Mark 052: Fade to Black
"Do not even try to talk me out of this, do not try to tell me I am being used here. I can see clearly now for the first time in a long time." Urizen, now inhabited by the essence of an earthbound god, focused his attentions solely on Ramirez. "I will prove it to erveryone here, that I am better than you, that I am better then everyone! The duel we did not finish that time, we will finish it now!" He drew cards until he had 2 in his hand. "So, accept my challenge, Ramirez, or be crushed along with everyone else that stands in my way!" Suddenly a monster appeared from his dueldisk, the Steelswarm Girastag demon(2600/0). "Urizen, wait, Gaunt is still not.." Kein tried to bring him to his senses by pointing at his still unconscious father who lied not too far away from him. "Like I care about him now! You had your chance and you nearly failed it! You are an enemy too, and I will crush you next, Ace of Spades." Urizen smirked and turned back to the girl. "Here I come. Whether you are ready or not, I shall not hold back! Girastag attacks!"
The demon sent its tail through the ground. "!" Ramirez quickly activated her deck as well. "Oh no." But this attack damaged the rooftop even more, it started to break down completely. "Everyone, move downstairs. This place is not safe anymore!" Kein yelled as he himself grabbed Gaunt and carried him over his shoulder. "And bring the old man too!" Two guards were ordered to take the former vessel of Ccarayhua, and they all ran down the stairs as quickly as they could. "It is just you and me now!" Urizen shouted as his stagbeetle closed in on her. ".." Ramirez was somehow unable to draw cards, but she was allowed to set a card and summon one monster. "Aha, you figured it out!" The demons tail slammed against an Infernity Guardian(1200/1700). The monster could not die since she held no cards in her hand, but the impact itself packed enough physical force to knock her to the edge of the building. "Ggh." She jumped off of it, landing a bit roughly on the rooftop of a neighboring building. "Are you having fun yet?"
Ramirez's LP: 5600 Urizens LP: 1900
Their lifepoints had been set, their fields had been readied, their graves were filled. Everything was exactly like how they had left the duel since their last encounter. "You could not get away." Urizen jumped down to her level as well. "You will finish what we started." He had a trap on his field as well. "Sangan!" Urizen then summoned the three-eyed critter(1000/600). "And Dark Spirit Art - Greed!" he flipped his trap, and sacrificed Sangan to activate it. "Since you like to have an empty hand so much, I will make min greater! You have no spells in your hand, so I can draw two cards now!" As well since Sangan left the field, he was allowed to add a monster with 1500 attackpoints or less to his hand. He added a Battlefader. "Heheh. And you have no idea how eager my deck is to end this." He looked at his hand, a certain card had been drawn. "Gold Sarcophagus: I banish mausoleum of the Emperor from my deck and add it to my hand in 2 turns." He activated the spell and sealed a field spell inside a gold chest. After that he placed a trap down.
"Now it is your turn. Will you keep stalling, I wonder? Or will I see why people mistake you the reaper." He chuckled and let Ramirez draw. "I did not realize.. at the time. That the blackout caused you to lose." Ramirez placed the card face-down. "But I did not want to defeat you, just to stop your progress. I had to see.. " She activated the set card, the spell ZERO MAX. She revived Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400) with it. "You already told me what you want to say!" However at the same time, Urizen revealed his trap card, Infestation Wave. "A test of strength means nothing if it is interrupted! Maybe you did not anticipate that, but I do not care." He recalled Girastag, allowing it to evade the other effect of her spell, which was to destroy all monsters weaker than Doomdragon. Infernity Guardian survived that effect due to its own effect. "Infestation Wave returns a Steelswarm monster that was tribute summoned and destroys another card!" Waves of dark energy crushed the dragon of death. "I had you on the defense, and that is where you will stay!"
Ramirez could not enter the battle phase during a turn in which ZERO MAX was activated, so she had to end it. "Charities like that can all be damned, I do not need to be warned or diverted." Urizen revived the Steelswarm Scout(200/100) who still rested in his graveyard. When he controlled no spells or traps, it could be special summoned after all. "Now then. Let us try this.. again!" And Girastag could be tribute summoned with one tribute less if the other one was a Steelswarm monster. "I summon Girastag and use its effect!" The stag-demon sent its tail to grab Infernity Guardian and throw it deep into the ground. "His effect is meaningless against an effect that only 'sends' monsters to their death!" In return urizen was given back 1000 of his lifepoints. "And now we will almost be even." His demon then fired a blast of darkness directly at Ramirez. "But this will not end until one of us drops. And with the power I have on my side now, I know who that shall be." He placed two cards down and ended his turn again.
