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.

78. If Every Day was Your Last

Redux 02: if Every Day was Your Last

Margot's LP: 8000

Eric's LP: 4700 Adamant's LP: 8000 Alice's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

The lady of the future and the four visitors from the present now passed; they would duel each other in one sequence. "Is she not even going to attack us?" Margot's second turn came and went. One trap was set and that was all. "She does not have too." Destiny Board would give her victory in three turns. Dark Sanctuary was only on the field to protect the Spirit Messages and to discourage direct attacks. "Do not worry. I have a plan too. The future hurts the least, when you prepare for every eventuality." Adamant took the turn afterwards, reviewing his hand. "These two first." He normal summoned his Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius(4/1300/1600) and used its effect to special summon a Raidaptor Necro Vulture; the purple steel-winged vulture(4/1000/1600). A spell followed. "I activate Cattle Call and send Vanishing Lanius to the graveyard." Cattle Call tributed the winged beast, which allowed it to then special summon a XYZ-monster of the same type. "Revolution Falcon, appear!" The napalm warbird(6/2000/3000) was summoned instantly. Unfortunately a monster summoned by Cattle Call could not use its powers and would die during the endphase. For that reason.. "Rank-Up-Magic: Skip Force!" ..Adamant would evolve it twice.

"Wait..." But Uno saw Margot's hand move. The Reaper of the cards was writing a new name on his list. "Oh no." Even before the Rank-Up-Spell resolved, Reapers List declared the name of to-be-summoned rank 8 XYZ-monster: Raidraptor - Satellite Cannon Falcon. "Now it can't destroy her cards!" Like Erics Infernoid before, Satellite Cannon Falcon(8/3000/3000) was drained of all its effects and attacks. "Of course you would have to do so. If not, my XYZ-monster would have destroyed your spells and traps upon arrival. The Destiny Board has one weakness, itself!" The Spirit Messages were shielded from all effects, except those of Destiny Board. Destroying the board would destroy the message as well. "But even if I cannot remove your traps and your field spell. There are ways to get around it. I activate Necro Vulture's effect!" The Vulture could tribute one Raidraptor, to reclaim a Rank-Up card. "It tributes itself, and Skip Force returns!" Adamant took the double-up spell and activated it right away. "Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon!"

"Whoa!? Rank ten?" Before Uno and Erics eyes; Satellite Cannon Falcon transformed through dazzling flames. "Awesome!" This was their first viewing of this golden raptor(10/3500/3500). "That's right! Ultimate Falcon can't be touched by effects either!" Alice cheered. None of Margot's cards would hinder its attacks. "Indeed. And for the rest of the turn, it can seal effects as well!" Adamant detached one material from the Ultimate Falcon, blocking the effect activations of Dark Sanctuary and the like. However, Margot silently chained two cards to the Falcon's effect, before it could resolve. "What?" One was called Spirit Message "?". It was a spell that permanently shielded Destiny Board from other effects. The other was called: Destiny's Twine.

Spirit Message ?, Quickplay Spell
Target 1 'Destiny Board' you control. While it is face-up on the field, it cannot be affected by your opponent's card effects.

Destiny Twine, Continuous Trap
Declare a multiple of 1000.
During this turn, whenever you take more damage than the declared amount: your opponent loses lifepoints equal to the declared amount.

The first trap formed a thin thread of light that coursed through every duelists. It ultimately unraveled around Margot, while the looping patterns displayed a number. "3000?" That was the amount Destiny's Twine declared his turn. "So if you attack her now, you will do 3500 points of damage.. and we all take 3000?" That was what Uno took from this. "Eric would.." One of them would not last long like this. "Yeah so? Dont stop for me! I am not affraid of any old future!" Eric fully understood and insisted anyway. "Eric?!" Alice and the others were shocked. But Adamant quickly adjusted. "Very well." He did not know if he could get another chance to reach this woman. "Direct attack!" Ultimate Falcon launched itself into the sky and attacked from above, avoiding the curse of the Dark Sanctuary. The sister of time on her bloodred mountain was cast in a divine light. "Here it comes!" True to its text, the twine of fate absorbed the damage and ran a pulse through all four duelists. "Gah!""Ngh."Eeh!" From Eric to Uno, they all lost 3000 lifepoints.

