Chapter 18: Ghosts in the Garden
After walking down two of the longest hallways Matt had ever seen outside of an airport terminal, he found himself in a courtyard somewhere in the middle of the hotel. It wasn't huge, but the square space was filled with trees, shrubs, bushes, and vines that fit the walls so perfectly they could have been designed and placed like leafy wallpaper. A cobblestone pathway circled a beautiful arrangement of flowers surrounding a tree so tall and wide that it was visible from outside the hotel and from the International Space Station. Its trunk looked like eight smaller trees were woven into a single-threaded trunk. Four metal benches were positioned around the path, each with a small plaque commemorating the name of someone rich or with rich friends. Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw someone sitting on the bench to his right. But when he turned to look, no one was there.
As Matt gazed toward the big tree, he relaxed his eyes. Almost like looking at a 3D image, he just let his eyes stop focusing on anything at all. He just zoned out, not sure how to explain the feeling of calm that came over him. When a moment passed, he could swear he saw someone again—multiple someones this time. He immediately flicked his eyes and focused on the bench opposite where he stood, but still no one was there.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Katerina had just walked out of the bushes with an unmarked canister of liquid and reacted with a start when she saw Matt standing there.
"I'm trying to do nothing," said Matt.
Katerina asked, "How's it going?"
"It's harder than I thought it would be." He refocused his eyes and looked to Katerina for information. "Is Melody around?"
She made a face. "Melody is the nutritionist. Why look for her in the garden?"
"The concierge mentioned that she sometimes enhances the fertilizers with chemicals the same way she does the sports drinks and the alcohol. Apparently that means coming here because this giant tree uses up more fertilizer than the rest of the hotel gardens combined."
Katerina said, "She doesn't make alcohol in a chemistry lab."
"I'm willing to bet she does, even if it's not beer or wine. But that was a joke, not the point. I have a few questions for her."
"About what?"
Matt wasn't sure how open to be. Katerina didn't appear like the judgmental type, but how open-minded was she about the hotel being haunted?
"Stories," he said. He added, "About people who are generally invisible… until they aren't."
"She told you about the Great Cataclysm?" Katerina sounded surprised at first, but then her expression shifted. "Of course she did. That's her obsession."
"No. Melody mentioned spirits and imaginary space, but she never mentioned a cataclysm. I'm ninety-five percent sure I would remember that."
Her fair skin turned pink. "How much did she say?"
Matt kind of wished Katerina would just talk. It might be faster than trying to figure out where the story left off. But then again, Matt only had about thirty minutes until the next round started. Thankfully he ate already. "She told me that spirits reject the Collective Consciousness and wander imaginary space. Sometimes we can see them, but they can't interact with physical space."
Katerina nodded. "Spirits are tricky to see. Sometimes a person or an animal will appear just out of sight, only to disappear when you try to look at it. They're harmless."
"Because spirits can't interact with real space," said Matt. But Katerina was too slow to agree with him. "Right?"
"They're stuck in imaginary space," said Katerina. "They don't even know where they are. No higher thought or rationality. Just fear of losing themselves, which is how they lose themselves and become spiritual husks. They aren't even aware of real space."
"But sometimes they are."
She stepped back and held the canister in front of her as if shielding herself from Matt's words. "What do you mean?"
"The tournament here isn't just about a card game, is it? The hologram projectors seem to do something to the spirits. It's like they become more active when the projectors are on. Some of them sit down and watch the duels, so they're definitely aware." Something about Katerina's expression—trying hard to look blank but instead looking like he figured out her laptop pass code—made him add, "Unless they don't realize they're watching real space. Do holograms skirt the line between real space and imaginary space?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't study quantum physics."
"That's fair."
As Matt stared at the massive tree, he remembered something Melody had said: The Spiritual Realm was a tangle of spirituality from which all life fruited. Maybe she used different words, but her description was not entirely unlike a tree.
"Is it okay if I touch the tree?"
Katerina's expression turned to confusion. "Perhaps? No one said to keep you away from it."
