Mark 037: Sacrifice

"Guys!" Xavier stumbled his way into the research area, finding Sarah and Ada tending to an unconscious Ramirez. "Geez Ali where did you go? I thought you were a goner for sure." Ada snapped at him. "These guys found me." He pointed at Nathan and Richard who entered the room as well. "It was not that hard once you got a map." Nate sighed. "So what happened here? You found Ramirez and.." The whole place looked like a truck had run through it. "It was not her. It was.." Ada hesitated to say it because she still found it hard to believe. "That Yale guy!" Sarah found it less hard to say. "He dueled Ramirez and knocked her out cold, somehow." Xavier gasped. "Ýale? He ran off? Does this mean.. he was the one that let the god in, and not Ramirez?" The two girls nodded. "He then ran off saying we should either chase him or save ourselves. I guessed he meant that with a god about to be summoned, the three of us had to stick together or risk losing our souls." Sarah looked at her signers mark, which already started to glow. "It looks like you were right." Richards talisman reacted violently too. Loud noises came from outside. "Oh that can not be good news." Nathan said, trembling because the tower itself was trembling more then ever.

Ccarayhua's LP: 6100 Gaunts LP: 6200

He had sacrificed the two reptilianne tokens for the dreaded card, Ccarayhua summoned himself to the field. "Where..where is it?" But no monster was visualized by the dueldisk. "Did you assume I would let this room constrain my true shape?" The possessed tech worker scoffed as the entire center started to shake. "It is.. outside?" Urizen could not see it inside, and he knew these gods did not rely on hologram emitters. "You shall not remind blind to it for long. Direct attack.." Gaunts eyes widened as suddenly a gigantic black fist smashed through the walls. "Sir!" Everyone ducked for cover as it crashed into the floor, sending them and the Artani's flying. Most workers were knocked unconscious when they hit the floor or got hit by scattered debris. "It punched..through ten layers of steel." One of them managed to not pass out, though he was in too much pain too move. Only Urizen and his father were still standing. "Now once more, witness your worst fear." And through the hole in the side of the building they could see him: Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua. "Yes, I remember." It was a black lizard(2800/1800) with mad eyes and green lines drawn across its thin body. "I remember the true nature of each and every one of you horrors." Gaunt coughed.

Gaunts LP: 3400 Ccarayhua's LP: 6400

"How many did you devour this time? How many?" He demanded the god to tell him. "Hst. Does a king keep track of every person that dies under his rule? I can not count the number, though I do not forget the taste. I will tell you that I have had better meals." In a way that was good news. "Then at least some were evacuated to safety, or at least protected." That was his hope, but that also meant there were innocent lives inside the god as well. "The way you humans care for each other, it is incomprehensible. Love evolved beyond our designs. In the end you all wither, perish and leave this world unmarked." The god had ended his turn it seemed. "Well what about the bond between you and your brothers eh? What about that Whale that I sealed." Urizen sneered, thinking they would at least have some connection between each other. "What we could call a relationship, is far different from what you do call it." The possessed man and the lizard god both pointed at Gaunt. "But we are aware of your feelings, Signer. It is up to you to not fail them, and all the sacrifices you have made. In death your souls have value at last."

"Spell card Zero Reverse." The god was not done with his turn yet, he played a quickplay spell to revive a powerless monster. "Reptilianne Naga." The little girl appeared and immediately lashed out at Mizuho(1600/1000). She counterattacked with her daggers. Naga however could not be destroyed as a result of battle, and reduced the samurai's(0/1000) attack. And thanks to the 1600 points of damage Ccarayhua took, Damage=Reptile could summon another reptile, an Oshaleon(1400/800) from his deck. All three attacks restored some of the gods lifepoints thanks to the Savage Colosseum. "Sacrifices you say?" The colored chameleon shot its tongue out, which cut through the weakened Mizuho like a cutting beam. "Sacrifices, you demand them from us. But you have never had to sacrifice anything yourself. You do not even understand the concept like we do."

Gaunts LP: 2000 Ccarayhua's LP: 5400

Zero Reverse, Quickplay Spell
Special Summon 1 monster with 0 atk from your graveyard in attack position. That monster's battle position can not be changed.

