"Enough talk Sin," Fader shouted. "Let's get this started already."
"I'm more than happy to oblige," replied the vicious tone. "But first we have to make sure that this stays between the four of us." Sin turned to Discord and they nodded and seconds later a dark cloud formed around the duelists, blocking out all signs of the temple and of the other item holders, replacing the image with a spectral void. Shadows of ghosts or other spirits flew along the outskirts of the dueling field, darting around quickly. "I'm sure that the two of you are more than familiar with a Shadow Game?" He seemed to talk right at Evo with his next line. "This time however, there will be no interference. Your Millennium Items may have been able to break the field before, but this time there are two of us to hold it together."
"It makes no difference," barked back Evo. "This duel will be over soon."
"I'm making the first move," Fader said, drawing his cards. "And I start by placing one monster face down and one more card face down. That ends my turn."
"I hope for your sake Fader, that you're dueling skills are better than they are reputed to be." Sin drew his cards. "I'll set a monster of my own. No other cards though."
Evo looked concerned as he drew his sixth card. "I end my turn without doing anything." Fader shot him a look of concern, without any cards on the field Evo was a huge target for an attack from Discord on her turn, since she was the first player to be able to attack.
"With moves like that, this is going to be easier than we thought," Discord said and Sin laughed his agreement. "I'll play this magic card, Spell Economics."
"What does that do?" asked Fader.
"Now whenever I play a magic card I don't have to pay Life Point costs to activate it. And you'll see just how powerful that is right now, when I play Final Countdown." As she played the card a single fireball appeared in the sky on the outskirts of the dueling field. "Normally this card costs 2000 Life Points to activate and for a good reason. Twenty turns after I activate this card it allows me to destroy one opponent completely. And just to clarify this now, each of your turns will count in the resolution of this card. Make your moves wisely. I end my turn."
Fader: 4000, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 4000, Turns Left: 19
Fader drew his card and looked at the field. He and Sin were the only ones that actually had cards in play. Both Evo and Discord had completely empty fields. The fact that Discord had just played a card that in less than twenty turns would be able to eliminate either himself or Evo without a fight made his next decision very simple. "I summon Leo, the Lion (1500/300) in attack mode. And it will attack Discord right now!"
"I will protect my teammate by blocking with my face down monster," declared Sin. "Or did you forget that I could do that?"
Fader got a smirk on his face. "I didn't forget, but it looks like your monster isn't going to be fast enough to help your ally."
"What?"
"I activate my face down magic card, Riding Tail of the Wind. This allows my newly summoned monster to attack without being blocked. Discord you'll take the full force of the attack."
Fader: 4000, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 18
"1700?" Discord exclaimed in shock. "But your monster only has 1500 attack points."
"True, but my monster also has the special ability that increases its attack power for each face up monster I have on the field, including itself, so its attack was boosted by 200 points. I'll set one more card face down and end my turn."
"My move then. And I fell that one good turn deserves another Fader. I'll attack your teammate just as you attacked mine."
"Not so fast Sin. I have a trap to activate that may change your plans. Go, Hand Sealing Spirit, remove his hand from the game until the end of the turn!" Fader's trap turned itself up on to the field and a beam of energy shot forward and washed away Sin's hand. "And all it cost me was 500 Life Points to stop you from doing anything this turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 17
"Well played Fader," said Evo as he drew his card. "You gave me the extra turn I needed. I'll start by setting this card face down. And Sin since you seemed so eager to have your monster in battle I'll be more than happy to oblige you. I summon the Negative Energy Zombie (1600/1400) to the field. And it will attack your face down monster."
"Fool. You just attack my D.D. Trainer (100/2000). You'll take 400 damage from your reckless action." Evo's Zombie collided with Sin's D.D. Trainer and recoiled looking as most monsters do when they have attacked a monster with a higher attack strength than they do. But instead of his Life Points dropping, they rose. "What?" Sin shouted.
"The effect of my Zombie Sin," came the explanation. "When my monster receives damage in battle, instead of that damage being taken away from my Life Points, this card increases them instead. So I gained Life by battling with your beast. I'll end my turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 4400, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 16
"My turn once again, and you have very little time left before I take one of you down to the shadows to stay forever. But we'll take both of you down at the same time. I'll summon the Goblin Shadow Force (2300/0) and attack your Negative Energy Zombie. You may gain your 7600 Life Points but your monster will be gone." The shadowy figures of the goblins rushed forward with dark clubs and struck Evo's zombie all at once but Evo's monster remained exactly where it had been at the start of the turn. "How? It should be dead!"
