Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh
Demon Duelist Legacy-World Tour Arc
Chapter 16: Seren comes a calling
Seren was crying, the tears streaming down his face as he looked upon the mutilated bodies of his mother and father. His father had tried to protect his mother, but the bullets he had taken in the back had gone right through into his mother's body.
("They died because of you and your weakness.")
He screamed into the night sky, cursing his demon heritage and the humans who hated him and his kind.
("There is a way to make them all pay, you know? It's a magic that can make all of the humans go away, forever.")
("Where...is it?") Seren tried to stand, but he was unable to. He was far too tired.
"Freeze!" He heard a voice behind him yell in German. It was accompanied by the sound of guns being loaded.
Seren didn't even turn around. It was hopeless. What purpose remained in fighting? If so many wanted him and his family dead, then who was he to argue? ("Just...let it be quick...")
("Open your eyes and look upon your parents' bodies! Is that how you want to be!? Do you want to be remembered as a corpse who didn't even try to avenge them? WELL!?")
Seren was crying more than ever. ("What can I do? I can't stop them from hating me. Why do they hate me!?") He spun around and screamed at the collected soldiers, who all took a couple of steps away from him. "WHY DO YOU HATE ME!?"
He heard the murmurings amongst them about 'demon child' and 'tortured him to death'.
"Is that what you all think!? You judge me, just like that!?" Seren fell to his knees.
"Why?" He whispered breathlessly...
"Enough, just kill the little brat already," said one of the men. They all nodded and lifted their guns...
Seren lifted his head up, his eyes burning red. "Human scum," his voice was much deeper and angrier than before, "Before this night is done...you will all know terror."
The rest of the night was punctuated by explosions, and then screams...
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Esmin flipped up his face-down card. "Now I can trigger my trap card without a problem. I activate Grave Tree!" (0/3000) A hideously twisted tree exploded out of the ground, its bark nearly pitch black and its limbs so gnarled and warped that the tree looked like a monster. "As long as this remains in play, every time that a monster card is sent to the graveyard, you will lose 300 life points. That's not its only special ability though. When I trigger its other effect, I may remove a plant-trap monster from my graveyard to negate an attack." A burst of white mist sprayed in the face of CJ's Ape, and the monster spun around and stumbled back to its master's field.
"And it works perfectly with my other card, Endless Despair! Now every time a monster goes to the graveyard, it counts as if it went to the graveyard five times. Every time a monster is lost, you're going to lose 1500 life points!"
CJ narrowed his eyes. "End turn."
Esmin drew, smiling. "You're running out of time and out of ideas, aren't you? Your deck is the perfect offense, but what happens when you battle against a defense that cannot be broken down by your brute force tactics?" He slid two cards into his duel disk. "Anyway, I set two cards face-down and end my turn."
CJ drew. "I won't surrender to the likes of you. My strategy has the power to beat you. All I need to do is find the right cards. First though, I'll sacrifice Rage to summon Manticore of Darkness." (2300/1000) A huge winged lion appeared on his field. "End turn."
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Rikuo and Jasmine felt it at once. It was the power of someone invoking a darkness game.
Normally they wouldn't do something like this, but when it came to people randomly calling upon powers like that, they couldn't take the risk that it would all just sort itself out. They forcefully took over the bodies of their other halves.
"You felt it too?" Jasmine asked calmly, though inside she was hurting at the prospect that she had to take control of her hikari's body like that.
Rikuo nodded and as one they climbed out of their seats.
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Esmin drew. "It's far too easy to win now. Reveal face-down trap card, Spirit Barrier. As long as this trap is in play, I will not take battle damage as long as I have a monster. Now I summon Sangan (1000/600) in attack mode!" A little three-eyed fiend appeared on his field. "Attack his Manticore of Darkness!"
His Sangan screeched and charged, getting torn to shreds before it ever made it halfway across the field. "And thanks to Endless Despair, Sangan's special ability, which triggers when it is killed while on the field, activates five times." He removed his deck from his disk. "That means I get to search my deck for five monsters with 1500 or less attack points and place them into my hand." He removed the five cards of his choice and then put his deck back. "It feels so good to retrieve everything I need to win this duel. Now all I need is a way to discard my hand, and you will take 7500 life points of damage. For now, you can just take 1500 from the loss of my 'five' Sangans."
CJ- 5700
Esmin- 1900
The fox demon smirked calmly. "End turn."
CJ drew. ("I gotta try and turn this around before he can wipe out my life points with that damned tree of his.") "I play the magic card Treasure of Fate!" A huge white die appeared in the air and then dropped to the ground, bouncing around. "Whatever numbers this land on will equal how many cards I draw from my deck."
The die stopped on a two.
"Alright, so I draw two cards from my deck and then remove the top two cards of my deck from the game." He drew his two cards and then took the next two and slid them into his back pocket. "And I finish my turn by switching Manticore of Darkness to defense mode." The bipedal winged lion slid into a crouching position on his field.
