Chapter 5: Quenching a God's Fire
Flames circled the holographic city and licked the sides of the buildings, washing back and forth throughout the room following the ebb and flow of the tide. Hot air obscured the view, and both duelists became indistinguishable from the rising steam. With a mighty roar, the cyclone hardened into the red scales of a dragon. Its shiny scales mirrored the flames as they danced across the stadium floor. The image of the dragon was a frightening one—with spikes sticking out of its head and two rows of teeth lining its jowls.
"Uria, Lord of Searing Flames," Matt noted from his vantage point on the floor. "Of all the times I've seen the card in action, never once were the flames this intense. I hardly even notice the cold air around me right now. It feels like a bonfire onstage."
Speaking with a voice heard by no one else, Matt heard the reply, "This is the first time you have seen Uria's true form. In this contest, he is no longer bound by the constraints of the card that tethers him to this world. The Shadows move freely, only withheld by Bryan's will."
Matt shuddered at the thought. He witnessed the gods once before and still remembered that feeling of pure terror that struck him when he knew the card became real. Suddenly the selection of a ruined castle in the far-north regions of the world made sense. No matter the consequences up here, the world would have little reaction to a clash of the gods. Uria was a prime example, singeing the Chinese woman's white suit as he roasted the opponent's monster.
Bryan 3200: Zeng 5100.
"Undoubtedly this place has some significance to the gods as well."
"The castle was built in Century IX by a king who believed the celestial phenomena of the far north were something supernatural. He sought to understand and control those phenomena, convinced they could make him one with god. This castle was the base of his research. Continued studies cost money, however, and imposed taxes eventually drove the populace to rebel and sack the citadel. Parts of the building survived the revolution and have since atrophied over time with disuse. At present, no one cares enough for the historical significance to restore the castle to its original condition."
Matt wished he could see the voice which spoke to him, out of suspicion if nothing else. "Considering you only live inside my body, you carry a lot of information I have never learned. How long have you lived?"
"I have only lived as long as you," spoke the voice of Ahura. The emotion Matt felt accompany those words was a mixture of sadness and excitement. He felt sure there was a second definition of "live" that Ahura used. Though he was growing closer and more knowledgeable with his inner spirit, Matt knew something important was being hidden from him. That hidden fact was the very reason he shared his body with a second entity.
"I see. Then we'll just watch what happens next."
He was sulking. The lack of trust between him and the spirit within irked him. With his life, he knew Ahura would always protect him—he always had. Whether facing off against the explosive power of the Wicked Gods and feeling the full force of the Shadow Realm or confronting the embodiment of the Apocalypse on earth, Ahura always lent his power to ensure Matt's survival. But he offered no information about himself. He ignored all Matt's inquiries, spoken and unspoken. That act maintained Matt's displeasure with the relationship.
Upon the stadium, Bryan's opponent Zeng Yeoh hardly seemed affected by Uria's attack. The common spectator found it difficult to discern the reason: Was Zeng so much stronger than Leo Gambini was, or was Uria that much weaker than Obelisk? When Obelisk struck, the opponent nearly died. Even when The Wicked Eraser attacked, the opponent staggered and required medical attention. Uria had no physical effect beyond that of falling off a bicycle. That fact gave Zeng extra confidence. She decided to challenge the great shadow beast Uria with a face-down card and a monster.
Fortunately, as far as Matt could tell, Bryan recognized the bait Zeng placed in front of him. Immediately after his turn began, Uria reared back and roared loudly as the entire field erupted with mini-volcanoes. As the lava spread, Uria dove into one of the fissures and disappeared from view—occasionally a spike along his back protruded from the lava for an instant. The floor began to quake more and more violently with each second Uria remained unseen until suddenly he burst through the dirt directly beneath Zeng's face-down card. Lava rained on the field while the card disintegrated, and even Zeng Yeoh's expensive clothes were damaged by the intensity of the assault.
With Zeng's defense cleared, Bryan set a card and summoned Elemental Hero Captain Gold (4/2100/800), a Hero shining in the moonlight with a suit of golden armor and a crimson cape billowing behind him in the fiery air. Standing atop the highest of the Skyscrapers, he protected the city by striking down her tortoise with the shining shell bare-handed, leaving the field open for Uria's direct assault. Drawing in a bellyful of fire, Uria released a heavy stream of fire from his jowls, scorching the field and raising a veil of flames in front of Zeng. But before the veil faded completely, Uria (10/3000/3000) himself lunged forward and clamped his fiery jaws down around Zeng, missing the body but threatening to devour her in a single gulp.
For a moment, Matt thought he did, but slowly Uria retreated from the enemy's field and returned to Bryan with Zeng still in one piece and largely unharmed. It had seemed like a sure kill to every witness. For Zeng Yeoh to survive, standing tall with hardly a mark meant Uria was weak… or else Bryan was.
