Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duel for the Souls
WEBS OF DECEPTION I:
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Last Time:
After Mai's defeat, Joey challenges Rex Raptor to a duel. If Joey wins, Mai will be given back the locator card Rex won from her, and their bet would be canceled; if Rex emerged victorious, Mai would have to go out on a date with him, and Joey would be removed from the tournament. Joey, through using his brand-new Red-eyes Black Dragon, and the Dragon Nails he won from Rex at Duelist Kingdom, destroyed Rex's Seiyaryu and won the duel.
Seto Kaiba also wins against Espa Roba, decimating the "Psychic" duelist's forces with his Saggi/Crush Card combo, and then attacking directly with one of his Blue-eyes White Dragons.
Later that day, Rex is challenged to a duel by a mysterious challenger, whom wins using the Dragon Master Knight.
Now, on day two of the tournament, Bakura is on the prowl for opponents, to keep the world from knowing that he is the one behind the entire Battle City II tournament . . .
"I wonder," Bakura Ryou mused as he walked along the streets of Domino City, "whom shall I face now?"
It was the mouth of Bakura Ryou that moved, but it was not his mind that thought what was said. For years now, Bakura had been a host, being sucked on by a vicious parasite that inhabited the gold totem dangling from a rope around his neck. It was that parasite, the spirit of a long-dead Egyptian High Priest, which thought what Bakura's body spoke.
Last night, the spirit had ambushed and defeated a duelist just the night before. Even as the man behind the Battle City II tournament, he'd never kept a single one of those precious locator cards for himself. Stupid of him.
He passed by the Domino City graveyard, where he had faced Bonez, last year at Battle City. He had been trying to get into the tournament's finals at the time, so he could win for Marik Ishtar the Egyptian God cards. Marik, in return, claimed he would give the spirit the Millennium Rod, as well as deliver the remaining Millennium Items to him.
When Bakura failed to defeat Yugi Muto, the holder of both the Millennium Puzzle and the God card Slifer the Sky Dragon, Marik refused to hand over his Millennium Rod. Bakura challenged him to a duel—and learned of Marik's greatest secret. Marik, like Bakura, had two souls inhabiting one body. One, his, was the good one, like the real Bakura. The other, like the spirit of the Ring, was evil, conceived of darkness.
The duel had a major stipulation on it—the spirit of the Ring would partner with Marik's soul, whereas Bakura would partner with Marik's dark spirit. And, to make matters worse, each time a player took life point damage, a part of his body would vanish into the Shadow Realm.
The duel began, and the spirit quickly learned that his willingness to take life point damage would soon get him killed. He failed to use his Destiny Board, Dark Necrofear, and soon he was down to almost nothing.
But, fortunately, Marik's spirit was faring poorly as well. The spirit managed to steal Marik's Egyptian God card, the Winged Dragon of Ra, from his deck. But, the spirit could not play it, after watching it strike down Marik's last opponent, Mai Valentine. She, too, had taken it from Marik's deck, but, when she played it, it unleashed its wrath on her instead of Marik.
Also, the Vengeful Bog Spirit the spirit made it so monsters could not attack the same turn they were summoned. Since magic cards only lasted for one turn on Egyptian Gods, even if Marik revived Ra, it wouldn't be able to attack. And, at the end of that turn, it would return to the graveyard. It was effectively out of the duel, or so the spirit of the Ring thought.
After Ra was gone, he summoned the Dark Ruler Ha Des, removed three monsters from his graveyard to special summon Dark Necrofear, and then revived Earl of Demise with Premature Burial. But, even though they would have won the duel for him, he couldn't attack because of Vengeful Bog Spirit.
But then Marik's dark spirit used Monster Reborn to revive the Winged Dragon. He also reveals a special ability belonging to this God card: Instant Attack, allowing it to attack on the turn it was summoned, even with Bog Spirit in play. He then sacrificed his life points to 1, giving the Winged Dragon of Ra 8549 attack points, more than enough to destroy the spirit's monsters—and the rest of his life points. The dark spirit was banished, once again, to the Shadow Realm, as was Bakura's soul.
A piece of the spirit survived, inside the spirit's greatest enemy, Yami. Marik once used a man named Bandit Keith to try to win the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi. When he failed, Marik ordered Keith to smash it, and then attack Yugi. The spirit, seeing an opportunity to increase his chances of getting the Puzzle, saved Yugi. As the boy reassembled his Puzzle, the spirit corrupted a piece, placed part of his spirit within it. Even though, in losing, Marik, the spirit, and Bakura were banished to the Shadow Realm, a part of the spirit still existed, inside of Yami's mind.
