Chapter 33: A Dark Angel Walks

Shisei felt fear consume him as he looked into the into the skeletal features of the half decaying, half sickening "Angel" before him and his friends. 'That thing doesn't have a lot of attack power, but it still gives me the creeps."' Shisei thought to himself. He knew, though, that Namia, himself, and Ryuko had to have faith in their cause and their cards to win.

"Are you ready to be banished to the cold darkness of the Shadow Realm forever!" asked Kamishiro, as though he thought the answer was going to be defiant. He was right.

"Bring on the pain, my dragons will endure and overcome it!" Ryuko looked at his dragon with the utmost faith in them and stood ready to defeat the white cloaked man. 'I didn't know Kouichi Nandao, but his death wasn't a righteous and honorable one, therefore, I shall avenge it!"' Ryuko glared daggers at Kamishiro as he thought this valiantly to himself.

"Ah, but every serpent has a weakness, and your bigger lizards will crumble under the divine wrath of one sent from heaven!" Kamishiro stated, pointing to his Angel.

"That thing is going to burn in hell." Namia interjected Kamishiro. "Of course, it will first burn in the mighty flames of my monsters!" she added with her usual fiery attitude. 'Kou, I will get you back, any way possible!"' she thought.

"Your flames will destroy my angel, but it will only return, greater than the strongest of strong creatures!" Kamishiro replied to this.

"Kamishiro," Shisei began quietly. "The Dark Magician is at home in this place, and on my next turn, he'll appear with his friends to avenge the death of Kou. Dark Rebirth is going to fall to Dark Magic!" Shisei yelled. 'Kou, you better make this worth it, cause I don't think we'll get a second chance at saving your soul!'" Shisei thought with vigor.

"Magic pales in comparison to the Dark abilities my Angel will unleash on you three foolish mortals!" Kamishiro snickered finally to Shisei, then he rounded on Ryuko. "Now finish your move, so my Angel may demolish one of you." he stated, looking at the LP count with a smile.

"Alright, let's end it here!" Ryuko slid a card into his disk. "I set this last card facedown, now go!" the young boy finished, his set card appearing in the familiar position, brown back and all.

Kamishiro slid the top card off of his deck. "Ah, beautiful!" he slid one card into his disk. "I set one card facedown, and play Spell Reproduction!" he slid one of his last three cards into his disk and slid the other two into the graveyard slot. "This allows me to reuse Card of Sanctity at the cost of two spell cards!" he took the declared card back and activated it, slipping six cards of his dwindling deck and looking them over.

"Fine by me!" Shisei yelled to his opponent, drawing a meager one card.

"The more the merrier!" Namia agreed, sliding the proper amount off her own deck. Ryuko also nodded in agreement as Kamishiro began to finish his turn.

"Now to bring Shisei's life to a close, attack him directly my Angel of Dark Rebirth (2400/0)!" Kamishiro commanded. Shisei smirked.

"I activate Time Released Magic Duplicator!" Shisei interjected, as the Angel flew toward him and his set cards.

"WHAT!" Namia and Ryuko asked. Watching the field for some sort of change, they blinked in surprise as they saw the ground open beneath the Angel of Dark Rebirth (2400/0) and suck her into it with the help of a glistening red hand.

"It allows me to activate a magic card I used on my last turn as a trap card, at the cost of 1000 LP!" Shisei stated with more triumph than before. "Why do you think I waited after Jinzo was gone to play Fissure, I had this baby in my hand and couldn't set it, so I knew you would summon an even stronger monster for me to obliterate later! Patience is a virtue!" the blond snickered.

Kamishiro-6300

Namia-7600

Ryuko-7600

Shisei-1900

Kamishiro only shrugged as his field was almost completely emptied. "Fine, I'll end my turn with that." Kamishiro stated.

Shisei drew and smirked at the card. "Here it comes, I activate Dark Magic Curtain, to bring the Dark Magician from my deck to my field!" Shisei yelled through the dark shadows. The Dark Magician (2500/2100) burst forth from the darkness of the realm and stood ready in front of Shisei, who didn't seem to notice his reopening wound due to paying so many LP.

Kamishiro-6300

Namia-7600

Ryuko-7600

Shisei-850

"Now I sacrifice my mighty Magician, for the Dark Magician Girl (2300/1700), in attack mode!" his stronger male mage disappeared and a winking female version appeared before them all. "But I'm nowhere near done, I now activate Call of the haunted to resurrect the Dark Magician (2500/2100)." he continued. The former purple robed mage appeared before the female, who blushed, but stood strong and ready.

