Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Vanguard Generations
Chapter 18: The Falling Golden Blade; Celestial Samurai Kenshin
"Take this boy! Creation, attack now!" Victoran's eyes were glowing blood red. "Feel my divine wrath, child."
The knight snapped his sword up into the sky. "Overkill…Stream of Holy Armageddon!" Then the dimension turned into a waterfall, dropping its glowing contents over Shinsei's field in a small stream, which rapidly began to expand and tear apart the walls on both sides of the alleyway.
Shinsei's eyes widened and he threw up his arms right before he was consumed by the torrent of golden energy, its very existence burning his flesh. He thought he heard the scream of his Breeze Gunner from somewhere within that light, but the pain was too much. He was unable to concentrate and he could feel his body slowly melting away. ("Damn, and I was doing so well too.")
Victoran felt that power plowing down on top of his opponent, and his wrath increased. ("Feel my rage for making a fool of me, you speck!")
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From a few buildings away, a robed female form stood watching the downpour with amazement in her eyes. "For one such as Victoran to have to use this kind of move, his opponent would have pushed him into a corner. Is it you, Shinsei?" Brushing back the hood, Megumi watched the destructive force of a full power Vanguard at work. It was consuming the surrounding two buildings, easily beginning to evaporate them. "This isn't good…there's no way he could have survived. I must go inform him of this."
"There is no need." A phantom voice said. "I can see all of this already, and I must admit that it seems to be about time for the boy to realize it. To realize he can beat this attack and stop it from destroying the surrounding city by negating it with an equal load of power."
Megumi's eyes widened. "An equal burst of power? From Shinsei? But he just started being a Vanguard yesterday, how could he possibly hope to accomplish such a thing?"
"How, I wonder?" The voice went silent as a pulse of energy passed by them, like a heartbeat.
Megumi froze and slowly turned to look at the torrent, which had stopped growing in size. "No way…"
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Victoran had a similar look on his face, because he could see why his attack had been stopped. "You cannot possibly do such a thing. You are no more powerful than any other mortal!"
Shinsei's arms trembled in pain, but he was doing the impossible. He was holding the torrent away from him by just a few inches by using his hands. ("I won't lose here! It's my destiny to move on! I will become the winner of this tournament.") "Do you hear me? I will win this tournament!" His voice became a howling scream that became an arrow of emerald green light that pierced the torrent in the middle and slowly forced it back towards the opening it had used to enter this dimension.
Victoran felt his arms trembling, and realized that Shinsei was fighting directly against his power. "I will overwhelm your pitiful senses!" He pushed his power forward as hard as he could, preparing to crush the boy beneath his second to strongest attack. "You cannot stand against my strength. I am a noble of the Humanity Cross…I cannot lose to a novice like you!"
Shinsei kept screaming, and his blast kept pushing the stream back into the hole it had come from.
Victoran pushed back, but he couldn't gain any footholds. ("It's like a relentless train being in my path, and I am trying to stop it with my bare hands!") He felt his power start to give out. "I…I…"
An echoing bang shoot the air. Moments later the hole in the sky slowly closed.
Shinsei just stood there, eyes blank and looking up at the sky. Slowly his vision returned and he tilted his head down to look at Victoran. "Huh? Did I lose?" He looked at the life point score on his disk.
Victoran- 6350
Shinsei- 1
"Gah!" The boy's golden eyes bulged out of his head. "I lived through it?"
("His life points didn't reach zero?") Victoran clenched his fist tightly, trying to regulate his breath so he didn't have to look tired to this boy's eyes. ("That was not a possible situation…he shouldn't have been able to scrounge up that much power to counter my attack.")
Shinsei realized his hand cards were lying all over the place, and quickly scurried to pick them all up, barely noticing he was limping. "Hey, since you have no cards in your hand, that means it's my turn, right?"
Victoran nodded slowly, his calm demeanor returning. ("It doesn't matter what this boy does during his next turn. Creation is in play, and therefore I will simply use my strongest attack during the next round. It might be tiring, but it will have to be done.")
Shinsei looked at his field and figured out that his Breeze Gunner had been the only one attacked, since his Holy Swordsman was still in play. (1500/1000) ("Wow, I'm in a real pinch.") He drew. "Heh, I activate Pot of Greed." A smiling green jar appeared on the field. "This lets me draw two cards!" Sliding two more cards off of his deck, the jar exploded. As his eyes traveled over the two cards he smiled winningly. "This'll work!" He inserted a card into his disk. "I place one card face-down and play Emergency Provisions." The face-down card disappeared in a flash of light. "By sending one magic or trap card from my field to the graveyard, I can gain 1000 life points." His life point counter ticked upwards.
