Chapter 38: Final Ritual of the Ancients
"Rioko…Do me a couple of favors…" Cain replied as he lifted Ami into Rioko's arms. "Take Ami with the others down to the boat…"
"What? You're her sibling, why can't you do it?" Rioko asked as Cain reached for his duel disk and pulled out two cards.
"Cause…I've got some things to deal with," Cain answered turning his back to Rioko. "I've got to find Alucar…and Leon Arch…he probably had a key role in all of this as well..."
"Then why not get the others?"
"This is my battle…and mine alone…"
"Cain you can't really expect me to let…"
"Rioko!"
Rioko stepped back at Cain yelling his name loudly, Rioko knew that Cain had his reasons…but still…
"Rioko…I'm not asking you to take Kuri cause you're my friend…"
"Then why?"
"…Cause I'm not big enough to carry my sister for very long…"
Unknown to Cain and Rioko, after both of them left, Maxwell weakly stood up and slowly made his way to the second platform. The multiple shadows began to envelop his body for each step he took.
"I…I won't lose…" Maxwell groaned as he stepped onto the second platform.
With a light tap with his cane, a small control panel appeared before Maxwell. As soon as Maxwell placed a hand onto the panel, the shadows had covered him full to the waist.
"Act-activate demo-demolition program…take down the tower!"
With that last final breath, Maxwell fell to the ground as his entire body was engulfed in the dark smoke.
When the smoke flew into the air, the only thing left of Maxwell…
…Was a card with his picture on it, his face with a dark smile.
-//-/-/---//-/-/--//-/-/-
Thirty Minutes Ago
"I just woke up…" Goliath replied as he stood up. "Now come, we're going…"
"To follow Cain and Rioko!" Terri shouted as Vic stumbled to his feet.
Goliath coughed loudly to get the excited Slifer Red girl's attention. "No actually…we're going down to the main floor, get Kazica and then…"
"Go help the losers," Vic finished rubbing his swollen cheek.
But that wasn't what Goliath was going to say…the next few words seemed to come out as a whisper, even though Goliath was speaking with his booming voice.
The words shocked and confused Vic and Terri…
"We're heading to the boat…" Goliath finished to receive the worried and confused look from Terri while he got the 'about time' smirk from Vic…through his swollen cheek. 'Man, that last sentence felt like it lasted for a few weeks…'
"What in the world are you talking about?" Terri asked stepping towards the giant duelist. "We need to go help Cain and Rioko!"
Goliath just closed his eyes and started walking over to the elevator, trying to hide the limp in his step. "With the way we are now…we'd only be a broken leg to the mighty soldier on the battle front. The best thing we can do is get to the boat and prepare for the worse…"
Vic just coyly walked up to Goliath's side. "I don't normally agree with Slifer Slackers, but in this case, the Slack…er, I mean, Terri does have a point…"
A small laugh seemed to escape from Goliath's mouth as he turned his gazed directly towards Vic. "It seems the Dark World Prince is actually showing some concern…this must mean something to you…"
"Not really, I just want to knock that shorty to the ground again in a duel…" Vic replied closing his eyes.
"Hello! I'm still here! And we still need to help the others!" Terri shouted waving her arms.
Vic and Goliath walked over towards the elevator and looked directly at Terri. Stomping her foot, Terri just pouted as she made her way to the elevator. "Make some room."
-/-//--/-/-//-/
Cain slowly stepped from the room he was just in to see that he was now outside the tower. Walking to the side, Cain saw that the small island that the Arch tower was on…
…Was a long, long, long way down.
To his left, Cain spotted multiple stairs leading up the tower. "Better get this over with…"
With that, Cain began to climb up the stairs, one step at a time…
/--/-/-/-//-/-/
Leon looked at the screen that was before him, on the screen was Maxwell pressing the button on the small control panel before him. "Everything is set…"
Standing from his seat and grabbing his duel disk, Leon began to make his way to the door that was behind his seat. "Even with Maxwell activating the demolition program, I'll be able to finish the final ritual…"
The door slid open to reveal a bright multicolored light in front of Leon; he simply closed his eyes and walked through. "And the final act is about to unfold…"
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//
"I…hate…stairs…" Cain panted while he stopped walking to catch his breath. From where he was, he wasn't even halfway up the stairs. "I'm…so…going…to kick…Alucar's ass!"
