New Testament 010: Last of the Revolutions

Cable's LP: 200

"Here it is, the Carrier." A machine ship flew in from the Stargate to the field, it strengthened itself with 200 points from the field card: Protoss Nexus (3200/1700). "This card has three effects, depending on how much Lp I payed for the Stargate, I can pick one, two or three at its arrival." The Protoss Carrier opened several missile compartments. "I payed 1500 LP so I can chose the highest number. Effect three: this card can attack as long as there are monsters on the field!" He pointed at Turner and all five of his machine cards. "Take this! I will decide this in one turn!" And the machine unleashed its terrible salvo. Destroying Blue Thunder T45, Cannon Soldier MK2 and Flint Lock, reducing them to molten star metal. Turner only had 1700 LP left, the fourth strike would end it all. "This is it." The gang cheered, it looked like everything would work out. Victory Viper XX03 was the last card in front of the enemy. "Cable, stop!" Yet Jackson was anything but estatic. "What?" The duelist stopped in the middle of his charge.

Turners LP: 1700

Protoss Carrier, 8/3000/1500 Machine/Light
This monster can only be special summoned through the effect of 'Stargate Transportation'.
Depending on the amount of lifepoints payed, this card gains one of the following effects:
500 or more - When this card attacks a monster in face-down defense position, immediately destroy the monster without applying damage calculation.
1000 or more - You may skip the battle phase of this card to destroy one spell or trap card on the field.
1500 or more - This card can attack as long as there are monsters on your opponent's side of the field.

Turner was susprised too. "What is your problem?" The symbolist glared at him in response. "You..trickster." He growled. "Cable. Do not do it, do not attack!" He turned back to his fiend again. "Why, whats wrong?" He did not end his battle phase yet. "It is a cheat. He is trying to cheat his way out of losing." He said, breathing heavily. "What do you mean, he wont win if I.." Doe shook his head. "No, I can see the setup for what it really is. We do not know how he did it, but he made an escape route. Cable.. his soul is not inside that body." Everyone gasped, and looked at the possessed one. "So... you get it?" He had a very annoyed expression. "Then what is..oh!" Cable understood it now too. "He did it.. when he tried to take over my body. He placed part of his spirit...in mine!" His eyes narrowed. "You bastard. You wanted me to win, that was why you held back! Even if you lost the shadowgame, you could survive within me..." Turners smile was gone now. "Feh, so you figured it out, big deal. You can not change how the shadowgame works."

"That just changes the mood a little, now we will have to see which one of us can kill themselves first." The villain chuckled. "It will not work if you forfeit either, it only worked with Colin because he did it at the start of the match, before the shadows grew strong enough to trap both players in a fight to the death." Cable shook his head. "You thought it was easier to lose than to win, didnt you? You have been losing for six duels already anyway." He called back the Carrier, attacking with it now would end the duel in his favor. "Feh. I am the best at it. The master chose me because he knew how skilled the opponents were." He gloated. "Is that so? But my lifepoints are quite low. In fact.." He had one more monster on his field. "Protoss Arbiter(200/2700)! Attack Victory Viper!" His other flying ship headed straight for the Jet fighter. "His attack is lower than my card by a thousand! If this hits, he will lose all his lifepoints!" Turner realized he had to save Cable here, to save his own soul. "Trap Card: Interdimensional Matter Transporter!"

A teleporter-machine appeared, which sucked XX03 into another dimension, leaving the Arbiter with nothing to hit. "Try again." Grunting, Cable placed a card and ended his turn. I wonder, if losing is easier than winning, why would you fight back at all?" During the endphase the Matter Transporter placed Viper(1200/1000) back on the field. "Also, you forget that Arbiter can still activate its effects in the endphase. I choose its first effect this time!" The ship sent another EMP pulse, to shut down Victory Vipers weapons. "Your machine can not attack during the next turn!" He smiled. "Oh really? Then I will just have to.." Turner drew a card and summoned it. "Tribute it for a boss." He sacrificed XX03 to tribute summon B.E.S. Big Core MKII (2400/1100), a large winged starship. "Armored Core series?" This was the extension of the Konami-inspired Gradius set. "Ha. This card can not be destroyed in battle, and I attack the Carrier!." The Core ship fired several lasers at the Protoss vessel, all of which bounced off its shields.

