Tournament of Tears
Chapter 46: Cleanse the Night
"Contact Fusion!" Pointing up at the sky, the young hero felt the building power around him. ("Negation Chaser can negate all the enemy's cards for the turn, and his attack is enough to finish off Sestros' life points!") That power build-up reached its peak…and then dissipated harmlessly. "Huh?"
Sestros suddenly smiled in realization. "Ah, so it is you, my little boy. Ichigo, I guess you don't understand how you managed to create that fusion before, do you?"
Considering the chance to save the world was being dangled in front of his face, the fact that his identity was apparently revealed didn't matter that much. "What are you talking about; it's just a mechanic I use…"
"You and that other boy were together when you last used that mighty monster. Consider the fact that he is unconscious and the rest should become clear." Sestros crossed his arms across his chest mockingly. "As long as he isn't awake to lend you his real power, you cannot infuse it into your Infinity Chaser. Therefore…"
"…I can't use Negation Chaser." Starlight Savior was shaking unconsciously now. ("Erian…your power is the best way to win. I need you, please wake up.")
Sestros just continued to smirk. "What's the matter, done already? Where's that terrifying alien monster of yours?"
Growling, Starlight Savior stood up and pointed at Infinity Chaser. "I end my turn, and at the end phase of the turn it was activated Fake Hero's effect returns the special summoned monster back to my hand." The suit of armor turned back into a star of dark blue light and reappeared back in his hand.
Sestros drew. "It's a shame you failed to beat me, my young compatriot." One card from his hand disappeared. "That was a magic card, so I choose to activate the magic card Smashing Ground to crush your Null Entity by destroying the highest defense monster on your field!" His laughter echoed off the reflective walls of the chamber as Starlight Savior's monster exploded. "End turn."
His teeth were sinking into his lower lip and drawing blood now, but Starlight Savior wasn't giving up just yet. ("I may not be able to Contact Fusion, but I'll still find a way to beat you!") "Draw!" The top card of his deck snapped free. Flipping it up to in front of his face, the hero smiled weakly. ("A good draw, but for the time being I can't use it.") "End turn."
Sestros drew and once more one of his two hands vanished. "A trap this time, and I choose to activate the continuous trap card Wall of Revealing Light!" A set card appeared on his field. "End turn."
Starlight Savior drew, a strange silence falling over the room. ("This is only a temporary lull, because he wouldn't have chosen Wall of Revealing Light for its defense power.") Wall of Revealing was a continuous trap card that allowed the controlling player to pay life points in increments of 1000 upon activation. All monsters on their opponent's field with attack less than or equal to the amount of life points they paid couldn't attack while it remained face-up in play. ("It allows duelists to drain their life point total for defense…but he must be using it for the cost.") "I place one card face-down on my field. End turn."
Sestros suddenly sneered. "I grow weary of playing by the rules of this card. Therefore…" One of the two cards in his hand disappeared. "Once again it was a trap, and this time I choose to reflect the continuous trap card Gladiator's Payroll." A new set card appeared on his field. "Go ahead Ichi…oops, I mean Starlight Savior. Take your turn."
("Gladiator's Payroll?") Pouring over the knowledge in his head, Starlight Savior suddenly gasped in realization. ("Gladiator's Payroll allows the controlling player to convert life point payments into battle damage to their life points…") He numbly drew…
"Reverse card open, Gladiator's Payroll!" The newly set face-down card flipped up to reveal a picture of a roman gladiator covered in blood counting coins out of small purse in his hand. "Also, I activate Wall of Revealing Light!" A brilliant curtain of green light fell over his field. The walls around them reflected that light back continuously, nearly blinding both duelists. "I pay infinite life points to make sure that all monsters you have cannot attack me anymore! Also, this life point payment is converted to battle damage that is dealt to my life points!" Suddenly the curtain disappeared, its light sucked into the giant mirror behind the Torture King. "Infinite battle damage to my life points, because of my field card's power, becomes converted into infinite damage storage!" (Damage storage: Infinite) "I now have access to all cards of all types. However, when the final limit of 100000 is reached all other cards in play on my field are destroyed. End turn!"
