Here's chapter seventeen of my Yu-Gi-Oh GX fanfic. As we all know, this is a very much anticipated chapter in the fact that Tao's final situation will be realized, but let's hold off on that until the end, and I would appreciate it of none of you skip to that part and read the whole thing to give you that feel of tension.
To recap on the duels the first duel between Mori and Kazuya has kicked into high gear. Kazuya is now left one card in his hand, two face-down cards, and no monsters, and is left with 1000 life points.
Mori is left with two cards in his hand, one monster Guardian of Dauntless Souls (1900/1200) and two face-down cards, and is left with 4100 life points.
Amun is currently dueling against a girl named Yukie, against his will mind you, and on the verge of unleashing more than we've seen before. Amun is left with two cards in his hand, a monster Egyptian Spirit Isis (1600/1000), one face-up spell card and one face-up trap card Curse of Tut, and Anubis' Scale, and 4000 life points.
Yukie is left with four cards in her hand, two monsters Mahou Shoujo Houka (1500/700) and Mahou Shoujo Denkou (2400/1000) under the effect of a trap card Matured Magic, and 4000 life points.
DISCLAIMER: ALL THE CREDIT FOR YU-GI-OH GOES TO KAZUKI TAKAHASHI AND SHONEN JUMP. I OWN ONLY SOME OF THE OCs AND THE DECKS USED BY THEM.
Duel XVII: Warrior's Path; Windragon Shiron v. Paladins and Egyptian Spirits v. Mahou Shoujo, Part 3
"This probably means that Tao is already…" Amun started arranging the ruby attached to his wrist. "…Either losing his power over us, or he's dead."
"Don't say that, Amun!" Destiny yelled from behind him. "He still has about five months left before he's supposed to die! We can't just give up on him like that! If we don't trust in him, who will?"
"I never gave up on him," Amun reassured. "I'm just giving the current possibilities of his current situation. But unless he's already given up on the power we supposedly have, his death seems to be the more likely option."
"Do you have to act so depressive?" Trish asked from his left. "Do you ever think about anything, I don't know, happy?"
"Hey, giving that option that he's giving up is my version of happy," Amun answered. "It means that I'm not automatically going to the worst possible scenario," he said with a fake smile.
Amun lowered his head as a stray rock hit him square on the cheek forcing him to look over at Yukie who still kept the pose from when she threw the stone. Yukie straightened her pose and placed her hands on her hips with an annoyed look on her face.
"Kids shouldn't make fake smiles!" she shouted pointing at Amun. "It's disgusting to look at. Kids your age that play this game should be more worried about whether or not they have fun and not how they rate their own version of happy and upbeat."
"Forgive me for being stuck in a pyramid for a few days and then almost committing suicide a few weeks after," Amun said hunching his back over. "Generally that tends to make one feel as though they can't really ever smile with sincerity ever again."
Dodging several other stones thrown by Yukie Amun kept his back hunched over and looking over at her with dying eyes and a similar fake smile, "If you're turn is done, I'd like to get on with this."
"Fine," Yukie growled as her monster summoned by the trap card Matured Magic disappeared returning to the extra deck. "At the end of the turn that Matured Magic is activated the monster summoned returns to the extra deck."
"Sounds like fun," Amun said drawing his card from the deck. "I sacrifice my monster Isis, to summon Egyptian Spirit Sobek (2400/1900) in attack mode!" he declared as the winged woman left the field in a harsh light and was replaced by another female figure but with a crocodilian head. "Now the effect of Curse of Tut activates placing another Curse Counter on it," Amun reminded as the second eye on the mummy case lit up this time a spectral white. "And with that I'll activate the ability of Sobek, I can send any face-down card on my side of the field to halve her attack and attack you directly."
The card behind Sobek disappeared and flowed into the woman's body as she charged past the young girl holding the staff who cringed as she went by with her jaw opened wide. Closing down on Yukie the Egyptian Spirit returned to the other side of the field while Yukie's life points dropped from 4000-2800.
