Chapter 20: Wrath

Zach was standing across from Dagger, his body turned into his newly obtained Element of Vice. Three overlay units orbited his body.

"Zach?" Ditzy asked weakly.

Zach looked towards Ditzy. He spoke, his voice two toned with a gravelly voice, "I am Wrath. Your husband gave into me. He did so specifically to save you. I plan on doing so." Wrath turned back towards Dagger, "When I summon myself the turn Wrathful Revival is activated, I get to draw one card." A fiery aura surrounded Wrath's left hand. "When one's rage is powerful enough, they can draw the card they one card they need. When I possess them, I can create a card from that rage." The aura became a card. "I activate Wrath Weapon Justice Blade." The card became a steel blade with a red aura (ATK 2500-3000). "Now I attack Antimaterion Xykik." Wrath jumped over and slashed right through the monster.

Dagger: 7400-6400

"Now I use the effect of my blade. When I destroy a monster by battle, you take damage equal to its attack strength." Wrath quickly struck Dagger, who was barely able to block.

Dagger: 6400-4400

"Why are you attacking so hard?" Dagger asked, "We both work for Oblivion."

"I do not work for him."

"But he created you!"

"I was created by the rage of my host. Now I will show you the full power of that rage. When I destroy a monster while equipped with my blade, I can attack again!" Wrath slashed through the other Zero.

Dagger: 4400-3900

Wrath raised his blade and slashed Dagger's chest.

Dagger: 3900-1400

Wrath raised his sword above his head with two hands. Dagger clutched his bleeding chest with one hand and reached out with another, "Please, mercy."

"You were not going to show this world mercy. You do not deserve it." Wrath jabbed down.

"Don't do it!" Ditzy called out.

Wrath stopped his blade just above Dagger's head. He raised his head to Ditzy, "Why?"

"The Zach I know wouldn't kill him. He doesn't believe in it."

Dagger looked back down, his eyes flashing from blood red to blue for a second, "Death would be a mercy to him. It will be punishment enough to let him live." Wrath picked Dagger up with one arm and tossed him aside.

Dagger: 1400-0

Wrath's body shrunk down until it was its original size. Now Wrath wore a black jumpsuit with red gauntlets and boots, both sets having spikes going up on them.. The being merely waived an arm and Ditzy was lowered to the ground. The Wrath turned towards Hope.

"Darkness," it said, "Leave your host and duel me!"

"Leave your host," Hope retorted.

"I cannot, not until all that causes him rage is gone."

"What rage does Zach have?" Ditzy asked.

Wrath grinned, looking creepy on Zach's face, "You really don't know? He holds more rage than I have seen in this world. He holds rage to Darkness, Oblivion, even his race of humanity. Now, I shall eliminate Darkness."

"You can't really do that," Hope said, "Darkness and I are sort of attached."

"Then I shall duel you." A slot for a deck and ten other slots opened in Wrath's right gauntlet.

"Don't do this!" Ditzy called out.

"It'll be alright," Hope said, readying her duel disk.

Hope jumped down out of the stands and landed on all four hooves.

Hope's Light: 8000

Wrath: 8000

Hope was about to draw when her friends and their families came running in, except for Cadence and the younger ones. When everyone got there, they stared in awe at Wrath.

"What the hay happened to you?" Flutter Night asked.

"An Element of Vice got to him," Hope explained angrily.

Both Night and Discord readied their duel disks.

"We're not going to let you duel him," Discord promised.

"No you won't!" Wrath yelled. At the last word, it shot a stream of red plasma from its mouth towards the group. They all scattered and the plasma harmlessly melted through the ground. "My host only has rage towards Darkness, so I will only duel its host." Wrath pulled six cards from its gauntlet, "I summon Hound of Wrath (ATK 1900). A one-eyed dog in red and black armor appeared. It had blood dripping from its mouth. "I can relinquish my battle phase each turn to have my Hound inflict half its attack points as damage." The dog jumped at Hope and she blocked with her duel disk.