"These random moves won't help you… Because I have the perfect protection from your attacks." Kamishiro stated, yawning.

"And what is that!" Shisei glared at him for being interrupted.

"A stronger monster." Kamishiro stated, sliding a card from his hand into the graveyard. Suddenly the Angel of Dark Rebirth (2900/0) burst from the ground with a look of happiness at being revived on her ancient face. "You see, like Vampire Lord, my monster revives after effects destroy her, only she revives with 500 extra attack points at the cost of a card from my hand!" Kamishiro was plainly happy over his fooling them, but Shisei wasn't done yet.

"I'll just have to blow your "stronger" monster to pieces then, won't I!" asked Shisei, slipping another card into his disk. "I now play Knight's Title, to change the Dark Magician (2500/2100) to the Dark Magician Knight (2500/2100)!" Shisei's mage was suddenly slashing a large green blade testily and glaring at it's opponent, the Angel of Dark Rebirth. "Finally, Monster Reborn to revive the Dark Magician that was sacrificed!" The purple robed mage appeared alongside his female companion, the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) and older version, Dark Magician Knight (2500/2100). Just as it looked like Shisei had finished, the Knight spotted the Angel of Dark Rebirth (2900/0) and, anxious to test it's new sword, lunged and cut her in half.

"Ah, yes, your knight's ability allows it to destroy one monster when successfully special summoned, I almost forgot." Kamishiro stated mildly. Shisei was shocked that Kamishiro didn't care he had obviously lost.

'He must be relying on his facedown card."' Shisei thought. 'Oh well, I can't risk a bluff, and Namia and Ryuko will be able to back me up if I lose my monsters."' he reassured himself. "Okay, I attack your LP directly, first with the Dark Magician Knight (2500/2100)!" shouted Shisei. His Knight jumped forth, but was met with a wall of furry fiends.

"I discard Kuriboh to decrease the attack of your monster to zero for this turn." Kamishiro stated with disinterest.

"Fine, but my other monsters will still attack, go Double Dark Magic Attack!" Both of his mages twirled their staffs and blasted their power at Kamishiro.

Kamishiro-1800

Namia-7600

Ryuko-7600

Shisei-850

"I end my turn there." Shisei finished. Namia felt giddy with relief.

'Almost got him beat!"' the fire duelist thought, drawing. "I start-" she was cut off as the Angel of Dark Rebirth (3400/0) revived with another discarded card from Kamishiro. Namia glared at the disgruntled Angel. "I'll start with my own Monster Reborn to revive my Flame Ruler (1500/1600)!" An odd zombie reappeared on her field. "Then I sacrifice Flame Ruler, which counts as two tributes for a fire beast, and my Robotic Knight to summon Phoenix of Gold Fire (3500/3500) in attack mode!" shouted Namia with elegance, as she knew they had won.

"Not so fast, I play Horn of Heaven to negate the summoning of your bird by sacrificing my own monster!" Kamishiro's angelic being suddenly screeched as it and the Phoenix of Gold Fire were blown apart by thunder.

Namia looked at her last hopes and glared. "I set one card and end my turn!" she finished, not letting despair claim her.

'It's up to me now!"' Ryuko thought to himself, sliding the top card off of his deck. Kamishiro also discarded a card and revived his Angel (3900/0) at that moment. "I'll show you! I use my King Dragun (2400/1200) to special summon Hyozanryu (2100/2800) in attack mode." Ryuko stated, wiping sweat from his brow. "Then I equip my Diamond dragon with Mage Power, giving it 500 extra attack points for every magic and trap I have." the Diamond Dragon that appeared before the young boy roared ferociously at it's opponent (3100/3800). "Then I set one card. End turn." Ryuko finished his turn, as his Hyozanryu (3600/4300) grew even stronger.

"Finally, my turn!" Kamishiro drew enthusiastically. "Now I start by activating my Angel Wing Diffusion magic card, which allows one Angel with an original attack of less than 2500 to attack all monsters on an opponent's field at once!" his Dark Angel (3900/0) glittered with power and looked at Shisei's field. "Now I shall attack Shisei's monsters!" Kamishiro finished menacingly. Ryuko and Namia were fully expecting Shisei to pull some Yugi-like stunt and save himself at the last minute. But nothing like this happened.

"AHHHH!" Shisei would have screamed much louder and longer than he did, but his soul was blasted out of his body before he could think to do something as simple as that. The attack from the Angel was a glittering array of black feathers which cut the head off of all of Shisei's monsters.

