Annex 045: Head above the Clouds
Zilch. That was how much Uno saw or heard after that first ghostly apparition. Might as well have been a delusion. Though he liked to think he would not lose his mind that fast. He had only been here for hours. It was hard to physically tell how much time was passing in this world, so thankfully he had the clock on his dueldisk. Of course the thing could not give him a date as well, the display was stuck on the same year and day that he left. Timetravel did not update timezones well. "Still.. how can this device connect? Is dueling still that important after all these years, that they would keep the network? That really is the worst joke for the future." It did not benefit him in any case. His dueldisk could not get online, it merely registered what was all around Uno. "No. Stay focused. I saw her for a reason." It had looked like Alice. Why was it her? She linked him to the past, was that it? "Maybe.. I need to think about it. Maybe this pendulum needs directions." Alice had found him first, and she had touched the jewel. Maybe those were good enough reasons. Either way she was his only shot. "I have to picture her in my head. Where would she be right now? I mean.. where would she be in a time that I can to go back to?... The stage!"
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It was time to end round four. "Just remember that we will be with you no matter what happens." Her mother and sister had their final words to soothe Alice. "Yeah, who cares what what guy wants? If he wants to win, just give the crybaby his duel." Emily added some of her usual bluntness as well. "Ah, you say that. But I know you want me to win too. You're not very good at hiding it, Em." Alice said with a faint smile. "Well.. why wouldn't I want you to win?! That guy's not invincible. If you don't think you can win, then you are shooting yourself in the foot." Alice's funseeking approach to dueling would not work here and Emily did wish someone could put a cap on Adamants victory streak. "Yeah, Em. I will try." Alice was aware of all of that. The last few duels she had just gone along with her cards, playing the way the demanded to be played. "Here I go." She would just keep letting the cards decide.
"Alice!" On the way to the stage. another familiar and comforting face crossed her path. "Eric?" Her friend stood outside the ring. "Hey. I saw you win. I'm happy you did, but what are you still doing here?" His duel had been wrapped up one hour ago. "I waited for you, obviously. I had to cheer you on, right?" Eric confessed. "Well.. I wanted to come by earlier.. I had a lot of stuff to say. Things just got in the way. Like I wanted to say sorry to Emily and also ask about what happened to Uno. I also thought maybe I could give you a few tips to help against Adamant. If you win we could meet each other in the semifinals!" He would love nothing more than that. Especially since his dream of facing Uno himself seemed to have gone up in smoke. "Oh.. Thank you, Eric. That helps me a lot. I hope I get to duel you too." That was the request she could be the most truthful about. "Emily did want to talk to you. And Uno is.. missing." Eric deserved to hear about the rest too. "Missing?" His face fell. "Is it because of that Neter kid? Did he do something?"
"She does not have the time to be talking with you, Fusion Guild." Erics questioning was cruelly cut short by Adamant who was sitting on stage. "I am waiting." Time was up, their duel was about to start. "Oh ..He's right. I have to go. I'll talk later. Bye, Eric." Alice went on alone. Eric got stuck with a very crucial question. "Where did he get a chair?"
One could hear the cries of the duelists all around the theater. There were some who shouted Alice's name, many more who shouted Adamants. The mixed feelings of the opposing guilds came out in their words. Half of them wanted to see Adamant fall, the other half felt that their members should have been down there instead of this independent with her newfangled deck. "Pay them no concern. They are just sheep, and their opinions are irrelevant." Adamant had tuned it all out and fixed all his senses on Alice. "You got here, they did not. Nobody can say you did not deserve it." He stated. Possibly due to the fact that there were accusations among the noise. Uno's disqualification had weakened the reputation of the Oddball Guild as a whole. "I know. Uno helped me before, he told me what to do.. if I felt anxious." It had worked a little, his advice. Dueling was just less problematic if you weren't judged while doing it. "Good. Make no mistake, this is not a kindness. I merely want you to be at your full power; mentally and physically. Only then will this duel.." Adamant activated his dueldisk. "..be worth my time!"
