Chapter 16: Shadow God Metempsychosis
Bryan asked Matt, "How are you?" He was referring to the bewildered look on Matt's face after he win a duel against his twin brother through the most unconventional means he'd ever seen at a tournament of such grandiosity. Afterward, he walked out of Sanjan's Citadel and disappeared from sight.
Uncertain, Matt questioned in reply, "Was I imagining it, or did he really forfeit when he had me completely beat?"
"He definitely forfeited and gave you Loki as a reward."
Matt looked at the god card. Added to his current spoils, he now held all three Aesir. His thoughts drifted momentarily to Iñaki and Titus in the infirmary. Both were doing well, all things considered, and were ready to be transported back home on the next flight out of Yasna. Neither was likely to suffer long-term effects from their duels.
Thinking back to Zeke and his forfeit, Matt wondered, "Is that why he ran out of here like a bat out of hell?"
"Bats don't talk to themselves while they fly. I'd say he left more like a drunk person."
With such a small group of duelists available on this round, Joker remained noticeably motionless. "Mr. Knight? It is time for your next duel."
"So soon?" Bryan knew the options were limited, but he had hoped to wait just a little longer. Before coming to the citadel, he visited Garry, who was stuck in a coma in the infirmary. The medic said he knew of no physical reason for Garry to be in that condition, although he was surprisingly superstitious when it came to the Shadow Realm and the god cards. His panicked ranting only polarized Bryan's anger. He desperately wanted to wreak revenge in Garry's place. Unfortunately, the chances of that looked increasingly slim. "Who is my opponent?" he asked glumly.
"Ren Bacon."
That perked up a few ears. "Ren Bacon?" Matt repeated. "But he's not even here."
"Odds are he won't even be upright considering I left him with Lien Yu," added Ingrid Lund. "He was hardly even coherent when I arrived. He was babbling something to himself while he searched his tablet."
Suddenly the wind rushed in, and beyond the snow bank at the entrance to the citadel stood Ren Bacon, dressed considerably more lightly than he had been earlier. His jacket appeared to be hastily zipped up and he had forgotten to put on gloves to combat the cold. His appearance didn't seem to bother him, though. Zeng Yeoh gasped when she saw him. Save for the bruise on his neck, he looked happy to be there. That was a bad sign for Lien Yu.
"I'm here," Ren spoke. His expression was that of a man hoping to be noticed. "Shall we begin the festivities?"
Bryan instantly clenched his fist. Here he was—the man who put Garry's life in permanent critical condition. So many confusing thoughts floated deep within his mind, just beyond his ability to realize them with revenge as his primary thought.
Zeng screamed, "What did you do with Yu?"
Ren shot her an angry scowl. "Your language conflicts with this one, doesn't it? Assuming you want to know what happened to Lien… Well, you tell me what happens when someone loses a Shadow Game."
Eldar Vanko stepped up and, his voice booming with anger, demanded, "What you do?"
"Exactly what you suggested I do. Remember? You reminded me that it was my duty to prevent the collision of worlds between this world and the Shadow Realm. Completing the Ars Arcanum would do just that, but then the once ever-present influence of the Collective Consciousness would be lost to us. I can't allow that to happen just yet. All the knowledge taken to the grave by every organism in history? All that power!"
Suddenly his expression turned to an amused smile pointed toward Zeng Yeoh. He lightly touched the bruise around his neck. "I needed a sacrifice to complete the ritual, and only one of my visitors tonight threatened my life." He cackled and looked to the Joker. "It's my duel, right?"
Joker nodded. "Take your place. Bryan Knight is your opponent." Ren turned and trudged through the snow to the duel station.
Matt was worried. "Bryan…"
"I'm going," Bryan replied sharply.
"Bro? Something's different about him."
"I see it. I'll handle it. He tried to kill Garry."
"Okay." Acceptance wasn't what Bryan expected to hear. He turned to see Matt offer him a reassuring nod. "You're the strongest duelist I know. Go get him." Feeling stronger with Matt's blessing, Bryan offered his brother a fist bump for luck.
And then he climbed the duel platform and rose with the activated station. Ren Bacon was a powerful opponent, both in duel skill and in the real world. People fell all over him asking for autographs. His connection to the Hellfire Club gave him contact with the heads of powerful international states. It was probably his minion with the mirrored glasses who tried to kill Bryan while he slept. Just looking at Ren made Bryan's hand ache. And that's when he realized something.
"What happened to that shiner I gave you?"
"All my injuries disappeared the moment I made contact with the Collective."
"You— What?"
"I am the first human being to survive contact with the Shadow Realm directly by completing the Ars Notoria. Do you know what happened to me in that instant, staring into the face of the Collective Consciousness? I experienced pure, inescapable fear. Such trepidation forced me to sever the link and return to this three-dimensional world. Returning to my body brought peace of mind knowing my life was no longer at direct risk of the Shadow Realm's whimsy."
Bryan caught himself releasing a sigh of relief. As angry as he was with Ren for sending Garry to the Shadow Realm, he had no desire to see the Shadows consume even the most heartless person. "Now you understand that humans can't enter the Shadow Realm directly?"
"Wrong! I realized immediately that fear I felt is what binds humanity to three-dimensional space. Overcoming that fear in order to confront the god-like power of the Collective Consciousness would require nothing less than the power of another god. And that is exactly what I plan to do here. I will stack the power of the Shadows in three layers and ascend to a higher plane."
Matt rushed to the side of the stadium. "You're lying! I've seen the Ars Notoria send a person straight into the Shadow Realm. As soon as the first of the waves touched her, she was vaporized. It's impossible for humans to merge with the Collective Consciousness!"
