Chapter 15: What Is the Overworld?
It was like looking in a mirror. Well, almost like a mirror. Everything was on the wrong side of the face. And there were minor discrepancies, of course, such as muscle development and hair growth but that was to be expected when two bodies grew up in differing environments.
Focus! Once again, Matt caught his mind wandering. It had done so often in the short time he was aware of his twin brother. Despite their conversations and Cary's research into his background, Matt knew absolutely nothing of Zeke except that his body housed the spirit of Angra Mainyu who also happened to be the twin brother of Ahura Mazda. Granted, they didn't much look alike in three-dimensional space, but twins were rarely identical.
More to the point, all appearances suggested Zeke was unrelated to the Hellfire Club in any way. While Matt considered his first play, he couldn't help recalling the discussion among this tournament's finalists.
Joker started with, "Everyone is here." And he meant everyone who could still get out of bed. Zeke sat in the corner, propped up above the snow by a piece of fallen rubble. Eldar Vanko several meters behind the duel station's midpoint dressed in heavy winter wear that had European appeal. Ingrid Lund sat by a low wall wearing enough winter weather gear to look five times as large. And despite losing a partial Shadow duel to Bryan, Zeng Yeoh was nearby.
Matt tapped his wrist into Bryan's arm in an effort to draw attention to Zeng Yeoh. "I see her," the big guy replied. If there was ever proof that the Shadow Realm might be reined in by the strength of the human spirit, her relatively unharmed state in the face of Bryan's Uria-Neos fusion would be it.
"That means the god cards don't necessarily submit the loser's soul to the Shadow Realm. Perhaps if the intentions of our opponents are limited to victory and fall short of absolute domination, then we won't be at such tremendous risk should we lose."
"How many of our remaining opponents do you think want to win without domination?"
Looking across the confident grin on Eldar's face, the creepy silence emanating from Zeke, and the sense of doom coming from Ren's absence, Matt could see Bryan's point. Even their potential allies looked ready to prove the superiority of their god cards. "Admittedly we don't know much about them, but my brother seems friendly and interested in making friends and Eldar wants to ally with us in order to keep Ren and Joker to their original Hellfire goals. And of course, we're not going to send each other to the Shadow Realm. Statistically speaking, we have a seventy-five percent chance of coming through a loss alive."
"I say there's a one hundred percent chance one of us ends up dueling Ren Bacon. Or Ren Byrne or whatever he calls himself. Where do you suppose he is, anyway? Cooking up another plan to take over the tournament by brute force?"
"Possibly. I can't fathom what resources he might have available up here, but I won't yet put anything past him. Perhaps Eldar knows something."
Unfortunately, Eldar knew a little about what happened during the break, but not in great detail. "I tried talking about World Collision and duty of organization to avoid catastrophe. He did not want to hear from me. Still acting like frightened bunny over failed ambush. Last I see, Queen of Clubs—Ingrid Lund—joined him in private home."
"The Italian lady was with him? What were they talking about?"
"Why not ask her?"
Bryan normally would not be nervous talking to an attractive woman. But when that woman was one of the heads of a major organization with worldwide control and power, she became slightly more intimidating. Matt was, fortunately, more eager to find the answers to the current riddles than he was afraid of reprisals.
Ingrid was surprisingly welcoming to Matt's query. She wore big sunglasses to keep the snow out of her eyes. But even in the horrid weather, she was covered in makeup like she was trying to impress someone. "Yes, I approached the little supporting actor. You should already know I just wanted to take his god cards. He has obtained one from each major category: Egyptian God, Sacred Beast, and Wicked God. If I took those from him even without obtaining the others, my Clubs would be invincible within the duel fields. Unfortunately, little Bacon refused my advances."
"Maybe it was too cold," Bryan suggested. There was no humor intended. He would have turned down sex at that temperature, too.
"It was an offer of accessibility and nothing else. I also find myself eager to escape this weather."
"But you seem pretty cold already," Matt pointed out. He could hardly have picked a worse target to insult for a word-play joke. Ingrid's return glare was ice cold. She looked ready to kill him and leave him in the tundra.
