Soul of a Duelist

Turn 3: Poison of the Mind: Infection Setting In

(Iris: 6500 Aegis: 8000)

For an instant, right before the darting purple snake would make contact with Aegis and decimate a portion of his life points, he found himself recalling of how he wound up in such a situation.

With his head full of lead and aching from forcing it to operate with such little rest and far too much weighing on his mind, Aegis found himself dueling the current undefeated star of the dueling world, Iris Lifian. Yet even a person in such a high position seemed to know something about the former man Aegis once was; the thought of what or how Iris knew about him concerned him deeply. Combined with her knack of throwing the crowd into fits to get her way with mind games Aegis had wagered his treasured blue hat for no better reason than to appease the masses.

With his line of thought solidified Aegis directed his attention back to the game at hand, in which case he would lose the wager and his precious travelling hat. "Like I'd lose my hat this easily!" Sleep-deprived, barely able to focus and still unable to make his mind operate at full capacity, Aegis still was able to fight back with zealous glee.

"As if your snake is going to touch me!" Aegis suddenly burst out with a loud cry. "Ring of Destruction, finish this blasted bet! I'm taking back my hat now and you can't stop me!" One of the two set cards on Aegis' field rose and revealed a gray ring with grenades attached to it. The device spun through the air and intercepted Iris' Venom Snake and exploded on contact. "Your monster is destroyed, and we both take damage equal to its attack points!" The impact had been great and caused tremendous amounts of holographic smoke to cover the dueling field, momentarily overcoming the deep purple mist created by Iris' Venom Swamp.

(Iris: 5300 Aegis: 7300)

"So how do you like that? I'm taking my hat and your favor!" Aegis promptly put his open left hand out and towards Iris. He had expected her to be upset at losing the wager, but when the smoke settled she had her eyes closed serenely and simply smiled casually back. Aegis faltered for a moment, looking fairly troubled at the lack of a response. "Not even a little miffed…"

"I'm not entirely sure if you did win our wager, Aegis." Iris finally spoke, her voice as cold as ice and no louder than a hiss.

"What do you mean?! I just delivered the first blow! Even you can't deny that!" Aegis found himself hard pressed for self-control; the lack of sleep was telling him to deliver an entirely different kind of blow to Iris to settle the wager.

"That's true, but in the process you damaged yourself at the same time." Iris reopened her eyes slightly and glanced over at Aegis slyly.

"Well, I should win another prize for being able to deliver both of the first hits on our life points!" Aegis found his argument fell on deaf ears as the crowd had began to show their support for the reigning champion and were blasting the stadium with booing and other displays of disapproval.

"Why don't we let the judge decide then?" Iris' voice immediately silenced the crowd; Aegis growling lowly at the one-sided show of loyalty. Suddenly Aegis realized that it was David who was the head judge for the match. The two knew each other well, and Aegis suddenly felt assured in having his hat returned to him, it would only be-

"The way I see it, Iris was going to deal you damage no matter what you did, and since you played Ring of Destruction you didn't really do anything about the damage, just you did it to yourself…So how about we say you both won the bet?"

"Dead man walking." Aegis suddenly couldn't find any part of his being that felt a kinship with David as he gave his decision. With great anguish he watched as David handed Iris one of his only earthly possessions, the slightly tattered royal blue hat that had kept his head warm and dry from the summer showers had found its way into Iris' elegant grip.

With a feverish grin David approached Aegis' podium carefully, his arm stretched out as far as he could make it with the white handkerchief that Iris had wagered in hand. Aegis shot David a glare full of more venom than the entire simulated field, the judge sweating more profoundly but still mustering up the nerve to approach the enraged man.

"S-Sorry, Aegis, but at least you still got something out of it!" David's brand of optimism didn't amount to very much in Aegis' one good eye. While muttering curses under his breath Aegis swiped the handkerchief out of David's hand and promptly pocketed it into his trenchcoat.

"Now don't be so angry, Aegis. I know for a fact that things like that go for lots of money if you find the right buyer." Iris' commentary failed to improve Aegis' mood; however he did have to stop the urge to pull the cloth back out to examine it. The scowl on his face would only deepen as Iris looked over her new hat carefully, turning it over and flipping it around. Finally she placed the top into her left hand and mimicked the action Aegis performed to place the hat on his head; even pressing down on it slightly while leaning back gently, a perfect duplication of how Aegis had placed the garment on during the duel against James Raven.

