Revelations

"My turn!"

Mateo: 2700 LP SPC 11-12
Anya: 3800 LP SPC 6-7

If I can maintain my field, I should be able to survive until I have all the cards I need. Mateo looked at the Turbo Booster in his hand. "I'll switch my two Blue-Eyes White Dragons into defense mode!"

"Then it's my turn!"

Mateo: 2700 LP SPC 12-13
Anya: 3800 LP SPC 7-8

"You are a fool, Yurigaya!" Anya laughed. "You cannot defeat Frelt! So long as I control Synchro Backlash, you can't summon a synchro monster in order to combat Frelt without paying Life Points! And even if you Synchro summon a monster, Frelt will only destroy it and absorb their Attack points into his own!"

"And yet, you can't get to my Life Points, either!" Mateo countered. "When you attack my Maiden with Eyes of Blue, I can negate the attack, and then I have the option of special summoning a Blue-Eyes White Dragon! And since I control my Guardian with Eyes of Blue continuous trap card, when you target a Blue-Eyes White Dragon for an attack, I can redirect the attack back towards my Maiden, and thus, I have the potential for another Blue-Eyes!"

"We'll see! I'll set one card facedown and end my turn!"

"Looks like it's my turn, then!"

Mateo: 2700 LP SPC 13-14
Anya: 3800 LP SPC 8-9

Damn! Still not the card I need! Mateo sighed. "I'll end my turn."

"At the end of your rope, Yurigaya? My turn!"

Mateo: 2700 LP SPC 14-15
Anya: 3800 LP SPC 9-10

"I activate the Trap Stun trap card!" A wave was cast off from Anya's facedown card that transformed the Guardian with Eyes of Blue and the Synchro Backlash trap cards into solid stone. "This locks your traps down, and prevents you from using the Guardian with Eyes of Blue to defend your Blue-Eyes! Frelt! Attack the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the left with Nightmare Sword Slash!

"Luckily for you, since your Blue-Eyes isn't a Synchro monster, I can't absorb its Attack into Frelt." Anya sighed as Frelt obliterated one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons. "But it still allows me to start to wipe the field! And as soon as your field is cleared, your life points are going to be reduced to nothing! Hah hahahahahah!"

"We'll see! As your turn ends, our trap cards return to normal!" Mateo explained as the stone that coated both Mateo and Anya's trap cards cracked and splintered off. "It's my turn, then."

Mateo reached for his deck, when suddenly his Mark of the Dragon dug even deeper into his skin. He looked at it. "Is it time, then? Then let's perform a miracle!"

Mateo: 2700 LP SPC 15-16
Anya: 3800 LP SPC 10-11

Mateo smirked. "I'm gonna start off by tuning my level one Maiden with Eyes of Blue to my level eight Blue-Eyes White Dragon!

"From the Primordial Egg, I call and command you to rise! Illuminate the path of destiny! Synchro Summon!" The Maiden with Eyes of Blue radiated with blue light for a moment before it vanished, leaving behind its single level star. That level star encircled the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in a glowing green Synchro Ring. Blue-Eyes White Dragon roared as it faded away, leaving only its eight level stars, which aligned themselves in a straight line before being pierced by a green light that expanded to the innermost edge of the Synchro Rings, causing a blast of energy to escape and strike Mateo due to Synchro Backlash. "Agh! Evolve, Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!"

Mateo: 2700 LP-2200 LP

With a roar, the mighty Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon took to the field once again. "But that's not all! Cause by revealing the Speed Spell – Accelerator Draw in my hand and by paying all sixteen of my Speed Counters, I can add a monster from my graveyard to my hand, and I'm choosing the Delta Flyer that was sent there at the beginning of our duel!"

Mateo: SPC 16-0

"I summon Delta Flyer in Attack Mode!" Mateo called as his monster appeared to the field once again. "And because I special summoned a monster, I can special summon Turbo Booster! I'll tune the level 3 Delta Flyer to the level 1 Turbo Booster! The pulsation of all my heart, flow into this being who will bring about the salvation of all that I hold dear!

"Illuminate the path of destiny!" Delta Flyer's three level stars encircled Turbo Booster in three glowing Synchro Rings, as the monster within faded away, leaving its single level star behind. A green light pierced this level star and then expanded to the innermost edge of the Synchro Rings. "Synchro Summon! Pulsate, my Synchro Tuner, Phonon Pulse Dragon!"