Gaunt drew a card, but could do little in this turn. Aside from summoning another Kizan samurai(1800/500). The earthen swordsman cut down the Oshaleon. He gained 300 lifepoints from the attack as well. Yet this allowed Ccarayhua to add a reptile with less than 500 attackpoints to his hand, he claimed another Reptilianne Viper. At the same time Damage=Reptile summoned a Reptilianne Gardna(0/2000) from his deck in defense mode. "But I do. I can, if I read the memories of my harvest." The tech agent strained his face to form a smile. "Do you know, do you know what this vessels memories were? What was going through his tiny brain the last few moments before I called him to me?" Gaunt did not ask, but he would get an answer anyway. "Why he asked. He did not understand why he was chosen, by you. He feared for his existence every waking moment, ever since you made him a pawn in your war against us. And now that I have stolen your piece, he shall never have to fear again." Gaunt said nothing. And now it appeared like Ccarayhua's next attack would end the duel. "Sir! Don't listen to him or let him defeat you! You are too important to die!" The barely conscious employee cried out. "We do not think of you like an executioner, we.."

Ccarayhua's LP: 5000 Gaunts LP: 2300

"I know." The worker struggled to get up, but Gaunt already had an answer. I know you are all willing to put your lives on the line for the greater good." Unable to make any other move, the god had to give Gaunt his turn. "You do?" Urizen meanwhile did not like what he was hearing. "You think that they all will die so gladly, for your plans?" Gaunt drew his next card and looked at the boy. "I know what this is really about, Urizen. But no, I do not think they would be glad about it. They do know it has to be done. He did, he had no regrets." He gave his son an almost affectionate look. "I would have asked the same of you. But the choice had always been yours." After that the signer placed two more traps down and passed the turn back to the enemy. "You mean, you would have asked if I turned out to be like you. But who is this 'He'?" Urizen had a few ideas, but he wanted to hear this from the old man. "I can tell you that, sealer of Chacu Challhua." Ccarayhua hissed as it switched itself back to attack position. "It was the other marked one, was it not? I recall that mortal too. As finite as his resistance was. That is the hole in this world of years gone by." Gaunts expression darkened. "He was a great man, greater than me. His end was a great loss to us all."

"He died? He got defeaten in a duel?" That could explain why his father stopped dueling around that time. "Oh no. Far worse, the man had to end his own life just to take us down with him. All because this one here could not protect him self or his friend. That mark was lost to your reaper, now it waits to be reincarnated." The god started its turn and entered the battle phase. "I will not let this mark visit the same destiny. It belongs here! Death calls. Do not run from it, embrace the fate you forced upon others!" And he attacked. "Six Style - Dual Wield!" However Gaunt would not go down that easily. "When I control just one samurai, I can return 2 cards on the field to a players hands!" Kizan unsheathed a second sword and both started to glow. "You will not free any souls that way!" Ccarayhua shrieked, returning gods true form to their hosts hands did not count apparently. "Who said I was targeting you?" However Kizan slashed twice, at the Naga and the Savage Colosseum. "The field spell, of course!" Without a field, an earthbound could not exist.

"No!" The god started to dissolve, black particles scattered away like ashes in the wind. "And because the god was destroyed by his own effect, rather than one of min,e it can not use its effect!" Gaunt remembered the abilities of each Earthbound Immortal too, Ccarayhua for instance destroyed every single card on the field if another effect killed it. "Look!" The tech agent and the people outside the city could see it, green energy returned to the streets. The lost souls and bodies were recovered. "He did it. Sir Gaunt did it!" Ansoni was elated, in the end whatever citizens had been devoured, they had only been gone for ten minutes. "Does that mean we are safe?" And inside the tower, Sarahs mark stopped glowing and the barrier she had put up to protect everyone disappeared along with it. "It appears so." Richard tapped his talisman, there was no response. "You stay here just in case." He walked out of the room. "Hey where are you going?" Ada asked him. "To chase a man. If Yale truly did what you think he did, he must not be allowed to leave."

"Hsssss. The time I was given was too small, I can not even recall the taste." Back at command central, Ccarayhua was more than a little peeved that his true form had been removed so swiftly. "I shall not be going without at least one victory, one essence." He placed a trap card face down, and also a monster. Urizen could not tell whether it was Reptilianne Naga or Reptilianne Viper. He did however not reactivate the Savage Colosseum yet. "If you can defeat me, you can still claim my mark. I know that. However I will not let it come that far!" As he regained his turn he summoned Shiens Advisor(1200/400) to the field. "Since another Samurai is present, the Advisor can stop the special summons a certain monster type." Naturally he picked reptile types. "Now Damage=Reptile equals nothing instead." He then flipped his other trap card: Double-Eddged sword Technique. "I can use this trap to return two samurais back to life!" He revived the Samurai Enishi(2200/1200) and the samurai Mizuho(1600/1000). Kizan(2100/800) powered up as well.

