Chapter 36
Soul World
"Did you feel that?" Valon asked. "I could have sworn I just felt Mai's presence."
"That feeling is far stronger in me, Valon." Joey replied, still trapped in a bubble like Valon. "Something happened to Mai during those moments. Remember, we both saw another bubble start to appear. This meant that another soul was about to join us. But suddenly, that bubble disappeared without warning. It was almost like the seal was shrinking around someone, and that person somehow stopped the seal."
"You think Mai stopped the Seal of Orichalcos from taking her soul? But how?" Valon asked, incredulous. "In case you've forgotten, once your LP hits 0 the seal will shrink around you, and the process cannot be stopped! In your case, the seal shrank around you because you were too badly injured to fight on, and while Mai held on to you and tried to keep you safe, she couldn't stop the seal either!"
"Mai's LP must not have dropped to 0 when the Seal of Orichalcos shrank around her then," Joey said, thinking.
"So what are you saying, Wheeler? She forfeited?" Valon asked. "That's not possible, and you know it. From what you told me about the last moments of your Orichalcos duel with her, it's clear that when you ended up in here with me, Mai would have given anything to bring you back. Now, under normal conditions, you're right. Mai would have forfeited once she knew the situation became too bleak."
"But in this case, I don't see that happening even if she knew that winning simply wasn't possible," Valon continued. "Mai is fighting for you, Wheeler. If she forfeited, she would realize that this would automatically mean that all she fought for would have been for nothing!"
"That's true, Valon. But you don't seem to see what Dartz is capable of." Joey said. "Remember, we both heard how you, Alister, and Rafael ended up working for him when we were still on the field, trapped in the bodies of Dartz's Mirror Knights."
"And I'm still angry that Dartz burned down my orphanage and framed me for it," Valon replied. "But I don't quite see your point, Wheeler."
"Dartz has a way with words that will fuel a person with rage, fury, and despair," Joey answered. "If the seal shrank around Mai and her LP were not at 0, then it must have been Dartz that did something to make Mai think that the situation is hopeless for her. Dartz must have corrupted her into thinking that she could do more for us by surrendering. You and I both know just how corruptive the power of the Orichalcos is, Valon, so I don't blame Mai if she was on the verge of forfeiting due to Dartz's words. If so, it would explain the reason why the Seal of Orichalcos began to shrink around her."
"And the sudden surge the two of us felt? How do you explain that, Wheeler?" Valon asked.
Joey paused for a moment. "Even when Mai was under the Orichalcos influence, I knew deep inside her, she valued our friendship. Don't forget, I brought that out of her during our Orichalcos duel at the cost of my own soul," he replied. "In that duel, I told her I knew she would end up making the right decision. Mai must have remembered that when the seal shrank around her."
"You think that stopped the seal from taking her soul? I know the bond between you and her is strong, Wheeler, but if it did stop the seal from taking Mai's soul, then why didn't it succeed in stopping the seal from taking your soul during your duel with Mai?" Valon asked.
Joey sighed. "Valon, the reality is that no one really knows that. Remember I told you that I pushed her out of the seal at the last moment. Who knows? Maybe our bond could have stopped the seal. But I needed to make sure Mai would be safe in the end and I couldn't take that chance. Even if I knew back then that there was a chance that our bond could stop the seal, I still would have pushed Mai out."
"Why?" Valon asked. "If you knew that then that meant both of you would have been safe!"
"That's true, but even if I knew that there was a chance for Mai and I to both walk out of the seal, the fact remains that there's also a chance that our bond couldn't stop the seal from taking a soul. Now, if that was true and I let Mai continue to hold me in her arms, then there's a chance the seal could have taken both of our souls. Remember, the seal shrank around me, which meant Mai could step out of the seal whenever she wanted to. It's definitely possible that the seal would only take my soul, but I couldn't risk Mai's soul in that gamble. And that is why I pushed her out."
"In short, Valon," Joey continued, "As long as there was any chance of Mai's soul being put at risk during that duel, I would have pushed her out of the seal. I didn't care what happened to myself, as long as Mai's soul remained safe."
"I understand, Wheeler." Valon replied. "Now tell me, would the bond between you and Mai have stopped the seal if you didn't push Mai out?"
Joey sighed. "I honestly don't know, Valon. Remember, when Mai was holding in her arms, the angry red glare in her eyes was gone, but the Seal of Orichalcos remained on her forehead. It very little control over her by that moment, if any at all, but enough of the Orichalcos magic remained inside her for the seal to remain on the field and shrink around me."
"All I can say is this: if there weren't any Orichalcos magic within Mai at that moment and the seal shrank around us, it would greatly increase the chances of preventing the seal from leaving with a soul, but there are still no guarantees." Joey continued.