"In the States, we just use signs that say 'Keep off the grass'." But Matt had to step off the paved sidewalk a few steps to reach the trunk. It was as wide around as a grain silo, like several water towers ran into each other too fast and got their posts tangled up.
The instant he touched it, Matt ceased to see the tree in front of him. Heat swelled around him as if he were suddenly engulfed by fire. The source blinded him with the light of the sun, and so he couldn't see anything more than a vague silhouette of a giant bird surrounded by light. Behind the light, Matt was blinded by infinite darkness. He barely noticed a vague shadow within the darkness, but he felt its magnitude was equal to that of the shining bird.
In between the light and the dark, two viscous spheres were pressing into each other. Particles from the white sphere traveled into the blue sphere, but there was some kind of leak that left blue particles drifting away until they turned black. The white sphere kept shrinking while the blue sphere stayed the same size, except the pressure from all the black particles pressed up against the blue sphere and made it leak faster. When the white sphere vanished, the black particles overwhelmed the blue sphere and it burst.
There was always a ten-minute break after the last duel for everyone to settle down, especially the last two duelists, whose heart rates were generally the highest in the room. It was also a chance to grab some water before the next round was announced. Bryan took the chance to dive over to Howard's seat.
"Hey, man. Congratulations on an amazing duel."
Howard smiled. "Thanks, but it was Darcy who did it."
"On stage, sure, but I'm certain that you're the one who put together the deck and taught her all those killer combos. It was obvious you'd be a master with The Wicked Avatar, but how'd you know how to combo it with Ra like that?"
"The Wicked Avatar is Ra's shadow form, so it just made sense they'd go together. Plus Ra can power up more easily than the other god cards, and The Wicked Avatar is always the strongest monster on the field. It just worked out."
Bryan said, "Congratulations either way. After a performance like that, I'm not looking forward to seeing Matt pitted against you. Or Darcy."
"First of all, he beat Fasheng! I would never have seen that coming in a hundred duels. So don't underestimate your friend there. Second of all, you're both still freshmen, so no matter what happens here, you're growing to do a lot more growing in your next five terms at Duel Academy—mark my words. But third of all, you never know what the next limitation will be. Maybe it will be something that leans in Matt's favor and Darcy struggles with."
"Like 'every card must mention Dark Magician'," Bryan joked.
Howard laughed. "Yeah-yeah, Matt wouldn't have any trouble with that."
They both noticed Leona reenter the ballroom on her way toward the stage. At the same time, Darcy put away her phone and returned to her seat. Bryan waved goodbye and hurried back to where Matt waited to hear the next round of limitations.
"The winning deck must deliver a One-Turn-Kill combination against your opponent." Leona supposedly described the next deck limitation, but Bryan felt like it was more akin to changing the rules. She continued, "Your Life Points do not matter and your opponent's Life Points do not matter. All that matters is that your cards inflict 8000 points of damage to your opponent in a single turn. You can deliver it all in one move or across a combination, but all the damage must be dealt in one turn."
Now the room was dead silent. Bryan was personally speechless at the idea that Matt had to finally make his Dark Magician OTK work if he wanted to win the duel.
"One twist to this round: If no one wins before one duelist decks out, then the duel will continue with the one player skipping his or her Draw Phase. If both players deck out and neither met the round requirements, then both duelists will be disqualified."
Now that only eight duelists remained, the noise in the ballroom was generally quieter, limited only to spectators discussing the next round, usually for just a few minutes before reverting to whatever small talk and personal stories they chose to tell about their lives. Of course, Bryan had to assume the content of their discussions since almost all of them were in non-English languages that he couldn't understand.
He looked to Matt, for once not feeling anxious at all. "Well, this shouldn't be that hard for you. Once again, the rules lean in a direction that you already have loads of experience with. You've actually been quite lucky so far."
"Being the one to knock Fasheng out of the tournament didn't feel lucky," said Matt.
"Lucky to win. I still think it was rigged so you'd have to duel against him. For all we know, you'll have to duel against Ash this turn. Might be worth going through the card library again to make sure you have absolutely all the best Dark Magician OTK cards ready to go."