Esmin drew and slid a card into his duel disk. "The Cheerful Coffin, which means that I can discard up to three monsters from my hand. Thanks to the power of my Grave Tree, that's an instant 4500 life point worth of damage to you." Grabbing three of the cards in his hand, he slid them into his graveyard slot.
CJ- 1200
Esmin- 1900
CJ clenched his fist angrily. ("I hate this! What am I supposed to do to beat him!?")
"And then I set one monster in defense mode. Now come and attack me, if you dare." Esmin smiled coldly, knowing that CJ did attack and kill his face-down monster, then it would be over.
("There's way too much at stake for me to lose. Please...give me the answer to this problem.") He drew. "Alright, let's fix the problem your little piece of timber is causing me. I play the magic card Monster Reborn, which will revive D.D. Crazy Beast (1400/1400) to the field in defense mode." The red and teal googly-eyed monster reappeared on his field. "Then I sacrifice it and my Manticore to summon my newest secret weapon!" The two sacrifice monsters faded from the field, and were replaced by a burly warrior in incredibly heavy-looking armor. "I summon Lord of the Perfect Defense (0/5000) in attack mode!"
Esmin stared at the huge creature in confusion. "Why would you play a monster that has no attack points in attack mode?"
"Because I can also combine it with this, my Legendary Weapon Card! Go Guardian Maul! This will transfer the defense of my monster to its attack points, and then it doubles my creature's defense power." A huge-headed hammer appeared in the grasp of the warrior. "Now, attack his Grave Tree!" (5000/10000) The warrior launched himself forward and crushed the tree in one hit. "End turn."
Esmin drew with a scowl on his face. "You've got some definite insolence to try and scare me with a monster. Just for that, I'm going to make a fool of you with my ultimate creature. I play the ritual magic card, Doom Tree's Birth." He slid the rest of his hand into the graveyard. "Now I sacrifice all of the monsters I searched for and my face-down monster to summon Doom Tree!"
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Everyone arrived at the cargo hold at the same time, and the first thing to greet them was the spherical shape of a darkness game in progress.
"Why don't you people ever just have normal duels?" Deondre muttered while he went to go check on Amy, who was still unconscious. "It always has to be involving someone's soul being on the line."
Rikuo frowned at the sphere. "The Ape-Horse is in there. We need to get him out. Whoever he is dueling must be powerful, lest he wouldn't have been able to invoke the game in the first place."
Jasmine stepped right up next to him. "It's my brother...How?"
Ryu sighed from behind them both. "Stop being surprised when a new spirit shows up. It's getting old." He walked past them both and narrowed his eyes at the sphere. "I don't think I can break this seal. Not without time, and considering that it's a darkness game, I really can't do anything about it before the duel would most likely end."
Rikuo smirked and drew the Howling Sword from his side. "I'll get it open..."
Ryu spun around and cuffed him in the side of the head. "That's not an option. You know the rules of a darkness game. If you damage it, we have no idea what could happen."
"I was joking, you ass." Rikuo rubbed the side of his head tenderly.
("Come Rikuo, I wish to discuss something with you and your 'friend'.")
The ancient wolf spirit froze up at the sound of the voice in his head. ("Seren!?") A few seconds passed and he changed where he was aiming his mental 'voice'. ("Did you hear that Daniel?")
("Yeah...but what does he want with us?")
("He probably wants to try and kill us outright.") With the effort of turning on a light switch, Rikuo switched mental 'lines' and reconnected with Seren. ("Fine. How are we supposed to get to you?")
("Get your duel disk.")
Rikuo looked over at Ryu. "I'll be right back. If I'm not, then continue on without me." Before the dragon demon could get a chance to protest, the wolf demon shot past him and out of the cargo bay.
"Wait a...Rikuo!?" Ryu spun around and climbed up back into the passenger cabin, but by the time he reached where Rikuo should have been, no one was there. "Damn..."
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Esmin disappeared behind a black form that exploded out of the ground. As the form of the Death Tree finished forming, it wound up resembling a giant apple tree. The big difference was that apple trees were never pitch-black and instead of apples this tree had skulls hanging from its branches.
The grey leaves of the tree rustled, and then from a platform at the top of tree, Esmin emerged. "This, my friend, is my Doom Tree." (3000/4000) "And its special ability will bring down your 'ultimate' monster and the rest of your life points. By sacrificing cards from my graveyard, I can raise my tree's attack or defense points by 200 per card. So, I'll remove the seventeen cards in my graveyard to raise the attack strength of my Doom Tree by 3400 points." (6400/4000) The tree stretched its roots down to tear CJ's monster apart. "Attack his Lord of The Perfect Defense!"
CJ grinned. "That's your last mistake! Activate special ability, Perfect Defense!" The Lord of the Perfect Defense fell to one knee and attached the Guardian Maul to its back. The roots slapped its roots across the body of the warrior, but it had no effect on it. "Whenever my monster is attacked, I may switch it to defense mode immediately. That means the backlash damage will be enough to wipe out your life points! So I win!"
