The creature looked over to us and spoke in a voice reminiscent of Lazar, "Ooo, guests. But you can't help!"
I crouched as the ground shook violently, and watched in horror as Jack was left standing on a tiny little pedestal while the rest of the ground fell away. Not too many steps past me the stairs also fell away, leaving my brother with absolutely no way out of the death trap.
Words slipped out of my mouth no louder than a murmur, "If Dad ever finds out what happened here, I won't be able to evade Illiaster and leave Neu Domino, because I'll be locked in my room."
A loud explosion came from behind us, and I watched rocks tumble over the exit, "If I ever make it back. Jack!"
His whole body jerked, and looked my way, "Yusei?"
Something slammed me into the wall, and the world dissolved into a loud buzzing noise and blurs. People were speaking, but none of it was understandable.
As my vision cleared, Max was crouched next to my legs, "Are you alright Miss Yusei?"
"It's not a big deal."
The strange creature had a monster on his side in defense mode along with a facedown, and Max whispered, "If Jack loses he becomes the host for the Crimson Devil, but if he wins we all get to go free."
Great. You better not lose, idiot.
I stumbled to my feet, and Geiger held my arm to make sure I didn't fall.
Jack spoke, fury just underneath the surface of his voice, "If only my opponent has a monster, then I can special summon Big Piece Golem without a sacrifice."
Big Piece Golem-2100
"Now take out that Ghoul!"
When it was destroyed, it left a ball of yellow light in its place, which shot towards Jack at an alarming rate.
Life Points Jack=3200
He glared at the creature, "What was THAT?"
Little Fire Demon tilted its head, "Didn't I tell you? When Yomi Ghoul is destroyed my opponent takes 800 points of damage. Could have sworn that I told you!"
Jack grinded his teeth together, and hissed, "I place one facedown and end my turn."
Fireball giggled, and wildly gestured to the blocks in front of it, "I summon Yomi Boat Watchman in attack mode!"
Yomi Boat Watchman-0
"But unfortunately, when I have Yomi Ghoul in my graveyard, all monsters on my field are destroyed. And when Boat Watchman is destroyed, you receive 800 points of damage."
Life Points Jack=2400
"Then I activate the continuous trap, Spirit Wave Shield. This destroys any monsters that directly attack before they can deal any damage to me."
Jack looked at his hand for a minute, before placing a card down, "I summon Power Breaker in attack mode."
Power Breaker-1900
"He attacks you directly."
Fireball covered its mouth with a hand and it snickered again, "Then it goes boom!"
Shrugging, Jack scoffed, "So? Whenever he is destroyed, I am given the ability to destroy one face-up spell or trap card. Say goodbye to your Spirit Wave Shield. Then I attack with my Big Piece Golem."
Fireball waved its hand, "I activate the trap Yomi's Guidance, which activates when I have 2 or more Yomi creatures in the graveyard, I get to special summon another Yomi monster from my deck. I choose Yomi Frontier Guard in defense mode."
Yomi Frontier Guard-0
"Then, due to Yomi Ghoul's ability, he is destroyed, which ends the battle phase and deals 800 points of damage to you!"
Life Points Jack=1600
A red swirl started swishing around Jack's platform, and Geiger stiffened, "I just remembered something. The true name of the Crimson Devil is Red Scar Nova, and was the first Earthbound Immortal sealed. It happened 5000 years before the others, and it fought the Crimson Dragon to exhaustion."
Gripping onto a piece of the wall, I watched Jack keep going, "This duel was made just to defeat Jack. He's not going to win the way he's dueling right now."
"I summon Dark Resonator."
Dark Resonator-1300
Looking over at Geiger, I sighed, "He's going to Synchro Summon Archfiend, then attack. And then probably going to get hurt again because this thing is as good at planning as I am."
Jack waved his hand upwards like he was trying to turn into a superhero, "I tune him together with my Golem to Synchro Summon Red Dragon Archfiend!"
Red Dragon Archfiend-3000
"Attack him directly!"
Yet another laugh filled the room, and I felt murderous, "Due to my Boat Watchman being in the graveyard, I can summon another Yomi monster if I am the target of a direct attack. Come on out Yomi Frontier Guard!"
Yomi Frontier Guard-0
"Then he is destroyed by Yomi Ghoul's effect, and you know what happens when he is destroyed!"
Life Points Jack=800
Geiger muttered, "You could have gotten money on that bet."
"I know him too well, But this next turn he's not going to lose. And he might even deal damage."
Fireball looked at its new tablet, "Eh, I don't see any cards I want to play. Your turn!"
Jack glared at it with more loathing than the education test we had to take a few months ago, "Archfiend. Attack."
"Well, you could do that, and I could summon Yomi Frontier Guard again. Then you know the drill."
Yomi Frontier Guard-0
Jack let a smile onto his face, "If I have Extra Veiler in my hand when my opponent special summons a monster, then I can summon it."
Extra Veiler-600
"When Extra Veier is on the field, all special effect damage goes to the owner of the monster instead of myself."
Life Points Creature=3200
"I end my turn with a facedown, and since Extra Veiler didn't attack or defend this turn it goes to the graveyard."
The cavern shook as the creature stomped his feet repeatedly, "That's not the way you are supposed to duel. You are supposed to stay the same so that you can be a vessel for my master!"
Geiger pulled me back as dozens of red snakes rose up and swayed in the empty space around Jack as he glared, "Well, I don't feel like being someone's puppet, so I'm going to win this duel however I need to."
A huge blast of air swept through the cavern, and Jack skidded back and fell off the platform. As he fell, his hand grabbed the edge of it and he clung on.
