Redux 23: What doesn't Kill You
"Use the lost cards, eh? Well what good are they if they bring this whole place down?" Marie Celeste ranted to herself as the tower experienced its umpteenth tremor. The effects of the duel between the Cubic duelist and Adamant could be heard and felt several floors up. "And where are all the others? Why.." And soon the noise struck much closer to home. "Haaa?" She spun around, a pair of destructive dragons turned her walls into ruins. "You two?!.." She moaned wjem Uno and August came in through the opening. "You've never heard of doors, have you?" The barriers in this tower weren't built to withstand indefinite punishment. Still she didn't expect these two to just keep hammering at the forcefields until they gave in. "We make our own doors." August declared angrily. "Your tin duelists cannot delay us, your pathetic traps cannot hold us.."
"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. You're not happy. But it might do you a little good to think before you act. One of those monsters could have destroyed the portal. Then we'd all be stuck here." She chided him. "Rrrgh. I don't see the portal here, do I?" The red duelist nearly flew into another frenzy. But Uno put his hand up. "Celeste. Turn of all your other traps, shields and drones, before any of my friends get hurt. Then we'll see about reopening negotiations, now that we're in a position of power. Unless you want to duel us." Uno wondered if she would like to be outnumbered this time. "Bah..." The woman grumbled. Of course Ichirou was not around to be useful at a time like this. "That's how everything is done nowadays." Still, she activated the dueldisk hidden in her coat and automatically inserted her cards. "But statistically, a duel will give me better odds." As she started drawing cards, her eyes scanned the monitors to her left. "Just a little more." The upload was near completion. She just needed to stall these two for a few minutes.. and hope they didn't understand all the information on the screens around them.
...
Adamant's LP: 2900 Kyle's LP: 5600
Kyle and Adamant were locked in their destructive showdown. While the Raidraptors were now up to their sixth rank with Revolution Falcon(6/2000/3000), Kyle would soon overpower it. "I banish Cubic Wave from the graveyard to activate its effect. For each Cubic monster I banish, one Cubic counter will take over your monsters!" His spell banished Vulcan Dragni's spirit to give the Falcon a counter, negating its effects. "I send three Cubic monsters to my graveyard, to special summon Buster Gundil the Cubic Behemoth!" Two Vijam Cubic Seeds(1/0/0) and one Blade Garoodia the Cubic Beast(3/0/0) collided and formed one heinous entity. Two spiraling green towers floated in the air, attached to a central third tower by two Vijam eyes. A third eye opened in the creature's core(4/0/0), and a series of curved blades extended from the sides like wings. "Now that Buster Gundil has been summoned this way, he will gain 3000 attackpoints. And he can attack you three times in each battle phase, Adamant!" Kyle could not contain himself any longer, darkness pulsed through his veins and he slammed his chest. "First I will kill your Revolution Falcon!" The bizarre behemoth atomized the falcon warmachine with three precise thunderbolts. "Then you will follow!"
Adamant's LP: 1900
"Ngh." Adamant clutched his own chest. "I activate Raptors Force!" But the death of his XYZ-falcon demanded a follow-up, so he forced himself to flip his set spell. "Because a Raidraptor was destroyed, I evolve one from the graveyard." The silhouette of a Falcon rose from the ashes of destruction. "Is this rank 7 now? No?" The targeted XYZ-monster was not Revolution Falcon or even Blaze Falcon. It was Blade Burner Falcon that gave itself a new body. "I XYZ-summon Raidraptor - Étranger Falcon in defense mode!" The warbird was now a steel and gold falcon(5/2000/2000) with red energy lines across its body. "What is this, Adamant? Have you hit the limit so hard that you're alreading crashing back down? It wont add up to anything. I'll kill as many as it takes, Buster Gundhil! Attack!" The Behemoth made it rain lightning on the flying arsenal, bringing it down. "There is always time to make a change!" Adamant grabbed the destroyed card. "If Etrange Falcon is destroyed, I can attach this card to any Raidraptor in my graveyard, and summon it to my field!" The hole in the floor burned with newfound light. "!?" The card Adamant chose was Revolution Falcon(6/2000/3000).
