Rise of Destiny

Chapter 22

Kaiba VS Auros: Board the Winged Ship! Part 2

RECAP

"Quiet, Yugi!" Kaiba shouted. "I'm making my descisions, not you!"

"Kaiba, you must listen at least this once! Trust me! It'll do good for all of us!" Atem said. Kaiba scoffed, and stepped toward the Pharoah, sizing him up. Then he took the handle of his sword and deftly thrusted it into Yugi's neck, making Atem gag. His eyelids drooped, and the former Pharoah fell into a state of unconsciousness. Anzu caught him, and la id him gently on the floor.

"Open Soul Cards!" Kaiba shouted. Auros did the same. Blue Eyes White Dragon, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and God of Obelisk appeared behind Kaiba. Three cards appeared behind Auros.

Auros: Very well, then. I draw!

He draws one card.

Auros: laughs I've just drawn the card that will assure your demise! Kaiba! You have not experienced Hell before this duel!

/RECAP

Auros: I place one card face down and end my turn.

Kaiba: What the hell is he playing at? Does he have even one monster in his entire deck? I draw! First, I set one card face down on the field. And I summon X-Head Cannon(1800/1500) in ATK mode! And I'll play the Spell card Frontline Base to Special Summon Y-Dragon Head(1500/1600)!

A metallic blue being appears on the field. It's head is small, with mechanical red eyes embedded in mechanical eyesockets. It's body is large and muscular, with huge yellow spikes with blue tips coming up out of where the shoulders would be. It's arms are very thick, with large fists. It's body is connected to a small orb with yellow spikes around it. Then, a metallic red dragon with yellow eyes appears on the field.

Kaiba: Next, I'll union them together to form...XY-Dragon Cannon! And I'll use his effect to destroy your Red Judge Trap card! Because by discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy any Spell or Trap card!

X-Head Cannon and Y-Dragon Head fly high into the air, and then X-Head Cannon attaches to Y-Dragon Head, forming a new creature. The cannons on X-Head Cannon's back fire two blasts of lightning toward Auros's Red Judge card, but they're stopped again...

Kaiba: You're pissing me off.

Auros: Laughs I activate my Blue Judge trap card!

A Trap Card appears on the field. It's picture shows a formless blue mist with a blue gavel in the middle of it all.

Auros: This card forces you to roll another die. If you roll an even number, your card's effect can be activated. But roll an odd number, and the effect is negated and your card is destroyed.

Kaiba rolls the die again, and it lands in a crack. Auros stamps his foot on the ground, and the die rolls out of the crack and lands on a 3.

Auros: Say goodbye to your XY-Dragon Cannon!

A blue gavel appears out of nowhere, and smashes the Dragon Cannon into oblivion.

Kaiba: Damn you.

Auros: Now, now, Kaiba, let's try to be civil here. I draw!

He draws one card from his deck.

Auros: Now, I'll activate my third and last Judge card, The Yellow Judge!

A Trap card appears on the field. It's picture shows a yellow creature that appears to be made of Silly Putty or some similar substance. It has a form, but no detail. Only a head, torso, arms, and legs. It's holding a yellow gavel in it's hands.

Auros: This card forces me to flip a coin before you draw. If I get heads, then I get to look at the card you drew. If I get tails, then you can keep your card. However, that effect was not the only reason I played that card. Because when all three of my Judge cards are on the field at once, a new effect activates. I can summon my monster to the field, the mighty Divine Judge(3000/3000)!

A transparent figure made up of all 7 colours of the rainbow appears. It looks like a knight from the medieval times, but it held a long, heavy mallet.

Auros: Divine Judge's powerful effect allows me to destroy any DEF mode monsters it attacks, no matter what it's DEF points are. So now, you are never safe! If you play your monsters in ATK mode, you'll lose Life Points. If you play them in DEF mode, I'll destroy them instantly.

Kaiba: Hah! When I get a graveyard regurgitation card, I'll kill that monster easily.

Auros: You won't be able to kill it when you are already dead! Divine Judge, attack his Life Points!

Kaiba: I play the Spell card Guardian of Soul! This card allows me to Special Summon up to five monsters from my Graveyard until the end of the turn to block your attacks! I'll just summon my X-Head-Cannon to block your attack this turn!

X-Head Cannon reappears on the field, only to be smashed into bits by Divine Judge.

Kaiba: It's my move!

He draws.

Kaiba: Now, I summon the mighty Blade Knight(1600/1000)! And because I have only one card in my hand, he's powered up by 400, making his attack 2000!

Blade Knight (2000/1000)

Auros: Not so fast! My Blue Judge will judge this situation. Roll your die again!

Kaiba rolls the die. It lands on a 5.

Auros: Laughs Looks like you're not having much luck today, eh, Kaiba?

Kaiba: Go to hell.

Blade Knight shatters into pieces, and disappears.

Auros: Now, Divine Judge! Attack his Life Points!

Divine Judge raises it's mallet over it's head, and smashes it down on Kaiba, then raises it back up.

