Dan LP: 1900
1 set monster
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Polaris' Blizzard, Polaris Adventitia, the Mythic Citadel
Jad LP: 3000
Epignosai Aleph: Machine-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 3300/DEF 2300 – 0 OLU
"I draw. And during my Standby Phase, the effect of Polaris Adventitia, the Mythic Citadel activates." Dan stated, wasting no time getting back into his move. "Each time I start my turn, one Polaris Counter is placed on all face-up monsters." An icy wind blew through the cavern they were standing in, whipping up a flurry of snow and frost that congealed on Epignosai Aleph as a single orb of ice.
Epignosai Aleph: 0 → 1 Polaris Counters
"Then I'll set one monster, plus two Spell or Trap Cards. Your move." Dan's three face-down cards appeared.
"Very well then, I draw." Jad appeared pleased with his drawn card. "And I'll activate the Field Spell Card, Epignosai Dimension Lab." As his duel disk accepted the card, the ground began to shake beneath them. The Deltas dropped to their knees as the scenery began to change: rocks began to fall from the ceiling and the platform beneath them shifted and swayed. All of a sudden, the platform collapsed, and the seven of them began to plunge down to the depths of the cavern...
Dan opened his eyes. He was now lying somewhere entirely different to the place they'd left. This was some sort of laboratory. The floor, walls, and ceiling of the room were a dark grey, and he was surrounded by incubators, similar to Epignosai Aleph, but much larger. Many of the pods contained grotesque black and white creatures, but one of them was empty. Printed on the front of the empty one was a name: the name of an Epignosai monster. As Dan got to his feet, still looking around, he noticed something about the name printed onto the empty pod – it was the name of the currently banished Epignosai monster, Epignosai Lamedh.
It was only then that Dan spotted Jad, standing on the opposite side of the room to him. "Awesome card," Dan complemented him, his voice echoing around the room. "What does it actually do?"
"I'll get to that in a moment," Jad answered. "For now, let's focus on the fact that your own Field Spell is gone, so your Dragon-Type monsters will no longer gain a boost." He raised his hands above him. "Now I activate the effect of Epignosai Dimension Lab. Once per turn, I can return one of my banished Epignosai monsters to the Graveyard, then banish one Epignosai card from my Deck. In this case, by returning Lamedh to my Graveyard, I can banish my Epignosai Typhoon Trap Card from my Deck."
One of the two empty incubators began to fill with a translucent black tar. Once it was completely full, a hatch opened at the bottom of the incubator, and Epignosai Lamedh rose up into the chamber. Following along with this, Jad sent the card to his Graveyard. Then, the entire incubator began to crackle with energy, and a beam of electricity shot out of the top and struck the ceiling above Jad. From the impact point, a portal opened. Jad extracted a card from his Deck – the Epignosai Typhoon card – and threw it up into the portal.
"Let me guess," Dan said, "that Trap Card can be returned to your Graveyard to apply an effect of some sort?"
Jad grinned. "You are correct, young man. With Epignosai Typhoon, if it's banished, I can return it to the Graveyard to destroy one Spell or Trap Card on the field. And I think I shall do that right now." He sent the Trap Card to his Graveyard, and a ghostly image of it appeared behind him. "With its effect, I'll destroy one of your face-down cards!" A portal opened up beneath one of Dan's face-down Spell/Trap Cards. From within it, a whirlwind rose up around the card, mixed with black and white vapour. Dan covered his face from the vile winds. Then, as fast as it'd appeared, the tornado vanished, leaving nothing in its place. "Ah," Jad exclaimed happily, using his D-Gazer to identify the card he'd just destroyed. "Looks like I hit your Mirror Force card. Lucky me."
"Yeah, that's a pain," Dan muttered, "but it's not disastrous. I can still work around it."
Jad laughed. "You can work around it, can you? Well, I should probably fix that. I Normal Summon Epignosai Kaph." A globule of black tar spread across the floor, and out of it rose a strange creature. It had the head and torso of a human (with the same gaping mouth and lack of eyes that the other Epignosai monsters had), but instead of legs, its black skin stretched down into roots, very similar to a tree. Black tar ran in streaks down its body, and from its wrists there were some sharp protruding petals, which resembled cuffs.
