New Testament 037: Hell is Other Duelists

Andre's LP: 8600 Shadow's LP: 7700

"He nearly took all of it." Andre counted the lifepoints the Lake dweller was putting on the line, that had to be all of Williams life energy. "No wonder.." He looked back and saw his ailing brother. "A..andre." He was still breathing but exhausted and weakening. "Your Ba is nice, human. How did you get that much, rehehaheh" The creature seemed happy to have taken on such a tasty opponent. "I will love to add you and your members to my accumulation." Andre started drawing his cards. "No more of that, you will not get your hands on anything more!" He started the duel, and summoned a monster. "Intercept Archfiend!" A strange multi-armed demon(1400/1600) with football armor was summoned. "Oh!? So you can manifest spirits after all, you were not bluffing? Ahah, this will be fun. But... only the darkness can strive here, only the dark ones can survive." Andre ended his turn at that point. "I know. But this deck of mine has already adjusted itself. I have heard a lot about your kind"

The shadow pulled a card from his skin. "You mean it? You know what you are messing with? I have sustained myself for centuries.." His first card appeared to be a field spell, the Mausoleum of the Deceased Emperor. "What I took from your blood, will give form to my power. I sacrifice two thousands of Ba to the Mausoleum!" Since he had payed 1000 LP twice, he could normal summon a monster that normally took two tributes. "Dread it, dread the coming of the Earthbound! When a field is played, they Immortals can come and play as well" And as he did summon a high-level monster, his body became taller, absorbing oil from the lake to grow. Glowing yellow lines were added to the skin of the creature, who started to resemble something human, yet more animalistic. "What is that?" Venice gasped, she had never seen one summon something this big. "One of the Earthbound." Finally the monster stopped increasing in size (2800/2400). "Your true power.." Andre looked at his real face.

Shadows LP: 5700

"I claim your soul in Cusillu's name! Poison Fangs!" Another spell was activated, the shadow started to drip a green liquid from its unseen mouth. "Every time he does damage to me with a beast, I will lose 500 Lifepoints." Andre began to see what the strategy was here"Attack!" The Earthbound brought his hand down, but the Archfiend moved to intercept it. "That will not work!" However it phased through the Interceptor as if it were made from gas. "Oh no!" The hand came dangerously close to Andre. "The Immortal can not be stopped, it can attack directly at all times!" Quickly the duelist discarded a monster from his hand. "Battle Fader!" A clock-pendulum monster appeared (0/0). "By summoning this from my hand when the opponent attacks me directly, I can end the battle phase!" The fiend swung its bell, making a loud noise that pushed the black monster back "You did notice! Rahahaha.. Cusillu feels honored!" So the shadow held of its attack. It placed two traps face-down and ended its turn.

"I can do this." Andre thought, as he drew a card. "I attack!" Interceptor prepared itself. "Wait what are you doing, the Archfiend is weaker." The young male cried out. "I have a plan!" Unfortunately it seemed to have been stopped already, the Interceptor did not budge. "What?" The shadow in turn released a maddening cackle. "Idiot! You can not attack Immortality, the power is not to be touched!" Andre did not know about that part. "But then I should be able to attack him directly.." He protested, yet that did not work either. "That monster of his is blocking all attacks?" Left with no choice he placed two cards face-down, placed one monster in face-down mode and switched Intercept Archfiend to defense. "It does not matter how many defenders you have, the Immortal bypasses all!" Now it was his turn, first he summoned a baboon-monster: Bazoo - the Soul Eater (1600/900). It seemed he liked to summon dark-elemental apes and monkeys. However soon he played a very cruel card. "Wild Nature's Release!" This spell gave a Beast attackpoints equal to its defense, the Earthbound empowered itself (5200/2400). "Oh no, a direct hit from that.." Another attack came, this time the duelist had no defenses against it.

