A/n: Welcome back, everyone! Sorry for the prolonged absence; now that I've fallen back in love with this story again I'm going to try to be better at posting on a more regular basis. That being said, my writing style has changed a little bit thanks to the writing in other fandoms I've done since going on hiatus from ffnet, and now that I'm back you might see some differences in that regard for everything from, like, Chapter 30 onward (on a related note, I've also been writing in the present tense lately for my other works, which made it kind of hard to transition back to Infinitas where everything is consistently past tense, but I digress.)
Chapter 22: Duelists 2 and 10
Irina strode through the halls of Goliath Stadium and then out onto the field, finding her assigned arena without too much trouble. Her opponent turned out to be a young woman, seemingly in her mid to late twenties, who had dark curly hair and bright green eyes. She wore her entry ticket on a lanyard around her neck; Astrid Yarrow (10) it read, just as the ticket in Irina's pocket read Irina Albescu (2).
"The first duel is about to begin," the MC announced once they did the obligatory coin toss to decide who'd go first. "Contestants two and ten will battle it out for the right to advance to the next round! Begin!"
"Duel!" they shouted in unison.
Irina vs. Astrid
[8000]-[8000]
"My move," Irina said, since she'd called the coin toss correctly. "I'll start by summoning Allure Queen LV3 [500/500] in attack mode. Then I'll equip her with three Spell Cards from my hand: Axe of Despair which raises her ATK by 1000 points, Sword of Deep-Seated which raises her ATK by 500 points, and Black Pendant which raises her ATK by another 500 points, giving her a grand total of 2500 ATK!"
"There's no point to all of that, though," Astrid called out tauntingly, "since you can't attack!"
"Nah," Irina agreed. "But it's very satisfying anyway. I'll finish up by placing one more card face-down on the field, then end my turn."
"My turn," Astrid replied. "I draw, and summon D.D. Warrior Lady [1500/1600] and have her attack your Allure Queen LV3. I take 1000 points of battle damage and my Warrior Lady is destroyed," she went on, cringing as her LP took a self-inflicted hit, "but thanks to my monster's special effect, your Allure Queen is removed from play!"
"The secondary effect of my Black Pendant activates," Irina interjected, "and you take 500 points of damage."
[Astrid LP: 6500]
"I'll place one card face-down," Astrid finished, her face slightly paler than it had been when they'd started, "and end my turn."
"I draw," Irina said, sighing when she saw Sword of Deep-Seated; it's effect had it return to the top of her Deck when it was destroyed, which normally would have been fine, except for the fact that right now she had no monsters to summon. Great. Just great. "I'll place one card face-down and end my turn," she said at last.
"My move," Astrid said, drawing her next card. "I summon D.D. Assailant [1700/1600] in attack mode, and attack you directly!"
And this, Irina thought irritably as the attack slammed straight into her and took a chunk out of her LP, is the downside to running a Deck that's mostly spells. If she didn't draw any of her monsters in time, she couldn't mount a defense at all.
[Irina LP: 6300].
"I end my turn," Astrid said, a triumphant smirk clear on her face.
"My turn," Irina said. "I draw, and-" Dammit. "-play one more card face-down," she finished sourly. "And end my turn."
Astrid's smirk widened as she took her turn. "I draw," she said, "and activate Heavy Storm, which destroys all Spell and Traps cards on the field!"
"Dammit!" Irina snapped, hands clenching into fists as her face-downs were obliterated, leaving her with absolutely no cards in play at all.
"Then I'll attack you directly with my D.D. Assailant again!"
[Irina LP: 4600]
"I end my turn," Astrid concluded.
"And I take mine," Irina said, and had to swallow another curse as she got yet another card she couldn't use. "I'll play two cards face-down," she said tightly, "and end my turn."
Astrid now looked positively gleeful at Irina's lack of moves. "I draw," she said cheerfully, "and attack you directly with D.D. Assailant again! Then I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."
[Irina LP: 2900]
"My move," Irina said through gritted teeth, drawing her next card. To her immense relief, it was finally a Trap Card she could utilize. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."
Astrid drew her next card with a confident smile. "I'll have my D.D. Assailant attack you directly once more! Go, D.D. Assailant!"
"I activate my Trap Card, Mirror Force," Irina countered, quickly hitting the appropriate button on her Duel Disk. "It negates your your attack and destroys your monster!"
Astrid looked briefly annoyed, but seemed to shake it off. "Fine," she said. "So I'll set one monster face-down then activate Crush Card! By tributing the Dark monster I just set, I can check all of your monsters for the next three turns and destroy them if they have 1500 or more ATK! With that," Astrid finished, "I'll end my turn."
