Author's Note: Let the cold battle begin!

Chapter Fifty-One: Chilled to the Soul

Taylor pushed himself up onto his feet and Mizuki grinned and flashed him the victory sign. He laughed as the audience went into crazy cheering session number two. "Rising Star…no Mizuki, you really are an incredible duelist, that's for sure. But you know, one thing about this bothers me. Why would that guy have given me this deck anyways?"

Mizuki stopped grinning and looked at him very seriously. "Taylor, what was the name of the guy who gave you the deck? Did he give you one?"

"Well, not a real one. He just said to call him Mr. Shadow, and then he left. Why, do you know him?" Mizuki shook her head, although she got a strange feeling from the whole thing.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when two more names lit up on the board above. They both looked up, and a sudden cocky laugh let her know who one of the duelists was. "Oh dang it…he's going to overdo it, I know it."

Shiro grinned and hopped up on the dueling ring, his duel disk ready for action. "Don't sweat it Mizuki, I'll take this chick down real easy, and then once I've beaten opponent number two and you've taken down Enzeru we'll see each other in the finals, just like I said."

His opponent stopped her walking right next to him and cast and imperious glance at him, her cold blue eyes looking down on him even though he was taller. "Perhaps you should duel first before you declare your victory."

He laughed in response and gestured at his chest with his thumb. "Don't you worry Kohana; this Prankster will go easy on a cute girl like you if that's what you really want."

Mizuki sighed and walked off the dueling platform with Shiro, shaking her head. "Just don't lose idiot, or else you'll look like a complete moron more than usual."

Shiro rolled his eyes and turned back to his opponent, who was already on the other side of the field. "Have a little faith Mizuki; I can beat this Blue just like any other. Piece of cake!"

Mizuki frowned and sat down, looking carefully at the blue haired girl who seemed so calm. 'Somehow, I don't think its going to be as easy as you make it sound. She's strong, I can tell.'

Kohana's cold blue eyes narrowed slightly as she raised her left arm, her duel disk activating. "Let's begin Shiro Akugi. I would request that you take the first turn." (KLP: 4000)

Shiro shrugged and flipped open his own duel disk, getting ready. Then he drew, just like she had asked. "If that's what you want, that's what you'll get. Now let's see what I've got!"

He smirked as he looked down at his six cards, and then casually began to place them down. "I'll throw two cards face down and add a monster in defense mode to mix things up. Your turn!"

She drew and looked at his set cards, and then directly into his eyes. "Shiro Akugi, I begin by playing the magic card Connection to the Depths. At this time the top three cards of my deck are discarded to the cemetery."

With her fingertips she tugged three cards off, and held onto one while she discarded the others. "I can choose one of those three cards to place into my hand. Afterwards, I draw one card."

She placed her newly drawn card into her hand, and then held up her recovered card. "I activate the normal magic card Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two additional cards at this time."

Her eyes flicked up to his set cards after she finished drawing, and then she coldly held one of the two aloft. "I activate the magic card Bait Doll. Your left face down card will be activated, and if the timing is incorrect it is destroyed."

Shiro grimaced slightly as his set card flipped up and then shattered. "Bait and Switch can only be activated during the battle phase so it was destroyed. On the other hand, when it is sent from the field to the grave I can shuffle it into my deck and draw one card."

Kohana nodded and took her played magic card and slid it into her deck. "Much like Bait and Switch, after its effect resolves Bait Doll is shuffled back into my deck."

Once she had finished shuffling she held up one of her other cards and Shiro grimaced, recognizing it. "Frozen Greed allows me to discard one water or aqua type to draw two cards. Any water or aqua types I draw by this effect have their level reduced by two."

Selecting one of the two new cards, she pointed with it towards Shiro's remaining set card. "Once more I activate the magic card Bait Doll, thus revealing your continuous trap card that remains face down."

The prankster shrugged as his Cycle of Life trap card revealed itself. "Well that didn't affect me at all; I was going to activate it anyways."

