Annex 069: Survival of the Fastest

Adamant and several duelists from the XYZ-guild formed stood on one side. The security forces that caught them sneaking inside Dreamworld HQ flanked the other. The two were caught in a stand-off, though the latter found themselves cornered by the formers use of barriers and holograms. "Adamant!" The XYZ-leader had come for Dom, but that was not the duelist who came down. "Synchro-guild.." Cassius came, by himself. "I did not expect to see you here, away from your own men." Adamant spoke while he kept his eyes on everyone around. "Our guild is not like yours, Adamant. The best duelist does not lead us; my companions can run the guild without me. That was your mistake when your men tried to capture me. Then again, I heard they're no longer your men." Cassius only had second-hand information, but he'd been told that Roma was now in charge. "There have been changes. For you too, I see. You have recovered." The former leader continued the conversation, as if he was simply talking to an old friend. "I can walk again, yes." As did Cassius.. for a little while. "Why are you here, Adamant? What do you think you're going to get with threats? You don't seem like the type to take hostages."

"You think you know me, Synchro-Guild? An enemy greater than all of us exists, and I will do anything to make sure we all survive. We need those codes Either I am going to take them, or Roma will. You do not want to have blood on your hands." Adamant snapped his fingers and his followers all redirected their dueldisks towards the Synchro-duelist. "What is Roma going to do? Who is the enemy? We do not know who you are talking about, Adamant. If their power is truly so great and dangerous, than we should work together to take it down!" Cassius resisted activating his own dueldisk. He stayed focused on the ex-champion. "We cannot work together, Synchro-Guild. One of the guilds is in league with the Enemy, it could be you or it could be Dame Phoebe. We are loyal only to ourselves. Only when the enemy is vanquished, will we see peace." Adamant took one step, his men did the same. The bodyguards tried to intervene, but the barriers did not give them any freedom of movement. "Now get out of the way."

"No, Adamant." Cassius did not budge. "Not all of the cards you want are here." Cassius took out a white card. "!" Adamants eyes widened. "Sir is that.." They were looking at one of the monsters Ichirou had described to them; Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. "This is what you want. You're going to have to take it from me. Leave the rest out of it." Cassius inserted the card into his extra deck, and activated the dueldisk. "Why you.." Some of the XYZ-duelists grabbed their own decks. Adamant made them stand down with a single gesture. "He is mine. " He placed his hand on his dueldisk and switched it on. "It has to be that way, right? Nobody else but you can bring this card back to Roma." Cassius started drawing cards. "...I had wanted to duel you, Synchro-Guild. It is fortunate that we crossed paths after all."

...

Dom, Iria, Emily and Alice were all in the control room watching the proceedings from a safe distance. "He gave the card up for ante? What does he think he is doing?" When Iria gave Cassius permission to go down below to engage Adamant, this was not what she had in mind. "We gotta help him!" Emily was not satisfied with merely observing the duel. "There's so many of them.." But, as Alice observed, if they all went down there to assist him, they still would be outnumbered at three to one. "Alice, you beat him once before. We can do it again, together." Emily still insisted on going down. "Maybe.. but Adamant.. I think he's someone who would want to just have a duel between two players. Aaron promised mom that we'd not get us in trouble. He's doing this for us too." If Adamant lost this duel here, he might simply give up. "That's all nice, except for the part where his flunkies come in. They probably don't have that same code of honor." Dom said, shaking his head. He primarily wanted to know how Adamant got this far in the first place.

...

Adamants LP: 8000 Cassius' LP: 8000

The two duelists filled their hand. The first turn was granted to Cassius. "Speedroid Menko!" The spintoy roid(4/100/2000) was summoned in attack position. "..." That gave away that Cassius intended to use it as a synchro material. Adamant was certain Cassius would be quick on the draw. "Speedroid Taketomborg!" Cassius did not bother with effect clarifications either. These two duelists knew each others decks as if they were their own. Taketomborg(3/600/1200) could special summon itself because the wind-type Speedroid Menko was already on the field. "I shall trade it for Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice!" Taketomborg could also tribute itself to special summon a Speedroid tuner, the foursided dice(3/300/1500). "Let's take this card..for a ride." Only wind-monsters could be summoned during a turn in which Taketomborg used its second effect. Luckily a certain Synchro Dragon had that attribute. "I synchro summon Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" Menko and Tri-Eyed Dice synchronized all seven stars to create an armored dragon(7/2500/2000) as clear as a white sheet.

