As the semi-finals second match was underway, Raika and Cray went at each other with such tenacity. No matter what, neither side refused to back down. In the end, Raika was the one who won and every bit of Cray's power was drained away like everyone else. The only thing keeping him up was Cray's will, but there's nothing left in him now. Everyone, especially Kent, couldn't believe this happened.
"No! No! How could this have happened?!" Kent cried.
"I can't believe that even Cray lost." Henry said. Yukina was in shock herself. Cray was one of her fiercest rivals and yet he still lost. The only one who took pleasure in this was Raika as he was still radiating with dark power.
"Hahaha! Everything is going according to plan!" Raika said.
"According to plan?" Yukina said.
"From the very beginning, Duel Battlers was for me to steal so much power." Raika said. "The more power you give out, the more I steal! You and your friends grew stronger, but that meant you were giving me more power to steal! How ironic. The more you want to defeat me, the stronger you need to be to defeat me, the more power I can steal! Don't you see, Yukina? You've been helping me this whole time! You inspired your friends to fight to their full power, but all it's done is given me more power!"
"You've lost it!" Yukina called.
"It's not enough though! I want more! I want so much power that there'll be no one who can ever stop me!" Raika declared as he's going insane and wants even more power. "The finals will soon begin! That means it's going to be you and me Yukina! The moment we've both have been waiting for will soon be upon us, but your little power is nothing compared to mine! I've absorbed the power of so many!""
"Show's what you know! You stole all that power!" Yukina said. "Power that isn't yours can only take you so far! I have the power of so many as well because I know my friends have my back! That kind of power is shared! In fact, why wait?! Let's do it right now!"
"Calm down, Yukina!" Hana said.
"It wouldn't be a good idea to face him now." Sylvia said.
"You need to settle down and come up with some sort of strategy to beat him." Cindy said. "Otherwise, you're playing right into his hands." Yukina hated to admit it, but her friends were right.
"The finals will be tomorrow. I can't wait." Raika said. This is it. The two finalists of this tournament has been made.
"Well, you heard it all here folks. It's been one intense duel after another, where even the stadium fell apart." M.C. announced. "In the end, we have Yukina and Raika as the two finalists for our tournament. It's hard to say who will be the one that wins in the end, but these two rivals will face each in what is sure to be one heck of a duel."
...
Yukina's Friends
After what happened, everyone went back to the hotel they've all been staying at. Kent remained by Cray's side while everyone tried to let everything that happened settle in. Still, it was rather hard for all of them.
"I still can't get over what happened to Cray." Sylvia said.
"It's not just Cray. It happened to Sabaro, Felix, and everyone who faced Raika." Cindy said. "All of their energy has been stolen."
"And it just makes Raika even stronger." Henry said.
'It's my fault...' Yukina thought as she thought about how this all started. She knew what she was walking into, but she shouldn't have dragged her friends into it. It just helped Raika and that's the last thing he wanted. 'I knew this tournament was a trap, but I entered anyway. Why didn't I try to talk the rest of them out of this? Defeating Raika was my goal, but I shouldn't have dragged the rest of them into this?'
"Yukina..." Hana said as they all could tell what she was thinking. "Don't go thinking this is your fault. We all knew what we were getting into, but no prideful duelist could turn away from this opportunity."
"Hana's right. We all wanted to be here, but all of us became stronger because we met you." Sylvia said. "We all wanted to be here because we all chose to be here. It was also from meeting you that we were even able to make it this far when we probably couldn't before."
"We're all real grateful for all that you've done, Yukina, but it's also from meeting us that you probably grew stronger as well." Cindy said. "That's why we all know you can win this." All of them thought the same thing as they all knew Yukina had what it takes to win. Yukina greatly appreciated that because that shows she made great friends. All that's left is to wait for it to happen.
'It's almost time.' Taiyo thought as he waited outside the room. 'We'll see if Yukina really can defeat this evil. Teacher, let's hope your daughter really can.'
...
Raika
With the Black Ace falling apart, Raika stands alone now. Even so, he continues his thirst and desire for power. It's like an addiction that he just can't shake or control. As he stood at the top of the building, he can just imagine how the final battle is going to go.
"It's almost time, Yukina... The power will soon be mine!" Raika said as he laughed and will soon have all the power that could throw the world itself into chaos.
...
Yukina
The final battle drawing closer and closer made it difficult for Yukina to sleep. She made her way over to the arena to try and clear her head.
'Thanks, guys.' Yukina thought. 'However, I'm not going to let anyone else fall by Raika's hand. It was me he was after and I shouldn't have dragged the rest of you into this. We will fight together, but I have to go in alone.' Yukina wants to protect others, but she wants to take this on alone while taking the feelings of her friends with her. Yukina walked in to the arena and took around. This stage was suppose to be a fun tournament, but the Black Ace twisted it into something sinister. The destruction she saw was a sign of it.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Yukina looked down and saw Raika there like he was waiting for her.
"Raika!" Yukina said.
"I couldn't really sleep that much. The moment we've been waiting for is almost here." Raika said. "It's too bad that your father isn't here to see how badly you're going to fail." Hearing him talk about her father like that made Yukina angry, but she was keeping it under control. "It is pass midnight now. That means that it's the next day. We can start the duel right now. Why wait around any longer?"
"My thoughts exactly." Yukina said as she made her way down to the field. "I'm not just going to defeat you for myself. It's also going to be for Sabaro, Felix, and Cray. After what you did to them, I can't lose."
"That's probably what they thought, and look what happened to them." Raika taunted. "Still, I suppose I can share with you some good news just to assure that you will fight at full strength." That got Yukina to stop in her tracks. "If you actually manage to defeat me and Life Destroyer, all the energy we stole will be returned to those we took it from."
