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.

18. Their Part of Their Bargain

Redux 73: Their Part of Their Bargain

"Odd-Eyes? You want..Odd-Eyes?"

"Yup! Should be a cinch, right? Uno wont miss it!" Dame tried to play her request off as something harmless, but Alice knew better. "Why do you need it?" If this woman was willing to threaten her parents, then her reasons could not be simple. "Why? Do you really want to be asking these questions? The less you know the better. Just help me, and I will let your dad return to your ordinary innocent life." Phoebe's crueler voice came in, though Dame's affections still sweetly tried to placate the girl. "How..how do I know you wont hurt him anyway? How do I know they are even real?" People could fake anything with holograms these days. "Oh they are real. And closer to us than you think. Would I know that you were adopted, if I didnt have dear old James?" Alice winced, while the twofaced girl laughed. "Exactly! Trust my other half. If we don't do anything, the world is doomed. But if we do get it.. then we can maybe bring some magic back to the world. Wouldn't that be wonderful, Alice? I know you'd like that. So just say yes."

".." Alice fell silent, for what seemed like an eternity. It would be so easy to give in, to surrender to Phoebe and blame it all on her threats. But this was not just about her family. A little voice in her head was screaming at her to not believe a word that came out of that twisted mouth. Any arrangements would only bring temporary safety. She knew Emily would never have agreed. Dad would probably tell her that it would be okay no matter what choice she made. But Alice didn't want to hide behind their words either. "What do I.. want?" The truth was there behind all conflicting fears. "No."

Alice's LP: 8000 Phoebe's LP: 8000

"No?" Phoebe's eye twitched. "That is..what I said. It's my turn!" Alice drew a card from her deck for further emphasis. "I will hurt your father, Alice. Don't think I wont!" Phoebe snarled at her. "Then I.. then I just wont let you! I will stop you right here!" Alice activated the Nekroz of Brionac and discarded it to add an Exa Enforcer of the Nekroz card to her hand. "I activate Nekroz Cycle!" She played her grave-ritual spell. The sacrifices were Exa (level 5) and the Sphere Kuriboh (level 1) who could be banished from the graveyard as an extra tribute. Thanks to Nekroz Cycle, the tributed Exa would also take a dragon-type Nekroz from the deck. Alice chose to add Valkyrus of Catastor. "Nekroz of Brionac!" The dragon-armor knight(6/2300/1600) was ritual summoned from the graveyard. And with its appearance, two monsters special summoned from the extra deck had to leave the field. "You.." Phoebe's Frightfur Sabretooth(8/2800/2000) and Frightfur Leo(6/2800/2000) returned to the extra deck. "He attacks!" Brionac grabbed his sword and swung it once to freeze and shatter Phoebe's last monster; Edge Imp Frightfuloid(4/1300/1300).

Phoebe's LP: 7000

"You are going to stop us? Heeheeheh." A toothy grin framed the Dame's face. "I guess you don't care about your fake parents that much! And here I thought you would snap like a twig. You still have that fighting nerve in you, the same nerve that took Adamant by surprise. Come to think of it.. we never did get that showdown in the tournament." If Alice made it to the finals, Phoebe would have been her final opponent. The fusion leader took the earpiece from her ear. "Sorry MC. But not really. I want to have my fun" She tossed the device aside as it released muffled rants. "Fun? The tournament?" Alice couldn't believe what she was talking about now. "The tournament is where that all stopped. This is not a game!" She activated the continuous spell, Ritual Cage, to make her ritual monsters immune to targeting effects and battle damage. Then Alice's turn ended. "Oh no. It's so much more! Oh I would have played along, if Roma didn't ruin the plan. Adamants guild was the one who broke the rules first! So I don't feel guilty at all aaaaaaaaaanymore."

Knight's LP: 8000

"Huh!?" Beckoned by Phoebe's cry, a hooded figure joined the battle royal. "Say hi to Luther! Martel calls him his Knight, but maybe you met him before? He was a member of the Synchro guild." Dame formally introduced the man under the hood. "I.." He looked vaguely familiar, with deep brown eyes and black mullet-hair. "No? Well it doesn't matter. He defied us when we took over their castle, so Martel punished him. See that is what we're gonna do to your loved ones and to you if you insist on this duel. If you don't wanna help, you can just be on time out!" The Knight drew a sixth card from his deck, as his turn was now going after Alice's. "But that's.." Now it was two against one. "Not fair? The world is not fair. I learned that, you learned that. People always want one thing while someone else wants the other. And nobody can have everything.. even if you divide time by two, the world is so painfully small. But we will change that.. Alice!"

