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.

40. Kicking Up Gold Dust

Redux 51: Kicking up Gold Dust

"A city-wide lockdown? What is happening? Do you know?" Uno looked at his sister while the alarms went off in the background. "i fear not." She shook her head. "Blast! Eric and Alice.. Zach.. I should.." He was safe inside this palace hall, but he did not want to imagine what anyone outside could run into. "no.. please stay." Anastasia grabbed him by his wrist. "Anastasia. I don't want to hide in a shelter every time something dangerous happens. I can't live like that." If someone came after him or his friends, he wanted to face it head on. "but I can't lose you.. again... I already lost.." Her voice trembled, and her words were stifled. "Already lost.. someone else? Are you talking about Tempus?" She did not answer. "Anastasia.. that's not going to happen to me.." Uno took a deep breath. "Okay. I will stay. But at least have someone check and see how the others are doing." She nodded slowly and went to the door to call for a servant. "She is hiding something, Uno." He thought to himself, and started to wonder if he was spending too much time with the family..

...

Cassius' LP: 8000 Inquisitor's LP: 4700

"You really didn't do it?" Cassius denied having attacked Uno, which made sense now that Eric thought about it. Nobody in the synchro guild recognized Uno before. "Then what have you been involved with?" Still, to Inquisitor Silver he was guilty of other actions. "If you want to know, defeat me." Cassius was done talking either way. "Heh. I was only offering you a painless way out. I am glad you said no! I summon Amorphage Goliath!" Silver would keep going too. She tributed Amorphage Envy(4/300/2350) and Amorphage Greed(4/300/2250) to bring out her titanic dragon(8/3250/300) again. Since she tributed more Amorphages, the Amorphous Persona field spell let her draw one more card. "Heh!" Which she immediately activated. It was a second Amorphous Persona spell." One field spell replaced the other, which benefited her in a very simple way. This field spell became a ritual spell once it was in the graveyard.

"I activate Amorphous Persona from the graveyard! The pendulum Amorphage Goliath will serve as the sacrifice for the ritual monster: Amorphactor Pain the Imagination Dracoverlord!" Goliath gave its eight levels of life, as the field spell was banished. A white haired and black scaled dracoverlord grew from the back of Goliath, it merged with the dragon to become the Lord of Pain(2950/2500). Meanwhile the Amorphous Persona spell on the field drew its card once Goliath was tributed. "Damn." Amorphactor negated the effects of all synchro, fusion or XYZ-monsters, including those of Cassius' Stardust Spark Dragon(8/2500/2000). "Taste the power of Pain and Pride. I attack!" Amorphactor spread its long arms to release a blast of wind and earth. Stardust Spark was dragged into the depths by agonizing magic. Then Amorphage Pride(4/2050/300), powered by Amorphous Persona, slaughtered Stardust Charge Warrior(6/2000/1300). "And you can taste the attacks of my Draco pendulums!"

Cassius' LP: 7950

"I'm affraid I was one step ahead again, Inquisitor." Cassius saw the monsters coming and flipped his trap. "I activate Reject Reborn! When a direct attack is declared, Reject Reborn revives one synchro monster and one tuner monster from my graveyard!" A beam of light broke the floor and allowed Stardust Spark Dragon to take flight once again in attack position. Formula Synchron the tuner synchro(2/200/1500) was special summoned along with it. "Then the battle phase is stopped!" Her remaining pendulum monsters were warded by the light of the stars. "You want me to believe that your synchro's death was part of your plan?" That was the only way he could pull off his Reject Reborn trick. "But Amorphactor takes away your first main phase when it is ritual summoned. And you can't use your monsters for a synchro summon while I control Amorphage Pride!" The Pride demon was her only pendulum summoned Amorphage right now. "I activate Super Rejuvenation! During this endphase, I draw one card for each dragon I tributed this turn!" Three dragons were tributed overall, so when her turn finished, her hand held three new cards.

"Oh is that all?!" Cassius could still use his battle phase at least. "In that case, Stardust Spark attacks Amorphage Pride!" The synchro dragon killed Pride with a single breath of white fire. "And before you say Amorphactor is gonna pay me back." Cassius revealed his other trap card. "I activate Urgent Tuning! With this I can synchro summon during the battle phase!" The trap started the process, Formula Synchron turned into synchronizing energy rings. "Accel Synchro Summon?" Stardust Spark Dragon flew through the rings and turned into eight bright stars. "There's.. something higher than the dragon?" Alice gasped as the clashing lights grew as bright as the sun. "Stardust Chronicle Dragon!" Stardust was no more, Chronicle Dragon(3000/2500) abandoned its white star colors for a magnificent golden armor that shimmered even in the darkness. "Goodbye, Dracoverlord of Pain!" The golden dragon loomed above the ritual monster and smote it with an instantaneous ray of pure energy. "When you destroy Amorphactor, I can take one Dracoverlord from my deck." The mildly irritated Inquisitor placed a Vector Pendulum Dracoverlord card in her hand.

