The Rise and Fall of History II: Opposing the Present

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached its climax. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story brought everyone together. People are united and yet, an unknown world suffers in their shadow. The fallen one returns in the midst of their peace, pursued and still a stranger to those around. There is not much time to save both his home and his friends.

15. Caution to the Wind

Redux 76: Caution to the Wind

From where they were, Uno and the others could only see glimpses of the duel going on inside. And once the barrier went down, they lost the ability to communicate verbally as well. "It's been over five minutes. I shouldn't have let Eric go out on his own. We should help them." All Uno could be certain of was that his plan went horribly wrong, and now Eric and Iria were paying for it. "But if we ask Iria to let us in, wont that guy just slip out?" Alice pointed out the obvious. "All we can do is wait and see what happens. Eric chose his own actions." Even if Adamant would consider it, they could not sneak by as long as that gate was closed. "Yeah but.. This has to work, tonight." Uno griped. They wouldn't get a second chance if this attempt failed. "Wait. Be quiet." Adamant whispered, as his dueldisk began to bleep. "Something is coming."

...

Eric's LP: 4600 Flake's LP: 3700

"I imagine you will be immortalized as well, as a prisoner of the templars. Only one will be remembered for all eternity after this duel. Now let us begin this final turn as as any other, with the three brothers!" Flake normal summoned Yosenju Kama1 (4/1600/500), Kama2(4/1800/200) and Kama3(4/1500/800) in a row. Each sibling created an extra normal summon, so their controller could normal summon a fourth Yosenju. "One shall be sacrificed." He tributed the samurai Yosenju Kama2 to tribute summon a crazed dark weasel-warrior(6/2000/100) with dark purple clothes and bloodred beads around its throat. "Yosenju Magat. This yokai sends one Yosenju monster from my deck to my hand when it is normal summoned. I choose Mayosenju Daibak." The claimed card was another pendulum monster, a level 10 beast. "Wait.. how can you.." Flake already controlled two cards in his pendulum zones; two halves of a sacred gate. One pillar had a red demon face (scale 5), the other (scale 3) a blue demons face. "This is how.. Each turn Yosenju Shinchu R raises his scale when a Yosenju stands in the other pendulum zone." The red pillar's scale went up to 11. "Gah!"

"Behold the Pendulum summon of Mayosenju Daibak!" Whatever was coming, it caused a storm greater than any that struck before. Green flames massed together to form one gigantic horned beast(10/3000/300). "The greatest card in my shrine! It's summon cannot be stopped, and when it appears.. any two cards on the field are sent back to the players hand! Whether they are face-up or down!" The winds did not settle, they only got more ferocious. "Your defenses are gone!" Mayosenju Daibak stalked Erics traps. Flake did not care if he did not know which one was the harmless Void Launch, he would remove them both. "Oh no you don't!" Eric hastily flipped the other trap. "Eye of the Void! I can force the special summon of an Infernoid in my hand!" Void Launch opened a rift in space-time, which released the Infernoid Onuncu(8/3000/3000) in defense mode. Its effects were unfortunately negated by the trap. "That was too close." Iria let out a long sigh. She was real close to giving up on Eric. "Hey you were the one who handed these cards to me. Put some faith in them!"

"Ho. So you live to see another turn." No matter how Flake played his cards, he would not get rid of all of Erics monsters in one turn. "But not all of your cards have the same fortune. I activate Dizzying Winds of Yosen Village!" The guard flipped a continuous trap. "As long as I control a level 6 or higher Yosenju, all monsters returned to the hand are sent to the deck instead!" Flake decided to give the two a quick demonstration. "Yosenju Kama1! Return Dinosewing!" The eldest Kamaitachi threw his chained scythe towards the stuffed dinosaur(4/0/0). "He's going to send it to the deck!" Iria shouted. If Kama1 managed to bounce Dinosewing, the Dizzying winds would take it out of Erics possession completely. "Not if I have anything to say about it! Infernoid Adramelech can sacrifice him!" The Attondel demon(8/2800/0) used its tribute-banishing effect. It sent Dinosewing to the graveyard, and banished Yosenju Tsujik from the graveyard. Kama1's weapon planted itself in an empty monsterzone. "Hm. It is all the same." Flake moved to his battle phase. "Daibak destroys Attondel!" The flame beast charged at the Infernoid. Its green fire overpowered the infernal one and destroyed it.

