Tournament of Tears

Chapter 35: Infinity Negation; Game of the Gods part 5

A cannonball-sized orb of gold light appeared in Mutekitaiyouryu's jaws, and that sphere was rapidly growing larger and larger as it drew in more and more power.

Ichigo covered his head and hit the floor, wishing he had the energy to stop the attack or at least buffer it enough to stop it from destroying New York City. ("I'm sorry everyone…")

The other boy watched the growing attack, which was nearly at point-blank range to his face, with a rather confused look. Right before the edge of it reached him, he reached up and poked the blast with a finger. It popped like a soap bubble, instantly negated.

This would be the first time ever that the dark dragon god Midnight, mighty demon general tactician Jourgen Politumas, and the eternally pissed-off demon general Rikuo Amero would, at the same time, all look completely and utterly stupefied when in viewable range of each other. After a few seconds, a huge sweat-drop appeared over Mutekitaiyouryu's head and the three of them voice the only thing going through their brains. "Huh?"

Ichigo slowly opened his eyes as he realized that it was far too quiet to be the end of the world. "What happened?" His head tilted up to look at the sky, and he found it filled with molten gold scales. ("The dragon is still here, but we're not dead?")

"Why are you lying on the ground like that?" The strangely-dressed boy poked Ichigo a couple of times. "Were you afraid?"

Leaping to his feet, Ichigo scoffed. "Of course not!"

Midnight couldn't believe that such a thing could happen. ("The Undefeated Sun Dragon was blocked by a mere child? Impossible!") "Boy, who are you?"

"That's a good question." Ichigo pointed at the other teenager's shirt. "Who are you?"

"Me?" The boy removed his red baseball cap to reveal his bright green hair. Running his hand through it, he tilted his head back and seemed to go deep in thought. "I guess you can call me…hmmm…well…"

"Oi…" Ichigo sweat-dropped. "Don't you have a name?"

"I do, but I don't think you could pronounce it." Still rubbing his head, the boy started to pace in a small circular motion. "Let's see, what word in your language would best be described through…" Suddenly he clapped his hands together. "Of course!" Spinning around enthusiastically, he looked at Midnight. "You can call me Erian!"

"Erian…eh?" Ichigo patted the other boy on the back. "Well, I'll admit that you're pretty cool, Erian. You must be really powerful to have negated that attack!"

"Powerful, you say?" Erian tapped his chin innocently. "Nope, compared to some of the guys I know I'm actually pretty weak."

Midnight felt his anger boiling again. "…pretty weak? Quit fooling around! How did you stop Mutekitaiyouryu's attack?"

"That was an attack? I thought it was blowing up a party favor…" Erian placed a finger on his chin and quizzically looked up at the Dark Demon God that snarled at him. "I dunno, I guess it's just because his power doesn't have any way of affecting me." Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, he turned to look at Ichigo with extremely excited bright yellow eyes. "So, what are you going to do now? It's your turn right?"

("It's impossible…but it must be the truth.") Midnight growled deep within his throat, suddenly feeling himself in a situation that he could not escape from. ("That odd brat is immune to the demonic and shadow energies coming from this duel.") He could sense no power coming from the boy, and yet at the same time he couldn't really sense the boy at all. It was like he was a natural repellant to demonic energy. ("It doesn't matter, he'll die with the earth when I win.") "Ichigo, it's your turn now!"

Mutekitaiyouryu roared and flew back to Midnight's field, waiting patiently for its master's call to battle.

Ichigo brushed himself off from head to toe, glad for the momentary reprieve. "Hey Erian, would you mind taking a step back."

"Sure." Moving back a couple of feet from the half-demon, the strange boy crossed his arms across his chest and watched happily.

("Talk about optimism, he either doesn't understand what's going on or he really is stronger than anything else.") Drawing the top card of his deck, Ichigo breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Whew, saved! I activate the magic card Pot of Avarice. By selecting five monsters in my graveyard and shuffling them into my deck, I can then draw two cards." Five cards slid out of his graveyard slot. "I choose Final Shadow Gods Crystal Knight, Halo Breaker and Moonlight Romancer, along with Final Shadows Ebony Ninja and Vortex Mercenary." Shuffling the five cards into his deck, he then added two cards to his hand. And after looking at them turned pale white again. ("They're just as blank as the two in my hand…")

Erian looked over Ichigo's shoulder at the four blank white cards and tilted his head to the side. "Hey, why are those blank cards?" He whispered into Ichigo's ear.

