Though Shelly's Geargiagear had been destroyed, she still seemed confident as she smirked and said, "Well, I have to admit, that was actually quite impressive. You drew out all of my overlay demons so you could destroy my demon with that trap of yours. Unfortunately for you, it's not over yet."
First off, Shelly returned on the demons in her graveyard to her hand and stated, "When Geargiagear is removed from the magic field, I can return any other Geargia demon to my hand from the graveyard. I won't tell you which of the three I've brought back, though."
"As if it makes a difference," Eric remarked with his arms folded, "Without your Geargiagear in your extra deck, you have no reason to use either of those weaklings."
"Oh yeah," Shelly groaned before shaking her head and remarking, "It doesn't matter anyway! I'll use Gigant X to take down that defending demon of yours!" Grant nodding and saying, "That's right. We're not out of this duel yet!"
Of course, Izy's defending demon did not have a high enough defence against that, and to make matters worse, Geargiagear's power still prevented her Sorcerous Spell Wall from helping her out for the rest of the battle phase. Even so, she had a feeling things would turn out even more favourably for her and her ally.
Shelly wasted no time as she had her Gear Gigant X charged at Izy's defending monster with its fist raised. And when it destroyed the stone, the being inside was revealed to be an old man in green armour and a helmet that resembled a turtle shell. This one's name was Green Turtle Summoner and his defence was nowhere near high enough to resist Gigant's power. Thus the man cried out in pain as he vanished into a flash of light and headed into Izy's graveyard.
"Wow, you really only had that one talisman, didn't you?" Shelly asked tauntingly. However, Izy was not the least bit concerned as she smirked and remarked, "Hate to say it, but my summoner has a special power, one that you just activated."
"Wait, what?" Shelly uttered as Izy explained with a confident smile, "See, when Green Turtle Summoner is revealed, whether it's by my terms or a result of him being attacked, I can target any demon of my choosing and destroy it, and I pick Gear Gigant X!"
Shelly and Grant were both terrified as a snake came from Izy's graveyard and bit into Gigant, the mechanical giant cracking before exploding. It soon became a flash of light and flew into Shelly's graveyard, the violet-haired woman's jaw dropped and her eyes wide open.
With that, Shelly lowered her head and sighed, "Fine, your partner can have his turn now."
Grant went wide-eyed, slowly turning to face his partner before asking, "Um, Shelly, why didn't you use my Dark Blade to attack?"
The violet-haired woman's eyes and mouth widened as he spat, "OH NO! I WAS SO DISTRACTED BY THE DEATH OF MY DEMONS THAT I COMPLETELY FORGOT!"
Eric smirked and thought, 'Well, they're easily distracted. We can use that,' as Izy could not believe her strategy had actually worked. She had the biggest smile on her face right now while Sharon also seemed fully confident in the knights.
"Great job, Izy," Eric said with a reassuring grin as he drew his next talisman, "Now let's make things even better. You look like you could use yourself another talisman, eh?"
"You better believe it," the brunette replied as Eric placed a talisman into a slot and activated it, saying, "I now activate the spell, Graceful Charity. This allows us to draw three talismans, but in exchange, we each must also discard two."
As Izy drew her three talismans, her eyes sparkled at what she had drawn. She had a trap a spell and a mage, the mage in question being Stargazer Magician. However, Stargazer was level five meaning she could not summon him normally without making a sacrifice. Meanwhile, the spell could possibly help her if she drew the right talisman next turn.
But while Izy was having trouble deciding what to sacrifice, Eric seemed fully confident as he wasted no time picking out two talismans from his hand. With that in mind, Izy took a deep breath and thought, 'Sorry, Stargazer, but the odds of me drawing Timegazer are slim. It's time I start thinking more strategically. Besides, if I do draw him next turn, I won't be able to summon anyone. Eric might, but Shelly's turn comes after mine and she could do something to turn things back in their favour within that time.'
With that in mind, the brunette sent Stargazer and her trap to the graveyard. At the very least, her field spell would finally be able to benefit her if she was able to draw a summoning talisman next turn. After all, with lives on the line, Izy could no longer afford to make mistakes.
