XXIX
Shinji was beginning to wish he'd brought his helmet.
When Jack had told him and his friends what to expect for a trip to the Fusion Dimension, he'd noted that this was not going to be a chance to show off how fast anyone's D-Wheel could be. Sand was no substitute for a good road when it came to burning rubber. So, with slower speeds and off-road conditions in mind, he'd decided to pack light.
But the thing about sand was that it knew how to pack light, too—or more accurately, to be lightly packed.
With the extent to which he'd had to evade and counter the Dragon Cannons he was facing, the Duel site he was in had been turned into a massive sandstorm. The air was so full of grit that neither he nor his opponents were wasting too much breath on words at the moment, and visibility was so close to zero that more than once, he'd had to swerve to avoid a collision course with the same monsters whose laser fire he was trying to dodge. Their controllers …
Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, Shinji thought, pursing his lips under the elbow that was keeping him from inhaling all this sand. Taking one of their helmets might help him see, and maybe even breathe. But he'd still had to resort to counting how many times they'd activated their cards before the offensive could be his to take once again—
He swerved right as a salvo of cannon fire ripped through the clouds of sand where he'd just been. Shinji did some mental math in his head for a few more dangerous seconds—and grinned. This was his chance.
"I activate the Spell Card: Bee Jewel of Rebirth!" His voice came out a little more muffled than he'd wished. Though the sandstorm was beginning to die down in the wake of him not having to dodge the Dragon Cannons any longer, the last thing he wanted to do was spend the rest of this Duel coughing out every other word. "This lets me target and Special Summon 1 Bee Force monster from my Graveyard! I revive my Twinbow—and then," he added, watching the double-stinger of his monster glint in the emerging sunlight (Level 3: ATK 1000/DEF 500), "I'll Tune it with my Level 5 Azusa!"
Azusa pointed her bow to the skies, and let fly with a glowing streak of an arrow that exploded into no less than five rings of light within seconds. By then, she'd spread her arms just enough for Twinbow to hook onto her shoulders, and carry her upward into the waiting rings—both monsters glinted with the light of the sun, and vanished—
"Synchro Summon!" Shinji yelled. "Level 8! Bee Force – Hama the Evil-Conquering Bow!"
The figure that soared onto the field an instant later was bigger than Azusa by half—and the dark green armor that plated him made him look bigger and broader still. Four wings beat a thunderous drone as Hama drew level with Shinji, unhooking a heavy-looking longbow and sighting an equally massive arrow (Level 8: ATK 2800/DEF 2000).
The Synchro Duelist suddenly spotted a glint of light off to his left, and bore down upon it with a renewed sense of vigor. He swiped it—and grinned when he saw what it was. "Action Card: Zero Penalty!" he cried. "I can target a monster my opponent controls, and make its ATK become zero!"
He pointed at the first Dragon Cannon in his field of vision—the same one whose effects he'd negated with Needle, he was pretty sure—and Hama strained his bowstring tighter. The arrow he had nocked began to sizzle with green lightning—a ring of energy ran along the length of the missile, infusing it with even more power as Shinji's chosen target erupted in a shower of sparks—
"Battle Phase!" He put on a burst of speed. "Hama, destroy XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"
The single arrow launched with all the force of an air-to-surface missile. Shinji saw a miniature sandstorm—paltry next to the one he'd been through just now—carried in the slipstream of Hama's attack. It struck—in the blink of an eye—the Dragon Cannon he'd singled out and weakened twice over. Then—WHAM—a molten hole had grown in its chest so quickly that if Shinji hadn't been watching the whole time, he'd never have seen what made it.
The explosion came just as quickly, cleaving the mechanical menace cleanly in two—and the shockwave promptly blew the soldier who'd Summoned it right off his feet. But Shinji was already moving, even before he'd seen the man's life gauge drop to 1000. There was still more he could do—if he was right, it just might be enough—
"Since my opponent took battle damage," he said, "I discard this Bee Force – Dart the Hunter from my hand, and use its effect to inflict damage to my opponent equal to the ATK of the monster it destroyed! And then"—he spared only a moment's pause to watch the luckless soldier throw caution to the wind and run, for all the good it would do him now—"since my Bee Force monster destroyed another monster by battle, I can activate the effect of Azusa, and Special Summon her from my Graveyard in Defense Position!"
He didn't waste a second glance on Dart's dark-red body, slicing over the desert like a particularly pissed-off hornet to pursue the soldier who had abandoned the Duel. It'd catch up with him soon enough. Right now, Shinji's focus was entirely on the slender form of Azusa, rising from the earth as if the very sand of the desert had brought her back to life (Level 5: ATK 2200/DEF 1600).
"Battle Phase, end," he declared. "And that activates my Hama's effect—if my opponent didn't take damage this Battle Phase, I can inflict 300 damage to my opponent for every Bee Force monster in my Graveyard! That's four monsters—for 1200 total damage!"
"Now wait just a minute!" That threw him for a moment. He hadn't heard any of the soldiers speak for some time, owing to the sandstorm their Duel had created. "Did you seriously just forget what you did—what, ten seconds ago?"
It was Shinji's turn to smirk. "Did you seriously just forget we're in a Battle Royale?"
He waited for the soldier's grin to vanish from his mouth. It didn't take long at all. "All of you are my opponents—and last I checked, I didn't damage any of you." His smirk grew wider. "Not yet."
He clicked his fingers, and Hama stretched his bowstring taut once more—dry-firing before any of the soldiers had thought to duck for cover. No streak of an arrow was to be seen; instead, a wave of energy seemed to come from the bow itself, washing over the battlefield and causing every soldier it struck to bend double.
One after another, Shinji watched their LP gauges drop to 2800—and then: "Azusa's second effect." He watched his other monster lift the bow in her hand, ready to dry-fire herself. "Once per turn, if my opponent takes effect damage from another Bee Force monster, I can inflict even more damage, equal to that monster's original ATK!"
He crossed his arms—and then, because he couldn't resist: "That's what you get for stirring up the hornets' nest!"