Eric's LP: 4400

"Kama3 hands me Yosenju Oyam!" Because a Yosenju inflicted damage, the youngest Kamaitachi could use its effect to place the last of the mountain spirits in Flake's hand. Flake followed that move up with a continuous spell. "Yosen Whirlwind! I forfeit 800 lifepoints so that from now on, when a Yosenju monster returns to my hand, one card must leave my opponents field the same way. And Daibak, when he is special summoned, returns to my hand at the end of the turn." Daibak, along with Kama1 and Kama3, were picked up by their master. Only Yosenju Magat lacked a return-effect. Nevertheless the return of just one Yosenju was enough for the spell card. Yosen Whirlwind activated and targeted Infernoid Onuncu. "Bah.." The greatest hellserpent succumbed to the powerful tornado. And because of the Dizzying Village winds, it was pushed deep down into Eric's deck. "That was the end for this turn."

Flake's LP: 2900

"Grr... How much time is left?" Eric asked. "17 minutes." Iria answered. They used up half of their time already. "Alright. Time to gamble.. I activate Reasoning! Call a number, Flake!" His spell would excavate his deck and stop at the first monster it could summon. If Flake could predict that monsters level, it would be sent to the graveyard. If not, it would be special summoned. "..Four." Given what he saw of Erics deck, Flake knew his choice did not matter much. "Four eh? What does the deck say?" Eric began the excavation. Reasoning revealed six cards from his deck and the last card was the level 3 PeroPero Cerperus. "Looks like I win!" The threeheaded demon hound(3/0/1800) got summoned defense mode. ".." Meanwhile the remaining cards were sent to the graveyard; right where Eric wanted them. "I can banish two Infernoids, and summon Infernoid Baal from the graveyard!" Three of those discarded cards were Infernoids. Most of them were devoured by the special summoned Infernoid Seitsemas(7/2600/0); the red/gold hell-dragon. "Time to die, Magat!" The seventh prince of hell stretched his arm out to hurl a spear right into the body of the berserker weasel. Magat could not survive such a hit.

Flake's LP: 2300

"Hmm." Flake watched his left. His continuous trap suddenly burst into flames. "Haha! Baal banishes one card at the end of the battle phase, if he battled a monster that turn and lived!" That was one part of the Yosenju combo down. "Now don't keep me waiting!" Eric placed two trap cards face-down again before he ended his turn. "You are in such a rush, what has a life like that brought you?" Flake held himself back from drawing his card just yet. "What? I'm still young and I have friends. I can do whatever I want, for me and for them!" Eric gave his fiery reply. "Don't engage him. He is just trying to slow you down. You would do well to remind yourself of that too, sir Flake." Iria's impatience was getting to her again. Watching a duel for her was much harder than being in one. "You raise a fair point. I should not waste my time on your 'friend' anymore. I should be dueling you for mocking the great Inquisitor." Flake gave Iria a hateful glare as he drew his next card. "How ironic, I feel the same way about her." She rasped.

"Kama1, Kama3!" Predictably, as always, Flake normal summoned the two Kamaitachi brothers. Then he used up three of the countless Yosen Counters on the Yosen Training Grounds field spell. "I add Yosenju Misak. This turn, I will pendulum summon two monsters!" Flake raised Shinchu R's scale to 11, so that he could special summon Mayosenju Daibak and Yosenju Misak the horned weasel demon(6/2300/200) from his hand. "With Misak's summon, one monster will be destroyed. With Daibak's summon, two cards will be returned to your hand. I choose Infernoid Seitsemas and your two trap cards!" Misak used his gigantic cleaver sword to brutally cut Seitsemas' head off. At the same time the green fire beast sent its winds down to the floor. "That's what you think!" A trap was banished from Eric's graveyard, one of the 'victims' of Reasoning. "Skill Prisoner! When I activate this trap, I can choose one of my active cards! Monsters who try to target that card, will be stopped!" Skill Prisoner targeted the left trap on the field, shielding it from Daibak's whirlwind and negating Daibak's effects for the rest of the turn.

"I knew that trap lied in waiting. Now I know what you intended to save with it." Flake shrugged and moved on to Kama1's effect. The weasel targeted PeroPero Cerperus with its chain and chased the dog off the field, back into Eric's hand. ".." Eric's situation now looked so dire that Iria had to control herself from interfering. "I attack, with all four Yosenju." But she kept quiet, even when Kama1 tossed his chain into Eric. "!" Kama3 struck next, 'cutting' his opponent with the thin dagger. What would be a fatal blow, was prepared by Misak and his cleaver.