"Brother!" William shouted out loud as he watched his sibling crushed like a fly, poison dripping down on him. "It's okay Will, don't exert yourself." Venice tried to calm him. "I am allright." Andre coughed as he appeared completely intact, despite the attack. "This is not the kind of place where you die easily. Besides he just activated Intercept Archfiends effect." The footballer gathered energy in his hand and shot it at the Shadow. "Every time an enemy attacks, Intercept will damage them" The enemy lost 500 LP. "Now was it worth it? Your Immortal will die, as a result of Wild Nature Release's costs." He smirked. "It was, and it will be! Beast Soul Swap!" Everyone flinched, the enemy flipped a trap. "Send one beast back to my hand, to summon one of the same level to the field!" He dismissed his own Earthbound Immortal, just to call it back. This was how he avoided the cost of Wild Nature. "Continuous Trap card: Royal Decree!" He wanted nothing to stop his last attack. "Now die!" It stretched out its sickening claw one last time. "Andre!" Yet again he summoned a monster during his opponents turn. "I told you. I was ready!" Blood dripped from his eyes, as he called out the Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow.

Andre's LP: 2900 Shadows LP: 5200

"When I received one direct attack, and am about to receive another, the Ogre is summoned from my hand! It gains the attack of the first direct attacker and all other attacks will have to go to him this turn!" Cusillu was forced to target the new fiend. "Gains strength? I think not!" But to his shock and dismay, the Ogre did not gain points (0/0). "Tsk. It's because the first direct attacker was sent back to his hand before the Ogre was summoned, even if both attackers are the same it wont work" It might as well have been a direct attack. "Dishonest!" A dark angel appeared in front of Cusillu. "By discarding it when a dark monster is attacked, it will gain attackpoints equal to its opponent." The Bloody Ogre became just as strong as Cusillu (2800/0), now they would both die. "We said, we are immortal!" However as the two monsters clashed, Bazoo the Soul Eater started to sink into the swamp. "I sacrifice one underling, to negate the death of Immortality!" The Earthbound was spared, the Ogre died at last. Though no battle damage took place, Cusillu lost another 500 LP from Intercept Archfiend, and Andre.. "And then when the sacrifice is complete, your life is halved!" Was still drained. "Guh..." He was close to death too now.

Andre's LP: 1450 Shadows LP: 4700

"Andre.." William was still concerned, he had to get up and help him. "No Brother, stay. I can handle this." He gave him the same smile. "But.. this is my fault, I didnt know..enough." He was still very confused. "It is okay. You have already helped me a lot." He drew his next card and raised an eyebrow. "In more ways than even I anticipated." Now he flipped his facedown card. "Spell card, Curse of Fiend. During the standby phase I switch the positions of all monsters!" Intercept and Battlefader went to attack mode, the Earthbound to defense mode. "Sooo?!? You can not attack the Immortality, human!"

"Just watch me. I special summon a monster, Trap Eater!" An odd wide-jawed demon made its entrance, by eating Royal Decree. "What?" This one could only be summoned by sending one face-up trap of the enemy to the cemetery. And there was more. "That is a.." It was a Tuner monster. "Since when can we summon Tuners?" Even Venice was surprised at this development. "Since he arrived." Andre flipped his set card, the Darkbishop Archfiend (300/1400). "Level 3 Dark Bishop, Level 1 Battle Fader, combine with the Level 4 Trap Eater!" The Eater dispersed into green energy rings, through which the Fader and Bishop flew. Eight stars were formed from them, which shaped a Level 8 Synchro monster. "Synchro summon: Dark End Dragon!" A black dragon(2600/2100) with a demonic face on its chest appeared.

"A Synchro monster?" Only William recognized it, yet he did not think Andre could summon one down here. "It's effect is this: By paying 500 of its attackpoints, it can destroy one monster on the field!" Dark End (2100/1600) opened its second mouth.""Nooo! Hssss" And the Earthbound was sucked into it, completely.. "You destroyed the Immortality, you wretched mortal!" The Shadow, shrunk back to plain tall size, seemed livid. "But it wont be enough, your two monsters can not get it all back!" Andre shook his head. "I will. Trap card: Lineage of Destruction!" He flipped his other set, Royal Decree could not stop it anymore. "When one of my monsters destroyed a defending card, like your Earthbound, a LV-8 monster on the field can attack twice." Now it became clear why Curse of Fiend was used. "Dark End Dragon is who I chose, it will attack twice this turn!" Intercept and Darkend Dragon launched an attack, pelting the monster with dark flames and blasts. The second dragon flame reduced the LP to zero.

