Chapter Ten

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Griff's cocky grins were beginning to take their toll upon Deirdre. It wasn't like he was intimidated or anything it was just really irritating. But those snide looks would only make the expression on his opponent's face that much sweater once he was defeated.

From the moment he had first seen one of Griff's aired duels, broadcasted by an affiliate television station of Industrial Illusions, a hypothesis poked and prodded at Deirdre's mind. And though he had always had a healthy amount of respect for the man, he had never thought him much more than a traveling showboat for Pegasus. The cause being is that many of his duels are simply him mocking his foe and pulling out rare and exotic cards, the fringe benefit of being a student of the man who invented the game. But after winning as many duels as Griff had, his ego doubtlessly had been receiving some major stroking, and all progressive duels were no longer displays of talent, but rather just excessive boasting.

It isn't his dueling skills that win matches anymore, but the fact that his reputation frightens his opponents into mediocre performances. Deirdre, however, wasn't impressed. He knew what kind of a man Griff really was. Not the benevolent and humble man that he made himself out too be, but rather a cruel and over-confident entertainer. Today would be the day that he was knocked off his high horse.

Griff looked up at his impressive Shining Abyss monster and then back down at Deirdre's field, saw the face down card and with a passive wave, relinquished his turn. "I'm not going to attack this time, kid. Use your free move and see if you can't get the upper hand. Ya know? I'm practically giving you a huge advantage if you're smart about it! So, c'mon. Do your worst."

"I intend too," Deirdre mumbled under his breath and drew a card from his deck. He placed it into the center of his hand then took out another card and placed it onto the field. "I play the Darkfire Soldier #2 in defense mode." Alongside of his Lady Assailant of Flames appeared his second Pyro monster. With that accomplished, he ended his turn.

Griff, still grinning, drew a card and laid it face down. "I also play this. The Cure Mermaid, in attack mode!" Next to his staggeringly large Light monster appeared a diminutive creature that was part scaly fish and part barely clothed female. "Now, for every turn that she is face-up on my side of the field I gain eight hundred life points. And just to insure that she stays around for awhile, I lay this card face-down." He nodded towards his opponent. "I end my turn, Deirdre."

"Thank you. I now activate my face down card Minor Summon, which allows me to bring any monster with an attack score below one thousand from my hand to the field. So I chose the Flame Dancer!" And almost before his new monster even had enough time to fully materialize, he threw down another magic card. "I also play Burning Essence! A magic card that allows me to sacrifice any Pyro monster on my side of the field and inflict direct damage to your life point equal to the sacrificed monsters attack score! So I send my Flame Dancer to the Graveyard and deal five hundred and fifty points of damage directly!"

Griff watched uninterested, but still with a slight frown on his once carefree and jovial face, as his life points dropped from their starting value of 4000 to 3450.

"But I am not done yet, Griff! Now that that monster has been sent to the Graveyard I can play my Spirit of Flames monster card by removing one monster from my Graveyard from the game." Now Deirdre's army was at a commanding three monsters. The Spirit of Flames, a large demon-like creature wreathed in fire from the waste down, appeared next to the Darkfire Soldier with its arms crossed over its chest and breathing smoke out of its nostrils.

Deirdre couldn't help but snicker slightly as he heard the disbelieving gasps from the surrounding crowd. Griff Terrace losing? And by such a huge margin so early in the duel? Impossible. "But before I let you get on with your turn, I'm going to lay one more card face down and put you further into your hole. I switch my Darkfire Soldier into attack mode! Now, destroy his Cure Mermaid my warrior!"

The monster unsheathed his twin blazing katana and rushed towards Griff's life point restoring monster. It would be dead before it could even use its effect and Griff would take even more life point damage. This match might prove easier than Deirdre originally thought.

"I activate Kamikaze Attack!"

A split-second before the Darkfire Soldier #2 bisected the Cure Mermaid, an aura of warping crimson energy gave the attacking monster pause, and then turned him against his creator. The Darkfire Soldier heaved and turned around, raising his swords against Deirdre.

Griff cackled like a witch and thrust out his finger. "Darkfire Soldier! Attack and destroy all of Deirdre's monsters!"