Mizuki grimaced and squeezed her knees with her hands. 'Idiot…listen to what she said! She knew that your set card was a continuous trap somehow! Not only that, but since she used Bait Doll it means she wanted that card face-up for a reason, and she wanted it face-up now!'

Kohana's features remained cold and calculated as she slowly placed one of the cards in her hand onto her duel disk. "I may special summon Frost Serpent (1500/1200) from my hand if you have a face-up magic or trap card."

An ice blue snake with a hooded skull like a cobra squirmed out onto the field, reared its head and hissed at Shiro. Kohana continued by placing another card onto her duel disk. "For my normal summon I call forth Ice Knight (1300/1200), whose special effect gives him four hundred attack points for every aqua sub-type monster in play. Including him, that is two."

A humanoid figure in light blue armor with a red cape descended, holding a double-ended lance in its right hand. "Its attack strength is now twenty-one hundred, which makes it powerful enough to defeat your defending Super Spy."

Shiro's eyes widened and he took an involuntary step backward. "How did you know I had Super Spy as my set monster?"

Mizuki smacked her forehead. 'Idiot! She guessed and you just told her!'

Kohana finally smiled for the first time, and it was a chilling sight. "I analyzed your deck and dueling strategy, and made the assumption that your most likely set monster at this early stage of the duel would be Super Spy, as it has the highest defense of any Action Warrior."

She placed her right hand on her hip, still smiling coldly as she spoke. "In addition, its special effect allows you to destroy a magic or trap card in play when it deals life point damage in battle. Your most likely plan was to hope that I struck it with a weaker monster, allowing you to destroy a magic or trap card I might have set."

Shiro felt a chill run up his spine at everything she was saying. "Your contingency plan was, should I summon a monster stronger than it, to defend with Bait and Switch. Or, should I not set a magic or trap card, to destroy your own set Bait and Switch with Super Spy's effect in order to draw a card from your deck for your next turn."

Moving on she pointed with her left hand at his Cycle of Life trap card. "After I had determined that Bait and Switch was your set card on the left, I was certain that your remaining card was a continuous trap, as you place at least one continuous trap on the field ninety percent of the time while dueling. Also, having seen you duel I've seen that you most often set defensive cards on the left section of your duel disk, which made your first card the real threat."

Mizuki blinked and shot a wide eyed gaze at Kohana. 'She noticed that as well? The way she's talking…this Kohana girl is as analytical as I am. Maybe even more so.'

Kohana let her cold smile drop, returning her face to its emotionless mask. "I'm certain that you had hoped to be able to maintain an advantage if I used a card effect to destroy Super Spy, thus allowing you to shuffle it back into your deck with Cycle of Life. However, since I created a combination that lets me overwhelm the defense of Super Spy, this is not an issue."

Thrusting out her left hand Kohana finally moved on with her move. "Since I've effectively picked apart your meager form of strategy, I'll continue. Ice Knight shall destroy Super Spy."

Her knight thrust its lance into the face-down monster, which briefly appeared as a man in a tuxedo before bursting into tiny pieces. "Next, I attack you directly with Frost Serpent."

Shiro grimaced as he was bitten by the snake on the side of the chest. It spread a little bit of ice over his right side, which didn't vanish even after the snake left. "Dang it…not the best second turn of a duel for me ever." (SLP: 2500)

"I place one card face down and conclude my turn. I believe it is your turn Shiro Akugi. Try and give me something more difficult to pick apart next time." He gulped and reached for his deck, his mind a blur of thought as he tried to figure out what he was up against.

He picked up the top card and added it to his hand, not looking at it yet. 'Okay, so she's clever enough to understand my strategy, and apparently she's got a great enough eye and memory that she saw something about my dueling habits that I didn't know. She's smart, and she's freakish in her ability to analyze the field and opponent. Hell, I hadn't even thought of destroying Bait and Switch with Super Spy.'