Hope: 8000-7150

Some of the blood from the dog's mouth dripped onto Hope's hoof and she cried out in pain. A sizzling sound came from the hoof as Hope rubbed it on the ground, trying to rub the acidic substance off. Once she was done, Hope panted, "That stung. Break free from this thing Dad!"

"Your father cannot here you. I set two cards and end my turn."

Hope slowly drew, her magic weak from the pain. "If less than a thousand points of damage can hurt that badly, I don't want to feel a direct attack." "I activate Realm of Shadows (ATK 1900-1400). Now I special summon Shadow Beast Destroyer (ATK 3000-3500). Now I summon Photon Crusher (ATK 2000-1500). Crusher, attack Hound of Wrath."

Wrath: 8000-7900

Crusher switched to defense (DEF 0) "Destroyer, hit Wrath with some major damage!"

Wrath: 7900-4400

"I activate Righteous Rage," Wrath called out once he recovered, "With this card, the monster that attacked is destroyed and you take damage equal to its original attack points." Destroyer exploded, sending Hope flying back.

Hope: 7150-4150

"I'll put two cards face-down," Hope said, ending her turn. Hope tried to get up, but felt woozy and fell back down.

Wrath drew, "I summon Soldier of Wrath (ATK 1900-1400)." A knight in ruined armor appeared. "When Soldier of Wrath is summoned, I can add one equip spell from my deck to my hand, though it cannot be equipped to my Soldier." The red aura returned to Wrath's hand and appeared on its deck. It drew its card dramatically. "Now my Soldier attacks your Crusher!"

"I activate Lumenize. This card negates the attack and gives my Crusher the points of your monster (ATK 1500-2900)."

"I activate Counter Rage! When my monster's attack is negated, I can attack again, and deal you a piercing damage!"

Hope: 4150-2750

Hope's face-down flipped up, "I activate Shadow Summoner and bring out three Shadow Tokens with attack points equal to the damage I took (ATK 1400x3)."

"I set a card and end my turn, and during the end phase when Counter Rage is activated, we both are hit with one thousand points of damage."

Wrath: 4400-3400

Hope: 2750-1750

"I end my turn."

Hope drew, "I just drew Rank-Up-Magic the Seventh One. I bring out Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon from my extra deck (ATK 3000). Now I rank it up, Chaos Xyz Evolution! Chaos Number 107: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon (ATK 4500-4000)." Neo Tachyon took the field and roared proudly, despite being weakened. "I tribute two of my tokens, now Galaxy-Eyes can attack three times, though I unfortunately need to keep its overlay unit. Galaxy-Eyes, attack his monster!"

"I activate Half Unbreak!"

The first attack hit the monster, knocking it back, but not destroying it.

Wrath: 3400-2350

"Again!" Hope was crying this time.

"Hope?" Turvy asked as the attack hit.

Wrath: 2350-1300

Both Wrath and Hope were panting. Hope looked straight into Wrath's eyes, "Get out of my dad! Galaxy-Eyes, attack one more time!"

Wrath: 1300-250

"I switch my token to defense mode and end my turn."

"You have nearly as much rage as your father," Wrath smirked, "Good." Its hand and deck glowed again. "I draw! I summon Fiend of Wrath (ATK 1800). I overlay my two monsters and xyz summon Wrathful Atrocity (ATK 2500-2000)." The monster that appeared looked a lot like Zach and Wrath, though its face was red and scarred. "I activate Call of Rage. I can special summon Atrocity's overlay units. I now overlay my three monsters and transform myself into my true form, Element of Vice – Wrathful Butcher (ATK 2500-2000)." Wrath's body took its true form once more.

"I equip myself with Wrath Weapon Justice Blade (ATK 2000-2500). Now I attack your token."

Hope: 1750-650

"I can use an overlay unit when I destroy a monster in battle, you lose points equal to either half the destroyed monster's or half of your own, whichever is less." Wrath walked over to Hope and picked her up by her neck and threw her back towards the wall.

