"Chapter 18: Light"

By: Agent Baron

Yami stared at Von Stupor, glowing with anger.

This entity is very volatile, Yami thought to himself. No matter how he reacts to defeat, however, I can only stride forward. If I give it any room to recover, I'll lose my soul! Fortunately, this is not Von Stupor; according to Marron, his soul had already been lost. He has a Sonic Bird on the top of his deck… that means he's obviously going to try and summon Relinquished in order to absorb my Marshmallon. Fortunately, I have just the card that will stop him in his tracks again, although it will bring me even closer to defeat. I have no choice, however… "I'll play 'Delinquent Duo'. By paying 1000 Life Points, this card forces you to discard one card at random from your hand, and you discard another of your choosing. This eliminates the last two cards in your hand, and your ability to summon Relinquished."

"I summon the Sonic Bird… and I'll bring one ritual magic card to my hand," Von Stupor huffed. "End turn."

"I was lucky to have my 'Delinquent Duo', but I have nothing to counter the 'Wave-Motion Cannon' at the top of his deck," Yami said to himself. "It's clear that he's trying to end this quickly since I only have 1200 Life Points left. I'll just have to trust in my cards that I'll get the card I need in time." Yami then set one monster and ended his turn.

"I play 'Wave-Motion Cannon'... Then La Jinn attacks your set monster…" Von Stupor ordered.

As La Jinn rushed the card, D. D. Warrior Lady leapt from it. She swung her sword at La Jinn fiercely, but was blocked by a magical wall La Jinn created. La Jinn responded with a harsh punch to the warrior lady and she fell, beaten. As this happened, the wave-motion cannon appeared on Von Stupor's field and began its charging.

A Man-Eater Bug is next? Now he's putting up his defenses in preparation for the 'Wave-Motion Cannon', Yami thought. "I'll remove one LIGHT-type and one DARK-type monster in my graveyard from play to special summon the Chaos Sorcerer!"

The Chaos Sorcerer emerged from a dark portal and grinned at Von Stupor. Clothed in black clothing save black leather straps that decorated his upper torso, his eyes glowed from under his black hood. One of his hands glowed violet while another had a bright yellow color.

"This monster has a special affect," Yami continued. "where instead of attacking, I may remove one monster on the field from play, and I will choose your Great Maju Garzett!" This way, I can at least take down most of his offensive power, even if I can't best it through attack!

The Chaos Sorcerer formed a dark portal in front of him and fired a beam of light which ensnared the Great Maju Garzett. Slowly but surely, the behemoth was dragged into the portal, never to be seen again.

Von Stupor growled and his mask's eye flared. He was breathing heavily, struggling to maintain control of his emotion. "I… set one monster…" he whispered.

That must be his Man-Eater Bug, and he's planning on using a 'Change of Heart' next turn, Yami observed mentally. His tactics are becoming erratic, and a little difficult to prepare for all at once. He'll probably use the Man-Eater Bug to destroy my Chaos Sorcerer once it's flipped… so is the 'Change of Heart' a contingency plan to control my Chaos Sorcerer if his monster fails? What's more pressing is that cannon, but thankfully I just drew a card that will take care of that! "I'll summon Breaker the Magical Warrior! This is a special monster that is equipped with a magic counter as soon as it enters play. This magic counter boosts its attack by 300, bringing its total attack to 1900. Or, I can remove this counter in order to destroy one spell or trap on the field; namely your 'Wave-Motion Cannon!"

A knight clad in red armor bearing resemblance to the Dark Magician appeared on the field. With it, it held a long single-handed sword and a long shield. It held its shield out and a gem in the middle shot a beam at the decorative cannon that stood before Von Stupor, shattering it.

"Next, I'll play a 'Change of Heart' of my own on your set monster, the Man-Eater Bug! I'll now flip summon it to destroy your La Jinn, and activate my Chaos Sorcerer's ability to remove Senju of the Thousand Hands from the game! Man-Eater Bug, attack Von Stupor's Life Points directly!"

As the Chaos Sorcerer banished Senju to another realm, the Man-Eater Bug leapt from its card, surprising La Jinn. It clamped onto La Jinn's head, eating his head off. Upon finishing, it made a quick slash at Von Stupor, depleting 750 of his Life Points.

"I play 'Change of Heart' on your Chaos Sorcerer…" Von Stupor flatly stated. "Controlling it for this turn, I'll use its effect to rid myself of Marshmallon, and Sonic Bird attacks Breaker the Magical Warrior… Man-Eater Bug will attack you directly…"

Von Stupor's bird charged up its Rocket Pack and went soaring straight through Breaker's armor and out the other side of his body. As this happened, the Man-Eater bug leapt over to Yami's side of the field and gave a fierce slash to his lower torso, dropping his Life Points to a slight 450. The Chaos Sorcerer hurled Marshmallon into its portal.

I can't take much more damage… Yami thought to himself. One more good hit and I'm finished… but I'll never lose faith in the heart of the cards! I need them more than ever, if not to save myself, then to save Von Stupor's body! He has Relinquished as his next card… there's nothing I can do now to hold it off... "I'll set one M/T and I'll use the Chaos Sorcerer to remove the Sonic Bird from play."

The Sonic Bird, attempting to fly away from the Chaos Sorcerer, charged up its rocket pack and took off. However, the sorcerer merely opened a portal in front of it and unable to recover, the Sonic Bird flew straight into it.

"Now… I win…" said Von Stupor with a sickly gleeful tone. "I'll play 'Black Illusion Ritual'… sacrificing the Man-Eater Bug, I ritual summon Relinquished, and I'll use it to absorb your Chaos Sorcerer."