"A normal monster would have been destroyed, but I should have explained my monster a bit better. It has the added ability that prevents it from being destroyed in battle. Thank you for the 700 Life Points though." Discord growled and it was taken that she ended her turn.
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 15
Once again it was Fader's turn and he drew his card. "I play the Pot of Greed," he said and drew two more cards from his deck. He was hoping to draw his Egyptian God card soon so that he could summon it, but before that would happen he was going to need a third monster on the field to sacrifice. "I summon the Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700), which is not only a strong monster on it's own but also increases the attack of my Leo by another 200 points. Now both of my monsters have 1900 attack points." Fader turned to look at Discord. "Normally your Shadow Goblins would be stronger than the two of them, but since your monster changes to defense mode after it attacks it has no defense power to stop my attack. Skilled Dark Magician attack her monster now!"
The Skilled Dark Magician raised its staff up into and shot a bolt of energy straight at the Goblins destroying them instantly. It was then that something shocking happened. One of the ghosts that was flying around the shadow realm on the outskirts of battle dove straight at Discord and passed through her. She screamed in agony as this happened and dropped to a knee, before standing back up.
"What the hell was that?" Evo and Fader demanded together.
"The penalty for playing this game," Sin told them. "Whenever we lose a monster from our fields, the spirits of the lost souls of the Shadow Realm will exact their penalty upon up by making us feel the pain of death. So make your moves very carefully gentleman."
Fader knew that Discord had no other monster in play and that normally he'd be able to attack he directly, but Sin still had his D.D. Trainer in play which was still stronger than his monsters by 100 points and he knew that Sin wouldn't hesitate to make Fader pay for acting too rashly. "I'll end my turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 14
"Well Fader," started Sin as he drew his next card. "It appears you have the three requisite monsters on the field needed to sacrifice in order to summon your Egyptian God card, Osiris. Tell me, do you have it in your hand already?" Fader's face was stoic and unchanged. "I didn't think so. But I can help with that. I play the magic card Dark Designator. I name a monster and if it's in your deck you search your deck and add that card to your hand. I'll do you the pleasure of searching for your God."
Fader removed his deck from the duel disk and shuffled through it. Osiris was right near the top, only a few turns away. He added the card to his hand and shuffled the deck once more before replacing it into the Duel Disk. He looked at Sin with concern on his face.
"Wondering why I would give you such a gift Fader?"
"What's the price?" Was all Fader said in response.
"Very astute. Yes of course there is a little price. I would never give you such a powerful card, and I do not plan on allowing you to keep such a card available to you in order to be used against me in this duel. So I have another card to play still, the D.D. Designator. Though it sounds similar to the card that I just played, its effect is radically different. This card allows me to name a card. if that card is in your hand then it is removed from the game for the rest of the duel. I of course am going to name the Saint God Dragon Osiris." Fader placed the card onto the pouch on his belt. "Good, now that has been dealt with, it's time to ensure that the second God card does not make its appearance onto the field. I'll summon the D.D. Warrior (1200/1000) to the field. And it will attack your Zombie now Evo!"
The Warrior dashed forward with a sword at the ready and stabbed Evo's zombie, pointlessly as the Negative Energy monster swiped at the warrior with its claws, destroying it immediately. Before the dust had settled though a vortex appeared around Evo's own monster, focused right around the sword which Sin's monster had stabbed into it. In seconds in was gone, sucked into oblivion.
"What happened?"
"Simple, my D.D. Warrior's special effect forced any monster that it battles to be removed from the game immediately after damage calculation. I may lose 400 Life Points from my attack, but your monster is now removed from the game entirely. Of course do have another penalty to pay for my attack," Sin said as he pointed to another spirit that was diving towards him. As it passed through him another scream pierced the air, but it was not Sin's. All the duelists turned to look at Fader as he too had a spirit passing through him making him feel the pain of the D.D. Warrior's death. Sin too winced in pain as the spirit passed through him, but now he was more focused on Fader who had dropped to the ground, still reeling from the pain he had just experienced.