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Eri frowned and paced across the small area everyone was hidden in over and over again. "Damn it…" The images of the duel had suddenly cut off right after that strange monster called an Infinity Traveler had activated its effect, and now she and Adriel were left in the dark about what was going on inside that structure.
Adriel continued to look out at the dark sky worriedly. "The others haven't come to. It's just you and I out here, alone. Damn it, where did Pilkington go?" Suddenly there was a bright flash in his head as the image of the duel returned just in time to show Starlight Savior drawing. "They're still at it!"
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Looking at the drawn card, Starlight Savior nodded slowly and inserted a card into his duel disk. "I place one card face-down on the field and end my turn." He still didn't have a monster that he could summon, so for the time being he was restricted to setting cards face-down to protect himself.
Sestros started to laugh insanely as he drew. "Well then hero, let's see what the field magic card chooses, eh?" One of the two cards in his hand disappeared. Behind the massive mirror started to glow purple. "Luckily for you it was a trap that was chosen. However, now I may choose any trap card in existence." He started to rub at his chin calmly. ("What shall I use against him? Perhaps direct damage traps to finish him off?") Looking down at his duel disk, he double-checked the life point totals.
Sestros- 1300
Starlight Savior- 1700
("He has 1700 life points left, so whatever I choose will have to be effective.") Suddenly a dark smile crossed his face. "I choose the normal trap card Cemetery Bomb." A single card appeared face-down on his field. "End turn."
Sweat started to build up on Starlight Savior's head as he realized the threat that the Torture King's selected trap card was. ("Cemetery Bomb deals the opponent 100 points of damage per card in their graveyard. In this case I have over twenty cards in my graveyard, meaning that when his trap is activated I'll take over 2000 points of damage.") All of his face-down cards didn't possess the power to save him, so it would to come down to what he drew. ("In response to my draw he'll activate the bomb, so if it isn't a quickplay magic card then I'll be beaten.") Biting back his fear, he drew.
"Reverse card open!" Sestros sneered as the hero's graveyard slot released a blast of purple energy that enveloped its owner. "You have thirty-two cards in your graveyard, so you take 3200 points of damage directly!" The energy seemed to solidify, and then exploded violently. "That's the end of the last hope of earth!" His laughter grew louder and louder…
"I'm not sure what you're laughing about, but it must be amusing." The smoke cleared to reveal Starlight Savior unharmed. "In response to your effect I triggered the card I drew, which was called Improvisational Trap. By sending one trap card from my field to my graveyard, I can select one trap from my deck and activate it. I chose the trap card Draining Screen. Draining Screen activates when I would take effect damage. That damage is converted to life point gain."
Sestros- 1300
Starlight Savior- 4900
The Torture King just kept smirking. "You avoided one strike to your life points, but I'm far from done. Each turn I'll burn your life points down until you lose."
Since his drawn card had been Improvisational Trap, there wasn't a point to him continuing this turn. The other cards in his hand weren't any good for the moment. "End turn."
Sestros drew and licked his lips. "Choose, my Hell." One of the cards in his hand disappeared. Once again the mirror let off a purple glow. "I activate one trap of my choice. I choose the trap card Poison Needle." A card appeared face-down on his field. "End turn."
Starlight Savior drew. "I'll end my turn."
Sestros drew. "Poison Needle, for every card in my opponent's hand, deals them 500 points of damage." The trap flipped up and a giant metal needle shot across the field, cracking when it hit the hero's armor. "You are holding four cards, so you lose 2000 life points."
Sestros- 1300
Starlight Savior- 2900
Even as the life point counter ticked down, one of the cards in Sestros' hand vanished. "This time it was a monster. Now then, what monster should I summon to crush you, eh?"
("Not good…he can summon any monster in the game and he can also bypass its summoning requirements.") Starlight Savior felt his hands trembling again, though whether it was because of excitement or fear he wasn't sure.
