Author's Note: The final of the first round duels is now!

Chapter Fifty-Two: Rolling Inferno

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."

Mizuki gave Kaoru a nod as the other sixteen year old stood to go for the dueling floor. Miharu had already jumped up out of her seat and raced to the opposite side of the dueling field. "Kaoru, do your best, okay? I still want to duel you."

The purple eyed girl nodded, feeling somehow more relaxed that Mizuki was being kind to her. "Thanks for the support Mizuki, I wish to duel you as well."

As she walked to the arena, Shiro passed by her, and she got a chill running through her entire body. She shook it off, and Shiro sat down next to Mizuki, completely quiet. Mizuki looked at him and frowned. "You okay?"

"I….yeah, I'm fine. Guess I'm just out of sorts after losing when I was certain I'd win." Mizuki frowned, but left it alone. It didn't sound as if that was all that was happening, but she couldn't pry and force him to answer truthfully.

Up on the dueling ring, Kaoru gave Miharu a brief bow. "I hope to have a good duel against you Kanzaki." (KLP: 4000)

Miharu rolled her eyes and tossed her wild red hair over her shoulder, her blue eyes shaking with anticipating. "Don't hope anything stupid like that, just fight with me and we'll see about fun! And guess what? I start this duel off, draw!" (MLP: 4000)

The Osiris Red first year snatched her first card fast and flipped it up. "Let me show you my signature style, by burning a trail of destruction onto the field! I activate Bury the Dead, sending three monsters from my deck to the grave!"

She quickly tossed the three monsters into her grave, and then burst out laughing as she held up three cards from her hand. "The effect of my chosen monster activates if I remove a fire or pyro monster in my grave from the game, which I will. In this situation, Inferno (1100/1900) is special summoned!"

A swirling ball of fire with an evil face and blue eyes roared to life on her field, and suddenly two more appeared, one on each side of it. "Guess what? I just summoned three of them, completing my signature style. The Inferno Rush Summon!"

Kaoru frowned, her purple eyes reflecting the fires from the three burning monsters. "How did you manage to draw all three copies of Inferno on your first turn?"

Miharu held up one finger to her cherry red lips as she smirked, signaling for silence. "Shhh, that's a secret. But here, I'll show you an advantage of that by equipping the middle Inferno with Hell Alliance, which increases his attack by eight hundred per same named monster on the field!"

The middle burning skull roared even hotter, shooting up to an impressive thirty-five hundred attack strength. "I conclude my turn by activating the continuous magic card Hell Greed! During my standby phase it lets me draw two cards, though its upkeep is half my life points each turn. Still, three cards a turn is impressive right?"

Kaoru drew, frowning at the excited look on Miharu's face. She dipped into her power and looked into Miharu's heart. Suddenly the entire room burst into flames, and she screamed as the fire licked at her.

Across the field of flame Miharu sat in an obsidian throne, laughing as attractive and muscular men surrounded her and fanned her with giant leaves. "What in the world…how is this a person's heart?"

Miharu narrowed her eyes at the sight of Kaoru and her eyes were suddenly blazing with inner flame. "Get the hell out of my face little girl, I don't want to see anybody here but me! GET OUT!"

Kaoru withdrew herself from Miharu's heart as a fireball streaked towards her. As soon as she was free she realized she was shaking and sweating, and Miharu was staring at her with a confused look on her face. "You going or not?"

The purple eyed girl gulped as she looked down at her hand. 'Her heart is so filled with heated passion and penned in rage that even I can't look at it without being injured. It seems I'm locked out without risking myself here.'

Trying to shake off the fear Kaoru placed her drawn card onto her disk and a card started rotating over her head. At the same time a black skinned monster with red lines running along it like a volcanic being appeared. It had a pronged tail and horns. "I summon Arcana Force XV- The Devil (1800/1800). Say stop when you want it to stop."

Miharu snorted and flipped her hair back from her shoulders. "I'm gonna have to say that a lot against your lame ass Tarot Deck aren't I? Fine, stop."

The card slowed and stopped upside down. "Its reverse effect means that once during each of my turns each of us will receive five hundred points of damage. So let it begin!"

The Devil stretched out one hand in each direction and shot a fireball at them. Kaoru winced as hers hit her chest, whereas Miharu just smirked as it exploded against her chest. "That's nothing but a little wussy flame compared to my Inferno here!" (KLP: 3500) (MLP: 3500)

Kaoru next held up another card causing it to start spinning. Miharu almost immediately called out for it to stop. "Suit of Swords VII upright forces you to send one magic or trap card on your field to the grave."