"So Mai remembered the bond between you and her and it stopped the seal from taking her soul," Valon replied. "That only explains the surge of energy she felt, not the one you felt, Wheeler."
It's because after I purified her and extracted the remaining Orichalcos magic from within her heart, our strengths were fused together, Joey thought. But I can't tell Valon about this yet. I don't want Valon to know that I pushed Mai beyond her dueling limits and reduced her to a state of terrible injuries and total collapse, even though it was for her own good and it was merely an illusion.
"I guess it's because our bond was so strong that I felt her presence even in here, Valon." Joey replied.
"Then why did I feel it?" Valon asked. "Granted it was much smaller than yours, but Mai and I never developed that kind of bond!"
"Valon, when you were under the influence of Dartz, didn't it ever occur to you that the Orichalcos was unable to control as well as it wanted to?" Joey asked.
"What are you talking about, Wheeler?" Valon asked, confused.
"You stopped the duel between me and Mai in the Industrial Illusions building, remember? You were still under the Orichalcos spell back then. If you recall, Rafael tried to stop you from unlocking the seal, but you didn't listen." Joey said.
"Yes," Valon replied. "When you reduced Mai's LP to 450, it meant that one more attack on her LP and she would lose. But now I understand that you were trying to get the duel to end in a draw, preventing the seal from leaving with a soul."
"You didn't know that back then," Joey pointed out. "And neither did Rafael. He didn't try to stop the duel because he believed that a soul will be taken one way or another. But you couldn't stand it if it was Mai's soul that got taken, so you jumped down from the balcony, unlocked the Seal of Orichalcos, and stopped the duel."
"Now, if Orichalcos had full control of you, then you would have continued to watch the duel from the balcony instead. I didn't pay that much attention back then, but now when I look back, I see that you had deep feelings for Mai too." Joey continued. "And because of those feelings, the Orichalcos spell over you got weakened."
"Even if those feelings did weaken the Orichalcos control over me, it still doesn't explain why I felt Mai's presence within me that moment." Valon countered.
"Valon, like I said before, you tried to help Mai. Granted, you were guiding her in the wrong direction, but that's because you were misguided." Joey replied. "You reached for her. It's possible that the surge you felt was Mai reaching back, telling you that she understood that you cared for her, as well as you challenging me to that Orichalcos duel in order to protect her because of your wrong impression of me."
Dartz's Temple
"I'm waiting, Ms. Valentine." Dartz said angrily, folding him arms. "All you have left on the field are two face down cards and your worthless Amazoness Swordswoman, so make a move!"
"My pleasure, Dartz!" Mai shouted. "First, I activate my Pot of Greed magic card, allowing me to draw twice!" As she looked at the cards she drew, her eyes widened.
It's Joey's Flame Swordsman, she thought. This was the last monster on his side of the field before I lost him to the Orichalcos. It was also the last monster on his side of the field before the purification duel ended.
Her thoughts then shifted to the helicopter ride from Kaiba's Alcatraz Duel Tower back to Domino City. It was also the monster Joey chose as his Deckmaster. During that long trip, Joey told me about how he was trapped in the virtual world, fighting the Big 5 once again like Yugi, me, and him did back in Kaiba's virtual reality game.
All he thought about was how to get out of there so he could save me from the Shadow Realm, Mai thought. Her eyes widened. Wait! That's it! Joey told me about how he and Yugi defeated the Big 5 in that duel in the hopes to get Tristan's body back. It was from this card that defeated the Big 5's Five Headed Dragon, the very dragon that Yugi, Kaiba, Joey and I fought in Kaiba's virtual reality game. It can work again to defeat Dartz's Orichalcos Shunoros, Orichalcos Dexia, and Orichalcos Aristeros!
"First I'll sacrifice my Amazoness Swordswoman," Mai announced, "This allows me to summon Flame Swordsman!" As the 1800 atk point monster appeared on the field, she continued, "Next, I activate Monster Reborn, and I'll use my magic card to bring back the pharaoh's Dark Magician that he sacrificed in order to summon his Black Luster Soldier!"
Dark Magician appeared on the field, with an attack of 2500. "Now," Mai shouted, "I play my Polymerization magic card! This allows me to fuse Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman together to form Dark Flare Knight!"
As Dark Flare Knight (2200 atk) appeared on the field, Yami smiled. This was the exact same tactic he and Joey used to defeat the Big 5's Five Headed Dragon in the virtual world.
"Next, I reveal one of my face down cards: Grave Arm! This magic card allows me to destroy a monster on the field right away!" Mai announced.
