Michael, Carl, and the Order of Daemons

by C. Richard Crawg

Rating may change to M. Carl was an ordinarily duelist who loved to construct various decks. But when the shady Corbak comes and offers him a deal he can't refuse, Carl will find himself fighting his best friend Michael, and working to destroy the world. On hiatus.

4. Carl and Jake: Zombies vs Fiends

Chapter Two

Carl and Jake: Zombies vs. Fiends

Carl turned on the duel disk. But to his amazement, the first thing it did was to send him error report and eject one of his cards from the middle of the deck. Jake laughed, a habit that was starting to annoy Carl. "Looks like your duel disk either found an illegal or fake card in your deck. You'll have to pull it out." Now Carl was more confused than before. All of the cards in all of his decks were legit. What did the duel disk find? Could Jake have rigged his duel disk to reject certain cards in his deck? But then why was it only ejecting one card?

Carl pulled the card out and looked at it. He then looked up at Jake and furiously yelled, "This card is Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu! It's genuine and perfectly legit! This system's rigged!" "It's not rigged. While you're right to say that Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu is a legit card, the card you're holding is a fake. A real Earthbound Immortal has mystical properties that your duel disk is programmed to detect. That card is nothing more than ink and paper and therefore is a fake." Carl raised an eyebrow at him, but then he remembered the purple flames that had surrounded his dad. Perhaps Jake wasn't just blowing hot air, though he was certainly doing that too.

Then Carl remembered his extra deck. Pulling out his Synchro Monsters, he held them in front of Jake. "What about these monsters. Do any of these need to be magic in order to be real." Jake took a quick glance at the Synchros and said, "Yes. The Hundred-Eyes Dragon and Ancientfairy Dragon cards are both fake. You won't be able to Synchro Summon them." Carl still wasn't fully convinced, but if the duel disk didn't recognize them, then it wouldn't matter whether or not Jake was telling the truth.

Both duel disks set for 8000 life points and spat out the top 5 cards on their decks to be their hands. "Before we get started," Jake said, "allow me to set the stage and show you what you're up against." Jake rolled up his sleeve and revealed a purple tattoo that Carl recognized from the Yu-gi-oh 5Ds TV show as being the Mark of the Giant. Immediately, the tattoo started glowing and purple flames swirled around them destroying anything in their way. The roof caved in, and in the sky, Carl could see a reflection of the flames. They spread far and wide, eventually forming the same mark as the one on Jake's arm.

"There," Jake said. "That's not technically a turn, but it was the first move so you can have the first turn." Carl, though thoroughly amazed, just grinned. "Fine," he replied. "I draw. And first I'll activate the spell card Terraforming." He placed the card in the duel disk, and a mystogram (mystic hologram) of the card appeared. "This card allows me to search my deck for a field spell and add it to my hand." Carl's deck ejected. He selected a card and placed the deck back in the deck slot. "But I won't activate it yet. Instead I'll set one monster face-down in defense mode and end my turn." The mystogram of Terraforming faded, signifying that it was resolved, and a card appeared face-down and sideways. "It's your move."

"Well now," Jake said, "that's quite the interesting move. As for myself, I will place one monster face-down in defense mode as well. That's all for now." Another mystogram card appeared in front of Carl's. "You know, it will be a pretty long duel if we both play defense. Why don't you try attacking?" Carl glared. "Oh I will. It's my draw."