"I could have you killed."
Eldar interrupted, "Don't kill boy. He is needed for Ars Arcanum. Best duelist comes from Duel Academy, that's what Overlord said?"
Ingrid glared at him with a whispered yet audible "Shush." She said, "Perhaps we should avoid key words regarding the organization?"
"They already know," Eldar assured her.
She wasn't happy to do so, but Ingrid silently accepted a temporary reliance on Bryan and Matt with a short sigh. "I left Ren's house when Lien Yu showed up."
"Is that how you got that shiner?" Matt asked her, catching everyone's attention.
"What is a 'shiner?'" she asked coyly. But her tone betrayed her. She knew what Matt was saying, and also that he was right.
"It's a black eye. That's why you're smothered in makeup, but just in case that wasn't enough, you put on those big sunglasses to draw attention away from the slight discoloration in the skin around your left eye. You did a remarkable job mirroring it with eye shadow on the other eye, but I grew up in an abusive household. I've seen every attempt to hide wounds there is."
Ingrid looked ready to hit him again, but she relaxed and told the rest of her story. "Ren was mumbling something about another ritual when Lien Yu broke down the door. I asked why he was there, but he only told me to get out one time. He struck me the instant I began to form a follow-up question. I left at that moment. I saw no sense being collateral damage when Lien Yu unleashed his fury."
"Nerdy actor against kung-fu master?" Bryan summed up. "I guess it's unlikely we'll see Ren Bacon again."
Eldar argued, "Lien Yu is upset over ambush earlier being outnumbered. Maybe he fought to steal god cards or maybe he sought alliance like I did with you. He is quiet, angry man. Difficult to read."
"I noticed," Bryan admitted. "So… where is he?"
He brought up a good point. If Lien Yu had successfully taken the god cards from Ren, he would have shown at the tournament to take the rest of the cards for himself. If he had failed, he would at least have shown up to watch the end of the tournament and take care of Zeng Yeoh. From the way she clung to the post nearby to remain upright, she was clearly not fully recovered from her duel.
And she noticed when everyone's attention turned to her. "Lien Yu is honorable," she claimed. Her English was labored and broken, but Bryan and Matt were just surprised she could speak English at all. "He did want to steal god cards from King of Spades, but he was to give them to winner."
"He was going to give them to me?" Bryan replied despite the dirty looks he received for his poorly-timed joke.
"Ars Arcanum must be complete. Yu did not believe King of Spades would complete the necessary ritual. He went to enforce destiny."
Zeke chose that moment finally to introduce himself into the conversation with, "What are you guys talking about? Are you talking about the legend told in this village about the city hidden in the sky by the Aurora Borealis?"
Matt found Zeke's ignorance suspicious. What were the chances he could be one of the five finalists and not know anything about what was going on? Even if Bryan hadn't spied on the Hellfire Club's meeting and shared everything he learned, Matt still would know a little bit from Eldar Vanko's plea for help. And Zeke has thus far appeared to be smarter and more informed than Matt on every topic, plus Bryan suspected he had used Angra Mainyu's power to kill Ren's guards.
Joker interrupted. "It's time to begin the next duel. Duelists, approach the platform."
"Problem getting started?" Zeke asked.
Matt laughed, "Can you blame me? I expect dueling against you and your new cards I don't already know about to be a lot like dueling against Mom and Dad."
"It could be similar though with one key difference," Zeke replied. "You defeated Leona and Oscar, but you will, most assuredly, lose this duel." His expression never changed. He still spoke and smirked as if he were simply a cocky, older brother.
"We'll see about that. I have a history of pulling off miracles. I'll start with Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen." The ground around the stadium produced stone columns, wrapped in ivy and with walls adorned in red velvet tapestries. A red carpet led straight to Matt's Life Point avatar, now seated in a marble throne. "You know the effect, right? I can summon Darklord Asmodeus (8/3000/2500) without Tributes. One card face-down and I'll end my turn." Matt felt pretty confident with his white-skinned Darklord spreading his powerful purple wings. It was about as powerful a monster as anyone could summon on the first turn.