Grimacing he looked at his drawn card, seeing Jar of Avarice. 'Damn it, at the moment that card is useless to me, since I can't use it unless I have five monsters in the grave.'

Moving his gaze to his next card, the one drawn from Bait and Switch, he bit back a smirk. 'Pot of Greed eh? Looks like somebody up there just wants me to be greedy this turn.'

Before he even reached for the card Kohana spoke aloud. "The card you drew this turn is a card that can allow you to draw cards. The same is true of the card next to it, which you drew from the effect of your trap card."

Shiro stopped his hand from touching Pot of Greed, and raised his head to meet her eyes, stunned. "What? How are…what are you talking about?"

Again that cold smile appeared. "When you looked at each of those cards, your eyes briefly flicked to your deck, indicating that they had draw abilities. However, you seemed slightly disappointed with your newest drawn card, meaning you cannot meet its cost at this time. Based on that, I would assume it is Jar of Avarice. I would also wager a guess that your other card is Pot of Greed, since you showed that it could be used."

"You…can tell all that just by watching my eyes? What the heck are you?" Kohana briefly ran her free hand through her blue hair, her smile fading. She offered no response, simply waited and watched Shiro.

"Yeah…well analyze all you want, knowing doesn't stop me! I activate Pot of Greed!" He did a mental leap of triumph at his incredible luck upon seeing one of the two cards he had just drawn.

"Your eyes lit up and you flicked your gaze to your cemetery, and then to your deck. This indicates that one of the two cards you have drawn has a draw effect, as well as being related to something in the cemetery. Since only Super Spy and Pot of Greed are in the grave, the obvious draw is Research on the Pot of Greed. When activated during the same turn as Pot of Greed it lets you draw two cards, so it makes perfect sense." Shiro grimaced and flipped up his second drawn card, revealing that it was Research on the Pot of Greed, just like she had estimated.

Shiro scanned his now impressively sized hand, trying to shake off his unease at knowing she had picked apart his draws so easily again. "Shut up, I'll destroy your monsters and blast into your life points this turn, so just watch!"

"Ah, perhaps you're referring to the Knife Flinger that is the second card on the left side of your hand? After all, you nearly reached for it when you set a monster last turn, meaning it is a monster. In addition, you looked at it briefly before making that declaration of destruction. Am I correct?" He slammed the named card onto his duel disk, growing in frustration.

Immediately a handsome man with a bandolier of knives did a flip out onto the field and hurled a flurry of knives at Ice Knight. "It doesn't matter; Action Warrior-Knife Flinger (1300/1600) still destroys your Ice Knight!"

The knives slammed into Ice Knight's armor…and then bounced off. Shiro blinked stupidly, not quite sure he followed. "What the heck was that? How come your monster didn't die?"

Kohana reached for her cemetery and a card slid out of it, which she held up. "Once per game I can remove Guard of Frost (0/800) from my cemetery to prevent on water or aqua type from being destroyed during a turn. Obviously I remove the Guard of Frost I discarded for Frozen Greed's cost."

With a frown he slid three cards from his hand into his duel disk. "Fine, if I can't blast your monster then I'll just set these three cards down and call it a turn."

She drew and looked down at his face down cards. "You have made a fatal error Shiro Akugi; allow me to demonstrate what that error is. First, I activate Deep Water. This allows me to add one water or aqua type monster from my deck to my hand."

A quick flick of her wrist fanned her entire deck out, and she easily saw and picked out the card she wanted. Then her two monsters on the field were suddenly frozen in blocks of ice. "I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon my ultimate defender, Pillar of Ice (0/2800) in defense mode."

Shiro gasped as a wave of water crashed down on each of their fields, and that water instantly froze, covering up their set cards. Then from the frozen ground on Kohana's side of the field a tower of ice rose, a floating crystal orb hovering above it. "As long as Pillar of Ice is face-up, no face down cards can be activated."

