It was a sunny afternoon in Heartland City: the birds were chirping, the litterbots were picking up the trash, and kids was just about to be let out of school for the day.
RING!
"Finally!" A very excited Yuma Tsukumo shouted as he barreled out of the classroom in Heartland Academy.
"Wait! Yuma, you still need to pick up your homework!" The teacher, Mr. Kay, shouted as Yuma ran out, though the boy didn't catch it.
Yuma's friend, Tori, couldn't do anything but facepalm at his antics, while one of his newer friends, Ray Shadows, went up to the front of the classroom, saying, "No worries, Mr. Kay, I'll just pick up two copies of the homework and make sure he gets at least one of them."
"OK, Ray." Mr. Kay stated as he handed him the homework from its stack on the desk.
Meanwhile, Yuma was grinning in excitement at the fact that class was over...and that he could duel someone instead of being stuck in a classroom. In fact, he was so excited, he completely forgot that it was not a good idea to run in the hallways with his eyes closed.
As Tori and Ray were also running to catch up with Yuma, though being far more careful than the boy. The girl then noticed that there was someone in Yuma's path up ahead with his back facing them, causing her to shout out.
"Yuma, watch where you're going!" Upon hearing Tori's voice, Yuma opened his eyes, turned his head back, slowed down a little bit, still not paying attention.
"Huh, what was that, Tor-?" But it was too late, and he crashed straight into the other student.
"Ugh..." The other guy grunted from underneath Yuma.
"Oops, sorry about that." Yuma apologized as he got off of the person he crashed into, who had black hair and was wearing a second year's school uniform, signaling that he was a year older than him.
At that moment, Tori and Ray had caught up, allowing Tori to whack Yuma on the head, saying, "Come on, Yuma, you should know better than to run anywhere with you eyes closed."
Ray also spoke up. "Also, you ran out of class before picking up your homework." He held up one of the copies.
The trio then heard some laughing and turned their heads to find the source coming from the guy that Yuma had ran into. "Well, guess that explains that." He then got up, revealing his blue eyes, continuing. "Sorry, pal, but no matter how fast you go, you can't outrun your homework."
Tori then noticed that the guy looked familiar and asked, "Hey, wait a minute, aren't you the new transfer student, Danny Fenton?"
The person cracked a smile, saying, "Well, looks like I won't be able to be invisible during my first day. Yep, that's me."
"Aww, sweet, then maybe we can have a duel." Yuma said. "What better way to have your first day here than with your deck on the playing field?"
Danny then looked at Yuma and said, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline for now. I still got a few things to do, and I don't want to push the clock to the point in which I have to run to make it anywhere on time."
"Aww, come on." Yuma whined, only to be stopped by Tori.
"Come on, Yuma, if he's busy, then he's busy. Besides, you can always duel him another time."
"Anyway, I better get going." Danny said as he turned to leave. "Nice meeting you all."
"Back at you." Ray replied as he saw the transfer student leave.
Right after Danny went out of sight. Tori went straight back to scolding Yuma. "Seriously, Yuma, you just met someone knew, and your first thought is to duel them?! We don't even know if he is a duelist!"
Yuma then blushed a little bit and begun scratching his cheek, saying, "Sorry, guess I did get a little excited there."
"Don't get too excited." Ray added, holding up Yuma's homework and causing him to groan.
However, at that moment, a few voices in the small crowd around the hallways stood out among the rest. "Hey, did you hear about Maria?"
"Bianchi?" Another student said as Tori turned her head to the small group talking from across the Hall. "Yeah, she seemed to act strange in class today...almost like she wasn't herself."
"Aw, man." Yuma whined, completely oblivious to the conversation as he took his copy of the homework from Ray. "Can't believe we got homework on the weekend."
He began to walk away, only for Tori to stop him. "Yuma, listen up."
"Huh?" Yuma asked, confused, but everything became clear when he heard the next thing.
