Sorry for the wait people. Long story made short: work got crazy beyond all reason and planning for my return to school came up. Sorry again. Here it is, the conclusion of this badass duel!
Also, this chapter is dedicated to my good friend, G.O.T. Nick. He not only provided an awesome character with one sweet deck, but he's been a great support to me, especially during the troubles I had a few months ago with a certain flamer. Nick, this one's for you.
The Way of the Dreamer
Chapter Eleven-Professional Duel Pt.3; Heaven Cries
"He's right." Shizuka sighed, reaching for her deck, Yusuke following suit. "Magic card activates from our decks!"
At the same time both duel disks beeped and ejected cards from the decks, which Shizuka and Yusuke picked up and slipped into their respective magic zones.
"Farewell Sacrifice!" they called simultaneously. Both Eizan and Katsu watched with blank stares, neither having heard of this card.
"This is a card Pegasus made just for us to use in this duel." Yusuke explained. "It can only be used in a team duel, and activates when a teammate loses. All remaining members of the team shuffle their hands, decks and graveyards together." They both did so.
"Then we may exchange cards from our side decks with our restored decks." Shizuka continued as she and her older brother took a number of cards from their pockets and set them on top of their decks, then sifted through their cards and took a number of cards out before shuffling again. "Finally, we draw five new cards each." Again, they did so.
"I see." Eizan mused. "Now that your teammate is out, you need to change strategies, that you do. Up until now, you've used a hard paced pattern, first with Yusuke using his Templars effects to weaken our monsters. Next with Ukon to use his large number of monsters to try and whittle down our resources. Finally, Shizuka, with the impressive attack abilities of her Paladins, to try and finish us off. However, since Ukon is now lost from the circuit, you both need to adjust how you play, that you do."
Both siblings nodded in response, confirming what he and Katsu had known all along.
Once it was obvious that neither sibling had anything else to do concerning the new card, Katsu took another card, decreasing his hand to two as he did so. Pausing before slipping it into his magic zone, though, he cast a glance to his left, watching his partner, who nodded in the affirmative. Narrowing his eyes with determination, Katsu activate the card.
"Reparations allows all players to discard up to three cards from their hand and then draw that many cards from their deck." he said as he and Eizan both held up a single card, half of their current hands, and in Eizan's case, the card he had kept in his hand after playing Graceful Charity; the same card which he had taken special notice of.
At the same moment, they spoke, turning their chosen cards around to show their opponents.
"Soul Renewal!" Eizan called at the same time that Katsu declared "Soul Burial!" At the same time they dropped the cards into their graveyards, and then again with the card they had each left in their hand.
Instantly their duel disks beeped and began to shoot cards out of their respective graveyards while at the same time ejecting their decks.
"This card activates upon being discards, that it does." Eizan explained. "It shuffles my hand, deck and graveyard together and allows me to then draw five new cards, much like your Farewell Sacrifice does. However, I am not allowed access to my side decks, that I am not." Drawing five new cards, plus two more for discarding Soul Renewal and his other card from his hand.
"I, however," Katsu interjected. "Would rather keep my graveyard as is, for the most part. So I am discarding my Soul Burial card which allows me only shuffle a maximum of ten cards from my graveyard into my deck, but I do gain one hundred life points for each card I shuffle in. Then I draw until I hold five cards" Fanning out eight cards, he shuffled them into his deck and then drew seven cards, five from his Soul Burial and then two from his Reparations.
"It's almost as if it's a whole new duel, that it is." Eizan smiled. "Shall we continue?"
Slowly, Katsu looked over his seven card hand, taking each card into account. Currently he held the advantage, with his Divine Dragon-Excerion (5100/900) on the field, one Guard of Excerion (1200+600/2000) on the field and another in the graveyard to protect his monsters from targeting effects, and now seven cards in hand and it was still his turn.
Taking two cards, he slipped them into the magic zones on either end of his duel plate. To both his right and his left appeared the large images of the cards, though neither flipped up. Nodding to Yusuke, he signaled that his turn was over.
Fiercely, the middle child of the three, now two, opponents drew a card. "I summon Guardian Templar (1800/2000) in attack mode!" Once again the silver armored, spear-wielding warrior appeared, looking passive as ever.
"Now I'll have my Guardian Templar attack Ascended Man (1200/500)!" Twirling his spear for a moment, the mighty warrior hurled the weapon into the air, sailing in a high arc before speedily piercing through the angelic monks chest, destroying him.
In response to the death of the monk, Eizan's deck ejected both the top card of his deck, as well as one another from the middle of the stack. Adding the top card to his hand and then placing the other horizontally on his field, Eizan smiled as another monk with large wings appeared.
"Since Ascended Man was destroyed I get to draw a card and then summon another one." the teacher explained once again.
"I know, I know." Yusuke snarled. "I play Meditation, flipping Guardian Templar face down." His warrior vanished and in its place appeared a horizontal card image.
Taking another card from his hand, Yusuke quickly slammed it into a magic slot, a larger image of a green bordered card appearing in front of him. "I play Battle Scars, which will remove the effects of a monster on the field and lower its attack by five hundred. I would rather use this on Excerion, but he's both protected by the Guard in the graveyard, plus he'd still get powered up by the Broods, so it wouldn't help much. No, instead I'm going to go after X, Angel of Fear!"
As he finished speaking the angel with blood-red wings doubled over in pain, deep red scars appearing all over his body. At the same time, his attack points began to fall, coming to a rest at twenty-three hundred. Still respectable, but now without his effects he was much more vulnerable.
"I set one card face down and end my turn." Yusuke finished, a single card appearing between him and his defense mode monster.
"My turn." Shizuka said, drawing a sixth card. "I play the continuous magic card, Paladin's Order!" To her left appeared the image of a magic card with an infinity symbol in its corner.
