Rise of Destiny
Chapter 19
Yugi VS Zabano: Illusion of Avarice
"I will defeat Yugi, Master Auros."
"Good."
"It'll be a piece of cake!"
Atem and Anzu walked through the doors, and were shocked to see that no-one was there except Honda.
"No guards?" Atem asked. Anzu shrugged. Honda rushed over.
"Guys!" He exclaimed. "What took you so long?"
"Never mind now." Atem said shortly. "Someone is coming."
As if on cue, about 100 men in black cloaks jumped out from panels in the wall, ceiling, floor, and even from the air vents. A smaller figure with his face obscured by the cloak was in the middle of the bunch.
He made a signal with his hands, and the cloaked men immediately scattered.
"Yugi!" The smaller figure shouted, pointing his index finger at Atem. "Come forth and Duel me!"
He threw off his cloak, revealing a young man with short, maroon coloured hair down to his shoulders, bright blue eyes, and a confident expression He wore a blue jumpsuit that had no sleeves. A Duel Disk rested on his arm.
"Zabano!" Atem gasped, remembering his past encounter with this boy.
"I'm glad you remember me. So are you gonna duel me or what?"
"I accept!" Atem proclaimed, flourishing his Duel Disk. "Open Soul Cards!"
Dark Magician and the Sky Dragon of Osiris appeared behind Atem.
"Open Soul Cards!" Zabano repeated. Three cards appeared behind him.
DUEL START
Atem: I start off by summoning Silent Swordsman LV3(1000/1000)! And I'll set one card face down! Your move.
A small magician with blue skin, a white headpiece, long blonde hair dark blue robes, and a staff appears on the field.
Zabano: I'll just draw, and place a monster face-down in DEF mode. Your move.
Atem: Now, I'll level-up my Silent Swordsman LV3 into Silent Swordsman LV5(2300/1000)! Attack his face-down monster now!
Silent Swordsman LV3 starts glowing, and grows into a taller, more masculine version of the LV3 card. It's staff turns into a huge sword. Silent Swordsman LV5 raises it's sword and slashes the face-down card in half.
Zabano: You flipped my Dark Mimic LV1. Now I can draw a new card from my deck!
Atem: I end my turn.
Zabano: Now my real strategy kicks in! I play Treasure of the Gods!
A Spell card appears on the field. It's picture shows a mountain of gold, glowing with radiance.
Zabano: This card allows me to draw one extra card every turn as long as it's on the field. And I'll also play a Spell card called Infinite Cards so I never have to discard a card from my hand. The last thing I'm gonna do is summon a monster called Muka Muka(600/300)! And he gets powered up for every card in my hand! That means he goes up to 1200! I'll set one more card face down and end my turn.
A scaly green frog-like creature with a sturdy rock covering appears on the field. It grows in size almost immediately.
Atem: Now, Silent Swordsman, attack his Muka Muka with Silent Slash!
Silent Swordsman slashes it's sword down onto Muka Muka, but it bounces back, and a card flips up...
/DUEL
Zabano snapped his fingers, and the guards advanced on Honda and Anzu. A tall, muscular man grabbed both of Anzu's wrists, and shoved her up against the wall.
"You're a pretty girl," The guy said gruffly. "And I wouldn't want to hurt you. So don't make me."
A few other guys had Honda painfully pinned to the floor, his arms twisted behind his back. Suddenly, the guy holding Anzu let go of her, and fell to the floor. A thin red line was forming through a tear in his cloak. Anzu looked into the face of Seto Kaiba, his gleaming white sword held in front of him.
"You're safe now." He said shortly as he turned to the men who held Honda down. They immediately loosened their grips and backed up toward the wall.
DUEL
Zabano: I activated my Trap card, Barrier of Gold!
A Trap card appears on the field. It's picture shows a wall of gold rising up to block an attack.
Zabano: First off, it negates your attack. And then I can draw cards equal to the Level Stars on your monster divided by 2. That's two cards that I can draw now!
He draws two cards from his deck. Muka Muka enlarges in size.
Muka Muka 1800/300
Zabano: It's my turn, so I'll draw two more cards from my deck!
He draws two more cards, and Muka Muka's ATK points increase.
Muka Muka 2200/300
Zabano: He's almost powerful enough to beat your monster, Yugi. But I'll summon a new monster by Ritual Summon! I activate Ritual of Greed, and sacrafice a monster from my hand to summon the King of Greed(1000/1000)!
A man in robes with a Pot of Greed in his hand appears on the field. He wears a crown lined with jewels. His face is like that of the Pot of Greed.
Zabano: His effect allows me to draw one more card during my Draw Phase every turn. And next, I'll sacrafice my Muka Muka to summon the mighty Enraged Muka Muka(1200/600)! And he gets 400 points for every card in my hand!
A larger version of Muka Muka appears on the field. It immediately triples in size.
