Duel 12: Beyond the Grave

"KYON!"

AUGH! AN EVIL DEMON!

"I'm Haruhi, idiot."

EVEN WORST!

"... baka Kyon. You've been challenged by a guy named Ed Sullen!!"

EH?!

"C'mon!"

And then, Haruhi wisked me away toward where the Duel was to take place.

Ed Sullen was an absolutely handsome man. He towered over all of us, but not by much in my case. He wore clothes of fine dark scarlet and gold trim, topped with an elegant cape that was black on the outside and red on the inside. He had pale skin and long but well-manicured nails like claws. His jet black hair hung down to his shoulders and covered one eye. His other eye was an icy blue.

"Glad you could make it, Haruhi." The man smiled, revealing a prominent tooth similar to Tsuruya-san's. Speaking of which, Tsuruya was watching from the sidelines.

Kyon: 4000 LP
Ed Sullen: 4000 LP

"I'll start." Ed looked his hand over, then said, "I think I'll play Call of the Mummy. This card allows me to summon a monster when my field is empty, and the monster I choose is..."

A beautiful black coffin trimmed with gold grew out of the floor. Bloodshot eyes opened up all across its surface and a flock of bats flew down from nowhere, swooping over the box.

A dozen hands formed from twisted, filthy, yellow-white bandages slithered out beneath it and grasped the lid, wrenching it open with a creaking moan. Smoke belched forth.

"Vampire Lord (2000/1500)!"

The smoke dissipated to reveal a tall, slender being dressed in a dark European suit topped by a black-and-red cape much like the duellist's. He had blue skin, faded green hair and amber eyes. The Lord pulled his cape around himself and a long, slimy tongue poked out to lick his lips. Asahina-san shuddered in repulsion.

"I'll also summon another monster, my Darkness Eye (0/1000)."

Next to the Vampire Lord appeared a short tree of muscle and blood, and growing from the tree was a giant, hideous eyeball with a blue iris ringed in thick black and three green dots swimming in the depths of its pupil. Little drops of filmy slime plopped from the eyeball to the floor.

"And I'll finish with one card face down. Make your move."

As I looked over my hand, I noticed something. It was all High-Level Earth monsters. Nothing useful here... I drew a card...

Card Destruction! YES!

"I play, Card Destruction! In case you're wondering-"

"Do you ever shut up?" The man interrupted, "I know what it does. Now you can discard your entire hand and draw new cards to replace them. Please, what do I look like, a rookie?"

"... never mind." I drew new cards... and surprise, surprise. Ultimate Tyranno was one of them.

"I remove two Earth monsters from my graveyard in order to summon my Ultimate Tyranno, Envoy of the Earth (3000/2200)!"

As my dear friend (well, mind roommate) appeared behind me, I smiled. "Now, I think I'll normal summon Obnoxious Celtic Guard (1400/1200)."

"Looks like that eye of yours and vampire freak are going to die, because like his Non-Envoy counterpart, he can attack all of your monsters at once!" I proclaimed, "Now, Tyranno!"

"You don't even have to say things twice!" Tyranno responded, charging toward Vampire Lord, claws at the ready.

Vampire Lord smiled, then the face-down flipped up...

Threatening Roar!?

Threatening Roar: No attacks can be conducted this turn.

Dammit.

"All right. I'll end with a Tribute to the Doomed."

After I discarded a card, Vampire Lord suddenly rotted away. If you're wondering how that happened, Tribute to the Doomed kills monsters with a discard.

"I believe it's my turn," the man drew again.. When he saw the new card, he smiled dangerously. The floor rippled and parted like water – or blood – as a second black coffin appeared. The lid opened and out came none other than the Vampire Lord. His expression was angry and vengeful as he glared at me.

"Didn't I kill that thing already?"

"with a card effect," said Ed, "and when that happens, Vampire Lord returns on the very next turn. Alas, it will not be he who eliminates you. This is a family affair now... and you will learn why I played my Darkness Eye in attack mode despite it having no strength. Thanks to its effect, durink my standby phase, I can summon any monster without tribute, so long as it is in face-up attack position, and I will use that effect to call upon Patrician of Darkness (2000/1400)!"

A third coffin materialised, opened and out climbed a much larger, older and more ferocious entity. "Patrician of Darkness does not appreciate it when his children are wounded, and now you will face his fatherly rage." The Patrician snarled as two red bats wings spread out behind him and he lunged at Obnoxious Celtic Guard.

