Chapter 6: Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 2
By: Basketballdude51
(I don't own Yugioh.)
SHADOW REALM
Anthony's side of the field had two monsters; the Dark Armed Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 1000) and Eclipse Wyvern (ATK 1600, DEF 1000). Meanwhile Keldon only had the trap card Brutality face up on his field, which made both duelists' life points irrelevant.
"So close to beating me guardian…but now you play under my rules," Keldon taunted. "Shadow Hunters are trained to withstand the most brutal forms of physical and mental torture; we can do things that are physiologically impossible for humans. How do you expect you win now in this type of duel?"
Anthony wiped some of the blood leaking from his mouth with his hand. "Thanks to that card of yours it's pretty obvious how I have to win."
"You are strong, I give you that." Keldon acknowledged. "You also would have won this duel if I didn't use Brutality. So at least in this case Julian made the right choice in making you one of the guardians. Since you have been such a worthy opponent, I offer you the chance to surrender right now and save yourself any further pain. Your demise will be quick and painless."
Anthony closed his eyes, and then he spoke. "This isn't about how much suffering I have to go through. The fact is if I lose this duel, you Shadow Hunters will be one step closer to unleashing a nightmare upon billions of lives, and I could never live with myself if I let you do that…no matter what it costs me."
Isabella worriedly looked at Anthony, who was clutching his bleeding torso, his breathing shallow and ragged. But then he opened his eyes, which to Keldon's surprise now glowed with a white light!
A small smile appeared on Isabella's face. Just like you said Anthony…if you fight for the right reasons you can't lose, she said to herself.
"I'll end my turn, since I can't do anything else right now," Anthony finished.
Keldon drew a card and then said, "You may have drawn on some more Shadow Magic, but it won't save you against me! I play Card of Sanctity, so now we draw until we have six cards in our hands!"
Both duelists did so, the light around Anthony's eyes intensifying as he looked at the cards.
Keldon chuckled as he surveyed his hand. "You have two powerful monsters on the field, so that is something I should remedy. I play the spell card Dark Hole!"
A giant black hole appeared on the field, sucking in both of Anthony's dragons.
"No but that means Anthony will be wide open!" Isabella yelled.
"Precisely so I now summon Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho (ATK 1600, Def 1000)!" Keldon declared.
A samurai in red armor appeared in front of him, wielding two extremely curved blades.
"Since Mizuho is on the field, I can special summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai (ATK 1500, DEF 1500)!"
A green armored warrior holding a brutal looking club in each hand appeared beside the first samurai.
"Now since you have nothing on the field to defend yourself with I'll attack you directly with both of my samurai!" Keldon ordered.
The red armored samurai ran forwards, slashing Anthony across the chest with both of his weapons. Afterwards the green armored samurai swung one of this clubs into Anthony's stomach, and then smashed the other club across his back causing the boy to collapse to the ground!
"And now the countdown starts," Keldon taunted, as blood leaked from the motionless body of Anthony.
"NO ANTHONY GET UP!" Isabella screamed, tears starting to fall from her face as swords started to appear above Anthony, their number increasing for each second he lay still.
"You should be more worried about yourself my dear," Keldon chuckled. "After I kill him and take his key then you're next."
"I…won't…let…you…touch…her."
Both Isabella and Keldon turned to Anthony, who was on his knees, lacerations covering his body and the ground stained with a combination of his blood and sweat. The guardian forced himself to stand on his feet, albeit unsteadily. The swords above him disappeared as he did so.
"Impossible!" Keldon exclaimed. "You shouldn't be breathing right now let alone still standing!"
A small smile appeared on Anthony's face. "If I remember correctly, once upon a time the Cryak said something very similar to that to the Shadow Hunters."
"You dare compare yourself to us?" Keldon said angrily. "You know nothing of our training! Of our power! In one day I've survived more than you have in your entire life!"
"Yet somehow I've still managed to survive your little Shadow Game so far," Anthony replied. "Now end your turn so I can finish this."
"Fine! I'd like to see how you plan to beat me in this kind of duel," Keldon laughed. "Maybe all of that blood loss has made you delusional."
Anthony looked at Isabella, who was looking at him, worry etched everywhere in her face and tears still running. "You know Isabella, concern doesn't suit you. It contrasts way too much with the whole spoiled rich girl persona. But more importantly…I don't like seeing you sad."
