Chapter Seven: Ultimate Duel!
The wolf-demon duelist placed his fingers on his deck, ready to draw. And then he began to have doubts. He could imagine a way to handle this situation. Short of something like an infinite loop, which he had no way to form in his hand, there seemed to be no possibility of defeating the insanely powerful monster. Every turn it just got stronger, and Drake's life points were reinforced.
It wasn't just that either. He knew that he could stall for quite some time with the abilities of Yami Knight and Hikari Knight active. But Drake had just restored his deck, and only the cards in his hand, field, and out of play were no longer there. Meanwhile Rikuo only had nine cards left in his deck. So on his third turn after this one in the end phase he would lose because he'd have to draw two cards and wouldn't have a deck.
He'd been in a similar situation against Sestros. He had gotten down to his final cards, and in the end he had managed to win simply because Sestros had imbued his monster with the soul of Daniel. Had he not done so there would have been no way for Rikuo to have won. But this wasn't a darkness game, and no technicality was going to get him out of the hole he was in.
Everything in this duel was going to have to come down to one moment and one draw. Although in reality it didn't matter if he won or lost, Rikuo felt that this duel was the challenge that he had been needing to revitalize him. If he could win then he'd feel ready to reenter the world and start really dueling again. He had decided to stop dueling after his match with Daniel, just because of one reason. That match had been a parting gift between the two of them and Rikuo had been tired of duels with insane stakes.
'Who am I kidding. A challenging duel isn't what's been holding me back from reentering the dueling world. It's been me the whole time. I've been too worried about the potential threat, that somehow the moment I did so something terrible would happen. All along I've been afraid of that.' The wolf demon raised his head and stared proudly across the field at his opponent, his body radiating confidence and his energy on the upsurge. Drake felt the wolf's power stirring.
"I've been cowering from myself for far too long! Now the time has come for me to change that, so I'm going to keep dueling until the very end. Despair is meaningless, because even if I lose I'll have come out of it a better duelist. Now is my moment to see everything I've ever done in a duel come together. DRAW!"
"I'm about to undo the damage you've done Drake, and I'm going to send it all right back at you! I'll start by sending a monster from my hand to the cemetery. It's called Magic Disabling Team-B(300/600)!" He shoved the named monster into his cemetery, and suddenly a group of blue, green, and yellow men appeared. Each one wore a hard hat and was busy at work pounding away at the ground around Drake. By the time they were finished a little mechanical device sat there, and it was generating a weird energy field around Drake.
"Magic Disabling Team-B allows me to keep my opponent from activating magic cards for one full turn. All I have to do is discard them from my hand just like I did. So I have no fear of you playing magic cards from your hand!" Drake smirked, still completely aware of the power he possessed. Obviously he didn't feel any fear from Rikuo's play, and why should he?
"My Supreme Sage of Chaos(12300/12300) is way too powerful for that to make any difference. You've got no chance of defeating it, because now that it has absorbed five monsters it gains immunity from directly targeted magic and trap cards. Pretty impressive huh?" Rikuo just smirked, not really minding the yet again increased power of Drake's god monster. It didn't matter to him at all.
"All of your efforts are going to come crashing down in just a moment. But before I commence with thrashing your supreme monster I'm going to summon Mechanical Chaser(1850/800) to the field for later. Once I've rid myself of your magician I'll use it to attack you directly." The spindly armed monster appeared, and was greeted with a brief bow from Hikari Knight and complete disregard by Yami Knight. Meanwhile the machine was being stared down by the power of Supreme Sage of Chaos who was nearly ten times as strong.
"You thought your god was enough to save you didn't you? Well I'm going to prove you wrong right here and now! My draw rewarded me with the single card that could turn this duel around, and I'm going to show it to you! Polymerization!" Drake felt the enormous surge of power as the warp vortex appeared on the field. Suddenly his eyes fell upon the two knights, and he felt fear.
"I'll combine Yami Knight and Hikari Knight in order to create a fusion of darkness and light. Like your sage it is an embodiment of balance. Mine a warrior, yours a magician. Let's find out which one is stronger shall we?" The two named warriors jumped straight into the vortex much like Black Magician of Chaos and White Magician of Chaos had done for Drake. Their bodies combined together, and when the light faded the supreme monster of Rikuo's deck emerged.
The knight that was revealed had black and white armor, with a helmet covering its face. However, one golden eye and one brown eye could be seen from underneath it. In the left hand of the monster was a golden shield, and in the right hand a silver sword. It was nowhere near as large as Supreme Sage of Chaos, but that didn't seem to bother it at all. "Now that my brother and I have combined we have become Balance Knight(20000/20000) the ultimate weapon of balance. And we shall destroy your monster of balance. Balance Wave!"