"There it is.." This was the card that the XYZ-guild needed. It was a sight to behold. For Adamant there also was no mistaking its resemblance to Uno's Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "Well, Adamant. If you want to see what it can do, be my guest!" Cassius grinned and placed two trap cards down on his field and ended his turn.

"... Your guest..." Adamant stared for a second before he drew his sixth card. He then normal summoned his first monster; a metallic eagle(3/1000/500) with white wings. "Raidraptor Skull Eagle." A spell followed the summon. "Raidraptor Call." With that spell Adamant could special summon a copy of his existing Raidraptor, another Raidraptor Skull Eagle(3/1000/500), from his deck. "XYZ-Summon!" The two Skull Eagles were overlayed and a XYZ-monster of the 3rd rank was born. "Raidraptor Fiend Eagle!" The new eagle(3/1000/0)'s metal changed from white to black, and its wings were as red as blood. The two Skull Eagles activated their effects while they were XYZ-materials. Each attached Eagle added 300 attackpoints to the XYZ-Raidraptor(1600/0). "To insert a new card into your deck, when it might go against your own strategy. That can be a mistake, Synchro-guild." Of course Adamant detached one material from Fiend Eagle. Fiend Eagle could inflict damage to a player, equal to the attackpoints of one of their special summoned monsters. But.. that special summoned monster had to be targeted first.

"Look closer, Adamant! I think it suits me just fine. I suppose even the former champion can learn something new!" Cassius activated his monsters power. "When a level 5 or higher monster is targeted by another monsters effect, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon can destroy that monster!" The beams that the Fiend Eagle fired were intercepted by the Synchro dragon and redirected towards the tips of its own wings. As if it had hit a mirror, the energy was reflected and Fiend Eagle was destroyed by its own effect. "Then Clear Wing Synchro Dragon gains the attackpoints of that destroyed monster for that turn!." The remaining power was absorbed inside the dragon(3500/2000)'s body. "Do not presume folly on my part, Synchro-Guild. I can read." Adamant knew that this would happen. First, he added Raidraptor Call back to his hand. Skull Eagles had a second ability; if they were detached from a XYZ-monster they could return one Raidraptor card to a players hand. But Raidraptor Call was not instrumental for his next step. "Rank-Up-Magic: Soul Shave Force!"

Adamants LP: 4000

"Soul Shave?" Adamant had to pay a heavy cost to activate this spell card. "You really are serious." Soul Shave Force could evolve an XYZ-Raidraptor by two ranks at once, and it did not matter if that Raidraptor was dead or alive. "I take Skull Eagle and overlay it into Raidraptor Blaze Falcon!" The hellish eagle left its grave and was attached to the newly XYZ-summoned red falcon(5/1000/2000). "Your dragon can only activate its power once every turn." Not that that would have made a difference, Blaze Falcons effect did not take specific targets. "I destroy your monsters." Adamant detached Fiend Eagle, and Blaze Falcon aimed its cannons at all special summoned monsters on Cassius' side. "You will have to catch it first!" Cassius responded swiftly. He activated his trap, Interdimensional Matter Transporter, to remove his own card from the field for one turn. "What?" The XYZ-guild soldiers cried out as Clear Wing vanished. Blaze Falcons lasers went straight on towards and the poor unfortunate secretary's desk. Eleanor gave a loud shriek, as the beams phased harmlessly through the walls, and fainted.

"Huh? It didn't blow anything up?" Alice was surprised. "He did not turn on solid vision." Iria did not know what to make of that either. Most other XYZ-duelists would not care about the damage their holograms caused. "Maybe he really does not want to hurt innocent people." That was what Cassius claimed, and he probably was a better judge of Adamant's character then they were. "Not taking that chance. Hmph, if only there was a way to even the odds." Dom cursed. With the barriers that the XYZ-guild had put up, nobody from the outside could get in. "There could be a way.." Alice suddenly had an idea. "Uh, Mister Dom; how do you make holograms?"

