Author's note: Any cards highlighted in bold aren't actual Yugioh cards.
Chapter 15: Gate of Envy
In the fourth Duel Arena, Carnivore and I were selected to be in the Red Corner. As for our opponents, one had jagged hair that flowed down past his shoulders, with it being purple down the center, but bright green at the sides. He also had thick dark purple lines below his eyes, and thick dark green lines below those. His companion also had long-ish hair, but it only flowed down just before meeting his shoulders, and it was a strange bronze color.
"Carnivore-dono," the former spoke, "…it is quite unusual for you to declare war."
"A few things happened, Nightshade," Carnivore responded. So that purple and green-haired man was Nightshade? Then that had to mean the other one was Hunter-killer.
"Involving the boy beside you?"
"How could you-?"
"I could see it in your eyes, Carnivore. I shall warn you, though, beyond this arena lie the three Gatekeepers. Every time we have made it to them, we have been soundly defeated."
"Every time we have tried to stand up to the Gatekeepers…" Hunter-killer spoke for the first time, "…they push us back down."
"We will defeat them!" I stated.
"I do not believe you, child. If you are truly serious about toppling the Gatekeepers, then prove it to us by defeating us in this Duel and claiming our Keys."
From there, the Duel began with Nightshade summoning Samsara Lotus (0/0), after which he placed a card face-down. I was the next to go, so I placed three cards face-down and ended my turn. During Hunter-killer's turn, the Field Spell Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress came into play and even though the gun-metal grey surroundings from the Field Spell looked ominous, it was still a nice change to the depressing blackness of everything. From there came a Meklord Army of Skiel (1200/1000), Special Summoned as a result of the Spell's effect. This was followed by a Meklord Army of Wisel (1800/0) and a face-down card. Carnivore, on her turn, Special Summoned a Gilasaurus (1400/400) from her hand and Normal Summoned Miracle Jurassic Egg (0/2000). Just as she finished Summoning, though, the Continuous Trap Level Cannon revealed itself, dealing damage to a player if he or she summoned a monster, with the damage being 200 points per Monster Level. So, for her first monster, Carnivore had 600 damage coming at the team, and for her second, 800, totaling 1400, leaving us on 6600 Life Points before one attack was even made. She ended her turn with two face-down cards, after which she took 100 damage from another effect of Fortissimo, leaving us on 6500 Life Points.
Nightshade drew and was due to take 1000 damage from Samsara Lotus, but Meklord Army of Skiel, since he and its controller were sharing Life Points, negated any damage of 1000 or more. He summoned Evil Thorn (100/300), which caused his team to take 200 damage from Level Cannon to come to 7800 Life Points. From there, he Tributed it to deal us 300 points of damage (6200) and Special Summon two more from his Deck, being brought down to 7400 Life Points due to Level Cannon.
"It's coming!" Carnivore shouted
"Yes," Nightshade spoke. "I Tribute my two Evil Thorns to summon Yubel." The monstrous demoness appeared with 0 ATK and DEF. Level Cannon was also due to inflict 2000 damage to Nightshade's Team, but Hunter-killer's Meklord Army of Skiel negated any effect damage over 1000 since they were sharing Life Points. From there, the Trap Zero Sprite was revealed, equipping to Yubel, reducing its ATK to 0 (not that there was a difference) and allowed it to attack twice. Yubel was sent to attack Gilasaurus, and that was when its Special Ability kicked in: we took the Battle Damage that they were supposed to have taken from that attack. Carnivore revealed Depth Amulet, discarding a card from her Hand to negate the attack. Miracle Jurassic Egg also gained two counters. However, Nightshade wasn't done, as Zero Sprite allowed him a second attack with Yubel. Again, Carnivore used Depth Amulet to negate the attack at the cost of discarding a card and boosting the counters on Miracle Jurassic Egg. At the end of his turn, he tributed Samsara Lotus to keep Yubel on the field and also took 100 damage from Fortissimo to come to 7300 Life Points.
My turn came, and I needed to Summon a Machine-type Monster to stop Fortissimo's attack. To that effect, I summoned my Plasma Eel (400/1200) and also placed one more card face-down. I had a feeling that things were going to get pear-shaped very fast, so I had to have a little contingency plan. Due to my Plasma Eel being a Machine, I didn't take any damage from Fortissimo.