But the soldiers were too busy fleeing to hear him, let alone to care. Not that Shinji did. He gunned his engine … and Azusa let fly. The shockwave of energy was surprisingly strong for a monster of her Level—but then, Shinji reflected, as he watched it knock one soldier after the other ass-over-kettle with a detached sense of pleasure, bees were deceptive like that. It was never the one you needed to worry about—it was the hive it belonged to. To swat one away was to risk having to swat them all.
He'd yet to meet the human being, Top or otherwise, who was capable of that.
A muffled BOOM disturbed Shinji from his thoughts. He glanced to the north, where he thought the noise had come from, and felt his lips thin at the sight of Tony Simmons and Damon Lopez—framed by a dragon whose face looked like death, and a hulking mass of tentacles, flesh and slime.
And standing exactly where the soldiers Shinji had just defeated were sprinting to reinforce their comrades.
He cursed, and an instant later, his D-Wheel was in hot pursuit.
"Haruto-sama!"
"I see them." And indeed, the younger Tenjō had had his eye on the Duelists a hundred meters below them before Orbital 7 had taken the time to warn him. "Kaito—there's a pack of Ædonai breaking off from up ahead. They're heading for the eastern wall—that's Gauche's position! They'll overrun him if we don't do something now!"
His older brother needed only a second to look down before his face had turned stony. "Lock in."
"You heard him, Orbital 7—set us down!" The robot didn't need telling twice before Haruto saw the nozzles of its jetpacks unfolding at either end of his peripheral vision. He felt a long moment of weightlessness as his Solid Vision mount disappeared from beneath him, and then—WHOOM—they ignited with a suddenness that popped something in his back. Kaito, having no aero-assist mode of Orbital 7, simply hadn't even bothered—he'd leveled off along the desert, tucked, and rolled off his disappearing steed to land on the desert floor in a three-point stance.
The blue crescent blade of his custom-built Duel Disk had ignited before he'd even hit the ground—let alone before Haruto had had the chance to even get his bearings—and so Kaito had hollered out his challenge at no less than half a dozen soldiers before his little brother had even touched down. By the time Haruto had drawn his opening hand, Kaito's was already half gone: the six soldiers he'd forced into his Duel were staring down no less than three constructs, each shimmering with six wings of multicolored light (3 × Level 4: ATK 1400/DEF 1200).
"Cipher Wing's second effect!" Haruto barely heard him yell over Orbital 7's jet engines as they folded back into his backpack. "By Releasing it, I can increase the Levels of all other Cipher monsters I control by 4! And after that"—he shielded his eyes from the momentary glare as the Cipher Wing in the middle was vaporized in a trice—"I'll use my other two Cipher Wings to construct the Overlay Network!"
And with much more alacrity than Haruto could ever muster in his life—with or without his faithful robot buddy—both of Kaito's remaining monsters zipped upwards, consumed by golden light and sucked into the galaxy of color that had erupted above them both:
"Galaxy shining in the darkness, dwell in the demonic god of revenge and become my very servant!"
"Xyz Summon!" bellowed Kaito. "Descend! Rank 8! Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
Haruto's heart never failed to sing whenever he saw his brother's famous dragon, and this time was no exception. Spiked armor plates of red and blue coalesced around a luminous figure from head to tail, glowing brighter than the hottest stars in all the sky. Wings of armored gold unfurled, and hard-light membranes the size of houses streamed over their spikes. And with a final screeching cry, Cipher Dragon soared aloft in a heartbeat, bearing his brother aloft as though it had never left his side this whole time (Rank 8: ATK 3000/DEF 2500; ORU 2).
The six Ædonai, Haruto was pleased to see, had plainly not forgotten the memory of this monster, judging from the step backwards most of them had taken—but Kaito wasn't quite done yet. "Now, I'll take this Cipher Étranger in my hand," he declared, sliding another card out of his hand and onto his Duel Disk, "and use its effect to attach it to my Cipher Dragon as another Overlay Unit!" There was a brief flash of yellow light, and in the time it took Haruto to blink, the pair of orbs that circled around the dragon were joined by a third.
"One card face-down, and I end my turn!" Kaito crossed his arms as that face-down card faded from sight, looking every inch the ace Duelist of Heartland Duel School's Clover Branch, and—dared Haruto say it?—every inch the figure that had struck terror into Academia in the dark times of the Resistance.
"Over to you, little brother!" he called out. "Make them pay for what they did to Father!"
Haruto felt his free hand clench into a fist—willing the same desire for retribution that had once fueled his brother to invigorate his own frail body. It didn't take long.
"I Summon Overlay Sniper in Attack Position," he declared, placing a card on his magenta-edged crescent blade and watching a gray-armored soldier materialize in front of him. In one smooth movement, he cocked the immense laser rifle in his hands, and dropped to a knee to level it at the Ædonai that stared him down (Level 4: ATK 2000/DEF 0).
Haruto knew that his Sniper's effect changed it to Defense Position the moment he Normal Summoned it—but he wasn't all that worried. "Then, since I control a monster with at least 2000 ATK, I'll use the effect of this Overlay Booster"—he plucked another card from his hand, "to Special Summon him to my field in Defense Position!" And a crimson-armored figure dropped from the skies, alighting alongside the Sniper with barely a puff of sand displaced (Level 5: ATK 2000/DEF 0).
"And now," grinned Haruto, "I'll Release my Sniper and my Booster, and Summon this!" Before he'd even finished his sentence, let alone raised his third card aloft for all to see, a pair of explosions—BOOM and BOOM again—had engulfed both of his monsters, disintegrating them into particles finer than any grain of sand:
"Galaxy that lurks in the darkness," Haruto chanted. "become the light of hope and my very servant!"
"Descend now, my embodiment of light: my Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
He was faintly aware of the sunlight dimming around him—the first sign he knew his Summon had been a success. In the corner of his eye, Haruto could just barely see two of the four blood-red blades that swept above him, framing his shoulders like an extra pair of arms. The skies dimmed further, until it seemed like all light was being sucked into the embryo of the monster he'd conjured—
BANG. Only the quick thinking of Orbital 7 kept him where he was—the robot had anchored its legs into the sandy earth, just enough for Haruto to stay upright as his monster hatched and matured in the time it took to draw breath. He heard the click and clank of armored plates great and small, the shimmer of wings more luminous than the sun—and finally heard the roar of the Tenjō family's pride and joy as it rose into the air (Level 8: ATK 3000/DEF 2500).
