Chapter 17: The Duel of Fates
In spite of the worst night she'd ever endured, Amy had managed to sleep soundly throughout the whole of the day and to the next night. The Midnight Castle remained dark even during the day so no daylight could disturb her. The next night was here. Halloween night itself. But Amy wouldn't be spending this Halloween trick-or-treating. She had a duel to win and the souls of herself and Jack were depending on her victory or defeat. She couldn't afford to lose no matter what.
Amy stirred on the bed as she began to come out of her sleep. She'd just been having a dream before waking up, and it had been a very pleasant one. In the dream, she'd been reunited with Jack and the two had been playing together like old times. Amy didn't want to leave it but she knew the dream would soon become reality once she beat Hallows so she allowed herself to leave the dream behind and return to the real world. As the dream ended, she heard Jack say one last thing to her:
No matter what happens Amy, we'll always be together. Big bro and little sis, together forever. Nothing can ever separate us…
Amy agreed with him. Not even Hallows was going to keep them apart! Her eyes opened up and she stretched for a moment. She sat up on the bed and yawned. It was incredible how much difference a goodnight's sleep made for she felt completely recharged and ready for her showdown with Lord Hallows. It almost felt like the Fiendish Five's duels had never happened though the lack of jacket reminded her that she'd come very close to dying at their hands, namely Satoshi's. Hopefully she could buy a new one when this was over.
"Hi Amy! You look rested. I guess you slept well?"
Amy turned to see Chloe was just beside her, looking refreshed and ready herself.
"I'm amazed I even managed to sleep after everything yesterday!" the redhead exclaimed, "But I'm ready to go for it now! Lord Hallows better watch out cause I'm gonna show him no mercy in our duel!"
"I can tell." Chloe concurred, "You're gonna make Hallows wish he'd never crawled out of the Shadow Realm! You'll kick his butt and get Jack back! I can already imagine how happy he'll be to be back with you at last…" she said happily.
"Oh I doubt we'll be able to let each other go for a while." Amy chuckled, "Hey Kazuki, are you…"
Amy turned only to see that Kazuki didn't seem to be anywhere in the room. There was only her and Chloe around. That was odd. Where did he go? Kazuki wouldn't have just left them here like that. Amy frowned.
"How strange. Where's Kazuki? He was still here with us when we went to sleep." she mused.
"You d-don't th-think Lord Hallows got him, d-do you?" Chloe asked worriedly.
"I did. His soul has become mine like Jack's has!"
Amy and Chloe were so surprised that they nearly fell off the bed in shock. They looked ahead to see Lord Hallows materializing into view with Kazuki's soulless body standing beside him. Amy took one look at Kazuki and gasped in horror. She put her hands to her mouth and stared, her eyes wide with shock. She thought she was still asleep and this was some horrible nightmare but it wasn't. She was awake and this was reality. Amy approached Kazuki slowly as if he was a bomb about to explode. The light in his eyes had gone and he no longer looked his old self. He looked just like Jack currently did: lifeless and deathly pale. Amy was so distraught that she began to cry. The tears came down her face and her whole body trembled as the horror of what had happened settled in.
"No…no, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOO! Not you too Kazuki! Please not you too!" Amy sobbed.
"How could you do this to him?!" Chloe screeched angrily, "Haven't you done enough already?! Was Jack not enough for you so you had to steal Kazuki's soul too?!"
"It's never enough for me, Chloe." Hallows snapped, "As long as I can steal souls and gain my power, I'll take as much as I can. And why stop now when I can delight in the great pain and suffering it causes you all to bear witness on what's become of your precious friends?"
He laughed a cruel sadistic laugh as Amy continued to cry over her love. After he finished laughing, he suddenly banged his cane on the floor and before Amy and Chloe knew it, they were whisked out of the bedroom and teleported up to the roof of his castle. The girls looked around in confusion. From where they were, they could see Domino City stretched out all around them with various lights blinking and shining from the various buildings and moving vehicles driving through the night. Why had Hallows brought them up here? Did he want to duel with a view or something? Amy wiped her eyes and glared in defiance at Hallows.
"What's your game now you freak?!" she snarled, "You didn't bring us up here to enjoy the view, I'm sure!"
"Absolutely I didn't." Hallows confirmed, "I brought you up here to get your last glimpse of the city as I cloak it in darkness! For you see, Kazuki's soul has given me the power to do this!"
He pointed his cane up at the sky and fired a huge purple beam up to it. Amy and Chloe watched with worry as the beam leapt up to the sky and began to form a huge black cloud that started to spread all over the night sky. At first, it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Then suddenly, the moon disappeared from view as the cloud started to spread. Then it started to reach the surrounding city. Slowly but surely, the cloud began to swallow up everything in sight. Buildings went dark with even their lights failing to be seen through the mist. Vehicle lights also disappeared. Amy and Chloe had been able to see the city skyline from where they were standing. Now they couldn't see anything at all. Amy cringed just imagining what it must be like over in the city. Any trick-or-treaters roaming about were going to be scared for their lives now it was too dark to see anything. And what about everybody driving out on the road? There'd be the most horrific road accidents imaginable! Hallows had created a nightmare and it was guaranteed to make this a Halloween nobody wanted to remember! Hallows cackled with glee.
