Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 22: The Terror of Alnia
"I'll start this off." Alnia declared as she drew her first card. "I summon Archfiend Tomb Builder in Defense Mode!"
Materializing on Alnia's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a humanoid demon with dark-grey skin and a skull-like face with red eyes and yellow teeth. He was dressed similar to an Ancient Egyptian and wore a white cloth on his head. In his hands, the demon carried a hammer and chisel.
"When I've normal summoned Archfiend Tomb Builder, I can add a Trap card from my deck to my hand." Alnia continued. "I'll set that card on the field and end my turn."
"That's the first monster Alnia used when she dueled me and Kaito." Droite identified up in the skybox.
"Which means we can probably guess what sort of combo that Alnia is going for." Kaito assumed.
"And just what sort of trick does Alnia have up her sleeve?" Vector asked.
"When Archfiend Tomb Builder is destroyed, Alnia can use its effect to set two more Trap cards from her deck on the field." Kaito explained. "If I'm right, all of those Traps are actually level six Trap Monsters that will be summoned as soon as Alnia activates them."
"Which means Alnia will have three level six monsters!" Kotori realized. "Exactly what she needs to summon her Number."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Stacy told them with a knowing smirk. "Trust me, Michael has this duel covered."
Michael drew his first card. "First I activate the Spell card, Terraforming and add a Field Spell to my hand! Next I activate the Field Spell, Sacred City El Dorado!"
Suddenly the stadium stage turned gold and four ornate golden pillars appeared on each corner. The pillars had a design similar to something that might've been found in the ruins of an Aztec or Mayan city. Soon after the pillars materialized, dazzling buildings and pyramids made of gold began to appear outside the stadium.
"Fancy." Alnia remarked as she looked around at the new surroundings. "You've certainly chosen a flashy place to die."
"This field we're on is based on the mythical city of El Dorado, a place known as the city of gold." Michael explained. "Unfortunately for you, this city is the worst place you could possibly be. That's because while El Dorado is in play, neither player can special summon any level six or higher monsters except for Chronomaly monsters!"
"What!" Alnia exclaimed.
"That Number monster you use is a pretty dangerous monster, but it has one critical weakness." Michael continued. "It requires three level six monsters to use as material in order to summon. Summoning three level six monsters normally takes too long, which is why you have to rely on Trap Monsters quick-summoning monsters like those Archfiend Scarab Soldiers that you used when you dueled Gauche. As long as I can stop you from playing those monsters, your Number is stuck in your Extra Deck."
"You're starting to piss me off." Alnia told him.
"He just sealed Alnia's Number!" Anna observed up in the skybox.
"Not a bad plan." Durbe admitted. "And you knew about this strategy the whole time, Ms. Stacy?"
"Yeah. I was actually the one who helped Michael come up with it." Stacy revealed. "Originally I suggested to him that he could use some kind of card to return Alnia's Number back to the Extra Deck, but he went one better and came up with a plan to prevent Alnia from summoning the card in the first place."
"Wow! I never expected Michael to use a strategy like this!" Yuma spoke down in the dugout. "He might have a shot at winning this duel after all."
"He has done a good job of sealing Alnia's Number," Astral admitted, "but the seal isn't perfect. There are a few weaknesses that Alnia could exploit."
"I activate Polymerization!" Michael announced. "From my hand, I fuse Chronomaly Mud Golem with Chronomaly Crystal Bones and Chronomaly Crystal Skull to summon the ancient guardian of light! Come forth, Chronomaly Crystal Golem!"
Three monsters appeared in the air above Michael. The first was the statue of a warrior made out of brown clay. It had a golden lens on the front of its head in place of a face, and on each side of its head was a short thick curved horn that curved forward. Its chest had two eyes that looked like a pair of alien-looking goggles. The warrior held a long sword with a red gem in its right hand, and in his left was a shorter bladed weapon with a large loop in the middle. Michael's other two monsters were an alien-looking skull made out of crystal and a set of crystal bones that looked like they could be the body of the skull. All three monsters were pulled into a vortex that appeared in the air above the battlefield.
Dropping down out of the vortex a few seconds later was a larger version of Mud Golem that had a body made of blue crystal instead of brown clay. A pair of small carved-feathered wings had replaced the horns on his head, and there was a pair of larger feathered wings on its back. In each hand, the crystalline golem held a large golden sword with alien writing carved on the sides of each blade.
