Testament 56: The Inherited

At that time, Nero awoke from his mental skirmish, and took a deep gasp of air to celebrate his victory, one which only he had seen. For the first time since days, had he felt free, completely free. Not even the smell of seawater could dampen his mood. "Wait, how long was I out?" He looked around, he was still in the train compartment, and he had not moved for who knows how long. "Ggh, I have to get a move on. I still have to take care off her, Simone." Unfortunately, there were no controls on this side of the train, and the other end was long gone. "Damn, guess I have to run for it." He got off the vehicle and was about to race down the tunnel, when he noticed something. "Oh, the pieces.." He saw that the Millenium puzzle had nearly been completed, with Cleo's and Ananka's fragments.

"I had just realized that." Sairve he started to grin. "I mean look at my credentials: Beat Ananka, beat Lydia, beat Mellany. Its my fate to beat ladies. Especially witch-types likes you..." Simone shook her head. "There are so many logical fallacies in that statement, I dont even know where to begin." She yawned. "Then I will play this!" He activated, the Rich get Richer. "This allows me to draw two cards, if I have a level 7 monster on the field." But neither card (Trade In and Star Level Shuffle) looked good right now. "Well then, Promotions!" He played the spell Promotion, leveling up his demon by 4 stars. "Your little snake wont kill my Greed now!" Greed gained 1200 attack and defense points (2800/3300). But in the end phase, the Swamp started to eat away at Quasar (2300/3300). But at least ot was stronger then her reptiles. "Damn it, I knew you were getting in over your head." Cleo said to herself, wishing that she could be the one to face this woman. "Oh?" Simone formed an expression that almost resembled a smile

The Rich Get Richer, Normal Spell
You can only activate this card if you control a level 7 or higher monster. Draw two cards from your deck.

"Little?" She played a card from her hand, which required the offering of her two monsters. "You can come out now, Vennominion!" In their place came a royal reptile. "Whoa whoa.." The King of Poisonous Snakes: Vennominion (0/0). "This monster, gains 500 attackpoints for each of its loyal servants, that have died this day." There were five reptiles in the grave right now. "This is why I didnt simply summon the king from my deck with Damage Equals Reptile, since his attack would be lower then it is right now." Vennominion hissed and surrounded itself with a toxic aura (2500/0) "It is not affected by the swamp either, the swamp only affects those that do not carry the poison. You reached your limit. It will only go down-hill from here." Vennominion killed the Quasar demon, shooting through its body with a stream of acid. She ended her turn after that. "I guess so.." Sairve sighed, and he drew his next card. "But I do not have any skills or enchantments..so I will have to rely on te future itself. I play the Spell card: Reasoning!"

Colins LP: 7000

Colin started picking up cards from his deck, until he found a monster. Simone was required to number that monster. "Reasoning, with me? Sounds amusing enough." She had to guess a level, and if the monster had that level. "Four seems obvious, my lucky number is six. Yet, I think with your deck, I will go for seven." She had selected, and now all depended on Colins draws. He picked up Marshmallon Glasses, Double Attack, Star Seizure and finally. "Heh, well at least Somone in the room is worse at predictions then I am. Its level eight, Ha!" He discarded the rest and special summoned his monster. "Level eight? A golem?" She remembered his deck from the tournament, and the only lv8 monsters he had were Golems. But those werent compatible with Reasoning. No, he summoned something that surprised even Cleo. "Thats..her card!" He had called Arcana Force XXI, The World (3100/3100), the time ruling angel. "I know, its an Arcana from Ananka. I wanted to honor her, not let her cards go to waste. At least this way..." The World charged energy. "It will be like she still helped in taking this woman down, two fortune tellers against one!" Then his monster unleashed beams that reduced Vennominion to a smouldering puddle of snake goo.

