C'est LaVie

by Genma no Ou

Several Months after the Dark Signer Incident has ended, some new threats emerge which the Signers and the Academia's finest must respond to - some which will push them to the limits and behind. OC's and a Crossover with Tenebrius' Tensei series.

24. Showdown of the Chosen Cards

Disclaimer: The following piece is in no way a claim to ownership of the depicted characters. Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh R, Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's are owned by TV Tokyo, Konami Corporation and Kazuki Takahashi. This story as presented is strictly for entertainment purposes, both for its owner and readers.

Chapter 24 – Showdown of the Chosen Cards! Phantom Demons vs. Five Dragons

In front of Godwin's old Mansion, an area of ground which had been disturbed by the Sky Temple's return months earlier suddenly began to shift again, bulging up into a mound. Seconds later, a purple-grey smoke began to erupt from the structure, becoming copious and eventually covering the grounds.

Seconds later, a shaking of the earth began which quickly gained violent, earthquake-like magnitude, but it was limited to the area of the billowing fog. Out of nowhere, the pointed top of the Sky Temple pushed up through the ground, disturbing the earth and being enveloped by the dark fog.

After less than a minute the stone structure stood above the ground again, jutting out of the soil; and the smoke which had covered it dissipated except for that of the building's base. Standing atop the monument's platform, Placido in his darkened robes stood staring out over the water towards Satellite, Jose and Lucciano standing behind him.

Reaching into his pocket, Placido pulled out a Deck and tossed it to Jose, who caught it quickly before looking at the contents. His one visible eye opened into a surprised pose as Placido explained, "you do not yet have your Machine Emperor, and I have the Demons. You should use Wisel in this battle; that way, he can win before all three Emperors have descended."

"But what about the other Machine Emperor?" Lucciano asked, clearly in disagreement with that plan. "If it descends soon, then we may be neglecting the strongest of the three."

"And besides," Jose added, "If the other monster descends, then its power will be going to waste."

"The Signers are discarded with their partners, and their greatest warrior is our captive," Placido argued. "They will easily be defeated without the help of the other monsters; but only if WE can agree long enough to fight properly."

"I understand your point, but you must keep in mind that the power of the Saviours is greater than that of the Machine Emperors. If they manage to summon them, we will have a greater fight on our hands than we had anticipated; and we cannot afford to lose at such a critical time."

"Ten we must not lose," Placido countered, his voice and his expression sounding much more annoyed and causing Jose to look back with an expression of surprise.

Turning back out to face that approaching streets leading to the area, the Trio then waited until they had some sort of visual cue that the Signers were approaching. Despite the absence of any sort of indication, they continued to stare on in anticipation, a dark smile on Placido's face and a solemn expression on the face of each of his cohorts.

Meanwhile, standing in the underground chamber, Judai looked through the contents of his Deck, knowing that when the Signers arrived threw would be a conflict. Godwin's spirit could not help him at this point in time; but as it was, that mattered not because Godwin had buried himself where Judai could not hear him.

"I know my last experience with Yusei, Jack and the others was less than stellar," he thought to himself, completely entranced, "but I will not think twice about fighting alongside them. This madness needs to have a stop put to it, and the sooner the better."

In the underground cavern that held the Old Momentum, Paradox continued to work away with the programming of the device so he could complete his plan. Out of nowhere, while he was working, a ghostly form of his face extended off from it and caused a yellow aura to form around him, making him buckle and grip his head in pain.

While he tried to steady himself from this blow, he once again heard the deep growl of the monster in the back of his head; and then out of nowhere, he found himself surrounded by the purple starry space of Sin World, standing opposite his own refection with hair flying in all directions, veins on his face and wide bloodshot eyes with constricted irises and pupils.

Before he could even make sense of what was going on, the vision disappeared and Paradox found himself exactly where he had been; nothing seemed different. Then, he noticed that a light had appeared on the console of the reactor, lighting up the control panel for an alert. He then pressed a button located on the far low corner, causing the image of a card to appear on the screen.

Looking carefully at the card, he saw that said card was a Magic Card – a Field, in fact; with a name written in English, and yet there was almost no text left on the object. Reading the name, then looking at the picture, his eyes went wide when he realized that he recognized the card – its art featured an object he had seen in one of his many voyages through time; but he couldn't remember where.

However, thinking about it caused the delusion to once again appear, this time with the card floating in between Paradox and his doppelganger. "You know as well as I do that we need to acquire that card," The hallucination said to him, his voice sounding much like Paradox's; except it was deeper, more malice, and it held a tone of demonic malice which the real Paradox did not have.

