THEOMACHY (2)
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The massive crimson beast had now fully emerged from the hole in the ceiling, large enough that it could barely fit in the throne room.
Its serpentine body was long enough to wrap around itself numerous times; with a double-mouthed head that soon made itself known, breathing out light mist in an impatience that was also signified by an ever-present low rumble. It had unforgiving yellow eyes that scanned the entire room upon its arrival, and sharpened, red spikes running all the way down its enormous body. Long, thin, red wings also were present on its sides.
"I summon Slifer the Sky Dragon (X000/X000)," breathed out Yugi.
To punctuate his words, Slifer fixed its gaze on the Wicked God – Eraser and let out a loud screech-like roar, almost as a challenge. Eraser responded in kind, and the two divine behemoths glared at each other.
"HOW?!" bellowed Pharaoh, his eyes bloodshot and spit flying from his lips in shock. "The Egyptian Gods in this dimension were supposed to be lost forever!"
"The Quantum Cube brought you into this dimension even though the Pharaoh we knew was also gone forever," retorted Yugi calmly. "Fair's fair, if Apep wants to break the rules of reality then there's nothing stopping anyone else from doing the same as long as they have the sheer force of will to make it happen."
"But you don't have possess a Millennium Item any longer," spat Pharaoh. "You shouldn't even be able to try playing a God without being driven mad, let alone control one!"
"Maybe you don't know this because you're not the real Pharaoh, but when I dueled him I defeated the Gods, which I think counts for something," replied Yugi, something flashing in his eyes. "You can whine about it for a bit longer or we can move on and continue this duel."
Pharaoh looked ready to hurl back a venomous retort but then his features calmed and he spoke coolly. "On some level I should be a bit flattered that you're going to such lengths to stop me. Very well, if Slifer wishes to obey you then I suppose we'll have a war of Gods."
"It's not going to be much of a war," pointed out Yugi. "Since I sacrificed three monsters to summon Slifer, I now only have two cards on my field, which means your Eraser (2000/2000) is much weaker than it was."
He then lifted his hand to show the four cards he held in it. "And as you know, Slifer has one thousand attack points for every card in my hand."
The crimson deity (4000/4000) let out a low growl; it was clearly the stronger of the two.
"Ah, don't get ahead of yourself in this momentary triumph," interjected Pharaoh, with a flash in his eyes.
The vertical card on his field behind Eraser flipped up.
"I activate my trap card, Ojama Duo. This will summon two Ojama Tokens (0/1000) to your side of the field in defense mode."
Popping up on either side of Slifer were a pair of cartoonish gnomes. One was red, the other blue. Both with ludicrously oversized heads compared to the rest of their bodies, just like the Ojamachine Yellow that Pharaoh himself. They very dramatically looked up first at Slifer then at Eraser and comically fell into a crouch, cowering with their hands over their faces.
Yugi pursed his lips. With four cards now on his field, Eraser (4000/4000) was equal to Slifer.
There wasn't anything he could do from here. Playing any card from his hand would only weaken his God card and strengthen Pharaoh's.
"Fine," he growled in frustration. "I end my turn there."
Pharaoh drew.
"Well, we seem to be at a bit of a stalemate at the moment, do we not? I think I will simply place this card facedown and end my turn there."
Yugi drew, strengthening Slifer once more (5000/5000).
"It's over for your Wicked God now. Slifer, attack Eraser with Thunder Force!"
The legendary God unsealed the lower of its two mouths, and within this collected an orb of thunderous energy that could be felt even from the sidelines.
"Eraser, fight back…! Black God Eraser Cannon!"
Once again, the demonic beast on Pharaoh's field began to coalesce mist into a sphere beneath its maw, which quickly changed into glowing white lightning just as Slifer finished charging up its own attack. Simultaneously, they both released their respective attacks, glowing so brightly that all anyone could see were two vague and gigantic forms on the field.
The waves of destructive power crashed, evenly matched for a moment before Slifer's began to win out. It opened its jaws even wider, sending out another pulse of force that ended the struggle by sending both beams crashing backward into Eraser, which let out a furious but pained roar before vanishing in a massive explosion that shrouded the field in smoke.
(Pharaoh: 4500, Yugi: 3200)
When the smoke cleared, Pharaoh's field was surprisingly not empty.
Standing in front of him, still, was his Wicked God – Eraser: or rather, a somewhat translucent, spectral form of it.
"What's this?" growled Yugi. "Is your Eraser immune to being destroyed by battle?"
"No, not at all. Your God did indeed defeat mine, fair and square, but after Eraser fell his ghost sticks around for a little while longer to haunt you with his final effect," informed Pharaoh with a cruel smirk.
"What is it?" snapped his opponent.
"When Eraser is destroyed, he takes every card on the field with him… And that includes your Sky Dragon since both it and Eraser are tier two God cards, which means Slifer does not have immunity to its effects."
Yugi's eyes bulged as the phantom Eraser let out one final screech, raising its arms and beginning to dematerialize into pure energy. Huge scything arcs of energy flew off it in all directions. One hit Pharaoh's own facedown card, while multiple others assaulted Yugi's field. The two Ojama Tokens were easily shattered while Slifer got hit by one and then two waves, staggering it.