"I'd say that she kept on going on about needing to find the 'Numbers for the sake of Barian World'...or something like that...which is definitely not like her."
Yuma then turned back to Tori, asking "Another Barian attack?"
"Sounds like it." Tori stated. "Now, come on, we better go make sure she's okay. She's probably still somewhere in the school."
"I'll call up Bronk and the others." Ray offered. "We'll probably find her faster if we split up."
"Okay." Yuma said as everyone went out to find Maria and save her from the Barian mind control that they had dealt with a few times before.
Unknown to them, however, another figure was able to hear the conversation from a distance that no normal human would be able to. That figure then made up his mind and changed his course, his eyes glowing green.
LineBreak
It took a small while for Yuma to reach the back of the park, searching with Tori beside him, since she knew what Maria looked like.
"Man, where is she?" Yuma complained, searching...only for a shout to be heard from around the corner.
"OW, watch it! I'm trying to turn you back to normal." Yuma and Tori gave each other a short glance before immediately running off to where they heard the cry.
Once they turned the corner, they found two figures: one was clearly a female student, which Tori recognized as Maria Bianchi, the girl they were looking for.
The other was someone they didn't recognize...in fact, he barely looked even human.
"Look, " the unknown figure said, "I know people don't like it when their heads are invaded, but if you stay still long enough, I can remove the thing that's invading your head...and I won't cause any damage myself, I swear."
Yuma, who wasn't paying attention to what the strange figure was saying, immediately spoke up, revealing his presence. "Hey! What's going on here?"
Maria then turned to Yuma, her eyes glowing red. "There you are."
At this moment, Astral then decided to appear next to Yuma, saying in his normally calm voice, "You know, Yuma, it might have been more beneficial for us...if you would've kept quiet."
Maria then readied her duel disk, saying, "Time for us to duel...and for you to hand over those Numbers once you lose."
"Not on my watch." The unknown figure said as he threw out a green duel anchor, which then wrapped its way around Maria's wrist, right around the duel disk. "If your dueling anyone right now, it'll be me. And while I'd rather avoid unnecessary fights, I will be involved if I have to."
The possessed girl then turned back to the unknown being. "Grr, fine then. First you, then Yuma."
Yuma, who just noticed the new person, asked, "Hey, wait. Who are you?"
He took that moment to observe his appearance: the stranger had green eyes, white hair, no mouth or nose, pale blue skin, and adorning his body were black-armored plates with white gems on them.
"For now, just call me Phantom." The figure, now dubbed 'Phantom', stated as a black duel disk formed on his arm. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a duel to win."
"Now, wait a-!"
"Hold it, Yuma." Astral interrupted. "It may be a good idea to wait and see how this pans out. If we ever have to face this 'Phantom' ourselves, it will be helpful to know what type of deck he plays."
"Astral's right." Tori agreed. "Besides, it looks like he may actually be trying to help Maria...which will make things a little easier for us."
Yuma then sighed. "Okay, then. We'll wait and see."
Meanwhile, on top of the roof, looking down at the duel that was about to begin...was one of the seven Barian Emperors, Girag, in his human form.
"Great." He muttered. "More people getting in the way...and just who is that guy?"
"Beats me." A voice said from behind Girag, prompting him to turn around and see that it was his fellow emperor, Alito, also in his human form. "I mean, he looks like a Barian, but we can't be in our Barian forms in a low energy place like this...plus, I don't know about you, but I don't recognize this guy one bit."
"Me neither." Girag replied. "And here, I thought that girl would be a good way to scope out more of Yuma's deck. Aw, well, guess we'll just have to see what this new guy can do then."
Back down at the dueling field, Yuma and Tori placed on their D-gazers as Phantom confronted Maria.
"You ready?"
"Let's get this over with," was her reply.
"Now, if only that was your response to my earlier attempt." Phantom muttered to himself. "Anyway, Let's go."
"DUEL!"