"Next is Paladin Spierel (1800+300/1300) in attack mode. And just as before he powers up all Paladin's by three hundred." As her familiar monster appeared she wasted no time in playing her next card. "I play Bond of Brothers to sacrifice one thousand life points to summon another two level four or lower monsters from my deck of the same type as a monster on my field." (SLP:1700)
Fanning out her deck, she swiftly found her choice cards and slapped them both face-up horizontally onto the plate of her duel disk. On either side of her Paladin Spierel appeared two monsters, one identical to the first and the other a recognizable warrior crouching behind a shield made of light.
"Another Paladin Spierel (1800+600/1300) and Paladin Drevos (0+600/2500)." she declared as her monsters each gained the full six hundred point boost from both Spierel's, then another six hundred each thanks to Drevos ability to double any power-up effects a Paladin received. However, she didn't wait a second before slapping another card down and an enlarged image of the magic card appeared in front of her.
"Sword of Life can only be equipped to a light monster. It raises that monsters attack by three hundred." she continued to explain as a lovely sword appeared in the grasp of her attack mode Spierel. The hilt was a deep gold color while at the same time the silver metal which the blade was made of seemed to pulse with some form of life. Almost as if it weren't entirely solid. It was hard to describe. "Also, when the equipped monster beats a monster in battle, my life points are increased by the level of the destroyed monster times two hundred."
Swinging the new weapon around experimentally, Spierel smiled as it left a shimmering trail in its wake for a few seconds. At the same time a gold light appeared around Drevos' body and then the same light surrounded the sword, the defensive Paladin doubling the attack increase from the equip card. Once comfortable with its feel he turned his attention to Eizan and his now weakened angel.
Nodding to confirm her monster's desired plan of action, Shizuka formally declared "Paladin Spierel (3600), attack X, Angel of Fear (2300)!"
Slashing down with his new sword, the warrior of God let loose a beam of white light at the red-winged angel, cleaving him in half. This was followed by a ball of golden light floating in the space where X had been, which then floated over to Shizuka and was absorbed into her duel disk, increasing her life points by sixteen hundred, since X was a level eight monster. (ELP:11350)(SLP:3300)
Blinking in surprise, Shizuka and Yusuke stared dumbly at Eizan, confused.
"Your life points...didn't change." Yusuke finally commented.
"That they did not." Eizan confirmed. Then he waved his hand around, as if that should explain everything. Instantly realization dawned on the siblings and most of the crowd. Smiling, Eizan declared for all to know, "Sanctuary in the Sky is still active, and it reduces all life point damage to me from my angel monsters being in battle to zero."
Sighing, Shizuka hung her hand and glanced at her hand. Plucking another two cards out of her hand and setting them face down, Shizuka, along with everyone watching, turned their focus onto Eizan, who still had the innocent smile on his face, even though he had just taken damage for the first time all duel long.
"My move, that it is." Lifting the card up to his eye level, Eizan glanced at the eight individual cards and multiple options he had. Sighing, he set one card horizontal and then slipped three more face down, leaving only one magic zone empty, thanks to his face up Angelic Array magic card.
Grunting, Katsu drew. 'Why did she summon one of her Spierel's in attack mode? Just to destroy X?' he pondered, giving Shizuka a scrutinizing look. 'No, of course not. X was an annoyance, not a real threat. She's planning something, but what?'
"I summon my third and final Soldier of Excerion (1700+600/1200) in attack mode." Just like in previous turns, a man in silver armor molded to appear like the hide of the divine beast appeared, sword in hand. "Divine Dragon-Excerion (5100), attack and destroy Yusuke's face down Templar Guardian, and then use the abilities of your sacred flames to burn away the remainder of his life points!"
Snapping its head down, the serpentine dragon let loose another of its now easily recognized flame jets towards Yusuke and his horizontal card.
"Activate face down card," Yusuke shouted, depressing a button on his duel disk, his set cards flipping over. "Magic Arm Shield allows me to use one of your monsters to block one of your attacks!"
Eyes wide, Katsu watched as a bright shield appeared in front of Yusuke's monster. Then two small doors on its surface opened, revealing a long extendable arm. Quickly said arm reached out and grabbed a hold of Katsu's Soldier of Excerion (2300) and wrenched him forward, swinging him around and putting him in the path of the attack.
Watching as the attack closed in Yusuke decided to declare "That's a difference of twenty-eight hundred points. You only have twenty-six. You're done for."
"Never." Katsu responded, frighteningly calm for the situation. "I activate another of Guard of Excerion's effects, allowing me to direct an attack aimed at a monster with 'Excerion' in its title at it. Your trap is wasted."
In a mad dash, the Guard of Excerion crouching next to Katsu's dragon rose to his feet and ran across the field, ramming the Soldier with his shoulder, jarring him loose from the claw of Yusuke's trap card. Then he fell back into a crouch, shield at the ready, waiting for the attack, a fierce look of determination in his eyes. Then he was gone.
Barring his teeth, Yusuke shouted, "Well, you still take double the attack points of Guard of Excerion as damage, and that's eighteen-hundred points, times two."
Calmly, Katsu showed his duel disk, which still read twenty-six hundred. Choosing to cut Yusuke's question off he explained "Excerion's damage effect only applies when it destroys an opponent's monster. Guard of Excerion was my own creature."
"Damn..." Yusuke cursed lightly.
"Luckily for you, that same ruling applies to Excerion's double attack effect, so he wont be attacking any more this turn. Turn end."
Fiercely, Yusuke drew, glaring daggers at Katsu and his dragon. Reaching down to his three card hand, he set one of the cards down, appearing behind his defense mode monster. Then he grabbed that monster and flipped it over, his Guardian Templar leaping out of the card and took an aggressive pose. However, something was different about it. It looked...bigger.
Chuckling lightly under his breath, Yusuke explained. "Meditation flips a Templar face down. Then, each turn that monster is down its attack points are increased by five hundred. Between the four of us, that's a total increase of two thousand!"
"Impressive, that it is." Eizan smiled. "However, it's still too weak to beat Katsu's dragon. Could it be that you have something else planned?"
"You'll see." Yusuke responded. "Guardian Templar (3800/2000), attack Soldier of Excerion!" Lifting his spear, the holy knight charged, his aim true as he thrust at Katsu's weaker monster.