Margot's LP: 4500

Eric's LP: 1700 Adamant's LP: 5000 Alice's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

"She is taking no chances." Whether it was attacks or effect damage, Margot would punish them each time they tried to hurt her. "Either we die by our own actions, or by destiny's message." Adamant could not even delay the deadline with Ultimate Falcon. After he placed one card in his backrow, Destiny Board activated the third letter; Spirit Message N. Two of their turns remained. "Yeah, all she has to do is wait." Uno noted that all of Margot's cards were passive. In this turn too, she did not take an action against her opponents; opting to add another trap to her own spell/trap zone. Nobody could tell what she was thinking, behind those pools of darkness in her eyes. "If we can't change what is supposed to happen.." The next turn fell on Alice; Margot let hers end. "Does that mean, she already knows we're going to lose?"

"Who says this is supposed to happen? Just because we know the future, does not mean it is set in stone." Uno claimed. "I guess, but.. we cannot see it. What if she can stop me with her trap?" Just one unknown card could destroy her entire strategy. "Nobody can be ready for everything, Alice. Just do what you always tell me, live in the moment!" Eric retorted. "I guess, I did say that.. My turn." Two turns ago, Eric's Infernoid Tierra discarded her Nekroz Cycle. "If I do this.." Alice activated Nekroz Cycle, banishing it and a Nekroz Catastor card from her graveyard. That allowed her to pick up Nekroz Kaleidoscope from the deck.. and shuffler her deck. "And use this; I ritual summon Clausolas and Gungnir from my hand!" Nekroz of Kaleidoscope sacrificed the level 10 Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo from her extra deck. "Whoa. You had that card too?" Eric gasped. That was Emily's ultimate synchro monster. "Not the same. Just something to remember her with." As a result, Nekroz of Clausolas(3/1200/2300) and Nekroz of Gungnir(7/2500/1700) were successfully ritual summoned.

Margot waited for this. The Reapers List trap added another name to the scroll; Nekroz of Gungnir. "I knew it."The ice dragon warrior's body grew pale, and its powers and effects were sealed. "What I wanted was, to at least take out one of her cards. I could maybe even take some of her lifepoints away." Gungnir could destroy cards whether they were spells, traps or monsters. "Alice, any damage at this point will help. Trust me." Uno talked like he was devising a plan. "Okay.. But it wont be much.." Alice activated her quickplay spell, Forbidden Lance. It targeted Clausolas and took away 800 of his(400/1300) attackpoints. But in return it gained an immunity to spell and trap cards. "Clausolas will attack directly!" The little nekroz warrior tossed a quick ice blast at Margot, merely freezing her left arm. She broke the ice with a simple shrug. "That is.." If only Gungnir could have attacked, then she would have done more damage.

Margot's LP: 4100

"No! That's not it!" Alice activated another spell, One Day of Peace. "If I dont know what's going to happen, anything can happen!" Each player would draw one card, while all damage was reduced to nothing for the next two turns. Alice would gamble everything on whatever card she shuffled to the top of her deck. "I draw.." She pulled the next card. "Nekroz of Trishula!?" It was the third of the three dragons. "Eric. Can you help me? I need your trap, the one with the gnomes." Proper tributes were in demand. She normal summoned a Clear Kuriboh(1/300/200) to the field "Sure?" Eric activated one of his graveyard's many cards: Misschief of the Gnomes. It reduced the levels of all monsters in each players hand by 1. "Thank you.. I activate Nekroz Mirror and summon Trishula!" Clear Kuriboh and Nekroz of gungnir were cast into the mirror as the tributes for the level-reduced Nekroz swordsman. Nekroz of Trishula(8/2700/2000) flew into the darkness of the duel field and raised his blade. "Trishula can banish one card on the field, in the hand and in the graveyard!" Thrice did the sword swing down. Trishula's effect banished the card Margot drew with One Day of Peace, the Heavens Gate in her graveyard, and.. the Reapers List. "You got her!? Wait. Wouldn't it have been better to take down something else?"

"She chose the best card. The Twine can be circumvented and World Reincarnation would simply have replaced the Sanctuary." Adamant was plenty pleased. Despite Margot's many walls, Alice managed to leave a permanent mark. "I just did not think it would work. Maybe I was.. lucky?" Alice wondered if shuffling the decks really did help. "I uh.. end my turn now." Destiny Board placed the Spirit Message "A" in the third monster zone. "Maybe Luck is the key factor. How about it, Margot? You can see the future, but you can't change your deck along the way!" Unlike December, this duelist was just following one line. She could manipulate chance, but not rules. Still, the eldest uttered no word. Rather, she activated a continuous spell that further enhanced her defenses. "Souls for the Soulless?" Wailing specters rose from the sanctuary, floating into Margot's traps and spells. Their cries sounded like the souls of the dead, trapped inside the inanimate.