Matt smirked. "And which ones are the best?"
"If you have to ask that question, you need time to study."
He sighed. "Walked into that one. My deck is fine, but I'll take another look just to put you at ease. Then I need to go find that Melody lady."
"Who's Melody? Wait, the nutritionist lady from the fitness center? Why do you need to find her?"
"I have a lot of questions about these roaming spirits, like why they react so strongly to the god cards—even when these are literally fake god cards."
"You know you only have an hour between duels, right?"
He scoffed. "I ask her a couple of questions, she spends fifteen minutes answering very slowly because of her age, then boom! I'm right back here for the next round. I'll even go set up my deck first to make sure it's ready."
While he waited for Matt to put together his Dark Magician OTK, Bryan texted the Guardians group chat.
"next round is mandatory otk like nothing win except otk"
"is that possible for heros"
Matt interrupted his train of thought to say, "Dude. Use any punctuation at all. Even wrong punctuation is easier to read than no punctuation."
But at least the others knew what he was saying.
Justin: "Elemental Hero Sunrise. Two heroes for Sunrise, Miracle Fusion for Shining, instant OTK"
"Justin only does minimal punctuation," said Bryan.
"But he separates each thought."
"I'm just typing quickly."
"And gaining what? What do you do with all that time you save?" Bryan ignored him and looked back at the chat room.
Erica: "You have every virtual card available, right? Use Masked Heroes!"
Dave: "She's right. While you can use everything, try the stuff you might actually be able to find."
All three of them were up really early in the day. Between their family vacations and their own extracurricular duel activities, a few of the Guardians tended to be awake at odd hours. In Justin's case, turned out he really was a night owl, pulling regular all-nighters. (He often responded to Bryan's texts at eight o'clock in Italy, which was closer to two o'clock for Justin.)
"There we go," said Matt. "Deck is ready for the next duel. Time to go find a spirit watcher."
"Bad ass. Can I play around with the app while you go?"
Matt shrugged. "I don't mind. I'll leave the Duel Disk with you and meet you in the ballroom in thirty minutes."
"Awesome!" While Matt left the room, Bryan strapped the Duel Disk to his wrist, struck several poses, took a few selfies, and then got to work researching Elemental Heroes capable of pulling off a one-turn kill. Sunrise looked really strong because of its ability to instantly draw Miracle Fusion. Plus Sunrise gave every Hero an extra 200 attack points per elemental on the field. If Bryan could somehow manage to combine Sunrise with Elemental Hero Electrum, that's 1000 points per Hero because Electrum counts as four different elements!
Not only that. The Masked Heroes had a lot of quick-play spells as their support. After watching a couple of videos and reading up on their potential combos, Bryan learned that he would essentially be able to have any Hero on the field to attack, then use a Mask Change card to swap that Hero for a Masked Hero while still in the Battle Phase, so he'd be able to attack twice. It didn't seem like it would be all that hard to set up enough Mask combos to deal 8000 points of damage in a turn.
Before long, Bryan realized it was almost time for the next round. Matt still hadn't texted, so Bryan sent a quick note reminding him about the start time and saying he'd head straight to the ballroom with the Duel Disk. He was a bit concerned when he didn't see Matt anywhere among the crowd, but his duel was scheduled to be last in the round, so technically Matt had a little longer before he was absolutely required to show up.
Bryan was too antsy to sit down and wait, though. He texted Matt twice more before he decided that he needed to call. The phone rang four times, which wasn't surprising. Matt considered a voice call to be the last resort, only used when texting would take too long. But if Matt wasn't willing to text even a simple "omw", then Bryan knew a verbal conversation was warranted.
What he didn't expect was for a woman to answer the phone. "Hello? Matthew Luther's phone. Who is this?"
"Um. I'm Bryan. Who is this? Why do you have my friend's phone?"
"Oh, Bryan! Your name showed up as Hoff on the screen. Why does Matt call you that?"
The voice sounded just familiar enough. "Katerina?"
"Yes!"
"Where's Matt? He went looking for Melody a half hour ago and never came back. The next round of the tournament is starting."