Zeke's smirk remained. "I'll summon Daeva – Zarich (3/1200/1000) and just leave her there for a bit." In comparison to the fallen angel standing across the field, the scantily-clad ginger with the slender body type certainly appeared to be outclassed. She seemed more the type to be cautiously protected rather than left out in the open defenselessly.
Matt stared at Zarich curiously. Bryan might have accused him of having ulterior motives for staring at the hot duel monster girl, but Matt was sincerely trying to figure out whether she was intentionally there to draw an attack or if Zeke was sorely underestimating him. He already knew from watching Zeke duel against Iñaki that Zarich was not destroyed in battle.
"Um… This is a mind game you're playing with me, right?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Zeke asked sarcastically.
Nervous chuckling seemed the right response in the moment. "That would be a yes. Now, the question of whether to attack becomes a battle of wits. On the one side, Zarich (1200) only has one effect and you have no face-down cards. On the other hand, there may be some card in your hand that will hurt me even more." The opponent offered no reply. Matt looked through his hand and wished it would be possible to summon Spenta Mainyu or Zurvan, but he lacked Spenta in his hand and he felt cold and sick even thinking about Zurvan. He attributed it to Zurvan being a bad idea.
"Okay then. I'll summon Card Trooper (3/+1900/400) and activate its effect to increase its attack points in exchange for cards from my deck. At least I should be able to pull out two good strikes, starting with Asmodeus (3000)." The fallen angel collected energy—a white light bright as the sun—in his right hand, and, pulling his arm forward, sent the energy sailing forward into the winged demon. It bounced off her body once and wrapped around her to strike from behind, repeating the process until the light struck Zarich four times and faded away.
"It was a card in my hand," Zeke confessed. "When I take damage, I summon Tragoedia (10/+3000/+3000) from my hand." A giant spike drilled straight down into the field, followed quickly by the slicing of five more spikes. Each spike had thousands of mobile hairs moving in the air, and all six merged in the belly of a monstrous spider that towered higher than Matt thought possible from a hologram. Its horrid face was a twisted mix of insect and stone, with yellow eyes capable of piercing the blackest night, jaws filled with rows of teeth that could shred the side of a mountain, and spikes erupting from its exoskeleton in every direction. Similar spikes protruded from its back and sides, offering the spider great protection from outside attacks. Its final two arms were its only source of asymmetry: One was muscular and ended in fingers sharp as talons, and the other was thinner and similar to a crab-claw.
"What in god's name is that thing?"
"This is Tragoedia, a powerful spirit born from the tragedy at Kul Elna long ago. You probably wonder how powerful, but one as observant as you no doubt saw the attack meter rise from a question mark to 3000 when I summoned it. Surely you can deduce from there that its points are determined mathematically."
"It's either from mimicking Asmodeus or it's 600 points per card in your hand," Matt suggested.
"The latter. So what's your next move?"
Two streams of white fire converged on Zarich from the simultaneous cannon blasts on Card Trooper's two limbs. The winged Daeva's face showed excruciating pain as she cried out for relief. But she endured the attack and remained on the field, appearing ever so eager to wring her revenge.
"I guess that was it," Matt said and ended his turn.
Matt 8000: Zeke 8000 – 1800 – 700 = 5500.
"Alright then," Zeke declared. "I discard Nanghaithya to activate Lightning Vortex." Thin bolts of lightning turned the air yellow as they rained down along Matt's field with such rapid tenacity they obliterated his two monsters and left no trace behind.
Except that Asmodeus divided his spirit in two and emerged from the ashes as two miniature fallen angels—one blue and one red. The Asmo Token (5/1800/1300) and the Deus Token (3/1200/1200) flitted around Matt's field like bees looking to pollinate. "My Darklord leaves behind two monster tokens whenever he's destroyed."