Turners LP: 900

"MK II has a downside however, just like any Core card made for this card game." Suddenly MK II lost power and broke down. "It needs counters to survive the battle steps, counters which it only gets when special summoned. I normal summoned this one, so.." He lost his monster, yet he liked it that way. "Oh no. Now Cable can't ram his Arbiter into anything." Christine sighed. "Indeed, and he can not use the EMP-waves either. If Turner draws a weaker monster next turn, it will be all over." Carter frowned. "And to answer your question, future host. I had to stall for time, the game could have gone either way after all. I could only send bits and pieces of my own spirit into your body at a time. When you summoned that Carrier of yours, I had sent enough to make sure I would survive inside you, but left some behind to carry out the rest of the duel for me." He finished his turn. "Then there is no going back for the you that stayed behind. You can not win by winning.." Jackson claimed. That was the little hope they had left. "Indeed."

Cable entered his turn, and figured his best option lied in defending. "I switch the Carrier to defense mode, and I set another card in the magic/trap zone." This was good, because his Protoss machine had only 1700 defense points. He'd need to summon something really weak to kill himself now. "Feh, you under-estimate me, as does everyone." Now it was his main phase. "I gained just what I needed, I summon this card." A two-legged machine walker was now on the field (500/500). "What the." It was not very strong. "Mobile Cannon Ducker, its a flip effect monster. However I will forego the effect and just hit your defending carrier. Here is to the loss!" Ducker charged the Protoss machine. "Trap card: Stasis Field!" However Cable flipped his trap, and the Mobile was caught in a field of electricity. "This trap will remove your monster from play for 4 turns!" Ducker disappeared from the field. "Bah. You humans are always so damn persistent. End Turn." He again had nothing on his field, nothing Fraser could use..

Stasis Field. Normal Trap
You can only activate this card if have a 'Protoss Arbiter' on your side of the field. Destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field, and remove then from play.
Four turns after the activation of this card, immediately special summon all destroyed monsters on your opponent's side of the field in face-up attack mode.

"Draw." He guessed he would not get another chance like this, so he needed to end it this turn. "One way or the other." He saw the card in his hand and gasped. "This..might work." He said enthusiasticallu and summoned a new Protoss. "High Templar." The long robed energy user of the Protoss race (1000/1000). "It has an effect, by paying lifepoints it can reduce a monsters attack and defense by the same amount." He looked at his own Carrier. "I will reduce the attack of this machine by 200." Everyone's eyes widened. "He is going to pay all he has left!" That was a sure-fire way to lose the game.

Protoss High Templar 4/1000/1000 Light/Beast-Warrior
Once during your main phase 1, you can pay any multiple of 100 Life Points.
Reduce the attack and defense power of a monster on the field by an amount equal to the lifepoints payed.

"Wait!" Turner placed his hand out in front of him. "What do you want?" Cable had his own hands ready at his card, about to pay all the points. "Can you do this, Cable? Can you condemn your own spirit as well?" He said, nervously but also confidently. "What are you saying?" Christine yelled. "I am saying that if he loses, the shadowgame will take the losers soul with it. We will both die if his LP runs out." Fraser was not pleased to hear this, but he did not reply. "Heh. You wont do it. If you let me lose, nobody will have to die." The possessed man eased up a litttle, but his expression soon changed again. "No." When the opponent refused his words. "I am calling your bluff, crawler. If you had given this warning from the start, I might have believed you. But this reeks of desperation." He tapped the High Templar card. "Activate effect." The Protoss took the last of his masters lifeforce, and weakened the Carrier a little (3000/1500). "NO!" The duel field seemed to tremble as the fight reached its conclusion, and Turner started screaming.

Cable's LP: 0

"You.. accursed.. human!" Unexpectedly, a wave of black wind spread across the area, knocking everyone down. "Hrggk!" At the same time, Fraser felt a sharp pain in his chest, and the Millenium Key started to glow like mad. "No! It is...happening after all!" Jacksons worst fear came to realization, as his friend collapsed to the floor. "Fool." The body Turner possessed, Colins, fell a few seconds afterwards. "Is he..." Neither player was moving. "Wait, look at that." William then saw the dark energy, it converged around Cable. "It is..taking a shape?" The blackness became one whole, and it resembled a person. This entity had the form of a human, but lacked several attributes. The eyes were blank, the skin was semi-transparent, the hands looked like claws, and it lacked all sorts of colors. "It is him, the Crawlers true self.."