The knight swept his blade down and sent a stream of energy towards the sage. The magician didn't even bother to block it, and the two powers of balance warred against each other for just a brief moment before the power of Balance Knight won out. Drake was blown backwards by the pure power of the strike, even with an energy barrier erected. "Now you see the power of my Balance Knight." (DLP: 6475)
Drake couldn't help but be astounded by the amazing power he had just witness. "Damn...and now that my Supreme Sage of Balance is destroyed it will leave play and take my entire field with it. However I'm chaining Magical Return, my face down card, to bounce Effect Economics back to my hand." All of the cards on his field, including Destiny's Way, were completely obliterated, drawn in by the fading light of the sage. In the end Drake had nothing left to work with.
"Let's keep you on the run shall we? Mechanical Chaser, direct attack!" The machine shot one of its arms out, catching the unprepared Drake off balance and spinning him around till he fell to his back. Rikuo smirked at seeing the entire situation turned around and his opponent the one in dire straights with no field and his life points unprotected. (DLP: 4625)
Drake stared widely at the field, his which was now blank and Rikuo's which was now contained two monsters, one with a ridiculous amount of attack strength. His hand had absolutely no way to defeat it, and now he knew how Rikuo must have felt earlier facing down his Supreme Sage of Balance. 'But he defeated my Supreme Sage, so there must be a way in my deck to defeat his Balance Knight. I just have to hope I draw it.'
"I can see you shaking Drake, so I guess I'll end my turn. After I place two cards face down that is. Let's see if you can handle the awesome power of my Balance Knight." He gave the knight a thumbs up and got a brief bow in return. Then he picked two more cards up off his deck, leaving him with only six cards left. Hopefully with the power of Balance Knight he could defeat Drake before it was too late.
The punk duelist glanced at his newest card and then threw back his head to start laughing. It was absolutely perfect. "Balance Knight has enough power to end this duel for any duelist who uses him, or so I'd assume. Now let's find out if that power can be lent to me! Play of Rebellion will turn your monster against you and have it attack Mechanical Chaser!"
The massive knight turned to face Rikuo, and the demon grimaced. Balance Knight thrust its sword out at the machine, however it suddenly exploded, crying out in pain as it was burned by the flames. It managed one last thing before it was gone. "I believe in you Rikuo, I know you can win." Then it was no more.
"Drake...you made me destroy my own monster. Widespread Ruin allowed me to destroy the strongest attacking monster, which was my own Balance Knight. Now the question is, can you handle my Mechanical Chaser, or can't you summon? You did remove a lot of cards from your deck after all." The magician duelist growled, though not in the way Rikuo would. He was just irritated that Rikuo was right.
"I play two cards face down, and then I'll reactivate Effect Economics. End turn." The three cards appeared on his field, two of them only visible as floating brown back cards, and the third face up. As per usual Drake drew two more cards, giving him a hand of five. Then he picked up the top two cards of his deck and slipped them into his back pocket.
"So long as Supreme Sage of Balance remains out of play, which is for the rest of the game since the out of play pile can't be accessed, I must remove the top two cards of my deck from the game during each player's end phase. Go ahead Rikuo, take your turn." The demon smirked at the sight of Drake in such a sore position, but was well aware that he couldn't win this as easily as he might have hoped. His best chance at winning was gone, and he had only a few turns to win.
Rikuo picked up another card and stared at it. Finally he flashed Drake a smirk, knowing that the duel was his. "This monster has special meaning to me for reasons that I won't begin to explain. All you have to know is that it will be the cause of your defeat. I sacrifice Mechanical Chaser for Jinzo(2400/1500)!" The green armored android rose up in place of the spindle-armed machine, and a glow appeared around Drake's face down cards.
"Jinzo, Cyber Shock Attack!" The android formed a ball of black energy between his hands and then threw it straight at Drake. The magician duelist crossed his arms over his body and readied himself as the blast shot right at him. It exploded across his arms, forcing him backwards slightly. He wasn't hurt, but the damage was dealt. His life points were nearly equal to Rikuo's now. (DLP: 2225)
"With Jinzo in play I don't really need to bother with face down cards considering they would just get in the way. I might need those magic and trap zones for later in the duel. So that means my turn is over." He picked up his next two cards, well aware that despite how close their life points were now, all Drake had to do was last a few more turns and Rikuo would lose. Now he had just three cards left in his deck.
"Now that you've ended I have to remove two more cards. But while I'm at that, why don't you let me in on how many more cards you have in that deck of yours?" Rikuo rolled his eyes and held the disk up. He then took the deck out and fanned it out so Drake could see it. He stared the other duelist right in the eyes, knowing that Drake was just going to be smug about it.