Smiling deviously, Iris tipped the hat forward to cover up her eyes so only her thinly pressed smile peaking out at Aegis. "How does it look?"

Aegis grumbled to himself, the answer was obvious to him and anyone else in the stadium. His hat looked awfully out of place compared to Iris' refined attire. While the worn out hat looked more appropriate for an outlaw or a desperado to wear as they entered a ghost town in the Wild West, on Iris it was quite a farce. But just as Aegis was reaching his breaking point he was brought back from the edge by a cold slap of reality from one of the still functioning cognitive centers in his brain. "Again! I've fallen into another mind game! Everything she does is an attempt to throw me off balance and blind me from the duel! In this state I'm already in rough shape so I'm even more vulnerable than I normally would be! I have to do something to get a grip on the situation, something, anything I can exploit!"

As his starting point Aegis reached into his pocket with his right hand and reproduced the neatly folded white handkerchief. With a flick of the wrist he forced the cloth to unfold and then with a surprisingly well-trained motion, shoved a corner of the cloth into his collar. Aegis bent his fingers in a talon-like shape as he gripped the handkerchief and finally pulled his hand away from the cloth with such a practiced motion it actually produced ripples in the cloth to make it into an elegant addition to his own once regal trenchcoat. For a finishing touch Aegis rose his arm up and began to undo his hair which kept his right eye hidden and with another twitch in his wrist Aegis forced the sheath of hair into standing position, bangs of hair sprawled out in the air and arching in all directions. Suddenly Aegis had transformed himself into someone who could carry the same refined air as Iris; even without the proper robes he had practiced the art of flaunting. Standing with the dignity of a noble but the scars of a serf Aegis looked like he had become the Phantom of the Opera after he was unmasked.

Now with his own gray eye glowing through the haze back at Iris' yellow eyes Aegis felt like he was making progress to even out the psychological playing field. Iris appeared amused by Aegis' change in demeanor and tipped her hat up with her finger. "I'm glad to see you're starting to enjoy things, Aegis."

"A dance like this would obviously be quite the pleasure with such a partner to accompany me." Aegis watched carefully as Iris stumbled over her words for a split-second; but long enough for Aegis to know he had turned the tables. "Looks like if I start giving reactions that don't make sense to her I can give back some of this confusion. Let's see how far I can take this." Within his mind the scoreboard had suddenly gave a point in his favor; though he made sure to block out whatever Iris' score was prior to viewing the display.

"Regardless, I end my turn." Iris appeared slightly flustered, the crowd picking up on the change immediately and began to whisper.

"Try to keep up then!" Aegis gave a single glance at the new card he had drawn and immediately placed it into his duel-disk. "I'm activating my Binding Ritual to summon Dark Dust Spirit from my hand! (2200/1800)" As Aegis' spell card emerged onto the field the chains that leapt forth from it had to struggle as they approached a massive sandstorm in the sky. Latching onto something, the chains began to retract and in the process the storm ceased to allow the monster to be viewed.

The spindly red body of some strange beast struggled against the chains, countless spines along its body almost piercing through the dark steel links in the chains. Its hands were long and boney, covered up in worn out brown bandages. The beast's head whipped back and forth as it attempted to break free, its bright yellow eyes blazing through the purple haze. As its head moved it also caused its long gray hair to fly in all directions, only adding to the deranged appearance of the monster Aegis had summoned.

"Upon summoning my spirit it automatically destroys all other monsters on the field, namely your three Venom Snakelets!" As Aegis spoke a second sandstorm appeared and blew through the stadium, taking with it the three small serpents on Iris' field off into the great beyond.

"Direct attack! Demonic Wind!" Aegis wasted no time in his plays, moving as fast as he could to keep Iris off balance. And just as another dirt devil appeared, Iris reacted just the way Aegis was hoping for.

"I'll pay five hundred life points to bring back one of my snakelets, you're attack will have to go through my monster first."

