Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Tournament of Tears
Chapter 27: Predictions of a grim future
His own footsteps ringing in his ears, Ryu suddenly felt it. A surge of power he couldn't identify. ("It felt like Adriel, but something about it was far more powerful than he should be at his age.") Suddenly he realized they were no longer running upwards. "So, we have arrived at the top floor?"
In front of the three of them stood a large metal door, with a simple wooden "Please enter" sign attached to it.
Ichigo sighed. "Well, at least he said please." Pushing the door open, he walked in without fear of a trap. ("I have to be on my toes for this. Midnight has the three Dark Demon God Cards under him.") Turning, he extended his hand to Ryu. "Okay, Ryu-san, if you could please."
"Understood." The dragon demon removed a pair of cards from his pocket and handed them to Ichigo. "I hope you can win with their assistance. Amongst his six children, these two were his second and third favorites. Unfortunately, our opponent has three of Bahamut's children and we have two. This puts us in a precarious position."
"I know that." Ichigo shuffled the two cards into his deck. "However, I also know that I'm ready. Midnight, for all his bluster, is still capable of losing to us. As such, we will win. The hero always wins."
Then they were standing in a large circular room. Moonlight shone down from a circular glass dome over the roof. "Welcome." The speaker was a rather rotund man standing in the middle of the room, who was wearing dark robes and had an almost clear duel disk attached to his arm. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, but now I must stop you here. I am Uremorus, the Head Priest of the Church of Midnight. Before you proceed you will have to either defeat me or be defeated."
Eri started to step forward, but stopped as Ryu rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take this one, you need your strength for the Torture King."
"No." Ryu felt it, he felt the slimy nature of this corpse's power. "I will duel both this one and Sestros." He could almost smell the oil coming from this creature's body. It wasn't a raw force of dark power. No, it was something far more subtle. ("Erika will not be able to fight against this kind of liquid. Only one experienced with silver-tongued devils and with psychology concerning willpower will be able to win against this thing.")
"I do not care who it is, but I am starting." Uremorus lifted his arm to reveal that his duel disk was online, and that his opening hand was drawn. "Who will be my opponent?"
"I will." Ryu stepped past Eri and activated his duel disk. "Begin!"
Uremorus- 4000
Ryu- 4000
Uremorus drew the top card of his deck and placed it onto his duel disk. "I summon Fortune Teller (500/1700) to my field in defense mode." A robed old man hunched over a table with a crystal ball sitting on it appeared in play. "During my standby phase, I may guess what type of card the top card of my deck is. If I am correct then you take 500 points of damage and I add that card to my hand. If I am incorrect then I discard that card to the graveyard and take 500 points of damage. Also, I place four cards face-down on my field and end my turn."
Ryu barely noticed his hand drawing the top card of his deck, his eyes locked onto his opponent's field. ("Four cards face-down, indicating some kind of continuous lock strategy? We'll find out when I attack.") "I summon Gaius the Earth Dragon (500/2200) in attack mode!" A large boulder-like dragon appeared on his field. "Also, I equip Gaius with Stone Roller!" The smooth surface of the dragon's body suddenly became spiked. "When Gaius attacks I may switch its attack and defense scores during the damage step! Earth Roll!" His monster curled into a ball and rolled across the field towards the Fortune Teller.
"Reverse card open!" Uremorus' hand was suddenly hovering over his deck. "My card is Fortune Wall, a continuous trap card with some rather interesting abilities to it. My opponent guesses the top card of my deck, and if they get the type correct their attack goes through and Fortune Wall is destroyed. But if they guess wrong, then their attack is negated and the revealed card is added to my hand. So, make your choice."
Ryu narrowed his eyes slightly at the relaxed tone of his opponent's voice. ("He knows something about his deck that I'm not supposed to.") "It will be a monster card."
Removing the top card of his deck, Uremorus turned it over to reveal a green border. "Too bad, it is the magic card Reasoning." Gaius was suddenly blocked by an invisible barrier that pushed it back to Ryu's field. "Is your turn complete?"
"No. I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn." Ryu was sure now that his opponent's abilities must work within the power of his deck. ("Clairvoyance decks are normally just like gambling decks, unless the user has some kind of advantage like Respect Play in play that lets them see the opponent's hand. He must have a trick to it.")
