Wendy succeeded in her duel against Azuma, even if she just finished what Erza started. That left four towers to be shut down. At the moment, Laxus was facing against Rustyrose, a duelist he faced in his past. At the moment, Rustyrose had 3200LP with his Sacred Guardian Beast: Belfast the Hurricane at 2400atk points. Laxus was at 2500LP, but all he had was a spell known as Thunder Drum.
"Things are going well for me." Rustyrose said. "My vengeance is at hand. For now, I place one card facedown to bring an end to my turn. So please continue the sympathy that will lead to my victory."
"Anyone ever tell you obsessing is not healthy?" Laxus said 'Though, I better do something or I am done for. I know Belfast's ability can destroy all set cards and I take 300 points of damage for each card.' He thought as he drew his card. "I'll activate the Loan Payment spell card. This spell allows me to draw until I'm holding five cards, but I have to give up 100LP for each card I draw. I'm holding two cards right now. That means I draw three cards and that means, I'm losing 300LP."
"You're throwing away life points? Is that really wise?" Rustyrose asked.
"It just might be." Laxus said as he drew his cards and his life points went down to 2200. "These three cards might just be what gets me out of here. I summon Thunder Crasher." His gold and white armored warrior rose out on the field. "Normally when he's summoned, I can bring out a second one, but I don't think that's going to be necessary."
"You don't? Fool. Hunches are for the overconfident." Rustyrose said.
"We'll see about that." Laxus said. "Since I have a light attribute monster on the field, I can summon Voltage Ball." A ball of electricity with eyes came out and had 1200atk points. "I'm not going to bother with their attack points because they won't be around much longer once I do a little tuning."
"You mean….you can synchro summon?!" Rustyrose said.
"That's right. I tune my level three Voltage Ball with my level four Thunder Crasher." Laxus said. Voltage Ball turned into three green circles and surrounded Thunder Crasher with it becoming four stars. A beam shot through the circles. "I synchro summon Chidori Lightning!" A warrior with a bird mask and yellow feathered wings flew out with 2600atk points. "Now I use Chidori Lightning's special ability. He's able to destroy one monster. Take out his Belfast!" Chidori pulled out a sword from his back and slashed against Belfast and it was destroyed. "Chidori also gains 100atk points for the level of the destroyed monster. Since Belfast was a level seven, he's gaining 700atk points." Chidori's attack points rose to 3300. "Don't forget that I still have my Thunder Drum out." The drum started beating and Chidori's power rose to 3900.
"Oh my! It could end the duel right now!" Rustyrose said.
"That's just what I was planning. Guess you guys aren't so tough after all." Laxus said. "Chidori Lightning, strike him directly with Thousand Voltage Swipe!" Electricity flowed through his sword and he went to attack and end the duel. Rusty might have seemed scared, but he quickly switched to confident.
"You're a fool for walking right into my trap. I play my Tower of Dinjir!" Rustyrose said as his trap activated. A tower rose out of the ground on Laxus' field. It shot out an energy ray and grabbed a hold of Chidori and placed it at the top.
"What the…? What is that?" Laxus said.
"My dark tower used like a prison cell." Rustyrose said. "When your monsters attack, this tower traps them. I can also destroy this trap when I choose and send all monsters trapped to the resting place."
"So basically, any attacks I throw are useless as long this tower is out and I risk my monsters being destroyed when they attack." Laxus said.
"One other thing I should mention. The sacrifices required to summon your stronger monsters is of no use either if you choose those trapped within." Rustyrose said. "Which means, you cannot summon your dragon to help you."
"Are you saying this tower prevents me from summoning my higher level monsters?! That's just great." Laxus complained. "I'll just place one card facedown and end my turn."
"It is my turn." Rustyrose said as he drew his card. "I'm just going to place a face-down of my own to end my turn."