When Yami defeated Marik's dark spirit, he freed Mai Valentine, Bakura, Marik, and Yugi—who had been placed in a similar position as Bakura's soul in the duel of the dark spirits. With Marik weakened from defeat, the spirit leapt from the Puzzle back to the Ring, and bided his time.
Marik, using the Millennium Rod, freed all of those he'd trapped in the Shadow Realm—Arkana, Umbra and Lumis, Strings, and all the rest of his failed Rare Hunters. In doing so, he also released the spirit of the Ring—which he now owned. Taking control of his new host's body, the spirit returned to Bakura, taking with him the Millennium Eye, Rod, and Ring. Since then, he'd been preparing to take the final four Millennium Items: Yugi's Puzzle, Ishizu Ishtar's Necklace, and the mystic Shadi's Key and Scales.
And he had learned, from Battle City, just how to do it.
Yugi and the pharaoh were easy enough to predict; whenever their friends were in danger, both the ancient ruler and his host would risk anything and everything to save them. Ishizu and Shadi, on the other hand, were much harder to draw into a trap. But in Battle City, they revealed the only bait that would lure them back to Domino.
Ishizu Ishtar had been granted guardianship of the three all-mighty Egyptian God cards created by Maximillion Pegasus. When her brother Marik stole two of them, she went to extreme lengths to get them back. In fact, Kaiba created his Battle City tournament at Ishizu's request, to earn back those two missing cards. If the spirit could find them, Ishizu would come to him.
Shadi, on the other hand, was drawn to disturbances in the balance of power. When the spirit claimed Pegasus' Millennium Eye as his own, Shadi came to find him. Also, with the drawing together of so many dark forces from the Shadow Realm at Battle City, he appeared to investigate what was going on. If the spirit could claim either the Puzzle or the Necklace, Shadi would arrive with his Millennium Items.
And he would have all of the power he desired.
"Hey, I recognize that guy," a nasally voice said. "He's that freak who tried to take Master Marik's Millennium Rod!"
The spirit turned, but then fled into the recesses of the Millennium Ring, leaving his host, Bakura, to face what he would find standing behind him.
"Excuse me?" Bakura Ryou asked, turning around to see two robed figures coming out of the shadows of an alley. He recognized the robes instantly as those of the are Hunters, a gang of thieves that, thanks to Yugi, had been disbanded last year at Battle City. What were they doing here?
What am I doing here? Bakura asked himself. He couldn't remember anything that had happened recently. He looked down at his watch. It was 9:30 AM, but it had been more than a month since Bakura could remember anything.
And then it hit him. It was the Millennium Ring. It had to be the spirit that inhabited the Millennium Ring. At Duelist Kingdom, two years ago, it took control of him and tried to lock Yugi and his friends away in the Shadow Realm. Then, it tried to take control of Mokuba Kaiba's soulless body, and almost sent Tristan to the Shadow Realm.
Tristan thought he got rid of the Ring, but Bakura kept having blackouts, more frequently and for longer than ever before. He remembered almost nothing from Battle City, until after the Ring was stolen by Tea Gardner. The, he was forced to ally himself with the dark spirit of Marik Ishtar to try and win back his body from the Ring's spirit—and was betrayed.
There was a period of several months, after Yugi won Battle City, that Bakura's memory was unobstructed. Then he woke up one day to find Marik Ishtar at his door. When he demanded to know what was going on, the former leader of the Rare Hunters slipped the Millennium Ring around his neck, and all of his memory after that was clouded.
That was seven months ago.
"You heard what we said," replied the Rare Hunter, snapping Bakura's mind back to the present. "It was you who tried to take our master's Millennium Item."
"I don't recall ever doing anything of the sort." It was true; Bakura had no recollection of the spirit's quest for world domination.
"Well, I don't care if you remember it or not. We're going to duel you and get revenge!" the other one, a tall man with a gruff voice, said.
"Fine by me. But I don't—" He paused, looking down at his left arm. On it was a KaibaCorp Duel Disk, Type II—the kind used in Battle City last year. Well, there went that excuse. "Never mind. I'll duel you, but for what?"
"We'll put up two locator cards each," the chubby, nasally voiced one said.
"But we can't both duel him at the same time!" the other one pointed out, then grumbled something that sounded like "moron" under his breath.