And right now, it seemed like Eric would not even need pendulum demons to help him summon more than one demon as he called out a small girl with short pink hair and sported a magician hat and cape. She also held a blue popsicle and licked it with a devilish look in her eyes.
Shelly and Grant were both spellbound as her attack was only eight hundred, Grant laughing, "Wow, what a weakling! After your partner went to all that trouble, you still can't defeat my Dark Blade!"
"Don't be so quick to judge," Eric remarked with a smirk as he proceeded to summon a small crow with a blade replacing one talon on each foot.
"Caligo Claw Crow can be special summoned if I control another dark type demon," the prince explained with a grin as Shelly groaned, "Oh no, they're both level two."
"Well, you catch one quick," the prince said almost mockingly as both demons transformed into balls of light and combined with one-another. And soon enough, that light faded to reveal an elf clad in white and gold armour, axe heads attached to a pair of shoulder guards. In his hand was a white sword with a golden handle while a purple handkerchief covered his mouth.
"Oh no," Grant uttered as Eric smirked and said, "That's right. As he is, my Shining Elf's power is weaker than that of your Dark Blade. But when you take into account Izy's field spell, his power becomes just high enough to win this battle."
Izy's eyes sparkled, a big open-mouth smile forming as she had actually allowed this strategy to work in its entirety. However, it seemed as if Eric was not finished as he added, "Though I don't think that's good enough, so I intend to add to the damage after you took such a huge chunk out of our damage points earlier."
Shelly and Grant were frightened out of their minds as Eric activated two spells. The first shot a beam of light into Shining Elf's hand as a wand with a green gem held in its tip formed. The other spell conjured up a ball of light that flew around the elf while the demon in question flexed his muscles.
"Both of these spells have increased his attack strength," Eric explained with a confident grin before pointing at one with a picture of the elf himself surrounded by that light and stated, "XYZ Unit increased his power by two hundred multiplied by his level, giving him a four hundred attack increase. It's also given him another overlay unit so I can use his power a third time if needed."
Shelley and Grant were even more terrified as the prince added, "As for the wand, that's a spell known as Wonder Wand. Any spellcaster equipped with this gains five hundred attack. And in case you can't do the math in your head, that all equals a total of twelve hundred, thus his attack had gone from sixteen hundred to twenty-eight hundred."
"Oh my god, that's awesome!" Izy exclaimed with a big grin while Sharon let down a light tear, the woman feeling truly safe now.
With that, Shining Elf used his wand's magic to increase the strength of his sword as he charged at Dark Blade, slicing the knight in two. Grant trembled as the elf then proceeded to strike his armour, bringing both his and Shelly's damage points down to three thousand. Sure, they still had more than Eric and Izy had left, but this was a huge step in the right direction as the prince's turn came to a close.
However, it seemed Grant was not done for just yet as he said, "Wait, I got something I can use," the man then revealing the trap he had set earlier, saying, "With Call of the Haunted, I can bring back any demon from my graveyard and equip them with this spell!"
But as the man returned his Dark Blade, Shelly stared awkwardly at him, the look turning to anger as she barked, "You moron! During a team duel, you can also take from my graveyard! You could have brought back my Geargiagear Gigant XG!"
"Oh no, you're right!" the man exclaimed with a look of terror as Eric smirked, asking, "Well, what are you gonna do now?"
Grant took a deep breath and drew his next talisman, Izy thinking, 'It seems these two have trouble thinking straight when the odds are turned against them. That definitely works out for us.'
However, Grant did not seem to agree as he grinned and said, "Hey, Shelly, I'm about to make up for my blunder. I got the perfect combination right now."
"Well, go on," Shelly replied with a look of interest while Grant nodded and slapped a talisman onto one of the squares.
This brought out another knight clad in black armour, only this one was taller and more slender with arm blades. The demon's strength was certainly similar as Grant said, "This here is Gearfried the Iron Knight. Upon first glance, he may not look like much, but mark my words, with the right spells, he can become quite deadly."