Simone's LP: 5000

"And if she hates me for it, fine by me, I never listened to her anyway." He concluded his attack. "Ggh, Arcana, never expected a set that Marcus created to haunt me." She hissed, as The World was done smushing her Minion. "Hey, did you even check what effect it has? Faced up or Down?" Cleo yelled at him for being to hasty. "Does it matter?" He looked anyway, and saw that the Arcana was facing her way, so its positive effect was active. "Heh, good." However two things dampened his mood. First, the swamp also began to corrupt his monster (2600/3100), and secondly.. "Wait, its still moving?" To their mutual dismay, Vennominion twitched and bulged back into a normal shape, regenerating so to speak. "You thought it was over, nothing is that shortlived, except for hope." The King was now fully revived, yet it was weaker (2000/0). "I can remove one snake in the cemetery from play, to bring back my monster. Only if its killed in battle though." So every time it died, it lost a bit of its power.

"Also thanks to Damage Equals Reptile, I get to summon again" She had taken 600 damage, so she called a second Venom Cobra (100/2000) in defense mode. "Regenerator huh." He then placed a monster in facedown defense mode. "Unfortunately, I can not match your inherited power, not yet." Instead she placed a trap down, that was it for her turn. "Draw!" His monster weakened once more (2100/3100) and he drew another Arcana card, but this one he could use. "I play Trade In!" He discarded the Arcana, which was a lv8 monster, to draw two new cards: Fusilier and Giant Trunade. "Simone, your venom counters only work as long as the field is active right?" She nodded. "Then, I normal summon Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast (1400/2000) and flip summon Divine Machine Lord Ür (1600/0)" The girls wondered where this would lead. "And now this!" He activated the Trunade spell, to blow all spells and traps back to the players hand. "!" Her field was removed, and the counters no longer weakened The World (3100/3100).

"Ah. I see it now. Your plan is so straight forward." She placed her hands on the traps as they were about return to her hand. "You will send Force XXI to attack first. Reducing Vennominion by 500 again, after that you the Machine Lord can kill it, and then Fusilier. In the end, he would be so weak, he cant even regenerate anymore. It is so clear, and so...avoidable." Her first trap activated, Generation Shift. "This card sacrifices a monster and adds another to my hand." She destroyed her own Venom Cobra, to draw the third from her deck. With another reptile in the cemetery, Vennominion powered up again (2500/0) "Now your Machine Lord cant follow The World in battle." She also flipped her second trap "Venom Burn." Before that card was sent away too. "This inflicts 700 damage to the opponent for all the venom his monster carries. If those counters dont do me any good, I might as well discard them" The two counters were removed from the Arcana and acid splashed on his masters arm. "Gaaah, you..."

Colins LP: 5400

"This stings, you almost burned my skin.. But two can play the pain game!" He attacked with the World, killing the Poisonous Lord all over again. Naturally it healed quickly (2000/0). "Ha! Did you forget what her strongest Arcana can do? Hey Cleo, she beat you with it didnt she?" He shouted back. "Why remind me?" He sacrificed Fusilier and Ür for The Worlds effect. "Guess what Simone, your next turn is now skipped! All you can do is draw a card, oh wait...no, not even that!." He chuckled. "I see, quite bothersome." Since her turn was skipped, Colin could attack once more. "Time to die, Vennominion, again." The World fired its beams at the Poisonous Snake ruler, decimating it a second time. "Bothersome indeed, I guess you under-estimated me." Even though he resorted to using another fortune tellers cards, it felt like the future favored him at last. "You misunderstood, its not your opposition that bothers me. Its your naivety." She rasped, as her Venom King regenerated again (1500/0).

Simone's LP: 3300

"Seeing that young hope-filled face of yours is unbecoming, ugly even." Then it was her turn again. "Damn it, stop calling me young!" He grunted. "But you are young, young of mind. I run a multi-national business, what do you do for a living?" She looked dead serious, but he did not seem to notice. "Well I..." He started to talk, but she stopped him. "Silence! I didnt ask for your mundane lifestory. It was a rhetorical question, rhetorical!" She fumed. "I only wanted you to know how much effort you are trying to ruin, what you are up against. Not even death can stop us you know, it did not stop our father." She drew a card. "Oh yes the radio-active casualty." Cleo smiled. "If Orichalcum is so deadly, why do you use it in the first place?" She asked. "Feh" Creed ignored that question, and continued with her story. "Yes my father was dying, thats why he adopted us in the first place. When he found out that the Orichalcum he found, that it was killing him, he started a search for an heir."