Carl looked at his hand. Jake was a dangerous opponent to attack when he had a face-down. Fortunately, Carl had a backup plan. "First, I Flip Summon my face-down monster, Needle Worm." The mystogram in front of Carl disappeared and an ugly worm covered with needles and growling viciously at Jake took its place, and a mechanical voice said, "Attack of Needle Worm, 750." "And now my Needle Worm's special ability activates. When Needle Worm is Flip Summoned successfully, the top 5 cards of your deck are discarded to the graveyard." The Needle Worm swelled and shot out several of its needles into Jake's duel disk. "Still playing the same old deck drain strategy I see," Jake complained as he placed 5 cards in his graveyard. "Hey, you know what my motto is: beat 'em by life points if possible, beat 'em by deck drain if necessary," Carl replied cockily. "Either way can bring about victory. Speaking of which, for my next move I'll summon the Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower." A mystogram of a hideous mountain of skulls, ribs and every other bone in a body appeared to the left of the Needle Worm, and the voice said, "Attack of Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower, 400." "Next I play the field spell Zombie World." The ground around the duelists became shrouded in mist; bones were everywhere and a couple withered old trees appeared on the battlefield. The mist enshrouded the Needle Worm, which gave an unearthly cry as it rotted becoming even uglier than before. "Thanks to my field spell all monsters on the field and in both of our graveyards become Zombie Type. Also, we can only Tribute Summon monsters if they are Zombie Type. Now I'll activate the spell card Tribute to the Doomed." A mystogram of the Tribute to the Doomed spell card appeared behind the Needle Worm. "This spell allows me to discard one card from my hand to the graveyard in order to destroy one monster you control. So now I'll discard my Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World in order to destroy your face-down monster." A mystogram of a giant mummified hand came out of the ground, grabbed Jake's face-down monster and pulled it into the ground. "Oh, and since your monster was destroyed by a card effect, you won't be able to use any Flip Effects." Jake glared at that. "But if you thought all that was bad, just wait because I'm not done. Since Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World was discarded from my hand to the graveyard by a card effect, his ability Special Summons him to the field." A ghastly hand shot out of the ground, and it was followed up by the rest of its body, that of a gold-colored rotting Wu-lord. "Attack of Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World, 2300." "And since my Zombie World is in play, he was a Zombie monster before and after the Special Summon. And whenever a Zombie Type monster is Special Summoned, the effect of my Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower activates. So now, 2 cards are discarded from the top of your deck." Two mystographic balls of light flew out of Jakes duel disk and into the Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower. "Now since you're defenseless, Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World, attack!" At command, Goldd reared up to strike Jake's life points.

Suddenly, a wall of mystographic Kuribohs appeared and stopped Goldd's attack. They then disappeared. Thoroughly bewildered, Carl asked, "What just happened?" Jake laughed his maniacal laugh and replied, "I used Kuriboh's special ability. By discarding it from my hand to the graveyard, I can decrease all battle damage from one attack to zero, so your Goldd didn't even make a scratch." Carl glared. "Maybe not, but I've got two more monsters in play to scratch you with. And without Kuriboh, you won't be able to stop them. Go, Needle Worm, attack!" Jake was knocked to the ground by the Needle Worm and his life points dropped from 8000 to 7250. "Now, Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower, it's your turn." A jaw bone shot out of the bone tower and left a lump on Jake's head and his life points dropped to 6850. But Jake kept laughing. "You're as strong as ever, Carl. But I'm afraid you won't defeat me by digging through my deck and scratching at my life points." "Whatever," Carl said. "It's your move."

"Finally," Jake said drawing a card. "First, I activate the effect of Dark Nephthis. So now by having 3 or more Dark attribute monsters in my graveyard and removing 2 of them from play, I can send Dark Nephthis from my hand to the graveyard, then I can Special Summon it to the field during my next Standby Phase. As it so happens, you managed to send just enough monsters from my deck to the graveyard last turn for me to do this. Now with that done, I use the special effect of Cyber Ourobouros. Since I removed it from play using Dark Nephthis's ability, its special effect allows me to discard a card in order to draw a card from my deck." Jake drew the card and looked at it. Then he grinned wildly. "This will come in handy soon, but first check this out. Since I discarded Night Assailant from my hand to the graveyard by the effect of Cyber Ourobouros, I can use its special ability. So now, I can add one Flip Effect monster from my graveyard to my hand. And I choose the monster you tried to get rid of last turn: Big Eye." Carl rolled his eyes. For certain he hadn't seen any of this coming, but trying to use Big Eye's Flip Effect was so predictable. It's what he would've done in Jake's place. "Finally, I'll place one monster face-down in defense mode and 3 cards face-down." Four mystograms of face-down cards appeared on Jake's side of the field. "My turn is over."