"Yes, I've read the card effect," Zeke replied. "At this moment, I would activate Tragoedia's (-2400/-2400) effect. My spider god copies the level of Daeva – Nanghaithya (6) in my Graveyard, which is perfect before tuning with Zarich (3)." The winged Daeva smiled as she was permitted to exact her revenge. She rose from the ground until she rested her body on the face of the spider demon. Her spell slowly merged her body into Tragoedia's exoskeleton, which began to lose the consistency of a bone-covered arachnid and became as a reptiles scales. Legs merged, shapes shifted, but the overall mass of the beast remained the same as the two monsters transformed into a mighty, black dragon with three distinct heads. A single roar erupted from the throats of all three heads in one instant, and the citadel shook with the power of their rage.
Matt's eyes were transfixed by the six eyes that gazed back at him. "I've seen that creature," he uttered.
You have, agreed Ahura Mazda. In my memories, brought to life by Angra Mainyu. It is the beast Azi Dahaka whose mischief almost caused my brother and me to reap the fabric of reality.
"That doesn't make sense," Matt commented. He remembered the scene as it was relived by Angra as a mental recreation, but suddenly seeing the great beast that tricked the Creator gods following the lead of Angra Mainyu's human host brought with it a single question: Why?
"The three-headed dragon Azi Dahaka (9/2800/2000) attacks your Deus Token (1200)." The attack was mind-boggling. The dragon hardly moved its body except to open its three sets of terrifying jowls, even though the Deus Token remained on Matt's side of the field. It may have been an illusion, but Matt thought for just a second that he saw Deus exist on his side of the field and inside the jaws—in four places—simultaneously! But Deus was not inside anyone's jaws. And yet, the clamping down of all three sets produced an identical effect of Deus, briefly crunching the fallen angel's body and wounding it tremendously before it found the strength to rise back to the air.
Even witnessing the event and understanding it instantly, Matt wasn't certain he knew what he saw. Azi Dahaka bent reality to allow his three mouths to bite down on Deus without ever moving across the field. Just as when he played trickster to Ahura and Angra, Azi Dahaka was able to manipulate reality.
But he made one mistake. "The Deus Token isn't destroyed by battle," Matt noted. "Had you attacked the Asmo Token instead, I would be short one monster."
Zeke put on a brave face. "So be it. I'll set a card and end my turn."
Matt 8000 – 1600 = 6400: Zeke 5500.
Matt's gaze remained transfixed by Azi Dahaka and his thoughts raced. He drew his next card and experienced a rush of warmth and clarity. Gazing upon the card of Spenta Mainyu, he suddenly knew why Azi Dahaka would join with Angra Mainyu.
"It was all a scam. Angra Mainyu wanted to convince his brother they were friends, and he needed to manufacture a shared opponent to do so. Azi Dahaka is really Angra Mainyu's son."
Zeke flinched but he didn't look particularly put off. "Angra was very careful which of his memories he shared with Ahura during their mind meld. Either you are a whole lot smarter than I ever expected of you, or our mother is telling you all my dirty little secrets. What conclusion will you draw from that little nugget?"
Angra Mainyu intentionally misled me, Ahura spoke to Matt. There are too many reasons he may have to do so. He wished for us to believe he was an ally, but why would he do that?
"The only reason for someone to pretend to be an ally is to hide the truth. Angra has probably been trying to undermine Ahura from the start."
"Your reasoning is flawed," Zeke argued. "Faking a situation to build an alliance does not necessarily make two entities enemies. Mistrust sows chaos among those who would otherwise be valuable partners. You know the worlds are set to collide. When that happens, multiple universes will cease to exist. Coopting Azi Dahaka gave Ahura a foundation for understanding Angra and a base for the brothers to combat the impending doom."
"The World Collision," Matt noted. Bryan told him what Joker had said about the three planes of existence falling out of balance and colliding. The two had come to this tournament to collect the god cards because they knew those cards were dangerous and needed to be collected for safekeeping. What they learned since was they needed to collect the god cards in order to preserve existence. "It wasn't enough to deter Judgment Day at Duel Academy last year. Now we have to do it again."
"You won't be able to. You don't know the Ars Arcanum. Even Ahura Mazda lacks the means of completing it without help. The Key of Solomon has been lost for decades. Anyone here can collect the god cards, but that will not rescue existence. In fact, you will be completely unable to collect the god cards."
Matt huffed. "Why do you say that?"