She said, "Yes. Matt is with the doctor."
"The Doctor? Isn't he British? Or Scottish? Or Welsh? What are we on now?"
"Um, no, she's Italian. Matt passed out in the courtyard, so we took him to see Dr. Hilde."
Bryan nearly shouted, "What!" He almost didn't even notice how much attention he drew to himself, but he had the wherewithal to turn around and step into the hallway. "Do I need to come see him?"
"No. Hilde says he looks fine. Blood pressure was a little low, but it's better now."
"Well, what happened?"
She hesitated. "He…? Might have had a reaction to the Spirit Tree."
Bryan's turn to be silent, but not out of hesitation. He just needed a beat to understand the words she used. "The Spirit Tree? It's like a tree ghost?"
"No, it's just a focal point between the realms. We think its energy might have overwhelmed him." Extra voices behind the phone sounded like they reprimanded her, but the words were in Italian. "No one told to stop him from touching it, so it's not really my fault."
Bryan said, "Okay, it's no one's fault. But what about the tournament? Is Matt going to be okay in time to duel?"
After a brief pause, Katerina said, "She says probably not. But Hilde told Vidya already. She should be coming to see you."
"What difference does that make? If Matt's not able to duel, then he'll be disqualified."
"I don't think so. Can't you duel for him?"
"Me?" Bryan laughed an overloud, nervous laugh. "I mean…" He forced another loud laugh. A few people in the hallway started smiling and laughing to themselves, probably thinking he was just a crazy American teenager.
That's when Vidya appeared in the hallway out of nowhere, like a ghost or a cartoon character. It was the first time Bryan saw her away from Leona's side. Vidya wore the same formal business attire as usual. Bryan started to put the phone away, but then he caught himself and said, "Vidya's here. I gotta go" before he hung up. He asked the assistant, "What happened to Matt?"
Vidya had a pleasant smile as she answered. "According to Hilde, his system was overwhelmed and he temporarily lost consciousness. Possibly exacerbated by exhaustion. He will recover directly. Please make sure you are prepared to take his place in the tournament."
"I'm his… What? Why would I duel when Matt's the one you invited?"
"We invited both of you. Leona was hopeful this clause would not be invoked, but it appears that Matt is temporarily incapacitated, his adjunct is not, and you have his Duel Disk. You're even dressed the same. Half of the audience won't notice the difference."
"And the other half?"
"Won't mind because this clause is included in the tournament guidelines. In the unfortunate case a duelist is unable to duel directly, their adjunct may duel in their place. The exception is available to every participant only in the scenario where their health prevents direct participation. Matt is actively unconscious, pardon the oxymoron, and so the provision takes effect."
Bryan shook his head. Vidya spoke even more primly than Matt did. "I can't duel."
"You appear able."
He pointed inside the ballroom. "I'm just a freshman. I'm not even good at it. Matt's dueling against Darcy Purves. Her adjunct is a Duel Academy graduate. Between them is fifty times my experience."
"Then think of the experience you will gain from this contest."
Bryan paused, genuinely stumped by that comment. "What if I lose? Matt doesn't get the chance to redo the duel or to move on to the next round, right?"
"Correct. Such a technicality does not exist. But think of it this way: Your experience might color your decisions, but you only ever duel one time. The first time you face Ms. Purves only happens once. If you agree to a rematch, that duel only happens once. What matters is what you learn from it."
Bryan felt sick to his stomach. Maybe it was butterflies, but they felt toxic. "This was supposed to be an easy round for Matt because he already uses an OTK deck."
"Then you must know his deck by now. I'm sure you'll deliver a splendid performance."
"That makes one of us."
Vidya stood straight, looking quite content. "You sound prepared. I've already alerted Ms. Moxley to the change for this round."
"When? Before you even told me I'd have to duel?"
"I knew you would want to support Mr. Luther during his recovery."
Bryan frowned. "Pretend a miracle happens and I win. Will Matt be better by the next round?"
"With time to spare."
"...Okay, I guess."
"Wonderful. Represent your friend with pride and you'll do well."