Esmin threw back his head and laughed wildly. "How quickly you forget my trap card, Spirit Barrier! As long as I have a monster, I cannot take damage from battle sources. Therefore, I'm completely safe as long as I have my creature in play. End turn."
CJ thought back to what he had seen on his opponent's field. ("He has one face-down card. It has to be a trap. My next card...has to be a good one. I can't hold off his tree for much longer.")
He drew. "Heh, you're in trouble now. I play the magic card Riryoku, which steals half of the attack of your monster and gives it to mine for one turn!" His Lord of the Perfect Defense was surrounded by a glowing aura of black energy. (8200/10000) "Now I switch him back into attack mode!" The warrior stood up and unhinged the Guardian Maul from off of his back. "Attack and end this now! Guardian's Slam!" Howling a battle cry, his monster struck the hammer into the ground and released a wave of energy that burned across the field towards the Doom Tree.
"Reveal face-down card, Mirror Force!" A glowing barrier of blue light shot up between the two monsters. The wave hit the barrier and dissipated. "With this, all of your monsters in attack mode will be destroyed. This duel is mine! Go Mirror Force!" The barrier spat out a shotgun like blast of energy that flew towards CJ's field.
"I'm not even close to done yet. Activate special ability, Perfect Defense!" The Lord of the Perfect Defense reattached the Guardian Maul to his back and crouched as he went to defense mode. It disappeared within the spray of energy, and then emerged from it unharmed. "Since my monster went to defense mode, your Mirror Force can't hurt it." ("That was close. I'd better not try that again.") "End turn."
Esmin drew his card and frowned. "I will find a way around that monster of yours. And as soon as I do, then you will be mine. Until then, I set this card face-down and end my turn."
CJ drew. "Keep on dreaming; because that's the only place you're ever going to be beating me. I set this card face-down and end my turn."
Esmin drew and smiled slightly. "Ah, this should make our game more interesting. I play the magic card Rose of Blood." The card shimmered and faded, filling the sky around them with rose petals. "With this card in play, each of us draws until we have six cards in our hand. Now this has become a duel of gentlemen, because my Rose of Blood magic card places a special restriction on both of us. We may only activate one card per turn from now on, and if either of us destroys the Rose of Blood, then we discard our entire hands. So don't try and be clever by crushing it." The fox demon drew his six cards. "And for my card, I play the magic card Healing Nectar. This will give me 500 extra life points for every plant monster in my hand." Snapping his hand around, he showed three monsters. His body was suffused in a golden light as his health was restored. "End turn."
CJ- 1200
Esmin- 3400
CJ drew and pursed his lips at the six cards he had. ("This is a long shot, but those tend to be the best.") "I set this card face-down and end my turn."
Esmin drew and slid a card into his duel disk. "I also set one card face-down on my field. End turn."
CJ drew. ("Alright, just don't clear my field and everything will be okay.") "I set another card face-down and end my turn."
Esmin's lips curled into a cold smile that sent shivers down CJ's spine. "Activate face-down trap card, Sixth Sense." A white die appeared in the air in front of him. "Now I call the numbers five and six. If the die lands on those numbers, then I draw that many cards from my deck. However, if I am wrong then I place a number of cards equal to whatever comes up on the die from my deck into my graveyard." The die bounced around and landed on a six. "How fortunate for me." He drew six cards from off the top of his deck and added them to his hand. "That's not all. Since I did this during your turn, I can still activate a card right now." He drew and added the card to the stack that was his hand. "So many options..."
CJ grimaced and looked at his face-down cards. ("Damn...")
"Aha! This is the card I will play." The fox demon slid a card into his duel disk. "Thorn Storm will allow me to sacrifice a plant monster on my field to deal that monster's attack in damage to your life points. And all it will cost me is half of my life points." The Doom Tree shuddered and rustled, its body crumbling into dust. "Fire!" As if on cue, the monster's body sprayed out a wave of tiny needles that all were rocketing towards CJ.
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Rikuo felt his hair get whipped around in wind that he could not feel or hear. Then as quickly as the 'ride' has begun, it was over. Now he found himself standing within a large stone chamber, with Seren standing just a few feet from him.
"Greetings General. I was hoping that you would come. There's business we need to discuss." The crane demon did a shallow bow to Rikuo and then smiled so sweetly that the wolf demon was sure that he was going to get a toothache.
"Seren, are you so sure I came here to talk?" Rikuo tapped the Howling Sword, which was hanging from his side. "I could quite easily cut you down right now and save the entire world a lot of heartache."
"You could, but would that be any way to repay me for my gift to you?"
"I don't think pissing me off counts as a gift."
"Why does my head feel like it was just hit with a really big hammer?" Daniel muttered from right behind Rikuo.
The ancient spirit felt his heart leap into his throat. Spinning around, he found himself face to face with his hikari. "What the..."
Seren continued to smile sweetly at the confused look on Rikuo's face. "Don't you get it? I gave you your own body. You're alive again."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: To thegymrat: Kenshin speak is good, that it is.