"This project has gotten completely out of hand," Paradox argued back at the figure, his own voice starting to sound rather like it was trembling. "This was just supposed to be for the good of this world; it was never supposed to involve going this far!" With that the real Paradox raised his fist in anger to the phantasm staring at him, causing said entity to simply start laughing at him. "What's so funny?!"

"The only way to save this world," the delusion argued back in hostility, "is to rid it of all humanity. It was humans who caused the virus to destroy our people, our family, and our future. And no matter what we've done, it's always come out the same; a ruined, crumbling world. If we do not continue this path, everything will die off."

"If we destroy this world's people, who will be around to actually enjoy this world?!" Paradox asked accusingly. Without any sort or reply, the doppelganger grew angry and snapped his fingers, causing a yellow aura to consume Paradox and make him scream out in pain. The figure then simply dissolved into yellow particles of light, and as Paradox fell onto his hands and knees in pain the whole vision started to dissolve away.

"There is no other way to save this world," the dark voice continued to say inside his mind as Paradox himself fell unconscious. "The plague upon this Earth will never be removed until all traces of human life have been erased... including us..." Seconds later, Paradox woke up and got to his feet, donning a malicious facial expression and looking back to the card on the screen with a look of want.

"That card shall be mine…" he then said, taking in the deep and dark voice of the doppelganger. "And then, this human world shall fall…"

In the Dominion of Beasts, Taiyou and his two monsters, Stardust Dragon and Black Paladin, stood at the top of the huge hill overlooking the huge battle; Norsewemko, standing on the opposite side, simply looked back with an expression of contempt.

"There's no more room for mercy in this battle," Taiyou issued; immediately following that, his dragon roared and shot up into the air, his magician jumping off its head and swinging his arm back. Holding up a Magic Card from his Deck he then added, "I arm my Paladin with the power of Diffusion Wave-Motion!"

When his arm shot forward again, Taiyou's monster created an orb of energy on the blade of its staff the created massive black energy waves, shooting down towards the Bureaucracy's Magicians and slashing through at least twenty of them. The unfortunate monsters then split in two and shattered from within their outfits, dissolving into light.

"Stardust Dragon, your turn!" Taiyou then added strongly, causing his dragon to rear back and fire another blast of its white energy straight at the enemy monsters. Two magicians and their armour were caught in the blast and turned to dust in a split second, while at least a dozen other magicians were sent flying and their weapons destroyed.

"An impressive set of parlour tricks," Norsewemko added, "but if you think you're one only one with an Ace up your sleeve, you're dead-wrong half-breed!" As she finished these words the dragon blasted another shot of energy straight at her, only for Norsewemko to disappear instantly. Watching in horror, the Paladin was confronted when Norsewemko appeared directly in front of him, swinging her staff and cleaving him in half with her blade.

Unlike the actual magicians, the Paladin, a summoned creature, dissolved into smoke while Taiyou fell on his knees, clutching his chest with pain at the sensation of having his ka destroyed. In a couple of seconds he managed to stand back up; and in retaliation, the dragon reared back and shot a blast of energy straight at Norsewemko, forcing her to block with he staff.

"When will you learn half-breed?" she asked darkly, pointing her staff at Taiyou and causing a blast of energy to suddenly go shooting right at him. Reaching for his Deck, he pulled a card and showed her Holy Barrier – Mirror Force, forming a barrier around him that shattered upon impact with the blast. However, immediately after that, the shards changed into energy and went shooting right back up at Norsewemko, who jumped back from the dragon and repelled the shots with her staff.

"All talk and no action," Norsewemko deduced with a sinister smile, snapping her fingers and causing the white-armoured, green-skinned form of Explosive Magician to rise up right behind Taiyou. Turning around just in time, Taiyou jumped to his left and got out of the path of a sudden explosion; and then Endymion, who had just been battling, came forward and sliced the magician in half.

"I'll not have Taiyou harmed," the magician yelled up to his rival as he turned around, pointing his staff at the woman. "I'll sooner have my blood spilled upon the earth."

"That can be arranged," the woman magician said slyly, pointing her staff back at him. In a quick instant a huge number of knives began to appear right in front of her, all of which went shooting straight at Taiyou and Endymion at massive speeds. The two magicians managed to dodge most of the knives, but one of them cut right into Endymion's right shoulder and embedded there.

"Such sultry actions will not go unpunished!" Endymion yelled, pointing his staff at the woman and firing a dark purple burst of energy at her. Though she dodged it, his Swordsman and his Paladin both appeared behind her and crossed their weapons over her back, creating a blast of magical energy that exploded and sent her flying forwards.