Then all of a sudden, a powerful rumbling began to shake making Cain stumble to stay standing up. "What the?!?"
A loud crash made Cain turn around to see that the tower was beginning to come apart slowly and the debris from the upper levels was crashing down, especially on the stairs behind Cain.
"Crap!"
Cain ran as fast as he could, amazingly able to stay at least half a step from being crushed and sent plummeting to the ground with the debris crashing into the stairs behind him. "Curse my tiny legs!"
/-/--/-/-/-/-//
Goliath sat on the seat that the boat had on it, his right hand tangled in his hair. In front of him, he saw that Vic was already at the wheel getting ready to go a moment's notice. 'Well…that's one good thing…'
At his right, he could see that Kazica and Terri were watching parts of the tower were starting to fall. From what Goliath could calculate, it would be a few more minutes before the debris was going to hit them. 'Sonryu…Blaze…you must come back… and Sonryu, if you do, I will grant you a great honor when the time has come…'
Terri turned her gaze from the top of the tower and was looking at the large doors that seemed to have someone running from them. "Who is that?"
Everyone turned to where Terri was looking and could see the person running directly towards them. And in the person's arms was what appeared to be a white haired girl.
It was then that Kazica's eyes widened at the sight of the person as he got closer. "That's Rioko!"
"START THE BOAT! START THE BOAT!" Rioko yelled still running towards the boat while being able to dodge the falling debris.
Goliath swung his head towards Vic and narrowed his eyebrows. "Do it!"
"Right!" Vic shouted as the boat began to hum to life.
'Legs…don't fail me now!' Rioko ran even faster towards the boat. "BANZAI!"
Kazica and Terri watched in awe as Rioko began to jump from the ground and into the air towards the boat. Then miraculously he managed to land directly in the boat while still holding onto Ami in his arms. "Man…that was…"
"Amazing…" Terri finished noticing that Rioko was beginning to drop to the deck and that the boat was starting to leave the island.
Stepping to help his friend, Goliath held his arms to help Rioko hold up Ami. "Say Blaze…isn't this that girl with the Arch Organization? Why is she here?"
Lowering his head, Rioko just sighed loudly. "You all aren't going to believe this but…this happens to be Cain's little sister…Ami…"
"Sonryu has a sister?"
"Cain's sister?"
"…Little sister?"
"Rioko…where's Cain?" Kazica asked kneeling down to see eye to eye with Rioko.
Closing his eyes, Rioko reached into his pocket and pulled out two cards. Snapping one of the cards, he held it in front of Kazica. "Cain is…he's back there…he told me to give this to you Kazica."
With her hands shaking, Kazica lifted the card and closed her eyes. "B…Black Luster Soldier…Envoy of the Beginning…"
Kazica placed her hands on the boat's floor, lowering her head. As the rare card began to float to the floor, small droplets of tears began to follow it. "…Cain…"
"Be strong Citidal…" Goliath stated looking towards the tower. "Same to you Sonryu…"
Vic just increased the speed closing his eyes. 'Why do I have to be caught with the losers?'
-//--/-/-/-/-/-//-//-
"Almost there!" Cain shouted while running at an even faster rate to avoid the falling debris.
Thanks to the 'motivation', Cain was able to almost get to the very end of the stairs without showing any signs of slowing down. Especially with the multiple pieces of falling metal slamming into the stairs.
Ten steps away, Cain could easily see that there was a stable platform connected to an open metallic door. "That better be the way out…or I'm royally screwed!"
