Mark 012: Four Corners of Eden
Urizens LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000
"Divine Grace Northwemko(2700/1200) is the Goddess of Salvation. When she is ritually summoned, she selects two cards on the field to safeguard her." Now as long as Ascending Soul and Ritual Cage existed, she could not die in any way. "Ascending Soul allows me to take back one of the ritual sacrifices." Kein reclaimed the Djinn Procogstinator. "You made a mistake choosing that deck, Urizen. Unless you mixed things up, I know all the cards that rest in there. So, I know what your facedown could be." He sent Manju(1400/1000) to attack first, rather than his stronger ritual monster. "Tsk, you killed my Mystic Tomato." When it(1400/1100) died in battle, a dark elemental with 1500 atk or less would come from the deck. "So I special summon a second." Unfortunately he had to call it(1400/1100) out in an attack position. "Sublime Deliverance!" And Northwemko erased it from the field with rays of light emanating from her staff. "Because of the Djinns I sacrificed for her rising, Presider and Procogstinator, I can draw every time she vanquishes a foe and my opponent must relinquish a card every time he suffers her holy energy." So Kein drew a card and Urizen begrudgingly discarded one of his. "I will set the card I gained and end my turn."
Urizens LP: 6700
"But thanks to my second Mystic Tomato I can summon this!" From his deck this time came a four-legged plated fiend(1500/1900), which he switched to defense mode as his turn started. "She may be safe from destruction, but how about the rest of your field?" As his turn started, Urizen could revive the Steelswarm Scout(200/0) he discarded, because he controlled no spells or traps. "I sacrifice the Scout for Steelswarm Moth!" Out came the moth whose effect allowed him to return 2 cards on the field to a players hand at the cost of 1000 LP. "Your Ritual Cage protects her from monster effects, so I will just target that Cage and Ascending Soul!" If he were to return those two, they would no longer count as Northwemko's safeguards. "I am afraid I saw that coming too." However what returned was Ascending Soul.. and Manju. "What?" Kein revealed the cause, his counter trap card. "Skill Revolution. I decided which cards you targeted with Moth just now. And I thank you for letting me use Manju's effect again." He smiled.
Urizens LP: 5700
Skill Revolution, Counter Trap
Activate only when your opponent activates an Effect Monster's effect that targets 1 or more cards on the field. You select the targets of that effect.
"I set one card down and then I summon Steelswarm Sting." A dark demon bee(1850/0) appeared. "I thought you already normal summoned?" Xavier did not get why this was allowed. "It's because Gatekeeper enables a second normal summon whenever a Steelswarm is tribute summoned." Kein explained for them as Urizen finished his turn. "Now. Your old deck had six trap cards, including one which can destroy my spells." He glared at the Needle fiend. "When Steelswarm Sting dies, a Ritual/Fusion or Synchro monster dies as well. Without my Cage it could sting my Goddess." Urizen said nothing, though he was clearly annoyed with his insights. "Therefor.." He resummoned the thousand-handed Manju and added a Ritual Monster to his hand. "I will destroy it now! I activate the Ritual of Destruction!" Urizen gasped. "Another ritual, so soon?" Kein discarded the Djinn Procogstinator again and sacrificed the level 4 Manju on his field, to ritual summon a level 7 demon. "The Devil of Destruction, Garlandolf!"
A blue horned devil(2500/1400) was summoned and immediately unleashed a violent storm of dark winds. "It kills all others upon its arrival, and gains 100 attackpoints for each victim." Northwemko was unharmed thanks to her own effects, but the Steelswarms did not do so well. "First Steps Towards Infestation!" Urizen managed to rescue one from the grave with his quickplay spell. "I return Moth to my hand and draw a card." Sting and Gatekeeper were what remained to be wasted by the now powered up Garlandolf(2700/1400). "Very well. But we still have a battle phase to go through." Northwemko unleashed more rays of light. "Savage Perdition!" And the DevilKing sent out flares of darkness. Both attacks hit and both forced Urizen to discard a card from his hand. He threw away Steelswarm Moth and Steelswarm Cell "Malevolent Catastrophe!" But he at least managed to set off that trap Kein feared. And for good reason as it destroyed the golden cage. "I do not fear you, Ace of Spades."