"Alright then, I draw." "Hold on," Jake interrupted, "I activate my face-down card, Eye of Truth. This trap card will allow me to see every card in your hand at all times." Three mystograms appeared in front of Carl, each with a picture of a different card in his hand. They were Vampire Lord, Zombie Master, and Iron Chain Snake. "Okay," Carl said, "so you can see my hand. Good for you, but I'm not done, not by a long shot. So now, I'll sacrifice my Needle Worm in order to summon Vampire Lord." The Needle Worm faded along with the mystographic Vampire Lord card and in their place, a purple-skinned man with fangs and a black cape appeared on the field. However, despite his terrifying appearance, the Vampire Lord was the handsomest monster on the field at that time. "Attack of Vampire Lord, 2000." "And now, Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World, attack his face-down monster!" Goldd moved toward Jake's face-down and prepared to strike. "Not so fast!" Jake interrupted again, "I activate my trap card, Magical Arm Shield. So now, I select a monster on your side of the field other than the attacking monster, take control of it, and make it your new attack target." Just as Goldd struck, Vampire Lord got in front of it and was destroyed instead. "Of course, since Vampire Lord was technically under my control and it was in attack mode, I take 300 points of battle damage, but that's a small price to pay for my plan." Jake's life points dropped from 6850 to 6550. "Now if I'm not mistaken, there's nothing left you can do, and you will end your turn now." "Close," Carl said, "but slightly off. Before ending my turn, I'll switch my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower into defense mode." "Defense of Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower, 1500." "Now I'm done."

"How right you are," Jake said as he drew his card, "because this is when I turn the tables. First, during my Standby phase, I'll resolve the effect of my Dark Nephthis. Since I sent it to my graveyard using its ability last turn, I get to Special Summon it to the field." A ghastly pair of gold-black wings came out of the ground followed by the rotting body of a bird-man. "Attack of Dark Nephthis, 2400." Jake looked a little shocked. "What happened to my monster? It used to be majestic; now it looks like an old hag with wings." Carl giggled. "Forgot about my field spell already? Zombie World transforms all monsters on the field and in both players' graveyards into Zombies. And since you just Special Summoned a Zombie Type monster, the special ability of my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower activates forcing you to discard 2 cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard." 2 glowing mystographic balls of light came out of Jake's duel disk and entered the Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower. On an instinct, Jake looked at a counter on his duel disk that kept track of the number of cards left in his deck. There were 26. Carl's strategy was taking a toll, but he was just getting warmed up. "Nice combo, but I'm about to put an end to it. You see, after I use Dark Nephthis special ability to Special Summon it, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field. And I'm going to destroy Zombie World." Dark Nephthis started to spin and wind started blow around the field. Carl closed his eyes to shield them from the miniature tempest. When he opened them again, the eerie fog, bones, and withered trees that made up his field spell had been blown away. Dark Nephthis and Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World went through a transformation. Their skin healed and they appeared more lively and majestic, though no less dangerous. "There, that ought to blow a hole in your plan. Now, I Flip Summon Big Eye." The face-down sideways card disappeared and in its place there came an ugly brute with dozens of eyes covering his body, the largest of which took up its entire face. "Attack of Big Eye, 1200." "And now I'm going to use Big Eye's Flip Effect. So now I'm allowed to pick up the top 5 cards of my deck and rearrange the order they are in." When Jake placed the deck back in the slot, he had a wild look on his face. "And now I'll activate my last face-down, Bad Reaction to Simochi. This card will make it so that whenever a card is activated that would give you life points as healing, you instead take effect damage equal to what you would have gained. Now I activate the Upstart Goblin. This spell card allows me to draw one card from my deck and then give you 1000 life points of healing. Of course, since Bad Reaction to Simochi is in play, instead of gaining 1000 life points you lose 1000 life points." As Jake drew his card, a healing glow came over Carl. At the same time though, purple fog came out of the ground and attacked him, and instead of healing, Carl's life points dropped from 8000 to 7000.

