Chapter 25: Show Me What You Offer!
Gallus stood proudly, holding up a card he pulled out of his hand. His gaze thought looked of disappointment. His mighty Terrorking Archfiend towered over the five monsters Kiro had set up to oppose him.
"Well Kiro Rinku." Gallus moved the card he was holding so it would slid into the bone structure of the duel disk protruding from his arm. "I had hopped you were going to be the one that finally could release the spirits into the world. I guess we were wrong. I play Graceful Charity. This lets me draw three cards, then discard two of them."
"Wait!" Kiro's hand snapped up, pulling a card from the middle of the cards he was holding. Snapping it up, he showed the face of it to Gallus. "That is a nice try, but I have a monster known as Gravekeeper's Watcher (1000/1000)."
"What does that do?" Gallus asked, watching a pale blue light shoot out from the card and across the field. Crashing into his magic card, it made it feel cold and lifeless in his hand.
"By discarding Gravekeeper's Watcher from my hand I can negate the activation of a card that will make you discard cards from your hand." Kiro explained, sliding the said monster card into his graveyard. "Since you'd discard cards with it, Gravekeeper's Watcher can negate it."
"I see." Gallus said, moving the card into the back of his arm were his graveyard slot was. Looking up, he seemed a bit pleased. Anger still trickled down his eyes, but a small smile did appeared on his lips. "At least he still has some fight in him."
"Kiro did good stopping Graceful Charity." Chao observed from his spot on the roof looking over the duel. "Who knows what Gallus could have pulled with it."
"Does he still have a chance to win?" Kaira questioned, looking worried at Chao. All Chao could do was shrug. Looking down at her hands, Kaira clenched them into a tight fist before looking back up at the green haired boy. "Come on Kiro." She whispered under her breath.
"Terrorking Archfiend, attack his Gravekeeper's Chief now!" Gallus roared, sending his mighty king rushing towards the white robed leader of the Gravekeeper clan. Lifting its sword again, the monster cut the Chief in two like it had so many other monsters before him.
Picking up the card, Kiro slid it into his removed-from-play slot on his white wrist band. Looking up, he watched the deadly monster floating slowly down in front of Gallus. Growling, Kiro had a running hate of this monster. It had stopped him at every turn, destroyed his most powerful monsters', and the damn thing wouldn't die.
"Ok, I end my turn." Gallus grumbled out. Smiling a bit when he saw all but Gravekeeper's Spy vanishing from Kiro's field.
"During your end phase, Necrovalley's Lock and Key sends all specially summoned monsters on my field to the removed-from-play pile." Kiro explained, reaching for his deck. "But during my standby phase I get to special summon one of those monsters to my field. My turn, draw."
Sliding the card off his deck, he looked at its face. Smiling slightly, he saw a very powerful card.
"Secret Spirit Guard-Heruru. With this card, I could do some major damage to him." Kiro thought before grabbing the small pile ejected from his wrist gadget. Fanning out the cards, he decided which one he wanted. "During my standby phase I special summon Gravekeeper's Curse!"
Kiro-100 LP
Gallus-1100 LP
"Dammit! He's just trying to burn me down." Gallus growled watching the curse monster appearing again. With its effect it had just burned through another chunk of his life points.
"I sacrifice my Gravekeeper's Curse in order to summon forth, Secret Spirit Guard-Heruru (2400/1800)." Fading into a beam of black cored light, the Egyptain clad warrior soon became a tall, muscular build monster. His facial designs matched that of Kiro, except the eyes which were two black orbs rammed into the eye sockets. On top of his head was a mat of raven black hair that was wild and untamed, just like Kiro's looked right now. He was adorned with a black robe that covered his body. On the back, a trio of circles sat in the colors of the three demon spirits; black, gray, and blue.
Gallus just laughed. Shrugging slightly, he turned to the side, not worried about the new monster. "So what?" He asked without even looking at Kiro. "Since you didn't sacrifice Gravekeeper Kiro for him, you don't get that effect. And whatever effect he gains with Necrovalley about on the field also is unusable."
"Do you have a point?" Kiro cocked an eyebrow. "I'm using his raw power. Attack his king now!" Kiro demanded, pointing to the heinous monster. Cracking its knuckles, the card version of Heruru began its violent charge across the field towards the demon king. In a finial lunge, Heruru put his fist through the chest of the king demon, causing it to explode into data fragments.
Kiro-100 LP
Gallus-700 LP
"No you don't!" Gallus roared, sliding a card out of his hand and quickly inserting it into his graveyard slot. "Desrook Archfiend (1100/1800) saves my Terrorking Archfiend, just like the last one did." Gallus explained as his monster once again appeared on the field. Growling in displeasure of being destroyed, its eyes burned with revenge against the Heruru based monster.
"I have to end my turn by setting this card face down." Kiro said, sliding one of the three cards in his hand into the white duel palate. Appearing vertically behind his two monsters.
"My turn. Draw!" Gallus yelled, snapping the top card from his deck and holding it far out to his side. Smiling slightly, he felt the soft rain of his card showering down from the heavens upon his body.