"Who are you calling a moron?" the other demanded. "Why don't you duel him on your own, you—you, uh—Stupid-head!"
"Why you little—Fine, I'll duel him myself. And then I'll show you who has the real talent around here, brother!" The tall one, Umbra, turned back to Bakura, and said, "I'll wager two locator cards—for that pretty golden necklace you're wearing."
Bakura looked down at his chest. It was the Millennium Ring. Maybe, if he lost, he'd be free of it forever! "Wager three and you have a deal."
"Fine." Umbra smiled. "Prepare yourself for a duel the likes of which you've never seen!"
"Fine. I'll let you make the opening move."
In a matter of minutes, they were ready to duel. Bakura stood on one side of the street—traffic had been redirected around the city and through various detours for this tournament—and Umbra on the other. The rocket-propelled hologram generators had situated themselves four meters away from the two players, instead of the usual two, forming a very large rectangle. Both players' decks had been shuffled, and were ready to duel.
"For my turn, I'll summon Melchid the Four-Faced Beast in attack mode, and end my turn."
"What, no magic or trap cards?" Lumis, the short fat one, taunted. "Did you forget something?"
"I don't need your magic and trap cards, you moron." He grunted. "I can win without your help!"
"Oh, dear. That is a good card." Bakura drew, and looked at the card he pulled from his deck. "But this can defeat it, I'm sure. I summon the Headless Knight in attack mode!"
"That monster couldn't even harm my Melchid!" Umbra barked. "You are a pathetic duelist!"
"Really? Oh, well, I'll just play this Ground Collapse card, to eliminate two of your Monster Card zones, and set a card facedown. That's all."
"Fine. I'll summon the Shining Abyss in attack mode. Melchid, reduce his Headless Knight to ruble!"
"I'll counter your attack with a trap card I played. I activate Bark of Dark Ruler, sacrificing 1500 life points to reduce the attack of your Four-Faced Beast to 0 until the end of the turn. But, since you declared an attack on my monster, you will lose 1450 life points." As Bakura spoke, the four-masked monster recoiled from the roaring emanating from the Headless Knight, which in turn brought its sword crashing down on Melchid.
"Now my Shining Abyss will destroy your Headless Knight. You wasted your trap card!"
"Not so. I destroyed one of your monsters, did I not? I also managed to force you into a false attack against my monster."
"So what? What good does any of that do you?"
"It cleared away one of your monster card zones."
"Oh, no! You don't mean you're playing—"
"Another Ground Collapse, limiting you to just one monster card zone—which is already filled with that weak Shining Abyss card."
"Oh, no!"
"Now, for the rest of my turn, I'll summon the Portrait's Secret, in defense mode." A picture frame materialized in the air in front of Bakura, and a long-haired ghoul reached its arms out, placing its palms out in front of it.
"My Shining Abyss will destroy it!"
"And I'll activate the trap card Michizure, taking your mechanized fairy with it to an early grave!" A pair of arms reached up out of the earth, grabbing the bulbous machine and dragging it down into the ground.
"Now, I'll summon the Earthbound Spirit, and attack you directly, lowering your life points down to 6050." Bakura smiled. Everything was going according to plan. "I'll also set one card face-down."
"Fine. I summon Grand Tiki Elder, to destroy your monster and relieve you of 1000 life points!"
"My turn. And now I will summon a creature of great power, known as Dark Necrofear!" Bakura paused. "But to do so requires a great sacrifice. I must remove the spirits of three of my monsters from the game—permanently. In doing so, I can summon a creature that will destroy you!" Despite his hunger for loss of the Ring, he was actually enjoying defeating this Rare Hunter. He'd played him for a fool the whole duel—especially since the Rare Hunter had no magic or trap cards at his disposal.
"My turn," Umbra grunted. He drew a card. "I'm not completely without magic and trap cards. First, I'll activate Graceful Charity, to draw three cards. Then, I'll set this card face down, and activate Pot of Greed, Reckless Greed, and Jar of Greed, to draw a total of seven new cards, and then activate the magic card The Chosen One!"
"The Chosen One! How'd you get your hands on one of the rarest cards in my deck?" Lumis demanded.
"I figured I'd need to insulate myself from being betrayed by you, so I won it from some kid." Even though his face was obscured by his demonic mask and the cowl of his robe, Umbra seemed to be gloating. "And now I'll select three cards form my hand, and let you pick one. If it is a monster, then it is instantly summoned to the field!"
Oh, dear, me! This could be bad. I know that he has not only the mighty Masked Beast, but also its guardian Des Guardius!
