Chapter 36- The Final Rounds! A Help-oemer-ing hand!

Keith stepped up to face a smirking fiend. "I hope you're ready to meet a painful end to your life." Said the fiend.

"I'm not seeing such a death in my future." Keith said, lazily sliding a card from his pocket and putting it into his deck.

"What's that, Keith?" Flynn said.

"Just a card I wanted to put in but forgot to in all the chaos." Keith said, slotting his deck. "Alright, let's go."

"Let's duel!"

Keith: 4000

Fiend: 4000

"I think I'll lead off." The fiend said, drawing his card. "I set a monster in defense mode, and that shall end my turn."

"Hm… a seemingly weak move." Keith said, drawing a card. "But I don't like it. I smell something fishy in your deck. Like something I haven't even seen before. So we have to play this cautiously. Let's see… I'll summon Shadowslayer (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1400/200) in attack mode! Because all of your monsters are in defense mode, he can attack directly. Go, Shadowslayer, attack directly!"

Keith: 4000

Fiend: 2600

Keith's freakish fiend sliced the fiend across the arm with its hook sword, drawing blood. The fiend staggered back a little, then looked at Keith venomously. "You'll pay for that."

"Maybe." Keith said. "But not as bad as what you'll pay. I set a card facedown and end my turn there."

The fiend drew a card. "Let's see here… I activate my deck's key field card, Future Space War! This card will move us forward almost 40,000 years into the future. There is no peace in the future, there is only war! All the races of the universe send their warriors against the others to find out who is worthy to survive. This card will increase the attack of all of my special space warrior monsters by 500 points!"

" 'Special space warrior monsters'? Such as?" Keith said. "This is a series I've never heard of. Care to elaborate on them?"

"Yes. They are an exceptionally powerful series of cards that has yet to be released to the public. Master's family managed to get a set of them before they were released, and now I wield them. So, say hello to the first instrument of your doom, the mighty human Space Soldier (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 1100/700)! With Future Space War active, he gains 500 points! (1600) Next, I flip my facedown monster, Space Field Medic (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 600/1700)! While he is on the field, at the end of each of my battle phases I regain 500 life points! Furthermore, his strength is increased by 500 points thanks to Space War! (1100)"

"That's still pretty pathetic." Keith said.

"Let's see how pathetic you think it is to hit you! Space Soldier, attack his Slayer!" The soldier leveled a hi-tech looking rifle and fired a beam of red light at Keith's monster, cutting through it and hitting Keith.

Keith: 3800

Fiend: 2600

Keith winced as the laser hit him. "That… was painful."

"It's just the beginning. Space Field Medic, attack him directly!" The medic pulled out a pistol and fired it at Keith.

Keith: 2700

Fiend: 2600

Keith winced as the bullet hit him in one of his old wounds. Blood trickled down his arm. "That's irksome."

"Not as irksome as this will be! I now gain 500 life points…"

Keith: 2700

Fiend: 3100

"…and set a card facedown! This will end my turn."

"Fine." Keith drew a card.

"Just like that he gets put down." Flynn said.

"Yeah, and who knows what else these cards do?" Drake said.

"I don't think he has anything formidable right now." Matt said, cracking his neck again. He had been doing it quite a lot since the fiend had knocked his head off. "But, later… I don't know."

"Let's see…" Keith studied his hand. "Nothing you have is particularly formidable right now… but I don't want to see anything that is. I summon La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) in attack mode!"

"Since there's no better time, I activate my trap card Win Condition- Take and Hold! Here's how it works. This card warps the very nature of the game we're playing. From now, on, Life Points mean nothing. Now this turns into a strategy battle. To win the game now, a player must control three spell cards called "Critical Locations." This card counts as one of them. I can only activate one per turn, and I must play at least one every turn. When a player attacks directly, instead of doing damage they gain control of the card! Get it?"

"Sort of." Keith said. "Basically, whoever can get the three cards wins. You have to attack directly to get the cards. Once you control all three, you win."

"Interesting. A new strategy kind of game." Flynn said. "At least we know that Keith is good at strategy."

"La Jinn, attack the Space Soldier!" Keith said.

"Hm. I take no damage because of my Win Condition card. Are you done?"

"I set one card. Now I am."

"Good." The fiend drew a card. "This turn, I can't play a Critical Location card due to the effect of my Win Condition card. But I can play a monster to stop you from taking the one I have! I summon the powerful Space Marine (Earth/Warrior, 1900/1700) in attack mode! Destroy his La Jinn!"

Keith grunted as some of the shots from the Marine's rifle tore through La Jinn and hit him. "I activate the trap card Michizure. Now, I can destroy your Marine."

The fiend hissed. "I can't do any damage, but even though life points don't really matter, my medic still gives me 500 points."

Keith: 2700

Fiend: 3600

"To what point and purpose?" Keith said.

"If my Win Condition card gets destroyed, the game goes back to normal." The fiend said. "I wouldn't want to be caught without enough life points!"

"Well, I can at least kill that source." Keith said, drawing. "I'm going to summon Malice Doll of Demise (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1600/1700) in attack mode. Attack his medic!"

"No matter." Said the fiend, shaking off the attack. "He wasn't worth much anyway."

"That's a bit harsh." Keith said. "I set one more card, and that will end my turn."

"Ha!" The fiend drew a card. "Just because you can summon one mediocre monster doesn't mean anything. This turn, I have to play a Critical Location card. But I don't have one in my hand, so I can pull one from my deck and play it." The card stuck out of the fiend's deck and he placed it on the field. "Just one turn, and I'll win! Ha! I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Keith drew. "I have an idea of how to destroy that plan, though. First, I'll summon my Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2200/0) in attack mode. Then, I'll use him to attack your monster!"