"That one again!?" Kyle twitched. "I could have gone higher. but the best solution is not always the strongest card." If Adamant summoned Arsenal Falcon instead, it could have reached any rank he wanted. But Satellite Cannon Falcon and Ultimate Falcon would not put out as much damage as Revolution Falcon right now. And Etrange Falcon's effect was the only way to regain control of it. "And all the lives you destroyed, was that your best solution too? You know the Cubics are a part of it too; of Doms treasures. You wanted to have this!" More of the skin on Kyle's neck grew pitchblack. He banished Cubic Karma from his graveyard to add a Cubic Mandala trap card to his hand and to place that trap down on the field. "This was a lesson I only learned recently, Kyle." Adamant turned around to look at Alice. "I thought I had to the strongest. That I needed to acquire power similar to yours. Now I see, more than ever, that those some powers are meant to be forgotten. Revolution Falcon attacks!" The bird of revolution charged the Cubic Behemoth. Weakening it(0/0) with jet flames before destroying it with its wings.
Kyle's LP: 3600
"Go ahead, destroy it! It doesn't matter!" Much like Indiora Doomvolt, Buster Gundil's effect triggered upon its demise. The effect summoned three Cubics from the graveyard; three Vijam Cubic Seeds, and placed a Cubic card from the deck in Kyle's hand. "The more you hurt me, the more powerful I become! I will never stop chasing you!" Kyle chose to add a Cubic monster with a level of 10; Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord. "Sometimes you have to sacrifice something, to create something.." Adamant moved to the second main phase and activated Revolution Falcon's second effect to destroy one of the Vijam Seeds. "Raidraptor Singing Lanius." And as long as Adamant controlled his XYZ-monster, he could summon the tiny singing Lanius(1/100/100) from his hand in defense mode. "I reactivate Raidraptor - Nest." With two Raidraptors under his wing, the continuous spell regained its effect and searched the deck for one more card; Raidraptor Booster Strix.
"Do you see? I don't care anymore what happens to me." By now the darkness covered everything but Kyle's face and his hair turned pale grey. "I am taking you down with me, Adamant! Raaaaaaah!" He screamed as he drew his next card. "Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord can be summoned if I show you three Cubic cards in my hand!" Kyle turned his hand around, which held Unification of the Cubic Lords, a second Dark Cubic Lord monster, and another Buster Gundil Cubic Behemoth. "I call the Crimson Nova!" A cube of energy was summoned to the middle of the room, which contained a masked torso. Four eye seeds appeared in the air, and cubes of flesh grew around them. The cubes created shoulders, claws and a serpents tail. This was the form of the Cubic Lord(10/3000/0). "Monsters with 3000 attackpoints or less can't activate their effects against Crimson Nova! Die, Revolution Falcon!" Kyle's new monster raised its left arm and attacked. A swinging axe blade completely dismantled Revolution Falcon. Neither it nor the Raidraptor Booster Strix card in Adamants hand could hinder Crimson Nova. "Kgh!" The damage cut into Adamant as well, slicing into his left shoulder.
Adamant's LP: 900
"If Crimson Nova destroys a monster, it can attack again!" The Dark Lord used the shearing blades of its right arm to cut through Raidraptor Singing Lanius. "But that's not the part you should be affraid of, Adamant! What you should fear is Crimson Nova's final power! During each endphase, it blows away 3000 lifepoints from each player!" Kyle placed two trap cards down on his field and allowed his turn to end. "Three thousand!?" Alice flinched. "He can't survive that!" Kyle's lifepoints would be okay, Adamants's definitely would not. He needed one of his last defenses to make it out alive. "Raidraptor - Silent Roar!" By revealing Booster Strix in his hand, a trap activated to negate the effect of Crimson Nova in the nick of time. "You would destroy yourself along with me?" Adamant did not take any damage, but neither did Kyle now.
Raidraptor - Silent Roar, Counter Trap
When your opponent activates a monster card or effect, reveal 1 "Raidraptor" card in your hand: Negate that effect.
If you control a "Raidraptor" monster: you can also activate this card the turn it was set.
"That is what I said, Adamant! I would gladly die, if it meant ridding the world of you for good!" While it was still the endphase, Kyle activated the trap he set in his previous turn. "Have this; Cubic Mandala! All the monsters that were destroyed will be summoned back to your field, with their attackpoints set to zero and their effects negated with cubic counters!" The Raidraptors Revolution Falcon(0/3000) and Singing Lanius(0/100) flew out of the graveyard, with their wings covered in Cubic slime. "As long as these monsters are on your field, you cannot use any of your monsters effects, Adamant!" Finally the endphase ran out. "..But what about your brother? What if he gets better? Then you wont be around to see him again!" Alice shouted. There had to be something left of the old Kyle in that terrifying appearance. "He is never coming back. There is nothing you can say, nothing Adamant can do!" Yet Kyle was beyond reason. "I don't.. Can't you help him?" She turned to June. The telepath shook her head solemnly. "There's too much power inside. Those monsters wont let him listen."
