Zheng gave Ivana a grin, which was rather unlike her. "Remember what you told me, how my monsters are still trap cards? I activated this – Imperial Custom." Sure enough, there was an upright card on the far left of Zheng's field. "Imperial Custom prevents face-up continuous trap cards from being destroyed, and that includes my Tiki Curse."

Ivana, much to Zheng's surprise, began to laugh. "What a move! Even when you're staring down the end, you still find a way to pull something off. You're a top-notch duelist, Zheng. I just wish you weren't so delusional."

"Can you go a single turn without preaching, Ivana?"

"You're awfully impudent for someone staring defeat in the face."

"Let us not forget who has the lead, here."

"Somehow, I'm not convinced. You've managed to hold out for another turn, Zheng. You might as well take it."

Zheng drew, eyes on her hand. "First, I will change Tiki Curse to defense mode." The lights went out in Tiki Curse's eyes, and it drifted slowly to the floor. "Then, I will set one monster in facedown defense position and end my turn."

Ivana grinned. "Are you hoping to stall me, Zheng? If so, you shouldn't have set that monster." She drew, looking up at Hamon. "Or... do you have it? I guess there's only one way to find out, isn't there? Hamon, destroy her facedown monster!" Hamon roared, and another bolt of blue fire streaked across the field, incinerating the card. Flames licked at Tian, causing her to stumble back and cringe. "Oh, did I forget Hamon's special ability? Whenever it destroys a monster by battle, you take 1000 damage to your life points!"

Zheng was unfazed, her hand on her duel disk, which now displayed 4400. "I will manage. The monster you destroyed was Mask of Darkness, which lets me add a trap card from my graveyard to my hand."

"There's not a single monster of the bunch that can topple Hamon, Zheng. It's only a matter of time until I draw another Mystical Space Typhoon, anyway."

"We will see. I draw." Zheng was quiet for a moment, mulling over the card she'd picked up. She plucked another from her hand. "And I will set one more monster in face-down defense position. It is your turn, Ivana."

The grim process of immolating Zheng's facedown monster went the same as before – another Mask of Darkness, which meant another card for Zheng and another thousand life points of damage, leaving her at 3400. Zheng did not allow herself to seem shaken by it, glaring defiantly at Ivana as she waited for her next turn to begin.

"That gap between our life points is closing pretty quickly, Zheng. You're lucky it's raining, because I'd just love to see how much you're sweating right now." What might once have been friendly banter from Ivana seemed nothing short of frightening, when backed up with a beast like Hamon. When Zheng looked across the roof, she didn't see her old friend. She saw a monster with the power to end the world, waiting for the mortal at its feet to give it lease to annihilate her.

She could not allow that. "I... suppose this is it. I draw," There was a weight to her voice that one might be tempted to call solemnity. The next turn could very well decide the fate of the duel, and of Ivana's academy. For a moment, she was silent. She took in the pounding rain, the rolling thunder, the deep and snarling breaths of Hamon far above her. The stage was set, and any peace she would have in this life depended on her making the play Ivana so eagerly sought for her to make. "Now, I will return Embodiment of Apophis to the field." Once more, the battered snake-creature slithered onto the field, turning its eyeless face toward Hamon and snarling in defiance. She only wished she could be so courageous.

"You're a few turns late, Zheng. If you attack with your Embodiment of Apophis now, you might destroy Hamon, but you'll lose the duel. Unless this is your way of conceding..."

"Not quite. I am going to tribute these three trap cards." Ivana's expression changed at once, but Zheng did not see fear in her eyes. She wondered, as she had before the duel began, how long Ivana had been waiting for this moment. Was a loss, and the loss of Zheng's support for this academy, truly worth seeing this monstrosity again? Imperial Custom, Tiki Curse, and the Embodiment of Apophis were consumed by twisting columns of fire. "Embodiment of destruction, heed my call. May all living creatures quake at your arrival. May the firmament be bathed in fire, and may the skies glow red with the pyres of the countless dead. Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, come to my aid!" Zheng held the card aloft, and brought it down into the Duel Disk with more force than she had planned.