"He went by one orphanage after another, special orphanages that had special children." While she spoke, she returned the Venom Swamp to the field slot in her disk. "Like you, I presume. Dont tell me, you played a game to catch his attention." The goth moaned. "You understand fast, yes we were special, yes we never knew our real parents. But no we didnt have to fight for his recognition. He did not choose me and Simon, because of our intelligence or skill. As far as the institute was concerned, we were only moderrately brilliant." She began to laugh, very softly. "He did it because we hated each other, and everyone else in that place. He saw our sibling rivalry, and knew that he could turn it into a powerful tool, one of hatred and revenge." She placed two trap cards facedown as well. "From that day on he educated us to struggle for the crown of his company, never choosing sides. Simon and I, in the end neither could accept the throne. He died before he declared an official succesor, so we shared Tumaga instead.

"Of course, I still think I would have won. This game we play right now, is a childrens trial, compared to what he put me through. Thats why you are young, compared to me." She then played a spell card. "And I have had enough of your juvenile resistance. Spell card, Venom Shot: I discard a reptile from my deck to give your monster two venom counters." Suddenly, another snake came from her deck, a Bitelon "Hey!" It sprayed poison on The World (2100/3100), and then it was sent to the grave. "The counters once again weaken your side, and Bitelons demise strengthens my King (2000/0). End turn." And during the endphase The World weakened once more (1600/3100). "Why wont she give up." Caine thought, snakes were never favorite kind of monsters. "Okay, I think I have seen enough." He played a spell card. "Star Level Shuffle, I shift one monster on my field, with another in the grave. With equal levels of course!" Thus he exchanged the depowered The World for another Arcana. "I discarded this one earlier, for Trade In. Heh."

"I summon The Devil!" The eyeball-sickle demon (2500/2500) was what replaced his mechanic predecessor, both were of the eight level. "That thing again." Cleo did remember that one, Ananka used it in their duel. "This card kills another monster when it declares an attack, after it inflicts 500 damage." He smirked and declared an attack on Vennominion, The Devil activated his effect and one scythe cut against Simone's shoulder. "You can not regenerate if I kill you outside of battle, ey kingie?" The second scythe decapitated the King. "Its an effect-death!" The third scythe came for her again, and then she laughed. "Fool. I activate Rise of the Snake Deity!" She chained with a trap card, and a pale light intercepted The Devil. "Now what?" Then from the swamp, a new being emerged, a woman coiled up in serpents. "When you destroy Vennominion with a card effect, this trap card special summons the Queen: Vennominaga, God of Poison (0/0)!" Even her hair was made of snakes, like a Medusa.

Simone's LP: 2800

"Where the hell did this come from?" A red glow surrounded the snake queen. "This card has the same powers of Vennominion, and now there are five reptiles in the graveyard." The Naga boosted herself with the energy of her servants (2500/0) "Our attackpower is equal, would you like to attack me still?" She smirked. "I think not... I bet that Naga has regeneration as well, if she has all of the Minions powers." Simone was all to pleased to hear that. "Finally, the end nears." She drew again, and her face contorted with a malicious glee. "And now its a fact, you will die." She played the most haunting card in existence, The Seal of Orichalcos. "Uh crap." The green seal encircled the two players, shutting out Cleo. At the same time, Venom Swamp shattered and disappeared from the hall. Orichalcos powered up Vennominaga (3000/0), the seal appearing on her forehead. "And if you still do not see what your fate shall be..allow me. I will make you a happy seer, you get to know your future, what will kill you... I will."

(To be continued in Testament 057: No Cure for Hypervenom)

New Cards used by Colin Sairve
Arcana Force XXI The World
Machine Lord Ür
Arcana Force XV The Devil

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The Rich Get Richer
Reasoning
Giant Trunade

New Cards used by Simone Creed
Bitelon
Vennominion, Lord of Poisonous Snakes
Vennominaga, the Deity of Poisonous Snakes

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Venom Shot
Seal of Orichalcos

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Generation Shift
Venom Burn
Rise of the Snake Deity