Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
Chapter 30: Ashes To Ashes
"Mikage! You need to snap out of it!" Utena told him. "I don't know exactly what's gotten into you, but you need to come back to your senses!"
Mikage merely chuckled. "So Tokiko, come back to gloat eh? I suppose now that Mamiya's gone, you've come back to curse me just like you did before! Well I will destroy you once and for all!"
"Tokiko? Wait a…Mikage! It's me! Utena Tenjou! Tokiko's been dead for a long time now!"
"It's useless to reason with him now, Prince Utena!" the Skeleton Knight cut in. "The revelation of Mamiya's death has caused the last string holding together his sanity has snapped. Nothing you say can reach him. Now, continue on with the duel! That is the only way left to end this conflict!"
Utena scowled. "For my next move I play the Spell card, Echo's Gift! This card lets us both draw cards for the total number of Tuner monsters in both of our Graveyards! My Graveyard contains Junk Anchor, Vassal Synchron and Effect Punisher, while your Graveyard has Infernity Beetle! That means we both draw a total of four cards!"
"How generous of you, Tokiko," Mikage replied with another mad giggle as he drew from his deck.
"Normally letting my opponent draw such a large number of extra cards wouldn't be such a great idea, but since your Infernity monsters rely on you having an empty hand, this Spell is the worst kind of card to use against you!"
"Except I have the perfect counter for such a card, which I've drawn thanks to you!" Mikage revealed. "I summon Infernity Jester in Defense Mode!"
Suddenly materializing next to Mikage's D-Wheel was a humanoid creature clad in the black and grey outfit of a medieval court jester. His head was a cackling brownish skull, with blue flames burning out of the empty eye sockets and a three-pointed grey and black hat tipped with brass bells atop its cranium. A red filled collar was around the creature's neck, and he rode atop a unicycle with a wheel shrouded in blue flames. In his boney hands, the demon jester juggled three blue fireballs.
"When Infernity Jester is drawn from my deck due to a card effect, I can discard every other card from my hand to summon him to the field!" Mikage announced. "You tried that same trick against me the first time we dueled, Tokiko! But just like before, I was ready for it!"
Utena gritted her teeth as Mikage cackled madly. "I…end my turn!"
"Then it's my move!" Mikage declared as he drew his first card. "Get ready for your annihilation! I summon Infernity Dwarf in Attack Mode!"
Appearing next to Infernity Jester was a short and somewhat portly yet muscular man with light grey skin and a bush dark-grey beard. He had on brown coveralls and a tattered dark-brown hat. In both hands, the man carried a large double-sided ax with a long handle.
"I activate Infernity Jester's effect!" Mikage announced. "Infernity Jester let's me sacrifice another monster I control to summon another monster from my Graveyard! Under different circumstances, this effect would only let me summon another level five or lower Infernity monster. But since I have no cards in my hand, Infernity Jester's effect can let me summon a level eight or lower Dark Synchro Monster from the Graveyard instead! So I sacrifice Infernity Dwarf to revive Void Ogre Dragon!"
Infernity Jester tossed one of the blue fireballs he'd been juggling high into the air. The ball dropped down onto the top of Infernity Dwarf's hat and exploded, creating a massive cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared after a few moments to reveal a large black metal box decorated with white skulls. The box soon fell open to reveal Mikage's revived Duel Dragon. The shadow miasma that had been emanating from Void Ogre before had become even thicker.
"Get ready Tokiko! This is where you die!" Mikage declared. "I tune the level two Infernity Jester into the level eight Void Ogre Dragon for a level ten Synchro Summon!"
Infernity Jester cackled one last time before bursting into blue flames and changing into two rings made of red light. The rings encircled Void Ogre and transformed the beast into eight black stars.
"King of Purgatory who sits in absolute darkness! Rise up from the abyss and cast all life into eternal torment!" Mikage chanted. "Synchro Summon! The dragon king of eternal damnation! Void King Ogre Dragon!"