The girl smirked in spite of the situation. "If you don't like seeing me sad then win this duel already. I don't like seeing you get hurt, let alone seeing you die."
"Fair enough," Anthony grinned, his hand glowing white as he drew a card. He looked at it for a moment and then he asked, "Since Brutality is on the field, anything that requires paying life points is essentially free right? Considering our life points aren't a factor in this duel anymore?"
Keldon nodded. "Yes."
"In that case," the boy smirked, "You'll wish you never played Brutality. I summon Cyber-Stein (ATK 700, DEF 500) in attack mode!"
A monster that resembled a blue Frankenstein monster appeared on the field.
Isabella's eyes widened. "Anthony…are you going to…?"
"Yes ma'am," Anthony replied. "I use Cyber-Stein's special effect! By paying 5000 life points I can summon any monster from my fusion deck! So time for you to meet Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500, DEF 3800)!"
An enormous portal appeared beside Anthony, and from it emerged a gigantic three headed blue dragon!
Keldon took a step backwards. "So this is the power you possess…"
Anthony grinned. "Actually it's not. You didn't let me get to the finale yet. I sacrifice Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to summon…BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON (ATK 3000. DEF 2500)!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Keldon shouted as the three headed dragon glowed. The dragon then exploded, causing the entire field to become engulfed with light. When the light subsided, a futuristic version of Seto Kaiba's signature monster was revealed, glowing with a white aura.
"Now since I have three dragons in my graveyard," Anthony explained as the spirits of Eclipse Wyvern, Dark Armed Dragon, and Infernal Dragon appeared on the field. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon gains an additional 300 attack points for each one."
The spirits turned into balls of light, which were then absorbed by the glowing dragon (ATK 3900).
"Such power…" Keldon said in awe.
Isabella looked at the dragon, a smile on her face. Just like all those years ago…she remembered.
"Now since this is a Shadow Game…and since Brutality is active…it doesn't matter how much damage I do to you life point wise. It just matters how much actual physical damage I do to you…and I think my dragon is powerful enough to win this duel for me. GO BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON NOVA LIGHTING ATTACK!" Anthony commanded.
The dragon fired a devastating beam of glowing energy from its mouth, completely destroying both of Keldon's monsters and causing a massive explosion.
When the dust settled, Keldon lay motionless on the ground, a gigantic crater around him.
One sword appeared above him, then two, then three. Only when there were ten swords above him did he start to move. At the count of 15 he had gotten up to one knee. He struggled to get up, as an 18th sword appeared over him…he tried to stand, but by the time he did 20 swords were already above him.
"You lose Shadow Hunter," Anthony declared.
"My role in this may be over guardian," Keldon panted. "But you are dealing with something beyond your understanding. The other hunters will come, and if you guardians survive to face our leader, Masque the Faceless One, you will not be able to stop him and the power he wields."
"We look forward to facing him," Isabella announced, walking over to Anthony so that she was beside him.
Keldon looked at the two duelists for a moment. "You two have heart, and great power…I'll give you that. But Masque has something that you don't."
"And what would that be?" Anthony asked.
Keldon chuckled. "He knows true suffering." Then the 20 swords flew at him, impaling him all over. Dark tendrils then grabbed his corpse and dragged him into the Shadow Realm as the dome of darkness disappeared.
Anthony dropped to one knee, his breathing shallow. Isabella knelt down beside him worriedly. "Anthony you need to conserve your strength now, that Shadow Game did a lot of damage to you whether you like it or not."
"The only thing that matters is that I won, so you have no reason to be sad," Anthony grinned as he stood up.
Isabella looked at him, even as drops of blood still fell from his wounds. Then she wrapped her arms around him in tight embrace. "You place too much value on me, just like you did all those years ago."
Anthony smiled at her. "You would do the same for me."
The girl let go of the embrace, a dark look on her face. "Not back then."
"Ah is this love I see?"
The two duelists turned to see Masque walking towards them. "From your mask I'm going to assume that you're Masque the Faceless One." Anthony said coolly.
"You would be right guardian," Masque nodded. "I'm impressed with how you managed to defeat Keldon, in his own type of Shadow Game I might add. You should've died midway through that duel let alone win it and still be standing right now. If I didn't know better I'd say you've been through the training of a Shadow Hunter."
