Matt LP: 1000
Leah LP: 3800
Captain of Eoseuleum – Sencho: Warrior-Type/Xyz/DARK/Rank 4/ATK 2300/DEF 1500 – 2 OLU
Number 17: Passion Aurora: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800 - 1 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Spiritual Haven of the Borealis [Field Card]
"I Normal Summon Guardian of Eoseuleum – Koken!" Matt said. The monster that rose up had a very guardian-esque appearance. It was short, but wore very bulky black armour, and carried an oversized semi-circular shield, with the Eoseuleum's crest printed onto its surface.
Guardian of Eoseuleum – Koken: Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1500
Matt grinned, his first real expression – besides fear – since the duel began. "Next, you activate the Spell Card, Candlelight Aura!"
Leah frowned. She was sure she'd misheard. But no, he had definitely said "you activate", not "I activate". Then she gasped, and looked down at her duel disk. A sharp flash of light had emanated from it, and when it faded, there was a new card in her Spell & Trap Card Zone. Candlelight Aura. The Spell that Matt had just activated. She looked up at him, confused.
"When this card is activated from my hand," Matt was explaining, "it activates as my opponent's card, and is placed in my opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zone during activation and resolution."
Leah, still confused, looked at the card again. "So... you're making me activate your card?"
"That's right," he replied.
"Does that mean I get to apply its effects as the activator?"
"Correct," Matt grinned again, "and the effect goes thusly: you have to target one Eoseuleum monster on the field and destroy it. So go ahead. Choose one."
She frowned, considering her choice carefully. 'I have two choices,' she thought to herself, 'I can destroy the Koken under Matt's control, or the Sencho under my control. Well, the obvious choice is to destroy Matt's monster… but hang on, why would he perform his move in that order? Surely the smart thing to do would've been to activate the Spell first, so I'd be forced to destroy my own Sencho, then Summon Koken afterwards. Does he want me to destroy Koken…' Though she felt she was walking straight into a trap, Leah made her decision. "I target Guardian of Eoseuleum – Koken." The Spell, which had appeared on her field while they'd been talking, glowed an angry orange colour. An orb of light, rippling with heat, shot from the card and struck Koken's shield.
"Due to Koken's effect, it cannot be destroyed by the effects of Spell Cards!" Matt shouted. Sure enough, with a swipe of its shield, Koken brushed aside the flames. "Also, when you activate a Spell Card, Koken's second effect activates. Now I can choose to double its ATK, its DEF, or its Level, until the End Phase."
Leah gasped. "You planned this! You made me activate that card to give you an advantage."
"Absolutely," Matt replied. "Now, I choose to double Koken's Level."
Guardian of Eoseuleum – Koken: Level 3 → 6
"Then, I'll Special Summon Assassin of Eoseuleum – Shikaku from my hand!" Matt's new monster – sporting a streamlined black armour, and six pitch black daggers each with the Eoseuleum crest – leapt onto the field with a battle cry.
Assassin of Eoseuleum – Shikaku: Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 6/ATK 1000/DEF 1000
"This card can be Special Summoned from my hand if my opponent activated a Spell Card previously during this turn. Also, when it's Summoned in this way, I can destroy any one monster you control. I choose my own Captain of Eoseuleum – Sencho that you control!" Shikaku immediately leapt forwards and slashed at Sencho with one of its daggers. Sencho intercepted with its sword. The clash of metal echoed throughout the room.
Leah acted quickly. "I use the effect of Sencho. It can save itself from destruction my detaching one of its Overlay Units!" One of Sencho's purple Overlay Units flew in between the two monsters, then dissipated violently, forcing them apart. The Assassin grunted, then leapt back to Matt's field.
Captain of Eoseuleum - Sencho: 2 → 1 OLU
"Level 6 Koken and Shikaku, Overlay!" Matt wasn't wasting any time. Both monsters turned purple and shot upwards, then spiralled back down into the red portal. "I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Appear, Sword Breaker!" The portal exploded, and out of it flew a silver armoured warrior, adjourned with a ridiculous amount of weapons. It was orbited by two orange Overlay Units.
Sword Breaker: Warrior-Type/Xyz/EARTH/Rank 6/ATK 2700/DEF 1000 – 2 OLU
"What? Sword Breaker?" James said, observing the generic Xyz Monster with confusion. "Hey Matt, what's going on? Where's your Number?"
Immediately, Matt rounded on him and shouted back. "I told you already: I don't need that thing! I'm strong enough to win without it, even against another Number!"
"But that's not what this is about-" James argued, now standing up.
Ignoring him, Matt turned back to Leah and continued his turn regardless. "I activate Sword Breaker's effect. By detaching an Overlay Unit and declaring a Type, Sword Breakerwill immediately destroy monsters of that type on contact during battle. I choose Fairy-Type!" One of Sword Breaker's orange Overlay Units flew into its sword, and as if it knew what was coming next, it readied itself.