Ren scowled at Matt's gall. "You were not invited to be part of this ritual," he declared. With his words, a veil of darkness wrapped around Matt and bore down on him until he was face-down in the snow.
A light flashed around the duel stadium, and suddenly a blizzard whipped up so fierce it almost created a whiteout. Bryan could no longer hear anything except the howl of the wind and the raspy voice of his angry opponent. He could barely see Matt through the snow, but his sworn brother was still well enough that he had already gotten back to his feet.
"What's the matter?" Ren taunted. With a sickening sneer, he asked his opponent, "For the price of two god cards, you can easily avert the pain and struggle of facing me and end this duel right now." With his voice guarded by the howl of the sudden snowstorm, his voice was like a snake's.
"Not at all," Bryan replied. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Neos Alius (4/1900/900) and set one card. Now you can figure out how to begin against me." His words were full of confidence. Bryan wasn't frazzled by his duel with Ren.
It was the sudden snowstorm that bothered him. The cold air made it more difficult to duel, As if thick gloves didn't make it difficult enough to hold the cards, the wind had a tendency to swirl around the duel station as it bounced off the remaining walls of the ruined citadel. Joker had been insistent that the snowstorm was no reason to delay the final contests. While part of Bryan agreed that finishing the tournament quickly was his top priority, the cold air also made him miserable. Bryan worried that dropping even a single card could spoil the duel for him, or that any minute he could lose a finger. But still he felt confident that Ren would suffer the same way.
But Ren looked just as eager and assured as Bryan. "You have no idea what this duel has in store. I'll set one monster and activate Solidarity."
Luckily Bryan was familiar with the card because Ren's card showed no visible effect on the field, and the display monitors on the duel station were so faded they were impossible to read. Even if they weren't, they fogged up every two seconds thanks to the snow melting on the control panel.
"That's an excellent card to use with the Ojamas." Ignoring his own point as if he didn't really believe it, he played, "Elemental Hero Ocean (4/1500/1200). Neos Alius (1900) will attack your monster. What if, perchance, it's an Ojama?" Bryan's white warrior lunged across the field and cut through Ren's blue monster with the big head and the red underpants using a spin attack with blades that extended from both elbows. "Ojama Blue (2/0/1000). What a shock."
"All according to plan." Thanks to Blue's effect, his controller took two Ojama cards from the deck. Ren drew Ojama Red and Ojama Delta Hurricane!
Bryan continued, "Solidarity doesn't protect you. Ocean (1500) gets a direct attack." His marine warrior moved through the snowy air like a fish, striking directly into the heart of Ren's straw man avatar with his dual-bladed spear. Ren winced in response, but that may have been coincidence considering the intense cold of the growing blizzard. "I'll set another card and end my turn."
Bryan 8000: Ren 8000 – 1500 = 6500.
"I suppose this is a good time for the Ojamas to wreak havoc on you."
Rolling his eyes, Bryan muttered to himself in a mocking tone, "Ojama Red, party of four." Out loud, he flipped over his face-down card and listed to the sound of Neos Alius's war cry. "I'll play Threatening Roar. No matter what you play this turn, you're not getting to my Life Points."
Ren slapped his card down hard to avoid the wind factor. "Doesn't matter. I'll summon Ojama Red (2/+800/1000). And his effect summons Ojamas Yellow, Black, and Green (2/+800/1000)." Four impish creatures with oversized heads and polka-dot underpants paraded onto the field, stumbling over one another, bopping each other on the head, and trying to poke each other in the eyes repeatedly.
Continuing his mockery, Bryan muttered, "Ojama Delta Hurricane!"
"I'll wipe out your field with Ojama Delta Hurricane!" Ojama Green hopped on the shoulders of Yellow and Black. Once the three achieved a stable pyramid, they joined their hands in a triangle and unleashed a swirl of such power that can only be described as miraculous coming from creatures such as they. The hurricane ripped through the air, parted the blizzard, and tore through Bryan's cards on the field.
Flipping over one card, Bryan mocked, "Yeah, 'revenge.' The unpredictable Ojamas. Too bad it was impossible for me to predict that strategy. In fact, Mask Change only lets me evolve Elemental Hero Ocean into Masked Hero Vapor (6/2400/2000)." Ocean's mask lifted off his face, shining a bright light across the field and dissipating the Ojama power that plowed into his body. The light faded when a new mask settled on his face. Ocean's fish-like armor now resembled that of an armored diver. His spear lost its blades and became a double-pointed javelin. "What good could possibly come from that move, am I right?"
What Bryan's sarcasm hinted at was Vapor's ability to protect himself from destruction through card effects such as the Ojama Delta Hurricane! He did lose his Neos Alius, but he kept an even more powerful Hero. Suddenly Ren's field full of united munchkins didn't look so threatening when they weren't poised for a direct attack.
"Still doesn't matter," Ren insisted. "I hadn't planned to attack with the Ojamas. They're Tribute fodder for Obelisk the Tormentor (10/4000/4000)."
The three Ojamas had been excited to be present on the field, dancing around playfully poking fun at one another. But they weakened immensely and immediately, their bodies becoming transparent as they clung to one another for strength against the pitch-black mist that rose from their feet. Transformed into the essence of Shadow, they drifted into the air through the howling wind. Suddenly the mist shifted and presented a pair of eyes. Obelisk's mighty form emerged from the mist as if it had been a window into an alternate world.