Hope: 650-325

"I set a card and end my turn. And yes, the face-down will end this."

Hope slowly got to her knees and her magic wrapped around her top card. Suddenly her vision turned blurry. Her magic faded and she passed out. Ditzy, Turvy, and Dusk ran over to Hope.

Hope was back in her bedroom, lying on her bed. She sat up and looked around.

"I'm home?"

"Not quite," a voice said. Zach, as a pony, opened the door and walked inside the room.

"Dad!" Hope exclaimed as she jumped up and hugged Zach. "What are we doing here?"

Zach looked down at his daughter, a tear running down his face, "I'm able to use Wrath to project my mind into yours. I'm so sorry this had to happen."

"It's alright. You did this to save Mom."

Zach pulled away and shook his head, "I could have used my Element, bring out Utopia Infinity. But no, I succumbed to my rage at Dagger. I wanted to see him suffer. Now you're suffering for it."

"It'll be okay," Hope put a hoof on Zach's shoulder.

"I know." A green gem appeared and levitated in front of Zach. He took it in hoof and presented it to Hope.

"I-is that?" Hope asked.

"My Element of Harmony," Zach confirmed.

"But how? I saw your Element shatter."

"Did you not listen to the girls when they told your how they got their first Elements? What was destroyed was only the physical form. The true Element is within a pony." Zach sighed. "Perhaps I'm no longer worthy of the gift Faust gave me. But I can give you it to help defeat me."

Hope took the gem, "I'll purge the Element of Vice from you and save you."

Zach cringed, "I'm afraid you can't save me, not this time."

"What do you mean?"

Despite the fact that Hope meant for both questions, Zach only answered the first, "The Element of Vice spoiled my blood, stopped my heart. If you remove Wrath from me, I will die."

"But -."

"No buts! You have to use the Elements of Harmony to end this!"

Hope was about to deny Zach, but suddenly she awoke.

"Are you alright?" Ditzy asked. Turvy wrapped herself around Hope.

Hope gently shook herself away from Turvy and stood up, "I'll be fine. I need to end this now."

Hope walked towards Wrath and began to levitate the broken shards of Zach's duel disk. Suddenly, the pieces began to glow.

"What is going on?" Wrath called out.

The pieces began to fuse with Hope's duel disk, creating a new design. It was golden, with one blade that went entirely up Hope's foreleg. In the center was a green gem.

"My father has given me his Element of Harmony. I wish I didn't have to use it, but I'm going to do what he wanted." Hope's body began to glow. Her body below her neck turned golden, and her cutie mark faded until it was only the yang. The Elements of Harmony appeared on her body. She began to hover and placed a hoof on her now glowing deck, "GO, Harmony Draw! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Harmony's Force. Now I can rank up my Chaos Number and purge the Chaos from its body."

The Elements of Harmony left Hope's body, including Love, and began to swirl around Tachyon. As they began to change the Number, Hope began to chant, "Power of Harmony, purge the Chaos from my card and replace it with Harmony. Harmonious Xyz Evolution! Harmonious Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Infinite Tachyon Dragon (ATK 4600-4100)!"

The monster was about twice as large as its previous form. It was now colored rainbow, with each of its seven tails a color of the Elements of Harmony. It now had six wings.

"The effect of Harmony's Force activates, draining the points from you and giving it to me." Wrath began to turn to stone (ATK 2000-6100). Galaxy-Eyes Infinite Tachyon Dragon, attack with Harmonious Tachyon Spiral Cannon!" Tachyon fired a stream of rainbow energy at Wrath."

"I activate Magic Cylinder."

"I activate the effect of Infinite Tachyon Dragon; I can restart the battle phase, but with all other card effects on the field negated (ATK 6100-7100). Now I end this." Hope's voice broke as she cried out the attack one more time, "Harmonious Tachyon Spiral Cannon!"

Wrath: 250-0