Kohana snapped her fingers and a cold mist surrounded her, and her deck began to churn. "At this time I activate the special effect of a card in my deck. By paying half my life points I can activate it at this time." (KLP: 2000)

He stared in shock as spires of ice shot out of the ground all around them, one bye one rising to the ceiling until they were completely hidden from view. Directly behind Kohana a solid structure that resembled a blue castle of ice formed. "My field card has revealed itself, the Fortress of the Ice Goddess. As long as this card is in play, face down cards cannot be activated."

Shiro shivered, his body feeling colder than it had even after he was bitten by her serpent. "Yeah? Well, that's the same effect as your Pillar of Ice. So what's the point?"

She pointed up at the orb above Pillar of Ice, which began to glow brightly. "While the Fortress of the Ice Goddess is in play the Pillar of Ice has its beacon activate. As long as that beacon is activated, my own face down cards are immune to the effect of my Fortress."

Carefully she folded her three card hand up and narrowed her eyes. "At this time I will reveal the second effect of my Fortress. At all times we must set any trap cards we hold. I have no traps in my hand, and based on your eyes, you hold none either. However, should you draw one in your next turn, it will be instantly set. Thus you will no longer be able to play magic or trap cards."

He gulped, realizing he was now officially in big trouble. He had to hope he lucked out next turn or he was screwed. "Yeah, well I've got a good chance of drawing a different type of card, so I'm not too worried."

"You may believe so, but that is simple foolishness. I continue my turn by activating the magic card Conqueror of the World. By sending two magic cards from my hand to the grave I may special summon one level seven or eight monster from my deck to the field." From the top tower of the fortress a graceful figure dropped to the ice, one hand planted to reduce the impact.

Slowly that figure rose to its full height, revealing a woman with a blue aura, pale skin, a mantle and cape that were blue, as well as a crown with ice shards extending out of it. In her hands she held a staff made of crystalline ice. "This is Ice Blizzard Master (2500/2500) my strongest attack. She will freeze your Knife Flinger."

Ice Blizzard Master raised her crystalline staff and a flurry of razor edged snow flakes swarmed around her. Then they all blurred outwards, slashing Knife Flinger into ribbons. Shiro gasped as it was destroyed, and his legs began to freeze. "What the heck?" (SLP: 1300)

Kohana smiled slightly, looking completely calm. "Be careful Shiro Akugi or my monsters will freeze you alive. Turn End."

He looked down at his deck, his heart pounding in his chest. 'I can't lose here, now matter how tough her combo seems. I've got to win this one, or Mizuki will give me hell and I'll look like a fool!'

He paused to consider that one and shuddered. 'Well more of a fool anyways. But the point is, if I draw a trap right now then I'm finished, no two ways about it! I have to trust my deck, have faith and draw!'

His heart beat slowed and he flicked his eyes up to Kohana's assembled cards. "Your strategy is awesome, and that's why I'm going to have a hell of a fun time fighting it! Draw!"

As the only one who could see the duel using his dark mirror, Saint found himself intrigued at the pulse of power from Shiro. "Ah yes, just as I anticipated. But though he was my initial interest, something about this Miss Meisuko intrigues me."

Shiro burst out laughing as soon as he saw what he had drawn. Kohana appeared surprised, not sure what to make of it. "Why are you laughing? I don't understand."

"Of course not, because there's no way your analytical stuff would get it when you've never seen this card before! I got just yesterday, and it was given to me by a close friend." He smirked, his mind going back to the day before.

He and Mizuki were eating together, and had discussed how they were some of the last duelists left in the tournament. Then she had reached into her bag and pulled out a small case, which she took the top card out of. "Here, take this for the finals. I'm sure you'll make good use of it, and I know it wouldn't fit my deck."

Laughing he had accepted it happily and looked it over. Then he had grinned at her and winked. "Whenever I play this card, I'll think of you and your strong throwing arm."