Souls for the Soulless, Continuous Spell
Spell and trap cards you control cannot be affected by card effects that affect spells or traps, except "Souls for the Soulless".
You can control only 1 "Souls for the Soulless".

".. My turn then." Regardless, this was their last chance. "Uno.." It was not going to come easy. "I see it Eric." Destiny's Twine was reactivated; declaring a sum of 1000 this time. "That low?" Alice counted the life that remained. Eric would not survive two attacks. "..It can still work. I just need a little more damage." Uno's final act required multiple attacks. "I got ya covered, Uno! You can thank Alice too! Its because of her spell that I drew this card!" Eric activated a monster card from his hand. "I will use Firecracker! If I discard this demon, you take 1000 points of damage!" A blue imp fluttered through the dark skies and dropped a lit bomb down on the eldest sister. "It worked?" Alice gasped as the to the effect went off perfectly. One fourth of the enemy's lifepoints were blown to pieces. "Ha! Your Chaintrap cant hit me back if I you lose exactly one thousand lifepoints!" Eric bragged, even as his opponent showed no reaction to the close-proximity blast. "Great work, Eric! That was the missing link!"

Margot's LP: 3100

"Strap yourselves in. The fun is about to begin!" Uno activated a spell card; Odd-Eyes Fusion. "I summon Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!" Since Margot controlled more than two monsters, and Uno controlled none; Odd-Eyes Fusion could use materials from his extra deck. Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon the pendulum monster fused with another Odd-Eyes, Meteorburst Dragon. The two paired up to form Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon(7/2500/2000). "Fusions I mastered on my own. I am still not sure how.. I thought fusions were your specialty." Cloe used XYZ, Veronica used Synchro. Margot was breaking the mold. "Your sisters were more about testing me, but you feel different. Maybe I need to show you what I learned from them. But to do that, I have to start as I always do!" Uno activated the spell card, Pendulum Call. "I discard a card, and take two Magicians from my deck!" Uno threw away a monster to obtain Xiangsheng Magician (scale 8) and Dragoncalling Magician (scale 2). He placed both in their proper pendulum zones and.. "Go, Pendulum! Summon!"

Three streams of light flew in from the portal above. "Performapal Extra Slinger! Performapal Swincobra! Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon!" The slingshooting rascal(3/800/1100), the playground cobra(4/200/1800) and the upgraded blade-armored Odd-Eyes(7/2800/2000) all appeared before their caster. "You might wonder what this ragtag of characters can do! Well!" Uno pulled a card from his graveyard. "Firstly, since I control an Odd-Eyes monster I get to special summon Nobledragon Magician!" The tuner dragon Magician(3/700/1400) revived itself by taking three level stars from Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon(4/2500/2000). "Now, a synchro summon!" Nobledragon Magician could only be used for dragon synchros, so Uno tuned it with Swincobra. "I bet you didn't think I would have two of these, did ya?! Come out, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon!" The crimson space dragon(7/2500/2000) broke through the clouds of eyes and blood to brighten up Uno's field.

"Meteorburst, put Dragoncaller Magician on the stage!" The synchro dragons effect moved one of the pendulum mages, the battlewizard(7/2400/1000) in red bandages and darkblue armor, to an open monster zone. "Now for act two! XYZ-summons!" Uno put the Dragoncaller underneath the Saber Dragon. "Rank 7! I XYZ-summon Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon!" The crystal dragon(7/2800/2500) of absolute zero attached itself to the two level 7 XYZ-materials and gained a solid from. "Fire and ice, pretty visual right? But even the little guys have a role here!" Uno activated the effect of Extra Slinger. "My Performapal can destroy one of my pendulums, and banish another in the extra deck, to inflict 300 points of damage to my opponent!" The Slinger loaded both Swincobra from the extra deck and Xiangsheng Magician from the field. He fired a singular shot that bounced off of Margot's shoulder.

Margot's LP: 2800

"Five times.." Uno said to himself. "Now! Part three! This is where Veronica comes in!" Uno put Extra Slinger together with Meteorburst Dragon. "The synchro summon without a tuner." The others knew what these ingredients were for. One pendulum summoned pendulum monster and one synchro monster; those were the materials of. "Nirvana High Paladin!" The heavenly white knight(10/3300/2500) of infinity and eternity. "Margot. If you are from the future, then consider me an agent of the past! This future that I saw, that you intend to solidify, I am going to break it with my own power!" Nirvana High Paladin activated its effect, and reversed the flow of time with his blade. "I take one card from my graveyard, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!" The card that Infernoid Tierra discarded returned to Uno's hand. "Your turn, Joker!" Uno normal summoned the Joker(4/1800/100) and used its effect to take Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from his deck. "Now.. did you pay attention to what card I discarded for Pendulum CallI? You are about to see what that was. I activate Odd-Eyes Advent!"

