W-wow, Thomas is really good!
Chapter Twenty-EightThe Spirit’s Fire
John
“I start things off,” I began. “I play ‘Dealing in Darkness’. I select five random cards from my deck and without looking I add one to my hand, discard one, return one to my deck, and remove the other two from play.”
I did as the card said, and I looked over my new hand, paying little attention to the card added to my Graveyard.
“I set a card,” I announced, “and summon the ‘Twin-Sword Marauder’.”
The mighty swordsman appeared (ATK: 1600).
“You can’t bait me into attacking recklessly with such a simple move,” said Thomas. “After all, I don’t need to attack to win. I play ‘Dark Room of Nightmare’ to increase the damage from my effects by three hundred.”
Wisps of black fog appeared around us.
“I’ll also set two cards,” Thomas concluded, “and summon my ‘Hinotama Soul’ in defense mode.”
A living fireball appeared, fluttering around Thomas’ head (DEF: 500).
“I pass.”
He said that I can’t bait him, I thought, but now he’s trying to bait me. Did he only say that to try and distract me from the fact that he was going to do the same thing? That has to be it. He’s trying to double bluff me into skipping my attack so he can set off a combo. But I know burn decks. I’ve fought a burn deck plenty of times. I know that if I give a burn deck time to get going, it can do a lot more harm than making a reckless attack or two.
Still…
“To begin my turn,” I said, “I tribute my ‘Marauder’ for ‘Summoned Skull’!”
‘Marauder’ was destroyed in a burst of lightning, and the skull demon took his place, his mighty claws raised and ready (ATK: 2500).
Thomas looked confused, and rightfully so. After all, why would I sacrifice ‘Marauder’, a monster that can attack twice and has Piercing, for a normal monster, just because it was a bit stronger?
I smiled, Well, you’re gonna have to wait to find out.
“I play ‘Painful Choice’,” I continued, picking five cards from my deck and placing them on my Duel Disk. Holograms of my ‘Stygian Street Patrol’, ‘X-Head Cannon’, ‘Y-Dragon Head’, ‘Z-Metal Tank’, and ‘Level Eater’ appeared overhead, “You choose a card for me to add to my hand, and I discard the rest.”
“I know all about your ‘Stygian Street Patrol’ and its effect,” said Thomas. “We can’t have you using it to Special Summon a card from your hand, so I’ll add it to your hand instead.”
“Clever,” I replied, and I did what I was told. Just not clever enough, because by the time I need its effect, my monster will be right where I need it to be.
“I attack ‘Hinotama Soul’ with Lightning Strike!” I commanded. Lightning poured from my monster’s claws and blew the fireball apart.
“Reveal,” Thomas declared, a look of uncertainty playing on his face, telling me that he wasn’t entirely sure if this combo was going to work, that it was something brand new, “the Continuous Trap cards ‘Backfire’ and ‘Graveyard of Wandering Souls’.”
What? ‘Graveyard of…’ oh crap!
“You take eight hundred damage from the combined effects of ‘Backfire’ and ‘Dark Room of Nightmare’,” Thomas explained, a pocket of air heating up and then exploding violently in my face (8000-500-300=7200), “and because a monster, my ‘Hinotama Soul’, was sent to the Graveyard, ‘Graveyard of Wandering Souls’ summons a ‘Fireball Token’ to my side of the field.”
A small fireball spirit appeared, weaving through the air (DEF: 100).
“Isn’t it great?” Thomas exclaimed, his confidence in his combo solidifying as it took hold. “This Trap, and the little monster is summons, are going to win me this duel. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, let me give you an example of how.
“I draw,” he continued, “and I begin by removing ‘Hinotama Soul’ in my Graveyard from play to Special Summon ‘Inferno’, the Fire Ghost of Torment.”
There was a spark in midair, which blossomed out into the wicked face made of flames, which hung in the air at Thomas’ side.
“And I destroy my own ‘Inferno’, dealing you eight hundred more damage, to Special Summon another monster.”
‘Inferno’ exploded, spewing flames over me (7200-500-300=6400). Then the flames were sucked back in, pulled into a large metal container, shaped like a huge barrel, with a symbol for fire emblazoned on the front. A living flame erupted from the barrel, a wicked face similar to ‘Inferno’’s appearing within it.
“This,” said Thomas, “is ‘Goka the Pyre of Malice’, a monster that grows stronger by consuming fire (ATK: 2200). And, upon ‘Inferno’’s destruction, another ‘Fireball Token’ is summoned in its place (DEF: 100).”
A second fireball appeared, buzzing around Thomas in the opposite direction of its twin.
“‘Goka’ absorbs both of the ‘Fireballs’,” Thomas explained, and the two fireballs flew into ‘Goka’’s container. ‘Goka’’s flames flared up (ATK: 2200+(500x2)=3200), “‘Goka’ attacks the ‘Skull’!”
‘Goka’ released a stream of powerful, white-hot flames that incinerated the ‘Summoned Skull’, reducing him to ashes (6400+2500-3200=5700).
