Kiryu drew a card, and then started the duel, "I summon Infernity Beast in attack mode and place one facedown."
Infernity Beast-1600
Okay, since the Drone's cards changed after I beat him, I can't expect Kiryu's deck to be the same. Unfortunately for me, he knows most of my deck. I'm going to have to pull out all of the stops.
Drawing my first card, I formed a rough plan of what to do, "I summon Speed Warrior, and you know it's special ability."
Speed Warrior-1800
Please let this attack work, "Now, attack his Beast!"
"I activate Depth Amulet, which allows me to discard one card in my hand to negate an attack. And this will work for three of your turns. You forgot Yusei, I know your deck as well as I know my own."
Keeping my voice level was hard, but I replied, "I'm aware, Kiryu. We did duel by each other's sides for years. I place two facedowns and end my turn."
Dang it Kiryu! Just take damage so I don't have to duel you!
His voice jolted me out of my thoughts, "I summon Infernity Archfiend in attack mode!"
Infernity Archfiend-1800
"Now my Beast takes out your Warrior!"
Life Points Yusei=3300
Even more laughter was coming from the shell of Kiryu as he continued, "Now that your only monster is gone, my Infernity Archfiend is going to attack you directly!"
An alchemical circle appeared in the air above, with a hand of fire emerging from the center, "No it's not, because I activate my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"
Kiryu finally stopped laughing after that, "Fine, then I place one facedown and end my turn."
Relief washed over me as I saw my next card, "I summon Junk Synchron in attack mode, and his special ability brings Speed Warrior back from the graveyard since he is level 2 or below."
Junk Synchron-1300
Speed Warrior-900
"I use them to Synchro summon Junk Warrior!"
Junk Warrior-2300
"Then I activate Shard of Hope. This card lets me draw a card when I deal damage to you."
He spoke up, saying only one chilling sentence, "IF you can deal damage."
I looked at his field, Okay, so he can negate an attack if he discards a card, but he only has two cards in his hand. So, let's see. What would Kiryu do? He would just let his monster get destroyed, because his plans revolve around the cards in his hands.
"Junk Warrior, attack Infernity Beast!"
When he spoke, he was perfectly calm, "I send a card to the graveyard to protect my monster."
"WHAT? You never did anything like that!"
No human was capable of twisting their face into the grin he sent me, "I've changed Yusei, but you never will. That is your greatest weakness!"
I pinched my lips together, and watched as he took his turn, "I release my Beast and Archfiend to advance summon my Dark Tuner, Nightmare Hand!"
Nightmare Hand-0
Cold panic went through my body as I remembered what monsters like that were capable of.
Kiryu kept talking, "His special ability lets me summon a level 2 or below monster from my hand. Come out Infernity Dwarf!"
Infernity Dwarf-800
"I Dark Synchro my level 10 Nightmare Hand to my level 2 Infernity Dwarf to bring out my negative level 8 Dark Synchro monster, 100 Eye Dragon!"
As his poor monster was burrowed into by the orbs, I could feel it freaking out.
100 Eye Dragon-3000
It has as many points as Red Dragon Archfiend!
"Now take out Junk Warrior!"
My trap card flipped up, "I activate my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow-"
He butted in, "I use my Dragon's special ability, which activates if I have no cards in my hand. I can use the ability of a Dark-attribute type monster in my graveyard. I use Infernity Beast's effect, which negates trap and spell card effects if I have no cards in my hand."
That's why he got rid of his cards so easily! He was setting himself up for this combo!
My brain barely had time to process that thought before the blast hit me, sending me skidding into the wall of fire. A scream of surprise slipped out of me as my life points dropped like a rock.
Life Points Yusei=2600
I fought to regain control of my runner, and my thoughts, finally pulling away from the wall, "I summon Rockstone Warrior in defense mode and place one facedown."
Rockstone Warrior-1600
Kiryu drew another card, then chuckled, "Since you've had three turns since I activated Depth Amulet, it is now destroyed."
Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to stay calm, He just used that card to help him get to this combo, so of course he isn't going to need it anymore.
"Now I activate Power Baton, which has me send a monster to the graveyard, and that monster's points are added to one on my field. So I send Infernity Destroyer to the graveyard, and 100 Eye Dragon gains its 2300 attack points."
100 Eye Dragon-5300
Just what I wanted, one more card for him to use AND his ace monster gaining more points.
"I activate Infernity Dwarf's ability: piercing damage, and have my Dragon attack your Rockstone Warrior!"
Please let this work, "Yeah, about that. Rockstone's ability is that the turn that he is destroyed, I don't take any damage from attacks at all. So tough luck."
Kiryu was hardly fazed, "Then I activate Infernity Destroyer's ability, which deals you 800 points of damage if I successfully destroy your monster in battle."