Finally, Yugi got over his shock and reacted.
"Not so fast! I chain my facedown Forbidden Dress, which will decrease Slifer's attack points by six hundred until the end of the turn but as a result protect him from being targeted or destroyed by any card effects… Including those of another God card!"
Slifer (4400/5000) let out a weaker than usual roar but then glowed white, reflecting off the last remaining scythes of energy that Eraser's spirit had given off.
Pharaoh looked ready to fly into a rage once again at this act of defiance, but he then settled down.
"Conveniently, I will chain my facedown Jar of Greed as well, allowing me to draw one card before it is destroyed."
As he spoke, Yugi gagged in pain, almost falling down to one knee again.
(Pharaoh: 4500, Yugi: 2600)
"Ah yes, did I forget to mention that when Ojama Tokens on your side of the field are destroyed, you lose three hundred life-points for each?"
Yugi was gasping for air and therefore unable to reply right away, so simply fixed his opponent with a glare.
"I do credit you, aibou, your achievements in this duel so far have been impressive. Pulling your own God card out of thin air and using it to destroy my Wicked God are, dare I say, achievements worthy of a Pharaoh."
His face shifted into a maniacal grin before continuing, "Then again, that's just it though, is it not? That's all that was ever special about you. If you never completed the Millennium Puzzle, you'd be as forgettable as any of the other billions of drones that walk this planet."
"Like I said, are you here to talk or duel?" snapped Yugi, having finished gathering his breath.
"It's your turn, aibou," reminded Pharaoh.
Yugi glanced at his hand. There wasn't much he could do from here, not that it was a bad position to be in. When Pharaoh drew, they'd both hold four cards in their hands with clear fields, except Yugi still had Slifer in play, which made a world of difference.
"Fine, I'll end my turn there."
Pharaoh snapped the top card off his deck.
"I place one monster facedown in defense mode and end my turn."
Yugi frowned. Slifer's second mouth wouldn't activate against a facedown monster, so he couldn't end the duel this very turn with a direct attack.
He drew himself and brightened slightly at his newest draw. (Slifer the Sky Dragon = 6000/6000)
"I summon Blockman (1000/1500) in attack mode," he declared, placing the card vertically in a monster zone on his Duel Disk.
Materializing next to the towering Egyptian God was a humanoid figure that seemed to literally be made out of blocks of Lego. its shoulders and lower legs were red, its arms blue, while its hands, torso and head were yellow. Two small slits in its head seemed to represent eyes, but if it could see the titan that it stood next to, it did not seem intimidated.
Meanwhile, Slifer's strength dropped slightly yet still remained impressive (5000/5000).
"Now Slifer, destroy his facedown monster now! Thunder Force!"
The red God once again formed a white-hot sphere of sheer energy within its lower jaws and then blasted it out in the form of a wave. It slammed into the facedown card, which just flipped up in time to reveal a young, kneeling magician with blonde hair, a red bandana, purple robes and wielding a green staff. He didn't even get a chance to cry out before being atomized by Slifer's attack.
"Since you destroyed my Apprentice Magician (400/800), I can special summon one level two or lower spellcaster monster from my deck to the field," explained Pharaoh as another brown card materialized over the burn mark on the sandstone left by Slifer's attack.
Yugi groaned inwardly. Of course, his deck wasn't going to be all Tokens.
"Fine. Blockman, attack his facedown monster."
The rectangular creature jogged across the field and brought both its arms down in a double-handed smash, akin to a gorilla. Sure enough, the card flipped up to reveal another Apprentice Magician which then exploded into pixels as well, but was sure enough quickly replaced by another facedown.
"At least next turn I can attack the final Apprentice Magician with Blockman and then hopefully attack for game with Slifer… As long as he doesn't have anything else up his sleeve."
"Something the matter, aibou?" taunted Pharaoh. "Not winning as easily as you thought you'd be after pulling the vaunted God card out of the ether?
Yugi glared at him but didn't respond verbally besides announcing, "Fine. I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." (Slifer the Sky Dragon = 4000/4000)
Pharaoh drew, and at that moment Yugi felt a pulse from his deck. He wasn't sure exactly what it was or why he sensed it but it made him uncomfortable. It was as if an overwhelming, wicked yet invisible presence was in the room with them.
His opponent's expression, however, did not change.
"I will place two cards facedown and end my turn there."
"I have to try to end the duel this turn itself…" thought Yugi as he drew. (Slifer the Sky Dragon = 5000/5000)
"First I play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards as I'm sure you're aware," he declared as the familiar grinning green jar materialized on his field.
He did so, and Slifer's power once again grew to an imperious level (6000/6000).
"Next I summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) in attack mode."
An elf warrior wearing brown long sleeved shirt, tan pants, a purple cape, and green and silver armor with a green helmet appeared on Yugi's field, flanking Slifer on the other side that Blockman was. Wielding a great broadsword, the solid gold hilt clutched in both hands, he fixed Pharaoh with a look of disgust that marred his angular features. (Slifer the Sky Dragon = 5000/5000)
"Next I go to my battle phase… Celtic Guardian, attack his facedown monster!"