Bryan stared into the eyes of the beast for perhaps the thousandth time, though this was the first such event that held the real possibility that Obelisk might strike him dead. He and Lucy practiced together back before the cards became dangerous, yet familiarity with facing Obelisk did not make Bryan feel reassured. He was frightened of the Shadow Realm that gave Obelisk his strength. That card once belonged to Lucy, and as far as Bryan was concerned, it still did.
"Obelisk may not be targeted by effects," Bryan commented, "but Threatening Roar still prevents you from attacking me."
"I have Obelisk on the field and you think I care about that? Go ahead and make your pathetic move,"
"There are no pathetic moves capable of taking down Obelisk," Bryan noted. He was trying to sound cocky, but his semantics actually sounded like he admitted Obelisk was unbeatable. To resume his position of confidence, he laughed. "I'll activate Trade-In. I'll exchange one ten-star monster that my deck can't support in order to draw two new cards."
As Bryan dropped Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder into the Graveyard and drew the new cards, he could see the smirk on Ren's face. His deck had few Continuous Spells, which meant summoning Hamon was impossible without a few deck modifications. And he didn't bring his spare cards with him on this trip, except for a fifteen-card side deck where he kept Trade-In.
Actually, he wouldn't even bother to put Hamon in his deck if Joker had not required it. As assurance that the tournament remained equitable with its antes, everyone was required to include their god card spoils in their competition decks. That hurt Bryan's deck more than it helped, but Ren's deck wasn't flawless, either. If Bryan could just get Obelisk in the Graveyard, then the effect of Solidarity would nullify and no longer boost the power of his beast monsters. Of course that was easier said than done, but even the gods had weaknesses.
"Graceful Charity lets me draw three cards and discard two. This gives me a few more options when playing my hand. I'll set one card and send Vapor (2400) to attack Ojama Red (800)." The Masked Hero's new javelin received some use as Vapor hurled it through the air and watched it skewer the Ojama without even slowing down. The Hero grabbed the javelin and ripped it back out of the ground, leaving the deceased Ojama on the ground until it faded.
Bryan 8000: Ren 6500 – 1600 = 4900.
"Taking a few Life Points here and there won't win you this duel," Ren commented. "I have Obelisk, the ultimate representation of darkness! I see fear in your eyes. It's the same look you had when you succumbed to the Shadow Realm and became a puppet of darkness."
"How did you know about that?"
"You ask how I know that you once acted as a harbinger of the Shadow Realm? A reaper of souls? How you fed duelists to the Shadows in order to strengthen their grip on Academy Island?" Ren laughed a slow, hideous laugh. It was different from the laugh of a hyperactive actor he'd been so far in this contest. It was raspier and darker—like the voice of the wind itself.
And he never answered the question. "I summon X-Saber Airbellum (4/1600/200) as backup for my god… not that he needs it." Obelisk extended his fist in front of his body for a moment. Collecting the ambient energy in the air into the center of his palm, a purple glow sprang from his fingers. He pulled his arm back behind his shoulder and then thrust it forward, slamming it into the ground with incredible power as he crushed Masked Hero Vapor without the slightest resistance.
The blast washed over Bryan with the force of a volcano eruption. The instant before he was hit, he crouched behind the display panel, pressed his hands together, and extended his arms. The waves hit his gloved fingers and separated around his body. The fabric burned slightly, but the motion rendered Obelisk's power surprisingly harmless.
"Too bad for you," Bryan gasped. "I've already seen Obelisk's attack. He can't beat me twice. Neither can your commando with the badger claws because I play Call of the Haunted to bring Elemental Hero Neos Alius (4/1900/900) from my Graveyard." The mist drifting from the Graveyard could spook even the most hardened of duelists, but the boy warrior was a welcoming presence for Bryan, not the least of which because he was stronger than Ren's X-Saber monster.
"Powerful as the pathetic Neos might be, he still is no match for Obelisk. Your deck runs no Neo-Spacians to bring out his true strength." He placed a card face-down.
Bryan 8000 – 1600 = 6400: Ren 4900.
"I don't need to make Neos any more powerful than he already is. Perhaps I should also show you that there are other powerful Heroes besides the Neo-Spacians. Meet Elemental Hero Voltic (4/1000/1500), for example. Sure, he just looks like a regular five-and-a-half-foot-tall guy with lightning bolts drawn all over his blue armor, but in reality he's stronger than Obelisk."
"Don't be preposterous."
"No preposter," Bryan defended himself using a made-up word. "Just fact. Watch." Voltic touched his palms together and then separated them slowly, jolting electricity back and forth between them. He suddenly pressed all that electrical energy into a small space as he closed his palms together again. The convergence of such power expelled the energy with tremendous force away from his hands and toward the body of Obelisk.
In that instant that Voltic thrust his hands forward, two brilliant wings sprang from his back. For a moment, all of the darkness Obelisk brought with him retreated under the light of Voltic's wings. No… Honest's wings. Bryan discarded the card from his hand during the battle in order to increase Voltic's overall power by mirroring Obelisk's. The electricity expanded with the light, and even the Shadows could not hold together when their molecular bonds were broken. Obelisk's body disappeared as if it had never really existed.
"And with that, Neos Alius (1900) will destroy Airbellum (1600)." Obelisk's fading body left a sort of mist in the air even as the white knight parried Airbellum's badger-like claws and sliced into its body using the blades protruding from his elbows. "One card face-down, and I end my turn."
Bryan 6400: Ren 4900 – 1000 – 300 = 3600.
