Chapter 11: Blinding the Omniscient Eye
Yami looked back at Leila, more questions than answers having arisen from their brief lapse into the crystal world. What could he do for this girl he had never met? Why would Leila want him to do so? Could Leila have foreseen the future, and knowing she would meet up with him planned to confront him about this?
"Perhaps I should explain myself a little more," Leila said. "As I said, the girl you witnessed in the vision is a friend of mine who is in great danger."
"What kind of danger?" Yami asked.
"She is trapped in her own mind, bound by an ancient power over which she has almost no control," Leila explained. "She wandered here into the Battle of the Titans tournament looking for answers in the hope of escaping her mental prison, but I know she can't do that alone. She needs someone to be there with her, to guide her."
"And you think I'm the one to do that?"
"I think you are the only one capable of it," Leila answered. "The vision I've shared with you was but a glimpse of the world she travels through, one of darkness and false beauty. It is that world through which she wanders, and it is from that world that I wish her to be saved. Unfortunately, I can't do it myself, as I've never encountered such mental confusion before, and it pains me to see her this way..."
Yami continued to look at Leila, who had a tear slide down her cheek. Wiping it away, she said, "It's your move. If you really are the one to help her, you will defeat me in this duel."
Yami nodded. "I understand," he said, and he drew his next card.
"As per the effect of Predicted Demise," Leila announced, "I can guess the card you just activated and if I'm correct, it is sent to the Graveyard, and you'll take damage."
Yami nodded once again and waited for Leila to guess the card. She closed her eyes and said, "It is Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts."
Sure enough, it was Gazelle, and Yami was forced to send it to the Graveyard once again.
Yami: 6000
Leila: 8000
"I end my turn," Yami said.
What are we going to do? Yugi asked. We can't play any cards if she keeps on sending them to the Graveyard like this!
I have a feeling there's a limit to her powers, Yami answered. We just need to wait patiently.
"My turn then," Leila said, drawing and revealing her new card: Skull Invitation. "I think I'll end my turn here."
(Swords of Revealing Light: 1 turn)
"Then it's my turn once again," Yami said, preparing to draw his next card.
"I'll now activate the Predicted Demise card," Leila announced, triggering her Trap. "I'm afraid that Polymerization card you're about to draw won't be of any use to you now."
Yami drew his next card and revealed it to be Polymerization, sending it to the Graveyard.
Yami: 5000
Leila: 8000
"My turn ends here," Yami said once again.
Joey continually scanned over the field with every conceivable scanner in the room. Andrew simply stood back and watched him.
"Come on, come on, I know she's cheating somehow!" Joey muttered.
"Still not satisfied with just calling it quits?" Andrew asked. Joey slammed a fist onto the console, provoking Andrew to say, "Careful!"
"There's nothing," he said. "Nothing at all."
"Great, I guess she's a psychic like I said," Andrew commented snidely, putting a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Maybe we should just watch the duel now, hm?"
Joey looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, I think dat'll work," he said, resuming his seat back at the console. Though he didn't remain there long, as Andrew knocked him out of the way and onto the floor.
"Alright, now let's check to see if your carelessness towards delicate equipment did any damage," he muttered more to himself, ignoring Joey's groans of pain.
Leila drew her next card, Ominous Fortunetelling, which she Set on the field before ending her turn, causing the Swords of Revealing Light to fade away into nothingness.
"It's your move," she called out, and so Yami set his hand on top of his deck and smiled. This did not go unnoticed by Leila. "I believe there's little reason for you to smile," she said, "especially under these circumstances."
Yami continued to smile as he lifted the card off the top of his deck. "Then tell me," he said, "what is the card I'm holding?"
Leila closed her eyes for a moment. Then suddenly they opened wide, very wide. "...I...I can't," she said. "Some curtain blocks my way."
Yami watched on, smiling silently. Leila noted this and asked, "Why are you smiling?
"Because I know that you won't be able to guess the name of this card," Yami answered, surprising everyone watching.
"He knows?!" Joey yelped.
"When did he become a psychic?" Andrew asked.
"You don't think..." Tristan said.
"Maybe he knows a way of blinding her?" Tea wondered.
Leila simply stood there, stunned. Then she nodded her head. "I will guess the Dark Magician," she said.