The soldier raised his sword and took off across the field with a loud battle-cry. He brought it down with a heave as soon as he reached Pharaoh's field, revealing the third and final Apprentice Magician, which was instantly decapitated before the pieces exploded into pixels.
Before Yugi could speak, another facedown card appeared in the now slain mage's place, before Obnoxious Celtic Guardian had even returned to his field.
"I will, of course, utilize the final Apprentice Magician's effect as well to summon one more level two or lower spellcaster in facedown defense position," informed Pharaoh with a grim smile.
Yugi paused and kicked himself mentally. Of course Pharaoh likely had at least one more target in his deck for Apprentice Magician's effect. Why would he not?
Now Yugi himself was left with a conundrum. Had he drawn a stronger monster than Obnoxious Celtic Guardian this would have been a non-issue, but now he had to make the decision of whether to attack with Blockman and risk running into a monster with enough defense points to survive, thus needing to finish the job with Slifer and therefore not doing any damage this turn, or attacking with Slifer and then using Blockman to attack directly.
Of course if Blockman was strong enough to destroy the new facedown he could likely win the duel with Slifer's attack, but what were the odds of that? Pharaoh's entire deck seemed to be based on stalling and playing defensively until he was able to summon his Wicked God, so why would he not possess the strongest possible target for his third Apprentice Magician? Yugi knew there were level two spellcasters with more than one thousand defense points, after all.
So it came down to whether he was willing to risk going for game or do no damage at all, with the prospect of something potentially as nasty as the Wicked God – Eraser lurking in the wings based on the premonition he had just experienced.
"Come, aibou, someone mighty enough to command an Egyptian God card shouldn't be so indecisive," taunted Pharaoh.
Yugi had been staring at his hand but then looked up and glared at him. The animal part of his brain was almost ready to respond to this attempt at winding him up by throwing caution for the wind and attacking with Blockman first but he pulled himself back from the edge.
"Surely a facedown level two spellcaster shouldn't disturb you so," continued Pharaoh with a sneer. "Were all the duels you used to win solely on the back of my courage? Do you lack any boldness of your own?"
Yugi didn't answer, but had more or less made up his mind.
"He's trying to draw me into going for broke with this. I won't let him have that."
"Slifer, attack his facedown monster," he commanded.
Just as the words left his mouth, Pharaoh's face warped into a demonic grin. The God roared and then spat out another wave of heavenly destructive energy, atomizing the facedown card within seconds… but not before the silhouette of a short and stout shaman-like man with orange skin, dressed in red and blue robes while holding a green staff.
"You destroyed Old Vindictive Magician (450/600)," announced Pharaoh almost gleefully.
Yugi stopped short, his breath catching his chest.
"Did I… Did I just fall for that?"
"And as you know, when he's flipped face-up I can destroy any one monster on the field. Now obviously your God card is immune to this, so I think I'll target your Celtic Guardian, given that he rather annoyingly cannot be destroyed in battle by a monster with over nineteen hundred attack points."
Even as his newly summoned warrior exploded, Yugi felt droplets of sweat rolling down his forehead.
"How… How stupidcan I be to let him play me like that?! I'm not a child!"
"Perhaps I was right and you aren't really all that enterprising after all," chuckled Pharaoh. "You're what you always were without me: a scared little boy all alone in the world, and it shows in your dueling. Only someone truly pitiful would have a God card on the field and not go for the win there."
Yugi shook his head furiously, almost willing his opponent's words not to penetrate.
"Block-… Blockman, attack his life-points directly."
The toy-like creature on his field crossed the field and dealt Pharaoh a glancing blow with his plastic fists, which he barely seemed to notice.
(Pharaoh: 3500, Yugi: 2600)
"You can drag out the remainder of your turn as long as you wish, but you know eventually it will be mine and you will need to face the consequences of your weakness," leered Pharaoh. "Perhaps it might be best to get it over with."
Yugi was breathing heavily, wrestling with a million thoughts that threatened to overwhelm his mind.
"No… I can't give into self-doubt now. If I look back, I'm lost. It was the right decision based on the information I had available to me at the time. I still have Slifer, even if he's got something else as horrible as his Wicked God in store, I will still be in the duel."
"Fine," he managed. "I end my turn there."
Pharaoh drew, but only gave his newest card a cursory glance before raising his head to meet Yugi's gaze with a wicked smile.
It seemed as if he already had everything he needed.
"Now, aibou, it's time to face the music for your craven actions. I activate my facedown trap, Ojama Trio."
Cartoonish gnomes materialized on Yugi's field just as they had when Pharaoh had played Ojama Duo earlier, only this time there were three of them instead of two: a yellow one, a purple one and a green one. They had the same bulbous heads and ridiculous proportions.
"As I'm sure you guessed, this summons three Ojama Tokens (0/1000) to your field in defense position."
Before Yugi could react, Pharaoh had plucked another card out of his hand. "Don't get too used to them, however, as next I activate Owner's Seal. This returns control of all monsters on the field to their original owner… which includes Tokens."
In a flash, the bumbling trio had now switched sides, quivering as they peered up at the towering God opposite them.