Jake grinned malevolently. "Brace yourself, because between the effects of Big Eye and Upstart Goblin, I was able to draw the card that will take this game to level 2. I activate the field spell Mark of Sepulchos!" Two brown glowing circles, one inside the other, with runes in between them, appeared spinning around the combatants, and a brown jewel necklace that Jake was wearing started to glow. When they finally stopped spinning, lines bounced around on the inside of the innermost circle to form what appeared to be a rough drawing of a crown. The same symbol was then stamped onto Jake's forehead. "As long as this field spell is in play, we will both gain 1000 life points during our standby phases. Then we will have four options. The first is to pay 500 life points in order to draw an extra card from our decks. The second is to pay 1000 life points to destroy one of monster on our enemy's side of the field. The third is to pay 1000 or 2000 life points in order to inflict an amount of effect damage to our opponent equal to how much we pay. And the fourth is to do nothing with the card effect." Jake contemplated his next move. On the one hand, Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower can't be attacked when there's another Zombie Type monster in play and, without Zombie World on the field, the only other monster Carl controlled was a Fiend Type so now would be a good time, maybe even the best time, to attack that deck stealer. But then there was Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World. Sure Carl would only take 100 points of damage if Jake attacked it, but with the Eye of Truth in play, Jake could also see the Iron Chain Snake in Carl's hand. Jake knew that if any monster with too much power was on the field when Carl played that card, his Dark Nephthis would be as good as gone. Thus, "Dark Nephthis, attack Carl's Goldd." The Dark Nephthis moved in and use a dark wing attack to destroy Goldd, Wu-lord of Dark World. Carl's life points dropped from 7000 to 6900 "Now I end my turn."

"Alright, then, I draw." Carl glared at the spell card he drew, knowing full well what Jake would get to do. Looking at the mystogram of the new card in Carl's hand Jake grinned. "Looks like you drew a spell card, and according to the effect of the Eye of Truth, if you have a spell card in your hand during your Standby Phase, you gain 1000 life points. Of course, with my Bad Reaction to Simochi in play, you'll take 1000 damage instead." Carl watched as the healing light surrounding him became a purple poisonous fog attacking him and as his life points dropped from 6900 to 5900. "It gets worse. My field spell the Mark of Sepulchos also tries to increase your life points by 1000 during the Standby Phase, but… well, you do the math." "I already did," Carl said as his life points dropped to 4900. "There is an upside, though," Jake continued. "Now you can use one of advantageous aspects of the Mark of Sepulchos… for a price. Do I need to refresh your memory as to the possibilities?" "No, I memorize card effects fast." Carl didn't need to think long to decide that he needed to use one of the effects of the Mark, but he also couldn't afford to spend a whole lot of life points, not when he was going to be losing a minimum of 1000 life points during each of his Standby Phases. "I'll pay 500 life points to use the first option of the Mark of Sepulchos, so now I get to draw another card from my deck and my life points drop to 4400." Carl looked at the Bistro Butcher he drew, suddenly wishing for a refund. Still, the spell card he had drawn, Book of Life, might be just what he needed to turn the duel back in his favor. "I activate the Book of Life. So now, I get to Special Summon one Zombie Type monster from my graveyard, and I choose my Vampire Lord." A coffin appeared in the middle of the playing field and the Vampire Lord emerged from it like a gentleman waking up from a nap. "Attack of Vampire Lord, 2000." "But that's not all. The Book of Life also lets me remove from play a monster in your graveyard." Mystograms of the monster cards in Jake's graveyard appeared. "I'll remove from play your Stray Asmodian. And now, of course, since a Zombie monster was Special Summoned, the effect of my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower activates discarding 2 more cards from the top of your deck to the Graveyard." Jake grimly looked at the number of cards left in his deck. 24; not a whole lot. "And my turn's just getting started. Since I haven't Normal Summoned yet this turn, I'll summon my Iron Chain Snake." "Uh, oh." A mystogram appeared that, at a glance, would have looked like an ordinary chain but was in actuality a strange fusion between a chain and a snake (hence the name.) "Attack of Iron Chain Snake, 800." "And now I'll activate Iron Chain Snake's special ability. This will allow me to equip it to one of your monsters to decrease its ATK and DEF by 800, and if the monster it's equipped to is destroyed in battle, you have to discard a number of cards from your deck to the graveyard equal to the level of the equipped monster. Considering the fact that your Dark Nephthis is level 7 and highly dangerous to leave intact, I'll have my Iron Chain Snake equip itself to him… her… whatever gender it is." The Iron Chain Snake lashed out and sank its fangs into the Dark Nephthis. The Dark Nephthis tried to shake it off, but the Iron Chain Snake clung stubbornly on. "Attack of Dark Nephthis has been reduced to 1600." "Thank you, voice-from-the-duel-disk. And with that done your Dark Nephthis stands powerless to resist my Vampire Lord. Go, Vampire Lord, attack!" The Vampire Lord lashed out at the Dark Nephthis and destroyed it along with the Iron Chain Snake, and Jake's life points reduced from 6550 to 6150. "And now, two effects activate. The first is that of my Iron Chain Snake which will now discard 7 cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard since Dark Nephthis was a level 7 monster." Jake begrudgingly obliged. "The other is the effect of my Vampire Lord. So now, since he successfully inflicted battle damage, I can select monster, spell or trap and you must send one of whatever I picked from your hand or deck to the graveyard. I pick trap." Jake searched his deck for a trap card he could afford to lose and sent it to the graveyard. "That ends my turn."

