Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh

Demon Duelist Legacy-Dark Soul Arc

Chapter 17: Conquering the Dark Seal

Valeus motioned to the darkness around him and replied sarcastically. "Oh I believe you. It's the darkness that requires convincing. So I suggest you make your case good, because believe me..." He exploded into insane laughter. "...the shadows don't believe in mercy!"

"You shouldn't talk like that. You'll make people think that I am insane." Deondre knew he was only trying to boost his own confidence now, but that was exactly what he needed at the moment. He would need two magic/trap destroyers to get rid of the Seal of Dark Souls. ("Do I even have two more ways left in my deck to get rid of it?")

Valeus saw the look of despair that crossed Seto Kaiba's face. "What's the matter Deondre? You seemed so eager to take me down before. I thought that you believe in good triumphing over evil and all that nonsense. Don't you think you can draw the necessary cards to beat me?"

Deondre drew his next card and slapped it onto his disk. "I summon D.D. Scout Plane (800/1200) in defense mode." A futuristic ball-shaped plane appeared on his field. "End turn."

Valeus drew and snickered. "Too bad for you boy. I've got the perfect monster for this situation." He slapped it down onto his disk. "I summon Proprietor of the Dark Soul (600/1200) in defense mode." A demon cloaked in priestly black robes appeared on his field in defense mode. "That's not all though. I also flip up my face-down magic card, Heart of Clear Water." A crystal bubble formed around the Proprietor's body. "As long as he is equipped with this he cannot be destroyed in battle. End turn."

Deondre drew and the Proprietor screeched in a high-pitched squealing voice. He watched as a dark mist leaked out of the bodies of all of his monsters, the energy flowing right into the Proprietor's body. "What's it doing!?"

Valeus snickered as the Proprietor turned to him and handed him a glowing orb of light. "The Proprietor of Dark Soul's special ability drains you of 500 soul points for every monster you have with a Dark Soul Token attached to it." He pressed the orb into his chest and shivered as relief spread through his body.

Deondre- 2000/5500

Valeus- 4600/3500

Deondre frowned and looked at the card he had drawn angrily. ("I have no choice in the matter. I have to do this.") He slid the card into his duel disk. "I activate the ritual magic card Dimension Rift!" A crystal gate of Light appeared behind him. "Since I must sacrifice eight level stars worth of monsters to summon my ultimate monster card, I'll sacrifice my D.D. Dragon and my D.D. Scout Plane!" The two monsters exploded into particles of light that flew right into the gate. The crystal gate shuddered and slid open to reveal a regal man in futuristic. "Come forth Lord of the Different Dimension in defense mode! End turn." (4000/4000)

Valeus drew and chuckled. "So you think that by lowering the number of monsters on your field that you are going slow me down at all? That's the dumbest idea I have seen in a while. End turn."

Deondre drew and watched as the Proprietor screeched and absorbed more of his soul points. ("I need to draw a card that can kill that thing!") "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

Deondre- 2000/3500

Valeus- 6600/5500

Valeus drew casually and slid the card into his duel disk. "I set this face-down and end my turn."

Deondre looked down at his deck hopelessly. ("It's over. The moment I draw he'll drain me of more soul points. This is my last card before his Proprietor of Dark Soul wipes out my life points.") It was unfair. He was always told that if you played fair that you would be the winner in the end. ("But this will be the end of me. I know I don't have a card in my deck capable of winning this duel for me.")

He slowly fell to his borrowed knees, eyes looking at nothing in particular. ("What sickens me the most is that he cheated to get where he is right now, and though I played fair, he's going to come out on top.") His head snapped back and he screamed out, "TELL ME WHY!?"

Valeus laughed as he watched his opponent slowly start to break down. "You're finished. This duel is over and so is your life. So draw your card and end your turn so that you can pass on into the world of the dead."

Deondre lowered his head to the ground and clenched his fists angrily. He didn't understand why this was happening. ("Good's supposed to triumph over evil. It's a fact of life!") He didn't even feel like drawing his next card. He knew it wasn't going to be enough to win.

