Crusade of the Thousand II: New Testament

by Medigo

They survived the games of death and the terror of Orichalcos and became legends in their own time. Yet their adventures left many mysteries unsolved, and a new darkness has come to claim the biggest mystery of all... The Pharaoh's soul.

21. Full Metal Revenge

New Testament 021: Full Metal Revenge

"What was that?" In the lower levels of Marcus's studio, where the duelists were holding out, the efefcts of the topside blasts were finally heard. It echoed through the shafts. "Sounded like a bomb going off. That is not a part of the show right?" Prospero was the most concerned, he was not used to dealing with weird or dangerous situations. "It is not." Lydia walked over to the main computer. "I am gonna check the Camera feed, see whats going on.." Just then the doors behind them were sealed. "What the?" Jackson tried to open them by force. "Why are we locked in?" It did not work. "For good reason. Look at this." She turned on the main screen which showed the scene. A dueling soldier standing across a confused Colin. "So that was where he went, when he said he went to look for the bath-room. We have to help him!" William looked at the controls. "Which one of these open the doors?" He asked Lydia. "You don't get it, do you? This is an emergency procedure, we can not leave. If we do, this place could be revealed to the whole world."

"I know you?" Colin looked again. To him it did not matter what was spoken, all soldiers looked the same to him. "You do. I was one of the survivors of the assault against that 'thing'. The monster Tum'aga released." He glared at Marcus again. "He helped, I know he did. But you.. you are in the way." He looked at his own arm. "However you can help me, boy. You can help Simmons too if you wish." He pointed the device at the seer. "Duel me, in the way your kind does. Put his life on the line, the same way you put ours." Sairve grumbled. "I do not have a disk with me." He did not want to fight for the sake of that bastard up there. "Take one of the contestants, they dropped many." The soldier replied. "Damnit, why do you want this?" He moved for the closet disk. "To show you what this man does for a living, to show everyone that watches this show of his. You see, what I hold in my hands is his product: both deck and machine." Colin finally put the tool on his wrist and inserted the deck. "Tsk. Then, I will face you. As you are making me curious."

Colins LP: 8000 Soldiers LP: 8000

"However." The soldier started by drawing six cards. "None of you move or touch the cameras, this will be the match England sees. Do not tempt fate." He placed two cards facedown, one of them a monster. "I see. Those craters.." Colin finally noticed the damage he had done. "Your work, yet I do not see grenades on that suit of yours." He drew his cards as well. "I wonder though, what type of deck you run." He summoned the Hunted Agent(2200/0) in attack mode, its effect allowed the opponent to special summon a monster from their hand as well. "Show me." And the opponent complied, he summoned a machine-like monster from his hand, a Reflect Bounder(1700/1000). "Ah the card that reflects all attacks. No sense in attacking that." Marcus smirked. "Yes thanks for the tip. But I can do this alone, thanks." The Agent drew his gun. "I will attack that facedown card!" The pistol shot straight through a strange sphere with claws(1400/1400). "Oh. I get it, you like explosives..." What was killed was the Bomb, Blaster Sphere.

"..." It did not die, instead it attached itself to the Hunted. "Oh no. Next turn it will go off and inflict 2200 damage to him." One of the other judges gasped. "I am not in the mood for blowing stuff up. So let me get rid of this. I play two spell cards: Level Award, first." The stars on the Agent card started glowing. "I can change the level of 1 monster on the field, from 1 to 8. I pick the highest!" His monster was now eight stars. "Next, Advance Draw: I can sacrifice one level eight monster, to draw two new cards." And his own Hunter was just right for it. "Farewell to him and your bomb, hello two new cards." The soldier just stared at him. "You of course know some sound strategies, for this game, But correct me if I am wrong, son." He looked at the empty field. "Now you are wide open, for an attack right?" Sairve said nothing, yet his silence told the man enough. "Good. Now I will demonstrate, the power of this disk." He drew his next card. "And also, the true theme that I chose for my revenge. I shall tribute this machine in front of me."

Level Award, Normal Spell
Change the Level of 1 monster on the field to any number of your choice between 0 and 8.