Relinquished burst from its pot, fueled by the goblets full of the Man-Eater Bug's essence. Inhaling the unsuspecting Chaos Sorcerer into its torso cavity, it closed its shoulder flaps over itself and around its one eye and the sorcerer's face emerged on one of them.

"My monster's attack and defense are equal to that of the absorbed monster… and I'll use Relinquished to attack you directly… Ha ha ha…" Von Stupor stated.

"There is no better chance than this!" cried Yami. "Activate 'Magical Cylinder'!"

Relinquished's blast soared into a multicolored cylinder and disappeared.

"You've activated my trap," Yami told Von Stupor. "'Magical Cylinder takes your attack… and throws it right back at your Life Points!"

"Guhh…?!" Von Stupor grunted as he noticed a second cylinder beside him glowing brightly. Suddenly, a blast came from it and struck Von Stupor, knocking him completely over and blowing his Life Points to 3700.

"…And it's too late to change your mind on what card you were going to bring out," said Yami with a smirk. "You thought you were safe, and decided to go on the offensive. You were going to bring out the Dark Blade on your next turn."

"What… are… you… talking… about…?" asked Von Stupor between heavy, agitated breaths.

"Watch, as you meet the harbinger of your defeat! I'll play the magic card 'Dark Magic Curtain'! By paying half of my Life Points, I may summon the Dark Magician! And because he is now in play, I may play my magic card 'Black Magic Attack', which destroys all of your set M/T cards!"

The large curtain that had appeared in front of Yami drew back, and there floated the Dark Magician. Aiming its rod at Von Stupor's magic cards, it shots blasts at each of them, blowing them away. One of them struck Relinquished, wiping out the equipped Chaos Sorcerer and leaving him vulnerable to attack.

"Now your Relinquished is vulnerable to attack! Dark Magician, attack Relinquished with Black Magic Attack!" Yami ordered.

The Dark Magician aimed its wand at Relinquished and fired a heavy bolt into its torso cavity, exploding it from within and knocking Von Stupor's Life Points down to 1200.

"Gah… gah… you…" Von Stupor sputtered.

"Only one card remains in your hand, Von Stupor. Summon your Dark Blade."

"I… one more turn… good card…"

The Dark Blade appeared in front of Von Stupor, but remained in a kneeling defensive position. It thumped its chest with a fist and allowed its swords to drop from its hands, as if accepting its defeat.

"I summon the Copycat," called Yami over Von Stupor's mumbling. "and copy the Dark Blade's attack and defense! Next, I'll attack the Dark Blade with Dark Magician, and then I'll attack you directly with the Copycat! And now, a message from the real Baron Von Stupor… you lose!!!"

The Dark Magician blasted the Dark Blade apart as Yami's Copycat, bearing the Dark Blade's appearance, dashed to Von Stupor and delivered a finishing slash across his chest, knocking him down and reducing his Life Points to 0.

Von Stupor, leaping to his feet, clutched his mask tightly and began wretching. A dark aura began to grow around him and the eye began to glow brightly.

"You… you die!!!" Von Stupor screamed at Yami, and fired a dark blast at him.

Yami, in reflex, countered the blast with one from his own Millennium Puzzle, and fired one more at Von Stupor, striking him in his chest and slamming him against the seal's border.

The seal began to close around Von Stupor, though he still resisted. He fired another blast at Yami, who again countered the blast with his own, then fired several fierce shots at Von Stupor. He bounced against the seal's border multiple times and collapsed to his knees. The seal closed around him and Yami could hear the entity's frenzied screams as it was extracted from Von Stupor's body. When the light cleared, all that remained was a purple sphere floating about the air. The fog of shadows cleared, and the purple sphere containing the entity dissipated with it, leaving only Von Stupor's empty shell of a body.

Yami approached it and rolled Von Stupor over to notice something very peculiar about him.

"The mask…" he said. "It's… white?"

I remember asking Von Stupor about his new mask… he told me it had changed when the Millennium Eye fused with it and that now it resembled the Mask of Truth. But he also said that the Mask of Truth was supposed to be white. If it was purple at first… and black when Von Stupor left it… and white now that the evil entity has been removed… then perhaps that was merely the darkness from the mask itself… the sin of this mask gaining a consciousness of its own. That's why it barely knew what it was, and operated primarily off of Von Stupor's memory.

Now that this darkness is gone, the mask is now pure, devoid of sin. Now Baron Von Stupor--when I rescue his soul-- can begin a new future with this mask, a future of good deeds that will form a new image in this mask's name.

"The odds were stacked entirely against you," buzzed Marron, who had not moved. "You were not expected to succeed."

"I won because I had infinite trust in my deck and my monsters," Yami told Marron. "I hope one day you can understand this the same way that I do."

"Unfortunately, I am in no condition to protect Master Dartz."

'It's alright. You have always tried your best, Marron. As long as you give it your all, no one can expect any more from you."

"Why did you defend me?"

"Because as far as I am concerned, you have just as much of a soul as anyone else I've met. You display the intelligence and reasoning. Just because you are artificial doesn't mean that you don't have some kind of soul."

"I am not entirely artificial. Master Dartz insisted that my organic structure remain intact."

"What?! Organic?"

"Yes. It provides the basic structure for my movement."

"You have… bones inside of you? Whose bones?"

"Kghghgh… classified."

Yami sighed, and stood up.

"If you are safe here, then I'll come back for you, if I can. For now, I have to deal with Dartz personally."

"If you assist me, I will be forced to defend Master Dartz again."

"You always have a choice Marron. As long as you have reasoning, you always have a choice. You have the power to choose to follow your programming just as much as you can choose to resist it. You're no different from me or any other living thing… my heart tells me that."

Marron didn't respond as Yami ventured deeper into the building.