"Well you know I try to go to the gym every day," Anthony joked. Then he turned serious. "I thought the most powerful Shadow Hunter would be the last one to challenge us."
Masque chuckled. "Oh I'm not here to duel either of you. I just wanted to get a closer look at the duelists that my hunters and I have to crush."
"In case you didn't notice Anthony just beat one of your Shadow Hunters," Isabella smirked. "Why don't you send the next one right now so I can have my turn?"
"You are a confident bunch I'll give you that," Masque remarked. "But is your confidence a mask? Or is it your true face?"
"What kind of gibberish are you talking about?" Anthony asked.
"Ah forgive me, I forget that my words may confuse most people. You see…every person has many masks that they hide behind. They feign emotions, they lie, they pretend to be something else around certain people. Is this not true?"
"What is your point?" Isabella asked.
"Under all of the pretending and lying," Masque continued. "Is one's true self. When nobody is watching, then the person will let their true characteristics show. It takes a very powerful person to show their true face…without any lies whatsoever. For example it is very clear that the two of you care for each other quite greatly. I see that none of that is covered by any mask, and for you to accept the task of defending the Eyes of the Cryak requires altruism of the strongest kind, so your words during that duel were quite honest."
Anthony narrowed his eyes. "Then why are you called the Faceless One?"
"If you wear too many masks for too long…eventually you lose track of who you really are." Masque replied.
"So you're a liar then," Isabella glared at the Shadow Hunter.
"To put it more precisely I don't know the difference between my truth and my lies anymore," Masque shrugged.
"Well here's some truth for you then," Isabella said. "If we kill you right now, we get rid of the most powerful Shadow Hunter."
Masque chuckled. "By all means feel free to try."
"Are you sure about this Isabella?" Anthony asked.
Isabella nodded. "If we beat him we can end this now."
"Then lets do this," Anthony grinned, his left arm turning into a blade made up of white light, and his eyes glowing white.
Isabella's eyes glowed black and her arm turned into a blade made up of golden energy. "This ends here." Then both duelists ran at Masque, who just stood there calmly.
As the two of them got closer, the sword made out of black metal appeared in Masque's hand. He parried Anthony's attempt to slash him and dodged Isabella's attack. Then Masque swung his sword at Anthony, who blocked it with his blade. Isabella, seeing an opening attempted to stab Masque through the head, only for him to grab her blade with his free hand. His mask glowed ominously and both Anthony's and Isabella's arms reverted back to normal, with Anthony quickly pulling his arm back to prevent the sword from cutting into him. Masque swiftly grabbed both Anthony and Isabella by the face.
"Did you really think using something as basic as the Shadow Blade would beat me?" Masque taunted. "Now let me show you the true power of Shadow Magic…BY RENDERING BOTH OF YOU FACELESS!"
Masque glowed with a dark aura, and Anthony and Isabella started to scream in agony. But then all of the sudden the two of them grabbed his arms and managed to force his hands away from their faces.
"What how is this possible?" Masque demanded, as he was getting overpowered.
Isabella smiled at Anthony. "My face is still perfect right?"
The boy smirked. "Other than a few blemishes here and there…just kidding yes it is. Has my face been melted?"
"Melting it would be an improvement. Unfortunately it's still the same," Isabella joked.
The two of them pushed Masque by the arms, sending him sliding backwards 10 feet!
"Well it looks like the two of us still have our faces," Anthony smirked. "So maybe you've lost your touch since the Cryak."
Masque clenched his fists. "I don't know how both of you managed to counter my attack. But clearly you both possess great power. I won't underestimate you again." And with that Masque seemed to melt into the ground, disappearing.
"We make a good team Isabella," Anthony remarked calmly.
"I daresay we have had more than enough experience working together," Isabella replied, a smirk on her face. "But perhaps we should clean you up?" She pointed at Anthony's various wounds.
"Probably a good idea," Anthony nodded. "But after that I'm getting more food…that Shadow Game made me hungry again."
Isabella rolled her eyes.
UNKNOWN LOCATION
"Masque you know I'm never going to let you get over the fact those two just managed to overpower you." Akroma giggled.