...

Iria's LP: 2400 Zach's LP: 8000

When Iria fell down the cracks, she ensured she would go where Zach went by grabbing the solidified Mozarta hologram. The two disciples floated down to a side area with steel arches and stair platforms. Another abandoned construction zone it seemed. "Creffield! He's gone! Fight whatever it is that's controlling you!" As soon she found the strength to yell, she directed her words towards her opponent. Zach sent nothing but vacant stare her way in return. "I thought you would have been stronger than this." The duel would continue with the situation not favoring her. Iria had no monsters, only Domain of The True Monarchs. And while Zach controlled Mozarta the Melodious Diva(8/2600/2000), he and everyone else on his side were free to special summon monsters in the extra deck. That was, if that effect could even get to duelists she could not see. "Our lifepoints are separate, but are our fields too? Is there some sort of range effect in place?" Regardless, three cards were all she could set down, in the spell/trap zone. "Creffield. It is your turn."

Zach displayed few signs of life, as he started his turn and breezed through his phases. The only way tell which monster effects were activated was by following the action prompts he pushed on the dueldisk. "The Crystal Rose.." The first action was taken by Zach's new crystal flower(2/500/500). It sent another Melodious from the deck to the graveyard, Score the Melodious Diva. "If the Fusion guild has the power to 'revamp' entire effects, they must have taken UNO's cardprinter.. as well as full control of Dreamworld." While Iria's expectations turned darker, Zach moved to the second action. Shopina the Melodious Maestra(6/2300/1700) took another light-type monster back from the graveyard. That card, Serenade the Melodious Diva(3/400/1900), was normal summoned. The third action began with Mozarta's effect. The Maestra in the red dress special summoned another angelic monster from the duelist's hand; Soprano the Melodious Songstress(4/1400/1400). That effect was immediately followed by Soprano's effect. Her special summoned entrance sent Score the Melodious Diva from the graveyard to Zach's hand.

"It figures. Now it's time for a fusion summon." Soprano could fuse herself with one Melodious monster on the field to create a Melodious fusion monster. Zach took her and Serenade, and placed both in the graveyard. The new fusion dove out of the fusing maelstrom of purple and orange colors. "Schuberta.." It was the long-redhaired Maestra(6/2400/2000) with the golden butterfly mask. Schuberta could banish up to three cards in any players graveyard to raise her own attack. "..So." With a simple wave of her baton she(3000/2000) removed Eidos, Mega Caius and Zach's own Serenade. "This is how you want to finish me. With the power of your new guild?" The battle phase could begin, and it was Mozarta who started things off. "But I shall not let you, Creffield! I activate Oath of Companionship!" Iria flipped the first trap. "Due to the current absence of extra deck monsters on my field, I can take the one you control right now!" Oath of Companionship took control of Schuberta the other Maestra. "Remember Creffield? I never saw the need for fusions and the like. And you did too once, before you let your passion for 'flair' get the better of you!"

Zach only had one answer, a quickplay spell card. "Flash Fusion?" The instant fusion spell targeted Shopina and the Crystal Rose that currently carried the name of the Melodious Serenade. "One Maestra and one Diva.. you are fusing Bloom Diva?" This time a flower sprang from the fusion vortex, Shopina and the Rose merged into Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir(6/1000/2000). "Tcheh. Now that I actually have a special summoned monster." The BloomDiva's effects were useless against Iria's normal summoned Monarchs. But if she attacked Schuberta now, Iria would lose that monster and 1400 lifepoints. "Don't take me lightly, even as a puppet!" Thus Iria revealed her second trap; Escalation of the Monarchs. "I summon Thestalos!" She could sacrifice Schuberta to perform a tribute summon in his turn. The firestorm Monarch(6/2400/1000) was the best choice, because it would destroy a card in Zach's hand when it was summoned. "I burn your left card!" That card was Score the Melodious Diva. Zach had to discard it and twice lose 200 lifepoints for both of her level stars. "..." Without Score's effect, Zach could not reduce Thestalos' attackpoints to zero. Not that it mattered, since he already had to cancel Mozarta's attack. Now she could retaliate.