Yugi felt his discomfort growing.
"Those Tokens can't be used as tributes…"
"When your authority is derived from the Gods, such pitiful rules mean nothing," scoffed Pharaoh. "I activate the spell card Summon Break, which allows me to bypass all such restrictions for this turn."
The bizarre triplets all turned into white spheres of energy.
"And finally, I offer all three as sacrifices…"
Yugi's skin was almost crawling as the invisible presence he had felt in Pharaoh's hand now overwhelming the entire room.
The three spheres shot up through the hole in the ceiling that Slifer's entry had made, and then without warning, a massively large white bolt of energy slammed onto the field. Emerging from the lightning slowly was a pair of black skinned wings with white outer trim, followed by two massive arms that apparently had a large white bone on the outside of them, with dark white spikes sticking out from each elbow and two from the top of its hand. The remainder of the two arms, as well as the newly visible legs, were pale green and extremely muscular.
At last, the creature's head was revealed as the light faded away completely, seemingly encapsulated within a white bone helmet framed by demonic horns, with a dark green face. Fully onto the field at last, the creature released a devilish howl that caused the wind to immediately gust across the field and pound against the opposing monsters.
"Arise, Wicked God – Dreadroot (4000/4000)," announced Pharaoh.
Yugi found himself recoiling in disgust at the sight of this demonic creature. It was without a doubt the single most evil looking Duel Monsters card he had ever seen.
"So this is his second Wicked God… No doubt he has a third to complete the set. Eraser seemed like the equivalent of Slifer, which means Dreadroot is-…"
"Wicked God – Dreadroot is the dark antithesis to Obelisk the Tormentor," informed his opponent, completing Yugi's thought. "While the Tormentor will gain strength from his comrades, Dreadroot will weaken his enemies."
With a grand flourish, followed by a roar from Dreadroot that seemed to shake the very air around them, he bellowed, "Fear Domination!"
Dreadroot glowed with a black aura, and suddenly Blockman began to shiver, while moaning in shock and pain. Slifer let out a harsh screech of rage and fixed Dreadroot with a glare (500/750) (2500/2500).
"What's going on?!" gasped Yugi.
"While Dreadroot is in play, the attack and defense points of all other monsters are halved," replied Pharaoh smugly. "And yes, once again that includes Slifer, even if it's only for one turn."
"Well, it goes both ways. Whenever you summon a monster, Slifer's second mouth activates and drains it of two thousand attack points," retorted Yugi, as the dragon God let out another terrifying roar before unsealing its upper jaw, in which another shining orb was growing.
"Summon Lightning Impact!"
Slifer spat the orb out at Dreadroot, and for a moment the field was consumed with light so bright that both duelists as well as Tea had to shield their eyes.
When it cleared, however, it was apparent that Dreadroot wasn't really much worse for wear (3400/4000).
"What did you do?" growled Yugi.
"That would be my facedown Magical Trick Mirror, which allows me to copy a spell card from your graveyard," stated Pharaoh with a venomous grin. "I chose the Forbidden Dress that you used two turns ago to protect your Slifer from my Eraser, meaning Dreadroot will not be affected by Slifer's ability at the cost of six hundred attack points until the end of this turn."
"He planned to use my card against me the moment I played it…!" thoughtYugi, as his eyes widened.
"Now, I believe we were engaging in a war of Gods? Dreadroot, crush his dragon."
The horrifying beast lumbered forward, drawing its arm back. Slifer roared and spat out another large sphere of energy, but Dreadroot swung forward and punched right through it, its fist glowing with black energy. It connected with Slifer's snout with a thunderous crash. Slifer let out a pained roar as the force of the punch drove its head downward into the ground. Upon impact, it began to shatter into pixels, not instantaneously as most monsters did, but slowly, starting from the ground up, until it had vanished in its entirety.
The destruction of Slifer had sent a shockwave throughout the field, which had hit Yugi and knocked him to his knees.
(Pharaoh: 3500, Yugi: 1700)
"Now what will you do, aibou?" taunted Pharaoh in a low voice. "The God card that you pulled out of the abyss is gone, and with it the one chance you had of winning this duel… You could've beaten me if you had the courage to take a risk on your last turn, yet you faltered and failed to seize the moment. Your meekness was always your undoing before you had me to back you up, and now that you're on your own again… I suppose some things never change, do they?"
He let out a dark laugh at the conclusion of his diatribe.
Tea had been watching silently for a while now but seemed to finally be willing to speak up at this.
"That is not true," she spat, drawing Pharaoh's attention in the form of a raised eyebrow. "Yugi is way stronger than you seem to think. Do I need to remind you that he literally beat our timeline's Atem in a duel? If you were anything like him then you'd know that."
"Oh, but I do know that," hissed Pharaoh. "So what if he beat that pitiful imitation in a duel with barely any stakes? When the fate of the world was on the line it wasn't him out there risking himself. Why, even after the Pharaoh of this timeline literally left this plane of existence for the afterlife he still needed to return once again to save this poor fool's hide against that monstrosity Aigami."