"There's no way for your Synchro Tuner to save you now! Especially since you take another five hundred damage due to my Synchro Backlash spell card!" Residual energy from the summoning of Phonon Pulse Dragon corrected course and smashed into Mateo, causing him to groan in pain.

Mateo: 2200 LP-1700 LP

"As you may recall, my Phonon Pulse Dragon has a special ability! When he is Synchro Summoned, I can make its level any level from 1 to 3!" Mateo replied as his monster growled in acknowledgement. "So I'll make Phonon Pulse Dragon a level 3! And now it's time to show you exactly what I can do!"

Mateo held his arm up as his Mark of the Dragon glowed even brighter than before. He revved his Duel Runner, and the Piercing Light began to accelerate faster and faster. "I'm gonna tune my level three Phonon Pulse Dragon to my level nine Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!"

"You're going to what?"

Over at one of the entrances, Yusei, protecting civilians from the power of Frelt with the power of the Crimson Dragon, watched in awe. "What monster could he be summoning? Besides Shooting Star Dragon and TG Blade Blaster, what else could there be to summon?"

"Light and ideals, clash together and become the true embodiment of hope! Illuminate the path of destiny!" Phonon Pulse Dragon transformed into its three level stars and flew forward, creating three Synchro Rings ahead. Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon tucked itself in and flew low to the ground just in front of Mateo as he pulled the blank card he received from the light in his dream a while ago out and flipped it over as a bright light caused an image to appear on the card. "Accel-Synchro!"

As Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon and Mateo passed through the Synchro Rings, they vanished. Anya sat with wide eyes, whispering to herself. "What. Just. Happened?"

A green circle appeared behind her as she turned to see Mateo blast through, however his new monster did not. Instead, the circle began to expand. "Reverberate!"

In an extreme flash of light, a monster exploded from the circle. Radiant scales reflected light in all directions for a brief moment while its own light shone from between the scales. Its pure white eyes glared towards Frelt, the Ender of Lives, while the rest of its form came into view. A mighty dragon, its scales a collection of both white and gold across its entire body, with blue scales reaching from the bottom of its mouth all the way to the end of its tail. "Shining Revelations Dragon!"

Shining Revelations Dragon is a level 12, LIGHT-attribute, Dragon-type Synchro monster with 4500 Attack points, and 4500 Defense points.

"Shining… Revelations Dragon?" Luna looked up at the mighty dragon. It roared, a sound that should have brought fear to the hearts of all the Signers, but instead, it brought a sense of hope. A wave of energy emitted from Shining Revelations Dragon, and it cancelled off the energy sent off by Frelt. All at once, the dark energy attempting to feed off the bystanders subsided. The red light brought on by the protection the Crimson Dragon offers faded, and the Signers all sighed in relief.

Anya started to laugh. Deeply. From the heart, instead of tapping into the darkness in her soul. "All your work to summon that monster, and its attack strength doesn't even hold a match to mine. Yet you're all in awe of his monster? Why?"

"Because this is not just a dragon of light, it's also the dragon that will show all that hope can lead the day!" Mateo replied. "This is it. This is my Signer Dragon!"

"But it isn't strong enough to defeat Frelt!"

"Isn't it?"

"What?" Anya looked back at the dragon, and her jaw opened in shock. "Why are its Attack points increasing?"

"The first ability of Shining Revelations Dragon! My dragon gains five hundred Attack points for every dragon-type monster in my graveyard!" He explained. "And by my count, there are twelve dragons in my graveyard!"

Shining Revelations Dragon: 4500 ATK + (500*11) = 4500 ATK + 5500 = 10000 ATK

"But… But Frelt only has 5100 ATK!"

"That's right!" Mateo replied as his dragon roared. "Shining Revelations Dragon! Attack! With Shining Lightning Blast!"

Shining Revelations Dragon opened its mouth as blinding bolts of lightning exploded from its mouth, headed directly for Frelt's chest. "Not so fast! I activate Frelt, the Ender of Lives' special ability, the Nightmare Barricade! By paying 400 life points, I can negate one attack per turn!"

Anya: 3800 LP-3400 LP

"Unfortunately for you, Anya, my Shining Dragon has a second special ability! He's unaffected by your card effects!" Mateo countered. "Which means that my dragon's attack continues unabated!"

Frelt raised its shield to defend from Mateo's dragon, however the lightning it blasted from its mouth shattered it completely, before punching through and into its chest. Shining Revelations Dragon closed its mouth as white light spread throughout Frelt's body, increasing in intensity, until Frelt exploded, holographic shards spreading in all directions. Frelt, the Ender of Lives, was no more. And Anya knew her time was finally over as she screamed in pain from the destruction of her monster, but yet she saw it. The hope Mateo spoke about. And finally, she understood why there is always Light to battle the Darkness.