Inquisitor's LP: 4200

Before the duelist could continue this turn. "Cassius.. is Aaron there too?" Alice interrupted. She failed to hold back one burning question, even though he told her he would not answer her. "Yeah. Uno told us you were carded by Phoebe. How are you back up and walking?" Eric had several of his own too. "Uno told you? How did he know about that?" Cassius was taken back. Uno was not there when he lost his duel to Phoebe. "... Only one body was transformed into a card. My body in this world was unaffected. We are one, I am here too." He explained as he moved to his second main phase; the one he could still use. "But what about Aarons body? He doesn't have it anymore.. and yours is.." No matter what, it was hard for her to see the 'Aaron' inside Cassius. "Yeah, since when did you start using so many Stardusts?" Eric remembered Cassius' duels and they were not like this.

"Hm. Since the beginning. Stardust Dragon was my partner, the Speedroids were his. But I still have them, as you can see. I activate Speed Recovery from my graveyard, which lets me recycle one Speedroid!" Speed Recovery was banished and Speedroid Terrortop returned from the graveyard. "I normal summon it and use its effect to add another Taketomborg to my hand!" By reusing the Terror roid(3/1200/600) he could restart the sequence towards a synchro summon. Once Terrortop added the Speedroid to his hand, Cassius special summoned Taketomborg(3/600/1200) from his hand. "The Borg tributes itself to special summon a Speedroid Tuner from my deck; Tri-Eyed Dice!" Taketomborh traded its life for the foursided black die(3/300/1500). "Synchro Summon! Hi-Speedroid Hagoita, in defense mode!" Tri-Eyed Dice and Terrortop were tuned and they formed the paddle-rocketship Hagoita(5/2000/1000). "Is that proof enough, Eric? We are still alive. Even if we have to use just one body, the Circle goes on."

"All I need to understand about this 'synchronization' process is that the two of you share the same guilt. So this body will end up the same way." Silver drew a card. She normal summoned Vector Pendulum the Dracoverlord, the draconic wizard(4/1850/0) in his cloak of shadows. "Activate Luster." Luster Pendulum once again destroyed his pendulum partner with his spell effect. The second Master Pendulum was killed, and the third Master Pendulum entered Silvers hand. "Activate Master." She placed that card in the open pendulum zone. Master Pendulum could destroy one other pendulum zoned card as well, as it did with Luster Pendulum. This Dracoslaying effect however did not give Silver anything new in return. "We share everything. That is no secret, Inquisitor.. I activate the effect of Hi-Speedroid Hagoita!" The synchro speedroid tributed itself. "He raises the levels of all your monsters by 1!" If she had any XYZ- or Synchro-summon intentions with Master Pendulum(5/1950/0) or Vector Pendulum(5/1850/0), it would be hard to use them as materials now.

"Pathetic." Yet what Cassius could not prevent was a fusion summon. "Lector Pendulum, Master Pendulum; fuse into Dinoster Power the Mighty Dracoslayer!" Any Dracoslayer pendulum could be fused with another pendulum monster, to fusion summon the dragon warrior in aqua-blue armor(8/2000/2950). "Your words, your cards. They are all pathetic.. nothing before my deck! Just watch!" And she played a spell next. "Forge of True Dracos! Now that I control a Dracoverlord and a non-pendulum Dracoslayer, all cards on the field will be shuffled back into the deck!" Vector Pendulum, Dinoster Power, and the third Master Pendulum in the pendulum zone; all of them were pulled into a cauldron of light and dark energy. "Tch! I activate Stardust Chronicle Dragon's effect! It banishes one Stardust dragon from the graveyard, to defend itself against all other effects!" The golden Stardust used the spirit of Stardust Spark Dragon to empower its own body. It gained enough strength to resist the pull of the Forge.

"Ha. I knew you would. But the Forge also summons one Dracoslayer or Dracoverlord from the deck, no matter what its summoning requirements are! I summon Master Peace! The True Dracoslayer!" To counter the golden dragon, Silver summoned her own. Master Peace was the ultimate holy Dracoslayer(8/2950/2950), wearing a helmet, sword, shield and armor of gold. "But his card is stronger." Alice noticed. "Cute.. This is far from it! I set the scales! Amorphage Sloth, Dark Doriado!" The twoheaded sindragon of sloth (scale 3) would pair with the dark and corrupted version of Elemental mistress Doriado (scale 5). "I PENDULUM SUMMON! Come, Dracoverlords and Dracoslayers!" Together the two pendulum cards ejected four cards from her extra deck; The first two Master Pendulum Dracoslayers(4/1950/0), Lector Pendulum the Dracoslayer(4/1950/0) and Luster Pendulum the tuner Dracoslayer(4/1850/0). "Oh boy. She's gonna do it again." Eric knew why she was only summoning Draco-cards. She was preparing the same moves that swept Uno away.