Deirdre's heart skipped a beat as he watched his own monster charge towards his other two monsters who both looked on in horror, not willing to accept their holographic deaths. Luckily, Deirdre didn't forget about the face down card he laid just for some awkward event like this. "I activate the magic card Negate Attack!"

Immediately the rushing samurai was stopped dead by a wall that rose up to stop his assault. The Darkfire Soldier exploded on impact, causing no damage to Deirdre's other monsters but still hitting hard. He had just wasted one of his own monsters and a very useful trap card on a failed gambit, and he wasn't pleased about it.

"Well, fine. Now were tied, Deirdre. So anyway, I hope that didn't throw off your game or anything because I'm just getting warmed up." Griff drew a card but already had one ready and set it down on the field. "I play The Forgiving Maiden in defense mode!" His newest monster appeared and set herself down, resting on her knees as a sign of the position she was set into. "Her defense of two thousand is more than any of your monsters currently has attack point wise. She is an unmovable wall, Deirdre my friend! Now, I lay one card down and give the board too you."

"Yeah, well that won't last long." Deirdre said, not losing any of his much-needed confidence after that hit by his Darkfire Soldier and drew a card. What he saw was quite good, but for the mean time he set it into his hand and played another monster card. "I lay down another Darkfire Soldier #2 and then equip my Spirit of Flames with the magic card United We Stand! And because I control three face-up monsters I increase my Spirit of Flames attack and defense scores by twenty four hundred points, bringing him to 4100/3400! And his effect lets me increase its attack score every battle phase by three hundred more, bringing him too 4400!" With a sadistic grin of his own, Deirdre balled his fists. "Now, I'm gonna make you cry, Griff! Spirit of Flames attack! Burning Soul Blast!"

Griff cursed under his breath but activated his face down card by pressing the button above that card on his Duel Disk. "Doppelganger! Become the magic card Negate Attack!"

His card appeared on the board in the form of a rubbery, serpentine black cat who laughed maniacally then dove in front of the oncoming blast, becoming the attack stopping card that Deirdre played not long ago. The Spirit of Flames' conflagration wrapped harmlessly around the void and vanished, leaving the board smoking but Griff undamaged.

Upon seeing the expression on Deirdre's face, Griff grinned and spread out his hands defensively. "Your very good, Deirdre! I didn't give you the credit that you deserved and I apologize! That attack would have defeated me if I wasn't completely prepared for it."

Deirdre scowled. "Just get on with your turn."

He nodded and placed his hand on top of his deck. "As you wish." He pulled the top card and looked at it, then smiled at what he saw. "Oh, my dear, dear friend. I just got the card that will spell your ultimate defeat. It works like this, I play the monster card Marie the Fallen One in attack mode!" Another monster appeared on Griff's side of the field, taking up one more slot on his Duel Disk's summoning plate. "And I now activate Polymerization, fusing The Forgiving Maiden and Marie the Fallen One into an all-powerful holy knight! My friends!" He said, speaking to the entire crowd. "I give you St. Joan!"

Despite her gentle features, her massive silver sword and full-body armor made Deirdre think that this being was something that would certainly put up a fight. But at 2800/2000, she wasn't nearly as strong as his enhanced Spirit of Flames.

"Okay, I lay down three magic cards and enter my battle phase, and Deirdre, I'm coming after your Spirit of Flames!"

Deirdre gave him a coarse look and shook his head. "You don't have enough power. Your St. Joan won't even scratch his primer."

"That is what you think!" He said though a questionable chuckle. "I activate my three face down cards! Mask of Weakness, Magic Amplify, and the Silver Bow and Arrow!" His newest monster, St. Joan, hadn't even blinked yet, and now an ornate wooden mask with five razor-sharp horns protruding from its surface appeared in front of her and shot forward, clamping onto the Spirit of Flames' face and causing it to drop to its knees as its immeasurable power was being rapidly siphoned.

Deirdre lost his cool composure and openly expressed his skepticism at the events he was watching, however, the spirit of the Millennium Balance, which he had forgotten entirely about, spoke too him in an attempt to alleviate his doubts. 'Worry not. Your monster still has enough power to finish off Griff's. Don't lose face and keep up your momentum. We almost have this duel won!'

"Yes," Deirdre said aloud. "This duel is almost won."

