Chapter 15: Friend or F03?

D.D Assailant jumped in the air and struck Horned Saurus, sucking both into the different dimension. Armed Dragon launched its arsenal of spike missiles at Trample Shogun. Bann continued on his path up the stairs. Zakei's body lay limp on the ground, his body in a pool of blood. The Bashers were all fighting for their lives.

"You see, I am Jigen the Invincible!" Jigen ended his turn by setting a shadow beast.

"No, I don't see. My turn. I reveal Gale Lizard. Now I can send one monster on the field back to your mind. Say goodbye to your shadow beast."

The shadows vanished from a small orange wyvern with large wings. It rose into the air and blew a gust of wind, ridding the field of the set monster.

"Now I will use this spell, Ultra Evolution Pill, to evolve my Gale Lizard to the next level of power."

The small wyvern flew down to Recks and swallowed the small pill in his hand. Soon after, it began to change and grow. Its wings shortened and vanished, changing into small arms. Its head reshaped itself and its tail grew long. Spikes grew over is darkening body and large sharp fangs grew in its mouth. The transformation was complete.

"Meet my Black Tyranno. Now prepare to die. You don't have anything to protect yourself now. Now my ancient beast, strike him down!"

Black Tyranno charged, grabbing Jigen in its powerful jaws and biting down. Blood poured down Jigen's clothes.

"Blood? Delicious!"

"You're sick…"

"You're done for."

"I don't think so. I summon Mataza the Zapper and have him attack with Double Strike."

Mataza flew at Armed Dragon and slashed it twice with his sword, slaying the dragon.

"Very good. Very good. I activate Call of the Haunted to bring my dragon back."

Sure enough, Armed Dragon revived and let out a roar.

"Now I use Armed Punisher again, transferring the power of Twin-Headed Behemoth to the grave to destroy Mataza."

"I'm wide open. Come and get me!"

"Armed Dragon, ATTACK!"

Armed Dragon flew at Morgen, hitting him hard. Morgen went flying across the room, landing on his back. His eyes blurred as his soul was shredded from the strike.

"Two more. Two more hits and I'm dead. My turn! I summon Masaki the Legendary Swordsman! I cannot kill you. Come and get me Tiamat."

"You fool. I never liked you. I would love to see you slain by my own hand. Armed Dragon, atta… atta…" 'Why can't I call my attack?'

"I am wide open. I said, come and get me!"

"You can't fight your own friend. I won't let you. We won't let you."

'Dai Grepher?'

"Tiamat, return to your former self. Your friend needs your help," Warrior Dai Grepher put his hand on Tiamat's shoulder. Behind him stood many of the Cree in his Creepool.

'Mor…Morgen…'

'This is it. This must be my chance to strike, but I could kill him."

"You have to do it."

'Am I going crazy? I could have sworn that Masaki just spoke to me.'

"I did. We are connected, Morgen. I am your Cree, a part of you. You must strike down Tiamat now. It is the only way to expel the darkness within him."

'Alright, do it Masaki, but you aren't alone.' "I summon Getsu Fuhma back to the field using Premature Burial. Then I use Hadoken to increase Getsu Fuhma's attack and ability. Now, Getsu Fuhma, attack!"

Getsu Fuhma's sword transformed into a Waveblade. He ran at Armed Dragon and struck him across the chest. Both monsters were destroyed in a firey explosion. The Waveblade shot out of the fire, broken in half, and pierced Morgen's lung.

"Mor…gen…" Tiamat started.

Morgen started to call his second attack, but his punctured lung couldn't force enough air through his mouth to make a sound.

"Morgen, you must call your attack. It is the only way we can win. With Armed Dragon gone, the spell over Tiamat is faultering."

'I can't. I can't speak.' Morgen's knee's buckled and he fell to the ground. He coughed up blood from his mouth.

"You have to attack now! Just call your attack and I will do the rest!"

"Ma…Masaki…"

Masaki lifted his blade.

"At… cough… ack…" Morgen coughed up more blood and passed out.

Masaki turned his head to Morgen. It was good enough for him. He charged at Tiamat and struck him.

"You can't beat me with that weak little samurai!"

"My turn. I summon my Dimensional Warrior. Then I use Soul Absorbtion and Soul Release. I can now absorb the souls of your deceased dinos."

The souls of Gilasaurus, Chitoptera, Uraby, and Gale Lizard rose from the grave. Then Jigen held out his hand and absorbed all three, feeding his own soul.

"Now I will have my Dimensional Warrior attack your Black Tyranno!"

Dimensional Warrior attacked and both went into the Different Dimension, but not before giving Jigen another boost of strength.