“I end my turn,” Thomas concluded, and his monster’s flames died back down as its Attack returned to normal.
This isn’t good, I thought. I saw how quickly Thomas pulled off his strategy during the entrance exams, but that was against an inferior opponent with fewer beginning Life Points. But I’m not an inferior opponent. I won’t go so far to say that I’m superior, but he and I are, at the very least, equal. And yet here I am, my Life Points falling left and right, and I haven’t even managed to hurt him at all! Thomas wasn’t kidding when he said he’d gotten stronger.
I drew a card, I can defeat ‘Goka’ here and now, but if I do, it could open the door for a stronger monster to be summoned in its place. Of course, I can’t let him keep a monster that powerful on the field if I can help it, so I don’t really have a choice.
“Reveal,” I declared, “the Trap card ‘Call of the Haunted’ to revive my ‘Summoned Skull’, and I summon ‘Stygian Street Patrol’.”
The once-fallen skull demon arose from a pool of shadows. He flexed his arms, lightning lancing between his fingers. Meanwhile, the demonic motorcycle cop appeared at my side, revving his engine (ATK: 1600).
“My ‘Skull’, attack ‘Goka’,” I commanded, “Lightning Strike!”
Lightning ran up the ‘Skull’’s body and lanced out from his claws toward ‘Goka’. The attack hit its mark, ripping the metal container apart, causing the flames that were the real ‘Goka’ to spread out and scatter completely (8000+2200-2500=7700).
“‘Backfire’ activates,” Thomas said, “dealing you damage, and my ‘Graveyard of Wandering Souls’ summons another Token in my monster’s place.”
There was another explosion (5700-500-300=4900), and another fire spirit appeared, moving randomly around Thomas at a leisurely speed.
“Your Token is little more than target practice to my patroller,” I countered. “Attack!”
My monster fired his beams at the fireball, blasting it apart.
“And,” I said, “because your Token doesn’t go to the Graveyard, neither of your Traps is activated.”
Thomas smiled, “I don’t need to deal you any more damage yet, and I definitely don’t need another Token yet either, because I have this.”
He drew, and he chose a card from his hand, “I summon ‘Fox Fire’ in defense mode!”
A flame appeared at Thomas’ feet, taking on the solid form of a small red fox with a fiery tail (DEF: 200).
“I end my turn,” he concluded, absolutely confident.
“You aren’t gonna mount an offense?” I asked.
“Attack you?” Thomas asked. “Why would I attack you? I don’t need to attack you to win this duel. I just need to watch and wait.”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied. “I draw, and I reduce the Level of my skull demon by one to Special Summon ‘Level Eater’ from the Graveyard that was sent there by ‘Painful Choice’, and I tribute ‘Level Eater’ and ‘Stygian Street Patrol’ to summon ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’!”
Flames engulfed the Insect-type ‘Level Eater’ and the motorcyclist. From that fire emerged the mighty black dragon, his eyes flashing red with determination. (ATK: 2400).
“And now you have ‘Stygian Street Patrol’ in the Graveyard where you can use its effect,” Thomas marveled, “and two high level monsters that you can use to pay the cost of ‘Level Eater’ should you need it again. That’s why you summoned the ‘Summoned Skull’. You were already thinking ahead to when you’d reduce its level, revive ‘Level Eater’, and tribute it and ‘Street Patrol’. It was all to put ‘Street Patrol’ into the Graveyard, where its effect is most useful, all while preparing to summon the dragon.”
“Yep,” I answered. “Now, ‘Red-Eyes’, attack with Black Fire Bullet!”
‘Red-Eyes’ fired a burst of flames from his mouth, blowing the fox apart. I took another hit (4900-500-300=4100), and Thomas gained another ‘Fireball Token’ (DEF: 100).
“And the ‘Summoned Skull’ destroys your Token monster, leaving you defenseless.”
The fireball was blasted apart before the lightning bolt could even fully form.
“You think I’m defenseless?” Thomas asked. “You think that you’ve finally managed to overwhelm me? Well, you’re wrong.”
As he spoke, there was a spark at his feet, igniting the air, flaring out into the form of ‘Fox Fire’, reborn through its Special Ability.
And I realized what Thomas was doing.
“I don’t need to attack you to win this duel,” I remembered. “I just need to watch and wait.”
I looked at my forty-one hundred Life Points, My deck isn’t designed to win in any other way than through head-on attacks.
I looked at my opponent’s Duel Disk, at his displayed seventy-seven hundred Life, His deck can deal heavy damage without attacking once.
I swallowed my nerves and took a calming breath, And he’s well on his way to setting up a defense that I won’t stand a chance of getting through in a hundred years. But I’ll have no choice but to attack, as sitting still will only result in a deck-out, and each attack will wear down my Life until it’s low enough for him to summon ‘Ignis’ and finish me with one final blow. And unless I get really lucky really fast, there won’t be a damn thing I can do about it.
Card of the Day:
Graveyard of Wandering Souls
Played by: Thomas
Pretty obvious. Without this card, Thomas' deck wouldn't really work out.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
Next Chapter >>
No comments:
Post a Comment