(Iris: 4800 Aegis: 7300)

One of the discarded egg shell wearing snakes reappeared on the field. As it did it spat out another phantom copy of itself that latched onto Aegis' monster, dropping its strength (1700/1800). Aegis grinned at the gap growing between the life point counts and then flung his arm forward once more. "Fine, destroy the Venom Snakelet, Demonic Wind!"

A mighty blast of sand came from thin-air and ripped through Iris' monster without any hesitation, the tiny serpent shattering instantly. "I'll end my turn here." Aegis recoiled slightly at a tiny purple serpent bursting out of the stadium floor. But he remembered the abilities of Iris' Venom Swamp and watched as a second snake attached itself onto his monster, the beast losing some of its energy as it continued to fight against the chains holding it down (1200/1800).

Despite being in a rather tough situation, Iris appeared relatively calm; though Aegis began to suspect she was starting to lose some of her composure after his latest stunt. "You're not the first person to think that they could beat me by exploiting my Venom Snakelets, Aegis." From the tone of her voice it appeared that the next exchange of words in the war had begun.

"You can do better than that, can't you? I expect better moves from you, Aegis." Another shot coming from something Iris knew about Aegis. It caused some damage to his position, but a strange idea occurred to him; the last one worked well so there was a chance it would work again.

"How about we make another wager?" Aegis narrowed his eyes slightly, feigning amusement as he did so. "Each time I damage your life points, you tell me what you know about me." The challenge caused Iris to grin, her hat tilting down slightly to cover up all but her devious lips.

"If I damage your life points then you have to answer anything I ask." Aegis grimaced at the prospect, but he had already walked far too deep to pull out. Yet something in his mind told him to call off the challenge, something felt wrong.

"I accept!" Aegis immediately regretted the decision, especially when the murmuring in the stands intensified. Iris' smile widened like a serpent's. "Don't disappoint me now." She added quietly, Aegis barely able to hear the comment. "I think I overdid it this time…But I need to figure out what she knows about me!"

Iris gracefully plucked a card from her deck, looking at it for a moment and then addressing Aegis. "I'll be taking that first strike! I summon Venom Hydra to the field (1900/0)." A new beast began to materialize, this one being about twice the size of the basilisk that Iris had summoned at the start of the duel. The body of the creature was a deep crimson and was about five feet thick. As one traced the scales upwards the main section branched off into nine smaller heads, each one moving of its own accord as the heads hissed and twitched in the air.

"You will regret challenging me like that, Aegis. Venom Hydra, attack his Dark Dust Spirit with Venom Mist!" The nine heads of Iris' monster reared up and snapped forward, releasing rapid moving jets of black mist that engulfed Aegis monster.

(Iris: 4800 Aegis: 6600)

"While my hydra can't destroy your monsters directly, the damage will still get you." Aegis found himself regretting his hasty decision deeply as the black mist made its way up to his podium before diffusing, taking away seven hundred of his life points. "Any monster my hydra battles with isn't destroyed even if it is weaker, however afterwards Venom Counters are placed onto the monster equal to its level. If my serpents don't get you, the swamp will, won't it?" Iris laughed quietly, using her new hat to amplify her sinister aura. Aegis grunted as he watched six phantom snakes came out of the hydras' many mouths and latched onto his spirit, promptly eradicating it from the field with a surge of purple liquid from below.

Aegis' hands became clammy when he looked into Iris' ever expanding smile. The serpent had been waiting for such a catastrophic fallacy and now that it arrived Aegis would receive a full injection of poison. "Don't tell me she was planning for this too?!" Aegis' hands clenched themselves tightly, fidgeting slightly in his podium.

"Tell me something about yourself after you left the dueling world, Aegis." Aegis let out a sigh of relief; the first question was relatively harmless. Still his instincts told him not to answer anything outright. Each time he could speak there would be another chance to create an opportunity to manipulate the situation, so he leapt on his first one.

"Well, I'm a travelling writer that has published a number of works in recent months that have become fairly well known in specific social circles. I'm six foot, three inches, weight…undisclosed. I also enjoy long walks by the beach and candle-lit dinners with the right company. My likes include warm beds and food to eat. My dislikes include cold nights and poor economic standing." Aegis pulled on all of his willpower to speak loudly, clearly and concisely with the straightest face as possible. The crowd began to snicker in response to Aegis' terrible answer, however more importantly Iris snickered in response to Aegis' terrible answer.