Yes—it had not been his, in the beginning. Kaito had owned this monster once, and their father before him, just like every card in Haruto's Deck. Then he had come into his own in the Clover Branch, and made his own Deck to show just how far and away from all the rest of the Heartland Duel School he'd become. Much of the school had breathed a sigh of relief at this; even Kurosaki Shun, with all of his Raid Raptors, had confessed to feeling a shiver of dread at this Photon Dragon … and the knowledge of what it could do to the Xyz Dimension if it fell into the wrong hands.
That had nearly become a reality when Academia invaded Heartland itself. The notion of a Fusion Monster with the abilities of Photon Dragon had scared Dr. Tenjō so thoroughly that the first thing he'd done when word reached him was to seize it, gather up every card in the Deck he'd built around it, and lock them all away in a vault known only to him. He had vowed that any knowledge of its location would be taken to his grave—and that had nearly become a reality, too, when he and Haruto had been sealed years ago.
Both brothers knew the risk of taking this card to another dimension—especially one so hostile to Xyz as Fusion.
They also knew that the risk of losing Yuya and Yuzu to that dimension was greater by far.
Haruto pondered that as he eyed the final two cards in his hand. "I use the effect of this Photon Orbital," he finally decided, "to equip it from my hand or field to a Galaxy or Photon monster I control." He felt something shift in his backpack—and had only a second to brace himself before Orbital 7's arms sprouted from within, extended to many times their length, before they hooked onto his Photon Dragon and carried him up with it. "And then, any monster my Orbital is equipped to gains 500 ATK—and can't be destroyed by battle!"
It was a stopgap—certainly not a long-lasting one—and Haruto knew that, even as he took the last card in his hand and Set it to end his turn. By then, he'd clambered back onto his Photon Dragon's back with Orbital 7's help, and he felt the rumbling growl from his monster as its point gauge surged to 3500. The noise reassured him—he'd never felt comfortable expending so much of his hand so early. But that was the power of Dueling next to his big brother; Kaito, more than he ever could, embodied everything about what the Xyz Dimension was, both in its rise and its fall.
Yet even as he watched the Ædonai begin their turn, Haruto still heard the singing that buoyed his own heart.
Sawatari Shingo had only ever seen crocodiles in the Maiami City zoo before today. The last time he'd been there, he'd been all of six years old, already up to his father's chest in height—just small enough that he could've ridden the largest of them like a horse, and just young enough that it had taken both of his parents to dissuade him, telling him he'd be eaten in one bite before he could fit a leg over its scaly hide.
He wasn't so small now. Nor was he so young. But his standoff with Karen was dredging up those old memories against his will, turning him into that impressionable kindergartner again—all the sleepless nights he'd endured of being set upon in a swamp by a man-eating monster longer than his father's car. Not even the reassuring presence of Gongenzaka Noboru, standing firmly against his back like the wall he so often was in a Duel, could repress the shudders that wracked his skin by the second as the one-eyed reptile continued to circle them both.
"So who'll it be, mates?" her handler called out from behind them both. Shingo could almost imagine the smirk on Jim Cook's face as he watched the spectacle. "Karen never likes to dawdle 'round when I give her a treat! She likes 'em any shape an' size, too—big an' juicy like steak, or thin an' crispy like bacon!"
Shingo had just opened his mouth to defiantly tell Jim how he hoped the next piece of bacon either he or his pet ate would catch in their throats and make them choke to death. But he'd taken too long to craft his insult in his head—before he could get as far as "I hope", a horrible, strangled bellow had erupted in the distance, between him and the Ædonai forces that blocked all avenues of escape.
Noboru turned around so quickly that Shingo nearly fell to the desert in a heap. "What the devil was that?"
Not what—who. Shingo could have sworn that the noise he'd just heard was human—and getting closer, too.
"I SUMMON! DYNA BASE!"
Now it was the Ædonai who were turning round in confusion. Shingo had just enough time to take in that tiny detail before one of the smaller dunes in the distance suddenly exploded, displaced by a most bizarre-looking machine that could easily have crushed both his father's cars beneath it (Level 4: ATK 0/DEF 2100). One mechanical arm bore a grasping claw, another a crane and winch, and the square bulk to which both of them had been joined was encircled by a single tank tread that bore it straight for them.
Shingo felt the urge to cheer as his eyes made out Tyranno Kenzan, crouching on top of Dyna Base's crane-arm. But in less than a second, he'd felt that jubilation curdle in his stomach like long-expired milk: he'd just seen the terrifying look on the Fusion Duelist's face. The eyes that bugged out from his skull were no longer human; the ripping edges of his teeth were bared to a one, gnashed in a snarl of primal rage.
What the hell?
Tyranno dismounted from his monster with a flying leap. The sinews under his tanned skin were taut as cords, and strained from exertion. Shingo wondered with a shiver if the boy had been running after them this whole time.
"DYNA BASE EFFECT!" Tyranno growled, foam flying from his mouth. "I FUSE WITH ULTIMATE TYRANNO!" He plucked another card from his hand. "AND FUSION SUMMON DYNA TANK!"
BANG. The maddened Duelist didn't even flinch as a good chunk of the ground in front of him—and underneath a considerable fraction of the Ædonai regiment as well—erupted with all the explosive power of a depth charge in the open ocean. Dyna Tank was consumed in the morass of shifting sand instantly. Shingo could only guess how many Ædonai had gone down with it—but an instant later, he decided he was happier not knowing.
For a solid living wall of black armor plates, pebbled flesh, and wicked ivory claws had surged from the sand, fully ten meters high and longer from snout to tail. Shingo's breath caught in his throat as he took those claws in—each of them half his height and ready to tear through solid steel. Even as the bottom of the monster emerged—a metal mass of ripping edges and tank treads that snapped with lightning—all he could think about was being as far away from those claws as possible (Level 8: ATK ? » 3000/DEF 2100).