"And that's just what I can do now! Imagine me being able to envelop the whole world into darkness like this!" he cackled gleefully, "The Shadow Realm will rule over the mortal world and everything will be a paradise for the shadows!"
"That's not gonna happen!" Amy declared, "Because I'm gonna stop you before this madness goes any further! I beat your challenge so now you must upload your end of the deal and face me! If I win, you stop this spell and give everyone's souls back to them! Except for Satoshi of course, that bastard can stay in the Shadow Realm for all I care. If you win…well, we already know." she muttered.
"I accept of course, for I know I'm going to win so there's nothing for me to lose and everything for me to gain!" Hallows said confidently, "We shall have our long awaited match Amy! And because I'm feeling generous, I'll let Kazuki and Jack watch you fail to save them."
Kazuki was still by Hallows's side the whole time whereas Jack had to be warped up to the roof to join in. It made Amy's skin crawl seeing her brother like this again but she was also happy he was here. At least once she beat Hallows, he'd get a front row seat to watching it happen and getting his soul back. Amy was about to load her Duel Disk with her deck until Chloe stopped her.
"Wait a minute! It's important for you to know that Lord Hallows…" she began.
A shadowy tentacle suddenly formed from nowhere and clamped itself around Chloe's mouth to silence her.
"Ah, ah, ah. No disclosing my strategy to Amy." he taunted, "Let's not spoil any surprises I have in store for her."
"I don't care what your strategy is. I only care about kicking your ass and putting a stop to this nightmare!" Amy growled, "But given Chloe's concerns, I think to try and make things more even for us, we should shuffle each other's decks before we start."
The Shadow Demon shrugged nonchalantly.
"Suit yourself." he said casually, "It makes no difference to me."
Amy and Hallows handed their decks to one another. But instead of shuffling, Hallows searched through Amy's deck and picked out Monster Reborn. He took a moment to admire the card with interest.
"You know, watching you duel through the eyes of the Fiendish Five, I noticed you seem particularly attached to this card." Hallows purred, "You display great happiness whenever you draw it."
"It was my brother's favourite card." Amy explained, "He gave it to me as a little keepsake. It's the closest connection I have to him in his current state."
"Aww, how pathetically sentimental." Hallows sneered sarcastically, "How's about I destroy it and take away that connection?"
"NO! Don't you dare!" Amy shrieked.
Hallows gripped the card between his fingers and was about to rip it in two.
"Please don't! I don't wanna beg but please don't rip up my brother's favourite card!" Amy pleaded.
Hallows looked as if he was about to ignore her…only to then laugh in Amy's face and put the card back into her deck.
"Your mortals never cease to amuse me by how pathetic you can be." he jeered, "Reduced to a pleading wreck over a trading card? That's why you'll be better off as residents of the Shadow World I plan to create. You won't ever have such pathetic attachments to worthless materials ever again!"
Amy was so furious that Hallows had played on her emotions that she wanted to punch him in the face. But it would do no good. Hallows would likely just wrap her up in shadowy tentacles before she could even throw the punch. She just shuffled Hallows's deck for him and handed it back. Hallows did the same for Amy's deck. Now they were ready, they took their positions and deployed their Duel Disks. The duelling arena was set up. A ghostly grid marking where the arena was appeared between the two duellists. A ghostly skeleton holding a board with the duellists' Life Points displayed on it hovered by the side of the arena. It was time to duel. The fate of the whole world was resting on Amy's shoulders and she was determined not to lose. It was do-or-die and she wasn't going to let everyone down!
I'll save everyone! I know I will! Not just Jack or Kazuki, but the whole world! I won't let Hallows trap us in darkness forever! Amy declared in her thoughts.
"Amy!" Chloe called out.
Amy turned to her best friend. She could see that Chloe was deathly afraid for her life and would do anything to save her if she could. Chloe clearly wanted to tell her something important too but Amy could see that she was worried on what Hallows would do if she tried. So her friend said the only thing she could:
"G-good luck! Please, w-whatever you do, d-don't lose!"
"I'm not gonna lose Chloe!" Amy declared, "This deck has saved my life five times already! It'll save me again in this duel!"
"We'll see about that, won't we?" Hallows crooned, "Now let the duel commence! If you wish Amy, YOU may have the first turn." he offered.
That surprised Chloe. Why was Hallows letting Amy go first? When he and Jack had duelled, he had the first turn. Was Hallows hoping for some kind of advantage over her friend by going second? She'd soon see as the duel commenced.
