A/N: Part 3 of Kyle's final duel against Jade. Not only that, but as of today (20 July 2004), it has been one full year since the first chapter of Shielded Destiny was posted for everyone's reading pleasure. So, happy anniversary, and thanks to everyone who's maintained interest this long!

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Kyle's LP - 1800

Jade's LP - 8650

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"End turn," she replied.

He nodded and drew his next card. "By the way, Cosmo Queen looks rather like you, holding that book."

She blinked, surprised, looking up at the monster before a small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Well, what do you know. Maybe she does, at that."

"It stops at the axe, though." Kyle allowed another smile to cross his features as he made his move. "I place one magic/trap face-down, and one monster in defense. That ends my turn."

"Very well, I draw." As she did so, Solemn Wishes increased her Life Points yet again, taking her up to 9150. "I equip Ekibyo Drakmord..." A swarm of little green creatures appeared at their name, causing her to grin. "...to Suijin."

The creatures overran Suijin – some sat atop it, while others stood around it. Kyle scoffed at the little gremlins. Those things won't let Suijin attack as long as they're equipped, and in two turns, they'll destroy him. Then they'll go back to her hand to let the fun continue.

"And then I'll have Cosmo Queen attack the face-down monster you just played!"

Cosmo Queen, equipped as she was with two power-ups meant for her hands, took a different route with her attack than usual. She uttered a few words in a foreign tongue as she eyed the Book of Secret Arts – perhaps she was reading a quote from it – and the Axe of Despair she held in her left hand glowed violet from the dark energies coursing into it.

Then she hurled the axe at Kyle's face-down monster – an easily rent-to-scrap Mechanicalchaser (1850/800).

The axe returned to Cosmo Queen's hand at her call, and the massive Duel Monster regarded Kyle much as a queen would regard a lowly peasant. Jade grinned at her monster, apparently pleased with the hard work that had gone into the holographic technology. "That finishes my turn."

Kyle drew his next card, and swiftly put it to use. "Another monster face-down, and my turn's finished."

"My turn, I draw."

"And during your standby phase, I activate my trap, Thunder of Ruler." Kyle activated the trap he'd placed two turns ago. "Thus forcing you to skip your battle phase for this turn. Sorry you can't try your luck on my face-down."

"Hm. No matter. Your Suijin's done for in a turn, and my Queen will take out whatever's lurking on your field. End turn."

He drew and tsked at her. "Don't be so confident your Queen will solve it all for you. I place one card face-down, and yet another monster in defense mode. My turn's done."

At that last announcement, the gremlins of Jade's Ekibyo Drakmord abruptly got up from their lax positions and took to ripping Suijin apart, piece by holographic watery piece. Suijin's growl did nothing to abate their progress, and within moments, the Labyrinth Brother had been reduced to drops all over the pavement.

Jade gave her creatures a funny look as they disappeared from the field; she collected her card from the disk's slots, replacing it in her hand as per its second effect. "They go from cute to homicidal rather quickly. Wasn't there a movie about something like those?"

"I think there was, now that you mention it," Kyle answered, discarding his Suijin. "But we're a ways away from being able to see it at the moment."

"We could always make a date of it later." She drew and inspected her new card. "I'll play one card face-down, and then summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/700) in attack mode."

Kyle noted the latest LP boost on her disk's counter, which had taken her to 10150. "I guess you finally hit that 5-digit number you always wanted."

She grinned. "That I did. Getting worried yet? Cosmo Queen, attack the face-down monster on his right!"

"Not for one second. Activate Mirror Force!"

Kyle's Mirror Force card appeared, and just as the energy-charged Axe from Cosmo Queen came in to strike his face-down monster, the weapon rebounded and its energy washed over Kycoo and Queen instead. They were obliterated in an explosive burst of light and sound.

Jade's expression puckered into an annoyed frown for a moment at the destruction of her creatures. "Well, that's aggravating. End turn."

Kyle smirked as he drew. "I'd say that's a bit of an understatement. I flip Magician of Faith (300/400) to attack mode, and activate her special ability."

His Magician appeared on the field, looking simple, yet graceful. She hovered in midair, offering a determined stare at Kyle's opponent, her staff at the ready, not unlike Jade's Dark Magician had been.

She offered the holographic monster a grin. "Cute, but not exactly imposing."

"Hm. Then how about this? I sacrifice my Magician in order to bring out Black Dragon Jungle King (2100/1800) in attack mode."

His Magician vanished in a burst of sparkles, to be replaced by a much more fierce-looking wingless dragon. It snarled menacingly at Jade.