Shingo had to credit the Ædonai for reacting to this a lot more quickly than he ever could. The air was thick with dozens of Duel Disks igniting within ten seconds; almost as quickly, their ranks closed around Tyranno, boxing him in as thoroughly as they had with him and Noboru just minutes ago. The last he saw of the insane Duelist was his snarling face, defiant in the face of odds Shingo wouldn't dream of facing if he lived to be a hundred—
He blinked. He could have sworn he'd seen Tyranno wink at him.
And then, all too abruptly, he'd felt Noboru's spade of a hand seize his shoulder and spin him around. "The hell?"
But one look at the Steadfast Duelist's face squashed all notion of debate. "It is just as honorable to face many Duelists to save one, as facing one to save many." Noboru's voice was steely, and yet Shingo thought he saw a tear in his eye. "I, the man Gongenzaka, say that we respect Tyranno's noble wish, and Duel this savage together!"
His grey Duel Disk was already ablaze with orange light. "Come, then!" he rumbled at Jim Cook. "DUEL!"
Shingo, grinning, had echoed him less than a second later. His heart sang almost in harmony with the sizzle of the green blade against his arm. It wasn't long after that that he felt he could sing for real—the five cards of his opening hand couldn't have been better if he'd stacked his own Deck, like so many of these Ædonai seemed to do.
Only Jim looked strangely reluctant to start the Duel, even though his Duel Disk was still active. He'd grimaced at the cards in his hand—and then whistled a short, shrill note. In a trice, Karen waddled straight for him.
"'E up, girl," chirruped the Australian, shrugging off his backpack so that he could fit it around Karen's body. "Be a minute, boys—have to pass me turn, looks like."
Shingo felt something inside him go slack. "I—but—what, just like that?" he spluttered, hoping he'd misheard him. "You won't even play a single card?!"
"'F you wanna take care o' Karen, be my guest," Jim shot back. "This ornery little beastie waits for no Duel."
He scratched at the underside of Karen's scaly hide as he strapped her in, and the crocodile barked happily.
Shingo had to shake his head to rid himself of the absurdity of it all. "Oh—fine, then!" he seethed. "I'll go first!" And one flamboyant flourish later, a brace of cards were out of his hand and either end of his Duel Disk's blade.
"I'll use my Scale 1 Abyss Actor – Devil Heel and my Scale 8 Abyss Actor – Funky Comedian to Set the Pendulum Scale!" He spared a moment to watch the misshapen forms of his favorite monster duo rising into the air above him, in the corner of his eye. "And now, PENDULUM SUMMON! Starring my up-and-coming Abyss Actor – Dandy Bi-Player, and the main man of the hour: Abyss Actor – Big Star!"
Two tornadoes whirled out of thin air right in front of him: one light and rotund, another dark and thin, each of them slimming into a humanoid form in a matter of moments. Dandy Bi-Player was first to emerge; slightly taller than Shingo's own father, and only slightly thinner—but with much more impressive eyebrows and mustachios for it—the green-skinned man skidded to a halt with surprising spryness, and so suddenly that his top hat, as crimson as the waistcoat on his back, kept spinning atop his head for a moment longer before a snap of his fingers made it desist as if by magic (Level 2: ATK 700/DEF 700). By then, the much more imposing Big Star had drawn himself to his full eight-foot height, finishing his own entrance with a flick of pink hair, and an elegant bow that accented the strange spikes beneath his tuxedo (Level 7: ATK 2500/DEF 1800).
"Big Star's effect stops my opponent from activating Spells or Traps when it's Summoned," Shingo explained, "and its second effect lets me Set an Abyss Script Spell Card right from my Deck! And yeah, I'll have to send it to my Graveyard when I end my turn," he conceded with a shrug as he ejected his chosen card, "but I'm not going to wait that long—because this is just the opening act for the show of a lifetime! So I'll activate that Spell right now—my Abyss Script 'Dramatic Story'!"
He threw out his hand, and quick as that the dunes around him, Jim, and Noboru had begun shimmering almost out of existence. If he squinted, Shingo could still see the wall of the Ædonai's fortress through the misty mirage of the golden, gleaming ballroom that was unfolding before him. Spotlights, unseen from atop the rafters of the palatial space, swung their beams right where he stood—and he felt the illumination invigorate him even further.
Because: "By targeting an Abyss Actor monster I control," he crowed, "I can Special Summon a different one from my Deck, and either place that target in my Pendulum Zone or destroy it! So I'll target and destroy my Dandy Bi-Player"—who bounced into the air and off the field as if he'd suddenly become a balloon—"and Special Summon the leading lady of the hour: my Abyss Actor – Mellow Madonna!"
Scarcely were the sands settled from Dandy Bi-Player's exit-stage-left when a second ebon whirlwind had disturbed them again. This one was equally as tall and thin as that of Big Star, and indeed, the monster that emerged from it mere moments later looked as though she was born to be his co-star (Level 7: ATK 1800/DEF 2500). Her black dress was a thing of beauty, hugging her lavender skin at every curve, and the magenta hair that fell to her shoulders drank in the glare of the spotlights above until it glistened in the air.
And Shingo was quick to point out that it wasn't just some trick of the light. "Mellow Madonna's effect gives her an extra 100 ATK for every Abyss Script Spell Card in my Graveyard!" he said, watching his monster's point gauge jump to 1900. That she was in Defense Position made the change less obvious to the eyes, he suspected, but then special effects weren't everything in a theatrical production. Characters needed to change as frequently as sets did.
So he slipped the last card in his hand into his Duel Disk—"Turn end!"—and waited for that change of scenery and character to commence.
But Jim, though he'd finished playing with Karen and strapping her back on his back, still seemed to show next to no interest in the unfolding Duel, even as Noboru stepped forth to begin his turn. And yet, Shingo thought he saw something underneath those bandages, glowing brighter and brighter as the Australian's good eye roved back and forth between them …
Bolts of energy and lightning crisscrossed over Gauche's head in a searing web of light. His heart felt ready to toss itself out of his ribcage from the sheer amount of adrenaline that flooded his body. It reminded him far too much of the devastation at Heartland—the brief glimmer of hope where his comrades thought they'd beaten back Academia, only for the second wave to almost literally come down upon their heads.