Zach's LP: 7600

"Aha!" Except then Eric Stonewell jumped in from left field and drew his card. "Iria! I'll help you!" He came in rushing through a door above a raised platform. "Eric? How did you get here?" Iria was not so much surprised that he showed up to save her, again. But moreso that he caught up with them both. "Just happened to land near you. Nobody was coming after me, so I looked the action up instead! But like you said, let's not waste time talking!" For his first turn of the battle royal Eric activated Pot of Desires to banish the top ten cards from his deck face-down and draw two cards. The drawn cards were not as important as the banished ones. "Go, Gren Maju Da Eiza!" Because his red serpent demon(4000/4000)'s attack and defense points were equal to his banished cards times 400. He had a big beater right away. "That Mozarta is the big problem here, isn't it? So let me get rid of it!" Gren Maju prepared a massive fireball that lit up the entire dungeon-like room. "Burn Maestra burn!" The fire was released and the Maestra vanished behind a curtain of flames.

Zach's LP: 3600

"Huh. That did a lot more than... it should have." Eric thought the lifepoint meter was busted for a second. "Ah!" No such luck. Mozarta(100/2000) emerged from the firesea, weakened yet also alive. "Pianissimo." Iria spotted the cause. "That spell?" Zach used his quickplay spell Pianissimo, to reduce his own monsters attackpoints this turn and to make it indestructible. "He took more damage, just to make sure Mozarta stuck around?" He asked as he placed three trap cards face-down. "Why?" Eric might have been influenced by Martel, but he was never affected to such an extent. Naturally Zach was not going to give him an answer.

"The Rook serves his King." Luckily/unluckily, Martel could. "Gah! Damn it! When did you.." Neither Eric nor Iria heard him coming. The puppetmaster appeared from the shadows by lighting his own dueldisk up. "Everyone has taken a turn now. I can finally take mine." Martel drew a card and normal summoned a new Shaddoll monster. This one(2/600/1400) resembled a stuffed and blackened falcon, held up by the same strings as Shadoll Hedgehog's. "Wait. Is that how that works? Doesn't that make it six against seven?" Eric saw how many puppets Martel controlled, and their numbers weren't very fairly divided. "Playing fair is beneath me. There is a reason I am One and Six." He discarded a card from his hand... so that he could activate Super Polymerization. "Whahey!?" Before Eric realized it, Gren Maju Da Eiza was torn apart and sucked into a vicious fusion. Super Polymerization could target monsters on both fields for a fusion summon. "Fire. Shaddoll. Left. Right. Two. One." Martel locked his hands together. "FUSION SUMMON! El Shaddoll GRYSTA!" The Shaddoll Falco and fire demon were reborn as a marionette knight(7/2450/1950) with wings of fire. It looked like a gemknight, possessed by a one-horned helmet.

"Shaddoll Falco. When it enters the cemetery, it returns alive but hidden." Martel activated the effect of one of the fused materials. The Falcon doll summoned itself back in face-down defense position. "And Shaddoll Dragon, when it enters the cemetery, destroys one spell or trap." The card he discarded for Super Polymerization activated its effect too; breaking the pillars of the Monarchs True Domain. "Ggh. Why didn't you use my monster for a sacrifice?" Iria asked him. Thestalos was a fire-type too after all. "The strongest are the first to die. And I already have a queen. I can always use a new Pawn." That was his reasoning. "You.. you made me backstab my friends!" Those words sparked Eric's anger like a wildfire. "Friends aren't necessary. Everyone uses everyone. I just take it to the next step. I save everyone. You should never have left me, pawn." Martel smirked and declared a direct attack with Grysta. The fire knight shot flames straight at Eric. "Ragh!" And while Eric rolled against the floor to avoid the fire of the attack, Martel turned off his dueldisk's visualizer and vanished into the dark. "Where are you going? Damn you! Get Back here!"

Eric's LP: 5550

"Eric. Think before you act! He is trying to tempt you into another trap!" Iria hissed. "..Yrgh. So what am I supposed to do?" Eric could stick with her and help. "I did not ask for your help in the first place." Her turn could now finally start. "Hey, two guys butted in on your duel. I thought this was the best way to repay the favor!" If Martel could mess around, so could they. "... We have been here before." Iria sighed. "I appreciated your contribution, Eric. Yet if you are here, that means someone else is outnumbered. Use the disk tracker, find another to assist. I can assure you, I am in control here." She declared assuredly. "..Okay. I guess. But before I go." Eric flipped one of this traps, Breakthrough Skill. Bloomdiva was targeted and its effects were negated. "I'll give you this! Now you can take down the other fusion!" He walked back up the stairs, heading the opposite way. "Oh and Iria. I know what it feels like to have your head messed with. I don't recommend it." With that warning he left. Iria stayed behind with her companion. "Hmm. Thank you." She said softly, and entered the battle phase. "Zach. I attack Bloomdiva!" The Melodious Choir was destroyed instantly by the Firestorm Monarch.

