Welcome to another chapter of this story written by Raydark and myself. That little interlude is now over and we're back to another duel! Nick vs Daiyu! Can our Slifer Red Hero stand up against the might of a Blue-Eyes Deck? Hm… I suppose there's only one way to find out. And always, thanks to our beta, Eneko95, for all her hard work keeping this madness legible.
Chapter 27
Showdown of Twilight
Part I
Duel Arena
Nick - 8000
Daiyu - 8000
Both drew their hand and looked up to where the screen was just as their partners did before.
This time, when the selection stopped, it was Daiyu's photo that was highlighted.
"I'll be sure to make this quick," Daiyu snarled as she looked over her cards and began her turn. "I'll set these two face down and then summon Maiden with Eyes of Blue (1/0/0) to the field in attack position."
Two cards materialized on the field before her, followed by a pale woman with floor-length white hair and striking blue eyes. She wore a simple beige dress with silver dragon designs, a serene smile, and as the cherry on top silver bracelets with embedded sapphires. Many of the guys in the audience (including one or two of Nick's friends) openly stared at the Maiden. Some even wolf-whistled, earning them annoyed glares from their female compatriots.
"Alright then, my move," he remarked while drawing. If her sister's deck and those stats are any indication, this monster's got some effect that helps her summon her dragon, Nick thought. Better get it out of the way quickly.
"I also play a card face down on the field and activate my continuous spell Black Whirlwind," the red-haired teen declared.
The card and a swirling black portal appeared on the field almost simultaneously.
"Tch… a swarming deck," Daiyu spat, clearly annoyed.
"Correct. I'll show you how it works by summoning Blackwing - Pinaki The Waxing Moon (3/1200/1000) in attack mode."
A three-foot-tall, vaguely humanoid bird flapped onto the field. Its body was cloaked in black feathers, though it wore a blue vest and a white turban with two red feathers sticking out of one side. It also clutched a bow in one wing and held a red feather-shaped arrow in the other.
When it appeared, the portal glowed as a black gust of wind circled around Pinaki, releasing a small blue-black feather that floated toward Nick's disk.
"Whenever I Normal Summon any Blackwing monster, I can add another one to my hand from my deck as long as it has fewer attack points than the first monster."
Pinaki's shed feather vanished into the duel disk, which ejected a single card with a beep. Nick grabbed it and showed it to Daiyu while the deck shuffled itself.
"So I'll be adding Blackwing - Steam The Cloak (3/800/1200) to my hand."
Daiyu sighed. "Those birds are going to be a real pain to deal with."
"Wanna see it firsthand? Go, Pinaki, take down her maiden!"
The monster chirped and flew upward, lining up the shot with his feather arrow towards the maiden, pulling it on the bow. He then released the feather as it glowed with a dark aura, nearing its target at high speeds. The Maiden's face contorted in horror, but just as she fell to her knees—
"I activate my Maiden's effect!" Daiyu called out.
The monster closed her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer. Just before Pinaki's arrow (and its aura) connected, a blinding white aura emerged from the Maiden and completely dissolved it.
"When my monster is targeted by an attack, I can change her battle position and negate your attack," Daiyu continued. "In addition, I can special summon one of the great beasts I have in my deck, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon! (8/3000/2500)"
There was a roar as the Maiden's aura grew several stories taller and took the shape of a dragon, before separating from her body altogether and solidifying.
Blue-Eyes flexed its massive wings and roared again, so fiercely that it actually shook the arena seats like the bass at a rock concert. Many of the students audibly gasped at the dragon's power and majestic appearance—pure white scales, claws and teeth that meant business, and of course its trademark eyes.
Even the Headmasters were taken by what was going on.
"Holy hell!" Laura cried.
"This… this is some serious presence from one of the legendary monsters," Takashi added with some sweat going down his face.
"Things are looking really bad for him…" Erhard added in shock.
"And this is only the second turn of the duel!" Sera exclaimed.
Atsuko simply stared at the monster with her jaw wide open.
The red-haired duelist's breathing was shaking due to him feeling the intense presence so closely.
Geez, even this thing's presence makes it hard to breathe. I'm not sure if I'm more scared or excited, thought Nick.