Anya: 3400 LP-0 LP

As soon as her life points reached 0, the Seal began to undulate and seep down the walls of the building, towards Anya's Duel Runner. Mateo pulled up alongside Anya's Duel Runner and extended his hand. "Anya! Take my hand!"

"I can't. I failed to stop you. But now I see." Anya smiled. "If I take your hand, the Darkness will still kill me. But now that I see why the Light exists, I finally understand. Life goes on. And maybe mine will, maybe I can somehow survive."

"If you do, find me, Anya. We can duel as friends, not as sworn enemies."

"I will." Anya replied. "But you have to know, the Darkness has many other plans it is prepared to set in motion. A new entity is prepared to take my place, and it has more ties to you and the Signers than you think."

"Don't worry about us, Anya. We can handle ourselves."

She shook her head. "It's not just you, it's the Crimson Dragon, itself. Do you remember when I mentioned that your friend Shiho is a Signer, but not for the Crimson Dragon? He needs to be as careful as you, or he might wind up being your new enemy."

"I'll watch over him."

"Good." Anya sighed, and laughed a little. "You know, if the Light decides it will take me, I'm thinking I might take a different name."

"What name would you use as a servant of the Light?"

"Something new, but the same." Anya replied. "Maybe Illeya?"

"Hah!" Mateo laughed. "That name will suit you perfectly."

Anya smiled, before the Seal began to dissolve her Duel Runner's engine. Mateo reluctantly pulled away as her Duel Runner exploded, killing her instantly.

Mateo was no longer sitting in his Duel Runner. He was standing in a familiar street. "Wait… I know this street!"

"That's good, Mateo." A familiar voice said. He smiled as he turned around. Illeya stood before him. "You were right. This name did suit me perfectly."

"There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind ever since I met you. Why did your voice sound so familiar?"

"My look was altered, but… Always, some aspects remain the same." Illeya answered. "You will recall that this is the Plane of Sight."

"When are we?"

"Fifteen years ago. The day we met."

"Why?"

"To show you." Illeya pointed. "That life goes on."

Mateo turned to where she was pointing. Light coalesced, taking the form of Illeya. She dropped to her knees, gasping for air. She saw a mirror, and looked into it, and started crying. Even from a few meters away, he could hear her whispering "thank you," both to herself and to the Light, which had granted her wish. A young boy approached her, and he tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him.

"Are you awright?" The young Mateo Yurigaya asked. She sighed, smiling.

"Yes, I'm just fine. Hey, are those Duel Monsters cards?"

"Yeah! I found them in the alley!"

"Do you know how to play?"

"Uh… Not reawwy…"

"Come on. I'll teach you." Illeya stood and extended her hand. Young Mateo grasped it. They started to walk off, but Illeya stopped. She turned, and looked directly at Mateo within the Plane of Sight. She smiled widely, before walking away with the younger version of him. Mateo returned that smile, looking down. After a moment, he turned to the Illeya standing next to him.

"Thank you."

"It is not you who should thank me, but I to you." Illeya replied. "But I mustn't keep you. You have much to do. Do not forget my warning. Watch over your friend, before it's too late."

"Don't worry, Illeya. I will." Illeya touched her index and middle fingers to Mateo's forehead as he closed his eyes, and he felt light flash around him.

Mateo was back in his Duel Runner, parked next to the stands as the Signers approached him. He looked up at Shining Revelations Dragon as it slowly faded away, its duty complete. He looked to his friends, but noticed that something was wrong. "Where's Shiho?"

"Huh?" The other Signers looked around, and realized that he was missing. Mateo stepped out of his Duel Runner and pulled out his phone. He dialed Shiho's number, and it rang for a moment.

"You've reached Shiho Bengo's personal cell. If you've called this number, you probably have some sort of legal dispute. Please leave the nature of your dispute at the tone." Mateo sighed, and was about to hang up, when the message continued. "If you're Mateo Yurigaya, that means your duel with Anya was successful, against all odds. As it turns out, we are at opposite sides of this battle. Don't come looking for me. I'd wish you luck, but that seems a little redundant, given the battle we face. Goodbye."

The beep sounded, but Mateo hung up. He looked around, at everyone's confused faces. "This was only just the beginning."

To be continued, in Rise of the Azure Dragon...