"Do you always say such useless things?" Iris' smile had become notably friendlier at Aegis' joke. Defiantly, Aegis folded his arms together and lifted his head up to look down his nose at Iris before he gave his response.

"I'm a writer." Another laugh went throughout the crowd, Iris chuckling to herself as well.

"Of course, my apologies. Your turn, Aegis." Though it appeared like a meaningless exchange, Aegis was confident in what he had gained. He unfolded his arms and shut his eyes for a moment to evaluate what he had learned. "For someone that's so good at the game she's easily distracted by these wagers. If I can keep her amused long enough she won't realize the damage I've done in time to stop me!"

"I'll start my turn by playing Spirit's Gift. By sending a spirit from my deck into the graveyard I'll draw two more cards." Aegis flipped his deck open like a fan and began to look through the images before him. He had never looked through the deck prior to the tournament, an act mostly out of fear and respect for its original owner. Yet he couldn't help but feel foolish as most of the cards were foreign to him. Finally he found an exceptionally detailed card, pulled it out and then paused as he took note of the card's name. "Spirit of the Betrayer? Why do I feel so strange with this card in hand?"

Knowing that continued thought would ruin all of his efforts thus far, Aegis promptly placed the card in between his pointer and middle finger as he reassembled the deck, shuffling it and placing it back into his duel-disk. "I'm sending the spirit monster, Spirit of the Betrayer into the graveyard, and now I'll draw." Aegis noticed that he had to keep his voice rather flattened and could only show the slight inclination towards emotion to maintain his new appearance.

"That's interesting." Iris interrupted Aegis' delicate ritual of personification with an almost sing-song voice. "There's a database of all the cards printed in the game of Duel Monsters that's released to the public. Duelists in my league have won customized cards, but even those are in that database. Yet I've never seen the cards you use. How did you get such a deck, Aegis?" Aegis brought all of his determination forward to crush the powerful urge he had to flinch at the observation.

"You have to damage me again if you want an answer." Aegis strained intensely to remain calm as he could feel his deranged mind hurling the memories of his deck and its previous owner at him. Iris appeared a bit put off by the reply but shrugged her shoulders lightly. She sighed lightly and laughed.

"So I've found a trace of the real Aegis Hallow." Iris laughed yet again, Aegis feeling like he had walked into another den of serpents.

"I'm continuing my turn, Iris!" Aegis salvaged what he could to rebuild a foundation of his persona, but Iris' almost flirtatious laughing had started again. For some reason whenever she did that instead of relishing his good fortune like any male in the audience would, Aegis couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat.

"I'm honored, Aegis." It had been awhile since Iris had said something completely unrelated, Aegis supposed it was due time for something off beat. "That's the second time you've called me by my name. I noticed you never once addressed your previous opponents by name, but that's the second time you've called me by my name. You must see me on equal terms as you." Indeed something from left field had once again come out of her mouth. Aegis didn't feel very flattered, especially when he could feel the weight of jealous glares coming from all sides. Another masterfully played tactic that put more pressure on Aegis.

"I guess this is what they mean by 'tangling with the serpent'. I shouldn't have picked one of her own games to beat her at, this is getting too dangerous! But it's definitely too late for me to back down, if she gets bored by things I'll be wiped off the field in a heartbeat…What have I gotten myself into?" Aegis drew his new cards and felt relieved as he saw the glint of silver in one of the portraits he held.

"I'm summoning Orpheus to the field! (1900/1600)" The mist parted for a moment to allow a silver body to appear on Aegis' field. The creature raised its mechanical limbs and straightened up to stand on level with Aegis behind him. Despite the perpetual purple haze, Orpheus' silver body still shone like a beacon, his head however was barely visible. But the black face remained, its slit eyes staring blankly forward in-between the bangs of silver hair. Attached by nothing at all, a massive silver harp rested on his back, its strings twinkling in what little light pierced the shroud in the stadium.

