Testament 58: Take your Price
The holograms faded, the disks shut down, it was over. The crowd was stunned, silenced by the triumphant last blow, for half a minute everything was motionless. At this time, Carter and company finally joined the stands, rushing in from the hallways. They too witnessed the final moments of the duel, along with Marcus, Glyph, Colin, Cleo, Simon & Simone and every mysterious observer that had been following the duel for the last hour. And after the 30 seconds had walked by, the cheering began, applauding and yelling, all for the winner of the tournament: Jackon Doe. "The winner, ladies and gentleman! Jackson is The King of Games!" The Judge finally anounced the results, making it certain that the contest title had been claimed by Doe. But in the midst of all this chaos and excitement, a calm duelist remained. He took neither pride nor glory in this victory, he was concerned with another. "Nero." He looked at the boy before him, still wondering if the spirit had been vanquished, since his epitaph had been a cryptic one.
"Jack.." He looked up. "son.." With a smile. "It is you." Doe smiled back. Technically he was talking with Attis' voice now. "I am back?" He looked around and grabbed his shoulders, just to make sure. "I think you are." Attis Doe smirked. "Then what about..Christine and.." He remembered they were victims of his inner darkness as well. "They should wake up shortly, if thats how these shadowgames work. The evil has been rejected from your body, we can no longer sense him." He assured him, as he would be the first to know if there was a secondary soul inside a body. "Are you sure, there is nothing left?" He was worried that there could be something like a seed, implanted in the brains. "Arahabaki has joined minds with you, if he were to surface once more, he would be the first to know." He nodded. "..Oh..then." He sighed. "What was he, why was he a part of me? Is it because of those things, my father gave me?" The puzzle pieces, the ones that started all this. "That I do not know. One door remains sealed."
Just then they became aware of the noise around them, and Jacobus realized he had lost the game. "Damn, even though it was not me that you beat, I still feel..." He still felt like he had lost a great oppurtunity, even though Jacob brought him this far in the first place. "Nero, you would have been the champion, if you had been in control." Doe said suddenly. "Then you would not have had to hold back Malicious Devil, and I would not have been able to save Mind Impact for when it really mattered." This did not really make him feel any better about himself. "Wait." Though now he became aware of Jacksons own unusual history. "How is it that you, came to possess all those symbols? Why are you." Doe just grinned. "That is a story for another time. Suffice it for me to say that, I am here on someone elses behalf. Someone that predicted damnation for this tournament, and I fear that Jacob alone would not worry him so much." He turned around walked away. "Nero, you should use this time. Something is coming, "
"I can not believe it, Jackson won!" Colin was livid, his prediction had failed and worked at the same time. The cards said that they would both win, which in his case meant that they both should have lost. "That means my first divination was incorrectly correct, and the second was really correct." He was so confused, and in came someone who would highten his confusion. "You know, officially, Nero never lost his duel, so in a way they both found fortune in this tournament." Ananka came up from behind, startling him. "Ha? Here to gloat, you do remember that he is the guy that beat both you and me." He rasped. "True, but I see now why the Arcana wanted me to lose in the semifinals." The Hanged Man hung himself that hour. "He alone could have freed Nero from themindprison." Colin stared at her with disbelief. "The hell are you talking about, Nero is not Nero, what!?" She glared back at him. "You haven't even figured it out yet? Even Ned was willing to accept it, my god you're dense." She laughed, he grumbled.
Nero then finally rejoined his crew, this time he was in a friendlier mood. He even gave Cleo in the distance a kind nod, which made her unsure on how to react. "So he's out, this spirit dealy?" Ned asked, obviously he had a hard time grasping the concept. "He said so, I trust him." He answered. "So what was it, magic. Like Ananka said she had? Or are you just a bit insane.." Carter was the next one to shoot questions. "Its hard for me to explain. And.has anybody checked up on Ms. Rose?" They had nearly forgotten about her. "Well we left Venice behind, and we have phones. Its just that." Nicolai tried once again, hoping that the static had been cleared up. "..Nothing, the line is still dead." In frustration he threw it at the floor. "How is that even possible, its a satellite phone! Is this something that Tumaga is planning?" He fumed. "The conspiracy theory again?" Carter moaned. "The contest is over, whatever chance they had at stealing the title, its gone." But Zoro insisted. "Lets just look around, for more of those white coat people." Though at this point Nero could only think about his own date. "Not one phone?" He just remembered parts of the past shown to Arahabaki. "But then, I probably couldnt get in touch anyway..."