Jake drew a card and looked at the number of cards left in his deck. 15. Wow, that last turn took a total of 11 cards off his deck. He'd have to take back the offence and wipe out his opponent fast before his deck was completely drained. He looked at his hand. No good. But… "During my Standby Phase, the Mark of Sepulchos increases my life points by 1000. That puts my life points at 7150. Next I'll pay all 1000 of my newly gained life points to use the second option of the Mark, the one that destroys one of your monsters. So my life points drop back to 6150 and I'll destroy Vampire Lord. Before ending my turn I'll switch Big Eye into defense mode." "Defense of Big Eye, 1100." Not the best of turns, but he had to make use of what he had.

"Alright then, I draw." Carl looked at the card in his hand and then looked at Jake grinning maliciously. When the mystogram of the card appeared and Jake saw it, he swore very loudly. "I'm guessing you know the special ability of my Trap Eater." Jake nodded angrily. "But," Jake said, "you won't be able to use it until your Main Phase, thus you'll still take 1000 damage from my Sepulchos/Simochi combo." Carl's life points dropped to 3400. "Fine," Carl said, "but then I can use the special ability of your field spell and pay 1000 life points to destroy your Big Eye." Carl's life points dropped to 2400 and Big Eye was suddenly destroyed by electricity from the Mark. "Also, I can use the special ability of my Vampire Lord. If he's sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can special summon him during my next Standby Phase." Jake grinned. "Actually, I was expecting that. Unfortunately, for you that is, any monster destroyed by the Mark of Sepulchos has its effect negated for the rest of the duel, so your Vampire Lord is not going to be returning. Also, if a monster whose effect has been negated by the Mark of Sepulchos could have used its effect, the player who owns the monster cannot use the effects of the Mark of Sepulchos during his or her next Standby Phase, not even the 1000 life point gain." Cevin shrugged. "A minor setback. Even so, now you're defenseless. What's more, if you control a face-up continuous trap card, I can destroy it and Special Summon the Trap Eater. Behold, I summon Trap Eater and destroy Bad Reaction to Simochi." A big purple, wrinkly head appeared and chomped down on the Bad Reaction to Simochi with its oversized mouth then floated back to Carl. "Attack of Trap Eater, 1900." "Unfortunately, Trap Eater is a Fiend type, so I can't use the ability of my Soul Absorber. However, since I haven't Normal Summoned yet this turn, I'll call upon my Zombie Master to join my Trap Eater." A thin, wrinkly teenager with an insane look appeared in between Trap Eater and Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower. "Attack of Zombie Master, 1800." "And finally, my Trap Eater and Zombie Master will attack your life points directly." Trap Eater opened its mouth and Zombie Master revealed his claws. "This is gonna hurt," is all Jake could think of saying. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground and his life points had dropped to 2450. "My turn is over," Carl said. And I'll be busted if I don't turn things around right now, Jake thought.

