Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Chapter 48: A Grim Reminder
Rikuo giggled as he watched his father slash through the boulder in front of him effortlessly. "That's great dad!" If there was one thing he loved more than any other thing in the world, it was his father. Nobody else had a cooler dad than him...nobody!
Entirius Amero smiled down at his son and tussled the pup's hair and ears gently. "I think you are one of my biggest fans boy." He looked at the sword he was holding and smiled. He flipped it up and caught the end of the blade, extending the hilt to his son. "Would you like to give it a try?"
Rikuo stared at the sword in an awe-stricken way that only a child could accomplish. His hand gently grasped the hilt and the weapon exploded into phantom flames. Rikuo jumped back with a yelp of surprise.
Entirius chuckled and still held the weapon out. "It won't hurt you. You trust me right?"
Of course Rikuo trusted his dad! Fear gone he grabbed the hilt of the blade with both hands.
Entirius let go of the end of the blade and watched proudly as the sword identified Rikuo's blood and made itself nearly weightless for its new user. The blade was very intelligent, and somehow could always accommodate itself for whoever was using it, as long as they were of the Amero royal family. If they weren't though then the blade would most likely burn their hand off. "See, it won't hurt you."
Rikuo was only half listening to his father. His attention was more on the sword in front of him and flames that licked along its length. It was the pup's desire that one day he could become as great of a warrior as his father, if that was even possible.
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Giovan snickered and pointed at Yami. "Then just try and stop me Pharaoh. Wolf Demon King, attack his Dark Magician Girl now! Lunar Flame Blast!" The giant wolf opened its jaws wide and charged up a glowing ball of ghostly flame. It aimed its muzzle at the Dark Magician Girl and fired, the blast tearing across the ground as it prepared to consume Yami's monster...
Yami flipped up one of his face-down cards. "Just because you've disabled Rikuo doesn't mean that I am out yet. Activate Magic Cylinders!" A pair of cups appeared on the field and one of them absorbed the blast from the Wolf Demon King's attack. "This will reflect your attack right back at your life points!" The other cup shuddered and then spat out the blast of energy, with the target for it now being Giovan.
Giovan snickered and flipped up his face-down card. "Sorry Pharaoh, but I'm ready for your pitiful attempts to ward off my attacks! Activate Barrel Behind the Door! This will reflect your Cylinder's effect right back at you!" A golden gun appeared on his field and fired off a blast of light that caught the flaming stream in mid-flight and threw it right back at Yami, the blast colliding with the ancient Egyptian ruler and sending him careening backwards.
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 5000
Giovan- 14000
The demon king pointed at the Dark Magician Girl. "Torture King attack!" The chained demon cackled insanely and cracked its whip, the spiked end of the weapon piercing the spellcaster's heart. Her eyes snapped open wide and she somehow managed to look at Yami sorrowfully, right before those blue orbs clouded over and she collapsed dead in front of him.
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 4200
Giovan- 14000
Yami stared at the corpse of his monster, feeling sick to his stomach. "Why isn't she leaving play?"
Giovan sniggered. "Aw...is the Pharaoh afraid of death? Don't you understand that this battle is real, and so are the monsters. That means you'll just have to play knowing that every creature I kill truly feels the pain of death before they die. And then you get to sit there alongside their corpse. So bring on your monsters Yami! Let's see just how high the body count can get!!"
Yami drew a card from his deck, hands trembling. This entire duel was crashing down on him. Without Rikuo's help he was trapped in a duel with an opponent who had nothing but advantages. ("I must believe in myself and my deck. We can win this as long as I don't let his mind games get to me.") He slid a card from his hand into his duel disk. "I play the magic card Multiply! This will change my single Kuriboh into five!" The little brown furball shuddered and then split into five of itself. "Now I set two cards face-down. End turn."
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Rikuo yawned and slid out of his bed. He trudged out of his room and went down to the kitchen to get a drink of water. On his way back though he heard a loud thudding noise from inside his father's room. Then he could hear voices. One of them was his father, but he wasn't sure who the other voice belonged to. Edging closer to the door he poked his head in quietly......
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Giovan drew his two cards and slid them into his duel disk. "I set these face-down. Now to squash the little bugs you lined up for me. Wolf Demon King attack!" The wolf monster howled and leapt across the field, biting down on one of the Kuribohs. The little fiend screeched in pain frantically, and then Yami heard the click of the wolf's teeth closing. The monster opened its muzzle and dropped the mangled remains of the Kuriboh right at the pharaoh's feet.
