So far, things were looking rather good as Matt had dealt the first blow to Taylor. But there was no way the woman would let this slide as she smirked and said, "Not bad, but let's see you counter this."
She then activated a spell called 'Lightning Vortex' as a grey zombie with bones for armour appeared. This was 'Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World' and he had an attack power of sixteen hundred. But it seemed like this would not matter as Taylor had her whip destroy him. In exchange for the card, bolts of lightning rained down from the sky and struck Blade Skater, the woman passing out and sinking into the ground.
"Too bad you couldn't have done that before your battle phase," Matt said with a shrug as Taylor grinned and added, "Well, it does prevent me from attacking you directly, but I still think it was worth it."
And at that exact moment, Beiige returned to the field as Taylor explained, "Oh, did I tell you? When Beiige is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can special summon him to the field. Now I got two monsters," Beiige's attack power rising to nineteen hundred thanks to the field spell.
Matt's turn started up as he drew his next card and let out a disappointed sigh. He had managed such a good start and yet it seemed everything had come crashing down. Even so, the monster he had drawn at least had a useful effect and thus, he summoned it in defence mode.
Scarlet smirked and said, "I had a feeling that stunt you pulled last turn was all you had. Now all you can do is defend," Matt all the while thinking, 'Whatever. At least this monster will keep one of yours at bay.'
When Taylor drew her next card, she ignored it and seemed fixated on one monster in particular. It was a level seven monster, and now that she had two monsters, she could summon it with ease. And needless to say, that was exactly what she did.
She had her mech strike both of her monsters down with its whip as they vanished in a puff of smoke. And with that, a fearsome beast emerged, a black demon with large bull horns clad in silver armour. With a large sceptre in hand, this monster was 'Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World' and he had an attack power of twenty-five hundred. Though thanks to The Gates of Dark World, his power rose to twenty-eight hundred.
Matt should have been terrified, but deep down, he was slightly relieved that Taylor had done this. However, she figured he must have been scared out of his mind as she smirked and said, "You know what's really amazing? This isn't even my strongest monster."
The demon pointed his sceptre at the defending monster and revealed it to be a purple lizard with black stripes and a pair of antennae. This was 'Electric Lizard' and he only had a defence power of eight hundred.
Even so, Matt did not seem too intimidated as when the lizard was destroyed, its body let loose a burst of electricity. This covered Reign-Beaux as his body was frozen in place.
"What just happened?" Taylor asked as Matt grinned and explained, "When Electric Lizard is destroyed by a monster that isn't a zombie, the monster is paralysed and can't attack on the next turn. In other words, your monster's a sitting duck for the time being."
Taylor rolled her eyes and said, "So you've stalled me a bit. Big deal. I doubt you have anything that can stand up to this bad boy."
When Matt drew his next card, his eyes went wide at what he had drawn. It was a monster known as 'Beast of Talwar' and had an attack power of twenty-four hundred. Sure, that was not enough to defeat Reign-Beaux, but he had an equip card that would make it possible. However, he needed another monster to make this work and as such, he summoned a monster from his hand in defence mode and hoped that Taylor would not have a monster strong enough to destroy it.
It seemed luck was on her side as not only was Taylor's next card not a monster, but the one she did have in her hand was unbelievably weak. As such, she summoned her monster in defence mode and set a card face-down in her spell zone thus ending her turn.
Matt's eyes widened as he asked, "Wait, that's it?" the purple-haired woman sighing, "Yeah, you pretty much rendered me useless for this turn. Don't act so head-strong. I doubt whatever you have can possibly defeat my Reign-Beaux."
Before Matt drew his next card, he blinked and sighed, "I'm sorry, that name is really hard to take seriously. It sounds like 'rainbow'!" Taylor remarking, "For your information, all dark world monsters are named after colours! Reign-Beaux is the second-strongest, so his name represents seven colours."
"Wait, how is 'snow' a colour?" Matt asked as Taylor snapped, "JUST START YOUR TURN ALREADY!"
"Alright, alright," the orange-haired man replied as he drew his next card. Now he was ready to initiate his plan as his face-down card was revealed to be a rhino statue named 'Barrier Statue of The Drought'. His mech used its katana to slice the statue in half as he vanished in a cloud of smoke, soon to be replaced by Beast of Talwar.
