After weeks of recovery Yusei was finally on his feet again. He awoke beside Akiza, her skin was still glowing. Last night he had promised her that they would try again. He hoped it had worked, because he wasn't sure they'd get another chance.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No, I was waiting for you."

The weather was ghastly outside. The weather forecast predicted that a heavy storm was coming out of nowhere. Yusei imagined that Lucifer had heard about his recovery by now and foreseen what he had resolved to do. He must have decided to set the stage.

"We… should get going. The others will be waiting for us at the Daedalus."

"I'm ready."

Yusei rode through the streets on his runner, but slower than usual. When he heard that it had somehow been miraculously repaired by Leo's trinket he was overjoyed, but his experience with Lucifer had left him uneasy, he would have to deal with this later, right now he had job to do.

"Look at the size of that thing…"

Even from a distance Lucifer's temple was a sight to behold, you couldn't even see the top. As Yusei and Akiza drew closer and closer it only seemed to stretch farther into the sky above. When they reached their destination they made their way through the reporters there and found the others at the bridge that connected Lucifer's temple to the Daedalus.

"Welcome back." said Rally smiling.

"A little premature Rally. I won't really be back until I've knocked Lucifer off his perch… And that battle starts now."

"He's at the top." said Trudge "My boys said the elevator at the foot of the central tower will take you right to him. He offers you to choose whether it's a regular duel or a turbo duel. If you choose the later then you'll race along these insane tracks all over the temple."

Yusei looked over at the temple. The towers were all interlinked and had huge helix spirals tracks along them, save for the central tower where there was a huge vertical drop all the way to the bottom.

"Has anyone challenged him to a turbo duel?"

"Yeah, and Security had to fish them out of the ocean." said Jack.

At that moment lightening came falling from the sky and struck the ocean close to the bridge, too close for comfort. The first few drops of rain followed suit.

"I guess I better get going."

"Yusei, promise me you'll come back safely."

"I will…"

As Yusei rode alone to the foot of the central tower he could hear Leo, Luna, Rally, and others cheering him on.

At that base of the tower Yusei found the elevator just like Trudge had said. As soon as he entered it began to rise to the top. The walls were transparent and he could see that the rain was beginning to pour. He continued to stare outside for about eight minutes.

"How tall is this thing?"

Yusei could now see the tracks that joined the towers together. In some places it was just a big circle, in some there was a figure eight, others there was a loop the loop, etc. Dueling on this thing would probably be like when he, Jack, and Crow went against Goodwin. He imagined that a single blast from Lucifer's Vilespawn Dragon would be enough to knock a person and their runner off the tracks, then they would have a very long time to wave goodbye.

The elevator continued to climb higher and higher, until finally it stopped. The door opened and Yusei exited, taking his runner with him. There was a huge dome above his head, supported only by a few pillars spaced evenly around the edge of the floor. There where no walls, and Yusei cold feel the cold wind that blew through. Far below the lights of New Domino City and the Satellite could be seen.

"Well… Back for more I see."

There was a huge golden throne on the other side with its back to Yusei. It spun around to reveal that Lucifer was sitting in it, smiling like he owned the world.

"Yusei Fudo… Satellite Shooting Star, The Dragon's Head, and husband to The Black Rose… Most people would have just laid down and died like dogs, but you're harder to get rid of than a cockroach on steroids."

"You have something of mine Lucifer… and I aim to take it back."

"Now Yusei… is that anyway to talk to a god?"

"You're not a god, you're just a false idol."

"Strong words coming from the first person to fall before my might… but I shouldn't make fun of you… after all we are brothers… in a way."

"What your creator did and planned to do was wrong… but that doesn't justify the things you've done… I'm here to make it right."

"… You came here to die."

Lucifer arose from his throne a stepped onto the arena that was before him and Yusei.

"Most men would never be able to bounce back after what you've been through, for that I'll humor you. So how do you want this?"

"This time we'll stay in one place." said Yusei activating his duel disk.

"You're still a little shaky from your little bad experience… It matter not the manner in which we do battle, it will have the same result." said Lucifer activating his own duel disk "I've been waiting weeks for a worthy opponent, I hope you won't disappoint me."

"Let's duel!"

All across New Domino City and the Satellite people were glued to their TV screens. Lucifer has been terrorizing the city for weeks now, now with Yusei back in commission, they wanted more than anything to see the so called "god" fall from the heavens.

"Ladies and gentlemen the duel between Yusei Fudo and the monstrous Lucifer is about to begin! This is bound to be the rematch of the century!"

Yusei's friends were far from being the only ones cheering his name.

"As your god, I shall go first mortal." said Lucifer "And I think I'll just play this monster in defense mode. Your turn…"

"Defense mode? When has Lucifer ever started a duel by playing a monster in defense mode?" asked Leo.

