Tournament of Tears
Chapter 39: The first signs of hero
Ichigo slowly activated his duel disk, his weakened body trembling just to stand in proximity to the energy coming off of the last challenge between him and saving reality. "Twenty five minutes until the end. Do you think that taking me down with such a time limit is impossible then?"
"Say what you wish, fool." Sestros' rusted duel disk activated once more. "One more duel for the road, before I kiss this sad excuse of a dimension goodbye and move onto bigger and better things."
Ichigo- 4000
Sestros- 4000
Ichigo closed his eyes, and felt his heart beating in his chest. "Sestros, I won't bend to your evil like others have in the past." He drew. "In fact, I intend to show you that your evil is the wrong way of doing things!"
"I don't care." The Dark King looked upon this idealist with disdain. "You cannot show me the error of ways that are not wrong, correct?"
Ichigo slammed a card into his disk. "I activate the magic card Shadow's Lament, special summoning two Shadow Soul Tokens in defense mode!" A pair of grey clouds of smoke appeared on his field. (0/0x2) "These monsters cannot be sacrificed, but they also cannot be attacked while I have other monsters in play! So my next card is Final Shadow Shield Guardian in defense mode!" (0?) A dark body-suited warrior holding a large shield in front of it appeared in play. "This monster's defense score is equal to the number of defense mode monsters I have in play times 1500." (0/4500) "End turn."
Sestros laughed. "What's this, defense on the first turn? Odd, I expected a slightly more offensive approach from you, boy!" The top card of his deck left a crimson arc in its wake as he drew it. "I set one card face-down and activate the magic card Dark World Lightning!" A bolt of black lightning fell from the sky and slammed into the card he had just set face-down. "The card I destroyed was Dark Pitfall, and when it is destroyed by a card effect one monster in play with less than 2000 attack points is consumed!"
Ichigo gasped as his Shield Guardian was suddenly swallowed up by a pit of darkness that erupted from the ground.
Sestros took a card from his hand and inserted it into his graveyard. "After the effect of Dark World Lightning resolves, I must discard a card from my hand if it was successful." A trail of black smoke exploded out of his graveyard and landed on his field, forming into a tall bipedal silver demon. "And the card I discarded was Silva, Wu-lord of Dark World! When this card is discarded by the effect of a card it is special summoned." (2300/1400)
Ichigo already felt short of breath, and the sight of the roaring demon didn't make it any easier. ("I can't be scared though, I promised I would handle this problem!")
Sestros placed another card onto his disk and a hunched over demon wearing shamanic robes appeared on his field. "Also I normal summon Orangee, Shaman of the Dark World." (800/900) "Now to get rid of those tokens, Dark Lightning Burst!" Both of his demons exhaled a bolt of lightning that crashed into the two tokens and instantly vaporized them. "I place one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Ichigo felt some of his earlier cuts from his duel against Midnight open because of the backlash he suffered from the destruction of his tokens. Now that blood was flowing out of him, the pain he was experiencing wasn't quite so back. ("That and the swelling around those areas should go down, hopefully fixing some of my stiffness.") "Draw!" Fanning out his hand, he nodded slowly and inserted a card into his disk. "I activate the equipment magic card Defense Burial, reviving one monster from my graveyard that has 1000 or less attack point to my field in defense mode!" Waving his hand across his field, he watched as the protected form of his Shield Guardian appeared in play. (0/1500) "Also, I set four cards face-down on the field and end my turn."
Sestros smirked at the fact that his foolish opponent was throwing all of his cards down in this turn. ("He expects to protect himself in that way?") "Don't make me laugh, boy!" Snapping the top card off of his deck, the Dark King's aura exploded to life. It was a living aura that made the very air around him grow stale and dead. "I activate the magic card Darkness Eternal!" A black shroud fell over his field, making all of his cards much harder to see. "As long as this continuous magic card is in play, whenever you activate a targeting trap card you must flip a coin. If you call the side it lands on correctly, then the trap goes through. Otherwise, it is negated and destroyed! Next I summon Zure, Knight of the Dark World (1800/1500) in attack mode!" A black and azure-colored demon knight appeared in play. "Zure, attack Shield Guardian with Knightmare sword!" The demon glided across the field silently and slashed the warrior into tiny digital pixels.
"Reverse card open, Night Signal!" Ichigo clutched at his chest as it throbbed in pain from his sudden shout. "When a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard then I may special summon a level four or lower Final Shadow monster from my deck or hand to the field. Come out now, Night Slasher!" (1100/800) A dark-cloaked form appeared on his field in a crouching position. "When Night Slasher is summoned, I may destroy one monster in play with an original or current attack less than its own. My target is Orangee!" The shaman demon howled and was blown apart.