This demon stood tall with his green skin, bat wings and twin sabres. However, Taylor did not look the least bit intimidated as she smirked and said tauntingly, "So you can destroy my defence monster more easily. Big deal."
However, she stopped herself when she remembered something Angela had told her. Normally when a duellist summons a weaker monster in attack mode, it means he has something up his sleeve, and Matt had just that as he equipped his beast with 'Lucky Iron Axe'. Since he already had two sabres, he simply replaced one of them with the axe as his attack power rose to twenty-nine hundred, Taylor's eyes and mouth wide open as she could not believe what she was seeing.
"Okay, where was this in our last duel!?" she exclaimed, "Seriously, I thought you were some pathetic loser with nothing but weak cards in his deck!"
"Yeah, you shouldn't have underestimated me," the man remarked as his beast charged toward Reign-Beaux and delivered an X-shaped slash to his mid section. His armour cracked open as blood spewed out, the demon falling on his back and sinking into the ground.
Taylor gritted her teeth in frustration as the demon struck her mech, bringing her vitality down to twenty-three hundred. Taylor responded with her trap, a card known as 'The Transmigration Prophecy' and thus she was able to return two cards from her graveyard to her hand, and she chose to bring back Snoww and Beiige. Even so, things had certainly taken a turn for the better as Matt's turn came to a close.
Things seemed to at least look up to a certain degree when Taylor drew her next card. A wicked grin formed on her face as she said, "Well, you certainly caught me off-guard, but now this duel is back in my favour!"
On that note, the woman activated a spell called 'Offerings of the Doomed' as Matt's eyes widened. Beast of Talwar seemed possessed as his eyes widened, the demon's body exploding. The purple-haired woman then laughed and exclaimed, "Offerings of the Doomed destroys any monster I want! The only downside is that I skip my next draw phase, but that's a small price to pay!"
It seemed so as she summoned Snoww to the field and revealed her defending monster to be a grey lizard covered in red armour. His name was 'Scarr, Scout of Dark World' and he had an attack power of five hundred. Though it was not much, it hardly mattered when Taylor's opponent had nothing to defend himself with.
However, Matt blinked and asked, "Hold on, you mean to tell me 'scar' is a colour now?" Taylor groaning, "It takes a lot more understanding than your feeble brain can comprehend! Besides, you're in no position to be mocking my deck!"
Truer words could not have been spoken as Snoww sent a blast of magic into Matt's mech, bringing his vitality down to nine hundred. Scarr then leapt at his mech and struck it down the middle as his vitality was reduced to one hundred. All Taylor had to do was damage him once and it would be over.
"Well, whatcha gonna do now?" Taylor asked with a cute grin, "Your powerhouse is gone, I have two monsters and you have barely enough vitality to possibly survive another attack. You can likely defeat my Scarr and damage me that way, but that's not much of an improvement, now, is it? You might as well just quit."
Matt took a deep breath and replied, "Well, I can't deny that things are certainly looking bad for me. But even so, I'm not quitting. I'll see this duel to the very end."
Taylor shrugged and replied, "Well, if you don't mind having your mech blown up, be my guest."
The orange-haired man took a deep breath as he expected his next card would be of no help to him. However, what he drew next was actually a decent card, namely is 'Sasuke Samurai Number Four'. Matt's eyes went wide, but his excitement quickly died when he remembered what happened the last time he used this monster.
He tried to destroy one of Drake's monsters with it but ended up calling the wrong side of the coin. As a result, Sasuke Samurai was destroyed and Matt was easy pickings. But right now, he would lose either way and as such, he decided to take a chance.
With that in mind, the man summoned the yellow robot as he pointed his spear forward, Taylor laughing and exclaiming, "You are really desperate to deliver one final blow to me, aren't you!?" then wiping a tear, she added, "Well, go ahead. You did surprise me earlier, so you've earned it."
"Well, if you insist," Matt replied with a shrug as the samurai charged at Scarr and pierced the lizard's armour with his spear. Scarr fell hard on his back and sank into the ground as Sasuke jabbed his spear into Taylor's mech, bringing her vitality down to nineteen hundred.
"Sweet, now I can use his effect, not that I need it," the woman said with a grin as she added 'Zure, Knight of Dark World' to her hand.