"Cast one spell and end my turn."

"…"

"What? Did I just rid you of your best monster? Get over it kid!"

"Not by a long shot. I Special Summon another Gilasaurus. Since you don't have any monsters in your Graveyard, you can't summon anything. Then I use Cost Down and sacrifice my Gilasaurus for Tyrant Dragon. My dragon has quite the attack power, and you have nothing to protect yourself. Tyrant Dragon attack!"

Tyrant Dragon spread its mighty wings and opened its large jaws. Then it let out a powerful roar and launched a fireball at Jigen. Jigen ignited upon impact and he let out a blood-curdling scream.

"I'm sorry my friend. I cast a spell and end my turn."

"Heh… heh heh… ha ha ha ha!"

"What's so funny!"

"You! You crack me up! You still think of me as your friend, even when you try and kill me! We are certainly not friends any more. J00 r th3 SUXXORZ! J00 r mi f03! Mi tern. ! summ0n mi p0w3rfu1 D.D. Warriors back to the field. Itz time 4 j00 2 get pwned! Return from the Different Dimension! Now, I have my D.D Assailant attack your Tyrant Dragon, removing both from the field!"

D.D. Assailant, like Dimensional Warrior did earlier, struck Tyrant Dragon. Both monsters were immediately transported to the Different Dimension. Then, after some damage, Jigen absorbed the power of the two monsters.

"Now I attack you directly with my Dimensional Warrior and D.D. Warrior Lady!"

Both warriors struck Recks, bringing his life down to its last bit.

"Now, I return both my warriors to the different dimension and end my turn. Next turn, you die!" Jigen said as both his monsters vanished and his life increased again.

'How do I beat him? If I win, he dies. Hell, how do I even beat him in a turn? I'm in a lot of trouble here.'

"You have to defeat him. I will help you."

'Who the heck are you?'

"Don't you remember me? I was your first Cree."

'… Cave Girl?'

She giggled and said, "Yep."

She was a young, beautiful girl wearing animal furs. Recks began to remember her.

'I haven't seen you in a while… but right now I have bigger problems.'

"Recks, you have to defeat Jigen. It's the only way to save him."

'But won't I…'

"No, the soul at stake in this duel is not his own. The dark soul that consumes him is at stake. Defeat it and you will release Jigen."

'You sure?'

"Um… yeah, I think. Either that… or you'll kill him."

'Great.' "My turn, Jigen. It's time to end this. I summon Cave Girl!"

Cave Girl appeared on the field in front of Recks.

"I'm sorry I have to do this Jigen. I can now sacrifice my Cave Girl to summon any Dinosaur from my Creepool at the cost of half its original attack."

"You don't have enough life left to sacrifice."

"That's why I'm summoning a Dino with no attack. I summon Tyranno Infinity!"

A small tyrannosaurus rex appeared on the field in front of Recks.

"What will that do?"

"Thanks to you, its attack power is about to take a huge boost! For every one of my Dinos that have been removed from this dimension by your monsters, he gains an attack boost. I count six."

Tyranno Infinity started to absorb the souls of the downed Dinos. It was enveloped in a white aura as it grew in size.

"Now, Tyranno Infinity, attack Jigen and end this duel!"

The carnivore attacked Jigen, striking him with its teeth, just like Black Tyranno did. As they sank in, Jigen's eyes lost their red glow and went white. Tyranno Infinity stopped its attack and vanished. When it released its grip, Jigen fell onto the steps.

"You can't beat me with that weak samurai!"

"I'm afraid… cough… I can.

Masaki unsheathed a second, longer sword. His attack almost tripled as he brought both swords down on Tiamat who flew backwards. The faint glow left his eyes as he passed out.

'What have I done?' Morgen asked himself as he fell backwards onto the cold stone floor and also fell unconscious.

"Jigen!" Recks screamed as he ran to his friend's side, forgetting his wounds. His left arm was numb and his right leg could barely move.

Recks fell at his friend's side.

"Don't worry Recks. His soul is weak, but he's still alive. Just give him time to recover."

'Are you sure?'

"Yes, Cree are very in tune to the human soul. I can sense it. You may want to rest as well."

'I suppose I should. My life is very low right now. I hope the others are okay.'

Darkness filled the field, surrounding a man. Light flashed all over. The man opened his eyes. He stood up on the hard rock surface and looked around.

"Where am I? How am I still alive?"

He walked backwards until he hit a large metal gate.

"The sanctuary?"

"So Rooko, you finally woke. I don't know how you did it, but you have brought us into Chaos."

"Sinwraith…"

"I believe you owe me one soul. This duel isn't over yet."

Next time on City of Fire: Darkness into Light