"My dear friend, achieving your goal isn't so easy. Without an object of great mass power, you'll never be able to even sniff your dream."
"I will simply wait until that day comes then. My paradise is one that will bring eternal happiness to all but I will only at when given the right tools, there is no point to action if one doesn't succeed in it, that's aimless wandering."
"Tool? I think I have what you desire…"
"W-What? If you're trying to tempt me with promises of some kind of golden goose then I have half a mind to cut this conversation off right here."
"Yes. Have I ever lied to you? This simply makes me think more about the gravity that we two seem to share. Anyway, I'll give you the start, there are few forces in the world with a strong enough power to do anything on a great scale, however, nature made itself supreme so it's only natural to utilise that in order to achieve anything. Did you know that if you were to harness the entire gravitational power of the universe that you could effectively make time move so fast that it gives the illusion of change? A singularity if you will. What I'm going to tell you is neither a singularity nor a loss of control."
"Out with it already."
"Hmm, maybe you're not the one after all, you're awfully impatient as well as awfully lazy. You're not the only one I've spoken to about this as well, think of them as my backup options should you continue to disappoint me."
"Like you'd ever look to your backup."
"Oh? What makes you so sure that I won't just dump you out of my plans and then silence you because you know my secret?"
"I told you why when we met. I just know people from first sight."
"Kehehehehe, that's why I like you. Alright, looks like you've taken that first spot and made it your own, I'll tell you what the conditions are for the ritual to be successful."
Yuri LP: 4000 Hokuto LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
'The Eyes of Heaven shining on me? I think I like that…' Yuri thought just before starting his turn. With luck seemingly against him and Yuzu recently, it was only fair that Heaven would take their side in the long run.
"Since you're the invader I think it's only fair if I take the first turn." Yuri said "Using the scale 1 Predaplant Moray Nepenthes and scale 8 Predaplant Flytrap I set the pendulum scale!" The two plant monsters appeared in blue columns of light with the numbers 1 and 8 underneath the respective cards, outside the arena there was a look of wonder and amazement on the faces of the three kids.
However Yuzu still couldn't tell the difference between Yuto and the boy she had developed feelings for over the seven years he had been in her life. 'Yuri, I want so badly to believe that it wasn't you I saw at that warehouse but I'm still not sure…'
"With this scale I can summon monsters level 2 through to 7 all at the same time! Swing pendulum of the soul! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum summon! Appear level 5, Predaplant Solanum Dulca!" Solanum Dulca was a cross between a plant commonly known as deadly nightshade and a dragon that had pitch black wings with small spores all over them
Predaplant Solanum Dulca Level 5, Plant, DARK, Effect (2100/300) PS: 4
"I've never seen big bro Yuri use that card before!" Futoshi exclaimed, enraptured by the sight of the deadly beautiful dragon just like the other three kids were.
'If he was hiding his true strength up until now then we really are sunk.' Himika thought, carefully observing every move of the Predaplant duelist, any sliver of information could be valuable data for the fight ahead.
'Go on, little Lily. And please do remember, Ki-kun and I have given you all that you need to show this lot your full strength.' Shiki thought, supressing the smile that threatened to burst onto his features.
"I place one card facedown and end my turn. Let's see your skills, if you have any that is." Yuri teased the XYZ user, if this guy was as choleric and unstable as Kichirou then all it would take would be a little push from him for Hokuto to lose the plot entirely.
"Just you watch me! Once I've gotten started you're going to wish didn't open your mouth!" Yep, just as choleric as Kichirou, everything was going according to plan. Even the LDS side was groaning at the size of Hokuto's ego, the remaining two students having far too much knowledge on that subject.
'I wish you wouldn't open your mouth but I guess we can't have everything perfect.' At this stage, Yuri's mental comments pretty much summed up everyone's thoughts.
Yuri's cards x1
Turn 2
"My turn! And to start I summon Constellar Algiedi!" The monster was coated in white amour and held a golden staff. It seemed to merge into the background with the stars.
Constellar Algiedi Level 4, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect (1600/1400)
"Algiedi's effect! When this card is normal summoned, I can Special Summon a level 4 Constellar directly from my hand! Come on out Constellar Kaus!" Kaus, a monster in very similar vein to Algiedi, made its appearance next Algiedi. It too nearly blended in with the stray background, making Yuri wonder even more why Shuzo had chosen this field, which just stunk of him doing no research whatsoever on their enemies.
Constellar Kaus, Level 4, Beast-warrior, LIGHT, Effect (1800/700)
Hokuto smirked, he was all set up now and he would show this brat why LDS, and more specifically, why he was the best in the business. "Now I activate Kaus' effect! Up to twice per turn I can raise or decrease the level of a Constellar monster on my field by one!" Kaus shot two arrows in the air, one landed in front of itself and the other in front Algiedi raising both of their levels to five.
Kaus' Level: 4 – 5
Algiedi's Level: 4 – 5
"Kuh! What a nuisance…" Kioka spoke up, looking towards her brother with expectant eyes. The taller twin easily being drawn down to her level. "That lowlife thinks he's good at XYZ, Teru-nii, it pisses me off to see such an idiot handle such a beautiful method."
Before Teru could respond, Shiki stepped in to quell her complaints, looking over at Himika as he spoke. "Oi, Bitch-chan, please don't insult our dearest competitors. They may not teach the method correctly, or have any of the grace and power that we do, but we cannot fault them for simply trying their best."
Either choosing not to hear the thinly veiled insult or so entranced by his own self brilliance, Hokuto stood in a grandiose pose as he began the final step in his plan for total and utter victory "I now overlay my level 5 Constellar Algiedi and level 5 Constellar Kaus!" The overlay network portal opened in the sky, the two monsters turning into two beams of yellow energy. As it reached an overload, it exploded and Hokuto finished his declaration "XYZ summon! Rank 5! Constellar Pleiades!"
The XYZ monster appeared on the platform behind Hokuto, it had white and golden armour and like Algiedi, it held a golden staff but this one was much larger, two yellow orbs orbited around it. The monster was the biggest one they had seen so far, it dwarfed Solanum Dulca without much effort and the kids were almost overwhelmed by its size. The starry background allowing it to merge even more than its component parts.
Constellar Pleiades, Rank 5, Warrior, LIGHT, XYZ, Effect (2500/1500) OLU: 2
"Wait, Rank? Why not level?" Tatsuya asked aloud.
"I thought you would've remembered, little butterfly, Xyz monsters are an amalgamation of the monsters used to summon them, each card will be summoned by at least two monsters, the summoned monster will then gain a rank equivalent to level of the monsters used to summon it. In a way it's like two or more monsters coming together to ascend into their new form." Shiki took the mantel of reminding Tatsuya of how XYZ worked because like hell any of the others were willing to do so.
He then felt Ayu's eyes on him, the younger girl still in her more confident demeanour "What about those lights orbiting around it? I remember seeing them during Yuri-oniichan and Yuzu-oneesan's duel at you school, but I don't remember what they do."
Kioka then stepped in, carrying herself rather haughtily, her closed parasol pointed at Ayu's face "Little one, those are its overlay units! Think of them as the soul of the monster, each xyz monster will gain overlay units for the amount monsters it has as material, they are used to activate their effects. Just like my very own Occult Slazher Alpha Unit or Shiki's monsters." The three kids stood and looked in awe at the Xyz monster in front of them with the memory of how cool it was refreshed.
"So you two are XYZ duelists?" Sora asked, pointing at Shiki and Kioka with his lollipop while leaning on the wall.
"Correct, boy." Shiki shoved Kioka into Teru's arms, already figuring out what would happen if she was allowed to have any form of prolonged conversation with this kid. Plus, this was the spy Reiji had told him about, it would be very helpful if he was able to expose himself so Shiki wouldn't have to do the work "Bitch-chan and I happen to be extremely proficient in the method as well. It's almost like I was born into it and am a remnant of its true power…"
Sora bit down harshly on his lollipop, grinding it against his teeth. It didn't take much of a genius to figure out the implications. This guy knew where he was from, there was no reason for him to say "remnant" if he didn't know how Academia spoke about the scum. Therefore he could only assume that the woman and this Reiji Akaba, who clearly knew Shiki very well, would know it too.
Yuzu, completely dead to everything, just stared at the XYZ monster "Why is it recently that all it I see Yuri with recently is XYZ? Were those two who spoke to me earlier XYZ duelists too?
"I now use Pleiades' effect! By using one overlay unit I can target one card on the field and return that target the owner's hand!" Hokuto declared as one of the overlay units was absorbed into Pleiades. "I target your Predaplant Solanum Dulca!" Pleiades went to send the dragon plant back to Yuri's hand but was stop in its tracks when it suddenly became covered in multiple tiny spores which soon ballooned to massive sizes, fully coating the XYZ Constellar.
Hokuto looked at his monster in shock, fluctuating between absolutely stunned and outraged "Hey! What's the big idea here?"
Yuri couldn't help but laugh at the Xyz user's misfortune, earning a glare from the duelist in question that caused him to wag his finger condescendingly in response "Solanum Dulca's effect. When it's targeted for an effect by a monster, the monster in question gains a Predator Counter and will lose its effect and attack points until the end of your next turn! Think of it as the effect of Nightshade taking hold of your monster."
"What!? You'll pay for that!" The starry background turned furious in an instant, a blast of meteors flew across the area, destroying some of the random platforms that they were unfortunate enough to hit.
Pleiades ATK: 2500 - 0
"It would appear now that your Xyz monster is now useless." Yuri smirked cruelly, there truly was nothing better in this world than knocking someone off of their perch. "Please, if this is the best that you can throw at me, I would rather you surrender right now. I hate doing things that are useless."
Hokuto threw another fit of rage upon Yuri's snark, the meteor shower getting stronger and more uncontrollable. "How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Kichirou smirked, the joker from his deck of cards flipped over on the top "I thought I had anger issues, this guy's on another star system."
"I place one card facedown and end my turn." Hokuto said annoyed as his face down appeared and then vanished.
'He was able to neuter Hokuto's monster with ease, he really is a terrifying power.' Himika thought in fear at the Fusion duelist.