"A Chronomaly Fusion Monster?" Shark spoke with a quirked brow. "Where the hell did that come from?"
"As long as it can help Michael defeat Alnia, who cares?" Alit pointed out.
"I now activate another effect of Sacred City El Dorado!" Michael announced. "When I've special summoned a Chronomaly monster, I get to draw one extra card. Now I attack Archfiend Tomb Builder with Crystal Golem! And before you get any ideas about activating that card you set, you should know that when Crystal Golem attacks, my opponent can't activate any set Spell or Trap cards until after the damage step."
"You little…" Alnia began to curse.
"Crystal Golem! Destroy Tomb Builder Archfiend!" Michael commanded. "Celestial Slash!"
Crystal Golem dashed across the field and cut Archfiend Tomb Builder in half with its two swords. The two halves shattered into particles of light and Alnia's life points dropped to 2900.
"Hey! What the hell?" Alnia protested. "My damn monster was in Defense Mode! How the hell did I just take damage?"
"I forgot to mention that while Crystal Golem is on the field, all my Chronomaly monsters are able to inflict piercing damage." Michael revealed.
"Yeah? Well since Archfiend Tomb Builder was just sent to the Graveyard, I can set two more Trap cards from my deck on the field!" Alnia announced.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid those new Traps of yours are going straight to the Graveyard." Michale told her. "When Crystal Golem inflicts battle damage while I control a Field Spell, every set Spell and Trap card on my opponent's side of the field is destroyed."
Crystal Golem suddenly stabbed his two swords into the ground. Soon after, all three of the large cards that Alnia had previously set on the field exploded.
"I'll end my turn there." Michael announced.
"Michael not only locked down Alnia's Number, he locked down most of her best Traps too." Hikari observed. "Not a bad strategy."
"Indeed." Cleo agreed. "He's proving to be a much better duelist than I thought."
Alnia drew her next card. "I summon Mist Archfiend in Attack Mode!"
A white mist gathered together on Alnia's side of the battlefield and quickly took the shape of a demon. Much of its body was orange-red and it had a black skull-like face. It had large black ribs on its torso and its arms ended in large black claws. On the demon's back was a pair of black bat-like wings.
"Next I activate Monster Reborn and summon Archfiend Tomb Builder back from the Graveyard!" Alnia announced. The demon tomb builder reappeared on the white-haired duelist's side of the field. "I activate the Spell card, Resonance Device! With this card, I'm able to match Archfiend Tomb Builder's level to Mist Archfiend's, making them both level five!"
Beams of green light shot up from the ground beneath Mist Archfiend and Archfiend Tomb Builder. After a moment the beams faded and both monsters were giving off a feint green aura.
"I overlay my two level five monsters and Xyz Summon Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy!" Alnia announced.
A red vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in Alnia's two demons as balls of orange energy. Seconds later, an iron-grey sarcophagus with a skull-like face and two balls of red light orbiting around it rose out of the center of the vortex. Suddenly the sarcophagus exploded, covering Alnia's side of the field with a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, a humanoid demon with long but muscular arms was standing in place of the sarcophagus, its two balls of red light orbiting around it. The demon had shriveled pitch-black skin and his body was wrapped tightly in brown cloth bandages. His left eye was scarred shut, and on the side of his head were two gold curled horns, with a chunk of the right horn having been broken off. A thick iron shackle was around the undead demon's neck, and long thick chains hung down from the manacles on his wrists.
"This monster originally rose from the hatred of a man from before my time who was wrongly accused of a crime and executed." Alnia revealed. "And now he's going to be the instrument of your destruction! Archfiend Mummy, destroy Crystal Golem! Malice Buster!"
"But your mummy only has 2200 ATK!" a surprised Michael pointed out. "My Crystal Golem has 2800 ATK! There's no way your monster can win!"
"Guess again, girly boy! When Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy attacks while it has at least one overlay unit, it gains 1000 ATK during the battle!" Alnia revealed. "Your golem is about to become a pile of dust!"
The undead demon opened his fang mouth and spewed out a blast of crackling black energy. The attack struck Crystal Golem in the chest, creating an explosion that washed out Michael's side of the field in smoke. When the smoke cleared though, Crystal Golem was still on the battlefield, though Michael's life points had fallen to 3600.