"Pick one already!" Umbra roared.
"The one on the right!" Bakura shouted, closing his eyes.
"You've just summoned the most powerful beast in my entire deck!" Umbra crowed. "Say hello to the mighty Des Guardius!" The spinner and the two other cards—a Mask of Brutality and Mask of Weakness—vanished in a puff of smoke. In their place was a fiendish creature with its grotesque head and body covered in haunting masks.
Bakura just stood there, realizing that he was down to 5350 life points, and had left his Dark Necrofear card in attack mode. If it were attacked, his life points would drop viciously down to 4250. And it would obviously happen.
"Now, Des Guardius, attack and destroy that insult of a masked monster!" Bakura cringed as Dark Necrofear was pounded to pieces, but then smiled. "My turn," he said.
"You don't have anything to do!"
"That's where you're wrong. First, the spirit of my Dark Necrofear will inhabit and take control of that Des Guardius, bringing it over to me. Also, I'll play the Dark Door, restricting you to one attack per turn. Then, I'll set one card and activate Dark Sanctuary!" A red fog clouded the sphere where the hologram fields crossed. Glowing eyes pierced from the darkness, as Des Guardius bounded into the thick of the fog.
"What is Dark Sanctuary?" Lumis asked from the sidelines. "What's happening?"
"A dark spirit roams this shadowy abyss," Bakura began. "Each time a monster attacks me or one of my monsters, the spirit will invade the monster. Also, half of the monster's attack power is deducted from your life points—and added to mine!" Bakura smiled. "And, I'll sacrifice your monster to summon Earl of Demise, in defense mode."
"Not so fast. I'll activate my set trap card, Mask of Restrict. So long as it is on the field, you won't be sacrificing anything for a tribute. So, your Earl of Demise isn't allowed to be summoned. You have nothing guarding your life points!"
"Is that so? We shall soon find out, now, won't we? I'll play Souls of the Forgotten, so I can sacrifice it to keep Dark Sanctuary in play."
"I activate Monster Reborn, and revive Des Guardius. Since he is the only monster on the field, your spirit must invade him!" Bakura knew what would happen next—he'd heard what happened at the Battle City finals, when the spirit of the Ring faced Yugi.
"Anything else, Rare Hunter?"
"Yes. I'll activate the magic card Curse of the Masked Beast!" Umbra laughed. "By sacrificing two monsters form my hand, I can summon the ritual monster called the Masked Beast!"
"Did you forget about my Ground Collapse cards? You have already filled the last of your monster card zones with Des Guardius. There's nothing more you can do."
"Not so! I can activate two of the magic card Mask of Dispel! It negates your Ground Collapse and Dark Sanctuary cards, and will remove 1000 life points for each turn that passes!" Umbra began to laugh. "You don't have long left, boy!"
"How about if I were to negate one of those masks?" Bakura asked. "I activate the rare trap card Magic Jammer! At the cost of one card from my hand, it negates one of your magic cards. And I choose for it to be the Mask that targeted my Dark Sanctuary."
"Fine. I just won't attack with my Des Guardius, since it has been infected by your dark spirit."
That stung. The Rare Hunter didn't even know how much a phrase like that hurt Bakura. The dark spirit of his Millennium Ring had tried time and again to kill Bakura's friends. And it was very powerful; pure evil.
"Now, do you choose to attack with your Masked Beast or not?" Bakura taunted. Come on, he urged silently. Attack!
"Before I attack, I'll switch Des Guardius to defense mode. Now, Masked Beast, take out what's left of this pathetic fool's life points!"
Bakura couldn't hold in his relief—he uttered a quick, sharp bark of a laugh. "You fell right into my trap!" he crowed. "I activate the powerful magic of Dark Spirit of the Silent!"
"Dark Spirit of the Silent? What's that?"
"A card that will allow me to pick which of your monsters can attack, and which can't. It can even lure our cards into attack mode!"
"My possessed Des Guardius!" Umbra cried, and Masked Beast settled down on its haunches and the mighty Des Guardius lunged into the fog. It vanished, and Umbra cried out in pain and shock as the spirit of the Dark Sanctuary rose out of the fog and passed through his chest. Umbra's life point meter dropped by 1650, down to 4400, whereas Bakura's rose, from 4250 to 5900.
And then all awareness fled from Bakura, as the dark spirit inside him rose to take control.
That pathetic simpleton! He's managed to wreck the whole duel!