Reflect Bounder left, in its stead came another machine. "Summon Reactor * AI." It looked like a plane-robot(2000/1400) with turrets on it. "Uh oh." Those turrets took aim at Colin. "Direct attack." And he received a hail of bullets. "Gah!" And to his shock, they stung as if they were real, and left visible holes in the floor as well. "You, shot me!" Yet when he inspected again, he saw no wounds, no tears in his clothes. "Now you know the horror of this disk." He again looked at its inventor. "Marcus produced these for the army, for unknown reasons. This device combines the technological the with arcane." Even he was not sure on the specifics. "When it hits matter, it can create small explosions using the energy built up in the holograms. But when it reaches organic matter, it strikes the senses instead. The energy releases into the nerves and stimulates pain according to the shape of the images." Just now it imitated the pain of bullets. "Using this disk and this deck, I have become the perfect dueling soldier. Right Marcus?"

Colins LP: 6000

"Gah." He felt somewhat better, good enough to continue. "Faced worse." He drew again. "I summon a monster, Beastking Barbaros(1900/1200)." However as the beast appeared, the Reactor 'reacted'. "What?"

Without warning, its propellors started revolving. A gust of wind blew against him, taking 800 of his LP away. "Reactor machines respond to their names. When you 'summon' something, It does effect damage to the summoner. But only the first time is counted." The seer was glad to hear the last part at least. "Good. Then I will kill it now. Star Level Shuffle!" Another spell was used, this one switched a monster on the field with one in the grave, if they had the same level. "I send Barbaros away, and I.. pick it back again!" Barbaros was instantly revived, only now it regained some power (3000/1200). "Impressive. Barbaros as a level 8 monster can be normal summoned without tributes, in which case its normal attack is reduced. Yet he avoided that by summoning him twice." And Barbaros roared as it lunged towards AI.

Colins LP: 5200

"Naïve!" Yet the propellors released another windburst, which pushed his beast back. "Hey!" His attack was negated. "There is another effect, you missed it. Summon Reactor can negate the first attack during a turn as well, if a monster was summoned that turn." So he had failed to destroy the reactor. "Damn it, I set a trap end my turn." The soldier nodded and drew. "But that is a lot of power for a kid. Perhaps too much." He selected one monster in his hand. "Dive Bomb, I discard this." From above a claw appeared, holding a bomb. "Uh oh." The bomb was dropped on the Beastking, sending smoke everywhere. "What did it do?" Colin coughed. When it cleared he saw that Barbaros was weaker again (1200/3000). But so was the Reactor(1400/2000). "That diving bomb switched their attack and defense values?"

Dive Bomb, 1/0/0 Dark/Machine
Send this card from your hand to the graveyard. Switch the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field until the end phase of this turn.
If a monster is destroyed by battle while this effect is active, all monsters affected by this effect have their ATK and DEF return to normal.

"And now I will strike with another creation of that man. I normal summon Black Salvo." A black bomb(100/1100) appeared on the field. "When normal summoned, his tuner monster will revive one lv4-dark machine." The Bomb threw several smaller bombs at the ground, which exploded and brought Blast Sphere back to life. "Like that thing. Wait... Tuner monster?" The soldier nodded. "Yes, now it is time for a Synchro summon, for a level 7 monster!" He tuned the Bomber with the Sphere, level 3 with level 4. "Dark Strike Fighter, to me!" From the extra deck came another plane-like machine, a redbrown bomber-plane machine (2600/1800). "It attacks!" The Synchro extended its hand towards Barbaros. "No I do not want to experience another round of specialdiskfun. Negate Attack!" Colin flipped his counter trap, to end the battle phase and stopping the Striker "Then I will strike with effect damage, I tribute Summon Reactor!" The seer gasped, AI went down in flames. And those flames came straight at him. "Gaaaah!!!"

Colins LP: 4200

"Dark Strike Fighter sacrifices a monster on the field, and burns the enemy for 200 times the level of that monster." He explained, so it did 1000 damage for the Reactors five levels. "Grrr. Now you are making me mad, and I still do not get what I have to do with all of this." His turn came again, and he immediately entered his battle phase. "Destroy the Synchro!" Barbaros raised his own claws against the Synchro. "You shall not reach me." Surprisingly, he flipped his own Negate Attack to block the Beastking. "And I see your memory needs a jolt, boy. Unlike you I still recall the finest details of 'doomsday'."