"I don't care," snapped Tea. "Yugi has sacrificed more than anyone I know for the sake of the greater good. You're only playing these mind games because you know he's a better duelist than you, and they're not going to work on him. Right, Yugi?"
Yugi had slowly gotten to his feet, breathing heavily. He did not respond to her; in fact, he didn't even look in her direction.
"Yugi-..," she began with concern, before Pharaoh cut her off nastily.
"Clearly my aibou has no interest in your prattle and realizes that we have a duel to finish. Perhaps he sees through your façade of concern for him? Especially since he knows that your presence in his life was only ever down to that pitiful wish he made on the Puzzle."
Yugi's eyes flashed at this, but he said nothing. Tea opened her mouth to furiously retort, but Pharaoh pressed on.
"It would seem that with Dreadroot's slaying of your Sky Dragon, I am out of moves for this turn. I will end here, do your worst, aibou."
Yugi took a slow breath and drew.
"I'll… switch Blockman to defense mode. Then I play one card facedown and end my turn."
The plastic man fell down onto one knee and crossed its arms in front of it in an X-shape, while a vertical card materialized behind it.
"Pitiful," scoffed Pharaoh as he drew, before breaking out into a dark smile as he saw the card he had just drawn. "I activate Card of Sanctity, which allows us both to draw until we hold six cards in our hand. And since you conveniently maintained a rather healthy hand size to keep your Sky Dragon powerful, you can only draw one."
Pharaoh on the other hand had literally had an empty hand going into this draw, leading to his drawing a full six cards.
"He clearly still has all of Atem's top-decking abilities," thought Yugi with a grimace as he drew a solitary card to round out his own hand.
"Every ruler needs his entertainment," declared Pharaoh. "I summon Legion the Field Jester (1300/1500) in attack mode."
A tall and thin man with extremely long limbs materialized on his field. He was dressed in a clown's attire, wearing a yellow shirt, trousers and a long crimson hat. An evil smirk graced his face despite Dreadroot's draining of his strength (650/750).
"Now Dreadroot, attack his Blockman."
The demonic deity didn't even need to lumber forward this time. It literally just cocked a fist, which crackled with black electricity and then slammed it into the ground. The sheer seismic impact of this sent out a shockwave in all directions that would likely shatter anything in its path… including Blockman.
Yugi, however, reacted. "I activate my facedown quickplay spell, Card Guard! By discarding one card from my hand I can protect any monster on my field from destruction this turn!"
A cerulean blue shield with four Duel Monster cards arranged on its surface appeared in front of the kneeling Blockman. It seemed to take the brunt force of Dreadroot's attack, trembling in the face of the shockwave but holding firm regardless.
Pharaoh, however, did not seem irritated.
"By all means, drag this out. The longer I get to torment you the more your weakness will become apparent to all… including you."
Yugi didn't respond, but the ghost of a smile seemed to twitch on his lips.
"I place one card facedown and end my turn. What straws will you grasp at now, aibou?"
Yugi paused for a moment before drawing, and closed his eyes, blocking out Pharaoh's voice, along with all the other stimuli present in the room.
He calmed himself, focusing only on his heartbeat, and thought back to the smile that Atem's spirit had flashed at him after he had defeated Aigami, and before he had vanished for good. It had been the most comforting and reassuring moment in Yugi's life.
"He wouldn't have left like that if he didn't think I couldn't do this alone."
At that very moment, Yugi's eyes snapped open and he let out a breath as he moved to draw… and as he drew, the card he slid off his deck glowed with blindingly bright light and let out a pulse of energy across the room.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" roared Pharaoh. "How are you able to keep doing this?!"
Yugi ignored him as he added the card to his hand, the glow now having subsided to the point that it resembled an ordinary Duel Monsters card.
"First I activate my facedown card, Pyro Clock of Destiny."
A large clockface appeared in between him and Blockman, one side of it ablaze and orange numbers visible on the rest of it.
"This moves the turn count forward by one, which means it's now been the fifth turn since I summoned Blockman. I'm going to activate his effect, which lets me tribute him to summon one Block Token for every turn he's been on the field… which means I get a field full of those Tokens."
The plastic creature's limbs began breaking off, migrating to the other empty monster zones on Yugi's field. Once they had all gotten there, each limb and the remaining torso began to grow out the rest of its body until five miniature copies of the original now peppered Yugi's field (1000/1500) (x5).
"Then, I'll sacrifice three of them," continued Yugi, his voice remaining even.
The Block Tokens that occupied the middle three monster zones on his field transformed into spheres of light, then shooting up into the massive hole in the ceiling that had been created earlier in the duel by Slifer. A gigantic column of golden light shot down in their place, at first taking up almost the entirety of Yugi's available field before slowly narrowing to begin revealing the creature within it.
First came giant blue wings flaring out on either side, then a giant and muscular upper body. The arms that followed were almost as wide as the torso, framed with spiked plates on its shoulders. Similar spikes adorned the sides of its relatively small head (compared to the rest of its body), which also had a blue-encrusted gem set into its forehead directly above its cold unforgiving red eyes.
"I summon Obelisk the Tormentor (4000/4000)!" breathed Yugi.
Pharaoh took an involuntary step back, staring at the newly arrived titan in complete shock.