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"You're depressing when you get like this." A familiar voice from next to him said.

Deondre slowly looked back to see himself looking at CJ. "How...when..." From his other side he heard someone approaching. He looked over to see Daniel. "How......did you guys get here?"

Daniel smiled and gave his friend a half-hearted salute. "Trust me, we're not real. In fact, we're figments of your imagination."

Deondre stared at the illusion, eyes wide. "What kind of...Why?"

CJ chuckled and crossed his arms across his chest. "Believe me; we didn't think we would be needed here. I guess we thought wrong though. You're supposed to be the one of us who can always face the odds and walk away the winner. I guess you need a little boost though."

Daniel sat down next to him and grinned. "Come on D, you can't actually give up and die in this duel."

Deondre wiped the beginnings of tears from his eyes. "Why can't I?"

"Because it's your destiny to win this fight. It's your destiny to do something that the twelve demon lords could never do. And to do that then you're going to need to believe that despite how bad this situation looks, that you are not alone in this fight."

Deondre barely recognized that fact that this figment of his imagination had just told him a bit of history he didn't know. "But...I don't have a card that can pull this off. Not..."

CJ sat down next to him on the other side. "You can't actually expect that to matter, can you? You just said it yourself. Good triumphs over evil, light wins out over darkness, it's a fact of life."

Daniel patted his friend on the back. "So don't give up yet. You've still got a chance left in that next card that you draw."

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Valeus stared as his opponent slowly came to his feet. "What's this? You decided to go down fighting hmm?"

Deondre kept his borrowed eyes to the ground. "This isn't right. None of this is. And it's my job to set it right." He knew that now. His eyes slowly lifted to glare at Valeus. "I will send you into oblivion. It is my destiny to make sure that you cannot terrorize the world again."

Valeus snickered at how cliché his opponent sounded now. "I've heard it all before. A million heroes came to my doorstep, only to be struck down like dogs. In all honesty, you're nothing special to me."

Deondre smiled. He no longer felt doubt in this matter. "I will win and you will lose." He drew and watched as the Proprietor stole more soul points from him.

Deondre- 2000/1500

Valeus- 8600/7500

Valeus looked at his opponent's soul point total and sneered. "Alright, so let's see your victory play."

Deondre glanced at the new card and slid it into his duel disk. "Not yet. End turn."

Valeus drew and rolled his eyes. "All that drama and you still have nothing? Well that's too bad, because I end my turn. Now draw your card so my Proprietor can kill you."

Deondre drew and tapped a button on his duel disk. "I hope you don't think it's over yet. Reveal my last hope to win this duel, Reversal of Fortune!" A golden die appeared in front of him. "This trap card allows me to roll a single die. Whatever number comes up on it will determine what effect I get. Since none of the effects are related, let's just hope for a good number, shall we?" He grabbed the die and threw it across the field. It bounced and landed on a four. "Here's the comeback! When I get a four I may destroy one monster on the field and negate its effect!" The flipped up card behind to glow a bright red color. "Good-bye Proprietor of the Dark Soul!" The beam it fired blew the demon into nothingness.

Valeus's eyes widened in horror as he watched his killing combo get destroyed.

Deondre saw the look and slid the card he had just drawn into his duel disk. "End turn."

Valeus drew and smirked. "Keep in mind that if you attack with any of your monsters, then you will lose the rest of your life points. I set two cards face-down and one monster in defense. End turn."

Deondre drew and knew that if he wanted to make any more progress in this duel he was going to have to make a major topdeck. "Please..." He drew and slapped down his fifth monster. "I summon Apprentice Magician (400/800) in defense mode!" A short blond spellcaster appeared on his field in a crouching position. "This monster will be the key to annihilating your seal for a second time!"

Valeus snorted and darkness around him seemed to pulsate. "You're such a horrible liar."

Deondre smirked and pointed at his Breaker the Magical Warrior. "Are you so sure? Do you know how Breaker's special ability worked?"

Valeus rolled his eyes. He was the master of magician monsters, of course he knew. "Though you said he drained his attack by 300 to use his effect, it actually works because he enters the field with a spell counter that he may sacrifice to destroy a magic or trap card on my field. That's where his extra 300 attack points come from."