"Here it comes, the card that might as well be Mizuki in Duel Monster form! Meet my newest team member, Action Warrior-Femme Fatale (1900/900)!" The ice at his feet shattered and a new figure jumped out of it. It was clearly feminine, and it landed with one knee on the ground, much like Ice Blizzard Master had.

When it rose to its feet its true figure was seen. It was a beautiful woman with long black hair wearing a tight leather bodysuit that hugged her curvaceous figure. Over her right shoulder there was slung an assault rifle, and her ruby red lips were curved upwards into a feral smirk. "Femme Fatale is one of the most risky and dangerous of all the Action Warriors. And while some may say the ice is a fickle mistress, this woman is much more fickle!"

Her smirk turned into a snarl as she spun on her high heeled feet and leveled her assault rifle at Shiro. Kohana frowned at this sight. "What is she doing? Why is she suddenly facing you?"

"Why? Because when she's summoned Femme Fatale destroys all cards on my field besides herself!" Kohana stared in disbelief as the leather clad woman unleashed a heavy barrage of gunfire on all four of Shiro's cards, turning them into tatters.

Once she was finished obliterating his set cards she dropped out her clip and slammed in a new one before turning back to glare at Kohana. "She's gotten a bit of her aggression out, but she's not done yet! Next, for every card her effect destroyed, I select one monster in my deck with 'Action Warrior' in its title and send it to the cemetery! I cannot choose two of the same monster."

He smirked and fanned out his chosen cards. "I've selected Action Warrior-Brawler (2000/800), Action Warrior-Gunner (1800/1000), Action Warrior-Cyclist (1700/1200), and Action Warrior-Slow Mo (1600/1400)!"

Each of his monsters appeared on the field, and grinned lecherously at Femme Fatale. She growled and shouldered her rifle. "I don't like it when I'm eyed like a piece of meat. Get out of my face you chauvinist pigs!"

Kohana watched with great curiosity as Femme Fatale darted into their middle and gave Brawler an elbow to the chin, Gunner a kick to the gut, Cyclist a jump kick to knock him off his bike, and finally a kick to the groin for Slow Mo. Each monster fell to the ground and blew apart. "What does all this accomplish?"

"It's easy, for the duration of this turn Femme Fatale gains the attack of all monsters sent to the grave by her effect! That gives her a grand total of nine thousand attack points!" Kohana didn't gasp in surprise; all she did was calmly watch as Femme Fatale's attack power skyrocketed.

He continued to smirk as he flicked around a card he had drawn in his previous turn. "Jar of Avarice now lets me shuffle five monsters in my grave back into my deck to draw two cards. Of course, I'm shuffling in everybody but Slow Mo."

Two cards left the top of his deck, and then one was instantly grabbed by a hand of ice which reached out of the ground. "Damn…I drew a trap so its set face down, keeping me from activating it."

Shaking off that bad luck, he held up his other drawn card. "I activate Stage Select, which lets me shuffle your deck in order to place one card from my deck to the top of it."

They approached each other, meeting in the middle of the dueling floor and Kohana gave him her deck. He shuffled it rapidly, giving it a nice quick three times through shuffle before handing it back. "Better hope your set card is good, or this duel is over Kohana!"

Femme Fatale snapped her rifle up and aimed it at Ice Blizzard Master. "Open fire Femme Fatale!"

The lethal woman turned her head to glare at him, and he gulped. "That is, if you feel like it of course."

She turned back and pulled the trigger, releasing a spray of bullets which went straight for the master. Before they hit the Blizzard Master evaporated instantly, turning into a heavy mist over Kohana's field. "My trap card Frost Cloud lets me sacrifice a water or aqua type monster to reduce all damage to me for the turn to zero. Your attack is worthless."

Shiro frowned, seeing his chance at obliterating her life points in one shot gone. But at least he had freed up space on his field to play cards. "I'll end my turn there, and I'll just have to hope you don't top deck anything really good."

Kohana drew and placed the card onto her duel disk. "I summon Frost Witch (1100/1600) in attack mode. When summoned she forces each of us to view the top three cards of our deck."