"I'll start things off." Phantom declared as he reached for a card in his hand. "And to do so I'll play the Spell Card, 'Foolish Burial', which allows me to send any monster in my Deck straight to the Graveyard."
"Huh, foolish is right." Maria commented. "That card doesn't let you do anything except throw another card away, so why run it at all?"
"You'll see." Phantom stated with what appeared to be a mouth-less equivalent of a smirk as he continued, "With the effect of 'Foolish Burial', I send 'Isolde, Belle of the Underworld' to the Graveyard and follow it up by summoning 'Tristan, Knight of the Underworld' from my Hand."
As he said that, a ghostly figure riding a horse and brandishing a sword appeared on his field, looking ready for action.
Tristan, Knight of the Underworld, Attribute: DARK, Type: Zombie, Level: 4, ATK: 1800, DEF: 0
"Thanks to Tristan's effect, once he is Normal Summoned, I can add any Zombie-type monster with 0 DEF points from my Graveyard to my Hand." Phantom explained, "So, I'll have him rescue his darling belle, 'Isolde'."
"I see then." Astral noted as he watched the duel with a calculating eye. "By using 'Foolish Burial' first, he effectively turned that recovery effect into a searching effect. Clever."
"And now with her hun on the field." Phantom started up again. "I can Special Summon 'Isolde' directly on to the field as well. These two do need each other to have a good afterlife after all."
As Phantom stated that last bit, another monster appeared to join the one he had out earlier. This one was a beautiful female that looked young, but due to her ghostly nature...she could be almost any age.
Isolde, Belle of the Underworld, Attribute: DARK, Type: Zombie, Level: 4, ATK: 1000, DEF: 0
"Of course, Tristan isn't the only ghost here that can get stuff done." Phantom stated, "Isolde has a special ability as well...simply put, I target two zombies on my field and change their level to any value between five and eight of my choosing. For today, I'll make both parts of this pair a Level six."
"So he's going for an Xyz summon?" Yuma asked, though it wasn't needed.
Both the ghosts on Phantom's field then locked eyes and held hands, Tristan getting off his horse to do so. They both gave a slight green glow, signifying the Level change.
Isolde, Belle of the Underworld: Level 4 – 6
Tristan, Knight of the Underworld: Level 4 - 6
"And now...I'll overlay the Level 6 Tristan and Isolde together!" Phantom declared as both ghosts and horse turned into two purple streams of energy, floating and disappearing in a red overlay network that appeared just in time...before a small explosion went off and a new monster appeared.
"Rise up!'Pilgrim Reaper'!" The new monster now on the field wore a dark cloak. It had shriveled hair and wings, carrying a scythe whose blade was longer than the monster's arms. Two Purple overlay units orbited it.
Pilgrim Reaper, Attribute: DARK, Type: Zombie/Xyz, Rank: 6, ATK: ?, DEF: ?
"Now," Phantom began again, "I activate the effect of my 'Pilgrim Reaper': by detaching one Xyz material, I can make both players send the top five cards from their Deck to the Graveyard. Also, now might be a good time to mention that it gains two hundred ATK and DEF for every DARK-Attribute monster in the Graveyard."
After saying that, the Xyz monster then slashed at one of its overlay units, turning it into little purple sparkles that then traveled toward both player's duel disks, causing the decks to glow purple and prompting both players to mill the top five cards. Then several streams of dark energy flowed out of both players' Graveyards, flowing and toward the reaper.
"Well," Phantom noted, "I've sent a 'Pain Painter' and a 'Bone Tower' to my Graveyard, and it looks like a 'Summoner Monk' got sent to your Graveyard, so that's good news for my 'Reaper'."
Pilgrim Reaper: ATK: 800, DEF: 800
"Please." Maria stated. "Even with that effect, your monster is weaker than either of the monsters you used to Special Summon it. That's nothing but a gigantic misplay."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Phantom stated, narrowing his eyes. "I end my turn."