"That's fine with me, go Silva!" Sestros laughed as his silver Dark World monster sprayed another of the boy's monster's with lightning…only to be repelled. "What?"
"When Night Slasher was summoned, I activated my face-down quickplay magic card, Weakening of Poison." Ichigo pointed at the demon as it dropped to one knee and started to pant. "When a Final Shadow monster on my field is summoned, I may chain this card to it and reduce the attack of one monster in play by 1500 points." (2300-1500800/1400)
Sestros grimaced at the fact that he had only gotten off one successful attack this turn. "End turn, for now."
Ichigo drew. "End turn for now."
Sestros drew once more. "Eternal Darkness' special ability activates now. For every dark attribute monster I have in play I gain 100 life points."
Ichigo- 4000
Sestros- 4200
The Dark King looked at the card in his hand calmly, before pointing at Ichigo's Night Slasher. "One direct attack should drop your weakened self easily! Go Zure, cut down that weakling now!" He started to laugh as his knight dove in to cut down Ichigo's defender, right up until something shot past its face, leaving a thin bloody scar across it cheek. It howled in pain and stopped its charge, clutching at its face. "A targeting trap? Impossible, you would have triggered Eternal Darkness…"
Stumbling, Ichigo couldn't immediately reply. However, after a few moments he managed to stand up fully and take a deep breath. "That's right, except you triggered my trap card, Midnight Appears!"
"Midnight…Appears?" Sestros looked down at the object that had caused the interruption, and his eyes widened at what it was. It was a single red rose, somehow able to pierce through the stone its stem had hit.
"Darkness has no place in this world. Disappear forever, Dark King of the Underworld!" A spotlight lit the darkness, illuminating the tuxedo-wearing form of a humanoid standing on Ichigo's field. "I am Final Shadow God Midnight Romancer." (1400/1200)
Ichigo nodded. "Midnight Appears lets me special summon Midnight Romancer from my hand to the field. If this is done during a battle phase then end that phase immediately. Also, at that time I may activate the effect of Midnight Romancer, Gentleman's Aura."
Sestros glowered and drew the top card of his deck. "I draw one card, and after which you gain 3000 life points?"
"That's correct." Ichigo's body glowed a bright green for a moment.
Ichigo- 7000
Sestros- 4200
The Dark King looked at the two cards in his hand with disdain, finding this kind of opponent to be humiliating to his mighty Dark World residents. "Then take your turn, boy."
Ichigo drew. "I switch Night Slasher into attack mode and equip Midnight Romancer with Moonlight Cane!" A thin black walking cane appeared in the hands of his gentleman monster. "The equipped monster gains 500 attack points, and I may send a level four or lower Final Shadow monster card from my deck to the graveyard to add the discarded monster's attack to the power of my Midnight Romancer!" Fanning out his deck, Ichigo quickly selected his card. "My choice is Final Shadow Psyche Vizier." (1200/1300) (1400+500+12003100/1200)
Sestros growled darkly as he looked at Ichigo's face. It was desperate, but it was also somehow hopeful. ("He must not understand what that pathetic dog had to be informed of. How sad…") His demeanor restored with the reminder that he could not possibly lose, the Dark King smiled coldly. "Then come, Ichigo!"
"Midnight Romancer, attack Zure now!" Ichigo watched his gentleman monster leap across the field and crack the knight monster over the head with its cane, knocking it out cold in one blow. "Also, Night Slasher, attack Silva now!" The assassin monster disappeared from view, and Silva exploded into dust. Seconds later Night Slasher was back where it had been standing before.
Ichigo- 7000
Sestros- 2600
Ichigo nodded to Moonlight Romancer. "I end my turn by activating Gentleman's Aura once more." His body was surrounded by that green glow again. "At the end phase of this turn the discard power boost of Moonlight Cane disappears." (1900/1200)
Ichigo- 10000
Sestros- 2600
Sestros snapped two cards off of his deck. "Very well, boy! Reverse card open, Forces of Darkness!" A pair of cards were spat out of his graveyard. "This trap returns two Dark World type monsters from my graveyard back to my hand. I choose Silva and Orangee."
Ichigo felt something in the air, like a building wave of darkness that was approaching.
"Feel my wrath, child! I activate the continuous magic Card of Safe Return. Whenever a monster is special summoned from my graveyard I may draw a card. Then I play Card Destruction to discard my entire hand into the graveyard and draw one card for every card discarded." He discarded five, and therefore drew five. "At this moment, the effects of Silva and the Goldd in my hand activates now!" A pair of stereo howls erupted from his graveyard as his two monstrous Dark World Wu-lords emerged from the earth at his feet. (2300/1400x2)
Ichigo's eyes were wide with panic at the two roaring monsters. "Ahhh…"
"Because they were special summoned from my graveyard, I draw two cards." Adding two more cards to his hand, he pointed at Ichigo's field. "Orangee, when discarded from my hand by a card effect destroys one magic or trap card in play!" Ichigo's set card shattered into dust. "Now you have defenses, so feel my dark wrath! Goldd and Silva, attack Midnight Romancer and Night Slasher!" His two monsters exhaled black bolts of lightning that pierced the chests of the two warriors and blew them apart.
