Author's note: Any cards highlighted in bold are not actual Yugioh cards.
Chapter 22: Beautiful Aoi
The five of us ran through the door, only to be met with a second corridor, and the Overseer I reported directly to: the Overseer of Rituals, a woman by the name of Aoi. If not for her official status as one of the Summon Overseers, I could easily have mistaken her for a princess. She featured waist-length, wavy blue hair, and was in the same style of uniform as the guards, only with it being a blue color instead of Murasaki's purple and suitably adjusted to fit on women.
"Aw, isn't this cute?" she taunted. "The tiny little runt thinks he can reach the Warden."
"I don't think I can reach the Warden, Aoi…" I began
"There we go, that's a bit better isn't it, little bishonen,"
"…I know I can reach the Warden!"
"Look here, little boy-chan. You need to learn to recognize a lost cause when you see one. There is no possible way your little rebellion is going to succeed."
"And what makes you so sure of that?" Bombardier began speaking, with him and Queen stepping forward.
"Because I will not let you reach the Warden. Now, just go back to your cells and accept that you will never accomplish your objectives."
At that point, just like before, the walls and ceiling retracted until the corridor was the size of a Duel Arena.
"You have shown us the one victory that we wanted to see," Bombardier continued, "…and for that you will have our support. My Queen, we are next to Duel!"
"Duel!" Queen, Aoi and Bombardier shouted. Queen went first, summoning Pheromone Wasp (800/800) and placing two cards face-down. Bombardier drew, summoned KC-1 Crayton (1500/1200), and placed a card face-down to end his turn. Aoi drew, and activated Ritual Sanctuary. This Field Spell Card allowed her to discard one Spell Card to add one Ritual Spell Card from her Deck to her Hand. From there, came Black Luster Ritual, with her tributing the Level 8 Archfiend Empress in her hand to Ritual Summon Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500), ending with a face-down card.
The turn came back to Queen, who summoned Leghul (300/350), and played Hidden Passage. Since her monsters ATK were all lower than the monster Aoi had with the lowest ATK, one monster she controlled could attack her opponent directly. She chose to use this effect with her Pheromone Wasp, dealing Aoi 800 damage and activating its ability to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower insect from her Deck, choosing Parasite Caterpillar (800/800). Leghul then attacked directly with its own ability, dealing 300 damage to put Aoi on 2900 Life Points. Another card was placed face-down, after which her turn ended.
When Bombardier drew, he immediately attacked Black Luster Soldier with his KC-1 Crayton. I thought it was suicide, since the target was twice as strong, but he revealed his face-down Tank Corp, Special Summoning 3 Defense position Tank Tokens and increasing his monster's strength by 500 points for each one. That in turn, brought the main tank up to 3000, ending the battle in a draw which destroyed both monsters. From there, he played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. After that came Sky Union, destroying the three Tank Tokens to summon Air Fortress Ziggurat (2500/2000), and to end his turn, he played a Trap Reactor* Y FI (800/1800) and used Monster Reborn to revive his Summon Reactor* SK (2000/1400), after which he received a Robot Token from Air Fortress Ziggurat.
Aoi drew, and activated Machine Angel Ritual. This card allowed her to Ritual Summon any Cyber Angel monster. She sent her Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals and her Draw Slime to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Cyber Angel Idaten (1600/1200). Since her Draw Slime was sent to the Graveyard, she could draw one card. The ability of Summon Reactor* SK activated: the first time Aoi summoned a monster, she took 800 damage, coming to 2100 Life Points. From there, she activated the card she drew, Card of Sanctity, allowing everyone to draw until holding six cards. The Trap Card Altar for Tribute revealed itself, destroying Idaten and increasing Aoi's Life Points by 1600 to come to 3700. Monster Reborn came in then, reviving Idaten and allowing the return of a Spell Card from the Graveyard to the hand. It looked like the card retrieved was Machine Angel Ritual, because that activated again, this time with her sending her Level 1 Djinn Disserere of Rituals, Level 4 Djinn Presider of Rituals and Level 3 Djinn Prognosticator of Rituals to the Graveyard to Special Summon the Level 8 Cyber Angel Dakini (2700/2400). Pot of Greed came afterwards, for two free cards, followed by Spell Reproduction, discarding two spells to get one back, ending up with one card in her hand again.