That the tables had been turned was of surprisingly little comfort. Gauche knew the odds were still against them—against him as well, he amended, glancing at the 1000 LP left to him after the most recent shellacking that the Chaos Giants he was facing had forced him to endure. But he also knew that if the eastern wall of the Ædonai's fortress—less than fifty meters from where he stood—came down, those odds would start to get a lot more even. So he drew his card, knowing that this Duel was not the final blow of victory—but the first of many to follow.
"If only my opponent controls a monster," he began, plucking that card out of his hand—and two others with it—"I can Special Summon this Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd from my hand! Then, since that monster isn't Level 1, I can activate the effect of this Heroic Challenger – Knuckle Knife, and Special Summon it from my hand as well! And I can do the exact same thing with this Heroic Challenger — Morning Star, if I have at least two Warrior-Type monsters on my field! GO!"
Quicker than Gauche could find the words to tell, one—two—three fierce-looking fighters had erupted by his side: one, a figure in dark armor wielding a bladed lance half as high again as he was tall (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 200); his companion, a combination of dark and gold that might have resembled Rei's own Sparkman if it weren't for the heavy-looking knife that hung at its belt (Level 1: ATK 600/DEF 200); and behind them both, a warrior in silver and gold plate whose swinging spiked flail stirred up clouds of sand where it stood (Level 4: ATK 1500/DEF 1300).
"Since my Morning Star was Normal or Special Summoned," Gauche went on, ejecting a card from his Deck, "I can add a Heroic Spell or Trap from my Deck to my hand! I'll add Heroic Envoy"—he slid that card into his Duel Disk just as quickly as he'd found it—"which lets me add a Heroic monster from my Deck to my hand when I activate it! I add my Heroic Challenger – Thousand Blade, and then Summon it in Attack Position!"
The "thousand" blades appeared almost before the warrior who wielded them did; his silver armor was not so much strapped with them as they were encrusted on him, like crystal growths in a cave (Level 4: ATK 1300/DEF 1100). But scarcely had his hologram appeared in front of Gauche than he'd shifted his position, dropping to a knee and leaning on the long spear he held in his free hand.
"Since my Thousand Blade is in Attack Position," explained the Xyz user, "I can use its effect to Special Summon a Heroic monster from my Deck by discarding a card, and switching Thousand Blade to Defense Position!" He did so, ejecting another card from his Deck. "And I'll Summon my Heroic Challenger – War Hammer!"
The fifth monster to appear on his field was certainly the biggest of them: half as tall again as Gauche himself, with a horned helm that made him appear taller still (Level 6: ATK 2100/DEF 1300). "And finally, I activate the second effect of Knuckle Knife—by targeting another Warrior-Type monster I control, I can make its Level equal to that of Knuckle Knife, or the other way round! I target my Morning Star, and then make it Level 1!"
Knuckle Knife made a quick slashing movement through the air with his dagger. Morning Star's armor seemed to dim for only a moment; there was no other sign the effect had taken hold. But hold it did, and amidst his budding sense of triumph, Gauche paused to look at his field for a dangerous moment before he acted. "Now, I'll take my Level 1 Morning Star and Knuckle Knife, and my Level 4 Thousand Blade and Assault Halberd—and construct the Overlay Network not once, but twice!"
One—two—three—four monsters leapt into the air, until all that remained was his redoubtable War Hammer. Their armor flared with golden energy, glowing so brightly that it obscured their forms completely:
"Come forth, heroes sheathed in steel and tempered by fire! Shining lords who slash through all adversity!"
"Xyz Summon!" Gauche bellowed, feeling the fires of his resolve pumping through his heart. "Draw your steel! Rank 1: Heroic Champion – Járngreipr, and Rank 4: Heroic Champion – Claíomh Solais!"
The two warriors that landed either side of him in a three-point stance each had a pair of golden spheres revolving around their armor—but from there, all similarities ended. One was smaller than his War Hammer—though not by much—and carried no blade on his red-and-silver armor, or any weapon whatsoever save for the thick gauntlets that lined his forearms (Rank 1: ATK 700/DEF 1800; ORU 2). The other monster dwarfed Gauche in every conceivable way—twice as tall as he stood, and nearly three times as broad thanks to the gleaming, deep-gold armor that plated him head to toe. Both hands clasped a golden broadsword that no man could have lifted, never mind used in battle, whirling it round in a slow arc before bringing it point-up in a grand salute (Rank 4: ATK 2500/DEF 2000; ORU 2).
"Claíomh Solais' effect!" Gauche puffed out his chest, filling his lungs to make his voice as stentorian as possible. "While it remains on the field, no other monsters I control can be targeted for attacks! And to even those odds," he added, plucking another card from his hand, "I'll activate this Equip Spell: The Strongest Shield! Any Warrior-Type monster equipped with it gains DEF equal to its ATK while they're in Defense Position—and vice versa in Attack Position! So I'll equip it to Claíomh Solais!"
His golden monster's right forearm seemed to gleam even brighter for a few long moments. It flared—and suddenly solidified into a burnished shield of dark red metal, lined with spiky golden edges. Claíomh Solais flexed his arm experimentally, inspecting this new addition. Apparently he'd found it to his liking, if the satisfied grunt rumbling from beneath his helm—and his new point gauge of 4500 ATK—was anything to go by.
"Claíomh Solais' second effect! I can pay Life Points until I have only 500 left!" Gauche was inwardly grateful that only five soldiers had attempted to challenge him; any more than that would have been too close for comfort. "Then, since I have that much LP or less," he added, once his Duel Disk had finished cleaving his LP in twain, "I activate the second effect of the Heroic Call I discarded to activate my Thousand Blade's effect! By banishing it from my Graveyard, I can target a face-up monster I control, and make it gain 500 ATK for every Heroic card I not only control, but is attached to an Xyz Monster I control! I target my War Hammer!"
He heard a low hum, emanating from the two Overlay Units that revolved around both his Xyz Monsters. That hum soon turned into a growl as War Hammer shifted its battle stance, until the slashing edge of his hammer-axe seemed to gleam with more than just the sun, but with all the light with which his cohorts were brimming. Gauche briefly saw his monster's ATK gauge rise to a redoubtable 5600, but paid it little more attention.