"Shut up," Masque replied angrily. "They were stronger than you would like to think."
"Maybe that is a good thing; after all we have not had a challenge since the schism," Frost remarked thoughtfully.
"They stand between us and our mission Frost," Masque said sternly. "So I doubt them being formidable means anything good for us.
"Don't be such a worry wart Masque," Akroma playfully said. "The Shadow Hunters don't lose."
Masque sighed. "Don't the two of you have a meeting to go to right now?"
"Fine, you were being a drag anyways," Akroma pouted as she vanished into the ground.
"You could just kill her you know," Frost pointed out as he too disappeared.
NEW YORK CITY
Akroma and Frost appeared on the rooftop of a skyscraper. "Where are they?" Akroma asked. "It's not like Darius to be late."
"As long as he has the information on Endchild that we asked for it doesn't matter when he shows up." Frost shrugged.
"Fortunately he did show up," A robotic voice said. "Unfortunately…I got here before you did."
A figure stepped out of the shadows, his body concealed by a black cloak, and his face covered with a hood. He took a USB device from under his cloak. "Is this what you came for?"
"Who are you and what do you want?" Frost asked icily.
"My name doesn't matter, neither does my purpose," the hooded figure replied.
"Since you interfered with our business I would highly advise handing that USB over. Or else we'll have to become…very unpleasant." Akroma threatened, as the blades in her gloves protracted.
"Even though you were blessed with great looks, clearly you weren't blessed with negotiating skills," the figure shot back.
"Well you can't say I didn't ask nicely," Akroma sighed, as she leapt at the figure. To her astonishment, when she sent her claws into the figure's chest he didn't react whatsoever. Instead he grabbed her arm and she screamed as electricity flowed down his arm and through her body!
"Akroma!" Frost yelled, running forwards, a sword with a blade made of ice appearing in his hand. He slashed at the hooded figure, only for the figure to unflinchingly grab the sword by the blade, and send electricity through Frost's body as well!
After a few moments the electricity stopped, and both Akroma and Frost crumpled in front of the hooded figure, their bodies twitching erratically.
"I think I just proved that trying to resolve this physically will turn out very bad for the two of you," the figure stated in the robotic voice.
Both Shadow Hunters tried to get up, only to fall back down.
"So I know that you can still hear me," the figured continued. "So let us have a regular duel. No Shadow Magic or any stakes. If the two of you win then I will give you what you came for and be on my way."
By now the Shadow Hunters had made it to their feet. "And if we lose?" Frost asked, the duel disk made of ice appearing on his arm.
"Then I will gain something of value only to myself," the figure replied curtly.
"You are a fool for challenging two Shadow Hunters at once," Akroma hissed, a duel disk made of light appearing on her arm.
"Or perhaps I'm an extremely capable duelist. I assume this duel will tell you which one I am," the figure said, as he revealed his black sleeved arms from under his robe, a platinum duel disk appearing on his arm.
Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 8000 LP ?: 8000 LP
"I will let the two of you go first," the figure nodded.
"Since you seem so eager to lose I'll be happy to make that happen," Akroma said viciously, drawing a card. "I play the spell card, Charge of the Light Brigade! This lets me send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard to add one level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster from my deck to my hand!"
Akroma added a card to her hand after putting the top three cards of her deck to the graveyard. "And I think I'll summon it so say hello to Ehren, Lightsworn Monk (ATK 1600, DEF 1000) in attack mode!"
A female warrior armed with a staff appeared onto the field, wearing white armor and boots.
"But that's not all! I also play the spell Solar Recharge! By discarding one Lightsworn monster from my hand such as Celestia, Lightsworn Angel (ATK 2300, DEF 200) I get to draw two cards, and then send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard!" Akroma explained as she did so.
"Now in my graveyard I have Celestia, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior (ATK 1850, DEF 1300), Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (ATK 1200, DEF 1800), and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress (ATK 1700, DEF 200), which means that I have four different Lightsworn monsters in there. So now I can special summon Judgement Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2600)!"
An oriental white dragon appeared on the field a bright light shining down on it.
"To finish I will set one card facedown, and now Judgement Dragon's effect forces me to send the top four cards of my deck to the graveyard, while Ehren's effect forces me to do the same with the top three cards," she said, putting the top seven cards of her deck into the graveyard.