"I draw." Jake grasped the top of his deck and pulled off the top card and looked at it. "I gain 1000 life points thanks to the effect of the Mark of Sepulchos, but I'll pay all 1000 of them in order to destroy your Trap Eater." The Trap Eater was zapped with electricity from the Mark and dissipated. "Next I'll activate Pot of Avarice. This allows me to select five monsters in my graveyard and add them to my deck and shuffle it. Then I can draw two cards. So I'll return a Big Eye, two La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamps, a Night Assailant and a Dark Nephthis to my deck." The deck shuffled and then spat out two cards. Jake picked them up with a desperate look on his face that quickly changed into one of excitement. "I summon Double Coston." Two ghosts connected at the tail appeared. "Attack of Double Coston, 1800." Carl raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought I was the only one between the two of us that used Fiends and Zombies together. Why did you put a Double Coston in that deck?" "Simple; Double Coston counts as two tributes for the Tribute Summon of a Dark Attribute monster, and coincidentally, most Fiend Type monsters are Dark Attribute. However, in this case I summoned Double Coston so that I could equip it with Axe of Despair. This increases the attack of my Double Coston by 1000." "Attack of Double Coston equipped with Axe of Despair, 2800." "So now my Double Coston will attack your Zombie Master." The two ghosts latched onto the Zombie master, squeezing it and rendering it helpless. Then they sliced it with the Axe of Despair and Carl's life points dropped to 1400. "This duel's just about over, but I can't finish you off yet, so I'll end my turn."

Carl picked up his card. The Dark Creator. This card could save him the duel if he got lucky and moved cautiously. If he had five or more Dark Attribute monsters in his graveyard and no monsters on his side of the field, he could special summon it from his hand, and he would be safe until he could figure out how to turn the tables. All he needed was for Jake to destroy his Soul Absorbing Bone-Tower. That would put the fifth Dark Attribute monster in his graveyard and empty his field. However, he couldn't run the risk that Jake wouldn't summon another monster on his next turn. Also, with the Eye of Truth in play, Jake could see his hand, and Jake was no dummy. He wouldn't knowingly allow Carl to Special Summon the Dark Creator. Carl would need luck, skill and, if the draw permitted it, a backup. "I'll place one monster face-down in defense mode and end my turn."

"Then it's time for me to finish you." Jake's arm started glowing brighter as he drew the top card off his deck. Without looking at the card Jake added, "But before I do that, I'd like to ask you something Carl. Why do you seem to be enjoying yourself so much? I should be having fun; I started this duel. But you have to worry about yourself and your family, so why are you so relaxed-er-well not relaxed but… you know… ecstatic?" Carl shrugged. "I love dueling, especially with my Zombie Deck. And I never thought I'd actually be able to play the game with holographics. This is the coolest thing that's ever happened in my life even given the circumstances-no, especially given the circumstances." Jake's smile softened to be friendlier. "That's what I thought." He said. "And allow me to assure you that even though I will win this duel, you shall end up winning much more in the end." Carl glared at that. "Look, just because I'm having fun doesn't mean I'd be willing to barter with anyone evil." Jake mocked a feeling of being insulted. "Me? Evil? Come now, I'm not evil. You know me Carl. You're the one who gave me my Fiend Deck. Surely you're not suggesting you gave a Fiend Deck to a fiend, are you?" Jake laughed, though not as cruelly as before. "Trust me on this one Carl; when Corbak speaks to you, you'll listen."

"And if you don't believe me, then allow me to end this duel and this conversation. Since Double Coston counts as two tributes for the Tribute Summon of a Dark Attribute monster, I can sacrifice it to summon Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu." The mark on Jakes arm glowed brighter. A large object that looked much like a fist appeared in the sky above them. Glowing, purple lights flew up and into it, until finally it seemed to explode. Then the large, black and blue form of Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu appeared, rising to enormous heights. "Attack of Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, 3000." "As you should know, Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu has the ability to attack your life points directly, and since I know there is nothing you can do to stop the onslaught, this duel is over. Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, give the Deck Builder a demonstration of his future power!" The great monstrosity loomed over Carl and struck. Carl, knowing he was beaten, just stared and said softly, "Oh, zed."

Carl's life points dropped to 0 and the Mark of Sepulchos, rather than disappearing, closed in on him. "Remember how I said when you lost you were going to come with me whether you wanted to or not?" Jake asked watching as Carl clutched his heart and started pounding against the barriers of the Mark. "Well, your soul is currently being separated from your body. When all is said and done you will be rendered completely helpless, at least until we reach Corbakkan." Carl, futilely pushing against the Mark of Sepulchos with all his might and cried out again, "OH, ZED!" Then he went limp. The Mark faded and Carl's body fell to the ground while Jake twirled around a card with Carl's picture on it.