Hokuto's cards: x3
Turn 3
"My turn, I draw. To begin with I activate the pendulum effect of my Predaplant Fly Trap! I target one monster on my opponent's field that has a predator counter, by removing that counter I can destroy that card!" Fly Trap suddenly appeared out of the pendulum columns and grew to an enormous size, before snapping its jaws and devouring the Constellar Xyz monster whole, leaving Hokuto all but defenceless bar his face down.
"Now I summon Lonefire Blossom!" The infamous Plant monster appeared next to Solanum Dulca, it was time for Yuri to bring this charade to a close. He really wasn't in the mood to continue this any longer, these invaders needed to be shown why they would be resisted in every meaning of the word.
Lonefire Blossom, Level 3, Plant, Effect, FIRE (500/1400)
"I activate its effect sacrificing itself to summon another copy from my deck, then I'll repeat this again to summon yet another Lonefire. This time I'll release it to summon my Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio." Scorpio scuttled up to where he usually stood in front of Yuri. He had
Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio, Level 3, Plant, Effect, DARK (1200/800)
"Ophrys Scorpio's effect! By sending the last card in my to the graveyard I can summon Predaplant Darlington Cobra from my deck in defence mode." Darlington Cobra slithered into view.
Predaplant Darlington Cobra, Level 3, Plant, Effect, DARK (1000/1500)
"Cobra's effect allows the addition of Polymerization to my hand." Yuri's disk ejected the card which he held in front of him, mocking the defenceless Hokuto. "Time to show you why I'm superior to your worthless ass."
In the observation rooms, both sides had totally different reactions to Yuri's set up.
At the You Show side of things, the mood was one of excitement, especially to the young trio. "Oh yeah! We've got him now!" Tatsuya exclaimed happily.
The Enchanted Underworld group looked with calculative amusement, Kichirou internally flipping his shit, Kioka not so much caring about the summon but the demeanour of Yuri that seemed to shift within the last few seconds, Teru was interested in just how strong the summon would be since he and Kioka had shut them down when they had duelled, and from a standpoint of being another Fusion duelist it would simply be interesting to see. Shiki kept his face and emotions perfectly in check and unclouded, his hand covering his mouth to prevent anyone from seeing what he was saying to himself.
However not everyone in the room was in a good mood.
Yuzu was struggling still to understand the situation that unfolded in the warehouse the night before. Yuri's dueling was even more of an indication of her torn mental state, his attitude to dueling was far different from what it usually was and she had never seen him act this condescending during match before, sure he did do this from time to time but not to this extent.
At the LDS side, things weren't much better, the other two waiting duelists had looks of concern on their faces at the fate of their teammate. Sure, his ego could be the gravitational singularity needed to reset the universe at certain points but he was still their friend, if he truly was the one who did that Sawatari then it was even worse.
Himika remained stone-faced but deep down was petrified 'There it is. Now the moment has come. How dangerous is he really?'
"Now I activate Polymerization! Fusing together my two Predaplants together! Two beautiful plants with an insect-alluring fragrance. Now become one, and from a hell under your petals, give birth to another dreadful terror! Fusion summon! Appear, poisonous dragon with hungering fangs! Level 8! Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!" Yuri's venomous dragon rose out of the fusion spiral, roaring loudly, sending shivers down the spines of the LDS crew and elation up the spines of everyone else.
Teru was perhaps the one who had the most noticeable reaction given how blank faced he usually was. His eyes, while still not shifting, had taken on a far more trance like look about them and Kioka was able to notice him subtly reach for where his pendant was underneath his costume. "Wonderful…" He mumbled out, inaudible to everyone else.
However, the strangest reaction come when the monster suddenly turned and flew away from Yuri, heading to the observation booth with an evil red gleam in its eyes. "What the…Starve Venom!" Yuri was the most shocked of everyone, acting quickly he was just about able to grasp Starve Venom's tail and ascend the monster. 'The hell?! Why is Starve Venom acting like this?! Calm down for heaven's sake!'
The observation room was thrown into sheer panic, Shuzo with tears streaming down his face and counting his prayers in his natural over the top fashion, the kids huddled together, Himika and the LDS crowd's eyes were widened astronomically and the Enchanted Underworld ones were doing their best to keep their cool. Only one person didn't mind.
It seemed like the dragon was going to smash head first through the glass, however, just before it could do so, something akin to a switch was flipped and Starve Venom stopped dead in its tracks. Simply… Hovering there... Not really doing much. Everyone was perplexed to say the least, Yuri only now being able allowed to catch his breath as he soothingly stroked his beloved dragon "Hey, hey, hey, calm down! Just what has gotten into you?!"
Starve Venom huffed, growling slightly as that red glow in its eyes dissolved. Slowly, it flew back over into the starting point. Leaving absolutely everyone confused at its behaviour. "Principal Shuzo-san, it's okay to look now, the big scary dragon's gone." The rather comical sight of Ayu comforting the still hysterical Shuzo was about all that they could manage as a collective after the event.
Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, Level 8, Fusion, Effect, Dragon, DARK (2800/2000) PS: 4
"Battle!" Yuri declared with the fullest intent to end this here and now, the incident with his own monster just serving to incentivise that desire. He had more than enough to send this guy packing "First, Starve Venom attacks Constellar Pleiades!"
Starve Venom was ready to strike, however, Hokuto was more than prepared to act, having planed for something like this to happen just in case. "Trap activate! Constellar Stargate!" The art simply depicted black hole like formation of Constellar monsters that was in the process of sucking in an attack "By banishing a Constellar monster from my graveyard I half any battle damage for the rest of this turn! I banish Constellar Kaus!" A black hole did appear in front of the Constellar duelist and sucked in Starve Venom's attack, although not strong enough to contain the attack, the void did weaken it, although it was still strong enough to push Hokuto to the edge of the platform.
Hokuto's LP: 4000 – 2600
"Solanum Dulca, direct attack!" Solanum Dulca then shot out a black ball of flames that too was sucked in, terminating half of its power. It didn't have quite the power of Starve Venom and so was neutered to a much greater extent, only being able to singe Hokuto's clothing somewhat.
Hokuto's LP: 2600 – 1550
"With that I end my turn." Yuri jumped down from Starve Venom, taking in his own imaginary applause as he took a bow.
The Observation room remained deathly quite.
Yuri's cards x0
Turn 4
"That's the first time I've taken damage in so many duels," Hokuto grovelled "You'll pay for that!" He shouted, jumping to his feet and drawing.
"I activate the spell Constellar Realignment!" The card art depicted Pleiades in the forefront and in the background there was a large dragon silhouette flanked by Kaus alongside another currently unknown monster. "This card allows me to summon two level four Constellar monsters from my deck at the cost of paying half of my remaining life points but they are destroyed at the end of this turn." A purple vortex appeared in the ground and out of stepped "I revive Constellar Kaus and Algiedi!"
Hokuto's LP: 1550 - 775
"Now I use Kaus' effect, raising both his and Algiedi's level by 1." The exact steps from last time were repeating, all of which result in Hokuto's next declaration "Now I once again overlay my two Constellar monsters. I Xyz summon! My second Constellar Pleiades!"
Yuri scoffed at the sight of the recurrent monster, he may not have been in Academia for that long but he was well aware of the Obelisk Force and their rather predictable move set, this was getting close in regards to predictability "Oh please, what is that thing going to do if it failed the first time round?"
That was until Hokuto laughed out loud almost madly "Well you're about to see for yourself! Using the rank 5 Constellar Pleiades I rebuild the overlay network!"
Mouths fell a gape in the You Show side as Pleiades was dissolved into a slightly darker yellow stream of energy and descended into the overlay network.
"What?! Can he even do that?!" Futoshi shouted in concern, mainly directing his question at the two XYZ duelists in the room.
"Yes, it's very much possible. Certain monsters can also be XYZ summoned by overlaying the target monster again allowing for an even more powerful monster with less set up required." Shiki answered, eyes locked dead on a smug looking Himika "It's quite stupid if you ask me, not only does it make it unfair by allowing the user to get a free more powerful monster with no setup, it lacks any real skill. There are far more powerful ways of doing it." He finished off, an ugly sneer distorting his handsome features.
"Always the petty one, Sogami." Himika replied, not caring for the growls of Kichirou and the glares of the others in the booth.
"I Xyz Summon! Rank 6! Constellar Ptolemy M7!" Out of the Xyz vortex came a large yellow dragon with the typical Constellar flair to it, its star coated wings blending seamlessly into the background. It also easily trumped the size of Starve Venom despite not having as much power, it would only be natural that a monster that controlled the astral plane would be as large and expansive as the galaxy itself.
Constellar Ptolemy M7, Dragon, Rank 6, XYZ, Effect, LIGHT (2700/2000) OLU: 1
"You shouldn't have messed with me! I activate M7's effect! By using one overlay unit I can send one monster you control back to your hand or in this case the extra deck! Because I'll be returning your hideous dragon back there!" A bright light encased the field, emanating from Ptolemy's wings, blinding nearly every one that was watching. As the effect was underway, Starve Venom was disintegrated by the light effortlessly and Yuri unceremoniously crashed to the floor.
Yuri scowled as he got up, cleaning some of the solid vision dirt from his person, as he was forced to return Starve Venom. He was pissed to have lost his best monster and chances were he'd be back to square one if he didn't do something. However, not all was lost just yet, he jumped on his remaining monster "Let's go Dulca." The dragon flew off with its master to search for an action card.
"There's no use running! M7 attack and wipe out his last line of defence!" M7 charged up and unleased fury in an attempt to annihilate its target, however, just as the blast was about to land Yuri's hand scraped the ground and an action card came into his possession.
"Action card! Miracle! My monster's destruction is negated and battle damaged is halved!" A barrier formed around Yuri's monster deflecting the attack. He hated to allow himself to use action cards, they may have been a main stay in the strategy of his adopted father, but Yuri was much more proud than that. His deck was going to win him the duel or it was going to lose him the duel, that's what confidence meant and when he won with his own skill he made it look so graceful that he couldn't help but be proud.
Yuri's LP: 4000 – 3650
"Lucky." Hokuto sneered "I'll end my turn here."