"Give Ahura Mazda corporeal form."
"Um…" Matt considered what he knew about his roommate spirit. "We managed to merge for a while."
"Great. Give him corporeal form."
"You saw him! He and Angra both appeared in front of us to tell me that story about Azi Dahaka. They each had their own forms."
"Still incorporeal. Neither could directly manipulate physical matter in that state." Zeke lifted a card from his Extra Deck and turned it for Matt to see. It was Angra Mainyu, the card he'd used to beat Iñaki in a duel. "Have you given Ahura Mazda a conduit to exist without you?"
"…No?I didn't know I could do that. Maybe I could ask Lucy to talk to someone at Industrial Illusions…"
"The spirit of a god can only be effectively transferred to a physical conduit by one completely in tune with the god itself. Maximilian Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to connect straight to the Egyptian Gods. The noble gods of the Overworld were buried inside the Tree of Knowledge before the bark was used to whittle playing cards by a poor religious sect. No one else will be able to give form to Ahura Mazda but you."
Baffled, Matt stared at his deck. "Do you have any ideas?"
"This method of ritualistic competition did not exist in the Overworld," Ahura spoke. "I am uncertain of the process for such a request. Perhaps if we merge again for the purpose of completing this duel, our understanding will increase."
"It's worth a try." With a deep, cool breath that filled his lungs completely, Matt felt his consciousness combine with Ahura Mazda's. Before he even opened his eyes, the world became visible to him as energy streams. Each fluctuation within the air and every atomic shift appeared to him as a small explosion of light. He could even see the cards in his deck before he drew them. It gave him renewed confidence.
But there was still Zeke's three-headed dragon. Witnessing the flow of energy made it possible to see that reality could be shifted and transformed into whatever illusion the dragon chose to show his prey. "Azi Dahaka (2800) presents a difficult challenge. I will set one card and activate Mirage of Nightmare." Energy flashed across the field. Though the holographic projector showed no effect in three-dimensional space, Matt could see energy collect where there would soon be zombies offering him a new hand of cards. He would need that because of his monster.
"I have to discard my hand for this, but I'll sacrifice Asmo and Deus to summon Spenta Mainyu (10/2400/2000)." His two smaller angels disappeared to offer their energy for the descent of a goddess capable of infatuating any man with her beauty. She appeared to Matt as a perfectly white light. The sheer volume of her power dwarfed that of Azi Dahaka. "Spenta Mainyu can bypass your monster to attack you directly."
"You'll need to be stronger than that," Zeke interjected. "Call of the Haunted will bring Daeva – Nanghaithya (6/400/3800) back from the Graveyard." The appearance of a Daeva riding a chimera disrupted Spenta Mainyu's power flow. The goddess's energy dimmed steadily as it drew toward the chimera. "As long as Nanghaithya is on the field, you can't declare any direct attacks. And Spenta Mainyu can only attack that way. Surely you didn't think I would be unprepared for the appearance of my own mother spirit in this duel?"
"I was unaware your monster prevented direct attacks. The upside is Spenta Mainyu also can't be targeted, so at least your monsters can't do anything to me for now."
"Maybe so," Zeke acknowledged, "but yours can. First, accept your cards from the ambling undead organisms." He was referring to the holographic zombies that lumbered up to Matt's avatar and offered him four cards for his hand. "Personally, my nightmares contain entities far more frightening than the physical impossibility of mobile corpses."
"How unfortunate for you."
"Now that you have cards in your hand, I'll play Daeva – Indra." A bright halo encircled Matt's head, revealing the monsters in his hand and bringing them to the field. "First, it summons all monsters in your hand that can be Normal Summoned. In this case, you summon Metaion, the Timelord (10/0/0) and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter (2/200/100)."
"Wait a second," Matt protested. "I can see Azi Dahaka's effect. I'm unable to Special Summon any monsters from my hand without the same Tributes I would need to Normal Summon them."
Zeke nodded. "Slightly impressive progress. Not good enough, but I didn't absorb Angra's visual acuity until I was eight. Yes, Azi Dahaka raises the level of your monsters in your hand and prevents you from Special Summoning without Tributes, but it has no effect when I summon the cards from your hand to your field.