"I…I…" Ichigo's head drooped as he suddenly felt very depressed. "I don't know!"

Erian plucked one of the cards from Ichigo's hand and stared at it. "Oh wait, my mistake." He put it back where he found it. "It isn't blank, just seemed that way."

Lifting his head up, Ichigo gasped as he looked at the card that Erian had touched. It was no longer blank! "How did you do that?"

"How did I do what?" Erian took another of the cards, and then gasped in surprise as the white cover of the card slowly faded to reveal what it was. "Oh, you mean that."

"Yes, I mean that." Ichigo offered the other two blank cards out. "Hold these for a second?"

"Sure." Picking them both up, Erian looked at each one and grinned as they slowly faded into sight. "Okay, it's all set!" Handing them back to Ichigo, he took a couple steps backwards again. "Alright, go get him!"

"Right!" Ichigo looked at the four cards in his hand. "Errrr….what?" These were very odd cards, considering they were written in a strange language he couldn't understand. "Erian…help…"

Midnight tried to control the angry twitching of his left eye as he watched the two huddle and talk. "Excuse me…what in the nine hells are you doing?"

Ichigo suddenly turned to look at Midnight with a calm smile on his face. "Alright, thanks for the translation Erian!" He slammed one of the cards into his disk. "Midnight, it's a whole new game from this point onward. I activate the continuous magic card Stasis Cage!" A huge metal pad appeared in the air above Mutekitaiyouryu. "This card selects one monster on your field and prevents it from switching modes or attacking. Also, that monster has its effects negated!"

"Are you stupid? Tier four God Cards are unaffected by such things." Midnight pointed at the metal plate above his mighty Dark Demon God's head. "Mutekitaiyouryu, crush that thing!" Snarling, the molten golden dragon snapped its tail up and struck the metal plate. However, the only thing that happened was that huge beams of light came slamming down out of the edges of the plate, trapping the mighty Dark Demon God instantly. "That's impossible…no mere magic card can possibly be as powerful as the children of Bahamut!"

"Children of Bahamut?" Erian brought his head next to Ichigo's and looked at the half-demon questioningly. "What's that?"

("So that's it.") Ichigo had a theory now. Whatever this guy was, he obviously wasn't a human or a demon. And this meant that he had no idea what was going on. ("That card was in a language he could understand…") It was suddenly so obvious. ("Anything involved with him is able to bypass the powers of the God Cards.")

Midnight snarled in anger at this impossible occurrence. "Mutekitaiyouryu, break free now!" The Dark Demon God Card didn't respond, apparently stuck in some kind of stasis. ("Damn you, I'll draw a card to destroy that annoying card during my next turn!")

Ichigo placed a card into his disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and then I'll set a monster face-down on my field. End turn." He gave Erian a thumbs-up, and sweat-dropped as the other boy just stared at his thumb like he was waiting for it to do something else.

Midnight waved his hand and a card appeared in the air above his now frozen Dark Demon God. ("I will not fall because some strange child has shown up to cause me problems!") "Ichigo, despite this strange set-back I will win! I activate the field magic card The Lost Paradise!" The whole of the tower changed, growing darker and slowly shifting into a ruined wasteland. "While this field magic card is in play, once per turn I may draw two cards from my deck." Two cards appeared in the air above him. "I place one card face-down on my field and end my turn." ("During my next turn I will be able to discard this drawn Raremetal Dragon to power up my mighty monster.")

Ichigo removed the top card of his deck, and then gasped as Midnight's face-down card flipped up to reveal a trap card with a picture of a swirling storm of dust. "Dust Tornado?"

"That's correct. This trap destroys one magic or trap card in play!" The trap released a twirling blast of dust and wind that struck the Stasis Cage and shattered it. "Regardless of your card's ability to trap my god, it still had been destroyed!" Mutekitaiyouryu stretches its wings to the sky and roared, sending shockwaves across the whole of the city and blowing out every single pane of glass it reached. "This is the strongest of the children of Bahamut, and you expected to keep it locked in some strange cage? Don't be naïve, boy!"