"A miss, for this turn." Back at the Duel, Adamant saw the writing on the wall. He attacked anyway. Blaze Falcon came straight after Cassius. "I banish Tri-Eyed Dice and negate the next attack!" Cassius could activate the effect of the tuner dice from his graveyard to deflect the Raidraptors strike. This way the Falcon could not get off its secondary destruction power either. Though there were no monsters left to destroy either way. "... Your turn, Synchro-Guild." Adamant placed two of his cards face-down in the spell/trap zone. "I know you know my name... Adamant." Cassius claimed as he started the next turn. "Only the strong may live, Synchro-guild. Even if one name stands out among the masses, I will forget it if it never proved itself worthy."

"You're talking like duelists are about to become an endagered species. I suppose we'll get the full story from you if I do manage to beat you. I summon Speedroid Pachingo Kart!" Cassius summoned a Pachingo-themed GoKart roid(4/1800/1000). "I activate its effect!" By discarding one card, Pachingokart could destroy any monster on the field. "..Emperor on his Throne." Immediately Adamant dashed any attempts at targeting Blaze Falcon when he flipped his continuous trap card; The Emperor on his Throne. Blaze Falcon could no longer be affected by any other cards. "I never said I was going to destroy your card, Adamant!" The Gokart launched a blue pinball at Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. "His own card?" The XYZ-soldiers gasped as it looked like the synchro dragon was about to die. Except instead of doing that, it absorbed the effect. "Clear Wing can also negate my own monsters effects, and destroy them!" The Synchro Dragon returned the energy towards PachingoKart and blew it to pieces. Then its attackpoints were added to Clear Wing Synchro Dragon(4300/2000). "Incoming Attack!" The Dragon of clear wings charged the Falcon of blazing war and dismantled it with powerful star-like blasts.

Adamants LP: 700

"Get it now? This dragon is right at home in my deck. You can even argue that was the idea since these cards were meant to be our prizes if one of us won the championship... Like we were supposed to." When Cassius thought about it, it made sense. Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon could very easily be summoned in a deck full of Raidraptors or any Rank 4-toolbox. Starve Venom, from what he had seen, fit with Fluffals. "That may be. Yet you would have inflicted the same kind of damage, if you had not used its effect. You would have kept the card on your field and in your hand." Now Cassius had nothing to use at all, Adamant did not need his permission to move into the next turn. "Would I have done the same amount of damage?" But the battle phase was not over yet; Adamant had one more thing to do. "..You could not have been certain, Synchro-guild. But no, you wouldn't." He summoned a one-eyed mechanical vulture(4/1700/100). "Raidraptor Avenge Vulture.." When Adamant took damage, he was allowed you to summon this winged beast. Now the XYZ-duelist was ready to make his counterattack.

"My turn. Creeping Darkness." Adamant used the spell he drew, banishing two dark monsters from his graveyard to take a level 4 dark monster from his deck. "Mimicry Lanius." Two Skull Eagles were banished in exchange for the Mimicbird(4/1100/1900), which he naturally normal summoned. "Raidraptor Call." Then with the effect of his other spell, he called out a copy of the first Mimicry Lanius(4/1100/1900) from his deck. "This combo, could be it." The intent could not be more obvious to everyone who saw the duel, below and above. As Adamant activated the effects of both his Mimicry Raidraptors to raise the levels of all Raidraptors. He could overlay Mimicry Lanius(6/1100/1900) with Avenge Vulture(6/1700/100) to create a rank 6 XYZ-monster. "This is it, for Adamant. Aaron has him right where he wants him." But Emily still had hope. She could read Aaron like an open book and the face he was making right now was one he usually made when his opponent was stepping into trap.

As Adamant resolved the effect of the second Mimicry Lanius, his opponent cut in. "Adamant, your trap card is Nightmare Archfiends isn't it?" What he said was enough to make Adamant falter, though he did not comment on the question. "That's my guess. You'll XYZ-summon your Revolution Falcon, detach one Mimicry Lanius from it so that it can attack all my monsters at once, then use the effect of the sent Mimicry Lanius to add a new Raidraptor card from your deck to your hand. Let's say Singing Lanius, or Fuzzy Lanius. Something that can be the sacrifice for Nightmare Archfiends. Then your XYZ-monster has four targets, my dragon and three archfiend tokens. All with their attackpoints reduced to zero by your Falcons effect." In this hypothetical scenario, those four attacks would inflict 8000 points of battle damage. It would be a clean sweep. "Why are you saying this?" The only thing that stopped Adamant from performing this move, was the hand on Cassius' facedown trap card. "Because.. your Throne is only big enough for one card."