"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle," Daiyu quoted. "Not to get ahead of myself, but you're clearly terrified of my dragon, yes? I won't hold it against you if you concede the fight."
Nick heard what she said and snapped out of his trance, taking a quick deep breath and smacked his cheeks, composing himself before continuing his turn.
"Alright, since I have a single Blackwing monster on my field, this allows me to Special Summon my Blackwing - Gladius The Midnight Sun (3/800/1500) from my hand in defense mode."
Another black whirlwind appeared on the field as a new humanoid crow emerged from it. Gladius was a sharp contrast to Pinaki—almost twice as tall, with a long red crest and light blue wings where Pinaki's feathers were black all around. It bore two short swords that looked like oversized blow darts (thanks in part to the red feathers on their hilts) and a shining breastplate with prominent pauldrons.
"That ends my turn."
The blue-haired teen chuckled mockingly as she drew. "I think a moment such as this merits some background music. Specifically The Melody of Awakening Dragon."
When the card appeared, the Maiden stood up and began singing, creating a calming aura around herself and the arena. Many of the students were captivated by the tone, a few even fell asleep from it.
"By discarding a card from my hand, I can add up to two Dragon monsters from my deck to my hand, so long as they have 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defense points."
She sent one card to the graveyard and then pulled two cards from her deck.
"So I add Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon (8/3000/2500) and another Blue-Eyes White Dragon to my hand."
After she showed him the dragons and added the cards to her hand, her graveyard started glowing. "Step two; The White Stone of Legend (1/300/250)'s effect activates," she continued. "This lets me add my other Blue-Eyes to my hand since I sent it to the graveyard."
Her duel disk ejected a single card with a beep, and she added it to her hand.
"And this in turn lets me do something extra-special; By revealing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can now special summon Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon to the field!"
What looked like a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon spirit appeared on the field, but as it solidified it seemed to grow a few extra spikes on its body and two long teeth on the sides of its mouth.
Aside from the spikes, which everyone now saw formed a coat of armor around it, the main difference between the two dragons was the network of glowing blue lines crisscrossing Alternative's body. Its scales were closer to silver than the original's bluish-white ones.
Alternative roared proudly, sending even stronger vibrations through the arena. Quite a few more people audibly gasped this time around.
"You like that, huh? Well, you're gonna love this one! I tune together my level one Maiden with my level eight Blue-Eyes White Dragon, allowing me to Synchro Summon my level nine Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon (9/2500/3000)!"
The maiden glowed as she floated upward, exploding into three rings of light that surrounded the dragon behind her.
Then the three rings turned into a massive pillar of light that engulfed the dragon. When the light faded, a shimmering white dragon with golden claws stood next to Alternative. As the name implied, its scales were translucent, which gave it an almost ghostly appearance.
The audience gasped a third time, this time because of the dragons' sheer beauty.
"Prepare yourself! Go, Alternative, destroy his worthless pigeon with Blue Lightning!"
It opened its mouth and reared back slightly, gathering bright white energy around.
The force behind it sent shockwaves rippling across the entire arena, showing how powerful it truly was.
"I'm not going down that easily! I reveal my facedown, Black Sonic!"
On Nick's side of the field, his trap card flipped up, causing a tear in space to appear and disperse the attack before it hit Gladius. "Thanks to this card, when you declared an attack on one of my Blackwings, I'm able to stop it and also remove from play every monster that's in attack mode on your side of the field."
Daiyu and the rest of West Academy gasped in shock when they heard that.
The tear opened a little wider, and both white dragons suddenly moved across the field without actually moving any limbs. Alternative even roared in surprise.
"I activate my Spirit Dragon's effect!" Daiyu called out. "By tributing this monster, I can special summon another of my Light Synchro Dragons from my extra deck in defense position!" "You're kidding me!" Nick remarked in surprise.
Spirit Dragon's body exploded into a glowing portal even as Alternative continued to slide towards the tear.