Hard to tell why he even asked that question when the odds of beating Darcy Purves were slim-to-none. She had proven herself more capable than even the odds makers knew as she wiped the floor with everyone she dueled so far. And what if she kept The Wicked Avatar in her deck? She made it 12,000 points-strong last time, which was easily worth a one-turn kill. Could he find a way to defend against that?
Ugh! Stop trying to anticipate the duel, he scolded himself. He needed to calm down and just wait until it was his turn to duel.
But he found he couldn't even focus on the tournament. The only thing he paid attention to was the Life Point counter as it tracked how quickly Bryan would be forced to duel in front of an international audience. And how he wasn't even close to Matt's level of skill. The tournament was already over in every way except that Life Point counter.
He really did try to stay positive, but he just couldn't do it by himself. And Matt wasn't here with him to cheer him on. And they were in a foreign country with no friends, except possibly Howard who was supporting his partner and Katerina who was taking care of Matt. Bryan's only other friend was his phone, where he let the Guardians know what misery was about to befall him.
Andy: "Matt will be okay, keep his duel disk warm"
Erica: "I agree. There's no problem here. Just go show everyone else what Duel Academy students are made of!"
Bryan: "my oponet graduted duel academy!"
Erica: "Didn't you say the graduate was just an assistant? He's not really dueling, so you still have the advantage."
Lucy: "What she said! You got this!"
Bryan appreciated the effort, but he could just see them all together, texting him positive comments and then frowning and shaking their heads to each other. Yeah, being good enough for Duel Academy meant he wasn't the bottom of the barrel, but he also wasn't ready for a tournament like this. Both those things could be true at the same time!
Lucy texted him directly, outside the group chat. "Are you okay?"
Part of him wanted to tell her, in unfiltered language, exactly how worried he was. But part of him also thought he shouldn't burden her with his stress. It was different to text a chat room of nine people to share your stress instead of just one person.
He settled for something in between. "im so stressed but ill live with the humiliation"
The response dots appeared immediately, but then they disappeared. It repeated a few more times as she probably tried to figure out what lie to use next. When the text finally came through, its length didn't match the time it took her to reply.
"Why?"
Why! What a ridiculous question. As if it weren't obvious to everyone why an amateur would be stressed out about a duel tournament.
Bryan: "what if i lose?"
Lucy: "Ok?"
Lucy: "What happens then?"
Bryan: "matts out of the tournament"
Lucy: "What happens if you don't duel?"
Bryan: "matt gets disqualified"
Lucy: "Which is worse?"
Bryan: "kinda the same thing"
Lucy: "So there's no down side to dueling. If you win, Matt can come back in the next round."
Lucy: "If not, you can both relax, watch some duels, and play with those video game cards"
Bryan: "but hed lose and its my fault"
Lucy: "Would Matt really blame you?"
Bryan: "ouch"
Lucy: "sad emoji You know what i mean."
Bryan: "im joking ur right hell says its fine"
Bryan: "i should just chill and let it go"
Lucy: "smiley face I agree."
All the time Lucy was trying to be logical, Erica kept suggesting Bryan had nothing to worry about. Andy's words only implied that Bryan could win, more concerned about making sure Matt and Bryan both stayed healthy and got home from Italy safely. When Justin chimed in, he mentioned that Bryan would have a chance to try out that magical E-Hero OTK he put together.
"Oh, shit," Bryan muttered, again quieting himself in case anyone else overheard. The one—one!—silver lining here was that Bryan had put together a deck of Hero cards and saved it to the Denkard app. Even if he would be forced to duel on Matt's behalf, he wasn't forced to use the Dark Magician.
Darcy gave Bryan the stink-eye as he paired the Duel Disk with the stage. Leona Moxley stepped in front of them to explain that Matt had fallen ill and was unable to duel on his own.
"It must be true," said Darcy. "I can't imagine you volunteered to duel against me in his place."
"Absolutely not," Bryan agreed. He selected the Sunrise OTK deck from the Denkard app.
"Too bad. But if Matt brought you as his backup, you must have similar talent. Would you agree?"