"I end my turn," Amun said closing his eyes.
"Tell me how you're gonna cry now?" Yukie asked with her hands back on her hips.
"I can't help it," Amun said. "It comes naturally."
"Well, now you're gonna feel the hurt!" she declared drawing her card. "First I set one card face-down. Then, I summon Mahou Shoujo Unsei (1200/2100) in defense mode!" she shouted summoning a girl with black and red hair reaching down to her shoulders with the four card suits circling her staff. "Now I synch my Unsei (LV4 Tuner) and my Houka (LV4) to Synchro summon Mahou Shoujo Enkai (2600/2000, LV8) in attack mode!" she declared as the girl with the four card suits turning into four red and black rings that surrounded the first girl with red hair replacing both with a much more matured woman with an inviting appeal to her eyes with a short scepter that was serrated at one end. "Now attack, with Magic Slicer! And the added benefit is that when Enkai attacks you can't activate any effect and your monster is removed from play instead."
The girl blew a kiss to Amun and then shot out a vast array of serrated objects that attacked and destroyed Sobek forcing Amun's life points from 4000-3800. Yukie looked through the passing smoke when she saw two lights begin to shine at the hands of the mummy case in green and yellow.
"How did you do that?" Yukie asked out of disbelief when a large scarab beetle disappeared from the field in the same instant that the smoke cleared.
"Curse of Tut allows me to give up half of my life points to negate the effect of any monster that attacks an Egyptian Spirit and then send one from my deck to the graveyard that is level four or higher," Amun explained as his life points dropped from 3800-1900. "So I chose to send my Scarab from my deck to the graveyard when you attacked."
"So you mean…?" Yukie asked.
"Your plan to use Enkai's effect to keep the curse from taking place is futile, and has just made things all the easier, but before I take my turn, why do want to keep me from who I am?" Amun asked.
Looking up at the sky Yukie gave off her first warm smile since the duel began, "Because no person, especially a kid should have to live the life I lived for so long before I realized all that I missed by thinking that the only person I could ever talk to was me."
"What do you mean?" Amun asked.
"I grew up in a tough neighborhood," Yukie answered. "A neighborhood that only valued those who could duel. I could duel, but not well enough to be considered needed by others so I played by myself online. I continued to do so for four years, never leaving my room until it was time to eat or some other necessity. I never thought that I had to leave the privacy until I was told about something I had to stop.
"Girls, where I come from, aren't allowed to duel by any means because we can't understand anything about the game, according to the thick-headed guys around. A few girls heard that I could duel online and thought that I had the skills to stop them from pushing us around anymore. I thought, 'What are you all thinking? I couldn't duel for real if my life depended on it.' But then they asked me if I could duel against if someone else's life depended on it."
"What did that mean?" Locket asked clutching her chest.
"The resistance was led by my friends and the boys had defeated them and taken them hostage. If it were the 'me' that knew what I knew so far I would have run and never returned, but every time I took a step backwards I found myself going forwards instead. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't walk away from them and act like nothing was happening. All the while blaming myself, a kid of thirteen, for all this because I was too afraid to step out and see the world for what it really was.
"When I walked in front of the group of boys they ganged up on me and all summoned monsters one after another. But every time I told myself not to duel I pulled a card from my deck and played like never before. You could say I decimated the boys, but you could also say that I was running off of adrenaline, but I feel that sensation when I'm dueling someone who thinks that their problems are bigger than everyone's out there, or that they're better because of something that can't be control. Sometimes you just have to remind yourself that there's always someone worse off than you."
Amun looked down at the ground and then looked behind him to read the hieroglyphs and then up at the sky just as Yukie when the two both lowered their heads and faced each other with confident smiles.
"Beautiful speech, but it's my move!" Amun yelled drawing his card.
"Tao can't be dead," Kazuya protested. "It just can't be he has five months to live before he turns seventeen, right?"