With a great amount of agility, Cain ran directly through the door as a large piece of metal slammed into the stable platform. Throwing the top part of his body over the ground, Cain began to breathe in deeply. "Thank…God, that…I've finally…made it…"
"Yes…to the final act of my plan…"
Cain immediately stood up straight just when multiple lights began to go off, forcing the short duelist to cover his eyes with his arm. When his eyes adjusted to the light, Cain saw that he was now standing in what appeared to be a large duel arena complete with multiple stands. The entire arena was lit up with multiple neon lights that continued to flash brighter and dimmer with each second. There was now ceiling exposing the swirling clouds that were hovering over the tower.
But in front of Cain stood the one man that was behind this all…On his left arm was a strapped on beautiful silver bladed duel disk that had a deck of cards already in the deck compartment.
…Leon Arch.
Cain narrowed his eyes towards Leon as he pointed his arm directly towards Leon. "Where's Alucar?"
With a loud sigh, Leon crossed his arms with the duel disk fully showing. "Ah yes…Alucar is more of a partner…he disappeared during your duel with Kuri…or should I say Ami…"
"So you don't know where he is?" Cain asked as a blood vessel appeared on the side of his head.
"Unfortunately for you, I may or may not know…" Leon replied before he stretched out his duel disk arm. "However…any information you require about him I will be happy to oblige you…provided of course you are able to fulfill one little deed for me…"
"Listen you whacked out psycho!" Cain roared thrusting his arm out. "I've had all I can take from you and your stupid cronies! Now tell me what you know about Alucar, or god so help me…"
Before Cain could continue on with this threat, Leon simply snapped his fingers causing the entire building to shake. "You should learn to respect those who are older and taller than you, young duelist…"
Ignoring the short comment, Cain just glared daggers at Leon. "What the hell did you just do?"
"…To be simply put, I just activated a sound mechanism that is now currently removing this arena from the entire tower via the technological engines and shadow source of energy," Leon explained activating his custom duel disk. "And I can make the entire thing fall in an instant…unless you duel me right now…"
"A duel?" Cain asked noticing that dark clouds were starting to appear around him. "I take it that this isn't some regular duel…"
"Correct," Leon replied as the arena on the floor began to light up with the same neon lights. "However…to be fair, I will answer one simple question about Alucar that I am capable of answering…"
"Okay…why did he kidnap my sister?" Cain asked slowly activating his duel disk.
"…Unfortunately…that I do not know…" Leon sighed as he snapped his five cards from his deck.
"Then, you're nothing to me," Cain replied as turned around. "I don't care if you sink this entire stadium…there's no way that I'd duel you…"
"Then how about you join me?" Leon suggested raising his arms. "With a partnership, I'd be able to find Alucar for you with my resources…"
"…An exchange so to speak?" Cain asked turning his head towards Leon.
Leon nodded his head as his bladed duel disk lit up to reveal that it too had multiple neon lights on it. "Yes…and all you have to do, is duel me till I feel it isn't required. A minimal task, but one which you could gain a lot to get back on your enemy…
"So…what will it be?"
Closing his eyes, Cain placed his hand to his chin in deep thought. After a few seconds, Cain slowly opened his eyes and looked directly at Leon. "A deal…"
"It sounds extremely fair…right?" Leon asked with a smile appearing on his face. 'He'll have no choice but to assist me now…'
"YOU MAKE ME SICK!"
Leon's eyes widened at Cain's response…especially since Cain was now glaring him down like he was a cockroach. "How dare you insult me like that!
"Are you really that bullheaded?!? I don't give a damn about what your plans are…But you were in league with Alucar when he kidnapped my sister! And you have the gall to make a deal with me?! I know now that you are the second closest dirty snake on this entire planet!
"If I want any information on Alucar that you have, I'll smash you! I'll crush you into tiny pieces till you hand me the info I want! And in case that was too much for your tiny brain to comprehend…I'm not interested in any fricken' deal you are making!!!
Cain threw his right hand towards Leon, his main and index fingers pointing straight ahead. "I will never make a deal with anyone of the likes of you, you sinister villain!"