Hokuto's cards x3
Turn 5
'Time to end this.' Yuri thought, grasping Yuya's pendant tightly before drawing "Moray Nepenthes' Pendulum effect! Your monster gains one Predator Counter and its effect is negated. Next is Fly Trap's effect is next and with that any and all monsters that have Predator Counters on them will be destroyed!" Ptolemy was shattered instantly, the growth that Moray Nepenthes had placed on it consuming it entirely.
"Hey." Shiki spoke up, making all of the heads turn to him "Do you remember what I just said? Yeah. Turns out you do need some degree of intelligence after all. Bitch-chan, you're a shoe-in to win this year."
Hokuto stood there dumbfounded, over in the LDS the mood was one of complete ire "That idiot!" Shouted the tanned girl, slamming her fists against the wall "Why didn't he play a face down!?"
"Battle! Solanum Dulca! End this farce of a duel!" Before dealing the finishing blow Solanum Dulca ensnared Hokuto in a multitude of sharp vines preventing his escape.
It then unleased all of its pent up energy, covering the Xyz duelist in soot and earning Yuri and You Show the victory in the .
Hokuto's LP: 1550 – 0
Yuri: Win!
With the first Duel for You Show's fate finished with Yuri the victor, he exited the now de-activated Action Field, while Hokuto was on the floor in the room exhausted and burned to a cinder.
"Yuri-oniichan! That was amazing!" Ayu shouted, followed by the other two kids and surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, who knew who the adult in the room was anymore?) by Shuzo
"Huh? AHHH!" Yuri cried out as he was tackled by Tatsuya, Futoshi and Ayu, with him now on the floor with them crowding around him.
"I knew Yusho made the right choice with you! You truly are You Show's one true ace! We're going to the big leagues!" Yuri wouldn't lie and say that the first part of Shuzo's outburst hadn't hurt him slightly.
"You did it, your dueling made Gong happier than on his birthday." Gongenzaka said as he pulled Yuri up into a bone crushing hug.
"Gong... please... let go… you're crushing me..." Yuri whined out while Yuzu looked at him concerned.
"Yuzu!" Yuto's image said to Yuzu, which shocked Yuzu a bit, but then the image changed back to Yuri, making her imagine that it was the other. "Oh, yes Yuri?" She asked.
"Are you going next? Because, personally I want this whole fiasco over with quickly." Yuri placed his hands in his pocket and acted with as much haughtiness as he could muster, he still needed to figure out just what had happened with Starve Venom to have his usually faithful monster to act that way.
"Oh yeah! I will." She said slowly but loud enough for them to hear her.
"Good, I wish you the best of luck." Yuri said to her, still maintain the haugty façade with a smug and nonchalant smirk.
This made Yuzu gain a serious expression "Don't worry Yuri, just leave it to me, after all the school is at stake, so we need to get serious about this." She said holding her bracelet arm to her chest.
"I can't believe it, you've allowed a duelist from a third rate school to humiliate not only you, but also our school's top Xyz Summoning Course! Even worse that you allow Sogami to see your weaknesses!" Himika scolded at Hokuto who was kneeling on the floor from the scolding. However, mentally her attitude was a lot different 'If he only came here as a child with no real training then the rest of them must be even more powerful. Reiji, I hate Sogami too, but that man and your plan are our last defence against his plans.'
Recovering from her outburst, Himika composed herself and brought forth her second competitor "Now we shall begin the second duel." She said as the tanned complexion girl stood up.
"Yes Madam Chairwoman." The girl said. She and Himika walked over to the You Show lot, with them now seeing them "My name is Masumi Kotsu of the LDS's Fusion Course! And I will be the next to duel one of you." She said. From what they could see, this girl seemed to hold herself in just as high a regard as Hokuto did. There was a certain toughness about her and her ruby red eyes hinted at the underlying determination that fuelled her soul.
"Fusion, huh? Well, this just got interesting." Sora said grinning. It had been too long since he had had a good duel and another one of these weak Fusion users would be simple for him to get his fix off of.
"Now, it's Fusion. Xyz was just before. Logically then, all that's left is Synchro." Yuri said deducing what would come after this if a third match was required 'But who would go against the synchro user?' As he thought this Masumi attached her duel disk to her arm.
"Do you amateurs even have what it takes to beat me?" She said full of spite at them, with most of them glaring at her in response.
"Don't listen to her Yuzu." Yuri said, lightening Yuzu's mood slightly "It's probably just hot air like the last guy."
'The school's on the line, as well as Yuri's reputation, I can't lose this duel for them.' Yuzu thought determined but soon enough she began to think about Yuto 'Even if I don't know if that guy was Yuri at all or who those other two were...'
"Are you ready?" Masumi asked, Yuzu nodded in reply.
Both Yuzu and Masumi had their Duel Disk ready, all they needed was for Shuzo to get the field ready "Now I can't go wrong with this one, for my beautiful girl's duel..." He said pressing some buttons, under the every watchful gaze of Yuri who would've been more than ready to show him a bed time if he screwed up again "The perfect scene would be this one..." He said activating the Action Field, "I activate the Action Field, Crystal Corridor!" He proclaimed as the machine's ARC System started to generate it.
When it field was complete it was as Shuzo said a corridor made from crystal, with some bits here and there different colours, while flat light blue crystal plates appeared floated. In a way it was a lot like a throne room. "Yuzu! This field is the perfect way to show off your sparkling skill! It's time for you to shine!" he said as he waved to his daughter, while said daughter was embarrassed and blushing.
"This is so embarrassing dad..." Yuzu said while Masumi gave a small laugh.
"It's seems your father sees you as a sparkling gem, but we both know the truth..." She said with a sly look about her, instantly it was noticeable that Masumi was much different from Hokuto before her irritating Yuzu.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Yuzu shouted at her.
"What I mean is that you're a fake, a liar, and afraid to tell the truth about your friend." Masumi said slowly to her like she was some kind of idiot.
"Shut up! You don't know a thing about me!" Yuzu shouted back, she wouldn't allow anyone to talk bad about her or Yuri under any circumstance, this circumstance just made it all the worse.
"You're right about that, but I do know a thing about jewels, after all my father is a Gem Merchant, and I've seen thousands and thousands of jewels, and from all that I can tell what a real jewel looks like and shines." Her eyes gleamed as she spoke with the utmost confidence. In this court like corridor, it was very clear that she was the Queen in this situation.
"You however don't have that shine, so maybe you can fool your father and your friends, but you can't fool me, as I can see it in your eyes, even you don't know what happened, making them become filled with doubt." Masumi proclaimed, shoving her finger accusingly at Yuzu.
"You can believe whatever you want, the only way to actually prove anything is to Duel and see whose belief is stronger!" Yuzu said back quickly at her. This duel, in hindsight, provided the perfect way for her to reaffirm those beliefs. She had been able to hold her own against Daiki when he had come around and if she could do that in the dead of night the day after Jex's attack, then she could do this!
"Duelists locked in battle!"
"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!"
"They storm through this field! Behold!"
"This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! ACTION…"
"DUEL!"
Yuzu's LP: 4000 Masumi's LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"I'll take the first turn!" Masumi said "I activate the Spell, Gem-Knight Fusion!" She said as the archetype specific card appeared, showing an atypical version of the standard fusion card with a large bursts of gems in the middle such as Alexandrite and Ruby.
"With this card I can Fuse Gem-Knight monsters in my Hand or Field to Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck!" Masumi proclaimed, already acting very haughty and regal like, causally place the card into her disk with a dismissive flip of her hair.
"Already?" Yuzu shouted in the conjunction with the kids who were just as worried.
"Correct, so now I Fuse Gem-Knight Tourmaline and Emerald in my Hand!" Masumi said as the two appeared on the field, glowing yellow and green "Stone warrior of lightning, green knight of good fortune, shine your combined light to bring about a new radiance!" She yelled as they swirled into the Fusion vortex.
"I Fusion Summon! Appear Level 6! Gem-Knight Topaz!" She said placing the Fusion monster onto her blade, with it appearing on her field. True to its name, the Knight was a shining topaz, a naturally tough gemstone for someone as naturally tough as Masumi. It was highly likely that this was just the first step though, Yuzu mightn't have vocalised it but enough time around Yuri had allowed her to notice some of the subtle tics in people, she knew that Masumi was underestimating her.
Gem-Knight Topaz, Level: 6, Thunder, Fusion, Effect, EARTH, (1800/1800)
"Wow… She Fusion Summoned on her first turn, I can't believe it." Yuzu said slowly, pretending to be stunned at the sheer speed. She had seen Yuri do it much quicker so it wasn't really such of an accomplishment.
"Here's something for you that you should believe, you don't stand a chance against me!" Masumi said.
"Says the girl who brought out a monster with lower attack than one of the monster you used that could've be Normal Summoned!" Retorted Yuzu, Masumi not caring much for that everything was still in her hands, amateurs were easy enough to defeat anyway and with how confused this girl was then it would be a walk in the park.
"Well let's see if you can get pass this monster then, otherwise it may lead to your defeat!" Masumi said. "I place one card face down and then end my turn!" She added as the card appeared then faded.
Masumi's cards x 1
"My, what do you think of that as a first turn, Teru-kun? Think that you could try her on for size when the time comes to it?" Shiki asked his protégée, Teru had been paying close attention to Masumi, he didn't need to think about the pink haired girl as he already knew her scope and all of her potential. The episode she had momentarily caused him to stumble in his assessment but that's what it was, an episode.
The Masumi girl, if he remembered her name correctly, was different. A fellow Fusion user but not one like Yuri who showed the beauty in disgusting monsters. A lot can be learned from a first impression and what monster someone chooses to summon first, him and Kioka always made sure to start everything off the same way in an almost ritualistic fashion, his Loewen was always the first monster on the field under any duel. It gave the impression of stability to him. The first impression he gathered from the dark skinned girl was definitely negative as a result.
"She's a false…. Ruby…. Sogami-san. No match…" He relayed to his mentor, absent-mindedly tucking loose hair back behind his ear.
