I start my term at ITT Tech today, so I have no idea when the next chapter is going to come out. It might be close, it might be far off, it depends. Anyway...this is the longest chapter I've ever written. On with the fic!
Disclaimer: (laughs evilly) Soon...very soon...
Lina: I'm going to recreate the world so that only good looking honest men exist, that way women everywhere can rejoice!
Ayato: (sweat drops) Um...
Chapter Fifty: The Herald of Twilight
Ayato frowns in confusion, "What do you mean were the only ones left, that doesn't make any sense." Lina sighes, "Don't you get it? This is it, one of us must perish here in order to gain enough power for the summoning."
Ayato arches a brow, "Summoning?"
Lina nods, "As I've said before, you are Dusk, light to darkness, and I am Dawn, darkness to light. You have absorbed the powers of Jaden, and I have absorbed the powers of Kazama."
"Jaden's powers of darkness, are now mine?" Ayato asks.
"In order for this to happen both Jaden and Kazama had to give everything they had in their duel, which they did, now only one thing remains."
Ayato glares at the woman standing before him, "So your telling me, that you and I have to duel?"
Lina nods, "The universe has returned back to the way it once was because it is awaiting it's recreation at the hands of the Herald of Twilight." Lina says.
"You keep talking about the Herald of Twilight! Who is this person?" He asks. Lina shakes her head, "You don't understand, the Herald of Twilight cannot be identified as a person, it is far beyond that."
Ayato listens as Lina continues, "When I defeat you, I shall absorb all of your powers and summon the Herald of Twilight, and then, my wish shall be granted and the universe shall be created as I see fit." Lina declares as the white and black duel disk on her arm activates.
Ayato frowns as his own white and blue Academy-issued duel disk materializes on his arm, his duel disk unfolding as it activates. "I...won't let you do that, what gives you the right to play god!? No one should be burdened with such a power!" Ayato declares.
Lina looks away sadly, "Is that what you truly believe? The world we live in is a very rotten place. Are you telling me that your okay with living in a world like that? If you could end all of the suffering, don't you think everyone would be happier?" She asks as she draws five cards from her deck.
Ayato draws six cards from his deck, "I know that the world we live in isn't perfect, and it would be nice for all the suffering in the world to disappear..." Ayato trails off.
Lina looks hopeful, "Then-"
Ayato cuts her off, a serious expression on his face, "But a world where suffering is non-existent...do you really think that such a world could exist?" He asks. Lina glares at Ayato, "Of course I do, if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have done everything that I have!" She retorts.
"The perfect world you speak of could ever exist!" Ayato shouts back. Lina frowns, "I'll prove to you that such a world can exist!" Lina says as the duel finally begins.
Ayato: 4000/Lina: 4000
Ayato briefly looks over the cards in his hand, "I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman(1700/1000) in attack mode." Ayato places the monster card on his duel disk, the handsome warrior appearing on his field as a result.
"I set one card and end my turn." Ayato places one card from his hand into the slot on his duel disk, a spell or trap card appearing in his spell/trap card zone as a result.
Lina drew her sixth card from her deck, having calmed down somewhat once Ayato had started his turn. Lina held up the card she had just drawn, "The continuous spell card Body Without A Heart allows me to special summon a level four or lower Nobody-type monster from my hand once per turn." Lina explains as the spell card appears in her spell/trap card zone.
"I summon Organization XIII-Zexion the Cloaked Schemer(1500/500) using it's effect." A man wearing a black coat and having spiked hair emerges from her card. "For my normal summon, I choose Organization XIII-Larxene the Savage Nymph(1600/1200) in attack mode." A woman wearing a black coat and having blonde hair appeared next to the cloaked man.
Larxene grinned ferally as she prepared to strike her opponent. "By removing Zexion from play for two turns a Nobody-type monster can attack my opponent directly." Lina explains as Zexion vanishes from the field. Lina's remaining monster smirks as her body charges with electrical energy.
Ayato depresses the button on his duel disk, causing his set card to activate, "Sacrifice for the Greater Good activates, by discarding a monster card from my hand to the graveyard I can negate the attack of my opponent's monster and end the battle phase immediately." Ayato says as he slips his level four monster card into his graveyard.
Seconds later Vandorgaron's Jester(2100/0) emerged on his field. "When Vandorgaron's Jester is sent to the graveyard due to the effect of a spell or trap card I am allowed to special summon it to my field." Ayato explains as the monster waves at a pissed off looking Larxene.
"Each time Larxene has her attack negated she gains 400 attack points." Larxene smirks as her attack points increase to a solid 2000, just 100 points shy of being able to take down Ayato's monster. Lina held up another card in her hand, "Pillar of Strength equips to my monster and prevents it from being destroyed as a result of battle. Turn end."
Ayato draws a card from his deck, giving him four cards to work with. 'She anticipated that I would manage to negate her attack. She's as strong as I remember her to be.' Ayato thought breifly. 'But I've gotten a lot stronger since then.'
