Author's Note: To Phantom 1, I always figured the solid vision system simulated pain, but I could be wrong. Now, let's see if Hiro can make a comeback, shall we?
No matter how many times you may fall, giving up is never the answer.
Chapter Ten: Day of the Duel Review Part Two: Divine Judgement
The crowd watched in tense silence as Rei let her hands fall to her side. "My second Divine Dragon Excelion(3200/900) will finish this duel. Attack directly with Divine Judgement." The dragon opened it's jaws wide, a wave of sapphire flames erupting from it's maw.
Hiro moved to defend himself but there was little he could do as the attack washed over him, obscuring him from the crowd's vision. "I apologize, but I cannot lose, not now." Rei said softly, though it was more to herself than it was to her opponent.
As the flames from the majestic dragon finally dispersed, Hiro's prone form was visible. Wisps of the sapphire flames covered his body as he lay face down, smoke rising off of his body. As the crowd gasped Kazuki folded his arms across his chest. 'Is this the extent of your strength? If so then maybe I was mistaken in my assumption that you were another duelist worthy of my attention.'
The flames and smoke mingled together as they continued to rise off of Hiro's fallen body.
Kai shook his head, "Too bad, I can see why this Rei girl is the top ranked student out of all the first years."
Taking one last look at Hiro's prone form, Rei turned away.
"Where are you going?" Rei stopped walking, shock evident on her face. There on the field, Hiro was picking himself up.
Rei shook her head in awe, shock that her opponent was able to stand after receiving a direct attack from her Divine Dragon Excelion. "How are you able to stand? Your face-down cards were immobilized, you couldn't have protected yourself from my attack."
Standing up to his full height the flames that still remained on Hiro's body instantly extinguished. His life points displayed proudly on his duel disk for all to see. (H: 2300)
Up in the stands Hitaki was smiling to herself, having faced the white haired teen before, she knew exactly what had happened. "Good job Hiro-kun!" She shouted out to him.
Ed frowned, 'Hiro-kun? How come I don't get a kun?'
Hiro smiled, "She knows what happened. When you attacked my Mythical Beast Daimon(500/500)'s one time second special effect activated from the graveyard reducing the damage I received from the attack to zero."
Rei's look of shock began to fade. "Mythical Beast Daimon? When did you play that monster? Could it have been-"
"Now I must finish explaining Share the Pain's effect, you now have to select a monster to be destroyed on your side of the field." Rei informed the white haired teen.
Hiro frowned as he looked at the two parallel cards on his field. "I select the monster on my left to be sent to the graveyard." He decided. The knife that was still hovering over his field dropped down, skewering his set monster and causing it to shatter, just like Rei's monster.
"So the monster you sacrificed to Share the Pain...that was your Mythical Beast Daimon." Hiro nodded, looking quite pleased with himself.
"That's some foresight." Kai said to himself, impressed.
Kazuki smirked, 'So your stronger than I thought.'
Hiro drew, then placed the card on his duel disk shakily, obviously still feeling the effects of Rei's previous attack. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
His opponent snagged a card from her deck, immediately placing it on her duel disk. "I summon my final Divine Dragon Excelion(1500+1700/900)." The silver scaled dragon joined Rei's army of monsters, every bit as majestic as the two that were already on the field.
Hiro couldn't help but grimace, 'She's managed to summon four powerful monsters, and there's hardly anything I can do about it. She's a really powerful duelist.'
"My first Divine Dragon Excelion will attack your set monster." Shimmering sapphire flames washed over the set monster, which appeared briefly as a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle before being burned away.
"You destroyed my Mythical Beast Griffin(1400/1400), whose flip effect allows me to return any two cards in my graveyard back to my hand." Hiro explained as two cards slid out of his graveyard, which he took and added to his hand, increasing his hand size to six cards.
"My second Divine Dragon will make the direct strike." Rei ordered as the monster prepared to unleash a wave of flames upon the white haired teen once more.
Hiro smiled as two giant clashing rocks appeared before him, surprising Rei and most of the audience. "The trap card Symplegades works a lot like Forbidden Trespassing, once you make a successful attack this card ends the battle phase." Hiro explained.
A small frown formed on the girl's face, she was obviously not expecting to be denied victory like that. "I end my turn, but it won't be long before you will no longer be able to defend yourself from my attacks." Rei commented.
Hiro took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, analyzing the current situation. 'Each of her monsters boast more attack points than the Blue Eyes White Dragon. She has one set card that may or may not be a trap. King Dragun is the weakest monster on her field with 3100 attack points, but it's effect stops any spell, trap, or monster effect that I may try to use to target dragon-type monsters on her field. My only hope is to somehow destroy her King Dragun.'