"Finish her off!" Taiyou yelled, causing his dragon to fire yet another, much larger blast of energy at Norsewemko, getting her caught in the fire and creating an explosion where she had been. When the energy reduced to stardust and no sign of Norsewemko was seen, the expression of all four magicians and the dragon suddenly grew less intense.

Seconds later, however, their folly was interrupted by a huge burst of magical energy behind Endymion's 2 warriors. The two of them were then exploded, shattered into particles of light; and in their place appeared Norsewemko, without so much as a scratch upon her body. Staring back at them with a wicked smile, she pointed her staff at the white dragon and said sternly, "perish like the filthy human dog that you are."

A huge blast of golden energy then shot straight at the dragon, who folded its wings over itself to absorb the blast. But when it opened its wings, Norsewemko teleported to right in front of the dragon and slashed the tines of her staff across its chest, cutting into one of the purple orbs and causing Taiyou great pain. She then proceeded to jump back and fire a blast straight down, disintegrating both Endymion's Crusader and the Skilled Black Magician.

"How can she have so much power?" Endymion pondered under his breath. Though he had known Norsewemko was powerful, she should not have been able to survive such a ruthless attack unharmed, let alone be able to cause so much damage to his men in such a short time.

"I had a little bit of help," Norsewemko responded, somehow hearing him. With that a single card appeared in her hand and she held it up for Taiyou to see, explaining, "Since the half-breed insists on fighting with the power of Duel Monsters, I decided to show him the true power of cards. And this card, Taiyou, is one you no doubt remember."

"Is that… Divine Evolution?" Taiyou asked in astonishment, all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fitting into place. A golden aura then formed over Norsewemko as some of the black pieces of her armour were changed to gold, reflecting that her power had grown.

"Indeed it is… and now it shall be your end!" Jumping forward, Norsewemko swung her staff back and then slashed into the white dragon, cleaving it in half from tip to tip and causing the massive monster to scream while it exploded before her. Taiyou, having lost such a power creature, gripped his heart briefly before his knees gave out and he fell on all fours, then to the ground face-down.

"Why you!" Endymion yelled up, jumping into the air along with the Dark Red Enchanter and Magic Hierophant of Black. Crossing all of their staffs in mid-air, the three magicians fired a combined blast of power at Norsewemko; but by raising her palm to them, she simply deflected the blast and dispersed its power.

"Nice try," Norsewemko taunted. "But now, it's my turn!" With that she fired three blasts of energy, one at each magician and each one just barely being stopped by the magician trio. Seconds later, Norsewemko dove down upon them and cleaved the Enchanter and Hierophant each in two, Endymion managing to sidestep the assault but still having to watch his comrades destroyed.

"You're weak," Norsewemko chastised, bringing her staff back up and swinging it at Endymion, who blocked with his own staff. "You may have been a great Emperor all these centuries, but now old age has claimed all but the last of your power."

"I still have enough fight left in me to deal with the likes of you," Endymion shot back, swinging his staff back and then straight into Norsewemko's shoulder. In a split second a small explosion destroyed all the material on her left shoulder and part of the material on her chest and arm; but then her response was to shove her staff into Endymion's chest and blast him with energy.

As he was falling to the ground, the soldiers for both sides stepped aside while Endymion crashed face-down, Norsewemko floating down to the ground behind him. Shaking, Endymion managed to get himself to his feet and turn to face his attacker, who stood cross-armed with her staff ready in hand.

Off in the distance, approaching the location, Placido's vision (enhanced by the power of the Demons) allowed him to make out the approaching forms of several figures on vehicles. Smiling darkly, he pointed to silently convey his message while the vehicles got closer and closer.

On the back of his own D-Wheel out in front, Yusei could see on Godwin's old property that the Sky Temple had again risen from the ground and was surrounded by the dark smoke. He could sense the Demons atop the structure, and in addition he could see the glowing outline of energy that could only mean Placido was waiting for them.

All of a sudden, the figure atop the structure raised an arm as though holding up a card or cards to the sky; and without warning, a huge explosion caused a blue energy column to rise up from the ground. With it the form of Ravel began to take shape, eyes glowing red and form illuminated by the power around it.

When it had arisen from the ground completely, the monster swung its right arm backwards and then shot its claws straight at the group. Yusei, Jack, Kyojo, Crow, Johan and Kiryu (all the D-Wheelers) all managed to jump or swerve in some way around the claws before they impacted and dug into the ground; and then all six D-Wheels pulled to a stop at the base of the Sky Temple, the entire group jumping off and looking up to face Placido.

"I see you have all made it to my base of operations," Placido observed, "but I doubt that will do you any good. Between the power of my machine Emperors and my Demons, there is very little you can do."