Uremorus pointed at two of his face-down cards. "At your end phase I activate Ominous Fortune-telling and Crystal Ball. These two continuous trap cards will make things a bit more pressured when my turn starts, which is now!" Drawing the top card of his deck, he pointed at his face-up Crystal Ball card. "During my standby phase I may pay 500 life points to look at the top card of my deck." After looking at the card he returned it to the top of his deck. "Now, my Fortune Teller's effect activates. I say it is a ritual magic card, Divination Ritual to be exact." Holding the card up, he revealed it to be exactly that. "As such, it enters my hand and you take 500 points of damage."
Uremorus- 3500
Ryu- 3500
"And now the effect of Ominous Fortune-telling allows me to randomly select one card from your hand and declare its type. If I am correct, then you take 700 points of damage." He pointed at the middle card of Ryu's hand. "That is a monster." A holographic version of the card appeared in the air above them, revealing a picture of a frozen snake-like dragon. "Crystalis the Ice Dragon, sure enough." (2200/2000)
Uremorus- 3500
Ryu- 2800
Ryu grimaced at how this was going for him. ("This deck can defeat a stall deck, but only if I have the chance to make it work. If this kind of damage keeps up I'll never get that chance though!")
"Now then…" Uremorus inserted a card into his disk. "I play Reasoning. Declare a monster level and then I will draw through my deck until I reach a monster card. If it is the level you declared then the monster goes to the graveyard along with the rest of the cards, but if it isn't the level you declared I may special summon that monster and discard the rest of the cards into the graveyard."
"Level four is my choice." Ryu knew it was the most common level for monster cards in player's decks, so he had a fairly good chance with this.
Uremorus started with the top card of his deck. "Ah, too bad. It is my level three Tarot Reader." (600/1200) A veil-faced woman sitting at a table in front of a deck of Tarot cards appeared in play. "I will activate her effect now." Sliding three cards off of his deck, he fanned them out with their backs to Ryu. "Select one. If it is a monster card, then I take 500 points of damage. If it is a magic or trap card, you take 500 damage."
Ryu pointed at the center card, and grimaced as a picture of the magic card Chosen One appeared in the air over Uremorus' head. "It just doesn't seem to be my lucky day."
Uremorus- 3500
Ryu- 2300
Uremorus discarded the three cards to the graveyard. "Luck has nothing to do with it, my friend. Now I play the magic card Ritual of Fate. This card lets me add one ritual monster card from my deck to my hand." After doing so he inserted another card into his disk. "Divination Ritual activates and sacrifices my two field monsters to summon Wise Soothsayer (2300/1500) to the field in attack mode." His two monsters disappeared and were replaced by an aged old man holding a large stick. "Dragon Demon Jourgen Politumas, you will learn by the end of this duel that fate supersedes will! Soothsayer, Wise Magic!" His monster started to chant and Ryu's Gaius began to glow. Letting out a deep and rumbling groan, the stone dragon finally shattered. "And with that you only have 500 life points remaining."
"Not quite." Ryu lifted up his duel disk to show that his life point counter hadn't changed. "Stone Roller lets me sacrifice it to switch the equipped monster to defense mode at any time. Too bad, but your attack didn't touch me." His face-down card flipped up. "Wheel of the Elements activates now and returns Gaius to my hand. While this card is face-up I cannot normal summon monsters. Once per standby phase however I may special summon one monster from my hand to the field, as long as its element is not the same as any other monster on my field."
"So, you will leave your fate to such a trivial thing?" Uremorus waved his hand dismissively. "Do as you like, end turn."
Ryu drew and threw a card onto his disk. "Crystalis the Ice Dragon is my choice for this turn!" (2200/2000) A giant living snake made of ice appeared on his field and hissed at Uremorus and his Soothsayer. "Now to deal with your cards. I set one card face-down on the field and activate Frost Burst! This magic card can only be activated when Crystalis is in play, and it allows me to destroy two magic or trap cards in play!" He slammed another card into his disk. "Also, I play Serial Spell, discarding the single card in my hand to copy the effect of Frost Burst. Four magic or traps in play will be destroyed, meaning all of your cards disappear!" Uremorus' face-up traps and single face-down card all froze and shattered at once.