"I tribute my Swordsman for the monster I've just drawn, Vandorgaron's Captain of Attack Force(2600/1600)." The handsome swordsman is replaced by a six foot tall dragon humanoid garbed in traditional medieval style armor. It hefted it's bastard sword over it's shoulder as it gazed at Larxene hatefully.
"Your monster may not be able to be destroyed as a result of battle but I can still inflict some damage!" Ayato declares as his two monsters spring into action, bounding towards Lina's monster.
The humanoid dragon swings it's blade towards Larxene, who manages to catch it, pushing it and the dragon away from her, with one stern look she easily scares away Vandorgaron's Jester, despite this fact Lina still took a small amount of damage.
Ayato: 4000/Lina: 3300
"Turn end."
Lina slips a card from her deck, seekig to inflict twice as much damage to her opponent. "Using my continuous spell card's effect I special summon Samurai(1800/1100) in attack mode." A white monster wearing a strange helmet, (or maybe that was his head? Ayato wasn't sure) appeared next to Larxene, weilding it's katana expertly.
"And now my Larxene will attack your Captain!" Lina orders as her monster launches a blast of electrical energy, which her monster easily deflects, causing it to slam into Lina.
Ayato: 4000/Lina: 2700
"What was the point of that?" Ayato asks.
Lina smirks, "Samurai's attack points can increase by the difference in our life points, though it's attack decreases by the difference if mine is higher than yours, but that's not the case." Lina exclaims as her monster's attack strength rises to 3100, easily making it the strongest monster on the field.
"Now I'll have my monster attack your Captain!" In a flash Lina's monster appeared behind Ayato's monster, sheathing it's katana. The monster fell to pieces, eventually exploding as a result.
Ayato: 3500/Lina: 2700
Lina's new monster's attack strength fell to 2600, although it was still quite easily the strongest monster on the field. "I set one card face-down and end my turn." Lina said as she looked at the remaining card in her hand, Research on the Pot of Greed, which was quite useless at the moment without Pot of Greed itself.
Ayato drew a card from his deck, his entire body was tense, after all, Lina had managed to easily destroy his monster and shift the control of the duel in her favor with only one card. He was going to have to be more careful.
He studied the cards in his hand, weighing his options before deciding to finally start his turn. "I set three cards and tribute my Jester in order to summon Vandorgaron's Attack Force(2300/1300) in attack mode." Ayato says as the scrawny monster was replaced with a group of humanoid dragons the looked similar in appearance to the monster he had summoned earlier.
"At the cost of their attack this turn I can destroy one monster on your field." Ayato explains as one of the dragons lets an arrow fly from it's bow, which slams into Lina's Samurai, effectively killing it.
Lina took the opportunity to draw a card from her deck, it was obvious that Ayato was finished because he no longer had any cards in his hand. As she added the new card to her hand Ayato depressed a button on his duel disk, causing one of the three set cards he had set earlier to activate.
"Dust Tornado destroys your continuous spell card!" Ayato declares as a tornado appeared out of nowhere and slammed through the card. Lina seemed unfazed as she continued her turn. "Zexion returns to my field." She informs Ayato as the man reappeared.
"First I set one monster and then activate the effect of Zexion again, allowing me to remove him from play and allow my Larxene to attack you directly." Lina says as the man once again vanishes, Larxene smirked as an electrical current began to encircle her body.
Ayato once again depressed a button on his duel disk, causing his second set card to reveal itself, "Negate Attack ends your battle phase." Ayato declares as a barrier forms in front of him, protecting him from Larxene's attack.
"Since Larxene's attack was once again negated her attack increases to 2400." Lina informs Ayato as her monster grows in strength. "Turn end."
Ayato slides a card from his deck, giving him one card in his hand. "If this is the only card in my hand I can special summon it to my field, Chaos Defender(0/3000)." A man wearing black armor holding a large shield appears next to Ayato's group of dragon warriors.
"I'll once again activate my monster's effect, this time I'm getting rid of your Larxene." One of the dragons let another arrow fly from it's bow, which pierced Larxene, finally killing her. "My turn ends."
Lina drew, her eyes lighting up once she saw what she had just drawn. "I activate my Pot of Greed." Lina slides two more cards from her deck as she activates another spell card. "Research on the Pot of Greed allows me to draw two more cards after Pot of Greed's activation." She explains as she slides two more cards from her deck, giving her four cards to work with from her previous two.
Ayato frowned, he knew that Lina was building up to something big. "I flip summon the monster I set my previous turn." Ayato looked surprised as an indescribable monster emerged from the card, striking one of it's "arms" into his Chaos Defender, causing it to explode.
"Assasin(400/600) destroys one monster on my opponent's side of the field when it's flipped summoned." Lina explains to Ayato. "Book of Moon once again sets my monster in face-down defense position." Lina explains as her monster is once again hidden from view.