The spirit of the Millennium Ring continued to curse Bakura's incompetence, even as he surveyed the situation. Bakura had managed to avoid a complete catastrophe, by using that Magic Jammer. But, losing 500 life points each turn would not be pretty. Too bad there was no way to take out either the Mask of Restrict or the Mask of Dispel. Both would cause trouble later.
And then the spirit got an idea, one that would lead the Rare Hunter to a quick and easy defeat. "I play the magic card Toll! From now on, when you attack, it will cost you 500 life points. Also, with Gravekeeper's Servant in play, you will be forced to discard a card from your deck as well. Finally, I set one monster to sacrifice for Dark Sanctuary. Then, with my Shallow Grave, I'll bring back a card from my Graveyard, face-down."
Now, that Mask of Darkness card will revive my Dark Spirit of the Silent, so I'll force him to attack with that possessed Des Guardius again. Then, with the other Shallow Grave magic card in my hand, I can do it over again. As long as Dark Door is in play, he can only attack me once per turn. And, so long as Toll and Gravekeeper's Servant are active, he'll lose both life points and cards if he attacks.
He'll be through in a matter of turns!
"Your move, and you lose 500 life points from that Mask card keeping your second Ground Collapse at bay!" The spirit barely noticed as the life point meter fell to 5400.
"Anything else?"
"I know that you're trying to lure me into an attack, so I'll dissuade you from any notion that I'm stupid enough for that."
"Fine. But you may end up losing the duel before I even try to attack!"
"Is that so? Do you really think that your little life-draining mask will even come close to defeating me?"
"Only since you can't sacrifice any monsters to summon a stronger one!" Umbra boasted, pointing at the grotesque mask floating in the air before him. "Mask of Restrict is forcing you to play only your weakest monsters!"
It must have been very surprising to Umbra and his portly companion when the spirit began to laugh. "You fools!" he managed to get off before he doubled over in the spasm that showed his humor. "I have been leading you right into a trap that you will not escape from. Even though my life points are now at 4900, I can still beat you easily!"
"How?" Umbra demanded. "There's no monster that can stand up to the extreme might of my Masked Beast and Des Guardius!"
The spirit changed tone. "I have noticed that your deck is missing one mask card—one so vital that I'm surprised you don't own it. It is, of course, the ever-useful Mask of Darkness. When I flip it—" And he did. "—I can return one trap card in my graveyard pile to my hand. And then I can play it face down once again. True, my Mask will remain in attack mode, but those are the fortunes of war. Unless, of course, I set another card and sacrifice the Mask for my Dark Sanctuary card."
"Now I'll destroy your last monster!" Umbra cried. "Go, Masked Beast!" He removed the top card from his deck, and sacrificed the 500 life points. Masked Beast prepared to chuck its spear at the small yellow mask.
"Did you forget about my revived trap card?" The Spirit asked. "Now, I negate your attack with my Dark Spirit of the Silent, and then use its power to coerce your possessed Des Guardius into attacking my monster. But, since the spirit of the Dark Sanctuary still possesses it, you lose another 1650 life points—plus another 500, since it is a new attack. That lowers you down to 1750. However, now that that this is done, I gain 1650 life points, bringing my total up to 6550. Amazing—isn't that what your life points stood at when I attacked you with Bark of Dark Ruler and Headless Knight?"
Umbra didn't answer.
"Now, for my turn, I lose 500 life points, because of that rather pointless mask—considering that, should you attack again with anything, I'll have a Dark Spirit card to turn it against you. You barely have enough life points left to protect you from an attack."
"You can't attack though!" Umbra said. "Toll would—"
"I know of the power of Toll," the spirit snapped. Which is why I'm going to get rid of it for good. First, I'll play Pot of Greed, to draw two cards. Then, I'll activate Reckless Greed and Graceful Charity. Finally, I use the card that will end this duel: Final Destiny!"
"Final Destiny!" Umbra cried out in distress.
"Yes. By sacrificing five cards from my hand, I can destroy all of the cards on the field—including your masks and my Dark Sanctuary. The duel is about to take on an interesting new twist. To end my turn, I'll play one card face down, and activate the Shallow Grave, returning Dark Necrofear to the field, along with one of your monsters."
"I can't summon Des Guardius, so I'll summon The Masked Beast back to the field."
"Fine by me. I'll set one more card. It's your turn."
"Masked Beast, attack that freak's face-down monster!" Umbra ordered. The mask-toting spear sliced through a Cyber Jar.