"I'm not ready to part with so many life points." Katsu growled. "So I will use the final effect of Guard of Excerion, removing it from my graveyard to negate one attack. Of course, now I have two in the graveyard, so I am still protected from your targeting effects."
This time, as a ghostly image of the thick shield that had been used by the defensive monster appeared, halting the spear thrust, Yusuke could not contain his frustration.
"DAMN YOU! HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU POSSIBLY STOP OUR ATTACKS?"
"As many as it take for me to win." Katsu replied, not at all affected by the outburst, infuriating Yusuke even more. As the young man prepared to shout again, he was cut off by his sister.
"Yusuke, don't worry. We'll get him in the end. I'm just about ready."
Upon hearing these words, Yusuke found himself much calmer, though still annoyed. Breathing deeply and looking at his two cards in hand, he set one face down and said "Turn end."
The instant he was done, his younger sister drew, boosting her hand to one card. However, that didn't seem to be terribly important to her, as she turned her eyes on Katsu and his dragon.
"That monster has been terrorizing the field for far too long now. It's time we got rid of it." she declared.
"You think you can?" Katsu asked, raising an eyebrow, though his eyes remained cold and judgmental. "I still have two set cards, plus Guard of Excerion in the graveyard. All that, of course, is in addition to Excerion's amazing attack power of fifty-one hundred."
"Don't get too cocky." Yusuke interjected, and Katsu turned his head the few degrees needed to address him.
"I am not cocky. I am simply reminding her of the situation. I have little doubt that she could possibly do it. The question is, will she do it? Is her desire strong enough to overpower my monster?"
"Let's find out, shall we?" Shizuka smirked, slapping down her lone card onto a monster zone. A man in gold armor with bolt of lightning etched into his breastplate appeared. "Although not the ideal candidate, Paladin Kendre (1400+1200/1600) will have to do."
Focusing her eyes on the massive dragon, she reached for one of her set cards. Depressing the button, a trap card flipped over, revealing a man in armor in an offensive stance, a large sword held in front of himself.
"Sword of Assault allows me to sacrifice a monster on my field and add its attack points to another monster on my field. And then that will be doubled by Drevos." Calmly she nodded to her new monster, who bowed with a look of understanding in his eyes. In a flash of light he vanished, and then a golden aura appeared around her powered up Paladin Spierel, his attack points skyrocketing to seventy-six hundred!
"Now, before I do the real damage, I switch my second Paladin Spierel (3000) to attack mode and have him attack Soldier of Excerion!" In a single motion the weaker of her two attack-worthy monsters rose to his feet, drew his sword, and broke into a run.
"Reveal face down card, Excerion's Divine Roar!" Katsu called back. "This will negate your attack and allow me to destroy a monster on your field, and I will of course choose your powered up Paladin Spierel."
"Reveal face down card!" Yusuke shouted back, his one card flipping over. "Trap Jammer negates and destroys a trap card activated during the battle phase!" Eyes wide, Katsu watched as the holographic image of his trap card shuddered and then exploded, the fragments instantly disappearing.
Once the path was cleared, Shizuka's paladin resumed his charged, swinging down. Katsu's double-sword wielding soldier tried to take a defensive stance, but his swords and armor were all chopped in half with a single swind, destroying him and taking a fair portion of Katsu's life points. (KLP:1900)
"Now, my other Paladin Spierel (7800) will attack Divine Dragon-Excerion! Cast it into Hell!" Taking off at a dead run, the now super-charged knight lifted his sword above his head and charged for the silver dragon. In response, Katsu sighed and held a hand against his graveyard, which spat a card out into his hand.
"I remove my second Guard of Excerion from the graveyard to negate the attack." Again, a large ghostly image of a thick silver shield with a dragon's face carved into it appeared, absorbing the full power of the attack.
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, and one of your two trap cards is used up as well, I end my turn." Shizuka declared, seeming happy with herself. Not that she didn't have reason to. She had just opened her and her brother's options up dramatically. Katsu had lost one of his best traps, and now longer had his Guards to block attacks or targeting effects. Excerion was now extremely vulnerable.
"My turn once again, it would seem." Eizan cheered. "I will-" he said as he reached for his hand of cards and then cut himself off, hesitating suddenly, a thought seeming to have suddenly struck him. After a moment of deliberation, he folded his hand of cards up and said "I end my turn."
Eyeing his colleague unsurely, Katsu drew. It was odd that Eizan wouldn't make a move of any sort, but he still trusted him. However, it didn't change the fact that he was now in trouble, since Shizuka had a monster capbably of running him over easily. Then again, she had left more than one monster out there...
"In destroying Soldier of Excerion, you have given my Divine Dragon a further three hundred attack points." he began. "However, even fifty-four hundred attack points isn't enough to defeat Paladin Spierel as he is now."
Looking up from his cards and directly at Shizuka, his eyes betrayed a hint of confidence. "However, you did leave the weaker Spierel in attack mode. Then again, even without it being in attack mode, Excerion's effect will still finish you off. Divine Dragon-Excerion (5400), attack Paladin Spierel!"
"I'm going to stop you." Yusuke called, activating his other set card as the dragon reared back for his attack. "Go, Shrink! This will cut Excerion's attack power in half to twenty-seven hundred!"
A blue light surrounded the mighty dragon, who began to decrease in size while letting its attack fly. However, now that it was only half of its original size, the attack was much less impressive, though it went unhindered.
"I will hear none of this!" Katsu shouted back, slapping a card from his hand into a magic zone. Instantly his dragon was covered in a silver light and began to grow, though in the end it was still smaller than it had been previously. "Excerion's Divine Flame allows me to either increase Divine Dragon-Excerion's attack by one thousand for the turn, or allow it to attack again after destroying a monster, or to deal a destroyed monsters attack as direct damage. I choose the foremost effect!"
With a roar, the dragon fired another blast of flame directly after the first, only much bigger and faster, quickly engulfing the first attack and growing in size. Finally, it struck its mark dead-on, incinerating the target in a flash.