"What?" Odd-Eyes Advent was a spell card. "Is that.." A ritual spell card... "Uno, you have a ritual monster too?" Odd-Eyes Advent ritual summoned a dragon from his graveyard by sacrificing Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from his hand. "Yes Eric, Adamant, Alice... I have one now. I should have made him sooner, rituals are just as important as the other families.. right Alice?" A cosmic dragon(7/2800/2000), with scales of black spacerock and chains of silver, emerged from the altar of the Advent. "Say hello to Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon!" Instantly, the dragon dismissed Souls for the Soulless. "Gravity Dragon can return my opponents spells or traps to their hand!" The rest of Margot's cards were unfortunately still unaffected. "What else can it do?" But Uno was not smiling for nothing. "I am glad you asked, Alice. See.. each time my opponents want to activate an effect: Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon will make them pay 500 lifepoints first!"

"Like this! XYZ! Fusion! Synchro! Ritual! Pendulum! I brought you the best of all worlds.. and now Iiiiiits Battle time!" Uno swung his arm forward. "Alice. If the worst happens, stand by with Nekroz of Clausolas. But dont use it yet." Alice nodded. "Good! Now Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon. Attack!" The ice XYZ-dragon made the second strike, firing frozen spikes. "There!" The Dark Sanctuary countered the attack, shattering the ice it and sending wrathful spirits inside the Dragon. To do so, Margot was forced to surrender 500 lifepoints to Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon. "You have to negate my attacks, because if you don't you will lose all your lifepoints at once! The Destiny Twine cant help you there!" Chilling energy escaped the monsters body, carrying half of its 2800 attackpoints as damage, and passed through Uno's chest. "Raahhh.. that's what that feels like?"

Uno's LP: 3600 Margot's LP: 2300

"Oh! I get it!" Eric cried out. "Yep. This is the only thing that would work. We can't touch her lifepoints without getting hurt, but she can. And we're not even half done yet! Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!" Next came the fused beast of the winds. It sent a green vortex into Margot's domain. Once more Margot gave 500 lifepoints to the ritual dragon, and Dark Sanctuary negated the attack of the fusion dragon. The sanctuary ghost left Odd-Eyes Vortex's body and hurled itself into Uno. "Hngh!" The duelist almost lost his balance. "Again! With you my Performapal!" The Skullcrobat Joker tried his own luck. This time too, the dark sister blocked the attack and gave up even more life. The Performapal fired back on his own master, with half of his attackpower. "Oof!" Uno braced himself this time and kept his footing. "I can't believe this is working!" Eric cried out. "It's the only thing that would work. We can't touch her lifepoints without getting hurt, but she can."

Uno's LP: 1450 Margot's LP: 1300

"And even if you cannot defeat her, you can force her to into a state of powerlessness." Margot would have some lifepoints at the end of all of this, but not enough to satisfy Gravity Dragon with. She would lose the right to activate any cards, including Destiny Board. "Yeah! I'll save the final blow for my newest performer. So, for the fourth turn.. Nirvana High Paladin attacks!" The pendulum knight powered his blade and cut a path through time and space, sending it towards Margot. "?" As expected, Margot reacted. She paid another 500 lifepoints to reactivate her field spell... and she paid 500 lifepoints to activate her face-down counter trap.

Margot's LP: 300

Butterfly Effect, Counter Trap
Activate only when your lifepoints are lower than 1000.
Toss a coin three times and if the result is tails each time: both players lifepoints become the turn player's lifepoints.

"Wh.." Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon could not chain to counter traps. "What... kind of effect is that?" The dark sister tossed her coin again and again, and received the tails side each time. As sudden as a heartattack, the trap seized all their lifepoints, bringing each player down to the level of Uno. Or bringing them up in Margot's case. "If she cannot save her future, she changes it altogether?"

Margot's LP: 1450

Eric's LP: 1450 Adamant's LP: 1450 Alice's LP: 1450 Uno's LP: 1450

"No! I should have attacked with Gravity Dragon first!" Uno cursed. "Uno! Be careful!" And now Alice was forced to pay even more, because Dark Sanctuary infested the Nirvana High Paladin with its effect. She activated the effect of Nekroz of Clausolas, to target his monster summoned from the extra deck. "I'll save you!" The target was Nirvana High Paladin. His(0/2500) attackpoints and effects were sealed. Dark Sanctuary could not reflect any attackpoints as effect damage under these conditions. "Ugh. Thank you Alice. But now.." With Margot back at 1450 lifepoints, it would take two attacks to neutralize her. "You knew I would do this, you knew I would attack last with my ritual monster!" Frustrated, he declared his final attack without theatrics. Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon hurled a black matter blast towards his enemy. It was immediately absorbed and reflected by Dark Sanctuary. Margot lost 500 lifepoints, Uno lost half of 2800 attackpoints.