"So what?" Dartz countered. "You can't destroy any of my monsters anyway, since my Orichalcos Tritos will automatically destroy your magic card!"
"That's why I'm using it on my Dark Flare Knight instead, Dartz!" Mai replied. "Now, when Dark Flare Knight is destroyed, its special ability is activated, allowing me to summon Mirage Knight to the field!"
"Your new knight only has 2800 atk points," Dartz said, as the golden knight appeared on the field. "Did you forget that my Orichalcos Shunoros has 21000 atk points?"
"I know, and that's why I'll also play these two magic cards: Scapegoat and United We Stand!" Mai shouted, as four Scapegoat tokens (0 def) appeared on the field. "United We Stand allows the monster equipped to it to gain 800 atk points for every monster on the field, including itself, so with 5 monsters, my Mirage Knight now gains 4000 atk points!"
"That won't help, Ms. Valentine." Dartz said, as Mirage Knight's atk increased to 6800. "Did you forget that Orichalcos Aristeros will intercept all of your attacks no matter which one of my monsters you attack?"
"I didn't forget Dartz!" Mai smiled. "And while your Orichalcos Aristeros's defense strength is always 300 points higher than the monster that attacks it, that is only partially true."
"Every time your Orichalcos Aristeros's defense strength increases, your Orichalcos Shunoros's atk strength decreases because Aristeros has to borrow the defense points of Shunoros's attack points." Mai continued. "And that is its weakness: if I can summon a monster that has more atk points than your Orichalcos Shunoros, then your Orichalcos Aristeros will be unable to successfully block it!"
"Mirage Knight, launch your attack!" Mai ordered.
"That won't work, Ms. Valentine!" Dartz replied. "Your Mirage Knight can only attack my Orichalcos Aristeros, and its atk is too low for that! Not to mention the fact that my Orichalcos Shunoros in the rear row, behind Orichalcos Dexia and Orichalcos Aristeros! This means you can't attack it, but it can attack you!"
"That's why I now activate my last face down card: Attack Guidance Barrier! This trap can only be activated when a monster attacks, and allows me to change the target to a different monster and raise its strength by 600!" Mai said. "When you were explaining how Orichalcos Shunoros, Orichalcos Dexia, and Orichalcos Aristeros worked, you said that Orichalcos Shunoros cannot be destroyed as long as Orichalcos Dexia and Orichalcos Aristeros are on the field, but you didn't say Orichalcos Shunoros cannot be attacked. And thanks to the effects of Attack Guidance Barrier, I can attack a monster on your side of the field regardless of whether it's in the back row or front row! Finally, your Orichalcos Tritos only prevents our magic and trap cards from negatively affecting your monsters, not positively affecting your monsters, so it can't destroy my Attack Guidance Barrier!"
"My Attack Guidance Barrier will be used on my Mirage Knight, and its new target will now be Orichalcos Shunoros!" Mai said, as Mirage Knight immediately moved away from Orichalcos Aristeros and headed for Orichalcos Shunoros instead, and Orichalcos Shunoros's atk is increased to 21600 by Attack Guidance Barrier's effect.
"Orichalcos Aristeros, intercept the attack!" Dartz ordered, as Orichalcos Aristeros began to move between Mirage Knight and Orichalcos Shunoros.
"Now it's time for me to activate Mirage Knights special ability!" Mai shouted. "It can absorb the atk points of the monster its attacking, so now it gains another 21600 atk points!"
Mirage Knight's atk strength increases from 6800 to 28400. "Your Orichalcos Aristeros's defense strength can only be 300 points greater than Mirage Knight's atk strength if Orichalcos Shunoros's atk strength is at least 28700." Mai observed. "Since that is not the case, your Orichalcos Aristeros's defense can reach no higher than 21600, allowing my Mirage Knight to destroy it!"
"You can't!" Dartz protested.
"It's too late for that, Dartz!" Mai shouted in triumph.
"In case you've forgotten, I also have one last face down card, Dartz! And now it's time for me to reveal it: Meteorain!" Yami shouted, activating his face down card. "This trap card allows battle damage to be done if a monster's attack is greater than another monster's defense, so I'll use it on Mirage Knight!"
Mirage Knight continues its attack. Orichalcos Aristeros immediately comes in and intercepts it, its defense immediately rising. But its defense stopped rising at 21600 as Orichalcos Shunoros's attack decreased to 0, unable to give anymore to Orichalcos Aristeros.
"MIRAGE KNIGHT, DESTOY HIS ORICHALCOS ARISTEROS!" Mai shouted, as Mirage Knight swung its sword, engulfing Dartz's side of the field in a flash of bright light.