armityle, “I discard ‘Makyu the Magical Mist’ to play ‘Trap Reincarnation’!”
He played the card that he’d been fingering earlier, and discarded a card.
“This lets me move one of the three discarded ‘Delta Barrier’ cards to my hand.”
I winced, Dammit!
“I set a card and a monster,” Armityle concluded, “and end my turn.”
That face-down card must be ‘Delta Barrier’, I decided. Once he activates it, as long as he controls a monster, he’ll be able to prevent damage to his Life Points from one attack per turn. I need to get rid of his monster and then deal damage.
I looked over my hand, And I might have just the monster to do the job!
“I summon,” I began, “the monster card ‘Twin-Sword Marauder’.”
A warrior wearing padding for armor with a three-pronged sword strapped to each forearm appeared at my side (ATK: 1600).
“Whenever my monster battles a defense position monster,” I explained, “he deals piercing damage, and then he can attack once more in a row. Attack with Double Blade Slash!”
My monster rushed Armityle’s monster, which was hidden in the darkness of our Shadow Game. The darkness parted, revealing a demonic form in metal bonds.
Aw crap!
“I reveal ‘Delta Barrier’,” Armityle declared, “to prevent the piercing damage.”
Three floating orbs appeared, representing the three ‘Delta Barrier’ Traps, projecting a triangular barrier between them that protected my foe from harm. My monster cut Armityle’s monster in half with a single strike.
Armityle chucked condescendingly, “And in case you missed it, you just destroyed ‘Newdoria’, which kills your monster, too.”
The two halves of ‘Newdoria’ came together, blossoming out to become a vortex of dark energy that sucked my ‘Marauder’ in and destroyed him.
“Then all I can do,” I said, “is set a card and pass.”
“I was hoping that you would put up more of a fight, even this early into the duel,” said Armityle mockingly. “Oh well, I was going to win anyway.
“I send three Continuous Traps to the Graveyard,” Armityle began, and I felt my eyes go wide with surprise, “to Special Summon the first of the Sacred Beasts!”
What? No way!
“Come forth,” Armityle cried, “the mighty Demon God, ‘Uria, Lord of Searing Flames’!”
A pillar of fire rose up from the ground far behind my opponent, wrapping around itself, and forming an immensely long serpentine dragon with demonic features and broad, semi-transparent demonic wings.
I gasped at the sight of the beast before me, It looks like ‘Osiris’!
Armityle laughed, having correctly interpreted the recognition flashing in my eyes, “I see that you are familiar with this form, particularly the God Monster that shares it. Yes, human, just this one single aspect of my being is as powerful as a God!”
Despite everything, Armityle’s taunting words didn’t make me feel any worse. In fact, they actually served to snap me out of my stupor.
“Oh, Armityle,” I said, giving him the smug face, “you just made your first mistake. See, I’ve fought the God Monster ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’, and I’ve defeated him. Comparing your false god to ‘Osiris’, as far as I’m concerned it’s the same thing as challenging me to defeat him, and I never fail to complete a challenge.”
“We’ll see about that,” Armityle replied, not at all intimidated. “Until then, let’s move right along. My monster’s Attack equals one thousand times the number of Continuous Traps in my Graveyard (ATK: 3000), and he has another effect as well. Once per turn he can summon a blaze to incinerate one Spell or Trap in play, giving you no chance to counter his effect!”
A flame appeared beneath my set card, burning it to ash in an instant, before I even had a chance to begin to react.
“And ‘Uria’ attacks!” Armityle declared. ‘Uria’ formed a fireball in the back of his throat, prepared to strike.
‘Osiris’ and the other Egyptian Gods have magical attacks so powerful that a single hit in a Shadow Game can kill! I thought. I have to assume that ‘Uria’ is just as powerful. Acting out of desperation I gestured, and the Shadows sprung up and swirled around me protectively. ‘Uria’ launched his fireball, blasting my shadow shield apart, but never actually hitting me. Only my Life Points took a hit (8000-3000=5000).
“Now do you see the power of my Beast?” Armityle asked. “Do you see that you have no greater chance against him that you would against God himself?”
