Chapter 32: Of Countdowns and Dragons
"I first rid my magic and trap field of Curse of Darkness and Spell Economics." he stated, removing the cards and sliding them into his graveyard. "This unfortunately means I now pay for my Magic card's effect, but it's well worth it!" he stated as his LP score dropped.
Kamishiro-200
Namia-8000
Ryuko-8000
Shisei-2900
'Why would he get rid of a combo that could destroy me?" Shisei wondered what this new combo could be that he'd risk losing. 'Another of his cards must be something he's anxious to play."'
"I play, Final Countdown!" Kamishiro roared, as 20 familiar stone pillars erupted from the ground.
"OH NO!" Shisei yelled suddenly, making Namia and Ryuko jump.
"What is it Sei!" Namia asked, still a bit shell shocked. "What does that card do?" she finished her question as Shisei gulped nervously.
"Ah, Shisei you must know the effect of my special card!" Kamishiro began menacingly. "You see kiddos, my Final Countdown states that I win the duel automatically if no winner is declared within twenty turns of it's activation!" Kamishiro smirked.
Namia gasped again. "What! That's not fair!" she exclaimed. Kamishiro only tossed back his head in laughter as Ryuko growled.
"You cheat! That card is way to strong!" Ryuko yelled as well.
Shisei was watching the last two spaces for magic/trap cards on his opponent' field in more worry than the card just played. 'This doesn't make any sense, he's playing like he has something else he needs to get to, not like he wants to win with the strategies so far…"' Shisei thought.
"Oh, and I'll also activate Time Zone Shift, to make every turn count as two!" Kamishiro finished menacingly. The shifting and turning of the shadows in the shadow realm suddenly sped up and happened twice as fast as before.
"Oh no, Sei, any bright ideas!" Namia turned to Shisei, who was still in his own little world. "Sei… SHISEI!" she yelled. Shisei turned to her in the shadows.
"Huh, what?" he asked, alarmed.
"Any ideas?" she asked again. Shisei looked over his hand cards, which were about nine now, and smirked.
"More than a few!" the magic and trap duelist was once more, ready to duel.
"I now activate Fissure, and destroy the weakest monster on Namia's field!" Solar Flare Dragon roared in protest as it fell into a dark hole underground. "Now, Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) will attack your last dragon!" the horned warrior jumped forward and cut the dragon to cold cuts. "Finally, I'll set this card in my last magic or trap slot." Kamishiro set the card and it appeared next to Guardian's Gift, Dragon Capture Jar, Time Zone Shift, and Final Countdown. "End turn." he stated.
Kamishiro-200
Namia-7600
Ryuko-8000
Shisei-2900
Shisei drew. "Alright, I'll now set two cards facedown and end my turn!" Shisei stated with a new faith in himself and his deck. 'We can win now that were not so restricted!" Shisei thought. Two more torches went out, leaving 16 or eight turns left.
"Alright, my move now!" Namia declared, drawing her card. "I'll set this monster in defense mode!" she declared, slamming a card into the disk. Kamishiro chuckled as Ryuko glared and drew.
"You can hold off my dragon as long as you want, but eventually, he'll break free and wreak havoc on your LP!" Ryuko declared forcefully. "For now, though, I end my turn." he growled. Two more of the flaming torches went out, leaving only 12.
"Well now, if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to obliterate you all now!" Kamishiro started, drawing his card. "I start this turn by sacrificing my Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) for the mighty Jinzo (2400/1500) in attack mode!" the cloaked man smirked. A dark, brooding half machine creature soon emerged from his card image and folded it's arms in front of it's master. Shisei bit his lip, having quite a few traps set, this wasn't good for him. "And as my Dragon Capture Jar is now useless, I'll rid the field of it after I attack your Red Eyes (2400/2000) with my Jinzo!" Kamishiro pointed to Ryuko's defensive dragon.
"NO!" Ryuko yelled, not ready in the least for his monster to be destroyed.
