Chapter 60: Tower of Power Part 5

Climbing the next set of stairs, our heroes found themselves face to face with Beast King Barbaros, guarding the staircase to the top. The centaur snorted, his hooves digging into the ground as he sheathed his spear for his duel disk.

"Who wishes to fall first? As the final guardian of this tower, I'll defeat all who oppose me!"

Jaden stepped, duel disk already powered on.

"Come on, show me what you've got!"

"Be careful, Jay. If this guy is the last one, then that means he's got to be the strongest."

"I know that, Sy. Which will make it all the sweeter once I beat him!"

"You may be able to talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"

GAME ON!

Barbaros: 8000

Jaden: 8000

"I'll begin this duel with one monster face down. Next, I'll set two cards face down and activate the spell card, The Dark Door! Now as long as this card is on the field, we can each only attack with one monster per turn. I end my turn."

"Alright then, my move! First, I summon Elemental Hero The Heat! Next, I activate Hero's Bond! Since I have one Hero on the field, I can bring out two more from my hand who are level 4 or below! Come on out, Lady Heat and Ocean!"

"Impressive, perhaps, but you can still only attack with one of them!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm getting to that! Next, I activate H-Heated Heart! This gives The Heat 500 more attack points, plus the 600 since I have 3 Elemental Heros on the field (1600-2700)."
"I chain Poison of the Old Man and Chain Strike! First, Chain Strike deals you 1200 points of damage since it was activated as a Chain Link 3. Next, Poison of the Old Man will inflict 800 points of damage to you!"

Jaden cried out in pain as a red aura sapped away his life points.

Jaden: 6000

"Jaden!"

"I'm alright! But he won't be, because Heated Heart also lets The Heat deal Piercing Damage! Attack his face down monster!"

Jaden's strongest hero rammed his burning fists into his unseen opponent, revealing it to be a Giant Germ. The flames burned away the virus, but not before some of the spores hit Jaden, making him cringe as his life points dropped a little bit more.

Jaden: 5500

Barbaros: 5400

Two more germs popped up to take its place while The heat returned to Jaden's side of the field.

"I'll end my turn there. But don't forget, when my turn ends Lady Heat takes 200 of your life points for every Elemental Hero I have out on the field!"

Barbaros: 4800

The centaur growled, irritated by the small fireball as he drew his card.

"I tribute my two Giant Germs to summon myself, Beast King Barbaros (3000/1200)! Now I'll attack your Lady Heat!"

The copycat charged at the weakest Hero, piercing her right through easily.

Jaden: 3800

"I'll end my turn with two cards face down. Take your turn!"

"Alright, no need to push me! First off, I'll use my E-Emergency Call to add Elemental Hero Woodsman to my hand from my deck! Next, I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos, and with his effect I'll destroy The Dark Door and the face down on the right!"

"In response, I activate the trap cards Just Desserts and Chain Detonation! Chain Detonation inflicts 500 points of damage to you, while Just Desserts inflicts 500 points of damage to you for every monster you have on the field!"

Jaden gasped as the red aura enveloped him again, bringing him down to one knee

Jaden: 1800

"Jaden!"

"You might as well stay down, because you're as good as done!"

But to everyone's surprise, Jaden was laughing as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Hey, you know what? You're pretty good! Too bad I have to beat you, because you've got game!"

"What are you blabbering about? None of your monsters can defeat me, let alone deplete all of my life points!"

"Then it's a good thing I have Double Fusion! All I have to do is pay 500 life points and I can perform a Fusion Summon!"

Jaden: 1300

"So by fusing The Heat with Ocean, I can bring out Elemental Hero Nova Master (2600/2100) in attack mode!"

"So what? My monster is still stronger!"

"Then it's a good thing I'm not done! See, the neat thing about Double Fusion is that I can use its effect twice, so I'll fuse Elemental Hero Woodsman with Stratos to summon Elemental Hero Gaia! And his effect will cut your King down to size (3000-1500) (2200-3700)!"

"What? But that means-"

"That's right, you're finished! Elemental Hero Gaia, attack!"

The Beast King tried to hide, but Gaia was faster, squishing it like a bug under its massive fists.

Barbaros: 2600

"Now Nova Master, attack him directly!"

With no cards on the field or in his hand to protect him, Barbaros could only close his eyes and admit defeat as the Flame wielding hero launched a fireball at him, torching away the last of his life points.

Barbaros: 0000

Respectfully, Barbaros bowed his head and stepped aside.

"You have bested me. Congratulations, young traveler. The gate awaits you on top of these stairs."

"Thanks! You had some sweet moves!"

And so the travelers began the long climb up the long staircase. As they began their ascent, a thought crossed into Syrus's mind.

"Hey Jay, you had Stratos in your hand during the first turn, right?"

"Yep, sure did!"
"Well, why didn't you summon it? You could've used his effect to destroy The Dark Door and deal more damage!"

Jaden contemplated this for a moment, then shrugged.

"Eh, never occurred to me, I guess."

Everyone else just face faulted, except Chazz who face palmed.

"Figures."