Uremorus felt the cold air on his face, but compared to the cold feeling of death it was nothing to him. "You may have defeated my combos, but you now have no cards in your hand."
"True, but that's about to change. Reverse card open!" Ryu's face-down card flipped up to reveal a picture of a smiling green jar. "Pot of Greed allows me to draw two cards from my deck." Now he had a hand, which made the difficulties of this duel not quite so bad. ("Wise Soothsayer doubles the damage from continuous cards that require one player to guess something, so therefore I would be in trouble if he had any face-down cards. However, since he does not…") "End turn."
Uremorus drew. "Dragon…you won't win against me if that is the best your deck can do. For all your techniques, my life points are unchanged." One of the cards in his hand started to glow. "I activate The Choice of Fate! This magic card makes you select one card at random from my hand. If that card is a monster card, it is special summoned!" He was only holding one card in his hand. "I suppose that means it's fairly easy." An armored knight holding a shield that was shaped like a pentagram appeared on the field. "Fortune Knight (1900/1700) will be your undoing! Attack Crystalis now, Wise Soothsayer!" His monster started to chant and the ice dragon shattered into nothingness.
Uremorus- 3500
Ryu- 2200
Ryu snapped his hand up as the shattered pieces of Crystalis reformed into a card that landed between his fingers. "The special ability of Wheel of the Elements allows me to return one destroyed as a result of battle monster from my field to my hand. However, from this point onward the wheel cannot return a water attribute monster."
"Direct attack, Fortune Knight!" The Priest's monster leapt across the field and slammed its sword across Ryu's chest roughly. "When you take battle damage from my knight, during the next turn you cannot enter your battle phase. End turn!"
Uremorus- 3500
Ryu- 300
Ryu's body twitched slightly and popped its shoulder quietly as it adjusted to the crushing pressure from the attacks. Then, the dragon demon slowly lifted his up to look at Uremorus. "Draw." Sliding the top card off of his deck, he nodded at what he saw. "I will show the true power of my race now! Wheel of the Elements cannot let me special summon a water attribute monster, so my choice is this guy instead!" The sky started to glow and a roar like a song radiated down onto them. "Grand Emperor Dragon is special summoned!" (2000/2500) Snarling, the mighty beast flapped its wings and then dug its claws into the ground.
Uremorus snickered at the monster. "You intend to attack my Fortune Knight? After all, you summoned it in attack mode."
"I remember your Knight's effect, meaning I cannot battle this turn." Ryu inserted a card from his hand into his duel disk. "I activate Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and then discarding two from my hand." Drawing three cards, he nodded at what he saw. "I place my Crystalis and also my Infernus the Fire Dragon (2200/2000) into the graveyard. Then I set three cards face-down on the field and end my turn."
Uremorus drew. "Now I will crush you in this turn. Wise Soothsayer, there is no need for dramatics…end it." The old man started to chant. "I don't know why you didn't special summon your dragon in defense mode, but it's too late to repent."
Ryu watched as little golden motes of light started to scatter in the air around his dragon. Then he coolly looked at his dragon. "I didn't summon in defense mode because, honestly…you deserve my pity, you weak creature."
"Excuse me?" The High Priest watched the dragon demon with true confusion in his eyes. "You're about to be defeated, and you pity me? Interesting…why is that?"
Ryu's fists clenched tightly, and his fangs bared themselves. "Centuries ago, during the time of the Demon Lords, there was a heretic amongst the intellectual Mind Demons who attacked a village within my territory. When I finally arrived, we had lost track of the single demon who was responsible for over three hundred deaths and countless numbers of innocent children taken as hostages."
Uremorus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Are you asking if I know of this incident? Hmmm…let me think…"
Ryu kept talking like Uremorus wasn't there. "We finally cornered the heretic at the mountains that determined the border between tiger demon territory and dragon demon territory. We were ready to fight this powerful mental intellect with our own specialists in those fields. Also, we had heard the rumors he had gained an army on his way to the mountains, but they were mostly rumors. Until we engaged that army…and were left with two choices…kill them or retreat."