Giovan sneered at the exquisite sight of Yami turning a slight shade of green. "Your turn Torture King! Attack!" The monster cackled and ran over one of the Kuriboh, grasping the furry little creature with his claws.
Yami looked away as he heard a sickening crack. He couldn't ignore it though when the Torture King tossed the Kuriboh corpse into his arms. On reflex he looked down and immediately regretted the action. The Torture King had driven its claws into the Kuriboh, piercing it like a pincushion.
As he stared into the creature's now dead eyes he felt tears begin to develop. He knew that Yugi's emotions on all of this were starting to affect him. Or maybe the tears were his...
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Entirius growled deeply as he raised his sword to point at the demon that had broken into his room. If it wasn't for the fact that the assassin had tripped on one of Rikuo's toys then Entirius would be dead right now. ("I'm getting too soft...")
The cloaked figure chuckled and bowed slightly. "Greetings King Entirius Amero. I had been hoping to kill you in your sleep, but I see now I will have to destroy you in battle."
Entirius snorted and his sword lit up with its phantom flames. "Don't you go and bullshit me. If you are strong enough to defeat me in battle then you would have challenged me instead of trying to kill me in my sleep, coward."
The cloaked figure laughed sharply and drew a sword from the folds of his cloak. "True enough. I know I will be able to match you at least. Supposedly your brother is just as good of a swordsman as you are, correct?"
Entirius narrowed his eyes, ready in case the assassin was trying to distract him. "What of it?"
The figure snorted. "Well, if I am correct he was protecting your wife while she was on her way back from one of the other kingdoms, right?" He didn't get any response except a low growl from Entirius. He reached into the folds of his cloak and extracted a pair of burlap sacs. He tossed them to the bed nonchalantly and slashed the end of his sword across them. The cloth fell away...
Entirius's eyes opened in rage at what he saw. He howled and with the speed of thought he was upon his opponent, their swords crashing into each other and sending thunderous explosions of sound around the room as they battled...
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Wiping the tears from his eyes, Yami gently placed the corpse of the Kuriboh off to the side and drew. "I will not let your mind games defeat me Garlin!" He slid a card into his duel disk. "Go Monster Reborn! Revive my Dark Magician Girl from the graveyard!" There was a flash of golden light and the corpse of the Magician Girl was standing on her feet, alive again. She glanced back fearfully at Yami for reassurance. She, like all of his monsters, trusted him completely. That didn't mean that she wanted to die again though.
The Pharaoh nodded to her. "Don't worry, this time you'll get your revenge on his king."
Giovan rolled his eyes. "Take a look at the field Yami. I'm more than well defended enough to survive whatever your monster can manage against me."
Yami slid another card into his disk. "Now I activate my face-down Sage's Stone! This will special summon Dark Magician (2500/2100) from my deck to the field!" There was a flash of light and the purple-robed form of the Dark Magician appeared on the field next to his female counterpart. "Now I reveal the magic card Dark Magic Attack! This magic card can only be used with a Dark Magician on the field. It will destroy all of your magic and trap cards in play! Go Dark Magician!" The mage aimed his staff at Giovan's field and unleashed a pulsing black of inverted energy.
The blast struck and Giovan growled angrily as his anti-summon lock and his two traps were destroyed. He pulled the cards free of his disk and slid all of them into his graveyard. "I'm not beaten yet. Or have you forgotten that I still have the most powerful monsters on the field?"
Yami flipped his next face-down card. "I haven't forgotten at all Garlin. That's why I played Mage Power face-down until now. It raises the attack strength of my Dark Magician by 500 points for every card that I have in my magic and trap zone!" (3500/3100) His voice burning with fury, Yami pointed at the Torture King. "Go Dark Magician! Dark Magic ATTACK!" The Magician snapped its palm up and released a wave of inverted light that blasted the chained demon apart.
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 4200
Giovan- 13200
Yami crossed his arms across his chest as the charred corpse of the Torture King crashed down next to Giovan. "Now you know what it feels like. End turn."
Giovan's eyes were alight with something that was beyond rage. "You.....you.....DARE TO CHALLENGE THE TORTURE KING!?!?" His voice carried a darker tone to it as his demonic aura started to pulse around him.
Yami glared into those eyes, not in any way afraid. "I do. What are you going to do about it?"
Giovan drew his two cards and sneered coldly. "I'm going to make you suffer, that is what I am going to do. Prepare yourself Pharaoh! I play.....
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Entirius had the assassin now. His sword was inches from cutting down the murdering bastard, when he heard the door creak. His attention snapped over to the door to his room to make sure that there wasn't another assassin about to attack him.