Adamants LP: 8000 Alice's LP: 8000
From his personal seat, dragged on stage by his followers, Adamant started the duel. "Raidraptor Tribute Lanius." He normal summoned a monster Alice had not seen before; a warbird(4/1800/400) made from blue metal. "I discard Raidraptor Mimicry Lanius." Even now Adamant did not see a need to explain the effects of his cards. "Oh. That one.." Alice had to stay informed by using the data displayed on her dueldisk. That was how she learned that Raidraptor Tribute Lanius could send a Raidraptor card from the deck to the graveyard when it was normal or special summoned. "I add Raidraptor Return." And that was how Adamant triggered Mimicry Lanius' effect. The mimic bird added a Raidraptor card to his hand, a trap in this case, after it was sent into the graveyard from wherever. The Raidraptor Return trap was placed down in the spell/trap zone along with another trap. "That was my turn. What is your response.. Independent Guild?"
"I.." Alice scanned her hand. She did not have any ritual spells or ritual spell retrievers yet, which was a first. But her opponent did not start with a massive swarm of monsters either, so she could take this slowly. "I summon the Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz." A bearded wizard(4/1500/800) in blue and gold robes. "I will attack with him." The sorcerer raised his staff high above his head to gather energy in the mirror jewel at the tip. "Is she going to fight? Doesn't his monster have more points?" Alice's action confused her mother, who had seen enough duels by now to understand how attackpoints worked. "Wait for it, mom." And Emily knew how the Nekroz worked by now.
"I discard Nekroz of Decisive Arms." During the attack, Alice used the effect of a ritual monster in her hand. "Of course." It added 1000 attackpoints to any Nekroz while it was battling. So Adamant lost his Tribute Lanius to a blast from the boosted Great Sorcerer(2500/800). "You used that card before, in round two. To better effect. Your mistake was using it for offense instead of defense." Adamant was not fazed, he had been counting on his monster to die. "Raidraptor Return." Because his trap card could be used now. When a Raidraptor was destroyed as a result of battle, Raidraptor Return would 'return' that monster to the players hand. "Oh. I didn't think..you would fall for it." Alice placed a trap card of her own down. "My turn is over."
Adamants LP: 7300
"It would have served my purpose either way. The only one to lose something now, is you." For the second turn in a row, Adamant normal summoned his Tribute Lanius. "Mimicry Lanius, again." For the second time he discarded a mimic raidraptor 'from his deck to make it add a Raidraptor card from his deck to his hand. He added Raidraptor - Nest, the continuous spell. "I play these two cards." The spell was activated and a Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius(4/500/1500) was special summoned from his hand in attack position. Alice remembered those two cards. Fuzzy Lanius could be summoned because of the presence of another Raidraptor. "Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius." Frm now on, two Raidraptors together would be problematic. Each turn that Adamant controlled two Raidraptors, Raidraptor Nest would search his deck for a new Raidraptor monster, like the Vanisher, and add it to his hand. "Continuing.." Now he was ready for the battle phase. Raidraptor Tribute Lanius separated its mechanical feathers and pointed them at the Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz. Each segment fired a narrow laser.
"Uh.. wait.. I activate the Spiritual Art of Water!" Just in time, Alice revealed her trap. "I sacrifice my sorcerer, since he is made of water! Then I can take one card out of your hand!" The elderly Nekroz transformed into pure water. The lasers flew over its zone and hit Alice instead. "Interesting choice." Adamant had to reveal his hand in exchange for this free hit. He held four cards. (Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius, Battlestorm, Raptors Gust and Raidraptor Readiness) "I will..choose that one, the counter trap." A trap that could block spells was not something her deck would enjoy, so Alice made Adamant discard Raptors Gust. "You would rather take the damage than allow me my ultimate power." If Tribute Lanius had successfully destroyed her monster, it would have added a Quickplay Rank-up spell to his hand with its effect. "Though, in this state, you will not even live to see my evolution." Tribute and Fuzzy Lanius directly attacked Alice.
Alice's LP: 5700
"Force Strix." Once he was out of the battle phase, Adamant attached both his Raidraptors to XYZ-summon the mechanical owl from his extra deck. Raidraptor Force Strix(4/100/2000) appeared in defense mode. "Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius." Using its effect, Adamant could add a new dark-winged beast monster from his deck to his hand. Fuzzy Lanius was the XYZ-material he detached. That meant Adamant could also activate Fuzzy Lanius' effect to add a second Raidraptor Fuzzy Lanius from his deck to his hand. "I set this. That was my turn." One more trap was set, while Adamant still had four cards in his hand. His resources seemed endless.