"I still don't see what you are getting at…." The demon kept rubbing his chin, trying to see if he had memories of hearing of such an incident.
"We were left in a position where we had to attack…and to this day those images haunt me in my sleep, turn me cold in the night. Not because of the gore or the horror…no, it was because of something far more perverse that I saw that day." His eyes, despite their focused stare, began to water. "Mind Demons possess many powers that range from telepathy to mind control..."
Ichigo, who had been staying back, watched Ryu's body intently. ("What's with him? Is he losing it or something?")
Uremorus suddenly snapped his fingers. "Well I'll be damned, I remember now…that really was a long time ago…"
Ryu could hear it in his head. The screams of tiny voices and of small pleas for help…
Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw the ground at the dragon demon's feet become damp. ("He's crying?")
Ryu's unwavering eyes barely seemed to register that they were also shedding tears at this time. "The Mind Demon forcefully took control of the bodies of the kidnapped children, and forced them to fight us." Silence held in the room for a moment, and then everything shook as if an earthquake had hit. "I slashed down eight-year-old boy, while he cried for his father and at the same time tried to decapitate me. Over twenty of my men committed suicide shortly after the massacre. They weren't disgusted with their actions…they were disgusted by the fact they were forced to cut down children…and the twenty who gave their lives up had been twenty of my most elite warriors, all of which had families that lived in the attacked village…"
Uremorus continued to look very thoughtful.
Suddenly he was roaring at the top of his lungs. "They had to kill their own sons and daughters, who could only cry and wonder why father was chopping them in half! After that time ended, the worst part of it all was that the criminal got away…he escaped into territory we were not allowed to enter…" His hands started to tremble in anger, muscles corded. "And that criminal's name…was Uremorus."
Suddenly the Head Priest snapped his fingers. "Well what do you know? You're right, so I did!" Then he looked at Ryu calmly. "Did you wish to commend me on my brilliant strategy to escape? I remember it clearly now, that the best way to escape wasn't to hold those brats hostage, but was to use them to cover my escape. And it worked too, the psychological damage it did bought me all the time I needed to escape." Then he noticed that Ryu was still trembling. "I can feel it now that your anger has shaken down the walls of your mind that kept me out before. Your question, I mean."
"You want to know why I forced those children to fight to the bitter end, and to bite their tongues and bleed to death if they were captured or defeated, correct?" Crossing his arms across his chest, the Priest smiled calmly. "For practical purposes it was to keep my name and appearance a mystery, but apparently that information still got out. Of course, there were more reasons than that though…" He chuckled. "Because nothing satisfies my mind like sensing the overwhelming feelings of sorrow that come from losing one's loved ones at one's own hands. It was such a delicious feeling that it refreshed me while I made my journey to safety."
"That's all I wanted to hear." One of Ryu's set cards flipped up. "Phoenix Circle! From my graveyard three normal monsters of the same type will be special summoned!" The dragon demon was suddenly surrounded and covered by flowing ice and flame, while large rocks hovered around his head. "Gaius, Crystalis, and Infernus emerge now!" The three elements condensed into a pair of snake-like forms of both fire and ice, along with a boulder-like form.
"So you have four dragons in play, so what?" Uremorus pointed at the Grand Emperor Dragon. "Wipe the weakling from my sight!"
"Weakling?" Ryu's still tear-streaked face pointed at the golden beast. "For every dragon type monster I summon, Grand Emperor Dragon gains 500 attack points!" (3500/2500)
The Priest pointed at Gaius. "Well you made the mistake of summoning your weakest monster in attack mode! Go Wise Soothsayer, attack Gaius and end this duel now!" Suddenly his monsters stopped in their tracks. "What happened? I said attack!"
"Reverse card open…" Ryu whispered this coldly. "Dragon's Dominance ends the current phase if I have three or more dragons in play."
Uremorus looked at his drawn card and then inserted it into his disk. "That is fine. I activate Destiny Cannon. During my next turn, you take 1000 points of damage. End turn."