"Well," Alito said, watching from above. "If that opening move was anything to go by, you might be able to scope out Yuma's deck after all."
"Hang on." Girag stated. "He doesn't seem like the type of guy to summon a weak monster without a reason. He's got something planned."
Meanwhile, out of their sight, another individual was watching from the shadows. Ray watched the duel with an unreadable expression on his face, but being very careful to not be noticed by anybody.
"Time for you to go, because it's my turn." Maria stated, drawing a card. "I play the Continuous Spell, 'Wind-Up Factory' and then Normal Summon my 'Wind-Up Warrior' to the field."
As she said that, some sort of gorilla-like toy appeared to her field, holding up its hands and ready to fight.
Wind-Up Warrior: Attribute: EARTH, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK: 1200, DEF: 1800
"Also," She added, "I can Special Summon my 'Wind-Up Shark' to the field, since I Normal Summoned a 'Wind-Up' monster."
As such, another giant toy appeared to the field, this one resembling a shark.
Wind-Up Shark: Attribute: WATER, Type: Fish, Level: 4, ATK: 1500, DEF: 1300
"So, you like playing with wind-up toys? Big deal." Phantom stated.
Maria scowled at that before continuing, "I now activate the effect of 'Wind-Up Warrior': I can increase its Level by one and its attack points by six hundred until the end of this turn."
As she said that, the toy warrior had its key turn a bit before it glowed red, signaling its power increasing.
Wind-Up Warrior: Level 4 - 5, ATK: 1200 – 1800
"And now that I activated the effect of a 'Wind-Up' monster, the effect of my 'Wind-Up Factory' can activate, allowing me to add my 'Wind-Up Magician' to my Hand." She declared, adding the magician.
"To me, it still looks like you're just playing with your toys." Phantom stated. "Not that I condemn playing with toys or anything...I do it all the time. Just...um, you know, different toys."
"Hmm, interesting." Astral observed. "He's at a big disadvantage at the moment, but he doesn't seem concerned in the slightest."
"So, do you think he has something planned?" Yuma asked with both he and Tori looking at Astral for his response.
"That is the logical conclusion, " Astral answered, "but for what that plan may be, I cannot tell."
"We might find out soon though." Tori noted, focusing back on the duel.
"Now, 'Wind-Up Shark' attacks your 'Pilgrim Reaper'." Maria stated as her toy shark easily destroyed the Xyz monster, but it didn't do any damage since it was in DEF mode. "Now, 'Wind-Up Warrior'...attack him directly!"
The warrior then charged at Phantom, raising its fist and throwing it straight at Phantom. However, what he did in response surprised all those who were watching: he tensed his body, lifted his palm up...and caught the attack right in it.
"Whoa, he caught that!?" Alito said, stunned.
"Can't say I saw that coming." Girag replied. "His body didn't even get thrown back a few inches, but that still had to hurt."
Back on the field, Phantom winced a little bit from the pain before readjusting his hand on the monster, lifting it up in the air and then throwing it back to Maria's side of the field. "You might want to be careful with how often you throw your toys at people. You don't want them to be taken away from you...do you?"
Phantom's Life points: 8000 – 6200
Maria scowled at how her attack didn't seem to bother him at all. "I'm not done yet, I now activate the effect of my 'Wind-Up Shark' to increase its Level by one." She then declared, as her shark had its wind up key turn a bit, causing it to gain a green aura and signifying the Level change.
Wind-Up Shark: Level 4 – 5
"And now...I'll overlay my two Wind-Ups together." Maria then stated as her two monsters then turned into a blue and brown energy stream that ducked inside a red overlay network. "Now, I can Xyz Summon the Rank 5 monster, 'Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh'!"
As she said that, a small explosion went off as some sort of combination of other wind-up toys came through the portal, primed and ready for battle with two green overlay units orbiting it.
Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh, Attribute: WIND, Type: Machine/Xyz, Rank: 5, ATK: 2600, DEF: 1900
"And with that, I'll play two cards face-down and end my turn." Maria concluded, placing the mentioned cards in her duel disk.
"Then it's my turn, I draw." Phantom stated, drawing his card. "And I'll play the Spell Card, 'Heavy Storm', so you can consider your face-downs and 'Factory' to be gone."
"What?" Maria asked, not sure she heard that correctly...only to be answered by a powerful wind that emerged to reveal her two face-downs, a 'Bottomless Trap Hole' and a 'Fiendish Chain', destroying them along with her 'Wind-Up Factory'.
"And now, I'll activate the effect of the 'Mezuki' in my Graveyard." Phantom began.
"Your what in the Graveyard?" Maria cut him off, having never heard of that card before.
"'Mezuki', it's a monster who was sent to my Graveyard due to the effect of my 'Pilgrim Reaper' last round." Phantom explained. "And while it is in the Graveyard, I can banish it to revive another zombie that my reaper also sent away, namely, my 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower'."
As he finished that statement, a Graveyard portal opened up as a lot of loose bones came out of it, eventually coming together to form a huge tower behind him.
Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower... Attribute: DARK, Type: Zombie, Level: 3, ATK: 400, DEF: 1500
"I see. " Astral noted. "He summoned his 'Reaper' not for its power, but so he can later revive the cards it removed at any point he wants."
"But that 'Bone Tower' doesn't seem to have any type of fire power." Yuma pointed out. "So what is he going to do with it?"
"I now activate the Spell Card 'Inferno Reckless Summon'! Since I just summoned a monster with fifteen hundred or less ATK, this card lets me bring out all the other copies of that monster from my Hand, Deck or Graveyard." Phantom stated as the card hit his duel disk. "Of course, you are also allowed to do the same with any monster you control, but since the only monster you control is an Xyz monster, something tells me you don't have any other copies in your main deck...now, do you?"
Maria could only scowl at that last part as two more 'Bone Towers' appeared on Phantom's field.
"Oh, now might be a good time to mention..." Phantom added, "when a Zombie-type monster is Special Summoned in the presence of the 'Bone Tower', including other copies of said card, my opponent must sent two cards from the top of their Deck to the Graveyard."
"Big deal." Maria said as she sent the required cards to the Graveyard.
"Oh, it's a very big deal." Phantom replied as he grabbed another card in his hand. "But we'll see if you can figure out why later...for now, I'll just set one card face-down and mention another effect of my 'Bone Tower' monsters. Namely, the effect is that they can't be targeted for attacks...if there is another Zombie-typed monster on my field."
"So?" The wind-up duelist asked before realizing something. "Wait a minute."
"Now I see." Astral stated with a surprised look on his face. "The 'Bone Tower' itself is a Zombie-type monster, so with two or three copies out, none of them can be selected as attack targets."
Yuma's eyes also widened as he began to put the pieces together. "But all he has are those monsters."
Up on the roof, Alito was also surprised at the simple combo "So, does that mean he can't be attacked?"
"Yeah," Girag answered, looking over at Phantom's field, "unless you negate the effect of those bone towers, he is completely safe from any attack with all three of them up."
As for Ray, all he did was narrow his eyes and say one word, "Impressive."
"Turn end." Phantom stated as his opponent looked at her cards in the hand. 'Wind-Up Magician' and 'Monster Reborn'...neither could help her here. Unless she drew the right card...she was stuck.
"It's my turn." She declared, drawing a card. She then looked at the card and smirked, while the Barian emblem appeared on her forehead. "I now activate the Spell Card, 'Rank-Up-Magic: Barian's Force'." She then declared as she put the Spell Card on her duel disk.
Her zombie-using opponent then narrowed his eyes. "It's here."