"YES, JINZO, BLOW HIS BEAST TO SMITHEREENS!" Kamishiro shouted to the whole of the shadow realm. Jinzo (2400/1500) chuckled and a ball off dark energy formed in his hands. "Cyber Shock Attack." he finished with an evil whisper. The cyber shock blew Ryuko's dragon to scaly pieces.
"You bastard!" the young duelist growled.
"HAHAHA! What's wrong, does the wee little duelist miss his itty bitty dragon!" Kamishiro cruelly responded. "Now I set this card facedown and end my turn, giving you five more turns to stop me from an automatic win!" he tossed back his head again and laughed ruefully at the three's predicament.
"I'll have to wipe that smile off you…er, hood!" Shisei slid the topmost card off of his deck and looked his hand over. 'Damn, still haven't drawn a monster, oh well, this is what I get for making an almost all magic and trap deck."' Shisei thought. "I have to end my turn." he said. He slid one of his seven cards into the graveyard, and let Namia draw.
'Damn it, only four turns left."' Namia thought, drawing. She looked over her hand and sighed, sliding a card into the disk. "I set this monster facedown, and end my turn." Yet another set card appeared on the field in front of Namia. The darkness of the shadow realm, which had been momentarily overcome by light from Kamishiro's torches, was slowly returning as the last four torches shimmered alone around the field.
"I'm going to get rid of your auto win combo." Ryuko stated simply. Kamishiro didn't make it apparent that he had heard or cared. Ryuko felt the pressure and the heat on him about destroying the combo, but he only knew one card that could help him… He drew.
'Come on Ryuko, don't let us down!"' Shisei thought, realizing exactly how much this next move counted. 'I know you can do it."' he felt as though he was actually talking to the other boy, though they weren't.
Ryuko looked up at Kamishiro, directly into his eye, and smirked. "I activate Stamping Destruction, which will destroy a magic or trap card, and make the owner take 500 points of direct damage!" he smirked as a raging dragon roared, landing on the field with a crash, and stomped Kamishiro's Final Countdown card.
Kamishiro-7700
Namia-7600
Ryuko-8000
Shisei-2900
"WHAT!" All three of the duelists opposing Kamishiro looked at his LP score in shock.
"How did you survive Ryuko's last attack?" Namia asked.
"Why do you have almost as many LP as you started with!" Shisei continued to inquire.
"Simple, I activated a quick play magic card, Times Blessings." The three suddenly noticed the card he was talking about. It had an hourglass that was glowing green and spinning very fast. "This card restores my LP by 500x the number of turns it's been set on the field, the only downside is, all cards on my field are destroyed." he finished, though he didn't sound upset at all as his cards were blown to pieces.
Ryuko growled at how his opponent managed to avoid such an imminent defeat. "Okay, I'll just attack you with Masked Dragon (1400/1100)!" the oddly shaped dragon danced over and bit into it's opponent's neck.
Kamishiro-6300
Namia-7600
Ryuko-8000
Shisei-2900
"Foolish little boy, now it's my move!" Kamishiro slid the top card off of his disk. "I play the Card of Sanctity magic card, now we each gather six cards." Kamishiro slid the proper amount of cards off of his disk and smirked. "Alright, I'll summon Dunames the Dark Witch (1800/1150) in attack mode!" Kamishiro stated. A beautiful female angel in a glowing gold tunic appeared with a lively smile. "Now my Dunames (1800/1150) blow the boy's Masked Dragon (1400/1100) to pieces." the witch obliged and blasted golden light at the cowering dragon.
Kamishiro-6300
Namia-7600
Ryuko-7600
Shisei-2900
"Fine by me, when Masked Dragon is destroyed in battle," Ryuko picked up his deck from the slot in his disk and began to thumb through it. "I can bring out a dragon with less than or equal to 1500 attack points, I choose Divine Dragon Ragnarok (1500/1000) in attack mode!" the brown haired boy smirked as his monster appeared with a look of pure power on it's long face. He reinserted his deck and folded his arms.
"I'll then set one card facedown and end my turn." Kamishiro said, emotionless once more.