Sword Breaker: 2 → 1 OLU
"Battle! Sword Breaker, attack Number 17: Passion Aurora!" Sword Breaker charged forwards, readying a number of weapons.
"That's clever," Dan muttered. The other two looked at him questioningly. "Don't you see? If Numbers can only be destroyed by battle by other Numbers, then the best way to defeat them is by card effects. Number 17's effect can't save it from that."
But as usual, Leah was ready. "I activate the Trap Card, Borealis' Veil!" As the Trap Card flipped up, she chose a card in her hand and showed it to Matt. It was Borealis Kita. "By revealing a Borealis monster in my hand, monsters I control are unaffected by card effects during this turn. So Sword Breaker's effect won't harm Number 17, and the battle continues as normal." The Trap Card surrounded Passion Aurora with a green shimmering shroud. Sword Breaker slashed at it, but could do no harm by its effect or – due to it not being a Number – by the battle. Leah, however, still had to cover her face as the damage hit her.
Leah LP: 3800 → 3600
Matt looked on in dismay, realising that he'd completely failed. The Number – as well as the duelist behind it – was just too powerful. He couldn't fight either of them.
He cursed himself for being such a coward. If only he'd had the strength of will to use his own Number. To overcome this ridiculous fear... he couldn't hide behind pretences. He couldn't pretend he was doing this to prove himself a good duelist. The truth was quite simple, and all the more pathetic because of it...
He was scared...
And he hated himself for it.
A buzzer sounded. Matt looked up. A sign had appeared over the field.
Matt LP: 1000 [DRAW]
Leah LP: 3600 [DRAW]
The augmented reality faded away just as quickly. Matt looked at Leah, and noticed that she was just as confused as he was. In the stands, the other three were whispering to each other, wondering if it was a technical fault. It was only then that Matt became aware of his D-Gazer beeping. Someone was trying to contact him. He pressed a button to open communications, and was immediately greeted by Professor Usur's voice. He didn't sound happy.
"What're you kids playing at?!" He said angrily. "I sent out an alert half an hour ago! I've been trying to contact you for the last twenty minutes! I can't believe I actually had to stop your duel before you'd listen to me!"
"We're sorry, Professor." Leah said hurriedly, as everyone else tuned their D-Gazer's into the conversation. "We just wanted to test out our Numbers, to see if the bands were working fine-"
That seemed to make the Professor even angrier. "Of course they work fine, girl! I made them! What's the point in working for me if you're going to mistrust my work at the first opportunity?" Leah didn't know what to say.
Dan's natural instinct was to stick up for his friend, and that's exactly what he did. "Professor, she didn't mean that. It's just that we need to duel with our Numbers to know what it feels like. You know, as a test run. Before we go out and use it for real."
The Professor was silent for a moment, but once he started talking again, he seemed to have accepted this argument. "Whatever. But I'll not stand for such disrespect again!" Leah nodded to Dan in thanks. "Now then, onto the matter in hand. Some time ago, a Number was detected near the shoreline at 56th avenue. Your task is to retrieve that Number from its holder, and bring it back here safely. This is your first big task: don't fail me." The communication ended abruptly.
Everyone was silent for a while, digesting what had just been said. Katie was the first to speak. "So... does this mean we have our first mission?" Dan nodded, but James burst out laughing. "What?" she asked.
"A mission?" James said, still laughing. "You make it sound like we're secret agents, off to save the world from evil."
'Well, you're half right,' Matt thought sullenly.
"Stop laughing," Katie snapped, but smiling all the same.
"Well then," James stated loudly. "Since Katie thinks we're all super-secret agents, I think that's exactly what we should do." He stood on his chair and placed a fist in his chest dramatically. "I shall be your leader, super-mega-secret agent Esquongattery the third." He then looked down at Katie. "You can be my sidekick, agent Kikyo."
Katie leapt up. "No way!" She shouted, and wrapped her arms around James' legs. Unable to stay upright, James toppled over backwards, ending up sprawled across several chairs, with Katie attacking him half-playfully. "Why do I have to be the sidekick?"
"Ow, because- oof... because that's the role best suited for y- OW, stop that!"
Dan and Leah were doubled over with laughter at this sight. Earlier in the day, Matt might have joined in the good mood. But now he was too gloomy, too lost in his own thoughts, to do so.
James had finally managed to extricate himself from under Katie. They exchanged a quick kiss, before attempting to be serious. Leah had hopped off the stage and come over to join them, resting her arms on the dividing wall.
"Alright," said Katie, taking charge. "We've been told that when the alert sounds, we should head downstairs to the front entrance, where Professor Usur will have a private taxi waiting for us. It'll drive us where we need to go."