With Matt's turn at an end, the man took a deep breath and thought, 'Alright, let's hope I can at least get results from this,' as Taylor chose not to lay down any cards from her hand. Seeing as Snoww as more than powerful enough to finish the job, she figured summoning another monster would be pointless.
However, when the Snoww sent a blast of magic toward Sasuke, his spear managed to hold off the attack as a big coin formed in the hand of Matt's mech. Taylor's eyes went wide as Matt explained, "Probably should have mentioned this sooner. When Sasuke Samurai Number Four is in battle, I flip a coin during the damage step. If I call it right and the monster has a higher attack power, both monsters are destroyed and no damage is applied. You should have summoned another monster."
Taylor's eye twitched as the coin was flipped, Matt exclaiming, "Come on heads!" and unlike last time, the coin landed on that exact side this time and with that, Sasuke's body blew up after taking in the magic strike while the rest bounced off of his spearhead and struck Snoww, the demon falling on her back and sinking into the ground.
Matt breathed a sigh of relief as Taylor gritted her teeth and exclaimed, "Whatever! You still can't possibly stand up to this!" the woman summoning Zure as the demonic knight stood tall and had his attack risen to twenty-one hundred.
Even if she had not summoned the more powerful monster, Matt was still certain that whatever he drew next would not be enough. He was just happy to have lasted this long as he drew his next card. But once again he was surprised by his incredible luck as the card he had drawn was 'Monster Reborn'.
With that in mind, the man grinned and exclaimed, "I must be the luckiest man alive right now! Get a load of this!" the man activating his spell and using it to revive Beast of Talwar.
"No..." Taylor uttered, her eyes twitching as the demon charged at Zure. The knight attempted to fight back with his sword only for the demon to slice it in half with one sabre and stab him through the chest with the other.
As Zure fell on his back and decayed into nothing, Beast of Talwar struck Taylor's mech for the second time, her vitality now reduced to sixteen hundred. And even with her field spell, there was no way she could possibly respond to this.
Matt could have used this chance to summon the other monster in his hand and add to the damage, but now that he stood a chance, he could not risk being attacked, especially when said monster only had five hundred attack points. As such, he summoned the monster in defence mode and ended his turn.
Now Taylor was the one who was scared. What could she possibly do? Beiige was the only monster she had right now and he was nowhere near strong enough to defeat Beast of Talwar. But even so, she knew there were at least a few cards in her deck that could help her and simply hoped she would draw at least one of those.
And her luck could not have been any better as her eyes sparkled at the sight of her next card. Now her victory was guaranteed, especially since Matt had nothing to counter this with.
"Well, you managed to delay the inevitable, but now your time has come," the woman activating a spell called 'Mind Control'.
Matt was actually familiar with this card as he uttered, "Oh no," Taylor's vitality dropping to eight hundred as Beast of Talwar clutched onto his head and let out a loud cry of agony. After a few seconds, his eyes turned red as he flew over to the purple-haired woman's side of the field.
It was official. This duel was over as Taylor summoned Beiige and had the possessed beast attack attack Matt's defending monster. This monster was a short robotic samurai with three blue spikes on his head to represent a ponytail and a dagger in his hand. This was the only 'Sasuke Samurai' that did not have a number.
Since his defence was a meagre eight hundred, he was easy pickings as Beast of Talwar sliced him in two. And Beiige put an end to the duel by jabbing his spear into Matt's mech, bringing his vitality down to zero.
The orange-haired man let out a sigh and said, "Well, at least I came close this time," as he propelled himself out of his seat and flew away from the area.
Taylor wiped sweat off of her forehead and groaned, "Damn, that should not have been so hard!" before shrugging and sighing, "Oh well, I guess it does make for a more satisfying victory."
With that, the woman picked up the metal head with a proud grin on her face. She had succeeded in yet another mission and happily flew back toward the base.
Meanwhile, Damien was looking around the desert, not knowing that Drake was also in that area. Though like last time when he and Scarlet had to find a foot here, it was not so easy. For all he knew, the part could be in another pyramid, and if that was the case, picking it up would be a challenge in and of itself.
Regardless, the man carried on but stayed high above the ground to avoid the giant scorpions crawling around and the possible sand worm attack. At least this way, the only animals he had to worry about were vultures and they only ate whatever was dead.