"Come on out, Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon (9/2500/3000)!" she continued. "My monsters aren't going out any easier than you said you would." The new dragon appeared less scaled, with white-blue skin and metallic looking silver scales. It had spikes growing out of strategic places across its body, all of which were the same golden color as its claws and fangs, and glowing blue eyes. The dragon settled into a protective position around Daiyu.
"That's a pretty cool effect. Too bad you said yourself it only works once; Alternative still gets removed from play." The dragon roared as it was sucked into the tear, disappearing along with it.
Daiyu grabbed her Alternative Dragon and placed it into her deck case.
"All you've done is delay the inevitable," she remarked in annoyance. "I'll activate Call of the Haunted to bring back one of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons and end my turn."
The trap appeared in a flash of light, returning the mighty beast back onto the field.
"My draw," her opponent said. "You're not the only one who can pull off a Synchro Summon, especially when my Pinaki is a tuner monster."
A lot of people, especially Nick's friends knew what was about to happen.
"Now, I tune together my level three Pinaki with my level three Gladius in order to Synchro Summon my level six Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight! (6/2400/1600)"
Pinaki flew upward and, like the Maiden, turned himself into three rings of light that enveloped Gladius. A pillar of black light erupted from the bird and shot right into the ceiling, which began to turn itself into a star-studded night sky.
The audience's general response was an awestruck "Wow…"
Then the light faded away, revealing a new bird monster descending to the field. Unlike Pinaki or Gladius, Nothung was more humanoid than bird; it had a bird's head, legs, and a massive pair of black wings, but the rest of it was just a very dark human body. It wore black pants and elaborate shoulder armor, along with golden wrist guards, a belt and what looked like a golden collar around its neck. Red eyes stared at the dragons without a trace of fear, and it held a silver and blue greatsword in one hand.
Daiyu snickered. "You expect me to believe some muscle-bound birdman can stand up to my dragons?"
"He may not seem like much, but he's got some tricks up his wings. First, because I Special Summoned him to the field, I deal 800 points of direct damage."
The winged beast lifted his sword upward as the gems on it began glowing one by one until the last, causing a beam of light to be shot upward to the lights above them. In seconds, multiple fragments of a star came crashing down like a meteor shower, hitting Daiyu directly.
Nick - 8000
Daiyu - (8000 - 7200)
"Next, his second effect allows me to reduce your Blue-Eyes' attack and defense points by 800 each."
Daiyu's eyes widened when she heard that news.
Nothung pointed his sword right at the dragon's neck. The gems on the blade lit up in the same order, and he released another beam of light that struck it dead on.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500 - 2200/1700)
The dragon's lustrous scales began to dim and parts of it seemed to rot off its body.
"I think it's time that dragon went back to where it was. Go, Nothung! Show her what you've got with Cosmic Slash!"
Like before, the gems on the winged beast's blade glowed until a rainbow aura surrounded it, allowing the monster to fly upward and attempt to strike from above.
"I will not allow it! I activate the trap Storming Mirror Force!" Daiyu countered. "This forces all your attack position monsters back to your hand."
The wind kicked up, causing swirling clouds to block out Nothung from view. When the wind died down and the clouds dispersed, Nick's monster was nowhere to be seen.
With it gone, the starlights above soon disappeared, leaving only the normal stage lights back. "Man, this duel is intense, neither of them are backing down," Laura remarked with awe. "I can only imagine how it'll end," Takashi added.
"Y-yeah, especially with Nick having the advantage in life points," Atsuko stuttered.
"But that's something that can change in the blink of an eye," Sera pointed out.
"You mean like how Barclay turned things around in his duel?" Erhard asked.
All of them nodded as they kept their attention to the duel.
"I'll finish my turn by placing a monster face down in defense mode and one more card facedown," Nick said as the two card appeared on the floor. "Before your turn can start however, I activate the effect of my Pinaki." Nick opened his right hand as a single red feather appeared and soon disappeared when he placed it on top of his duel disk. "Whenever it's sent to the graveyard and my turn ends, I can add any Blackwing monster from my deck to my hand," the red-haired teen added.
A single card came out as he took it and revealed it to her.
"So my Blackwing - Kris The Crack of Dawn (4/1900/300) joins my flock."