"I now construct the overlay network with the Rank 5 'Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaiah'." She declared as her Xyz monster turned into a dark red stream of energy that then soared up into some dark red swirling clouds up above. "Thanks to the effect of Barian's Force, I can rank up my Xyz monster into a Chaos Xyz monster. Now go, Chaos Xyz Evolution! Barian power, born of chaos, visit your judgment of this world of filth. Come forth, Rank 6! CXyz Wind-Up Armored Arsenal Zenmaster!"
As the red clouds parted, everyone could see that the red energy was now trapped in a black sphere field, which then opened up to allow the energy to crash back down on the field in a new form. It was now bigger, seemed to be made up of even more wind-up toys and was now glowing a dark red. Right there in front of it were three, red diamond-shaped overlay units.
CXyz Wind-Up Armored Arsenal Zenmaster, Attribute: DARK, Type: Machine/Xyz, Rank: 6, ATK: 3000, DEF: 2000
"Now, I'll activate Zenmaster's effect!" Maria declared. "Since it has Zenmaiah as one of its overlay units, I can detach all of them to target cards you control equal to the number of detached overlay units...and destroy all targets."
She then smirked and added, "Also, thanks to its other effect, when cards you control are destroyed by the effect of a 'Wind-Up' monster I control, you take five hundred points of damage for every destroyed card."
"Oh, I get it." Alito noted. "She can't attack the towers by battle, so she'll instead use a card effect to take them out and then go for a direct attack. Nice."
"Yep." Girag agreed. "Now, let's see what Phantom has to counter this, assuming he has something, that is."
At that moment, all three overlay units then got absorbed by the giant wind-up toy, shooting out three giant red wind-up keys at the bone towers. However, before they could connect, a Graveyard portal opened up on Phantom's field as a green energy beam shot out of it and created a barrier that then blocked all the keys, sparing the bone towers.
"What? How did you...?" Maria never finished that question as she then then scanned her opponent's field, looking for any sign of a change...but nothing changed. Not even his face-down was flipped up.
"Stumped yet?" Phantom asked. "Let me give you a hint: I can make use of more than just the monster cards that are in my Graveyard."
Maria then widened her eyes at that. "So you used something like a Trap from the Graveyard?"
"Bingo." Phantom confirmed. "With your 'B' here coming from the name of my Trap Card, 'Breakthrough Skill': by banishing it from the Graveyard, I can negate the effect of any monster on the field until the end of the turn."
"You are starting to get very annoying, you know that?" Maria stated, only for Phantom to chuckle a bit.
"I'd rather be annoying than brainwashed." He stated simply. "But, regardless, that toy of yours has been put on product recall, and since it's clear you don't want to make the return, I'll just have to take it away...whether you like it or not."
Maria scowled at that, "I end my turn."
"Then it's my go. I draw!" Phantom stated, drawing his card and starting his turn. "I'll start things off by activating my face-down card, 'Xyz Reborn'."
The face down then flipped face up as Phantom explained, "With this card's effect, I can Special Summon any Xyz monster from my Graveyard, then attach this card to it as Xyz material. So, it's time we give a warm welcome to my old friend, 'Pilgrim Reaper'."
As he said that, the monster he summoned on his first turn then re-emerged from a Graveyard portal, with a new purple overlay unit orbiting it. "And what warmer welcome can we get for a zombie than that of my bone towers activating their effects...and since I have three of them out now, that means you have to send six cards to your Graveyard instead of just two."
"Hmm, " Astral observed, "six cards."
"What is it, Astral?" Tori asked.
"I think I have an idea of how he plans on winning." Astral answered.
"Really, how?" Yuma asked.
"Just wait and see."
"Oh, come on. I've been waiting this whole duel, so can't you just tell me?"
"Nope...besides, Phantom will probably say it soon enough anyway."
"Fine."
Tori felt a little embarrassed at Yuma's antics, but went back to focusing on the duel, curious to see how it plays out.
"I now activate 'Pilgrim Reaper's special ability." Phantom then declared as his monster repeated the action it did on its first turn. "So bye-bye Xyz material, and joining it are the top five cards from our Decks."