"But that trap will..." Urizen knew the trap truly was double-edged as Gaunt would take damage equal to both monsters attackpoints during the end. "If I do not take this risk, I can not break through his defenses. And I have no intentions of letting my own trap be the end of me." There was a loophole he could exploit, Double-Edged Sword Technique only did damage if the revived monsters were still alive during the endphase. "Foolish Burial." But first he had to get more samurais in his grave. "I discard another Kageki from my deck and then I activate Enishi's effect!" He banished the two Kageki's from the cemetery, so the holy samurai could return Reptilianne Gardna to Ccarayhua's hand. "And then Mizuho's effect!" His idea was to tribute Enishi and take out whatever that facedown monster was. This would take away the damage Enishi would give him at least. Sounded like a good plan... "Earlier you said we did not understand sacrifices." .. on paper. "If that is your belief, then let a lack of sacrifices be your undoing." He flipped Mask of Restrict. "No!" Urizen could not believe it, he had that kind of trap waiting? "You..sealed tributes?" The mask restricted all sacrifices, even Mizuho's. "Now you can not send your warriors to their deaths, it is you who has to suffer the blade."

"Damn it." His one hope was that the facedown monster had been Reptilianne Viper after all. But Shiens Advisor's attack revealed that it was the Naga(0/0) after all. "You took too much weight on your shoulders, now you break down." He could not kill the Naga, he could not win. "Gaunt.." Urizen did not expect this; the great signer Gaunt had fallen. "It will be alright, Urizen. This is not the end." He let the turn end, the fire and light samurai's deaths caused 3400 damage to him. "Ansoni will know what to do, how to stop them." The holograms faded. "But what about you? How can you be okay with this?" Urizen was more angered than upset, how could he have let this happen? "I can be saved too. Do not worry about me, son. And for what its worth." Gaunts harsh tone softened, while the mark on his arm lit up. "Everything I did, the modifying of your dueldisk and the falsifying of your victories. It was all to test you. I had to know.. if you would have to suffer like I did. I am glad you do not." He said kindly and gave his son a genuine smile.

Gaunts LP: 0

"G-Gaunt?"

"Even after all that, you still do not adress him by his birth name." Yet that smile instantly turned into a malicious grin. "What?" His father had a new expression on his face, one too sinister even for him. "But I suppose you have demonstrated to us, how one generation of mortals is connected to the other." It quickly dawned on him that this voice did not belong to his father at all. "You.." And when he noticed how the tail sign had been covered with a red spider sign, he no longer had to guess which one of the immortals he was dealing with. "Return him!" Urizen wanted to challange Uru, only to find out it would not turn on. "You may have sealed Chacu Challhua, but you do not possess what we need." Uru chuckled. "Let us not waste time, brother. This body and its essence must be integrated fully." Ccarayhua was still in the room as well. "Very well. Consider this city fortunate, we will return for the other signers when we are done with this one." And just like that, the possessed pair vanished into red and green mist. "No, no, no! Come back here!"

Elsewhere the city was in a state of panic. The stolen souls, while few and long since restored, were enough to get the people around riled up and rioting. "Well this is not orderly one bit." Macbeth and the local police department tried to calm them down, even though there were men in their own ranks who started to freak out. "We can not handle this on our own, we need the mobile reinforcements!" A sergeant shouted at the Ace. "Then get it authorized. Install a curfew, or anything!" Macbeth was not receiving any new orders from central command, he had no idea what was going on. "Hey." And just then another confusion was added to his addled mind. "What is that soldier doing there?" He noticed a trooper from the tower, randomly running through the alleys just across the evac center. "Hearts, report." He then finally received a call from someone else. "yes, Clubs? Come in." It was Richard on the other end. And he made his report, however when Richard told him what happened, he raised an eyebrow. "Oh really, that Morphtronic kid huh?"

(To be Continued in Mark 038: Royal Flush)

New Cards used by Gaunt Artani
Shiens Advisor

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Foolish Burial

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Six Style - Dual Wield
Double-Edged Sword Technique

New Cards used by Ccarayhua
Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua
Oshaleon
Reptilianne Gardna

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Zero Reverse

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Mask of Restrict