Miharu shrugged and her equip card shattered instantly. "Is that all you've got? Come and attack me then and I'll show you what real strength is!"

"You'll regret that arrogance soon. The Devil will slay your middle Inferno!" The Devil cupped his hands together and shot fire from the joined hands. It was strange to see fire strike fire, but Inferno shuddered and exploded into sparks anyways. (MLP: 2800)

"I place one card face down and end my turn!" Miharu smirked and drew as soon as she heard that Kaoru was ending her turn.

She then snapped two cards off her deck and licked her lips as Hell Greed was surrounded by a fiery aura and so was she. "I pay half my life points as upkeep for Hell Greed!" (MLP: 1400)

After looking at the three cards she was holding, Miharu smirked and reached for her cemetery. "Here, let me show you something hilarious! I remove the Inferno in my cemetery from the game to special summon this monster from my hand!"

She slapped it down, and suddenly a burning fireball in the shape of an evil face with blue eyes formed in the middle of the other two. "And my choice of monster is Inferno (1100/1900)!"

Kaoru jerked in response, and then burst out her reaction. "But that's cheating! That would mean you had four copies of Inferno in your deck, and you can only have three copies of any card in your deck."

Miharu smirked and reached into the inner pocket of her jacket where she had placed her removed pyro monsters, and then fanned them out to show them. "Oh? Then how is it that the three monsters I removed for summoning purposes were each Inferno?"

Most of the audience gasped and couldn't think of any way it was possible. The only ones who weren't surprised were those who had been crushed by her strategy, just like Kane had. "Confused? Existing within my deck is a normal magic card called Pure Battle Soul. As long as it exists in my hand, cemetery, field, or deck I can only have one monster in my deck, though I can have infinite copies of it. My choice was Inferno of course, so all twenty monsters in my deck are Inferno!"

"A one monster focus deck…that is all copies of that one monster. And with Inferno's ability to special summon itself, and the fact that each meets the need of the others it's an excellent rush strategy, despite their weak attack strength." Miharu snickered and tapped a finger against the side of her head.

"That's not all smart girl, Inferno has one other effect. When it destroys a monster in battle it deals my opponent fifteen hundred points of effect damage! With that power at my hands, I can easily overwhelm and burn my opponent to cinders!" Kaoru frowned, but took assurance in the fact that her one monster was stronger than Miharu's three.

Still smirking Miharu placed one card from her hand face down, and then held up another. "I play the continuous magic card Hell's White! As long as this card is active I have to play with my hand open, but in your standby phase you take six hundred damage. Of course, at the moment I have no hand, so it doesn't matter."

Kaoru glanced at her The Devil and frowned. 'With The Devil's ability I'll take eleven hundred damage during my next standby phase. However, with the damage done to her, during her next turn Hell Greed's mandatory payment will reduce her to four hundred and fifty life points, enough so that in my turn she'll lose to The Devil.'

"You seem pretty confident for a chick who is gonna burn during her next turn. Whatever, I switch all three of my monsters into defense and end there." There was nothing to signify that the three burning monsters had changed modes, but Kaoru knew that she couldn't strike now with their defense as it was.

She drew carefully, and gritted her teeth as the face-up magic card covered her body in flames. At the same time The Devil shot a fireball into each of them, draining them of more life points. "So far your Pure Inferno Deck hasn't been that effective Miharu. How have you been winning?" (KLP: 2400) (MLP: 900)

"Keh, the same can be said of you. With all your cards being based on chance its stupid to think that you got in here based on skill. Which is why I'm gonna trample all over you during my next turn!" She threw back her head and laughed her eyes wide and filled with fire and passion.

Kaoru looked down at her hand of cards and then held up one, causing it to start spinning. "I activate Suit of Wand III."

Miharu again rolled her eyes. "Stop now."

It stopped upside down. "Its reverse effect lets you view the top three cards of your deck, and then select one to add to your hand. The others are shuffled back into your deck."

The Osiris Red girl held up Hell's Gauntlet and then shuffled the other two back into her deck. "You gonna help me out with any other cards, or are you done with aiding me?"

"Next I summon Arcana Force VI-The Lovers (1500/1500)!" Two large skulled grey-skinned beings, one in a dress and the other in a suit, were joined hand in hand. At the same time their card rotated above their heads.

"Stop again. I'm getting bored of this stupid stuff already." The card turned a few more times before coming up as tails.