His arms shook as he pulled himself up, and Geiger muttered, "The legends mentioned that each Signer is picked for a specific destiny. I think Jack might be the Burning Soul of your group. They were known to be feared by the Crimson Devil as much as the dragon itself. Some of the legends even said that the Burning Soul 10,000 years ago was the one who dealt the finishing blow to the Crimson Devil."
"After this duel is over, you better tell me about the other destinies."
The creature seemed to have calmed down since Jack's fall, "I place one facedown, and then turn the time over to you. There's no way that you can pull something like that off again."
"It just gave Jack a challenge. It's as good as dead."
As Jack drew his card, the creature's facedown lifted up, "I activate Battle Mania. All monsters must battle this turn."
Without hesitation, Jack spoke, "I summon Synchro Gunner, and his effect removes a Synchro monster from the field until the beginning of my next turn and deals 600 points of damage to you."
Synchro Gunner-0
Life Points Creature=2600
He smirked, "Whenever the effect is used, the battle phase is skipped, making your card completely useless. But I'm not done yet. I activate the trap Nightmare Demons which removes Synchro Gunner from the field to summon three Nightmare Demon tokens on my opponent's field. When each is destroyed you take 800 points of damage. But your Yomi Ghoul's ability destroys any monsters on your field, so…"
Explosions rocked the cavern as each token blew up in front of the creature, nearly blowing his fire out.
Life Points Creature=200
Stomping its feet again, the whiny firecracker started his turn, "I remove Yomi Ghoul, Boat Watchman, Frontier Guard from play to summon Wicked King of Yomi - Mictlancoatl!"
Wicked King of Yomi - Mictlancoatl-3800
Hurricane force level winds kicked up and shoved Jack backwards as the creature appeared, but by some miracle stayed on the small circle. However, Geiger pointed out something that chilled my blood, "It's breaking through."
Giant eyes were on either side of the statue, glaring directly at Jack.
"Mictlancoatl, attack Jack Atlas directly!"
Jack raised an eyebrow, "You think that will work? I activate Screen Reflector, which stops monsters with more than 2000 attack points from declaring an attack."
A cackle exploded from the creature, "Mictlancoatl can destroy one face up card and deal 600 points of damage to the owner of said card. Say good-bye to Screen Reflector!"
Life Points Jack=200
"Next, I activate the continuous trap Martial Law. If the owner, who is me, sends three of the same monster to the graveyard, my opponent cannot use any magic cards on their next turn."
The cards were briefly shown before they shattered into the graveyard, and Jack gripped his cards tighter, "You were the one who was controlling Max!"
"It took you long enough!"
Once again the cavern started to shake and crumble as two hands reached out of the wall. Before I was aware of what was happening, Geiger was pushing Max and I up the stairs as they fell just behind us.
"Jack, hurry up and win before we run out of space to back up!" I screamed as rocks fell around us.
His eyes locked on me, and he turned back to face them, his right hand glowing with red fire, "I won't let you hurt my sister, or use me to destroy the world. I will keep fighting until I can't move anymore, and then keep fighting!"
We all watched in shock as the Crimson Devil kept crawling out and Jack touched his heart with his hand, and the light grew, "My soul will keep burning even in the darkest of times!"
As the Crimson Devil crawled out, the room shook violently, large pieces of the ceiling falling down around us.
"Jack look out!"
My voice filled the room as a massive chunk fell right towards Jack, and our marks flared as blinding red light filled the formerly dark room.
The rock flew out of the way as the Crimson Dragon swirled around Jack, creating a living shield.
He smiled up at our guardian, and then looked at his enemies, "Since the beginning of my turn has come around again, so does my Red Dragon Archfiend. And when I have a Synchro monster on the field I can special summon Create Resonator."
Create Resonator-800
"Then I normal summon Attack Gainer!"
Attack Gainer-0
The light in the room grew brighter as Jack held his right hand up, "I tune the three of them together to create the ultimate form of power!"
In front of our eyes the Crimson Devil started to blur around the edges, and was sucked up into the Synchro summon as Jack's voice shook the room, "I summon Scar Red Nova Dragon!"
Scar Red Nova Dragon-3500
"For every tuner in my graveyard, he gains 500 points. Since I have 4, he gains 2000 points!"
Scar Red Nova Dragon-5500
"Take out Mictlancoatl, and free us from this dungeon!"
The blast warmed up the cavern, and shattered the monster, leaving the fire creature burning out.
Life Points Creature=0 Defeat!
"No, no, no, this wasn't how is was supposed to go-"
The remains of the statue fell over and ended its sentence there, and the cavern shook again. The stairs fell apart, and it felt like a vacuum was sucking us down.
"Yusei, wake up."
I cracked my eyes open, and saw Jack leaning over me, "We are never mentioning what happened here to Dad, got it?"
He laughed, and helped me sit up, "Deal."
Looking over, I saw rubble all around us, and Geiger over near the base of the ruined altar with his siblings, "Jack, did you hear Geiger talking about the Burning Soul?"
"No. What is it?"
"We were each chosen to be copies of the original Signers. Your predecessor was called Burning Soul, and he was the one that the Crimson Devil feared the most. But we were a bit too busy to talk about the other four."
Are the other three going to have to change their dueling styles in order for us to win this war?
A/N:You know the joke that fan fiction writers refuse to give up, even when life hits them like a train? Well, the reason I haven't posted in a while is in one week I got a severe allergic reaction, my car broke down, my grandma died, and I had to help clean out said grandma's house. Yay.
Thanks to Nozomi Higurashi for reviewing the original version of this chapter!