"We'll see about that," Yusei challenged right before he, Jack, Crow, Aki and Luca all held up their respective Signer Dragon cards. Their Birthmarks lighting up, each one of them called forth their respective Signer Dragon and the five took up vertical formation, each one aiming its jaws at Placido. "Battle!" With that the dragons formed their respective attacks – white energy, crimson flames, golden flames, black flames and purple flames – and shot them straight at Placido in a single spiralling assault.

"It's too easy," Placido criticized just before a huge wall of ice burst up from the ground in front of the Sky Temple. When that ice shattered, it produced the crouching form of the gigantic dull yellow dragon skeleton, Hamon, who covered Placido with its scoop-like hands and folded wings, deflecting the attack completely.

"Now behold, a true attack!" Placido yelled, holding up a third card that caused a huge column of flames to erupt from behind the structure. These flames then spiralled around the temple and twisted into the form of a winged serpent before revealing themselves as the final beast, Uria, who screeched a demonic roar down upon the trio before firing a blast of flames down upon them.

However, before the flames could reach their target, the form of Yubel suddenly appeared in their path, folding her wings over herself and taking the brunt of the assault without receiving so much as a soot smudge. Growling, Placido watched as Yubel unfurled herself and saw Johan with his normal eyes standing below, holding up her card.

"We won't be taken down that easily!" he yelled up to Placido, prompting the five dragons to shoot higher into the air and fire their blasts of energy down at him, hoping the angle would mean Hamon would be unable to deflect the assault. Unfortunately, the forms of Machine Emperors Wisel and Skiel suddenly appeared, the Infinity Symbols on their chests absorbing the power blasts and causing yet another stalemate.

With it their turn to growl in anger, the Signers saw that Jose and Lucciano had emerged from the shadows of the doorway, their Duel Discs active and the combinations for the two Machine Emperors on the trays. "So sorry to interrupt your assault on our cohort," Lucciano said mockingly, "but it was a valiant effort."

"Sadly for you," Jose added stoically from under his mouth plate, "a valiant effort is no good to anyone unless it can be followed up on. And now, we will shot you that fact!" Opening their Infinity Symbols, both Machine Emperors fired strands of energy straight at the Signer Dragons; but these were intercepted by Yubel and another, larger demon hidden in shadows.

"Who are you?" Jose then asked in anger of the second demon right before the beams of energy bounced off of it, leaving the two monsters two no new powers. The demon then created a golden glow around himself, revealing the tall, muscled, blade-winged form of Maenou. Now recognizing him, the Infinity Trio were incredibly surprised to see the infamous Demon free of its prison; though they had watched the Dominion of Beasts, they did not know of this deal he had made.

"I am the being who will help give you three your Divine punishment," the low voice of Maenou responded, pointing one of his claws fingers at the three of them. "I shall help defeat you so I can redeem myself for the Pharaoh; and I will stop at nothing to achieve that goal."

"But that's simply not true," Placid countered. "Death will stop you!" Pointing his hand at Maenou, Placido telepathically prompted Ravel to attack Maenou specifically. The demon was then caught off guard as the massive monster attacked him from his left side, swinging its massive claws straight at Maenou. He then raised his left hand to stop the Phantom Demon, then both hands; but he was ambushed when the red serpent Uria also fired flames at him, searing him and allowing Ravel to swing at him again and knock him to the ground.

"You've grown powerless," Lucciano chastised of Maenou as the demon tried to get back to his feet, eventually succeeding and then levitating again. "Without the strength of the Fifth Dragon and the Phantom Demons, you barely have the strength to fight." With that Hamon launched a bolt of golden lightning into the sky; it then came back down from the clouds upon him, causing an explosion in midair.

"Leave him alone!" Kiryu yelled out, raising his own two cards to the sky and calling forth his two ace Synchro Monsters, One-Hundred Eye Dragon and Infernity Death Dragon. "If you wish to attack my comrade, then you fight me as well!" Roaring, both of Kiryu's dragons formed orbs of energy in their mouths and shot them at the Machine Emperors, once again causing the Infinity Symbols to absorb the blasts.

"Now!" Yusei yelled, prompting his and Crow's Dragons to both launch their own energy blasts at the two Machine Emperors; when these shots failed, Jack and Aki's Dragons kicked in for their own shots, striking them dead-centre and causing them to explode this time.

"What's going on?" Lucciano questioned as both she and Jose staggered from the pain of having lost their summoned monsters. "How did they managed to destroy our monsters?"

"The power of their monsters and their bonds, when put together, is one of the strongest forces there is; more powerful than our idle Machine Emperors have without an additional power source."