Kaiba/400 Auros/3000

Auros: Back to you.

Kaiba: Now, I play Monster Reborn! To bring back my Blue Eyes(3000/2500)!

The metallic white dragon with fierce blue eyes appears on the field again, baring it's fangs and flapping it's wings.

Kaiba: Blue Eyes! Suicide attack right into Divine Judge!

Blue Eyes fires a blast of white lightning at Divine Judge, but the blast is stopped.

Auros: Did you forget my Red Judge trap?

Kaiba: Dammit...

Auros: Roll a die again.

Kaiba rolls the die, and it lands on a 4

Kaiba: Looks like I got lucky this time. My Blue Eyes' ATK power becomes 4000!

Divine Judge is shattered, and Auros' Life Points drop.

Kaiba/400 Auros/2000

Auros: Now I activate my own Monster Reborn, to bring back Divine Judge! And since Red Judge is only effective in the Battle Phase, your monster has it's normal score. So I'll just equip my Divine Judge with this Spell card! Hand of God!

A Spell card appears on the field. It's picture shows a large hand radiating with power.

Auros: It raises the ATK power of my monster by 1000! Now, Divine Judge, attack his Blue Eyes and take his soul away forever!

Divine Judge sweeps it's hammer sideways, slicing Blue Eyes in half with one clean sweep. The dragon screams as it fades away. Kaiba's Life Points hit 0.

Kaiba/0 Auros/2000

D U E L E N D

Kaiba dropped to the floor. His soul was gone. Auros grinned evilly at Mokuba...

Anzu and Honda were poking around random rooms in Auros's tower, looking for anything that could help them. They were in the hallway, when they spotted a door they hadn't seen before. It was a metal black door, with the Japanese figure for "Do Not Enter" written on it.

Honda stepped forward and rapped on the surface with his fist.

"Yep...solid metal...Auros's place sure is strange..."

Suddenly, the door burst open. A tall, lean figure stood there, engulfed by shadows. As he walked into the light, Anzu and Honda saw he had white-blonde hair and was wearing a dark, sleeveless vest over a black sleeveless shirt, black jeans, and black boots. He was holding two long, thin silver swords in his hands.

He jumped high into the air, the tips of his bangs brushing the ceiling. He brings his sword down...

Anzu closes her eyes, and waits for the pain...but it does not come.

She opens her eyes to see Atem blocking both of the white haired man's swords with his own Sword of Milleniums. He had regained consciousness.

"Ryuza...Kaiba defeated you...your soul should be gone..." Atem said, struggling with Ryuza as their swords clashed.

"Wrong, Pharoah," Ryuza grunted.

"But then...how..."

"My soul survived because of one of my soul cards! The immortal Sinister Serpent allows me to escape death only once!" Ryuza said over the tinny sounds their swords were making as they collided.

"You may have escaped death once, but not again!" Atem shouted. "Penalty Game! Banish Darkness!"

The Sword of Milleniums glows with black light, and Atem manages to push Ryuza back. Atem rushed with full speed toward the white-haired Duelist, bringing the sword down upon Ryuza with one mighty slash. Ryuza fell down, his vest and shirt both torn and blood running down his chest. The darkness left his eyes, and he faded away into unconsciousness.

Atem walked slowly over to Ryuza, and kneeled down beside the fallen Duelist. He got up after a few seconds, and turned to Honda and Anzu.

"The cut's not deep; the bleeding should stop soon." Atem said lightly. Honda and Anzu relaxed, and they walked around the corner. They were about to go back downstairs to where the Conjure Soldier was, when, suddenly, all three of them felt compelled to go back to the large, circular room where the ship was.

Suddenly, they heard the roar of the ship as it came into view, and slowly landed back in the room. Auros came into view as he looked down from the ship at the three friends.

"Ah, yes," He said airily. "I forgot something."

He raised his hand into the air, and a stretched appeared out of nowhere near the wall of the room. Kawai Shizuka's body was lying unconscious on it, her legs together and her hands crossed over her chest.

That's when Honda snapped.

"Come down here, you bastard! I'll smash your face in so hard you won't be able to breath without goin' "I wish I hadn't taken that girl's soul!" "

He ran toward the ship and punched it as hard as he could. The wood splintered, making a fist-sized hole in the body of the ship. Honda's fist was now bleeding, but he didn't care.

"I said come down here!" Honda repeated, bashing his other fist into the wall of the ship, and making another fist-sized hole.

Auros's expression changed to one of seriousness. He jumped down from the ship with ease(which was strange, considering that the ship was bigger then a house.)

"You've made me angry," Auros said. His hand shot out and clamped like a gauntlet around Honda's neck. He put his other hand to Honda's chest, and a small white orb floated out. His soul. Honda's body went limp, and his eyes rolled in their sockets until only the whites showed.

Anzu gasped. Atem's fists clenched as Auros dropped Honda like a rock and walked back up onto the ship via the bridge/walkway.

Atem ran after him on an impulse, and Anzu had no other choice but to follow...

NEXT: Prelude to the Final Battle