"Tails gives one monster on my field this monster's attack as additional attack points. So now, The Devil (3300) attacks an Inferno!" Another fireball streaked out and blew apart the fire monster. Immediately Miharu's set card flipped up and spat flame out at Kaoru.

"Backfire activates when a fire type monster on my field is destroyed in battle. At that time you take five hundred damage, so you pay for burning my monster!" Kaoru grimaced as her life points trickled down further, even though she still had the advantage. (KLP: 1900)

Kaoru shook her head to clear it, and then gave Miharu a nod to indicate that she was done. The red girl drew, her body being engulfed by a red flame as Hell Greed forced her to pay for it. "I draw two cards now!" (MLP: 450)

She slipped two more cards off of her deck and they appeared alongside the other three. One was Hell's Gauntlet, the next was another Inferno, and then there was a Tremendous Fire and Hellish Accountant. "Heh, this is good stuff. I activate Hellish Accountant."

A demon in a business suit and wearing glasses appeared on the field and began looked over Kaoru's field carefully. "Hellish Accountant totals the cards on your field and lets me draw that many. In exchange you can either summon a copy of a monster on your field to the field, or draw cards from your deck until you reach a monster which you'll special summon."

"I have no copies of monsters in my deck, so I'll begin drawing." She picked up three cards before she reached a monster, which she held out, revealing Arcana Force VII-The Chariot (1700/1700).

Her monster had a bulbous grey bottom with eyes on it, with a spindly top patched with numerous arms. The bulbous bottom had two grey tentacle extensions with cannons on them. Miharu immediately shouted her answer. "Stop!"

"When The Chariot is reversed, when it is destroyed in battle it gets special summon to your side of the field." Miharu shrugged and drew three cards since Kaoru had two monsters and a set when Hellish Accountant was played.

Three new cards appeared hovering above Miharu's head, revealing themselves as Inferno Panacea, Inferno Crash, and Back-draft. "I'll remove the Inferno in my grave to special summon Inferno (1100/1900) from my hand!"

Once again she had a full set of three in play, though their attack points didn't seem to be enough to help out. "I'll continue by activating Inferno Panacea! I gain the attack or defense of all monsters on my field named 'Inferno'. So I gain their defense points!" (MLP: 6150)

Laughing she slammed another card into her disk, and Inferno Crash vanished. "Inferno Crash lets me triple the attack strength of one pyro monster in play, though it loses the ability to deal life point damage in battle."

Her newly summoned Inferno shot upwards to thirty-three hundred attack strength, dead even with The Devil. "Next I equip him with Hell's Gauntlet! This equip card lets me sacrifice monsters to the equipped monster to give him an additional attack, as long as it isn't direct."

She snapped her fingers and a huge spray of flame erupted from the equipped Inferno's mouth, roaring towards The Lovers. Kaoru snapped out her hand and her set card flipped. "Call it!"

Miharu snorted once again. "I don't care right now, so stop!" The card rotated and came up in the upright position. Immediately the flames were drawn directly into Kaoru's duel disk, doing her no harm. (KLP: 5200)

"You gave me the upright effect of Queen of Cups, which negates your attack and increases my life points by the attacking monster's strength. Looks like you've only aided me." Miharu snarled and motioned to her Inferno on the right, and suddenly the middle one turned and ate it whole.

"I sacrifice that Inferno to Hell's Gauntlet's effect! Now Inferno (3300) attacks The Lovers once again, this time without interference!" It fell upon the happy couple who screamed as they were burned alive.

She smirked broadly as Inferno floated in front of Kaoru and it blazed hotly, forcing Kaoru to her knees from the heat. "Since a monster of yours was destroyed in battle by Inferno, you take fifteen hundred damage!" (KLP: 3700)

With another laugh she snapped her arm out to the remaining Inferno that hadn't attacked. "I sacrifice my last Inferno to the gauntlet's effect, and now Inferno (3300) attacks The Chariot!"

Once again another of Kaoru's monsters was immolated by Inferno, and then it began to flash fry her with its super heated body. "And that's fifteen hundred damage for you!" (KLP: 2200)

The Chariot formed on Miharu's field and began to rotate. Kaoru shuddered and called out to it. "Stop."

It appeared in the reversed position just as it had for Kaoru. Miharu sneered at it. "Doesn't matter, if a monster is summoned to my field that isn't the name of my chosen monster, Pure Battle Soul instantly removes it from the game."