The black stars sparked and burst into a massive ray of black energy that shot down the track. In moments the darkness faded away to reveal Void Ogre Dragon in a terrifying new form. His scales had become stark white; while his eyes had become totally pitch-black, and glowing blue lines adorned his cheeks like tear trails. The claws on his hands and feet had turned gold, as did the spike tipping the end of his whip-like tail. In the center of his chest had formed a large gaping black hole that showed an endless abyss of nothingness.
"This is Void Ogre's ultimate form! A form that I didn't dare use in our last duel, Tokiko!" Mikage spoke. "But now that I no longer have anything to lose or to fight for, there's no harm in using him now! Void King can negate the effect of a Spell or Trap once per turn, whether I have cards in my hand or not! But he has one other even more potent effect! When Void King destroys a monster in battle while I have no card in my hand…any damage he inflicts is doubled! Void King! Obliterate Tokiko's dragon! Infernity Abyssal Flame!"
"At this moment I summon Junk Decoy from my hand in Defense Mode!" Utena announced.
On cue, a small rust-colored robot bearing a white bull's-eye on its chest materialized next to Stardust.
"As long as I have Junk Decoy on the field, you can't attack any other monsters!" Utena announced.
"Damn you, Tokiko!" Mikage cursed. "Then in that case, I have Void King attack that annoying little robot of yours! Internity Abyssal Flame!"
Void King let out a horrid mournful-sounding roar before firing a stream of black flames from his jaws. The flames struck Junk Decoy right on the target on its chest and burned him into black ashes that blew away in the wind.
"When Junk Decoy has been destroyed in battle, I get to draw one card!" Utena announced. "And I know just what card I'm drawing! Anthy! Give me the sword!"
Anthy closed her eyes and put her hand over her chest. "Sword of the Rose… the power of Dios that sleeps within me… answer to your master and show yourself now!"
A ray of crimson light shot up from Anthy's body into the air, only to curve downward towards Utena's D-Wheel. The ray of light struck the top card of Utena's deck, causing it to glow red.
"The power to revolutionize the world!" Utena called out as she pulled the glowing card from her deck, causing the sound of a sword being unsheathed to ring out across the track.
"Preparing to summon your dragon's ultimate form, eh Tokiko?" Mikage remarked. "Well that's just fine. I'll end my turn here!"
Utena drew her next card. "For my first move, I play a Spell card that a very good friend gave to me earlier, Dian Keto the Cure Master! This card gives me 1000 extra life points!"
"As if I'd let you try and save yourself like that!" Mikage interrupted. "I activate Void King's effect to negate Dian Keto's activation and destroy it!"
On cue, Void King's tail launched across the field and skewered the large version of Utena's Spell card, causing it to shatter like glass.
"Did you really think I'd sit back and allow you to play a card that'd help you recover your life points Tokiko?" Mikage asked.
"Not at all," Utena answered. "In fact I was hoping you'd waste Void King's effect on Dian Keto so that you wouldn't be able to negate my next card. I play the Spell card, Foolish Burial and use its effect to send Jet Synchron from the deck to the Graveyard! Next I activate Jet Synchron's effect from the Graveyard and discard Junk Specter from my hand to summon him to the field!"
With a flash of green light, the small purple jet engine robot appeared on the track next to Stardust.
"Now I activate Junk Specter's effect from the Graveyard!" Utena announced. "When I have a Synchron Tuner monster out, I can summon Junk Specter back to the field!"
On cue, the spectral warrior in his tattered cloak appeared next to Jet Synchron.
"I tune the level one Jet Synchron into the level four Junk Specter for a level five Synchro Summon!" Utena announced.
Jet Synchron ignited and changed into a single ring of green light. The ring encircled Junk Specter and transformed the ghostly warrior into four white stars.
"Glittering knight born from the wishes of the oppressed! Race through the skies like a shooting star and bring forth hope to the world!" Utena chanted. "Synchro Summon! Take wing! Jet Knight!"
The stars flashed and became a ray of white light that shot down the track and expanded outward. In moments the light broke apart to reveal Utena's silver robotic flying knight.
"Finally I equip Stardust with the Sword of Dios, lowering his level from eight to five!" Utena announced.