"Even so," Placido said to them smugly, snapping his fingers, "I still have the power of the Demons!" Kiryu then had no time to react before Ravel's caws came swinging straight into the body of his Death Dragon, causing Kiryu himself to grab his heart and buckle. There was no time for the others to react either before Hamon shot lightning into the sky again, raining down upon the other dragon and then upon Kiryu himself.

"Kiryu!" Yusei yelled out in concern, the man falling onto one knee and bracing his heart while he felt the intense pain. Though the man held steadfast, he looked up in angry terror as Uria shot a burst of flames straight at him; before they struck, however, the yellow mechanical form of Power Tool Dragon appeared in their path and absorbed their power, standing its ground and not being destroyed.

Everyone then turned their attention to Lua, who had called out his monster in order to protect Kiryu; this caused anger amongst the Infinity Trio and amazement by the group, who were clearly proud of Lua's courageous act. Regaining his senses, Kyojo turned himself to face Yusuriha and Johan, and he yelled, "what are we waiting for? We've got work to do!"

Realizing that he was right, Yubel withdrew into the body of Johan, causing his eyes to turn orange again as he, Kyojo and Yusuriha started running towards the base of the pyramid-like altar. When they got close Uria again fired a burst of flames down upon them, but instead of them taking the brunt of this Maenou moved into their path, forming a shield with his wings and keeping them from being harmed.

"Thank you, Maenou," Johan and Yubel said up to him right before Kyojo and Yusuriha summoned forth XX-Saber Gatmuz and Trident Dragion to blast a hole in the structure. Noticing their actions, the two dragonic Demons in front of and surrounding the temple blasted their flames and lightning down upon these two monsters; however, the two monsters managed to dodge these blasts, and the large dragon thus blasted three large fireballs at the wall.

"Now, Yusuriha!" Kyojo instructed to his cohort. Nodding, she snapped her fingers and her monster swung its sword into the superheated rock, causing it to crumble to the ground. In retaliation the gigantic blue demon Ravel swung its large claws down upon the monsters, who again dodged the strike and even launched a pair of energy blasts up at Placido.

"Your nonsense will not faze me!" Placido roared back, Hamon moving its arms to absorb the blast. "Now behold, your demise!" Pulling his sword and pointing it to the sky, Placido sneered as his three demons all were encompassed by black fog which also contained their own colours; then, this smoke shot up into the air in steams and began to fuse into a black orb over the top of the Sky Temple.

When all of the smoke amassed together, it exploded down and outwards into the form of a black foggy column, encompassing the temple completely and blinding everyone below. From within the fog they could hear demonic growling and the constriction of a large body around stone; and then the fog dissipated violently, revealing the twisted form of Armityle with its serpentine lower body spiralled around the Sky Temple from base to apex.

"Die in the shadows of ruin!" Placido yelled at the Signers with a malicious grin, just before his massive monster opened its second mouth and began to spew copious amounts of black fog from its jaws drifting down and settling low at a massive speed, the five Signer Dragons managed to rise high enough to escape the fog; but Trident Dragon, Power Tool Dragon and Gatmuz were not so lucky, and they were caught in the dark matter.

Kyojo, Lua and Yusuriha then began to feel pain within their chests as the bodies of their monsters began to crack and chip, small pieces falling off second by second. Eventually all three monsters simply exploded into yellow particles of light; and from the shock of the assault, the two Summoners collapsed on their knees and Lua simply fell unconscious. Taking the chance, Johan ducked inside the building without being seen, knowing that his part still had to be done.

"Lua!" Luca yelled to her brother, running quickly to his side and bending down to pick him up, checking him for signs of life. When she determined him to be alive, she sat him back down gently and stared up at Placido, giving him a death glare as the black fog dissipated. "You animal! How can you do this to people?!" she then spat accusingly, getting a dark chuckle and a darker glare in reply.

"Sometimes sacrifices need to be made in the name of success," was his reply, causing everyone (including his own two cohorts) to look at him with a horrified gasp and glare. "This world needs to be made proper for everyone; and if that cannot be done with you Signers in my way, then you all must perish."

"Perish my fucking ass!" Crow yelled, raising his fist in anger and causing his Blackfeather Dragon to so shooting straight at Armityle, forming the black flames on the leading edges of both wings and firing them at Armityle. Though they struck the demon on the top of the head, they had no effect but simply dissolved on contact; seconds later, the demon retaliated by shooting a ball of black fog at the Dragon, destroying it instantly.

Crow then collapsed on his right knee in pain, gripping at his chest with his right hand while giving Placido the finger with his left hand. The simple reply of the demon-controlling Infinity Member was to point his sword at Crow, shooting a green bolt of lightning at Crow that sent him flying straight back into his own D-Wheel. Everybody turned and watched as he collapsed and slumped to the ground, out cold.