"Since it's probably already done, it isn't worth the duel for the information, so I may as well just tell you," Mori offered.
"No!" Kazuya said ceasing Mori from speaking. "We had a deal and I will earn that information, my move!" Kazuya shouted angrily drawing his card. "I summon Blue Flare Phoenix (1900/0) in attack mode!" he declared summoning a beautifully decorated blue phoenix with red beads and small red feathers streaking across. "I'll attack your guardian, Retribution Flare!"
The phoenix breathed a large blue flare out of its beak that collided with the guardian's sword destroying both. Kazuya's eyes began to lighten in hue to a colder and icier blue as he gave in to anger.
"Your move," Kazuya said as his voice began to grow hoarse.
"Fine!" Mori shouted drawing his card showing his rage in his eyes as Kazuya was also. "I summon Deneb, the Forever Knight (2000/500) in attack mode!" he said summoning a knight to the field with a star pattern on his breastplate and an unsheathed sword that shined at the bottom of the hilt in a blue-white light. "Now attack, Celestial Sword Style!"
"Now so fast," Kazuya shouted. "I play Whirlwind Deflection. This card negates your monster's attack, and destroys it inflict half of the monster's attack to you as damage!"
A giant whirlwind with large amounts of sharp debris swirled towards Deneb when Mori snapped his fingers.
"I play Crosscounter!" he shouted. "With this I can change the effect of a trap card to an effect that forces its user to remove from play a card in their graveyard, this duel is mine!"
"You wish, I play the trap card Frozen Blizzard!" Kazuya declared revealing his second face-down card. "With this by discarding a card from my hand I can negate the activation of a spell or trap card."
Kazuya held out one of his cards as Command Windragon-Shiron (2500/2000) and willingly put it in the graveyard negating Mori's card allowing the whirlwind to continue its assault. The knight was trapped by the wreckage and wind velocity and was destroyed after a few seconds dropping Mori's life points from 4100-3100.
Chuckling after his monster Mori held out his hand as a card shot out from his deck and fell in between his fingers.
"See whenever, Deneb should be destroyed I get the Forever Knight Albireo added to my hand," Mori explained.
"My move," Kazuya declared drawing his card. "I set a monster down in defense mode and end my turn."
"Hmm," Mori contemplated. "He has no cards, he probably set that card down as a defense outpost to last him one more turn and just live off of top-decks for the rest of this duel until he gets something that can defeat me indefinitely, but for the past few turns he almost seems to be throwing his monsters into the graveyard. This reminds of something, something that Tao told me once. 'I won't pretend to be stronger than you Mori, but it only seems that way because I can read through strategies better than I can people. Take this for example; your opponent is seemingly throwing their monsters into their graveyard, this is a sign of two things; surrender but given the right person it's part of a more intricate summon.' I asked him what you would do in that case, he turned to me and said, 'I would let them go through the summon and then try my hardest to defeat what they tried to summon so diligently to show that I respected the effort they made to try win.'"
"I summon from my hand Sadr, the Forever Knight (1900/1600) in attack mode!" he declared after drawing his card summoning a knight with a similar design to Deneb but with a yellow light shining at the top of the hilt of his sword. "Now I activate my face-down card Skyfury granting my monster 300 extra attack points. Attack, with Aerial Star-Tipped Blade!"
Jumping up the knight now with a new attack power of 2200, pierced the monster face-down showed to be a large falcon made entirely of rock screeched and was destroyed. The card in question, Stone Bird Falcon (0/2100), looked over at Kazuya who nodded. The falcon willingly went to the graveyard as a stray stone struck Kazuya in the gut dropping his life points from 1000-900.
"My knight also has the ability to inflict battle damage no matter the position of your monster," Mori explained as Kazuya began snickering in a hysterical fashion.
"You think that one bit of damage is enough to defeat me?" he asked as his eyes began to grow colder and lighter in hue yet again. "I'm just getting started, my draw!" he declared. "I summon another monster in defense mode and end my turn!"