Ren had once mocked Bryan for being slow to take his turn, but with Obelisk's loss, he, too, suffered from a round of sluggishness. With no hand to play, his fate lay in the single card he was about to draw. There was no way he could have expected Bryan to take down an Egyptian God Card so quickly, so there certainly was no way those Shadow particles were accumulating on his deck intentionally as part of any grander ritual…
"I activate Pot of Avarice." Bryan flinched. Not only was Ren's draw incredibly lucky; his voice fell slightly as if altered by having a second, deeper voice speak the same words at the same time. As he drew his two cards, Bryan could swear Ren's deck was on fire—a contained fire with black flame. He'd seen the Shadow Realm do a lot of funny things to the duelist and occasionally to the deck, but never so visibly.
"With these two cards," explained Ren with his dual-layered voice, "I activate Tri-Wight to summon Ojama Yellow (2/0/1000), Green, and Black from the Graveyard, and then I sacrifice them to summon The Wicked Eraser (10/+4000/+4000)."
An explosion of light hit the field with the waves billowing outward like the white-hot surface of the sea. The heat melted the snow surrounding the duel station almost instantly. The shockwave shook the ground, knocking Zeng Yeoh off her stand with the medical staff and toppling yet another wall of the citadel. Bryan felt familiarity in the waves. They brought a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He watched as all the exploded light was then drawn back into the epicenter, jolting with electric particles charged during the blast. When all the light had gathered, it quickly compressed and shrank into blackness. For just an instant, it appeared as if the event had ended. But suddenly the light emerged again, this time tinged in black Shadows and immediately taking the shape of a serpent many times the size of the duel station.
The serpent's tail wrapped around the outside of the duel station beyond where the projectors were accountable for its presence! Its front end was as hideous as a dragon's coated in obsidian armor. While its wings appeared two sizes too small, its claws made up the difference—each the size of a couch—and its chest plate included a blue jewel intended for absorbing heat and Shadows to convert for further, deadly use.
"I recognize those energy waves," Bryan shouted. "You were already infected with the Shadows by the time you made contact with the Collective!"
"Me infected? Don't be absurd. This is the power I spoke of. This is the power to surpass even God! And this is only a fraction of what I will soon become! You don't truly believe that you alone can defeat it, do you?" He laughed at the expression of fear on Bryan's face. "Behold what a true God can do!
"I activate Sixth Sense." His face-down card flipped up and sprang a die across the field. "I will roll a six, and then I will draw six cards."
"You're supposed to declare two numbers," Bryan corrected him, "and if either of those is right, you draw the number you roll."
"I don't need two numbers. I will roll a six, and then I will draw six cards." Unless the system had been rigged, neither player needed to roll the die. The duel station would provide a random number for them.
But when the roll produced a six, Bryan was compelled to ask, "Do the Shadows make you psychic?"
"Of course not. Foresight is child's play. My power causes the future to happen! I don't even need these cards right now. I just wanted to show you how terrifying I can be and give you one last chance to regret your decision not to avoid this duel." Without a single command, Ren's Wicked Eraser (4000) burst into black flames, spreading them across the entire field with a focus on Elemental Hero Neos Alius (1900). The armored Hero flared up in a brilliant flame as Bryan shouted, "Safe Zone!" Suddenly a blue force field sprang up around Neos Alius. The flames inside the field extinguished, though Neos still suffered from prior damage.
"With Safe Zone active, Neos Alius can no longer be targeted by effects, nor can he be destroyed through card effects or battle."
"How you relish that false sense of autonomy," Ren chuckled. "Take your turn and see what the Shadows can truly do to you."
Bryan 6400 – 2100 = 4300: Ren 3600.
"What else can I do against your second god card?" Bryan wondered sarcastically. Trying to sound tough helped push aside his fear. "I'll set one card and switch both my monsters to defense mode."
"Just as I wanted it," Ren replied. The Wicked Eraser burst into flames again, this time targeting Elemental Hero Voltic and exploding the armored Hero in a large jolt of electricity. All the energy from the attack was absorbed straight into The Wicked Eraser's body. "I, too, will set one card in preparation for your next turn."
Feeling just a little relief, Bryan said back, "You don't scare me. I'll activate my face-down Depth Amulet, and then I'll send that plus Safe Zone and Call of the Haunted to the Graveyard to summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (10/+3000/+3000)."
A small, red flame sparked into existence in the center of the field. Flickering softly, the flame appeared to die for a moment before flaring up again, bigger the second time. With a sudden explosion of fire power, the flames grew until they engulfed the entire stage. The flames quickly settled and began to transform into solid, red scales—a body coiled like a winged snake about to strike. A serpentine dragon burst from the flame, becoming the flame itself. A single, gut-wrenching roar started fires in the corners of the stage, battling the black flames of The Wicked Eraser (-1000/-1000).
"There's no way you saw this coming," Bryan challenged. "What were the odds I would happen to draw Uria just now?"
"Stupid child. I made you draw Uria! It was exactly what I wanted!" His wild laughter sounded horrible and menacing with his Shadow-infected voice. And even though what he said made no sense and couldn't possibly be true, it made Bryan nervous. What if… Just what if Ren really had made contact with the Collective Consciousness and managed to manipulate the flow of time as he chose?
Bryan smacked himself. "Don't be stupid. People can't really do that." Clearly, Ren was just trying to manipulate him by pretending to control the duel when really his face-down card was supposed to stop Uria somehow. "I'll use Uria's effect to destroy your set card." 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 before submerging again. The floor began to quake more and more violently with each second Uria remained unseen until suddenly he burst through the dirt directly beneath Ren's face-down card. Lava rained on the field while the card disintegrated and three Ojama cards popped out of the deck into Ren's hand.