With a flash of gold light, the ornate gold rapier appeared in Stardust's right hand. As soon as he took hold of the sword, a dazzling rose-colored aura emanated from the silvery dragon's body.
"That ends my turn!" Utena announced.
Mikage snickered as he drew his next card. "Your struggles last turn were all useless, Tokiko! For now I activate Void King's final effect! During my Draw Phase, I can send one card in my hand to the Graveyard to deal 200 points of damage! The exact amount of life points you have left! Therefore I now discard the card I just drew to take your life to zero! Spark from the Void!"
"At this moment I activate the effect of Harm Converter from my hand!" Utena announced.
Just then, Void King let out another mournful roar and shot a black fireball from the hole in the center of his chest. As the fireball traveled through the air, a small floating silver robot appeared in front of Utena's D-Wheel. The machine had a gold cylindrical head with a single thin green eye. Its silver torso had no legs, while attached to both of its large forearms was half of a round white shield.
"When I would take damage from an opponent's card effect, I can discard Harm Converter to negate that damage and increase my life points by the same amount!" Utena announced.
Harm Converter got in the path of the fireball Void King had shot and brought the two halves of the shield on its arms together. The black flames were completely sucked into the shield's face. Harm Converter then turned around and then fired a beam of white light down at Utena's D-Wheel, causing her life points to rise slightly to 400. With its job done, Harm Converter shattered into particles of gold light.
Mikage's left eye twitched as he continued to snicker madly. "Well in that case…in that case I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!"
Utena tuned out Mikage as she revved her D-Wheel's engine and started to pick up speed. "Unborn dragon that sleeps in the egg of the world! Break the world's shell and shine your light across the cosmos!"
"Void King! Obliterate Jet Knight and end this!" Mikage ordered. "Infernity Abyssal Flame!"
"Accel Synchro!" Utena called out just as Void King was about to launch an attack.
Utena and her two monsters took off down the track, all three of them becoming enshrouded in a streak of rose-colored light. Inside the streak just before it vanished, Stardust changed into five rings of green light that quickly surrounded Jet Knight. A few moments later, the streak of light reappeared behind Mikage, and Utena shot out of the light's head past the pink-haired madman with Stardust flying at her side in his evolved form.
"Bring Revolution! Stardust Dios Dragon!" Utena called out, causing the dragon to roar in response. "And now Dios Dragon's effect kicks in! When Dios Dragon has been summoned during my opponent's turn, all other monsters on the field with a level less than or equal to his own are sent to the Graveyard!"
Dios Dragon flapped his feathered wings and sent a wave of multicolored light across the track. Just as the wave was about to strike Void King though, a small and transparent demonic creature appeared covered in grey reptilian scales in front of the evil dragon. The creature had two very long ears and a large mouth filled with small white fangs. The demon had two large red eyes, and a black leather mask covered the top half of its face. It had large hands and feet with yellow claws on its fingers and toes. A sleeveless black shirt covered the demon's torso, and it had a pair of tattered red boxers on around its waist.
As soon as the wave of light struck the little long-eared demon, it shattered into particles of gold light. Void King Ogre Dragon meanwhile had been totally unharmed.
"What the hell?" a surprised Utena exclaimed.
Mikage snickered. "I activate the effect of Infernity Gremlin from my Graveyard! When a monster I control would be sent to the Graveyard by an opponent's card effect, I'm able to banish Infernity Gremlin from the Graveyard to negate that effect! Nice try Tokiko, but not nearly good enough! And I'm still able to attack! Void King! Obliterate Dios Dragon and end this once and for all! Infernity Abyssal Flame!"
"I activate Dios Dragon's effect and banish the Sword of Dios from the Graveyard to negate Void King's attack!" Utena announced.
Just as Void King spewed out another stream of black flames, a sphere of transparent blue light appeared around Dios Dragon. As soon as the flames hit the sphere, it shattered like glass, but Dios Dragon himself was totally unharmed.
Mikage scowled. "Dammit Tokiko! Why won't you just die? Why do you have to come back and torment me like this? Damn you, you vile witch!"
