Author's note: As always, bold cards aren't actual Yugioh cards, but cards I thought up.
Chapter 31: The last stand.
"Warden Angustia," I spoke once the elevator doors had closed.
"Toby Tredwell. I'm beginning to think I made a mistake putting you with the Carnivore," he responded. "But that doesn't mean my plan will stop."
"Why not?"
"Records were transmitted half a year ago of the collapse of Arcadia and the arrest of Sayer. I was, however, right to think of him as not foolish enough to give up his Blessing Card."
"What do you mean 'Blessing Card'?"
"What point would there be in telling a twerp like you? You cannot understand the glory of our purpose!"
"What the hell is 'our purpose' anyway?"
"But now, with Sayer gone, I will re-establish the Arcadia Movement to fulfill both his and my part of the plan!"
"Not if I can help it! I challenge you to a Duel!"
"Interesting. I tell you what, part of my plan necessitates that I Duel anyway, so prepare yourself!"
"Duel!" we shouted, with him by the window. I took the first move, placing two cards face-down. The Warden drew, and used Polymerization, fusing a Vice Dragon with his Mammoth Graveyard and shouting "The essence of the True Dragon is fused in the bones of all Dragons. Let the surrender of flesh and blood bring forth this essence!" to Fusion Summon Bones of the Overseer Dragon (2000/2000). He then played the Field Spell Temple of the Kings, allowing him to activate Trap Cards the turn they were set. From there, he played his Cursed Prison Continuous Trap Card, allowing him to Special Summon one Synchro Monster, ignoring activation requirements, in Defense mode with its effects negated. He chanted "The True Dragon's hollow body will now arise. Experience the glory now of true emptiness!" as he Special Summoned his Synchro Monster Flesh of the Overseer Dragon (2000/2000).
He followed that up with a Card of Demise, refilling his hand with five cards and making him discard his hand in five turns, followed by the activation of one ability of Bones of the Overseer Dragon: to retrieve the Ritual Spell Card Dragon Blood Ritual. Playing it, he Tributed a Level 8 Blue-Eyes White Dragon in his hand and chanted "As the blood of a lesser Dragon is spilled, it boils with the fury of the True Dragon!" as he Ritual Summoned Blood of the Overseer Dragon (2000/2000) and used its ability, adding a Level 4 or lower Dragon-type monster from his Deck to his hand. After that, he removed his three monsters from the game via the effect of the Bones (destroying Cursed Prison), chanting "The True Dragon's soul lies waiting to inhabit a worthy vessel. Now the flesh, blood and bones shall join as one to create the husk that shall contain glory. Rise, White Overseer Dragon of the Void!" as his ace monster (5000/5000) appeared.
I couldn't believe what I saw. He had summoned out his Level 12 ace monster in one turn! Not only that, but there were two dragons in his Graveyard, namely Vice Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, increasing the ATK and DEF up to 7000. He played Pot of Greed for two cards, and Card Destruction soon afterwards, forcing us to discard our hand and draw that many cards. I revealed my Disgraceful Charity, returning the cards we discarded to our hands as his ace powered up to 12000 ATK and DEF, but returned to 7000. He attacked me directly with his Dragon, but I revealed my Nightmare Mirror, negating the attack at the cost of discarding a card and dealing him 1000 damage to come to 3000. He ended his turn, after which he had to discard four cards to maintain the Hand Size Limit of 6, bringing his Dragon's ATK and DEF to 11000, since he most likely discarded four dragons.
I drew, and I was running out of options here. I set two cards face-down and ended my turn. He drew, and activated his Graceful Charity, drawing three cards but discarding two, followed by another Graceful Charity (drawing three, discarding two again) and a Foolish Burial, sending one monster from his Deck to his Graveyard. Due to those discards, I saw his Dragon power up by 5000 points. From there, he played a Black Machine Chassis (0/0), which apparently couldn't be destroyed by anything with less than 3000 ATK. What I saw of the monster was amazing: it was a pure-black color, with a large body, a Dragon head in the center, and two long cannons extending from its sides and facing forward. Other than that, though, it was far too big for me to get a good look at its whole body, and it was situated outside the window. From there, he attacked me directly again with his now 16000 ATK and DEF Overseer Dragon monster, annihilating me, but that was when I revealed my Rainbow Life, discarding one card to get all of that damage as extra Life Points instead, bringing me up to 20000.