"Nice try!" I said, "But Celtic Guard's effect allows him to survive any attack done by a 1900-or-higher Attack Point monster!"

Celtic Guard dodged the Patrician with ease.

"Fine. If that's the case, I shall add another face-down. Your move."

"Very well. I'll tribute OCG to summon Swift Gaia, The Fierce Knight! (2300/2100)"

As the Elf disappeared, he was quickly replaced by a green-skinned knight clad in blue-and-red armour, mounted on a purple horse with a fierce golden mane. In each hand the knight held a deadly crimson lance. His name was Gaia.

"Now, let's see how an eye lives in combat to a knight! Gaia, kill the Darkness Eye!"

Gaia threw his lance at the eye. I smiled, as the Eye looked in shock and around, looking for a way out.

"Target control!" Ed cried. The Patrician of Darkness looked stunned, but as the lance came closer, he held out his own hands and for a brief second time seemed to freeze. The lance changed direction, much to both Tyranno and Gaias' surprise, and streaked towards Vampire Lord. The young undead looked in horror and confusion at his father before vanishing with a screech of agony. When the explosion subsided, the Patrician hung his head in shame.

"That was close," He said, "but thankfully my Patrician has the ability to redirect your assaults to a different target. At the cost of Vampire Lord, Darkness Eye remains on the field."

Ed: 3700 LP

"How... how could you?" Tyranno croaked. "You made him give up his own son!" He looked at the forlorn old vampire and offered a meaningful, "I'm so sorry." The Patrician turned and glared with spite at the duelist.

"How dare you show your fangs to me?" Ed snarled. "Remember that I am the master and you are just the slave."

The Patrician then turned around and did something that I didn't even think holograms could do.

He flipped the bird at Ed.

Well, that was kind of sudden. But it was still my turn, and I needed to win. And Tyranno didn't attack yet, so...

"Tyranno... give those two a merciful death."

Tyranno walked towards the two, Patrician first.

"Patrician... you'll see your son soon."

"Not quite." Patrician answered, earning shocked faces from everyone. Then, Patrician pointed at none other then Darkness Eye.

Tyranno nodded, then raised his foot.

"Trap card open!" Ed yelled, "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"

Tyranno stabbed his foot on the familiar scarecrow, then hopped off to comfort his foot.

"Dang," I said. "End turn."

"Thank you. Now, I will activate Darkness Eye's effect again! This allows me to summon another monster. Allow me to introduce you to..."

The creature he summoned was tall, and its body was completely round, with four stubby limbs. A manacle with a ball-and-chain was clamped around its right ankle. It wore a dirty, blue-and-white striped one-piece outfit with a zip going from its crotch up to the stump of its neck and a pair of brown boots with flat soles. Its head was a mass of writhing black tendrils, in the middle of which was a pair of beady orange eyes. A low grumble sounded from deep within the new monster.

"…Il Blud (2100/800)!"

Tyranno retracted in horror, as did all of the onlookers.

"Next, I'll activate Double Summon!"

Why?

"So I could Gemini-Summon Il Blud!"

The monster rumbled again, this time much louder and with a distinct sound of snapping bones and gurgling liquid.

"With Il Blud fully active, I can resurrect any monster from my hand or, if it suits me, either graveyard. I choose my Vampire Lord!"

The Patrician looked in glee as his son returned to the field... only to retract in horror as he noticed that his own son was covered...

... in blood.

The Vampire looked up slightly, then gave a huge, fanged grin. Looking into his eyes, I could tell that Vampire Lord had gone insane as a result of his trip to the bad place.

"Vengeance is always sweet," Ed purred, "And my Lord will sip it like fine wine, especially with Mage Power!"

Huh?

"You see, Vampire Lord now gains 500 ATK for every spell. and trap card I control, like my face-down Scrap-Iron Scarecrow and Mage Power itself!"

Vampire Lord: 3000 ATK

"A thousand additional ATK makes Vampire Lord more then a match for Gaia. Now, it's FEEDING TIME!"

Vampire Lord opened his mouth to attack, and I could tell that his dentist was half-insane. Charging at Gaia, he ripped out the horse's throat and bit Gaia's throat.

Kyon: 3100 LP

"I can't do anything right now, so I'll end my turn with that."

I drew a card... YES!

"I play Red Medicine!" I yelled.