Both players picked up their top three cards and looked at them carefully. Shiro looked up at her over the three cards. "What next? I'm sure that's not all."

"Next, all magic and trap cards of those three are placed face down on our field. Any monsters are shuffled back into our decks." Each of them shuffled a single card back into their deck before placing two cards face down.

"Since attacking at this point would be pointless I simply conclude my turn." Kohana placed one hand on her hip, waiting patiently as Shiro drew for the turn.

As soon as Shiro had drawn, she motioned to her left face down card. "At this time I activate my trap card, Hidden Trap in the Snow! Prepare yourself for a dangerous choice Shiro Akugi, a choice you cannot win with."

He bit his lip, not liking the sound of that one bit. "Okay, what do I have to do?"

She smiled coldly and pointed to her other set card. "You must select one face down card in my magic and trap zone. If that card is a magic card, Hidden Trap in the Snow is sent to the cemetery and I shuffle all my face down cards."

Shiro liked the sound of what might be coming even less. "And if it just so happens to be a trap?"

"If that is the case, then you receive seven hundred points of effect damage. Following that, I set Hidden Trap in the Snow face down again and shuffle all my set cards. Of course, I'm sure by now you understand the problem you face." He nodded slowly, seeing the damage on the horizon.

"You've only got one set card on the field, and you wouldn't have activated Hidden Trap in the Snow unless that one set card was a trap. Which means I take seven hundred points of damage." He grimaced as ice crept up his body, reaching the middle of his chest. He shivered uncontrollably. (SLP: 600)

As soon as he was done freezing her trap was covered again, and the two flickered, rearranging themselves. 'Damn, she can activate it again in her next turn, which means I've got to win this in this turn!'

Shaking off that somewhat foreboding feeling he raised his drawn card up. "Win in one turn? I like that challenge! Graceful Charity starts me off!"

He slid three cards off his deck, and then gasped as one of them was dragged down onto his field. "What the heck was that? You mean it doesn't matter when they're drawn, traps are forced face down?"

With a frown he selected two cards from his hand and discarded them, putting him at two cards in hand, less than he should have been. 'That didn't go as well as it could have.'

He shook that feeling off and slapped his last remaining drawn card from Graceful Charity. "Here's another of my team members, Action Warrior-Science Junky (1000/1500)! And since he was summoned I get to add a card with 'Action' in its name from my deck to my hand!"

It took only a few seconds to find the card he wanted and then he took a deep breath. "Awesome strategy, but I'm breaking it now and going for the kill! It's a risk, but I'll take it to fill up my last zone. I equip Science Junky with Action Weapon-Knife Launcher!"

The handsome man in the lab coat smirked as he reached into his coat and pulled out a heavy duty weapon that looked like a modified grenade launcher with square slots at the front. "When it is activated, Knife Launcher lets me destroy one monster on the field. I choose Pillar of Ice!"

A barrage of knives shot out of the launcher, punching a hole in the giant pillar. He thrust his hand into the air in triumph as it came toppling down. "Alright! Now without that monster in play you can't activate any set cards!"

Kohana didn't even flinch at seeing her strategy go down the tubes. Science Junky then swiveled his knife launcher to aim at Frost Witch. "Okay Science Junky, shred that crazy witch!"

Another series of knives shot out of the launcher, these ones punching through the stomach of the pale skinned woman with the white hair and gnarled hands. She screeched, and to Shiro's surprise her attack counter shot downwards before she was blown apart. "What the heck was that?" (KLP: 2000)

Kohana held up her destroyed monster, as calm as ever. "When Frost Witch enters battle she loses one hundred attack points for every face down card on the field. She lost six hundred attack points. I gain an amount of life points equal to that." (KLP: 2600)

She placed the card into her cemetery and then met Shiro's eyes again. "When Frost Witch is destroyed as a result of battle I take no life point damage from that battle. So my life points did not decrease."