"There is one chance, to return him. A brief window." Adamant stated all of the sudden. "Huh?" At the start of his turn, Adamant activated Allure of Darkness to draw two new cards and banish Booster Strix from his hand. One of the new cards was the inspiration for Adamant's claim. "I enter the next phase." He declared, as the battle phase began. "You what? What are you going to attack with!?" Kyle laughed; neither Falcon nor Lanius could move an inch with the Cubic Counters infesting their bodies. "With the power you claim to control. I activate Rebellion!" Adamant used a quickplay spell. "What!?" The spell targeted Crimson Nova, pulling it away from his master. "Rebellion takes control of your monster this battle phase! I.." Within seconds of gaining the Dark Lord's control Adamant could feel an immense pressure. "Gaaah!" He expelled heavy breaths, while his heart raced like a hunted man. "Adamant? What did you.." This did not look like a good idea at all. "...direct attack!" Adamant declared the attack. Crimson Nova swept its claws across the room to slam Kyle into a wall. "Argh!"
Kyle's LP: 600
"Now! While I still control it!" Adamant shouted. This was the 'chance' he was talking about. "Yes." June nodded and extended her hand towards Kyle. "You? What are you doing?" Kyle screamed. She was nowhere near him, yet he could feel her hands on his head. "I am trying to free your mind from the Cubics hold, Kyle." She said as she held her other hand against her temple. "No. I don't want that! I don't want to go back! I can't!" He started punching and taking swings at the air. "You do not want to be weak again, I can hear you. But you can go back, people always can. Just look at the legend you brought back to life. Whatever it is that happened to your brother, to Carl, there are methods to reverse it. Just stand down, and let me help you." June could feel resistance, and she could also see the strain Crimson Nova was placing on Adamant's body. He could not keep this battle phase going forever. "You can.. you would?" However Kyle was starting to listen, a part of his soul still wanted to be be reunited with his brother. "Of course. No matter how far you go, it is never too late to help someone."
"June, pull back!" It was too late, Adamant lost control. He had to let go of Crimson Nova. "That was not enough!" Her hand snapped back. ".. the monster.." Alice saw Crimson Nova return to Kyle, and his body underwent another transformation. "It's not just the monster. Kyle resisted me too, his anger overpowered him. These Cubics feed off his darkness and pain, and he feeds on their power." It was a perpetual loop, one that could only be broken by Kyle himself. And he did not want too. "..Your turn." Adamant switched his monsters to defense mode and placed a trap card down. He also reactivated the Raidraptor Nest spell to add a Raidraptor Avenge Vulture monster to his hand. He could not do anything else. "My turn!" If Kyle wanted too, he could just end his turn and let them both die to Crimson Nova's effect. "Die.. I wont die.. only you.. Adamant." He had other plans, fortunately and unfortunately. It started with a normal spell. "I activate Fusion Conscription I can add one of the fusion materials for my fusion monster to my hand!" He revealed a Cubic monster in his extra deck, one that required three Crimson Nova fusion materials. "I will add the third Crimson Nova to my hand!"
"Fusion!?" Alice was shocked. These things could combine as well? "Unification of the Cubic Lords!" They did. Kyle activated a trap to fuse the Dark Cubic Lord on his field with the two Dark Cubic Lords in his hands. "Fusion Summon! CRIMSON NOVA TRINITY!" Red blood covered the body of the Cubic lord(12/4500/3000) and its arms turned to long blade-clawed tentacles. The masked face oozed out of the cube, growing a second body on top with another set of four arms and thick devil horns. "You filth, you vermin! You wanted to control us? You never could!" Kyle's voice was distorted with an echo, while his body twisted and expanded through several cube-shaped mutations. He did not look human anymore. "When we, Crimson Nova Trinity, attack. Half of your life will fall!" The fused lord grabbed Revolution Falcon with its many arms and constricted it into a fine powder. "Kgah!" Adamant's body did not take the loss of life well. He coughed up blood. "Yes! This is what you asked, this is what you worked all your life for! A duel like the old legends! Are you satisfied, champion?"
Adamant's LP: 450
"This was.. what I wanted." Adamant wiped the blood from his mouth. "But. I was a fool." He stood upright and looked Kyle in the eyes. "I am sorry... for what happened to your brother, Kyle." His words made Kyle recoil. "Sorry? You're sorry? What is this? You never apologize for anything, Adamant!" Kyle gnashed his teeth and ordered another strike. "When Trinity destroys a monster, he can attack again!" The Fused Crimson Nova cut Singing Lanius to pieces and halved Adamants lifepoints once more. With the last Raidraptor destroyed, Cubic Mandala selfdestructed. "I.. kgh.. never looked back to the past, Kyle. I wanted to keep fighting." Adamant kept talking through the pain. "Stop it, stop using my name!" Kyle moved to the end of his turn.