Drake was also looking around as he could not have been more thankful for air conditioning. Of all the locations, Gem Desert was his least favourite. He just knew that without his mech, he would likely die in this place even if the animals did not get to him.
At this moment, his metal detector picked up on something buried beneath the sand nearby. With that in mind, the blue-haired man flew over to a particular spot and had his mech clear the sand away, revealing the torso he had been looking for.
However, as his sights were focused on the metal body, he had failed to notice Damien's mech flying nearby. The black-haired man's eyes widened as he noticed the torso and who stood before it. Sure, he may have only fought Drake once, but he would never forget the mech's design.
With this in mind, the man took a deep breath and thought, 'That's right, I actually know how to use my deck now. I may actually be able to beat him.'
The man flew over to the black mech as Drake looked up, but it was too late as Damien had already hit the button to initiate a duel. But while Damien may have known he was facing Drake, the blue-haired man did not realize who he was face-to-face with and as such, he simply saw this as another Crystal City soldier to deal with.
However, he was a tad alarmed by the fact that his opponent had four thousand vitality, but even so, this hardly meant a thing to him as he waited for his opponent to make the first move. Damien, all the while, had his eyes narrowed as he thought, 'My results against you last time may have been a fluke, but this time, I'm good enough to beat you.'
With that in mind, the man drew six cards and looked over his hand closely. Now that he knew the rules, he would not make the same amateurish mistakes he made the first time they fought.
The man placed a card face-down in his spell zone and summoned a monster in defence mode. This was all he could do for the time being and he was fine with that.
Drake said nothing as he drew a sixth card of his own. While the monsters in his hand were not particularly strong, he saw one particular monster he could make good use of. Seeing this, he set one card face-down in his spell zone and summoned cyborg with no flesh but rather exposed organs. This monster was 'Jinzo Number Seven' and he had an attack power of five hundred.
Damien blinked and thought, 'That's all he has? Why's he playing such a weak monster? I know he has better cards than this.'
However, all became clear when the cyborg raced forward and leapt over Damien's defending monster. He then sent a hard punch into the red mech as its vitality dropped to thirty-five hundred, Jinzo leaping back to his side of the field.
"Before you say anything, I know I'm taking a big risk with this," Drake stated, "But I know I have the vitality to spare, so don't you worry about me."
Damien narrowed his eyelids and thought, 'Over-confident much? You may have damaged my mech, but you've left yourself vulnerable.'
The man then drew his next card and felt relieved. As if Drake's move had not left him vulnerable enough, Damien had just drawn 'Flame Cerebrus'. With that in mind, the black-haired man wasted no time having his mech gun down his defending monster as he replaced it with the three-headed dog.
Damien actually had another plan as he figured he could deal more damage by bringing back the monster he had used as a sacrifice. As such, he activated 'Monster Reborn', but just as this was about to work, Drake revealed his trap card.
Damien blinked as the trap was 'Dark Deal', Drake explaining, "Now at the cost of one thousand vitality, the effect of your spell changes to you discarding one card from your hand," the black-haired man frowning and picking a card he figured he would not use.
Even so, Damien's chances were certainly looking up as Drake's vitality dropped to four thousand, Damien stating, "By the way, summoning this monster wasn't the only thing I was planning on doing this turn."
Drake's eyes went wide as Damien proceeded to activate 'Polymerization'. A humanoid plant with buds representing its torso, hands and head took form. This was 'Elemental Hero Knospe'.
But this monster would not remain on the field for long as both he and Flame Cerebrus merged together as a light shone briefly. Once the light faded, a new monster had taken form. This was a coal-black man clad in orange and yellow armour named 'Elemental Hero Nova Master' and he had an attack power of twenty-six hundred.
"I see, so you were going to hit me with both your sacrificial monster and your fusion monster," Drake stated, "Not a bad strategy."
However, he was rather irritated now as the hero charged at Jinzo, his hand bursting into flame. He then proceeded to punch the cyborg hard and send him flying into Drake's mech, bringing his vitality down to nineteen hundred.
'Wow, either I've gotten much better or he's gotten worse,' Damien thought as Drake took a deep breath. He knew this was coming, but he had not counted on his opponent summoning someone so powerful so soon.