Kamishiro-1800

Namia-7600

Ryuko-7600

Shisei-0

Namia looked at the now vacant darkness where Shisei once stood. "Sei! SEI!" she screamed into the twirling darkness. Kamishiro smiled as she fell to her knees. 'He's gone, he's really gone."' she realized.

"Namia, we can't lose." Ryuko said quietly. Namia looked over at the younger boy, she could tell he was trying not to cry.

"Right." she agreed, standing up with fire in her eyes.

"Still have some fight left in you, eh? Fine, I'll take you down fighting!" Kamishiro informed the other two. "Now my Angel's second ability will activate, it revives any Dark or Light monster that is destroyed in battle by it!" Kamishiro laughed as all of Shisei's Dark Magicians appeared, holding their staffs/blade in front of them. "Unfortunately, they will be in defense mode, but I can still activate Star Draw, and tribute my Angel of Dark Rebirth (3900/0) for nine cards!" Kamishiro stated as his angel burst into nine card images and he drew one for each. "I then set these four cards and activate The Sanctuary in the Sky and finally, end my turn!" Kamishiro finished happily.

"I draw!" Namia stated, watching as the Angel of Dark Rebirth (4400/0) was revived with another hand card. "Then I set this monster in defense mode. End turn." Namia finished, sadly able to come up with nothing that could defeat her opponent.

Ryuko drew. "I start with another two cards facedown, increasing my Hyozanryu (4600/5300) to above your monster. Now Hyozanryu, attack his monster!" Ryuko commanded, apparently confident in his three facedown cards as Kamishiro would no doubt revive his monster next turn.

"I activate Pyramid Energy, to increase my Angel of Dark Rebirth's (4700/0) attack by 300 for one turn!" his angel laughed mockingly as the diamond dragon unleashed a flurry of magical diamonds from itself. Just as they approached their target, the angel blew them back in an ugly kiss.

"Not so fast, I play Burst Breath, and use it to tribute my King Dragun and destroy all monsters on the field with less defense points than it's attack!" Ryuko smirked as the Angel was blown apart by the charging King Dragun (2400/1200) which was on fire. Then the Dark Magicians burst into flames. The attack was back to speeding towards Kamishiro until he flipped a card.

"I'll activate my Raigeki Break and dis-" he was cut off as Ryuko flipped another card.

"I play the Dragon's Bead and negate Raigeki Break and it's effect!" Ryuko stated, though he was worried now, he had only one card to protect him now. 'Come on!"' he thought. "Now finish your attack my beast, don't let him win!" Ryuko finally declared.

"Pathetic, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon on your Dragon's Bead and then Mirror Force!" his cards flipped and Ryuko activated his last facedown card.

"I play Dragon Crash, which will deal me 1000 damage in return for negating an effect!" Ryuko's last set card, a quick play magic card, disappeared and Kamishiro flipped his last card (he activate Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand).

"I activate Judgment of Anubis, which will destroy a card that negates spell and traps and then blow a monster on your field away!" Kamishiro responded, as a large Egyptian artifact glowed and blew Hyozanryu (2600/3300) apart. "To add insult to injury, you lose the attack of the monster I destroyed in LP! Such a great card, and all I do to play it is send a card to the grave!" Kamishiro laughed as Ryuko was left with nothing to defend himself.

Ryuko turned to Namia with a dreamy expression on his face. "Namia, please don't lose." he said, then collapsed coughing up blood from LP loss.

Kamishiro-1800

Namia-7600

Ryuko-5000

Shisei-0

Kamishiro smirked and drew, discarding a card from his hand and summoning his Angel of Dark Rebirth (4900/0). "By the way, the card I just discarded was Sinister Serpent, So it will always return to me!" Kamishiro stated, bringing another monster to the field. "Now Avatar of the Pot (1200/1300) will come forth in attack mode. Then I discard Pot of Greed and use it's ability to take three cards from my deck!" Kamishiro slid three cards off his deck and smirked. "Card of Demise let's me draw five." he continued.

"Just finish already!" Namia commanded. She knew it was pointless to argue with fate, but she also knew that Ryuko could win if he only attacked with one of his monsters.

"Fine, I'll activate Call of the Haunted, Monster Reborn, and Premature Burial to revive all three Dark Magician Monsters!" the army of dark magicians rose again as Kamishiro lost some LP.