Eric's LP: 1300

"Hey, you know the one thing that all weasels hate?" But that moment was in fact a golden opportunity, for a joke. "!?" And a trap card. "Ferrets!" Eric laughed out loud as he activated Ferret Flames; setting all the Yosenju ablaze. "What?!" Flake's monsters, from Kama1 to Mayosenju Daibak, were scared back into his deck by the flames. "I had to wait until my life was low enough! Ferret Flames makes my opponent, you, get rid of monsters until he has less attackpoints than I have lifepoints!" Not a single monster could stay, seeing as how all of them possessed more than 1300 attackpoints. "Your luck has to end sometime." Flake placed a trap card and ended his turn. "You think so? By the way, tell me if I'm wrong. But I think your spell destroys itself when it doesn't get to use its own effect." It was true, Yosen Whirlwind destroyed itself, because Flake had no Yosenjus to return to his hand. "Rgh!" Flake could only grunt. "Heh. You know, you might actually lose this buddy!" Eric immediately reactivated his other trap, Void Launch, to send two Infernoids out of the deck and into their grave. He of course banished both of them to resurrect Infernoid Seitsemas in attack position. Next up was the battle phase. "Direct attack!"

"Lose?" The look on Flake's face was one of someone who had not given that word any thought in a long time. "Lose my immortality?" This duel was not just about the intruders anymore, but about his own chances. "I refuse to humor such a future!" He discarded Yosenju Kodam from his hand. "I special summon Yosenju Oyam!" The third and final mountain spirit rose, in attack mode. "!?" The attacking Seitsemas fell into the shadow of Oyam(2600/2600), who copied its attackpoints. "Whoa there!" Eric cancelled his attack. He couldn't make use of Seitsemas' effect if both monsters died in this fight. Oyam would just search a new Yosenju upon its destruction anyway. "Argh. I just need one hit." He placed PeroPero Cerperus in face-down defense mode and set another trap in the spell/trap zone. "Well go ahead then. But If you ask me, I don't think that immortality is going to be as great as it sounds!"

"After all that Millennium has done or us, why would anyone stop believing them now?" Flake said with a scowl. "All you people do is spit in the face of our saviors." He drew his card, Yosenju's Divine Mountain Winds. "I can't use this while I control monsters... I need.." Three candles in the field spell shrine were doused. "Daibak!" The Training Ground's yosen counters delivered the Mayosenju once more to their master. But Flake did not pendulum summon it this turn. "I summon Yosenju Shinchu L." One half of the shrine gate was now summoned as a monster(4/0/2100) by itself. "I banish Yosenju Kodam from my graveyard, to give my Yosenjus an extra normal summon. I sacrifice both monsters to tribute summon Mayosenju Daibak!" The blue-demon pillar and the mountain spirit were swallowed by a fieldwide hurricane. The great Daibak(10/3000/3000) let out a howl at the skies as it regained its physical body. "Away with your cards!" Seitsemas and the Cerberus were the victims of the Mayosenju's effect this turn; left in Erics hand while Eric had only one trap to defend himself.

Actually, he had two traps. "I activate Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light!" The second one could be activated from the graveyard by banishing it. Just like Skill Prisoner, it had been sent there by Reasoning. "Any direct attacks this turn are stopped!" Swords of golden light poured down on the Yosen shrine and the yokai beast. "Not this time my friend!" Flake retaliated with his face-down countertrap. "Yosenjus' Secret Move! Because I control only Yosenju monsters, I can negate your trap!" Daibak swung its tail from left to right to shatter the golden swords as if they were made of brittle ice. "Now disappear! Your time is up!" The direct attack continued.. until the last trap on the field flipped. "Not even close!" Eric activated Call of the Condemned and special summoned Dinosewing(4/0/0) in defense mode. At the same time Void Launch selfdestructed, due to the presence of a Non-Infernoid monster.

Call of the Condemned, Continuous Trap
Activate this card by targeting 1 Fiend- or Zombie-type monster in your graveyard; Special summon that target.
When this card is destroyed, destroy that target. When that target leaves the field, destroy this card.