"So we're all going?" Leah queried. "Even though only one of us has to duel?"
"Yes," Katie replied. "We should all see what to expect, and we can step in if there's trouble."
Leah nodded, but Dan had another question. "So how do we find the Number then?"
Katie opened her mouth, but James answered instead. "The driver will have coordinates to follow, and our D-Gazers have been modified with a tracking mode, so we can follow the Number holder from long range, then accurately search it out at short range." Dan nodded in understanding.
"Well then," Katie said, "we all have our D-Gazers, our duel disks, and our Decks: there's no need to wait for anything else. So, shall we get going?"
Everyone stood up, exited the stands, and made their way to the door.
"Hold up," Leah said. Everyone turned around to look at her. She turned back to the stage. "Hey Matt, you coming or what?"
Matt snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. "Uh huh…" he said, distractedly. He jumped off the stage and made his way over to the other four, not making eye contact with any of them. James looked at him with a mix of frustration and concern. 'We're supposed to be a team,' he thought, 'but this guy isn't bothered with what any of us want. He's not thinking about the team. What's his problem?'
*MEANWHILE*
In a control room, practically drowning in computer screens, Professor Usur was on the shouting orders. "Transfer the coordinates to their D-Gazers, and initiate two-way tracking mode. I want the Deltas monitored at all times! Make certain that..."
Everyone in the room was listening to his orders, acting immediately, fearful of being on the receiving end of his temper. But one of the men was far from fearful. He was joyous. The Professor's organisation had just found its first retrievable Number. This would be cause for any of the staff to celebrate. But more so for this man.
He stood up and spoke to his superior, asking him if he wanted a coffee. His superior nodded, his eyes never leaving his computer screen, and his fingers dancing over the keyboard. The man turned and walked out of the room without another word.
The moment he was outside, he slid a phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial. It was only a few seconds before his call was answered.
"Doctor Lithon, sir," the man said, "Usur's men have just found the first stray Number." There was a quick silence on the end of the phone, followed by some swift orders. "Yes sir, I will get started immediately." The man shut his phone, slipped it back into his pocket, and walked off down the corridor to get some coffee.
He reckoned that the news had put his true boss in a great mood.
Author-made cards:
Guardian of Eoseuleum - Koken
Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1500
This card cannot be destroyed by Spell effects. Once per turn, when your opponent activates a Spell Card: You can choose 1 of these effects; resolve the chosen effect. ●Double this card's ATK until the End Phase. ●Double this card's DEF until the End Phase. ●Double this card's Level until the End Phase.
Assassin of Eoseuleum - Shikaku
Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 6/ATK 1000/DEF 1000
If your opponent activated a Spell Card previously this turn, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). When you do: Target 1 monster your opponent controls; destroy that target.
Captain of Eoseuleum - Sencho
Warrior-Type/Xyz/DARK/Rank 4/ATK 2300/DEF 1500
2 Level 4 Warrior-Type monsters
You can Special Summon this card (from your Graveyard) by Tributing 1 face-up "Eoseuleum" monster you control while there is a Spell Card(s) on your opponent's field or in their Graveyard. This card gains 500 ATK for each face-up Spell Card your opponent controls. If this card would be destroyed, you can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card instead.
Number 17: Passion Aurora
Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800
2 Level 5 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate this card's effects until the End Phase.
Spiritual Haven of the Borealis
Field Spell Card
Face-up Spirit monsters gain 100 ATK and DEF for each Spirit monster their controller controls. You cannot Normal Summon non-Spirit monsters. Once per turn: You can Normal Summon 1 monster from your hand as an additional Normal Summon.
Candlelight Aura
Spell Card
This card is activated as your opponent's card, and is placed from your hand into your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zone. Target 1 face-up "Eoseuleum" monster on the field; destroy that target. Each player can only activate 1 "Candlelight Aura" per turn. If this card is in your Graveyard: You can discard 1 "Eoseuleum" monster; add this card from your Graveyard to your hand.
Borealis' Veil
Trap Card
Reveal 1 "Borealis" monster in your hand; until the End Phase, face-up monsters you control are unaffected by other card effects.
Fun Fact #12: As you've probably guessed, Koken means guardian and Shikaku means assassin. They are also the second and third Eoseuleum monsters to be part of another archetype (the Guardians and Assassins, respectively), the first one being Knight of Eoseuleum - Na Ito.
Fun Fact #13: I got the inspiration for Candlelight Aura while thinking; "How would I possibly get the effects of the Eoseuleum monsters to work in real life, since this is such a monster-heavy format?" Then I had the idea for a Spell that you can force your opponent to activate, and this is the result.
Fun Fact #14: The mysterious Doctor Lithon mentioned at the end of this chapter will be one of the three major antagonists of the series. He will make his proper debut in the next few stories.