"And now you will receive six thousand points of direct damage, as is the effect of my Divine Dragon-Excerion (3700) currently."
"No way." Shizuka called, lifting an arm up over her last face down card. "I activate Sacred Life Barrier. Like the more commonly known trap, Hollowed Life Barrier, this card reduces all life point damage to me this turn to zero. However, instead of discarding from my hand, I have to discard a card from the top of my deck for each instance of damage. That would be three so far."
Without a word she slipped the top three cards from her deck and placed them into her graveyard.
"Well then, I suppose I'll just burn your deck." Katsu declared. "Since I receive another attack, Divine Dragon-Excerion, attack Paladin Drevos (600)!
Glaring down at the weak defensive monster, the dragon barely snorted before firing another wave of flames, this time burning the defensive knight away, meaning Shizuka's one remaining monster lost half of its power boosts, since Drevos no longer doubled those amounts. At the same time, Shizuka was forced to discard another two cards from her deck to prevent damage.
"I will set another card face down and then switch Divine Dragon-Excerion to defense mode, ending my turn." Katsu declared, his right hand clenching into a very, very tight fist. There were two particular things he hated which he had just done. First, he hated putting powerful monsters into defense mode. But on top of that, he hated turning his Divine Dragon-Excerion into defense mode when it was in such an advantageous level of power.
"My turn again." Yusuke said, his eye reflecting a confident light, even though he only had a single monster and just two cards in hand. "Awesome. I set one card face down," he did so, setting his older card down. "Then I play Card of Sanctity once again!" Swiftly the two siblings drew six cards while Katsu drew two and Eizan none.
Eyes lighting up with anticipation, Yusuke depressed a button on his duel disk and the card he had just set flipped up. "I activate Strike of the Templars, allowing me to instantly special summon up to three Templars from my hand, and their attack points become equal to the total attack of all three Templars summoned by this effect."
Grabbing three cards from his hand he slapped them down onto his monster zones, and one after the other knights appeared. Each was one that was recognizable from the earlier turns of the duel. First, Templar Swordmaster (2550/900) armed with two swords. Second, Templar Centurion (1700/900), armed with a single sword. Finally, Templar Axewielder (1700/1400), his twin hatchets at the ready. Then they began to glow with a single golden aura, uniting their attack powers. (5950x3)
"Now then, let's clean house, shall we?" Yusuke smirked. "Guardian Templar, attack Katsu's defending Divine Dragon-Excerion!" Although not a part of the initial team of summoned monsters, the spear wielding knight leapt into the air and brought his lance down.
"I activate my set card, Excerion's Divine Flight, negating your attack and allowing me to add a monster with 'Excerion' in its name from my deck to my hand!" Katsu called, his dragon suddenly springing to life and flying into the air to avoid the attack. Next his deck whirred for a moment and ejected a card for Katsu to take.
"That's one attack you've stopped." Yusuke reasoned. "Templar Centurion, attack Katsu's defending Excerion!"
This time there was no interference as the next armored warrior lifted his weapon and charged, swinging down with a sword glowing with power, decapitating the target dragon easily.
"Next up, Templar Swordmaster, attack Eizan's Ascended Man!" Jumping into the air, the gold armored knight slashed down with both swords, leaving two parallel lines in the body of the the winged monk before he shattered, only to be replaced by the third and final Ascended Man at the same time that Eizan drew a card.
"Finally, Templar Axewielder will attack your defense mode monster." Twirling both axes about for a moment to build momentum, the heavy-armored warrior finally struck with his right arm, more so smashing Eizan's horizontal card than cutting it. For a moment, a Holy Shine Sphere (500/500) was revealed before shattering.
Sweatdropping, Yusuke's eyes bugged out slightly. "You...I've been worried about that monster for two full rounds now, and it was just a Holy Shine Sphere!"
"That it was." Eizan smiled and nodded.
Shaking his head in annoyance, Yusuke looked his remaining three cards over, grinning. "Normally, at the end of my turn the three monsters I summoned with Strike of the Templars would have their attack points set to their base and then cut in half from there. Whatever amount is subtracted from my Templars after their set at their base is then dealt to me as damage. However, if they aren't around to get their points cut in half, then I'm safe."
Slapping a card down onto a monster zone, Templar Axewielder and Templar Centurion both dissolved and were replaced by a monster that had to be the most menacing Templar Yusuke had summoned.
Unlike the other Templars who had been in gold or steel armor, this one was in black armor, so deep that it seemed to suck the very light from around it. The crimson cross on his chest and shield ended in triangular tips on all ends. Finally, his sword at his waist was obsidian, though it was also obvious that it would not be brittle like the black volcanic glass. His horse was just as black, its size and shape adding to its intimidation factor.
"Void Templar (2500/2200)!" Yusuke introduced as everyone watched in awe. Grabbing one of his two remaining cards he set it and then activated the other "I follow that up by playing Tiny Pound Hammer to shuffle it into my deck and then draw a new card." Quickly he did so, activating his new card instantly. "Pot of Greed."
Drawing twice more, his eyes lit up with delight as he set another one of them, the second one he had drawn from his magic card, and then played the last one. "That face down to give me two sets and to end my turn, I play Mystic Wok to sacrifice Templar Swordmaster to gain his attack power as life points."
Laughing lightly, Yusuke slipped the named card into his duel disk, and his dual sword wielder shattered to pieces. As said pieces began to fade away, Yusuke himself was surrounded by a blue glow, his life points rising dramatically. (YLP:6950)
Snapping a card up from her deck, Shizuka smirked while surveying the field. She now was in control, having managed to really wrench it from Katsu and his dragon. Now all that was between her and her brother and victory was Eizan's one Ascended Man and three set cards, plus one from Katsu. That meant one monster and four potential traps.
"I play Graceful Charity." Swiftly she drew three cards and then dropped two of them into her graveyard. Not really much gain, in terms of the game, since it meant she had really only increased her current options by one card. Still, it did thin down her restored deck a few cards.
