"Chapter 20: Power"

By: Agent Baron

Baron Von Stupor has finally caught up with the enigmatic Baron Von Engar, tracing him straight back to Dartz's very hideout. Dartz seemingly defeated, after an exchange of words the barons finally begin a final duel to settle their score. Baron Von Stupor is left with a greatly weakened deck consisting entirely of magic and trap cards while Baron Von Engar is fighting full force, as always. Baron Von Stupor seems unshaken by the steep odds and has placed his full faith into his cards and himself.

"I'll start off by playing 'Spell Absorption'," Engar stated. "This continuous magic card allows me to gain 500 Life Points every time a magic card is played! Next, I'll play a card you know all too well… on my first turn, I drew 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"

"You using that card doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Von Stupor sighed as the field was sealed within the orichalcos's border.

"Hah. I'll now set one M/T and summon the Flame Ruler."

A man in a red trench coat appeared. His blue spiky hair stood out from the fiery aura surrounding him.

"I'll set two M/T and play 'Wave-Motion Cannon'!" Von Stupor announced. "Now as turns pass, my cannon will increase in power until I choose to fire it! That ends my turn."

As an elaborate cannon appeared on Engar's field, glowing spheres of light flew from it into Engar, raising his Life Points to 8500.

"Huh… well, I have something like that of my own," Engar spouted. "It's called the Solar Flare Dragon! As long as this card is face-up on the field, you take 500 damage to your Life Points at the end of every one of my turns!"

As Engar said this, the Solar Flare Dragon roared and fire escaped from its gaping maw, engulfing Von Stupor and reducing his Life Points to 7500.

"I draw… and I'll play 'Mystical Space Typhoon' on your 'Spell Absorption'! It is now destroyed and you will gain no more Life Points from magic cards!"

"I still benefit from your magic card before my 'Spell Absorption' is destroyed!"

As Von Stupor's typhoon blew away Engar's magic card, the same spheres of light revitalized Engar, giving him a 1500 point lead over Von Stupor.

"And now I'll order my Solar Flare Dragon to attack your Life Points!"

Engar's serpent launched a fireball at Von Stupor, clad in spiked armor, who managed to block it with his forearm and send it careening back at the Solar Flare Dragon, felling it.

"What happened?" Engar asked, surprised.

"I activated a trap card called Sakuretsu armor! When you declare an attack, this trap destroys the attacking monster!" replied Von Stupor.

Engar stared hard at Von Stupor's set cards and decided to end his turn without attacking any further.

Gah! I have to find a way to stop him from burning me or I'll never last… Von Stupor thought to himself. "I'll set two M/T cards and end my turn!"

"I'll set one M/T and summon The Thing in the Crater, and I'll use it to attack your Life Points directly!"

"Not so fast!" Von Stupor countered as the large hole opened in the ground. "I'll activate my trap, 'Nightmare Wheel'!"

Suddenly, out from the hole emerged a creature that greatly resembled a human butt. It had four scrawny appendages and was strapped to a spiked wheel. Its mouth opened sideways as it roared.

"That thing looks disgusting…" Von Stupor commented.

"I've… never seen it pulled out of the crater before," Engar responded, equally disturbed.

"…Anyway, this continuous trap card prevents your monster from attacking, and during each of my Standby Phases, you take 500 Life Points of damage!"

"Fine then, I'll attack you with the Flame Ruler!"

"I'll counter that with a quick-play magic card, 'Enemy Controller'! Of its two effects, I choose to change the battle position of your Flame Ruler to defense!"

Engar's Flame Ruler stopped dead in its tracks and dropped to one knee, guarding itself.

"Damn it!" Engar swore. "Main Phase Two, I change Flame Ruler back to attack position and end my turn!"

As Von Stupor drew, the nightmare wheel rotated once and Engar's Life Points fell to 8500. Von Stupor set one M/T and ended his turn.

"First I'll activate 'Backfire'!" Engar announced. This card inflicts 500 points of damage to your Life Points every time a FIRE-type monster is destroyed on my side of the field! Next, I'll attack you directly with my Flame Ruler!" The Flame Ruler stepped forward to attack.

Von Stupor lunged at it, wearing Sakuretsu Armor and blocked the monster's swing, countering with a roundhouse kick of his own. The Flame Ruler stumbled back and fell over, destroyed. He exploded, and a burning ember from him hit Von Stupor in his chest, dealing 500 points of damage.

"That card's getting on my nerves," Engar grumbled and ended his turn.

"I draw, and you take 500 more points of damage from 'Nightmare Wheel'!" Von Stupor announced, and ended his turn.

"I draw… and I've got no monsters to summon. Thankfully, neither do you. End turn."