In response to this long speech…Leon just started to clap slowly. "Bravo speech…one of the better ones I've heard. I hope you intend to back that up…"
"Like I said…I'll smash you!" Cain roared stomping his foot into the metallic ground. "So you going to give me the info…or am I going to take it from you by force?"
Shaking his head, Leon just allowed his hair to fly back into the air. "You'll have to force the information out of me with a duel…" (LLP: 4000)
"Then prepare yourself…" Cain warned popping his deck into his activating duel disk… "Cause I'm not going to lose to a wise ass like you…"
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Leon joked around playfully pulling the top five cards from his deck and into his left hand.
"Just shut up…" Cain growled snapping off his five cards.
"Let's duel!"
"First turn honors are yours," Leon stated lifting his arm towards Cain. "And you better make this move count…"
"I will just watch!" Cain shouted adding the sixth card into his hand. "And this will start the duel, I summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) in attack mode!"
Slapping the card onto his duel disk, a bright light began to emerge in front of Cain allowing the large blue and yellow machine with the dual cannons mounted on its shoulders to appear before him. Lowering its cannons, the machine set its aim on Leon.
Then behind the machine materialized a vertical face down card. "And to wrap up this turn, I'll set this in the back rows…"
Taking in a deep breath, Leon playfully drew his next card. At the sight of it he couldn't help but smile. "My young duelist…you might as well enjoy this duel as if it were a form of art…for this shall be the last duel you will ever lay your eyes on…"
"That's a line I haven't heard before," Cain spat out with sarcasm dripping from his mouth.
"…I see," Leon stated taking another card from his hand. "Then allow me to break the chain…I summon Art Tao (1500/1200)!"
From the dark sky above emerged a heavenly light that immediately fell to the arena. When the light crashed on the ground, a young blonde haired man appeared spinning around on his sandals. From what Cain could tell, he was wearing blue and black baggy Japanese styled robes. On the top of the man's blonde hair, was a black Tao hat with two long white-feathered wings. In his right hand was a small flute that seemed to glow a heavenly blue aura while on is belt was a finely crafted sword.
After looking at Cain, the Tao just shook his head and began to play his flute, while Leon slowly raised his arm towards the flute playing Tao. "And now, for my monster's effect, when I summon him I need to declare an attribute…and I think light should be suitable."
Upon hearing the word light, the Tao's music stopped and he smirked in joy. Then raising his flute into the air, a bright white light began to engulf his entire body. Cain just raised an eyebrow at Leon's opening move. "Okay…why in the world it help you to change your monster's attribute?"
"Oh you assume to know this card…well then, allow me to show you what this card is really capable of!" Leon shouted as his Tao jumped high into the air. "I declare an attack against your brutal machine…"
Cain just smirked as he watched the Tao begin to fly towards the X-Head Cannon at a top speed. Waving his hand, Cain signaled for the X-Head Cannon to fire a powerful blast of energy towards the Tao, which immediately engulfed the spellcaster. "So much for that monster…"
Before Cain could continue, from the blast emerged the same Tao without a single scratch on the monster. Diving forward, the Tao unsheathed his sword and sliced right through the X-Head Cannon. When the Tao landed on his feet, the top part of the machine began to slide off the bottom part and shatter into pieces.
And when the Tao stood up, he just smirked towards Cain. "What the hell?!?" (CLP: 3800)
"As an artist, I am able to create a beautiful master piece both on the canvas and on the dueling field," Leon explained as two face down cards materialized before him. "And when my Tao battles a monster with the same attribute I selected, he gains five hundred extra attack points…"
"…Joy…" Cain moaned as he drew his next card, then immediately held his arm over his face down card. "Activate trap card, Call of the Haunted! And come back X-Head Cannon (1800/1500)!"
As the purple-bordered card flipped up, the powerful blue and yellow machine reappeared aiming its cannons directly towards the Art Tao this time.