"You didn't destroy my defense," Ren mocked. "You destroyed Ojamagic, which means I get Ojama Yellow, Green, and Black from my deck to my hand. Once again, you've done nothing but take the exact steps in this duel I wanted you to under the false belief that you have free will. Would you like to know what you'll do next?"
"I'll attack," Bryan replied, clinging to the belief that each move was his own. After all, The Wicked Eraser was going to destroy everything when it left the field. If he were a careful, calculating duelist, Bryan wouldn't be so reckless as to risk his own god just to destroy Ren's, right? That must be proof that his decision was entirely his own!
The struggle between the gods was fierce. Given Eraser as the shadow of Slifer and Uria as Slifer's sacred form, it was like watching Slifer fight itself. Uria spewed a powerful stream of red fire, and Eraser countered with an identical stream of black fire. In the collision, the flames entwined and sprang high into the air. Uria ceased the fire and flew into the air, crossing directly into the dual streams of fire where he spread wide his wings and channeled the combined fire straight back at Eraser. Though the Wicked God may have resisted one attack or the other, their combined might overpowered it and sent the energy within the Eraser into overdrive.
"You saw what happens when Eraser is destroyed," Ren taunted. His god's unstable power erupted in a brilliant flash that consumed the fires of the field and, with them, the fiery body of Uria. Bryan and Ren were each left with no cards on the field, but only Ren was laughing.
"This is all part of the plan, foolish boy. The Ars Notoria requires all levels of the gods to stack in order for my power to reach its ultimate state. Beginning with the Egyptian God Obelisk and escalating to its shadow The Wicked Eraser, all that remains is to bring forth the Sacred Beast to complete my ritual. Almighty power is already mine."
"Say what you want," Bryan challenged. He did remember about Eraser's effect, and he planned for it, kind of. "I think I'm dueling you into a corner and you're struggling to stay afloat." It was tough to believe his own words, though, considering Ren's hand now held nine cards. "I'll set one card and end my turn."
Bryan 4300: Ren 3600 – 2000 = 1600.
"I'm not done with you yet, boy," Ren sneered, "but I do want to make this a little more fun. I set two cards face-down and activate Ojama Country." As small dwellings popped up around the field, Ren dropped a card into his Graveyard. "Discarding one Ojama card from my hand lets me summon Ojama Blue (2/+1000/-0) from the Graveyard, which gives me two more Ojama cards from my deck."
Watching Ren draw so many cards in such a short period, Bryan wondered, "Aren't you going to run out of cards soon?"
"Not soon enough for it to affect this duel. When I summon Ojama Red (+1000), I can also summon Yellow, Green, and Black (+1000) from my hand, giving me a full field of five Ojamas poised for attack." Though they might look unintimidating with their oversized heads and bikini briefs, five Ojamas powered up by Ojama country and marching for direct attacks gave Bryan reason to activate his face-down card.
"I play Hero Blast." The ground beneath Ojama Blue exploded as Neos Alius popped out of the Graveyard and into Bryan's hand. The explosion left Blue flat on his back with a wounded knee, unable to get back to his feet or even to remain on the field. Just like that, only four Ojamas threatened Bryan, but that still meant four direct attacks and 4000 Life Points flushed. But once the first attack struck his avatar and Bryan felt it like he'd been the one tackled, he realized the Shadow Realm had connected him to his straw man. Its pain was his pain.
The Ojamas inflicted exactly the amount of pain on Bryan that Ren wanted them to. Watching Bryan flinch from side to side like he was being constantly knocked back and forth by linebackers, he smiled to himself. Bryan had to feel enough pain to scare him and excite his nervous system, but not so much that he wasn't able to fight back and complete the ritual underway.
"Now you can take your turn."
Bryan 4300 – 1000 – 1000 – 1000 – 1000 = 300: Ren 1600.
Bryan held his head for a moment until it stopped knocking around. "I feel like that time I accidentally insulted the line coach and he let the entire defensive line run my straight down. Who would have thought the Ojamas could hit so hard?" But his spirit was rejuvenated by the card he drew. "I'll play Miracle Fusion to combine Voltic and Uria into Elemental Hero Nova Master (8/-2100/+2600)." A Hero with armor tempered in the fires of a Sacred Beast, his crimson cape billowed behind him with the rising heat that emanated from his body. A fiery helmet, spiked armor, and flames billowing from his very hands gave the impression of the Hero's entire body being ablaze.
"A poor attempt at fusing man with god," Ren mocked. "Fusion offers nothing but the chance to weaken the gods as they take refuge within the body of man. Held within such confines, the god loses its power and offers nothing more than a thin veil of superficial power."
"You'd rather be infected by the Shadow Realm."
"The Collective Consciousness of the Shadow Realm will be as a bug under my boot when I complete this ritual."
"The Ars Notoria?" Bryan repeated. He glanced toward Matt and the other muted spectators of the duel, remembering the story he told of what happened at Duel Academy when someone attempted the same ritual. "Maya Kawamura completed it once, but she was simply absorbed into the Collective without maintaining her distinct identity."
"Maya?" he repeated. His voice bore recognition of the name. "She was the Four of Hearts once. I met her during a shoot in Shanghai. If you're thinking she's Japanese and living in China, then you're right. That's probably why I remember her so well. She was the only woman who stood out that whole weekend."
Bryan asked, "One of my professors was a member of the Hellfire Club?"