"Big deal," Maria stated, "you already sent both my 'Summoner Monk's to the Graveyard, and those are the only DARK-Attribute monsters in my Deck, so there is no way your monster's ATK can get over my Zenmaster, let alone take me down in this duel."
"Oh, so you haven't noticed yet?" Phantom asked.
"Noticed what?" The Wind-Up duelist asked, confused.
"How tired you're getting." The Barian-looking duelist answered. "With each card sent from your Deck to the Graveyard, I can sap a little bit of your energy away per card, until eventually...you are too exhausted to continue standing or stay conscious."
"Wh-what?" Maria asked, surprised, now suddenly aware of how tired she had really gotten.
"This is because of one simple rule in the game." Phantom explained. "Simply put, if there are no cards left in your Deck when you try to draw a card, like when you have to do it at the start of your turn...you automatically lose, regardless of any other circumstance in the duel."
"So..." Yuma started. "He's not aiming for her life points?"
"Correct," Astral confirmed, "he's aiming for her Deck, and right now she only has fourteen cards left in there before he can win."
"And now it's time for me to take my milling to the next level...or should I say next rank, because I'm activating the Spell Card, 'Rank-Up-Magic: Barian's Force'!" Phantom declared, revealing the Spell Card.
"What!? Barian's Force!?" Girag exclaimed, now suddenly thankful that no one could hear them from this high up on the roof. "But if he can use that without being brainwashed by one of us, then that means..."
Alito finished that thought. "He's a Barian like us."
"Now, let's go, I build the overlay network with the Rank 6 monster, 'Pilgrim Reaper'!" Phantom declared as his Xyz monster turned into a dark red stream of energy that then soared up into some dark red swirling clouds overhead. "Barian power born from chaos, seep into this spirit and reborn it anew, so that it may correct the wrongs of others with more power than it ever could before. Go, Chaos Xyz Evolution! Rise Up, Rank 7, 'CXyz Phantom Reaper'!"
Much like last turn, the dark clouds parted, revealing that the red energy was now trapped in a black sphere field...that then opened to allow the energy to shoot downward and crash onto the battlefield.
Now, standing there was a much more powerful monster, red crystals appearing near the lower seams of the cloak. The wings were red and larger than before and the monster's scythe, which the summoned monster was twirling so quickly that they couldn't see the pole, had a much larger blade that was also glowing green. To top it all off, covering the monster's face was a red mask that revealed no facial features...except for the reaper's glowing green eyes.
CXyz Phantom Reaper: Attribute: DARK, Type: Zombie/Xyz, Rank 7, ATK: ?, DEF: ?
"Man, that monster looks tough." Yuma stated as he saw the reaper's single overlay unit appear next to it.
"Of course," Phantom began again, "as I summoned another zombie to the field, my bone towers can take away six of your cards again, so now my reaper can take away the rest."
"What do you mean?" Maria stated as she felt even more energy get zapped from her.
"Simple." Phantom began. "While 'Pilgrim Reaper' only obtained two hundred ATK and DEF for every DARK-Attribute monster in the Graveyard, with this new upgrade, it can get 300 ATK and DEF for EVERY monster in the Graveyard, regardless of Attribute."
Tori had to speak up here. "Uh, wait. How many monsters are in the Graveyard now?"
"In my Graveyard," The Barian began, "I have 'Tristan', 'Isolde', 'Pain Painter', and two 'Pyramid Turtles'." He then turned back to his opponent. "And in your Graveyard, I see two 'Summoner Monk's, two 'Wind-Up Magician's, three 'Wind-Up Rabbit's, three 'Wind-Up Rat's, a 'Card Car D', a 'Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear', along with the 'Wind-Up Warrior', 'Wind-Up Shark' and 'Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh' that weren't milled by my effects."
"Uh, wait a second." Yuma said, trying to count them all on his fingers "I lost count, how many rats were there?"