"Well I have to shake his hand again." Marcus stood up from his seat, his bodyguard followed him. At that time, all white coats stood on full alert, and the second spy waited for the order. "So, Jackson, we meet again." He stepped unto the platform, to greet the new King of Games. "I can't believe a deck like yours existed, and you won too, good for you!" He laughed and slapped his back. Jackson Doe stuck to his solemn appearance all the way through. "You must be happy, can't you say a word of wisdom to the audience? Perhaps any duelist that wants to try his luck next year?" He was quiet for a moment, and then he gave a thumbs up to everyone. "Ah!" Williams almost fell backwards from laughter. "Marvellous, brilliant display. Such a fine actor." He stepped back, reaching for a suitcase.
"Course, the act its an act itself, eh?"
He quipped philosphically, which made Doe raise an eyebrow. "Now, before I crown you, King." He let the bodyguard open the case. "Would you mind, one last special duel?" From it came a new sleeker dueldisk model, which the guard placed on his wrist. It was greenblue instead of silver grey, and sharper looking. "You see, we at Outerdeck have made some new advances in the field of technology. What would be the best time to show them off, why here of course!" The guard also inserted his deck. "And against the champion, who will be the first to taste the new power from Temple Soft, Outerdeck and our latest companion in the biz." All talking stopped, and some dreaded the next words. "You may have heard of them...Tum'aga Inc. Our rivals." Neds jaw dropped. "We decided, to end the fued. In return, they gave us a nice new card." And then the guard activated his disk, not waiting for Doe to draw his cards. He immediately activated a spell card from his hand too, a field spell card. "What the hell is going on?"
Ananka and Cleo felt an incredibly powerful force rising. A green circle appeared below the threesome, inside was an odd starshape and strange symbols in the outer ring. "We call it, Seal of Orichalcos." The circle surrounded the two duelists completely. "Seal of..Orichalcos?" Nobody in the crowd had heard of it before, it was a spell card even rarer then SuperFusion, the Persona set and all Evil Heroes combined. Yet it only excited them more, they were still unaware of its hidden horrors. "That card is ..not good." Ananka said to herself. "Not good, how?" Though even Colin had to admit, it felt strange. "They will duel in that?" The green circle surrounded both the bodyguard and Jackson Doe, and an invisible barrier prevented both players from leaving the duel, this was not a hologram. "This power, where did he get it?" He looked at Marcus. This magic was ancient, it felt older then even Millenium magic. "Hmph." Then without warning, the guard drew another card and summoned a monster to the field.
Jacksons LP: 8000 Guards LP: 8000
It was a dragon Gray Wing , whose appearance looked almost lifelike. "By the way. Under the seal, all monsters will gain 500 attack and defense points." In fact its stats barely registered on the dueldisk. Only the sleeker sharper advanced disk noted its presence (1800/1200) But that was not the problem, the dragon roared and launched into an attack immediately. "Huh? It can attack during the first turn?" The dragon stabbed his javelin into Doe's shoulder, forcing him backwards. His lifepoints dropped immediately. "Thats not a part of its effect!" Ned protested. "Oh I am sorry, I forgot to tell you. This kind of duel is not turn-based, its real-time." He smirked as the dragon nearly made a second swing, and he did not have to discard a card to attack twice either. "You have to keep up with the times, or you will get crushed." Doe barely dodged it, and he was surprised that he could dodge it at all. "Real-time? Wow thats cool!" Someone said. "Yeah I cant wait to play like that myself." Still the audience was blissfully ignorant.
