Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Tournament of Tears
Chapter 5: Battle against the Dark Realm (Part 1)
The screen freaked out for a moment, snow covering its face…and then it showed the next duel.
Gasps of complete and utter surprise came from everyone, excluding one of the two duelists on the screen.
Jennifer Pilkington vs. Kilomet Sestros
Daniel and Jasmine both face-fell at the same time, nearly tearing right through the solid stone beneath them. "What?"
Rikuo started to laugh. "This is too perfect…" He turned his head over to look at the Torture King. "Now I'll get to see your sorry ass get turned to dust by my partner's mate. It doesn't get much better than this."
Ryu offered the wolf demon a bag of popcorn, though where it came from no one knew.
Rikuo grabbed the bag and grinned widely. "It got better! I can't believe it actually got better!" Then he began to shovel the popcorn down.
Sestros stood up quietly and disappeared, appearing in his place on the field. "Come out now…Jennifer." A strange calm to his voice made even Rikuo wonder whether the Torture King's imprisonment sentence was bad or not…maybe it gave him time to get over his insanity.
Jennie smirked and kissed her husband on the head, while he stared off into space with a horrified look on his face. "Don't worry about anything. I'll beat this guy and then we can head home."
"But…but…" Daniel was silenced by a quick kiss from his wife.
Sestros watched as his opponent leapt down onto the field and walked over to her space on the arena floor. "Let's begin, you know the rules already." His bone and flesh duel disk activated immediately, sliding into active position with a horrible sliding noise.
Jennie rubbed a finger under her nose and shuffled her deck into her borrowed duel disk. "Let's bring this duel to its top level right away!"
Jennie- 4000
Sestros- 4000
Jennie drew. "Perfect!"
Sestros barely paid her any attention, what was in his hand was apparently much more interesting than her.
Jennie growled and slid the card into her disk. "You'll pay attention after I play True Duelist Determination! This card can only be activated when both players have four or more cards in their hand. Both players discard their hands and then draw the top card of their deck. If that card is a monster it is summoned, otherwise it is discarded immediately."
Sestros folded up his hand and discarded it immediately into his graveyard. Jennie did the same, and then they both drew a single card. "I drew a magic card, so now I discard it to the graveyard."
Jennie, on the other hand, was dancing up and down at what she had drawn. "I got it! I special summon Hyozanryu (2100/2800) in defense mode!" A diamond-covered dragon appeared on the field and roared loudly. "However, since I went first I can't attack you. End turn."
Sestros drew. "From my hand I play Jar of Avarice." A magic card with a picture of a jar that looked much like the Pot of Greed appeared on the field. "This magic card requires that I shuffle five monsters from my graveyard back into my deck." He did so quietly. "Afterwards, I draw two cards." As the two cards left his deck, he looked at both and then opened his field magic card slot on his disk. "Now then…let's take this duel somewhere where I won't have to listen to your friends' whines of protest." His lips twisted into a cold smile. "You're the first to meet this strategy…my new strategy."
Every demonic entity in the room felt one huge chill run down their collective spines.
"Field magic card activate!" Sestros' voice echoed across the expansive room, a strange after-effect of the sudden aura of dark energy that had come to life around him. "The Dark Realm!" And then he and Jennie were consumed within an orb of pure darkness.
Daniel's hand had already clenched the metal of the railing in front of him to powder. "Jennie…."
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Jennie glanced around at the surrounding darkness nervously. "What are you doing? Are you making this a darkness game so quickly?"
"A darkness game?" Sestros spoke through the inky black smoke like it wasn't affecting him at all. "This isn't a darkness game…it is something far more sinister than that. A darkness game is a duel where the winner determines the fate of the loser…in this world…that isn't the case." The smoke withdrew to reveal the Torture King standing in new robes. These robes were purple and black, both made of a strange pulsing fabric. And around his arm rested a rusted duel disk. "It's still my turn, so let's continue."
"Wait!" Jennie glared at him. "What happens to the loser?"
Sestros placed the last card in his hand into his disk. "After setting one card face-down on the field, my turn ends."
Jennie flexed her hand and drew. "I switch my dragon into attack mode and order it to attack you! Diamond Burst!" A blast of diamond energy left the dragon's jaws instantly, the power hurtling toward Sestros wildly.