"I'll gladly go first." Amy said grimly, "You'll soon regret giving me that head start…"
She drew her hand and studied it carefully. She had a good start. Her hand contained Neo the Magic Swordsman, Gamma the Magnet Warrior, Ground Attacker Bugroth, Trap Hole and Widespread Ruin. She drew to start her turn and saw that she'd drawn Kaibaman. She had three decent monsters, one Effect Monster that could be helpful in getting her Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field and two very good Trap Cards to use right off the bat. Lord Hallows really was going to regret letting her go first with a starting hand like this!
"I summon my Neo the Magic Swordsman in Attack Mode!" Amy declared, placing the card in the centre Monster Zone on her Duel Disk.
It was the first time her swordsman had made it to the field since she'd been duelling Hallows and his forces. Neo the Magic Swordsman (1700ATK/1000DEF) was true to his name, looking like an armoured swordsman in a cape and wielding mystical powers. His eyes seemed to glow as a result of his magical abilities. He held his sword tightly in his right hand and stood in front of Amy, poised and ready to attack.
"And then I'll place two cards face-down." Amy continued, setting Trap Hole and Widespread Ruin, "That'll do for this turn."
Her two face-down cards appeared behind Neo the Magic Swordsman. It was like he was on the battlefield with the two face-down cards acting as hidden back up for him. Chloe felt at ease for the moment. An opening move like that had to be good for Amy. Would Hallows even dare to attack when she had two face-down cards to worry about? Lord Hallows drew for his turn.
"If you think I'm going to make the same mistakes the Fiendish Five did, you're sorely mistaken!" he crowed, "I know your duelling style by now Amy: you hope your opponents will be stupid enough to walk into obvious traps. Well unfortunately for you, I've reconstructed my deck to give me an advantage over you. For starters, I've taken the liberty of adding Heavy Storm to my deck for just such an occasion and unluckily for you, I've just drawn it!"
Amy's blood ran cold as Hallows played his Spell Card. Heavy Storm was one of the best destruction spells anyone could use for it wiped out the entire backrow of both players. Both of Amy's traps were destroyed in an instant, leaving Neo the Magic Swordsman unprotected. Amy swore under her breath. Of course Hallows would've readjusted his deck to accommodate her's! Of course Hallows wouldn't be as dumb as her opponents had been! He wasn't going to make this easy for her and this was one way he was making it hard for her, having protection against Spells and Traps!
"Oh dear, I hope those cards weren't too important." Hallows gloated mockingly, "Maybe you shouldn't have shuffled my deck for me as Heavy Storm might not have been near the top like it was now! Anyway, now I know it's safe to play any monsters, I'll set a monster face-down in Defence Mode and then set one card face-down."
His monster and face-down card both materialized onto the field in their respective zones. Amy shuddered uneasily. Who knew what Hallows had lurking on the field now? His face-down monster was likely going to be tricky and his face-down card was going to be bad, she just knew it!
"And then to finish off, I'm going to give the arena a bit of a makeover." Hallows continued, "The roof of my castle is a nice enough setting and all…but it's nothing compared to Zombie World!"
He placed the card in his Field Spell zone and all at once, the duelling arena was changed into a huge Graveyard with zombies and corpses lying on the ground everywhere. Ghosts danced over the gravestones and zombies wailed from all over. Chloe cringed in disgust. She'd hated seeing Zombie World the first time and seeing it again didn't make her feel any different.
"You need to be careful Amy! He used that card against Jack to try and give him trouble!" Chloe warned.
"So Jack was against this card too." Amy said grimly, "What does Zombie World do exactly?"
She soon figured it out as suddenly, her Neo the Magic Swordsman began to change right in front of her eyes. His skin started to decay, his armour began to rust, his cape became tattered and torn and his sword began to look rusted and blunt. His eyes looked unfocused and he began to wail a haunting wail along with the rest of the zombies. Amy's stomach churned.
"That is so fucking gross!" she gagged, "Looks like that answers my question! It turns all monsters on the field into Zombie types!"
"Not just that, my child. All monsters in the Graveyard are turned into Zombie types too." Hallows explained, "And as long as this card remains on the field, you CANNOT Tribute Summon any non-Zombie type monsters! You see, while they're Zombie-types on the field and in the Graveyard, the effect does NOT apply to monsters in the hand! So if you try using your Summoned Skull or Red-Eyes Black Dragon or Barrel Dragon or especially your almighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon, they'll be useless to you!"
Amy gasped in shock. That was going to be a problem for her! How could she beat Lord Hallows if she couldn't summon her best monsters? No…there was a way around this. It only prevented Tribute Summons from happening. Suppose she had the fusion materials needed for Black Skull Dragon? She'd still be able to summon that at least. But would she draw it in time?
"I think I've done enough for this turn." the Shadow Keeper concluded, "Your turn now, little Amy." he purred.
