Chapter 6: Wounded Pride
"Carnivore! What are you doing here?" Rebecca asked in shock.
"What about you, Succubus?" Carnivore retorted. "Why are you spending so much time with him? Have you really sunk that low?"
"Shut up! I know you, I know that he will experience nothing but suffering in your presence! Can't you see he's lonely?"
"I've been fine alone! If I can make an effort to prevent people fucking with my life, then so can he!"
"He isn't you, Carnivore! Not all of us are content with cutting ourselves off with the rest of the world!"
"Have you forgotten, Succubus? This is the Void. We are already cut off from the world. Why are you trying to seduce the newcomer?"
"Okay, that was uncalled for! Just because I approach people doesn't mean I'm going to seduce them. Besides, he's still very young!"
At that point, the shouting and counter-shouting got too much for me, forcing me to abandon my cup of black vile-tasting liquid and run towards the lifts.
"You! Over there!" I heard a girl's voice shout.
"Me?" I asked, turning to see a blonde girl only slightly taller than me.
"Yes, you! Were you the one who hurt the Beast?"
"He challenged me, accusing me of stuff I didn't do."
"I don't believe you could have won in a Duel against him! You had to have cheated! I, Sky Fairy, hereby challenge you to a Duel!"
Seeing no other choice, I let this girl take me to one of the Duel Arenas, whereupon we began our Duel, with her going first as the challenger. She Summoned Victoria (1800/1500) and played Double Summon to summon another Victoria. Their abilities of not being able to select another monster as an attack target meant that I was now in an attack lock.
In my turn, I just placed four cards face-down. Sky Fairy, on her next turn, summoned Bountiful Artemis (1600/1700) and sacrificed it to summon Tethys, Goddess of Light (2400/1800). After that came a Pot of Greed, whereupon Tethys' ability activated: since Sky Fairy drew a Fairy-type monster, she could reveal it to draw one more card, revealing Gellenduo (1700/0) and drawing again, this time summoning Watapon (200/300) due to it being drawn due to a card effect. She then played Card of Sanctity, allowing everyone to draw until holding six cards, whereupon I revealed my Solemn Wishes, allowing me to gain 500 Life Points each time I drew a card (thus increasing my Life Points to 4500). After that, she used another Double Summon to summon Gellenduo to the field. Both of the new low-level monsters were sacrificed: Watapon was tributed to summon Airknight Parshath (1900/1400) and Gellenduo, who could count for two Tributes when summoning Fairies, was tributed to summon Archlord Kristya (2800/2300). Now, with this monster in play, neither player could Special Summon.
Sky Fairy attacked with Archlord Kristya, during which I revealed Draining Shield, negating the attack and gaining 2800 Life Points to come to 7300. Her Tethys, Goddess of Light then attacked, but I revealed Nightmare Wheel, choosing it and stopping it from attacking or changing its Battle Position. What was more, she'd be taking 500 Damage during each of my Standby Phases as long as the monster wasn't removed from the field. She tried to follow through with Airknight Parshath, but that was when I revealed Narrow Corridor, stopping her from attacking with more than two monsters during the Battle Phase. Reluctantly, she ended her turn.
Drawing, my Life Points increased to 7800. I played my Nibelung's Treasure, allowing me to select a Spell Card and play it on my opponent's side of the Field. I chose Nibelung's Ring and equipped it to her Archlord Kristya, after which the Treasure made me draw 5 cards. After that came Guardian Treasure, discarding five cards to draw two and draw one extra every Draw phase. I now had seven cards in my hand. From there, I played Burning Land, which destroyed any Field Spell and forced us to take damage during our Standby phases. All of my Spell/Trap card zones were full at this point.
When her Draw Phase came, due to Nibelung's Ring, Sky Fairy drew two cards, discarded one of them because it was a monster, then took damage from Burning Land to come to 3500. She activated Double Cyclone to destroy the Nibelung's Ring on her side of the Field and the Nightmare Wheel on my side. From there, she launched an attack with her Airknight Parshath, but I triggered Rescuer from the Grave from my Graveyard, removing 5 cards there from play to negate the attack. During my turn, my Life Points remained as they were, my Solemn Wishes being negated by Burning Land. I felt like I needed a new plan: at this rate, I was going to need to stall for a lot of time to defeat her. That was why I played Giant Trunade, returning all Spell and Trap Cards on the field back to our hands. She didn't get anything back, I got my Guardian Treasure, Solemn Wishes, Burning Land and Narrow Corridor. She had no face-down cards on her field, so another plan occurred to me. I placed two cards face-down and activated my Dark Hole, destroying all of her monsters. She now had nine monsters in her Graveyard, so I played my Purity of the Cemetery Spell Card, and I re-set my Solemn Wishes Trap Card and replayed my Burning Land Spell Card.