Kilomet didn't argue with good fortune. When his opponent's eyes glanced away, he took that split second to press the button on the hilt of his sword. The spring in the hilt went off and the blade was launched upwards at the wolf demon king.
Entirius met eyes with his son. "Rikuo, look..." His voice turned into a gurgle as the launched blade pierced his ribs and his lung. He weakly looked back at his opponent, just in time to see the curved knife go into its arc for his neck.
Rikuo had seen his father fighting and curiosity had brought him into the room farther. He wanted to see what exactly had made his father so angry. The behind him had creaked and he had met eyes with his father. "Rikuo, look..." The blood that spilled out of his father's throat brought his eyes wide.
Kilomet had the foolish king now. Lazily he snapped his knife into an arc and removed Entirius's head from his shoulders. As the corpse slumped to the ground in front of him he looked over at the doorway to see what had saved him. He was pleasantly surprised to see a wide-eyed child had been his rescuer. "I bet you are Rikuo, hmm?" He kicked the corpse in front of him a couple of times. "Just remember that it was your fault that he died, brat." Kilomet sneered as the child's eyes still didn't seem to register what had happened. ("I love seeing pain...especially in those who don't understand it yet.")
His hand reached down to grab the Howling Sword, but it burned him instantly. He snatched his hand back and growled at the weapon. ("Probably only responds to members of the blood...") He stopped in mid-thought and his crimson eyes went over to Rikuo, who was still staring in shock where his eyes had met his father's. "How lucky I am that there just happens to be someone of the bloodline in front of me necessary to wield the sword. Come on brat, you're about to become a weapon." Kilomet's hand reached down and grabbed Rikuo by the scruff of the neck...
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...the magic card Gathering of the Torturous!" Giovan slid the card into his duel disk and forms of Giovan's other Torture Machine monsters appeared on the field. The three metal creatures exploded into pieces as Giovan slid his next card into the duel disk. "Now I activate Polymerization to combine them together with the corpse of my Torture King!" The parts of steel gathered on the corpse and slowly the corpse came back to its feet.
The new monster looked like the Torture King, except that its body was now covered completely in all sorts of pain-inflicting instruments. "Pharaoh! Pay your respects to the Torture King Reborn (3600/3600) in attack mode!"
Yami took a step back from horrendous creature as it lunged across the field for his Dark Magician. It drove the point of a drill straight into the purple-robed Magician and dropped him, dead at his master's feet. ("No.....")
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 4100
Giovan- 13200
"Now Wolf Demon King, Lunar Flame Blast!" The explosion of the flame thankfully at least left no corpse of the Dark Magician Girl behind. Then again, the smell of burnt hair and flesh was in a way even worse.
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 13200
Giovan chuckled darkly and motioned to his opponent. "That leaves you with a face-down card and a trio of furballs that I will enjoy ripping to pieces!"
Yami drew and his eyes widened. ("I can't use this card....not yet at least.") "End turn."
Giovan drew his two and snickered as he slapped down a new monster. "I sacrifice my three face-down creatures to summon my almighty Torture Machine-Gauntlet (3000/3000) in attack mode." The three face-down cards exploded and in their place was a giant machine that bristled with all kinds of torture tools. "Ready to meet your end? Gauntlet attack his middle Kuriboh!" The steel machine shot out a spray of sharp chains that ripped the little furball apart in a spray of blood.
Yami refused to close his eyes to this. He wouldn't let himself look away from the death of his creatures this time. They were sacrificing themselves so that he could win this duel.
"Torture King Reborn, go and have some fun with his creature!" The steel king cackled and leaped forward, driving its razor sharp claws through the Kuriboh's body. The little fiend squeaked once and then died.
"Wolf Demon King! End this now!" The demon unleashed its flame and consumed the remaining Kuriboh. "End turn."
Yami, despite his will to not cry, felt tears in his eyes once more. To think that someone could enjoy doing something like this... ("No...I mustn't let this get to me.") He drew and looked down at his card.... ("No...this can't be...") This card would work perfectly with his other card, but they required his Dark Magician to be on the field to work. He looked at his life point score and turned to face Giovan. "I cannot play any of the cards in my hand. You win Garlin."
Giovan drew his two and pointed at Yami. "You're not getting off that easily pharaoh! Torture King Reborn, attack him directly and win me those God Cards! Kill HIM!!" The demon charged across the field, all too willing to comply with its master's demands.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: A Father's love
Author's Notes: And that is part 2 of the final battle of the Shadow Tournament arc. So please let me know how I am doing, and I'll get to work on the next part right away.