Frost drew a card, and then said, "I summon Defender of the Ice Barrier (ATK 200, DEF 1600) in attack mode!"
A blue dog like monster appeared on the field.
"Then I play Double Summon, so I can normal summon an additional time this turn! So I summon Samurai of the Ice Barrier (ATK 1800, DEF 1500)!"
The blue armored samurai appeared brandishing its ice sword.
"Now since my level three Defender of the Ice Barrier is a Tuner monster, I will tune it with my level four Samurai of the Ice Barrier to summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (ATK 2500, DEF 1700)!"
The Defender transformed into three blue rings, which passed through the Samurai of the Ice Barrier, turning the rings into seven glowing stars. Suddenly a beam of light enveloped the Samurai, and it disappeared. In its place was a blue dragon seemingly made of crystal appeared.
"You're lucky we can't attack you yet," Frost remarked, but once you take your turn we'll destroy you. So I'll end my turn here."
Akroma giggled. "You see what you're up against? You can't hope to win this duel against two Shadow Hunters."
The figure drew a card calmly. "I summon Machina Sniper (ATK 1800, DEF 800) to the field in attack mode and then I finish my turn with two facedown cards."
A humanoid robot armed with a sniper rifle appeared onto the field.
"That's your grand move?" Akroma asked incredulously. "You actually think you're going to survive this turn just by playing one monster and two facedown cards?"
"Just make your move," the figure replied curtly.
"Fine," Akroma shrugged. "I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (ATK 1800, DEF 1200) in attack mode!"
The white armored knight appeared, brandishing its sword.
"Whenever Jain attacks an opponent's monster he gains 300 additional attack points, so I'll attack your pathetic little sniper with him!" Akroma ordered.
Jain (ATK 2100, DEF 1200) ran forwards, only for the figure to shout, "Not so fast I activate my trap card Destruct Potion!"
Machina Sniper exploded, and the hooded figure glowed as his life points increased.
Akroma: 8000 Frost: 8000 LP ?: 9800 LP
Jain stopped his attack and went back to Akroma's side of the field.
"Why would you destroy your own monster?" Akroma demanded. "Now you're open to an attack from both of us!"
"Since one of my face up monsters was just destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon the two copies of Meklord Emperor Granel (ATK 0, DEF 0) from my hand." The figure said in its monotone robotic voice.
Two enormous orange robots vaguely resembling tanks appeared on the field, the infinity symbol visible on their chests. The glowed eerily as their attack and defense points increased (ATK 4900, DEF 4900).
"How did those things get so powerful?" Akroma gasped.
"They gain attack and defense points equivalent to half of my life points," the figure said casually.
"Fine then I switch Judgement Dragon into defense mode, and end my turn." Akroma concluded. "Frost I hope you have a way to deal with those things."
"Way ahead of you Akroma," Frost said, drawing a card.
The figure laughed for the first time. "I know about Gungnir's effect. All you have to do is discard up to two cards and you can destroy the same number of my cards on the field."
"If you knew that then why did you bother summoning those two monsters?" Frost asked.
"So I could activate my second trap card, Mektimed Blast! By sacrificing a Meklord monster, such as one of my Granels, I can destroy one of your cards, such as Gungnir."
One of the orange robots exploded, along with the crystal dragon.
"No!" Frost yelled.
"But that's not all, since my Granel was destroyed by a card effect I can special summon Meklord Emperor Wisel (ATK 2500, DEF 2500)." The figure continued.
"What!" Both Akroma and Frost exclaimed.
A huge vaguely humanoid white robot appeared onto the field, armed with a blade in one arm and the infinity symbol visible on its chest as well.
"Anything else you want to try?" The figure asked.
"I'll place one monster in defense mode," Frost said reluctantly. "That ends it for me."
The figure drew a card. "I will play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards," it said, doing so. It looked at one of them intently for a moment. Then it said, "I play the spell card known as Synchro Conversion."
Both Akroma and Frost looked confused as nothing happened on the field. "Why isn't anything happening?" Akroma demanded.
"Synchro Conversion changes all of your monsters into Synchro monsters," the figure explained.
"Why does that matter?" Akroma asked.