"Here, the form you adore so much; Synchro! Summon!" First Silver tuned Luster Pendulum with one Master Pendulum. "Ignister Prominence the Blasting Dracoslayer!" The blazing dragon igknight(4/2850/0) was the first to fly out of the extra deck. "Oh?" Cassius was not that surprised. "Ignister summons a Dracoslayer from my deck! I choose Luster Pendulum!" A second holy dracoknight(4/1850/0) walked in on Ignisters carved path of flames. This monster could not be used as a synchro material though. "Now XYZ! Summon!" Luster Pendulum overlayed with the other Master Pendulum. "Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer!" The dragonknight became a dragonrider(4/1850/2000), flying in the air on Majespecter Unicorn. "Majester summons a Dracoslayer from my extra deck!" The first and recently synchronized Luster Pendulum returned to the field. This one could be used as a synchro material. "Synchro Summon! Ignister!" Lector Pendulum and Luster Pendulum were tuned to form the second Blasting Dracoslayer(4/2850/0). Ignister number two used its summoning effect to summon a third Luster Pendulum(4/1850/0) from Silver's deck.

"Heh. When I have Dark Doriado in the pendulum zone, my fire, water, wind and earth monsters gain 200 attackpoints for each different attribute I control." Right now she controlled monsters with the element of fire (Ignister: 3400 atk), Wind (Majesterr: 2450 atk) and light (Master Pendulum, Master Peace). So 600 attackpoints were added to the synchro and XYZ-slayers. "I wonder how much this will hurt. Ignister, attack!" The two igknight dragons fired a powerful stream of fire towards Stardust Chronicle Dragon. "I banish Tri-Eyed Dice to negate one attack!" Cassius could intercept one flame strike with the effect of the speedroid dice in his graveyard. The second Ignister unfortunately could continue unchallenged, and burned the gold right off of the Chronicling synchro dragon with its attack. "Gah!" Cassius felt the heat. So did Eric and Alice. "She turned solid vision on, why?" The Inquisitor was out to hurt him, and her expression showed that she was enjoying it. Nevertheless, Cassius fought back. "I get one more effect when Chronicle Dragon dies! He special summons one banished Stardust monster! Stardust Spark.."

Cassius' LP: 7550

"Keep dreaming, Cassius!" Iria activated one of her monsters effects; True Dracoslayer's. "Master Peace can negate one effect each turn!" The golden Dracoslayer shut down Chronicle Dragon's unbanishing effect, and kept Stardust Spark Dragon trapped in the other dimension. "Nothing is going to come back this time!" She declared her direct attacks. "Gah!" Luster Pendulum sliced Cassius across his chest with his sword. "You thought you could defeat me!" Majester Paladin bombarded the duelist with a windblast from above. "All your suffering is due to your mistakes and sins!" Master Peace unleashed a bolt of holy lightning to strike Cassius down. He was one step away from falling off the train platform. ".. It's just like before.." Alice could not watch this anymore. Even if he had a different face, this man used to be her friend. "Damn. You should have just given up, man." Eric saw no possible escape for Cassius.

Cassius' LP: 300

"Giving up, Eric? Do you think a little pain is going to stop us now? You have to fight, you must always fight as long as you have your life left." Cassius crawled back up and drew the next card from his deck. "Now it is my turn to shoulder the burden! I activate Shock Surprise. I banish two Speedroids from the graveyard to destroy two of your cards!" Speedroid Terrortop and Taketomborg were both removed, while Master Peace and one Ignister Prominence ended up in the spells cross-hairs. "Was that your last hope? Did you not hear me say that my True Dracoslayer negates all effects!?" Master Peace countered Shock Surprise and cancelled out the destruction effect. "Whether you are from this world or the other, you will always be inferior to me. I was chosen by the founding family, by Millennium! And no outsider can overcome Millennium!"