My fears were correct, however. After Hunter-killer Summoned Meklord Army of Granel (1600/1200) and took 800 damage from his own Level Cannon to come to 6500 Life Points, he used its effect to halve Plasma Eel's ATK to 200. From there, he Special Summoned his ace monster, Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk (0/0), whose ATK became equal to the combined ATK of all of his Attack mode Machine monsters. This meant that, with Wisel's 1800 ATK, Skiel's 1200 ATK and Granel's 1600, this meant that Asterisk had 4600 ATK and DEF. He immediately attacked my Attack mode Plasma Eel with Skiel, but that was when I revealed Staunch Defender, forcing all of my opponent's Monsters to attack that monster. Disregarding the damage absorbed by my Eel, I was up against 4400 ATK, 1000 ATK, 1400 ATK and 1600 ATK from Hunter-Killer, totaling 8400. Nightshade's side dealt me an extra 200 damage as Yubel attacked my Eel and used its ability. I also revealed another face-down; Rainbow Life, discarding a card to instead gain the Damage as Life Points, meaning that we now had 14600 Life Points to boast about. Hunter-killer ended with the Continuous Spell Card Lock-On Laser, which would deal us 200 damage for Setting any cards, and one set card.
Carnivore drew, and seeing as she was running out of cards in her hand, activated Card of Sanctity to give everyone six cards. From there, it was Card Destruction, with everyone throwing away their hand to draw an equal number of cards.
"Now, I'd say it's time to destroy Asterisk!" she shouted.
"Wait! Rather get rid of Yubel!" I shouted back. There was something I needed to try. During my time in the Void, I heard a rumor that Asterisk could sacrifice a monster to negate its destruction.
"Fine. I activate Ring of Destruction, using it on Yubel to destroy it and deal damage to both players, which in this case equals 0."
"Yubel has another ability which activates," Nightshade spoke as Yubel disintegrated into smoke. "If Yubel is destroyed by any effect other than its own, Yubel – Terror Incarnate is Special Summoned to the Field." The smoke reformed into the black two-headed dragon as its stats of (0/0) were displayed. Level Cannon was due to activate again, but the damage was above 1000, meaning that Meklord Army of Skiel could negate it completely. Carnivore wasn't done yet: she played the continuous Spell Card Jurassic Meat Shields. From there, we took 100 damage from Fortissimo as she didn't have a Machine-type Monster, so we were on 14500 Life Points.
Nightshade, from what I could tell, was intrigued. First, he played a Continuous Spell Card of his own: Voluntary Involvement, a Tag-Duel Only Spell Card that was quite rare, as far as I could tell. It allowed your partner to choose if any effects from your cards affected his monsters. I couldn't tell why at present, though. He Special Summoned Grinder Golem (3000/300), due to its own ability, on Carnivore's side of the field and two Grinder Tokens (0/0) on his own side. Those summons caused us to take 1600 damage from Level Cannon to put is onto 12900, and he took 400 damage to come to 6100. From there, he attacked again with Yubel – Terror Incarnate, and it retained the original ability of not being able to be destroyed by battle and dealing the Battle Damage to the opponent instead. His target was the Grinder Golem, meaning we took 3000 damage to come to 9900. After he set two cards face-down, it became clear why he used his other Spell Card: Yubel – Terror Incarnate destroyed all monsters on his side of the field to destroy an equivalent number on his opponent's side of the field. This Spell Card allowed Hunter-killer to dictate whether his Meklords would be a part of this or not, and ultimately, he chose to preserve them. The revived Samsara Lotus (which damaged his team by 200 points to come to 5900 due to Level Cannon) and the Grinder Tokens were destroyed, and there were 4 monsters on our side of the field. Carnivore immediately sent two Cards to her Graveyard, and shields formed around her Miracle Jurassic Egg and my Plasma Eel, to which blasts of energy were directed. A third blast got sent at Gilasaurus, which disintegrated.
"Your card interests me. What does it do?" Nightshade spoke in awe.
"Well…" Carnivore explained, "…whenever an effect that destroys monsters is activated, if one of those monsters is a Dinosaur-type, Jurassic Meat Shields gives me the option of discarding a Dinosaur-type Monster from my Hand to negate destruction of any creatures, Dinosaur or otherwise, I choose. So, only my Gilasaurus bit the dust."