"Is that so?" Sestros tapped a button on his disk. "In this place, your light monster cannot exist…so I will eliminate it with this field trap card." As the card flipped up, the smoke warped and huge spires of black stone rose up into the sky. "Temple to the Darkest God…this card can coexist with The Dark Realm. While it is in play, all Light monsters in play are unable to attack or switch modes." The blast of diamond energy instantly disappeared, cancelled out by the power of the field trap.
Jennie slid the last card in her hand into her disk. "I set one card face-down on the field. End turn."
Sestros closed his eyes. "Can you hear it? Can you hear the song of the damned?" He drew. "From my hand, I activate the magic card Zero Death. This card can only be activated if I have no monsters in my graveyard. We both draw two cards." As they both drew, Sestros held up a finger to Jennie. "However…" All around them, the darkness began to pulse angrily. "Because we have drawn outside of our draw phase, the darkness will punish us both. The Dark Realm activates its effect when a player draws cards outside of their draw phase…those cards are discarded immediately and they cannot be activated while they are leaving our hands." Their hands both disappeared.
Jennie blinked in surprise at this. "Was that supposed to hurt me?"
"Alone?" Sestros shook his head. "Far from it…however…" He sneered darkly. "I'm not done quite yet. Because I discarded from my hand, Temple of the Darkest God activates its effect right now! When my next draw phase comes around, I may draw three cards instead of one."
"Maybe, but until then I can draw and will probably come up with a card that can take you down…" Jennie started to draw…
"Foolish girl!" Sestros pointed to his field. "Look and see the truth behind those dumb words! My turn isn't done yet!"
"What are you talking about? You have no cards in your hand and no face-down on your field!" Jennie pointed back at the Torture King. "You're the fool!"
"Really?" Sestros pointed to his field, where a giant dragon stood. "Dark Realm Dragon of the Night.(2500/2000) can only be summoned if it is discarded from my hand by an effect. And your monster is done! Dark Fires of Hell!" A blast of burning fire left the jaws of the giant monster, which instantly burned away Hyozanryu. "End turn."
Jennie- 3600
Sestros- 4000
Jennie drew. "I'm far from done! I activate the effect of my face-down card! Reveal Cross Heart!" As the card flipped up, the Dark Realm Dragon floated over to her field. "This trap can activate during the turn that my opponent attacked me directly with a monster. That monster is now mine! And because it isn't a light type, it can attack you directly!"
"Is that certain, truly?" Sestros shrugged the possible damage off like it was nothing. "I'm fine with it, if you are."
"And I am! Go Dark Realm Dragon! Attack directly!" The giant monster sprayed fire towards its original master.
Sestros smirked as the blast washed over him. "Stupid girl…let me introduce you to a new effect in this game! It is an effect that only applies to beings of Demon General or higher! It's called Duel Prescense!" Sestros' dark aura rose up higher and the fire faded away. "The ability is possessed by the duelist, and the ability is determined by the duelist's nature. For example, my Prescense is that when I am dealt damage by a dark attribute monster, whether by effect or battle damage, I instead gain life equal to that amount."
Jennie- 3600
Sestros- 6500
Jennie gasped in complete surprise. "There is no way that can be fair…"
"Fairness doesn't matter in the world of shadows, stupid child. Let me show you that right now."
"Not yet!" Jennie slid the drawn card into her disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Sestros drew three cards and fanned them out. "Now I set three cards face-down on the field. End turn."
Jennie drew. "I'll beat you with your own monster…I'll just use it differently than you had hoped! I sacrifice Dark Realm Dragon to summon Flame Champion (1900/1700) to the field!" A warrior holding a flaming shield appeared on the field. "Now, attack his life points directly!" The Flame Champion launched right at Sestros.
"Reveal DNA Transplant." Sestros took the blow and shrugged it off easily. "As long as this continuous trap card remains in play, all monsters in play gain a second attribute of my choosing. In this case, the attribute of all monsters in play are now also dark!"