There was a flash and The Chariot vanished, gone for the rest of the game. Kaoru frowned and also watched as her The Devil fell in attack points. "Since The Lovers is no longer face-up on the field The Devil returns to its original attack points."

"You think I care? I activate the last magic card in my hand, Tremendous Fire! At this time you take one thousand points of damage and I take five hundred! Let's burn together!" Kaoru screamed and Miharu laughed as both of them were engulfed in flames, burning away more of their life points. (KLP: 1200) (MLP: 5650)

When the fire faded Miharu slid her last card into her duel disk, and Kaoru was left on her knees, breathing hard. "I throw my last card down and end my turn. And now, now you burn even more!"

Kaoru shuddered and drew, and then was instantly struck by the flames of The Devil, and then by the flames of Hell's White. She didn't even notice that Miharu had also been damaged. 'So strong…' (KLP: 100) (MLP: 5150)

She shook her head, and looked over at Miharu's field. 'She's down to one monster, but it has thirty-three hundred attack. My own The Devil is a liability and next turn I'll take eleven hundred damage from it and Hell's White. Backfire will also deal me five hundred damage if I do beat Inferno in battle, and Back-draft deals a fire monster's attack as damage to the opponent after it deals damage to life points.'

Taking a deep calming breath, Kaoru made her plan. "I activate Suit of Cups VIII, if reversed, forces you to discard the top eight cards of your deck, and if upright does the same to me."

Miharu yawned. "Stop."

The card stopped upright, and Miharu snickered. "Your stupid luck card backfired again on you! So pathetic!"

Her laughter halted when she saw that Kaoru was snickering. "Let's find out if that was a backfire, shall we? I summon Queen of Wands (1300/1200), now pick."

"Gah, stop already!" It slowed to a halt and ended up upright.

The elegantly dressed woman waved her wand and Kaoru was covered by a glowing light. "Upright Queen of Wands gives me one hundred life points for every card in my grave!" (KLP: 1500)

She slid the next card from her hand into her duel disk. "I activate the continuous magic card Tarot Reading; Echoes of the Past. For the next six turns, once per turn I can check the bottom card of my deck."

Miharu yawned and Kaoru pushed forwards. "If that card is a monster with Arcana in its title it is special summoned. If it is magic or trap with Suit or Ace in its title it is activated, but if it's a trap and the timing is wrong it is destroyed. I'll start for this turn!"

She picked up the top card and then suddenly there was a giant orb of pulsing grey matter floating on the field. "Arcana Force XXI-The World (1000/3000) is special summoned!"

It rotated and Miharu stomped her foot against the ground. "No more spinning! Stop!"

It stopped face-up, and suddenly energy began to pour into the orb of matter. "Upright means that at this time it gains the attack of all other monsters in play as attack power. So now, The World (6100) attacks Inferno!"

Miharu snarled as a beam of pure light plowed into her being of fire, shattering it into nothingness. "That's not going to be enough weak little luck girl! Backfire retaliates!" (MLP: 2350)

Kaoru gasped as she was again engulfed in flame, her body sweating under the intense heat she was experiencing. "I'm not done yet…not by the slightest bit. The Devil attacks directly!" (KLP: 1000)

A fireball hit Miharu in the side, and she snarled and patted out the flames immediately. "Is that all you've got little wimp? I'll burn you to ash in my next turn!" (MLP: 550)

"Are you stupid? This is the last turn! Queen of Wands attacks you directly!" Miharu's eyes widened as a beam of light from the queen's wand struck her in the chest, making her slide backwards a few feet. After seeing the impact Kaoru dropped to her knees, tired.

"What are you on your knees for? This duel isn't over yet!" Kaoru's eyes widened as she picked her head up. To her surprise Miharu was still standing, and her cards were still in play, so the duel wasn't done. (MLP: 1050)

"Confused? Since I had a monster in my removed from play pile and you attacked me directly I was able to activate Dimensional Panacea, giving me three hundred life points per removed monster, which is six. So I gained eighteen hundred life points and then took the hit." Kaoru gulped, and then motioned to her The Devil, which shifted into a crouch.

"I can't make any other moves, so I end my turn." Miharu smirked and drew, her body instantly engulfed by fire thanks to her continuous magic card. Once it drained her life points she drew two more times. (MLP: 525)

Above her head there was an Inferno, a Hell Blast, and Inferno Tempest. Kaoru shuddered and reached for the bottom card of her deck. "At this time, my Echoes of the Past activates Suit of Cups II! According to its effect, if upright we each gain a thousand life points. But if reversed, we each take one thousand damage!"

