Mark 055: Lord of Spiders
"What did you do that for?" Ada approached Macbeth and his aid. "You sent him into that monsters maws? I thought he was your friend!" Yelling at them for what she had seen them do. "No, Ada. You do not understand. It was the only thing that could save him now. No doctor could stop his brains from deteriorating. His soul is already gone, but his body was not dead yet. This way, it will be preserved in the best way possible." Macbeth explained, although he did not sound too convinced. "And now we also know that we can traverse inside the illuminated area with our talismans, so we can mount an offensive." The sun had risen again, they had waited long enough. "Wait. Back inside?" Ada felt her sense of dread return. "Yes. So we can rescue Ansoni and the others, even your friend Xavier." He smiled. However she did not cheer up in the slightest. "But Ali is.." And at that time they were interrupted by a call from a soldier. "Sir! The enemy is making contact! They sent a messenger!" He shouted. "It's about time.."
They headed for the chosen meeting point. "Hold it. She is who they sent?" But at the edge of the barrier was just a young girl in a simple black dress. "Ah..ahhh! It's her!" And seeing her again made Ada completely lose it. "Do not trust her! Tranq her, or something!" She screamed, yet the soldiers refrained from training their weapons on what simply looked like an innocent child. "You are.. Malceans daughter right? I read about you in the files." Macbeth walked to her, but remained cautious. "Callisto is her name, yes. Oh wait, we had not come to that question yet." She answered quickly and then extended her hand. "Look out!" Ada hid behind another guard. "Do not be worried. Father sent callisto to negotiate,. Because Callisto told him about what she saw. Callisto knows friends of yours will or already have something, something father needs." What she showed in her hand were some playing cards. "Wait. those are.." Cards with images of people on them, two of their guards and Xavier Ali as well. "A soul for a soul."
Back at the site of the duel.
Gaunts LP: 5700 Uru's LP: 3200
"Actually that does bring up a good question." Gaunt said as he ended his turn. "In some old myths even gods can have fathers, mothers and sons. But nothing in ancient record says anything like that about the six of you." The possessed kid narrowed his eyes. "What is your point?" He asked as he drew a card. "I wonder if you even remember the day you were created yourselves, or who your creator was." Upon hearing that question, Uru could only laugh. "Ha. Our existence predates this world itself, even if we wanted to we can not recall events from so long ago. We are and always have been.." He then played a spell card, Earthquake. "Your entire world is but a pebble to us! And we will break it all to free ourselves from our chains!" The spell switched the Legendary Six Samurais Enishi(2200/1200) and Kizan(2100/800) to defense mode. "Guard Penalty." Then he flipped his facedown spell, which let him draw once since he had switched a monsters position. "Mothers, fathers, children, leave those terms to the finite.."
And suddenly both samurais were destroyed. "Now. By sacrificing two defending spirits, Mother spider will be special summoned." A massive bulbous spider(2200/1200) appeared, weakened by the Bushido counters of the Six samurai's Temple field. "And also Beelist Soldier(400/400)." Next a trident wielding bee was summoned. "Dual strike!" The two insects stabbed Gaunt with clawed legs and prongs. "Furthermore, the spell Worm Bait." Since Uru controlled insects and had not summoned a level 3 or 4 insect this turn, he could summon 2 worm bait tokens(0/0) in defense mode. "Bee-List Soldier sacrifices itself and one insect, to let his lord draw two new cards." The bee and one token disappeared, and Uru drew twice. "Now you are back where you belong, beneath me." He placed two cards in the spell/trap zone and let the turn end.
Gaunts LP: 3100
"We will see how long that lasts." Gaunt activated the effect of his continuous spell again, Gateway of the Six held four bushido counters which he could remove to add a Samurai to his hand. "I claim Mizuho from my deck." He normal summoned the fire swordswoman(1600/1000), which added 2 more counters to the Gateway and 1 to the Temple. "I remove two counters from both my spells to take another Mizuho from my deck." The spells were now without Bushido counters. "Then I play Shiens Smoke Signal, a spell that lets me add another level 3 samurai monster to my hand." Gaunt took out another Shinai. "When I control Mizuho, Shinai can be special summoned!" Mizuho was joined by the water warrior(1500/1500). "When I control Shinai, Mizuho can be special summoned." Another fire warrior lady appeared. "And then I sacrificed Shinai to destroy one monster you control!" One fire samurai slashed through Shinai with her sword, unleashing flames that burned Mother spider down to cinders. "And then I destroy your token!" This second Mizuho killed the first, and the token turned to ashes just as easily. "And when Shinai is tributed, I can take a different Samurai monster back from my grave." Gaunt reclaimed the holy swordsman Enishi from his cemetery.