Shadows LP: 0

"It tasted so nice, Rrrrrrr" Light rose from the black water, flowing into the body of William. He felt rejuvenated. "Rah! Keep your Ba, mortals. There will be more of you, nothing can stop the coming of the black hour." It began to sink into the lake, becoming one with the inky substance. "It is fine, I can wait a looooooong time.. Cusillu is immortal, all are undying!" At last he was gone, the lake became calm. "Wh-what was that.." Was Carters first question. "Just one of the stronger shadows of this realm. It feeds on life energy, both humans and spirits. Had we not saved you in time, he would have drained you entirely. Your soul would have been lost forever.." The stranger of the trio explained. "My name is Gerard, and it seems you already know these two." He pointed at Venice and Andre. "Y-yes. And you can't believe how happy I am to see you.. But I am confused. Why did you two end up here?" He knew they were dead, yet he did not think a human as kind as them would end up here.

"It's complicated brother. Suffice it to say that our history messed up our chances of seeing anything like pearly gates." He sighed and looked up into the sky. "Because we died in the Memory World, while brainwashedby Orichalcos magic, our souls were forced down here. This is the world where evil spirits and demons rest, the hell of duel monsters. In the end all beings here are corrupted by the darkness itself, becoming shadows like the one you just saw." Venice started to tremble. "We only survived for this long because we stayed together, put out combined lifeforce on the line. Down here you have to save your energy as much as possible, any wicked spirit could come up an try to drain you." Those were not fond memories. "It is only because of this that we lived.." Gerard showed his dueldisk. "They respect the game here. With the power of our memories we can make a deck to fight back." Any card they imagined would come up. "As for me, I do not remember how I ended up here. However, can you tell us how it happened to you?"

And so he did, he told them about Zakarias, Magus of Ka, the souls lost. "Oh maybe that's why I am here." Gerard sulked. He could very well be one of Zakarias's random victims. "I was not here too long, they found me first. But these enemies you speak off, they sent you here to keep the portal open?" He nodded. "But I expected to see some of them down here, all I find is innocents. Brother, have you ever seen someone like it?" He shook his head. "Sadly no, nothing that intelligent. But if what you say is true, we need to get out of here before they do." Carters expression changed into a hopeful one. "There is a way out?" Did he mean.. "Yes you were on the right track. That tall mountain in the distance is the connection between earth and this dimension. With your help we can fight our way to it, and confront whatever might be guarding the way out." They seemed certain it would be guarded, malignant or benign. "I can help?" He stood up. "You are the same us down here, you know how to play their game. Just will it.." Will thought about dueling and realized he suddenly too had a dueldisk on his arm, with a full 8000 LP. "Just will it huh. Nothing here is material so we can make whatever we wish." Or whatever they remembered. "Yes, as you just saw. Your memories helped me create the thing that beat the Immortal. You know more about the spirits and the human world than we do, and they do.. That will be our advantage.."

Back in the Human world..

"Everyone report to the sublevel." Marcus called upon all his apprentices and 'friends', because he had made a discovery he was willing to share. "What's the big news?" They came quickly, and hoped it would be good. "It seems my computer has found one more target for us to go after. Its's pinpointing its location as we speak. Perhaps you will recognize it.." He snapped his finger and the screens changed. "Oh?" Everyone looked surprised, what they saw as a golden ring with a pyramid in the middle. "It's the millenium ring. The Sixth Millenium Item.."

(To be Continued in New Testament 038: Up the Garden Path)

Cards used by Andre Carter
Intercept Archfiend
Battle Fader
Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow
Dishonest
Trap Eater
Dark Bishop Archfiend
Dark End Dragon

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Curse of Fiend

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Lineage of Destruction

Cards used by 'The Shadow'
Earthbound Immortal - Cusillu
Bazoo the Soul Eater

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Mausoleum of the Emperor
Poison Fangs
Wild Nature's Release

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Beast Soul Swap
Royal Decree