Jacksons LP: 6000
"This is bothersome." Doe spoke his first word, indicating that he was about to summon a monster of his own. "Like this, I assume." He drew and placed a card in his disk, it was the monster Arahabaki (600/500). "You're getting it." However he did not stop there. "Persona Summoner(1500/1500)." He played a second monster as well, so there were less limits in this kind of game. "I use his effect!" The Summoner gave some energy to the claydoll. But the dragon did not wait around, as it leaped into action once more, giving the Summoner a lethal blow to the head with his lance. Doe lost another 500 lifepoints, but he just smiled. "To late, now its my turn." Arahabaki had been given his power dose, the spell effect (2100/600) "That pain ends now!" Before the Lancer dragon could evade the strike, he was consumed by the symbols magical energy, and this time it was the silent bodyguard that took some damage. 'Well well, you have some sting after all." Marcus clapped his hands, as he watched safely outside the Seal barrier.
Jacksons LP: 5200 Guards LP: 7900
Arahabki Doe took the chance to talk with Williams." Marcus, I wonder how long you have been higlighting within Outerdeck. I know the company well, as someone inside made these cards for me. I know that they would never join with Tum' aga on their own free will." The representatibve just chuckled. "You know little, Outerdeck is but a shell now, we hollowed it out long ago. This entire tournament was Tum'aga's idea to begin with. People like Edgar were just diversions." Jackson had heard enough, and decided to press his attacks. But as the Hermit Symbol charged his lasers, the guard played his own cards. In fact he played a spell card, Polymerization. "He combines three monsters in his hand, to fusion summon!" Marcus explained, as three Blue-Eyes White Dragons were merged into one three-headed beast.
The Ultimate Blue-Eyes Dragon (5000/4300) was also empowered by the seal. "Holy, it looks even more impressive in this kind of system." Carter gasped, dragons were one of his favorite monster types. "Three heads, means triple the attack threat!" The doll gasped, as all three fired their own separate burst streams. "Only one I can block!" He took the first beam, shattering instantly, costing even more lifeforce. "Ggh." Quickly, Doe jumped to the side to get out of the path of the second beam. However the third was coming in too fast, so he had to defend against it. "I will do it!" Seth snarled, as the symbol of the Moon (1400/1000) came forth in defense mode, dying just as easily. But he at least safeguarded the rest of his vessels LP. "Ggh, thats just unfair." Cleo rasped.
Jacksons LP: 2600
The three heads charged again. "Spell card!" But he quickly drew and played the card: Law, Balance & Order. He discarded two monsters from his hand, to destroy one monster on the opponents field, since the guard had emptied almost his entire hand, just to fusion summon the Ultimate Dragon. "Too slow." Alas, since turns no longer had a meaning in the game, the enemy did not have to wait to tribute summon. He sacrificed BEUD for the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, which was powered up by 300 points for every dragon in the cemetery (5000/3000). "Spells can not target this dragon." The Law magic deflected off of its shining scales. "Shining Nova!" And it unleashed a blindening energy blast. "Come, Empress!" Yet Jackson too could activate effects during the opponents rounds. He summoned Mother Harlot (1600/1400), and discarded the last card in his hand, to destroy all dragon monster cards on the field. "My power does not discriminate, so farewell to your miserable dragon." He/she cackled and attacked the guard.
Guards LP: 6300
The duel was almost to intense to follow, a lot of hearts started pounding. "Doe can win this can he?" Nero asked, but this situation was simply to unorthodox to be predicted. Even Ananka did not know what could happen. "Hmm, the champion packs a punch. I expected as much. But this kind of magic can not be dispelled by a multitude of souls, Jackson Personae Doe." The guard drew again, and activated the spell: Dragons Mirror. "Its time to use 100 power." The guard nodded, and in that instant he started shredding his suit, producing several black spikes and armor plates underneath. "!?" And in front of Doe came the fiveheaded God Dragon (5500/4500), Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Darkness combined. "You have got to be." Harlot looked up, each head powered its own element. "Five attacks, five times 5500 attackpoints!" And they released their force, slaying Harlot before she could draw a card, and the other four gave no escape for the unfortunate Jackson. Silence claimed the arena once more.
Jacksons LP: 0
(To be continued in Testament 039: Every Soul for Himself)
Cards used by Marcus' BodyGuard
Gray Wing
Blue-Eyes White Dragon
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon
Five-headed Dragon
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Polymerization
Dragons Mirror