"Crow!" Jack yelled out angrily, shaking in rage as he turned back to Placido. "You bastard! How dare you do that to my friend?!"

"Your friend needs to learn to show more respect for his new Lord and Master," Placido replied darkly. "Unless you're willing to show some respect for me, then I have no desire to spare you either." Pointing his sword back up at Armityle, he yelled out, "Land-Wide Destruction: Metamorphosis Wave!" Rearing its head back, the creature began to form a huge orb of black and purple swirling energy in its arms.

"Get back!' Yusei yelled in warning, giving Stardust Dragon and Red daemon's Dragon the cue they needed to dive out of the way. Half a second later the orb burst forth into a stream of energy; and while Black Rose Dragon managed to climb out of its way, Ancient Fairy Dragon was simply not quick enough and was struck by the energy. Like her brother, Luca then slumped to the ground and fell on her face, creating great concern for everyone involved.

"Such weakness in the face of true power," Placid criticized with a sneer upon his face. Standing behind him, however, Lucciano and Jose showed a total look of disgust at Placido's actions; though they wanted victory as much as he did, they were appalled at his use of such torturous methods. Seconds later, a dark grey aura of smoke began to form and pulsate around Placido, giving him the look of someone who had been possessed.

"You think you're so high and mighty, don't you Placido?" Kyojo snapped up harshly, he and Yusuriha getting to their feet and staring up at him. Pulling his sunglasses off he then added, "Well, prepare to come crashing down!" With that both he and Yusuriha held up their copies of Red Daemon's and Ancient Fairy Dragons, making the crimson line-crested dragons appear high over Armityle's head.

"Open fire!" Yusuriha commanded, causing her dragon to shoot a blast of golden flames straight down upon Armityle's head. Immediately after that, Kyojo's Dragon shot down with its burning fist, crashing it into the head of the monster before quickly withdrawing. With that the three true Signer Dragons all opened their jaws wide and fired shots of their own energy straight at Armityle, striking in the same point and creating an explosion that cocooned the Sky Temple in smoke.

For the first few seconds the gang smiled brightly, believing that they had defeated the massive monster. However, seconds later they heard Placido say from within the structure, "Such treachery will not be tolerated, Yusuriha. You're next!" Without warning a blast of black energy came shooting up into the air to strike Yusuriha's Dragon, causing it to explode instantly and Yusuriha herself to buckle on her knees, then fall on her face.

"Why you!" Kyojo threatened, his Dragon showing its anger by diving down through the smoke down to where Placido was. This rapid drop made the smoke all dissipate at once; but then Placido simply jumped up into the air, dodging the attack. Then, before the dragon could return to the sky, Placido slashed his swords through the chest of the dragon, making it explode and Kyojo stagger as he coughed up blood.

"Now do you understand?" Placido asked solemnly, a dark glare in his eyes. "You are all doomed to perish, your blood spilling into this earth." Nobody had any time to react before Armityle fired another two blasts of black energy, one from each mouth; these then struck at three remaining dragons, creating two huge explosions that destroyed them all.

With this latest blast, Yusei, Jack and Aki all collapsed on their knees, clutching at their chests in pain just as everyone else had. All five Signer Marks among the various people then died out and faded, leaving the Signers powerless before they eventually collapsed completely. Though they remained conscious, they didn't have the strength to fight back; and even Kyojo finally collapsed upon hands and knees, panting and hacking up blood.

"Judai…" Yusei said under his breath. "It's all down to you…"

Inside his cell within the Sky Temple, Judai had felt the massive tremors from the ensuing battle and knew exactly what was going on; but he had no way to escape as it was. While he braced for the next round of attacks, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps running towards him; and before the figure appeared, he saw the glowing orange irises of the figure and knew who it was.

"There isn't much time," Johan informed Judai as he stepped into view, stopping with his hand through the bars. He and Yubel then said, "If we don't act quickly, the Signers may very well fall to Placido."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Judai asked, taking Johan's hand. Instantly an orange aura appeared around Johan as he and Judai closed their eyes; this aura then moved to Judai's body and eventually faded away. When they opened their eyes, Johan's were his normal eyes while Judai had his Yubel eyes back.

"Stand back," Judai warned. Then, Johan jumped back and Judai swung the blade of his Duel Disc straight through the bars, pulling them aside and jumping through the hole. "Show me the way," he insisted, and then Johan started off the way he came, followed by Judai. The reconfigured temple held a series of long tunnels and corridors that would confuse most; but using their senses acutely, Judai and Johan managed to find their way back to the hole and straight through in less than two minutes.