Bryan felt his heart stop, but only for less than a second. He wanted to admit that he was a bad duelist, but Vidya had told him to be proud. After a moment of hoping he wasn't sweating visibly, he chose a middle path: "There's no replacement for Matt, but I'm here to support him when he needs it." She didn't say anything back, but maybe that was Darcy showing a modicum of respect?
Darcy received the first turn. Bryan took a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever duel storm she was about to bring. "I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."
Bryan was shocked twice: First, that he wasn't destroyed by a first-turn kill combo, and second, that Darcy decided to leave the field clear. She might regret that decision because Bryan lucked out. Polymerization, Vyon, and Liquid Soldier all in his opening hand! With that setup, he barely even needed other cards.
"I'll start by summoning Vision Hero Vyon (4: 1000|1200)." A humanoid monster covered in blocky armor burst onto the field. Vyon pointed back at Bryan. "When he's summoned, I send one Hero from my deck to the Graveyard." He pulled the top glass card from the Duel Disk and used the arena console to label it as Avian before he discarded it. "Next I'll banish that Hero from the Graveyard so I can move Polymerization from the deck to my hand." Hey, a second Polymerization couldn't hurt! "Then I'll use Polymerization to fuse Vision Hero Vyon and Elemental Hero Liquid Soldier. That summons Elemental Hero Sunrise (7: 2500|1200)." He watched while energy swirled in front of him and produced a tall hero covered head-to-toe in red armor.
Darcy said, "I'll use Bottomless Trap Hole." A hole opened in the floor underneath Sunrise, and the hero disappeared from the field. The ace monster Bryan planned his entire combo around was gone from just a single card.
Additional effects triggered in the chain. Even while the trap swallowed Sunrise, the Hero's magical energy still drew Miracle Fusion to Bryan's hand. And Liquid Soldier's energy still released two cards from the top of Bryan's deck. But none of it mattered right then. Bryan had counted on Sunrise to be the cornerstone of his OTK combo. He placed another copy in his Extra Deck, so he could summon another with Miracle Fusion, but then he wouldn't have enough Heroes in the Graveyard to summon The Shining. Nothing else in his hand could make up for that shortfall.
So he wouldn't be getting his OTK set up on this turn. But should he summon The Shining anyway just so he didn't have an empty field? No, maybe his best bet was to wait and play the OTK all at once. That's what Cary always did, and obviously that's the same approach Darcy took.
"I guess that ends my turn," said Bryan.
Bryan: 3 cards, 8000 LP
Darcy: 4 cards, 8000 LP
From the look on Darcy's face, she found the card he wanted. "Since I've no monsters on my field, I can play Crimson Resonator (2: 800|300) for free." That was a weird way of saying the spooky hobbit with the horned helmet and the tuning fork was a Special Summon. "Now I summon Rescue Rabbit (4: 300|100). And I'll immediately use its effect to summon two Prevent Rat (4: 500|2000)." The rabbit with the first aid hard hat appeared and then disappeared, replaced by two beasts that looked like the offspring of a rat and an armadillo. The Crimson Resonator suddenly banged the tuning fork. A moment later, all three monsters faded and began to merge. "I Synchro Summon the card Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons (10: 4000|4000)."
The monster that emerged took up Darcy's entire field. It was a black serpent that had two additional serpents growing out of its head… like a three-headed snake, except the biggest head doubled as its body. Bryan couldn't quite explain it. He might have tried except he was focused on the dragon's attack points. Both heads snapped down hard right on top of Bryan.
"Nice of you to let me attack directly," said Darcy. "Too bad my power boosters are not ready yet. I should have plenty of time, though. Beelzeus can't be destroyed in battle or by card effects. I'll end my turn for now."
Bryan: 3 cards, 4000 LP
Darcy: 3 cards, 8000 LP
For a moment, Bryan couldn't stop staring at the insane power level of the dragon in front of him. Was that a card Darcy always used? Or was that like the god cards—something she only had access to because of the Denkard Dueling app? Bryan regretted the fact that he didn't try copying Dave's Exodia deck. How was he supposed to beat a monster as powerful as Obelisk the Tormentor?