Utena sighed. "Mikage…I do wish there was something I could do to help you."
"I don't need your help or your pity! Just start your next turn already!" Mikage's insane grin returned. "But…surly you realize that there's really nothing you can do at this point. Dios Dragon's effect was your one hope for winning this duel, and it's failed! You've finally run out of tricks, haven't you Tokiko?"
Utena had to admit that Mikage had a point. Dios Dragon couldn't compete with Void King's 4000 ATK, and Mikage could simply use the evil dragon's effect to negate any Spells she might use to boost Dios Dragon's power. She needed to find another way.
"Anthy! Please lend me your power!" Utena called. "I need something that can defeat Mikage's dragon!"
"Lady…Utena," Anthy spoke before closing her eyes and bringing her hands to her chest.
Just then another ray of crimson light shot from Anthy's body into the air and came down towards Utena's D-Wheel. The light struck the top card of the pinkette's deck, causing it to glow with a crimson light.
Utena drew the glowing card from her deck and blinked in surprise. "This is…"
"Hurry up and make your move, Tokiko!" Mikage protested. "I'm growing tired of this!"
Utena nodded. "I attack Void King with Dios Dragon!"
Mikage let out a mad laugh. "So! Decided to go out in a blaze of glory, eh?"
"At this moment, I activate the effect of Siriboh from my hand!" Utena announced.
Suddenly appearing in the air above Dios Dragon was a small ball of pink fur with two large yellow and green eyes and four scaly green legs with yellow toes. Covering the top of the little creature was a silvery knight's helmet with a large visor and red plume sticking out the left side.
"When a Dios monster I control battles a monster with higher attack, I can send Siriboh from my hand to the Graveyard to reduce the enemy monster's ATK to zero!" Utena announced. "Dios Dragon! Attack Void King and end this nightmare! Star of Revolution!"
Siriboh turned into a ball of rose-colored light and entered the gemstone embedded in the center of Dios Dragon's chest. Soon after, Dios Dragon turned from silver to a rosy pink. The dragon roared and fired a ray of rose-colored light from the gemstone in his chest, which struck the black hole in the center of Void King's chest. Upon being hit, Void King let out one last mournful roar before exploding with a blinding flash of white light. The force of the blast knocked Mikage off his D-Wheel and dropped his life points to zero. With the duel finally at an end, Dios Dragon returned to his original color and vanished.
Utena pulled her D-Wheel over and dismounted. She then rushed over to Mikage and knelt down to see if he was okay. After a moment, the pink-haired genius on the ground slowly opened his eyes, revealing that they had returned to normal.
"Mikage, are you okay?" Utena asked. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're…you're Utena Tenjou," Mikage responded weakly. "Where am I, and…what am I doing on the ground?"
"We had a duel, and…I won," Utena answered. "You don't remember any of it?"
Mikage shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I lost, eh? That's a pity. By the way Utena…did I ever introduce you to Mamiya?"
Utena blinked in surprise and then put on a small smile. "No, you…you didn't. You've told me a lot about him though. I'd really like to meet him."
"Well then, I'll have to introduce you later. He's very…very special to me." Just then, Mikage closed his eyes.
Then to Utena's shock, the pink-haired genius suddenly became completely grey and turned to dust. The ashes blew away in the passing breeze, leaving nothing but Mikage's clothes behind. Not far away at the side of the track, the mummified corpse of Mamiya had turned to ash and started to blow away as well.
"By defeating Mikage, you broke the spell that had been keeping him alive all these years," the Skeleton Knight spoke. "He's now finally out of his misery. You should be pleased about this, Prince Utena."
Utena slowly rose to her feet and glared at the Skeleton Knight with tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "I've had more than enough of your twisted games, Skeleton Knight! You've been using Mikage all this time, just like you've used my friends! I'm going to make you pay for all of it! Right here, right now!"
The Skeleton Knight nodded. "Yes. It's high time I give you your final test."