Yami continued smiling as he revealed the card: "You're not entirely wrong, but you're not right either. I hold the power of the Dark Magic Curtain!"
At that moment, Leila smiled. "Well done," she said. "But let's not forget that I have Ominous Fortunetelling."
With that, Leila activated her Trap card. "Now I can pick out a card from your hand," she explained, "and guess whether it's a Monster, Spell, or Trap card, and if I'm correct, you take 700 points of damage. Although it hardly matters, as with my Prophecy Seeker, I'm able to see whatever card I pick, such as that Kuriboh you have."
Yami nodded, and the Ominous Fortunetelling trap unleashed another psychic wave.
Yami: 4300
Leila: 8000
"And now," Yami said, "it's time for me to turn this duel around. I activate the Dark Magic Curtain, paying half of my Life Points to summon forth the Dark Magician (7/2500/2100)!"
As half of his Life Points were taken away, his signature card was drawn out and summoned to the field.
Yami: 2150
Leila: 8000
"Now go, Dark Magician! Attack her Ceremonial Bell!" Yami declared, and so did the Dark Magician fire off its powerful Dark Magic and eliminate the Bell! "And now Queen's Knight, attack her directly!"
The valiant knight struck at Leila, taking away a few of her Life Points!
Yami: 2150
Leila: 6200
"And with that," Yami said, "I end my turn."
"Then it is my move," Leila said, drawing her next card. "I'll Set one monster on the field in Defense mode and end my turn."
With a new monster in play, Leila's field wasn't so empty anymore. Yami drew his next card while saying, "It's my turn!"
"I won't use the effect of Predicted Demise," Leila announced.
In the spectator and control booths, everyone was surprised.
"Why wouldn't she do it dis time?!" Joey asked.
Andrew rested his chin in his hand thoughtfully. "Maybe her psychic powers are starting to fail her," he wondered.
"I will however use Ominous Fortunetelling to rid your hand of the Big Shield Gardna that dwells in it," Leila continued, invoking the powers of her Trap card to deal more damage to Yami.
Yami: 1450
Leila: 6500
"As for your last card..."
"I play the Card of Sanctity!" Yami declared. "This card will allow each of us to draw until we have six cards in our hands."
"Giving me more cards to use against you?" Leila asked as she drew out her new hand. "Even though I can't take your cards away with my Predicted Demise trap, my Inevitable Consequences trap can still halt your progress."
"We'll see," Yami said confidently, drawing out his next few cards. He looked through his hand and smiled. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Leila nodded. "It's now or never."
"Alright then," Yami began. "I'll start with the magic of Graceful Charity!"
"I'll negate it by discarding Senri Eye as per the effect of my Inevitable Consequence trap!"
"Now I will use the power of Monster Reborn!"
"I will negate that by sending Convulsion of Nature to the Graveyard!"
Yami smiled. "Now I'll activate the Necromancy Spell card!"
A pause as Yami waited for Leila to see if she would negate it. Leila looked over her remaining four cards, then looked at Yami and shook her head while smiling. Yami nodded and continued, "With this card, I'm allowed to summon up to four monsters from your Graveyard to your field in Defense mode, and each time I destroy one of those monsters, all the others will lose 600 Atk."
With that, Leila was forced to summon out her Prophecy Seeker, The All-Seeing White Tiger, Hiro's Shadow Scout, and Ceremonial Bell, all in Defense mode.
"Next I'll use the power of my Card Rotator spell card!" Yami continued. "I discard one card from my hand to switch all your monsters from Defense mode to Attack mode."
Ceremonial Bell (3/0/1850 - 3/0/1850)
Hiro's Shadow Scout (2/650/500 - 2/650/500)
Prophecy Seeker (1/0/0 - 1/0/0)
The All-Seeing White Tiger (3/1300/500 - 3/1300/500)
"And finally, I activate the spell card Diffusion Wave-Motion!" Yami said. "By paying 1000 of my Life Points, my Dark Magician is now allowed to attack each of your monsters once each!"
Yami: 450
Leila: 6500
"Now go, Dark Magician!" Yami declared. "Attack Ceremonial Bell!"
With that, the Dark Magician charged up its dark magic and unleashed a powerful wave towards the Ceremonial Bell!
