"It seems like the Great Hero is struggling in his duel already." The mysterious duelist remained in her room, but she already seems aware of what was going on. "He'll have to figure a way out of this one if he wishes to save the world."
...
The Duel
The finals of Conner's tournament was beginning. The first duel was between Senshi and Ryu, but they all learned the evil spirit inside Ryu's pendent was the one in control. It looked like Senshi was winning, but that's what Evil Ryu wanted. Senshi had 2850LP with him having Mysterious Lady at 2300atk points and Jetstream Gamma at 1500atk points. Evil Ryu has only a 1000LP, but played the Dark Door to ensure both only attack with one monster. His most dangerous card was the Realm of the Insidious field spell.
"What happened when Mysterious Lady attacked?" Senshi questioned.
"That's the power of this realm." Evil Ryu claimed. "It affects those who aren't fiend-type monsters. You see, each of us select one monster, and you could say a spirit possesses it. When you attack with the monster that was selected, the attack is negated and you lose life points equal to half of it's attack points. Even if the monster I selected is removed from the field, I can just move it to a different one."
"And I take it that all his monsters are fiends." Houki said as this didn't look good at all.
"And since Ichika can only attack with one monster because of the Dark Door, there's not much more he can do." Hector said.
"Ichika better find a way to stop him and fast." Charlotte said.
"It's your move now." Senshi said as all he could really do is end his turn.
"And that brings us one step closer to your demise. I draw!" Evil Ryu said as he took his next turn. "Since I now have Realm of the Insidious on the field, I'm now capable of playing something else. Why wait for you to attack and destroy yourself when I can accelerate the process. I now summon Decade Immoral!" Evil Ryu summoned out a new monster as a darkness erupted form the ground. From that darkness came a black figure with mechanical arms, glowing yellow eyes, and horns. It also only had 1000atk points.
"What is that?" Senshi said as he had a bad feeling about this.
"You're about to see what makes this card truly powerful. By sending a monster with a 1000atk points or less to the graveyard, I can destroy every monster on your field." Evil Ryu said with his monsters bringing its hands together to form a dark power. "However, you can stop it if you have a monster with a 1000atk points or less in your hand and summon it. That's assuming you have any."
"Actually, I do! I summon Stratos Gardna!" Senshi said as he summoned out his monster in defense mode with 2100def points.
"Lucky you, but you still won't win so easily. I place one card facedown and end my turn." Evil Ryu said.
"Seems like Ichika is in a real bide, don't you say?" Mila questioned.
"There is one card he has that could change things." Conner said as he's expecting it to be played.
"My turn!" Senshi said as he drew his next card, but it was Nitro Overdrive. 'Nitro Overdrive. This could help, but if I use it on the wrong monster, I could take even more damage. I have to make sure I attack with the monster that isn't possessed, but he didn't say which one. I have to figure out which monster he selected.' He had three choices and needed to make sure he picked right. 'I doubt it's Stratos Gardna. He's too weak, and is in defense mode now. That only leaves two options: Mysterious Lady or Jetstream Gamma. Which one?'
"Come on, Ichika. What are you waiting for?" Evil Ryu taunted, daring him to attack.
'I've got no choice. I've got to take the risk.' Senshi thought as he needed to act. 'I bet he chose Mysterious Lady again since it has the highest attack points to deal even more damage.' "Jetstream Gamma, attack his Decade Immoral!" His monster went on the attack, but Evil Ryu smirked. The same thing happened as before. The attack was stopped the specter shot out with Senshi being blasted, his life points dropping to 2000. "Did you really think I would select the same monster? I knew you would anticipate like that, so I went with the other option. Now, you can't attack or win this turn."
"No. Ichika could have had him." Cecilia said.
"He can't afford to be reckless. There must be some way for him to get out of this." Laura said.
"If he can destroy the guy's spells, he can and will have a clear shot." Hector said, but that's easier said than done.
'The fools. There is no escape from him.' Meldrick thought. 'He can't win if he doesn't attack, but he can't attack without the chance of him getting blasted.' Everything is going just as he wanted.
"Well, I believe it's my turn, and you're in a serious situation." Evil Ryu said before he draws. "If I happen to draw a monster that has less than a 1000atk points, I can destroy all your monsters and you'll be open for an attack." This just keeps getting worse and worse for Senshi. One draw could end it all. "I draw!" All of them had hoped it wasn't what Evil Ryu needed. Luckily, it wasn't. It was a spell card. "Lucky you. It's not what I needed."
"That was close." Cecilia said as they could all breathe a little easy.
"Don't think you're safe!" Evil Ryu called. "I activate my trap card: Dark Choice! Since I have a fiend-type monster on the field, I'm allowed to draw one more card!"
"He gets to draw again?!" Charlotte said.
"And if it's a monster with less than a 1000atk points, Ichika will lose all of his monsters." Houki said.
"I draw!" Evil Ryu drew his next card. It was a monster, but it ended up being Reflect Fiend. It's too strong. "Aren't you lucky, Ichika. I had two chances and failed at both."
"It wasn't another monster. That's good." Rin said.
"It's still too early to feel relief." Hector said.
"Your friend is quite right. I play Half-Shut!" Evil Ryu said as he played his spell. "A monster can no longer be destroyed this turn, but it does lose half of its attack points. I think I'll use it on your Jetstream Gamma!" Gamma's attack points dropped down to a mere 750. "Now, Decade Immoral, attack his Jetstream Gamma! Timeless Darkness!" His monster attacked as it unleashed a stream of darkness and blasted Senshi's monster with it. That caused Senshi's life points to drop to 1750, but at least his monster survived. "I'll end my turn there."
"At least he didn't lose many life points." Cecilia said, trying to find a bright side to all of this.