"I see our guest of honour has arrived," Placido chastised from above, prompting Judai to turn around and look up to see the man sneering. His vision when he arrived had shown him what had become of the group, and now he and Johan were left to face the wrath of the Demons alone. "Such a shame that the curtain must close so soon."

"Don't get your hopes up get," Judai stated, a white glow suddenly coming over his whole body. Closing his eyes and reaching for his Deck, a card on top of the Deck then turned glowing white and Placido took note, knowing that what happened next would be determinate of the battle.

"I won't let you undo all my hard work!" Placido yelled, pointing his sword at Judai. Responding to the cue, Armityle shot a stream of black energy from its jaws straight at Judai; but then a white spiral of energy appeared around Judai, forming the Rainbow Dragon and firing its own rainbow blast to deflect the attack.

"I won't let you defeat us!" Johan yelled. Meanwhile, inside his own mind, Judai could sense the presence of Taiyou's Stardust Dragon, which could only mean that battle had separated it from its master. He then felt the power of the dragon course through him; and with a dramatic snap, he pulled the glowing card from his Deck and held it to the sky.

"Come out, Stardust Dragon!" Judai yelled, making the huge aura jump off Judai and the card and collect in the air, forming the body of the crimson-lined Stardust Dragon Taiyou used hundreds of feet above Armityle's head.

"Your friends already tried and failed at this type of battle," Placido chastised, pointing his sword at the dragon and causing Armityle to galre up at it, preparing to fire again.

"Yes, but this time I will prevail," Judai countered. "Because this time, I have the power of bonds with me!" With a massive flare-like blast a red light appeared from Yusei's Deck and shot up towards the white dragon, the body of the small Salvation Dragon – Saviour Dragon within. Both dragons then rose up to the swirling clouds, meeting and fusing into a glowing red star.

"The power of bond will now join as one," Judai chanted, crossing his arms, "to cast out the evil and light the dark skies with justice!" Judai then shot his left arm into the air, causing a red bolt of lightning to shoot down from the star and strike him. He was then consumed in red, and when it died down the seal of the Crimson Dragon shone on his back.

"Can this be…?" Placido asked in a stunned tone as the Seal also formed around the entire Temple. Seconds later, the red star burst into a column of light, which pierced sections of darkness and rove them away. "No… you are not a Signer! You cannot summon that Dragon!"

"Come forth in light, Saviour Star Dragon!" Tapping into the power of everyone's bonds, Judai caused the form of the gigantic silver and blue dragon to shoot down from the light, glowing brightly as it shot straight down at Armityle. "And now, I take your monster's power and use it as my own. Sublimation Drain!" With that white sparks began to shoot off the massive form of the demon, causing it to growl in anger while the energy merged into the dragon.

"Pierce through the darkness and illuminate the world! Shooting Blaster Sonic!" Folding its wings against its body, the dragon sped up to supersonic speed and shot straight through the chest of the demon, only to shoot back up into the sky and disappear into a point of light. With a massive, fogging hole in its chest, the monster reared back and growled just before its entire body exploded into blackness, knocking Placido forward and onto his chest.

"How… can this be…?" Placido asked, getting up onto his feet again but shakily, staring down at Judai angrily while his black aura died away. "You should not have been able to call upon that monster! You're not a Signer!"

"I once was a Signer," Judai retorted, raising his fist in an aggressive way. "And besides, the power of bonds will always be enough to claim victory. All of a sudden the seal died down from Judai's back and his eyes returned to normal; and then behind Placido appeared the ghostly form of Yubel, who reached into his Duel Disc's Cemetery slot and took back all 4 Demon Cards before disappearing.

"It's over Placido," Johan said strongly, Yubel reappearing behind them with the 4 Demon Cards in her hand. "You have no monsters left with which to fight, therefore this Dark Game ends in our victory!"

"He's right," Jose pointed out; he and Lucciano stepping forward t their injured cohort. "There's no way we can fight back and win now. We have no choice but to retreat." With that the other two Infinity Members stepped to either side of Jose, Placido on the left, they lit up the three Infinity Symbols on their armour and created a huge burst of light; when it died down, the three were gone.

As the Crimson Dragon Seal disappeared from around the Signers, Summoners and everyone else, Yusei and Jack managed to get to their feet and step over to where Judai and Johan were, Rainbow Dragon roaring out before it disappeared into light as well. "Good job," Jack complemented to them gruffly, still sore from the attack. "You saved us and pulled out a win. We owe you."

"We'll discuss that later," Judai stated, turning to the structure before them. "We can't just adopt this thing, and we can't let Infinity come back to it. Therefore, we have to bury it deep in the ground."