Urizens LP: 300
"I know you do not. The one you fear is Ansoni, isn't it?" Kein ended his turn. "As If. I bet he is just like how I once was. Fathers new mascot, only good because R-Tech wants him to be." Kein did not answer to that accusation. "I make my own future now." Two turns had passed, so Golden Sarcophagus opened up. "I take and activate Recurring Nightmare." He took two dark monsters with zero defense, Moth and Cell, back to his hand. "You do not have the lifepoints you need to use Moths effect." The ace stated calmly. "That was not my intention. I play Allure of Darkness!" Urizen could draw twice but had to banish a dark monster from his hand afterwards. "I banish Moth. Because I have something better now." Then, when he controlled no monsters while his opponent did, he could special summon the Cell(0/0) from his hand. "I then activate Inferno Reckless Summon!" A quickplay spell followed the Cell. "When a weak monster is special summoned, I call two more from my deck." Two more Cells appeared. "Oh, I can see where this is headed."
Kein in turn could summon two more a of a monster on his field. However his ritual monsters could not be summoned that way. "Even if you can see, you can not stop it. I sacrifice the three Cells." The little bugs erupted into fierce black tempest which took a solid form. "To tribute summon Steelswarm Hercules!" It was the biggest steelswarm(3200/0) in existence, spikes protruded from all over its shell and its armor was as strong as diamond. "I can pay half my life, to eradicate all other living things on the field." Northwemko no longer had any safeguards, and the Cage was gone. The Herculean demon wiped both her and Garlandolf out. "And then a direct attack!" Hercules swiped its tusked claws across Keins body, nearly taking half his LP away. "Yes. You hit hard, son of Gaunt. That I also recall." He did not seem to mind this much. "This is my own power now." He ended his turn. "I did not say otherwise. Yet I worry for your sake." He pointed at the lifepoint meter. "Your playstyle has gotten selfdestructive, you are too far behind."
Urizens LP: 150 Keins LP: 4800
"So I wonder, if all your new power is good for just one hit. Because to me, you appear..fragile." He activated a spell, the Preparation of Rites. "No!" Urizen knew it all too well, a ritual duelists best friend. "I take a ritual spell out of my cemetery, and a level 7 or lower ritual monster from my deck." He reclaimed the Ritual of Destruction and gained a second Garlandolf. "But he has no tributes!" Ada protested. "He has." But she was wrong, for Keins Ritual Djinns could be sacrificed even if they were deep in their graves. "I banish Presider and Procogstinator, to ritual summon the Devil king." The female and male djinn were banished from the cemetery, and unsealed the second King of Destruction(2500/1400). He of course immediately killed the Herculean Steelswarm with its effect. "Savage Perdition." And right afterwards it delivered the coup de grace to Urizens lifepoints. "No.." He had lost. The former national champion did not even last four turns against the Ace of the North. "It appears that you will not be able to duel in Battle Garden after all.."
Urizens LP: 0
"That is not true, technically." A very annoying man suddenly spoke up. "Ashworth? What are you.." At least he was annoying from the perspective of the Ace of Spades. "There appears to be no rule against bringing along one friend or custodian, as far as I can tell. One of his friends could just invite him along." He looked at Ada and Xavier, as the same applied to them. "Is that true?" She perked up instantly. "I don't know, I could always take Vanessa from my history class." Ali said, scratched his chain. "Joking, joking!" Before narrowly dodging her fist. "How could you possibly know this?" Kein asked, again as nicely as possible. "People tell me things, Schiver. I have some benefits left over from my career." He put a big grin on his face, which just aggravated the northern champion even further. "Fine. You are correct, Urizen can join the Garden that way. However he will be forbidden from dueling anyone who has not yet been eliminated, and he certainly can not challenge one of us four again. And finally." He swiped the deck from Artani's disk. "Hey!" And put it in his coat. "This belongs to N-Tech. Rest assured, i shall keep it safe." He gave one last glare from under his shades at Nathan before leaving. "This is not over, Ashworth."
