Chapter 5

LAST TIME…

When testing new students in their entrance exams, Rory duelled Michael, who tricked Rory and overcame him easily. However, Rory trained with Damien so that he could defeat him, whilst Michael duelled every student in Obelisk, beating even Richard. So Damien, Rory and Richard concocted a plan to trick Michael in to a rematch duel with Rory, who quickly become overcame by Michael's machines, especially upon the arrival of VWXYZ dragon catapult cannon and Ancient gear gadjiltron dragon. Things became even worse though when Michael revealed that he is the hailed one who destroyed dreadroute. Can Rory hold his own against the fabled hailed one?

Rory was still standing motionless, bemused by Michael's revelation. The hailed one himself shook with anger, before focussing himself.

"Time to bring about your downfall then." He snorted. "I tribute my magician of faith to summon Jinzo and equip him with Amplifier, so that he negates the effect of all your trap cards, like that skill drain of yours! However, since your threatening roar was activated before he was summoned, I still can't attack this turn."

As Michael sniggered this, his magician vanished and was replaced by a large, green and black armoured android, with a bright pink head which had been crushed out of shape. (2400/1500). It shot out a green energy ball at Rory's trap as Michael prompted it, shattering the card.

"Now that my monsters have been freed up, I fuse with my Gear dragon!"

Michael floated forwards, the dragon wrapping itself around him like skin. As he emerged from the produced glow, he had a large metal helmet like the dragon's head, and was covered from head to toe in steel armour, the musty colour of the ancient gears. From cracks in the armour stuck large iron gears and cogs, turning away as Michael's eyes glowed red from beneath the helmet.

"I set two cards facedown, and now I will pay life points to increase my monster's strength!" Michael yelled, as his life points dropped to 50. (4600/2000).

"My turn." Rory muttered, panicking subtly. "I start by playing a spell card, polymerization! This card allows me to fuse the dragon on my field with the Gaia the fierce knight in my hand, which creates the Chaos emperor knight!"

The large, silver armoured knight dropped from the sky, its shimmering armour coating its blue skin underneath fully. The enormous blade in its hands radiated with light, as it sucked in energy from the graveyard. (3300/2000)

"And since there are 6 cards removed from play, and eleven in our graves, my emperor knight gains 2900 attack points!" Rory yelled, as the knight's attack total rose to 6200.

"Stop there!" Michael grunted, "I chain taunt. This means that this turn, only my VWXYZ dragon catapult cannon can be targeted. Then I activate my other trap, spirit barrier, meaning that all damage is reduced to zero if I still have a monster."

"Fine. I attack your VWXYZ Dragon catapult cannon!" Rory yelled, "And destroy it!"

Rory leapt in to the air, slamming in to his chaos emperor knight as he combined with it. After the change, however, there was barely any difference, and the only change was that Rory was now inside the armour. As he met it, his life points fell to 100. (6499/2000).

"Shimmer sword smash!" Rory yelled as he flew up in to the sky, and soared downwards, energy glowing around him as he fell. He pulled out his sword and held it above his head, stopping a metre from the Catapult cannon and bringing the sword down at the same time. The speed of the attack blew the monster in to a million pieces, sending them all flying.

"Now, then." Rory chuckled mischievously. "I call upon the arena's other special power. By paying half my life points, I can attack another one of your monsters!"

Michael and Damien both gasped. Michael gasped because of the sudden comeback, and Damien because of the shock that Rory also knew how to control his arena.

Rory's life fell to 50, like Michael's, and he burst forwards again, hitting Jinzo this time. Now, only he and Michael were left on the field, and both were scowling at each other, hovering the length of the arena apart.

"So then, Michael." Rory laughed. "We each have 50 life points and ourselves. The winner of this battle will be the winner of the match."

"And since this is now a shadow game, the winner will leave with his soul!" Michael exclaimed, reminding Rory of the horrific truth. "And there is no turning back now! Fastest fingers first!"

"I set one more card and end my turn." Rory smiled. "So it's all down to your move now."

Michael drew a card, and held out his empty hand. An eerie mist appeared around the duellists, covering them from head to toe in shadow, so that the others could no longer detect them. The black smog grew to an enormous size, until it had made an enormous orb surrounding the duel arena, and blocking the two contestants from everyone else.

"I thought that it would be appropriate to end this duel in the shadow realm." Michael laughed.

Meanwhile, on a small island a few hundred metres off the coast of Duel academy, a man sat, watching the duel. The dank, dirty cave had barely any light, and the rich, high society man found it aggravating.

"So then," He began, muttering to the man behind him. "You are sure that Supotco can eliminate these two warriors? My master will be very unpleased if he fails."