"That monster is still no match for my Art Tao," Leon pointed out looking at his face down cards. 'But I have a feeling that you're going to combine him with two other monsters…'
"That's why I'm giving him some back up! By playing Bond of the Brotherhood!" Cain announced while the spell card appeared before him showing three goblins wearing armor lined up on a battlefield. "Now all I have to do is give up a thousand life points, and I can summon two more machines from my deck!" (CLP: 2800)
The spell card shattered as two cards popped out from Cain's deck and flew into his hand. He immediately slapped them onto his duel disk allowing two new machines to appeared before Cain.
One was a pure red metallic dragon that roared loudly into the air while the second was a yellow tank with an eye at the base of it. "So meet Y-Dragon Head (1500/1600) and Z-Metal Tank (1500/1300)!"
"I know what you are up to, this strategy is as old as when I made this company from the ground up," Leon commented waving his finger as did the Art Tao.
"Good! Then it saves me the trouble of telling you what happens next!" Cain announced as all three of his machines began to fly into the air. "I can combine all three of them!"
The X-Head Cannon locked itself into the back of the Y-Dragon head as its wings folded up into its circular body frame. Then the combination of the machines connected into the back of the yellow tank till it locked into place. "XYZ Dragon Cannon (2800/2600)! And even with his power boost…your Art Tao is going down! XYZ Cannon attack!"
Leon just closed his eyes as his Art Tao lifted his flute as a defense. Without even charging the powerful machine fired a large amount of concentrated energy that flew towards the Tao. With a loud scream, the Tao was engulfed by the blast and disappeared. (LLP: 3200)
As the smoke from the machine's cannon's began to disappear, two cards materialized behind the powerful machine. "And to end this turn, I'll set these in the back row as well…"
"I have one word for your move…" Leon sighed looking at his next card. "Predictable…"
The shadows seemed to shift further as Leon held tightly onto the card in his hand. From one point, it even looked like the card was giving off an earthly aura.
"Yeah, well, I've got one of the game's strongest monsters on the field," Cain said narrowing his eyes towards Leon. "And I highly doubt those face down cards are of any worry to me…"
"You are correct…they are only a part of what you must be afraid of," Leon replied lifting his hand over his right face down card. "And here's a card you might be familiar with, I activate my call of the haunted! So Art Tao (1500/1200), grace the field once more!"
A beautiful tune filled the arena as the Art Tao reappeared before Leon playing his flute while keeping his eyes closed.
Cain just narrowed his eyes at the sight of this monster. "Great…he's back…"
'Hey Master!'
'What now? I'm kind of busy here AG…''I'm just warning you about the bad thing that's coming…'
'What the heck are you talking about?'
'Just be ready boss…'
"Now then! With my Tao's return, I activate my face down spell card, Inferno Reckless summon allowing me to summon the other two Art Taos from my deck!" Leon announced as two bright lights emerged on the field forming into exact duplicates of the Art Tao that stood in the center. "Of course, you're allowed to summon all copies of your monster…but I doubt you have any fusion monsters in your deck…"
"Damn it…" Cain cursed as he looked at Leon hold up the earthly aura card. "You're going to use them for a sacrifice aren't you?"
"Yes…a sacrifice that requires the rule of three…" Leon replied as all three of his Taos disappeared into three orbs of light that flew into the air. "So be gone my three loyal Taos! You have served me well…"
In a matter of seconds, Leon slammed the card onto his duel disk forcing the storm above him to become worse and a powerful blinding light to come crashing down before him. "Meet the first arch! The Arch of Earth!"
-/-/-/-/-//--//-
From the boat below the floating arena, the rest of the group watched in awe as the pillar of light began to grow bigger and bigger. Everyone's eyes were glued to the sight as if they had no choice in the matter.
Breaking the silence, Goliath just awed in amazement. "Such a wondrous light…where did that come from?"
Kazica placed her hands upon her chest holding onto the Black Luster Soldier card near to her heart. 'Please be okay Cain…'
"…Sweet…" Vic commented to receive glares from everyone who was not unconscious. "What? I can't have an opinion?"
/-/--/-/-/-/-//-
Cain was speechless as the light began to grow brighter, and brighter with each passing second. Yet, no matter how luminous the pillar got, for some reason Cain was unable to keep his eyes off it.