Because: "Let me tell you something about fire," he said, grinning wickedly at the Ædonai who deserved every last tongue of it. "It doesn't just spread. It grows. The more ground you give it, the wider it spreads—but the more air you give it, the higher those flames become. It needs air to live. That's why every celebrity needs a crowd, on the Dueling field or off it—the cheers of the crowd are fuel for the flames that burn in every Duelist's heart! Spread them too fast, and they flame out. But give them enough air—enough fuel, enough cheers—and they'll get so fired up, they'll burn brighter than the sun!
"NOW! BATTLE PHASE!" Gauche thundered, feeling as though those flames could erupt from every pore in his skin. "War Hammer—Claíomh Solais! Destroy any Chaos Giant you wish!"
Then he waited for the protests. They weren't long in coming.
"But … but Chaos Giant has the same ATK as your Claíomh Solais!" the lead soldier howled at him, even as War Hammer hurtled for the iron giant on his immediate left, hobbling it at the knees with his hammer and impaling it through its cyclopean red eye with the spike on the other end moments later. "You'll just destroy them both!"
"Think so?" Gauche didn't say any more than that—he merely pointed to the point gauge of his Xyz Monster, now reading a monumental 9000—and looking like it wanted to shove every point of it down a Chaos Giant's throat.
He could pinpoint the moment that the lead soldier's heart dropped through his stomach and into his bowels. "That … that's impossible," he muttered. "Our Chaos Giants stop you from activating monster effects during the Battle Phase! And you haven't played any other cards that can do that to your monster's ATK—not even Action Cards!"
"Who said I did this during the Battle Phase?" Gauche guffawed. "My Claíomh Solais' second effect did more than just halve my Life Points—since you didn't argue about it at the time, that ensured it resolved at the very start of my Battle Phase—and doubled the ATK of a monster I control! Your Chaos Giants don't have an effect left to stop!"
Claíomh Solais hefted its brilliant blade high, brought it down—and charged with a mighty roar. "Cut him in two!" Gauche ordered at the top of his lungs. "Finishing Attack of the True Hope Sword!"
His monster did more than that, as it turned out. The edge of Claíomh Solais' golden sword went straight through the behemoth's armored torso with a single swipe, carving it in two at a diagonal. Both halves were carried by the shockwave that followed, careening into the wall of the Ædonai's fortress with a BOOM that carried over the desert like rolling thunder. The legs toppled into a parapet, reducing it to an avalanche of bricks and mortar that buried its luckless Summoner before his Duel Disk was half done sealing him into a card.
Gauche didn't stick around to find out if the lead soldier's card had survived the falling debris; the rest of the Chaos Giant his Xyz Monster had vanquished had landed against the same section of wall Kurosaki Shun had damaged earlier with his Revolution Falcon. The force of the impact had completely crushed the top half of the wall, and even collapsed a few levels directly beneath by the time the remains of the Solid Vision monstrosity had faded from sight. Gauche was sprinting there now, knowing that his Duel was only half done—and knowing that he needed to cause as much damage as possible for the Lancers to exploit.
Besides, he thought as he watched the rest of the Ædonai attempt to intercept him, those fires in his chest wouldn't be extinguished any time soon.
Gongenzaka Noboru, too, had heard the eastern wall's partial collapse, and needed every ounce of restraint he had to him to not break out in a gloating grin. But he still couldn't resist quipping at Jim Cook, "You need a new fortress."
Yet the Australian didn't seem all that bothered. He still continued to scratch Karen's side as though he'd forgotten he was even Dueling him and Shingo. But even though the crocodile on his back barked her pleasure, it was clear that Jim shared none of it. The grimace on his face was taking up more of his mouth by the minute.
Noboru wondered if maybe he'd bricked—if fate had dealt him a good hand, and Jim a bad one. So he'd decided to begin his own turn before he found out the hard way—but even so, years of being patient in his Steadfast training told him that no one was this nonchalant in a Duel … not unless they were that convinced they'd won it already.
So he—noble man that he was—decided it was high time to squash that arrogance under his heel.
"Gongenzaka—Sawatari!" Sora's voice blared from their Duel Disks just then. "Set up for an attack run! Black Wing's almost broken through the eastern wall. When it goes down, I want as many of us as we can to go through!"
"Little busy over here!" Shingo groused from beside Noboru. "Your buddy with the killer croc decided to meet us at the back door. And I don't think he and his friends will just let us go 'Waltzing Matilda' right into the place!"
"Tyranno can handle them," Sora said—and as if it lent weight to his point, the mingled roars of the maddened You Show Duelist and his Dyna Tank, still in the thick of the horde of Ædonai behind the pair, erupted in rage, sending a particularly unlucky soldier and his Dragon Cannon airborne with a single swipe. "He might even last long enough to help you. But you two cannot mess around—Jim's bite is a lot worse than his bark."
Noboru privately wondered if that expression was supposed to be the other way around. But a quick look at the dark shadow over Jim's eyes—bandaged or otherwise—made him reconsider.
Shingo, biting his lip, seemed to notice it too. "That's a copy," he muttered. "We'll meet up soon—if we don't end up gator chow first." He stole a quick look at Noboru to drive home the words he did not speak: finish this now.
He wasted little time. "I begin," he therefore said, "by discarding this Superheavy Samurai Bi-Q, which activates its effect and lets me add another Superheavy Samurai monster from my Deck to my hand if I have no Spells or Traps in my Graveyard. Then, for that same reason"—he slipped a card into his Duel Disk, swiped another from his Deck, and readied another pair in his hand—"I activate the effects of my Superheavy Samurai Hikya-Q and Nusu-10 in my hand, and Special Summon them both to my field in Defense Position!"
He stomped once with his right foot, drawing a wide arc in the desert floor with his sandal—and his two monsters surged forth an instant later, each as broad-shouldered and lanky as the other. Hikya-Q came first, scarlet-armored, spry, and skidding to Noboru's left via the tires that served as its feet (Level 5: ATK 1200/DEF 1800). Nusu-10 surfaced from the sand as if it had been there the whole time, crouching to its Summoner's left as if ready for the sprinter's gun (Level 10: ATK 1000/DEF 1000).
"Hot damn!" he heard Shingo cheer next to him. "I think I know what you're about to do, Gongenzaka—go on and use its effect!"