There was a new sound, above the thunder and Hamon's growling. A long, bellowing roar which came from somewhere high above, just as Hamon's had. Zheng could not look up without getting rain in her eyes, but she could feel it. It was a sensation not unlike suddenly opening an oven; a rush of heavy, heated air that had a strange sort of weight to it. Before her, just as the chant had portended, the deep grey clouds and taken on a distinctly red cast. By the time Uria alighted on the field, she could hear the roar of flames in her ears. Hamon's vaguely draconic appearance was overshadowed by that of its counterpart; Uria had a twisting and serpentine appearance, its back lined with spikes and its head covered in some strange ornamentation. Two vestigial wings sat near the fore of its body, ending in grasping claws. Its mouth seemed divided into two separate segments, inner and outer, each with its own set of teeth, and they moved independently of one another in a profoundly unsettling fashion. Where Hamon seemed withered and skeletal, Uria was as vibrant and as animated as the flames over which it apparently presided.

There was something odd, Zheng soon realized, about the way it sat on the field. It seemed to extend upward from somewhere, as though she wasn't seeing the whole of its body. Her eyes, though they stung to look upon it, traveled along its serpentine body as best they could. She turned her head to and fro, trying not to look at it directly, and gleaned enough to see that it was draped over the side of the roof. Zheng wondered if its tail was dangling there, or if it had gone so far as to wrap its immensity around the building. Steam rolled off of it, rain evaporating whenever it got even in proximity to Uria.

What stuck out to Ivana, however, was the strength of its attack. This was not the first time she had seen Uria, but it was unquestionably the first time it had 10,000 attack points. "Zheng!" she called, "What have you done?"

"It was not what I did, Ivana. In fact, I have you to thank. Uria gains one thousand attack for every continuous trap card in the graveyard, and your Gravekeeper's Servant made sure I had a steady supply of them." Zheng straightened. She wanted this over quickly – the more time she spent around Uria, the more the heat made her sick and the steam stung her eyes. "Uria, it's time to end this duel. Destroy Hamon with Hyper Blaze!" Uria surged forward, its strangely-segmented mouth parting in an earsplitting screech. Flames grew from between its teeth, trailing yellow-orange behind it..

Uria never made it. Zheng could only watch in shock as chains arced forth from all sides, wrapping around Uria and yanking hard to pull the beast back. It screeched again, struggling against its new and sudden bindings, but its struggles subsided quickly. It slunk its way back to Zheng's side of the field, the chains arresting any movement beyond that. So enraptured was she by the ominous glow that radiated from Uria's prison, she almost did not hear Ivana speak.

"You've been so fond of continuous traps, Zheng, I thought I'd use one of my own – Fiendish Chain!" Zheng was too struck to reply, her eyes locked on the bound Uria. "It not only binds your monster, but saps it of all its power. Without it, Uria doesn't have any attack points, which means one attack from Hamon will wipe both of you out. That attack would have decided the duel one way or another, Zheng, but you were careless. It's time for this to end."

Ivana was right, and Zheng knew it. Uria's attack had dropped to 0 the moment the chains had gotten around it, and Ivana could destroy them both at her leisure next turn. She looked down at her hand for a while, considering each card there. She supposed she could drag the duel out a while longer, but there would be no chance of victory with Uria destroyed. Zheng only had one option left; she closed her hand up and placed it on top of her deck.

"I concede, Ivana. You have outplayed me."

The world went silent. The heat and rain faded instantly from her, and her eyes stung as the clouds dissipated, leaving the noonday sun hanging high above her head. Were everything around her not soaked and slightly scorched, it would have been as if nothing had ever happened. Hamon and the tragic, lashed figure of Uria were gone. It was only Zheng and Ivana, now, both of whom looked decidedly out of breath.

Ivana walked forward after a moment, clapping her friend hard on the shoulder. "You played well. Better than you ever have, I'd say. I'm proud to have you on my staff."

Zheng didn't look quite as pleased as Ivana did. "I gave you my word," she sighed. "I will help you for as long as I can."

"Good. Get home and get some rest, I'll call you when the Academy is ready."

The two murmured their goodbyes, and Ivana insisted that Zheng keep the replica duel disk. She did, wearing it on her arm as she left to find a cab home. Her deck remained in it, her final turn's hand sitting on top of it in concession. It was good, Zheng supposed, that Ivana had let her keep her deck tucked away. After all, Zheng didn't want her finding out about the Mystical Space Typhoon that had been in her hand.