Zeng was banking on the latter. Uria would make a powerful ally for a strong duelist. This was the chance to switch that god's master.
Bryan 3200: Lien Yu 5100 – 3000 = 2100.
The strategy Bryan witnessed from Zeng gave him some comfort. She played a deck based on the Crystal Beasts. But even though he once dated a woman who used a Crystal Beast deck and was familiar with her strategies, Zeng's cards still kept him on the ropes until he summoned Uria. But the comforting advantage Bryan had was the knowledge of what the Crystal Beasts could do. Each time he destroyed one, it stayed on the field as a Continuous Spell Card. Emerald Tortoise, Sapphire Pegasus, and Topaz Tiger all rested freely on Zeng's field. She'd been collecting and using Crystal Beasts throughout the duel so far, but she never reduced the number below three. She was holding out in case she drew her god card, and only one could be summoned with Continuous Spell Cards.
As the sky turned dark, Bryan uttered, "Well, speak of the devil."
The snow stopped falling as the natural clouds parted and Shadows became corporeal. Lightning energy jolted from one cloud to the next, building up energy. Finally a huge bolt of lightning fell to the stage, momentarily blinding everyone. When the afterimage faded and Bryan regained his vision, he gazed upon the familiar visage of Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (10/4000/4000). Its golden body sparkled with a running electrical current from head to toe. Its wingspan reached beyond the rails of the holographic field, revealing a body with little more than a golden skeleton and claws the size of machetes.
"It's like I've gone back in time," Bryan thought softly aloud.
Zeng knew no English and spoke nothing during the duel except for a few choice words Bryan was sure were swear words. She simply stared at Bryan with ferocious eyes, and then she jammed the button on the duel station. Jolting with electricity, Hamon began emitting high-voltage sparks at the hands and mouth.
In a quick counterattack, Uria released a blast of fire that matched the power of the electricity and held it back. The assault continued for what seemed to be eternity, with both gods evenly matched in the confrontation. Neither Uria's flame nor Hamon's lightning showed any signs of gaining ground. Bryan covered his face as fire kicked back and licked his skin while Zeng tried to remain tough, taking no cover from the lightning that jolted her way.
The mesh of lightning and fire produced a storm of ever-darkening clouds. While Zeng acted as if nothing were out of the ordinary, Matt felt he and the other spectators were at terrible risk when fire and lightning collided.
Finally, the clouds grew so heavy that with a deafening snap, a tremendous column of lightning shot straight through Uria's body and incinerated it. Instantaneously, Uria turned to ash, and the electricity that was earlier held at bay by his fire was free to zap Bryan. Every muscle in his body clenched so tightly he felt cramps until the instant the shocks ceased. He was still able to move, but his heart pounded erratically, alternating between strong and weak beats, sometimes skipping several beats in between.
Bryan 3200 – 1000 – 1000 = 1200: Zeng 2100.
"Deep breaths," he reminded himself. "Breathe slowly. Spread that oxygen. Force your heart to slow down." He practically hugged the ground for two full minutes while his heart slowed. Fortunately, Bryan didn't suffer any electrocution because of the rubber soles in his boots, but the ventricular fibrillation did remind him, "I wonder how the healthcare is at this thing."
From the ground right by the duel platform, Matt screamed, "Bryan!"
Bryan waved down at him. "I'll be okay," he choked out. "Big E always hit me harder than that." Actually, football practice was where Bryan experienced his first arrhythmia. His team had a defensive tackle that blindsided him in practice one time. Coach Taylor had to teach him a few techniques to settle his heart rate until the ambulance got there. They were finally coming in handy.
On the ground, Garry told Matt, "It doesn't look good for your friend. Unless he can summon his god card back like Ren did, he's not likely to win this."
"Have faith," Matt replied. "You should know by now that the winner isn't guaranteed until someone's LP are zero."
"Maybe, but your friend got himself in this situation."
"How do you mean?"
Garry was only a few years older than Matt and had only a fraction of his experience with the god cards, yet he spoke with utter confidence and battle-borne wisdom. "He's trying too hard not to hurt her. You two must know that these god cards respond to the user's intentions. If Bryan had been playing to beat or even kill the opponent, she probably wouldn't have gotten back up after Uria attacked her directly. Instead, he had Uria attack like this was a schoolyard board game, and she came back and hit him hard enough to kill a normal person." He turned to look into Matt's eyes. "You should learn from his mistake. If you're going to survive here, you need to fight with your full conviction. Have your gods hit the opponent hard enough to drop them, or else you may be the one who gets dropped."