"How… how…? One time may have been a miracle, but twice? Unthinkable," he mumbled, before shaking his head and snarling in contempt. "It doesn't matter. Even if the Gods debased themselves by obeying someone as pitiful as you, I still have my Gods… And that includes Dreadroot, who weakens Obelisk by fifty percent!"
He wasn't wrong. Dreadroot roared at Obelisk and glowed with his sinister black aura once again, as the opposing God's strength dropped precipitously (2000/2000).
Unlike the other monsters in play, however, Obelisk did not cower. In fact, he only seemed to get angrier, letting out an even louder roar in response and stamping his foot into the ground, generating tremors that rocked the entire room.
"It does matter," responded Yugi calmly. "Don't forget, Obelisk has a special ability too, just like Dreadroot… And I'm in the perfect position to take advantage of it."
Pharaoh's eyes widened as the God leaned down and grasped the remaining two Block Tokens in each gigantic fist, both of which started glowing almost immediately. The Tokens more or less evaporated into tendrils of energy, both of which ascended up to Obelisk's head, being absorbed into it and causing his eyes to glow an even deeper red.
"I sacrifice my two remaining Block Tokens to Obelisk in order to have him destroy all monsters on your field," declared Yugi, before dropping his voice and continuing, "and deal you four thousand points of damage."
Obelisk roared and clenched his fists, taking another earth-shaking step across the field.
"This duel is over. SOUL ENERGY MAX!"
The immense divine soldier crossed the field in two more giant steps, drawing a glowing fist back and then swinging it directly at Dreadroot as soon as it had closed the gap between them.
The Wicked God roared and tried to set up a defense by crossing its bony arms over itself, but Obelisk's fist crashed right through these effortlessly, burying itself in Dreadroot's chest before punching out the other end.
Dreadroot then exploded, first sending out a shockwave that shattered the Jester on Pharaoh's field, and then causing the entire field to be covered in smoke, obscuring all visibility before Yugi could see the shockwave continue on to hit Pharaoh himself.
He exhaled and then continued panting, the exertion of summoning a second God card through sheer will taking its toll on him. Yet, it was worth it… The duel was over, he had won.
He turned around to smile at Tea, expecting his Duel Disk to power down… but then he caught a look at the life-point counters.
(Pharaoh: 1500, Yugi: 1700)
"What?!" he exclaimed, whirling back around to face his opponent.
The smoke had now cleared, to reveal his opponent down on one knee. It was the first time Pharaoh had been visibly affected by an attack during the duel. His field was empty, and Obelisk still stood towering before him (4000/4000).
He didn't answer Yugi's question right away, breathing heavily while slowly getting to his feet.
"You won't be rid of me so easily, aibou," he stated quietly. "I activated my facedown trap card, Damage Translation. This will cut all effect damage I receive this turn in half, and also summons one Ghost Token (0/0) to my field in defense mode. In addition, the destruction of my Legion the Field Jester allows me to add one spellcaster type monster from my deck to my hand."
At this, a purple spectral figure materialized on his field. It was fairly translucent with no features besides three circles that represented two eyes and a mouth, with its body tapering down to a wispy tail.
Yugi simply stared at his opponent and the new arrival on his field, his breathing still labored. A mildly helpless look was on his face, clearly having victory snatched from him when it was so close was taking a toll.
"Come now, aibou, don't tell me you're scared of continuing. The tables have turned now; you're the one with a God card in play and I am comparatively defenseless," taunted Pharaoh. "Are you afraid that having now wasted two chances at victory you won't get a third?"
Yugi continued to stare, before finally speaking quietly.
"Fine. I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Pharaoh drew, bringing his hand size to six.
"I activate Multiply, which will generate four more Ghost Tokens to fill my field," he declared.
At these words, four more identical ghostly forms materialized on his field, filling every last one of his monster zones.
"That will end my turn."
Yugi's vision blurred momentarily, and he felt himself almost stagger forward.
"This… This is taking far more effort than I thought. How did Atem manage to summon all three Gods at once during our duel?"
Shaking his head, he got himself to focus.
"At this point I'm pretty sure he has a third Wicked God card and I have no doubt he plans to use these Tokens as tributes to bring it out. I… I need to end this quickly."
He plucked a card out of his hand and placed it onto his Duel Disk.
"I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) in attack mode."
A pale droid appeared on his field next to Obelisk. Its head and limbs were literally just yellow spheres, with the hands being tipped with magnets that seemed to fill the function of fingers. Another magnet adorned its head.
"Obelisk, Beta, attack two of his Tokens!"
The towering blue giant let out a low snarl before raising an open palm and pointing it at one of the specters. A pulsating shockwave issued forth, shattering one of the ghosts into its composite atoms. Meanwhile, the android followed it up by sending out pulses of his own from the magnets on his hands, destroying another one.
"My turn is over."
Pharaoh drew, and an another malicious grin spread across his face: this one probably the most unpleasant one yet.
"This turn, you and your God will fall, aibou."
Yugi raised his eyebrows, and began to open his mouth to respond, but he was cut off as his opponent continued, "I sacrifice all three of my Tokens."