"King, attack her Life Points!"

"Activate Mirror Wall!" Jade said determinedly.

Jungle King's attack points were promptly cut in half, but that didn't stop the attack from singeing her LP, even through the thick glass-like wall that spontaneously appeared between the duelist and her opponent's monster. Her LP dropped to 9100.

"Quad digits again. Well, that won't take long to rectify," she groused.

"We'll see," said Kyle. "I end my turn here."

Jade's next draw took her LP to 9600. "I play Pot of Greed," Jade decided, after looking at her hand, "for two new cards and some options, as well as an extra 500 Life Points. Not too shabby. I also intend to keep my Mirror Wall in play, and I'm sure you've noticed I have more than enough Life Points to do so. Then I'll equip Ekibyo Drakmord back to your field on Jungle King..."

Kyle barely paid attention to the 500 point boost her LP received from her Pot of Greed, or even the loss of 2000 LP her Mirror Wall caused (bringing her total score to 8100), so much as the little gremlins reappearing on the field to position themselves around his already weakened dragon. He harrumphed.

"... before ending my turn."

He sighed as he drew his next card. "I doubt you'll need that Wall after this turn. I switch King to defense mode and end my turn."

"A good thing, too. Even I'm not keen on paying that hefty a fine per turn. I discard Mirror Wall, and play a monster face-down. Your turn, Kyle."

"Goody," he muttered, drawing. He rocked his head to one side at his drawn card. "Hm. Okay, then. I place one monster in defense mode and end my turn. Bye-bye, King."

As they had done with Suijin, the gremlins of her Ekibyo Drakmord took to destroying his dragon, which roared futilely in trying to grapple with the little creatures.

Jade snapped her fingers. "Gremlins. Right? Wasn't that the movie?" Even as she spoke, the creatures jumped back into their holographic card and she collected it back to her hand.

"Most likely. I've never seen it."

"Hmm. I don't think I've seen it in ages. But I'll play one card, and end my turn."

He drew his next card and tried not to roll his eyes at her. "We can discuss movies later. Unless suddenly I've become such a pushover that you have time to think of anything but this duel. It's kind of important, you know."

She scowled for a second. "Lighten up a bit. Jeez, who died?"

At that question, he hesitated, adopting a different look, one of both anger and despair. "Don't go there, Jade. Don't you dare go there."

Taken aback by the change in his tone and the expression on his face, she had no response for him.

He pursed his lips together, suddenly more determined than ever before to finish the duel – whether or not he won wasn't even on his mind anymore. "One magic/trap face-down, and I flip Dream Clown (1200/900) into attack mode. That ends my turn."

Jade drew a card without speaking, and flipped her face-down monster into attack mode. "I imagine this wasn't who you were expecting. You may regret not attacking."

One of the stranger-looking spellcasters of Duel Monsters, Nemuriko (800/700) was composed of little more than an eel's body, on top of which rested a blue-haired child's head and a single arm and hand. She appeared on the field, her thumb stuck in her mouth and an inquisitive expression on her face.

Kyle's initial expression was one of surprise. Could there be any more useless monsters in her deck than a Nemuriko?

Then he frowned. No, it's useful. It can get under Trap Holes, and if she powers it up...

His thoughts were confirmed as Jade continued, "But little ones shouldn't be out by themselves, so I equip Nemuriko with a Malevolent Nuzzler." She set the card onto the field and the familiar green-skinned, tri-eyed equipment creature appeared. Unlike the more powerful monsters she often twined around, the Nuzzler seemed to hover next to the tiny spellcaster protectively.

"With 1500 attack points, Nemuriko attacks your Dream Clown!"

Kyle was quick to activate the trap he'd placed last turn. "Activate Waboku!"

Jade was quick to do the same. "Counter with Seven Tools of the Bandit. I'd rather not have that Clown hanging around... its effect is anything but amusing." The use of her Seven Tools trap card caused her Life Points to fall to a still-colossal 8600.

With the trap plays finished, Nemuriko – unwilling to stop sucking her thumb even for an attack order – babbled something unintelligible around her thumb, and her eyes glowed a bright blue. The Malevolent Nuzzler manifestation increased the strike by placing her hands on Nemuriko and letting power flow into the diminutive monster.

Nemuriko's eyes glowed twice as brightly as before, and when her babbling ceased, blinding beams of energy lanced from her eyes and speared Kyle's Dream Clown – and along with it, 300 of his precious Life Points.

Jade made a sound suspiciously like a squeak. "I know that it seems slightly cliché, but I have to... that was kawaii. That'll end my turn."