"My name is Private Conroy, enlisted in the US Royal Marines." He did a formal salute as he said this. "My fleet was sent to deal with the foreighn threat, the one you called 'Orichalcos'. But.." His hand trembled and he closed it into a fist. "Many lives were taken, including my entire squad." He suddenly pointed at Colin. "And you..I know your face. Not just because you were one of the seven that calls himself the hero of that day, not just because for some reason the monster was brought down your way. The way that cheapened all deaths and removed our purpose!" He referred to the card game itself, pounding his disk. "But you, I had to guard you, all of you. Stand on the sidelines, stay on the beach. I could have died along with my comrades, but you got in the way!" And now he knew. "That is what this is all about? You're sad because you did not get to go down fighting?" That did not sound like something Sairve would do. "That is just a part of it. I had to keep so much bottled up. But I feel the whole world should know why my friends died!"

Unexpectedly he released another energy blast from the disk, which destroyed another seat. "Now quit stalling, my demonstration will not end until I finish you." It was not his turn yet. "Fine fine, you want some fun? Here!" He tributed Barbaros for the level 7 card: Fog King(0/0). It could be normal summoned with 1 or no tributes. "This monster inherits the attack of its tributes(3000/0), and it also prevents the opponent from tributing monsters!" The misty swordman thus blocked Dark Strike Fighters burning powers. "Tsk. You win time, but nothing will be able to use it. The more we wait, the more the world sees." He glared at the cameras. "My turn!" In his turn he summoned a new machine, a red dragonlike bomber. "Spell Reactor * AID(1200/900)" Yet he could not attack or use any effects. "I switch the Synchro Bomber to defense mode, and I set another trap." His turn was over. "Let me guess. The first spell I use in my turn, your Reactor will burn me for 800 damage, right?" He got no answer, but he had no spells in his hand anyway.

"I summon a machine too now. The Calculator." It was a small monster, but something happened as it started typing in numbers on its body. "It will calculate the number of stars on my field, and give itself 300 points for each of them. By now you will see that my deck uses levels as well." Besides its own pair, Fog King added seven to the mix, so the endsum was nine(2700/0). "Fog King cut down the Strike Fighter!" The mist knight unsheathed its royal blade and split the Synchro in half. "Calculator, attack the Reactor!" And the mathmachine sent electricity to fry AID. "Trap card!" Conroy responded, but an explosion still ocurred. "Too late?" One of the crewmen thought the trap did not work. "No, there is something in the smog." From theblast came the Spell Reactor, unscathed. "Fake Explosion: when you attack one of my monsters, I can keep it on the field." Though his lifepoints did go down, at last. "And there is a second bonus. This trap also special summons a Summon Reactor from the hand or cemetery."

Conroy's LP: 6500

So the one he tributed earlier, came back on the studio floors. "And now. My turn, I normal summon: Trap Reactor RR." A Third Reactor(800/1800) showed itself, this one resembling a green WW2 bomber. "Traps too now?" That did not sound good. Even though both were weaker then Fog King and the Calculator. "Something is up, right? Three monsters that fit each other perfectly, like certaoin other combos." Conroy smiled briefly. "Correct. When RR and AID are on the field, the third and final effect of AI ignites!" The three machines all flew up to the ceiling, joining together in a bright light. "Sending itself and those two to the grave, you will get a new monster, you can spell it out: AIRRAID!" And the monstrocity descended, the combination of all three Reactors, a plane-machine built like a fortress, armed like a tank(3000/2500).

"Giant Bomber, AIRRAID. It incorporates the powers of the Reactors, but also.." A hidden compartment opened, revealing large missile bombs inside. "Effect activate: Death Drop. I discard a card from my hand to destroy one card on the field!" He discarded a Cannon Soldier, and the Air Raider released its explosives. "Oh crap." Fog King was the target, it went down in a blaze. "Without those stars of his." Meanwhile Calculator powered down again (600/0). "This is it, boy. This monster seals your fate, and the fate of Marcus as well." He gave the accursed man one final look. "I will make you confess, and then I will take your life along with my own. I will join my brethren in the next world, and you will finally face your true hell. Prepare yourself, Marcus Simmons!" The soldier shouted at him. "Heh." Who could only chuckle.

(To be Continued in New Testament 022: My Condolences)

Cards used by Private Conroy
Reflect Bounder
Blast Sphere
Summon Reactor * AI
Dive Bomb (+)
Black Salvo
Dark Strike Fighter
Spell Reactor * AID
Trap Reactor * RR
Giant Bomber * AIRRAID

-
Negate Attack
Fake Explosion

New Cards used by Colin Sairve
Level Award (++)
Advance Draw

(+) Based on the card used by Bommer in YGO 5D
(++) Based on the spell used by Tenma in YGO R

Editors Note: Yes I used AIRRAID instead of SKYFIRE, because it just sounds better to me