"Which means I can flip summon it again ande destroy your Attack Force." Lina says as the monster emerges once again, destroying Ayato's remaining monster. "I tribute my monster in order to summon Organization XIII-Lexaeus(2100/1200) in attack mode." A burly man wearing a black coat and wielding a strange looking tomahawk appeared on the field in place of Lina's weaker monster.
Ayato eyed the seven star monster, "Your monster has seven stars, you shouldn't be able to summon it with only one tribute."
"Lexaeus can be tribute summoned with only one monster as a tribute if that monster is a Nobody-type monster. For every Nobody-type monster in my graveyard my monster gains 300 attack points." Lina says as her monster's attack strength increases to 3000.
"Now my monster shall attack you directly!" Lina declares as her monster charges at Ayato, swinging his tomahawk. Ayato catches the tomahawk with his left hand, though he still took damage from the attack.
Ayato: 500/Lina: 2700
Ayato's remaining set card revealed itself, "Successful Battle Plan activates when a receive an attack, it ends the battle phase and I'm allowed to draw cards from my deck equal to 1000 points of damage." Ayato explains as he draws three cards from his deck.
"I set one card and end my turn." Lina says as a spell or trap card appears in her spell/trap card zone. Ayato draws a card from his deck, increasing his hand size to four cards.
"I remove my Vandorgaron's Captain of Attack Force and my Vandorgaron's Attack Force in my graveyard from play in order to special summon Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning(3000/2500)." Ayato's two monsters slip out of his graveyard slot as the powerful monster emerges on his field.
"Axe of Despair equips to my monster and increases his attack points by 1000 points." He says as a rather large axe materializes in his soldier's hands, increasing it's attack points to a rather impressive 4000 for an eight star monster.
"Now my monster will bring down your Silent Hero!" With one swing of it's axe Lina's monster fell in two halves, her life points decreasing by 1000 points.
Ayato: 500/Lina: 2700
Lina depresses a button on her duel disk, activating her first trap card of the duel, Parting Gift increases my life points by my destroyed monster's attack or defense." Lina explains as her life point counter increases by 3000 points.
Ayato: 500/Lina: 5700
"My monster can attack once again in a row if it bests a monster in battle, so prepare for the second strike!" Ayato declares as his monster charges foward. Lina merely lifts up her duel disk, which blocked the strike of Ayato's monster, though she still took quite a lot of damage.
Ayato: 500/Lina: 1700
"I set one card and end my turn." Ayato said, deciding to keep the last card he had in his hand.
As Lina drew a card from her deck her Zexion returned to her field. "By removing my Assasin from play I can special summon this card to my field in attack mode, Organization XIII-Marluxia the Graceful Assasin(3000/1800)!" Lina exclaims as another man in a black coat appears. He brandished his scythe at Ayato's monster, despite the fact that he was much weaker.
"By removing a monster in my graveyard from play with Organization XIII in it's name I can destroy one monster on my opponent's side of the field." Lina explains as her designated card slides out of her graveyard. With a wave of it's scythe Ayato's powerful monster vanishes.
"Of course my monster can't attack afterwards and is switched to defense position, but my Zexion can, and he has more than enough attack points to finish you off."
Ayato discarded his Kuriboh(300/200) from his hand as a wave of dark energy washes over him, causing him no damage. "I don't think I have to explain the effect of Kuriboh to you, do I?" He asked.
Lina didn't respond, she merely ended her turn. Ayato drew the only card in his hand from his deck. Ayato quickly activates it, "Greedy Tribute allows me to draw two cards from my deck at the cost of removing two monsters in my graveyard from play." Ayato says as his Black Luster Soldier and his Vandorgaron's Jester slide out of his graveyard.
As he draws two cards he smirks, "If Vandorgaron's Jester is sent to the graveyard or removed from play due to the effect of a spell or trap card I can special summon it to my field." Ayato says as the monster appears on his field, grinning.
Ayato takes one of the two cards in his hand and places it on his duel disk, "I summon Blade Knight(1600/1000) in attack mode." A silver armored warrior wielding a sword and a shield appeared next to Ayato's monster. "When I have one or zero cards in my hand my monster gains 400 attack points." Ayato says as his monster's attack strength increased to 2000.
"My Blade Knight will cut down your Graceful Assasin!" Ayato declares as his monster rushes over to the man, with a mighty swing of it's sword it easily cuts Lina's monster asunder. "And my Vandorgaron's Jester will finally get rid of your Zexion!"
The jester told a corny joke which somehow caused Zexion to explode. Ayato and Lina both sweat dropped as Lina's life point counter decreased slightly.
Ayato: 500/Lina: 1100
"I set one card and end my turn." Lina slid another card from her deck, she looks at the three cards in her hand, smiling slightly.
Ayato's eyes glowed momentarily, slightly surprising Lina. Lina arches a brow as Ayato makes his way towards her. "What are you doing?" She asked. "I might be able to understand you better if I do this." He said as he closed the distance between them.
"What are you talking about?" Lina asked as he stopped in front of her, the both of them were now face to face. Lina looked down as Ayato's arm grasped her own forcefully. Her next words were drowned out as Ayato brought his lips to hers.