"And that's not Indra's only effect." Perhaps too bright to hold itself together, the halo over Matt's head cracked and shattered with the shards piercing Spenta Mainyu's exposed shoulders and neck. "I take control of any one monster on your field." Skin studded with broken halo, the enchanting goddess teleported from Matt's field to Zeke's field. The light representing her power regrew to its original intensity. Azi Dahaka grinned with his three mouths, but Spenta Mainyu gave him the cold shoulder. "Your monsters are protected from damage for this turn, but Spenta may still attack directly." Never being one to attack herself, Spenta's shadow grew into a mighty behemoth that stretched across the field and speared Matt's avatar.
Until that moment, Matt had not realized how sheer the pain was when his gods attacked. It felt like dunking his head into a bucket of ice water.
"I'll set two more cards and end my turn."
Matt 6400 – 2400 = 4000: Zeke 5500.
Zeke smiled at his brother. "I don't understand how you got in this type of situation. Aren't you the captain of the Duel Academy chapter of Team One-Turn-Kill? Shouldn't you be able to end a duel in a single turn?"
"I'm not the captain anymore. There was a semester—"
"I know what happened. Believe it or not, I know everything that happened to you during your time at Duel Academy. Ahura Mazda may have a flawed memory of life in the Overworld, but his mind was an open book to Angra during their mind meld. You two have had a difficult relationship whereas Angra and I are very much alike. That's why this duel is already decided."
"Oh yeah? Well maybe I have one card that can set me up exactly how I need. But before I draw it, I need to make sure I can hold it. I'll use Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Mirage of Nightmare so that I won't have to discard my hand again." A whirlwind typhoon encased Matt's card and lightning struck the four places that previously produced card-carrying zombies. "And now, I'll draw Phantom of Chaos." When he picked up his card, it was exactly what he said it would be.
"Another amateur trick for the host of an Overworld god," Zeke commented dryly.
"See if this is amateur. Azi Dahaka's effect forces me to use Ryko as a Tribute to summon Phantom of Chaos (4/0/0)." Ryko's body faded and disintegrated into a swirling mass of chaos. "You want to see a one-turn-kill? Here it is. By banishing Athena from my Graveyard, you'll notice my swirling mass of chaos transforms into her and gains her effect." Its form wasn't solid as the waves ebbed and flowed, but the essence of a Greek goddess was there within the mist.
"Nice choice. Even an extra 2600 attack points doesn't make that a one-turn-kill."
"I'm not done. I'll activate Miraculous Descent to summon Athena (7/2600/800) straight to the field. That part's important. Remember how Phantom of Chaos has Athena's effect? Every time I Special Summon a fairy monster, you take 600 points of damage."
As his Life Points dropped slightly, Zeke merely watched patiently. "Go on."
"Alright. I'll use Phantom of Chaos's effect to remove Metaion from the field and summon Darklord Superbia (8/2900/2400) from the Graveyard. It brings Honest (4/1100/1900) to the field when summoned. Are you counting?"
"Yes. Another 2400 Life Points lost. Still not a one-turn-kill."
"I have a little more. My second Athena may have been dealing damage to you for each of my fairies, but she hasn't summoned her own yet. By sending Honest to the Graveyard, Athena will summon Darklord Superbia (8/2900/2400) number two, and his effect summons Darklord Zerato (8/2800/2300) to the field. Now I have a field full of Darklords, two of which are stronger than Azi Dahaka (2800)."
Zeke shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll play Waboku. Now all my monsters are protected from Battle Damage this turn." He was right; a wave of energy coated his two Overworld monsters and his Life Point avatar with an additional layer of protection. He would lose no more points during this turn. "I concede your skill with the OTK, however. I just wanted to see if you could pull it off."
"Apparently I failed. You've been prepared for every move I've made during this duel. You may as well be psychic."
"I already told you that when you and Ahura finally reach unification, you won't need your little card-drawing tricks. You'll know exactly how the duel will go."
Matt 4000: Zeke 5500 – 600 – 1200 – 1200 – 1200 – 1200 = 100.