The Torture King sneered at a sudden idea that had popped into his head. "I choose Jinzo." A green armored humanoid appeared on his field. (2400/1500) "I'm sure you can appreciate losing to this monster, can't you? As long as Jinzo is face-up in play trap cards cannot be activated. Now I attack your life points directly with Cyber Energy Shock!" Two beams of red light shout out of the lenses of the machine monster, striking Starlight Savior angrily. "End turn."
Sestros- 1300
Starlight Savior- 500
Clutching at the smoking patches on his armor, Starlight Savior bit back screams of pain. Then his eyes opened sadly. "Jinzo, for the sake of your master I won't let you be used to destroy the world." He drew.
Sestros scoffed. "You're 500 life points from losing now…"
"Are fairly certain actually." Someone spoke from right behind the Torture King.
"Who's there?" Glancing behind him, Sestros froze in confusion at who was standing on the other side of his field magic card's mirror. "This cannot be…"
Starlight Savior blinked in surprise at the strange actions the Torture King had suddenly taken. "Who are you talking to?"
From the other side of the mirror, the phantasmal form of Daniel Pilkington smiled calmly right into the face of the master of the realm they stood in. "Why don't you tell him, Sestros? I'm sure he'd love to hear it."
After a few seconds the Torture King brought his eyes back to the field in front of him. ("I can ignore him for now. I'll destroy his son, and then we'll see if he can still smile.") "Take your turn, hero. I grow weary of this lull."
Starlight Savior suddenly felt it. ("This energy connection to my graveyard could only be one person.")
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Erian opened his eyes slowly. ("I thought I heard someone calling my name.") His eyes suddenly snapped open as the images in his mind told him what was happening. ("Ichigo! I'm awake now! I feel your request for my power, and I'm more than willing to comply! Please, hurry!")
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Starlight Savior nodded to the air. "Thanks man." He drew and flipped one of the cards in his hand over. "First I play the magic card Sleeping Enforcer. I select one monster in play that has a worldwide negation effect and negate it for the turn." Jinzo shuddered and its eye lenses went dark, a little bubble coming out of its face-plate as if it was sleeping.
He wasn't done yet though. Another card from his hand was flipped over, revealing a picture of the planet earth. "I activate Wishes of the Miracle World! When Planetary Aspect Earth is in my graveyard, I may normal summon one high level Planetary Aspect from my hand without tribute!" A bright light suddenly bathed the field.
Sestros lifted one hand up to shield his eyes. "What kind of trick is this?" From behind him he heard quiet chuckling.
"Just take a look behind you to see." Daniel grinned as the mirror started to grow red hot. "I just dropped by to say sayonara, Torture King. I hope you enjoyed your time on the top." Then he faded away.
A bright golden humanoid in literally molten power armor lowered onto Starlight Savior's field. "I summon Planetary Aspect Helios!" (1900/2000) It let out a battle cry and started to glow brighter.
Still guarding his face from the burning sunlight, Sestros growled darkly. "Don't get too overconfident boy, my Jinzo is stronger than your monster."
"Why should I care?" Snapping up his hand, the hero pointed at one of his set cards. "My target isn't the Jinzo reflection, but instead the field magic card! Go Solar Eclipse!" The light around them suddenly grew weak, and started to turn dark. "If Planetary Aspect Helios is in play I may sacrifice it to move one card in play to the removed from play pile."
All of a sudden the Torture King was seriously questioning his choice of reflections. ("Why did I choose Jinzo? What was I thinking?")
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Sestros mentally pondered what of the hundreds of monsters should he summon. ("Perhaps I will call out one of the Dark Children of Bahamut to consume this fool. Yes, I will summon the lord of the Hell Dimension, Kifunsuiryu!") He started to open his mouth…
("Why settle for simply obliterating him? Wouldn't you prefer to defeat him with some irony to your work?") His own voice spoke to him. ("Destroy him with his father's monster…crush him with the power of Jinzo.")
The Torture King sneered at a sudden idea that had popped into his head. "I choose Jinzo."