Oh, god! Bryan didn't even think about the rules of the tournament. It was bad enough Darcy's monster was going to destroy every monster Bryan tried to play, but there was no way for Bryan to strike the field hard enough to deal 8000 points of damage with Beelzeus in the way! Meanwhile, Darcy just needed any card capable of doubling her monster's attack points and BOOM! Instant 8000 points of damage.
Bryan knew he couldn't do it. This tournament was more than he was capable of. He wanted to be there when Matt couldn't be, but he just couldn't keep up.
He looked away for a moment and caught Vidya looking at him. She must feel stupid by now, letting a loser like him duel on Matt's behalf. That must be her what a loser smile. Leona was also smiling, or maybe smirking was more accurate. It was the same expression Matt always wore when he dueled. He never cared about the odds. He just played.
It was an oversimplified way of thinking, but it helped Bryan to catch his breath again. If he was so obviously outmatched, why not just sit back and play the game like Matt would? What was the worst that could happen at this point?
"I'll set one monster and end my turn."
Darcy scoffed when she drew. Like the game bored her. "I'll play Gold Sarcophagus." A long, ornate coffin appeared on his field. The lid slid open, a card fell inside, and the lid closed. "I'll use it to banish Twin Swords of Flashing Light – Tryce."
"What does that do?" asked Bryan.
The only reply was a smirk. "I'll also play Dark Hole." A black hole appeared in the middle of the field. The gravitational pull was so powerful that Bryan's monster couldn't hold its place in the field. But Beelzeus remained motionless. That massive dragon was immune to destruction effects. That meant Dark Hole wasn't a mutual destruction card like it normally would be. With a flippant tone, Darcy added, "Now I'll take away the rest of your Life Points." Beelzeus landed an electrifying triple attack. Bryan slumped backward as his Life Point counter dropped all the way to 0.
Bryan sighed. "Well, that was kind of expected."
Except their Duel Disks didn't shut down. Beelzeus and the Gold Sarcophagus remained on the field.
"What is this?" asked Darcy.
From the front row, Leona said, "Remember the Limitation rules for this round. Life Points don't matter. You only win when you deal 8000 points of damage in the same turn."
Life Points didn't matter? Holy shit! Bryan still had a chance! A goddamn long shot considering he was up against an indestructible dragon god, but it was still a chance. As long as he stopped Darcy from dealing 8000 points of damage, the duel would continue.
Bryan: 3 cards, 0 LP
Darcy: 2 cards, 8000 LP
Of course, Bryan couldn't use any card effects that required LP payment anymore. Premature Burial, A Hero Lives, everything similar was off the table. But Beelzeus only had 4000 points, and Darcy couldn't attack with other monsters while Beelzeus was on the field. That meant her Twin Swords card must be something that would let her monster attack twice. If she managed that, and she cleared Bryan's field again, then the duel was over.
Bryan wanted to get rid of the Gold Sarcophagus before its effect resolved. He had Stratos in his hand. Stratos had the ability to destroys Spell Cards, but only if there were already other Heroes on the field. Bryan didn't have a revival card with him. He just had Polymerization and Legacy of a Hero. The draw effect of the latter card would be great about now, but he'd need two Fusion Monsters in the Graveyard first. Thanks to Bottomless Trap Hole, he didn't even have one.
As he took a card from his deck, Bryan hoped for Sparkman or another light Hero. He wanted to fuse The Shining so he could pull his banished cards back. But he drew another Liquid Soldier instead. In theory, he could fuse Stratos and Liquid Hero into Absolute Zero… but that was dumb. Beelzeus was immune to Absolute Zero's destruction effect. What he really needed was something that was just-plain stronger than Beelzeus.
And he had one—only one—card like that. It meant going all in. Basically putting all his faith on one monster. The very idea made his heart race faster than his naked ex girlfriend ever did, but wasn't losing this tournament in a spectacular way better than losing with a full hand?