Astral looked on in awe as he did the calculations in his head. "There are exactly twenty monsters in the Graveyard at this time, meaning...his CXyz monster has six thousand ATK and DEF."
"SIX THOUSAND!?" Both Tori and Yuma cried in unison as they looked at Astral in surprise before going straight to Phantom to confirm.
CXyz Phantom Reaper: ATK: 6000, DEF: 6000
"Now, 'Phantom Reaper'," The Barian commanded, "attack Zenmaster! Phantom Death Slash!"
The CXyz monster did as it commanded, moving so fast it completely vanished from view before being seen again behind the Wind-Up. Moving from its pose that indicated that it already swung, it then started to walk back to its owner's field as a green diagonal line started to appear on Zenmaster. It then exploded, sending a giant shock wave throughout the area, knocking Maria on her back, Yuma on his butt, and Tori back an inch.
Maria's life points: 8000 – 5000
"At this moment..." Phantom began as Maria tried to get up, "'Phantom Reaper's special ability activates: since it has 'Pilgrim Reaper' attached to it as Xyz material, when it destroys an opponent's Xyz monster in battle, I can detach one Xyz material from him in order to send cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard equal to the combined ranks of both my 'Reaper'...and the monster it just destroyed. I now end my turn."
Maria then heard her duel disk eject the last remaining cards from her deck slot, feeling herself begin to lose the last of her energy to stay conscious. Her field then disappeared along with Phantom's green duel anchor, and she passed out, just realizing that she had lost.
Phantom started to walk toward Maria. "Time to get what I came for."
"Wait a minute, don't go any closer." Yuma said as he prepared his duel disk.
Phantom glanced at the boy before dismissing him. "As eager as I know you are to duel all the time, I'm not up for two duels in a row. Besides, I'm not here to cause trouble; I'm here to remove it." The zombie duelist stated as he held out his hand toward the passed-out student.
"Huh?" Yuma asked before Tori spoke up.
"Yuma, look." She said, looking at Marie.
Yuma looked at Marie, and his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.
A red aura had appeared around her and as the Barian emblem on her forehead disappeared, the aura left her body and condensed into a single card-like form above her, flying toward Phantom's outstretched hand.
Phantom caught the card with little effort and gave it a quick glance before turning around and leaving, saying. "So much easier to do that when they are passed out. Anyway, I best be off...things to do, places to be, and I've already wasted enough time as it is." His body then began to glow bright red.
Yuma, now seeing the Barian leave, then said "Whoa, wait a minute-!"
But it was too late. Phantom's body then completely vanished in the bright light, dispersing into little sparkles. Phantom was gone.
"Who was that guy?" Tori then asked, vocalizing her thoughts as well as Yuma's and Astral's.
From up on the rooftop, Alito and Girag could only stare at the spot Phantom was. "A Barian," Girag then began, "able to use his full powers here?" Even though he just saw it and was currently saying it, he had a lot of trouble believing it.
"And he doesn't look to be on our side either." Alito added. "The others won't be happy to hear about this."
"You got that right." Girag commented.
Meanwhile, Ray narrowed his eyes at what he had witnessed. He then took of his duel gazer and said, "Well, things just got a lot more interesting."
LineBreak
Away from the school, in the city and between a few alleys, several bright red sparkles begun to appear and then condense together, revealing the form of Phantom.
Then a red ring of light appeared around him as it then split in two, one traveling up, the other down, causing his appearance to change. White hair became black, pale blue skin became a much more natural light tan, a mouth and nose formed on his face, and his outfit changed to match that of a Heartland Academy second year student's uniform. He then opened his now blue, eyes and looked down at the card he held in his hands.
"'CXyz Wind-Up Armored Arsenal Zenmaster'..."
Danny Fenton then smirked, as he slipped the card into his Extra Deck and walked out of the alleyway and towards his home. He still had a few minutes left, so he might still be able to make it on time after all.