"Hmm… Damian seems to be in a bit of a spot…" said Lucifer "Interesting…"
"Master… I thought you wanted him to win." said one of his servants.
"I don't care who wins or loses…" he said smiling "I just don't want to see a knock out in the first round…"
"But if Damian loses… you'll have to give up the souls that Damian has stolen."
"Yes I will… It will be a regrettable loss, but not a critical one… after all… I've got all eternity to make up for it."
(Damian. Speed: 1)
Yusei had forced Damian to discard two of the Exodia cards in his hand, making the piece of Exodia he just drew as well as the two remaining Exodia cards in his hand useless.
"I activate the speed spell Pit Stop! This allows me to shuffle any cards in my hand that I don't want back into my deck; next I draw a new hand."
Damian shuffled all three of his Exodia cards back into his deck.
"Perfect… First I'll place a card face down, and now I'll shuffle all the monster cards in my graveyard back into my deck, so I may special summon Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord!"
(ATK: ? DEF: 0)
"What the… Why aren't its attack points determined?" asked Yusei.
"It's very simple Fudo… Exodius' attack points depend on the number of normal type monsters in my graveyard. Since I shuffled all the monsters in my graveyard back into my deck to summon him, he doesn't have any attack points, so we'll have to fix that… I activate his special effect, before Exodius attacks I can send one monster card from my hand or deck to the graveyard, and I choose Left Leg of the Forbidden One, so Exodius gains 1000 attack points!"
(ATK: 1000)
"Exodius, attack his face down monster!"
Yusei's face down Sonic Chick was destroyed.
(Yusei, Speed: 4)
"Your Exodius is no match for my Junk Warrior, Attack!"
Junk Warrior flew at Exodius.
"Not so fast mortal, I activate my face down trap, Negate Attack!"
Junk Warrior's attack was blocked.
"It doesn't matter." thought Yusei "Even if Damian sends another monster to his graveyard on his next turn his Exodius will only have 2000 attack points, so my Junk Warrior will still be able to destroy it on my next turn."
Damian drew his card.
(Damian, speed: 2)
"I activate the speed spell Angel Baton, since I have two speed counters I can draw two cards from my deck, so long as I discard one, and the card I'm discarding is Aqua Madoor, a normal monster, so Exodius gains another 1000 attack points."
(ATK: 2000)
"That's not good."
Suddenly Yusei and Damian heard Lucifer's voice.
"You think that's bad; here comes the loop-the-loop!"
The upcoming loop-the-loop on the track was huge, Yusei had no experience at being a stunt rider, but he was certain that to do this without breaking any bones he'd have to be going over ninety miles per hour, so it was time to put the pedal to the metal.
"I can't imagine anyone dueling like this."
Yusei held his breath as he went up the ramp, the next second he was upside down, but in a moment he was back safely on the ground.
"No where were we?" said Damian "Ah yes, I activate Exodius' effect and send Right Leg of the Forbidden One from my deck to my graveyard, giving him 1000 more attack points!"
(ATK: 3000)
"Exodius, destroy Junk Warrior!"
Exodius blew Junk Warrior away with its Lightening-fire flash attack.
(Yusei: 3300)
"You may have knocked me down, but it will take more than that to… ugh!"
Yusei started coughing again, at first he didn't think much of it, but I was starting sound and feel really nasty.
"What's… wrong with me?"
"It seems that the stench of death and brimstone in the air doesn't do wonders for your body, and it's not the only thing."
Yusei realized that his shirt was all soaked with sweat. Being a mere mortal, Hell was starting to take its toll on him. It was like working in a steel mill, only a hundred times worse.
"I have to end this duel before it gets worse…"
(Yusei, Speed: 5)
"I summon a monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"Is that the best you can do? Very well then… it's my turn!"
(Damian, speed: 3)
"I activate Exodius' effect and send Left Arm of the Forbidden One from my deck to the graveyard, giving my Exodius 1000 more attack points!"
(ATK: 4000)
"Exodius, attack his face down monster!"
Exodius blasted Yusei's monster with its attack, but when the smoke cleared it was still there.
(ATK: 0 DEF: 900)
"What!?!"
"Sorry Damian, but Shield Wing's special effect lets me prevent it from being destroyed in battle twice per turn!"
"You're only delaying the inevitable mortal!"
Suddenly Damian and Yusei heard Lucifer's voice again.
"Roll apparatus!"
"Roll apparatus? What the heck is a roll apparatus?"
"Look ahead."
Yusei looked ahead and saw that there was a hole in the road, the only way to jump the hole was by using a curved ramp which would hurl him through space upside-down over the hole, then drop him back on a similar ramp about thirty feet away on the other side.
"This is nuts!!!"
Yusei's pulse pounded as his runner was launched into the air, but as he flew upside down over the fiery abyss his thoughts weren't for himself, they were for the people he was fighting for, the people who had given him the courage to endure all this insanity. Miraculously in moments the danger was past and he touched down safely on the other side.
(Yusei, speed: 6)
"I pass, there's nothing I can do."
"Then it's my turn!"
(Damian, Speed: 4)
"I'll place one card face down; next I use Exodius' special effect to send Right Arm of the Forbidden One to the graveyard, giving him 1000 more attack points!"
(ATK: 5000)
"Exodius, attack his Shield Wing!"
Exodius attacked, but Yusei's Shield Wing was still there when the smoke cleared.
"It doesn't matter how many attack points Exodius has, Shield Wing's effect prevents it from being destroyed twice per turn!"
"The point wasn't to attack Yusei… The point was to discard. When all five pieces of Exodia are sent to the graveyard by Exodius' effect, then Exodia will be summoned, and your little Shield Wing won't be able to stop it."
"Funny… Years ago you let go of your life just like that, but you just can't let go of Exodia."
"Your point? All my life I was called a loser, a weakling, easy prey, and then when I needed the love of my life the most she had left me. My life sucked! But Exodia is power, I dueled with it and I won with it. I lost that last duel on a technicality, one more turn and I would have drawn the last piece of Exodia and won the duel… I WAS SO CLOSE!!! So close… I tripped at the finish line because somehow I lost control of my runner and crashed into a wall… But that's history… On my next turn Exodius will attack, all five Forbidden cards will be in my graveyard, and Exodia will be complete! I'll be able to make a new life for myself as the greatest duelist on Earth, while you and your friends burn here in Hell! MWAH AH AHA HA AH HA!!!"
(To be continued)
