Chapter 39: Darkness Within
"Timaeus, fuse with Gaia to form Dragon Knight Gaia of the Gale!"
Curse of Dragon vanished. In its place, Timaeus soared high into the clouds with Gaia on his back.
"Dragon Knight Gaia, attack Masaki!"
Gaia swooped down, striking Masaki with his lance. Masaki vanished after being struck with the sharp end. Morgen screamed in pain.
"Ahh… you… ah…uh… have… eh… nut… won… ye… tuh…"
"We'll… see…"
"I summon… Getsu… Fuhma…"
A long red haired samurai stood next to Morgen, swinging his long sword.
"Now, I equip him with the Hadoken, the Wave Blade!"
Getsu Fuhma's sword began to glow with a blue aura.
"I am not afraid of your Dragon! You can't defeat me with it! Getsu Fuhma, attack!"
'What's he doing?' "You'll defeat yourself!"
"I will slay your dragon! I will prove that Timaeus cannot beat me!"
Getsu Fuhma struck the dragon with the Wave Blade and exploded. The explosion forced Getsu Fuhma to fly backwards and hit Morgen, who hit the back of the Seal and fell to the ground. The Seal began to close in around the rogue Basher.
"You see? You can't defeat me," Morgen cried, slowly standing up. "I beat your dragon. You're nothing without it…"
As the Seal passed over Bann, his wounds healed.
"You idiot. You… you…"
Bann lifted his sword and charged at Morgen, who continued to laugh manically.
"The Seal may take your soul, but I will make sure your soul doesn't have a body to return to! AHHHH!"
Bann swung his sword at Morgen's body while Morgen's soul was sucked out by the Seal.
"DIE!"
"BANN!" Migome yelled.
"Uh…" Bann stopped his blade inches from Morgen's body. "Mi… gome…"
Morgen fell to the ground. His body lay motionless in the mud. Water dripped down Bann's hair and off his sword.
"You were…" Migome started, but turned and ran off into the woods.
"What have I done?" Bann fell to his knees.
"We will stop your dark energy with…" Aletut started.
"Wall of Revealing Light!" they both yelled.
A large wall of light blocked Paladin's attack. Of course, the two had to give up almost half their life in order to do it, but now almost nothing would get through to them.
"No… no way…" Zakei said in disbelief. "I… I can't… I cast a Spell. Make your damn move."
"I will now sacrifice my brother's Flame Lord to summon Kakijin."
A red orb-like creature with large arms appeared on Aletut's side of the field. In the center of its "face" was the symbol for fire.
"Now Gate Guardian, attack Armed Dragon!"
"I activate Tyrant Wing, transforming my Armed Dragon into the Armed Tyrant Dragon!"
Two large white wings appeared on Armed Dragon's back, lifting him into the air, but not out of range of Gate Guardian's attack. Armed Tyrant Dragon vanished after being struck, but little damage was dealt to Tiamat. Then, Kakijin followed by using a fire attack, that stuck Tiamat directly.
"Damn… damn you Zakei. I bet you could have helped me right there."
"Yeah, maybe if I wanted to, but I didn't see any support from you when my Dark Paladin's attack was blocked, and thanks to your incompetence, he's too weak to defeat Gate Guardian now."
"Screw you."
"You already have. In fact, you've screwed up both with your horrible dueling. All I have to help me now is the Seal of Orichalcos. In fact, once I win, I think I'll use it to take your soul. Not like anyone would miss it. Now, I believe it's your turn, so why don't you hurry up so I can win this duel."
"Very well, I activate Monster Reborn. This brings my Armed Dragon back in defense. Then I cast a Spell. Good enough for you Zakei?"
"No, but I didn't expect you to play any better than you have been."
"Well, maybe we should have just let you two duel each other. It would have saved us the trouble. I activate Level Conversion Laboratory. This lets me roll a die and change the Level of a monster in my mind depending on the outcome."
Atrop dropped a small wooden die, which rolled and landed on the number two.