Noboru balked at this, wondering which of his monsters' effects he meant—he'd been on the verge of activating Hikya-Q's as it was. And yet—of course! he realized. I can use my other monster! He wondered if Shingo had been counting on Jim to do the same thing—though to what end, he could not say.
But a man was nothing if not trusting in his friends—and so: "Nusu-10's second effect!" the Steadfast Duelist cried. "By Releasing it, I can destroy a card in my opponent's Spell & Trap Zone, and then Set it to my field if I so desire! And there is only one such card I can destroy—"
"—my Spell Card: Abyss Script 'Romantic Terror'!" Shingo whooped in glee, watching the card he'd Set to end his turn get vaporized in a trice. "Which just so happens to have a second effect! When it's destroyed by an opponent's card effect while I have a face-up Abyss Actor Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck—and while it's still Set on my field—I'm able to Set as many Abyss Script Spells as I want straight from my Deck! And you better believe I'll be taking this show up to eleven! I Set five—count 'em all, folks—five Abyss Scripts!"
By then, Noboru's Nusu-10 had collapsed into just one more cloud of glittering sand, indistinguishable from the desert. But he paid this no mind—Shingo's twist in this Duel had made him eye every single one of the cards he had slid through his Duel Disk, shimmering in front of him one after the other before fading from view entirely.
Does he want me to … ? But he dispelled the thought. Trust in him, the man inside him continued to soothe.
Jim Cook, for his part, had tilted his head at this turn of events—the most interest he'd shown in the Duel yet. Why that was, Noboru wasn't sure. He pushed it out of his mind, and decided to adjust his strategy a little.
"Since I still have no Spells or Traps in my Graveyard," he continued, "I activate my Hikya-Q's second effect: by Releasing it, I can Special Summon up to 2 monsters from my hand to my opponent's field in Defense Position, and then draw that many cards as a result! I Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Sword-999 and Superheavy Samurai Waka-O2 to your field, Jim! For the noble Gongenzaka shall not sully his honor by overwhelming the defenseless—whether he deserves such defenses or not!"
Jim snorted. "Honor only gets you so far in the world, mate," he said. "It'll end yore bleedin' 'eart before I do."
If he wished to elaborate on that, Noboru's monsters didn't give him the chance. With one WHUMP after another, Hikya-Q had fallen to pieces, swallowed up by yet more sand—and a second pair of burly, bulky warriors plodded either side of the Australian: one in blood-red and iron-gray armor, deftly swinging a naginata in a wide arc (Level 3: ATK 1000/DEF 1800); the other, a deep and royal blue, raising the pile-drivers that served as its fists in a boxing stance with a grunt (Level 4: ATK 0/DEF 2000).
"I hope you know what you're doing," Shingo murmured next to him.
Noboru only tensed himself all the more. "You gave me the idea," he answered, drawing a brace of cards from his Deck. He checked them, and felt his heart rise in his breast. "And now—since my opponent controls at least two monsters, and I control none—I use the effect of this Superheavy Samurai TenB-N to Special Summon him to my field in Defense Position!" And a third metal man materialized right in front of him, vivid green to match the red and blue that stared him down, hefting a pair of scales over his armored neck (Level 4: ATK 800/DEF 1800).
"TenB-N's effect activates when it is Normal or Special Summoned," Noboru went on, "and lets me target 1 Level 4 or lower Superheavy Samurai monster in my Graveyard, then Special Summon it in Defense Position! I revive the Tuner monster Superheavy Samurai Bi-Q!" He'd barely managed to name the monster before the noise of a revving motor drowned him out; seconds later, a blocky, two-wheeled contraption—much more sturdy than the D-Wheel he had put to use in the Synchro Dimension (though not with the same paint job, he thought with a twitch in his jaw)—had burst out from a dune behind him, skidding to a halt beside his TenB-N (Level 2: ATK 800/DEF 1200).
"Now I Summon a second Tuner monster—my Superheavy Samurai Tama-C!" This newest monster was easily the smallest he'd brought out yet—squat, round, and hefting a spear that wasn't much taller than he was (Level 2: ATK 100/DEF 800). "Then I use its effect to target a monster my opponent controls that has a Level—and send both it and Tama-C to the Graveyard as material for a Synchro Summon! I therefore Tune the Level 2 Tama-C on my field with the Level 4 Waka-O2 on Jim's field! Opposition Synchro!"
And Noboru smirked—just like that, he had Jim's full attention at last. As the Australian tensed—watching the blue behemoth before him disintegrate into no less than four rippling orbs of light, the Steadfast Duelist now planted his left foot on the desert floor, bringing up another cloud of sand and digging another broad arc where he stood. But this proved short-lived: the gusts of wind that had risen around Tama-C as it shrank into a pair of bright green rings swiftly obliterated all trace of the furrow his sandal had left behind:
"Raise your war cry, divine ogre! Show yourself on this battlefield of hungry earth and blazing fire!"
"Synchro Summon!" Noboru cried. "Now depart for the front! Level 6! Superheavy God Oni Shutendō-G!"
THUD. Only his Steadfast training kept him where he was—though he did make a note to apologize to Shingo later on; the shockwave from his monster as it hit the field had catapulted the boy right off his feet with a yelp. From the dust cloud now swept a massive club, taller than any human being and nearly as thick around. The arm that hefted it was as big around as both of Noboru's together, and far too long for even the wide, crimson- and gold-plated torso it was attached to. But that didn't seem to hinder Shutendō-G in the slightest; it roared out at Jim and Karen as if in challenge, slamming its club upon the sand until the earth was shaking like a drum (Level 6: ATK 500/DEF 2500).
The Steadfast Duelist had to raise his voice to a bellow, just to be heard over the din. "Shutendō-G's effect activates when it is Synchro Summoned, and I have no Spells or Traps in my Graveyard," he shouted, as the quaking reached its crescendo, "and lets me destroy every single Spell and Trap on my opponent's field!"