Card of Sanctity came into play again, refilling her hand with six cards. The effect of her Field Spell allowed her to discard one Spell Card and draw one Ritual Spell Card from her Deck. A second Machine Angel Ritual activated, with her sending from her hand a second Djinn Presider of Rituals and a second Draw Slime to the Graveyard to Ritual Summon Cyber Angel Benten (1800/1500). The first to attack was Cyber Angel Idaten, attacking Trap Reactor* Y FI, but Bombardier used Summon Reactor* SK's secondary ability to negate the attack. Aoi, apparently, set her sights on the Queen after that, attacking the Leghul with her Dakini, destroying the target and dealing 2400 damage to Queen, leaving her with 1600. This also activated the effect of Djinn Presider of Rituals; allowing Aoi to draw a card since the monster Ritual Summoned using this monster destroyed a monster by battle. The effect of Djinn Prognosticator of Rituals also activated, forcing Queen to select and discard a card since she took Battle Damage from the monster Ritual Summoned using this effect. Queen also couldn't do anything as Dakini was also Ritual summoned using Djinn Disserere of Rituals, preventing it from being affected by Traps. Finally, Aoi attacked with Cyber Angel Benten, aiming for Queen's Pheromone Wasp, and if the attack went through, she was a goner, as I had faced Benten sometime in the past. That card had an ability that inflicted damage equal to the destroyed monster's DEF, and the total damage of this would come to 1800 and knock Queen out of the game.
Queen, however, had other plans, activating Draining Shield, negating the attack and instead gaining 1800 Life Points to come to 3400 and essentially forcing Aoi to end her turn, although not before placing three cards face-down. When Queen took her turn, she summoned Pinch Hopper (1000/1200) and Tributed it and Pheromone Wasp to summon Insect Queen (2200/2400), also choosing to Special Summon Brain Crusher (2400/1500) from her hand using Pinch Hopper's effect. Her third move was to remove Pheromone Wasp and Leghul from her Graveyard to Special Summon Doom Dozer (2800/2600). I could somehow tell that she was glad she set one card when she did, as now she could maybe use it. She played Insect Barrier, and then attacked Cyber Angel Dakini with Doom Dozer, but Negate Attack revealed itself, stopping the attack and ending the Battle Phase.
Bombardier drew, and summoned Spell Reactor* RE (1200/900) and activated a third ability of Summon Reactor* SK, sending it, Trap Reactor* Y FI and Spell Reactor *RE to the Graveyard to Special Summon Flying Fortress SKY FIRE (3000/2500) from his Deck. From there, an ability of this new monster activated; by discarding a card, Bombardier could destroy a card Aoi controlled, choosing one of her face-downs and shouting 'Sharp Shooting'. The face-down turned out, unfortunately, to be Apple of Enlightenment, allowing the Overseer to draw one card. Bombardier still pressed on, using Flying Fortress SKY FIRE to destroy Cyber Angel Dakini with 'Death Air Raid' and bring Aoi down to 3400. After that came Air Fortress Ziggurat, destroying Cyber Angel Benten with 'Sky Cannon Blast' and reducing Aoi's Life Points to 2700. He ended with a Pot of Greed for two cards, two face-down cards and a second Robot Token from Air Fortress Ziggurat.
Aoi drew, and placed a card face-down. The 'Death Drop' effect of Flying Fortress SKY FIRE activated, once per turn destroying a newly set card or summoned monster. However, the card destroyed was another Apple of Enlightenment, allowing Aoi to draw another card even though she lost 800 Life Points to come to 1900.
"I drew it," she stated, after which she activated Card of Demise, drawing until holding five cards in her hand in exchange for discarding her hand in five turns, placed two cards face-down and activated Emergency Provisions, destroying all three of her Set cards, one of which was a third Apple of Enlightenment, allowing her to draw one card in addition to her Life Points becoming 4900. Soul Charge activated, allowing her to lose 500 points per monster to revive any number of monsters, choosing Cyber Angel Dakini and Cyber Angel Benten, leaving her with 3900 Life Points. Those two Cyber Angels, along with Cyver Angel Idaten, were Tributed to Summon The Wicked Eraser (?/?), which gained 1000 ATK and DEF for each card Aoi's opponents controlled. Queen had a Parasite Caterpillar, an Insect Queen, a Doom Dozer, a Brain Crusher, an Insect Barrier, a Hidden Passage and a face-down card, while Bombardier had a Flying Fortress SKY FIRE, an Air Fortress Ziggurat, two Robot Tokens and two face-down cards. This meant that the attack and defense of The Wicked Eraser was 13000 points.