It came to my turn now. I activated my Machine Duplication, targeting and Special Summoning two more Plasma Eels, taking 1600 damage from Level Cannon since I summoned two Level 4 monsters. We were on 8300 Life Points as a result. Those Eels I had latch onto Meklord Emperors Granel and Wisel, while my main Eel I had latch onto Skiel.
"I see what your plan is now! Reveal Trap: Skull Lair," Carnivore shouted. "Now I can remove any number of cards in my Graveyard from play to destroy a monster with an equivalent Level. I remove ten out of eleven Monsters in my Graveyard to destroy Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk!"
"I Tribute Meklord Army of-" Hunter-killer began
"Oh no you don't. My little friend's Plasma Eels, by latching onto your monsters, have made sure that they cannot be Tributed!"
I saw another card in my Hand which might help, so I Set it (bringing us to 8100 Life Points due to Lock-On Laser) and returned the Plasma Eel on Skiel to my field to end my turn. As Hunter-killer began his turn, I revealed my card: Crystal Seal, targeting his Meklord Army of Skiel. As long as this card was in play, my target couldn't attack, change battle position, activate abilities or protect his Life Points. He revealed his face-down Chaos Infinity, allowing him to change all Defense mode monsters he had to Attack mode and Special Summon a monster from his Deck and Graveyard. From his Deck, he summoned Meklord Astro Mekanikle (4000/4000), and from his Graveyard, Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk (0/0), the latter of which gained 8600 ATK and DEF. That, however, caused his team to take 3200 damage from Level Cannon, bringing them to 2700, as Skiel's ability couldn't activate. From there, he used Giant Trunade to return all Spell and Trap Cards to their owner's hands. For him, Chaos Infinity left the field, meaning its secondary effect of destruction didn't resolve. Fortissimo was also gone, along with Level Cannon and Lock-On Laser. For me, it meant that Machine Duplication, Crystal Seal and my two face-downs returned to my Hand. Carnivore lost her Skull Lair, Jurassic Meat Shields and Depth Amulet, and Nightshade lost his two face-downs.
After that, he attacked my one Plasma Eel with his Asterisk monster, but I wasn't completely defenseless yet. Although I had no face-downs, Carnivore destroying my last hand actually proved beneficial, as I had lost my Rescuer from the Grave that way. That card activated from my Graveyard, banishing five other cards to end the Battle Phase. From there, he replayed Fortissimo and Lock-On Laser, along with one face-down I could guess was Level Cannon to end his turn.
When Carnivore started her turn, she first played Heavy Storm to destroy all Spells and Traps on the field, destroying Fortissimo, Lock-On Laser and the face-down Hunter-killer planted. After that, she placed two cards face-down and Summoned her Tyranno Infinity (?/0). That card gained 1000 ATK for each Dinosaur she removed from play, which amounted to ten and equaled 10000 ATK. That was when she attacked Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk with 8600 ATK, and although the attack went through and brought them down to 1100, Meklord Army of Skiel was Tributed to keep it alive, albeit only with 7400 ATK. Seeing nothing else she could do, she ended her turn.
Nightshade's turn was interesting: he used his own Ring of Destruction to destroy Yubel – Teror Incarnate, although this let him summon Yubel – The Ultimate Nightmare (0/0). He attacked with his new monster, but Carnivore revealed her Depth Amulet again, discarding a card to stop the attack before it hit its target of Tyranno Infinity and dealt us a fatal 10000 damage. With nothing more he could do, he ended his turn
During my turn, I placed two cards face-down just in case, and ended my turn. Those cards were my two original face-downs, which I was saving for when they would be effective. When Hunter-Killer moved again, he attacked my lone Plasma Eel with Asterisk, presumably hoping to finish us, but that was when I revealed my Nightmare Mirror, discarding one card to stop the attack and deal them 1000 damage to come to 100. My other face-down also activated: Cemetery Bomb, dealing 100 damage for each monster in their Graveyards. Hunter-killer's Graveyard only had Meklord Army of Skiel as far as I knew (although that alone was enough), but Nightshade had Samsara Lotus in there along with three Evil Thorns, so they lost what Life Points they had on the spot.