"If I remember her correctly, she could have risen to Queen if she had stayed with the organization. Come to think of it, she was reading a book of rituals that intrigued me. I kept pictures of it, including the Ars Notoria. But she failed to set the ritual correctly. She had possession of the Egyptian Gods, the Sacred Beasts, and the Wicked Gods, but she attempted to join the Collective with only one piece. I have assembled one of each to create a complete entity. This is the key to my metempsychosis!" He laughed wildly. Darkness spilled from his throat and circled his body, veiling him in Shadows. "This duel will ultimately end with my forfeit, as well, when I escape this three-dimensional space and ascend to a higher plane!"
"Good luck with that. You still have to get past my Heroic form of Uria." Nova Master (2100) thrust his chest forward and focused the heat of an intense fireball into the air. When the fireball reached the size of a beach ball, Nova Master pulled back his fist and thrust his entire arm into the fire. The fire shot forward across the field and engulfed Ojama Red (1000) in a blazing pillar of flame.
Sadly, even with Bryan's anger, Uria's attack produced little visible effect on Ren's body. The Shadows that surrounded and infested him appeared to absorb the impact and protect him. "At least I can draw an extra card thanks to Nova Master's effect," Bryan noted. He set one card and placed his Neos Alius in defense mode.
Bryan 300: Ren 1600 – 1100 = 500.
"You think you can stand tall against my god cards?" Ren taunted. He slapped down a card and turned the landscape of the field into a mountain range of blue horns. "I'll use Monster Reborn to bring Obelisk the Tormentor (10/4000/4000) back to the field!" Obelisk's massive body grew straight out of the ground behind Ren—tall and wide enough to fill the citadel himself.
"Watch this!" Bryan retorted. "I'll play Paradox Fusion!"
With his cape flaring behind him, Nova Master almost seemed to fly as he dashed across the field. Obelisk swung a meteor-sized fist at him, but the agile Hero released a burst of flame underfoot to leap high into the air over the assault and land on the back of the giant hand. Using the arm like a ramp, Nova Master rushed toward the sky. Obelisk attempted to fling his assailant, but Nova Master deftly leaped from the arm back to the ground. Obelisk's left hand was located well and collided with the Hero the instant he touched the ground. But Uria's flame didn't fade: Instead, it grew until Obelisk recoiled and pulled away from its would-be prey. Nova Master took the moment to gain full speed as he leaped through the air, one flaming arm extended, and passed straight through the center of Obelisk's chest. 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 giant 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 Obelisk's chest and then dispersed horizontally, now piercing clean through the giant sideways. Pieces of the giant god's body fell to the ground in huge chunks—the smaller pieces burning to ash before they ever hit the street.
"By removing my god from play, your god's summoning is prevented completely."
"I already told you that every move follows my divine plan. My DNA Surgery is already in place to transform my three Ojamas into fiends."
Bryan gasped. "Oh crap." How powerful was Ren with that deck that he managed to summon three different god cards by offering a total of nine Tributes?
"That's right. Now I play Raviel, Lord of Phantasms (10/4000/4000)."
Everything suddenly stopped dead in its place. The air fell stale even within the confines of their Shadow Game. Dead silence covered the field completely.
"What's going on?" Bryan asked.
Ren smirked. "We're approaching the light, and that means the Shadows grow even stronger." He motioned with a nod. "Take a look."
Bryan gazed onto the field in front of him. His shadow had grown to reach all the way to the other side, which was weird considering the sun hardly moved from its position this far north. But suddenly the Shadow turned to stare directly at its creator. The act made Bryan's heart skip a beat. And then it sprang off the ground with a thick, three-dimensional body that grew heavy and muscular as it took the shape of a fiend as big as the field. And that was when Bryan realized the creature was still kneeling. He had to crane his neck in order to see Raviel's face as the Sacred Beast grew to a size unmatched by anything Bryan had ever seen on the duel field.
"That's Raviel?" he asked. "What the hell happened to it?" It was so much bigger than when Garry summoned it.
"The Shadow Realm is an existence of darkness, created by the light of the Overworld. The closer we get to the completion of the ritual, the more light spreads Shadow in three-dimensional space. This is nearly the complete Shadow god. Pay witness to its attack." Raviel (4000) took one powerful swipe through the air, rending time and space with four claws that turned the very air into purple fire that sliced clean through the duel station. Bryan heard the heavy clang of machinery slamming into the ground as the barrier surrounding the holograms buried itself in the snow.
"You broke the stadium…" Bryan uttered. Needless to say, his monster was completely destroyed.
"Did you like that? This is not the first time you've seen the Shadows bring the cards to life. The machinery may be broken but the duel will continue with this: the Ars Notoria!" A wide, golden circle formed in front of Raviel's massive form. One white line and one black connected the rim and intersected as a cross. Words were engraved on the outer ring in an ancient text, shimmering in a silver hue.
"The Ars Notoria? You mean you actually completed it?" As he spoke, the massive form of Obelisk shrouded the sky behind Ren while the serpentine Eraser coiled around the other two gods. Bryan felt his stomach in his throat.
"Of course I did!"
"But how? You fear the Shadow Realm. You said so yourself! How can you possibly expect to surpass it?"
"Fear drives evolution, foolish boy." A ring of fire suddenly erupted just beside The Wicked Eraser. But it was no ordinary fire, burning black and purple like flaming Shadows. It was a contained opening into the Shadow Realm that flooded the three god cards and fused them together.
Ren's body began to rise into the air, drawn by the same fires that fused his gods. "Man has always used his intelligence to obtain the power to unseat that which he fears. This is that power! With the ritual complete, I'll make you experience the fear I felt!" His body disappeared into the hulking behemoth that now stood in the center of Sanjan's citadel.
