Last year I gave you the first match between Ritan and Xiaolang, this year I give you the start of a new arc.
Any requests for next year?
Happy Holidays folks.
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The Emissary of Extinction
Chapter 30
Darkness Rises
Ritan raised a hand to the sky. "Come unto me, my slaves." His fist clenched as darkness wrapped around it.
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Sosuke was looking through his deck, taking a closer look at the cards he had created when his eye slipped to a card not of his own design. "What the hell?" The Extinction Armor cards were dyed in darkness, but against his new power they would not seize control.
Kenji, having overheard Sosuke, picked up his own deck and arrived at the reacting card. "Draygor."
"I am aware. Prepare yourselves. He knows where we are, and he will come."
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From his seat up in the medical ward, Xiaolang opened his eyes. "Oh no." He stood up. "Dammit!" He turned around running towards the door, and his way out. Before he left he turned his eyes to the door which his still-in-surgery friend was fighting for his life. "Sorry Koyo. But if we don't win this war then there may not even be a world left for you to recover in."
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The Horsemen were immune, as well as the defenders of the island, along with their few allies had not dared taken any of the cursed cards into their possession. Everyone else, however, had been foolish enough to take them, and once more they paid the price for it. Not even aware of their own actions, each found their duel disks, each armed themselves with their decks and marched. They marched to a destination not even known to them. The students had once again been reduced to mere puppets, with their strings manipulated by a true demon. The monster laughed as his slaves walked. Tonight, tonight would be his night. Tonight would be one drowned in chaos, one drowned in carnage. One which the world would never dare forget. In time, the last words of what was once a dark god would be given thought, more so than even it ever could have expected.
The future of humanity was about to come.
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Judai's thoughts were broken by the opening of a door below him. With confused eyes he watched as what few students his former dorm now held these days walked out, armed with their disks, into the night. He wanted to call out to them, to ask what the deal was. Somewhere, in the back of his mind he knew. He did not need to ask. Ritan was quickly making up for lost time. He knew he should move, but his heart was hesitant. "I can't...I can't..." He closed his eyes. Even without his presence however, the night would proceed.
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"They're not listening to us!" Sho looked around as the mindless students walked, his brother with him. Unlike his younger sibling, however, Kaiser was well-composed.
"They're possessed again. By Ritan this time, I'd guess. Call everyone else, I'll follow the crowd and see what happens." He walked. Now he was finally free of his need for a cane he was back to perfect health, and maybe, just maybe..."I might find my next opponent."
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Kenzan was holding back one of the students, who's smaller form had no chance of escaping the senior's strong grip. Didn't mean he wasn't gonna try. "Stop fighting-sarus! Tell me what's going on." The thrashing grew more fierce, though in vain. "Dammit!"
"Dino-boy!" Kenzan turned to look at the sudden intruder.
"Jim?" The graduate continued approaching, but Karin gave the closest thing she was capable of giving to a greeting, which would make most back away quickly.
"Let him go. He's not going to talk. None of them can."
Kenzan lowered his arms, and was relieved of his burden by a sudden thrash. His former victim escaped, rushing to join the crowds. "Is this happening everywhere?"
Jim nodded. "Everyone with a copy of Extinction Armor. They're all moving in the same direction, but we don't know where exactly to."
"What can we do-sarus?"
Jim turned around, taking a few steps before speaking. "Follow them. Something big is going to happen. Do you want to sit around and say you missed it?"
He didn't need to wait for an answer, and less than a minute later the Ra dorm was empty.
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From his view of the sea, Johan could hear the movement across the woods. With that many people moving at once it was hard not to notice it. He tried to ignore it, but today ignorance was not an option. "Rubii?" He looked down at his closet 'family' member. "I can't just sit here, huh?" A shaking head was his only answer. "Heh." He stood up, dusting himself off. "Can't catch a break now, can I?"
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Judai watched as the few students of his former dorm wondered into the woods, none of them seeming to even notice the world around them. He knew what was happening, it was obvious. The students had once more been possessed by the cursed cards. Another battle was coming.