Miharu gritted her teeth as the card started spinning, finally taking the spin seriously as she realized that this could determine the duel. If it was reversed, the duel would end in a tie. "Stop!"

It creaked slowly from position to position until it finally stopped…upright. Miharu gasped in relief and wiped sweat from her brow. "That's right; we gain a thousand life points, meaning you've lost!" (KLP: 2000) (MLP: 1525)

She laughed as she slammed one of her three drawn cards into her duel disk. "Hell Blast activates during a turn after I have had all monsters on my field destroyed. I can destroy one monster on your field and deal half its attack as damage to your life points!"

The World exploded spraying grey liquid all over the field. Kaoru grimaced and fell to her knees as the ooze dripped down on her, as her life points fell fast. "No…" (KLP: 0)

She was breathing heavily for several seconds before all of a sudden hands on the front of her blazer dragged her to her feet. She found herself looking down at the short but fierce looking Miharu. "You lost Obelisk brat girl, and I showed you up. Guess what? That means my rank is higher than yours, and I'm just a little Osiris Red drop-out, right?"

Kaoru frowned, and reached for Miharu's hands. When she gripped the girl's wrists she jerked her hands back, feeling them burn. "You're burning up!"

Miharu smirked, her ruby red lips shining in the light of the arena. "That's right, I'm burning up. Burning with passion and rage, just like you saw on your attempted tour into my heart. But I'm too hot to handle for you little blue. After all, I'm Miharu Kanzaki, the True Sin called Inferno and you're just the little Virtue they call Charity!"

The Osiris Red dropped Kaoru to the ground and stomped past her, her smirk still in place. She stopped part way and looked back. "Oh yeah, mention I said that until I say its okay and I'll vaporize you so that even bones don't remain. Got me?"

Kaoru gulped and nodded slowly, and though she was stunned, in his booth Saint was laughing with delight. "Who would have thought that this tournament would have yielded such magnificent results? Two True Sins have shown themselves in the space of half an hour, incredible results!"

Miharu hopped off the dueling ring and threw a wink at Mizuki, who frowned in response. Then Mizuki looked back at the ring where Kaoru was stumbling down, her body shaky from the hits she had taken all duel long. 'She's strong…she'd be a deadly opponent.'

The Osiris Red dropped down into her seat next to Kohana, who gave her a brief nod. "Heh, told you I'd crush that little Virtue without using my full strength. We won't have to use full power unless we at least face a Sin or Virtue who knows what they're doing."

Kohana shook her head and sighed. "I told you before; neither of us can unleash our full power until we get a chance to face Mizuki Mitsuhiro in a duel. I must know the truth about that girl in order to come to a conclusion about our current problem."

Miharu snorted and crossed one leg over the other. "You think things through too much Frost, I'm just eager to take on that girl with that incredible power. I'm sure she'll be a great duel!"

Frost sighed once more. "This is why, between the two of us, I am in charge of planning. If we don't solve our dilemma soon then we won't be able to solve it at all. And I'm sure by now that Saint Beatrix is aware of our presence. He managed to force us out of hiding for whatever his twisted purpose is."

Inferno growled and glared up at the spectator's booth. "Why can't I just incinerate him and get it over with? Or heck, why not just let me duel him and crush him at full strength?"

"Because at this point, I'm not sure if we are capable of defeating someone of his caliber. And his powers are a mystery to us, so facing someone like that is foolhardy. No, for the time being, stay the course. Mizuki Mitsuhiro is our target." The two looked over at Mizuki, who shivered as she felt a cold gaze and a heated gaze on her back. When she turned, neither of them was looking at her.

She blinked in surprise when she saw Enzeru standing in front of her, smiling down at her. "Are you prepared Mizuki the Rising Star? I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

Her gaze went upwards, where at long last the first pairing for the second round was showing. It was going to be her against Enzeru. "You know what Enzeru? So have I. Let's duel!"

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

Next Time: Enzeru spent his entire first year at Duelist Academy being called the 'Number One Rookie' thanks to graduating at the top of his class from the Prep School. Yet even he felt that the one who deserved such a title was Mizuki. Now he gets his chance to see whether he really deserved that title or if it was Mizuki's all along. For the first time since coming to Duelist Academy, Mizuki faces the strongest of the Yukio Triplets!

See it all in, VS Enzeru; Rookie Supreme Battle!