Shisei drew, anxious to win the match for his friends and him. "I start by activating my fissure magic card, say goodbye your Dunames!" Dunames blinked at the threat before finding herself being dragged underground by a red glistening hand. Kamishiro waved goodbye as she vanished, earning raised eyebrows from the others. " Then I'll set this card and end my turn." Shisei finished.
Namia looked over at Shisei in wonder. 'Why didn't he play Fissure on Jinzo, that would have made more sense…"' Namia thought. Then she slid her next card off of the disk and got ready to show her stuff. "I'll flip summon my Fushi No Tori (1200/0) and my Robotic Knight (1600/1800)," a flaming bird and a glowing mechanical soldier appeared on Namia's field. "Next comes Molten Destruction, which gives my monsters a power boost of 500!" Robotic Knight (2100/1400) slashed a now flaming blade, and the flaming bird, Fushi No Tori (1700/0) burned brighter. "Now my beasts will attack!" both of the monsters charged as Kamishiro flipped a facedown card.
"Activate Negate Attack, to stop your assault." Kamishiro stated, almost boredly. "Done yet!" he asked.
Namia glared at him and slid two cards into her disk. "Not by a long shot, I set two cards facedown and my Fushi No Tori returns to my hand, being a spirit monster. Show him Ryuko!" Namia finished, removing the flaming bird and looking to Ryuko for the next move.
Ryuko drew and looked his hand over. "Okay, I start with Polymerization, and fuse Divine Dragon Ragnarok (1500/1200) with Lord of Dragons (1100/1200) from my hand to form…" the newly appeared sorcerer began to glow as the Dragon did the same. Soon the glow faded and the two were one huge and oddly shaped dragon. "King Dragun (2400/1200) in attack mode!" Ryuko cheered, sliding another card into his disk. "Now, feast your eyes on the true king of all dragons, say hello to, Blue Eyes Omega Dragon (3500/3000)!" Ryuko's strongest and favorite beast appeared, rearing it's head back and giving signs of hostility that no one could mistake.
"You fell for my bluff, activate, False Hope!" Kamishiro stated, a card with a picture involving a coin flipping and a glowing monster appeared. "Now here's how it works, your newest Special summoned monster goes back to your hand," Kamishiro began.
"Who cares, I'll just special summon it again on my next turn!" Ryuko declared proudly.
"If this works then there won't be next turn for any of you." Kamishiro stated. "Now we flip a coin!" a giant Japanese coin appeared and began to revolve. "I call heads!" Kamishiro stated as the coin flipped. A few very intense moments later, the coin landed with a thump on heads. Kamishiro laughed and took his deck from the deck slot. "Now you discard your monster that was returned, and I get to special summon a monster from my deck with that many stars or less!" he finished.
"No." Ryuko said faintly, not able to believe he had lost his best monster before it could even attack.
"Yes, and now, behold one of the most deadly creatures you'll ever see… ANGEL OF DARK REBIRTH (2400/0) in attack mode!" Kamishiro shouted to the three duelists. Slowly, the ground rumbled and chunks of shadow shifted to shape into something. Wings emerged from the large clumps, black wings, followed by hands and legs of a glowing and evilly smiling woman. She had half a decaying body, and half a pale and sickly one. Kamishiro's laughter rang out to the entire room as his newest "angel" made it's way onto the field. "This is the Endgame, my friends, the last turn is here!" he stated. And this time, Shisei, Namia, and Ryuko couldn't help but believe he was right.
Next time: The final turn is fast approaching, and after lots of mistakes, wishes and revivals, the winner(s) of this exiting duel is going to be decided. But just what is so special about a 2400 attack point monster? Can Shisei with his sly ways and the Dark Magician's help overcome it? Find out next time on Duel Monsters: Maximum!
To Rex: I meant to make him use the effect of Red eyes B. Chick to sacrifice first, I just forgot, sorry, but I did correct that little error.
To John: Economics says you don't pay to activate magic cards, whether the card itself makes you pay or another card, like Curse of Darkness.
A/N: Well, I'm back and I hope I'm here to stay, I got a little depressed about my math grade, but I'm back up, running and ready to write! Well thank everyone for being patient (or at least pretending to be) and I'll try to update soon.