"Fine," Mori said drawing another card from his deck and then summoning another from his hand. "I summon Albireo, the Forever Knight (1500/1600) in attack mode!" he declared summoning a knight with a double sided sword with a blue and yellow light shining at both ends. "Sadr, attack!" Mori commanded as the knight jumping employing the same technique as earlier piercing the monster revealed to be an aqua blue swan Kazuya knew as Sacred Lake Swan (1300/1600) dropping Kazuya's life points from 900-300.
Panting and holding onto his shoulder Kazuya could do nothing but smile as Mori hesitated in the final attack that would win the duel.
"I could end this now," he thought. "But part of me knows that I shouldn't. Tao said that it shows a person respect to allow them to prove their full potential, but this may be my only chance to defeat him and move up to Tao, but if he is dead then there's no point."
"I stand down; I'll simply lay a card face-down and end my turn!" Mori declared.
"Then it's my turn," Kazuya declared drawing his card making the only one in his hand. "I remove from play my Command Windragon-Shiron to summon Tornado King Shiron (3000/2700) in attack mode!" he shouted summoning another version of Shiron with six feathered wings and blue and red armor covering most of its body including its elongated neck. "Now attack, Regal Tornado Rage!"
Releasing a giant cyclone from its mouth Shiron flew backwards from the recoil of the tornado released. The blast of wind travelled towards Albireo and passed right by him and began to repeatedly strike Mori dropping his life points from 3100-1600. Gasping for air Mori looked up at Kazuya who stood with his arms folded across his chest.
"Albireo can survive an attack should he be destroyed by battle," Mori explained as Kazuya shrugged his shoulders. "Is this extent of your power?" he asked after a slight pause.
"What?" Kazuya asked confused.
"Is that dragon the extent of your power, or is there more?" Mori asked.
"So I'm not the only one who's been told of the respect between duelists and the extent of power, huh?" Kazuya thought to himself. "…No," he answered.
"Then I won't defeat you this next turn, because I must know what you are inside," Mori said drawing his card. "I summon Tau, the Forever Knight (0/1800) in defense mode!" he declared summoning a red knight with a crimson red sword with a light shining halfway up the blade. "And with that, my turn is over."
"Then it's my move," Kazuya declared drawing his card. "I'll set one card face-down and attack your defense position monster!"
Using the same cyclone attack as before the dragon shot out the raging wind storm destroying the red knight. The light in the center of the former knight's sword began to react and then shine all of its light into Shiron's face. The light burned brighter and then harshly reacted to Shiron's eyes destroying it.
"When my Tau is destroyed I destroy the monster that destroyed it and inflict 500 points of damage to you…I win!" he declared as the light began to shine in Kazuya's eyes.
"My move!" Amun shouted. "I summon Egyptian Spirit Ammit (1800/100) in attack mode!" he declared summoning the beast crossed with a crocodile. "And now I activate the second effect of Anubis' Scale. When I have three or more Curse Counters anywhere on the field I can sacrifice my scale to summon Egyptian Spirit Anubis (2800/2000) straight to my field in attack mode!" he explained summoning one of his signature cards, the jackal-headed warrior with the curved scimitar in his hand. "And now by Ammit's effect I can automatically destroy one other monster on the field, destroy Enkai!"
The beast jumped from Anubis' side and chomped down on Enkai destroying it instantly in between its massive jaw line.
"Now, Anubis, attack with Judgment Break!" Amun declared as the jackal headed man ran towards Yukie who simply snapped her fingers revealing her trap card.
"I play Mirror Force which destroys all monsters you control in attack mode!" she explained as a giant mirror image of Anubis slashed at the original destroying it and the shattered pieces of the mirrored image also destroyed Ammit in a series of shrapnel pieces falling everywhere. "I assume it's my turn?"
"Exactly," Amun said as two more lights, one on each feet lit up in purple and blue. "Four more to go until I unleash my real power."