Like the components Obelisk and Raviel, the fused god lumbering before Bryan's unbelieving eyes stood taller than what remained of the citadel with a body disproportional in the hands and haunches. A single finger was almost as tall as Bryan. Horns protruded from its forehead in four places. Its shoulders were armed with oversized bone guards the size of Macchu Picchu. The visible arteries coursed liquid power throughout its body, giving its pitch-black skin the occasional appearance of red and blue.
It was the most frightening creature Bryan faced since the Apocalypse.
"A fusion of Obelisk the Tormentor; Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, and The Wicked Eraser. I don't even know what to call such a thing." The only flaw in the creature seemed to be its tail. Such an appendage hardly matched what appeared to be the body of a perfect physical monstrosity. It was like seeing a tail on a gorilla.
"What am I going to do about that?" Matt and the others were gone from sight. The Shadow Realm had blotted out all other signs of life in the vicinity. Bryan was stuck in this duel facing a fusion of gods that shouldn't exist all by himself. This thing wasn't even a man driven by a god: Ren had degenerated all the way into the Shadow Realm.
At least when Bryan faced the embodiment of the Apocalypse, he had Matt by his side to help him emerge victorious. Here, he had nothing. Nothing except darkness and fear so cold it turned his whole body numb. Was that what Ren felt when he saw the Collective Consciousness?
"Don't give up," he heard. He thought so, anyway. There was no one else around but him and the Shadow God – Lemegeton (12/5000/5000). But he definitely heard Lucy's voice say, "Aren't you going to be co-King of Games?"
There was a time when Bryan's confidence could never be fractured. The only duelist in the world who ever scared him as an opponent was Matt—his best friend and sworn brother. Duel Academy with its reputation for producing greatness was supposed to be merely a stepping stone on his way to dominating the international duel leagues. He would be known world-wide, plus universally once scientists finally figured out interstellar travel. He would have all the women, money, power, and respect that could come with success.
Bryan was still that guy when he fell in love with Lucy. It was hard for that guy not to change, though, considering all the brushes he had with the god cards, the Shadow Realm, and general mischief that left everyone fearing for their lives. Lucy fell in love with that guy, and she was no fool. In the darkness of the moment, facing the single most-frightening thing he'd ever seen before, Bryan met that guy again. He grinned at the Lemegeton and said calmly,
"I'm going to be the co-King of Games." Brimming with pure confidence and feeling warmth Yasna had all but blocked out, he drew his next card.
"I know how to get more cards. I'll play E – Emergency Call to bring Elemental Hero Bubbleman (4/800/500) to my hand and then straight to the field. Since I control no other cards, that counts as a Special Summon, plus I get to draw two more cards from my deck." Gazing upon his new cards, he said, "Not bad. I'll summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600)." Now he had two Heroes on the field, one of them masked and mysterious and one of them muscular and strong. He pulled a card from his Extra Deck and said, "I love you, Lucy. I'll overlay my two monsters to Xyz summon Number 39 Utopia (4/2500/2000), the Aspiring Emperor Hope." The two Heroes merged in a brilliant beam of light that produced a taller warrior covered in armor as white as the purest snow, trimmed in gold like a warrior king's.
Shadow God – Lemegeton loosed a low rumble that Bryan interpreted as lack of appreciation for his new monster.
"You don't have to think much of me, but don't you dare disrespect Lucy's art. She designed this card based on her feelings for me, and that's exactly why this card is going to take you down." As he spoke those words, the light surrounding Utopia grew brighter, and Bryan could hear someone speak to him, although no one was near. It was a smooth voice that evoked images of silver hair and arrogance.
"Congratulations, Bryan Boy. Your special edition card holds within it a piece of my power. When coupled with the power of Aiwass already implanted into your body, your power may be capable of toppling this fusion of man and Shadow."
"Who are you?" Bryan asked. But even though he heard no answer, he felt as if he already knew the answer.
Suddenly a fiery red Hero flashed into the ring beside his kingly warrior. Bryan smiled at the return of his Hero-Sacred Beast fusion. "At this point, Elemental Hero Nova Master (2600) returns to the field. What do you think of that? Now you have two warriors to get past."
The Lemegeton was unfazed. Sneering past its sheer snout, the fused Shadow God reached out slowly toward Utopia (2500), ready to snatch the warrior and consume him in a single gulp. In a flash, slice marks appeared all over the palm of Lemegeton's hand, and purple blood oozed along Utopia's sword. Grasping its wrist to alleviate the pain, Lemegeton withdrew from its attack.
"You didn't realize? By sending one of Utopia's Xyz materials to the Graveyard, he negates your attack. That makes it my turn again. The last turn, I hope." The aspiring co-King of Games lifted the card from the top of his deck and glanced solemnly back to his monsters. "It's got to be awfully embarrassing for you that with three god cards combined you won't be able to defeat my weak-ass Hero god. Because here's what's going to happen: Nova Master (2600) will attack!"
Nova Master spouted flames from each of his fists and legs, an act which caught Lemegeton's attention. The lumbering golem anticipated the attack and raised its leg to stomp heavily on its flaming prey, but a burst of fire underfoot afforded Nova Master the speed to evade the attack. He may have been at the advantage at his opponent's backside, but the Shadow God had no blind spots and powerfully swung its hand down straight on top of Nova Master…
Almost. Utopia intervened at the last second and shoved Nova Master from under the massive palm. Both warriors ended up beside the palm, untouched by its attack.