"Guess there really is no reason to summon any defense as long as you have this tower." Laxus said. He drew his next card and saw it was Heaveledge. 'Heaveledge could end this right now, but I can't risk him getting caught in that tower.' He thought. "I don't think there's really anything I can do, but end my turn."
"Drawing a simple card and not even bothering to make another move?" Rustyrose said. "Is the depression of defeat starting to work its way into you before the outcome? It's my turn." He drew his next card and was real pleased with what he drew. "The time has come to awaken the power I was given and I shall walk the path of victory."
"What are you talking about now?" Laxus said until he figured out that there was only one card he was talking about. "You don't mean your Underworld Lord, do you?"
"You'll find out. I activate my trap, Dark Doors to the Underworld." Rustyrose said. "This allows the Underworld Lord of my deck to come right into my hand." His Underworld Lord shot out of his deck and he took it.
"It's too bad that you need at least two monsters as a sacrifice to summon it." Laxus said.
"A problem that will be gone with the wind." Rustyrose said. "I activate the spell, Sacred Guardian Renewal. This allows me to bring back as many Sacred Guardians in my graveyard and the two that are in there are all I need. Rise again Belcusas the Thunderclap and Belfast the Hurricane!" Both of his beasts rose to the field again with 2000 and 2400atk points.
"I think it's time I added a little reinforcement." Laxus said. "I activate my trap, Storm Formation. This trap forms two Storm Tokens on my field." Two storm clouds with eyes came out in defense mode with 1000def points. "My trap would also give my thunder monsters an extra 500atk points." Even though Chidori was trapped, its power still increased to 4400.
"That could become a problem. I was hoping to catch your Heaveledge in my dark tower, but it doesn't seem like that can be the case." Rustyrose said. "I activate my tower's final ability to destroy it and your Chidori with it!" The tower shot a pillar of light and the tower disassembled with Chidori going with it. "You thought I was going to attack with my Sacred Guardian Beasts, but you were wrong. I sacrifice both of them to summon a being of greater power!"
"Here it comes." Laxus said as both of Rusty's monsters turned into light and joined together to form the heart of the monster.
"Shame you can't be absorbed into something of true magnificence, but it's better to destroy you with it." Rustyrose said. "Come forth, Underworld Lord Madda Marru!" Energy shot out from the heart and Laxus felt a large gust of wind. He looked and saw a giant black moth with blue markings flew up from the field with 2800atk points.
"I've heard about moth monsters, but this one takes the cake." Laxus said.
"It is a being of true power and beauty." Rustyrose said. "Even your mighty Heaveledge can't stop it. Those small puffs is nothing more than dust to him for he can strike at you directly. Underworld Lord Madda Marru, attack him directly and send him to darkness." Madda Marru flapped its wings and created a force like a hurricane.
"Not so fast." Laxus said. "I activate the ability of my Lightning Serpent. By having this card in my hand and sending it to the graveyard, I take no damage, except that I also need to give up 1000LP." A serpent made out of electricity came out and blocked the attack and Laxus' life points dropped to 1200.
"All you did was postpone your demise. I shall end this turn with one face-down as we reach the climax of my glorious comeback." Rustyrose said.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves. Why do the bad guys always think they'll win before it's over?" Laxus said.
"Like you have much room to talk about bad guys." Rustyrose said. "That is considering who your father is." Laxus was a little surprised hearing about his father.
"What do you know about him?" Laxus said.
"I heard that Hades considered having him join us." Rustyrose said. "Your father would have made an excellent member."
"My father could have been one of you guys?" Laxus questioned.
"Yes." Rustyrose said. "However, your father actually refused. He says he wants to bring your guild down by his own power. It's a little hypocritical for you to talk about evil. I heard that the master of your guild, your grandfather, expelled him and you did nothing about it. You just stood by and acted like you didn't care as your own father was forced out by your grandfather."
"So what?" Laxus said.
"You think we're the callous ones." Rustyrose said. "It can't be as bad as betraying your own flesh and blood. It must have been easy since you seek shelter in the shadow of your grandfather."