Turn 2
"We'll see who defeats who!" Yuzu said drawing her card, which made her smile as it was her ace, it looked like fate was going to be on her side after a week of doing nothing but spitting on it "To start this off, I'm activating the Sweet sounding Spell, 1st Movement Solo! When I control no monsters, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or below Melodious monster from my Hand or Deck, and I choose Aria the Melodious Diva!" Yuzu said as the Diva appeared with a soothing tune.
Aria the Melodious Diva: Level: 4, Fairy, Effect, LIGHT, (1600/1200)
"And when I control a Melodious monster, I can Special Summon this sweet singing Diva from my Hand, appear Sonata the Melodious Diva!" She said with her second monster appearing.
Sonata the Melodious Diva: Level: 3, Fairy, Effect, LIGHT, (1200/1000)
"Now for you and Topaz to listen to the music, as now I sacrifice these two to Tribute Summon!" Yuzu proclaimed said as Aria and Sonata floated up, grabbed a hold of each other, then burst into particles, which then swirled together. "Appear Mozarta the Melodious Maestra!" She announced happily as her ace now appeared on the field.
Mozarta the Melodious Maestra: Level: 8, Fairy, Effect, LIGHT, (2600/2000)
"Yes! She got her ace out already!" The kids said, collectively amazed at the monster, although it was quite frankly the most underwhelming one of them so far.
"I now activate her effect! Once per turn, she allows me to Special Summon one Melodious monster from my Hand." Yuzu said as Mozarta waved about her hands with her right releasing a light. "So now I Summon Canon the Melodious Diva!" She said with the next Melodious monster appearing.
Canon the Melodious Diva: Level: 4, Fairy, Effect, LIGHT, (1400/2000)
"Now to start this show, I attack Topaz with Mozarta! Graceful Wave!" Yuzu ordered with Mozarta releasing a wave of sound which headed straight for Topaz, destroying the Fusion monster with graceful ease.
Masumi's LP's: 4000 – 3200
"So what did you think of that? Was it show stopping?" Yuzu said smugly while all Masumi did after getting over the damage was smirk at her, "Canon! Now it's time for your role, attack Masumi directly!" Canon sang out a beautiful resonating chord, sending a beam of sound that hit Masumi square in the chest, pushing her back onto the ground.
Masumi's LP's: 3200 – 1800
"Alright, Yuzu-oneesan!" Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya said at the same time.
"Well done Yuzu, now all you need to do is finish it next turn." Yuri said, moderately happy although still hung up about Starve Venom's episode from earlier.
"Okay, so you have some skill, but not nearly enough to beat me." Masumi said, grunting and dusting herself off. Perhaps she would need to step it up a bit, she wasn't like her other two allies, she actually planned things ahead. LDS wouldn't suffer the ignominy of another mistake like Hokuto.
"We'll though see, won't we?" Yuri said.
"Oh! We will see, indeed! I happen know exactly how my turn is going to play out." Masumi said cockily.
"I activate Canon's effect! Once per turn, I can change the position of 1 Melodious monster I control, so I use the effect on Canon herself!" Yuzu said as she placed Canon's card sideways, with Canon then glowing blue "And with that I end my turn!" She declared confidently.
Yuzu's cards x1
Turn 3
"My turn! This shall be the end of the line for you." Masumi said drawing her card, with her smirking at what she drew, "I Normal Summon Gem-Knight Alexandrite!" She said as the white gem monster appeared.
Gem-Knight Alexandrite: Level: 4, Rock, Effect, EARTH (1800/1200)
"And now I activate its effect, by tributing it, I can Special Summon a Gem-Knight monster from my Deck." Masumi said as she took Alexandrite's card and placed it into the Graveyard dismissively, while its form on the field released countless beams of light from its gems, with it disappearing, "I now Special Summon Gem-Knight Crystal!" She said with the new Gem-Knight appearing.
Gem-Knight Crystal: Level: 7, Rock, Normal, EARTH, (2450/1950)
"Looks like you made a misplay! Crystal doesn't have enough attack to beat Mozarta!" Yuzu said with a growing confidence in her ability.
However, Masumi smirked smugly, everything truly had fallen just how she wanted them to. "And who said Crystal was going to do the deed, because I activate my Trap, Fragment Fusion!"
Yuri was shocked at the sight, stunned that he had been blindsided from something from his own extra deck summon. "A Fusion Trap?" He didn't even remember the sight of one at Academia, granted that was seven years ago and his memory wasn't as good back then.
"A Fusion Trap?" Tatsuya asked aloud for the Fusion users currently in the room, unaware that Yuri was totally at a loss for what was happening.
"It's a Trap that allows for Fusion Summoning, and they can have powerful effects sometimes." Sora said because Teru sure as hell wasn't going to open his mouth. Most jaws dropped upon this revelation and turned nervously back to the duel
"With this card, I can banish monsters in my Graveyard to Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck!" Masumi said.
"I banish Gem-Knight Alexandrite, Tourmaline and Emerald!" The three Knights slipping out of her deck and into the banish zone, their corporeal forms showing up briefly before evaporating.
"That girl, Masumi is better with Fusion than I thought, but still nowhere near my Level. What do you think, Vampire?" Sora said smugly, although it was somewhat neutered by the fact he had to tilt his head up so much to actually look the green haired giant in the face.
Teru looked down his nose at the other Fusion duelist. Shiki had warned him about this little shit, he had even considered him enough of a threat to take the precaution of sending Kichirou after him. He wasn't going to give him the light of day and gave a non-committal grit.
"Magical rock of dark and light, stone warrior of lightning, and green knight of good fortune, shine your combined light to bring about a new radiance!" Alexandrite, Emerald and Tourmaline shined white, green and yellow respectively, before they swirled into the Fusion vortex. "I Fusion Summon! Appear the mighty Gem-Knight Master Diamond!" She said, as she grabbed the card from her Extra Deck when it ejected itself from there, and with the radiant gem monster appearing on the field.
Gem-Knight Master Diamond: Level: 9, Rock, Fusion, Effect, EARTH (2900/2500)
"What do you think? My Master Diamond truly is a cut above the rest. Especially those of my idiotic ally!" Masumi said proudly, decisively ignoring the shouts of Hokuto of him not being an idiot from the observation both. "I now activate its effect! I now banish a Level 7 or below Gem-Knight monster from my Graveyard, with my choice being Topaz!" She said with again her Duel Disk telling her that Topaz was now out of play.
"But why would she...?" Yuzu said confused.
"Yuzu!" Yuzu heard some shout, the voice was weird. It fluctuated between smug, deep, and happy. Like the voices of those three that shared the same face that continued to assault her mind
"Huh?" Yuzu said when she heard her name with her looking at Yuri's direction.
"Be careful and keep your guard up." Yuri said but all she saw was Yuto's ghost on the field, with her shocked at seeing him.
"What's wrong? Are your eyes playing a trick on you?" Masumi asked Yuzu, while she started to look around dazed. Looks like her mind finally broke after everything.
'Why? Why do I keep seeing his face?' Yuzu thought in pure and uncontained anguish and despair.
"Gem-Knight Crystal attack Canon with your Crystal Barrage!" Masumi shouted as Crystal released shards at Canon, destroying it in an explosion, although since Canon was in defence Yuzu didn't take any damage. The only issue now was that her field was getting more fragile by the second. She had to save Mozarta to save her chances of winning this duel.
"And now, Master Diamond attack Mozarta!" Masumi said with Diamond going to slash at Mozarta, who tried to fight back, but she was struck down from Diamond's sword, with her getting a slash mark on her chest, as she then exploded.
Yuzu's LP: 4000 – 3700
"She just destroyed Mozarta." Ayu said sad.
"At least she only took 300 damage!" Futoshi said, following on from Ayu's dreariness.
"But who said I was finished…" Masumi said lowly. As she saw the look on Yuzu's face, she knew then and there that everything was truly over.
"What do you mean by that?" Yuzu said concerned.
"If you remember, I banished Topaz with Master Diamond's effect, the reason for that is because it allowed Master Diamond to gain Topaz's effects until the end of this turn!" she explained to her. "So Master Diamond has Topaz's effects! And that borrowed effect now activates! Since Master Diamond destroyed a monster and sent it to the Graveyard, you take damage equal to Mozarta's ATK!" Masumi said as Diamond's arm glowed with electricity, with Diamond then shooting it at Yuzu.
Yuzu's LP: 3700 – 1600
"Oh and also, something I neglected to mention was that with Topaz's effect, he can attack twice per turn." Masumi said, with Yuzu getting up and becoming shocked by this.
"My, my, looks like the wonderful songstress has struck her last chord." Shiki got out, his eyes sharpening as he looked over at Masumi. Something in him started to stir as he thought about it more. However, he'd save that thought for another day.
"Poor Yuzu..." Ayu muttered.
'So if she attacks me directly and hits it's all over.' Yuzu thought as her vision blurred a bit, with her then looking to the side and seeing an Action Card within her vicinity.
"Battle! Master Diamond attack again but this time strike her directly!" Masumi shouted, while Yuzu sprang for the Action Card.
"Wait, why is she?" Yuri began to question but then he saw it "All she's seeing is…" He glumly trailed off.
While this happened Diamond started to swing his sword, 'Almost there...' Yuzu thought reaching for the Action Card, but all she touched was the floor, with no card in sight anymore, 'But. Why?' she thought with her looking behind, and there it was, the Action Card.
'It was over there… all I saw was its reflection. That's all I'm ever seeing recently' She thought.
"Just like your eyes to trick you, but you can't trick me, I know it was Yuya that attacked Sawatari!" Masumi said to her, while Diamond brought its sword down in front of Yuzu, sending her flying backwards and making the score break even.
Yuzu's LP: 1600 – 0
Masumi: Win!
"Yuzu! Are you okay?!" Yuri asked, pulling her up while the others crowded around them as the You Show crowd spilled into the room.
'Why now, my heart says that Yuri's not guilty… but my eyes saw what happened, he looked just like him. Yuya now too…' She thought as she cried into Yuri's shoulder.
Although, as if fate had intervened to make the moment even worse. Subconsciously, she pushed Yuri to the ground. "Owww! What did I do this time?" Yuri whinged as he got up now rubbing his back.