"Real power?" Locket asked. "I thought the extent of you was that Scarab."
"You'd think so, but this ruby and that Scarab is only half of my dueling," Amun explained. "The other side is inside that case…" he said with his voice beginning to lower in register.
"Anyway, my move!" Yukie declared. "I play the magic card Contract Calling! With this I can automatically add one Mahou Shoujo from my deck to my hand. And I think I'll choose this one," she said as one of her cards shot out of the deck and into her hand. "Now, I'll summon it, Mahou Shoujo Oto (2200/1100) in attack mode!" she declared summoning an adolescent girl with music notes as ear phones, and a microphone at the end of her scepter.
"How can you summon her if she's a level six?" Amun asked.
"I can special summon her to the field should I have equal to or less monsters than you, so I found a loophole!" he said with a slight giggle. "But now, it's over, attack with Resonating Rumble!"
The young girl spoke into her microphone as the sound waves traveled towards Amun at an alarming rate. Amun closed his eyes as though trying to shield them from something when he spoke three words.
"Trap…card…activate!" he called out as a large shield appeared in front of him. "This is the known as the Isis Barrier, by giving up Egyptian Spirits from my deck to the graveyard equal in level to a monster that is attack I can destroy it automatically, so I send six to destroy your pop idol."
The six monsters, all copies of other cards he had already played, turned into black stars that attacked Oto destroying her. As the six cards left the deck into the graveyard four other lights began to glow on the sides of the mummy case in orange, brown, gray, and red. The mummy case began to tremble as all the lights were lit.
"I end my turn," Yukie said with a growl.
"Then I have won," Amun said with his voice changing to a more snake-like tone. "I sacrifice the Curse of Tut spell card to summon from it, its final curse, and a horrible one at that might I add. I summon, Egyptian Spirit Apophis (2500/2500) in attack mode!" he called out as a giant serpent slithered out of the mummy case and hissed into the air. Looking down its back one would see ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs decorating it. "To the soul who is doomed by this spirit, I wish you the fullest, if not the most depressive life you will ever know," Amun said reciting the text. "I'm not like this by choice; I'm like this because…I'm cursed by this spirit.
"According to mythology, Apophis was an evil demon taking the form of a serpent and the sibling to Ra and Sobek. He supposedly had many battles fighting for leadership rights over the realm of the gods against his brother, Ra. He was defeated and even killed by the cat goddess who chased and hunted him with an all-seeing-eye.
"Apophis' ability gives it 500 extra attack points for every leftover Curse Counter left when it was summoned," he explained as the serpent's attack rose from 2500-3500. "Finish this!"
The snake pushed its body onto the ground and caused a small tremor that forced Yukie to the ground dropping her life points from 2800-0. The girls, especially Locket, applauded Amun who widened his eyes and clutched the area was his heart was and fell over in a heap. The last words he heard before blacking out were Locket's screaming, "Amun, are you okay?"
"It's always like this," Amun thought in his unconsciousness. "Whenever I duel with either Apophis or Scarab I collapse. It does nothing to me, but since I don't know how to control my powers as the advent of the Scarab King. A man who exists only in legends, but found his way to reality. The man was able to control the beetles to do anything he wanted, but was tempted by the power Apophis offered him. Apophis promised him eternal life and power over the world if he free him from his grave. Unknowing of the consequences the greedy king took him up on that offer and released Apophis. Upon hearing this Ra and the other gods fought the king and Apophis who, with their newfound power, began to fight back and win against the god. Ra, however, had not joined the fight and instead brought forth the sunlight as he always had and when the sun reached the middle of the sky Apophis and the king's power disappeared as the Summer Solstice had arrived making their source of power, the night, less abundant making them less powerful.
"They were sealed away and were bound to only help the one who finds them and that's what they've done for me, but the crown of Ra is the only thing capable of freeing anyone from curses no matter what kind, but it only works on those who truly have a pure heart.
