Time was running out. There was still one tower to be sealed, but sunset was only few moments away. It all rested on Erik and he had to get through Kinana. Erika had his Phantom Snake at 1800atk points. He had 2800LP with his Thought Listener and a face-down. Kinana had Gorgonic Princess Slitherina at 1900atk points and equipped with Gorgon's Mask and also had 3300LP.
"Come on, Erik. You have to win this before it's too late." Natsu said.
"It's your move Kinana." Erik said.
"Thank you." Kinana said as she drew her card and Erik could see it was a monster. "I summon Gorgonic Temptress in attack mode." Another snake lady with black hair, horns, and even had mini-devil wings on her back. She also had 1400atk points. "Now Slitherina's ability activates. Since there's another Gorgon or Gorgonic monster on the field, she gains an extra 200atk points." Slitherina's attack points went up to 2100.
"Bring it on. Thanks to Phantom Snake's ability, he can't be destroyed by a monster that's level five or higher and I take no damage." Erik said.
"That ability only works when he's in attack mode." Kinana said. "I use Gorgonic Temptress' ability. Once a turn, she can change the battle mode of one monster on the field." Her monster blew a kiss to the snake and it caused the snake to go in defense mode with 1500def points. "Don't forget that thanks to Gorgon's Mask, when Slitherina attacks a monster in defense mode, your monster's defense points go down to zero." The mask unleashed a blue sonic wave and it turned Erik's snake to stone with its defense points dropping to zero.
"You've got to be kidding." Natsu said.
"Slitherina, destroy his Phantom Snake with Viber Taming!" Kinana said. Her princess turned her fingers to snakes and shattered Erik's monster. "With him out of the way, Gorgonic Temptress can attack you directly." Her second monster coiled around Erik like a girl teasing a boy and then smacked his face with her tail and his life points dropped to 1400.
"Talk about getting shot down by a girl." Gray said.
"This is bad. Another direct attack from either of those monsters, he's done for." Ultear said.
"He better do something and do it now." Erza said.
"It's my turn!" Erik said and he drew a spell and it was just what he needed. "I activate Advancement Beast. With this spell, I have to send one monster to the graveyard, but that will allow me to summon a level five or higher monster as long as it's the same type. So I'll send Cubellios to the graveyard so that I can summon Hydra Snake." A purple snake with multiple heads and black chest armor came on the field with 2000atk points. "Your princess isn't the only that can gain power. For every reptile that's in my graveyard, my snake gets an extra 100atk points. Since there are three of them there, he gains another 300atk points." Three extra heads grew and his snake's attack points went up to 2300. "Hydra Snake, take out her Gorgonic Temptress!" All the heads unleashed a purple flame that fried Kinana's monster and her life points went down to 2400 and without her other monster, Slitherina's attack points dropped to 1900. "Kinana, you've got to snap out of whatever control you're under. I know I hurt you, but I didn't mean for this to happen."
"It wouldn't have changed a thing." Kinana said. "You can't change how you felt. It's too late to do anything about it now. It's my turn now!" She drew her card and it was a spell this time. "I activate Charmer's Flute. So since there are two reptile monsters on the field, I can draw two more cards." She drew those cards and they were a monster and a spell.
"Not good. I'm starting to see a problem." Erik said.
"You can say that again. I summon Gorgonic Gardna." Kinana said. Another blue snake lady with snakes for arms and blue hair came on the field and had 2400def points. "Thanks to her, my Princess gains some power again." Slitherina's attack points went up to 2100. "Also, while Gorgonic Gardna is on the field, she can block an attack once a turn and she's the only monster you can attack. I'll end my turn."
"Hang on. What about that spell card?" Natsu asked.
"Her spell is Battle Enthusiast. She can only activate that when an attack of hers has failed." Erik said. "I better get through those defenses of hers and fast."
"Come on, Erik. You've got to end this fast." Lucy said.
"He's just wasting time. If he doesn't turn something around and fast, it will be too late to do anything." Gray said.
"It's my turn!" Erik said as he drew his card. "You're not the only one who can play spells. I play my own Charmer's Flute. Now that we've got three reptiles out, I can draw three cards." He drew those three cards and they were just what he needed. "I'm activating Shedding Skin. This allows one reptile to come back to my field from my graveyard. Rise again Cubellios." His wing snake rose on the field with 1200atk points.
"But with one less reptile, your Hydra Snake loses power." Kinana said as Hydra Snake's attack points dropped to 2200.
"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter." Erik said. "Neither of them will be sticking around because I sacrifice both my monsters and summon out Cuberin the Poison Dragon." Both monsters were released and the poison dragon flew out on the field with 2600atk points. "That ends my turn."
"That's it? You've got to do something to end this now." Natsu said.
"Just let me handle this." Erik said.
"Natsu's right. You should have ended this when you had the chance." Kinana said as she drew her next card and they saw it was another spell. "I activate Offerings to the Great Ones. This spell allows me to treat one monster as two. So Slitherina will be two monsters, but there's more. If the next card I draw isn't a level seven or higher monster, she'll be destroyed."
"That's a big risk she's taking. Why would she do that?" Meldy said.
"She must be getting ready to summon her Underworld Lord!" Wendy said.
"Here goes." Kinana said as she drew the card and all of them were nervous about what it was. When the card was revealed….it was her Underworld Lord.