"I-I'm so sorry!" Yuzu said.
"I know you are, but my back thinks otherwise." Yuri moaned, rubbing his back some more.
"And I'm sorry about the Duel too." She added.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, you can't assume that you'll win every time." Shiki said with a slight smile in an attempt to lighten her spirits. It wouldn't do him any good to have her be down, he saw something in her just like he had any other person. Plus, Yuri and her were simply meant to be and he did consider himself an ace at relationships after all.
"He's right, we still have one more chance to win this." Yuri said to her, with her slowly smiling and going slightly red.
"Oh, you say that as if it's going to be that easy!" A voice to the side said, making them look at the target. "Name's Yaiba Todo, and I'm the best Synchro Summoner of LDS and best in the whole damn world! Now which one of you chumps is my next victim?" Yaiba said cockily to them, flashing his wooden weapon at them, not noticing the various gestures that Kichirou was throwing up in the background to deride him.
For the first time since the whole debacle had transitioned into this, Gongenzaka spoke up "Gong the man really wished he was part of the school, then Gong could teach them a lesson for humiliating Yuzu like that." He grumbled.
Himika took her chance, that other blue haired kid at be making snarky comments the whole time and it was very clear that he wanted to duel. She didn't know much about him but if Reiji had thought him dangerous enough to get Sogami on his case then she absolutely couldn't allow him to duel. "Then why don't you?" She asked slyly.
Sora didn't look at all pleased, taking another harsh bite on his lollipop, fishing it off completely "You know very well, he isn't member of this school, so you would win by default." However confident he may have been, it didn't matter as Sora didn't quite grasp the irony of the statement.
"But as I recall, you aren't a member either." Sora looked offended for a moment, looking her up and down like she was trash before then retreating into the background. Himika could've sworn that she herd him mutter "Old hag." Under his breath
"Alright then! Looks like it's you and I, Big Brows." Yaiba said to Gongenzaka, riling up his opponent.
"How dare you insult the great and powerful Gong and gets away with it, now Gong is going to put you in your place!" Gongenzaka shouted as he grabbed his Duel Disk attaching it into his arm.
"Listen, I don't have all day, and unlike the two that lost, I don't tend to, and do you know why?" Yaiba asked Gongenzaka, "Because I actually know what I'm doing!" He finished with a smirk.
The nerve of that guy, saying we don't know what we're doing." Hokuto said irritated by Yaiba.
"Not to be rude, but I think he was only talking about you, seeing that I won my Duel." Masumi said crossing her arms, as she was irritated by Yaiba's comment at first but then remembered she won, while Hokuto went pale, and pulled himself into a corner, while Masumi reckoned she would've been feeling pity for him if he wasn't such a colossal idiot.
'That sword on his back is more than just show.' Shuzo thought looking at Yaiba just as an idea struck him "Hey! That gives me an idea!" He said as he then typed into the system "Is everybody ready? Because I activate the Action Field, Sword's Cemetery!" He said as the field generated once again.
When the final touches where complete both Gong and Yaiba were standing on what appeared to be a battlefield, the prime weapon to be found anywhere were swords, around the area were some dying trees, on a sort of slope was Gong while Yaiba was below on level ground.
"You know what needs to be done Gong, by just looking at the surroundings, you need to bury him!" Shuzo shouted to Gongenzaka. Although, having gone zero for two on his first two choices he wasn't really feeling all that confident.
"You can say all what you like, it won't matter as when we win, and we get the You Show School and all students attending it, right? Principal Shuzo?" Himika said.
"Correct, and if we win, you leave us alone and drop the charges like you said right?" Said Shuzo as he gave a glare to her, who returned it.
"Duelists locked in battle!"
"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!"
"They storm through this field! Behold!"
"This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! ACTION…"
"DUEL!"
Gongenzaka's LP: 4000 Yaiba's LP: 4000 Cardsx5
Turn 1
"Gong will go first, and with it Gong Normal Summons Superheavy Samurai Kabuto!" Gongenzaka said as he placed the monster onto the blade.
Superheavy Samurai Kabuto: Level: 4, Machine, Effect, EARTH, ATK/DEF: 1000/2000
"And will do for Gong's turn." he said ending his turn, leaving his field almost blank.
Gong's cards x4
"Anyone else concerned that he didn't play anything facedown?" Shiki asked, his eyes having softened somewhat. However, no one answered him "Fine, don't tell me anything, not like I care." He huffed, looking over to Kichirou who had a white knuckle grip on his hat and eyes trained like lasers on Yaiba. It would be almost funny how defensive Kichirou got over the method if it he didn't get so upset about it. Shiki had already done his good deed for the month by calming down Kichirou from his little escapade the other day.
He wanted to bring his eyes back to the field, however, something happened to catch his eye and the sharpened once again. He had had 20/20 vision his whole life and there was no mistaking it no matter what he tried. He had just seen something move on the other side of the field and now he was curious.
Turn 2
"Wow, is that all you got? One weak monster, that's pathetic!" Yaiba said mocking Gongenzaka.
"Weak to you, but to Gong, it's strong!" Gong retorted with a smile,
"We'll see about that." Yaiba said as he drew his card, and then smirking when he saw what it was. "To kick off my turn, I Normal Summon XX-Saber Boggart Knight!" He said as he placed the monster onto his blade with the monster taking form on the field.
XX-Saber Boggart Knight: Level: 4, Beast-Warrior, Effect, EARTH, (1900/1000)
"Because it was Normal Summoned, I get to Special Summon a Level 4 or below X-Saber from my Hand, so I summon the Level 3 Tuner monster XX-Saber Fullhelmknight!" He said as a knight with long blonde hair with a Whip Sword appeared.
XX-Saber Fullhelmknight: Level: 3, Warrior, Tuner, Effect, EARTH, (1300/1000)
"A Tuner monster already?" Yuri said concerned.
"Now Gong activates Kabuto's effect! Since you Special Summoned a monster, Gong can switch as many Superheavy monsters Gong controls in ATK to DEF, and until the end of the turn they were switched, all switched monsters gain 500 DEF!" Gongenzaka said as Kabuto took a guarding stance with a blue aura and gaining power.
Kabuto's DEF: 2000 – 2500
"You played right into Gong's plan, all you needed to do was summon one monster and you could have gotten past, now let's see you get past this, knight boy!" Gongenzaka said.
"Good move Gongenzaka, now keep up the defence and wear him out!" Yuri said throwing his full support behind Gongenzaka.
"Ha! Like you could wear down these swords, because when I control 2 or more X-Saber monsters, I can Special Summon XX-Saber Faultroll from my Hand!" Yaiba said with a smirk as the monster appeared.
XX-Saber Faultroll: Level: 6, Warrior, Effect, EARTH, (2400/2000)
"Check this out loser, I now Tune the Level 3 Fullhelmknight to the Level 4 Boggart Knight!" Yaiba shouted as Fullhelmknight jumped and span in the air, and then turned into 3 tuning rings, which lined up and enveloped Boggart Knight, who lost his colour and four stars appearing within him. A large, muscular warrior descended out of the light. He crossed his two swords over his chest in the shape of an X whilst his tattered red cape fluttered gently in the weak wind of the action field.
X-Saber Souza: Level: 7, Warrior, Synchro, Effect, EARTH, (2500/1600)
"That monster looks nasty." Futoshi said.
"So not only has he already Synchro Summoned a monster, but he still has another monster on his field. This isn't going to be easy." Yuri had seen enough of Synchro monsters when Kichirou had pulled out some of his more provocative positions whenever they had duelled.
Speaking of Kichirou "Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi! Wooden boy fucker! Your monster looks like total shit! And for you information! Those aren't sabres! Those are just swords! They aren't the same thing! Fix your fucking naming scheme! It ain't fucking difficult!" He was already well on his way to another choleric fit.
Handily ignoring that, Yaiba carried on "And I'm not even done, as Faultroll's effect now activates! Once per turn it can Special summon a Level 4 or below X-Saber monster from my Graveyard!" Faultroll took his sword and stabbed it into the ground, causing a dark portal to open. "I'm calling back Fullhelmknight to the field!" He declared as once again the Tuner monster appeared.
"With that Tuner back, Yaiba can do another Synchro Summon!" Shuzo said sweating.
"And now I Tune Fullhelmknight to the Level 6 Faultroll!" Yaiba said as the Tuner once again turned into the rings, with Faultroll flying through them, losing his colour as six stars appeared.
"I Synchro Summon! Level 9! XX-Saber Gottoms!" XX-Saber Gottoms was the largest monster of them all so far as its name would suggest, dominating the other X-Saber monster on the field. It stood tall and proud in its cybernetic like armour and long red cape, it wielded it a long and large sword that looked like it would easily cleave any monster it came into contact with.
XX-Saber Gottoms: Level: 9, Beast-Warrior, Synchro, Effect, EARTH (3100/2600)
"Face it Big Brows, you can't beat me! And when this is over with you losing, LDS will take over You Show!" Yaiba said smirking, "I wonder whose locker I'll take! Maybe Yuri's and Yuzu's!" he finished with a laugh.
"Hope this blowhard doesn't worm his way into Gong's head, he needs to concentrate on this duel." Yuri said looking at Gong who was very calm about Yaiba's turn.
"Aww, what's wrong, too scared to do anything?" Yaiba mocked, enjoying this way too much
"If all you do is talk, you don't have the right to call yourself a Duellist, or even mock another Duellist!" Gong said, annoying Yaiba.
"Oh I'll show you how a Duellist plays! XX-Saber Gottoms attack Superheavy Kabuto!" he said with Gottoms charging at the Superheavy monster, and then shooting a beam at Kabuto, which destroyed it. Turns out the monster didn't even need to use its weapon as a sword to do absolute damage.
"Ha! See that? I got past your plan as easy as could be! As Gottoms get his job done, the next job is for Souza, who will attack you directly!" He said pointing at Gong, with Souza jumping high into the air, throwing his sworsd outwards, and then bringing them into a cross, which manifested an energy cross, with said cross hitting Gongenzaka and pushing him back,
Gongenzaka's LP's: 4000 – 1500
"And with me now winning, I end my turn with a face down!" Yaiba said as the card appeared then faded.