Ichigo frowned at the last card in his hand. ("While it'll be useful soon, that soon isn't coming for a little while.") "I activate the continuous magic card System Hack!" His new card started to glow and the barren wasteland around them did the same. "When this card is played I select one face-up magic card in play. That magic card's effects are now shared by both of us!" He drew two cards. "Therefore, the effect of your Lost Paradise field magic card is also usable by me! I place one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

Midnight waved his hand and a card appeared next to his Raremetal Dragon card. "I activate the effect of Lost Paradise, drawing two cards." An extra two cards shimmered into play next to his other two. "I send Raremetal Dragon from my hand to my graveyard to power up Mutekitaiyouryu!" (2400/1000)+(4700/2500)(7100/3500)

Ichigo frowned slightly as the already terrifying God Card exploded in size, its skin still glowing brightly. ("Damn…this is screwed up. There's no way I can win unless I'm able to get a direct attack on his life points.")

Midnight darkly pointed at another of his 'hand' cards. "I reveal the magic card Book of Taiyou! This magic card selects one monster in play and changes it into attack mode!" The flipped over magic card released a bright ray of light that fell over Ichigo's set monster.

The half-demon let out a surprised gasp as his monster was revealed. It was a oval-shaped metallic pod with a hatch. "Deep Space Capsule's (0/1000) flip effect lets me select one level four or lower Infinity Traveler type monster card and add it to my hand!" A card slid out of his deck and he removed it, staring at the fact that it was another of the blank-faced cards. "Hey…Erian?" The strange boy reached over and touched the card, causing its picture and text to appear. "Thanks."

Midnight snarled and pointed at the pod. "Crush him." Mutekitaiyouryu snorted, sending another cloud of super-heated air across the field towards Ichigo's monster.

"Reverse card open, Truce of Opposing Forces!" Ichigo's new trap shimmered and his pod disappeared. "This trap card activates when you attack with a monster. It sends all monsters in play back to their owner's hands."

"That just means I get to attack you directly, die boy!" Midnight started to laugh, until he realized Ichigo had disappeared behind a huge number of floating rocks. "What's this?"

"When you declared a direct attack against me," Ichigo's voice could be heard behind the field of rocks. "You activated the effect of my Asteroid Belt trap card, which negates your attack and deals you 500 points of damage for every monster you have in play!" A giant rock appeared in the air above Midnight, falling towards him with explosive force.

"I activate the quickplay magic card Divine Restoration!" Midnight pointed at Mutekitaiyouryu, which flapped its wings towards him. "If I have a Divine Beast monster in play, I may gain 2000 life points!" Those wings released little motes of light that fell over his body, recharging him.

Ichigo- 800

Midnight- 2200

Ichigo snapped his fingers as he watched the rock crash down onto Midnight's shoulders and shatter like it was made of Styrofoam. "I almost had him too!"

Ichigo- 800

Midnight- 1700

Erian patted Ichigo on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, you'll get him."

Midnight frowned at how lightly he was being taken now. "This generation of demons is so thin-blooded that they apparently don't understand what's riding on this duel. If you fail then the planet earth and everything living on it dies. Perhaps being so carefree isn't safe?"

Ichigo stuck out his tongue at the dark god and razzed him. "Do you think I'm not used to this stuff by now? If you think you're really that unique compared to Chaos or your wife, then listen up!" He suddenly draped his free arm across Erian's shoulders, laughing loudly.

Midnight waited for this declaration…and then realized he was already listening to it. "You dare to laugh at me, boy?"

Erian had joined in with Ichigo now, both boys nearly falling over each other with laughter. Even though the audience of this life or death duel knew that they should be serious in such a life or death time, one by one they seemed to join in. For a few minutes, the world seemed to share in one stress-releasing laugh after another.

Midnight could feel this, and he was beyond displeased.

Ichigo slowly stopped laughing. "If I stayed serious through every single dangerous duel in my life, then I'd wind up as crazy as Rikuo. You just have to roll with the punches that life deals you, and make the best of it. I'll beat you Midnight, there is no doubt in my mind that at the end of this duel, you'll realize how stupid it was to fight on the side of evil."

Erian, who was sitting cross-legged behind Ichigo, smiled widely at this statement. ("Wow, Earth has laid-back guys like this fighting its battles for it?")

Midnight could still hear the inhabitants of earth laughing at him. "Roll with the punches, you say?" His face suddenly twisted, his mouth becoming wider as it bared two rows of sword-sharp teeth. "Roll with this then." He pointed at the sky, and Mutekitaiyouryu aimed its head up at the sky.

Ichigo and Erian blinked at the strange position of the mighty Dark Demon God. It looks like it was howling at the sky. "Huh?" Then they were sliding backwards on their feet as the Undefeated Sun Dragon fired into the sky, leaving a golden pillar of light that burned into space.