Kamishiro-800

Namia-7600

Ryuko-5000

Shisei-0

"Now I activate Black Soul Sword, get ready, because now my Angel had the perfect weapon!" A sword made of some pure black metal appeared, skulls imbedded in it's hilt. "First, I tribute up to three dark monsters to the sword, and then it equips and increases the attack of the Demon that it is attached to. So I tribute my Dark Magicians, and their power adds a total of 7000 to my Angel of Dark Rebirth (11900/0)." Kamishiro looked at the field, rubbing his hand's together anxiously. The black blade suddenly slashed the Dark Magicians into cold cuts and absorbed their pieces. "I think it's time I attacked, I blow Ryuko away now!" the angel, who was plain out pissed at being destroyed so many times, slashed the hell out of Ryuko and his soul flew away. "My Avatar (1200/1300) will then attack Namia's monster." he finished, blowing Namia's last defense apart. "I set my last card." he finished.

Kamishiro-800

Namia-7600

Ryuko-0

Shisei-0

"No, Ryuko." Namia felt her body go numb, not noticing anything but how alone she was against the madman across from her. 'He stole their soul. It's not fake, it's not a game, if we lose, we don't live anymore."' she thought. Then, suddenly, something snapped. All of the anger she had held up, the anger of losing Kou, Shisei, and now Ryuko, exploded and she didn't wait for an end turn.

"Ah, looks like this is our last turn. Make it count!" Kamishiro laughed at Namia, who ignored it and drew.

"I start with my own Card of Sanctity!" Namia slid her card into the disk. "Now I also play my facedown card, Soul Release, and remove my Phoenixes from play." she stated this, but didn't bother to put them away as they ejected from her graveyard slot. "Now I also play Return From the Different Dimension, pay half my LP, and bring my Phoenix of Gold Fire (3500/3500) back to this plane!" he LP decreased and the Golden Phoenix appeared, looking extremely disgruntled.

Kamishiro-400

Namia-3800

Ryuko-0

Shisei-0

"Not so fast, I activate Angelic Safeguard, which will negate the ability of one monster by paying half my LP, nice try!" Kamishiro laughed once more, but Namia's stone face only glared at him as she played another card.

"I have many more ways of defeating you, and I'll prove it by playing Twin Swords of Flashing Light-Tryce, on my Phoenix (3000/3500) which allows it to attack twice at the cost of a hand card and 500 attack points." Namia slid another card after blades lined the wings of the Golden bird. "Now it ends, I play Riryouki and drain your monster of half it's attack power and add it to mine instead!" Namia looked at the lower power of the Angel (5950/0) and the much higher power of her own Phoenix (8950/3000). "Phoenix, attack and destroy his monster!" Namia declared. The Phoenix blew golden feathers at the Angel and it burned to a crisp.

"Bravo, but I take no damage, thanks to my previously activated Sanctuary in the Sky field!" Kamishiro snickered.

"Yeah, but that's why I get a second attack." Namia said menacingly.

"That's where the second ability of my Black Soul Sword comes into play." Kamishiro told the blond female.

Namia had a bad feeling about this as the shadows started to reform… "Now all the monster I sacrificed to power up my weapon of destruction return!" all of Shisei's monsters reappeared and Namia felt the loss deep within herself.

'I only get one more attack… His monsters are defending… Phoenix is removed again after the turn ends… He has three chances at a direct attack… Sorry Shisei, Ryuko, Kou… I lost."' Namia pressed the end turn button, her head bowed.

"Finally, now that you understand you never stood a chance, I'll activate the special ability of my Angel (5400/0) and revive it." Kamishiro's ever-returning winged creature appeared, looking downright pissed at him and Namia. "Finish it my Angel, directly attack that foolish woman!" Kamishiro shouted one last time.

Kamishiro-400

Namia-0

Ryuko-0

Shisei-0

Kamishiro smirked as Namia's soulless body fell into the shadows. The shadow game, however, didn't disappear. Kamishiro frowned at the remaining shadows. "What's going on?" he asked to no one. However, someone answered.

"This Shadow Game isn't over yet. Now how about you duel someone that's worth a challenge?" a voice said from the shadows. Kamishiro turned sharply, and his jaw dropped at who saw.

To be continued


Next time: Dueling in the midst of shadows isn't a problem for Kamishiro, but dueling in a light realm will definitely be a problem. With the stakes for the next duel, Kamishiro vs. , set it's up to the mysterious challenger to save the souls of Namia, Ryuko, and Shisei. Will they win? Find out next time on Duel Monsters: Maximum!

To MYHI: I did create the Phoenix cards, and as you've probably noticed, lots of others.

To John: If that's not kickass, I don't know what is!

A/N: I know Angel of Dark Rebirth seemed a little too strong, but really it was used in a deck meant for it, and there is a card that revives without tribute in K.B. Aleo's old story.