Well, shit. That pretty much took what little of an action plan she had and tossed it right out the window. "I draw," she said reluctantly, her mind churning to find a way out of the corner she'd been backed into. "I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."
Astrid nodded as if that had been exactly what she'd been expecting Irina to do. "My move," she said, drawing her next card and then pursing her lips as if she hadn't gotten quite what she'd wanted. "I'll summon one monster face-down," she said after a moment, "and end my turn."
Irina let loose a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Okay, she thought, this is what I needed. Now if I can just draw a monster, there's still a chance I can turn this mess around. "I draw," she said, and couldn't help the smile that broke across her face. "And summon Allure Queen LV3 in attack mode. Then I'll equip her with Sword of Deep-Seated to bolster her ATK up to 1000. I'll also equip her," she went on, "with Mist Body, which makes it so that she can't be destroyed in battle. Now," she thrust out a hand, "Allure Queen LV3, attack her face-down monster!"
"I activate my Morphing Jar's effect," Astrid said quickly. "We both discard our hands and draw five news cards."
Irina gave a amused smirk. "Thanks for that," she said sincerely; she'd been entirely out of cards, so her opponent's counter had actually been pretty damn helpful. She had to send the Queen's Bodyguard she drew straight to the Graveyard because Crush Card was still in effect, but even so things were looking up. "I'll throw down two face-downs," she said, "and end my turn."
"I draw," Astrid replied, "and activate Mind Control, which lets me take control of one of your monsters! You have only the one in play, so I'll be taking your Allure Queen LV3, thank you very much! Next," she went on, "I'' sacrifice Allure Queen LV3 to Tribute Summon Jinzo [2400/1500] in attack mode. Now, Jinzo, attack her directly!"
Irina's vision went hazy around the edges as the attack hit her and all but obliterated her remaining Life Points. Well, she thought darkly, so much for turning things around.
[Irina LP: 500]
"I end my turn," Astrid concluded, a wide grin stretching her lips.
"My move," Irina said, drawing her next card and giving a faint smile. "I'll summon Sangan [1000/1000] in attack mode, then activate my Spell Card, Unstable Evolution. When my LP is lower than my opponent's, the attack of the monster I equip this card to becomes 2400!"
"It's still not enough to match my Jinzo," Astrid replied haughtily.
"No," Irina agreed with a grim smile, "not yet. So I think I'll equip Sangan with a couple more Spells as well! I'll start by activating my two face-down cards: United We Stand, which raises ATK by 800 for every face-up monster I control, and," she went on, "Unicorn Horn, which raises ATK and DEF by 700. Then," she continued, "I'll activate Sword of Deep-Seated from my hand, to bring my Sangan's ATK up to a grand total of 4400!"
Astrid gasped, her eyes going wide in alarm. "An ATK of 4400?!" she cried out in disbelief. "No way!"
"Sangan," Irina shouted, "attack and destroy her Jinzo!"
[Astrid LP: 3700]
"With that," Irina finished, relaxing her stance somewhat, "I end my turn."
Astrid was now beginning to look truly furious, her expression a cross between fear at the over-powered Sangan and outrage at being bested by such an unexpected yet simple tactic. "You're not going to beat me," she snapped. "Not with a Deck like that! I don't care how many spells you use, your pathetic little monsters are still worthless!"
"Make your damn move," Irina replied, trying to keep a lid on her own temper.
"I will," Astrid said with a sneer; it seemed like her nastier side came out when things didn't go entirely her way. "I activate Smashing Ground!" she declared after her draw, "which destroys your stupid Sangan! And all your Equip Spells!"
"Son of a bitch!" Irina snarled as all her cards got sent to the Graveyard. "Seriously?!" She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Sangan's effect activates," she said, "allowing me to choose a monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck and add it to my hand; also, my Unicorn Horn and Sword of Deep-Seated return to the top of my Deck thanks to their secondary effects."
"Doesn't matter," Astrid said, eyes shining. "Because your next turn isn't coming in time to save you! I summon Thunder King Rai-Oh [1900/800]," she declared, "and attack you directly!"
Irina staggered and fell to her knees as the attack wiped out the rest of her Life Points, leaving her to wonder what the hell had just happened.
Final Score:
Irina [0]-Astrid [3700].
"And ," the MC announced, "the winner of the first round's Ghrian duel has been decided! Competitor Number Ten, Astrid Yarrow, will move on to the next round, while Number Two, Irina Albescu, has been eliminated!"
[Ending author's note: Oops, she lost! Also, if anyone wants to see two nifty video trailers for the story, please check out Infinitas over on ao3; the links are in the ao3 story description and my ao3 username is MYuzuki.]