"Now, both of us are forced to destroy our monsters on the field and summon up to five new cards from the tops of our decks. I'll summon Wall of Illusion, Winged Minion, and Bubonic Vermin."
"Grand Tiki Elder, Melchid the Four-Face Beast, and Shining Abyss."
"It is still your turn. Anything else you wish to do?"
"No. Go."
The spirit smiled broadly. "Good. This duel is about to reach its conclusion. First, I'll set one trap card. Then, I shall switch my monsters to defense mode."
"I shall sacrifice two of my monsters to summon another Des Guardius monster to the field. Attack the Winged Minion of Ha Des!" The great beast crashed into the little blue fiend, destroying it.
"You've fallen into yet another one of my traps—you make it so simple. I activate the great Destiny Board. In just four turns, it will spell out a message that means doom for you. You have five turns until your ultimate defeat!"
"You can still win, my friend," Lumis said from off to the side. "You can still destroy the remainder of his life points while he waits for Destiny Board to spell its message!"
"I have nothing to attack with now," Umbra said.
"And now you have only three turns, for the second of the five letters has appeared." As the spirit spoke, a ghoul holding a scroll appeared in the air. It unraveled the scroll, revealing the letter "I". The other letter, the one left by Destiny Board, was an "F".
"There is no way I can destroy his Destiny Board, Lumis. It's impossible—I ran out of magic and trap cards!"
"Quit your whining, and end your turn, so that the third letter will appear."
"I—uh, I attack Bubonic Vermin with Des Guardius!"
"And, in doing so, summon another Bubonic Vermin to the field," the spirit informed him. "Also, the third letter has come." He was correct—the ghoulish scroll- bearer carrying the letter "N" had arrived.
"Now, for my turn, I'll activate the trap card Graverobber, to open a space for the remaining messages, and to take one Mask of the Accursed form your graveyard. That is all."
"I will destroy that second Bubonic—"
"Summoning the third and final one," Bakura interjected. "Yes, and now you are one turn away form having the message completed and the duel as well." The letter "A" materialized next to the others.
"Oh, no!" Umbra groaned, sinking to his knees.
"Now, just to make sure you don't make some sort of miraculous recovery, and destroy my Destiny Board before the time is right," the spirit continued, "I will use the special ability of the most powerful beast in my deck—one that is equal in strength to the Blue-eyes White Dragon!"
"What monster is that?"
"The greatest of the Fiend-type monsters, the Lava Golem!"
"Lava Golem? What is that?"
"A very special fiend—I thought you'd be familiar with it, as your former master is the one who inspired me to acquire one. This creature can only be summoned to my opponent's side of the field, and only by sacrificing two of his monsters!" Bakura placed the card on his Duel Disk, and he smiled as both Des Guardius and the Shining Abyss melted into bubbling red ooze, which collected on the ground and began to form into a hulking creature standing three stories tall.
"What—what is—what does it do?" Umbra stammered, backing away.
"Why, during each of your turns, it will sap away 1000 of your remaining life points. But, that's not all I'm going to do this turn—even though the side effect of Lava Golem is I can't summon any monsters this turn. No, I'm going to activate a magic card I set last turn, the one my Graverobber took from your graveyard last turn. The Mask of the Accursed!"
"Why?" was all Umbra managed to say.
"Because my Lava Golem is under your control, and it has an attack strength of 3000. Also, instead of you taking just 1000 points of direct damage, you'll take 1500 points!" He began to laugh. "Even if you do manage to stop Destiny Board from its instant finishing abilities, my Lava Golem will burn through what remains of your life points in just one turn after that!"
"And what if I destroy it?"
"Then I'll just have to use the Ectoplasmer card in my hand, and drain the life force of one of my monsters to finish off the last 250 life points." The spirit shrugged. "I have just laid before your eyes three ways that the duel will end in my favor, whereas you have nothing to defeat me!" And I know it, too. My Millennium Eye tells me all!
"I, uh, I—" Umbra tried to say what he would do that turn, but nothing came out of the former Rare Hunter's mouth except for pathetic noises revealing his fear. "Who are you, anyway?"
"I am the spirit of an Egyptian Priest, and I will soon be the possessor of all seven Millennium Items, and ruler of this pathetic world." The spirit of Priest Seto paused, and then began to laugh. His laugh was vicious, full of malice, hatred, and anger. "You, however, are finished, for you have nothing to play. My Destiny Board has spelled out its most of its message for you, and it speaks the truth: this duel is over, and this turn is FINAL!"
TO BE CONTINUED . . .