Epignosai Kaph: Plant-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1500/DEF 1500
Katie gasped as she recognised this monster from when Leah had duelled Jad. "Dan, look out!" she called. "That monster's bad news. It'll-"
"Don't worry about it," Leah interrupted. Katie stopped talking and turned to look at her. "Dan can deal with it. Remember, he's seen these all before." Katie nodded, not exactly reassured, but put slightly at ease by Leah's confidence.
"I activate Epignosai Kaph's effect." Jad declared. "During my Main Phase, I can use this effect to banish two Epignosai cards from my Graveyard. However, I can't use this effect again for the remainder of the duel. I choose Epignosai Sin and Epignosai Typhoon." As Jad banished both cards, the remaining incubator filled with white tar, and the deformed zombie ascended into it. "Now I'll return Typhoon to the Graveyard once again to destroy your other face-down." Another portal opened up beneath Dan's remaining face-down, and the strange black-and-white whirlwind rose up around the card once again, obliterating it.
Dan gritted his teeth. "My Negate Attack card too? This is ridiculous."
"Battle! Epignosai Kaph, attack the face-down monster on the left!" The creature pointed one of its arms at the face-down, and the petals on its wrist fired like bullets, striking the face-down monster and destroying it. Before its destruction, however, it briefly revealed itself – it was clearly a dragon, but was humanoid in shape, and carrying a sword and shield like a warrior.
Troop Dragon: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 700/DEF 900
"Troop Dragon's effect activates!" Dan interjected. "When its destroyed by battle, it Summons another copy of itself to the field." An identical dragon appeared in place of the first.
Troop Dragon: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 700/DEF 900
"Hmph, Aleph, destroy it!" Jad commanded. The incubation machine launched a blast of pure white electricity at the second dragon, which exploded in an instant.
Dan seemed unperturbed. "And due to its effect, I Summon the third copy."
Troop Dragon: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 700/DEF 900
"That ends my turn," Jad settled back to watch his opponent's next turn.
"I draw..." Dan considered the few options he had. Considering the severity of his lockdown, he made the decision to continue playing defensive, at least until an opening presented itself. "I'll set one monster, plus one Spell or Trap Card. Your move." Dan's new face-downs appeared: his field now contained two set monsters, Troop Dragon, one set Spell/Trap Card, and Polaris' Blizzard.
Jad seemed severely disappointed. "Come now, young man," he called across the lab. "This isn't the kind of duel I was expecting at all. I was expecting you to be strong, hot-blooded, constantly attacking, just like your red-headed friend was. Not dueling with these defensive shenanigans."
"Trust me, under different circumstances you'd be seeing more out of me," Dan replied. "But at the moment I'm kind of locked down – in more ways than one."
Katie tapped Leah on the shoulder, confused. "Hey, what does he mean by 'more ways than one'?"
"Well, he's locked down by Jad's Trap Cards for a start," Leah replied in a whisper. "But he's also locked down by our own agreement, remember? We agreed never to Summon our Numbers against non-Number holders, because they're dangerous." Katie let out a small gasp, suddenly understanding. "Which means that Dan has to play on the defensive until he can find a way out."
Jad shook his head in disappointment. "Well, I guess I can't do much about it. All I can do is keep attacking you – if you wish to win, you'll have to strike back sooner or later. It's my turn, draw! First I'll activate the effect of Epignosai Dimension Lab, returning Epignosai Sin to my Graveyard to banish Epignosai Reflection from my Deck." The empty test tube filled with translucent white tar, and the zombie monster rose back into it.
"Seriously? You have more of these lockdown cards?" Dan asked.
"Indeed," Jad replied. "And this one acts like Mirror Force when you declare an attack while it's banished."
"Mirror Force?" Dan exclaimed incredulously. "So if I try and attack, that thing will destroy all Attack Position monsters I control? Just like that?"
"Exactly like that." Jad said calmly. "So let's analyse this, shall we? With Epignosai Reflection, I can blow your field to pieces if you try and attack. With Epignosai Counter, I can negate one Spell or Trap Card you activate. With Epignosai Veil, I can negate the effects of a monster you control for one turn. With Epignosai Typhoon, I can destroy one Spell or Trap card you control if I feel threatened by it. And with Epignosai Pit, I can banish any single monster you try and Summon." He grinned and spread his arms. "In essence, you cannot make a move unless I allow it."