Kiro-100 LP
Gallus-1200 LP
"Time for this." Gallus said, sliding the newly drawn card into his hand of cards. Moving his fingers over the top of three he held, he seemed to be pondering if this was the best time to play them. Nodding slightly to himself, he pulled one of the other cards out and slid it into the bone structure protruding from his arm. "Magic card, Falling Down!"
"Falling...Down?" Kiro was more than a little confused. The confused state seemed to become worse when his Secret Spirit Guard-Heruru suddenly began to float across the field. Turning around, it now faced Kiro, anger burning in its face.
"Falling Down is a magic card that only works if I have an Archfiend card on my side of the field." Gallus swayed his arm out towards his Terrorking Archfiend. "I then get to take control of a monster on your side of the field. For this, I'll take 800 points of damage during your standby phases, or...I would."
Kiro stood waiting for Gallus to finish his sentence. When it became obvious he wanted Kiro to ask the most obvious question, he sighed before forming the words. "But what?"
"But you won't last past this turn!" Gallus roared with laughter, pointing to Kiro's Gravekeeper Spy. "Secret Spirit Guard-Heruru, attack Gravekeeper's Spy now!"
Growling in anticipation of battle, the Heruru spirit monster flew across the field. Reaching its former ally, the monster quickly reached to put its fist through it just like it had done to the Terrorking Archfiend not but the turn before.
"Go!" Kiro screamed, stretching his hand out to the set card on his field. Flipping up, Kiro felt a wave of relief flow through his body. The fist stopped, mid-air against a clear barrier. That barrier soon began to spin in a vortex fashion, blowing the monster back to Gallus's field. "Trap card; Negate Attack! This stops all attacks for this turn. So, I'm safe from your attack and I still am in this game." Kiro explained, flashing the said trap card before adding it to his removed from play pile.
"Lucky." Gallus spat out, looking down at his hand before he made his finial call. "I end my move there then."
"About freaking time." Kiro grunted, blood flowing through his veins like mad. Drawing a card, he looked blankly at its face. "Let see, what could I possibly do to him. This card is helpful, maybe latter though. But wait..." Kiro thought as he heard a noise, indicating that Gallus's life points were dropping again.
Kiro-100 LP
Gallus-400 LP
"It has been four turns since I played Card of Demise." Kiro looked down at his hand of three cards. "I almost forgot. Next turn I will have to send all of my hand to the grave." Looking up, it had come to his standby phase. He now got to special summon a monster from his grave. His opponent set at 400 life and the first monster that came to his mind was Gravekeeper's Curse.
If he were to summon Curse, Gallus would lose 500 life and the duel would come to an end. It is a tactic he had never hesitated to use in the past to completely finish the game. The opponent would have absolutely no way to counter such a move.
This time though, he hesitated. He felt a strange pulling at his heart. Something felt weird to him, a new feeling he couldn't describe. He felt that not only did he have to beat Gallus, but he had to prove to him that he was just as good as anyone. Kiro's pride taking over, he pulled a card out of the stack of cards and slapped it down on his duel disk.
"I special summon Gravekeeper's Guard (1000/1900) in face up defense mode for the effect of Necrovalley's Lock and Key." Kiro said, rather monotone this time. "Gallus, I will show you this turn that I am more than just some body. I am the one who is meant to release these spirits into the world again, and I'll start," Kiro held one of the cards in his hand high in the air above his head, "by defeating you."
"Then by all means, show me what you offer to your monsters to allow them to beat me." Gallus proudly encouraged Kiro to show him his best. Waiting patiently for Kiro to finish his move, Gallus felt a wave of happiness sweep over his body.
"I offer myself to the fight. Gravekeeper Kiro (1800/1100)!" Kiro let the card he was holding be whipped down onto the solid light dueling plate. Sparks began to flow off of the card as the monster appeared before Kiro.
It was now that Kiro felt something new. Since he first started these trials he had felt a strong spiritual connection to his monsters, but this time felt different. His vision seem to split, half of it was his own vision looking out over his field and at Gallus, the other half was that of his very own monster. He could feel the normal emotions he was used to feeling while dueling, but also the instinct of his monster. The will of battle, the thrill of the fight.
Kiro was a little more than stunned. For once, he felt what his monsters felt. He had become himself in card form. Although divided, Kiro still could feel the different control of each body. Raising his head, he looked down at the back of himself in monster form, where as he crouched down as his monster, preparing for the battle.
"Gravekeeper Kiro lets me pull Necrovalley from anywhere and play it on the field." Kiro explained, pulling the pile of cards that was ejected from his graveyard out and fanning them out in his hand.
All around them, the demonic arena vanished. Replaced quickly by the large stone walls that felt so much like home to Kiro as well as Kiro's new mind set as his monster. He now felt the rush of power surging through his body.
(Gravekeeper Kiro 2300/1600)(Gravekeeper's Spy 1700/2500)(Gravekeeper's Guard 1500/2400)
"Gravekeeper Kiro, attack Terrorking Archfiend now!" Kiro bellowed, as well as began to pump the legs of his monster. Propelling himself forward, Kiro eased his arm back, sending his fist bursting forward into the face of the hissing behemoth.