"Orpheus, play us a note and get rid of this haze! Discord!" The monster leapt into action immediately. Grabbing his silver harp, Orpheus reached across it with one arm and plucked at the cords to create a sharp note. As the noise rang out, a blast of lightning fired out of the instrument's strings and straight through the mist, piercing Iris' field card, shattering it and dispelling the deep purple fog. The stadium's atmosphere cleared up as the holographic mist faded away, Aegis thankful to see clearly once more.

Iris appeared slightly disappointed at what happened, but Aegis was disturbed at the lack of reaction when he had destroyed a vital piece of her strategy. Regardless he had no choice but to play into another one of her traps if he wanted to break through to her life points. "I can't attack with Orpheus after using its ability, so I end my turn."

"You're rather fond of that card…I must ask about it as well." The subtle undertones of intimidation weren't lost on Aegis, once again he became very aware of the cold sweat forming on his forehead. "But first I'll have you answer me, Aegis. I pay another five hundred of my life points to bring back my Venom Snakelet."

(Iris: 4300 Aegis: 6600)

Aegis didn't understand the move as there was no direct need to bring back the snake. Yet it reappeared, still within the confines of its tiny egg. It spat a purple replica of itself that latched onto Orpheus' right leg, but nothing happened as Venom Swamp was missing.

"Now I activate my facedown card, Venom Burn. By removing Venom Counters from a monster on your field you take seven hundred points of damage for each counter." Aegis grunted as the purple serpent on Orpheus leapt off of his silver body and charged straight for his podium. The serpent burst into flames on contact with Aegis' podium, fake fire engulfing Aegis' for a moment as he listened to his life points drop.

(Iris: 4300 Aegis: 5900)

"Tell me, where did you get that deck, Aegis?" Iris wasted no time with her reward, eyeing Aegis dangerously with her serpentine gaze. If he made another joke it was clear that Iris would make him pay dearly.

"I was given it by an old friend." Aegis replied as accurately as he could without giving away anything he guarded closely.

"Noah Ethereal?" The name coming from Iris' mouth shocked Aegis. She grinned as the man nearly stumbled over in his podium, her hat sliding forward to cover her eyes up and leave her signature smile. "I take that as a yes, and I didn't even have to work hard for that answer." Iris let her words sink into Aegis' mind as he began to franticly wonder how she knew the name.

"I want another answer, Aegis." Iris made it sound more of a command than it was a statement. Aegis began to wonder if any action he made was surprising to Iris; so far it seemed like everything he had done followed a closely scripted play that Iris was directing. "I'll bring back a second Venom Snakelet, placing a new Venom Counter onto your monster."

(Iris: 3800 Aegis: 5900)

As a second egg reappeared next to the first snake hatchling the same process as before repeated itself. The snake would poke its head out of the shell, still wearing half of the shell on its head. Then it would rear up slightly and hurl a violet snake through the air that would then latch onto Orpheus. Finally it would rest and bury itself back into the egg shell, hiding in defence mode.

"I activate the spell card, Venom Rebirth." The snake that had dug its fangs into Orpheus suddenly detached itself and flew back to Iris' side of the field. Upon reaching some destination it had in mind it erupted into a large cloud of purple smoke.

When the dust settled the snake had vanished but in its place Iris' first monster had reappeared on the field, her Venom Basilisk. The massive black serpent was coiled around itself, sitting on the ground and staring at Aegis with some malicious intent in its two red glowing eyes.

"By removing a Venom Counter from one of your monsters I can bring back a reptile from my graveyard. So I bring back my Venom Basilisk in defence mode. Also…" Iris' smile grew slightly, allowing some of her teeth to show through her lips, almost making it look like she was baring her own fangs. "Also when I activate this card you take eight hundred points of damage, Aegis."

(Iris: 3800 Aegis: 5100)

Aegis gripped the intact side of his podium tightly, his left hand drenched in sweat. "I can't escape! She's just toying with me to get what she wants, and I'm barely hanging on! If she wanted I'm sure Iris could finish this game at any point…This is really bad…How much does she actually know about me…?"