"How quickly you forget." said Tanner "Lucifer is all about taking his opponents by surprise. That's how he defeated all of you."

"Any idea what that card is?" asked Tank.

"Knowing Lucifer it could be anything."

From what he remembered of his first duel with Lucifer and from what the others had told him, Yusei could only think of one monster that he would place on the field in defense mode. He also knew that getting rid of it without hurting himself wasn't going to be easy.

"I'll place two cards face down and summon Rockstone Warrior in attack mode!"

(ATK: 1800 DEF: 1600)

"And with that I'll end my turn."

"Without attacking?"

"I'm not stupid Lucifer. It's your Kamikaze Dragon Golem, isn't it?"

Lucifer smiled as he showed Yusei his card.

"And as soon as I attack it both our monsters be destroyed without damage calculation, and then I'll take damage equal to my monster's level times 200. So I won't attack at all this turn."

"Wise decision mortal… but all for naught. First I'll play the spell card Hand Destruction, which forces us both to discard two cards from our hands and draw two new cards… Next I think I'll switch my Kamikaze Dragon Golem to attack mode."

(ATK: 1500 DEF: 2000)

"You were right about my monster's effect Yusei, but you forgot one little detail. It doesn't matter if he's being attacked or if he's the one doing the attacking. Kamikaze Dragon Golem, attack his Rockstone Warrior!"

"I don't think so! I activate my trap card, Scrubbed Raid! This continuous trap card let's me end the battle phase in exchange for giving up one card on my field. So by sending my other face down card to the graveyard, I can stop your golem in its tracks!"

Lucifer was still smiling, it was easy to tell he was enjoying this.

"Well played… But I trust you know you can't hide behind your little trap card forever."

"I don't plan to… I summon Junk Synchron in attack mode!"

(ATK: 1300 DEF: 500)

"Now I'll tune my Junk Synchron to my Rockstone Warrior, in order to synchro summon Junk Archer!"

(ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000)

"You golem will destroy both our monsters if I try to attack it, and it's the only thing standing between me and your life points, so I'll just remove him from play with Junk Archer's effect!"

Junk Archer shot an arrow at Lucifer's golem, a moment latter it disappeared leaving its master wide open.

"Junk Archer, attack Lucifer directly!"

Junk Archer fired a shot that went right through Lucifer, but his life points didn't change in the least.

"I trust Leo bragged to you about his duel against me? Then you should know all about the Miracle Barrier card I sent to the graveyard just now with Hand Destruction's effect. By removing this spell card from play I can reduce all damage I take this turn to 0, and now I get to draw two cards from my deck."

"No one said it was going to be easy."

"Never easy, impossible, when you're fighting a god."

"If you're a god then why have you only destroyed?"

Lucifer didn't understand the question.

"You may be immortal and powerful, but you lack one vital quality found in a god, or at least you haven't shown any signs of having it, the power of creation."

Lucifer laughed.

"Have you not seen this magnificent temple? I have constructed?"

"That's not what I meant. Mortal men can create giant monuments, works of art, and so on out of materials. But only God has the true power of creation, the power to create life, not as your creator made you from then DNA of the others and myself, but to create something out of nothing and give them a soul that makes them unique among all others. Have you done so?"

Lucifer stopped smiling.

"I thought not."

"Don't listen to him Lucifer." said the spirit of the Vilespawn Dragon "He is only a mere mortal, he knows nothing about being a god."

"Enough talk, on with the duel."

"Very well, I'll end my turn with a face down."

Lucifer drew his card.

"Since your turn is over, my golem returns to me."

(ATK: 1500 DEF: 2000)

"Now I'll place one card face down and attack again with my Kamikaze Golem!"

"Then I'll counter again with my Scrubbed Raid!"

"Stopping the battle phase for the price of a single card, you gotta love it!" said Rally.

"Very well, since there are seven cards in my hand I must now discard one. Your turn."

"Junk Archer, remove his monster from play!"

"I think not, I activate the trap card Divine Wrath! By discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the effects of one of your monsters and destroy it!"

Yusei's Junk Archer was struck by lightening.

"Err… there's more than one way to skin a cat… I'll place two cards face down and summon Level Eater in attack mode!"

(ATK: 600 DEF: 0)

"Level Eater, attack his Golem!"

Level Eater flew at Lucifer's monster, the resulting explosion consumed both of them.

"You may have gotten rid of my Golem Yusei Fudo, but you've only hurt yourself."

"Not really. Read the card, Level Eater is only a level one monster."

"WHAT!?!"

(Yusei: 3800)

"And since his level was so low, I only lost a mere 200 life points."

"Err… It is of no matter how quickly I decimate your life points. You've already lost one of your best monsters and I didn't need to pay any of my life points to do it. I'm just getting warmed up."

"And so am I."

"Then this should be interesting."

(To be continued)

New illustration available on deviantart

Lucky number 7?