"I summon Paladin Vicix (1750+300/1100) in attack mode!" A warrior in thick leather armor with light plating covering it at various points, such as the chest, arms, etc, though it wasn't full-fledged armor. "Upon his summoning, Paladin Vicix gains one hundred attack points for every magic card in my graveyard at the time of summoning. I discarded two just now, plus Graceful Charity itself and Bond of Brothers, so I have four. Not a huge amount, but it doesn't matter much at this point." With a quick glow, her new monster's attack points rose by four hundred.
"Next I'll play Conversion." As she activated the card there was a unified gasp by the audience as Eizan's Ascended Man rose to his feet, walked over to Shizuka's field and once again fell to a crouch. Then, in a flash of light, simple golden armor clapped onto his body.
"This card can only be played when I have a Paladin on the field. It allows me to take control of one of your monsters and turn it into a Paladin as well. So now I have Ascended Paladin (1200/500), and he gains three hundred attack points from Spierel now."
Nodding, Eizan waited patiently. He knew of the card and what this meant for him, but still he didn't seem worried. Of course, he did still have three face down cards, though his teammate's field was completely empty.
"If you think I'll let those set cards of yours break my stride, you're wrong." Shizuka declared, taking two cards from her duel disk, placing one into a magic zone and the other into the graveyard. "Equivalent Exchange allows me to discard a card from my hand to then place a card of the same type into my hand from my deck or graveyard. So I discarded my Smite the Wicked magic card to place a magic card from my deck into my hand."
Fanning her deck out, it took Shizuka a grand total of about ten seconds to find a card, add it to her hand and then shuffle. Returning her deck to its place she wasted no time in setting a card from her hand and then activating her choice card.
"Shadow Dispersion, as you may recall, activates if I have a Paladin on the field. I can discard half of my hand when I have a Paladin on the field to destroy all face down monsters or all face down magic and trap cards on your field. I choose the latter to wipe out your set cards."
Taking one of her two remaining cards and putting it into her graveyard, she was rewarded when a bolt of lighting rained down from the sky, aimed at Eizan's set cards.
"I activate my Light Barrier and Soul of Light cards." the teacher called over the roar of the storm, causing his opponents to grimace as their attempt to decimate him were interrupted. "First, Light Barrier prevents you from attacking me this turn, and therefore it goes to protect my partner this turn as well, that it does." A glowing wall of pale yellow light appeared in front of the two teachers.
"And Soul of Light does...?" Yusuke asked.
"Soul of Light allows me to choose one monster on the field. That monster is prohibited from attacking this turn, that it is, and then increases my life points by that monsters level times one hundred. I choose Void Templar, that I do" A white glow surrounded the pitch-black knight, somehow keeping from being sucked away by his onyx armor. Then Eizan's duel disk began to glow as the life point counter ticked up by eight hundred. (ELP:12150)
As an afterthought, Eizan added "I only activated it to get the life points, that I did."
Nodding, Shizuka accepted this. Although she had been hoping her magic card would succeed, she wasn't really surprised that Eizan had been able to stop her from attacking. And at least none of his cards had been devastating.
"Draw." Eizan finally said when Shizuka took no further action. Once again he found himself with seven cards in hand, but now he had an empty field. He would need to make this turn count.
'Not only do they have a powerful monster and our fields clear, but Katsu's in great danger. His hand is full now, and he even got to grab a monster when he used Excerion's Divine Flight when Yusuke attacked. However, Void Templar is an extremely dangerous card, and Shizuka's got quite a bit of power on her field as well. Plus, Katsu's running out of monsters, that he is. He may have been able to shuffle his defensive cards into his deck with Soul Burial, but he's running out of monsters. He's lost both Guards completely now, along with two of his Priests, not that the latter are very useful as he is now. His Soldiers have all been sent to the graveyard, and all three Divine Dragon's are there as well. That leaves him with few monsters to draw from. That means that, until he can draw one of a few select cards, it's up to me, that it is.'
"I summon Venus, Angel of Creation (1600+300/0), and then I pay one thousand life points to summon my two remaining Holy Shine Spheres (500+300/500) from my deck in defense mode, that I do." he declared, his life points taking a very minor dip as the golden haired angel and two balls of light appeared on either side of her, gaining power from Angelic Array. (ELP:11150)
"Venus (1900), attack Ascended Paladin (1500)! Light of Creation!" Lifting her right arm and spreading her fingers so that they extended towards the target monster, the maiden of light released five streams of light, burning five small holes in the target monster. (SLP:3000)
"Now I draw a card from the destruction of my monster, though I don't have any copies to take from my deck." his opponent responded, picking up a new card.
Grabbing the card he had drawn that turn, Eizan slipped it into a magic zone and a holographic image appeared next to him, revealing a continuous magic card. From the card emitted a bright, warm light, and one could faintly hear the sound of voices laughing in pure joy.
"Joyful Light of the Heavenly Realm is a powerful and rare magic card, that it is. It allows me to draw one extra card each of my draw phases." he introduced.
"Now I will set two cards face down, and end my turn, that I do." Smiling brightly as ever, Eizan dropped the cards from his hand into magic slots, leaving him with three cards in hand. The instant he was done, Katsu drew.
"I summon Speaker of Excerion (1200+900/1500) in defense mode and set four cards face down. That ends my turn." the Ra Yellow head declared quickly and sharply as a man in silvery robes appeared, crouching low. At the same time four brown backed card images appeared behind him.
Drawing, Yusuke watched the two uneasily. Despite the obvious advantage he and his sister had, neither of their opponents seemed at all worried. Glancing at his one card, he let loose a loud sigh and chuckle.
"What are the odds?" he asked aloud, his laughter persisting a few moments more. "I drew my Life-Slashing Treasure card, so now I draw five new cards." One card at a time he refilled his hand.
Eyes alight, he looked his new cards over. Then, looking up at his opponents, he spoke "Knowing Katsu, at least half of those cards there are defensive by nature. However, chances are that they require me to attack in order to activate. The others are probably either decoys, bluffs, or being set up for later use."