"Then go join it, coward."
"I...no. I-I cant."
"Then I will."
"No you wont."
"That was not a suggestion."
Judai blinked. "Wha-?" He stopped. He could not describe it, but he felt something. In his head, he grasped at it. His breathing suddenly moved faster in its rhythm. He gritted his teeth, he understood now. His mind was starting to grow hazy, as if darkness was moving across the surface of his soul. His impression was not too far from the truth. He bit down his lip before digging his nails into his own skin. "I won't be taken over again!"
His efforts were partly in vain, at his feet a circle of darkness suddenly rose, a brief breeze from the storm of violet night that he held within him.
He fell to his knees, but he would not give up this fight yet.
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An ocean of Darkness rose from what was now a forest of dead trees. "Shien. Ritan. And now Haou. With them, and the army of students...I can't survive here." He condensed, and in a moment what stood before his servants were a small pillar of formless darkness. The mass had no feet, opting to float in midair. "Hold the line, with your lives if you must, until I am ready. We are finished here."
Kenji was the only one either brave or foolish enough to raise a question. "Then where do we go?"
The darkness floated away, retreating and hiding its form in the forest below, looking for somewhere to hide. Before he was completely gone from its servants however, it spoke just one last word.
"Elsewhere."
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Ritan nodded to himself. The laboratory was surrounded, and its very few occupants would not be able to fight the sheer onslaught that would come. "Tonight, I seize my prize." With his arm pointed the demon declared himself, and his army ready for battle.
"ATTACK!"
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Xiaolang watched as every student around him raised up their arms, each activating their duel disks as he watched the darkness flow from their decks. He didn't need to think very hard to know what was coming. He didn't need to think at all. Instead, his thoughts were on something else.
"Draygor or Ritan. Which one first?"
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Judai's eyes snapped open. He could sense it, even from here what was about to happen. "No! No! N-" His mouth snapped shut, his teeth gritting as his head slowly moved back. "Stop this, Haou!" His words did nothing, the darkness was starting to gather, quickly becoming a river that flowed in all directions around him. He heard the king speak, but it was his own mouth that moved.
"This battleground has no place for cowards."
Faster than the blink of an eye Judai was gone as a geyser of darkness enveloped him. Witnesses might have heard the scream, but no-one was there to watch as once again, Judai fell before the power of the King. The Darkness shot to the sky, covering all below it in a violet shade. It was a full minute before the haze broke, revealing a now standing Judai.
Only in body was he Judai. The now Golden-eyed figure blinked, his face stoic as he gazed in the direction of the battle. "Draygor. Ritan. Both of you will perish."
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"Giant Orc!"
"Spear Dragon!"
"Goblin Zombie!"
Xiaolang did not join in, but around him every student was summoning a creature to form an assault on the building before them. He turned around to listen to some shouts that aimed in his direction. They had all come, all who had been members of Judai's group had come to join this battle. Xiaolang held up a hand to signify he wished to be heard. "Draygor must be killed. Tonight. I don't know where Judai is, or if he will even come. I'm not as good as him, or as strong. I'm not one of your group either. But if we don't band together we will die. Now do we stand as one or not?"
Asuka was the first to speak up. "Judai will come! He won't abandon us!"
"Aniki isn't a coward!"
Johan was about to speak, but recent...changes stopped him. Manjoume, who was next to him on the other hand..."Who are you to try and order us?"
"QUIET!"
All eyes turned to Kaiser Ryo, one of her very few who wasn't feeling some kind of disdain for the young duellist. "Do you have a plan?"
Xiaolang nodded. "Draygor's going to have his hands full with the army. If Ritan comes I need one of you to delay him, he's strong, exceedingly strong so only face him if you are absolutely confident in your power. Draygor's new servants will need distracting too if they come after me. Keep all forces away from me while I go for the beast itself. I will turn the power of the Six on him and eradicate him."
Kaiser thought for a moment, this plan was very unrefined, but it's simplicity made it workable. However..."What if you fail?"