Kyle frowned. "Seven Tools made you lose more LP than me in that play."

"Difference is," she said sweetly, "my Life Points are easily replaced."

"Hm." Kyle drew his next card, thinking, Her definition of "cute" is a bit different from mine, but... whatever floats her boat, as the receptionist said so long ago. "I place one monster face-down and end my turn."

She drew and was quick to add her newest card to her arsenal. "I'll play Black Pendant on Nemuriko, boosting the attack power by another 500 points. Up to 2000 now."

He narrowed his eyes. "Now let's see if you stick with the offensive."

"I intend to. Nee–" She seemed to catch herself midway through the name. "Nemuriko, attack the face-down monster he just played."

This time, Nemuriko's babbling activated not only whatever mysterious power lay behind her eyes, but also that which empowered the pendant that dangled loosely from her neck. Two neon blue bolts from her eyes and one purple one from the pendant shot across the expanse... but were halted by the more mature sound of a protective spell uttered in a foreign tongue by a beautiful blue-skinned creature.

"Mystical Elf (800/2000) remains," said Kyle.

"Barely. End turn."

As Kyle glanced down at his deck to draw his next card, he became dismayed by the shortage of cards he had to work with. I wonder how she's faring.

Nevertheless, he drew... and was promptly gratified by the card. This'll do.

He glanced at Jade. "Staying on the defensive isn't going to help, so I sacrifice Mystical Elf and my face-down Kiseitai (300/800) to play Sanga of the Thunder (2600/2200) in attack mode."

The Labyrinth Brother rose up from its holo-card, looming over the tiny Nemuriko and her protective Nuzzler. Nemuriko, for its part, merely stared curiously up at the thunder-empowered creature.

Kyle shook his head. "This is getting ridiculous. I have to sacrifice two monsters to protect myself from a Nemuriko. But that shows how good you are, Jade, and it's something a lot of duelists aspire to."

Jade gave him a nod, but he could tell that she was pleased with the compliment.

He crossed his arms. "In the meantime... Sanga, attack Nemuriko!"

Sanga held its clawed hands closely together, and a sphere of electrical energy appeared between them. A yellow bolt zipped from the sphere, directly toward the curious little monster. At the last instant, Nemuriko seemed to realize the bolt for what it was, and squealed fearfully. The Nuzzler alongside her curled its arms around Nemuriko protectively.

Its efforts were for naught. Nemuriko vanished under the electrical storm, as did the Nuzzler, taking Jade's Life Points down to 8500; Jade winced involuntarily, more at the action before her than the LP loss. The Black Pendant formerly equipped to her diminutive monster remained for a moment and hovered there, then shattered under the assault. Its broken pieces blasted a purplish bolt at Kyle which struck him in the midsection – the representation of his 500 LP loss as a result of its destruction.

Kyle chewed his lip. "I almost feel sorry for the little one. That ends my turn."

"Yeah, that was some 'almost'," Jade retorted as she drew her next card. Her Life Points rose to 9000. "Nevertheless, I think I'll find something a little more suitable for this task. I play Monster Reborn on Kazejin (2400/2200). Brother versus Brother, but I'm not done. I equip Kazejin with my other Black Pendant to increase his attack to 2900, making Wind the 'big brother' of the three for the moment."

Kyle blinked. "Monster Reborn? How did Kazejin end up in your graveyard when you haven't played it yet?"

"I discarded it when I used Graceful Charity," she said. "I didn't tell you?" She gave him a Mona Lisa smile. "Oops."

He frowned. "You used Charity a long time ago. Were you not planning on bringing Kazejin out at all, or...?"

"You just saw the play for yourself, McCraine," Jade retorted. "It's not my fault you never bothered to find out what I was discarding. Don't you mind my reasons. The point is he's on the field now, and he's more powerful than Sanga."

"Sanga's no less dangerous just because of a lower attack power."

"Agreed. So we'll take care of Sanga in a different way. Ekibyo Drakmord... I need you guys to clean up the field again."

The ugly green creatures appeared once again and surrounded Kyle's Labyrinth Brother, their very presence shielding Jade from an attack of any kind from Sanga. Kyle rolled his eyes at her. "Why change a good thing, right?"

"You got it," she said cheerfully. "Your turn."

Kyle drew. "Hrm. I place one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Since it's a waste to attack when Sanga's only got a turn left, I'll play Gravekeeper's Servant and end my turn as well." Her Life Points had now climbed to 9500.

Kyle drew his next card, not feeling much hope for Sanga – or the rest of the duel – at this point.

But upon sight of the card, his eyes widened. Whoa... just... whoa...