Victoran- 6350
Shinsei- 1001
Shinsei kept smiling. "The card I sent to the graveyard was called Celestial Katana, just so you know!" He held up another card. "I activate Re-Fusion! By paying 800 life points I can select one fusion monster in my graveyard and special summon it. Afterwards, it is equipped with this card!" A powerful light appeared on his field. "Like I said earlier, I'm counting on you, Shining Flare Wingman!"
Victoran- 6350
Shinsei- 201
The mighty fusion hero from before appeared on the field and bellowed its battle cry, not frightened in the least by the powerful Creation that stood on Victoran's field. (2500/2100) "For every E-Hero in my graveyard, its attack points increase by 300!" (4900/2100) "Heh, he's back and just as cool as ever!"
"Cool or not, he still cannot defeat Creation!" Victoran frowned in displeasure. Even now this boy was not taking him seriously. ("It's fine though. I will make him pay for his insolence during my next turn.")
"Here I go!" Shinsei held up a card from his hand. "Legend's Spirit allows me to select one Elemental Legend or Legendary Elemental Hero from my field and special summon a monster of the same attribute as it!" He looked at one of the remaining cards in his hand and smiled. "I special summon Celestial Samurai; Kenshin Himura!" (2200/1900) Shinsei's guardian appeared on the field, smiling calmly and fingering the blade of his katana.
Victoran's eyes widened in surprise. "Your Guardian…is a normal card?"
Shinsei shrugged. "My Familiar Summon disappeared, I guess."
Kenshin shrugged as well. "That's too bad for you, Creation. Apparently I'm going to beat you this turn, that I am."
The glowing Knight Incarnate stood quietly, unimpressed. "Your declaration is foolish, you should know you cannot beat me with such low attack points." (60300/4500)
Kenshin nodded sagely. "That is true, that it is. However, I'm not out yet, that I'm not."
Shinsei inserted the last card in his hand into his disk. "I activate Transcendence Fusion. Shining Flare Wingman and Holy Swordsman are my targets, and now they combine!" The two light warriors leapt into the air and were sucked up into a glowing vortex of elemental energy. From within it a form of pure light slowly lowered onto the field. When that light faded, it revealed Shining Flare Wingman wearing golden armor instead of silver. "Legendary Elemental Hero Creation Flare Wingman is special summoned to my field." (3300/2300) It rumbled out a battle-cry and started to glow brightly. "For every card in my graveyard its attack is increased by 300 points." (12900/2300)
Creation scoffed at the new Hero. "Impressive, but against my power of Creation he is nothing."
Kenshin shrugged again. "It can't be helped."
"Yup." Shinsei removed a card from his graveyard and held it up. "I activate Celestial Katana's special ability. When an Elemental Hero or Legendary Elemental Hero is fusion summoned, I may add this card from my graveyard to my hand." He inserted it into his disk. "And then I equip it to Kenshin!" A crystal-blue clear-bladed katana fell from the sky and landed in the samurai's waiting hands. "For every card in my graveyard, Kenshin's attack power is increased by 100 points." (5300/1900) (12600/2300)
Victoran just glowered at him. "Two big monsters, but neither of them is near the true power of my Creation!"
"That's true." Shinsei pointed at Creation Flare Wingman. "Transcendence Fusion's effect activates now! Return to my hand and break my Legendary Fusion!" The ultimate superhero suddenly blew apart into Holy Swordsman and Shining Flare Wingman. "During this turn I cannot use Transcendence Fusion to create a fusion monster that has already been summoned during this game. Therefore, Creation Flare Wingman is forever out of reach."
Victoran could have sworn that Shinsei's eyes had become slotted like a cat's for a moment. "What's with that sly expression? What are you thinking, boy?"
"Oh nothing really?" Shinsei kept smiling. "Just wanted to give you a second to let it sink in. Now then, Transcendence Fusion!" Another shimmering vortex appeared in the sky above him. "Come together, Holy Swordsman and Kenshin!" Both warriors were sucked into the portal. "Emerge, Legendary Samurai of Eternity; Kenshin Himura!" Slowly, Kenshin lowered onto the field once more. (?)
"I can't see his attack points…" Victoran blinked as Kenshin slowly drew his katana. "What do you intend to do? No effect he has could possibly make him capable of matching my Creation."
