Wild cards
Chapter 28

"Ladies and Gentleman, this is it. The duel you've all been waiting for."

The announcer spoke with great energy. The crowd murmured excitedly up in the gallery. The day had been building to this. Most were on the edge of their seats.

Down on the field, the mood was more subdued.

Harry stood facing his opponent while the announcer went on and on, building the crowd up. When he woke this morning, he hadn't thought by the end of the day he'd be standing here. Within feet of the man responsible for nearly getting him killed.

There was always the chance he was wrong of course. He knew that, but strongly suspected it wasn't the case. All the clues, every hint he'd stumbled on throughout the day led him to this man. The thug said the boss was here. He called off Lobo like it was nothing, and Lobo responded, like it wasn't the first time. Even Isolda's remarks about him cheating supported the hypothesis.

It was obvious why he was here. Were he in the other mans position he'd be taking matters into his own hands as well. First his delivery man loses it then his minions fail to retrieve it. How aggravating.

He could almost see the strategy. Work as many of his men as far up in the tournament as possible, all the way to the final two if possible. Then take it. Lobo probably would have thrown the match had he won. But Harry won, and Harry wasn't going to throw anything.

This left him to wonder. If he did win, what would this man do? This man, who'd already sent vicious killers to retrieve his prize. This man, who stood before him idly flipping through his cards. This man, who was likely some sort of evil crime boss. What would he do?

"And so, without further ado" the announcer said, for the third time, "I give you, Mr. Angelo Provolone, versus Mr. Harry Potter."

The sound of the crowd could be heard even through the see-through walls of the gallery. Harry had never felt so embarrassed.

"Well, well. Harry Potter in the flesh. Truly an honor."

The Italian's smarmy tone was more than irritating. The bow was a bit overdone too, "I'll confess I've never heard your name Mr. Provolone, yet I feel like I know you somehow."

It may have been a mistake, poking at the dangerous man, but if he noticed the Italian brushed it off, "I just have that sort of face."

Harry resisted a chuckle. He would not like this man, not until he knew he was wrong.

"Gentleman, boards at the ready."

The two raised their boards, a symbolic salute.

"Game! Start!"

The Italian went first, playing defense right off the bat, "Wall golem."

Harry didn't know what a golem was, but he couldn't deny it looked like a wall. Red brick specifically. The eye holes were the only thing giving away that it wasn't just an unfinished piece of wall.

A 1000 D 1800

Two face down cards and it was Harry's turn. He had nothing that could combat the wall in defense mode and nothing to change it so he set up his own defense.

"Lava Rat."

A 200 D 1800

Angelo drew then sacrificed his Wall Golem to summon, "Eternium Shield!"

It was a massive thing, even bigger than the Wall golem had been and beautifully polished to a gleaming shine.

A 0 D 3000

No way was he getting past that. Not yet anyway, Harry thought as he drew his card and summoned his next monster.

"Fire bat in attack mode."

A 700 D 300

The Fire bat wouldn't get him past the shield, nor would the card he lay face down. Those were meant for what came next.

"I summon Sellsword lancer."

He could have been mistaken for a knight if not for his shabby armor. The lance at least was in good repair and the horse looked healthy.

A 1400 D 1300

"Sellsword lancer, attack Fire bat!"

The bat never had a chance. But then, it was never meant to.

"I activate Fire swarm. Whenever a Fire bat is destroyed in battle I can special summon another Fire bat or Fire bat swarm from my deck or hand."

Fire swarm was the only way he could summon Fire bat swarm. Given the attack power of the swarm, one bat and 700 life points was a small price to pay.

A 2200 D 200

With nothing more to play it was now Harry's turn. He drew then came out with an old favorite.

"Obsidian Gargoyle."

A 800 D 800

His stone hound trotted onto the field, but he wasn't done there.

"I activate Fire krill, raising my Fire bat swarm's attack by 200" because why not, "Now, attack Sellsword lancer!"

As one the swarm descended on the horseman.

"Activate, Canceled contract, returning half my lost life points."

Not a bad move, Harry thought as the swarm finished their work and returned to his side of the field.

"My move" said the Italian, "I activate the magic card New contract, allowing me to special summon any Sellsword from my hand or deck." One quick deck search later, "I summon Sellsword Rogue in attack mode."

The shifty looking man with the wicked curved blade strutted onto the field. Casually he leaned against the massive Eternium Shield with a cocksure grin aimed right at Harry.

A 300 D 200

Harry didn't know what the fool was grinning at, till Angelo played his next card, "Ring of Dark Magnetism."

A shadowy aura surrounded the shield and all Harry's monsters focused in on it, "Ring of Dark Magnetism lowers my monsters defense by 500 points and makes it the sole target of attack in battle."

It was like Dung's Obnoxious Aura, only attached to a much stronger monster. Even his Fire bat swarm, his strongest monster on the field, couldn't punch through that. He'd need to find something that could.

"I activate Sellsword Rogue's effect which lets me attack him attack you directly."

Harry flinched as the phantom slashed and he made an addendum to his earlier thought, he'd need to find something that could, soon.

The Italian wasn't satisfied to whittle away his life points with the rogue hiding behind the shield. He had other sell swords to bolster his forces and attack his monsters. He countered this with stronger monsters.

Flame Harpy hit the field and dodged an attack with her effect. Magdog joined at the cost of his Obsidian Gargoyle, bringing down his enemy's attack for the turn and solidifying his own defense.

The duel was making little progress, traps and magic played on both sides and Harry was forced to play defense with attack focused monsters. A certain dinosaur came into his hand, but he needed one other card to be able to summon it.

Then Storm of the Century was drawn, and the entire battle shifted. The Italian lost 800 points in a single play followed by two monsters, the sneaky rogue among them.

The Eternium Shield remained, continuing to act as a defense against direct attacks and that was the only thing keeping harry from railroading Angelo with his pyro monsters.

Lost in his elation he missed the Italian's expression. It was an expression he would have recognized. Uncle Vernon had worn it just before he'd packed them all into the car barely a week earlier.

"I must say Harry, you are quite the duelist" Angelo said.

"Yeah, I guess" he said humbly whilst grinning from ear to ear.

"If this goes on you just might beat me."

I will beat you, Harry thought, while missing all the warning signs his opponent was giving off.

"It's just, the prize, that D jack. I've just gone to so much trouble to get it and now, it's so close, I can almost feel it."

Harry stared at the Italian, finally realizing something was wrong.

"I thought I could do this the fair way but, the odds are no longer in my favor. So, I'm afraid I am forced to change the rules of this game."

The Italian flipped a switch on his duel board and the battling phantoms vanished.

"What's this? Angelo Provolone has deactivated his board. Has he willingly forfeit the match?"

The announcer soon had his answer when Angelo pulled five glowing stones from his pocket and placed them on his board. The glow erupted into blinding streams of light. Unable to see, Harry could still hear the three words that once again turned his world upside down.

"Chimeric Chaos Dragon!"

The ground shook and the floor cracked as a massive weight pressed down on it. The ceiling magically rose up to accommodate the thing now present, and what a thing.

Five heads mounted on five long necks attached to a single gargantuan body covered in thick gray green scales.

Harry stared up and up and up at the five-headed cocaine fueled nightmare before him. Within the gallery there was the flash of summons, but Harry barely noticed. His entire attention was focused on the five-headed horror towering over him.

How had it come to this?