"Utopia will use his effect to send another Xyz material to the Graveyard and negate Nova Master's attack. Smart, right? Maybe I was dumb to think Nova Master would be stronger than that monstrosity you've become." He snickered as if hearing a joke only he understood. "Then again… How about we go Double or Nothing!" Nova Master (+5200) braced himself again and stood ready to attack once more—twice as strong this time. His whole body burst into flame and Utopia's light grew brighter.
"You see, Double or Nothing! only works if my monster's attack is negated. It doubles his power and lets him attack again immediately!"
Lemegeton swung his hands down together, attempting to sweep both opponents in a single clap. Nova Master thrust his arms forward and released a stream of fire that propelled him backward out of danger. Utopia was not as quick, but his light provided an energy buffer that Lemegeton could not instantly crush. He staved off the attack while Nova Master blasted into the air and propelled like a rocket straight for Lemegeton's stone face. The golem released its hold on Utopia and leaned back to swat Nova Master down hard.
Nova Master was stunned from the attack, and Bryan wondered if he was going to get back up. Clearly this battle wasn't following the usual sequence for a duel. Lemegeton's hand created a swirling mass of energy that looked to Bryan like a dark vortex. His suspicions were confirmed when Shadow demons began spewing from the mass at high speeds. Those that could fly circled the field looking for prey while those earthbound found Nova Master as an easy target. Every one of the demons was instantly obliterated with a swipe from Utopia's blade, or with a burst of light that targeted the flyers and dissipated them. Utopia took the fight straight to the vortex, trying to strike Lemegeton directly. His action succeeded in having the golem pull back and close the gate, but a single hulking fist connected with Utopia and separated the light warrior from his blade and sent flying across the field.
Just as Lemegeton stood up fully to strike at the unarmed opponent, a stream of fire snaked around its entire body. The head of the flame appeared as the face of a dragon with powerful jowls that clamped down on Lemegeton's neck, much like a spiritual form of Uria. Though it was brief, Nova Master's power immobilized the mammoth golem long enough for the flaming warrior to take Utopia's sword and drive it into the base of Lemegeton's skull.
The entire mass of creature slumped forward and fell to a knee. Ren Bacon's body appeared at the Shadow God's chin, beginning to separate but still fused. He grinned and laughed, low and wicked. "Amusing, but all for nothing. This power is infinite. As long as I possess the simultaneous forms of three gods, I am unstoppable!"
Bryan gasped and took a step back. Ren was right. Lemegeton was standing again, and Nova Master was running out of strength. "There's no end to this! What do I do?"
Suddenly a third voice began laughing. "That power does not belong to you," it spoke. "You are merely being seduced by it, just as I planned." Suddenly a gray-bodied monster just a little taller than Bryan appeared nearby. It looked like card Matt's brother had played during his duels.
"Are you… Angra Mainyu?"
"Yo, Bro Bryan. It's good to see someone standing up for himself against the Lemegeton."
Bryan heard a little about Angra from Matt's stories. He was obviously a mischievous god who enjoyed playing tricks. That made his presence all the more curious. "Why are you here?"
"Well, Michael Potter gave you a little bit of my spirit when he gave you the power to fight the so-called Ultimate God, or also sometimes the embodiment of the Apocalypse. I know you thought Maximilian Pegasus purged you of that power, but actually he lacked the ability to do so."
"Wait. You're saying I had a little piece of you inside me this whole time?"
"Of course you did. How else was I supposed to keep an eye on my twin brother? He would have noticed me if I implanted myself inside Matt's body, and that would be no good. But now the time has come for the two of us to part ways."
"Where are you going?"
Angra turned to stand against the Shadow God – Lemegeton. "I will neutralize this monstrosity by returning the power to the Shadow Realm. That will make up for my role in creating this disaster and return the fate of this world to your hands."
Stunned, Bryan asked, "What do you mean by your role?"
Angra turned just enough for Bryan to see him grin. His hands rose and thrust a beam of light straight into the Lemegeton's chest. He wouldn't give a straight answer. "Don't worry. It's a failed experiment to fuse man with Shadows, anyway. If only he'd had The Wicked Dreadroot instead—all three incarnations of Obelisk… Oh well. The World Collision is still imminent. It's up to you to find the Key to stopping it." In an instant, both Angra and the Lemegeton disappeared into a simple puff of smoke, leaving behind only Bryan and a very weak Ren Bacon.
"My power…" Ren gasped as he reached for where Lemegeton once stood. But his goal no longer existed except in his deepest desires, and Utopia stood over him with his shining blade pressed against Ren's throat.
Bryan couldn't be sure what just happened. He felt lighter than before, and maybe even a little bit happier. It was plain to see what had to happen next. "The Ars Arcanum, right? That's how we're going to protect this world from the World Collision. That means this duel has to end." With his command, Utopia unleashed a single, powerful slash.
Bryan 300: Ren 500 – 200 – 2500 = 0.
Just one chapter this week instead of two like I thought, but at least it's a really long one. I hope it wasn't too daunting in length and that the content helped keep it an engaging read. I'd love to hear your feedback on the events of this arc so far. What questions still linger about the story? In the next chapter, we'll wrap up the events of Yasna and send the surviving students back to Duel Academy. Will they be able to complete the Ars Arcanum and save existence from annihilation?
See you next time!
Trivia: Metempsychosis is a philosophical evolution of the soul, especially after death. Thus, with each death of the Shadow Gods they evolved into something more powerful-ultimately the Shadow God - Lemegeton, which resembles a sort of fusion of Obelisk, Raviel, and Eraser.