Deondre pointed at Breaker, whose sword was starting to glow rapidly. "When Apprentice Magician is summoned to my field I may place one spell counter on a target on the field. That means I am going to give Breaker the power to destroy another magic or trap card on your field." Breaker lifted his sword up into the air, the weapon pulsing with light. (1900/1000)

Valeus crossed his arms across his chest. "It won't be enough to get rid of the Seal of Dark Souls. How many times do I have to tell you that before it finally sinks in?"

"Only once, my dear Valeus," Deondre said mockingly. "Breaker, destroy the Seal of Dark Souls!" The Magical Warrior nodded and threw his sword into the air, the weapon turning into a shooting star of energy that launched out of sight. There was a loud clang and then the weapon fell back down to its owner's hand, life-less.

Valeus rolled his eyes at the stupidity of his opponent. "So if you knew that why did you have Breaker waste his counter?"

Deondre tapped a button on his duel disk. "Who ever said that I wasted the counter?" His remaining face-down card flipped up. "Go Monster Relief! This will send a monster from my field back to my hand and then it will let me summon a four star or below monster from my hand back to the field." He grinned widely and in a sing-song voice he said, "You know what that means." He picked the Apprentice Magician off of his disk and then slapped it back down.

Breaker's sword thrummed with life once more. "Now Breaker has his counter again. So say good-bye to your Seal! Breaker, destroy it!" The Magical Warrior threw his sword once more, the shooting star of energy slamming into the barrier that the Seal formed and shattering it.

Valeus looked horror-stricken as the pieces of his precious Seal of Dark Souls fell to the ground around him. "No..."

Deondre pointed at the face-down monster. "Without your Seal of Dark Souls I can attack without worry! Breaker, get rid of his face-down monster!" The crimson-armored spellcaster nodded and charged across the field, cutting the card in half.

Valeus saw his opponent's other three attackers begin to power up their respective attacks, and he pressed a button on his duel disk quickly. "I'm not finished yet! Reveal Dark Wall of Air, which will negate your direct monster attacks and leave me safe this turn!" The three monsters slowly charged down their attacks.

Deondre, his belief returned that good will always win in the end, smiled. "End turn."

Valeus placed all of the remaining scraps of dark energy he had into this next draw. He could feel the ribbons of black energy that was flowing off of him, but he didn't care. ("I will not be sent back to that hell again!") He drew and looked at the card. "Well, it looks like I was right. I'm not finished yet."

He slid the card into his duel disk. "Activate the magic card Revival of the Darkness! This special magic card will immediately reactivate my Seal of Dark Soul from any location!" The air around him, which had just started to clear of its dark air, thickened with the black and grey of the Seal of Dark Souls once again. "That's not all though."

He tapped a button on his disk and his face-down card flipped up. "I activate another one of my favorite recovery magic cards, Dark Soul Fulfillment! This will create a Dark Soul Token for every monster on your field, meaning that now you are completely unable to attack me!" His insane laughter echoed across the invisible walls of the dome that the Seal of Dark Souls had created.

Deondre couldn't believe this. He wouldn't believe that he was beaten. ("I've broken his Seal twice. I'll simply draw the cards I need and break it again!") He drew and he slid the card into his duel disk. "I set one card face-down and I end my turn."

Valeus, his stolen body still surrounded in streamers of darkness, drew off the top of his deck and snickered. "And now you are back to facing down death. I activate the equipment magic card Blinding Rage. This will force the equipped monster to attack every turn. And since I am equipping this card to your Lord of the Different Dimension, it must attack me during your next battle phase. That means...."

Deondre looked down at his deck and clenched his fist. "...that now I really do only have one turn left."

Valeus smiled darkly. "End...turn." He said the words like he was pounding the nails into his opponent's coffin with that statement.

Deondre fists clenched so tight he could feel blood beginning to form within the palm of his hands. He knew that despite whatever his intentions were, he didn't have any cards left in his deck that could help him. ("I know it is my destiny to win. But how can I win without cheating? How can I win without being like him?") He didn't expect an answer to the question.