Ramirez's LP: 3000 Urizens LP: 2900
"..Archfiend." Ramirez revealed what she drew, this turn she gained a card whose effect could be used now. "You would not dare." Urizen growled as he had to watch her special summon the Infernity Archfiend(1800/1200). "You know, what will happen." She could add another Infernity card to her hand now, and she chose Infernity Mirage. "Sacrifice the Mirage." The indian shaman(0/0) was normal summoned and immediately tributed to revive two other Infernity monsters in her cemetery. She brought out Infernity Necromancer(0/2000) and the Doomdragon. "Even now, you threaten me?" Urizen could not stop these monsters either. The Necromancer ressurected the first Archfiend in her graveyard, while the Doomdragon sent out flames that destroyed Girastag. Half of the Steelswarm monsters attackpoints were deducted from its masters lifepoints as well. "I have to. You are not yourself." And thanks to the other archfiend summoned, she could add an Infernity card to her hand. "Infernity Burst." She took out and activated Infernity Burst, the spell that burned the opponent for each Infernity monster summoned in a turn. "I am no longer that weak, you mean!" But he could negate that spell. "Dark Bribe!" With the counter trap card he had set down before her turn.
Urizens LP: 1600
In return the girl was allowed to draw a card from her deck, which she placed in her trap zone. "Were you meant to gain this power?" Ramirez asked as she entered her battle phase. "The son of a marked one, still closer to what I was hoping to find than any other. And now he is their tool" The archfiends launched a direct attack. However as she expected, he special summoned the Battlefader(0/0) from his hand to negate their attacks and end the battle phase. That is just it, isn't it?" Urizen scowled as he did not even wait for her to declare the end of her turn. "I failed my father, I did not inherit any godlike qualities. He gave me that cheating dueldisk to test me, but nothing ever happened. So if I am not meant to be his gods duelist, I will be theirs!" The sarcophagus opened and he took the Mausoleum out of it. "But enough of your desires and excuses, you are nothing anymore." He played the spell, the Mausoleum could take 1000 LP away to create pseudo-tributes. "And my god will reduce you to nothing!" The Battlefader along with 1000 lifepoints were sacrificed to bring out a highlevel monster in his hand. "Come, earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!" A black heart appeared in the skies, and it started to draw in all life energy. "This proves it, I am the stronger duelist!"
Urizens LP: 600
"Look!" Kein and company finally reached the ground floor and were just in time to see the immortal take solid form. "Stay with me!" Keins talisman protected them all from its influence, and the city had been evacuated as well. Only lifeforms like plants or insects were drawn into the black giant(3000/2500). "But if that attacks now, she will be.." Nathan had not kept track of the duel, but he saw that she lacked the lifepoints to endure a direct attack. "Here it is, everyone. This is your death and my new pride." Urizen shouted to all below. "This is goodbye!" He entered the battle phase and Ccapac Apu smashed right through this building as well, crushing it with an open palm. "No, I will not let it end this way." Ramirez was forced to jump on to another rooftop again, as the previous building she stood on crumbled into dust. The debris and dust surrounded the duelist and guards. "She survived?" They were surprised to see her escape damage alltogether. "Ah, the Spirit Barrier!" And it had been because of a single trap of hers.
"Feh, I do recall that nuisance." Urizen remembered her using it against Ada to great effect. It was a barrier that prevented damage to the controllers of monsters. "So you bought yourself one turn. But one turn alone!" He placed a trap card and ended his turn. "Ccapac Apu can do damage equal to the monsters he kills! So it only has to kill your dragon to end you! Since you are not marked at all, destroying my owngod will not let it be sealed. And you will be the one to lose!" He let her start her turn. She drew a card and placed it down. "I can still." She tried to activate the effect of Doomdragon. "No you can not. You have no hopes." He flipped his trap card. "Book of eclipse! All monsters are switched to face-down defense position!" Doomdragons flames fizzled out as it went into hiding along with the archfiends and the necromancer. "You Ramirez, are just a lowly mortal. Listening in on the gods without ever repaying them for their words. You go as far as to drag others out of their path. With that offense, it is no wonder that you lost your hearing."