It was a new feeling to him, calling his own attack and acting it out in two different bodies. Not only that, but he wanted more than anything to punch that damn beast in the face.
"Gravekeeper Kiro deals you an additional 200 points of damage for every monster that includes Gravekeeper in their name on my field. So not only do you lose 300, but an additional 600 is added to that. You lose Gallus." Kiro commented, felling the pressure of the monster exploding under the right fist of his monster self.
As all the dueling monsters disappeared from the feild, so did the strange sensation Kiro felt with his monster. He now felt like his soul had been snapped fully back into his human body. Kiro didn't know whether to feel sick and dizzy, or relieve that his mind wasn't divided anymore.
Kiro-100 LP
Gallus-0 LP
"Kiro Rinku." Gallus began, sinking to his knees on the floating stone slab. "You passed the test of the Pure White Moon, but only just barley. The tests will only keep getting harder and harder each time." Gallus had to stop, he looked to be very weak all of a sudden.
Kiro felt the stone slab below him begin to slowly sink towards the ground. Although this sinking startled him at first, he remained starting at the tester who was kneeling on the stone slab he was on.
"Kiro Rinku, the next test you must face will be the test of the Warm Orange Moon. You must be prepared. I was only the fourth. Six more tests await you. You must increase you power if you hope to survive to see another sunrise." With the finial words escaping from his lips, Gallus fainted on the slab.
With one swift movement, the stone chunk tilted vertical in the air, dropping the limp body to the ground below. Shifting back to being horizontal, the stone slab then let gravity take over for it as well, slamming down on top of Gallus's body.
Kiro just watched, awestruck as well as sickened from the nasty sight he just witnessed. His stone slab fit back into place in the street, the cracks disappearing into the stone surface as if they had never been broken.
Kaira and Chao came out of the building that they had occupied the roof of for the duel. Slowly, they walked towards the statue like form of Kiro. He stood, just staring down the street with his glossed over eyes.
The robed figures watched with interest as Gallus's lime green fire flickered slightly then extinguished itself. Smoke filling the inside of the orb on the stone pillar. The side of the room was suddenly becoming darker, only six of the ten green fires burned.
"Gallus has lost, just as Andron, Salacia, and Iah before him." One of the robed figures spoke. His voice was higher pitched but carried a dark under tone to it.
"Yes he has." The robed figure, identified as Hachiro, nodded. "Making it my test next. But I wonder, if Kiro suffered so much in his duel with Gallus, does he stand a chance against me?"
"I think that he stands a far better chance than when he first faced Andron." Liat commented from under her robe. She was leaning against her stone pillar and looking around the dwindaling group of figures. Compaired to the other robed figures in the room, Liat was still the smallest and had the most child like voice."What do you think Nori?" She looked over at the robed figure that had just spoken.
"I think he has shown far more potential than I originally gave him credit for. If he can manage to beat Hachiro he'll be half way done with the trials. I think he might just be the one."
"Only time can tell." The figure in the center interrupted. Raising their arms so that they were outstretched to the side, they began to spin their body around clockwise. Their pace was slow and steady. "Kiro Rinku, will you be the one fate selected to give the spirits birth into the world again?"
Katana and Deo stood at a large window looking out at the black sky, enlightened by the light of the moon which was now fading back to its original color. Deo had a very serious look on his face for a second before turning his head and looking up at Katana.
"He won didn't he?" He asked, getting a hesitant nod from her.
"I think so."
"What if he didn't?"
"I guess we'll find out soon enough." She hadn't taken her eyes off of the moon that sat above the city. " Demons being released. Is this a gift like Kiro sees it, or a curse on humanity? There must be some reason that this is happening, but is it a good or bad reason for man kind?"
Deo, noticing that Katana was deep in thought, stopped asking questions. Turning he walked away from the window and stretched out on the floor where he had slept the night before. Curling up, he rolled on his side. He focused his eye on the leg of the couch that Kaira had laid on.
Soon his thoughts were on the lines and designs carved into the wooden leg. Tracing them with his eyes to keep his mind distracted. Still though, he had to mutter under his breath so that only he could hear: "Kiro..."
Katana stood at the window for a long while before turning and trudging into another room. In the doorway she glanced over to see Deo was curled up on th floor. Assuming he was asleep, she moved into the next room. At the far end of the room, she pushed open a swinging door into a white kitchen area.
Michi and Izumi were talking, each sitting in a chair on the opposite sides of a small, round, white table. They both stopped talking and looked up when Katana entered the room. Looking up at her, the entire group remained silent until Katana set down at the table with the girls.
"What happened, do you know?" Izumi asked, eager to find out the result.
"I don't know yet." Katana replied, her head bowed towards the table. "But I want to find out."
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Crazy how everything came out. Gallus lost, but Kiro had to do it by proving something to him. But what will happen next? Keep your eyes peeled for my next update!
Hey everyone. Happy New Years! This is my last update of this year, so next time you be hearing from me is next year. Have a nice day!
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