"What are you getting at?" Katsu demanded, his tone remaining cold as ever. He didn't need to ask, really, since he was pretty certain of what Yusuke was planning on doing.
"I play Harpies Feather Duster to destroy all magic and trap cards on the opponents fields." the rash man called, a funnel of wind and feathers striking from the sky, enveloping both Katsu and Eizan's fields. One by one their magic and trap cards shattered, leaving their fields much emptier.
"Now your defenses are all gone, and even Eizan's annoying field card is gone." Yusuke gloated, and it was true. The impressive temple that had been set up above Eizan had indeed been shattered by the windstorm, as had his Angelic Array card, meaning his angel monsters lost attack points and were now more vulnerable, especially with no set cards to protect them!
Surprisingly, Yusuke's celebrating was interrupted by a cold, concise comment from Katsu.
"I am not as helpless as you may think. I activated my set card, Emergency Provisions, to sacrifice the other three cards on my field and gain one thousand life points each." (KLP:4900) "Also, two of the cards I had set were Jar of Greed, which I also activated to draw twice more."
Shrugging, Yusuke turned his eyes to his four remaining cards, though he continued to address the two teachers. "All that means is you've got more life points. We can hack through those without too much trouble." Grabbing a card from his hand, he slapped a monster down.
"I summon Templar Foot Soldier (1700/1000)." A man in steel armor, equipped with a sword and short sword, plus a shield on his back, appeared. "Foot Soldier, attack a Holy Shine Sphere (1600)!"
Jumping into the air, sword raised back over his head, the warrior prepared his attack against the completely unguarded ball of light. With a roar, he descended and slashed it in half.
"Also, as a final note I'll tell you that any monster my Templar Foot Soldier does battle with has its attack and defense points reduced by its level times one hundred until the end phase."
Turning his attention to another of his monsters he continued, "Guardian Templar, attack Venus, Angel of Creation (1600)!" Twirling his spear, the armored warrior aimed at the female angel and released a blast of light, catching her in the stomach and shattering her. (ELP:11150)
When Eizan's life points did not change, though, Yusuke spoke up again. "Instead of dealing you the life point damage, I'll deal double that amount to the final Holy Shine Sphere!" With another flourish of his weapon, the knight fired another blast of light, dealing a total of four thousand damage to Eizan's final defending monster. Needless to say, the lone monster shattered.
"Finally, Void Templar, attack Speaker of Excerion!" Spurring his mount, the large warrior bolted across the field, slashing downward and severing the head from the body of Katsu's monster.
"By destroying Speaker of Excerion, you allow me to take any card with 'Excerion' in its title from my deck and add it to my hand." Katsu said, fanning his deck out and taking the card he wanted.
"I remember." Yusuke retorted. "Not that it matters. Take it away, Shizuka."
"Gladly." his sister responded, drawing. Taking only a few seconds to register which card it was, she added it to her hand and then turned to her two monsters.
"Paladin Vicix (2450), attack Katsu's life points directly!" Lifting his arm into the air, the chosen paladin waited a minute as gold light began to swirl around his fist, infusing his hand with power. Once he was ready he sprinted across the field and decked Katsu in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards several feet, but he maintained his position otherwise. (KLP:2450)
"Paladin Spierel (4700), finish him off!" Rushing forward, sword at the ready, her super-charged monster made his move. Within seconds he was in striking range, slashing horizontally at Katsu's abdomen...and then stopped, suddenly.
"Not quite there." Katsu growled. "Destroying Speaker of Excerion was a mistake on your part. It was the last monster in my deck, meaning all that remains is magic and trap cards. When my hand and deck are free of monsters, I can activate Soul Force from my hand or deck to block a single attack. Hard to use, but in my deck, which has only a handful a monsters, it's useful."
Gritting her teeth, Shizuka passed her turn on, unable to do anything else. Drawing, Eizan began his turn.
"Once again, I summon Pluto, Angel of Weakening (1500/0) in attack mode, that I do." The yellow skinned angel appeared, snapping his wings out for a moment and then curling them in on the sides. Compared to the large knights on Shizuka's field and the ominous one Yusuke had summoned, he was very tiny.
"I will set two cards face down and end my turn." he finished. It wasn't much of a defense, but it was all he could do.
"My move." Katsu called, barely looking at his new card before slapping another one from his hand into a magic zone; the card he had searched for when his Speaker of Excerion was destroyed. "Excerion's Rebirth revives one of my Divine Dragons from the graveyard!"
There was an explosion of blue flames, followed by an ear-splitting howl. Then, crawling from the flames emerged the now familiar dragon, lashing about in rage. Then its eyes fell on Yusuke and Shizuka, and the low growl it breathed into the air caused the bones of all within the arena to shutter, even though they felt no fear.
"Now he will receive one of each of his effects from the other two Excerion's and the Throne of Excerion in my graveyard." Katsu declared as his dragon's power sored up to thirty-four hundred, one thousand for one of the copies in his graveyard, and then four hundred for the three Soldiers of Excerion that resided there as well. "Next I will give him another two thousand attack points from two Broods, and the ability to deal a destroyed monsters attack as damage from the third."
All told the Divine Dragon-Excerion now had fifty-four hundred attack points and the ability to deal double the attack points of a destroyed monster as damage to the opponent. It was a frightening combination, though it wasn't strong enough yet to defeat Shizuka's powered up Paladin Spierel.
"Now, to eliminate your monsters who are unworthy of being in the presence of Excerion," the black haired man said, taking another card from his hand. "I play Excerion's Flame Strike!"
In response to the cards activation the leviathan curled back its head, then snapped it back down, releasing a wave of flames unlike any previous. Instead of being sapphire blue they were silver and sparkled with some sort of majestic light. Also, the flames were significantly larger than any other all duel long, spreading over both Yusuke and Shikua's entire fields.
"This card can only be played if I have a Divine Dragon-Excerion on my field. I forfeit my battle phase to eliminate all enemy montsers." Katsu explained as Guardian Templar, Templar Foot Soldier, Void Templar, Paladin Spierel, and Paladin Vicix were overwhelmed by the flames, leaving behind nothing but ashes.