"Because my Meklord Emperors have the ability to absorb one Synchro monster per turn and gain the monster's attack points," the figure finished. "So I think I'll have Granel absorb your Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and have Wisel absorb Frost's defense position monster."
Tentacles of energy emerged from the infinity symbols of both machines, as they grabbed their respective targets, turning them into balls of light and pulling them into their chests. Wisel's attack became 4300, while Granel's attack became 6500.
"Now since Frost is wide open, I'll attack him directly with both of my Meklord Emperors."
Wisel swung its arm blade at the Shadow Hunter, slicing him in the chest.
Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 3700 LP ?: 9800 LP
"Granel…finish him."
The orange robot fired its weapon at Frost, causing an explosion that threw the Shadow Hunter off his feet.
Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 0 LP ?: 9800 LP
"Frost are you alright?" Akroma asked.
Frost slowly got up. "Ugh I'll live…but this guy is powerful Akroma."
"I don't care how powerful he is, Shadow Hunters don't retreat," the female Shadow Hunter said.
The hooded figure clapped his hands. "How admirable, it's nice to see that the Shadow Hunters haven't become cowards since the schism. Now tell me why do you wish to bring the Cryak back to this world? Masque the Faceless One is the last person I'd expect to revive that monster. Especially after what it did to him."
"How do you know so much about us?" Akroma demanded. "You just defeated one of us without taking any damage at all. You knew about Darius and his information. And now you claim to know about the schism. Answer that for me!"
The figure looked at her for a few moments. "If you somehow manage to win this duel then your questions will be answered. I place one card facedown and end my turn."
"Fine then," Akroma said as the top card of her deck glowed with a golden color. She drew and looked at the card. "I summon a second Judgement Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2600)!"
Once again the white oriental dragon appeared onto the field.
"Now last time I never got a chance to use its special ability, so I'll use it now! By paying 1000 life points I can destroy every other card on the field!"
"Not so fast!" The figure interrupted. "I activate my trap card, a second Mektimed Blast! I sacrifice Meklord Emperor Wisel so that I can destroy Judgement Dragon."
"NO!" Akroma yelled as both Wisel and Judgement Dragon exploded.
"I take it your turn is over now," the figure said as it drew a card.
"I'll still have life points after you attack," Akroma said.
"Unfortunately for you that's why I'll play the spell known as Limiter Removal." The figure answered as it placed the card onto its duel disk.
"No…" Akroma whispered, taking a step backwards.
"So you know its effect. All of my face up machine monsters gets their attack points doubled until the end of the turn, and are destroyed afterwards." The figure explained as Granel's attack points rose (ATK 13 000, DEF 4900)."
"And I'm wide open too…" Akroma sighed.
"How observant of you. Granel…end this."
Granel fired at Akroma, sending her flying backwards.
Akroma: 0 LP Frost: 0 LP ?: 9800 LP
When the smoke from the attack cleared the figure was gone, and Akroma was on the ground. She got up gingerly, her hands clenched into fists.
"Hurts doesn't it?" Frost asked.
"That duelist could have done worse to us…but he didn't," Akroma said angrily. "How did he manage to beat both of us so easily? And how did he know so much about us?"
Frost shook his head. "I don't know, but the way he dueled seemed so planned. He baited us into those traps and because of that he was easily able to summon those Meklord Emperors. Only Memnarch dueled like that."
"We watched Memnarch die," Akroma pointed out. "Masque personally did it. Anyways Memnarch never used those Meklords."
"The point is…today we saw those two guardians, Anthony and Isabella stop Masque. Not to mention Anthony beat Keldon in Keldon's own specialty duel. It seems that there are things here that are stronger than we gave them credit for."
"Nothing will stop us from completing our mission Frost," Akroma said testily. "The Eyes of the Cryak will be ours…no matter what the cost."
Basketballdude51: Sorry I haven't been able to update in a while…I've been really busy with school and other things. But I will try to update semi regularly from now on.
So Anthony managed to beat Keldon in a brutal duel, and it seems as though the Shadow Hunters aren't as unstoppable as they have looked. Who was the hooded duelist? What is the backstory behind Anthony and Isabella? What is Masque's past with the Cryak? Those are things you won't find out for a long time...but in the next chapter Aster steps up against the next Shadow Hunter, who's Shadow Game is even more vicious than Keldon's.