It was Sin who spoke. "Very curious..."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 3600, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 13
"I'm more than happy to oblige," replied the vicious tone. "But first we have to make sure that this stays between the four of us." Sin turned to Discord and they nodded and seconds later a dark cloud formed around the duelists, blocking out all signs of the temple and of the other item holders, replacing the image with a spectral void. Shadows of ghosts or other spirits flew along the outskirts of the dueling field, darting around quickly. "I'm sure that the two of you are more than familiar with a Shadow Game?" He seemed to talk right at Evo with his next line. "This time however, there will be no interference. Your Millennium Items may have been able to break the field before, but this time there are two of us to hold it together."
"It makes no difference," barked back Evo. "This duel will be over soon."
"I'm making the first move," Fader said, drawing his cards. "And I start by placing one monster face down and one more card face down. That ends my turn."
"I hope for your sake Fader, that you're dueling skills are better than they are reputed to be." Sin drew his cards. "I'll set a monster of my own. No other cards though."
Evo looked concerned as he drew his sixth card. "I end my turn without doing anything." Fader shot him a look of concern, without any cards on the field Evo was a huge target for an attack from Discord on her turn, since she was the first player to be able to attack.
"With moves like that, this is going to be easier than we thought," Discord said and Sin laughed his agreement. "I'll play this magic card, Spell Economics."
"What does that do?" asked Fader.
"Now whenever I play a magic card I don't have to pay Life Point costs to activate it. And you'll see just how powerful that is right now, when I play Final Countdown." As she played the card a single fireball appeared in the sky on the outskirts of the dueling field. "Normally this card costs 2000 Life Points to activate and for a good reason. Twenty turns after I activate this card it allows me to destroy one opponent completely. And just to clarify this now, each of your turns will count in the resolution of this card. Make your moves wisely. I end my turn."
Fader: 4000, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 4000, Turns Left: 19
Fader drew his card and looked at the field. He and Sin were the only ones that actually had cards in play. Both Evo and Discord had completely empty fields. The fact that Discord had just played a card that in less than twenty turns would be able to eliminate either himself or Evo without a fight made his next decision very simple. "I summon Leo, the Lion (1500/300) in attack mode. And it will attack Discord right now!"
"I will protect my teammate by blocking with my face down monster," declared Sin. "Or did you forget that I could do that?"
Fader got a smirk on his face. "I didn't forget, but it looks like your monster isn't going to be fast enough to help your ally."
"What?"
"I activate my face down magic card, Riding Tail of the Wind. This allows my newly summoned monster to attack without being blocked. Discord you'll take the full force of the attack."
Fader: 4000, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 18
"1700?" Discord exclaimed in shock. "But your monster only has 1500 attack points."
"True, but my monster also has the special ability that increases its attack power for each face up monster I have on the field, including itself, so its attack was boosted by 200 points. I'll set one more card face down and end my turn."
"My move then. And I fell that one good turn deserves another Fader. I'll attack your teammate just as you attacked mine."
"Not so fast Sin. I have a trap to activate that may change your plans. Go, Hand Sealing Spirit, remove his hand from the game until the end of the turn!" Fader's trap turned itself up on to the field and a beam of energy shot forward and washed away Sin's hand. "And all it cost me was 500 Life Points to stop you from doing anything this turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 4000, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 17
"Well played Fader," said Evo as he drew his card. "You gave me the extra turn I needed. I'll start by setting this card face down. And Sin since you seemed so eager to have your monster in battle I'll be more than happy to oblige you. I summon the Negative Energy Zombie (1600/1400) to the field. And it will attack your face down monster."
"Fool. You just attack my D.D. Trainer (100/2000). You'll take 400 damage from your reckless action." Evo's Zombie collided with Sin's D.D. Trainer and recoiled looking as most monsters do when they have attacked a monster with a higher attack strength than they do. But instead of his Life Points dropping, they rose. "What?" Sin shouted.
"The effect of my Zombie Sin," came the explanation. "When my monster receives damage in battle, instead of that damage being taken away from my Life Points, this card increases them instead. So I gained Life by battling with your beast. I'll end my turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 4400, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 16
"My turn once again, and you have very little time left before I take one of you down to the shadows to stay forever. But we'll take both of you down at the same time. I'll summon the Goblin Shadow Force (2300/0) and attack your Negative Energy Zombie. You may gain your 7600 Life Points but your monster will be gone." The shadowy figures of the goblins rushed forward with dark clubs and struck Evo's zombie all at once but Evo's monster remained exactly where it had been at the start of the turn. "How? It should be dead!"