Midnight suddenly pointed down at the ground. "Let the sun burn upon the earth…" And then it was raining death as the pillar exploded, striking the whole earth with rays of light the size of threads of silk. Except unlike silk, these threads went up like a chain of nuclear explosions.

For a few moments the earth was red, and all Ichigo could hear was screams of sanity-shattering pain as those threads obliterated every single living thing on the planet in less than three minutes.

A series of shockwaves caused by the explosions slammed against the Empire State Building, nearly bringing the whole thing down on itself. However, it stood strong against the waves, and finally the last one hit, leaving the whole of New York City decimated except for that now utterly ravaged building that stood amongst the ruins like some kind of timeless monolith.

The barrier that surrounded the dueling field slowly lowered. Midnight brushed himself off like nothing had happened. "Well, now that it's just you and me, let's continue."

Ichigo's shocked eyes trailed over to the now clear spot where Ryu, Rikuo, and his friends had been. Except that it was clear…they were all gone, swept up by the shockwave. ("Rikuo and Ryu were the only ones awake though…they…") Suddenly it slammed in like a tidal wave what just had happened. "What have you done?"

"I wiped out the audience. Sorry, I dislike being mocked." Pointing at his last hand card, the dark god watched as it set itself face-down on the field. "I place one card face-down on the field and then I suppose the turn is yours."

Ichigo's eyes squeezed shut, trying to force the images that flashed through his mind away. He had seen all of it at once, the annihilation of both the races he shared blood with. Earth was a wasteland now, devoid of life except for himself and Erian. He could feel the tears staining his cheeks, and from somewhere deep within himself he felt a burning strength awaken.

Deep within Ichigo's soul, Halo felt his entire body bristling with the collected destructive power that had wiped out earth. ("I am the enforcer of the darkness games, and the destruction of the entire planet has caused an imbalance. The darkness world has just gained a massive boost in negative power. Ichigo, let me take over and kill this black-hearted beast.")

Ichigo snapped his now reddened eyes open. "It's my turn, draw!" The card was another blank. "I won't let you escape punishment, you beast…"

"Escape?" Midnight glanced up at Mutekitaiyouryu. "I'm not running anywhere. With the power of the three Dark Demon God Cards behind me, I am strong enough to accomplish my purpose. Life wasn't my target, the reality it lived in was. In other words, I could have obliterated the races of this planet any time I wished. It just served no purpose…well, until you decided that making a mockery of me was necessary. Interesting, you were their hope for survival and because of your light-hearted attitude they all died horribly, including the ones you cared the most about. Perhaps somewhere deep down you hated this world, because both of your parents are victims of the world of the dead?"

Ichigo felt his entire body tremble as black lightning crackled around it. ("Halo, fuel me with that new energy. Let me give him…") Suddenly the flow of energy in his body was stopped. There was a hand resting on his shoulder, and suddenly he felt weak…no stronger than his human self.

Erian clenched Ichigo's shoulder tightly, his yellow eyes looking straight at Midnight. "Ichigo-san…no more. Overwhelming power will not accomplish anything except more destruction. We cannot risk losing more of this planet of yours, correct?"

Ichigo suddenly felt it. Looking down at his hand, he realized that the blank card was slowly gaining a picture and text. As it finalized, every part of him was calm. "What you have done will be undone, Midnight. I almost forgot…that you're a walking cliché."

Midnight felt his right eye twitching. "What…did you say?"

"Lord darkity dark of darkness standing with his almighty monster and gloating over his victory…" Ichigo body trembled as he spoke so calmly. "You're nothing but a damned joke! A tired joke too…and one I intend to put to rest right here. I'll strip away your power, and leave you feeling just like the lives you destroyed…helpless!" He threw a card from his hand onto his disk. "I summon Infinity Traveler Null Entity in attack mode!" (100/200) A strange multi-colored humanoid made of light appeared on his field.

"Infinity Traveler?" Midnight started to laugh. "What can you possibly do at this point? Give it up Ichigo, even if you win there's nothing left to save!"

Ichigo and Erian glanced at each other, and nodded. "Not yet!" Grasping a new card, Ichigo snapped it up. "I activate the magic card Fake Hero! I special summon one monster from my hand to the field, and during this turn it cannot attack. At the end phase of the turn it returns to my hand as well!" A single dark blue star suddenly lit up high above them against the dust-filled sky.