Opening his eyes, Hiro slowly drew a card from his deck, giving him seven cards to work with. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon. This card destroys your set card."
Hiro looked on in shock as the card flipped over, revealing a trap card. "Rewarded Faith." Rei called out as the blast of wind hit the ground where the card had previously been. "For every monster with 'Divine' in it's name on my field I receive 500 life points, since I have three, that's 1500 points." Rei's life point counter began to soar as the magic of Rei's trap card enveloped her in a warm light. (R: 5100)
Hiro frowned slightly, but continued his play nonetheless. "I activate the spell card Mythical Exchange. By discarding a monster from my hand with 'Mythical Beast' in it's name, I can special summon a Mythical Beast monster from my graveyard." Hiro grabbed one of the cards in his hand and slid it into his graveyard. A few seconds later the chosen card slid out.
"I summon Mythical Beast Golem(0/2700) in defense mode." A large golem made completely of stone emerged on the field, it's arms crossed over it's chest defensively. Hiro smirked as his Mythical Beast Cyclops(2100/0) slid out of his graveyard, which he pocketed.
"By removing a monster with 'Mythical Beast' in it's name, I can special summon the card I just sent to the graveyard due to Mythical Exchange, Mythical Beast Phoenix(2900/2100)!" A brilliant bird consisting purely of fire hovered over the duel arena, screeching as shimmering embers fell from it's body.
Holding up one of the four remaining cards in his hand, Hiro smirked. "The magic of Point to Point Transfer allows me to channel my Golem's defense points into my Phoenix's attack points."
The golem glowed red as all of it's defense points drained away. The red aura encased the bird made of fire, causing it to glow brightly as it's attack points began to soar to a powerful 5600.
Hitaki smiled, this was the combo that Hiro used to defeat her in their duel, she just hoped it would be enough to turn the duel around for him. 'Come on Hiro. I know you can do it.'
"I equip the spell card Phoenix's Vengeance, I'll explain it's effect soon enough, but first I'll have my Phoenix attack your King Dragun!" With another screech, the powered up phoenix converged on Rei's monster, burning it into ashes and inflicting damage to Rei's life points. (R: 2600)
"Now my Phoenix's Vengeance activates, by sacrificing my Phoenix, for every 1000 points of damage my monster inflicted to you this turn in battle, I can destroy a monster on your field, which means two of your Divine Dragons are going to be acquainted with the graveyard!"
In a blaze of fire two of the majestic dragons were burned away, leaving Rei with just one left, though she didn't seem too bothered about it. "My Phoenix can't be revived this turn due to the effect of Phoenix's Vengeance, but I still have a monster to defend myself and two set cards, so my turn is done."
The crowd cheered as Hiro's turn ended, by burning his hand, he managed to level the playing field, which was an impressive feat by anyone's standards.
"Looks like Hiro has a chance at winning after all." Shindo said.
"He may have leveled the playing field, but now Rei has two Divine Dragon Excelion in her graveyard, which means the remaining one will be much more powerful now." Hayato commented, Hitaki, John, and Ed nodded in agreement.
Rei drew a card from her deck, which meant she now had four cards in her hand, giving her the hand advantage for the moment. "Now that I have two Divine Dragon Excelion in my graveyard my remaining one can gain two effects, one from each. I'm giving it the ability to attack once more after it destroys a monster in battle and increasing it's attack points by another 1000 points."
The wreathes of sapphire nearly doubled in size as the dragon's attack points increased to a massive 4200, making it by far the strongest monster on the field. Rei continued her turn, placing a card onto her duel disk, "I summon Guard of Excelion(1200+600/2000) in defense mode." A man in silver armor which was designed to resemble the divine dragon, bearing a large shield made of the scales of the same dragon, and an image of it's face on the front appeared.
"As long as this monster remains on the field in defense mode, Divine Dragon Excelion cannot be targeted by the effects of my opponent's spell, trap or monsters." Rei explained. "Divine Dragon Excelion attack with Divine Flame Strike!"
Rearing back it's head, the dragon formed a large ball of sapphire flames in it's maw. Snapping it' head down, the dragon released the ball of fire. Much to the surprise of everyone, Hiro didn't make a move to defend his monster as the attack connected, easily shattering the weakened monster.