Ichigo- 8400
Sestros- 2600
Ichigo cried out in pain and dropped to one knee, blood staining his jeans. "I'm not done…yet…" Stumbling back to his feet, his still vibrant eyes looked at Sestros with no more fear. "Your darkness won't stop me. For the future of this world rests on my shoulders, and I can't let it end here!"
"Then try and stop me!" Sestros flipped one of the card in his hand over. "I activate the magic card Magic Shard Excavation, discarding two cards from my hand to return Card Destruction from my graveyard to my hand." Above him a pair of paper lanterns appeared, both glowing brightly. "The effects of the Luring Lantern Level 4 cards that I discarded allows me to now special summon a level four or lower monster from my deck to the field. Since I discarded two, I suppose I'll summon two more Zure." Two more of the demon knights appeared on his field. (1800/1500x2)
"Why didn't you special summon them before you entered your battle phase?" Ichigo clutched his side, the pain in his body nearly unbearable.
"It's simply really." Sestros sneered coldly and inserted two cards into his disk. "I set two cards face-down on the field and end my turn."
Ichigo understood already. "You're toying with me…"
"Exactly right, boy." Sestros lifted his head to look up at the reddening sky. "Twenty minutes remain, Ichigo. What will you do?"
Ichigo looked down at his tiredly. ("That's true, my field is clear and I have no cards in hand.") "I'll tear down your entire field in this turn."
"Is that so?" Sestros just shrugged. "Go right ahead, it won't matter at all."
Hands shaking from the pain, Ichigo drew. "I activate the magic Card of Sanctity!" Holy light fell over the field. "Both players draw until they're holding six cards in hand!" He drew six while Sestros drew three. "Now I play Polymerization!"
"You intend to summon that Lord of Knives joker?" Sestros chuckled. "He's useless. Besides you triggered my face-down Dark Deal trap card! I pay 1000 life points to change the effect of your normal magic card to randomly discard a card from my hand." A random card from his hand disappeared and then reappeared on his field. "Too bad, you hit another of my Silva monsters. When it is discarded from my hand by the effect of my opponent's card, my opponent sends two cards from their hand back into their deck. Now Ichigo, choose." He also drew one card because of Card of Safe Return.
Ichigo looked at the card in his hand weakly, and suddenly his eyes widened. ("That's it!") Adding two cards to the bottom of his deck, he suddenly grinned. "Thanks Dark King, you just helped me out."
"Hmmm?" Sestros lifted one eyebrow inquisitively. "What are you talking about, those cards were returned to your deck so there is no possible way that you could benefit from those two cards being taken away…"
"Isn't there?" Ichigo snapped his hand up. "Final Shadow Infinity Chaser's special ability activates when it is sent from my hand back to my deck by the effect of a card. Normally I would just draw one card, but if it's by the effect of my opponent…" A dark blue light appeared in the sky high above him, a single star of hope. "…it's special summoned and I draw two cards!" A suit of powered armor slowly lowered onto his field. (2000/1000) "That isn't all, because I play the magic card Heavy Storm!" The world became a living tornado as powerful winds slammed across the field and shattered Sestros' set card and his two continuous magic cards.
Ichigo looked at the line-up of five powerful demons, but he no longer felt fear of them. "I can do this, even if it costs me my life I'll do this! I activate the magic card Shadow Nova! I select one Final Shadow monster that I have in play and it may attack all monsters you have in play! Also, I play the magic card Moon of Legend, raising its attack points by 700!" (2700/1000)
"So he did it…" Sestros watched as the body of the mechanical hero grew brighter and shinier with each passing second.
"Infinity Chaser, attack all of the Dark King's court now! Infinite Axle Kick!" Ichigo's monster phased across the field in front of the first Silva. Winding up, it slammed a heavy kick across the creature's jaw before phasing to the next. One by one each of the Dark King's monsters fell, destroyed by Infinity Chaser's attack. "And that's the game, Sestros…"
"Is it?" The smoke from the continuous attack cleared slowly to reveal the Dark King unharmed. "I beg to differ boy. As you can obviously see, I'm unharmed."
Ichigo- 8400
Sestros- 4600
Ichigo just stared at Sestros is disbelief. "What? That's impossible…" His only reply was Sestros' laughter, a laugh that was like an adult laughing at the foolish dreams of a child.
To be continued…