Zach's LP: 2200

"What I said.." With Eric gone, Iria began to wonder. "Maybe I am doing this wrong.. Or maybe nothing will work." The harsh approach wasn't working with Zach regardless. "End turn." All he listened to were those two words, so he could quickly begin his counterattack. Zach's Crystal Rose special summoned itself to his field by banishing the fusion Schuberta from the graveyard. The rose copied the name of a random Melodious in the deck. And then the Disciple activated Fusion Substitute to summon the third and final Melodious; Bloom Prima the Melodious Choir(8/1900/2000). The two fusion materials added 300 attackpoints to the maiden(2500/2000) in the yellow dress. "Zach.. I always found that name sounded.. classless. I suppose it made it easier to look down on you. You acted like an oaf so many times.. Yet so did the master. He only acted the part, but you.. had fun doing it. This is not how you want to duel." Though talking to him changed nothing, she still wanted to. "You could have had a different life. So could I. I've seen that now." Zach ignored her and declared the first attack that Bloom Prima could make.

"So I will make sure nobody else chooses your life for you!" Iria flipped the trap card, The Monarchs Erupt. "As I have a tribute summoned monster on the field, the effects of all your monsters are negated!" Thestalos erupted with a blazing fury, and burned all of Bloom Prima's flowers and flowerpetals. Without her powers, the Choir mistress(1900/2000) went back to her original attackpoints. The attack would continue regardless. "But in this instance, it's too late to change your mind!" The fusion died to the Firestorm Monarch's counterattack. "..." Zach showed no reaction to the pain this time either and simply moved on to the second main phase. As Bloom Prima died, a Melodious card returned from the graveyard via her last effect. He took the Melodious Songstress Soprano and set her face-down. Then he activated the grave-effect of Fusion Substitute; banishing that spell and Bloom Diva to draw a card from the deck. That card was also placed face-down in the spell/trap zone. His disk signaled the end of the turn after that.

Zach's LP: 1800

"I can see you." Iria had a choice now. "I summon Granmarg!" By tributing Thestalos for Granmarg the Rock Monarch(6/2400/1000), she was given the option to destroy one set card; the monster or the trap. "It could be a bluff, your face wouldn't reveal it. But your mind... if you are still allowed to think like a duelist, you'd remember I prefer the safer routes. Then I choose... the other!" Granmarg pulled up a series of rock slabs that crushed the set Melodious from all sides. "It ends this turn!" She went for the direct attack option, Granmarg prepared his next rocky assault for Zach himself.

Zach's trap flipped. "Krystal Avatar?" It was a trapmonster that responded to a lethal attack declaration. It made a crystal reflection of Zach himself and that 'Avatar'(4/1800/1800)'s stats were equal to Zach's lifepoints. Granmargs attacks were redirected towards the Avatar. "If the Avatar is destroyed, I lose lifepoints equal to its attackpoints. Is that your last trick or one Martel forced you to use? I suppose we are even one way or another. Dom gave me a trick too." Iria activated a quickplay spell from her hand. "I activate Magical Sky Mirror! One of your spells in the graveyard is re-activated!I choose Pianissimo!" She held the mirror in her hand, which reflected the piano spell card. "I reduce your monsters attackpoints to zero, and it cannot be destroyed in battle anymore!" The Avatar(1/0/0) became brittle and invincible simultaneously. "When I say it is the end, I mean it! You know that Zach! This is your partner.. telling you to wake up!" Granmarg's attack overwhelmed the trapmonster and pressed on to Zach. The Rook went down...

Zach's LP: 0

Magical Sky Mirror, Quickplay Spell
Target the last spell card that was sent to your opponent's graveyard; banish it and, if appropriate, activate its effect on either side of the field.

(To be Continued in Redux 072: Cold but not Lonely)

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Ritual Cage

New Cards used by Iria Silver
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

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Magical Sky Mirror (+)

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The Monarchs Erupt

(+ Reworked version of the spell used by Yuya in YGO Arc-V)

New Cards used by Zachary Creffield
Pianissimo

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Krystal Avatar

New Cards used by Martel
Shaddoll Falco
Shaddoll Dragon

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El Shaddoll Grysta

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Super Polymerization