Midnight looked up at the approaching star, and he suddenly felt it. It was that same unidentifiable power that came from the freak child that had saved Ichigo.

The star lowered onto Ichigo's field and dissipated, revealing a humanoid form. It was a humanoid suit of powered armor that had a trio of silver depressions in its torso where it looked as if something could fit there. Slowly its eyes lit up and it struck a dramatic pose, dark blue coming from its armor of the same color. Both the half-demon and Erian snapped their hands up together, pointing right at the new creature. "Final Shadow Infinity Chaser has appeared!" (2000/1000)

"Another Final Shadow?" Midnight looked relieved. "And here I thought I was in trouble…"

Ichigo discarded one card from his hand. "I discard one card from my hand to activate the effect of Null Entity! Negation Soul!" Midnight's face-down card inverted, the brown-backed card turning tones of grey, white and black. "The card I select has its abilities negated for this turn!"

"Cute, but neither of your pitiful monsters can even get close to my ultimate Mutekitaiyouryu!" The molten dragon roared once, shaking the planet with its divine fury. (7100/3500)

"Midnight…" Erian suddenly stepped forward. "Do you know why your powers had no effect on me? Do you know why I could so easily defeat the power of your demonic magic?"

"It won't matter soon, but why don't you just go ahead and tell me so we can get it over with, eh?" The dark god snickered mockingly.

"My abilities allow me to pacify and negate the other sources of energy and matter." He looked up at the Dark Demon God with intent evident within those bright orbs. "Your monster is mighty, but against my power the mighty are the ones who take the hardest fall when their powers come against mine."

Ichigo stepped forward next. "Infinity Chaser!"

Erian closed his eyes, body glowing a rainbow color. "Negation Entity!"

They both pointed up at the sky. "Contact Fusion!" The two monsters shot upwards into the sky like a pair of rainbow and dark blue-colored rockets, disappearing as they pierced the clouds of dust.

"Contact Fusion?" The dark god furrowed his brow. "What in the nine hells is that?"

Ichigo looked up at the sky, his anger burning brightly within his compound soul. "A term coined by Judai Yuki, my teacher. It is a fusion that can be achieved without the use of a Polymerization card by shuffling the fusion material monsters back into your deck." A rainbow comet fell from the sky and crashed into the skyscraper, yet it didn't leave a single scrape mark where it hit. It just floated a few inches from the ground and let off its light. "Allow me to introduce you Final Shadow Negation Chaser!"

The light faded to reveal the armored machine from before, but one of its three torso insets was filled by a glittering rainbow jewel. Its armor was much thinner and spread out around it as if it was covered in shielding. At the center of its chest-plate there was a strange pair of latches that looked like handholds. (2000/1000)

"That kind of monster can't hope to stand even one second against…"

"Negation Core!" Both Erian and Ichigo yelled this, and the fusion monster responded by grabbing the latches on its chest plate and pulling them apart, revealing the insides of its chest. There was a gray crystal orb there, which let out a flash of dull light that washed over Midnight's field. With its effect finished, the machine let go of the latches and its chest closed.

Ichigo looked up Mutekitaiyouryu and its snarling face. "Negation Core negates all effects that have been on the field. In other words, all those bonuses you've been giving your monster, along with all its other effects…" Suddenly the almighty Undefeated Sun Dragon was tiny once again. "…are gone." (500/500)

Midnight stumbled back as this happened. "No…you…you can't possibly have…"

"I said your power would be stripped away, didn't I?" Ichigo pointed at the hissing and screeching little dragon. "Axle Kick!"

Mutekitaiyouryu yelped in pain as it was drop-kicked in the head. Its entire body went limp and then exploded with the power of a firecracker.

Ichigo- 800

Midnight- 200

Midnight bit back his fear and snarled at the monster still standing on his field. "With my field magic card, I'll still be able to get a method to revive…"

Ichigo snapped the last card in his hand over. "I activate Heavy Storm." A roaring gale blew across the field and suddenly the wasteland scenery that matched the planet around them disappeared, replaced by the ruined form of the Empire State Building. "Now the only card in play is Negation Chaser." There was no smile on Ichigo's face though. "You wanted me to take you seriously, Midnight? You got your wish, now draw your card! You've used all but your own Duel Prescense, I'm guessing, and I can negate anything you set. I guess you'd better draw one good magic or monster card then, huh? End turn."

To be continued…