During her endphase her monsters flipped back to a face-up position and she had to draw cards for every monster flipped. However she could not use any of them, as it was his turn now. "But then what will you do. If you win?" She asked while drawing four times. "You do not need to know." Urizen summoned the Evil Hero monster, Infernal Gainer(1600/0). "Infernal Gainer can banish itself to allow another demon to attack two times." The hellish hero disappeared and now both hands of the giant god glowed with an eerie blue light. "But I will not need the second attack, will I?" The first hand went after Doomdragon, catching it and crushing it into a bloody pulp. "And now 3000 damage is dealt to you!" Ccapac Apu fired a blast of darkness at Ramirez. "!" This time she could not evade it. "No!" Nathan and the others saw her get hit dead on, and the infernity duelist was knocked off of the building, falling down to the streets. "I did it!" Urizen meanwhile started laughing maniacally, basking in his viictory. "I beat the reaper! Ahahaha!"
Ramirez's LP: 0
..
Everything had gone dark, all scent and touch left her and all sounds were muted. Yet the last part was nothing new to her, even so this feeling could only mean one thing. "Dead..I am dead." She tried to look at her own hand, but not even her body could be seen in this absolute darkness. "Or was I.. supposed to be dead?" It was strange, but in this senseless void, her memories became clearer then ever. She recalled the red skies again, but this time she also saw a construct. It was a temple, people were there. "I must have been here after all. Was this when 'it' happened?" She tried to think back and placed this event at about two and a half years ago. Just before she lost her hearing. "Then.." Yet while that stayed lost, sight and other sensations slowly returned to her. She could make out new buildings, familiar ones. "Oh. That is right. My life was gone.." She felt the cold pavement under her back, and a few broken bones in her body. "But I can not lose yet." Despite all that, the girl got up. "I have not done enough."
"Impossible! You were crushed, beaten, dead!" Urizen saw her get up as if nothing had happened. "I was. But. I had this card." However next to her a new monster hovered, a totem-shaped demon(0/0). "What is that card?" Kein did not recognize it from anywhere. but then the Infernity family was not registered anyway. "Infernity Zero. When my life drops to nothing, it will be summoned at the cost of my hand." Ramirez had discarded the other three cards in her hand. "It can not die while my hand is devoid of cards, and so neither can I." Even at zero lifepoints, she could continue the game. "I have three more lives. However.." Ramirez grabbed her left hand with her right. "Those are false lives.. I am already dead." She snapped it back into position. "You mean.. the fall killed you?" Nathan did think that drop looked like it was not something she could survive. "I have been dead, I believe, since that day." She said as she looked at Urizen and then at the possessed kid still floating around. "They probably do not remember like I do. They would not think of one mortal, even if she was part of it. Part of those that let them go free." Kein flinched when he heard her say that. "What, let them go free?" The girl nodded. "Yes. I was there. I remember it now, I remember who I was."
Infernity Zero, 1/0/0/ Dark/Fiend
When your opponent activates a card or effect that would inflict damage, you can discard all other cards in your hand to Special Summon this card from your hand. You do not lose the Duel even if your Life Points become 0.
If you have no cards in your hand, this card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle. For each time you take damage, place 1 Death-Counter on this card. When there are 3 Death-Counters on this card, banish it.
"Oh I remember those souls." The kid possessed by Uru landed on the streets. "A band of explorers found the temple, archeologists is what I believe you name mortals like those. Yes it was those helpful people that broke the seals put in place, and allowed us to reach the surface." Uru stared at Ramirez. "Yet if you claim to be a part of them, you must have been part of me for some time. All those explorers were my first meal in millennia. Until the signers of that time saved them." He chuckled. "I think, that is true." Ramirez felt that that could explain why her memories of that time were so messed up. "No wonder you can hear them." Kein thought it made sense now, though he had never seen any survivor exhibit such a skill before. "But I was one of them, just an intern working in the field of archeology. All it took was the wrong time and the wrong place, to become this." She then turned her eyes back to Urizen. "You were right, in the end it was my fault. That is why..that is why I will not let you fall like I did. Even if it kills me for good."
(To be Continued in Mark 053: The Impossible Duelist)
New Cards used by Urizen Artani/Ccapac Apu
Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu
Evil Hero Infernal Gainer
-
Book of Eclipse
-
Infestation Wave
New Cards used by Miss. Ramirez
Infernity Zero(+)
(+) based on the monster used by Kiryu/Kallin in YGO 5Ds (the effect being a hybrid of the Tagforce 5 and anime effect)
