Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Chapter 15: The Completed Card
"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Principle Mackenzie announced. "With the end of my turn, The Sun returns to the Graveyard to bring the night. And to take his place, I summon Thousand-Eyed Ghost and Lich Lord, King of the Underworld."
The Divinity Sun rose back up into the sky and vanished behind thick dark clouds. Soon after, Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost materialized on the battlefield to take his place.
Reggie drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Card of Sanctity! Now we both draw until we both have six cards in our hands."
"Trying to reinforce your hand, eh?" Principle Mackenzie observed. "You must be desperate."
"With Splendid Venus on the field, I activate the Spell card, War Goddess Light!" Reggie announced. "With this card, I add the Spell, Awakening of Ishtar and the monster it summons to my hand! Now I activate Awakening of Ishtar and sacrifice Splendid Venus to summon her ancient form! Awaken… Splendid Ishtar!"
Four ornate torches appeared on the ground around Venus and blasted her with four streams of flames. Venus exploded in a blast of golden light, causing pieces of her armor to fly off into the distance. The light quickly faded to reveal Venus' ancient war goddess form.
"Reggie still has that card?" a surprised Jaden observed.
"I guess the Splendid Ishtar card was purified when you used Sword of the Supreme King to defeat it." Yubel assumed. "Either way, it looks like Reggie might've found a way to defeat Divinity Sun."
"I set two cards on the field and end my turn." Reggie announced.
"And with the start of my turn, The Sun rises!" Principle Mackenzie announced as he drew his next card.
A ray of golden light shined down on Mackenzie's side of the field and incinerated Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost. The clouds above parted and The Divinity Sun descended towards the battlefield.
"I activate Ishtar's effect!" Reggie quickly announced. "Since I used Venus to summon her, Ishtar can negate the Special Summoning of a monster and inflict 800 points of damage!"
"I'm afraid not!" Principle Mackenzie responded. "I activate the Trap, Divine Wrath! I discard one card from my hand to stop Ishtar's effect and destroy her!"
The green gem on the front of Ishtar's helmet began to glow. But before she could fire her beam at The Sun, a bolt of red lightning came down from the sky and struck Ishtar. In seconds the ancient war goddess was vaporized.
"Did you really think that a move like that would work, Reggie?" an amused Principle Mackenzie asked. "I knew that sooner or later that you would try and strike at The Sun when he was most vulnerable by canceling out his own summoning."
"And I knew you'd try to counter, dad." Reggie responded. "I activate a Trap, Final Ritual Duel!"
Suddenly a ball of white light flared to life in the center of the battlefield and washed out everything in a massive explosion. The light faded after a moment all of the monsters that had been on the field were gone.
"What… what is this?" a surprised and confused Principle Mackenzie asked.
"When a Ritual Monster I control is destroyed by a card effect while my opponent also has a Ritual Monster on the field, Final Ritual Duel forces us both to banish every monster in our hands, decks, and Graveyards." Reggie explained. "Then we each summon a Ritual Monster from those banished cards, and they're forced to do battle. The player with the last Ritual Monster standing wins the duel."
"I see. So it comes down to a battle between your Ritual Monster and mine." An amused Principle Mackenzie observed.
"Return to the field, Splendid Ishtar!" Reggie commanded. In a dazzling flash of golden light, Ishtar reappeared on the battlefield.
"Arise… Divinity Sun!" Principle Mackenzie ordered. A beam of gold light shot up from behind Principle Mackenzie, clearing to reveal The Sun.
"Thanks to Ishtar's effect, Divinity Sun loses 1000 ATK." Reggie pointed out to her father. "Which makes Ishtar's 3400 ATK just strong enough to defeat you."
"How shortsighted of you." Principle Mackenzie responded. "Did you think that I wouldn't have a counterstrategy to this as well? From the Graveyard, I activate the secondary effect of Divine Prominence! By banishing this Spell from the Graveyard, The Sun's ATK is doubled until the end of the turn!"
"I knew you'd try to counter Ishtar's other effect too." Reggie revealed. "I activate my other face-down card, Reverse Trap! This card reverses the power-up effect of Divine Prominence! Which means that The Sun's ATK becomes zero!"
"What?" a shocked Principle Mackenzie exclaimed.
"This ends now!" Reggie declared. "Ishtar, destroy The Divinity Sun! Divine Feather Strike!"
Ishtar flapped her wings and pelted The Sun with a barrage of glowing feathers. In moments The Sun exploded in a blinding flash of white light. Principle Mackenzie's scream could be heard over the sound of the blast. The light faded and both Ishtar and The Sun had vanished from the field. Jaden and the others were surprised to find that Principle Mackenzie had vanished as well.
"Mac! You okay?" a concerned Atticus asked as he ran to Reggie's side.
"Yeah, I think so." Reggie answered.