Amy just glared at her arch-enemy. So what if he had a Field Spell that turned everything into zombies and stopped her from Tribute Summoning any non-Zombie monsters? And so what if he'd destroyed her first two Trap Cards? It would take more than that to stop her! She had plenty more tricks in her deck to take this monster down! Amy drew her next card, hoping it'd be something good. She frowned in disappointment.
Damn! It's Summoned Skull! she cursed, I can't summon it thanks to Zombie World! Oh well, I'll keep it in hand for now and hope I can draw Polymerization and Red-Eyes Black Dragon so I can get Black Skull Dragon on the field.
"The most I can do for now is summon Ground Attacker Bugroth in Attack Mode and give myself an extra monster to use." Amy announced as she played her next monster.
Ground Attacker Bugroth appeared on the field beside Neo the Magic Swordsman. For a brief second, it looked like its old self but then immediately afterwards, Zombie World transformed it into a Zombie-type. Its mechanical body became rusted and corroded with bits of circuitry now exposed and the glass dome protecting the cockpit became cracked. It made her good luck charm look like a war machine that had been through centuries of war and had been left to rust away in a dark, damp place somewhere. It saddened Amy to see her monster looking like a mess of its former self but at least Zombie World didn't alter its attack power in anyway. The only trouble was…did Amy dare to attack? What if she was walking into an obvious trap? But at the same time, if she didn't attack than Hallows would begin building up his forces and soon he'd start to overwhelm her. The rookie duellist decided that she had to take the risk. Hopefully it would be nothing in the end.
"Neo, attack the face-down monster!" Amy ordered.
Neo the Magic Swordsman raised its sword and limply ran towards the monster. In its zombie state, it looked like it could barely even carry its sword and had become weakened as a result of its transformation. But Neo was still able to bring the sword down and cleave the monster in two. She saw that the monster had been Pyramid Turtle, and that would prove to be costly for her…
"Thanks ever so much for destroying my Pyramid Turtle!" Hallows taunted, "Now I get to Special Summon any Zombie Monster from my Deck that has 2000 or less Defence Points! And I choose my all powerful Ryu Kokki!"
Ryu Kokki appeared on the field, rising up from the ground as if it had been revived from the dead. Amy recoiled. So it had been an obvious trap after all and she'd walked right into it! Now Hallows had a 2400ATK monster in play while neither of her's were strong enough to defeat it! Ryu Kokki flashed a terrible, tooth grin at Amy as if mockingly thanking her for getting it on the field. With this monster in play, Amy had no choice but to end her turn. Ground Attacker Bugroth couldn't destroy it for it was much too weak. This duel was already going horribly wrong and it was only the third turn! How much worse could things get for her?!
"Getting scared already, foolish girl?" Hallows taunted, "I don't blame you. This duel hasn't been going well for you at all! Ha, ha, ha! It's about to get worse, and that's a fact!"
He drew his next card and immediately played it. He'd summoned a powerful Zombie-type Monster called Paladin of the Cursed Dragon (1900ATK/1200DEF). Amy thought it bore a twisted resemblance to her Paladin of White Dragon card. If it was a Zombie-type, it would look like that. The rider and its faithful dragon looked as decayed as the other zombies on the field but that didn't make it any less deadly. It still had very high attack points and unlike the monster it resembled, it wasn't a Ritual Monster so Hallows had had no trouble getting it on the field. But he wasn't finished yet.
"Next I activate my face-down Call of the Haunted Trap Card to resurrect Pyramid Turtle!" the Shadow Demon went on, "But he won't be staying for long. I now sacrifice it to Special Summon Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon from my hand!"
Pyramid Turtle appeared and disappeared in a flash as Hallows brought out his next all powerful monster. Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon appeared on the field beside Ryu Kokki and Paladin of the Cursed Dragon. Amy felt sick upon looking at it. It was like looking at her own Red-Eyes Black Dragon but twisted into a sick zombified version of itself. Trust Lord Hallows to have a corrupted version of an awesome Monster Card! But it wasn't just that that made it a problem for her. Hallows now had two monsters with 2400 attack points in play. Her Life Points were as good as gone with such an arsenal in play!
"Oooh, I remember that monster!" Chloe whimpered, "Hallows used it against Jack too!"
"Then you'll remember how dangerous it was, won't you?" Hallows sneered, "Paladin, destroy her Bugroth! Ryu Kokki, destroy her Magic Swordsman! Red-Eyes, attack directly!"
Paladin of the Cursed Dragon went first, blasting Ground Attacker Bugroth to smithereens with a powerful fireball that blasted out of the dragon's jaws. Then Ryu Kokki went next, clenching its bony fists and bringing them crashing down on top of Neo the Magic Swordsman, flattening it into the ground and destroying it instantly. The attacks had been heavy enough but the worst came from Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon as it was free to attack her directly. It threw its head back, built up a huge fireball in its jaws and then blasted directly at Amy. Amy let out a bloodcurdling scream as the fireball hit her. To her agony and confusion, the attack seemed to feel real to her as if she was actually being blasted by a real fireball right now. The resulting attack ended up ripping off her hair ties, causing her twin ponytails to fall loose as a result. Amy was thrown off her feet by the blow and she grunted as she landed heavily on her back. She was left lying on the floor with pain flaring all over her body.