Yami: 450
Leila: 4000
Hiro's Shadow Scout (2/650/500 - 2/50/500)
Prophecy Seeker (1/0/0 - 1/0/0)
The All-Seeing White Tiger (3/1300/500 - 3/700/500)
"And now attack Prophecy Seeker!"
Yami: 450
Leila: 1500
Hiro's Shadow Scout (2/50/500 - 2/0/500)
The All-Seeing White Tiger (3/700/500 - 3/100/500)
"And finally, Hiro's Shadow Scout!"
And with the last of the dark energy wave, Leila's monster and her Life Points were wiped out.
Yami: 450
Leila: 0
From the spectator booth and the control booth, there was a great celebration.
"Yeah! Way to turn it around on her!" Joey cheered.
"He did it!" Tristan cheered.
"He made it!" Tea cheered.
Andrew nodded his head. "Very nice turnaround," he said.
Back at the duel field, Yami switched places with Yugi once again, returning him to normal. Then he walked up to Leila and held out his hand.
"That was a good duel," he said.
Leila nodded. "I need not tell you more," she said, and then she took his hand, bent down to his ear, and whispered, "You know what you must do."
And with that, she stood up straight and walked off the duel field. Yugi watched after her, wondering the entire time what to do. How am I supposed to save someone I've never met...
Kaiba looked at Matt, dumbfounded. "That's your story?"
"In a nutshell, yes," Matt replied, taking a sip of milk.
Kaiba scoffed. "That might have been more amusing if I was five. Unfortunately, while that was a fun little children's story you spun, it's utter nonsense."
Matt sighed as Kaiba turned back towards the entrance. "They're real, Kaiba. I've dug through all the myths and legends, and I can tell you with great certainty-"
"You want me to play along with your delusional fantasies about discovering some kind of ancient organization? Fine, let's say that I believe you. Your own story suggests that there's no such evidence these people even existed in the first place. So I'm just supposed to believe in a bunch of nobodies and let you hold onto my Blue-Eyes?"
"The Trinity is real. I've seen the signs."
Kaiba shook his head. "I've humored you long enough. If I had known you were some deranged lunatic chasing after fairy tales, I wouldn't have bothered to take the time to come visit you here."
"So then you have no interest in the most powerful dragons ever to be? Dragons with power to rival the gods?"
Kaiba stopped for a moment in front of the door and looked over his shoulder at Matt. "Considering they're nothing more than fables," Kaiba replied, "I'll take my chances."
And with that, he walked out the door.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Whaaaat? What a tease! I guess though the deal fell through. At least the cards won't be so abrupt!
Ominous Fortunetelling (Continuous Trap)
Effect: Once per turn, during your Standby Phase: pick 1 random card from your opponent's hand and declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, Trap); if the card is the same card type as what you declared, inflict 700 damage to your opponent.
Dark Magic Curtain (Normal Spell)
Effect: Pay half your LP; Special Summon 1 "Dark Magician" from your Deck. You cannot Summon other monsters the turn you activate this card.
Card of Sanctity (Normal Spell)
Effect: Each player draws until they have 6 cards in their hands.
NOTE: The infamous Card of Sanctity retains its anime effect rather than the real-life card version, which would banish all other cards on the field and in your hand to draw 2 cards.
Necromancy (Normal Spell)
Effect: Special Summon up to 4 random monsters from your opponent's GY to their side of the field in Defense Position. Each time a monster Special Summoned by this effect is destroyed, all of your opponent's face-up monsters lose 600 ATK for each of those monsters until the End Phase.
Card Rotator (Normal Spell)
Effect: Send 1 card from your hand to the GY to switch the positions of your opponent's monsters. (Face-down Defense Position monsters get flipped up to face-up Attack Position.)
Diffusion Wave-Motion (Normal Spell)
Effect: If your opponent controls a monster: Pay 1000 LP, then target 1 Level 7 or higher Spellcaster monster you control; this turn, it must attack all monsters your opponent controls once each, also other monsters you control cannot attack. The effects of monsters destroyed by these attacks cannot activate and are negated.
Oh man, was that a close call for Yugi! Now that he's in the final four, he's almost ready to take back his Egyptian God cards! Can Joey improve the odds in their favor and win the next duel? Or will he fall short? Find out in the next chapter!