"All of it?! You mean Sabaro, Felix, Cray, and everyone else you completely drained will be returned to normal?" Yukina said.
"That's only assuming you can defeat me." Raika said. "You think you can duel with all that pressure on you?" This was actually the moment Yukina has been waiting for. Knowing what's on the line now, she can't afford to lose or turn back. She jumped right down and faced Raika.
"Bring it on, Raika! You said it yourself, "why wait around any longer". Let's go!" Yukina said as she got her duel disk ready.
"Not just yet. I've got something special just for you." Raika said as he snapped his fingers. Yukina felt the ground began to shake for some reason. Then, she noticed a set of railing appear around her and Raika. Just then, the ground rose right underneath them and it was going higher and higher.
"What is this?!" Yukina said as she was holding on to try and balance herself. The floor kept rising with it appearing to be a tower that became as tall as a skyscraper. "What's going on, Raika?! What is this thing?!"
"This is the sight for the real final battle!" Raika said. "A grand stage that's fitting for such an occasion, don't you think?!"
"A little much, but I suppose it doesn't matter where we duel as long as I beat you." Yukina said. "Come on, Raika! Let's settle things once and for all!"
"Gladly, and there is no escape for you this time!" Raika said. He got his duel disk ready himself. The time has come for these two to finally face each other. If Yukina doesn't stop Raika here and now, he and Life Destroyer could become all-powerful and there might be no one that can stop him.
"Let's duel!" Both of them said as the finals for Duel Battlers was finally beginning with 4000LP.
"I'm making the first move, Raika!" Yukina said as she went first. "I know just the card to start with! I'm activating Middle Man Cutout! With this spell card, all I have to do is send the top two cards in my deck to the graveyard! By doing so, I can summon any level seven or higher monster from my deck by negating it's special abilities and I can't attack with it!" She discarded her two cards and there was only one monster she wanted out. "I summon Wild Ally Phoenix!" She summoned out her phoenix right away as it flew out on the field with 2000def points.
"So you summoned you big chicken... Big deal. You just stripped it of all it's power and it can't attack." Raika said.
"I know it might seem like that, but I've got plans instore for my phoenix." Yukina said. "Take this for example! I'm activating my Aurora Curtain spell!" She said as an aurora formed around her phoenix. "As long as my phoenix is equipped with this spell, you can't target it with affects! That means you can't use Life Destroyer's ability against it!" Raika was a little irritated about that, but it's a minor hindrance to him. "Next, since I have an active spell card on the field, I'm now free to summon Wild Ally Leopard to the field!" She summoned out a new Wild Ally with it resembling a clouded leopard and had 2000atk points. "With that, I end my turn!"
"My turn!" Raika said as he drew his next card. "I'll start by summoning Malice Twins!" He said as he summoned a set of dark fiends with their tails intertwined and had 1800atk points. "Next, I activate Limit Disrupt! This allows me to tribute summon, and my twins can count as two monsters!" He claimed as he offered his twins with Yukina knowing what was going to come. "Rise, Malicious Fiend: Life Destroyer!" He called as it emerged. Life Destroyer stood on the field with 3000atk points. "Your phoenix might be safe because of your spell, but your leopard isn't! Life Destroyer, drain that cat's power!" Life Destroyer reached out for Yukina's leopard, but it jumped out of the way. "What?!"
"Not happening, Raika! My leopard's ability makes it so it can't be destroyed or be a target of an affect as long as there's a spell on my field!" Yukina said as that put a stop to his plans.
"But you can still take damage! Attack!" Raika called as Life Destroyer unleashed some of it's dark power and blasted her leopard with Yukina getting knocked back with her hitting the railing. Yukina still took damage as her life points dropped to 3000. "You like that? That's from the power I stole from your friends, and many more!"
"You might have stolen all that power, but I'm getting it all back!" Yukina said. "That power was never yours to begin with, so there's no way am I going to lose to it! You're not the only one who has power from others, Raika! My friends give me power, but they chose to share that power with me!"
"Blah, blah, blah. You can say that if it makes you feel stronger, but I'll show you what real power looks like." Raika claimed. "With that, I place one card facedown and that ends my turn!"
"My turn!" Yukina said as she drew her next card with her next card being her tortoise. "Time to kick it up a notch! I summon Wild Ally Tortoise to the field!" She summoned out her tortoise as it crawled out with 1000atk points. "Now, I tune my level three tortoise with my level seven phoenix!"
"A synchro summon? Bring it on." Raika said as he was excited about this. The synchro process started as her phoenix was being digitized and a beam shot through the ten circles.
"I synchro summon Wild Ally Star Phoenix!" Yukina called as her phoenix flew out on the field with it having 3300atk points. "When the monster equipped with Aurora Curtain leaves the field outside of battle, Aurora Curtain returns to my hand!" She said as she retook her card. "I'm also going to equip it now on to my Wild Ally Leopard to make it untouchable!" She claimed as she played the spell again, but it was on her leopard this time. "I activate Star Phoenix's ability! Life Destroyer's abilities are negated and all of it's attack points are added to mine!" She said as her phoenix grew stronger with 6300atk points. "Wild Ally Star Phoenix, attack with Wild Shooting Starlight!" Her phoenix flew up to the air as it gathered power and then dived straight down. Her phoenix smashed right into Life Destroyer and caused a large explosion. "That should do it! With my leopard, this is over!"
"Did you really think it would be that easy?!" Raika called. When the smoke cleared away, she saw that Life Destroyer was still standing. Yukina knew this wasn't going to be easy, but an attack like that and it was still standing? This might be even harder than Yukina thought.