Author's Note: Get ready, because the next Devil Number is about to reveal itself in this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 18: Mitaka the Witch
"I'll let you go first, birdie-girl." Mitaka decided. "It seems only fair that I give you the first shot."
Kotori took a big gulp as she drew her first card. "I summon Summoner Monk in Defense Mode!"
Appearing on Kotori's side of the battlefield in a cross-legged position was an old man with light-blue skin and red eyes. He had long white hair that grew down from the hood of his purple and white robes and had a white mustache.
"I activate Summoner Monk's effect!" Kotori announced. "By discarding a Spell card, I can summon another monster from my deck. I use Summoner Monk's effect to summon Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!"
The monk chanted an odd spell and a small column of green light appeared next to him. The light faded to reveal Kotori's blue-skinned elf.
"Using the level four Mystical Elf and Summoner Monk, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!" Kotori announced.
A large vortex appeared on the middle of the field and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of golden energy. An ornate giant white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting it appeared out of the vortex and quickly took the form of Utopia.
"That ends my turn." Kotori announced.
"Already running scared, I see." Mitaka chuckled as she drew her next card. "Well I don't blame you. After all, this duel is going to be your swan song."
"I haven't lost yet." Kotori pointed out.
"No, but you're about to." Mitaka replied. "Since you have a monster on the field and I don't, I can special summon Shadow Cat Familiar from my hand!"
A black shadow appeared on Mitaka's side of the field and took the form of a small black cat with a golden left eye and a blue right eye. On its forehead was a red patch of fur that was shaped like a star.
"Because I special summoned Shadow Cat Familiar using its effect, I can banish two Spell cards from my hand to summon two more Shadow Cat Familiars from my deck." Mitaka announced.
The cat's eyes glowed and two shadows extended from where he was sitting on the ground. From the ends of the shadows, two more identical black cats emerged.
"Three level five monsters!" Kotori realized.
"That's right! And using my three level five Shadow Cat Familiars, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster!" Mitaka announced. "Arise, Number 665: Witch Queen Agatha!"
A red galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the three cats as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the galaxy a moment later was a large ornate black sphere with what looked like a black and grey pin sticking through the top and bottom. On the front of the sphere in grey was a face consisting of two eyes and a jagged smile, and orbiting around it were three orange fireballs. The object soon burst into flames and changed form.
In moments the flames died down to reveal a woman with light-green skin wearing a black dress with long sleeves and a long skirt that completely covered her legs. She had long flowing dark-blue hair, and her fingers ended with sharp black nails that were like claws. The skin that showed on her neck looked like it had been burned, and a mask covered her face. The right side of the mask was white and looked like the face of a beautiful woman, while the left side was black and had a red eyes with half of a jagged red smile. On her head head the woman wore a large black conical hat with a wide brim and a yellow band with the number 665 written in red alien writing on the front.
"A monster with 3400 ATK?" Kotori observed.
"These Numbers certainly are interesting, aren't they?" Mitaka remarked. "Each one is almost like the page of a giant storybook that tells the tale of whoever happened to find them, and the numbers they bare are like the page numbers."
"So what, you were a witch?" Kotori asked.
"Well, since I brought it up, I guess it's only fair that I tell you about my past life as a human." Mitaka decided with a shrug. "After all, you already know a bit about Ani's past life. Tell me, birdie-girl. Do you know anything about the Salem Witch Trials?"
"I think I heard about them once long ago." Kotori recalled.
"They were a big farce that took place in Salem Massachusetts during the late 1600s." Mitaka explained. "Those idiot humans from back then thought that witches lived among them and were using their powers to bring disaster. The trials were a way to try and expose those witches and destroy them. Of course there weren't really any witches living in that little village, and all the evidence used to convict the people accused of witchcraft was a load of crap. Looking at it now, that time really is the ultimate testament to how idiotic humans are."
"So is that what happened to you? You were accused of being a witch?" Kotori asked.
"You're kinda jumping ahead in my story, but yeah." Mitaka confirmed. "Back then, I was just a simple sixteen-year-old village girl named Samantha Warren. Like everyone in that town during that time, I was afraid of the so-called witches, but I didn't care about it much. I was in love with a young man named Adam Smith. The two of us had vowed to get married one day when we came of age, but the bitch that called herself my best friend at the time had other plans.
"My so-called friend also wanted Adam, so she accused me of witchcraft and faked being under a curse, something that was super easy to do. What stunned me the most during that time was how everyone in the town bought into it, even Adam. It got worse when my ex-best friend accused me of using black magic to bend Adam to my will. Everyone believed the accusation. My parents. My friends. Even Adam. They all thought I was a monster, and with no way to defend myself I was found guilty and sentenced to be burned at the stake.