I drew again, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Or was I… I had drawn Pot of Greed. Playing it, I saw my Deck glow, and as I drew, I got Uria and Graceful Charity. Playing the latter, I drew three cards, and discarded two cards from my hand. I still had one face-down Trap Card, so I set two more and sacrificed all three Trap Cards to summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (?/?), whose ATK went up to 8000 since there were that many Trap Cards in my Graveyard (some having gotten there by other card effects that required me to discard). I then activated my Phantasmal Martyrs to, since I had either Uria or Hamon out, Special Summon three Phantasmal Martyr Tokens. I immediately sacrificed those three to summon Raviel, Lord of Phantasms (4000/4000) drawn by Graceful Charity. From there, I Summoned my Plasma Eel (400/1200) and played my Spell Card Excalibur, doubling Raviel's attack to 8000. That was also when I activated its ability, sacrificing Uria and the Eel to give Raviel an extra 8400 ATK points to come to 16400 for this turn. That Dragon had to go, so I had the now 16400 ATK point Raviel battle with the 16000 ATK point White Overseer Dragon of the Void. The card was finally destroyed, leaving the Warden on 2600 Life Points. My turn ended there.
When he drew, he played a Black Machine Reactor (0/0) and used its ability, saying that whenever it is summoned, he could equip it as an Equip Spell Card to Black Machine Chassis, moving it to the Spell and Trap Card Zone. As he did this, a large spherical device with a circle of transparent material in the center of the horizontal zone descended onto the large Chassis just behind the dragon head, and I could hear sounds indicating physical connections. However, the effects of the monster it was equipped to negated the effects of the Reactor, and to further illustrate this, the scarlet light being shone from the core of this monster through the transparent material faded out until no light was coming from it at all. He, however, used a Double Summon to summon Black Machine Circuitry (0/0) and equip it as an Equip Spell Card to Black Machine Chassis. The effect of this card, however, since it was equipped to that monster, stopped other 'Black Machine' card effects from being negated by the effect of Black Machine Chassis, allowing those 'Black Machine' cards equipped to his monster to activate their effects. As this happened, I saw yellow lines spread all over the Chassis, causing it to glow, and the light of the Reactor started shining again.
One thing I noticed was that the more Black Machine monsters that emerged, the more I felt awful. It was like there was something wrong, making me not only physically ill, but making me think that this machine didn't belong in this world. When the Chassis came out, I was just curious as there wasn't any monster that I'd seen of it. As the Reactor and Circuitry came out, I was increasingly on edge.
From there, the effect of Black Machine Reactor activated, giving the Chassis 500 ATK for each 'Black Machine' monster equipped to it, this time giving it 1000 ATK. The Warden set two cards face-down and ended his turn, whereupon a second effect of the Reactor activated, giving the Chassis a further 500 ATK boost each End Phase, with the Warden stating that if it gains 2500 or more ATK by that effect, the Reactor is destroyed.
I drew (destroying the Excalibur equipped to Raviel and bringing the Sacred Beast back to 4000 ATK), and discarded a Trap Card to revive Uria. I activated my Card of Sanctity to refill our hands to six cards, and from there, I felt another strong presence. I had drawn Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (4000/4000), so I set three Spell Cards and Tributed them to summon the Sacred Beast. My field was now full of monsters, as I had gained two Phantasm Tokens (1000/1000) from the Warden's summoning.
"The effect of the Trap I discarded activates!" I shouted. "When this card is sent to the Graveyard during my first Main Phase, during the following Battle Phase, I have to select one monster and force it to attack, ignoring all effects prohibiting it to attack. Since I had monsters on the field when Uria was Special Summoned by its effect, it normally cannot attack. Now, I can force it to attack. Go, Counter Trap Card, Fuel for the Fire!"
I attacked his 1500 ATK Chassis with my now 9000 point Uria, but he revealed his Draining Shield, negating the attack and instead gaining 9000 Life Points to come to 11600. Hamon was next, as if I destroyed the Chassis with that monster, he'd receive 1000 points of Effect Damage, which would total 3500 and allow me to use Raviel's ability to finish him.