Alice's LP: 950 Uno's LP: 50 Margot's LP: 950

"Every time. Everything goes wrong because of me! The guardians, the union.. the resets! I thought I could handle it, but I cant!" Uno raved. He thought he could be different from Fortuno, but in the end his past was always there. "Don't give up, Uno! There has to be a way. There always is!" That Alice had to be the one to snap at him, was enough to weaken his self-anger. "How.. I don't have any.. cards.. left." His eyes swept across the field and stopped in front of Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon. "Do any of you have a card that can destroy other cards." There was one last very thin hope. "Huh? Uhm yeah.. I do." Without thinking Eric controlled his spell card: Offerings to the Doomed. "But on what can I use it?" Even now, nothing on Margot's field could be targeted by his equip trap. "On Absolute Dragon. If its destroyed, I can summon an Odd-Eyes monster from my extra deck. Do it!" It all depended on this. "Okay! Okay!" Eric paid 500 lifepoints and activated Offerings. The XYZ-monster was buried by the Doomed, so Uno could activate one last effect.

Eric's LP: 950

"I summon Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon!" One was already lost to Odd-Eyes Fusion. But Uno could create another, a second XYZ-dragon of destruction(7/3000/2500) emerged from the extra deck. "Wait a second Uno. If you attack now." A sixth attack was secured.. an attack with the same cost as the others. "I know Eric. If I attack her now.. she will use Dark Sanctuary to reflect me and take away my last few lifepoints." Uno breathed in deeply. "But at least she will lose the 500 lifepoints." It had to be done. "NO!" Alice didn't want it. "You're going to leave us? You're.. what's the point in stopping her if we can't save you too!?" She pleaded with him, tried to get closer to him. "I already made up my mind, Alice. You can't save me.." Clausolas could only use its effect once per turn and Alice did not have any other protective cards on her field. "I can stop you!" She hovered her hand over graveyard. "If I use Clear Kuriboh.." There was a chance to stop an attack, with the effect of Clear Kuriboh. But it would take a lucky draw. Even then, Alice was willing to risk it all.

"That's not the answer and you know it, Alice!" Uno shouted back at her. "If we can't stop this.. if I can't save this world. Everything I did will be for nothing! I brought this upon us. At least now I can answer for it." Uno turned to Adamant and Eric. "Let me do this." Eric was too stunned to speak. Adamant only gave him a silent nod. "...I will do this." Uno turned to Margot next, staring her right in the eye. "I will never know what you wanted from me, from us. But I am fine with that. I am fine with ending my story here and now. Are you?" He clenched his hand. "Ready or not!" Alice held her hands in front of her mouth. "Here, I, come! Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon.. attack directly!" The black dragon took to the air. I never got anywhere near the enemy. She made her last payment, as the Dark Sanctuary activated and struck the XYZ-monster.

Margot's LP: 450

"I activate Rebellion!" That was when Adamant revealed his choice. "What? Adamant? NO!" Rebellion took control of Uno's Rebellion Dragon in the middle of the battle phase. "Margot, I have an offering! I know you want Uno to live, I know you want me to be returned to my true state! I do not know if the rules would exclude this. You can make an exception." Before the Sanctuary ghost exited the XYZ-card, it landed in front of Adamant. "Spare him and take me!" It did not matter anymore what could be done, what should have been done, and what was yet to be done. "..." The eldest sister's word was final, and she uttered it to only the dead. "Thank you." Adamant could hear her. "Adamant!" The others cried.. in vain. The spirit left Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon.. and cut through Adamant's body. "ADAMANT!"

Adamant's LP: 0

(To be Continued in Redux 01: Singularity)

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Fire Cracker

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Offerings to the Doomed

New Cards used by Adamant
Raidraptor - Necro Vulture

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Cattle Call

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Clear Kuriboh

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Forbidden Lance

New Cards used by Uno Nisell
Dragoncaller Magician
Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon

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Odd-Eyes Advent

Cards used by Margot
Spirit Message "_"
Spirit Message "N"
Spirit Message "A"
Souls for the Soulless

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Destiny's Twine
Butterfly Effect