"Just before my execution I happened upon the very Number that you see before you now. I was tied to the steak clutching that card in my hands and watched as everyone cheered for my death as the fire began to burn, even Adam. And in that moment as the fire burned me I finally realized that love doesn't exist. It's just a concept humans came up with to justify the desire to hump like bunnies and reproduce."
"…I'm sorry about what happened to you in your past life." Kotori admitted. "I couldn't imagine anything like that happening to me. But…"
"I'm gonna stop you right there, birdie-girl." Mitaka interrupted. "If you're going to try to appeal to my humanity, you're wasting your breath. My human heart died ages ago when I burned at the stake, just as Ani's human heart died when she offed herself. Our only desire is to plunge this world into endless shadow, and nothing you say will change that. Now then, I believe I was just about to kill you. I attack Utopia with Witch Queen Agatha!"
"I activate Utopia's effect and detach an overlay unit to negate your attack!" Kotori quickly announced.
"I don't think so, because I now activate Witch Queen Agatha's effect!" Mitaka announced just as one of the balls of light orbiting Utopia entered his chest. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can negate a monster's effect and destroy it! And then you take 400 points of damage times that monster's level or Rank!"
At that moment, one of the fireballs orbiting Agatha entered the red eye on the black side of her mask. A red fireball appeared in the witch's hand and she threw it at Utopia. The white Number warrior burst into flames.
"Yes! Burn!" Mitaka cackled. "Burn just as I did for your crimes of magic!"
Utopia soon exploded and Kotori was knocked to the ground. Her life points had dropped down to 2800.
"Looks like this is the end." Mitaka remarked as Kotori managed to get back up. "Witch Queen Agatha, attack her directly! Vengeful Witchfire!"
Agatha aimed the palms of her hands and Kotori and sent a massive storm of flames right at her. Before the blast could hit though, a swarm of brown fur balls with large yellow and purple eyes and four scaly green legs appeared in front of Kotori and exploded at the flames hit. When the smoke cleared, Kotori's life points were untouched.
"Those… those fur balls!" Mitaka spoke as her left eye twitched. "Don't tell me that you used…"
"I discarded Kuriboh to block the damage from Agatha's attack." Kotori confirmed before Mitaka could finish.
"You're really getting on my nerves, birdie-girl." Mitaka declared. "Fine! For my next move I play the Spell, Card Destruction! Now we both have to discard our current hands and draw the same number of cards from our decks."
Kotori looked at the two new cards, which were Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Dimension. She new if she also had Gagaga Girl, she could use Gagaga Dimension to destroy Agatha and bring Gagaga Magician to the field to summon Magi Magi Magician Gal. But she had just lost Gagaga Girl thanks to Card Destruction.
"Just so you know, Agatha has another little effect that applies to both of us." Mitaka continued. As long as she's on the field, all the Spell cards we use from now on are banished instead of going to the Graveyard. Each time either of us special summons a monster that isn't a Spellcaster, we take a hundred points of damage times the number of banished Spell cards."
'Which means I have to be careful about how many Spell cards I use and what monsters I summon.' Kotori mentally realized.
"I'll set a card on the field and end my turn." Mitaka announced. "Your move, birdie-girl."
Kotori took a deep breath and drew her next card. She hoped that the card she pulled next would be the key to getting her out of the fix she was in.
Vector and Alit stood back to back as they continued to fight off Mitaka's legion of brainwashed male duelists. Alit had out Star Cestus and Nova Kaiser while Vector had already summoned Dark Mist and Umbral Horror Masquerade. The two of them still had most of their life points and had already taken out a good chunk of the legion, but more duelists were still coming and the duo was starting to wear down.
"Jeez! It's like Mitaka and her gang of sluts got to every young guy in the city who uses a deck!" Vector observed. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up."
"We have to keep going!" Alit told him. "Right now Yuma and Kotori are counting on us! We have to keep these guys busy for as long as we can!"
"We're gonna end you right here!" one of the brainwashed duelists declared. "Prepare to die!"
"Go, Giant Hand!" a familiar voice commanded. "Crush that Battle Ox and take that guy out!"
Flying through the air to Alit's left was a large hand made of grey stone with two yellow lights orbiting it. In the center of its palm was a yellow eye with green metal lids, and each of its fingers ended with a similar mechanical eye. The hand grabbed onto the armored Minotaur belonging to the duelist that had just spoke and crushed it to death. The Minotaur shattered to bits and the duelist's life points dropped to zero. Alit and Vector looked, and walking up to them was a large muscular young man with a green Mohawk wearing a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt and grey jeans. The strap of a brown gym bag was slung over his shoulder. Alit and Vector instantly recognized this young man as their fellow ex-Barian, Gilag.
"Boy, are we glad to see you!" Alit declared.
"What the heck's going on here anyway?" Gilag asked.