Enraged Muka Muka 4000/600
Zabano: Enraged Muka Muka, attack Silent Swordsman!
Enraged Muka Muka's throat swells up with energy, then it opens it's mouth and fires a huge blast of blue energy, obliterating Silent Swordsman immediately.
Atem/2300 Zabano/4000
/DUEL
Zabano snapped his fingers twice, and every one of the cloaked men charged Kaiba. He just chuckled, and charged them back, dancing gracefully around them and slashing his sword. Dozens of men fell, droplets of blood lining the floor.
"They're not dead." Kaiba said shortly. "I don't want to kill anyone."
"Kaiba!" Atem shouted. "I knew you'd come back!"
"Whatever." Kaiba said coldly.
DUEL
Atem: You've got a good strategy set up, Zabano. Your monster is incredibly powerful. But what will you do when your strategy is ruined? What is your backup plan?
Zabano: Uh...er...
Kaiba: Yugi! Quit toying with him. Win the duel so we can move on!
Atem: Now, I activate my face down card! Greed!
A Trap card depicting a woman with a crazed look in her eyes as coins rained down from the sky appears on the field.
Atem: Now you will be punished for your greed! You will lose 1000 Life Points each turn that you continue to draw cards by the effects of your King of Greed and Treasure of the Gods cards. I end my turn by setting one monster in DEF mode.
Zabano: I'll beat you, Yugi! Draws
Atem/2300 Zabano/3000
Zabano: Damn, nothing to beat Yugi's strategy this turn. I end my turn without doing anything.
Atem: Now, I'll set one more card face down and end my turn.
Zabano: I draw! Draws
Atem/2300 Zabano/2000
Zabano: Ah...I have to do something fast! Or I'll lose much more then just this duel!
Atem: What's wrong? You weren't so quiet before when you were insulting me before. No cards to help you out?
Zabano: Damn you...
Atem: I pass my turn.
Zabano: I...I draw...Draws
Atem/2300 Zabano/1000
Zabano: Grrr...Enraged Muka Muka, attack his face-down monster!
Enraged Muka Muka's throat swells, and then it fires another blast of energy from it's mouth, obliterating Yugi's face down monster.
Atem: I pass my turn. Looks like you lose.
Zabano: There's only one thing to do! I have to shut off the Duel Disk again!
His hand moves for the switch...and it freezes.
Zabano: I...I can't move my arm! I can't turn off the Duel Disk!
Zabano. Auros's voice rang throughout the room. I'm not going to allow any cheating. I'm going to force you to draw your last card.
Zabano: No! Master Auros! How could you do this to me! I don't want to die!
Draw your last card! Your master commands you.
Zabano draws his last card, and all of his Soul Cards shatter immediately. He falls down, his hair fanning out around him on the ground.
Atem/2300 Zabano/0
DUEL END
Atem turned to see their whole group together. Anzu. Honda. Kaiba. Mokuba. Yugi appeared in Spirit form beside the Pharoah.
We should go to the next room. We don't know what happened to Jounouchi. Yugi said, a solemn expression on his face.
Right, aibou. Atem replied. "Everyone!" He shouted. "Let's go find Jounouchi! He shouldn't be far from here."
Kaiba nodded, and he and Mokuba followed Atem out of the room, followed by Anzu and Honda.
Auros closed his eyes, and concentrated. His goal now was to lead Atem and the others to his Sanctuary to find Jounouchi.
Atem ran, letting his instinct lead him. After turning a few corners, he came to a large door embossed with gold lining. He pushed it open, and came face to face with two very shocking sights.
Shizuka was tied to a cross at the far end of the room. Her arms were spread out and tied to the arms of the cross. Her legs were bound together by ropes around her ankles at the bottom of the cross. She was crying softly.
Jounouchi was lying face down on the floor, unconscious. His Duel Disk was separated from his arm, and it had been broken in two. His deck lay scattered around the broken Duel Disk. The Sword of Dark Anger was gone.
"Shizuka!" Honda shouted. She looked up, and stopped crying when she saw who it was. Honda rushed over to the cross and hurriedly undid the binds. She stepped down gratefully, rubbing her wrists. Honda put his arm around her protectively.
"Katsuya...his soul was taken by that man in the blue coat..." Shizuka mumbled softly, looking down. "In a duel..."
The muscles in Atem's face tightened. Kaiba scowled. Anzu's eyes glistened. Honda closed his eyes in sadness.
"One more life taken by Auros." Atem said darkly. "One more reason to defeat him and undo all of his wrongs."
"Yeah." Kaiba said in agreement. "We've got to hurry. There's no telling what he'll do next."
Atem noticed a door on the far right side of the room. "There!" He said. "Let's go there. It's the only way we'll be able to go forward from here."
Anzu nodded, and the six friends opened the door, and stared in...
NEXT: Conjure Soldier