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Eyes wide in fear, the Torture King slowly looked behind him at the melting mirror to see one more sight from it. It was Daniel Pilkington waving goodbye to him. "You put that idea in my head?"
Starlight Savior watched as the structure of the Infinity Trial reappeared in play, its soft blue light falling over the field. "Because your field card is gone, all special summoned reflections are destroyed!" The sleeping Jinzo shattered. "This is the end, Sestros! From my hand I activate the magic card Replay! At the cost of half of my life points I activate one magic card from my graveyard!"
Even though he had only card in his hand, Sestros only had to look at it to know he was safe for the turn. ("The trap card Safe Haven allows me to discard it from my hand to stop my life points from reaching zero because of an attack. In other words I won't lose!")
Starlight Savior felt it clearly. "Let's clean up this mess Erian!" A star of dark blue light appeared near the roof of the structure. "The magic card I chose is Fake Hero, letting me special summon one monster from my hand to the field!" The star exploded open to reveal the dark blue form of Infinity Chaser. (2000/1000)
"Reverse card open, Infinity Summon! When a monster with Infinity in its title is special summoned to my field I may special summon one Infinity named monster from my graveyard or deck to the field!" A humanoid made of prismatic light appeared on his field. "Therefore I re-summon Infinity Traveler Null Entity!" (100/200)
Sestros felt his face twitching at the impossibility of this situation. "No, even with my newly summoned deck, I'm going to lose?"
"Contact Fusion!" Starlight Savior heard those words echo across the sky, and the two monsters on his field leapt into the air, disappearing in a blast of prismatic light.
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 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) It slowly lowered onto Starlight Savior's field and grasped the handholds on its chest, pulling them apart to reveal an orb of grey energy that sat within a cavity in its chest. A bright flash of light hit Sestros' field, and the single card in his hand turned shades of black and white.
Starlight Savior clenched his fist in triumph. "Once per turn Negation Chaser can negate all effects from all cards on your field and in your hand! In other words, it's finally the end!"
Sestros took a couple of steps back as he realized that Negation Chaser was eyeing him angrily.
"Negation Chaser, attack his life points directly with Infinite Axle Kick!" Starlight Savior smirked as his monster leapt across the field and kicked the Torture King hard in the chest, forcing him backwards into the barrier of the structure. It crackled and blasted him with blue bolts of energy until he dropped to his knees, a smoking husk of his original self.
Sestros- 0
Starlight Savior- 250
The structure faded away, leaving them standing back amongst the ruined buildings of the demolished New York City.
From not too far away three forms came running out of hiding behind the last few remaining buildings. It was Erian, Adriel and Eri. All of them ran right past the still unmoving and smoking husk that had been Sestros and stopped right in front of Starlight Savior.
"That was great, Ic…" Erian suddenly was stifled as an armored hand clamped over his mouth.
Adriel narrowed his eyes at the much older boy. "You're not bad, but where's Pilkington?"
Starlight Savior sweat-dropped. "Well…I…uh…he…" While he stammered he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
Erian squirmed out of the hero's grasp. "He must have passed out after he beat Midnight! I'm betting he's somewhere around here!" Giving Starlight Savior a knowing smile that said he understood that Ichigo wanted to keep his identity a secret, he turned and pointed out towards the ruined obelisk that had been the Empire State Building. "Let's go look for him!" Grabbing Adriel by the arm, he dragged the protesting half-dragon demon towards it.
Eri had spent this time looking right into Starlight Savior's face quietly, a slight blush in her cheeks.
The hero quickly realized that she was inspecting him and his cheeks turned a much brighter color of red than hers. "S…something the matter, miss?"
Realizing what she was doing, the demoness shook her head out rapidly and looked away. "No, nothing at all!"
Before Starlight Savior could double-check to make sure she was uninjured he realized that Erian and Adriel had stopped moving in the direction of the tower. "What's the matter, you two?" Both of them had stopped about ten feet from Sestros' body.