Urizen was left there standing, down one deck and barred from the rest of the tournament. "Am I..supposed to like this?" His hands were shaking, clenching tightly. "This is where I stand? Below him and unable to proceed!" If he could not even duel one Ace, there was no chance of him ever facing Ansoni. Not in a way that would make everyone recognize him as the king of games again. "Hey. It's okay. There will be plenty of people from your list there, right?" Yale said as he approached him. "If you want me too, I could be the one to invite you as my traveling companion." The duelist extended a hand. "Tsk. You.."Which Urizen rudely pushed away. "You are always there to help me, aren't you? Why? What is in it for you?" He looked him straight in the eye. "And do not tell me it is because of 'kindness', I do not believe in that. Everyone wants something! But I will not take it from others or give it to others!" He then turned away and started walking. "..you can still say yes!" YQ shouted after him. "Don't bet on it."
And with that the day of games had finally come to an end, overall it was a great success aside from the mess that they had to clean up in all the cities. That was par of the course though, it became like a ritual. However not just physical matter had to be cleansed, there were certain articles that had to be discussed away. "So. They managed to reach the surface world again." Someone stayed behind in the sectioned off area of the city, even when most had been asked to leave. "But I was too late to make contact with it, and it could not stabilize." This person spoke into a communicator. "Were you in danger?" The voice on the other end sounded old and stern. "Never was. It appears we truly are immune to their powers, which may help us in negotiations." The mysterious one chuckled. "Do not get ahead of yourself, there are other parties involved here and you must remain hidden. Simply continue your observations and report to me again when another of the Immortals arises." The old man said, and the other nodded. "I will not disappoint you."
And the next day it was the dawn of the new tournament. More information about it had spilled unto the internet or come out in other ways. It would supposedly last the entire weekend and the buses that took them to Battle Garden were waiting for the northern duelists at the city central station. In the mean time they were allowed to edit their decks and add whatever they wished from the storage facilities R-Tech put at their disposal. "You're an idiot Ali." Ada and Xavier both made good use of this, or at least he thought he had. "You wasted all your credit on Blue-Eyes White Dragons? You should have gotten some good dragon synchros instead!" It appeared the student had given in to a past obsession of his. "I can not help it, these things are so cool. And the support cards will help me too." They were two of the first to arrive at the station. Though they were not the first. "Oh." A certain woman was already there, sitting silently in back of the bus. "Miss Ramirez." Just the name got Ada's blood boiling. "Now relax Ada, what's done is done." He tried to calm her down. Mostly because he was not sure whether or not she would want him to duel her next. "You're right. But for now, we will wait outside." She did not want to go near her either way.
Soon more came, including Nate who quickly took over two seats just so he could take another nap, and Yale. "Urizen is not here yet is he?" The students shook their head. "Figured as much. Well it's his choice." All in all it did not seem like there were many duelists from the north region that made it to the national stage. Barely a double dozen, which was not even enough to fill one bus when the company had reserved three. "You know. He did have a point. If he does not see us a friends, why do we?" Ada had given it some thought and found out she did not have all that many 'nice' memories of him. "I just felt bad for him. he won six cards but then lost them because of the incident. He deserves to come with us at least." But soon some officiants from R-Tech arrived to scan the keycards from the present duelists. But then at last a certain someone showed up at the terminal. "Yo!" Urizen walked towards them, still with the same frown on his face. "Dont make this worse, just do what you have to do." He grumbled softly. ".Good enough."
So the handful of duelists got themselves checked in, along with their guests. Not many had taken along friends though. "All on board?" The bus driver asked the crowd once they were all inside, a mixed gathering of cheers and shouts was the answer. "Very well. Next stop: Battle Garden." And so they drove off, into what was for some a part of the country they had never been too before. Along the way the driver gave a short story about how the battle garden was built near the former palace of the old king himself, and now it was a major tourist magnet. When asked if they could duel in there too, he had no answer. During the drive the duelists talked with each other, swapped stories and strategies. Ashworth kept getting interrupted in his sleep, Urizen refused to talk to anyone, and most people just avoided Ramirez. But soon after a few hours they were on the scene. Their bus arrived last, the duelists from the east, south and west regions had been here for a few minutes already. "Well will you look at that." The fun had only just begun.
(To be Continued in Mark 013: Go, Go Destiny Ranger!)
New Cards used by Urizen Artani
Mystic Tomato
Steelswarm Gatekeeper
Steelswarm Sting
Steelswarm Hercules
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Allure of Darkness
Inferno Reckless Summon
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Malevolent Catastrophe
New Cards used by Kein Schiver
Garlandolf, King of Destruction
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Ritual of Destruction
Preparation of the Rites
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Skill Revolution