"I am certain of it, Lord Cari-"

"Do not use my true name!" The man viewing snapped, not taking his eyes away from the screen. "There are probably spies here. I cannot sacrifice my cover."

"Fine then. Supotco shall have no problem however, as he has the world's greatest creatures."

"Maybe. But anyway, there are plenty more fish in the sea, aren't there?" the man grinned. "Send in your observer to see their tactics more closely, Lieutenant!"

"Yes, master." Lieutenant muttered, as an old, bearded man listened from a corner of the room. The man stepped outside, unnoticed by the agents around him.

"All shall be ready soon, Master." Thought the unnamed man "And when you rise, my glory shall be all-known."

He smiled, his master's promise to him ringing in his head. "Bring about the end of the hailed one and his allies, and you shall have what was taken from you, and so much more. Fail me and you shall rot in the shadow realm."

The final words made him shiver. He did not wish to rot in darkness forever. And he did not think that it was a bluff. The one time that he had met his master, he had known that. From the look in those maniacal eyes, and the shimmer of evil running through his silver streaked hair, he knew that the man was pure evil.

Emptying his mind of these thoughts, he returned his gaze to the screen, where the two armour-clad warriors were preparing for their final bout.

Rory absorbed his surroundings; the dark purple haze that he had been informed was the shadow realm itself.

"So then, Michael, or should I call you hailed one?" Rory growled "What is your real name?"

"I was born with the name Mikrael Theseus, in Greece." Michael muttered. "I was not born with any powers whatsoever. I earned them by fighting dark Dreadroute and his master."

"His master? I thought that Dreadroute worked for himself."

"No. He was a duel monster spirit like all others, created by a dark warrior of pure evil. That man walked through time and space itself, everything behind him burning in flame. One day, a group of three men came to me. Each of them bore the power of one of the gods of Greece, Zeus, Hades and Neptune. They entrusted them to me to fight the man, and I challenged him. But his servant transformed in to something darker, more powerful…"

"Dreadroute."

"Indeed. I defeated the creature with only Zeus left fighting, but the demon who summoned him fled through the eras. Now he is set to return to this time, and it is my duty to stop him!"

"That's why you're here?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll help you."

"Maybe. We'll see. I shall lift the shadows around us."

As he waved his hand, the dark presence lifted, and the crowd could once more see them. Both were still hovering motionlessly, energy crackling across their armour.

"I believe that it was your move." Rory smirked

"Then I attack you!" Michael screamed, bursting forwards, "And chain limiter removal!"

Michael surged with power, His armour barely clinging to him. He shot upwards, and rocketed down at Rory, his body separating as he entered a hypersonic speed. Just when he was around ten metres away, Rory flipped his card.

"I activate my final attack orders!" He yelled, as Michael crashed in to him, the speed he was moving at creating a blinding light that stunned all of the students watching.

The light cleared, and all eyes turned back to the duel, watching to see if Rory had indeed lost. Michael's fist was stuck out violently, ready to crush Rory, but Rory was not destroyed. He had his own hand out, clutching on to Michael's and holding it at bay.

"But I should have destroyed you!" Michael roared in astonishment

"Not today." Rory panted, his energy drained. "I activated my final attack orders, which turns all monsters in to attack position, and makes us destroy all but three cards in our deck, which we can place in any order we choose."

"That changes nothing!"

"No, that changes everything!" Rory grinned "the monsters that were destroyed are still honoured by boosting me further. They shall be avenged by my blade!"

Michael's eyes widened. He looked down at his attack points, 9200, and then at Rory's which were still rising. Eventually, they stopped, clicking in to place at a grand total of 13200 points.

"No! My plan was perfect! How did I fail?" Michael stuttered, as Rory thrust his fist back

"You fought me!" he yelled, slamming his sword down hard across the length of Michael's body. Light exploded from inside, and a great rattling burst of flame emerged, disintegrating everything in its path. As the fireball dimmed, Rory pulled back his shield, the attack over. He floated down to the balcony, and the armour faded, leaving him to collapse on the floor.

"You did it!" Damien smiled "You beat Michael! You just beat the hailed one!"

"Where did he go?" Richard asked, looking at the blank space of air where Michael had been.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll turn up." Rory grinned, his bruised face giving a minute smile.

"Better get you to the hospital wing." Damien laughed. "No duelling for a couple of weeks."

"What? No duelling? No, Damien, I'm fine!" Rory grinned, trying to support his own weight, before collapsing again.

He, Richard and Rory laughed. A little way off, at the foot of the academy docks, a small boat arrived, carrying with it an old, bearded man, with terrible news. He set off up the slope to warn the chancellor, but the strike was set to begin momentarily.

The unknown man on the island slipped on his coat and stepped on to his private jet, leaving the island before Supotco returned, so that he could watch from a distance. His master would soon return to ravage the world again.