"What the… why the hell is that damn golem still on the field?" Alnia demanded to know.
"Crystal Golem can't be destroyed in battle." Michael explained. "Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier. Guess I should also point out that as long as Sacred City El Dorado is on the field, Chronomaly monsters are protected from destruction by card effects. In other words, my Crystal Golem's not going anywhere."
Alnia gritted her teeth in frustration. "Oh yeah? Well you still took battle damage from that attack, so I can still use Archfiend Mummy's effect! Chain Lashing! When Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy inflicts battle damage, I can detach one of his overlay units to inflict another 800 points of damage!"
One of the balls of red light orbiting Archfiend Mummy entered his single blood red eye. The demon raised his right arm and whipped the chain attached to it across the field at Michael. The pink-haired duelist quickly raised his arms to protect himself, but his life points still dropped to 2800.
"So that's the best you can do?" Michael asked with a confident smirk. "Guess you're a whole lot easier to beat without your Number to help you."
"You're really starting to get under my skin." An annoyed Alnia declared. "I'll end my turn there! But on my next turn, you're dead for sure!"
"Man! Michael is really owning this duel!" Alit declared. "It's kinda hard to believe right now that Alnia took down Kaito and Droite."
"Michael does indeed have the advantage in this duel, but how long can he really maintain it?" Astral wondered. "I can't help but think that Alnia hasn't been showing her full power in this duel."
"Are you saying that she's been holding back?" Cleo asked.
"It would make sense. Alnia didn't view Michael to be a major threat going into the duel." Astral pointed out. "She made the mistake of underestimating him. Now that she's seen what Michael is truly capable of, I'm certain that she's going to unleash her full power on her next turn."
"C'mon, Astral. You're worrying too much." Yuma assured him. "Michael's totally got Alnia on the ropes. She can't really do much of anything with her Number sealed up like it is."
"I told you before, Yuma. The seal is not perfect." Astral reminded him. "Alnia may be unable to bring forth level six monsters needed to build the overlay network, but there are still other ways she can call forth Number 666."
Michael drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Palenque Sarcophagus! This card allows me to draw two more cards!"
A large sarcophagus made of grey stone suddenly burst out of the ground next to Michael. The lid of the sarcophagus slid open to reveal nothing inside, but as soon as it opened up Michael's deck began to glow. Michael drew two more cards and the sarcophagus vanished.
"Since I just activated a Spell card, I can special summon Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem from my hand!" Michael announced.
Five orbs made of blue, red, white, green, and yellow light descended from the sky above and began to swirl around a fixed point on the ground. The rotation of the orbs sped up until they quickly merged to form the red, oranage and green mechanical body of Michael's favorite monster. A beam of green light then shot up from the ground beneath the body and formed into another green orb. The orb took its place above the golem's neck and changed into a red and gold Aztec mask with a face on the forehead like that of a leopard.
"Since I just special summoned a Chronomaly monster, I use Sacred City El Dorado's effect to draw another card." Michael continued. "Next I play Chronomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet, boosting the ATK of my Chronomaly monsters on the field by 800!"
A large golden tablet engraved with hieroglyphics and the symbol of a large eye at the top appeared behind Michael's two monsters. A beam of gold light began to shine from the eye on the tablet, causing the two golems to glow with a golden aura.
"I summon Chronomaly Colossal Head in Attack Mode!" Michael announced.
Materializing next to Michael's other monsters was a large black stone carved in the shape of a head. The face of the head had yellow eyes, and on the top of the head was a thick red stripe.
"I overlay my level four Aztec Mask Golem and Colossal Head to Xyz Summon my ace card!" Michael announced. "Come forth, Chronomaly Golden Aztec Golem!"
A blue vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in the two Chronomaly monsters as balls of blue energy. Seconds later, the larger gold version of Aztec Mask Golem rose out of the center of the vortex with two balls of golden light orbiting around it.
"Thanks to Pyramid Eye Tablet, Golden Aztec Golem's ATK rises to 3300." Michael continued. "And now I attack Archfiend Mummy with Crystal Golem! Celestial Slash!"
Crystal Golem charged across the field and cut the demon mummy in half with his two golden blades. The two halves of Archfiend Mummy shattered into dust and Alnia's life points dropped to 1500.
"Golden Aztec Golem, attack Alnia directly!" Michael commanded. "Sun God Prominence!"