Then he looked up at Jade, jubilation evident in his expression. "You might have wanted to attack my face-down."

"Let me be the judge of that."

"Then judge this." Kyle began his move. "First, I place one magic/trap face-down. Next, I activate my long-waiting trap card, The Eye Of Truth, thus allowing me to see what cards you've got in your hand."

Jade held up the two cards that were in her hand. "Aqua Madoor (1200/2000) and the magic card Mystical Space Typhoon."

He nodded in affirmation. "Next, I play my own Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Gravekeeper's Servant."

Obediently, Jade discarded the yet-unused magic card.

"Furthermore, I play Change of Heart on Kazejin."

Jade made an exclamation, though she almost immediately cut it off, looking furious. "You–!"

"I know, I know, you hate me for that. Don't worry, it's for a good cause." As Kazejin floated to his side of the field and took up position next to Sanga, Kyle held up the next card of his play. "Now I play Monster Reborn on Suijin."

Immediately she realized what was happening and clenched her fists, virtually shaking in rage. "You stole my Kazejin!"

"And if you were in my position, you would have done the same." He held up the next card involved in the play. "I think you know what this is."

Seething, she could do nothing but watch and give a curt, angry nod.

"So now, I sacrifice Sanga of the Thunder, Suijin, and Kazejin to summon Gate Guardian (3750/3400) in attack mode!"

The three Labyrinth Brothers, all aligned with each other on Kyle's field, dissolved into light depicting their corresponding elements – Suijin burned blue, Sanga blazed yellow, and Kazejin glowed green. The three essences merged together into one colossal tower of incandescent light on Kyle's field, resolving into the monster he and Jade had been searching for and fighting each other over from the beginning of their acquaintance.

Gate Guardian was nearly as massive as Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon had been. It stood nearly four stories high, casting a shadow over the entire alley as it patiently waited for a command from its master.

The gremlins of Jade's Drakmord squawked indignantly; with their target gone, there was no reason for them to remain on the field, and so they jumped into their holo-card, which promptly vanished. And rather than return to Jade's hand, the card went to the graveyard, having not fulfilled its mission.

The Black Pendant that had been equipped to Kazejin was still there, floating in front of Kyle, the remainder of Jade's offensive. It blasted another purple bolt of energy into Kyle, who stumbled slightly from it. His LP counter descended to 500 as the pendant shattered and vanished.

It was worth it, just to bring Gate Guardian out.

"Now," he said, "I flip my third and final Magician of Faith (300/400) into attack mode, and bring her special effect into play once again. And finally, I'll play the Monster Reborn I just retrieved from my graveyard... to revive Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800), in attack mode!"

If the shadow over Jade could have gotten any darker, it did so. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon arose from the Monster Reborn card and launched into the air, hovering directly over Gate Guardian since there was no room left for it in the alley. Its three heads gnashed their teeth in anticipation of the attack order to come – because, after all, that was its purpose... to destroy. As she stared up at them – for there was no way one could look down at such gigantic creatures, even if they'd been standing on the holo-platforms – Jade's expression was a fine attempt at neutrality, but awe belied her stance.

"First thing's first. Let's get the insult out of the way. Magician of Faith, attack her Life Points!"

The Magician's attack was actually rather impressive, truth be told, and reminiscent of a Dark Magician's attack. She brought both arms up and held her palm against the crescent of the top of her staff, which began to glow a bright gold.

Magician brought her staff back down, gripped it firmly, and spun around in midair, the staff held out in front of her like a ward. A crescent-shaped bolt of energy blasted from her staff and flew toward Jade.

"Insult to injury indeed," Jade grumbled.

After the direct hits of much larger proportions she had already withstood, she was able to weather the Magician's attack with relative ease. But her attention was focused on the two others on his field. At the very least, she thought darkly, I can say I faced down two of the strongest Duel Monsters with no defense... and I still have a turn after this to sort things out. The total attack power isn't enough to destroy all my LP, but... this is going to hurt.

"You might want to brace yourself for the next two," he said, "because I honestly don't know if you've ever taken a direct attack this powerful before." He looked up at the colossal dragon hovering above. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack her Life Points directly!"

A blinding sphere of lightning built in each of the three heads, before the draconic creature fired them. Once they left the monster's maws, they combined and streamed across the alley towards her. Is this how Kaiba's opponents feel? she thought. Unlike the duel platforms, there was nothing to hold onto, but she threw up both arms, feeling granules of dirt sting against them, propelled by the wind – can holograms actually create wind? – as everything around her became engulfed in white.