"Oh, I love this!" Shelly exclaimed as her partner activated a spell and stated, "Unlike all of you, I don't have any demon heroes. But what I do have is something almost as good, and my Release Restraint Spell will show you exactly what I mean."
Suddenly, Gearfried let out a loud battle cry as his armour was blasted off of him by a burst of strength. This revealed his true form, a buff young man with long black hair and a blade in his hand. Grant smirked and said, "Say hello to Gearfried the Swordmaster!"
While this was certainly surprising, and Izy's field spell was no longer upping Shining Elf's strength this turn, this did certainly seem like a threat. However, Eric remained calmed as Gearfried still had slightly less attack power than the elf.
However, the prince's tune would soon change as Grant activated another spell, this one changing Gearfried's sword into a black one with a dark power emanating from it. Now both Izy and Eric were unsure of how this would go down as Grant smirked and said, "This spell is the Sword of Deep Seated. Anyone equipped with this gains five hundred attack."
"Hold on," Eric said with a smirk, "Unfortunately for you, my elf has a special power, one that I had almost forgotten about."
With this in mind, the knight removed one of his overlay demons as the elf sent a blast of magic into Gearfried. This brought his attack power back to what it was before as Eric took a deep breath and stated, "See, when my opponent summons a demon, I can remove an overlay demon to reduce that target's attack by five hundred, the exactly same amount Gearfried just gained."
Izy took a deep breath as Grant gritted his teeth. With his last move, the man proceeded to set his last talisman into one of the slots. Whatever he had planned, he intended to have this turn things back in his and Shelly's favour.
As Izy drew her next talisman, she took a deep breath and noticed it was her Performapal Whip Snake. Sure, he was not the best choice, but in case something went wrong, she knew he could still help. As such, the brunette summoned the cobra to the field as he used his tail to lift his top hat and tip it to Shelly.
However, what made this even better was that Izy had a use for the spell she had chosen to save, and she wasted no time as she inserted the talisman into a slot. With all said and done, a light shot out and hit Whip Snake's Tail as an axe made of iron formed in it, the snake smiling bright.
"Oh, I think I know that spell," Shelly said, "That's Lucky Iron Axe. It has a similar effect to Sword of Deep Seated."
'Oh well, that only means that snake's attack power for this turn will be twenty-five hundred,' Grant thought with a smirk, 'Sure, that'll be deadly if it hit me directly, but it won't thanks to my little friend.'
Izy pointed at Gearfried with a confident grin on her face and exclaimed, "To start things off, I'll have Shining Elf destroy Gearfried!" the elf once again powering up his blade before charging toward the swordsman.
However, Grant smirked and said, "Too bad," before revealing the talisman he had set at the end of his turn. Suddenly, a chain wrapped around three sticks of dynamite shot out of a big stone tablet and latched itself onto Gearfried's arm as the swordsman proceeded to swing it around, ramming the dynamite into the elf's face, causing an explosion that sent him to the graveyard.
Eric's eyes widened as Gearfried proceeded to strike his armour, bringing his and Izy's damage points down to down to nineteen hundred. Both Izy and Eric were confused as Shelly gave her partner thumbs up.
"The trap I just activated is an equip trap called Blast With Chain," Grant explained with a grin, "Any demon equipped with this gains five hundred attack. Also, the dynamite serves another purpose," a blast of magic reforming the sticks as the man stated, "If this is destroyed by a talisman's effect, I can target any talisman I want and destroy it. Good luck getting around this one."
It really seemed hopeless now. Gearfried's attack had gone all the way up to thirty-one hundred and neither Eric nor Izy had anything that could overpower that.
However, hope had not been lost as Whip snake turned to face his owner and smiled at her, shaking his axe. Izy gasped and nodded, thinking, 'That's right. I can destroy Gearfried.'
With this in mind, the brunette beamed bright and exclaimed, "Alright, let's do this, Whip Snake!" the cobra giving an army salute before springing himself off the ground and spinning vertically toward the swordsman.
"What good is that gonna do you?" Grant asked with a smirk, "Your demon was already too weak to begin with!"