"..Oh. I am really going to need rituals now. Please, deck." Alice closed her eyes and drew what waited on top of it. "...Ah!" She summoned the drawn card without a moments doubt. "Manju, with Ten Thousand Hands." The dueldisk visualized it as a ghoulish mutated man(4/1400/1000) with hands and arms growing out of its body and head. It was a little more offputting than Alice had bargained for. "Ew.. I mean. I can add a ritual spell to my hand now." Still the effect was worth it. With its many hands, Manju grabbed a Nekroz Cycle spell card from the deck. "Hmm." Alice could use it to revive the Decisive Arms Nekroz. However there were better options. "I will use this card's effect from my hand too." She discarded a Nekroz of Catastor. "Catastor can special summon a Nekroz back to the field.. not the ritual monsters though." The discarded Nekroz revived the Great Sorcerer(4/1500/800) in attack position. Now that Catastor was in the graveyard, she could recycle it. "Nekroz Cycle.. I will ritual summon Catastor!"
By sacrificing Shurit the Strategist of Nekroz from her hand, treating it as the sole tribute with Shurits own effect, Nekroz Cycle resurrected the ritual of Catastor. The mechanical eliminator from the Allies of Justice series wrapped itself around a seadragon-mans hand like a gauntlet; thus the enforcer/Catastor(5/2200/1200) duo was born. "I can also get a Nekroz Warrior now." The sacrifice of Shurit enabled the Strategists Nekroz second effect; which placed Nekroz of Brionac in Alice's hand. "Catastor attacks." With its new claw, the Nekroz dragon swiped through Force Strix to tear it to pieces. It never stood a chance. "..." Adamant rested his head on one hand and waved his finger above his set card. He did not respond, not to this attack or the ones that came after. "Manju, Great Sorcerer!" In succession the ghoul of many hands and the old wizard bombarded Adamant with direct magic blasts. "Uhmm.. that was it." Alice had no traps to set this time. She was a little worried, and it did not help that Adamant was being so quiet.
Adamants LP: 4400
"Call of the Haunted." When Adamants turn came, he activated a continuous trap card to special summon a monster, Force Strix, from his graveyard. As Call of the Haunted only brought the dead back in attack position, it wouldn't do as a defensive measure. Not that it mattered to him. "The damage I took was a minor cost, to gather the decisive forces!" It began. Adamant normal summoned the first Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius(4/1300/1600) from his hand. "Come to me!" Vanishing Lanius opened the path for another Raidraptor special summon. So the second Vanishing Lanius(4/1300/1600) flew out of his hand. "All of you!" Now that he controlled more than two Raidraptors, Raidraptor Nest had its power reactivated. With the spell, Adamant placed a third Vanishing Lanius Raidraptor into his hand. The effect of the second Vanisher, special summoned the third(4/1300/1600). "One more." Finally, the second Fuzzy Lanius(4/500/1500) Raidraptor was special summoned through its own effect.
"What is he going to do now?" Mrs. Brandt fretted. "What he does best." Emily said with a groan. Adamant had enough materials for his ace XYZ-monster.
Strangely, he did not go for that. "XYZ-summon.. Force Strix." Instead he special summoned a second owl raptor(4/1600/3500) by overlaying two of the Vanishing Raidraptors. "Raidraptor Sharp Lanius." This Force Strix detached one material to place the blade-beaked winged beast in his owners hand. Sharp Lanius(4/1700/1000) was the Raidraptor that Adamant special summoned with the effect of Vanishing Lanius # 3. "Again." Then he overlayed the Fuzzy Lanius with the last vanishing Lanius. The third and final Force Strix(4/1600/3500) soared out of the extra deck. "Raidraptor Singing Lanius." By detaching Fuzzy Lanius from Force Strix, two new Raidraptors were dragged from the main deck. Adamant claimed his third Raidraptor Fuzzy Lanius and a new monster. Raidraptor Singing Lanius(4/100/100) was a tiny yellow bird of metal that could be special summoned if its master controlled an XYX-monster. Obviously Adamant met those standards, and obviously he did summon it. The bird filled the only open monster zone and plopped down in defense position.