"As you can plainly see I only have three cards left. So all you have to do is wait me out. Aren't you proud?" Drake raised an eyebrow and kept looking at the cards. Then he started laughing. Rikuo wasn't in the mood to be laughed at so he growled at his opponent. If the idiot kept this up he was going to get Rikuo's fist in the face.
"Rikuo...did you bother to count or did you just think that was the right number. Look at those cards, you've got four left, not three. Although it isn't really that much better than you thought it was." The wolf checked the cards he had fanned out, and realized that his opponent was right. He had miscounted on how many cards were left in his deck, and he did ineed have four cards remaining. Not that it was going to make a huge amount of difference.
"Well you were right Drake. Now take your damned turn. This duel only has a few more turns left altogether, so we might as well end it now right?" The other duelist nodded and picked up his next card, giving him a hand of five cards. He blinked slightly and then started to check each of his cards, chuckling as he surveyed them. And as per usual, chuckling never boded well for him.
"You're right Rikuo! Together the two of us have set up the perfect situation where it becomes impossible for you to win! With Jinzo on the field your two face down cards are useless, just like my own face down cards. This is your last turn, so watch my power unleashed!" Drake took the first card from his hand of five and held it up over his head, power surging around it.
"It's time to show you a power beyond even that of my Supreme Sage of Balance and your own Balance Knight! This monster is capable of easily crushing either of them under the right circumstances. I summon it forth, Blood Magician-Magician of Purgatory(1400/1700)!" Rikuo blinked as a fog started covering the ground around them, making it impossible to see their own feet.
"This magician has a dark past. He watched his entire family slaughtered before his very eyes, and has forever sought out revenge. He requires blood for that revenge, hence his name. He garnered such a name for himself in both heaven and hell from his exploits that neither realm could decide whether he was right for them. Their choice was to take him from the land and send him to purgatory where he could never do any more damage. But now he's back, and he's out for your blood!" Drake laughed as the fog began to concentrate itself in one area.
The fog rose up and took the form of a six foot tall human. It coalesced into a blue skinned magician wearing scarlet robes. In his left hand he held a deadly looking two-sided scythe, which looked capable of rending flesh with ease. "What can that monster do? It's attack power is one thousand less than my Jinzo's."
"I told you heaven and hell feared him, and that's why he went to purgatory. The reason was because of his infinite power that allowed him to strike down any foe. He could destroy the entire world with his incredible power! Now I'm going to show you how!" Rikuo gulped at the word infinite, and could only hope that he was wrong. If he was right, then this would prove deadly to him.
"First I activate School of Black Magic! For every five hundred life points I pay I can add a magic counter to a monster on the field. Effect Economics negates that cost, so I can generate as many magic counters as I wish. Now I'll generate infinite tokens and place them all onto Blood Magician!" A swarm of energy beads surrounded the magician and soared into his scythe. It was like a constant stream of energy, fireflies flying to their demise as they were absorbed into Blood Magician's deadly weapon.
"Blood Magician's effect allows me to remove magic counters to destroy a monster with an attack equal to or less than seven hundred times the number of counters removed. It would take just four counters to destroy Jinzo, but I have no intention of destroy it at all, even though I could. Because Jinzo will protect Blood Magician from your face down cards!" The magician duelist grinned, ready and willing to take down Rikuo. And the wolf knew this could only get worse.
"Time to complete the deadliest combination in my deck. My Infinity Blood Loop! Now I play Magic Magnification Device! This permanent magic card will grant all monsters on my field two hundred attack points for every magic counter on them. So let's see, infinite counters equals how much of a bonus?" The wolf snarled, trying to figure out a way to defeat the monster already. Because with the combination of infinite magic counters and Magic Magnification Device Blood Magician(Infinite/1700) had enough power to defeat any foe.
"Blood Magician, it's time for you to go to work. End this duel my magician, Inferno of Blood!" The magician nodded and stepped forwards, its power raging in a torrent of flame that surrounded its scythe. As soon as it struck with that weapon Rikuo was going to lose. And now it was swing its blade straight down!
"I activate Distraction Device! Negate his attack!" The scythe stopped in mid-strike as a little box appeared in front of it. Blood Magician leaned forward to investigate and was rewarded by a big glove rocketing out and smacking him in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards to his starting position. Rikuo had been saved.
"A quick-play card huh? Well I doubt you have any others in your deck, so it won't matter. I had been hoping to end this duel without you decking out, but I guess that's no longer an option. Your turn Rikuo." With his turn over Drake took two more cards off his deck and added them to his hand, and then took another two and put them in his pocket with his fast growing removed from play pile. Rikuo wasn't counting, but it was probably around twenty cards by now.