"Leave that to me," Yubel stated before she burst out into a huge orange glow, her form growing and morphing until it was as large as the temple and no longer resembled her. From it then came the silhouette of her Ultimate Form, the black-furred dragon-like monster with 2 long necks and heads, a devil's head with 6 horns, a face on its chest with 3 eyes and an eye on each kneecap.

"Bury it and seal it there," Yusei commanded, prompting the dragon to roar and open both dragon heads very widely. They then released a huge burst of dark orange energy that surrounded the Sky Temple in a large field, and in seconds it began to slowly sink into the ground. By about a minute later, the entire thing was below the ground and the earth over it fell back into place, before a glowing orange hexagram curse formed over the mound.

Standing over on Godwin's old Mansion, Paradox saw the large creature standing before the building and reached into his pocket, grabbing a blank card and pointing it at Yubel's Ultimate Form. A black beam of energy then shot over at her and struck her in the face on her chest; but to Paradox's dismay, the beam had no effect and the dragon turned to face her.

"You!" Yubel's voice yelled at him, joined by sickening growls just before she blasted a shower of flames straight at him. His response was to hold up the card of Sin Cyber End Dragon, who coiled in front of the flames before being caught in them and exploding. After this, Paradox knew that he had no chance of victory here, and so he simply faded out into black fog again.

After that, Yubel's body dissolved away and changed back into her regular spirit form beside Judai; then she disappeared back into his body, making his eyes return to hers. Then, Judai looked up into the sky where Saviour Star Dragon had disappeared and thought to himself, "It's all down to you Taiyou..."

In the Dominion of Beasts Taiyou had managed to get himself back to his hands and knees and now onto a rickety standing stance, but he could only watch helplessly while Endymion fought with the powered-up Norsewemko below.

"Your doomsday is today," Norsewemko said snidely to Endymion, striking him in the chest with her staff and sending him flying straight into the base of the hill. "Your empire shall crumble, and then this world will be my domain."

"I…cannot allow that…" Endymion yelled back, shooting a burst of energy straight out of his staff at her; but she simply jumped forward in front of him, dodging it, and then she grabbed him by the face. Then, she threw him with that one hand into the middle of the valley onto his face, pointing her staff at him to finish the job.

"Oh… but I'm afraid you have no choice," the female magician said, feigning sympathy weakly as a ball of power began to form at the tip of her staff. However, all of a sudden a glowing ball of energy began to appear in the sky, getting her attention and giving Endymion enough time to stand up and turn to face his attacker.

Then, surprising everyone, the form of the legendary Saviour Star Dragon burst through the warp and shot over to the battlefield, hovering over the fighting magicians. The monster then went vertical and opened its wings, showering the field with blue sparkles of energy before firing off beams of energy in every direction. One of these beams caused Norsewemko to jump backwards, costing her the power of her attack; while another bolt hit Endymion.

When the blasts were gone, Endymion stood in the centre of the field, glowing blue, and the body of the dragon was revealed. It had the distinct glowing rd lines of Taiyou's Stardust Dragon, and so he knew that it had come back to him. Smiling, he watched as the Dragon condensed into a small blue orb and floated down, merging into Taiyou's body and infusing his Dragon's spirit with him. "Thank you, Judai..."

"This battle shall end here," Endymion issued, pointing his staff at Norsewemko and shooting a blue stream of energy at her. Her instinct was to raise her staff to block, which caused a huge explosion where she was and shaking her. "You fall here!" With that Endymion jumped up into the air, staff swung back and preparing to strike Norsewemko with it.

"Then you shall fall as well!" his counterpart shot back, also jumping up into the air with her staff slung backwards. The two then met in midair, crossing their staffs as they glowed blue and gold respectively; and then a huge white aura formed around the both of them, followed by an explosion of energy that created a column of light from ground to sky.

"No! Endymion!" Taiyou yelled out as every single Magician on the field stopped to see what was happening. After a few seconds, the light did not let up; in fact, it grew more and more intense, until everything faded away into white…

Card of the Week – Norsewemko

Divine Evolution

Type: Normal Magic

Effect:

CHAPTER: Activate by selecting 1 Level 10 or higher monster. If its original ATK is less than 3000, its Original ATK and DEF become 4000. If its original ATK is 3000 or more, increase its Original ATK and DEF by 1000. This card's activation and effect cannot be negated by any other card.

MANGA: Activate by selecting 1 Level 10 or higher monster. Increase its Original ATK and DEF by 1000. This card's activation and effect cannot be negated by any other card.

ATK/ 2500

DEF/ 2000

*The finales of these clashes were the most dramatic non-duel so far. More drama is to come. Review if you wish.*