Ayato found himself staring at a young girl and a young boy hid quietly as screaming was heard throughout the small house they were currently living in. Apparently they couldn't see him. "I'm tired of this John I want out!" A female voice screamed.
Ayato walked towards the source of the voice. "You want out, fine! Get out, this family doesn't need you!" A man screamed back. The man's face was red with anger. The woman stomped out of the room. Several seconds later she came back, holding the arm of the small boy a small girl.
"The children are coming with me!" She said. The man nearly roared in outrage, "I will not have my children around that pig of a man!" The woman looked back at him angrily, "He's more of a man you'll ever be!"
The man walked over to the woman, pushing her down to the floor roughly, he lifted the two children from the ground, "Get out of my house." He says coldly. The woman looks up at him, "I'll see you in court." Her voice full of venom. Ayato found himself drifiting out of Lina's past, skipping ahead a few months later in her childhood.
The rain poured down heavily as a woman and a small girl were standing under an umbrella. The little girl looked on sadly as two men lifted up a coffin and placed it into the ground. She looked up at the woman next to her, a stony gaze on her face. Ayato was standing behind the two, it didn't take him long to figure out that one of Lina's parents had died.
The girl tugged on the woman's black dress, gaining her attention, "Does this mean you'll be my mommy now?" She asked.
Hikari nodded as she kneeled down to meet the girl face to face. "Yes Lina." She said as the two embraced, the rain beginning to fall lighter as the sun began to shine. Ayato turned away from the scene, willing himself back to the present.
Ayato stepped away from Lina, now having a better understanding of what Lina had been through. Lina touched her lips where Ayato's had once been. "You...you used the forbidden kiss on me?" (A/N: Yu-Gi-Oh GX the Eternal Soul of the Duelists Chapters Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine.)
Ayato nodded, he had learned that technique from Hitaki when she had used it on him. "Lina...I understand your motives behind doing this...but-"
Lina pushed Ayato away from her, "You don't understand anything! You haven't been through what I have or seen the things I have! Just because you've seen a bit of my past doesn't mean you can all of the sudden understand anything!" Lina shouted at him.
"Your right, I don't fully understand, but what I do know is that you didn't have to do this." Ayato responds. Lina looks away, "Before Laio came to me with the Book of Xemnas I had merely been going through the motions of living, I couldn't let go of the pain I had experienced in my past. I kept clinging to those memories."
Lina continued, "Those memories eventually turned to hate, I had tried to look ahead, but I found that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't, the tears of sadness continued to follow me everyday."
Ayato remains silent as Lina lets everything out. "The Book of Xemnas gave me two choices. I could keep on living my miserable existence, or I could reshape this horrible world with my own hands. There was no other choice." Lina said, looking up at Ayato, tears welling up in her eyes.
"A choice between two things." Ayato says, confusing Lina. "A forked road that everyone finds themselves at eventually in their life. Whichever road is chosen, something is lost. When you chose this path, you lost your chance to find happiness." Ayato says.
Lina glared at him, "The road I have taken leads to my hapiness." She retorts. Ayato shakes his head, "The road you have chosen has taken many lives, how can such a road bring anyone happiness?" Ayato asks.
"I know that I am a sinner, I had to, it was the only way I could get this far, it's too late to stop now, even so, my heart was filled with remorse and agony, which turned into despair, but I know...I know that there is a light, a light that shines down on me, the Herald of Twilight is my beacon of hope!"
"You don't get it do you?" Ayato asks. "There are more than two paths to a forked road. There are an infinite number of paths that we may take. There is a path that ends with your happiness, but this isn't it, this isn't the path that will shape your future for the better."
"Enough!" Lina declares as she slams her spell card into her duel disk. "Tribute to the Doomed destroys your Blade Knight at the cost of me discarding one card in my hand!" Lina discards her Sorcerer(1900/900) to her graveyard.
Ayato watches as his monster is assualted by several mummies, finally destroying it. Ayato glares at the woman before her, "There's just no getting through to you, is there?"
Lina shook her head, "I won't let you words deter me from the path I have chosen, once, maybe, there might have been such a road that you speak of, but it's gone now, this is the only way." She tells him.
Ayato shakes his head, "The first time I had ever dueled you...I admired you, but now...that's not the case."
Lina frowned, "Admiration...is the farthest thing from understanding."
"Your right." Ayato responds as Lina finally continues her turn. "Treasure from Heaven allows us to both draw cards from our decks until we have six cards." Lina says as she draws six cards from her deck while Ayato draws five from his own.
"If there are no monsters on my field I can special summon this card, Dragoon(1800/1000) in attack mode." Lina's dragon-like monster appears and points it's spear at Ayato's remaining monster threateningly. "For my normal summon I summon Dancer(1600/1000) in attack mode." Lina says as another monster appears next to her Dragoon.