Matt was dumbfounded by the assertion. He wanted to argue right away—to say that he didn't have to kill his opponents just to protect himself. But he couldn't argue that these opponents were clearly employing the same tactics. Ren and Gambini nearly struck one another dead through will power. Bryan may have been struck momentarily senseless, yet his attack on Zeng Yeoh hardly even singed the silk. What if Garry was right about Bryan's conviction? What if it was his weakness and resulted in his death?
"You forget one thing," Matt pointed out. "Bryan hasn't lost yet. His cards aren't called Heroes for nothing."
Matt's words offered Bryan a moment of sentimental strength. When he managed to get to his feet, he said, "Okay. My turn now."
He drew Miracle Fusion, but immediately he recognized his quandary. None of his Elemental Heroes were directly strong enough to combat Hamon's tremendous attack power. He held Elemental Hero Stratos in his hand, and Miracle Locus lay face-down on his field. Miracle Locus could increase his warrior's attack power by 1000, but the problem was it prevented Battle Damage to the opponent. Skyscraper was still available. Undoubtedly it would increase any Hero's power by 1000 points. But which Hero?
Bryan claimed he was okay after being shocked by Hamon, but in reality, he needed to end the duel as soon as he could. Another attack like that and he would be in severe danger, if he even survived. Zeng didn't have a ton of Life Points left, but she did set a card before her turn ended. There had to be something he could do with these cards to finish it. What if he fused Stratos and Captain Gold into The Shining? It would have 3200 points with its own effect, and 4200 with Skyscraper. But then what? No other monsters to attack with.
"What a second," he said. "Didn't Leo Gambini use his god card to empower Felgrand Dragon? What if I use mine to make Stratos more powerful?" Suddenly he began to laugh to himself—low and hearty. "Yeah! I like it. I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300)." The blue-skinned Hero, piloting a single-man gyropter, hovered high into the sky beside the head of Hamon and dropped a veritable barrage of fragmentation grenades on the ground right beside. All exploded on contact and surrounded Zeng and Hamon with fire. And when the smoke cleared, her face-down card was gone.
"Now I'll play Miracle Fusion!"
Right below him on the ground, Matt shouted, "What luck!" excitedly as he watched the swirl of energy on Bryan's field. Stratos struck a Heroic pose as he was pulled into the energy. A column of flames also burst from the Graveyard, snaking into the energy and putting a smile on Matt's face. "You say Bryan can't win without his god card? Then this combination is perfect."
In the swirl of energy, Elemental Hero Stratos combined with Uria, Lord of Searing Flames to create a Hero with armor tempered in the fires of a Sacred Beast. A crimson cape, fiery helmet, spiked armor, and flames billowing from his very hands. Elemental Hero Nova Master (8/2600/2100) focused energy into his palms and allowed the fire to engulf himself before leaping across the field to face the opponent for a second time.
With his cape flaring behind him, Nova Master almost seemed to fly as he dashed across the field. A bolt of lightning dropped down in front of him, but the agile Hero used a burst of flame underfoot to leap high into the air over the assault and land on the spine of Hamon's wings. Using the spine like a ramp, Nova Master rushed toward the sky. Hamon attempted to fling his assailant, but Nova Master deftly leaped from the arm back to the ground. Hamon's left foot was located well and collided with the Hero the instant he touched the street.
"The effect of Skyscraper is activated, and I'll also play Miracle Locus."
Uria's flame didn't fade under Hamon's strength: Instead, it grew until the golden god recoiled and pulled away from its would-be prey. Nova Master (+4600) took the moment to gain full speed as he leaped through the air, one flaming arm extended, and passed straight through the center of Hamon's (4000) ribcage. The wake left behind him was a bright trail of flames that lingered for just a moment before coming to life and erupting into a brilliant column of fire, piercing the god straight through from head to groin. After holding a pose briefly, Nova Master swiped his hand through the air. The column of flames condensed back into Hamon's chest and then dispersed horizontally, now piercing clean through the giant sideways. Pieces of the skeletal god's body fell to the ground like spears—the smaller pieces burning to ash before they ever hit the street.
This attack affected Zeng Yeoh. As her god slowly turned to ash and reached out in a vain attempt to fight back, Zeng clutched her chest, also reaching out as if falling just short of some goal. For two excruciating minutes, she grunted and struggled alongside the burning god. When the final ash fell, Zeng lurched on the stage. Bryan didn't want to finish with Captain Gold's attack until he finally convinced himself that an Elemental Hero's attack wouldn't inflict any additional pain. Captain Gold leaped off the tallest skyscraper straight through the steam and into the small avatar on the field that represented Zeng's Life Points.
Bryan 1200: Zeng 2100 – 2100 = 0.