"Wherever you are Tao my only wish is that you are alive to make retributions for the mistakes you've made in your life thus far. Well, I guess I better get some sleep."
The light shined brighter as it travelled towards Kazuya who widened his eyes staring straight into it.
"I play Shiron's Spirit!" Kazuya declared. "With this I can remove up to two wind monsters from my graveyard to gain 1500 life points for each monster removed. So I choose to remove Wind Saga Kazaki and Spiritual Windragon-Shiron to gain a total of 3000 life points."
The two figures returned to the field as transparent spirits that then turned into small bits of energy that travelled towards Kazuya juts seconds before the light hit him raising his life points from 300-3300. The light blasted Kazuya back several feet dropping his life points from 3300-2800. Kazuya gasped opening his eyes in the same instant and conceded the turn to Mori who drew his card with a confused look in his eyes.
"Why do you try so hard in everything you do?" he asked as Kazuya continued to pant.
"Because if there's even a one in a million chance Tao can be saved," Kazuya started. "I'd gladly give my life many times over, just so he doesn't in the same darkness that's he's been forced into ever since he was a small child. He's a friend who stood by me and was willing to get hurt for me, so how can I not repay him?"
"I see," Mori said drawing his card. "I sacrifice my two monsters to summon Cepheus, the Captain Knight (2500/2500) in attack mode!" he declared as the two knights on his field disappeared a black and white light and were replaced by a much more regal seeming knight with a shining light on the bottom of the hilt of his sword along with the top of the hilt, and the tip and middle of the blade. "For every Forever Knight in my graveyard my monster gains a knight; with one he cannot be destroyed by spell or trap cards, with two he can't be destroyed by a monster effect, with three he can't be destroyed by battle, and with four he can attack twice should he destroy a monster by battle. Cepheus attack, with Shining Beacon Slash!"
The knight silently raised his sword as it grew long enough to reach Kazuya. After one slash Kazuya was flung backwards again as his life points dropped from 2800-300. This time not cringing Kazuya simply stood up and looked at his deck.
"At this point, the only way I can figure out anything about Tao is to draw it. But that card doesn't even listen to me. Tao gave it to me when we were attacked by Death Raptor he said it would protect me. Even after being slashed on the arm Tao brought its attention to him and made it follow. I hadn't seen Tao after, but I have to know what happened to him that day to the full extent," Kazuya thought drawing his card. "This duel is over; I remove from play Tornado King Shiron, Espada Eagle, Sacred Lake Swan, Stone Bird Falcon, and Blue Flare Phoenix to summon Legendary Windragon-Shiron (4000/3500) in attack mode!" he declared summoning a blue and white dragon with a brown pilot's cap, eight feathered wings, and armor covering most if not the entire body; it's eyes were the same shade as Kazuya's and roared causing a small tremor in the duel arena. "Please help me Shiron! Help Tao!"
The dragon roared in Kazuya's face and looked at his cold eyes and almost seemed grin at him.
"Legendary Cyclone!" Kazuya commanded as the dragon began to breathe in between its hands and began to mass the wind in a large sphere. "Fire!" Kazuya ordered as the dragon shot the cyclone from its hands towards the knight.
The cyclone passed through the knight and began to attack Mori in his abdominal region. Grunting as it hit Mori's life points dropped from 1600-100.
"What was the point in that?" he asked grunting. "I still have life points, this duel is still on."
"Sorry, pal," Kazuya said as his dragon began to shine. "But so long as Legendary Windragon-Shiron is active on the field I can summon from anywhere a monster. From my deck I summon Eclipse Falcon (2700/2000) in attack mode!" he explained summoning the large falcon with the black and white face.
"How can you summon without your owls in the graveyard?" Mori asked looking at the falcon.
"Simple," Kazuya answered. "The power of my dragon is so mighty I can ignore the summoning conditions of a wind monster should I choose to summon one form my deck except another Shiron monster. Eclipse Falcon, finish this, Light and Shadow Break!"