"Yeah, but if he attacks with the wrong monster, he'll lose even more life points." Charlotte said.
"Yes. One wrong move and you could lose it all." Evil Ryu taunted. "You're surrounded by darkness, Ichika. There is no escape from it. Even if you somehow do manage to defeat me, there's still one other enemy waiting for you."
"You mean Meldrick, don't you?" Senshi said.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Evil Ryu taunted. "The fact is that you're in a tough spot. You're luck can't last forever. All it takes is one wrong move and you're done for." He's getting to Senshi and all of it was true. He can't afford to lose this duel, but one wrong move and he'll lose even more life points. On top of that, it's only a matter of time until Evil Ryu draws what he needs in order to end this. 'I have him backed into a corner. I just need to select the right monster. He might try to attack with his weakest monster, so I think I'll go with his Jetstream Gamma this time.'
'There's only one card that can save you. Play Izanagi, you fool.' Conner thought.
'There's only one card that can save us now.' Ichika thought as he and Senshi spoke with each other. 'If we don't draw Izanagi, we risk loosing the duel and that's something we can't afford.'
'You're right, but it's dangerous. We don't know if we can control its power.' Senshi thought.
'We don't have much of a choice. If we don't draw it, we risk loosing this duel. The longer this duel goes on, the greater the odds are against us.' Ichika thought. Senshi was right. No matter how he looks at it, the only way out is with Izanagi.
"It's my draw!" Senshi said as he drew his card and the duel could all be decided with this one card. "I now sacrifice Mysterious Lady, Jetstream Gamma, and Stratos Gardna to bring out...Izanagi: Deity of Creation!" He sacrificed all three monsters to unleash a power that was so great that it was breaking away the darkness. Izanagi descended down with it's body coiled around the airship with all of it's 4000atk points. Those who were laying their eyes on it for the first time could not believe it.
"What is that thing?!" Hector said.
"I've never seen a monster like that before!" Houki said.
'He actually played it?! I expected that he would, but this was a lot sooner than I anticipated!' Meldrick thought as this could throw a wrench in his plans.
"That's Izanagi! That's the card that Meldrick desires!" Evil Ryu said as he couldn't believe Senshi would actually play that card. "It doesn't matter. My field spell is still active, so if you attack..." The field spell tried affecting Izanagi, but it completely dispersed. "What?!"
"Izanagi is completely unaffected by your cards. Nothing you have will save you now!" Senshi claimed. "This duel is over! Izanagi, strike now!" Izanagi unleashed all its power upon Evil Ryu. It completely destroyed everything on his field as all of Evil Ryu's life points dropped down to zero.
"You may have won, but you haven't seen the last of me!" Evil Ryu claimed as the power of Izanagi enveloped around him. When the power faded away, Ryu was laying against the ground.
"The duel is over! Ichika Orimura is the winner!" Tate claimed.
"Ha! He won! I knew it!" Houki said as they were all glad to see he won. When the duel ended, they saw Ryu trying to move.
"Ich... Ichika... What's going...on?" That sounded like the real Ryu.
"Ryu!" Senshi called as he hurried over to him. They all gathered around to make sure he was okay.
"What am I doing here? What's going..." Ryu said before he passed out. It looked like he was in bad shape.
"Looks like the real Ryu is back, but let's get him out of here. He needs help." Senshi said.
"Here. Let's take him to his room." Rin said as they all tried to help him and lifted him up. That certainly didn't go the way Meldrick thought, but it's one less problem he has to worry about.
'I never thought he would actually use Izanagi like that. I figured he would at least save it for when he dueled against me.' Meldrick thought. 'It would seem I underestimated Ichika and the Great Hero again. A mistake I won't make again. Once Izanagi and Izanami clash, he'll wish he hadn't won.' Ichika and Senshi might have won, but the real enemy hasn't been defeated yet.
...
Ryu's Room
After the duel was over, they all brought Ryu back to his room so he could rest. He hasn't awakened yet and it looks like the duel might have weakened him.
"I knew it was a bad idea for Ryu to get involved in this." Cecilia said.
"It wasn't his fault. It was that evil spirit inside his pendent in control the whole time." Senshi claimed.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Rin asked. "Cecilia and I know how powerful and dangerous that Izanagi is and you really let him have it."
"I'm sure it didn't affect the real Ryu." Senshi assured. "That evil spirit got the full force of that attack. It must have weakened him and caused him to switch with the real Ryu. Even so, it looks like Ryu was actually hurt prior to the duel. That goes to show you this spirit is much stronger than we knew, and I don't think he's finished with Ryu yet."
"What was that spirit after in the first place?" Laura questioned.
"It had to have been the artifacts." Senshi said as he knew that had to be it. "He knew about Meldrick as well. Meldrick must have promised to hand over the artifact he has in exchange for his help."
"You think the evil spirit and Meldrick were working together?" Charlotte questioned.
"Meldrick has proven he'll go to any lengths to get what he desires." Senshi claimed. "No telling what else he'll try." These finals are proving to be more dangerous than they expected. It also didn't help when Senshi noticed something.
"What's wrong?" Houki asked.
"His pendent! I just now noticed that it's gone!" Senshi said as they all noticed it wasn't around his neck anymore.
"Maybe it blew off." Rin claimed.
"I hope, but that pendent is dangerous. If it found it's way to Ryu once before, it could again." Senshi said as that spirit has proven to be quite cunning as he is dangerous.
"Let's talk about this later. We need to talk to Conner about getting Ryu back to the hospital." Charlotte said. All of them agreed to that and hurried out of Ryu's room to get some help. What they didn't notice was that when they were gone, the pendent reappeared on its own right around Ryu's neck. That spirit isn't gone, and he isn't finished yet.