"A normal monster would have been destroyed, but I should have explained my monster a bit better. It has the added ability that prevents it from being destroyed in battle. Thank you for the 700 Life Points though." Discord growled and it was taken that she ended her turn.
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 15
Once again it was Fader's turn and he drew his card. "I play the Pot of Greed," he said and drew two more cards from his deck. He was hoping to draw his Egyptian God card soon so that he could summon it, but before that would happen he was going to need a third monster on the field to sacrifice. "I summon the Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700), which is not only a strong monster on it's own but also increases the attack of my Leo by another 200 points. Now both of my monsters have 1900 attack points." Fader turned to look at Discord. "Normally your Shadow Goblins would be stronger than the two of them, but since your monster changes to defense mode after it attacks it has no defense power to stop my attack. Skilled Dark Magician attack her monster now!"
The Skilled Dark Magician raised its staff up into and shot a bolt of energy straight at the Goblins destroying them instantly. It was then that something shocking happened. One of the ghosts that was flying around the shadow realm on the outskirts of battle dove straight at Discord and passed through her. She screamed in agony as this happened and dropped to a knee, before standing back up.
"What the hell was that?" Evo and Fader demanded together.
"The penalty for playing this game," Sin told them. "Whenever we lose a monster from our fields, the spirits of the lost souls of the Shadow Realm will exact their penalty upon up by making us feel the pain of death. So make your moves very carefully gentleman."
Fader knew that Discord had no other monster in play and that normally he'd be able to attack he directly, but Sin still had his D.D. Trainer in play which was still stronger than his monsters by 100 points and he knew that Sin wouldn't hesitate to make Fader pay for acting too rashly. "I'll end my turn."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 4000, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 14
"Well Fader," started Sin as he drew his next card. "It appears you have the three requisite monsters on the field needed to sacrifice in order to summon your Egyptian God card, Osiris. Tell me, do you have it in your hand already?" Fader's face was stoic and unchanged. "I didn't think so. But I can help with that. I play the magic card Dark Designator. I name a monster and if it's in your deck you search your deck and add that card to your hand. I'll do you the pleasure of searching for your God."
Fader removed his deck from the duel disk and shuffled through it. Osiris was right near the top, only a few turns away. He added the card to his hand and shuffled the deck once more before replacing it into the Duel Disk. He looked at Sin with concern on his face.
"Wondering why I would give you such a gift Fader?"
"What's the price?" Was all Fader said in response.
"Very astute. Yes of course there is a little price. I would never give you such a powerful card, and I do not plan on allowing you to keep such a card available to you in order to be used against me in this duel. So I have another card to play still, the D.D. Designator. Though it sounds similar to the card that I just played, its effect is radically different. This card allows me to name a card. if that card is in your hand then it is removed from the game for the rest of the duel. I of course am going to name the Saint God Dragon Osiris." Fader placed the card onto the pouch on his belt. "Good, now that has been dealt with, it's time to ensure that the second God card does not make its appearance onto the field. I'll summon the D.D. Warrior (1200/1000) to the field. And it will attack your Zombie now Evo!"
The Warrior dashed forward with a sword at the ready and stabbed Evo's zombie, pointlessly as the Negative Energy monster swiped at the warrior with its claws, destroying it immediately. Before the dust had settled though a vortex appeared around Evo's own monster, focused right around the sword which Sin's monster had stabbed into it. In seconds in was gone, sucked into oblivion.
"What happened?"
"Simple, my D.D. Warrior's special effect forced any monster that it battles to be removed from the game immediately after damage calculation. I may lose 400 Life Points from my attack, but your monster is now removed from the game entirely. Of course do have another penalty to pay for my attack," Sin said as he pointed to another spirit that was diving towards him. As it passed through him another scream pierced the air, but it was not Sin's. All the duelists turned to look at Fader as he too had a spirit passing through him making him feel the pain of the D.D. Warrior's death. Sin too winced in pain as the spirit passed through him, but now he was more focused on Fader who had dropped to the ground, still reeling from the pain he had just experienced.
It was Sin who spoke. "Very curious..."
Fader: 3500, Evo: 5100, Sin: 3600, Discord: 2300, Turns Left: 13