Cassius activated the trap, Compulsory Evacuation Device. "!" The trap targeted the special summoned Mimicry Lanius and returned it to Adamants hand. "You were banking on your trap to protect your XYZ-monster! But right now its materials are spread over three zones! All I did was remove one!" Avenge Vulture was the monster sitting in the Throne's zone right now, nobody else. "Rgh.." Adamant couldn't do anything about it, he could not XYZ-summon anything with just 2 level 6 monsters. "I noticed a flaw in your dueling, Adamant. It is too streamlined, you rely on Raidraptors and nothing else." If Adamant had any generic XYZ-monsters at all, he could have survived this. Now all he could do was end his turn and let Cassius pull the rug from under his victory plan. "Perhaps I would have lost, without Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. We will never know now. But there is too much riding on this to let pride decide the fight!" The remaining Raidraptor Mimicry Lanius was in attack position. "Clear Wing, attack!" That was the dragons target. "..." The synchro monster eliminated the Raidraptor and his master with an explosion of light.

Adamants LP: 0

"Adamant.. lost.." The other XYZ-duelists shuddered as their commanders lifepoints and his barriers were blown away by this new Synchro Dragon. They never dreamed that Adamant could lose so rapidly. "We.. we have to take him out!" Their trepidation was shortlived. Each of them activated their dueldisk. "Tch.." Cassius had worried that it would come to this. Once Adamant lost the will to fight, his men would act without his orders. "Your card may be strong, but there is no way you can fight against all of us!" Eleven duelists advanced on Cassius. He was pinned down.

"Hey! Who are.." Then things turned around in a second. One of the XYZ-duelists panicked and pointed his arm at the lobby. "Where did they come from?" Several dozen duelists from the Synchro guild had shown up behind Cassius, with determined looks on their faces. "Guys?" Even Cassius was surprised to see them, but not horrified like Adamants people were. "..What did you say again, about there being too many to fight?" One of them argued with the other, and soon a disagreement broke out. "This is not worth it.""It was Adamant's idea.""Roma knew this'd happen." They all distanced themselves from their 'commander'. "What are you.." Adamant realized what was going on and he was too late to stop it. One of his men dropped a device to the ground, while the others covered their eyes. "Gah!" A bright flash filled the entire floor. Cassius kept his hands on his cards. By the time everyone could see again, Adamants men were gone. "They left.." Adamant was dismayed and enraged. "Roma!" He could only curse the name of the one who took his guild from him, as the security guards swarmed him and held him down.

That was not the only guild to do a vanishing trick. "What? Holograms?" Cassius figured out the trick one his 'allies' disappeared as abruptly as they had shown up. "Come on, you did not really think they were real, did you?" Emily, Alice and Dom appeared in their place; previously hidden behind the virtual mob. "Well, no. I did think it was odd, but they looked like they were really there." Cassius would have been confused by either scenario. "Oh. That's just the magic of solid vision, sport! Ever since I transferred those duels in the tournament to the 3D screen, I had plenty of models of duelists in the buffer. Making images of them is as easy as creating a lifelike dragon!" Dom boasted. "But I can't say it was all my work! It was her idea to create a fake army." The master laughed as he pat Alice on the shoulder. "Oh. It was just a crazy plan." She blushed. She couldn't have known it would work this well. "Nonsense. Crazy plans make the world go round!"

"Then how about this crazy plan, master Dom. You've seen now that this place isn't safe anymore." Cassius stared at Dom. The cardmaker turned his head to the struggling Adamant in the back and then back to the synchro duelist. "You might have a point there. Heck, he's not even the worst problem out there.. Soooo, your place?"

(To be Continued in Annex 070: My Kingdom for an Escape Clause)

New Cards used by Cassius
Speedroid Pachingo Kart

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Clear Wing Synchro Dragon

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Interdimensional Matter Transporter

New Cards used by Adamant
Raidraptor Skull Eagle
Raidraptor Avenge Vulture

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Raidraptor Fiend Eagle

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Creeping Darkness
Rank-Up-Magic: Soul Shave Force