"Ha!" The fiend said. "You fell into a trap of sorts! You may have summoned a strong monster, and it has more attack points than my monster has defense, but my Heavy Turret (Earth/Machine/Effect, 200/2100) cannot be destroyed in battle while you have less than 3 monsters or no machine-type monsters! So, you will not get a critical location this turn, and that means you lose next turn, when I play my next Critical Location! And to make matters worse, your Giant Orc is now in defense mode!"

"Is that so?" Keith said. "Because that was only my initial plan to stop you."

"What?!? What do you think you can pull on me?"

"This type of win condition only exists in the future, where it matters. Back here, in this time, it has no bearing. So, what if Future Space War is removed from the field? Let's find out. I activate Mystic Plasma Zone, forcing you to discard Space War. This spell card boosts the power of dark monsters by 500 points and drops their defense by 400. So, Malice Doll now has 2100. And, if my guess is correct, with the departure of Space War, Take and Hold goes as well."

The fiend scowled. "How did you know that?"

"Yeah, how'd he figure that out?" Julie asked. "That's way beyond me!"

"And me." Drake said. "I don't see the connection.

"That's why they consider him the genius and not you." Flynn said.

"True enough."

"Now how are you going to win next turn?" Keith said. "I think I will end my turn, knowing that you can't. And you might want to start watching your life points, as they now matter and will be dropping very soon."

The fiend drew, staring daggers at Keith. "You think you've won because you destroyed Space War, but you're wrong! I activate Escalate Engagement, which allows me to draw two cards provided I have one 'Space' monster on the field. And Heavy Turret is considered as such." The fiend drew two new cards. "Ha! Just what I needed. I play another Future Space War card, getting rid of your Plasma Zone! Now, I remove my Space Marine from my graveyard to meet the summon condition of one of my strongest monsters! I summon the mighty Space Warmachine- Dread Walker (Earth/Machine/Effect, 2700/1900) in attack mode! With Space War on the field, he gains 500 attack! (3200) Attack his Malice Doll!"

Keith: 1100

Fiend: 3600

Keith fell to his knees as the mechanical walker's powerful blast tore apart his Malice Doll and hit him. "This is starting to hurt, despite the fact that it's going according to plan." He swayed to his feet. "Anything else?"

"I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Good… onward." Keith drew his card. "I activate the more classic Pot of Greed to draw two cards." He checked them quickly and flashed a smile so quickly that Drake wasn't sure ever appeared. "Good, good. I'm going to sacrifice my Giant Orc to set a monster in defense mode. Turn end."

"Ha! At the end of your turn, I activate my trap, Win Condition- Annihilate! Now, we must each special summon one monster from our hands to complement our armies. I'll call on a second Space Marine!"

"Hm." Keith checked his cards. "I'll special summon… Newdoria (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1200/800) in defense mode."

"Ha! Think I'm stupid enough to walk into that?" The fiend drew. "I can win this easier! From now on, to summon monsters we must pay 500 life points. Furthermore, there is, again, no more battle damage. Once you are out of monsters, I can begin to attack the cards that you have set. After that, I get to attack your hand cards. The first player to have no cards loses! Savvy?"

"Savvy. Let's see what you've got."

"Fine then! I pay 500 life points to summon another Space Marine in attack mode. Then, I'll use my Dread Walker to attack the monster you set."

Keith smiled. "Thank you for attacking him. You have just unleashed the mighty Helpoemer!"

"The WHAT?!?"

"Helpoemer. When he is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, during the end of your battle phase, one card of your hand is randomly sent to the graveyard."

"Curses… did you think I would play Annihilate?"

"I had a general idea." Keith said. "It was more of I wanted to put a control lock on you. Now, will you attack Newdoria?"

"No! I don't want to lose one of my monsters. I end!"

"Suit yourself. You lose a card from your hand." The fiend glared at Keith and tossed one of his cards away. Keith drew a card.

"This is going well. It's fun! I think I'll set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"It won't save you!" The fiend shouted. It clear that Keith was starting to get on his nerves. "I wanted to watch you squirm! Now, die!" He drew a card. "I normal summon Space Marine Force Commander (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 2400/2000) in attack mode! Since I already have 2 marines on the field, I don't need to tribute for him! He also further boosts my marine's attack by 200 points! That gives them-"

"Hold your breath. I'm using Needle Ceiling to destroy all face-up monsters."

"No!"

"Yeah, that's what I would say, since you only have two cards in your hand and your own win condition is about to kill you. Are you going to do anything?"

"No! I can't."

"Good. Helpoemer will now destroy one card in your hand because you have to pass through the battle phase." The fiend tossed away the only card that held his hopes for another turn of life. Keith drew. "I flip summon Spear Cretin (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 500/500). While he's really a weak monster, since you have no cards on your field except for Space and your hand card, and since Space can't be attacked because it maintains Annihilate, you'll die from one attack. Spear Cretin, destroy the last card in his hand and end the duel!"

Keith's monster stabbed the fiend's last card, and the fiend instantly exploded. Keith smiled and shuffled his deck back together. "Thank you, control tactics."

"Keith, you are an absolute freak of nature." Flynn said. "There's no other duelist that can see that far ahead."

"Yeah. Stop being so smart! You make me feel stupid!" Drake said.

William looked furious. "Come on, they're just mere duelists! You're supposed to be the best! Oh, no matter, just crush the other two! You…" He pointed at one of the fiends, evidently having forgotten their numbers. "Go kill that stupid Drake!"

Author's note: The "space warrior" cards are inspired in part by the game Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, if you wanted to know. Space Soldier is based off the Imperial Guardsmen, the Field Medic is the Space Marine's Apothecary, and the others are pretty straightforward.