"You're down to 100 points against a full field of Darklords, yet you've been completely confident throughout the duel that you would win. Do you have an OTK strategy, too?"
"I don't need one. I have a one-turn-kill monster. It's called Angra Mainyu. I'll summon Daeva – Tawrich (3/1800/1000) and tune her with Azi Dahaka (9) into the corporeal conduit for bringing Angra Mainyu's (12/4000/4000) spirit into this world." As powerful as his three-headed dragon had been, the Synchro summon produced a monster that blended perfectly with the air around it. His physical form was that of a monstrous man with hardened gray skin, but his spiritual presence was nearly nonexistent.
Furrowing his brow, Matt said, "I'm confused. Angra Mainyu is practically invisible. I never would have guessed that he was so weak."
"Angra is not weak," Ahura argued. "Perhaps it is caused by my amnesia or else my adaptation into a physical host within the Earth realm has limited me, but Angra Mainyu's power is beyond our comprehension."
"You're saying he's so powerful we can't even see his power?"
"That's exactly right," Zeke joined in. "When he's tuned using Azi Dahaka, Angra Mainyu gains the ability to attack three times." His fists burst into flame so intense that it dissolved energy particles in the air completely. Angra (4000) jammed his fist into Darklord Zerato's (2800) chest and broke straight through to his back. Zerato's body melted into a pool of liquid fire. Angra whipped around and seared through Superbia's (2900) base, dropping the chalice-like head of the fallen angel to the ground. It was easier for Angra to fill the chalice with fire and melt Superbia's body. Finally, he grabbed Athena (2600) by the throat and held her while her entire body heated up and turned orange.
Zeke glared across the field. "You're still not there yet. You didn't even have the spiritual strength to summon our father's conduit to the contest. The Ars Arcanum is far from your grasp."
"You act as if the duel is done, but I still have 300 Life Points left," Matt pointed out.
"First of all, we both know that I could have sent Angra to strike down Phantom of Chaos (0) and ended the duel instantly at any time. Second of all, I stand by my earlier claim that the most powerful duelist in this contest came from Duel Academy. And you just lost to me."
Matt frowned, trying to put together all the information. "That makes no sense. My losing this duel to you would seem contraindicated to your claim, unless you mean…"
That elicited a nod. "That's right. Bryan Knight is currently the only person here with the capability of collecting the god cards and locating the Key of Solomon. If he succeeds, balance could be restored and the World Collision averted. But he'll need this." With his left hand, Zeke pulled Loki, Lord of the Aesir from his Extra Deck.
His right hand rested over the top of his main deck.
Matt 4000 – 1200 – 1100 – 1400 = 300: Zeke 100 = FORFEIT.
Needless to say, Matt was confused. "I don't get it. Why are you forfeiting the duel to me? Didn't you say the duel would definitely end with your victory?"
"Some people need to hear specific words to spur their development. In your case, you refuse to believe in Fate, so my telling you about what was destined to happen was the best way to make you resist and fight back. You grew during this duel, though not enough to protect this world. Take this card," he said, tossing Loki in Matt's direction, "and help your friend as you and Ahura continue your journey. Rest assured that this world and the Shadow Realm will be safe at the moment you achieve unification."
"What about the Overworld?"
"You don't see it yet, but the Overworld will be safe no matter what. You accused Angra of being the mischievous one with the ulterior motives, but Ahura Mazda is the entity who, when he foresaw the World Collision, established a failsafe to protect the Overworld and the Overworld alone. Without the Ars Arcanum, this world will not last."
We're approaching the end here. Although the earth and its universe are headed for destruction, the Overworld has a failsafe designed to protect it from impending doom. What will this revelation mean for Matt and Ahura? Will they be able to avert the World Collision? Next time, Bryan will take another step toward the destiny Zeke foretold. Please share with me what you think will happen in the coming chapters. I love to hear your views on the story's progress!
Trivia: I got halfway through writing the next chapter before I realized I was writing the duels in the wrong order. That's why this one is late. If I can write quickly enough, the next update will include two chapters.