Yaiba's cards x 2
Turn 3
"And now its Gong's turn!" Gongenzaka shouted as he drew is card, with said draw creating a strong gust of wind from it, 'Good… now Gong can really show what Gong can do.'
"Since you control 2 or more monsters, Gong can Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Scales!" Superheavy Samurai Scales was a monster carrying two pot pans on each end of a stick over its shoulders.
Superheavy Samurai Scales: Level: 4, Machine, Effect, EARTH, (800/1800)
"Now with Scales' effect, Gong can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or below Superheavy Samurai from Gong's Graveyard, and Gong picks Kabuto!" He said as Kabuto appeared courtesy of Scale. "Unfortunately you two can't stick around, as Gong now tribute you both to bring out something that will play in Gong's favour." He said as both Scales and Kabuto turned into beams on energy, which merged together, with a monster appearing out of the combined beam.
"I tribute summon! Appear Level 8! Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei in defence mode!" The monster that appeared was a large sumo like robot and, as the name suggests, was wearing some very heavy looking armour. It landed with an audible thud as it twirled its staff before sitting down and resting in defence mode.
Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei: Level: 8, Machine, Effect, EARTH, (1000/3500)
Yaiba scratched his head, not quite understand why someone would ever summon a monster in defence mode. Maybe the low attack? Even still, one could easily up it. "Seriously, you should just forfeit, that monster doesn't have the attack power to get through my monsters. The only thing it's good for is being a shield."
"Wait a minute, how did Gong summon that monster in defence mode? When you Tribute Summon it must be in attack, or else you need to set it in face down defence position." Tatsuya said confused, putting a finger to his head in thought.
"Big Benkei's effect switches him into defence when Normal or Special Summoned in attack!" Gongenzaka explained.
"As I said, it doesn't matter, as your shield is useless." Yaiba said closing his eye with a smirk,
"A shield can be just as offence as a sword." Gongenzaka proclaimed proudly, Benkei following along to his master's will by smashing his staff into the ground with a resounding thud "Now Big Benkei attack XX-Saber Gottoms!" Gongenzaka said with this shocking most everyone except Yuri, Yuzu and Shuzo.
"But it can't, it's in defence position!" Yaiba shouted out in shock, perfectly parroting what the Enchanted Underworld group was thinking too. All except Kichirou who was currently in the business of releasing his anger by kicking the wall behind him.
"True! However! Big Benkei's effect allows all Superheavy monsters to attack while in defence position, using their defence for damage calculation!" Gongenzaka said with Big Benkei erupting steam from his joints, with him then slamming his hand into the ground, causing it to crack with fire erupting and hitting Gottoms.
"So Gong can still deal damage while still having a strong defence!" Tatsuya said now cheerful about how the Duel was playing out now, while Gottoms was swallowed up by the eruption, while the wind from the eruption hitting Yaiba.
'What a stupid effect. It allows him to attack without worrying about taking damage when it's destroyed. A stupid yet useful effect.' Himika thought scornfully, maybe they were in trouble of defeat after all.
Yaiba's LP's: 4000 – 3600
"Gong believes that's enough hurting for now, so Gong ends his turn!"
Gong's hand x3
Turn 4
"Oh! I'll show you some hurt!" Yaiba growled out as he drew his card, "I now Normal summon a Second Boggart Knight!" He said as the second copy of Boggart appeared "As you know Boggart Knight allows me the Special Summon an X-Saber monster from my Hand, so I Summon XX-Saber Ragigura!" Another X-Saber monster swarmed the field with this one being reptilian in form.
XX-Saber Ragigura: Level 1, Beast-Warrior, Effect, EARTH, (200/1000)
"When Ragigura is Summoned, I can add one X-Saber in my Graveyard to my Hand!" Yaiba said as Ragigura held his blade up with a card ejecting from Yaiba's Graveyard slot. "I pick Faultroll, and since I control 2 or more X-Saber monsters, I can Special Summon it!" He said as once again the monster appeared, "And then with its effect, I can Special Summon a Level 4 of below X-Saber from my Graveyard!"
"But he already has four monsters, does he need more?" Ayu whined out, meeting the same collective look from her allies.
"I Special Summon back XX-Saber Fullhelmknight!" Yaiba said as the Tuner monster reappeared, with the kids worried more.
"This can't be good." Tatsuya cried out.
"That's because it isn't!" Yaiba said to them. "Keep your cards in check, as now I Tune the Level 3 Fullhelmknight to the Level 6 Faultroll!" Yaiba shouted as the monsters did their actions once again.
"I Synchro Summon! Level 9! XX-Saber Gottoms!" He declared as the second Gottoms onto his appeared on the field. The swarm of monsters behind Yaiba made everything seem even grander in the scope of the situation. Gong's survival was the school's survival and the swarm was the invading LDS horde, almost perfect in numbers to be symmetrical. Benkei represented everything that stood between them and total defeat.
"I can't believe it, Yaiba brought out a second Gottoms already!" Yuzu said concerned
"Don't worry Yuzu, Gong is safe. Big Benkei has enough defence to keep him safe and even if it were destroyed he'd take no damage." Yuri said almost dismissively to her, while Yaiba was now moving about the field.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Yaiba said as he swiped his sword, creating a gust of wind across the field, by doing this an action card floated up, with him then grabbing it. "This Action Card will decide if he survives." He said then looking at the card and then grinned. "I activate the Action Spell, Extreme Sword! This card gives my Gottoms 1000 attack! More than enough to finish your monster off!" Yaiba said, as Gottoms sword glowed and extended.
Gottoms' ATK: 3100 – 4100
"Heheheh, that's the best thing about Action Cards! Anything can happen! Gottoms attack Big Benkei!" He said with Gottoms bringing its sword down and it releasing a beam at its target, with said target being covered in an explosion.
"I hope Benkei is alright." Yuzu clasped her hands together, all of this wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for her mistake. Why was she even here anyway? Why did she think she was in the right frame of mind to this? She was useless.
"As I said before. At least it was in defence Position, otherwise Gong would have taken damage from that." Yuri said, not too concerned.
"That's where you're wrong, because I now activate the Trap, Meteor Rain!" Yaiba shouted out as his trap flipped upwards. When a monster I control with higher attack attacks a monster in defence with less defence than my monster's attacks, you take the difference as damage! That's 600, so take it, Big Brows!" He proclaimed grinning, while Gongenzaka braced himself as a rush of heat swept over him.
Gong's LP: 1500 – 900
"And then I'll attack you directly wi-" Yaiba went to say, but as the smoke cleared from Benkei's apparent destruction, there was no destruction of the monster, as Big Benkei was still standing, "But… how? Why is it still here?" He etched out slowly out of shock.
"When Big Benkei was attacked, Gong sent Superheavy Samurai Soulfire Suit in Gong's Hand to the Graveyard." Gongenzaka said sending Soulfire Suit to the Graveyard slot just as the attack hit while Big Benkei now had a shield. "Doing this protected Benkei from being destroyed this turn!"
"So let me get this straight, you weaken your hand just to protect your monster?" Yaiba said annoyed that this upstart had had the nerve to do something so stupid for the sake of prolonging this charade.
"Of course! Otherwise Gong would have lost, and the point is to win not lose." Gongenzaka retorted to him. "But the only downside to Gong using that card is now Big Benkei loses 800 defence." As the effect took place and Benkei looked visibly drained.
Big Benkei's DEF: 3500 – 2700
"At least Benkei's defence is higher than Souza's attack." Tatsuya pointed out, trying to take a positive from a very negative situation.
"Shut up! I'll show you that won't last for long." Yaiba shouted out swiping his sword again, with this once again creating a gust of wind, which again made an Action Card appear. However, it floated towards Gongenzaka "Oh no! It's closer to him!" The brown haired teen shouted in worry, but Gongenzaka didn't move an inch, a fact that perplexed everyone but the You Show group.
"Oi! Is he fucking retarded or something?!" Kichirou yelled, the total indignation more than evident although he had notably calmed down, if one would ignore the massive hole that now belonged in the You Show wall.
"Whatever the reason, who gives a damn?! All the more for me then!" Yaiba said running as he picked the card as it floated down to him. "Wow, how lucky and talented can one guy be? I activate another Extreme Sword! This time I pick Souza for it!"
Souza's ATK: 2500 – 3500
"And now Souza attack and take out Big Benkei!" Yaiba ordered with Souza crossing his swords to form an energy cross, which hit Big Benkei, causing another explosion.
"Gong already told you, Soulfire Suit's effect makes it that Big Benkei can't be destroyed by battle or card effect for the rest of the turn!" Gong said.
"Whatever, Meteor Rain's effect kicks in again, making you take 800 damage this time Big Brows!" Yaiba said as Gong took the damage and being thrown backwards by it.
Gong's LP: 900 – 100
"Not only did you take 800 damage, but Benkei loses another 800 defence!" Yaiba added to add the injury to the metaphorical insult.
Big Benkei's DEF: 2700 – 1900
"But now with no more monsters able to attack, you have to end your battle phase, and that mean Extreme Sword's effect ends." Gong said as Gottoms and Souza's attack returned to normal.
"Hmm, the only reason you survived those attacks was due to the cards in your Hand right?" Yaiba said to him, not expecting a reply "Let's see how well you do without them, because now I activate Gottoms' effect! By tributing Boggart Knight, I can send one card in your Hand to the Graveyard!" He said sending the mentioned X-Saber to the Graveyard. When this happened Gottoms lifted his sword up, with Boggart's form turning into energy, which with the help of Gottoms' sword shot right at Gong's Hand, making one of the cards glow.
"What the..." Gongenzaka gasped out.
"Oh no, Gong only has one card in his Hand now!" Futoshi said pressing himself against the window, while Gongenzaka then sent a Superheavy monster in his Hand to the Graveyard.
"Make that no cards, as I tribute Ragigura to use Gottoms' effect again to send to last card in your Hand to the Graveyard!" Yaiba said as Ragigura disappeared.