"Yeah, but unfortunately for you, Gearfried's defence power didn't increase and my Whip Snake can switch one demon's attack and defence per turn!" *
"WHAT!?" Shelly and Grant exclaimed as the cobra gazed into Gearfried's eyes, the swordsman groaning as his attack changed to twenty-two hundred.
And with that, the snake sliced open the swordsman as he was sent to Grant's graveyard, the axe striking the man hard as his and Shelly's damage points were reduced to twenty-seven hundred. But while they were still technically doing better as far as resistance went, both knew they had used up all of their trump cards.
With that in mind, Shelly turned to Grant and sighed, "As much as it pains me to admit it, we're outmatched," Grant nodding and replying, "I suppose this calls for a tactical retreat."
As such, both knights pressed their hands up against the gems atop their gauntlets as the magical field vanished, Sharon blinking and asking Izy and Eric, "Does that mean you two won?"
Izy nodded with a grin and replied, "That's exactly what it means!"
Shelly and Grant retracted their armour into their gauntlets as they each let out a sigh and knelt down in respect to their opponents. Despite things starting so well for them, they had truly lost this duel and had to face the consequences for it.
Eric bowed his head and said, "You two were most excellent adversaries. Though I'm not sure what your king would say, I feel like you have done the Rose Kingdom proud!"
Izy nodded with a big smile as she added, "Even so, you do kinda have to go to prison now," Shelly sighing, "We know."
And with all said and done, Sharon had been saved and Izy and Eric's job had been taken care of. Or at least they hoped so. Hopefully, the king of Rose would not send anyone else to try and assassinate her.
But what of Neil and Taylor? What was going on with them during all of this?
A little bit before Izy and Eric's duel had started, the two arrived with Leroy at the marketplace. However, the old man stopped next to another building as he said, "Can one of you wait out here and guard the merchandise? I need to deliver something personal to Mister Hall."
"Oh yeah, it's his birthday today, isn't it?" Taylor asked with a big smile as Leroy laughed and replied, "It certainly is. I always make it my duty to give him a present before delivering anything else, especially since his home is right next to the marketplace."
"Why just one of us?" Neil asked as Taylor replied, "Silly Neil. You know one of us has to stick with him just in case, right?"
"Oh yeah, his protection is our top priority," Neil replied with a nod as Taylor smiled and replied, "You can watch the cart. I'll protect Leroy from any potential thieves."
With that, she and the old man entered the building as Neil took a deep breath, sighing, "It's fine. They'll probably only be in there for a minute."
He then tensed up and added, "But then again, Leroy and Graham will probably want to talk for a while, and the elderly do like to talk a lot. But that'll probably only go for ten minutes. Nothing bad can happen in that time."
However, just as the blond knight had said this, a slender young man with white hair crept toward the cart and reached into it, digging around while Neil was none-the-wiser. After a bit of searching, the man found the talisman was he held it up only for Neil to turn and spot him, both staring at each-other for a few seconds.
"GIVE THAT BACK!" Neil exclaimed as the man smirked and retorted, "Fat chance!" before taking off and thinking, 'Nothing personal, but my king really wants this.'
"Hey, get back here!" Neil exclaimed as he raced toward the man, "Come on, please, don't do this to me!"
However, it seemed the thief was not fully prepared for this as he wound up face-to-face with a dead end, the man turning as Neil took a deep breath and said, "Right."
With that, he pressed the gem atop his gauntlet as a magic field formed. At the very least, this thief did not seem to have a gauntlet of his own, so at least he would be unable to fight back when Neil brought out his demons.
However, he never truly wanted to have to resort to killing and as a result, the man uttered, "You're trapped. Come with me and I'll spare your life."
The thief smirked and remarked, "I hate to break it to you, kid, but I'm not just some petty thief."
With that, he pulled out a gauntlet from a satchel strapped to his side and slipped it onto his hand. Afterwards, he pushed a button on it that caused a suit of armour to come out and cover his body, a smirk on his face as he said, "I'm Derrick of the Rose Kingdom. Nice to meet you, squirt."
Note: Yes, I know this effect only works during the main phase. Don't forget, I let you know in advance that I would break a few card rules for story purposes.