Kyon: 3600 LP

"Next, I'll remove Gaia (2300/2100), Swift Gaia, Allsword Commander Gottoms (2100/1600), and Celtic Guard to raise Ultimate Tyranno's ATK!" I yelled, "Earth Resonation! Chi-Kyo-Den!""

Ultimate Tyranno grew a few stories higher, and his teeth became longer and sharper.

Ultimate Tyranno: 5000 ATK

"Now, I can land one attack and win this duel!" I said, "Tyranno! Let's win this duel!"

"Youkai!" Tyranno yelled, charging for the hideous Eyeball.

"Nice try, but you forgot about my face down! Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"

As a familiar scarecrow blocked Tyranno's attack, I sighed.

"Turn end." I muttered.

"Then it is my turn..." Ed smiled, "And I'll use Darkness Eye to summon Vampire Lord's older brother, Vampire's Curse (2000/800)!"

Another black coffin grew out of the marble landing and was covered by bloodshot eyes. The lid flew open and out clambered an athletic figure with greenish hair combed back into a cluster of spikes. He wore a black suit topped with an armoured chest-plate and shoulder-guards adorned with curved spikes. Two bat's wings hung about him like a cape, hooked at his neck by their claws. He and the Patrician locked eyes as if there were severe bad blood between them.

"I'm afraid Curse isn't quite aware of what happened to his younger brother, so ignore his confused look at Lord." Ed shrugged, "Your move."

"Very well," I narrowed my eyes, "And I'll summon Gladiator Beast Andal (1900/1500)!"

As a black bear came forth, I smirked.

"Why did you do that? Andal isn't as strong any of my monsters!"

"Well, you're kinda forgetting the obvious." I smirked, "Andal, destroy Vampire Lord!"

"Well," Ed shrugged, "I'm sure on some planet, he'd win. But... This is Earth!"

"I know. And I know Patrician will use his ability!"

Patrician shrugged, then pointed at Darkness Eye.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Ed yelled, as the Scarecrow blocked Andal's attack, "What a waste!"

"Not quite," I smirked, "TYRANNO!"

Tyranno charged at the three.

The Patrician looked venomously at his other son and pointed a clawed finger at Vampire's Curse. The younger vampire released an angry cry that sounded like, "Damn you!" before Tyranno bit down.

Ed: 700 LP

Wait, Patrician was sorry for Vampire Lord's death, but not Curse?

"They have a…complicated family history," Ed looked down in embarrassment.

"Oh, okay. Now, time to put this duel to an end! Tyranno!"

Patrician pointed at the most vulnerable monster on his side: Darkness Eye. Tyranno stomped on the thing, ending to duel.

Ed: 0 LP

"That's all," I smirked, as Tyranno, the Patrician, and Vampire Lord disappeared.

Ed looked down again.

"It's okay, Ed," I looked over him.

"Well... here's all the star chips you need!" Ed looked at me, then handed me a bag FULL of silver star chips.

As we loaded them into our star chip holders, Ed looked on, smiling.

"And there is one MORE thing you can do for us," Haruhi turned to Ed.

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"SMILE!"

Pulling a camera out of nowhere, Haruhi snapped a picture of Ed, and cackled with delight.

"What the hell?!" Ed yelled.

I thought that nobody else wanted in.

"True! We don't have members that want to join in." Haruhi explained. "But we do force some people to join, whether they like it or not! Like these guys!" she pulled out some pictures and showed them to us. They were familiar people they know of: Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor, Seto Kaiba, Yugi Motou, The Hair Guy, Marik Ishtar, even Pegasus was in one of the pictures.

Well, this is awkward.

LATER...

As Ryoko yawned before her nap, she noticed three small glowing balls of light outside. Looking at Yuki, Ryoko shrugged and went to investigate...

"Hehehe." a very familiar visage rises with two others, "As the sands of time whirl through the air..."

"WE HAVE RETURNED!" Obelisk, Slifer, and Ra have been revived.

"So... now what?"

"Beats me, Slifer."

"I hope Yugi-san hasn't become bored without our presence, Obelisk."

"That's the best part of it, Ra. Now, let us be free once more!"

"... Uh guys?"

"Yes?"

"We used to tower over trees, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Now it's the other way around."

"... AUGH! I'm chibi-fied!"

"Yeah, that could be a problem."

Yep, they were chibi. And Ryoko found them.

"... crap."

To be continued...