"Not that it'll matter," Daiyu said as she drew her next card. "I'll start by sacrificing my two monsters to summon another Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
"Wait, why would you give up those two just for a normal Blue-Eyes?" Nick asked.
"Next, I activate the spell Return of the Dragon Lords," she continued, ignoring Nick's question. "This allows me to special summon a level seven or eight Dragon from my graveyard. So, welcome back Blue-Eyes."
A statue of a Dragon emerged on the field, causing a portal to open underneath it and making it disappear. Soon after, Blue-Eyes White Dragon emerged from the portal.
This is starting to get really repetitive… Barclay thought.
"Now, destroy that facedown monster with White Lightning!"
Blue-Eyes soon condensed energy into its mouth, releasing it with its trademark roar as the blast was heading right for the facedown card.
The card flipped itself up to reveal Steam The Cloak, which was promptly destroyed in a flash of light and a small explosion. Then, to some mild confusion in the audience, the steam clouds left behind from the explosion coalesced into a small, vaguely humanoid monster with orange and grey goggles.
"Surprised? Steam's effect allows me to special summon a Steam Token if it's ever removed from the field. Getting zapped by your dragon definitely counts."
Steam Token (1/100/100)
"So you have managed to protect your life points just a little bit longer," Daiyu said as her second dragon scattered the steam to the winds with a simple flap of its wings. "Well, I suppose my turn is over for now."
Nick drew his next card and made a face. Crap…am I even gonna be able to win this thing?
Though his thoughts were interrupted by an invisible clawed hand that found its way on his shoulder, making him turn slightly to see Blackwing Armor Master looking at him. He gave his partner a thumbs up, making Nick smile as he nodded back.
"It's time for me to take this duel to the next level, and it starts with me summoning my Kris in attack mode," Nick declared.
A tall, humanoid bird flapped onto the field, its blue-black feathers standing out as brighter than most of the other monsters Nick had summoned. It wore a red and gold vest, a white sash around its waist, holding a red loincloth up with gold designs. The feathers on its forearms gave the impression of detached sleeves and it seemed to be wearing some sort of bird-like mask on its face and clutched a serpent blade in one hand.
"Don't forget, my Black Whirlwind is still in play, which means now I can add another Blackwing to my hand." \ "I knew those birds would get annoying in a hurry," Daiyu sighed.
Soon enough, another black gust of wind circled Kris as another orb of light floated to the duel disk and entered it.
"This time, I'm adding my Blackwing - Kalut The Moonshadow (3/1400/1000) to my hand. Next, because I have a Blackwing on my field, I can Special Summon another Gladius to the field in defense mode."
Once again, the monster appeared in the same manner and held its defense up.
Daiyu laughed. "It's cute how you think just putting more pigeons on the field will protect your Life Points."
"You may think they're pigeons, but it's time I show you what they can really do! I activate the effect of my Steam from my graveyard; Once per duel, by sacrificing any Blackwing monster on the field, I'm allowed to bring it back to the field."
Steam soon surrounded Gladius as it disappeared, making room for Cloak as it was placed in defense mode.
"Oh yeah and I forgot to mention, Cloak is also a tuner monster. So now I tune together my level four Kris with my level three Steam in order to Synchro Summon my partner, Blackwing Armor Master! (7/2500/1500)"
Like before, the three black rings surrounded Kris as the black pillar of light erupted from the ground.
When it faded, the new monster slowly floated down until it landed on the ground.
It was a muscular humanoid clad in black armor with a large pair of wings on the back. Red designs stretched across the armor, blue orbs sat at the end of each "feather" of the wings. A red orb sat in the middle of the face, surrounded by silver beak-like face-guard. The creature's gauntlets and greaves gave the impression of talons.
"Lucky him, summoning his Spirit Partner," Barclay muttered. "Wonder how that'll affect the duel?"
"Like your armored beast will pose any threat to my dragons." Daiyu laughed mockingly.
"Before we continue, the effect of Steam activates once again, allowing me to summon another token onto the field," Nick added as another steam token appeared on the field in defense mode. "Alright BM, it's time to show her what you can really do, attack her Blue-Eyes!" Everyone in the group gasped by what they heard.