"Now my Iwajin is a level two monster, allowing me to summon it without a sacrifice!"
The ground began to shake as a large rocky pair of legs rose from the mud and rocks below them.
"Now I combine him with Kakijin to form Destiny Guardian!"
Kakijin floated over to Iwajin, forming the upper body of what could only be described as a smaller Gate Guardian using the earth and fire elementals.
"We now have two Guardians composed of powers of earth, fire, wind, water, and light elementals staring down the powers of darkness and shadow. Prepare yourselves for defeat! Destiny Guardian, attack Armed Dragon!"
Destiny Guardian let out a blast of earth and fire, destroying the Armed Dragon easily.
"Now that you are defenseless, I will finish you with Gate Guardian!"
"I don't expect you to help me, Zakei, so I activate Partial Shielding, taking only half the damage you Gate Guardian deals."
Gate Guardian's combination of water, wind, and lightning shrank as it hit Tiamat, leaving him with very little life left.
"You may have saved your life for now, but both of you have almost nothing left. Turn end."
"Well, Tiamat might lose next turn, but I'm still standing. Your Guardian doesn't scare me. I cast a Spell and end my turn."
"You will soon pay for you insolence. I'll start my turn by fusing Gate Guardian and Destiny Guardian, forming the powerful fusion of Final Guardian!"
A new guardian, larger and more powerful than the other two, formed from monsters on the field. At the base, Suijin made up the legs with Kazejin just above as the abdomen. Sanga kept its place as the chest area and Iwajin, split in two, took over as the arms. At the very top sat Kakijin, forming the guardian's head.
"Final Guardian! Attack Dark Paladin!"
'Damn him. I trusted him. We all did. He deserves death, doesn't he?'
"Who are you to decide the fate of others?" asked a mysterious voice.
"I… I am… I do, don't I?"
"Do you honestly believe you are capable of dealing them judgment?"
"Who are you? Why do you think you can rule my life? I remember you. You're the one who called me a saint."
Bann sat in the rain for a time, staring at Morgen's corpse.
"Well? Answer me! Voices in my head… I'm no saint…"
He got up and walked over to Morgen, moving his body out of the rain, propping it under a tree.
"You deserve less gratitude," he said and walked off.
"I activate De-Fusion, separating your Final Guardian."
"It won't work. Our guardian cannot be removed from the field by an effect, only in battle can he lose."
"Then I choose my Dark Paladin, separating him into Red Dark Magician and Goddess with the Third Eye."
"Our Guardian can still destroy him!"
"Then I activate Magical Dimension, sacrificing Goddess with the Third Eye to Special Summon Red Dark Magician Girl! Now my two magicians, incinerate that Guardian!"
A red armored Dark Magician and a red armored Dark Magician Girl, both with tan skin and white hair, put their staffs together, forming a large ball of red light. The launched their attack at Final Guardian, but it had no effect.
"Damn, he really can't be destroyed except in battle. I've still negated your attack. Tiamat, your move."
'Only in battle we can destroy him, however, our attacks are suppressed by that wall of light. Even if we could attack, we can't summon a monster strong enough take that Guardian down. Geez, what do we do?' "I summon my Baby Dragon, using Time Warp to turn him into Thousand Dragon. Normally, I could age your Guardian along with my dragon, but your Guardian seems ageless. However, now that I have my Thousand Dragon out, I have a plan to beat you."
"Took you long enough," Zakei smirked.
"Actually, you'll like this. I activate Stamping Destruction, destroying Field Transferal and inflicting some damage to you, Atrop."
Thousand Dragon flew into the air and pounded down on the field, causing it to spin wildly again.
"What did you do that for? We needed the Seal?"
"Yeah, but we also needed to inflict some damage to them."
"But we don't have the power to…"
"Do you feel that?"
"Yeah, like everything was foggy, but now it's clear."
The Seal stopped spinning. The hexagram disappeared above Tiamat and Zakei's eyes and reappeared above those of the Rotaruc brothers.