However, when I attacked with Hamon, he revealed Negate Attack, stopping the attack and ending the Battle Phase. When he drew, he had this and the next turn left until he needed to discard his hand. He summoned Black Machine Coolant (0/0) and equipped it to the Chassis. As a result, two large, cylindrical tanks that were stuck together and featuring blue lines along the length descended onto the chassis directly behind the Reactor and connected. Now, with it equipped, the 'failure point' of the Reactor was increased to 5000 ATK instead of 2500, and once it hit 5000, it would just stop rising. The presence of this also increased the ATK of the Chassis to 2000. A Spell Reproduction came into play, discarding two Spells to retrieve one, after which came a Double Summon. That, in turn, allowed the summoning of Black Machine Turbine (0/0) and the equipment of the card as an Equip Spell Card onto the Chassis. Once again, the part materialized, this time being two large jet turbines with green lights, and attached to the lower body of the Chassis. This increased the ATK to 2500, and afterwards, the Warden activated another card: Pot of Greed, for two cards. The first of those cards activated: Token Thanksgiving, which destroyed all tokens on the field and gave 800 Life Points each, bringing him up to 13200.
The next card played was Hidden Passage. With this, as long as the ATK of his face-up monsters was less than my lowest ATK, he could attack me directly with one monster. For this, he chose his now 2500 ATK Black Machine Chassis and attacked me directly with its 'Barrel Ram' attack. There wasn't anything I could do to stop the attack, and in addition, the ability of the Turbine activated: he could choose to either attack twice, or protect the monster from Spells or Traps. The Warden opted for the former, and I took 5000 points of damage to come to 15000, with the Black Machine's gun barrel ramming into me, followed by sharp gusts of wind from the Turbines and the shards of glass flying at me from the broken window. He ended his turn with a face-down card, with the Chassis coming to 3000 ATK.
I drew, and I still couldn't do anything. I switched Hamon to Defense mode and forbade my other monsters from being attack targets as a result, and used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy his Hidden Passage in the hope that he wouldn't be able to use it anymore. With that, I placed a card face-down and ended my turn.
The Warden's turn came, being the last one he could have before he lost his Hand from Card of Demise. He Summoned a sixth Black Machine monster, Black Machine Processor (0/0) and equipped it as an Equip Spell Card to the Chassis. A small chip descended into the dragon head of the Chassis, and immediately after that, its eyes glowed with a violent purple light.
"Now is where the fun begins!" he began speaking. "Normally, with the Processor, I can choose when to activate the effects of my other Black Machine monsters instead of them activating automatically. In other words, if I wish, I can choose to negate the effects of my Black Machine. But now, with my EARTH Chassis being equipped with my LIGHT Circuitry, FIRE Reactor, WATER Coolant, WIND Turbine and DARK Processor, I can remove those cards and my Chassis from play! The ground itself trembles and the sky makes way! The gift of the Horrors Beyond assembles into the ultimate Black Machine. Come forth, Black Machine of the Void!"
The monsters he had on the field disappeared as he said this, and outside of the Arcadia Movement, the Black Machine had grown to an even more enormous size, with thin yellow lines glowing on its body, the red Reactor light shining brighter, as was the blue Coolant light, the green Turbine light and the purple eyes of the machine. Now, it felt like this was one complete machine, and not a composite monster. Its stats became equal to the amount of Black Machine Monsters removed from play x1000, meaning it had 6000 ATK and DEF. I also gained two Phantasm Tokens from all of that, but now the trouble began: This ultimate DIVINE Machine-type Black Machine gained the effects of all other Black Machine cards removed from play.
"Now, Black Machine of the Void, attack Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder. Void Horror Cannons!" the Warden shouted, also using the banished Turbine's effect to attack twice. This attack launched two large projectiles toward me, created a loud enough bang to, I would guess, be heard by the whole city and a strong enough physical shockwave that an earthquake shook the building violently. I, however, activated my Soul Shield, halving my Life Points to 7500 to negate the attack and end the Battle Phase after the Damage Step, negating the second attack that way as well, with the blasts being deflected towards the ceiling and cutting straight through out of either the roof or the other wall. . He ended his turn there, choosing to gain 500 extra ATK from the Reactor to come to 6500. That Black Machine was, somehow, all too real, even for a Psychic Duel.
"Beware that machine!" I heard the spirits of my cards, specifically the Sacred Beasts, say. "It calls to horrors from beyond. It must be destroyed!"
My turn came, and a bright light emitted from the top card of my Deck. After I drew, I sensed that, somehow, I had gotten a card that would help to end this battle. I activated it on the spot: Dimension Fusion Destruction. This removed Uria, Hamon and Raviel from play to Special Summon their fused form, Armityle the Chaos Phantom (0/0), to my field. I chose to activate its effect, inflicting 10000 Battle Damage to Black Machine of the Void, and I could see an explosion in the gigantic machine, more specifically, in its head, after which the eyes stopped glowing purple. After that, however, it remained on the field.
"Your monster should be gone!" I shouted.