"Impressive. Rather than focusing on one element like last time, you now wield all six at once." Uru admired the loop in action, before Gaunt broke it off to get Enishi back into his hand when this Shinai was tributed. "But you will not touch me with them anymore." He smirked. "Is that what you believe?" The remaining Mizuho went in for a physical attack. "Spiders Egg!" But the god flipped his trap which negated that attack. "Damn." She had to cut open an egg instead, which bursted open and released three spider egg tokens(0/0). "I end my turn." By now Gateway of the Six had four counters the Temple had two, he wasn't in a bad position. "Last time you were using the darkness elemental deck, is that not correct? Like the one your son uses now. You should have stuck to what you have more experience with, even if it but a few years worth." Uru just used his turn to set down a monster and another trap card. He also switched the tokens to defense mode. "That little time is nothing compared to our age-old perception."
"Even the oldest can learn something new. There is no cap to knowledge." Gaunt retorted and summoned Enishi the green armored Swordsman(2200/1200). "Then show me something new!" Uru demanded loudly, as he revealed his trap card. "Curse of Anubis! All monsters on the field are switched to defense position." Mizuho and Enishi took a defensive stance. "Already I have seen all this new deck has to offer." Enishi's effect could not be used on face-down cards, and it would be a waste to use it on tokens. "Even so, can you handle it?" Gaunt sacrificed Enishi so he could use Mizuho's effect once more, flames started to blacken the set card of the spider god. "The answer should be obvious, even to you." Unfortunately that turned out to be what he wanted, it was the Informer Spider(200/1800) that died. "Because you killed this Spider, one monster you call yours, will be become mine!" The dying spider sent out webs to constrict Mizuho. "Not yet!" But this was when Gaunt showed something new. "I activate Asceticism of the Samurai!"
"This spell allows the summon of a samurai with the same attackpoints from my deck." And Gaunt summoned a samurai with 1600 attackpoints, the older version of Mizuho, Hand of the Six Samurai(1600/1000). "That is a start." The kid spoke with a less condescending tone. "She will kill her younger self." The hand stabbed Mizuho in the back with a dagger. "Then I set one card down. And I remove eight counters from my spell." Gateway of the Six went from eight to two Bushido counters, the Temple went down to one. "I add another Kagemusha and another Kageki to my hand." Next turn he could synchro summon his third Shi En card with them. "And now you fall back to the old predictable path." Uru drew a card and the kid bared his teeth as he grinned. "Then I suppose you deserve a reward of similar familiarity." He sacrificed two of the three spider egg tokens. "Sir!" Kein warned Gaunt for the creature that was clearly coming. "No more false fronts. You will die, facing my truest majesty." The kid's body disappeared, melting into the red mist that formed in the skies. A beating red heart exploded and gave shape to the unholy spider god(2900/3000), Earthbound Immortal Uru. Even if the Temple weakened it a little, its presence alone pulverized half the buildings in the area.
"You would remember my power would you not?" Uru spoke from its gigantic form. "Any spirit, regardless of will or memories, joins me." The last egg token was tributed. "Come, Hand of the Six." And the Samurai assassin walked over to the enemy's side. "Direct attack." She tossed her dagger at her former master. "Gaunt!" Urizen yelled, but that was all he could do. "Do not think I will die now that we reached this stage!" But Gaunt flipped the trap he had set, Return of the Six Samurai. "I revive one samurai!" He special summoned the second Shi En synchro monster(2500/1400) from his deck in defense mode. It took the knife intended for Gaunt. "Ah yes, if I prefer control, you prefer sacrifice. So many have to die before you are satisfied." But Uru itself could still finish its direct attack. "Just do what you want and stop talking." Gaunt braced himself. "A quick sacrifice is meaningless, it has to be remembered, has to become an example." A massive blast of webs came for the duelist, he was thrown off the ground by the concrete shattering impact. "In the webs of a spider, none can hope for a painless death." Uru played his accursed field spell, the webs covered all buildings and streets, and every human as well.