Yugi's eyes widened. "He's drawn it…!"
One by one, the trio of ghosts vanished into sparkles of light that traveled up through the hole in the ceiling, going far beyond where the eye could see.
As Yugi's eyes tracked their departure, he realized something else was happening in the sky. He hadn't realized it before this, but since he had summoned Slifer and broken through the ceiling, the sun had been shining down on them through said opening. Now, however, this was changing. A large black sphere seemed to be moving in front of the sun and obscuring the path that its light would otherwise take down to them on the ground.
Soon, only a glowing red corona was visible around the object that was eclipsing it, leaving the room half-lit at best.
"What's going on?" managed Yugi, his mouth dry.
Pharaoh glanced at him before sneering, "Just wait."
Then, the object began to get bigger. At first, it seemed to completely blot out the sun, but then light began to peek through again. Yet, the sphere kept getting bigger. Yugi realized then what was happening: it was descending.
And descend it did: soon it was low enough that the sun was completely visible again, and not long after it had made its way through the hole in the ceiling, coming to a rest on Pharaoh's field. It really was simply a huge and black sphere, perfectly smooth all over with no abrasions visible whatsoever.
"Witness the third and most powerful of my Wicked Gods… Wicked God – Avatar (?/?)," announced Pharaoh.
Yugi stared at it uneasily, and Obelisk roared a challenge, clenching its fists by its side.
"It's attack points are undetermined…" he observed.
"Very astute of you, aibou," mocked Pharaoh. "Let's see how Avatar will choose to change that, shall we?"
As he spoke, the sphere on his field began to warp. Though seemingly made out of a rock solid material, it was melting and reshaping itself as if it was composed of some sort of dark goo. It began to grow, especially in height, and began to take on a very vaguely humanoid form.
Yugi widened his eyes as the process was completed. Standing on Pharaoh's field was an identical copy of Obelisk the Tormentor, except black all over (4100/4100).
"How-…"
"Avatar copies your very soul and reveals the darkness within it," hissed Pharaoh. "He will mimic the strongest monster on the field and add one hundred points to its attack points."
"But that means…"
"Wicked God – Avatar will always be the strongest monster in play," finished Pharaoh with a cruel smirk.
He raised a finger, and pointed at Beta the Magnet Warrior.
"Not that it matters… Since the duel is ending right now. Wicked God – Avatar, attack his pitiful machine. Black Fist of Fate!"
The black titan took a single lumbering step forward, raising its gigantic right hand, before Yugi then reacted.
"Not so fast! I activate Shift, which will change the target of your attack from Beta to Obelisk!"
As if on cue, Avatar changed direction, drawing its fist back as it went. Obelisk roared and tried to prepare a counterattack of its own, but just as it had done to Dreadroot itself a couple of turns ago, the coming punch powered right through all defenses and out the other side of its back, resulting in a gigantic explosion that once again covered the field in smoke momentarily.
(Pharaoh: 1500, Yugi: 1600)
Yugi coughed hard, trying to peer through the chaos at Pharaoh's field.
Eventually, the smoke did clear, leaving a somewhat annoyed looking Pharaoh, who now had on his field a shadowy but otherwise identical copy of Beta the Magnet Warrior (1800/1800).
"It seems that Fate has seen it fit to grant you a lucky escape of your own for every time you blew a chance at victory," he sneered. "How odd that someone as perpetually weak and scared as you that he needs these constant reprieves is favored by the Egyptian Gods…"
He shook his head in apparent disgust. "Turn end."
Yugi drew, and closed his eyes again.
"His Wicked God will always be stronger than anything else I can summon, and it's also obviously immune to being taken out by card effects. There is only one way I can defeat it now…"
"I switch Beta to defense mode and place one card facedown. That ends my turn."
The yellow mechanized warrior dropped into a kneeling position, contrasted with the black one that glared at it from across the field.
Pharaoh drew.
"Again with the stall tactics, aibou? Are you hoping for a miracle to come save you once again? Avatar, crush those feeble hopes. Destroy his Magnet Warrior."
The Wicked God raised its hands and sent out a pulse of magnetic energy which shattered Beta into pixels upon impact. Yugi did not react.
In the meantime, Avatar warped back into the form of a giant black sphere that it had taken upon its first appearance (100/100).
"Go ahead your final move."
Yugi closed his eyes once more.
Behind his sealed eyelids, he could see himself in his mind's eye, standing first in the throne room, complete with the broken ceiling and Pharaoh, Tea and Avatar. Soon, all these were blacked out, until he was standing alone in pitch-darkness, staring at a spot on the ground ahead of him.
"I know I have no right to ask this of you," he whispered into the abyss, not taking his eyes of the arbitrary point he had fixed his gaze on. "But please… Help me just once more. Do it in his memory."
Hundreds of feet above him, a pair of crimson slit-like eyes opened in the dark.
He opened his eyes, took a short breath, composed himself and slid the top card off his deck. This time, it unleashed the largest pulse yet of any card that had been drawn during the duel.
Pharaoh's eye twitched, before snapping, "Of course, only someone as wretched as you would need to rely on this many acts of divine providence to make it through a duel. Only this time you will be unable to summon it as you have no tributes to offer."