"It's a long story, but we can really use your help right now." Alit told him.
"Where the hell have you been anyway?" Vector asked. "Alit said something about a training journey of some kind."
"Oh, that. I went to learn from this chef who lives outside the city." Gilag answered. "The guy's supposed to be a legend."
"Wait! You left to learn better cooking skills?" Alit asked.
"Yeah, I figured Nasch and Durbe would let me cook for all of us if I got better at it." Gilag explained.
"Your problem wasn't your cooking ability so much as it was the fact that you used expired meat." Alit pointed out.
"Can we talk about this after we're not overrun by brainwashed duelists?" Vector asked.
"Right." Alit agreed. "Though even with Gilag's help, this is probably gonna take a while."
"Tachyon Spiral of Destruction!" a familiar voice commanded.
Suddenly a beam of light came down from above and took out another one of the brainwashed duelist's monsters, taking his life points to zero. The three looked up to see a black mechanical dragon flying above them. They turned around and standing a few feet away from them a young man with long blonde hair and red markings on his cheeks. He had on a white blazer with a blue shirt and black slacks. The three instantly recognized the young man as another fellow ex-Barian, Mizael. Standing next to Mizael with a suitcase on wheels was a young woman with silver hair that had points at the top like cat ears and wore glasses. The gang knew this young woman as Mizael's girlfriend, Cathy.
"Looks like this might not take too long after all." Vector observed.
"What have you dolts gotten us into now?" Mizael demanded to know.
"We'll explain everything after we take these guys down!" Alit told him. "Now let's get 'em!"
Kotori looked at the card she drew and saw she had pulled Gagaga Sister. Suddenly a way to turn the duel around seemed to come to together.
'I can use Gagaga Dimension with Gagaga Sister and use her effect to match levels with Gagaga Magician!' Kotori realized. 'But what card should I get using her other effect?'
"Kotori!" Astral's voice spoke in her head. "Use Gagaga Sister to bring Gagagadraw to your hand!"
'Gagagadraw? But why?' Kotori asked.
"Just trust me!" Astral told her.
Kotori nodded and proceeded with her move. "I summon Gagaga Sister in Attack Mode!" The young blonde magical girl materialized on the battlefield. "Using Gagaga Sister's effect, I add Gagagadraw to my hand!"
"And just what good is that going to do you?" Mitaka asked.
"I activate the Spell, Gagaga Dimension!" Kotori announced. "With Gagaga Sister on the field, I use this Spell to summon Gagaga Magician!"
A burst of smoke went off on Kotori's side of the battlefield and cleared to reveal Gagaga Sister sticking through the middle of a sarcophagus secured inside a square frame. The sarcophagus opened up and Gagaga Magician emerged.
"And now using the second effect of Gagaga Dimension, I destroy Witch Queen Agatha!" Kotori announced.
The two Spellcasters brought their wands together and blasted Agatha with a bolt of pink electricity. Upon being hit, the witch burst into flames and turned into dark ash that blew away on the breeze.
"Not bad." An unconcerned Mitaka declared.
"I activate Gagaga Sister's other effect and match her level with Gagaga Magician's making them both level six!" Kotori announced. Gagaga Sister happily waved her wand though the air, causing pink sparkles to rain down on her and Gagaga Magician. "I now use my two level six monsters to Xyz Summon Magi Magi Magician Gal!"
Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later the Magician Gal appeared out of the vortex with two balls of purple light orbiting around her.
"Magician Gal, attack Mitaka directly!" Kotori commanded. "Dark Blazing Magic!"
"I activate my Trap, Vengeful Rekindling!" Mitaka announced. "When I'm attacked directly, Vengeful Rekindling lets me negate that attack and summon a Fire attribute Xyz Monster from my Graveyard! And if the monster that tried to attack me was an Xyz Monster, its overlay units are detached and you take 600 points of damage for each one! Now reappeared, Witch Queen Agatha!"
Before Magician Gal could fire a shot from her wand, a pillar of flames burst to life on the field and sent a powerful shockwave in all directions. Magician Gal was blown back slightly and the two balls of light orbiting her became red fireballs that blew back and struck Kotori. Kotori's life points took a drop to 1600. After a few moments the flames subsided to reveal Witch Queen Agatha.
"Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared for a move like that?" Mitaka asked. "I know every one of your little tricks, birdie-girl and I'm ready for each one. Face it. You're finished. And before I'm through with you, you'll burn the way I did all those years ago!"
Author's Note: This chapter more or less explains why this story is called The Heartland Witch. Mitaka's backstory was inspired by a Vocaloid video called Witch (or Witch Hunt, I can't remember). To this days it's still my absolute favorite Vocaloid video. By the way, the appearance of Witch Queen Agatha's sealed form is based on the grief seeds from the anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Please review and let me know what you think.