Kyle was both pleased with the loss of LP she was suffering, and dismayed with having to force such a powerful direct attack on her. Seeing her throw up her arms didn't help the latter any. But she'd only stumbled slightly; he imagined that with a monster as powerful as this, there was some sort of safety mechanism involved – otherwise she would have been thrown into the wall behind her.

I can't let up now. "Gate Guardian, attack her Life Points!"

Gate Guardian's attack was somehow more intimidating than Blue-Eyes' had been. Whereas the Ultimate Dragon had barely moved in order to effect its attack, Gate Guardian actually took a single, massive step towards Jade to execute its own. That one step, made by the Suijin-legs, brought a holographic tsunami to the massive monster's aid, flowing straight out from its feet. The waters churned furiously, aided by the wind powers of the Kazejin-midsection, and crashed towards Jade. Finally, Gate Guardian reached its Sanga-arms out, and each arm emitted a gargantuan blast of lightning, thus electrifying the typhoon and bringing to light – quite literally – the full scope of its attack.

Gate Guardian hadn't fully waited until Ultimate Dragon's Neutron Blast attack had finished, so Jade's vision only cleared in time to see the massive triple-element attack bearing down on her. She ducked her head down behind the shield of her hands again, even though Guardian's attack was in actuality less than Ultimate Dragon's had been.

Kyle felt an instinct to ask Jade if she was okay, but as Gate Guardian backed away, he could see that she was unharmed – though, at the very least, worried, judging from the protective curl she'd gone into.

He almost felt sorry for her.

Almost unnecessarily, he announced, "I end my turn." The announcement was so quiet, after Ultimate Dragon's and Gate Guardian's respective noisy attacks, that he wasn't even sure she could hear him. He was having trouble hearing himself.

Jade straightened, pushing back some of her hair that had been blown into her face during the attacks. She brought her duel disk up to check her Life Points – a drop from 9500 to 950 in one turn – before taking a deep breath. "My turn."

"Indeed it is," said Kyle. "And before you draw your next card, I activate the trap card Time Seal. So hands off of whatever it is you're about to draw."

Her hand paused midway through pulling the top card from her deck. "Great," she scowled. "But I still get one thousand Life Points for having a magic card in my hand, thanks to Eye of Truth."

She surveyed his field before setting a card onto the disk. "First I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon on your leftmost face-down card."

He nodded in acquiescence as her typhoon swept over his card and sent it to oblivion. "You've destroyed my Solemn Judgment trap."

"Then I summon Aqua Madoor (1200/2000) in attack mode," she announced, placing her final card on the field. "It's supposed to be a defensive monster, but in this case, 1200 attack points should be enough to finish this duel when it destroys your Magician of Faith, which you foolishly put in attack mode while you had only 500 Life Points left to you. Madoor, attack Magician of Faith."

At that moment, Jade thought, I'm going to win!

And at the same time, Kyle thought, I'm not going to lose.

Aqua Madoor's attack was set in motion. It raised a tidal wave to its call, and it pointed one long, pale finger at Magician of Faith, signifying her as the target.

The wave came crashing toward the spellcasting Duel Monster–

"Activate Two-Pronged Attack!"

–only to be blocked by a dual attack, from both her and the massive dragon hovering above.

"I sacrifice Magician of Faith and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to destroy Aqua Madoor!"

Ultimate Dragon swept down and in front of Magician, who leapt atop its back. The unlikely pair crashed straight through the waves, dissolving as they moved, but still had substance enough to rocket into Aqua Madoor and disintegrate it along with them.

When the play was finished, the water was gone, and so were Aqua Madoor, Magician of Faith, and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Leaving Gate Guardian standing alone on the field.

And Jade was out of options.

There was no way she could have won this turn, Theoris realized. No matter which trap she destroyed, the other one would have stopped her monster...

She held up her hands, both empty, shaking her head. "A little obvious to say it, but... end turn..."

Kyle drew his next card, but didn't even look at it. "It's been a good duel. I mean that."

He looked up at the massive creature that was Gate Guardian.

When it came down to it, for him, Ultimate Dragon was expendable. The entire duel had centered around this one creature.

Gate Guardian.

His Gate Guardian.

"Gate Guardian, attack her Life Points and finish this duel."

Once more, Gate Guardian's lightning-charged hurricane bore down upon Kyle's opponent.

She stood through the attack, simulated water and thunder and wind crashing all around her as she stared stoically through the dark typhoon at her opponent. Her duel disk's LP counter buzzed indignantly at her, alerting both duelists that she was out of Life Points.

Their war was finally over.

Kyle had won.