The golden golem fired a beam of gold energy across the battlefield at Alnia. Only seconds before the beam was about to hit though, a black and grey Egyptian statue with a skull-like face appeared in front of the white-haired duelist. The statue intercepted the attack and exploded and sent back bolts of black electricity across the battlefield. The energy bolts struck Michael, dropping his life points to 1550.
"Since you declared a direct attack, I was able to discard Cursed Ushabti to negate your attack and deal damage equal to half your golden golem's original ATK!" Alnia announced. "There's no way in hell I'm letting someone like you take me down!"
"Guess I'll have to end my turn there." Michael decided.
"Damn!" Alit cursed. "And he was so close to taking her down!"
"They're proving to be a lot more evenly matched than I thought they'd be." Hikari observed.
"Yes. But I fear that is about to change." Astral told them.
"I've had enough of this shit!" Alnia cried out as she drew her next card.
As Alnia pulled the next card from her deck, it gave off a flash of crimson light. Suddenly the ground on Alnia's side of the field burst open and Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy climbed out of the hole.
"What… what's going on?" a startled Michael asked.
"When Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by my opponent, I can summon it back from the Graveyard during the start of my next turn!" Alnia revealed. "But that's not all! When I've summoned Imprisoned Archfiend Mummy using this effect, I can discard a Spell card to use him as material to Xyz Summon a monster one rank higher!"
"She can what?" a stunned Yuma exclaimed.
"I discard Shadow Trap Disposal from my hand to build the overlay network and call forth my ultimate monster!" Alnia announced. "Appear, Number 666: Archfiend Pharaoh Lucifer!"
A massive vortex in the form of a red galaxy appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Alnia's monster as a ball of red energy. Soon after, the tablet of the Millennium Items rose out of the vortex with a single ball of gold light orbiting around it. The tablet shattered and Alnia's demon pharaoh hovered over the field.
"No way!" a horrified Yuma spoke. "Even after all that, Alnia was still able to summon her Number?"
"This is what I meant when I said the seal on Alnia's Number was imperfect." Astral explained. "With her ability to special summon level six monsters taken away, there were still at least two other ways for Alnia to summon Number 666. She could've summoned three lower level monsters and raised their levels to six, or she could've somehow used another Xyz Monster as the summoning material."
"Duelists like you really piss me off, you know that?" Alnia told Michael. "You get so damn smug when you think you've found some tiny weakness to exploit. Well let me tell you something, girly boy! You're not as smart as you think you are! I activate the Spell card, Number Authority! By detaching all the overlay units from a Number monster I control, that Number can attack directly for this turn!"
The single ball of gold light orbiting around Lucifer suddenly shattered and a dazzling gold light began to shine behind the demon pharaoh. The eyes of Michael's two monsters began to glow red and they kneeled down on one knee.
"It's over." Alnia declared.
"Guess again! I activate Golden Aztec Golem's effect!" Michael announced. "Since you just activated a Spell card, I can detach one of Golden Aztec Golem's overlay units to destroy all specially summoned monsters you control!" But when Michael tried to activate the golden golem's effect using his duel disk, nothing happened.
Alnia let out a sinister laugh. "Sorry, but thanks to Number Authority, the effects of all other special summoned monsters that aren't Numbers can't be activated for the rest of the turn. Look at those two golems of yours. They're kneeling right now because Number Authority just reminded them that Numbers are the supreme form of Xyz Monsters in this game. They know that Lucifer is their better, so they're now bowing before him."
"It's over." Kaito darkly observed from the skybox. "Michael's strategy has failed."
"This is what you get for screwing with me!" Alnia declared. "Lucifer! Attack him directly! Millennium Ruin!"
Lucifer aimed the Millennium Rod at Michael and a large ball of crackling black energy formed at the end of it. The black blast shot across the battlefield and hit Michael, hurling him off the stage and into the wall behind him. Michael hit the wall with enough force to leave a crater. As he slid down to the floor, blood began to trickle down from the corners of his lips. Michael's life points went to zero, and all the monsters on the field vanished. The audience was completely silent as the surrounding area returned to normal.
"Uh… and the winner of this duel is… Alnia!" the referee announced. The audience remained silent.
Alnia walked off the stage with a satisfied grin on her face, Yuma and the others rushed over to Michael's side. The pink-haired duelist was out cold, and his breathing seemed to be labored. Yuma tried to get Michael to wake up, but it was no use.