"AMY!" Chloe shrieked in worry.
"Ungh…w-what g-gives?!" Amy grunted, her voice hoarse from the screaming, "Th-that attack felt…too real for my tastes! W-what have you done Hallows?!" she demanded.
"This isn't a regular duel like what you've been playing against the Fiendish Five." Hallows explained, "My power is so great that we're now playing a Shadow Game! The pain you feel from this duel is real and it'll take a toll on you as we go along! So you better hope you have the stamina to take it or else you may just pass out from exhaustion as you grow more and more fatigued."
"But I don't understand?" Chloe asked, "You said you can't take souls from dead people so why are you risking potentially killing Amy in this scenario?"
"Oh don't worry, it won't kill her." Hallows reassured the frightened teenager, "I won't allow it. I'll be holding back just enough so it'll hurt but not kill Amy. But I'm sure it won't stop the pain being enough to wear her out into unconsciousness and thus granting me the win by default!"
"You…will never…wear me down!" Amy croaked as she forced herself back onto her feet, "As long as…I've got something to fight for…nothing will stop me! Kazuki and Jack are counting on me, as is the rest of the world! I'll…take whatever shit you throw at me and…keep going!"
Amy strained heavily but she was able to finally stand up again. Her hair blew about freely in the wind. She was sure that Kazuki would've liked seeing it like this if he was still here. She glanced over to Kazuki's soulless body. Once she was done with this duel, he'd get to enjoy seeing her hair down again. She turned her attention back to the duel. She hated to admit it, but it was starting to look unlikely that she'd even survive long enough to turn things around. Hallows had three powerful monsters on the field and Zombie World in play while his Life Points remained untouched. She had nothing on the field to protect her, nothing in her hand that could help and she was down to 4500 Life Points. What could she even do to fight back against this?! It would take a miracle to win this duel! Amy was about to make a move but Hallows held up a hand to stop her.
"Ah, ah, ah, I'm not finished yet." he interrupted, "I enter my second Main Phase so I can do this. My Paladin of the Cursed Dragon has a useful ability. Once per turn, I can target any Zombie-type Monsters that have been destroyed by battle in your Graveyard and Special Summon them to my side of the field. And I choose your Neo the Magic Swordsman."
"What? You can't do that! It's not a Zombie-type!" Amy protested.
"Were you even listening earlier?" Hallows retorted, "As long as Zombie World is in play, all monsters on the field AND the Graveyard become Zombie-types! So any monster you have in the Graveyard is fair play for my Paladin's effect!"
"I hate to compliment him, but that's a clever combination!" Chloe exclaimed, "Jack was lucky he didn't fall victim to that when he duelled Hallows!"
"Too bad I couldn't be as lucky as him…" Amy muttered grimly.
She watched as Neo the Magic Swordsman rose up from his grave on Hallows's side of the field, now giving Hallows an impressive army of four monsters to use. Amy's situation just got a whole lot worse. Even if she blocked one monster, Hallows had three others that could still attack her! Unless she drew Mirror Force or something, she had no chance of winning this duel! Amy closed her eyes and prayed for help.
Jack…Kazuki…wherever you are, please help me! she begged.
She placed her fingers on the top of her deck and drew her next card. Please let it be good! She peeked at the card.
"Not what I was hoping for, but it'll help anyway." she said brightly, "I now play my ever faithful and always reliable Pot of Greed!"
She played the card and as a result, she was allowed to draw two extra cards. She drew them both and looked at them. Her eyes widened in amazement as she saw what she'd drawn.
"I don't believe it!" she screeched, "I drew just what I needed! Why am I so damn lucky in these duels?!"
"Get on with it already!" Hallows snarled, "I've got a soul to claim here!"
"Not gonna happen Hallows for I drew the two cards I needed to turn this duel around!" Amy crowed, "I just drew Red-Eyes Black Dragon AND Polymerization! Because of this, I can now Fusion Summon my Black Skull Dragon using my Black Dragon and Summoned Skull I have in my hand!"
"WHAT?! Impossible! How did you manage to draw just the cards you needed for that?!" Hallows cried in fright.
"Like I said, I'm just damn lucky!" Amy retorted.
She played Polymerization and her two monsters in hand fused together to make her most powerful monster. Chloe cheered upon seeing Black Skull Dragon make its grand appearance once again. It had been valuable in Amy's duel against Gypsy and now it was going to be very useful against Lord Hallows! With 3200 attack points, all of Hallows's monsters looked positively pathetic compared to it! Black Skull Dragon did end up looking like a decayed, rotting corpse of its old self due to Zombie World transforming it into a Zombie-type but that didn't matter to Amy. It was still powerful enough to save her in this duel. Aiming to do the most amount of damage possible, Amy ordered Black Skull Dragon to destroy Neo the Magic Swordsman. Black Skull Dragon blazed the zombified spellcaster into ashes with its powerful fire attack. The resulting onslaught had left Hallows with only 6500 Life Points left, only 2000 more than what Amy currently had. Amy still had plenty of work left before she could get to Hallows's Life Points for he had three monsters still in play. He was well protected for now.