"For my second question, what happened to Noah Ethereal? You two were very close and he hasn't appeared anywhere in the last five years either, isn't that strange?" Iris tipped her hat up so she could look at Aegis struggling across from her. His grey eye was almost closed and as a result his scar was scrunched up, making him look incredibly distressed even hideous.

"Noah…He's…" Aegis' head began to throb as he thought of the name. His right eye began to ache suddenly and Aegis had to clutch at his head to try and catch his mind as it felt like it was seeping out of the cracks in his skull. Aegis' plan had failed dismally and he bordered psychosis instead of sophistication, the crowd pointing out the fact amongst themselves with eager gossip.

"He's…Dead." Aegis spat out the word with great difficulty, the syllables leaving a disgusting taste in his mouth as they left his throat. After answering Aegis forced everything from his mind, any thought, any idea, any goal, it had to be expelled or he knew his will would collapse from so much stress.

Iris appeared disturbed at the reply, especially considering how Aegis was acting. The crowd had become rowdy at the news, voices loudly wondering and voicing their suspicions out loud. With great difficulty Aegis found that he was regaining a grip on himself, even if it was just barely. Carefully he relaxed the muscles in his face one by one until he had regained his stoic face, though his hair had become rather messy at what had just happened.

"Continue…Your turn." Aegis spoke eerily calmly which caused the crowd to become quiet just because of how strange it was. Iris recovered her composure instantly and nodded her head slightly with a thin smile as always. "Of course."

"I end my turn then." Aegis was surprised at the sign of mercy. Iris had not even attacked that turn, but he assumed it was her way of apologizing for bringing up such a painful memory. Regardless Aegis was grateful. "In the end I think I can understand why Iris is so good. It's dangerous to play against her…Whatever she knows, however she knows it isn't important now. Her mind games are taking their toll on me and I can't forget what I'm here for. I need to draw something that can give me an advantage…"

Aegis paused as a cold chill went down his spine. "…Even if I have to use Endless Night I need to win here. It's not for myself, this is something for all of them counting on me, so I can suffer a bit more if I can end this!"

No longer bothering to maintain his façade Aegis allowed all of his emotion to surface, his face in torment as a trembling hand went to take his new card from the top of the deck. With a burst of courage he drew the card suspecting it to be the one that had finished off James Raven, but to his relief it was something entirely different. "Maybe I don't need that after all, this may be enough to stage my counterattack!"

"I'm activating the field spell card Sacred Burial Grounds!" Aegis inserted the card into a compartment hidden into the back of his gauntlet, the holographic projectors producing a thick fog in a similar manner to Iris' Venom Swamp. The floor suddenly became a dirt ground as well, however other than looking like a foggy field there was not much of a change.

"Next I'm summoning The White Lady in attack mode! (1800/400)" Next to Orpheus a tall figure in a long flowing white dress simply appeared, as if they had came out of the mist on the field. She had her face covered by shadows produced by a large white summer hat. Her arms were thin and pale, in her hands she carried a white parasol that rested against one shoulder. In a word the monster was haunting.

"Aegis…" Iris interrupted Aegis as he was halfway in placing his last card into his duel-disk. When Iris spoke her voice had become notably more serious, the tones that produced it seemed like they could freeze the air as the sound waves passed through it. "Does this mean that our wager is off? Be aware that my agreeing to your bet was just a kind gesture, so was letting you off with only minimal damage last turn. I can figure out what I want by other means that don't involve my wasting time like this. Now are you sure you don't want to reconsider what you're about to do?" Iris removed her hat and gave Aegis a heart-stopping glare with eyes so thin she herself looked like a poised serpent ready to strike.

"I'm tired, my head is killing me and I've been running on chemicals for the last two hours! If you want to know anything about me you can just pry it out of me by torture! Right now I'm sick of your twisted roundabout mind-games, so I'm going to smash right through them and end this!" Aegis found any attempt to control his voice and temper to be futile and wound up shutting angrily. His nerves were severely rattled by the memories he recalled and Aegis could feel himself pressed up against the limits of his willpower.

Iris didn't appear surprised or offended; instead she shut her eyes and laughed quietly.

"Then prepare yourself, Aegis Hallow." Iris placed the hat back on her head and left her slit eyes in plain sight staring at Aegis silently.