"It should be, perhaps, but it isn't," the Warden laughed. "If my Black Machine would be destroyed, I can instead return one Black Machine card from my Removed from Play Zone to my Graveyard to negate the destruction. Of course, that means its effect is lost to my monster, in this case the effect of the Processor I returned to the Graveyard, but it is still worth it!"
Seeing no other way of stalling the Black Machine's attack, which would inevitably destroy my monster, I activated my Messenger of Peace, stopping all monsters with 1500 or more ATK from attacking. He drew, but Card of Demise's drawback kicked in, making him lose his Hand, so he ended his turn, unable to attack me. His Black Machine increased back to 6000 points from 5500.
When I drew again, I paid 100 Life Points (7400) to keep my Messenger of Peace active. Again, I used Armityle's effect to deal 10000 Battle Damage to Black Machine of the Void, but again, a Black Machine monster was brought back into the game and placed in the Graveyard to negate the destruction, and again, there was a huge explosion on the monster, this time on the turbines. This must have meant that he returned the Turbine, aside from which, since one less Black Machine monster was removed from play, the main one's ATK was now reduced by 1000 to 5000. I placed one card face-down to end my turn.
When his turn came, I revealed my Solemn Wishes, and he played the only card in his hand: Ring of Destruction. He targeted not my Armityle, but his own Black Machine, dealing 5000 damage all round, bringing me to 2400 and himself to 6600. This time, explosions occurred on what must have been the coolant tanks, but the machine itself remained, with 4000 points. He ended his turn there since he couldn't attack, gaining 500 points from the reactor to come to 4500 ATK.
I drew, lost 100 points to maintain my Messenger of Peace, but gained 500 points from Solemn Wishes as I drew a card, bringing me to 2800. For a third time, I used Armityle's effect, inflicting 10000 Battle Damage to the Black Machine of the Void, this time with explosions occurring on what was most likely the reactor. As a result, the monster lost all the ATK gained from the reactor, and came down to 2000 ATK and DEF. I played my Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. After that, I placed the last card I had face-down. Just how much health did this giant machine have?
Once he drew, he used Card of Sanctity to give everyone a six-card hand, then Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Messenger of Peace, and attacked with his machine. That was when I used Rescuer from the Grave from my Graveyard, banishing five cards to negate the attack and end the Battle Phase. He placed four cards face-down and used Emergency Provisions, destroying them to regain 4000 Life Points and come to 10600. Three cards destroyed were Apples of Enlightenment, allowing him to draw three cards. Two cards were placed face-down to end his turn.
I drew again, this time gaining 500 points to come to 3300. I used Armityle's ability to deal the Black Machine 10000 Battle Damage, and this time, explosions occurred throughout the chassis. The machine itself, however, still stood, albeit with 1000 ATK and DEF left. I somehow knew that the card returned was Black Machine Circuitry, as there were no longer glowing yellow lines around the body. I used De-Fusion to destroy Armityle, and Special Summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (0/0), Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (4000/4000) and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms (4000/4000). I used Uria's Trap Destruction ability to destroy one of his face-down cards. After that, I attacked with Raviel's Shimmering Slash attack, using its ability and Tributing my two Phantasm Tokens on the field to give it 2000 extra ATK, but the Warden revealed Attack Invulnerability, choosing to take no Battle Damage from the attack. I, however, had something to say about that, revealing my Trap Jammer and negating that effect. Raviel's fist made contact, and he was down 5000 Life Points to come 5600, and his Black Machine was down to 0 ATK and DEF, with frequent explosions happening all over the giant body.
"Now, this is where your Black Machine is destroyed!" I shouted. "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder attacks your Black Machine of the Void: Lost Thunder!"
With no more Black Machines to return into the game and place in the Graveyard, the Black Machine of the Void was destroyed, exploding in the very center with a large enough blast to, I would think, engulf the Arcadia movement and also send another shock wave through the city and further cause the buildings in the immediate vicinity to crumble. The Warden lost 4000 points from that attack, plus a further 1000 from Hamon's Hell's Punishment effect of dealing damage whenever it destroys a monster. He was left with a mere 600 points.
"Now, I attack you directly with my now 7000 point Uria, Lord of Searing Flames! Hyper Blaze!" I shouted, as the attack hit him and took off the last of his Life Points.
End note: This, I have to say, was a Duel I had lots of fun writing. The concept for the Black Machine is also one that I am proud of, and despite similar ideas I thought up around this new monster mechanic, I still love this one most of all.