"Yippee! You're back in the game Amy! Well done!" Chloe cheered excitedly, "That Black Skull Dragon's got this in the bag!"
"Thanks Chloe!" Amy replied appreciatively, "What do you think to THAT Hallows? Bet you felt that, didn't you?!"
"You're a fool to believe you've already won!" Hallows snorted dismissively, "This duel isn't even close to over, not when I have plenty of monsters to protect myself from your cursed dragon! I also have many more surprises lying in store for you, just you wait and see! I warn you Amy, I will NOT be denied your soul!"
He drew his next card and grinned with pleasure.
"And here comes one such surprise now!" he cackled, "Welcome to the field my Soul Absorbing Bone Tower in Defence Mode!"
He played his monster and all at once, a tower made up on bones suddenly protruded up from the floor (400ATK/1500DEF). It towered over the entire arena, trying to look more impressive than it actually was. It still lacked any real attack and defence power so it wouldn't be much of a match against Black Skull Dragon. But Hallows wasn't intending to attack with it.
"So you got a big-ass tower. How's that supposed to scare me?" Amy muttered.
"Because it has some tricky effects, that's how!" Hallows said with a crooked smile on his bony face, "As long as I have other Zombie-type monsters in play, it CANNOT be attacked! And given I have three Zombies in play right now, it'll be quite safe from your attacks. Oh…and whenever I Special Summon any Zombie monsters, you lose the top two cards of your deck each time it happens!"
"Oh no!" Amy cried in horror, suddenly seeing that his bone tower was no laughing matter.
"Oh yes!" Hallows crowed, "And given Paladin of the Cursed Dragon is still in play, I now use its effect to Special Summon your Ground Attacker Bugroth on my side of the field in Defence Mode!"
Ground Attacker Bugroth appeared on Hallows's side of the field, still looking as rusted and beaten up as ever. Because Zombie World made all monsters on the field and in the Graveyard Zombie-types, it meant Bugroth counted as a Special Summoned Zombie-type monster. As soon as Bugroth appeared, Soul Absorbing Bone Tower sent out a ghost that leapt into Amy's deck and stole two cards from the top of them. Amy could only watch helplessly as Alpha the Magnet Warrior and Mirror Force disappeared into the Graveyard. She didn't mind Alpha being in there for if all the Magnet Warriors were in there, she could use Delta the Magnet Warrior to Special Summon Valkyrion like she did against Jack the Ripper. But Mirror Force was definitely a big loss. That was her best Trap Card and it was gone!
"Aww damn, I really could've done with that Mirror Force!" Amy moaned.
"Too bad! It's gone now and you can't ever use it against me!" Hallows crowed, "You see, I planned for this. I'd planned to use Soul Absorbing Bone Tower to make you lose cards if possible to hopefully dwindle down your resources and cause you to lose all your powerful Trap Cards! With any luck, my tower might even cause you to deck out and grant me an instant victory too…"
He cackled wickedly over such a thought. Amy agreed with Hallows. If she couldn't get rid of that bone tower, her deck would be depleted if Hallows could keep Special Summoning monsters! She had to stop him from doing that and fast! Luckily, she had a monster that could get rid of Hallows's Paladin so he wouldn't be abusing its ability again. Hallows concluded his turn by switching all his monsters into Defence Mode so Amy wouldn't take away anymore Life Points for now. It was the red-haired girl's turn now and she drew her next card. If it hadn't been for Soul Absorbing Bone Tower, she'd have drawn Alpha the Magnet Warrior next. Instead, she'd drawn Beta the Magnet Warrior.
"That'll definitely do for now." Amy said brightly, "I call forth Beta the Magnet Warrior!"
Her Magnet Warrior appeared beside Black Skull Dragon, looking puny and insignificant beside it. Zombie World changed its appearance once more, leaving Beta in a corroded and run down state as it became a Zombie-type. But that didn't stop it as Amy ordered it to destroy Paladin of the Cursed Dragon while Black Skull Dragon destroyed Ryu Kokki. Both were destroyed instantly in a blast of electricity and fire respectively. Hallows now had three monsters left to protect him with his Bone Tower still untouchable for now thanks to its effect. He was still safe for now. He drew his next card and grinned with delight.
"Just what I need to keep making your life miserable!" he laughed cruelly, "I now play Mystical Ghost in Attack Mode, but it won't be staying long for I sacrifice both my ghost and your Bugroth to Special Summon Nine-Tailed Fox from my hand!"