Life Points Yusei=1800
Once again, I spun out of control, flying into the flames. The heat was making me sweat, and I struggled to drive back onto solid ground.
By pure luck, I somehow found myself driving along the fire itself, as if gravity didn't exist. Which FINALLY made Kiryu stop laughing.
I crashed back onto the ground, swerving to regain control. My runner was puttering, Oh, shoot. Not now Justice, keep going to the end of the duel. You can do it.
Kiryu started laughing again, "Looks like your runner is struggling!"
My power reached into my runner, silencing the puttering, "It's fine. You should worry about yourself."
"Well, anyway, Power Baton's effect ends now that my turn is over."
100 Eye Dragon-3000
The next card was exactly what I needed at that point, "When you have monsters and I don't, I can special summon this monster as a level 4 monster. Come on out Level Warrior!"
Level Warrior-300
Laying down another card, I continued, "Then I summon Hyper Synchron as well."
Hyper Synchron-1600
"Now I tune the two of them together to summon my most loyal friend, Stardust Dragon!"
Stardust Dragon-2500
I smiled, "When I synchro summon using Hyper Synchron, the Synchro monster gains 800 attack points."
Stardust Dragon-3300
Crimson Dragon, please let this attack hit, "Attack his Dragon!"
Kiryu laughed, "I activate Infernity Guardian's effect, which stops my Dragon from being destroyed."
"You still take damage."
Life Points Kiryu=3700
I was hoping to get that eyesore off the freaking field, but I will settle for life points going away, "Now I can activate my Shard of Hope's effect and draw a card since I dealt damage to you."
Just the card I was looking for, thanks!
"Okay, so I destroy Shard of Hope in order to activate the Miracle Locus card. This adds 1000 points to Stardust, and one card to your hand. It also lets Stardust attack again."
Stardust Dragon-4300
He drew a card silently as I cried, "Stardust, take out his Dragon!"
Life Points Kiryu-2400
When he spoke, there was no emotion in his voice, "When 100 Eye Dragon is destroyed, a card is added to my hand."
Okay, so that actually worked. Holy crap, that is nice. Please let that be the worst he has, "I activate Synchro Destructor. When I destroy a monster with a Synchro monster, you take half that monster's attack points as damage. If the monster I destroyed was a Synchro as well, you take half its points as damage again."
If this lands then I am done!
As the first wave of damage shot toward him, he called out, "I activate Damage Translation! It cuts the amount of damage I was going to take by half."
The first blast hit him, and he screamed in pain.
Life Points Kiryu=1750
I quietly watched the second blast hit him.
Life Points Kiryu=900
"Now that my battle phase is over, Stardust's points go back to 3300."
Stardust Dragon-3300
Glancing over my set up, my mind started racing, If I can just make it to my next turn, then I can activate Final Attack and finish this duel.
"With that, I-"
His voice cut mine off, "During your end phase, the other effect of my card comes into effect. For every blow I took, I gain one ghost token. I really should thank you Yusei."
"Thank me for what?"
"You worked so hard to get rid of my Dragon, but you had no idea that by destroying him you could set up the field and my hand in advance for my most powerful monster."
Suddenly hundreds of people showed up, quietly standing next to the fire, "So you WERE responsible for the disappearances!"
"Well, who else would do such a thing? I needed souls to sacrifice in order to summon my monster."
"Souls?!"
If I thought he had been laughing during the duel, I had no word for how hard he was cackling, "I sacrifice my tokens and these people to summon Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!"
Why did I have to ask for things to be easy? I might actually have to use plan Z.
Both of the ghost tokens floated up to a giant heart floating in the sky. Every single person lining the fire slowly faded into matching purple lights, drifting up towards the madness. With each light that entered the heart, it started to pulse.
Once all of the lights were absorbed, the heart exploded into a pillar of light, and the earth started shaking. I struggled to keep my runner upright, and when I looked up I couldn't believe what I saw.
A Giant emerged from the ground, one big as five skyscrapers. As it stretched, it nearly hit Jack's copter.
Ccapac Apu-3000
"Ccapac Apu, annihilate this pathetic Signer!"
My whole body pulsed with my racing heartbeat, "Stardust, protect me!"
I felt his panic as well as my own as he went right through the monster's hand, "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"
Vines came out of the ground, wrapping around my card and pulling it back down, "What is going on?"
"It's a god, Yusei! Your pathetic cards can't stop it!"
Only one thing that I can do to survive.
My powers reached back into my runner, and nudged a few parts out of sync. I was thrown off my runner as it ground to a halt, pain engulfing my torso as I skidded across the uneven small piles of rubble.
I struggled to breathe, and heard a runner stop next to me, "Satellite's Shooting Star? More like Satellite's Falling Star. Too bad your crummy duel runner broke before I could kill you."
"Yusei!"
A/N: Thanks to Let's-Go-To-Vermont, Miki, and an anonymous guest for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