Again this caused Gongenzaka to send his last card, also a Superheavy monster to the Graveyard, "Now Gong has no cards left!" Tatsuya shouted in panic, as Gongenzaka was looking down at the ground.
"Guess I was right, you were hoping to use those cards to save your big butt, like your Superheavy style that could have stopped me." Yaiba said as he took a card in his hand, "I place one card face down and end my turn!"
Yaiba's cards x0
Turn 5
"How can Gong win with no cards in his Hand?", "If only he grabbed that Action Card...", "But why didn't he, that Action Card could have helped him win this Duel, now we're going to lose the school!" Ayu, Tatsuya and Futoshi said in that order.
"I wouldn't be worrying, little ones. It's your friend's turn now, so he can draw a card. Theoretically he has a 33.3% of drawing either a monster, spell or trap." Kioka replied, thinking the situation through logically like any reasonable person would do.
"It will be a monster…" Yuri said out loud, shocking them
"And how can you tell?" Kioka asked with raised eyebrows at him.
"Because one could call it Gong's quirk. His deck has never failed him before and there's very good reason for that." Yuri said then closing his eyes as he told them something.
(Flashback)
Roughly three years after his arrival in the standard dimension. A young Yuri and a young Gongenzaka, who was quite big at that age for his age group, were sat on a park bench. "You see Yuri, the way Gong see it is that a Duellist must trust their Deck with their whole heart and soul, instead of relying on Action Cards to help them win a Duel." Young Gongenzaka said. "All Action Cards are just a flip of the coin, one flip, they could help you win or make you lose the Duel." He added, while Yuri was dumbfounded at him saying this, still in his awe of having a new shiny thing to play with to make him even stronger. Good thing he grew out of that quickly.
"But that the best part of Action Cards, they make Duelling a bit fairer, and also fun at the same time!" Young Yuri said as he stood up, during his time in standard he'd grown accustom to them even though he still mainly relied his own cards and skills. "Hey, Gongenzaka. Could I see your Deck?" He asked, wanting to prove his point about the utility of Action Cards, with Gongenzaka complying with his demand.
While Yuri went through his Deck, he was very concerned about something that he thought was missing, "How do you expect to battle with these?" He questioned him, the distinct lack of any Spell or Trap cards was rather baffling
"To you Yuri, it may not work, but for Gong, it's perfect for my Steadfast Duelling!" Gong said as he too stood up.
"Gong believes in his Deck, and Gong believes he can win with it, just the way it is." he said looking up at the sky, with Yuri following suit.
(Flashback end)
"At the time I didn't understand him then, but as we got older I saw how his deck pulled him a victory even if he was losing." Yuri said then opening his eyes to look back at Gongenzaka.
"Kuh, nice backstory, but that doesn't explain why you think he'll draw a monster?" Kioka retorted, her haughty demeanour returning with the opening of her parasol, almost hitting Yuri in the process, it's almost like she was aiming for him.
"If Gong needs a monster than he'll get the monster that will help him." Yuri replied to her.
"It's Gong's turn." Gong said drawing his card, creating a gust of wind that followed after the draw, 'Perfect!' He thought "Gong Normal Summons Superheavy Samurai Soulsheild Wall!" he said as the monster appeared on the field.
Superheavy Samurai Soulsheild Wall: Level: 3, Machine, Effect, EARTH (1200/1200)
"Oh, that is bullshit!" Kioka sneered looking at Yuri in contempt at his right guess, while Yuri was smirking at his reaction.
"And then Gong activate its effect, Gong targets a Superheavy monster, and equips it to that monster, Gong picks Big Benkei!" He said as Soulsheild Wall activated its thrusters to lift off to ground, and then slamming onto Big Benkei's arm. Big Benkei took a stance ready for battle "Now Big Benkei gains 1200 defence!"
Big Benkei's DEF: 1900 – 3100
"What are the chances that you have a monster that can power up your monster? You sure are lucky that could have been a Spell or Trap." Yaiba said.
"Gong doesn't rely on luck, Gong believes in his Deck would help in Gong's plan. AND NOW THE TIME FOR TALKING IS OVER!" He shouted at Yaiba.
"Battle! Big Benkei attack Souza!" He said with Big Benkei's slamming his mechanical fist into the ground, and with the added power of Soulsheild Wall's thrusters, the quake was more powerful and destroyed Souza with Yaiba bracing himself as the damage went through.
Yaiba's LP: 3600 – 3000
"Keep it up, Gong!" Yuri shouted encouragingly to Gongenzaka.
"I'll show you… I'll crush you!" Yaiba growled out, "I activate the Trap, Gottoms Emergency Call! Since I control an X-Saber, I can Special Summon 2 X-Sabers from my Graveyard, I'm bringing back Souza and Ragigura! Since Ragigura was Summoned, I can add Faultroll back to my Hand." He declared as Faultroll's cards was ejected from the Graveyard slot.
"Gong ends his turn." Gongenzaka said while acting calm, as he had his plan ready for when Yaiba attacked.
Gong's Hand x 0
"Amazing, it's not even his turn, and yet Yaiba is still able to summon monsters!" Hokuto said having recovered from Masumi's insult, "It just like I've been saying to you, Masumi, his X-Saber Deck is a cut above the rest!"
"Wow, you usually never say anything nice about other people's Decks, but I guess that's what happens when you lose." If Hokuto had an ego left, that comment had done all it could to find it, strangle it and make it wish it was never born as Hokuto scuttled back to his corner.
The results of this caused Hokuto to crawl into the corner again and face said corner, while Masumi looked at him again in pity.
"I admit that it's impressive that he was able to deal damage to him but it's over for Gong, with only 100 Life Points left and no card in his hand, anyone can tell that he can't pull a win out of this!" Sora said, having found another lollipop out of his infinite supply to eat while giving out comments, eyeing Himika carefully. "
Turn 6
"My turn! "If you can remember I have Faultroll in my Hand, and since I control 2 or more X-Sabers on the field, I can Special Summon it! Now its effect kicks in so now I once again Special Summon the Level 3 Fullhelmknight from the Graveyard!" Yaiba said as the Tuner once again appeared.
"Both Faultroll and Fullhelmknight can only mean one thing." Yuri bemoaned.
"A third Gottoms..." Yuzu said concerned.
"Hey somebody from this school can actually think! Wow! You do learn something new every day!" Yaiba jeered "Now I Tune the Level 3 Fullhelmknight to the Level 6 Faultroll! Time to tune you out of this duel once and for all! I Synchro Summon! Level 9! XX-Saber Gottoms!" He shouted as his third and final Gottoms appeared.
"Now I tribute Ragigura to activate Souza's effect!" As Ragigura faded into energy Gong was utterly confused by Yaiba's move "You have no idea why I did that, do you, Big Brows? But you're about to find out, Battle! X-Saber Souza attack Big Benkei!"
"But Big Benkei has more defence while Souza's Attack isn't enough to defeat it, why would Yaiba attack with Souza?" Tatsuya questioned.
"We might find out if you keep your voice down." Kichirou sneered, kicking at the ground.
"There's a reason for tributing Ragigura, as it now allow Souza to use one of its other effects! The one I chose is that Souza can destroy any monster it battles at the start of the damage step!" Yaiba explained, shocking the children. "Oh no, if this goes through Gong will have nothing left to defend himself." Futoshi shouted out.
"Say goodbye to Big Benkei, and then say hello to you losing this Duel!" Yaiba said as Souza got closer to Big Benkei.
"Gong activates Soulsheild Wall's other effect! By sending it to the Graveyard, Souza's attack is negated!" Gong said holding up Soulsheild Wall's card then sending it the Graveyard, the monster appearing in the middle and deflecting the blast. "But now Big Benkei loses all his defence, having been equipped with Soulsheild Wall."
Big Benkei's DEF: 3100 – 0
"Told you it was over, now Yaiba will attack with Gottoms, Meteor Rain's effect deals the difference in Gottoms' ATK to Big Benkei's DEF, and Gong will take 3100 Damage." Sora said closing his eyes.
"Now Gottoms number two attack Big Benkei!" Yaiba said, believing his victory was now all but guaranteed. Surely. Nothing could go wrong, the guy had no cards in his hands and thus he couldn't do shit.
"Gong was hoping for this, everything went as Gong wanted it." Gongenzaka said, sending Yaiba's world crashing down around him. "Gong now activates Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker Armor's effect from the Graveyard!"
"The… the Graveyard!" Yaiba got out as a card was ejected from Gongenzaka's Graveyard slot, "Wait is that the card that I...?" He added, nearly stuttering.
"Correct! This here is the card you sent to the Graveyard, just where Gong need it to be, for Gong to uses its awesome power, when Gong banishes Soulbreaker Armor and there are no Spell or Traps in Gong's Graveyard, you take damage equal to the difference in Big Benkei's original defence and its new defence" Gong said and this was the biggest shock for everyone.
"What...?" Yaiba got out slowly.
"So Big Benkei's original defence is 3500." Tatsuya said
"And now it's 0." Futoshi carried on.
"That's 3500 damage, meaning..." Ayu finished off, now smiling at what Gong's plan would mean she said with then the other two getting the idea of what would happen.
"That means Gong WINS!" The three shouted out.
Sora was in shock, causing him to drop his lollipop which shattered, "But… how?" he said weakly.
"Hmm, crafty." Shiki murmured, it had truly been worth it to come here. It killed two birds with one stone.
"Actually, there is something you need to know about Gong's deck. Spells and Traps actually do more bad then good for him." Yuri said while looking at Gong as a ghostly image of Soulbreaker Armor appeared. "That's why he only uses monsters in his Deck." He finished, with most of the students except for Yuzu and him in shock, same with the LDS Students, with Yaiba actually flinching at hearing that piece of info.
"A whole Deck built with only monsters." Masumi said pressed her hands against the glass annoyed at hearing about Gongenzaka's Deck.
"That's… that's insane!" Hokuto mentioned getting out of the corner, only to be glared back into it by Masumi.
"I see, so that's why you didn't pick up any Action Cards or used any Spells or Traps, there weren't any in there to begin with!" Yaiba said, while red energy was being drained from Big Benkei into Soulbreaker Armor.