Armor Master spread its wings wide as it flapped them and took to the sky, stopping in mid-air as a black aura surrounded him. He then quickly dived down towards one of Daiyu's Blue-eyes.
"Daiyu, don't get cocky. These guys aren't the type to take risks without something to help them," Mei muttered with worry. "Now I activate the special effect of Kalut from my hand; Whenever a Blackwing monster gets attacked or does the attacking, I discard him to add 1400 attack points to the monster of my choice, which would be my good old BM."
Kalut appeared as a spirit and quickly flew upward, heading right in the direction of its ally.
Both monsters nodded at the other as the spirit entered its body, causing his wings to glow brightly and generate a large aura around them.
Blackwing Armor Master (2500 - 3900)
"So your little birds can pack a little bit of a punch if they flock together," Daiyu muttered as she narrowed her eyes at the approaching monster.
"Now BM, destroy her Blue-Eyes with Black Force Impact!"
His monster covered his entire body in dark energy with the wings glowing as it collided with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Though instead of it disappearing, an aura surrounded the dragon.
"Nice try, Xiǎo niǎo," Daiyu smirked. "But my dragons are safe thanks to the effect of Return of the Dragon Lords; By banishing it from my graveyard, I can protect any dragon from being destroyed this turn."
"Maybe, but you still take damage regardless since my BM's attack points is higher than your Blue-Eyes," Nick replied.
The dark aura surrounded Armor Master flowed through Blue-eyes until it was shot directly at Daiyu, who took the hit and was knocked back.
Nick - 8000
Daiyu - (7200 - 6300)
"That's not all," Nick continued. "Whenever my BM attacks a monster and its still around, he can place a Wedge Counter on it."
Armor Master placed his hands together and pulled them apart, creating a black stone-like spike, grabbing it and throwing it at Blue-eyes as it pierced her.
"I'll explain what it can do later, for now I'm done. So, still think my flock is worthless?"
Everyone at the Central Academy side were cheering loudly at what had just happened, especially the group of friends among them. Laura cheered especially loud as she was enamored by him.
Though the celebration stopped when Daiyu slowly got back up, making everyone stop cheering as they felt a strong intimidation emanating from her.
"Oh, Xiǎo niǎo, you think you have this duel in the bag" Daiyu asked calmly as she drew her next card. "But here is the thing; You have not seen anything yet."
A chill ran up Nick's spine as he saw the look in her eyes.
"I sacrifice my two dragons to summon my third Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the field," she said.
"What? But why would you-" Nick stopped when he soon realized what was going on. "Oh, don't tell me…"
Daiyu smiled smugly. "Now you're catching on. I activate the card that will seal this duel and my victory, Dragon's Mirror."
The card appeared as it manifested a large mirror onto the field, showing the reflection of Nick and his field.
"By banishing the requisite monsters from my field or graveyard, I can summon my most powerful fusion monster!"
The two Blue-eyes in Daiyu's grave emerged onto the field, joining the third one as all three roared. Seconds later, the mirror started glowing as all three of the dragons were sucked into it in one swoop.
"Quake in terror in the face of Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! (12/4500/3800)"
The mirror cracked and exploded, creating a powerful shock-wave that caused everyone in the arena to put their arms up in defense, even the Head-Masters themselves.
When the smoke cleared, Nick's eyes widen in shock by the new beast that stood in front of him.
A massive, three-headed dragon oppressed the field with its presence. Its scales gleamed like polished white gold, rune-like designs appeared etched onto its body and blue energy pulsed throughout the creature's body. The feet looked like spears, the tips of its wings like daggers, the end of its tail thrashed like an axe.
"Now, Neo! Destroy his monster with Hyper Neutron Blast!" Daiyu shouted.
The three-headed dragon began charging its devastating attack before firing its triple beam of destruction. The blasts then fused into one moments before reaching Nick's side of the field.
Another Cliffhanger at the most crucial part, aren't we stinkers? Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see what happens next. Thank you all for reading and enjoying this chapter, I know our updates are a bit in flux, but we haven't given up on the series. Just bare with us and we'll post them when we can.
Translations:
Xiǎo niǎo - little bird/Birdie