"Double Summon allows me to do an extra normal summmon this turn so I'm tributing my two monsters in order to summon Organization XIII-Roxas the Key of Destiny(2500/2000) in attack mode." A teenaged boy with spiky blonde hair and wearing a black coat replaced Lina's two monsters. He twirled the two key-like weapons in his hand, ready for battle.
"When Sorcerer is in my graveyard I can special summon Organization XIII Xemnas the Leader(3000/2500) from my hand." A man with tan skin, amber colored eyes, and white hair appeared on her field, wearing a black coat. "This monster increases all Nobody-type monster's attack points by 500 points." Lina says as Xemnas' attack points rises to 3500 and Roxas' attack points rises to 3000.
Ayato and Lina looked around in confusion as the space that they were currently battling in changed into that of a dark chamber. "What's going on?" Ayato asks as he sees a man that resembled Xemnas writing furiously in his book. 'Is this place reacting to Xemnas' memories because he was once Dawn?' Lina thinks to herself as she looks to her monster.
A knock resounded on the man's door. He quickly closes the book. "Come in." He said as the door opened, a girl wearing a black coat walked into the room. A hood obscuring her face from being viewed by Ayato and Lina.
The girl seemed to hesitate as she spoke. "Xemnas...everyone else is gone...what are we going to do?" She asked, sounding deafly afraid. Xemnas turned to the girl, smiling warmly at the girl. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." He said as a wave of dark and light energy erupted from the ground, slamming into the two.
The girl screamed as the dark energy entered her body, not unlike how Jaden's dark powers entered Ayato's body. Once the transfer of powers was completed Xemnas pulled out a dagger from his cloak, "I'm sorry." he whispered to the girl before stabbing her in her stomach.
The girl's eyes instantly widened as she felt the blade pierce her flesh. "Xemnas...why?" The girl asked. Without another word Xemnas brought the blade up, cutting through the girl's cloak and her skin, killing her.
A tear slid down her cheek as she slumped to the floor. Xemnas looked down at his dead "lover." The girl's enery poured out of her and into said man as he closed his eyes, embracing it.
Once he opened his eyes, he saw that he was transported to the very place that Lina and Ayato were battling now. Xemnas looked around, "Is...is this it?" He asked no one in particular.
Suddenly a bright light consumed the entire area, blinding Ayato and Lina. They could hear Xemnas conversing with someone, but they couldn't see or hear who it was. When the light finally faded, Xemnas was nowhere to be seen.
Ayato and Lina were brought back to the present once again. Ayato turns to the monster known as Organization XIII Xemnas the Leader. "That monster...is actually Xemnas' spirit? Then that means all of your Organization XIII monsters were once human." Ayato says.
Lina looked at her monster with disdain. "I had always wondered why the world was so rotten if Xemnas had gotten his wish to recreate it. It seems he never got the chance. He didn't follow the ritual closely enough, so the Herald of Twilight must have denied his request and got rid of him."
Ayato frowns, "Then that means the same might happen to either one of us." Ayato says, not liking that idea. Lina shakes her head, "It won't be like that for me, I've followed the ritual's requirements down to the last detail."
"Lina listen, if-"
Lina cut him off, "No more talking, from now on, we duel. Roxas, destroy his monster and end the duel!" Roxas quickly complied, rushing over to Ayato's monster. Ayato depresses a button on his duel disk, causing his trap card to reveal itself, "Damage Cut reduces the amount of damage I'll take by half." Ayato says as his monster is sliced in half.
Ayato: 50/Lina: 1100
Ayato depresses another button on his duel disk, his second set card revealing itself, "Forbidden Trespassing ends the battle phase after a monster on your field successfully attacks." Ayato says.
Lina keeps one card in her hand as her turn ends, she was confident that Ayato wouldn't be able to stop her. Ayato slid a card from his deck, with only 50 life points left things weren't looking too good for him..that is until he saw the card he had just drawn.
"By discarding my Grave Fusion to the graveyard I activate Lightning Vortex, which destroys all your monsters!" Two thunderbolts shot out of the card, both Roxas and Xemnas swatted the lightning bolts away from them, surprising Ayato.
"When Organization XIII-Axel, Flurry of Dancing Flames is in my graveyard Roxas is unaffected by the effects of my opponent's spells, traps or monsters. As long as another Nobody-type monster exists on my field Xemnas cannot be affected by the effects of my opponent's spells, traps, or monsters."
'That means it was a lucky break that my two set cards were able to protect me from Lina's attacks without targeting her monsters.' Ayato thought to himself briefly, replaying the scene in his head.
Ayato grabbed a card from his hand, an extra slot extending from his duel disk. He slammed the only field spell card in his deck onto the extra slot as a giant dark castle appeared from out of nowhere behind him. "Vandorgaron's Castle allows me to special summon monsters from my hand with Vandorgaron in their names at the cost of not being able to declare an attack." Ayato says as his Vandorgaron's Servant(1000/1000) and Healer(1500/1000) appear on his field, crouching defensively.