"All my trust rests in you, let the true power of the dragon race's rage be shown here! It's my turn, draw!" Looking at the drawn card, the dragon demon threw it onto his disk. "Dragon of the Storms-Typherious is special summoned by Wheel of the Elements!" A huge green-scaled snake-like dragon appeared in the sky, screeching as tornadoes sprang to life around the field. (2900/4000)
"Another monster, and this one strong enough to warrant a possible threat eh?" Uremorus snickered and suddenly a glowing golden barrier appeared between their fields. "It's a shame that Destiny Cannon prevents you from attacking during the turn after it is activated, eh?"
Ryu lifted his hand up into the sky. Suddenly he started to speak in a language that no one in the room understood. His eyes shimmered golden and the ceiling started to crack.
Uremorus just kept smiling. "You can't attack and my life points are too high for any damage effects you have to work…so what can you do?"
Suddenly Ryu's speaking grew quiet, and his golden eyes flashed. "This." His face-down card flipped up to reveal a picture of a giant tower made of light. "Court of Divine Judgment activates if I have earth, water, wind, fire and light dragons in play all at once. From my deck I may special summon two dragon monsters in my magic and trap zone." A small dragon made of light and a small dragon made of smoke appeared on his field. "Shine the Light Dragon (0/0) and Smoke the Shade Dragon (0/0) are special summoned!"
"You…can't…attack!" Uremorus grew tired of this lizard's babbling about rage, considering he had lost.
"Court of Divine Judgment allows me to do one of three things. I may choose to destroy all your cards in play, discard all cards from your hand and send twenty cards from your deck into your graveyard, or simply be able to one of my monsters attack you directly during this turn, regardless of any of your cowardly effects!" The dragon demon had held up a new finger each time he named an option. "Number three will do fine."
"Attack directly with one monster, eh? What will that accomplish, you can't wipe out my life points!" Uremorus started to laugh, until he realized something was wrong…he was suddenly standing outside, atop the Empire State Building. "How…how did we get out here?" They were simply hovering in the air right above the very top point of the tower. "What magic is this?"
"The magic of judgment." Ryu's face-down card, his last face-down card, was now face-up. "Fusion Emergency allows me to send monsters on my field to the graveyard to special summon a fusion monster from my fusion deck. I fuse my seven dragons together!"
"A seven-way fusion…" Uremorus felt his arms trembling. It was as if he was no longer facing off against the Dragon Demon, but something else. "Where's the fusion monster then? Where's this mighty lord of judgment Master Midnight told me about?"
Ryu's platinum hair and eyes shimmered, even in the dark and cloudy sky. "Bahamut-King of Dragons; Lord of Judgment is here." (Instant Win) Suddenly the sky split in half, and a titanic form taller than even the skyscraper they hovered over lowered down to settle itself to the ground. It was a dragon bigger than anything before it, bigger than mountains and bigger than any manmade structure. Its silent silver eyes looked upon Uremorus without any hatred or caring.
And the Mind Demon felt it. He was staring into the eyes of a judge…a judge that could see through him like a pane of glass.
"Repent for your sins in the nine hells, and perhaps one day you will be forgiven!" Ryu pointed at Uremorus. "Bahamut-King of Dragons; Lord of Judgment! Your judgment?"
The dragon's jaws opened, a ball of blue and white light building within that maw.
Ryu spoke once more, the words said to any criminal about to be executed, in the tongue of his people. "The Holy Fire has chosen. There is no escape, there is no way to get away…there is only destruction for you! Let your sins wash clean in the Lord's fire. Disappear. Omega Flare!" Then everything became white as the mighty dragon released a torrent of energy that instantly dissolved Uremorus' body and then proceeded to rocket past numerous buildings and finally out towards the ocean. "The world is a better place without your shadow upon it."
Uremorus- Loss by Bahamut
Ryu- 300
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Suddenly Ryu was standing back within the room he had been in before. Without skipping a beat he started to walk towards Sestros' chamber, which was through the double doors in front of them. "Let us go. There is a King waiting for us, and we can't be late."
Ichigo followed, but he could already sense the truth. ("The darkness in there is overwhelming, and Ryu-san has almost no energy left to speak of. If I duel, I'll burn myself out before I even get to Midnight, but if Eri duels, then chances are she'll be overwhelmed by this choking darkness.") However, he kept walking forwards. ("Midnight…we're coming for you, and nothing you throw at us will stop us!")
To be continued..