Bugroth and Mystical Ghost both disappeared in an instant as a huge wall of flames erupted from the ground and out of the flames emerged Nine-Tailed Fox. The white-and-red kitsune waved its tails furiously and bared its teeth viciously. Because Hallows had Special Summoned again, Soul Absorbing Bone Tower caused Amy to lose two more cards from the top of her deck. Amy watched in dismay as Negate Attack and Battle Ox went to the Graveyard next. Battle Ox wasn't a big loss but Negate Attack was. Another promising Trap Card gone that she could've put to good use!
"And I'm not done yet." Hallows went on, "For I now switch my Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon into Attack Mode and use it to destroy Beta the Magnet Warrior!"
His dragon stood up straight and blasted Beta to ashes with a huge breath of fire. The magnet warrior was helpless to defend itself as it was destroyed instantly. Amy was puzzled by this. Sure she was down to 3800 Life Points but Hallows only left his dragon wide open for Black Skull Dragon on her next turn, which would cost him more Life Points. Why had he wasted an attack just destroying Beta? She soon found out. Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon had an ability in where when it destroyed a Zombie-type Monster, it could Special Summon the very same monster it destroyed on Hallows's side of the field and thanks to Zombie World, Amy's monsters fell under its effect. Beta the Magnet Warrior resurrected itself on Hallows's side of the field, giving him another Special Summoned monster and causing Amy to lose two more cards thanks to Soul Absorbing Bone Tower. This time, she lost United We Stand and Man-Eater Bug. Amy frowned. Four cards down the drain in one turn! Hallows really knew how to abuse his Bone Tower's effect!
"So what will it be Amy? I wipe out the rest of your Life Points or I wipe out your deck?" Hallows cackled, "I can't decide what's a worse way for you to lose out of those two!"
"I've still got plenty more cards left to use, Hallows. I'm not gonna deck out any time soon." Amy declared, "I'll wipe out your Life Points before that ever happens!"
She drew her next card and looked at it. It was Dark Blade, a decently strong monster that she could use to whittle down Hallows's forces. It would definitely do for this turn!
"And now I bring out Dark Blade in Attack Mode!" Amy announced as she played her armoured warrior on the field.
Dark Blade appeared beside Black Skull Dragon, looking as sharp and as powerful as ever with its swords poised and ready to strike. As Hallows still controlled other Zombie-type Monsters, Amy couldn't attack Soul Absorbing Bone Tower, which annoyed her greatly as she really wanted to get rid of it before it caused her to lose any more cards from her deck. For now, all she could do was destroy Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon and her resurrected Beta the Magnet Warrior. Black Skull Dragon destroyed the zombie dragon while Dark Blade sent Beta back to the Graveyard. With Hallows now down to 5700 Life Points and no monsters that could Special Summon with their effects, at least now he wouldn't be able to abuse his bone tower's effect any further. On her next turn, Amy would destroy Nine-Tailed Fox, which would then leave Soul Absorbing Bone Tower wide open for Dark Blade to finish off. Unfortunately, Hallows could see what Amy was planning and he was already working on foiling it. But first, he drew his next card and glanced at it to see what it was.
He'd drawn his own Pot of Greed and he subsequently played it so he could draw two more cards. He drew the cards and looked at them. He grinned deviously as he saw what he'd drawn. Chloe gulped. Please don't let it be Destiny Board that he drew!
"The end is coming for you, child." Hallows crowed, "How so? You'll find out next turn. For this turn, I set these two cards face-down that my Pot of Greed so helpfully drew for me."
He set his two cards. Chloe began to feel even more nervous. She was dead certain one of those cards was Destiny Board! She wanted to warn Amy but she knew it would be useless to try. Hallows would only stop her. All she could do was just watch how badly things were about to go for her friend.
"Next I'll switch my Nine-Tailed Fox into Attack Mode and destroy your Dark Blade so you can't use it to attack my Bone Tower after Black Skull Dragon makes its move!" Hallows announced.
Amy cursed in annoyance. Trust Lord Hallows to catch on so quickly to her plans! She could only watch, unable to do anything or counter the attack as Nine-Tailed Fox summoned a bunch of fireballs with its nine tails and threw them straight at Dark Blade. The bombardment of fireballs reduced Dark Blade to ashes and left Amy with only 3400 Life Points left. Amy had to admit that Hallows was playing smartly. By keeping her forces low, she made it harder for him to whittle down his defences and thus he could keep protecting his Life Points and stall her out long enough to build up his defences or plan some kind of counter attack. Also he kept slowly but surely shaving off more of her Life Points by doing this. It did leave him open to losing some himself via Black Skull Dragon, but it was a necessary sacrifice as it allowed him to keep playing as he did and keeping his defences strong. Amy was sure that she needed a really good card to get past Hallows's strategy right now.
The teen duellist drew her next card. But just before she could make any moves, Hallows made his next one.
