Chapter 68: Power vs Potential

Atticus's turn to duel came next. At the duel arena, he found a Kaiser Sea Horse waiting for him.

"So, you're the duelist with the Red Eyes Black Dragon I've heard so much about? I'll enjoy crushing your spirit."

Atticus said nothing, just inserted his deck into his duel disk to start the duel.

"We'll see."

GAME ON!

KSH: 8000

Atticus: 8000

"I'll begin this duel with myself, Kaiser Sea Horse (1700/1650) in attack mode! Lastly, I'll set one card face down."

"Alright then, my turn, draw! First, I'll summon Red Eyes Black Chick (800/500) in defense mode! But he won't be around for long, because I'll tribute him to bring out the Red Eyes Black Dragon from my hand!"

His opponent smirked smugly.

"So, the rumors are true. I look forward to crushing it."

"Too bad you can't, because I'm attacking your Kaiser Sea Horse! Infernal Fire Blast!"

KSH: 7300

"I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

"Impressive, but not enough! I activate Call of the Haunted to revive Kaiser Sea Horse! But he won't be around for long, because I offer him as two tributes to call forth the one, the only, Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!"

Atticus could only stare in awe as the most powerful Normal Monster in the game appeared before his very eyes.

"Now Blue Eyes, decimate his pathetic dragon with White Lightning!"

The mighty dragon opened its maw, shooting out a brilliant blast that destroyed Red Eyes in seconds.

Atticus: 7400

"I'll end my turn with one card face down."

Atticus sighed, the card he'd drawn being of no help to him.

"I summon Troop Dragon in defense mode and end my turn.."

"Is that all you can do? And here I thought Red Eyes represented potential, yet yours was clearly wasted. I'll begin with Premature Burial!"

KSH: 6500

"With it, I'll bring back my Kaiser Sea Horse, but he won't be around for long because I'll use him as two tributes to summon Majestic Mech- Goryu (2900/1800)!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! Goryu, destroy his Troop Dragon! And even though your pathetic monster was in defense mode, you'll still take damage thanks to Goryu's effect."

Atticus: 5300

No sooner had the first Troop Dragon been destroyed did another take its place before it too was decimated, allowing the final one to appear.

"Is that all you can do? I'll end my turn with The Sanctuary in the Sky."

As Atticus drew his card, he could feel Nightshroud's voice in his head again.

"Give me power, Atticus. You know you can't win without me."

"No, I'm in control! I've fought you off every other time!"

"Open your eyes, fool! If you lose this duel, who knows if you'll ever make it home! And your poor sissy will just cry her heart out when her brother loses. Face it Atticus, you need me!"

"I'll start the spell card, Card of Sanctity! Next, I'll activate Cost Down. Now for the cost of a single card in my hand, I can reduce the levels of all the monsters in my hand by two. Next, I'll tribute Troop Dragon to summon Felgrand Dragon!"

"Impressive, but my monsters are still

"I'm aware, which is why I activate Metalmorph! This gives Felgrand Dragon 300 extra attack points (2800-3100). Attack his Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"Fool, you walked right into my trap! Go, Light of Judgment!"

"What does that do?"

"I can only activate this card when I have The Sanctuary in the Sky active on my field. Now, by discarding my Gellenduo, I can send your Felgrand Dragon to the graveyard!"

"What?!"

A brilliant light shone down from the clouds, enveloping Atticus's dragon. The dragon shrieked as the light burned it before it disappeared. Atticus could do nothing but stare in horror.

"I end my turn with one card face down."

"Now do you accept my help?"

"Shut it."

Kaiser Sea Horse shook his head, disappointed.

"I suppose it's time I put you out of your misery. Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack this fool directly!"

Atticus screamed in pain as the blast hit him.

Atticus: 2300

"Put him out of his misery, Goryu!"

Atticus stared as the searing ball of fire came hurtling towards him. With no other options, he closed his eyes and gave him just as the ball hit him.

"Atticus!"

Alexis could only stare in horror as smoke billowed around the duel field, completely obscuring Atticus from view.

"Wait a minute, I see something!"

Sure enough, the smoke died down to reveal Atticus. But what they saw…

"Oh no."

"It can't be. Can it?"

"I'm afraid it is."

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?"

"Nothing good, Blair."

"Pathetic. Next time, stick to your own-"

"Are you done?

To the duel spirit's surprise, Atticus still had life points left, but that's not all. His appearance was different as well. His formerly blue and white cloak was now completely black, and half his face was covered by a mask resembling his ace monster.

"What? How are you-"

"Atticus" smirked, and directed his attention to his activated Power Wall. Kaiser Sea Horse growled.

"So you managed to survive an extra turn. But you're dead next turn, Atticus!"

"Atticus isn't here right now. I'm Nightshroud, and this duel ends here!"

Nightshroud: 2300

"And to start, I'll activate the spell card Swing of Memories! This lets me summon a normal monster back from my graveyard, like Red Eyes Black Dragon! But he won't be staying, because by tributing him I can special summon Red Eyes Darkness Dragon (2400/2000)!"

A shroud of darkness enveloped Red Eyes, making it shriek in pain as it transformed him. When the shroud disappeared, Red Eyes was much bigger and stronger.

"Is that supposed to be impressive? Its attack points didn't even change!"

"They're about to. For every Dragon type monster in my graveyard, Darkness Dragon gains 300 attack points, and I sent 12 of them to the graveyard with Power Wall. Combined with the 7 that were already there, and you get…"

"5700 attack points (2400-8100)!"

"And he's about to get more, because now I equip him with Megamorph (8100-16,200)! Now Red Eyes, avenge your earlier defeat and end this duel!"

Kaiser Sea Horse could only watch in despair as his Blue Eyes was incinerated before the fireball hit him, blasting him out of the duel arena as his life points hit zero.

KSH: 0000

The crowd watched silently in fear as Nightshroud walked away, ready to exercise his new freedom.

"So many duelists, so many victims."

Meanwhile, Atticus's friends could only watch in horror as the events unfolded. Alexis could feel the tears well up in her eyes as she watched her brother leave, once more possessed by Nightshroud's spirit.

"Atticus…"