"I see, the Seal was clouding our judgment, but now I see clearly."
"No, why did you do that?"
"Zakei, I now see why those two were beating us."
"Yeah, using the Seal, you turned us against each other, but now we aren't blinded by the darkness."
"That's not all. Their dueling strategy itself is flawless. By combining their monsters, they are able to make something much more powerful than before. If we want to have any chance at beating Final Guardian, we need to work as a team and combine our Cree as well."
Hermos and Critias reappeared on the field.
"And without the Seal, our dragons return. Zakei, may I borrow a monster?"
"Sure."
"Hermos, fuse with Dark Magician Girl."
Hermos and Dark Magician Girl combined together to form the Black Burning Cauldron.
"And you'll equip that to your Thousand Dragon or the Dark Magician?"
"Neither. Zakei, you're up."
"Now I fuse Critias with the Black Burning Cauldron to form Dark Burning Sorceress!"
An older Dark Magician Girl, dressed in black robes and armed with a staff full of dark power, Dark Burning Sorceress was truly a sight to behold.
"If you'll let me do the honors, Dark Burning Sorceress, attack Final Guardian with Burning Final Flash!"
"You twit! Because the Seal is back on our side of the field, Dark Burning Sorceress is no match for the Final Guardian!"
"That's what you think."
Dark Burning Sorceress unleashed a terrible force of magical energy, splitting Final Guardian back into Gate Guardian and Destiny Guardian.
"What have you done?"
"The Dark Burning Sorceress has the power to defuse monsters. Since she has the power of two dragons in her, your Final Guardian cannot protect itself from these effects."
Dark Burning Sorceress shot two more blasts of energy out of the tip of her staff, destroying the two Guardians.
Bann walked for a time, unknowing of where he was headed. He was lost. Everything he knew seemed out of place. The world was a lie. If one of his friends turned on him, who was to say his others wouldn't or that he wouldn't betray them in the end.
"Lost in the woods, are you?"
"Shut up…"
"The woods of reality, crashing down all around you."
"I said SHUT UP!"
Bann picked up a rock and threw it into the trees.
"There… the voices are gone…"
He continued his journey onwards, never looking forward or backward, but only to his sides and what lay at his feet. The rain stopped and for a while, things were peaceful again, but not on the inside. Still the storms of rage continued to crash within him.
"What am I here to do? What is my purpose?"
"I have an answer to that…" said a familiar voice.
"Garu…"
"So, you remember me. Do you remember him as well?"
Bann turned to see Recks in Garu's arms. Garu threw him to the ground.
"What did you do to him!"
"I may have killed him. I may have even taken his soul."
"You bastard, you pay… WITH YOUR LIFE!"
Bann pulled out his sword and attacked Garu.
"I needed someone to take my anger out on. You'll do fine! AHHHHH!" he yelled, charging the Reckah.
"I'm not here to fight you."
Garu pulled out an Orichalcos stone and dropped it on Recks' chest. The stone began to glow as it melted into Reck's skin. A powerful barrier appeared, throwing Bann backwards before he was able to strike Garu. The Seal appeared, trapping Recks and Bann within.
Recks slowly got to his feet, saying, "It's time for us to duel… brother."
"Recks? What have you done to him?"
"Not I. The power of the Orichalcos has revived your brother and its dark energies now possess him. Defeat him and you can come after me. But… do you have what it takes to slay your own brother? I wonder."
"No… why would you do this?"
"It's called vengeance. As Master Darsus once said, 'Your ancestors destroyed my people. I have come back to destroy you.' He's a wise man, and what better way to defeat you than to make you kill each other? Woe is the man who must live with slaying his brother, but you get used to it."
"Come on, Jesi."
"I'm coming, Vaila, but I'm just sayin' that I have a bad feeling about this direction. Just look at those black clouds."
"Those are just storm clouds. You know, of the storm we JUST got out of."
'I don't know. Aren't those the storm clouds?' he thought, looking in the opposite direction.
Next time on City of Fire: Brother's Seal