"Stop right there!" he barked, "Just before you do anything my dear, allow me to activate my face-down cards. It's time you met the card that claimed the souls of Kazuki Shudo and Jack Spears! Reveal yourself, Destiny Board and Imperial Custom!"
Amy thought her heart was going to stop as the two cards revealed themselves to her. So this was what Chloe had been trying to warn her about! Hallows ran a Destiny Board deck! Destiny Board appeared just above Hallows's head with the letter "F" already flashing on the board. With Imperial Custom pairing up with the card, Destiny Board would be untouchable. Continuous Trap Cards couldn't be destroyed as long as Imperial Custom was in play so Amy wouldn't be able to just use Remove Trap and be done with it. She'd need to use up two cards just to get rid of Destiny Board in this case! Amy stared at the board with a feeling of dread and anger. She was worried for herself of course for she knew what Destiny Board did, but she was also angry because she was now looking at the card that had taken her brother and friend's souls away. Jack and Kazuki had lost because of Destiny Board! Now she understood how they and many others had become victims of Lord Hallows. Chloe looked over to Amy apologetically.
"I'm very sorry! I wanted to warn you but Hallows wouldn't let me!" she cried, "I should've warned you earlier before this duel even happened! I don't know how it slipped my mind but…"
"Chloe, please stop. You don't need to apologize." Amy said coldly, "It wouldn't have made any difference if you warned me or not. Right now, I need to focus on getting rid of that board before it claims my soul too!"
"You haven't a hope, Amy!" Hallows crowed, "With Imperial Custom protecting my board, you won't be able to destroy it fast enough! I doubt you're packing Harpie's Feather Duster or Heavy Storm right now. You only have Trap Master, Absorbing Jar and Remove Trap to try and get past my board and I doubt you'll draw any of them in time!"
"I could easily do so, just you wait!" Amy swore, "For now, I set one card face-down and play my Gamma the Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode!"
Her new card she drew appeared face-down in her back row and Gamma the Magnet Warrior appeared on the field besides Black Skull Dragon (1500ATK/1800DEF). It was the first time Amy had ever played Gamma out of all the Magnet Warriors she had. Gamma was pink in colour and sported a round spherical body, magnets around its shoulders and a pair of wings. Sadly, Gamma wasn't quite strong enough to get past Soul Absorbing Bone Tower's defences for its Defence points were the same as Gamma's Attack points but it made Amy feel better just having an extra monster in play. Black Skull Dragon made the first move, destroying Nine-Tailed Fox by blasting it to cinders with a huge fireball it fired from its jaws. But as Nine-Tailed Fox was destroyed, two Fox Tokens appeared in its place. The tokens looked like miniature versions of Nine-Tailed Fox, almost like they were cub versions of itself. Unfortunately for Amy, the tokens were still Zombie-type Monsters so their Special Summoning as a result of Nine-Tailed Fox's destruction meant Soul Absorbing Bone Tower's effect kicked in once more. Amy watched helplessly as the ghost of the tower whooshed over her deck and sent two more cards to the Graveyard. To her horror, they were Barrel Dragon and Remove Trap. Barrel Dragon's effect could've gotten rid of Soul Absorbing Bone Tower at last and Remove Trap was what she needed to get past Destiny Board and Imperial Custom!
"Oh no, not my Remove Trap!" Amy wailed, "Any card but that!"
"Oh dear, did we just lose a really important card?" Hallows sneered, "Looks like you're not gonna get past my Destiny Board after all! Your fate is well and truly sealed!"
Amy could only get Gamma the Magnet Warrior to destroy one of the Fox Tokens and call it a turn. Gamma flew towards the token and punched it, destroying it instantly. But it did no good in the end. Hallows still had two monsters defending his Life Points with Destiny Board threatening to end the duel in an instant victory for Hallows. The Shadow Demon cackled menacingly as Amy ended her turn and Spirit Message I appeared on the field. Chloe began to whimper in fright, her eyes welling up with tears. Two letters were already spelt out with only three left to go before Amy lost the duel and became a new victim for Hallows to play with. The red-haired girl began to feel very scared. How could she stop Destiny Board from completing its deadly message and ending this duel for Hallows? She must be able to do something, but what?!
Jack…Kazuki…if you're out there, please help me! Amy begged, I'm gonna suffer the same fate as you two if I can't stop Destiny Board! Please help me!
Amy and Lord Hallows are engaged in their epic duel with the fate of the world at stake! And it seems that things aren't going too well for our heroine. Can she get around this? Or will Destiny Board claim her too? Find out next time in Part 2...
Trivia: The duel originally went differently to what we have here with different plays and cards being used. Hallows didn't even have Heavy Storm in his deck originally. But I threw out all my original notes and re-wrote the duel to try and make it better and more intense and I think I've already succeeded what with Hallows conveniently having Heavy Storm to get rid of two traps Amy set on her first turn and getting to abuse Soul Absorbing Bone Tower's effect more often whereas in the original duel, he didn't get to abuse it all that much.