Xiaolang shrugged. "Then I'm Draygor's next meal." He turned to face the building, the walls were starting to crack. "Let's go!" His chest was suddenly aglow, illuminating the stains that still remained on his shirt. "I'll kill Draygor. Then Ritan will come after me. This time I'll make sure there's nothing but ash left of him or anything that belongs to him."
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Ritan grinned. "He's going to get himself killed. While Draygor feasts on him he'll have his guard down..." He chuckled. "Foolish nobility. Wonder who taught him that?"
"It's not just nobility, its bravery. Something you apparently lack."
Ritan blinked. He'd not been paying attention to the outside world and got snuck up on in the process. He turned around, seeing a figure standing a distance from him. "Judai Yuki."
"No." Haou's eyes blazed. "Don't compare me to that coward."
Ritan eyed the person before him with more interest than before. "Judai's body, but not Judai himself. And such power I sense..." He turned his body around completely. "Alright then. Seeing as you've come this far you're looking for a fight." His duel disk materialized out of nowhere, deck loaded. "You'll make a worthy opponent for my grand return to life, one who bares the face of Judai Yuki."
"Haou. And don't yet celebrate your return from hell. I'm sending you back."
"Wrathful one, aren't you? Good. I've always wanted to fight an opponent whose ruthlessness matches my own."
"As have I, but I have a feeling I will need to keep looking."
"Heh. We'll soon see."
"Duel!"
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The ground seemed to shake as the Horsemen looked up to the ceiling. Kenji moved out of the way as a trail of dust-like debris passed him. "Every student is attacking the building. We've got minutes before they get in."
Sosuke grinned. "Seconds more like, the upper building won't stand long, but they'll need time to get down here." He raised his hand, forming his blade. "Let's go to war!"
Jinn didn't move, but his disk was growing very quickly. "That's a good idea actually."
Pestilence had already prepared her weapon of choice. "We'll hold the line here."
The ceiling was starting to crack. Kenji formed his disk. "Nothing gets past here alive."
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The duellists watched as hundreds of monsters bore their various forms of wrath on the laboratory, it was about to give way, the upper level would fall, crushing the lower level. From then it would be mere moments before the underground level was broken into. The battle was about to escalate to it's highest point, but the thoughts of the islands defenders were elsewhere, all in the same place.
"Where are you, Judai?"
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Neither had moved, but their battleground had quickly changed. From the former king darkness was coursing like a river, lashing against Ritan's feet. Ritan found the stoic nature of his enemy...foreign. He'd had opponents sweating from pressure, shaking from fear, or fuelled by some sense of valour. Never, never in all his days had he seen someone who could stare him down like he was nothing.
It was not something he liked. "Draw!" He took only a slight glance at his drawn card before, "Arise, Demonic Warlord Magma Golem!" For the first time that day, Ritan had summoned one his true monsters. The Golem made from the rivers of hell itself rose from the river of darkness , it's very blood as fire. (Attack position. ATK/1800) "I set one card. Turn end."
Haou looked upon his opponents monster. "I've never fought creatures quite like this."
"Never? With the darkness that comes from you, some would think you'd use monsters like them."
The surfaces of gold burned once more, brighter than in recent days. A figure emitting darkness, with glowing eyes beneath the nights sky. Lesser men would quiver in fear before what Ritan faced. "I am no demon." The darkness shivered with a powerful ripple. "Draw." Unlike his opponent, Haou took a second to consider his move. For a man of his meticulous nature, he needed little more than that. He placed a card into his duel disk, with it's manifestation rising from the river of his power. "Dark Fusion." He grasped two cards in his hand. "I fuse Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix." The two monsters appeared, falling into a hole of darkness as this twisted fusion took place. "I summon Evil Hero Inferno Wing"
What started in darkness culminated in a geyser of sky blue fire. From this rose an angel of darkness. Many warriors had fallen before her and her evil fire. Her wings spread as her sinister battle cry passed her lips. Dressed in crimson, with two sets of claws and blue fire in her wake. Her appearance alone was enough to make even the bravest fear her. (Attack position. ATK/2100)
"So. You like to fuse as well. You're not too different from the face you wear, are you?"