Dan grinned. "Yeah... looks like I'm in a bit of a sticky situation here, doesn't it?"
"Quite," Jad agreed, before resuming his move. "I Normal Summon Epignosai Pe." A blob of black tar appeared in mid-air, and formed itself into a condor-like creature. Its feathers, including its unusually large neck plumage, were pitch black, as were its feet, tail, and beak, which was long and hooked. Like the other Epignosai monsters, it had no eyes. Black tar splattered the floor of the lab as it flapped its wings.
Epignosai Pe: Winged Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1700
"Pe's effect activates." Jad declared smugly. "Once per turn, I can banish one Epignosai monster from my Graveyard, and increase Pe's ATK and DEF by 500 for the rest of this turn. I banish Epignosai Sin." For the third time that duel, the zombified creature descended through a hatch in the bottom of its chamber and out of sight. The white tar drained away with it.
Epignosai Pe: ATK 1700 → 2200/DEF 1700 → 2200
"Oh man, now you have a card that can give your monsters 1000 more ATK if you want?" Dan lamented. "You're really not taking any chances, are you?"
"Indeed I'm not," Jad replied. "Now to battle! Epignosai Pe, attack his newly set monster!" The bird swopped down at the face-down monster, which flipped up to receive the attack. It was a fairly small dragon, with black leathery skin and two long horns on its head.
Polaris Dragon Sona: Dragon-Type/Tuner/WATER/Level 3/ATK 800/DEF 900
Pe slammed into the new monster, but the dragon refused to be destroyed, instead sending the bird spinning away across the room with a swipe of its tail. "What's this?" Jad asked. "My monster is stronger; that thing should've been destroyed."
"Normally yes," Dan agreed. "But Polaris Dragon Sona has an effect of its own. Due to this effect, it can't be destroyed by a single battle in a turn, so you have to attack it twice in one turn to actually destroy it."
"Hmph, more of these defensive tactics, is it?" Jad said. "Fine, Kaph, deal it the finishing blow. And while I'm at it, Aleph, attack his other face-down monster!" Both monsters fired their respective attacks at Dan's field, and both monsters perished in the destruction. The face-down monster turned out to be Masked Dragon.
Masked Dragon: Dragon-Type/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1400/DEF 1100
"I activate Masked Dragon's effect, which lets me Summon one Dragon-Type monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck when it's destroyed by battle." Dan explained. "Appear, Twin-Headed Behemoth!" The two-headed dragon appeared.
Twin-Headed Behemoth: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 1200
"Also, I'm using the effect of Polaris Dragon Islingh in my Graveyard." He added. "With this effect, I can Special Summon it from my Graveyard whenever a WATER Dragon-Type monster I control – like Polaris Dragon Sona - is destroyed by battle. Revive, Polaris Dragon Islingh!" The spindly-looking white dragon took to the field once again, settling alongside Dan's other two dragons.
Polaris Dragon Islingh: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 300
Jad let out a deep sigh, and for a long while he said nothing. He simply stood there, his head bowed, saying nothing.
"Um... Jad, are you alright?" Dan asked.
Jad took a long time to reply. "I... I'm perfectly fine young man," he muttered. "I just think it's finally time..."
"Time for what?" Now everyone was starting to get nervous.
"It's time!" Jad repeated loudly, and he suddenly raised his head to look Dan and the other four Deltas straight in the eyes. "Time for you to see what you're up against! Time for you to truly understand how hopeless your situation is!" By this point he was shouting at the top of his voice. "No more hiding! No more secrets! The time has come! Level four Epignosai Kaph and Epignosai Pe, OVERLAY!" The two monsters morphed into fully purple masses of light and soared upwards. Beneath them, a portal opened.
All five of the Deltas gasped in horror, staring at the portal that had opened, not believing what they were seeing...
It was a galaxy-style portal.
"I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon!" Both Xyz Material Monsters shot into the portal, which exploded. A cloud of compressed steam rose up out of the portal, like the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. "Arise! Number 55: Vapour Freeze!"