Adamant's LP: 225
"I cannot undo what I have done... But, that does not make the past less valuable. I do not remember Carl, I wish I could... But I sent too many through the gate, he was not the only one. And in the end, it served no purpose. Our entire goal was founded by a lie." Adamant activated a spell, Rank-Up-Magic: Soul Shave Force. "!?" The spell took Revolution Falcon from the graveyard and ranked it up into Raidraptor Satellite Cannon Falcon(8/3000/3000). Adamant had to pay half of his lifepoints again to use this spell however. "This wont work either, Adamant! Trinity cannot be targeted by your card effects! We cannot be destroyed! Even if you found a way to destroy us, we will destroy you with Unification of the Cubic Lords!" The trap that Kyle used to summon his fusion Cubic possessed a second effect that activated when a Cubic monster was killed. It would summon a Cubic monster from the deck. With Adamant's lifepoints this low, Kyle only had to summon one of the Cubic Kings to inflict fatal effect damage. And he would win.
Adamant's LP: 112.5
"You are right, Kyle." Adamant took a deep breath. He wanted to be at full power for this. "Rank 8 cannot measure up to this either. You reached the peak of dueling. And there is still a part of you that cares about that, a part that June and Alice could see too. Otherwise you would have let Crimson Nova kill us both. ...I am sorry that it had to be this way.. I activate the Rank-Up-Magic: Skip Force!" The Sattelite Falcon cast a golden shadow in the light of the new spell. "Skip?" Alice was not familiar with this rank-up-spell, or this evolution. "Yes. The Ultimate Raidraptor. Alice, you did not need to reach these heights to surpass me. That showed me that power was not everything. But, you.. Cubic Lord, only seek power. So that is what you will receive! I XYZ-summon Raidraptor ULTIMATE FALCON!"
With the Satellite Cannon as an XYZ-material, the golden-winged Ultimate Falcon(10/3500/3000). "Wowww..." Alice stared at it with mystified wonder. "Quite impressive." June smiled. "Ultimate? Is this your peak? Adamant?" Kyle was not as impressed. His Dark Lord left it behind in raw power. "It is. I did not reach the legends.. but that is thing about them, Kyle. Legends are the stories of those already gone beyond life." Adamant detached Revolution and Satellite Cannon Falcon from the Ultimate Raidraptor. "Ultimate Falcon reduces the attackpoints of all monsters! And the effects of all your cards are sealed!" The effect did not target, so it had an effect on Crimson Nova Trinity. Twice the fused lord(2500/3000) lost a thousand of its attackpoints. "No? What have you done?!" He was not the top monster on the field anymore. "Returned you to your past, Cubic Lord." Adamant closed his fist. "Ultimate Falcon. Attack the enemy!" The Raidraptor gathered energy at the tip of its wings and halo. The energy converged on one spot, created a black bolt of power and shot towards Crimson Nova Trinity. "Adamant!" The blast impacted with his lord's body.
Kyle's LP: 0
The whole left side of the floor was reduced to rubble by the resulting explosion. "Where.. where is he?" Wherever Kyle stood before, that part of the lounge was gone. "I can still sense him, he is still alive. And he is close.." June claimed.. "Close?" Adamant looked down the hole. It was to dark to see anything down there. "!?" Suddenly a hand reached out of the shadows. "Kyle!" The duelist was clinging to the rubble, throwing down pieces as he climbed up the collapsing floor. "Let me help you!" The hole was not big enough for his Falcon. But Adamant was not going to let someone else throw his life away. "You.. want to save me?" Kyle grinned back at Adamant, his face and body still halfway corrupted by the Cubics darkness. "Fine.." He pulled his other hand up. "Yes. Take my..."
"Adamant. Stop!" June's warning was a second too late. "No!" Kyle used his mutated hand to impale Adamant. "hrgk!" The claws pierced the duelists chest. "Now, I am saved! Aha! Hahaha!" Kyle jumped back and fell into the shadows, laughing all the way down.
(To be Continued in Redux 022: Shrinking of the Universe)
New Cards used by Adamant
Raidraptor - Etrange Falcon
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Rank-Up-Magic: Skip Force
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Raidraptor - Silent Roar (+)
New Cards used by Kyle
Buster Gundil the Cubic Behemoth
Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord
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Crimson Nova Trinity the Dark Cubic Lord
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Fusion Conscription
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Cubic Mandala
Unification of the Cubic Lords
(+ Based on the trap used by Shun in YGO Arc-V)