Then something weird happened, multiple lights suddenly appeared around the pillar, each one seemed to have a familiar voice crying out to Cain before they were absorbed into the pillar.
When all the orbs disappeared into the pillar, a large black crystallized clawed foot emerged from the pillar. The other foot followed while being accompanied by large black crystallized creature. The monster seemed to have a man shape to it, but its entire body was completely made up of black crystals. Even it's long braided like hair was crystal yet was able to move as if it were skin. And instead of having a right hand the creature had replaced it with a powerful sword made of black crystals. The monster looked down at Cain and narrowed its red eyes at the short duelist…
"W-what the hell is that thing?" Cain stuttered at the sight of the large beast.
"You know the rule of threes correct?" Leon asked to receive a delayed nod. "Then this will save some time…When this world was created, there were three domains to hold the inhabitants…
"Heaven…
"Hell…
"And Earth…
"These domains were each guarded individually by the first gods, or better known as the Egyptian gods…however, when the tasks to maintain the balance became even too great for the mighty divinities, they tried to create guardians…
"The first attempt were the Scared Beasts…who were crafted into the form of the gods they were made by. However, when these beasts saw the praise from the god's gifts…they grew jealous and fought to become the higher gods…
"They were defeated and sealed away…that opened the problem of the three domains once more.
"This time, the gods turned to the beings that were in the domains and created the Arch Gods that would be praised by inhabitants of that domain, while still maintaining the domain with the higher gods watching them…"
Leon raised his arms into the air shattering the pillar of light behind the crystallized warrior. "What stands before you is one of the three arch gods…Arkham, The Arch of Earth (4000/4000)! The one who resides over the domain of humans and brings judgement before the afterlife…"
"…That is seriously messed up…" Cain sighed still looking at the powerful Arch God.
"You dare question my monster's power?" Leon asked before pointing towards Cain's XYZ Dragon Cannon. "Then you shall face the divine wrath of a god! Arkham! Attack his oversized toy tank! Blade of the Gods!"
The entire arena went silent as the powerful Arkham raised his sword into the air, when the blade was pointed straight up, a powerful black aura surrounded the creature's weapon. Pulling the blade back, the monster immediately sent the sword directly into the large machine's chest, pulsating a large amount of dark energy through out the machine causing it to explode.
The force of the explosion sent Cain flying back yelling in pain as Arkham pulled back the sword from where its target once stood. (CLP: 1600)
Cain slowly stood up to see that Leon was being basked in a warm comforting light above him, seemingly recovering any little damage that was inflicted onto him. "W-what the hell is going on?"
"Arkham's ability of judgment," Leon explained holding up his increasing life point counter. "Whenever you take damage, I gain the exact same difference…only it increases my life points…" (LLP: 4400)
"You can damage me and recover?" Cain asked holding onto his side…that was bleeding now!
"Yes…and now that the first of the three have been awakened…" Leon stated lowering his head down to cover his eyes. "The other two Arch Gods will be coming soon…"
"H-How in the w-world are you able t-to con-ntrol them?" Cain stuttered trying to not let the large cut in his right side get the best of him.
"Simple…in order for the gods to remain in check, the higher gods granted gifts to certain bloodlines to communicate and control the Arch Gods…" Leon raised his head allowing his eyes to show off the new blue aura that was glowing around his pupils. "Today, they are referred to as…Evo-Gens…
"And with me as their communicator, this world will be ours!" Leon began to snicker to himself while crossing his arms.
"…Damn it…" Cain cursed kneeling to the ground.
/--//--/-/-/-//--/-/-/
Cain: T-too mu-uch…
Leon: You disappoint young duelist…
Cain: I'll bring down that e-eye-sore if it's the last thing I do…
Leon: It may be…especially since I have the other two Arch Gods awaiting to taste this final Sacrifice!
Heaven and Earth Appear – Next Time in – Chapter 39: World Suppression
Cain: M-My prom-mise…I w-will keep it…uhh.