"Before you make you second attack I'm activating one of my set cards." Hiro informed his opponent as one of his face-down cards revealed itself. "Soul Transfer activates when a monster with 'Mythical Beast in it's name is destroyed. I'm allowed to special summon a monster from my hand or deck with the same number of stars. Since I don't have any cards in my hand, the monster will have to come from my deck." Hiro explained as he searched through his deck for the card he was looking for.
Finding it, he quickly shuffled his deck and slammed it back into the deck slot of his duel disk. "I choose Mythical Beast Arion(1700/0) in attack mode." Most of the spectators had confused looks on their faces as a plain looking stallion appeared before the boy.
"When special summoned Arion's special ability immediately activates. The current phase ends immediately. Which means I'm safe from a second attack."
Having her battle phase ended abruptly, Rei set a card face down. "My turn ends."
"And mine starts." Hiro drew immediately, though with one card, it was obvious that his options were limited. "Well, I switch my Arion to defense mode and while I'm at it, I summon Mythical Beast Centaur(1700/900) in defense mode. End turn." A half man, half horse monster appeared, eyeing Rei's dragon warily.
Rei swiftly drew, "Monster Reincarnation allows me to retrieve a monster from my graveyard at the cost of discarding a card from my hand. The card I'm sending to the graveyard to activate it's effect is Brood of Excelion(700/400). When this card is sent to the graveyard from my hand I can retrieve a Divine Dragon Excelion from my graveyard and add it to my hand." Rei explains as she slides the named card in her graveyard. Seconds later her duel disk churns out the desired card.
"The card I choose to return to my hand using Monster Reincarnation is my second Divine Dragon." Rei's current monster's attack points decrease to 2200 due to the absence of the other two. "Double Summon allows me to normal summon twice this turn, since my field spell card decreases the level of my two Divine Dragon Excelion, I can summon them both."
The revived dragons roared in fury as they returned, their attack points increasing to 2200 due to Rei's solider and field spell card's effect."I now have two Brood of Excelion in my graveyard, which can give my Divine Dragons one of the effects printed on their card. Since they aren't Divine Dragon themselves, I can stack effects, so I choose to give each of my dragons 2000 extra attack points." Rei explained as each of the dragons nearly doubled in size, their attack points resting at a massive 4200 each.
Hiro grimaced, 'Now she has three powerful monster, and as long as her Guard of Excelion is on the field, targeting them won't be an option. Is their really no way I can beat her?'
"My first Divine Dragon will destroy your Arion." Opening it's jaws wide, the powerful dragon let loose a wave of scorching blue flames, quickly eliminating the target. "My second Divine Dragon will open a path to your life points by destroying your remaining monster."
The crowd leaned in their seats as the overwhelming blast of fire rushed towards the white haired duelist. Much to the surprise of everyone, instead of shattering into a million pixels as expected, Hiro's monster withstood the attack.
Rei blinked in confusion. Hiro's set card was still face down, which meant he didn't activate it. "How did your monster survive my attack?" She asked.
"Simple, my monster can't be destroyed by battle at all." Hiro answered calmly, "So I'm safe for the time being."
Hiro's mismatched eyes burned with determination as he laid eyes on Rei's three powerful dragons, slowly drawing a card from his deck as he did so. "This duel has been a lot of fun...and even if I lose...I won't mind."
Rei wondered if Hiro was going to accept defeat, that is, until she heard the next words to come out of his mouth. "But losing isn't something I plan on doing."
Two cards slid out of Hiro's duel disk. "By removing my Mythical Beast Daimon(500/500) from my graveyard." Hiro takes the card and pockets it. "My Mythical Beast Phoenix rises from it's ashes!" The giant bird of flames appeared once more, it's stats showing proudly on Hiro's duel disk.
"I equip my monster with Fairy Meteor Crush, which means it can now deal damage through defense, go attack Guard of Excelion!" The brilliant bird unleashed a wave of intense heat that melted the armored warrior into a puddle of liquid. (R: 1700)
Since Hiro no longer had any cards in his hand, Rei slid the next card from her deck and added it to her hand, giving her three cards. "I can't destroy your Centaur, but I can destroy your Phoenix, Divine Dragon Excelion, attack and destroy his monster." Rei commanded.
The dragon let loose a stream of blue flames that washed over Hiro's signature, monster, ironically enough, burning it away. (H: 1000) "Turn end."
Hiro swiftly drew a card from his deck. 'I have a feeling Centaur won't be on my field the next time my turn comes.' Looking at the card he had just drawn, Hiro immediately played it. "I activate Pot of Greed." Not bothering to explain the widely used magic card's effect, Hiro drew twice more. "The magic of Experimentation on Mythical Beasts allows me to create three tokens of a 'Mythical Beast' monster on my field." Hiro explains as three more Centaurs appear on his field.