Then the creature turned its pupil-lacking glare on the three other duelists. "You." It spoke at last, the voice sounding faint as it came from a distance. "You toy with fate so easily." The Crawler sounded oddly upset. "Yet by gambling your soul, you found out the flaw." At that point, the bodies of Colin, the worker and Cable started to show signs of life. "Oh!" Though only the latter opened his eyes. "Fraser!" Doe ran towards him. "I am.. fine." He managed to say, in between coughing. "He could not, contain us all anymore.." They looked back at the shadow, who said nothing. "That was it, wasn't it? Your shadowgame can not be completed if you lose your own spirit. Only human souls are compatible with this portal you are trying to create." It seemed that merely introducing such dark energy, disrupted the collection of six souls he had already made. "So Colin and this guy are okay now?" Rose asked, both the Crawler and Cable. "I think so." However while one nodded, the other raised his clawed hand. "Yes, and no." And lashed out..

"Gah!" A dark flash nearly blinded everyone present. When they could see again, there appeared to be a small black spot hanging in mid-air. "This is all, I could do.." At that point the shadow started fading, its legs could not be seen anymore. "What did you do?" Will cursed. "I lost control, and now due to my own rules I am dying. The souls which I gathered were lost at that point, however.." The black spot crackled with energy. "For one instant, I had Fraser in my hands. For one instant I had all seven souls I needed. So by exchanging my life for time, I have created a portal that will last an instant." Of course this one was rather small, everyone was thinking that. "They will come. To finish my task. The master has many servants, all of which will want to release the Ka into this dimension." By now only his head was left. "You humans, I had fun with you. But you are to shortsighted to see the beyond. The darkness will come, and none of you can sto..p....i...t.....n......." Finally, Turner the shadow parasite, was no more.

A long silenced followed. "Was he.. " Everyone stared at what he left behind. "Telling us that he did it...after all?" Like a hole in the world, Turners scar on this existence. "It is so tiny. There is no way anyone can fit through that, can they?" William waved his hand in front of it, he dared not touch it. "I am affraid he would not have made it, had he expected size to be a handicap." Doe said. "The gate must not be active right now, this thing is just a place-holder. When the time comes, for a second or less, the door to their world will open." And then they could expect more servants of this Magus Ka. "We should destroy it! We can do that right?" Christine was getting jittery. "We have no idea what we are dealing with." Fraser stood up again. "This kind of event, it is unprecedented. We can not afford to make any rash judgments when we know so little. Just touching it might blow the whole thing up for all we know. Or worse, it could release whatever is on the other side." Carter wisely stepped back, just to be sure. "Then what?"

"We can not leave it alone either, can we?" William looked around, at the city behind him and the factory next to him. "People will see this eventually, they wont be able to explain it, they will panic." The others agreed with that. "I know. We need to set up a quarantine. We can use the virus as a cover-up again" Cable walked back to his helicopter. "I can call my people, but even I do not have the resources to keep this whole mess under wraps. I need more information, and I can not get it." Jackson closed his eyes and sighed, knowing what was going to be said next. "But you know someone who does?" The girl asked. He nodded. "Yeah. Once Colin and this man here have recovered, we will go to meet him." He took his phone and made the call. "Wait, who is this man? Why are you so worried." She could see the concerned looks on both their faces. "Because you will not like meeting him again. It is a trial we will have to endure." The ringing stopped, he had a connection. "Yes, who is this?" A commanding voice asked over the comlink.

Fraser took a deep breath and responded. "It's me, Fraser. We need your help, Marcus."

(To be Continued in New Testament 011: The Price is Wrong)

New Cards used by Cable Fraser
Protoss Carrier
Protoss High Templar

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Stasis Field

New Cards used by Turner 'Seventh Revolution'
B.E.S. Big Core MKII
Mobile Cannon Ducker

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fInterdimensional Matter Transporter