As soon as Sky Fairy began her turn, she took 1400 points of damage to come to 2100. The first 900 points of damage she took was due to Purity of the Cemetery dealing 100 points of damage for each Monster in her Graveyard, while the remaining 500 came from Burning Land. Firstly, she used Monster Reborn to bring back a Victoria, and then used a Spell Reproduction to discard two spells and retrieve one, playing Monster Reborn again to revive Tethys, Goddess of Light. From there, a second Monster Reborn revived Airknight Parshath, and after that she played Premature Burial, paying 800 Life Points to bring back Archlord Kristya. With her Life Points now on 1300, she now had monsters whose total Attack equaled 7900… enough to wipe me out. She attacked with her Archlord Kristya, but that was when I revealed Nightmare Mirror, negating the attack and dealing 1000 points of damage to her, also forcing me to discard a card. With only 300 Life Points left and five monsters in her Graveyard, I activated my other face-down: Cemetery Bomb, which dealt her 100 points of damage for each monster in her Graveyard.
"No, no, no, no, no!" she shouted as her Life Points hit 0. "How could I have suffered such a humiliating defeat?"
"How was that humiliating?" I asked. I didn't know why she was calling it humiliating.
"You didn't launch one attack! You didn't even summon a single Monster! You just sat back and dragged my Life Points down like I was nothing!"
"That, Fairy-chan…" Rebecca's voice suddenly sounded, "…seems more like a unique dueling style than humiliation."
"When did you get here, Succubus?"
"Around the time when your opponent played Purity of the Cemetery. Now take a look at that card and tell me what it does."
"Well, I take 100 points of damage for each Monster in my Graveyard, but if there is a Monster in his Graveyard, the card is destroyed. But what has that got to do with him not summoning one?"
"Just have a hard think about it."
With that, Sky Fairy ran off sulking and Rebecca walked straight up to me, stopping about one centimeter short of walking into me. "You know," she began, "…I've seen a lot of Dueling styles since coming to the Void, but I have to say, I really like what I've seen of yours."
"Really, Rebecca?" I gasped in wonder. She was the first person to ever compliment my Dueling style.
"Yeah, quite a few Dueling styles, mine included, involve Summoning of Monsters. Although I've seen some styles that rely heavily on Spell or Trap cards, this is the first one I've seen that foregoes Monsters altogether. I have to say, that, like my own, is a particularly interesting concept."
"Thanks. That is the first good thing that has been said about my play style. Other opinions usually focus on the words 'weak', 'cowardly' and the like. Speaking of which, what is your play style like, Rebecca?"
"That, my young friend, is a s-e-c-r-e-t."
"Aw. What about Carnivore, what is her play style? Speaking of which, where is she?"
"It's quite strange… she's become quite protective recently. We often see each other when getting food, but this is the first time in years that a fight has broken out between the two of us."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I've even had other companions when seeing her many times, but the worst that happened was a death glare. The only times I've seen her get angry like today is when she's protective of something, and I think that 'something' is you."
"But she hates me! Every time I see her, she's mad for some reason, as if things would be better off if I wasn't there."
"That's just her. Since I've known her, she hasn't been much like the caregiver type."
"That anger has to be more than just a bad attitude. Did something happen?"
"Toby…" Rebecca's tone suddenly became downcast, and she pulled me into a hug. "…please don't tread into that area. Sufficed to say that something did happen between Carnivore and I. Please, for your own sake, don't ask anyone about the specifics, not even me and especially not the Carnivore. You still have four days of your Leniency Week left, use them well. Strengthen what bonds of friendship you have made, because you will need them pretty darn soon. Don't sever those ties."
That was all I remembered of my first week at the Void. What happened after the Duel with Sky Fairy was all a blur, but I mostly remember terrible food, Carnivore's verbal abuse and Rebecca… another thing I can't remember, where was she? That was actually the last time I saw her during my Leniency Week, everything else is just a blank. It was probably due to what would follow after.