It was exactly what they had feared. The deep purple number fifty-five etched itself onto the right hand side of Jad's neck. With the sound of rushing wind, the cloud of steam rising out of the portal was sucked back down to earth, swirling around a colossal spherical chunk of ice. The sphere then began to vibrate violently, to the point where it looked like it was about to shatter. The steam was pulled even more thickly around the ice, enshrouding it, almost completely obscuring it from the world... suddenly, two piercing yellow eyes opened within the swirling steam, and looked around at the field, shining clearly through the cloud of steam. The two blue Overlay Units drifted around it, riding on the vapour currents that still encircled the frozen monster.
Number 55: Vapour Freeze: Pyro-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 4/ATK 2100/DEF 1200 – 2 OLU
Leah took a step back, and put a hand to her mouth in fright. "Impossible... he has another Number?"
"No way..." Matt breathed, staring at the monster in disbelief. "I can't believe this is happening... not now..."
"Jad!" Dan shouted. "Jad, what's going on? Where did you get that Number? How long have you h-"
"Enough! Enough of your questions!" Jad shouted. "I grow weary of them! And stop calling me Jad! I'm sick of using that name! From now on, you shall no longer address me like that! Instead, you shall use my real name! Understood?"
"Your real name? What are you talking about?" Dan asked.
The man once known as Jad spread his hands wide, his yellow lab coat flapping around him, and proclaimed his true identity loudly and clearly. "My name is Doctor Lithon!"
Author-made cards:
Epignosai Kaph (credit to Superjad)
Plant-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1500/DEF 1500
You can target 2 "Epignosai" cards in your Graveyard; banish them. Each player can only use the effect of "Epignosai Kaph" once per Duel.
Epignosai Sin (credit to Superjad)
Zombie-Type/LIGHT/Level 4/ATK 300/DEF 300
During either player's turn, if this card is currently banished: You can return this card to the Graveyard, then target 1 face-up "Epignosai" monster you control; that target gains 1000 ATK.
Epignosai Pe (credit to Superjad)
Winged Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1700
Once per turn: You can target 1 "Epignosai" monster in your Graveyard; banish it, and if you do, this card gains 500 ATK and DEF until the End Phase.
Polaris Dragon Sona
Dragon-Type/Tuner/WATER/Level 3/ATK 800/DEF 900
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by a battle.
Polaris Dragon Islingh
Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 300
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. If this card is in the Graveyard, when a face-up WATER Dragon-Type monster (except "Polaris Dragon Islingh") you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.
Epignosai Aleph (credit to Superjad)
Machine-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 2300/DEF 2300
2 Level 4 "Epignosai" monsters
This card gains the original Types of all Overlay Units attached to it. Once per turn: You can detach and banish 2 Overlay Units from this card, then target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
Polaris Adventitia, the Mythic Citadel
Field Spell Card
Face-up Dragon-Type monsters gain 200 ATK and DEF. During each Standby Phase: Place 1 Polaris Counter on each face-up monster. Once per turn: You can discard 1 card, then target 1 face-up monster; place Polaris Counters on it equal to its Level. If this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you can remove 2 Polaris Counters from the field instead.
Epignosai Dimension Lab (credit to Superjad)
Field Spell Card
Once per turn: You can target 1 of your banished "Epignosai" monsters; return that target to the Graveyard, and if you do, banish 1 "Epignosai" card from your Deck.
Polaris' Blizzard
Continuous Trap Card
When your opponent Summons a monster(s): Place Polaris Counters on each of those Summoned monsters, equal to their respective Levels. You must control a face-up "Polaris" monster to activate and resolve this effect.
Epignosai Typhoon (credit to Superjad)
Trap Card
Cannot be banished (except by the effect of an "Epignosai" card). If this card is currently banished: You can return this card to the Graveyard, then target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy it.
Epignosai Reflection (credit to Superjad)
Trap Card
Cannot be banished (except by the effect of an "Epignosai" card). When your opponent's monster declares an attack, if this card is currently banished: You can return this card to the Graveyard; destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.
Fun Fact #16: I believe the phrase "BOOM, PLOT TWIST" would be appropriate here.
Fun Fact #17: No, we're not putting Vapour Freeze's stats in this chapter. If any of you thought we would, then you clearly aren't farmiliar with our strict 'keep readers in suspense' policy.