"Gift of the Phoenix removes Mythical Beast Phoenix in my graveyard from play." Hiro states as the named card slid out of his graveyard. Taking the card, Hiro pocketed it. "During my next turn I draw six cards from my deck." Hiro explains. "It's your turn."
Rei drew a card from her deck, "Divine Punishment allows me to destroy a monster on your field as long as I have a Divine Dragon Excelion in play, which means your monster is finally destroyed." A blast of lightning consumed Hiro's monster, easily destroying it.
"My three dragons shall destroy your last defenses." All together, the three monster unleashed dark blue sapphire flames that destroyed the three Centaur tokens.
Hiro drew a card from his deck. "Gift of the Phoenix's effect activates, which means I draw six more times." Hiro quickly grabbed six more cards from his deck, "First, I summon Stymphalian Bird(500/500) in attack mode." A metallic bird appeared on the field. "By tributing this card I can deal 500 points of direct damage to my opponent." Hiro explains.
The bird flies up into the air and unleashes a barrage of metal-tipped feathers, which Rei blocks with her duel disk, though her life points still take a hit. (R: 1200)
"By discarding my Mythical Beasts Lamia(2200/1200), Chimaera(2000/2000), and Repayment of Losses in my hand, I activate Sum of All Fears. Since I discarded three cards to activate it's effect, your three Divine Dragons are destroyed!"
The three mighty beasts fell one by one, exploding in a shower of pixels. Hiro was rewarded with cheers from the crowd as he continued his play. "Next I activate Zeus' Commandment. You can't attack me for three whole turns." Hiro explained, 'This should buy me enough time.'
Drawing a card, Rei glanced at it. "By sending my final Brood of Excelion to the graveyard, I can add a Divine Dragon Excelion(1500+700/900) to my hand, which I'll summon." Once again the mythical creature appeared roaring viciously.
"Since I have three Brood of Excelion in my graveyard, my dragon's attack points increase by 3000 points." Rei exclaims as her dragon nearly triples in size. (2200+3000/900)
"One of the two Divine Dragon Excelion in my graveyard will further increase my monster's attack points by another 1000 points." The mighty dragon roared as it's attack points rest at a heart-stopping 6200. Hiro looked up in awe, as did the crowd, having never seen a monster with so much attack power.
"I set one cards face-down. Turn end." She said calmly.
Hiro grabbed a card from his deck and drew it. "By sending my Lamia and Chimaera from play, I can special summon Mythical Beast Nemean Lion(0/0) in attack mode!" A monstrous giant lion appeared on Hiro's field, looking fearsome. "It's attack and defense points are equal to the monster used to special summon it." (4200/3200)
"This monster is potentially the strongest monster in my deck, this is the first time I've ever got to summon it though." Hiro said. "By discarding a monster from my hand, Nemean Lion can gain that monster's attack points as it's own." Hiro explains as he discards his Mythical Beast Argus(2200/0) to the graveyard, his monster's attack points increasing to 6400 as a result.
Rei's eyes widened in shock as the lion doubled in size, matching the height of her powered up dragon. "Nemean Lion, attack her Divine Dragon!" With a vicious roar, the monster pounced onto the slightly weaker monster, ripping into it with it's extremely large claws. (R: 1000)
Rei's hand shot over her only set card, which flipped over. "This duel ends here. I activate the quick-play spell card Divine Lamentation. When Divine Dragon Excelion is destroyed in any way on my field, 500 points of damage is inflicted to my life points, in return, 1000 is dealt to my opponent!"
Hiro's eyes widened in surprise, he only had 1000 life points left! Both Hiro and Rei shielded their eyes as the dying dragon glowed an intensely bright color, a massive explosion ensuing as a result.
Author's Note: Believe it or not, I'm cutting it off here.
Card of this chapter:
Mythical Beast Nemean Lion: Dark/Beast 10/?/?
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by removing two monsters from your graveyard with 'Mythical Beast' in it's name. The attack and defense of this card is equal to the combined total of the monster's attack and defense points used to Special Summon this card. Once per turn, you must discard a monster from your hand with 'Mythical Beast' in it's name. This card's attack points increases by the discarded monster's attack. If you fail to do so, this monster is destroyed. This card cannot be destroyed by targeting effects. This card cannot attack directly.
The duel between Hiro and Rei has been an intense one, and the outcome is finally revealed. But now John is going to be put to the test, and what in the world is going on outside Duel Academy?
Next time, Day of the Duel Review Part Three: A Series of Unexpected Events