Screeching at subsonic sound waves the falcon blasted the sound waves past the knight, or in this case through it, and attacked Mori dropping his life points from 100-0. Mori breathed out and sighed as he sat in the corner he was launched to as the monsters disappeared from the field. Mori looked up and saw Kazuya reaching out a hand to him which he accepted and pulled himself up. The corners of Mori lifted into a smile as he bowed to Kazuya in thanks.
"I'm sorry Kazuya," he said.
"For what?" Kazuya asked.
"Everything," Mori said. "I sent you a vague message; I disrespected your friend and mine at the same time, but more than all that I never told you the truth."
"What truth?" Kazuya asked.
"Tao has more than likely one more month to live," Mori answered as Kazuya looked at him in shock. "Every time his parents would use an amnesia mist Tao inhaled small amounts and forgot parts in his life, chief of them being the day he was born. He's been guessing at his birthday, but in reality it is in approximately one month, or more specifically, thirty days."
"You mean?" Kazuya asked.
"Tao will most likely die an unaware death," Mori replied. "And given we don't know his current location it will mean that his chances of survive are slim to none."
Kazuya looked out the door of the arena to find the ocean glistening in the sunlight. Hitting the wall Kazuya began to cry as he felt as though he never really would know…anything.
Three weeks later.
The lightning crashed in the biggest lightning storm in five years. In the Obelisk blue dorm Jason, Trish, and Mori were all asleep soundly in their rooms with a fourth room directly adjacent to them still with the lights on. The figure inside typed away at a laptop typing what seemed to be a fictional story when he looked out the window as the lightning flashed striking a rock on the island. In the flash the boy's physical features were shown as a normally physically fit boy with a black bowler cut reaching to his ears. Gripping onto a cup with his left hand and taking a sip the boy continued to watch the storm when he saw a person walking up the mountain towards the Obelisk Blue dorm.
Widening his hazel eyes the boy grabbed his duel disk and attached it to the right hand as opposed to the left and ran out of the dorm.
On the mountain path the boy looked back and forth and then turned around to find the figure on top of the Obelisk blue dorm. Running to the top of it as well the boy met him as the lightning flashed showing off a long brown coat, a full head of shaggy black hair and upon turning around a set of deep blue eyes.
"Who are you!" the shouted pointing with his left hand. "And give me a straight answer."
"Don't you think its common courtesy to give your own name first, Lance?" the figure asked still shaded by the passing shadows. "Lance Nye, an Obelisk Blue who did the impossible by coming from a modest background and then making it into the top of your class without lifting a finger in your first year. You have a profound interest in writing styles of science fiction and you cannot hold any belief if it is not set in stone."
"I've been a science geek all my life," Lance said. "It comes with the territory. But more importantly listening to your voice, looking at you height, hairstyle, eye dilation, and several other factors I don't need you to answer. You can dye you hair black, you can wear color contacts, but underneath it all it's still you Tao."
The figure began chuckling and looked into Lance's eyes. "You're mistaken."
"What?"
"Tao…is…dead," he said widening his eyes. "And I, his murderer!"
Out on the open sea the rowboat Tao used to cross it was empty with splatters of blood on the beams, and the cards Tao used in his deck were thrown about off the edge.
Chapter seventeen complete. I guess I've gotten into this a bit too much I spent half the night working on this chapter and I finished about fourteen hours later. Time flies when you're having fun. Well now some mysteries are solved; Amun's current situation, Yukie's reasons for her actions, Kazuya's unwillingness to let anyone hurt Tao, Mori's past relationship with Tao as a friend, but is what this new enemy said true? Find out next time.
Next time: A duel between two, almost rival forces, Lance Nye, an Obelisk Blue with something to prove, against a figure who gives the shocking if not expected news of Tao's demise. Next time: Logic against Belief; "?" v. Sci-Fi.