The small dragon sweat dropped once he saw the powerful monster standing on Lina's side of the field. "Ayato...no matter what happens, you had better not lose this duel." He said. Ayato nodded as he continued his turn, "I summon Zeo the Magic Swordsman(1000/1700) in defense mode."
A dark haired man that looked similar to Neo the Magic Swordsman crouched defensively behind his huge sword. "When Neo the Magic Swordsman is in my graveyard this card's defense points double." Ayato says as his monster's defense points rest at 3400, 100 points shy of matching Xemnas' attack strength.
"Turn end." Ayato declares as he decides to keep the last card in his hand. Lina slips a card from her deck, "I activate Polymerization, fusing my Xemnas with Xemnas' Dragon(3000/2500) in order to create Xemnas' Flying Attack Force(4000/2800) in attack mode!"
Ayato watched in awe as a metallic white dragon emerged from the card, Xemnas was now clad in armor, wielding a giant lance atop his monster. Several smaller monsters seemed to be floating around him. "This card loses the protection effect of Xemnas, but retains his other effect." She says as the monster gains 500 more attack points, putting it even with the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
"If this monster destroys a monster in battle, it can attack once again in a row." Lina says as the dragon unleashes a mighty beam of energy that slams into Ayato's Magic Swordsman and Vandorgaron's Servant.
Ayato was pushed back from the force of the attack, he looked up just in time to see Roxas smash through his Healer, his last line of defense. "Everytime my monster destroys a monster in battle I gain half of that monster's attack or defense points as life points, it's my choice." Lina says as her life point counter increases.
Ayato: 50/Lina: 3800
"Turn end."
Ayato looked at the only card in his hand, Spell Economics. He drew a card from his deck and sighed in relief. This card always seemed to appear when he needed it the most. "I activate the continuous spell cards Spell Economics and Foolish Greed!" Ayato declares as the two spell cards appeared in his spell/trap card zone.
Ayato drew six more cards from his deck due to his card's effect, refilling his hand, and thanks to Spell Economics, he didn't have to pay the 3000 life points it would have taken him to do so. "By discarding one card in my hand I can activate Monster Reincarnation." Ayato says as he discards his Relentless(3000/0) to his graveyard.
Zeo the Magic Swordsman returns to his hand as he continues his play. "Grave Fusion allows me to fusion summon monsters in my graveyard by removing it from play." Ayato says as his Tamer of Relentless(4000/0) appears on his field, ready for battle.
"I summon Zeo the Magic Swordsman(1000/1700)." In defense mode Ayato says as the monster's defense points increase to 3400 as a result of it's effect. "United We Stand equips to my monster and increases it's attack points by 800 points for every monster on my field." Ayato says as the monster's strength increases to 5600.
"Now attack her monster, Relentless Blast!" Vandorgaron's Jester dug it's heels into the dragon it was currently on top of. The dragon opened it's mouth as a result a blast of energy erupting from it and washing over Lina's powerful monster."
Ayato: 50/Lina: 2700
"Turn Jump skips ahead three battle phases, allowing my monster to attack again!" Ayato declared as another wave of energy rushed at Roxas. A wall of flame erupted in front of the boy, protecting it from the attack. "Once during the duel Axel can protect my Roxas from an opponent's attack in my graveyard." Lina explains.
Ayato looked down at his deck, he didn't have many cards left so it would be useless to try and use his Foolish Greed's effect again. "I set one card face-down and end my turn." Ayato says as he sets one of the two cards in his hand.
Lina swiftly draws a card from her deck, giving her two cards in her hand. "King's Ransom costs me 1000 life points to activate." Lina says as she draws four more cards from her deck.
Ayato: 50/Lina: 1700
"I summon Berserker(2500/0) in attack mode." A burly monster wielding a huge hammer appears on Lina's field. By tributing this monster I can special summon Orgazinization XIII-Saix the Luna Diviner(3500/0) in attack mode." A blue haired man with an x-shaped scar across his face appears next to Roxas. He too wore a black coat and wielding a blue hammer of some sort.
Ayato glared at Lina's new monster, he remembered it well. It was the monster that defeated him in his first duel with Lina. "Mystical Space Typhoon destroys your United We Stand." Lina says as her spell card destroys Ayato's, returning his monster's attack strength to 4000.
"My monster is still stronger than any monster on your field." Ayato replies. Lina smirks, "By removing my Sorcerer from play I can special summon my Xemnas from my graveyard." Lina says as the powerful level nine monster returns, boosting the attack points of her monsters.
"Saix is now strong enough to destroy your monster!" Saix charged at Ayato's monster, his blue hammer crashing into his monster's head. The jester atop the dragon's head shoots a blast of dark magic that slams into Saix as the two monsters explode.
Ayato's set card reveals itself as he motions to it, "A Sacrifice Not In Vain activates when a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle, I can increases my life points by the amount of that monster's attack points!" Ayato declared as his life points received a much needed boost.