"Reverse card, open!" Yusuke shouted over the crackling of the flames. "Fighting Through Pain activates when a warrior monster is destroyed, and instantly special summons that monster back to my field once the effect or battle has resolved!" His black armored monster, the Void Templar, reappeared on the field once the flames had dissipated, appearing just as menacing as ever.
Clenching a fist in annoyance, Katsu grabbed another card from his hand. "I play Surprise Attack from the Darkness, allowing all monsters I summoned this turn an extra battle phase. That means that Excerion will still get a chance to burn you with his power. Divine Flame Strike!" The dragon promptly complied, releasing a stream of the usual blue flames.
"Pick on someone else, jerk!" Yusuke called back, extending an arm over one of his set cards. It flipped over, revealing a continuous trap card. "Spirit Barrier makes all life point damage to me from battle while I have a monster on the field become zero."
"Then your other set card is..." Katsu trailed off, sure that his guess was correct, only to have it confirmed as Yusuke depressed another button on his duel disk, activating his last set card, the one he'd set two turns ago after playing Tiny Pound Hammer.
"Astral Barrier allows me to make any attack against my monsters a direct attack against me. However, because I have a monster on the field, the damage is zero." he snickered as two domes of light surrounded him, one light blue and the other golden. In response, the wave of flames missed the black armored knight and moved on towards Yusuke, only to collide with the golden barrier and fade away.
"Very well, I play Excerion's Divine Breath!" Katsu pushed on, activating his magic card. "This deals you damage equal to the level of the strongest monster in play times three hundred. Then it increases my life points by that same amount. Since Excerion is a level five monster and is currently the strongest, that's fifteen hundred damage to you and fifteen hundred gain for me."
Opening its maw, the silver leviathan exhaled deeply, releasing a low, rippling wave of flames across the field, bypassing Yusuke's monsters and his barriers and striking him directly. (YLP:5450)(KLP:3950)
"I set one card face down, and end my turn." Katsu finished, his annoyance obvious. The moment Yusuke drew, the head of the Ra Yellow dorm extended an arm over one of his set cards, which activated. "Excerion's Luring Gaze allows me to choose one monster on the field and force it to battle with my Divine Dragon!"
Narrowing its stare on the black knight, the dragon's amber eyes flashed silver for a moment. In response the knight's body went tense for a moment, and then he suddenly broke into a fit of rage, raising his sword above his head and kicking his horse in the sides, spurring forward.
Surprisingly, Yusuke began to laugh.
"Katsu, that was a bit of a waste of a trap. I was going to attack Excerion this turn anyway. You just made things a bit more difficult for me." Katsu's eyebrow arched while Yusuke reached for his graveyard.
"When Void Templar engages in battle, I am allowed to shuffle one monster in my graveyard into my deck to decrease your monsters attack by that of the monster I shuffle in." the elder of the two siblings explained, a card ejecting from his graveyard, which he turned around and showed to his two opponents. It was his Guardian Templar, and so Excerion's attack points instantly began to fall by eighteen hundred, coming to a rest at thirty-six hundred. Still more than a thousand points beyond that of the charging Templar.
"My turn to give my brother a hand." Shizuka called, her set card flipping up. It was a quick-play magic card, and a rare one at that. "Power Expansion is the opposite of Shrink, increasing the attack points of a monster on the field by half of their current strength."
While charging, Yusuke's monster waved his sword above his head and energy began to be drawn into it as his attack power rose, ending at thirty-seven fifty. Swinging down, he decapitated the dragon with ease. (KLP:3700)
Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Katsu remained silence as Yusuke looked his single card over before lowering his arm, giving control over to his sister.
"Here I go." she said, whipping the card off the top of her deck. Upon seeing the card, her eyes lit up in an almost dangerous fashion. Quickly she grabbed the other card from her hand and slipped it into a magic zone, still pinching her newest card between her fingers. "I play Soul Charge! For every five hundred life points I pay I can revive a monster from my graveyard, though they can't attack this turn."
One by one, three patches of light appeared in front of her, each one giving rise to another of her deadly paladins. First was Spierel, then Drevos, and finally Vicix. Instantly all their effects came into play, Drevos doubling all increases, Vicix gaining two hundred for each magic card in the graveyard, and the Spierel giving all paladins on her field six hundred attack points. At the same time, Shizuka's life points fell by fifteen hundred. (SLP:2500)
"Now I sacrifice Spierel and Vicix," she called, shocking just about everyone watching. With the exceptions of Eizan, Katsu, Pegasus, Yusuke, Ukon, and a few other instructors throughout the arena, everyone was left pondering her choices. "I summoned Divine Paladin Helios (2900/2800)!"
Her newest monster, covered in armor, radiated with intense golden light. In his left arm was a polished silver shield, reflecting the light, as did his mirror-bright sword. It was completely the opposite of Yusuke's Void Templar, and it was rather ironic to see them both on the field together.
"Divine Paladin Helios, attack Katsu's life points directly!" she shouted. In response her monster lifted his sword above his head and light began to flow into the blade, but at the same time, do to the reflective nature of the metal, it reflected the concentrated light.
"Also, I activate Helios' special ability." Shizuka added, reaching for her deck. "I can remove a monster in my deck from play to increase his attack by the attack of the removed monster. And with Drevos, that's doubled!"
Turning her choice card around to show it off, she revealed Paladin Xenex (2500/2100) and then slipped it into her pocket. Instantly the light flowing from her monster's sword maximized, its intensity releasing ripples through the air as he absorbed five thousand attack points on top of his already impressive twenty-nine hundred, for a total of seventy-nine hundred.
Swinging down, her monster released all of the gathered energy in a single blast of light, surging through the ground towards Katsu and his empty field.
"Pluto, go!" Eizan shouted, speaking for the first time since his last turn, startling everyone. Instantly his monster leapt into action, floating over to Katsu and intercepting the blow, being more so blinked out of existence than destroyed.