With that, the undead knight snapped his boney fingers, causing a thick black fog to roll in and cover the entire track. When the fog cleared, Utena was once again on her back of her D-Wheel, which had once again been placed at the starting line. As Utena looked around for the Skeleton Knight, she suddenly heard the sound of a galloping horse coming up from behind. The pinkette looked back to see her undead opponent ridding up on the back of a mummified horse wrapped in tattered bandages that had browned with age. A simple duel disk was mounted on the Skeleton Knight's left arm.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Utena exclaimed. "A horse?"
"Back in my day, the battles we now call turbo duels were fought on horseback," the Skeleton Knight responded. "Now then, let's begin!"
Anthy raised her hand into the air, prompting Utena to rev her D-Wheel's engine. Meanwhile the left front hoof of the Skeleton Knight's undead horse scrapped at the pavement. As soon as Anthy swung her arm down, Utena zoomed off down the track. At first it seemed like she would easily take the first corner, but suddenly the Skeleton Knight galloped ahead of her at an amazing speed. In an instant, the undead duelist had stolen the first corner.
The Skeleton Knight drew his first card. "Prince Utena, let us see if you can defeat an opponent who's been dueling for over 5,000 years!"
Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the conclusion to Utena and Mikage's duel. Here are the original cards that showed up during the second half. Once again, we'll start with Mikage's cards.
Infernity Jester
DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect/2/ATK 700/DEF 300
When this card is drawn by a card effect: You can discard every other card in your hand (1 min.); Special Summon this card to your side of the field. Once during your Main Phase: You can tribute 1 other monster you control; Special Summon 1 level 5 or lower "Infernity" monster from your Graveyard with its effects negated. If you have no cards in your hand when you activate this effect: You can Special Summon 1 level 8 or lower DARK Synchro Monster from your Graveyard instead.
Infernity Gremlin
DARK/Fiend/Effect/4/ATK 1300/DEF 1000
Gains 600 ATK when you have no cards in your hand. When a face-up monster you control would be sent to the Graveyard by an opponent's card effect: You can banish this card from the Graveyard; that monster is not sent to the Graveyard.
Void King Ogre Dragon
DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect/10/ATK 4000/DEF 4000
1 "Infernity" Tuner + "Void Ogre Dragon"
Once per turn (quick effect): When your opponent activates the effect of a Spell or Trap Card; you can negate that effect and destroy that card. When this card destroys an opponent's monster while you have no cards in your hand: Double any battle damage this card inflicts. During your Draw Phase: You can send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard; inflict 200 points of damage to your opponent.
Infernity Jester is the one of these three that I'm proudest of. To my knowledge, the Infernity archetype currently doesn't have any countermeasures for when the opponent forces the user to draw from their deck and thus disabling their monsters' effects. As for Void King Ogre Dragon, I ended up basing it appearance a little bit on the hallows from Bleach (anyone remember that series?).
Harm Converter
LIGHT/Machine/Effect/2/ATK 300/DEF 300
When your opponent activates an effect that would inflict damage: You can discard this card from your hand; negate that damage and increase your life points by an amount equal to the damage you would've taken.
Siriboh
LIGHT/Fairy/Effect/2/ATK 300/DEF 200
When a "Dios" monster you control battles an opponent's monster with higher ATK: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; reduce the ATK of the opponent's monster to 0 during the Damage Step.
Echo's Gift
Spell Card
Both players draw 1 card for the total number of Tuner monsters in each player's Graveyard. You can only activate 1 "Echo's Gift" per turn.
With the way that the duel had unfolded, the only way for Utena to win was for her to use some sort of Hand Trap monster related to the Dios archetype. Thus the idea for Siriboh was born. As the name and description suggests, its basically a knight version of Kuriboh. Admittedly I wish that I could've come up with something a little more original, especially since Utena already used Junkuriboh earlier in this story. At least the card has a fairly clever name though.
So with Christmas just around the corner and things as crazy as they are at my job right now, this will probably be the last update I'll do to the story for a bit. The next chapter will hopefully be up by early to mid January at the latest. When I do return, we'll finally be getting to the conclusion of the Skeleton Knight arc. Until then, please review and let me know what you think.