Ayato: 4050/Lina: 1700
"Xemnas will destroy your Magic Swordsman and Roxas will attack you directly!" Lina declares as Xemnas charges towards Ayato's monster, his blade like weapons extending from his palms.
Ayato shields himself as his monster explodes. He looks up just in time to see Roxas' brandishing his blades as he jumped over Xemnas. Ayato holds his hands out, catching the monster's weapons before they could connect with his shoulders, though he still took damage from the attack.
Ayato: 1050/Lina: 1700
Ayato slipped a card from his deck, "By destroying my field spell card I can special summon two monsters in my graveyard with the name Vandorgaron in their names." Ayato says as the dark castle behind him began to crumble.
"I choose Vandorgaron's Jester(2100/0) and Vandorgaron's Servant(1000/1000) in defense mode. I set one card face-down. Turn end." Lina frowned somewhat as she looked at the two monsters. Lina snagged a card from her deck, smiling once she saw what it was.
"I activate the spell card Eternal Nothingness!" She shouted as she held the card up over her head, "By tributing Xemnas I can special summon his most powerful form, Xemnas Empowered(3000/3000)!" Lina declares as she places the card on her duel disk.
The new Xemnas looked exactly the same as the original Xemnas, only his cloak was white and black and he appeared to be much more confident. "This Xemnas is unaffected by any type of card effect, besides my own." Lina informs her opponent.
"By tributing a Nobody-type monster on my field Xemnas can inflict 1000 points of direct damage to my opponent and destroys every monster on my opponent's side of the field." Roxas vanishes from the field as Xemnas raises his hands over his head, the entire area turned pitch black as hundreds of red lasers surrounded Ayato's field.
Ayato's eyes widened in shock as Xemnas lowered his hands, the red lasers showering down on his field. As the area returned to it's original state Ayato was lying flat on his back.
Ayato: 50/Lina: 1700
Ayato slowly began to get up as Lina continued her turn. "My monster can't attack on the turn that he uses this effect. Also, for every monster in my graveyard with Organization XIII in their names my monster gains 500 extra attack points." Lina explains as her monster's attack strength increases to 5500.
"If I manage to summon another Nobody-type monster on my next turn, it's over, and if you don't manage to summon a monster on your next turn, it's over. Face it your done. Just embrace defeat Ayato, I promise you that you and your friends will have a place in my recreated world.
Ayato finally gets up on his feet, breathing heavily from Xemnas' powerful effect. Ayato weakly signals to his set card as is faces forward. "Battle Spirit only activates when monsters on my field were destroyed or removed from play through an effect, all monsters are special summoned back to my field." Ayato says as his two monsters return.
Lina frowned, but she knew that Ayato was near his limit. "Continuous Buster destroys all continuous spell or trap cards on my opponent's field." Lina says as Ayato's two spell cards exploded.
"I have sealed off all possible methods of you fighting back." Lina says as her turn ends. Ayato draws a card from his deck, getting Arms Hole. The other card in his hand was Vandorgaron. "I tribute my two monsters in order to summon Vandorgaron, the Dark Dragon King(2800/2500)." Ayato declares as the two monsters vanish, replaced by their leader.
Lina looked up at the towering monster. "Vandorgaron...not even you can stop me now." She says with a smirk. Vandorgaron doesn't reply as Ayato activates the last card in his hand. "Arms Hole allows me to send the top card on my deck to the graveyard in order to add one equip spell card from my deck to my hand." Ayato says as he slips his Vandorgaron's Sneaky Spy(500/500) from the top of his deck to his graveyard.
Ayato took his deck from it's holster, which was really only five cards, and took one of them, adding it to his hand. Ayato stared at the card, it was the card his son from the future, Hayato, had given him. "By tributing Vandorgaron I can activate this card." Ayato says as he slams the last card in his hand onto his spell/trap card zone.
"Vandorgaron's Heir!" Vandorgaron turned into a mass of dark energy, engulfing Ayato and obscuring him from Lina's view. When the darkness finally subsided Lina was shocked to see Ayato's new appearance. Ayato's body seemed to be encased in armor that was made from Vadorgaron himself.
The head of Vandorgaron was fashioned as a helmet. Red designs decorated the helmet, the visor that blocked Ayato's eyes from sight seemed to be made from sapphire. The red designs that covered his helmet covered his entire body, several sapphires adjorned the joints of his armor.
Ayato flexed his arms as he felt the power flowing through his entire body. "My attack and defense points are twice that of Vandorgaron's." Ayato says as his stats flash on his duel disk, 5600/5000.
Ayato glared at the girl, although she couldn't see it because the visor of the helmet hid his now golden eyes from her. Ayato held his fist up as a blue flame erupted from it, "By giving up half of my life points I can channel all of my defense points into my attack points." Ayato declares as his attack points increase to 10,600.
Ayato: 25/Lina: 1700
Lina stepped back in shock as Ayato charged towards her monster, his entire body spinning rapidly. "Once per duel when Creeper is in my graveyard I can negate the attack of my opponent's monster!" Lina declares as a large shield of energy appears before her monster.