"Um… due to the accident we've seem to have just had, the next duel will be postponed for an hour!" The referee announced. "When we return, the following duel will be between Yuma Tsukumo and Hikari Fudo!"
Yuma and all of his friends were in the hospital waiting room, awaiting news of Michael's condition. Only twenty minuets had gone by since Michael had been rushed there. At long last, a female doctor entered the waiting room to brief them.
"How is he, doc?" a worried Yuma asked.
"Your friend has suffered massive internal injuries." The doctor reported. "I am at a loss as to how he could've sustained these injuries in a duel though. In any case, your friend is stable at the moment, but still unconscious. There's no telling at the moment when or if he'll wake up."
"You're saying he's in a coma?" Kotori asked.
"I'm afraid so." The doctor confirmed. "We're moving him to his room right now. You'll be able to visit him in a few minutes. Now, if you'll all excuse me." With that, the doctor left.
"How… how could this have happened?" Yuma asked.
"That Alnia is a real piece of work." Shark remarked. "She's willing to kill off anyone who ticks her off even a little bit."
"Some of us should stay at the hospital to help keep an eye on Michael." Kotori suggested.
"Count me in." Stacy told them.
"I've already called Christopher and Mr. Arclight." Kaito informed the others. "They should be here pretty soon. I haven't been able to get ahold of Thomas though."
As the others began talking about who was going to keep an eye on Michael in the hospital and when, Yuma silently left the room. The only one who seemed to notice him leaving was Cleo. Yuma stopped at the end of the hallway and looked down at his feet. His fighting spirit had been all but crushed after seeing what happened to Michael. After a few moments of silence, particles of light flowed out of the Emperor's Key and took the shape of Astral.
"Are you okay, Yuma?" the energy being asked, though he already knew the answer.
"…I don't know if I can keep going in this tournament, Astral." Yuma told him. "This was supposed to be fun, but now…"
"We knew going in that we were going to have to face the Death Queens." Astral pointed out. "The stakes we're going to be high against them."
"I know that. And I was taking them seriously as a threat, but… I was hoping that we could at least have fun in the other duels against Kaito, Shark, Hikari and everyone else. Looking forward to those duels made this tournament all worth it." Yuma explained. "But after what's happened to Michael, how can I still have fun?"
"Quit your moping, Tsukumo!" a voice cut in. Yuma and Astral looked to see Cleo standing before them with her arms crossed. "You're going to be up against your strongest opponent yet, so this is no time to be feeling sorry for yourself or anyone else!"
"But… but how can I keep going knowing that Michael's in a coma?" Yuma asked.
"Giving up now would be the greatest insult to Michael you could do." Cleo told him. "Sure he fell in defeat and fell hard, but he would want you to continue. Let Kotori and the others worry about staying at Michael's bedside. You just focus on your duel with Hikari. As for Alnia, leave the task of destroying her to me."
"But…" Yuma spoke, but before he could get anything else out Cleo stormed over and grabbed him by his shirt.
"If you drop out of this tournament now because of something like this, then you are not a duelist!" Cleo told him. "You and Astral also have a duty to uphold, and by dropping out you'll be letting Alnia win! Now get it together!" With that, she let go of Yuma's shirt.
After a moment, a small smile returned to Yuma's face. "Thanks Cleo. I'll do my best."
"You're up against Hikari, so I'm not expecting you to win." Cleo told him as she turned to leave. "In the end, the final duel of this tournament will probably just be another rematch between me and her."
"Are you ready, Yuma?" Astral asked as Cleo walked off.
"You bet I am." Yuma answered. "But are you sure our strategy against Hikari is going to work?"
"No, but at the moment it's the best strategy we have." Astral answered. "It's time to see if we have what it takes to stand against the daughter of a legendary duelist."
Author's Note: We all knew that things weren't going to end well for Michael in this chapter. After all, Alnia is the main villain in this story. Anyway, the duel in this chapter ended up being kind of hard to put together because of all the new cards I had to come up with. As for why Michael used a Chronomaly Fusion Monster, it was something I went with because it was different. I had originally thought about it being a Chronomaly Synchro Monster, but having it be a Fusion instead saved me the step of coming up with a Chronomaly Tuner.
Please review and let me know what you think.