A second Card of Demise activated, allowing Aoi to refresh her hand with five new cards. She then used the Ritual Spell Card End of the World, this time banishing Djinn Presider of Rituals, and Djinn Prognosticator of Rituals and Djinn Disserere of Rituals from her Graveyard to summon Ruin, Queen of Oblivion (2300/2000). The effect of Ritual Sanctuary activated, letting her exchange a Spell Card for a Ritual Spell Card. Another End of the World was played, with the second Djinn Presider of Rituals and the Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals from her Graveyard being banished, this time to summon Demise, King of Armageddon (2400/2000).
Aoi's Battle Phase began. She attacked Queen's now 3000 point Insect Queen with The Wicked Eraser, but DNA Surgery revealed itself, with Queen choosing to treat all monsters as Insect types, and subsequently stop them with Insect Barrier. This, however, didn't stop The Wicked Eraser, as it was unaffected by Trap Cards, but that was when Bombardier revealed his Scrubbed Raid, sending any one card on the field to end the Battle Phase, ultimately sending the other face-down card for the effect. She had to end her turn there, although she placed a card face-down. Due to the Trap, the Insect Queen's ATK had increased to 4400, and since a card was removed from Bombardier's field, The Wicked Eraser was now on 12000 ATK..
Queen drew, but couldn't activate the Hidden Passage on her field. The lowest ATK on Aoi's field was 2300, lower than the highest ATK monster she or Bombardier had. Her first move was to attack Demise, King of Armageddon, with her Doom Dozer, destroying it, dealing 400 damage to Aoi and forcing her to send the top card of her Deck to her Graveyard. Next to attack was the Brain Crusher, destroying Ruin, Queen of Oblivion and dealing 100 damage to Aoi, leaving her on 3400 Life Points. Now that the lowest ATK the Overseer had was 12000, Hidden Passage could now be used to attack her directly. Queen then sacrificed one of Bombardier's two Robot Tokens to allow her now 3800 ATK Insect Queen to attack directly, but this time Rainbow Life revealed itself, instead gaining all of that damage as Life Points at the cost of discarding a card. Now, Aoi was on 7200, with the previous 500 damage taken taking her to 7700 Life Points.
Bombardier drew, and it sounded like he got a card he was looking for. I saw him play Polymerization, fusing his Air Fortress Ziggurat and Flying Fortress SKY FIRE to Fusion Summon Thousand-Weapons Battlecruiser (4000/4000). This card, during each of his Standby Phases, Special Summoned a Kamikaze Token (800/800). These Tokens had the uncanny ability of destroying anything they attacked along with themselves, without applying Damage Calculation.
From there, three Spell Cards were activated. The first was Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. The second was Soul Charge, Special Summoning Science Soldier and Kinetic Soldier from the Graveyard, after which a Cyber Soldier of Darkworld was summoned. The third and final one was Suicide Transformation, requiring his Fusion Monster to be out and turning all allied monsters aside from Thousand-Weapons Battlecruiser into Kamikaze Tokens (800/800). In total, on Bombardier's and Queen's side of the field, eight Kamikaze tokens were summoned, with his monster gaining 800 ATK for each Token on the field. This in turn boosted the ATK of Thousand-Weapons Battlecruiser by 6400 to come to 10400. He activated his own Hidden Passage at that point, and since the ATK of his monster was still lower than the lowest ATK on Aoi's field, at 10400 to now 15000 ATK of The Wicked Eraser, he could attack Aoi directly.
"Now we break through this rubbish you call a barricade!" he shouted. "Thousand-Weapons Battlecruiser attacks Aoi directly; Endless Bombardment!"
Every single one of the weapons took aim at Aoi, and once all of them were pointed at her, it was a merciless beatdown. Cannon after cannon fired, with machine gun turrets rapidly shooting and innumerable amounts of missiles launching straight towards her. As they made contact, I was grateful that Bombardier wasn't using much Psychic Power, or else the entire room would have been destroyed in a matter of seconds with such firepower. With that duel won, the door opened, but Aoi didn't look like she was going to let us through. Bombardier and Queen moved her out of the way and told Carnivore, Rebecca and me to continue without them.