Ayato's fist connected with the shield, shattering it. Ayato jumped back as his attack failed to reach Lina's monster. Lina smirks, "You thought you had me beat?" She asks.
Ayato frowns, he was sure he was going to win with that strike. Lina drew a card from her deck as it was now once again her turn. She looked at the cards in her hand, still no monster. But she would still win in this turn regardless.
"It's over Ayato." Lina says as an extra slot extends from her duel disk, allowing her to place her own field spell card on it. "I activate the field spell card The World That Was Never Was!" Lina declares as a dark city suddenly appears, a moon hovering over it's tallest tower.
Ayato looked up, Xemnas was now standing atop the tallest tower, looking down at Ayato. "By paying half of my life points my monster's attack strength doubles!" Lina explains as her monster's attack strength skyrockets to 11,000. He was now stronger than Ayato.
Ayato: 25/Lina: 850
"Xemnas, attack Ayato and end this duel!" Lina declares as her monster jumps from the tower, falling towards Ayato. Seeing the monster coming towards him Ayato decides to bring the fight to it, surprising Lina.
Ayato dashes towards the tower, wings sprouting from the back of his armor. With flap of his wings he takes to the sky, ready to meet Lina's monster head on. Xemnas brought his blade down on Ayato, but misses when Ayato dodged it.
"What's going on?" Lina asks, seeing her monster's strike fail. Ayato's entire body suddenly becomes encased in blue flames as he shoots towards the falling Xemnas.
Xemnas turns around, trying to block the strike with his blades but Ayato slams into him, shattering the weapons and bringing the two down hard into the ground. The impact caused the ground underneath them to give as debirs was blown everywhere.
Ayato emerged from the crater his attack had caused, the armor that he wore falling from his body piece by piece. Lina looks surprised as her life point counter trickles down to zero.
Ayato: 25/Lina: 0
Lina slumped to her knees as the holograms faded away. "I...I lost?" She asked, she was so confused, "But I should have won." Ayato stood up fully. "My special effect activated. When I battle a monster stronger than me I gain 500 extra attack points for every monster in my graveyard with Vandorgaron in it's name, so my attack points weren't 10,600. It was actually 12,600." Ayato informs the fallen woman.
Ayato weakly walks over to Lina, looking down at her with pity. "I'm sorry Lina...but I can't allow you to get what you want." Ayato tells her. Lina looks up at the younger man, "Please Ayato...my entire life...all I wanted was to create a place where everyone can live peacefully...please." The woman pleads as her body begins to slowly vanish, her life essence flowing into Ayato.
Ayato collaspses to his knees as the last of Lina's energy flows into him. "I can't...I can't play with people's lives like that. Maybe if I had experienced what you have..." Ayato trails off.
Ayato winces as a bright life suddenly appears before him, blinding him somewhat. "So I've been summoned to this realm again..." An unearthly voice says.
"But it would appear that this too is another failure...no...something is different this time...but what?" The voice asks no one in particular. Ayato squints, trying to get a look at the source the voice was coming from. He could barely make out a figure, but he knew the shape to be that of a female.
"What are you talking about? Who are you? Are you the Herald of Twilight?" Ayato asks the woman. "Ayato...Mutou..." The woman said, as if she was trying on the name for size. "You are unlike the man who came before you." The woman says.
Ayato listens on as the unknown woman continued, "But you have failed just as he did, although not entirely. I have searched since the beginning of time for that which I have desired...and it seems my search has finally borne fruit, in a manner of speaking."
Ayato looked confused, "What are you talking about, aren't you supposed to grant my wish?" Ayato asked, confused. The woman laughed upon hearing this. "Within every heart...is darkness. No matter how pure one's heart may be. I could never allow such a person to have anything they desire."
Ayato couldn't believe what he was hearing, that meant that everything that Lina had done was for nothing! "What do you mean!? Are you saying that everyone who has died so far, died for nothing!?" Ayato shouts at the woman angrily.
The light only shined brighter, blinding Ayato. "Do not talk to me in such a manner!" The woman said, nearly blinding Ayato. "As I've said, I will not grant you a wish. You have something that I need...something that you have obtained from that woman...give it to me and I shall not take your life." She paused. "There shall be other conditions as well."
"Conditions?" Ayato repeated, confused. "Yes, will you hear them?" She asked. Ayato looked uncertain for a moment, but nodded. "Very well." The woman said as she told Ayato what she wanted from him.
"Do you accept my offer?" The woman asked. Ayato looked hesitant for a moment before answering. "Yes." Ayato responded. "Very well." The woman replies. Ayato holds his head in pain as his vision seems to fail him. 'What's going on?' He thinks to himself as he is brought into the world of sleep.
Well...what can I say? The end of this chapter leaves you with questions unanswered right? Well if you stick around you might just get those answers. Please review!
Next time: Well...I don't want to spoil anything for you.
Card list for this duel will be up next chapter. Until next time, I'm out!