"Ah. So fast.." Alice nearly lost track. One blink and she was staring at five monsters. "They're so strong." Force Strix(4/2100/4000) gained 500 attack and defense points for each winged beast monster on the field. This effect did not include the card itself, but it did register their copies. "There is enough power here to end it, Alice. Your ritual monster allows all Nekroz monsters to destroy monsters that were special summoned from the extra deck. If they were to attack Catastor or the Great Sorcerer, they would die. However.." Adamant activated the effect of Raidraptor Sharp Lanius. During the turn it was summoned, the Raptor could switch an enemy monster to defense. "This does not apply to monsters summoned from my hand." Nekroz of Catastor was forced out of attack position, and the dragon did not have all that much defense. "What will you do now?" Adamant asked as he moved to the battle phase. "Can you even do anything?!" Raidraptor Sharp Lanius charged straight towards Nekroz of Catastor.
"No. Wait.. yes!" Though she could stop the attack any time she wanted, Alice still scrambled to grab the right card quickly. "I can keep going with this; Nekroz of Valkyrus!" It was another ritual monster that had to be discarded to activate its power. The spirit of the Fabled spellcaster appeared in front of Sharp Lanius. "I have to banish a Nekroz monster from my graveyard, but then Valkyrus can stop your attack and your battle phase." Valkyrus absorbed the spiritual energy of the Strategist Shurit. That energy was channeled through his staff and unleashed on every Raidraptor on the field like a storm of lightning. "Valkyrus.." Adamant did not show that much of a response to his foiled attack. He knew that particular card existed. It was just difficult to predict when it would show up. "Your deck does interest me, Independent Guild. Few would consider ritual monsters to be a useful weapon." Adamant cancelled the rest of his turn. he could get nothing more out of it.
"But I didn't make these cards. I had to use them because dreamworld didn't let me use my own deck." Alice conceded with a deep sigh. This was her fourth duel with the Nekroz. She understood how they worked, far too well. Yet she did not feel as comfortable with them as she did with her Mermails. "Nobody talks about the makers of guns in a warzone either. You are their master, you gave them purpose." Adamant insisted with his unnerving dogma. "But I didn't want to be a duelist just so I could get the strongest cards and beat everyone else! Cards aren't weapons." Up until Adamant, everything had been easy for her. In fact, it seemed easy even now. "But.. me winning will at least make others happy. So if I can win, I will!" She normal summoned Dance Princess of the Nekroz(4/1600/800). "I'm gonna attack!" The Dance Princess, Great Sorcerer and Catastor all had their targets; the three XYZ Raidraptors. The effect of Catastor would make sure her Nekroz monsters would destroy the Force Strixes without actually having to touch them. Manju of the Ten Thousand hands meanwhile had it out for Raidraptor Singing Lanius.
"You are wrong. They are weapons, and this is a war. Only a fool would throw away power when it is handed to them. Your hope, and Uno's hope lies in those cards!" Adamant flipped his trap, Raidraptor Readiness. "Ah!" The Manju's hands were pushed back by an invisible force. Raidraptor Readiness made it so that Raidraptors could not be destroyed during this turns battles. "Raidraptor Return!" Adamant also used a trap-effect from the grave. When a Raidraptor was destroyed by a card effect, Raidraptor Return would banish itself and take a Raidraptor card from the deck. "Raidraptor Tribute Lanius." The last of the Tribute raptors was placed in Adamants hand. "I know the deck you speak of, one of my men used a Mermail deck similar to your old one. He did not make it this far. Your choice was superior, Independ..." Before he could say it again, Alice attacked the one remaining Force Strix(600/2500) with Nekroz of Catastor. If she could not destroy it by fighting it, she would just use its lethal effect instead. That was worth more than the battle damage. "You've dueled a lot. That is why you trouble remembering names, right? If you want to say a guildname instead, can you at least use the real name?" She requested with an exaggeratedly serious tone. "It's the Oddball guild. That is the name me and Uno chose.."
"Very well, Oddball Guild."
(To be Continued in Annex 046: Bridge of Ice and Fire)
New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Great Sorceror of Nekroz
Nekroz of Decisive Armor
Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands
Nekroz of Catastor
Nekroz of Valkyrus
New Cards used by Adamant
Raid Raptor - Tribute Lanius
Raid Raptor - Singing Lanius
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Raid Raptor - Return
Call of the Haunted