The wolf-demon grabbed his next card, leaving him with only three cards. At the end of this turn that would be just one card left, enough for his next turn's draw and then nothing after that. Hopefully he would be able to end the duel before his next turn's end phase. "I summon Gold Wind-Up Knight(1500/1500)."
A golden toy like machine appeared in front of him next to Jinzo. It didn't look like much to fear, but Rikuo needed it this turn. It was going to help him win the duel. "Now I'm going to defeat your infinite loop here and now! I equip Jinzo with Howling Sword, rocketing his attack power to sixty-eight hundred!" The weapon appeared and was picked up by the android who had his attack sent skyrocketing. Of course it was nothing next to infinite power.
"And how is that going to defeat my infinite loop? You'd need more power than that to defeat a monster with infinite attack strength. Hell, you'd need an infinite loop of your own to defeat it." The demon duelist smirked and took another card from his hand. His confidence shocked Drake, who realized that he was about to see more of Rikuo's true power.
"Speaking of infinite power, here's the magic card Limitless Power! Every time I pay one thousand life points I can reuse the effect of one equip card. Now I equip Limitless Power onto Jinzo, and I'll begin the infinite loop!" A massive blue aura appeared around Jinzo, causing its power to fluctuate. Sensing another incredible power the Blood Magician flared its crimson aura, matching Jinzo(Infinite/1500).
"Luckily for you the second effect of Howling Sword can't be used unless the first is. So the moment it hit infinite attack power I couldn't add one thousand to it. That means I can't get double infinite power. Truly a pity." Drake couldn't help but be impressed by Rikuo taking out his infinite loop with one of his own creation. He never would have thought it possible, but it appeared that it was true.
"This is awesome! Rikuo, this is truly the ultimate duel! Bring on your Jinzo and I'll confront it with my own monster! Two infinitely powerful monsters clashing on the field as the two duelists look on! This is what dueling is all about, moments like this when the duelists surpass all previous expectations!" Rikuo couldn't help but grin at how excited Drake was. To meet a duelist who enjoyed dueling this much was just a treat for him, and he started to want to experience this kind of challenge whenever possible.
"A duel of this caliber is truly rare Drake. So I'm going to make this one worth everything I've got and more! Jinzo, attack and destroy his Blood Magician! Howling Shock!" Jinzo raised the Howling Sword and then swung with it, sending a stream of blue energy out at the magician. The energy attack was so big that it covered everything else on the field.
"I'll counter your attack with one hundred and fifty percent! Blood Magician, counterattack with Inferno of Blood!" The crimson robed magician swept his scythe horizontally, sending a wave of red energy right back at Jinzo. The two energies collided and struggled against each other, creating a huge light show that looked like it was going to break the holo-projectors. It was that impressive.
The two attacks countered each other in every way, and in the end neither could win out. The attacks exploded, covering the field with a dome of light that shielded everything within from sight. Eventually it faded, and nothing was left of the two infinitely powerful monsters. And Rikuo's two cards went to the cemetery. Unfortunately for Drake his hadn't been equipped, so his field was still full of cards.
"Gold Wind-Up Knight will try for a direct attack!" The toy knight jumped across the field and slashed Drake across the shoulder with its blade. He grunted, but otherwise he didn't admit to any pain. He was a tough person and wouldn't willingly show any weakness. Not that it mattered to Rikuo, as the damage was done all the same. (DLP: 725)
"All I've got left in my hand is one card, so I'll set it for later. Now it's your turn Drake." His card appeared next to his original face down card, each to one side of Gold Wind-Up Knight. Then he picked up two of the last three cards in his deck, leaving him with only one draw in the entire game. Meanwhile Drake had to remove two of his own cards from the top of his deck, thereby reducing it in size as well.
"I've really enjoyed the entire duel Rikuo. Although its about to end I feel that this has truly been the ultimate duel that I've desired for so long. Regardless of the outcome I feel happy about it. Thanks for the duel, now let's see if I can end it!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's Notes: Next chapter is the end of the duel, so I hope everyone has enjoyed it all so far. Let's see where this leads shall we?
Time Mage: See, everything works out just fine. Drake wasn' toying with Rikuo at all, he was bringing his best.
WolfGeneral: Climactic end next chapter.
Gryphinwyrm7: Indeed, they all are. At least SSoB has lots of detriments as well as you see more of in this chapter. You take Hell Meteor way to lightly you know that right?Original Cards(same as normal)
Rikuo: Magic Disabling Team-B(mine), Balance Knight, Distraction Device, Howling Sword, Limitless Power(mine), Gold Wind-Up Knight
Drake: School of Black Magic, Magic Magnification Device, Effect Economics
Anime Original Cards
Drake: Play of Rebellion