When the lights faded, no trace of Eizan's monster remained, and Shizuka's monster's attack was lowering since his effect had resolved, and then further from Pluto's effect, draining fifteen hundred attack points, making him far less than impressive. (ELP:5750)
"Damn. I'd forgotten all about you." Shizuka snarled. "I play Magic Purge, removing all floating effects, including Pluto's." she finished, her monster returning to his base attack total of twenty-nine hundred.
"Draw!" Eizan called when Shizuka could do nothing more. Looking his cards over for a minute, he folded his hand up and turned to Katsu. "I end, that I do."
Everyone but Katsu facefell.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Shizuka asked. "If you don't do anything, you will lose."
"Not at all." Eizan smiled back. "It's going to end here, that it is. I just think that it's appropriate for Katsu to finish this, that I do."
"If you say so." Yusuke rolled his eyes as Katsu drew.
"Eizan, you take too many risks." his colleague said gruffly. "However, your capacity to make it all work out in the end is what leads you to be confident when you take those risks."
"I appreciate your words, Katsu, that I do." Eizan said. "But please, I don't want to stand between the students and the festivities tonight, that I do not."
"Very well." Katsu said evenly, turning back to the siblings. Taking the card from his hand which he'd drawn the previous turn, he set it face down. Then he took his newest card and turned it around for them to see. "Twilight Renewal to draw five new cards since my hand is empty!"
In one swift motion he drew five new cards, leaving him with less than ten in his deck. Looking them over, he sighed aloud, his eyes closing and his head tilting forward with a bemused expression. Grabbing the middle card, he quickly activated it.
"Renewal of the Triplets revives three of the same monster from my graveyard." he said coldly.
Eyes wide, Shizuka and Yusuke, as well as everyone in the audience watched, knowing what was coming. The ground rumbled as all three of Katsu's monsters, the Divine Dragon-Excerion appeared, powered up by nine hundred a piece from the three Soldiers of Excerion in the graveyard.
"Now," Katsu began. "Now it is time for me to reveal the final effect of Throne of Excerion. When I have all three copies of Divine Dragon-Excerion on the field, Throne of Excerion is counted as four in the graveyard, and allows me to stack effects!"
If Shizuka and Yusuke's eyes hadn't already been stretched to their max, then the eyeballs probably would have fallen right out as Katsu's monsters attack points began to skyrocket.
"I will power up each Divine Dragon-Excerion by five thousand and give each the ability to deal a destroyed monsters attack as damage twice." Choking for breath, Shizuka and Yusuke stared up at the three monstrous beings, each now with eighty-four hundred attack points!
"Now for the matter of Yusuke's Barrier-lock." Katsu said off-handedly, pressing a button on his duel disk and his set card flipped up. "Wingbeat of Excerion, as you should recall, destroys all of your magic and trap cards."
The eyes of all three dragons flashes gold, followed by a sudden and massive surge of wind blasting the field, shattering all of the magic and trap cards on Yusuke and Shizuka's field.
"Divine Dragon-Excerion (8400), attack and destroy Void Templar! Take your revenge!"
Rearing back, the first serpentine dragon gathered his flames and let fly a jet of dark blue shimmering flames, larger than any flame released all duel long. Much like how Eizan's angel had been decimated by Shizuka's monster, Yusuke's was similarly erased.
This was followed by a second wave of flames, though not as overwhelming in size or color, but still significant, dealing Yusuke the full five thousand damage, double the amount of attack points Void Templar had wielded. (YLP:0)
"And now I'll have my other two Excerion's attack Shizuka's monsters. End it now!" Similarly to their brother, the two dragons let loose streams of blue flames, washing the youngest of the siblings duelists field clean without effort. Then, rearing back again, they released two large streams, dealing her the attack points of her monster as damage, although the overflow damage had been far more than adequate. (SLP:0)
Cheers errupted throughout the stadium as the life point counters finished ticking down. The images of the three dragons remained a minute longer, basking in their own personal majesty.
Up in the executive box, Kaiba turned to Pegasus, a rather annoyed look on his face. This was mostly do to the fact that Pegasus was cheering and laughing wildly, even though the three duelists he'd hired and brought had been crushed. Very soundly, in fact.
"What are you so happy about? Your duelists lost to my teachers." he finally snarled.
Taking a minute to get control of his enthusiasm, Pegasus turned to his business associate. "Kaiba-boy, just because they were here on my request doesn't mean that I was on their side. Things are not always what they seem. Isn't that one of your motos in life?"
Kaiba could only growl, turning away from the man whom he could only define as ridiculous.
Back in the arena, Eizan and Katsu were meeting with the three siblings whom they had just beaten. While the three were rather animated, and Eizan smiling and apparently very spirited, Katsu maintained his very cool composure.
"How did you do that with the cards to shuffle your decks?" Ukon asked.
"That was Katsu's idea, that it was." Eizan answered. "While we were walking down to the arena floor he stopped me and gave me Soul Renewal, suggesting it may come in handy since team duels can drag on for some time, that they can."
"Impressive, Katsu." Shizuka said, smiling. "You're just as brilliant and thorough as ever. In fact, it was good to see you duel again. I don't think you've been in an arena since-"
But whatever she was about to say was suddenly lost amidst a huge upsurge of cheers as a quick memo was broadcast, saying that it was time for the party outside to begin.
To Be Continued...
Wow. That's crazy. Enough overkill there?
Anyway, this is my last chapter for a little while. I fly out to Idaho on Saturday, then I'll use the weekend to move into my dorm and adjust to Idaho time, then I start classes on Monday and my big brother's wedding is on Thursday, forcing me to bus down to Utah for most of next week.
Original Cards-Screw it! You should know by now whose cards are whose. Just too many this turn.
Next Time-The Duel Festival has come and gone, and now it's time for Kazuki's first day of working for Professor Kiske as an aid. But does Eizan have anything else planned? And why is Pegasus visiting his office? The time has come for Kazuki to learn the nature of his first year at Duelist Academy!
Next Time-The Game