"I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4: 1800|300)." Bryan realized this was the first time he had ever seen Stratos life-size and so close. His technologically-enhanced Hero had more muscles than Bryan did. He was almost jealous. "Instead of his spell destruction effect, I'll use his other effect. It lets me pull another Liquid Soldier from my deck to my hand." Bryan's heart continued to race as he looked from Stratos to the two Liquid Heroes in his hand.
He crossed his fingers as he played, which made him almost drop Polymerization. "I fuse both Liquid Soldiers and Stratos into Vision Hero Trinity (8: 2500|2000)." This Hero was bulkier than Sunrise had been, though they both wore red armor. Trinity had a mask that looked like a three-pronged crown, and Bryan needed all three.
"First, Trinity's (+5000) attack points double during the turn he's Fusion Summoned. On top of that, both Liquid Soldiers were used for a Fusion Summon, which means I can draw four more cards." Four new cards gave him a much better set of options to choose from, including a card that made him giggle to himself. "Oh, man. I didn't even think of this until just now. I'm just going to play Miracle Fusion so I can fuse Stratos and Liquid Soldier into Elemental Hero Great Tornado (8: 2800|2200)." A powerful windstorm picked up on the field. Trinity was unfazed, but Beelzeus was buffeted viciously. Bryan's new Hero wore green and gold, plus a small cloak that billowed in the wind like a badass. Great Tornado made sure to point all the wind at Beelzeus. "This tornado effect makes Beelzeus (-2000) lose half its attack points."
Darcy frowned, but she still looked smug. "You won't be able to destroy my monster."
Bryan grinned. "Funnily enough, that's the only reason I'll win. So thank you. Trinity? You aren't allowed to attack my opponent directly, but you get to attack three times as long as there's a monster on the field to attack. Let's show Darcy the math." Trinity (5000) leaped into the air and body slammed Beelzeus (2000) as if the massive serpent were barely a worthy opponent. Unfortunately the holographic technology made Trinity just repeat that exact attack two more times. It would have been entertaining to watch Trinity vary the attacks, like grabbing Beelzeus by the tail and slamming it into the floor.
Bryan: 6 cards, 0 LP
Darcy: 2 cards, 0 LP
Bryan's heart nearly stopped again when Matt's name shone on the scoreboard and Darcy's name was the one that faded out. He won! Of course, he would have lost a normal duel, but somehow the unique nature of this particular tournament actually played out in his favor.
Darcy actually shook his hand. "I'm thoroughly impressed. I suppose Howard was wrong about Slifer Reds. Although there's room to question whether you should have truly lost this round, the fact remains that you put together a skillful one-turn kill—with Elemental Heroes, no less. Perhaps no Duel Academy students should be underestimated."
"How much of your deck was assembled by Howard? Do you think it's possible for me to beat him?"
"Make no mistake. Howard is my assistant. I am the duelist. Whether you could defeat him or win a rematch against me are mutually exclusive. Be proud of your performance here." She leaned in to whisper, "And maybe you should hope for Matt to heal up enough to win the next round more gracefully."
Bryan felt conflicted. He wanted to point out that he just executed a one-turn kill against her—that no matter how questionable the rules are, everyone in the tournament agreed to let Leona and her team set those rules. But Bryan also felt awkward arguing with an adult, and one as widely-known as Darcy Purves.
So he just nodded.
Vidya had said Matt would be fine before the next duel started. Bryan knew the right thing to do would be to go check on him. Then again, there was little more than an hour before the next round started, and Matt would need to have a deck ready.
So, there is an argument to be made here that forcing an OTK strategy to end the duel is actually a rules change and not a deck limitation. You can also argue (less convincingly) that OTKs, lockouts, etc. are deck strategies, and therefore it's valid to dictate that the limitation was not met unless you demonstrate said strategy. Ultimately, I don't care about this debate. I already argued with myself a whole bunch and decided that I enjoyed a scenario where Bryan found a loophole that let him continue on to win a duel where he was otherwise outclassed. (If you find it a struggle to square this circle, just pretend that the second attack never happened; the alternative is I would have made a rule that failure to use the OTK means both players lose.)
Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this loophole, and it's consistent with Bryan's personal dueling journey.