Adriel had his hand across Erian's chest to make sure he didn't take another step forward. Using the leverage of his arm, he started to gently move backwards with the other boy. "He's still alive…"
"What?" Her momentary lapse of character forgotten, Eri growled low and bared her fangs as Sestros' body slowly stumbled to its feet, smoke still pouring from the mouth and eyes. "Damn it, he won't die!" A dark and light blue armored hand appeared in front of her.
Starlight Savior looked dead serious again. "Leave this to me." Stepping past the retreating Adriel and Erian, he suddenly smiled sadly. "I bet that hurts, doesn't it?"
For a few moments Sestros didn't move. Then his mouth opened, releasing a rather large cloud of black smoke. "You…forget…" The burned husk's head rolled up, revealing that Sestros' eyelids had been burned away, giving all four of them a nice look at his now bloodshot crimson eyes. "I…am…immortal. Therefore, the end…still will…consume you all."
His hands started to flex slowly, somehow moving despite the fact that his muscles should have all been badly overcooked steak by now. "I will win, and you will…all die." Desiccated arms bulged to life with new muscle. "I am the Torture King!" His smoldering chest started to heal. "I am the Dark King!" Fresh skin appeared over his eyes, and he blinked to reveal his eyes were fully healed. In just a matter of seconds he was fully restored to normal. "I am Kilomet Sestros!"
Starlight Savior gritted his teeth in frustration. ("I can't kill him, no matter I do? No, the Infinity Mind said there was a way…")
"I'll kill you all!" Sestros snapped his right and left arms up into the sky, and above him a ball of black and red fire started to build up. "I'll burn you all to a crisp."
Erian gasped and tugged on Adriel's and Eri's shirts roughly. "We need to run!" However they didn't move. They both snarled and bared their fangs because they knew the truth. There was nowhere to run now. They were going to die…
Starlight Savior got ready, because apparently he was going to have to physically fight Sestros to buy time. ("I have to protect them, and I will protect them!")
("That's correct, you will.") A voice from within his head spoke quietly. ("Ichigo, you have proved yourself capable of protecting that which you care about.") There was a flash of dark blue light and something formed in the air in front of him. ("Take this.") It was a deep blue crystal flute, which seemed as if it was meant for him. ("This is Aquarius, Soul of Purification. Play it and call out the darkness of the Torture King!")
Snatching the flute out of the air, Starlight Savior stared at it for a few seconds. As Ichigo Pilkington he had never played a flute in his life, and yet when looking at it he felt relaxed. ("It's like an old friend is with me now.") Holding the flute to his lips, he started to play. It was a song unlike anything else known to earth, because it wasn't just sound…it was smell, taste, sight and touch. Somehow merely hearing the song brought a feeling of peace to Adriel, Eri and Erian.
The fireball he had been charging up forgotten, Sestros clutched at his throat and dry-heaved repeatedly. It felt as if he was being pulled inside out in a way that somehow actually felt unpleasant to him. In fact, it was a pain that he had never experienced before.
Reaching the last note of his song, Starlight Savior suddenly pointed the flute at the Torture King. "Infinite Darkness Purge!"
Howling in pain that only one was being torn to shreds could feel, Sestros suddenly exploded in size as he transformed to his hulking blue-skinned demon form. Except this time there were tendrils of black slime dripping down its body and pooling at its feet. Unable to speak, it let out a hellish roar and charged right at the cause of this unbearable pain.
Eri, Erian and Adriel all gasped in fear, as it seemed like Starlight Savior was about to be trampled…
The demon that had been Kilomet Sestros brought one gigantic fist down as hard as it could onto where the young man was standing, sending up an explosion of dirt and grit that clouded the air.
Erian gasped in fear, and almost called out for Ichigo, but stopped himself as he remembered the silent promise that he had made. ("Please be okay, Ichigo!")
The Immortal Beast lifted its fist slowly, and let out a snort of confusion. There was no corpse, and no blood. It was as if there had been no one there when it had struck. Suddenly something small and hard hit it in the back of the head. Spinning around, it snarled as it realized someone had thrown a rock at it. However, there was no one there. Letting out an enraged roar, it turned its head to look at the three teenagers nearby.