"Yeah, in my favor!" Griff shouted, earning a rousing cheer from his loyal fans spread throughout the massive crowd. "Magic Amplify will repeat the effect of Mask of Weakness, so instead of just losing seven hundred attack points your Spirit of Flames will lose fourteen hundred attack points! Its advantage just got cut."

Deirdre gritted his teeth and dropped his gaze to the ground. "Well, what now, Ahmose?"

'Deirdre, I have been in situations like this before as well. You must not stray away from the flow of the game. Just because you suffered a hit now doesn't mean the duel is finished. You can still win but you must believe in yourself and fight at your hardest. Understand?'

Deirdre looked at the summoning plate on his Duel Disk and saw as the light over his Spirit of Flames flickered out, signaling that the card had been destroyed. He looked up to see that St. Joan's elegant silver sword had been replaced with a shimmering crystalline long bow. Where his monster previously was now nothing but a quickly vanishing red mist remained. Griff's monster lowered her bow and stepped back into line, drawing another arrow from her quiver and loading it into her weapon.

Griff laughed insanely, almost falling over as tears literally stung his eyes. He got a sick pleasure out of crushing people's hopes and dreams, it seemed. Though he had only lost one hundred life points in the attack, his strongest monster had been demolished. Griff was very content with himself, though now his dueling hand was non-existent. But it was likely that the next card he drew would once again be a game breaker.

But despite how disheartening this all was, Deirdre was determined not to give up. It wasn't even so much about the Toon World magic card any more as it was proving to himself and the world that he was the best. How else could he do that other than beating the best?

"Okay, Deirdre! My turn is over. Get on with your pathetic attempt so I can end this game and go about my day."

"Yeah, pathetic. You'll be eating those words pretty soon, Griff."

His grin only widened.

Deirdre scowled and drew another card from his deck. "I switch all of my monsters into defense mode." His two remaining monsters, the Darkfire Soldier #2 and the Lady Assailant of Flames, both lowered themselves and set up shielding positions. "I also lay down Dokuroyaiba in defense mode."

Griff almost burst into hysterics again as the feeble snake-wrapped boomerang appeared spinning slowly in the air. "Your defenses won't take long for me too punch though, Deirdre. I suggest forfeiting and saving yourself some measure of embarrassment."

Deirdre shook his head. "You know what I am going to say, Griff."

He nodded. "Yes, 'just get on with it', so I will again comply. Shining Abyss, attack Dokuroyaiba! Ejection Punch!" His giant hovering monster balled its massive hands into fists, then launched them forward as if they were attached to elastic cords, slamming through Deirdre's weakest monster like it wasn't even there. Thankfully, it was in defense mode and its owner took no life point damage.

"St. Joan! Attack the Darkfire Soldier!"

With a waft of her hand to brush away a lock of her hair, his beautiful knight stepped forward and pulled back her bowstring, aimed for the heart of Deirdre's monster and fired, sending the arrow into his chest and destroying it just as fast as it had been created.

After the digital dust had cleared, Deirdre felt the urge of defeat strike him all over again, though the duel wasn't yet over. Though it would be pretty soon if he didn't do something too stop two of Griff's strongest monsters, but nothing in his hand could and his lone remaining hope, the Lady Assailant of Flames, was quaking with fear after watching her comrade's fall.

'You can win, Deirdre!'

"No, I can't. This duel is as good as finished."

'Stop doubting yourself and you can win! The answer must be sought from within yourself. Do not rely on others and do not listen to the words of your opponent and the people watching this duel. Think only about victory and even the spoils of that victory if need be! You must trust my words because together we can defeat him! Alone we have no chance!'

Deirdre sighed, trying to do as the spirit asked him to do because he had a great amount of trust for the incorporeal being. He crooked his arm so that the Duel Disk was directly in front of him. He took a deep breath and released it, placing a finger on the top card of his deck. The Millennium Balance, currently a golden ring, shined with an enigmatic light. "I'm putting allot of faith into you, Ahmose." Deirdre whispered. "Don't let me down."

'I would never.' Was the candid reply.

"Then, what is left to say? This worked once before. Heart of the Cards, guide me!"

With a quick swipe of his hand, Deirdre drew his card.