He got one though, in the form of a howl that sent shivers racing up his spine. He stared down at the source of the sound. It had been his deck. ("What?")

("I am here to serve you, master. Simply draw me and I will be your servant forever.")

Deondre felt his hand being drawn to his deck slowly, his eyes wide in fear and anticipation. ("That voice...It sounds so familiar.")

Valeus didn't like what he was seeing one bit. Something in the boy's deck was releasing impossible amounts of magical energy. "I see you must cheat to win your duels as well?"

That was all Deondre needed to hear to have a reason to draw his next card. He looked at it and then lifted his eyes to meet Valeus's. "Valeus...you've been alive too long. This time, you won't be coming back if I have anything to say about it. And I didn't cheat. This card came to me of its own will."

Valeus glared, feeling anger boil across his features at being spoken to in such a way. "What are you talking about!? That card didn't come to you of its own will."

Deondre held the gold-faced card to his opponent. "I personally don't care what you think, you parasite. Now it's time to set everything right. And for me to do that I'll need to destroy your Seal of Dark Souls."

Though he was angry, Valeus had to smirk at that. "I doubt very much that you'll be able to pull that off with just one card. You know how powerful the Seal is."

Deondre slid the card into his duel disk. "I know." There was an explosion in front of him as the earth began to crack and a huge sword shaped like a fang shot out of the ground to land in the hands of his Lord of the Different Dimension. "That's why I have called upon the power that can destroy even your Seal in just one hit!"

Valeus felt little drops of sweat begin to drip down his face. "What are you talking about? There is no such card!"

Deondre calmly pointed at the huge blade that was in the hands of his Lord. "What do you call that then? I call it the Legendary Weapon Card Shattering Fang. And with its special ability you are finished!" The Lord of the Different Dimension lifted the weapon high above his head, the heavy blade now surrounded by a sheath of emerald light that illuminated the gloom of the Seal. (5000/4000)

"Its special ability allows me to me to send any magic or trap card on the field straight to the graveyard once per turn! So say good-bye to your Seal of Dark Souls once more, except this time you won't live long enough to see it again!"

Valeus growled and clenched his fists, his eyes burning with rage. "ARE YOU STUPID!? IT CANNOT BE DESTROYED BY A SINGLE EFFECT!"

Deondre smiled in a superior way. "Ah, but did I say I was destroying it? I said I was sending it to the graveyard. And whether you want to believe it or not, there is a difference between the two. Now go Shattering Fang!" The Lord of the Different Dimension slammed the weapon into the ground and it sent a shockwave of light and energy traveling across the earth.

The wave shot past Valeus and then traveled up the dome shape of the Seal of Dark Souls. It hit the top of the dome and then exploded, sending tremors through the invisible walls. There was loud cracking noise and dozens of glowing spider-string thick cracks appeared around them. Then the dome finally came down, raining both duelists with digital pieces of energy.

Deondre pointed at Valeus. "Now I reveal my face-down trap card Team Strike! This allows all of my monsters to transfer their attack power to one monster on my field. So I give all of the power to my Lord of the Different Dimension." (13200/4000) "You wanted my monster to attack you Valeus? Well you get your wish! Lord of the Different Dimension, attack his life points directly!"

The Lord leapt forward and slashed its sword across Valeus's chest. The ex-demon mage felt intense pain and then oblivion consumed him completely.

As the holograms faded away, Deondre smiled and felt his soul start to get pulled out of Kaiba's body and transferred to his own. ("Evil never wins...damn straight.") He fell into darkness with a smile on his face.

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Envirius watched as a black crystal appeared on his desk. "Hello Valeus, I see that you failed. Not that I blame you for failing, since you were facing off against one of the Legendary Weapon Cards. Of course you did fail me, so..." He placed his hand upon the crystal and it shattered. "...good-bye."

He spun around in his chair and looked out at the night sky with a smile on his face. ("And they just keep finding their way here. Soon all twelve will be here and then they will all be mine.")

To be continued...

Next Chapter: A dinner date with a madman