Gaunts LP: 200
"Gah." They were glued to the ground so to speak. "You may have escaped becoming part of us again, this turn. However you can only delay the inevitable. Your kind always meets an end." He laughed as Gaunt got to his feet again. Uru regained the power he lost as the Temple of the Six was broken down by the webs, Uru(3000/3000) was back at full strength. Only the gateway remained. "Now. Before your monster returns to you, I reveal my trap, Amnesiac Servant." Uru placed a strange mesmerizing curse on the field. "Any monster that has been on my field will lose their powers permanently." Uru was aware of The hands ability to destroy monsters, much like Mizuho could do, so he nipped that in the bud. "Tsk." Mizuho returned to him. "I summon Kageki, whose effect summons a samurai from my hand, and I choose Kagemusha!" He called forth the level 3 four-armed samurai(1700/2000) and the level 2 tuner Kagemusha(400/1800). "Synchro summon!" And thus the two were materials for the third and final level 5 Shi En samurai(2500/1400). "I also place one card down and end my turn." It looked like he had wasted his chance and was helpless before the spider god.
Amnesiac Servant, Continuous Trap
When the control of a face-up monster changes, that monster has its effect negated.
Yet as soon as the turn switched back to Uru, Gaunt could make his move."This is it, Uru!" He flipped his trap card. "Six Strike - Thunder Blast! I can remove one Bushido counter on the field to destroy one card you control!" One of the gate's nine counters was used up, and a blast of thunder erupted from Shi Ens sword. "No!" The bolt pierced through the spiders body and shot all the way into the skies. "There are no other gods using the bodies you have devoured, all those souls will be freed now!" As he stated, Earthbound Immortal Uru started to dissolve into a fine red powder, and flames of life spread out over the horizon. "You did it!" Kein said excitedly. "Put a call through to the Battle Garden squad, they will have more people to care for now." He ordered to one of the guards, who agreed just as happily. "But, the enemy is not dead yet." Urizen knew it could not be that easy, his lifepoints were still too high for the duel to end. "But where is he, he should not have a body to possess anymore.." Gaunt waited for his opponent to show himself.
"If I can not face you in the flesh, this will have to do." It appeared in voice at first. "Ah!" And Nathan received the shock of his life as the girl that lied behind him suddenly rose up. "No, the dead too?" Urizen cried out in sheer disgust as he saw the body of Ramirez rise up, her broken bones forced to move even after death. "You.." Gaunt was about to turn around, but the girl started to float towards him anyway, her head hanging limply to one side. "What is wrong, signer? Did you forget that even in death, these bodies are our creations? If we can take over a duelist mind that has been hollowed out, we can take over one that has moved on. And it takes long for the remains to be become useless." Uru positioned his new body in the middle of the spiders web, resting on a throne of thin threads. "This girl, I remember her now. She was right there when one fool broke the right stone, the lynchpin to our confinement. It was not her doing directly but we are grateful to her nonetheless. It is natural law that my first meal returns to me." He then placed a monster facedown and ended his turn. "Let us proceed. You are still closer to death than I shall ever be, one more push is all I need to reclaim your mark and unseal both my brothers. This time I shall not take my time and consume you immediately!"
Gaunt drew his card. "You are sickening, not even the dead are free from your vileness." He sent Hand of the Six Samurai to attack. "Do you even know where souls go, mortal?" He replied as his set Howling Insect(1200/1300) was skewered, whose effect let his controller summon a second Howling Insect. "Do you believe in reincarnation? Or an afterlife?" The second was cut down by Shi En, and its demise was followed by the summoning of a Relinquished Spider(300/500). Meanwhile due the Spider web field, both samurais were forced into defense position. "What if I told you that living on inside of us, is the only immortality your kind will ever be able to cherish?" He started his turn and used the effect of his Relinquished Spider, sacrificing it to destroy all defending monsters on the field. "Then I would reject immortality itself!" Gaunt countered by activating the counter trap card, Musakani Magatama, which negated the destruction of his cards if he controlled a samurai. "You fool." Relinquished Spider was crushed. "We may know less than you, but we know what is right and what is wrong. And that is enough.. spider god."
(To be Continued in Mark 056: Thread the Needle)
New Cards used by Gaunt Artani
Hand of the Six Samurai
Asceticism of the Six Samurai
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Shiens Smoke Signal
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Return of the Six Samurai
Six Strike - Thunder Blast
Musakani Magatama
New Cards used by Uru
Mother Spider
Beelist Soldier
Informer Spider
Relinquished Spider
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Worm Bait
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Curse of Anubis
Amnesiac Servant