"All right, you can stop there." Laxus said. "First, I'm not in my grandfather's shadow. That's the reason I became strong, to get where I am. It's so people see me as more than Makarov's grandson. As for my father, he was a deadbeat before that. I may have been upset about that before, but I can see where my gramps was going when he kicked him out. What happened to my father was by his own actions! He harmed the people he was suppose to care for. I became strong so I can protect those kinds of people. You were the ones that took them all away. That was the choice he made and this is the choice I made!" He drew his next card with dedication to fight for those he cares about.
"You can fight all you want, but it will all be for nothing." Rustyrose said.
"That's what you think. I sacrifice both my tokens." Laxus said as both of them vanished. "I summon Heaveledge the Lightning Dragon!" A strike of lightning came down and Heaveledge rose with 4000atk points and because of the drum, it rose to 4600.
"You're mighty dragon!" Rustyrose said as he was actually amazed by it.
"That's right and I know your Underworld Lord's weakness. I know I can't attack it, but that just means I can attack you directly." Laxus said.
"You really thought we wouldn't take into account our own monsters' weaknesses?" Rusty said. "I activate the trap: Battle Must!" A light shined from the card and flew straight into Madda Marru. "Thanks to this trap, you must attack my Underworld Lord. However, since his special ability prevents you from doing that, you can't deal any damage to me. I also know of Heaveledge's ability, where if you discard a card from your hand, you can destroy all the monsters on my field. However, my trap will prevent that from happening."
"Fine." Laxus said as he was getting really annoyed as Rustyrose was getting sinister and joyful. "I'll just get you next time." Laxus placed a face-down to end his turn.
"There is no next turn!" Rustyrose said as he saw he already won. "I think I'll titled this victory Laxus the Falling Star. Underworld Lord Madda Marru, attack and send him to infinite darkness!" Madda Marru pulled its wings back to unleash the attack again.
"Not so fast. I activate my trap, Bolted Thunder!" Laxus said. "Thanks to this trap, a bolt counter is placed on all your monsters." A bolt surrounded by electricity was placed right in the giant moth.
"How dare you sully my Underworld Lord." Rustyrose said.
"I'm afraid it's going to get worse." Laxus said. "If there's a light attribute monster, such as Heavledge, your monster is force to attack it. Your trap might prevent me from dealing damage when I attack, but not when you attack." Rustyrose wasn't expecting that.
"I'll still have enough life points to survive." Rustyrose said.
"No you won't because my trap makes your monster lose 300atk points for every thunder monster in my graveyard." Laxus said. "There's a total of six thunder monsters in my graveyard. That means your Underworld Lord will lose 1800atk points." Madda Marru's attack points dropped to 1000.
"No! Stop your attack!" Rustyrose said.
"Too late!" Laxus said. Heaveledge unleashed a blast of electricity in the bolt that electrocuted the moth and destroyed it. Rustyrose was blown from the attack and his life points dropped to nothing. The souls that were trapped in the moth were released and another Underworld Lord fell.
"Defeat…." Rustyrose said. "The flavor never tastes better a second time." Rusty's body turned dark and then into dust. Laxus was clear to the tower for another part of the darkness is gone.
…
Natsu's group
On their way to the next tower, Natsu and Wendy saw their marks stopped glowing. Lucy looked up and saw more light was shining through.
"Look. More of those dark clouds are gone." Lucy said.
"That's good. It must mean Laxus won his duel." Erza said.
"That's right. He's not going to lose because the one who will beat him one day will be me." Natsu said, but Gray pulled over and moved to the side. That caused Natsu to fall off and bounce against the ground a couple times. "Hey! Are you trying to break my neck?!"
"Save your energy. You're going to need it." Gray said as he pointed ahead. Natsu turned around and saw the next control tower in the center of the road. It was Natsu's turn to bring down another Underworld Lord.