Jennie- 3600
Sestros- 8400
Jennie paled at the fact that her opponent was gaining far too many life points and far too fast. ("What can I do though? At this moment, my monsters are all dark attribute…")
Sestros snickered. "There's no escape. Reveal my next continuous trap card! Altar to the Darkest God!" Energy flowed along the revealed card. "This card makes it so whenever I discard cards from my hand because of an effect, those cards are considered to have been discarded by your own effects."
Jennie stumbled slightly, her eyes blinking in confusion. "Why would that help you?"
"You'll see." Sestros drew. "Now I activate the magic card Dark Charger! This card makes it so that during my next draw phase I draw an extra card. End turn."
Jennie drew. "You think I'll let this go any farther? I activate Heavy Storm to destroy all of these troublesome magic and trap cards!"
Sestros pointed at his set card, which flipped up. A single glowing skull emerged from the card and ate her Heavy Storm card. "Curse of Royal activates when a magic or trap card that has an effect which destroys magic or trap cards is played. The effect of your card is negated and it is destroyed."
Jennie's hands dropped to her sides. "I…end my turn."
Sestros drew. "I'll finish this right now. Dark Charger's effect activates now!" He drew again. "Now I play Card Destruction! We both discard our hands and draw new ones!" He discarded the single card from his hand, and then drew. Immediately the new card was grasped by the darkness and pulled into his graveyard. "And now the effects of my two monster cards are activated! The first is the effect of my original hand card, which was called Advanced Guard of the Dark Realm!" (1600/1400) "It, when discarded from my hand by an effect, is special summoned to my field!" A demon knight riding the back of a demonic horse appeared on the field. "But that isn't all…because the other monster that was discarded was Dark Realm Tracker." (900/900) "When this monster is discarded by the effect of my opponent, I can draw two more cards during my next draw phase. Because of the effect of Altar of the Darkest God, you were considered to have activated Card Destruction. End turn."
Jennie stood there in total silence, her eyes reflecting the slowly shattering willpower she had. ("I can…I have to win…")
"You can't win, if that is what you are trying to convince yourself of. At the moment I am allowing luck to determine my draws…I'm not even using my demon energy to influence the draws." Sestros smiled. "I won't let my victory over you come that quickly. Besides, I want to be able to tell Pilkington that I torture his wife as much as I could before she was taken."
"Taken?" Jennie slowly lifter her head and narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Sestros closed his eyes and started to speak. "It seemed like so long ago…since your husband locked me within a single point in time. That single point was a literal eternity to me, and in that time I learned many important things. But I focused mostly on raising my power to its highest level. And through that experience I attracted the focus of the Dark Realm."
"What is the Dark Realm?" Jennie wasn't sure why someone like Sestros would talk to her rationally, but she knew this gave her time to figure out how to overcome such an opponent.
"Even I cannot fully explain what the Dark Realm is…it is a place of the deepest darkness, and the most unholy of beasts. Even I felt at unease when I first entered this place…right up to the point I achieved what I am now…" Something in the Torture King's tone reflected a darkness that even made the pitch night around him seem mild.
"What…are you now?" Jennie felt drops of sweat sliding down her cheek, as she began to realize that perhaps she was in over her head.
"I am…" Sestros looked down at the ground. "I am…beyond torture, death, hatred…beyond all of those emotions. They are nothing but habits now, where as before I thirsted off their sweet juices. Now though…now there is only one thing that I feel satisfaction in doing."
"What?"
"Stranding souls in the Dark Realm, with the likes of which even I feared." Sestros' eyes started to glow nightmare red, and his lips twisted into the deepest and darkness smiles ever. "In this place you will stay, trapped for eternity amongst the ranks of the underworld. They will do things to you that even I passed out from, and I thought me passing out was impossible." As the darkness was peeled away, armies upon army of demons were revealed to have been watching this duel. They all looked upon Jennie like she was a prize to be won…and then eaten.
Jennie's eyes widened huge in terror, as many of these beasts were beyond her mental capacity to comprehend. No mortal or demon mind could fathom some of these creatures, and yet Sestros stood like a king amongst them. "You…what are you truly?"
"I killed their king…" Sestros sneered coldly. "So therefore I am now the Torture King no longer…I am the Dark King. And you, my dear, are the first plaything of my minions."
To be continued…