"But we are not outsiders. We are inside. And from inside, your Union wall fall. What was founded through the power of the pendulum, must be crushed!" Cassius played his last card. "Speedroid Double Yoyo! It special summons one Speedroid from my graveyard!" The Yoyo machine special summoned the Taketomborg that did not get banished. "I tribute Speedroid Taketomborg to special summon Speedroid Denden Daiko Duke!" The borg did not use his trading effect for a dice tuner this time, but a robotic duke(3/1000/1000) with a feathered hat, cape and thunderbolt-pointed boots. "I overlay the Duke with Double Yoyo!" Denden Daiko Duke slammed his thunder drum staff on the ground and changed its body into electric tuning rings. The Yoyo passed through the arcing lightning. "To synchro summon, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" Four stars collided with three, so that the white dragon(7/2500/2000) of the forgotten apocalypse could be reborn. "He still has Clear Wing?" Alice gasped. The original card was supposed to be in the fusion guild's hands now. "The synchro guild must have printed new ones." Eric guessed.

"Four dragons." Silver already possessed network data on the Pendulum, Fusion and XYZ dragons. Now she was seeing the synchro version. "I understand how these cards can have importance out of a duel context. But here and now, it poses no threat at all." If Clear Wing tried to take down one of her Dracoslayers. Her remaining forces would retaliate swiftly and fatally on her next turn. "I know. I lost once already with this card. But.. we borrowed the ability to create from the maker of cards, and we evolved." Cassius activated one more effect from his graveyard. "Denden Daiko Duke can banish itself to summon a Speedroid tuner from the graveyard! Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" A spark flew out of the platform, dropping the six-sided die(1/100/100) back in a monster zone. "When I control a tuner, I can special summon Hi-Speedroid Hagoita from the graveyard." The Hi-Speed rocketship was also brought back. Cassius put on a grin. "Now..Synchro summon!" Red-Eyed Dice tuned itself.. with Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. "What?"

Clear Wing transformed before their eyes. Gold plates were added to its armor, and crystals grew out of its body. The dragon(3000/2500)'s very wings, horns and claws were made of pure diamond. "This is the next stage of the Synchro Dragon: Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon! Once per turn, when a monster's effect activates.." Cassius gave an immediate demonstration, as he set off Hi-Speedroid Hagoita's effect. "He can negate that effect, destroy that monster, and take its power!" Crystal Wing stabbed Hagoita with its crystal wings before the other synchro could tribute itself. Instead Hagoita was destroyed and sacrificed for Crystal Wing; its 2000 attackpoints absorbed into the Dragon(5000/2500). "And he also increases his attackpower when he battles a level 5 or higher monster, by adding the targets original attackpoints to his own!" The dragon and his master opened the battle phase. "Crystal Wing! Attack Master Peace!" Diamond dust glittered in the space between the golden Dracoslayer and the crystalline wind dragon. "But that means.." Crystal Wing(7950/2500) bathed in the light, charged himself up, and dove straight towards the True Dracoslayer. "I am going to lose?" The Inquisitor felt her heart pause, while her lifepoints and monsters were blown clear. "I failed... you. I failed my lord... How." There was no anger, only sheer devastation

Inquisitor's LP: 0

"The only way to overpower Millennium, the source of all cards, is to create our own." One by one the holograms of Silver's army dimmed. Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon stood alone and triumphant. "Your mistake was assuming the best cards belonged to you, or that the best cards will always win. The pride was yours all along." He shunned the stunned inquisitor and turned to the other two duelists. "Hey hey!" Eric fumbled for his cards. "Eric, I am not going to challenge you. We are not enemies. And for the sake of Emily, I will not pursue you either.. Alice." He spoke while glaring at the girl. "Emily. She told you?" Then she had to be with him still. "She is with us. And she is unharmed. I wouldn't use her like the fusion guild used your father and your mother. But.." He raised a finger. "I cannot let you talk to her, until lord Uno decided to meet with us outside of the city on neutral grounds."

"With you, the circle?" Alice flinched. "Yes, he must come alone tonight, at this location." He tossed a photo at their feet, of an island in the middle of the ocean. "He will know how to get there, with his crystal pendulum.. and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. We must keep that card away from others. I have to talk with him, to convince him that the pendulum must be destroyed. If we can combine our forces again, we can defeat the true enemies.. the fusion guild and the Union! He has until midnight to show himself. After that we will consider his absence a rejection, and you will not hear from us again." Cassius ascended the Crystal Dragon. "Wait!" Alice called out after him. "Goodbye, Alice and Eric. I will tell Emily that you're in good health." He waved once and rocketed away with his dragon. He was fast. "Aar..on." He was gone.

(To be Continued in Redux 050: The Needs of the Many)

New Cards used by Inquisitor Silver
Amorphactor Pain, the Imagination Overlord
Vector Pendulum the Dracoverlord
Master Peace the True Dracoslayer
Dark Doriado

-
Super Rejuvenation
Forge of the True Dracos

New Cards used by Cassius
Speedroid Denden Daiko Duke

-
Stardust Chronicle Dragon
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon

-
Reject Reborn
Urgent Tuning