"Well whatever, I've still got the advantage here! Femme Fatale, if you really want to, take a chunk out of her life points!" The beauty smirked and pulled down hard on the trigger, pounding Kohana with a heavy hail of bullets, which drove her back up against the fortress. (KLP: 700)

Shiro cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. "Duel's almost done, your turn now Kohana. I'm not going to back down an inch, so you better not either!"

Kohana drew and then didn't even bother to watch as her drawn card was forced face down onto her field. "It seems that my top deck gave me nothing I could use, and now I am trapped and prevented from using my set cards. I am defenseless."

The prankster shrugged and jammed his hands into his pockets. "Guess that's just the risk you run when you use cards that lock down both players like that. Your own strategy backfired, it's bound to happen."

To his surprise the blue haired girl slowly smirked, chilling him to the soul with that image. "True, a risky strategy such as mine is bound to backfire at some point. Which is why I carefully and analytically built my deck so that I had every opening completely covered. There is no weak point to my strategy, as I shall demonstrate."

A blue pillar of energy roared up to her left, followed by one to her right. Shiro jerked backwards, surprised by the sudden fountains of light. "What the heck are those?"

"These are tributes. You see, one of the two cards I discarded with Connection to the Depths was called Testament to the Frost Goddess, which while in the cemetery allows me to remove water or aqua types on my field or in my grave from the game to act as tributes for water or aqua types in my cemetery or hand." She held up Frost Witch and Ice Knight, and Shiro realized that she had two choices, and the choice was clear.

The light skinned woman with the ice crystal headdress floated up out of the ice as if it wasn't there, and the two fountains of light poured into her body. "Ice Blizzard Master (2500/2500) has returned to the field. And now, she attacks Femme Fatale!"

Shiro threw up one arm as a pale defense as a flurry of snow flakes spun from the woman's staff like razors, ripping his female Action Warrior's clothes up. She gasped and spat blood on the ground before shattering into a million pieces. "No way…Femme Fatale…" (SLP: 0)

The ice fortress fell apart, revealing the two duelists to the crowd. There was an eruption of cheers, and Shiro realized that the whole time they had been visible on the projector above the dueling field. "I…lost. All my talk and I still lost."

Kohana finished shuffled her deck and replaced it into her duel disk. "Fear not Shiro Akugi, it was as I said. My deck and my strategy carry no flaws, defeating me would have been next to impossible for someone nearly incapable of strategizing."

She walked up to Shiro until she was standing less than a foot away from him, and then reached out and tapped him on the nose. His eyes widened as he felt something strange stir in him. "What…what was that?"

The blue haired girl leaned in close, getting him to lean down so she could whisper in his ear. In cold and calm tones she told him, and he shivered and pulled away. She started to walk away from the stunned duelist, but stopped when he whispered something that only she heard. "What…what are you?"

She paused and look back at him, her blue eyes shimmering in the light. "I am Kohana Meisuko. But perhaps you wanted to know my real name? If that's the case, then I am the True Sin, Frost. A pleasure to meet you."

As Shiro finally stumbled off the stage, the last two names lit up on the screen. The names were obvious, as they were the only two duelists left to duel. The next duel was Kaoru Tsukada with the Heart's Mind against Miharu Kanzaki, the top duelist of Osiris Red.

As Shiro watched Kohana walk away, Saint was watching from his booth, and he was smiling. "Ah, I see. How perfect…another True Sin has revealed them. Welcome to my little experiment Frost, I'm quite glad you could join us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: And lo and behold, another True Sin hath appeared.

Next Time: From the coldest of cold to the hottest of hot, the last of the first round duels is under way! Kaoru must duel the fiery spirit that is Miharu Kanzaki, a duelist who is so hotheaded that even Kaoru finds it difficult to stare into her heart for fear of being burned. Its burn or be burned in this hot duel, and only one duelist is coming out of it intact!

See it all in, Rolling Inferno!