"Bzzzt! Wrong!" Shinsei gave Victoran a thumbs-down. "Actually, his effect is perfect for this kind of situation!" Kenshin started to glow. "Kenshin Himura, the Battousai, is a legend amongst all. And his power will be shown now!"
Kenshin's eyes were deadly serious. "My attack and defense is equal to the one of three possible things, decided by Shinsei when I am summoned. One, by half the total attack of all warrior monsters in Shinsei's graveyard. Two, by the attack of all monsters on Shinsei's field, which also gives me the power of making sure that you can only attack me while I am in play. Or third, by the difference in life points between Shinsei's opponent and himself."
Shinsei shrugged. "Let's go with life point differences." (6149/6419) "On that note, I may select up to three equipment cards in my graveyard and equip them to Kenshin at this time! Normally I would have to pay 300 life points per card, but any cards I select that were equipped to either of Kenshin's fusion material pieces can be used free of charge." The glowing form of the Celestial Katana appeared in place of the samurai's normal katana. (9249/6419) "And before you go saying that Kenshin still can't win, let me activate his effect."
Kenshin started to glow brightly. "Shinsei selects one technique I am capable of performing and that technique is triggered, regardless of whether or not he owns the card to it."
Shinsei chuckled. "Kenshin already knows what my choice is. Kenshin, attack Creation now!"
Kenshin sheathed his katana and his eyes locked onto the mighty knight of Victoran. "Prepare yourself!" His body started to glow brightly. "Overkill…" His hand grasped the blade of his katana. "…Hiten Mitsurugi Style; Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki!" Everything became darkness for a moment, and then Kenshin slowly sheathed his sword. "That is the end."
Victoran stared in horror as his mighty Creation exploded into nothingness. "Impossible…I lost to him?"
From his hiding place, Kuruske stared at Shinsei in amazement. "He pulled it off…"
Victoran- 0/Vanguard Status damaged; Self-save enabled
Shinsei- 201
Victoran dropped to one knee, his body slowly fading away. "I…will…not…forget this…boy." Then he was gone.
Shinsei grinned to himself, right before collapsing face-first to the ground, his field fading away.
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Megumi smiled slightly as she watched a comet of light fly off into the morning sky. "Victoran is lucky that he has achieved level seven and its power of Self Preservation. Without it, that would have been his end. Though I must admit, I wish I knew what had happened exactly."
"It was a surge of power so quick that Victoran didn't have the time to create a proper guard against it. As such, Shinsei won through both luck and through stupidity." The voice sounded oddly amused.
"Stupidity? How was him winning stupid?" Megumi looked perplexed at what the voice has said.
"The attack he must have used could only have been the ultimate attack of his Guardian. It had a speed beyond senses, and apparently thanks to that Victoran was instantly defeated. Now, here lies the downside of such a maneuver." The voice grew stern. "When a person does such a thing, they are placing themselves in a very dangerous situation. Even the greatest Vanguards do not throw out their ultimate attack for the sheer reasoning that by doing so they put their life on the line. The last attack of a Guardian is the attack that possesses the power to destroy anything in its path, and for that power it needs a source capable of sustaining it."
Megumi paled visibly. "That was his ultimate attack?" Now she completely understood. He had achieved his status as a Vanguard just yesterday, and yet during the next day he had done something that Veteran Guardians never tried. "His ultimate attack sucks at his Vanguard energy, and if it cannot get enough from that…then it drains his life force, right?"
"Correct. And such an attack must mean that Shinsei is either dead or dying…there is no way he could still be alive. His Vanguard power was very low when we sensed his return, and it was a miracle he somehow deflected Victoran's attack. But unleashing his ultimate attack was a mistake."
"We have to go and heal him!" She was about to leap towards the site of the duel, but froze up as she felt something on the horizon behind her. It was like a mighty dark cloud had suddenly fallen over everything around her. ("What is this dark feeling? It feels like desire. Or more precisely, like blood-lust.")
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From not too far away, a pair of cloaked forms were watching the same site with intensity similar to Megumi's. "From this feeling, we take it that you are pleased?"
"But of course." The voice that lingered within their minds was rough and predatory, the sounds of a killer speaking. "It makes me twitch. I want to fight him, I truly want to battle him…a boy, who in just one day, managed to take down one of the Humanity Cross elite…" They could almost hear his drooling. "Wait for a good opportunity, when he is fully healed...and bring him to me."
"Yes, my lord." The two cloaked figures looked at each other knowingly and then slinked back into the disappearing shadows, patiently waiting for their opportunity to strike.
To be continued…