"Correct once more! Gong doesn't need no Spells or Trap messing with Gong's Deck, Gong can win without them." Gongenzaka explained his reasoning for the lack of those kinds of cards, while Soulbreaker Armor stopped the flow of red energy and tossed four red balls at Yaiba's direction.
"It was all for nothing though! I activate the Quick Play Spell Saber Reflection! With this card I can send any effect damage that may be sent my way back to the recipient! That means you, not I, will take the damage!" The energy balls were caught on Gottoms' sword and quickly sent back towards a moderately stunned Gongenzaka.
"Quick! Gong do something! You can still win this if you act quickly enough!" Yuri shouted for his friend.
"It's over Big Brows." Yaiba said to him.
"Gong activates the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulbang Cannon for the Graveyard!" Gong said as another card was ejected from the Graveyard. "Since Gong has no Spell or Traps in Gong's Graveyard, Gong can banish Soulbang Cannon to negate the damage." Gong said as Soulbang Cannon appeared and absorbed the energy.
"Hey! That's the other card I sent to the Graveyard!" Yaiba shouted, indignant.
"He survived... I suppose that's something at least. You lot are weirdos." Kioka said sighing, leaning into her brother, who began to mess with her hair. However, we she looked back over at Yuri, she was surprised by the look of shock on her face "What's wrong?"
"Soulbang Cannon has another effect, one that end badly for both players." He said back.
"And that's not all, as now all the monsters on our fields are destroyed, and we both take damage equal to the total Level of monsters destroyed x 100!" Gongenzaka added as when the absorbing finished, Soulbang Cannon started to sizzle with energy, with this shocking everyone.
"But… but the total Level is 33, so that means..." Yaiba trailed off, doing the maths in his head
"3300 points of damage!" Gongenzaka finished for him as Soulbang then exploded, causing a huge flash, which covered everything in a white flash, with this destroying the monsters as then both Gong and Yaiba were thrown off their feet.
Gong's LP: 100 – 0
Yaiba's LP: 3000 – 0
Draw!
"It's a draw?" Ayu said slowly as the Action Field de-activated, while Yuri rushed into the room to help Gong, "Gong... Gong… are you okay?" Yuri asked him helping him up.
"I'm sorry Yuri, Gong's Steadfast Duelling wasn't enough to win this time." Gongenzaka apologised,
"True, but you didn't lose either and he didn't win or lose either." Yuri said hoping to cheer his friend up.
"So Yuri won his Duel, Yuzu lost hers, and Gong tied for his." Shuzo said, "Chairwoman Akaba, the bet was that if you won more than 1 out of 3, you would take over our school, but each school has won once and tied for the last, so the school stays as it is!" Shuzo said to her over the mic.
This caused Himika to glare in his direction, "Nonsense, this last Duel was supposed to be a tiebreaker, we can't end it on a tie again." She sneered. Oh if only they knew what the grand plan behind this was, they would be clamouring to be affiliated with them then.
"But we never agreed upon what happened if we tied… you just assumed you would win all of them didn't you?" Shuzo retorted back at her.
"Then how about one last Duel between the winners, that way we can actually get a clear decision over the school's fate!" She said looking at Masumi, who was more than raring to go. The same could be said for Yuri, who was more than ready to show up the other Fusion user.
However, Shuzo wasn't going to allow Himika to dictate the situation anymore "You don't get to decide that, it's their choice!" Shuzo said back at her.
"Now, now, let's not fall out over this matter!" Shiki declared, taking a strangle hold on the conversation from his mere presence alone. He smirked and removed his fedora, placing it over his chest "There's a very simple solution to the matter and he's standing right over there."
"He?" Yuri and the rest of the students parroted as their eyes followed along from where Shiki was pointing.
"Tch, is this your idea of payback, Sogami?" With cold fury and reluctance, Reiji stepped out of his hiding spot and made his presence known to everyone else. Even Himika was surprised by her son's appearance. "What are you proposing now?"
"Payback? No. I'm just utilising my surroundings to make this coming duel as fair as possible." Shiki replied casually, biting on the back of his thumb. "And I'm not proposing anything, you knew very well that you could be duelling if the circumstances were right. I can see how interested you are in little Lily over here." Shiki smiled down at Yuri, not really caring that Yuri was looking at him as if he was his worst enemy.
Reiji sighed, of course Shiki would be the one to ruin this. However, he wouldn't let it deter him in the slightest "Yuri Sakaki!" He declared, pointing towards the Predator Plant duelist "I shall be your opponent in this duel! Win and your school is safe! Lose and you will have no choice but to merge with us and we will have every right to study your Pendulum cards!"
The time was now. If he ran away he would be no better than a coward. Yuri was no coward as he defiantly replied to Reiji "So be it! You could be the best duelist in this city and I'll still be able to show you the meaning of true grace as Starve Venom becomes your maker!"
He would much rather not be doing this, he'd much rather be in his own chamber going through the daily reports from Demil or Daiki, preferably the latter since the former didn't have much of an eye for observation. Demil didn't have much of an eye anyway.
However, this was an important matter that he needed to finish off before anything else could be done. His one sole desire needed absolute focus if he wanted to complete it and he wouldn't stand for anyone trying to prevent him from reaching it. Especially the miscreant that dared to oppose him 'He was the backup all along? You wretched man, you were evil from the very start but your idea will serve all of humanity well in the future.'
Nesta Nanishiro was a man who could tell exactly who someone was from first sight. Well. Except for one person and that was perhaps the greatest mistake of his life.
Regardless, one man doesn't prevent nearly 30 years of intuition being correct. He could instantly tell the character of the two men who came to approach him. They were thugs that had probably noticed his vestments, he no longer had some of his more gaudy outfits but he wasn't going to lower himself to the level of the people who dared to approach him now.
He had still kept that outfit from that particular day as a sort of memento to remember it by, to ward him off from ever taking someone lightly again. That's probably why he was being cornered now, gravity and fate had dealt him a bad hand by making this outfit attracted to trouble. However, if one was to absolve the sin of the whole world then one had to experience it and overcome it to evolve to a new level.
They approached him with yellow smiles and beady eyes, clearly looking to rob him blind regardless of what he did. "Hey, Father, we would like you to do something for us." One of the thugs grappled Nesta's clothes while the other snuck behind him to cut off the escape route. They had probably guessed his profession from the clothing alone, it wasn't like any random asshole just decided to dress up as a priest today. "We were just recently fired from our jobs, sucks I know, but we were wondering something. The church is supposed to help people in need and, well, we're very needy."
"I don't have time for this, what do you want?" Nesta kept an even tone, no matter how much this filthy vermin touched him he would not lose his cool. To show that would be a sign of defeat and he would never be defeated by those below him ever again.
"Well, we were wondering if you would follow through on your teachings and give it the less fortunate. Your clothes here feel very fine and I've seen a priest or two in my day, they've never worn something this gaudy. We don't want much, just something to tie us over." It was disgusting having to listen to this piece of shit talk down to him, his Fatherhood may have been one of the most important things for him to maintain but he had other priorities.
"Apologies, my children, but I don't have anything on me at the minute, although if you were to go to a charity shop or soup kitchen, I'm sure they would treat you right." He couldn't have found a more polite way to say fuck off if he tried.
However, all that met him with was a rather violent blow to his chest. The thug from behind also coming up to get a blow in on his back. "We figured you might say that, which is why we were going to rob you blind in the first place. Nothing personal, it's just business." The thug at the back spoke, placing on a pair of brass knuckles just like his partner "Such a shame we have to hit you, Father, am I going to go to hell for this? Or maybe Heaven! They say they let anyone in who repents their sins! Who knew paradise could be as easy as that?!" They struck again and again, each time their punches landed with enough force to make a lesser man crumble.
Father Nesta Nanishiro, 47 years old, was not a lesser man.
The thug at the front went in for a finishing blow, ready to strike Nesta's chin with an uppercut. However, an invisible force stopped him in his tracks. He knew something was doing this since he could feel an increased weight on his arm as a whole but he couldn't for the life of him see what had done it.
It only got worse from there. The weight grew and grew until his arm crashed into the ground, shattering both of the objects as they collided. A pained look over to his companion found him in a similar situation. "Wh-What the hell is going on here?!" He screamed out as Nesta's foot came within view.
The blue haired priest was already tall enough. However, to the man in the ground he seemed like a giant now as an aura as oppressive as God's own took shape around him. "Hell indeed." Nesta raised his foot and swiftly brought it down on the thug's shattered arm "Many saints also started as sinners, and they are no less holy than the ones who started off as virtuous, are they? Although, Heaven isn't meant for the sinners of this world, that's where Hell comes in. Heaven is for those who walk the true path." He ground his foot further against the thug's arm, breaking even more bones than the thug thought possible "Only those worthy of it enter it."
Growing bored of the torment he was giving out, Nesta pulled his foot back and stood solidly at the epicentre. If anyone came across this scene it would be rather hard to explain just why a priest was surrounded by two men wildly convulsing on the ground for no real reason. One of them cradling his shattered arm and the other unable to even move his head off of the ground. "Before I leave, I have one question."
"If we are judged by our very sins alone, then why did the world end up as it is?"
A/N: So, this was mainly a chapter that I had to do because I had to use it as a set up to the Reiji and Yuri duel. However, there are few changes that do play a larger role, including the brief moment of Starve Venom going berserk during Yuri and Hokuto's duel. I can assure you that the Reiji and Yuri duel will be nothing like the canon. I'm going to try hard to make sure that I get that chapter out by Christmas at the latest, from that point onwards, nothing will be as you think it will be.
Aside from that, the final scene of this chapter sees Nesta make his move, marking what I see as his official step into an active character. I wonder what he's up to that it requires him and not Demil or Daiki to do it?
Reviews:
MarBare123: "I want to see his world burn" Keh, I wonder what will happen when I get to that point. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the changes I made to this canon event, this will be the last chapter of this style I can assure you.
blazenight01: Yeah, poor kids. Worse thing is, things will only get worse from that point onwards, none of these characters are safe from my depraved mind.
Anyway, I hope to see you again by at least Christmas for the final upload this year. See ya!