“Actually,” I said, smiling with confidence, “you showed me that exactly that is untrue. You described your monster’s ‘effect’, which means, aside from its power to gain Attack points, it only has one power. The same power that I’ve already seen. Not to mention the fact that your monster’s effect itself proves that your monster is vulnerable to the effects of Traps, and likely Spells as well. The God cards on the other hand are immune to Traps and some Spells, and all other Spells only affect them for a turn.”
I pointed threateningly at Armityle and said, “Your monster is no God. It’s just a pale imitation of a power so great that not even you could possibly comprehend it, and claiming anything else is an insult!”
Armityle looked shocked, if only for a moment. “You’ve come to a great realization,” he said, visibly shaken for the first time during our encounter, “but that doesn’t change the fact that my monster has incredible power beyond that of a normal monster, and that I still have two more Sacred Beasts to summon.”
“True,” I agreed, “but it’s my turn, and I have plenty of powerful cards of my own to play.”
“Play any card you want,” Armityle replied wickedly, “I’ll be ready. First I place two cards face-down, and I activate ‘Phantasmal Martyrs’, throwing out the rest of my hand to summon three ‘Phantasm Tokens’.”
Three small, roughly humanoid demons appeared, their disproportionately long arms folded across their chests, held close to their bodies (DEF: 1000).
This guy’s been in control of this duel for far too long, I decided. Time to turn things around.
“I draw!”
I looked over my hand, Yeah, that’ll work! I can kill it now!
“I Special Summon,” I announced, “my favorite card, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’!”
My warrior appeared, accompanied by a burst of yellow and black lightning.
“I discard ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’ and ‘Stygian Street Patrol’,” I continued, “to transform my monster into his most supreme form!”
My monster was saturated by white, black and yellow light so bright that I had to look away. When I finally turned back to the duel, I had fire in my eyes, ignited by my monster’s presence. He dropped slowly to the ground at my side, energy rolling off of him like water.
“Behold, Armityle,” I announced, “the card created by the hands of the girl that your minion destroyed, and the card that will help me restore her, ‘The Fiend Omegacyber’ (ATK: 3000)! During the turn that I summon my monster,” I explained, “you can’t activate any Spells or Traps.”
“But your monster is only as strong as mine,” Armityle replied. “Would you sacrifice your monster just to destroy mine?”
“No,” I replied frankly.
“Then I’ve already won,” Armityle announced with absolute confidence. “I’m willing to make any sacrifice required to achieve victory. If you’re not, then you cannot defeat me!”
“You’re wrong,” I replied calmly. “I won’t sacrifice my monster because I have faith, and because I have faith, my deck has provided me with exactly what I need to defeat your demon false-god. I combine the Spell card ‘Soul Absorption’ with ‘Soul Release’. Via the effect of the latter, I remove your ‘Makyu’, ‘Trap Reincarnation’, and three ‘Delta Barriers’ from play to gain twenty-five hundred Life (5000+2500=7500)!”
“No!” Armityle exclaimed.
“Oh yes,” I insisted, my barely-restrained hatred for my demonic opponent leaking into my voice, if only for a moment, “with no Traps left in your Graveyard, your monster’s Attack is reduced to zero!”
‘Uria’ roared painfully as his energy literally drained away, falling in wisps from his body (ATK: 3000 -> 0).
“My monster attacks,” I declared, and ‘The Fiend Omegacyber’ shot forward an almost imperceptibly high speed, his fists overflowing with power. He struck, his energy flowing over the weakened ‘Uria’, ripping it to shreds, “Omegacyber Impact!”
The remains of the massive creature fell to the ground, burning up as they landed (8000+0-3000=5000).
“You’ll never defeat me,” I explained, “because I possess the greatest power of all, the power that comes from being trusted by others, from having friends who you can lean on, and who feel that they can lean on you. It’s the ultimate power of unity!”
I was sure of myself, and I expected that to worry my foe, but Armityle seemed little more than amused by my attitude and by what I’d said.
“Stupid human,” he told me, “you have no idea what power is!”
He drew a card, and a golden box appeared, and opened.
Card(s) of the Day:
The Sacred Beasts
Played by: Armityle
Okay, so Armityle doesn't summon all three Sacred Beasts this chapter, but he does summon them all, and I have a different Card of the Day lined up for the conclusion of this duel, so here they all are in their anime forms. These particular versions of the Sacred Beast cards were made by toailuong on deviantart, with some modifications by me.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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