"Oh no!" Natsu said.
"Oh yes! I sacrifice Gorgonic Princess Slitherina and summon Underworld Lord Sliptera!" Kinana said as her princess was sacrificed and a light was shot into the air where the heart of the beast was formed. Its beating started and it sounded like the beating of Erik's end. The heart unleashed the dark power and they all saw something slithering around the area.
"Oh man!" Erik said as he was really nervous about seeing this monster. He looked up as the head of the snake came up. It was long as a train and even bigger with pink markings running down its back and it's under belly pink as well with 2800atk points. "That's got to be the mother of all snakes!"
"You're lucky that after I activated my spell, I can't attack this turn." Kinana said.
"Kinana! Please, stop this while you can." Erik said.
"There's nothing you can do or say to have me stop." Kinana said.
"Wanna bet?" Erik said. "Just listen to what I have to say." Kinana was getting annoyed, but she listened either way. "Listen, I really am sorry about what happened the last time we saw each other. I never meant to hurt you. I thought that a girl like you deserved someone better than me. You're a great girl and I'm nothing, but a punk. However, you really do seem to care about me regardless. The way you were dueling proved it."
"Did it?" Kinana said as she was starting to wonder if that really was the case.
"Wow! Who knew he was a romantic?" Lucy said.
"Hey! This isn't the time to get lovey-dovey. You got to shut down the tower." Gray said.
"Shut up." Erza said as he elbowed his stomach.
"Kinana, you care about me and you know who I am." Erik said. "You were even willing to change yourself for me, but I'm the one who needs to change. Then again, you wouldn't want that. We would have to be true to each other. So, if you want, I like to have another chance." He held out his hand for Kinana to take and she could see he meant it.
"Erik!" Kinana said as she smiled. She was about to step forward to him, but her mark glowed brighter and she withered in pain as darkness was coming from her body.
"Kinana, what's wrong?" Natsu said.
"It's the darkness. It's trying to take control." Kinana said.
"Fight it, Kinana!" Erik said.
"I can't." Kinana said. "With the Underworld Lord out, it's too powerful. Erik you need to win this duel."
"Kinana!" Erik called out, but Kinana stood up and was the same as Levy.
"How I win this instead. It's your turn." Kinana said.
"No! It's completely taken over her!" Natsu said. "Erik, you have to do what she said. You need to do it for her."
"I'm on it." Erik said as he drew his next card. 'If I win, I could lose Kinana forever. However, I might be able to save her if I destroy that Underworld Lord. I can't right now, but I've got to hurry and come up with something. I at least need to defend myself.' "I activate Cuberin's ability. Once a turn, he can take away 500 of your monsters' attack points." Cuberin unleashed a poison cloud and Sliptera's attack points dropped to 2200. "I place one card facedown to end my turn."
"You think weakening my monster will change anything?" Kinana said as she drew her card, but it didn't matter what she drew. "You can weaken my monsters all you want. It doesn't matter if it can attack you directly." Sliptera reached down to strike at Erik.
"Not so fast. I'm activating Tremble Fear." Erik said. "This will stop your attack and allow Cuberin to destroy your monster." A shield was brought up and Cuberin flew up to the snake as it shot out a blast of poison and blasted the snake.
"But doesn't that mean she can play her spell?" Natsu asked.
"That's right. I activate Battle Enthusiast!" Kinana said. "When an attack of mine is stopped, this spell takes the attack points of one monster, like my Underworld Lord, and deal to you as damage. This duel is over." The snake shot out a blast form its mouth.
"Erik, you have no choice! You have to end this!" Natsu said.
"But what about Kinana?" Erik said. He looked to the blast, but he could see an illusion of Kinana communicating with him.
"Erik, listen to me. You have to do this. You owe it to your friends." Kinana said.
"Are you sure?" Erik said no matter how much he didn't want to.
"I'll be alright. You must save the world." Kinana said. Erik didn't want to, but he knew that it needed to be done.
"I'm doing this because you asked me to." Erik said. "I activate the trap I threw at the start. Sound Repulse! This trap negates effect damage I would have taken and returns it to you with twice the power." An energy field came up and reflected the blast.
"This cannot be!" Kinana said and got blasted with all her life points dropping down to zero and her body faded to nothing. Cuberin blasted through the Underworld Lord and destroyed it.
"You did it!" Natsu said as all the others came down.
"Look! The last of the people inside the Underworld Lord are free." Gray said as they saw the souls of so many be free.
"Erik, are you okay?" Meldy asked for Erik looked miserable. Who could blame him after what he had to go through?
"Kinana, I'm sorry….for everything." Erik said.
"Guys the sun!" Lucy said. All of them almost forgot, but by the time they looked, the sun already went down.
"We're too late!" Erza said. "There's still at least one tower still standing." That was when the place started to shake.
"What's going on?" Wendy said.
"Is it an earthquake?" Natsu said. Out in the distance, a large pillar of light shot out from the distance. "What is that?"
"That location….it's near the guildhall!" Erza said. The pillar faded and another one of the marks the servants of darkness had and it looked like a dragon.
"Is that another dragon?" Lucy said.
"It looks like one of those marks Hades and the others had." Natsu said. "Does that mean there's another one? Who could it be?"
"I don't know, but I have a feeling we're going to find out." Erik said.