"What happened to Principle Mackenzie?" Sheila wondered. "Did he like run off or something?"
"I don't think so." Jaden replied. "Looks like there was a lot more at stake in that duel than we thought."
Before anyone could respond, everyone noticed a massive beam of white light shooting into the sky from the academy roof. Jaden and the others began to hear the evil laugh of a familiar voice being carried through the air.
"Electra!" Jaden identified. "Looks like she's finally made her move. We better get going now!"
The others nodded and the group quickly ran into the school. They quickly made their way up the steps towards the roof. Upon their arrival, Jaden and the others saw Electra waiting for them alone. She had on a long black skirt that opened a bit in the front to reveal her bare tan legs and a pair of silver sandals on her feet. The bluenette also wore a black armored bra with silver trim and a piece of black armor over her right shoulder. On her left arm was a black duel disk, and covering her forehead was a silver tiara was a red diamond-shaped gem in the center. Hanging from Electra's neck by a silver chain was a medallion shaped like the emblem of Zott.
"I see you were able to make it after all, Supreme King." Electra greeted. "But then my high priest did have doubts about the assassin I sent after you. No matter. This way I can personally get my revenge against you."
"What did I ever do to you?" Jaden demanded to know. "Just what is all this about, Electra?"
"Don't remember, eh?" Electra observed. "Well I can't say that I blame you. It has been a little over seven thousand years, after all. While I've always maintained this gorgeous body of mine, you've been reincarnated as the pathetic little boy now standing before me."
"So this has something to do with my past life?" Jaden asked.
"Ages ago, the Divine Order of Zott flourished in a kingdom whose name has been lost to the sands of time." Electra began. "Our order reveled in days of endless pleasure and delight, pleasures that are far beyond the imaginations of mere mortals. In time, I began to spread Lord Zott's influence to the rest of the world. But then you arrived, the one whose power is the opposite of Lord Zott's. Using your power and that of the Primal Flame, you managed to defeat Lord Zott and plunged our order into ruin."
"So this has all been about getting back at me for that time?" Jaden assumed.
"Oh it's far more complicated then that." Electra replied. "For years I wandered the earth, searching for the right way to revive Lord Zott. Eventually I came to this academy and reestablished the order. Using the students and faculty here, I've collected many sacrifices and generated the required energy needed for the revival. And now at last, the time has finally come."
With that, Electra pulled out a card from her deck and presented it to Jaden and the others. It was a blue card, depicting a fanged demon with light-blue skin and curved horns. A golden plate in the shape of a sun covered its right eye.
"You mean… all this time, Zott's just been a Ritual Monster?" Atticus realized.
"One of the very first Ritual Monsters this world has ever known." Electra confirmed as she slipped the card back into her deck. "And after years of work, his card has finally been completed. The duel that little Reggie had with my high priest provided the last bit of energy I needed. All that's left is to conduct one final duel, and Lord Zott will finally live again."
"If you want a duel, you've got one!" Jaden declared as he stepped forward. "This madness ends now!"
"Very well." Electra agreed. "You'll make the perfect opponent for this duel. Lord Zott will be revived and get his revenge at the same time."
"We'll see about that!" Jaden declared.
"You won't be able to win this time." Electra told him with a confident smirk. "The sacrifices I've provided for Lord Zott shall grant him with more than enough power to oppose you and your Primal Flame. In fact there's one sacrifice in particular that I'm sure will give him the power to make you fall to your knees?"
"And just what sacrifice is that?" Jaden demanded to know.
"Oh… I think I'll keep that a surprise." Electra replied. "I want to see the look on your face when she's offered up to Lord Zott. She is someone quite close to you though."
A chill went down Jaden's spine. "You don't mean…"
"You'll just have to duel me to find out." Electra replied.
"If you've hurt her…!" Jaden began to warn.
"Jaden, do you know what this witch is talking about?" Atticus asked as the same realization hit him.
"Atticus just let me handle this!" Jaden told him.
"Seems I was able to get a rise out of fairly quickly." Electra observed. "This duel should be an easy victory for me."
"Jaden, don't let her get into your head." Yubel told as she reappeared. "If you do, it's all over."
"But… what if she really did somehow turn Alexis into a card?" Jaden quietly asked. "Like Sophie and all the others?"
"Then you'll just have to save her like you saved Sheila." Yubel answered. "I may not like Alexis all that much, but if anyone can save her it's you."
"Yeah… you're right." Jaden agreed. "If Electra really does have Alexis, then I'll get her back by taking out Electra and Zott once and for all!"
"Let us begin, shall we?" Electra suggested as she activated her duel disk.
Jaden activated his own duel disk in response. "Game on!"
Author's Note: Apologies for a somewhat short chapter. It seems that I miscalculated how long it would take to wrap up the duel between Reggie and her father. I'll try and make up for it with the next chapter though. The main event is about to begin.
Please review and let me know what you think.