Yugi did not respond, and simply slid another card into his Duel Disk.
"I activate Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw three cards before then discarding two."
He then did so. One of the cards he discarded was the one he had just drawn.
"Then I activate Monster Reborn… And I'll summon The Winged Dragon of Ra (0/0)."
The sun above them flared, and the entire field was consumed in blinding light. Several heavy thuds were heard. It seemed that the remainder of the sandstone blocks that made up the ceiling had fallen to the ground, leaving them completely exposed to the sky.
As the light dimmed, a colossal divine dragon could be seen descending from the heavens. The metallic, golden-armored icon flapped its blade-like wings caused gales to rip through the remnants of the throne room. The light disappeared, leaving the brilliant creature to float down at its own pace. It seemed to cast judgment on all before its harsh crimson eyes, while a blue gem was set into its forehead.
As the magnificent yet terrifying creature fully came into view, Avatar had gone through yet another metamorphosis, this time into a black version of the deity opposite it (100/100).
"You-… you…" rasped Pharaoh hoarsely, scarcely able to grasp that the Sun God of Egypt had deigned to answer Yugi's call for help.
Yugi's breathing was labored. Summoning Slifer and Obelisk were both taxing enough, but Ra was taking a different kind of toll on him both mentally and physically.
Steeling himself, he managed, "I pay one thousand life-points. Activate Ra's special ability: Egyptian God Phoenix."
At that, the golden dragon literally caught fire. The flames spread across its entire body, obscuring every last metallic scale as it took the form of a massive phoenix.
"Destroy his Avatar," gasped Yugi, every second Ra spent in play draining him.
The Sun God drifted across the field, clashing with the shadowy version of its original form. Avatar roared and attempted to resist, but soon it was set ablaze as well. The flames spread rapidly, and then it was suddenly as if a flip was switched, and it simply exploded.
This was without a doubt the most devastating detonation of the entire duel so far. The shockwave erupted out in all directions, knocking all three of Pharaoh, Yugi and Tea off their feet. It continued on and flattened the walls surrounding them, reducing what was left of the throne room to rubble.
The three individuals remained prone as the structure around them finished crumbling and the smoke began to clear. Pharaoh's field was now empty, and Ra in its God Phoenix form had returned to Yugi's: though having been special summoned from the graveyard, it would return there at the end of the turn, leaving neither duelist with any more divine cards to play.
Tea was the first to get to her feet; being the furthest from the epicenter the shockwave took the least toll on her.
She looked at her friend in concern, who was now on his hands and knees, his bangs obscuring his eyes while he seemed to be breathing heavily.
Her instinct was to go to him, but years of experience had taught her that you never interfered in a duel of this magnitude when magic of any sort was afoot.
She was about to call his name when he finally struggled to a standing position. Meanwhile, Pharaoh did the same on the other side.
The two stood unmoving momentarily on the remaining patches of sandstone under them, surrounded by the open desert on all sides, before Yugi finally began to reach for another card in his hand.
Gods or no Gods, they still had a duel to finish.
(Pharaoh: 1500, Yugi: 600)
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Well, that was quicker than usual, but I definitely wanted to make up for the recent longer updates. It does help that duels that center largely around boss monsters do tend to write themselves to a certain extent.
This chapter was also sort of an indirect tribute to my earlier works, particularly Advent of Power and the plotline revolving around my own dark Gods. In that story I made up my own three dark Egyptian Gods, now I realize that the Wicked Gods are the PERFECT counterparts to Slifer, Obelisk and Ra, so I decided to rectify that by giving us a proper theomachy (literally means a war between gods) between the two sets here.
Next chapter will provide the climax for this, making this the first three-parter duel of the story. I hope to have that done by early next month, and then after that… Well, I won't say more on that front but we will be VERY much into the endgame.
Guest: Err, I'm glad! I hope this one does as well.
Galaxyquest240: I am glad that you enjoyed it! And yes, that was exactly what I was going for with how I wrote Pharaoh. I read somewhere that Atem was originally supposed to end up being the villain of the whole series (and apparently Kaiba was supposed to take him down?), so I figured why not expand on that what-if in my own writing. Plus I definitely wanted someone to use the Wicked Gods since I did them dirty in my old writing, and he is just a great choice. As for the other minor characters: they may get cameos later on but they're not going to be at the heart of this story.
ChroniclerDL: Haha, I love that you're so put off with Pharaoh because that's exactly the point. Just imagine someone internalizing the idea that they represent the will of the literal Gods on Earth and no one can challenge their authority. That person is most definitely going to lose their marbles a bit.
Reaver72: Glad you agree on the Sylar vs. Joey thing. In hindsight the stuff I had planned for Kaiba in Nightrise was INSANE, dude was going to get more screentime than the rest of the cast combined almost XD. Definitely going with a much more balanced approach in this fic and making sure to give every character his or her due. I think you'll enjoy how I proceed with the Yugi/Tea/Pharaoh thing as well!
Well, that's it for now folks. Like I said, I hope to keep this momentum going and give you guys the next one in a similar timeframe. Until then, please do review! Every bit of feedback helps me, as it does most writers!