"I fight with heroes, but on my own terms. Inferno Wing. Attack Magma Golem. Inferno Blast." The heroine of evil put her hands together, holding a ball of burning death before thrusting out her hands with a shout. The Golem had not even a moment to react as the fires reached it. Some would attempt a counter, others would scream out for the fall of their monster.
Ritan would no nothing. He was silent has his monster found a swift end. (Ritan LP/3700) Ritan chuckled. "Been so long since someone dared to outright attack me. I commend your bravery, but you're a fucking fool! Magma Golem effect activate! When it's killed in battle, its killer pays with all of its attack and defence points." Inferno Wing gasped from shock as the river of darkness under her suddenly split open, revealing a hole of pure lava. "Wrath of Styx!"
The lava rose, covering Inferno Wing in a cocoon of its malicious substance. Very quickly the entire body of the hero was almost completely covered, with only one of her hands and few features left uncovered. All hope for this hero was lost.
If not for one thing. "Dark Fusion effect activate." From inside the prison the hero waved out a single hand, and like glass the lava shattered. Ritan had barely even a second to absorb what he had seen before the worst came. The King had one more punishment left to deal. "Whatever it creates, Dark Fusion defends from all card effects for that turn. Now, fool, I will punish you further. Inferno Wing Effect activates. When it destroys a monster by battle you take damage to either its attack or defence points, whichever one is higher. Hell Backfire!"
"Wha-!" Whatever else was to escape his mouth was drowned out by the merciless flames. Ritan was hidden from view in an instant, not that any would have wanted to actually see him. (Ritan LP/1900) When the fires finally dimmed, Haou could see that Ritan had fallen to a knee, almost falling face first into the river of darkness. Against such power, such ruthlessness..."Heh heh."
"Hm?"
"Heh heh heh. Ha." Ritan's body shook. First the shaking was subtle, but grew stronger and stronger. He slowly rose to his feet, head bowed as the shaking continued. He suddenly threw his head back, laughing into the night around him. He didn't stop. His body shook harder and harder with the laughter that escaped him. The age old king simply stood there, waiting for his apparently deranged opponent to stop.
It took just over a full minute, but finally the man calmed down, bowing his head once more before suddenly facing his opponent with a grin that was just barely human.
"I'm going to enjoy this."
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End of Chapter
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Today's Strongest Card
Hero Signal
Trap (Normal)
Activate when a monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Elemental Hero" monster from your hand or Deck.
Commentary: Haou
"No matter in whose hands, this card represents a new hero."
Author's Notes: Early pwnage by Haou! How will Ritan counter?
How will the Horsemen defend their master?
How will Xiaolang try to destroy Draygor?
Who really gives a crap anymore?
Sorry it was so short, but I was in something of a rush on this one (finished only last night with some tweaking today. What I get for piss poor preparation but I wanted something special for Christmas.).
P.S.
I have a duellist going around cutting up his enemies, literally. Is no-one going to comment on it? Or any of the victims of the horsemen?
Then again no-one commented on Draygor basically decapitating Ritan with his teeth. I guess I'm not making this book gory enough to raise any eyebrows. Time for me to step up the carnage. Now what to do...
On a random note: I recently looked at the artwork for the actual card "Clever Schemes". It has members of the Six Samurai and a few of the Ojama. So the two archetypes in some kind of conflict seems to be actual card cannon. Does this mean I'm gonna have to have a Manjoume VS Xiaolang match or something?
Personally I wonder if the Samurai are responsible for the death of most of the Ojama (most shown to be dead in "Solidarity"). That'd piss all over the noble image I'm trying to paint for the archetype.
To answer BlueEyesVampireKnight (might become important for the rest of the book):
Xiaolang didn't discover anything new about Yubel (new to readers anyway). He only knows as much as Kaiser does. He'll form his own opinions from that. Lets'll see where it goes.