"That?" Dinosewing could not be destroyed as a result of battle. Its comeback rendered Daibak's attacks pointless. "..Why does fortune smile upon you to this often? It is impossible for you to pass, it will not happen." Flake couldn't believe he was ending his turn again. He used to end duels a lot quicker than this. He was getting worried, scared. "But Mayosenju Daibak does not return to my hand if he was normal summoned!" It was as if he foresaw the need to keep one monster on his field. "Well I don't know how to answer your question. I don't think I am that lucky.. Maybe I just came from a luckier world?" Eric pulled the next card from his deck. When he saw it, he knew it was also his last card. "Infernoid Decatron!" He normal summoned the tuner monster, the demonic dragonhead Decatron(1/0/0). "He'll send Beelzebul to the grave and take his identity!" By sending Infernoid Antra from the deck, Decatron(3/0/0) absorbed its two level stars and changed its name and effect into that of the lucifer demon.

"Sorry Flake. You're tough, but I can't see you stop this! Synchro Summon!" He tuned the leveled up Infernoid with Dinosewing, synchronzing seven level stars. "Black Rose Dragon!" And the sadistic rose-winged dragon(7/2400/1500) was the terrifying endresult of that summon. "The Black Rose?" It's thorned vines spread across the station hall. "All cards on the field are history when the Black Rose Dragon is synchro summoned!" Mayosenju Daibak, Yosenju Shinchu R and L, Yosen Training Grounds; everything was destroyed. Even the dragon fell to its own effect. But Eric had a monster he could still summon. "Infernoid Baal!" Infernoid Decatron and Antra were removed from the graveyard, and Seitsemas made his ultimate reappearance. "Nothing's saving you this time, Flake. Here he comes; DIRECT ATTACK!" The seventh Infernoid ended the duel for good, with a straight jab from its spear.

Flake's LP: 0

"Grah!" Flake fell over backwards and his dueldisk shorted out. The wire that connected it to the wall received another pulse, which forced the gate to open again. "You have done it!" Iria exclaimed now that she could let out all of her pent up emotions. "Yeah. I did.. And you even stopped yelling at me after a while." Eric said openly as he was swept away by the feeling of success. "I beg your pardon?" The disciple responded sharply. "Ehr.. I just wanted to say. I'm sorry for butting in. I am sure you wanted to duel the guy yourself. But you trusted me, so thanks." He was sure that it took some selfcontrol for her to not lecture him at every turn. "I do appreciate some manner of control, yes. Thankfully we are done here."

"Ho-ho. Done?" The atmosphere changed when Flake started to chuckle. "You believe that the worst is over? You are all so naive." It was an uncomfortable strained sound, not one of joy. "Over there, there's a thousand stronger than me. Dozens of immortalized duelists, multiplied by hundreds through the Templar system. And I.. could have been one of them." He glared at his own hand, his weak grimy hand. "Hey. If you're worried about how this looks on you, you can just pretend this never happened. We wont say anything." Eric made what he thought was a fair deal, considering the circumstances. "Heh. They would know, and my future would be even shorter. Not that it matters, it is too late for us both." His grin disappeared. "Too late!? How!?" Iria and Eric cringed. "By believing my lie. My status updates were made more frequent this week, due to recent disturbances in this region. I imagine your resistance group had something to do with that. I should have responded ten minutes ago. By now the closest Templar will have arrived to investigate the delay, and will find you.. barrier or no barrier." He got back up. "All of our futures will look very bleak from now on."

"I do not think so." Said a voice most familiar to Eric; his own. "Stonewell?" His double entered the station halls, side by side with Uno, Alice and Adamant. "I already took care of your Templar friend while it was snooping around outside. And my friend then took care that no other Templars noticed what was going on here by creating a few distractions in the network. Nobody is coming to help you. Iria, you can step out of the barrier." Warily the disciple did as he instructed, switching the barrier off temporarily so she and Eric could get out. "I assume you know what you are doing." She did not trust this Eric that deeply yet. "You're on our side again? Awesome! I.. Oh. Wait. I should give this back." Eric excitedly took off the mask, drawing a shocked gasp from Flake. "There are two of you? I do not.. understand." This night felt like a bizarre dream. Perhaps he was dreaming. "I have no more use for this. Thanks to you, the Union knows my face." Stonewell tossed the thing aside. There was still some resentment in his words. "But I knew about the routes you discovered and where they would take you. I had time to think.. and come to a decision."

"I need to make the same journey so that I can save Purgatory. So for now, I will work with you."

(To be Continued in Redux 075: More than a Friend)

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Infernoid Seitsemas

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Black Rose Dragon

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Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light

New Cards used by Flake
Yosenju Magat
Mayosenju Daibak
Yosenju Misak
Yosenju Kodam

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Yosen Whirlwind

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Dizzying Winds of Yosen Village
Yosenjus' Secret Move