The vibe was different from when Ren Bacon defeated Leo Gambini. No one rushed to Gambini's aid when he fell, maybe for fear of how Ren would react and maybe because no one cared about his wellbeing. But when the stage brought Bryan and Zeng Yeoh to the keep floor, the only Chinese man in the room rushed to Zeng's side. Everyone could see she was still alive, but she struggled to move on her own. She lay there writhing in pain and sweating buckets when the Chinese man got to her. With a signal from him, two of the guards lifted Zeng off the stage and carried her out of the keep.
"I guess I was wrong," Garry said. "Bryan knocked her out with Uria that time. His Hero cards helped help him focus his strength better."
"I don't think that's what happened," Matt argued. "Yeah, Uria's power was stronger when combined with Captain Gold's, but I think it was her own god card that hurt Zeng Yeoh."
"What do you mean?"
Matt noticed it first when Leo Gambini was defeated, but it didn't really click until he saw it a second time. "Each duelist was knocked out when their god cards were destroyed. Obelisk's attack destroyed Eraser-Felgrand and knocked Gambini all the way off the stage. Zeng Yeoh, just now, demonstrated her pain with the same motion as Hamon posed before he turned to ash. I think the gods are connected in a way never seen at Duel Academy."
Garry pointed out, "The connection to the gods is definitely a strong one. I mean, all the stories say so, and I've experienced it myself. It's like there's another voice in my head whenever I have Raviel on the field. Sometimes, it even feels like I have two heartbeats. I can believe that a god's destruction might kill the duelist."
"True, the gods have always been connected to the people who summon them. But I believe the second heartbeat you feel is actually the Shadow Realm itself. You see, ever since the gates to Judgment Day were opened, the Shadow Realm has begun to emerge in this world. Surely you've notice the change in people's behavior. Violence is rampant in cities, greed is at an all-time high, and society is in a general state of moral decay." Matt watched Bryan's hesitance when accepting Hamon from the guard who retrieved it from Zeng's deck. "We believe the only way to stop it is to collect all the god cards. They act as focal points for the Shadows to enter this world. If they can be sealed again, the world may again be safe."
"It is a lofty goal," Garry admitted. But as he looked around and counted the bodies in the room not adorned with jumpsuits and numbers, he added, "But it looks like all the god cards are here. That's a good sign, even if we are outnumbered three-to-nine."
With a chuckle, Matt repeated, "Three-to-nine, eh? Bryan and I thought we'd be in this alone. It feels pretty comforting to have an extra ally this time." He watched Bryan wander over to the corner with the Eight of Spades. A thin woman grabbed his arm and put a thermometer in his mouth. Matt couldn't imagine Bryan's temperature being all that high in that polar climate. "I'm going to check on our ally and make sure he's alright."
Bryan looked a little worse for wear after that duel, but he was moving under his own power. "Don't worry about me," he told Matt. "I'm a little dizzy, my chest is tight, and I may have wet myself… It's possible I developed arthritis, one of my calves is shriveling up the back of my leg, and I'm losing sensation in the left side of my face, which may be the beginning of a neurological disorder. But the rest of me is in the pink!"
Matt nodded and forced a smile. "No problem then. Sounds like you're ready for Round 2."
Immediately, Bryan dialed back on the humor. "Whoa, there, Apollo. Let's not get carried away." No matter how anyone looked at it, Bryan was better-suited to handling the god cards than the average duelist would be. His spiritual strength protected him from suffering too greatly when Uria was destroyed. The number of times he dueled against other gods was no doubt a factor in building his power, the same way sparring builds a resistance to being punched. Without a doubt, the god cards belonged with Bryan.
"Um, Matt?"
"Yeah, Garry?"
His bearded new ally pointed back at the dueling arena where two more duelists were preparing to face off. "You think possibly we could have a fourth ally in this contest?" The person he pointed to wore jungle green snow gear that hid his body type from view, but his face was unhidden by hat or glasses. He had wavy brown hair, dark-colored eyes, and a t-shaped face. In short, it looked like a second Matt had entered the dueling tournament.
Matt gasped silently. "Is that… me?"
Bryan scoffed and slapped his palm to his forehead. "Dude. Don't be stupid."
In case you don't know this already, I struggle with writing duels. It takes me a really long time, and there is no other project I work on that my brain so thoroughly seeks distraction (usually Facebook or whatever's on TV). I hope I got this one without errors in game play, but I count on my alert readers like tiramisu19 to keep me honest and point out those times I forget to read a card's full effect or my brain goes blank momentarily.
I appreciate your patience with my reboot of this arc as the thing that keeps me from immediately throwing all rewritten chapters back up here is the number of duels I have to rewrite. Only three more chapters and we'll be back to where we were before.
I need to give thanks to Amourenvie. The review she left while I was on hiatus is why I didn't choose to abandon this arc and skip straight to the last one. I appreciate the kind words and hope to keep writing something moderately worth reading.
In the next chapter, we will find out the identity of this mystery duelist who looks just like Matt (er... again).