"I draw… I'll activate my set 'Scapegoat', and summon four Sheep Tokens."

Engar set one more M/T and ended his turn, and Von Stupor mirrored the move.

"All right. I'm getting a little tired of your wheel racking up damage on me, so I'm going to activate my trap, 'Call of the Haunted'. This allows me to bring back a monster for free, a là 'Premature Burial', except I'll tribute my thing in the crater with my revived Solar Flare Dragon to tribute summon my great monster, the Infernal Flame Emperor!"

A fiery pillar engulfed Engar's field and gave birth to a mighty creature. It consisted entirely of flames, and bore a similar appearance to a winged centaur with a lion's head. It loosed a mighty roar that shook the entire building.

"Don't think I've forgotten about that 'Wave-Motion Cannon' you've played earlier, Stupor," said Engar. "You could have used that at any time to land a devastating blow to my Life Points, makes me wonder why you haven't used it by now. My guess is that it's pretty much there to ensure a victory in eight turns, but not really your concern if you lose it."

Von Stupor merely stared at Engar.

"Well," he continued. "I'm on to your game… but I still don't want that thing firing at me, so believe you me, I'll take full advantage of my Infernal Flame Emperor's effect and remove three of my FIRE-type monsters in my graveyard from play to destroy the same number of M/T cards on your side of the field, clearing it entirely!"

Just before the emperor's mighty fireballs destroyed all of Von Stupor's cards, four sheep emerged from one of them, protecting Von Stupor's Life Points from harm.

"Ahaha… stubborn to the very end. I wouldn't expect any less from you," Engar commented. "Infernal Flame Emperor, destroy one of the Sheep Tokens with your fiery wrath!"

The mighty creature launched a fireball at one of the sheep and incinerated it.

"I draw… I set one M/T and I shift one of my Sheep Tokens to attack mode," said Von Stupor, Engar backing up a step.

"Why in the world would you ever want to do that?!" Engar sputtered in reply.

"Because I wish to use this monster to deal massive damage to your Life Points! I activate 'Creature Swap'! Since you have no alternative, I'll get to have your Infernal Flame Emperor while I'll choose for you to have my lone attack-position Sheep Token! Even though it has zero attack, at least it will get the 500 point boost from your 'Seal of Orichalcos'... Though I don't think it will help much in this case."

"No!" Engar shouted in shock.

"Infernal Flame Emperor… attack the Sheep Token!"

As the monsters reappeared on the respective controllers' sides of the field, the flame emperor loosed a loud roar as it scooped up the attack position Sheep Token and squashed it between its fingers. Engar's Life Points dropped straight to 4800.

Engar growled and clenched his fist at Von Stupor. Drawing his card, he crossed his arms.

"Say, Stupor… did you know that it's possible to make the seal of orichalcos even more powerful?" he asked.

"Wha…? What are you talking about?" Von Stupor answered, confused.

"Well… you see, turns out Dartz was holding back. He was keeping only the most powerful cards for himself! I managed to get a few of them out of his deck, just after he was defeated."

Oh, no… Von Stupor thought. This is not good…

"How about I show you one of the cards I grabbed? I'll set one M/T and play the field magic card, 'Orichalcos Deuteros'!"

Suddenly, the field rumbled as the seal's blue light grew brighter. Von Stupor noticed a second row of symbols appear just outside the seal.

"What is happening??" Von Stupor asked, a bit fearful.

"I just strengthened the power of the seal of orichalcos, so now in addition to the effects of 'Seal of Orichalcos', during each of my end phases I'll gain 500 Life Points for every monster I have on the field!"

"That's preposterous! That card is quite overpowered!"

"That's the point, my friend!" Engar began laughing. "Who's weak now?! I'll summon the Great Angus and end my turn!"

I… cannot believe this… Von Stupor thought as Engar's Life Points rose back to 5300. Every ounce of damage I do to him will be undone, only because he has monsters on the field, and the more monsters he has, the more powerful he becomes!

"So Stupor, I must point out again that you don't have any monsters to place your faith in. How can you possibly hope to beat me?!"

Von Stupor gritted his teeth, unsure of how to respond.

Is Stupor a fool to use an all M/T deck against Engar, especially with his overpowered 'Orichalcos Deuteros' card? Okay, stupid question. Is Stupor a fool to fight so fiercely for a material possession? Or do you think there's a little more to it? Do you think he'll even survive Engar's onslaught?

A side note, there is another chapter theme for next chapter. Email me with the subject 'Do Not Mesmerize Lizard With Uniquely Delicious Corn Pops' and I'll send you the theme as soon as I post the chapter! Until next time!