Adriel and Eri both bit back growls as the monster charged right at them.
"Hold it!" Right before the Immortal Beast reached them, a bright circle of light appeared off to its side by about thirty feet, revealing Starlight Savior. Turning, it roared and prepared to attack its intended target. It would kill him and make the pain stop.
Pointing up at the sky, Starlight Savior still looked completely serious. "The stars cry because of your black heart!" His hand came down and he thumbed at himself. "In the name of justice and love, I will be the one to finally end the threat that you represent to the innocent lives of this planet!" With one fluid motion his hand changed so that it was pointing at the now charging monster. "Let's do it!"
Adriel and Eri both just stared slack-jawed at him, while Erian clapped. ("Is this guy nuts?") They both thought at once.
The Immortal Beast dove with all its might to tackle the cause of its pain, but all it felt was a sudden depression on its back as he front-flipped over it using its body as a vault.
Landing so that he was now facing the three teenagers, Starlight Savior grinned cheerfully. "Okay, now that there's no chance I'll hit you guys…"
Both Eri and Adriel continued to stare at him in disbelief. ("He did all that to make sure we were directly behind him? Why?")
Turning on one heel to face the once again charging monster, the hero smiled confidently. Snapping up the crystal flute, he closed his eyes and concentrated. It shimmered out of existence, replaced by a single dark blue crystal the size of a small pebble.
Erian gasped in amazement. "That's the Infinity Mind?"
Starlight Savior suddenly clasped his hand around the crystal. "Awaken Aries, Soul of Assertion!" A dark blue crystal blade appeared in his hands. "Let the dark blood be cleansed from this Miracle World!" Suddenly the blade grew larger and became much more ornate, numerous different kinds of jewels shining across its hilt and blade.
Letting out one last roar of defiance, the Immortal Beast hurled itself at the source of its pain.
Lifting the hilt of the blade up to his eyes, Starlight Savior looked past the opaque blade and saw his target. "Infinite…" Lowering the blade to his side, he narrowed his eyes slowly as to his mind's eye a large target appeared right in the middle of the beast's face. "Starlight…"
The Immortal Beast knew it should have connected by now, but it was suddenly moving so slowly through the air. Opening its jaws, it let out a rumbling noise that somehow actually sounded like words. "I…am…IMMORTAL!"
"Slash!" As the blade was swept in an upward slash, it created a long crescent of dark blue light that cut down the middle of the Immortal Beast. Everything turned blindingly white, except for its shadowed form…and then letting out one last roar of defiance its shadowed form blew apart. When the light faded, it was gone.
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Right after that, time seemed to return to its normal flow. Every passing second seemed like an hour though as everyone waited for what should have been inevitable. Sestros would revive and they would have to fight again. But that moment never came…
Adriel and Eri both just stared at Starlight Savior's back in amazement. ("He…he beat Sestros?")
Stepping forward, Erian tapped the hero's back. "Ummm, is it over?"
"Of course." Snapping the sword out to his side, Starlight Savior willed it away and it instantly disappeared. "The Immortality of the Night made Sestros immortal, so I simply brought the Immortality of the Night out of his body and destroyed it instead. Without its power, Sestros was destroyed. In other words…."
A tired chuckle suddenly came from behind a nearby wall. "I wouldn't believe, but I felt the power behind that slash." Stumbling from out of his hiding place, Ryu tried to avoid opening the rather severe wound in his stomach where the Torture King had nearly gutted him. "I can confirm it…the prescense of darkness in this area is completely gone. Kilomet Sestros is no more."
Adriel, Eri, and Erian all let out huge sighs of relief at hearing that.
Turning to look up at the dark sky, Starlight Savior nodded slowly. "Yup, that's the end of the Game of the Gods." His voice suddenly rose to a shout. "My wish, as the winner of the Game of the Gods, is to restore the planet earth fully to how it was before!" Glancing back at Erian, he smiled. "Let me show you just how beautiful this planet really is." And then everything disappeared as a pure white light bathed over the whole world.
To be continued…