"And ain't that just peachy?" He could tell Shingo had been holding this in for a while. "Because not only does all those cards power up my Mellow Madonna even more"—he paused just long enough to watch his monster toss her hair with a haughty sniff as her ATK gauge rose to 2400—"but every single one of the five cards I Set to my field with my 'Romantic Terror' also has a second effect that triggers exactly the same way! So grab a seat and enjoy the show, everyone—because the Ultimate Production of Sawatari Shingo is about to begin!"
He struck a pose as if spotlights were already beaming down upon him. "Presenting! Act One—the Abyss Script 'Opening Ceremony'—which lets me draw until I have five cards in my hand!" He held his empty hand high—no doubt just to rub it in Jim's face, Noboru thought—before flicking his fingers once, twice, three—four—five times over his Deck, until it was as full as when they'd begun the Duel. "Act Two! The Continuous Spell: Abyss Script 'Abysstainment'—which lets me Special Summon as many Abyss Actor monsters straight from my Deck as I please! So—introducing tonight's supporting cast: Abyss Actor – Pretty Heroine, Abyss Actor – Twinkle Littlestar, and Abyss Actor – Liberty Dramatist! Take it away, ladies!"
Shingo whirled away with a bow, just in time for Noboru to behold no less than three figures—each as colorful and otherworldly as the other—to shimmer onto the field, mingling with his Big Star and Mellow Madonna. Two were girls his age, perhaps younger, and resplendent in green and pink ensembles that clashed magnificently with their strange skin tones (Level 4: ATK 1500/DEF 1000, Level 4: ATK 1000/DEF 1000). The third came amidst a storm of pages, seemingly torn right out of the open book that obscured her face—before the tornado of paper was sucked right back in as quickly as it had begun. The folio snapped shut, revealing the face of a trendy-looking young lady with blonde hair, black horns, and a single red eye that peeked out from underneath the brim of her crimson hat (Level 4: ATK 1500/DEF 1500).
By now, the boy was in his element. "Act Three: Abyss Script 'Fantasy Magic'! This lets me target any one card my opponent controls, and place it on top of the Deck! I target Gongenzaka's Superheavy Samurai Sword-999—wouldn't want it spoiling the plot, now, would we?"
Before Noboru could think to reply, Shingo had tipped a cheeky wink his way—and quick as that, a billow of blue flame had exploded from behind the "stolen" monster. Something huge, flat, and black had risen between Sword-999 and Jim, which meant only the two Lancers got to see what happened next: a mouth yawned open within the ebon slab, sucking in flame and monster alike … and at the very moment both vanished into its depths, so did the slab, shrinking before their eyes to the size and shape of—and as far as Noboru could tell, to what actually was—a light novel. It plopped innocuously onto the sand—a strangely loud sound in the brief hush that followed—before disappearing for good with a tiny pop.
"Maybe I'll read that one later," Shingo quipped. "But first, we come to the climax: Act Four! The Abyss Script 'Rise of the Demon King'! This card's second effect lets me add two different Abyss Actors or Abyss Scripts from my Deck to my hand!" He did so with a dramatic flourish. "And now, the grand finale! Act Five: the Abyss Script 'Fire Dragon's Lair'! With this card's second effect, I can look through my opponent's Extra Deck, and banish any one monster from it that I want! So let's shine a spotlight on our special guest, Mr. Jim Cook!"
Through all of this, the Australian's one visible eye had become round as a coin and almost as wide. Now, he leapt back with a curse as his Duel Disk suddenly erupted in a shower of sparks. His boomerang-shaped blade fritzed and fuzzed for a moment, yet held together—but the moment it did, Noboru's eyes were instantly locked on Shingo, for his teammate was checking his Duel Disk with the biggest grin on his face imaginable.
All of a sudden, however, that smile faded a fraction. A second glance became a third, then a fourth—and instantly the Steadfast Duelist suspected something was off. Shingo's eyes seemed to be flicking back and forth between two cards in particular—cards that, annoyingly, Noboru himself could not see on account of the space between them.
At length, he sighed. "That'll do it." He'd regained most of his conviction—but most was not all, a still-unsettled Noboru knew. "You might want to brace yourself again," Shingo taunted Jim. "It's about to get hot out here … "
Noboru saw the desert floor heave in the middle of the Duel field, as if some ancient leviathan was about to surface from within. He braced himself just in time—WHOOM—to see a roar of fire spew from the maw that had opened right in front of Jim. The inferno washed over the Australian, engulfing him in moments.
It seemed to take an age for the flames to dissipate—but when they did, the Steadfast Duelist was surprised: Jim had barely reacted at all. His Duel Disk was still smoldering—and indeed, even as he looked on, he'd ejected a card that still appeared to be on fire, waving off the last tongues of flame.
"You done?" he groused, placing the card in his pocket.
"Well done." But even as Shingo smirked at his joke, he'd seen Noboru's questioning look. "Bunch of Level 4s and Level 6s, a few Level 8s," he muttered to him in an undertone. "So of course I went for those, but … "
He bit his lip. "But what?" Noboru asked, for a moment forgetting it was still his turn.
"You know the old saying about how you can either make the easy choice or the right choice?"
The Steadfast Duelist nodded. "I made the right choice," Shingo said heavily, sucking air through his teeth. "Better finish up before I start second-guessing myself."
Now Noboru was more worried than ever. What had he found in there that had taken all the wind out of his sails so suddenly? It might do to make one more adjustment in his strategy, he decided—if his teammate was this concerned that something big was about to make their lives hell, then he needed as big of a wall as he could possibly make to ensure they could reunite with Sora afterwards. And that meant …
He studied his field one more time, and checked the last card in his hand. I may have no choice, then. And so, he steeled himself and mustered every shred of courage his man's heart possessed.
"Finally," he rumbled, "I Tune my Level 2 Bi-Q with my Level 4 TenB-N … and my Level 6 Shutendō-G!"
"No way!" Shingo's outburst was quickly drowned out by Bi-Q revving its motor one last time—long and loud until it too disintegrated, leaving nothing behind but a pair of glowing rings. Each one stretched and settled around one of his remaining monsters, spinning like saw blades and feeding so much energy into their bodies that soon, they began to glow just as brilliantly—
"Steadfast oni god, clench your fists in resolution, and now become the fiend of iron and run across the battlefield!"
WHOOSH. He felt the dune heave under his feet, but kept those feet planted right where he was, even as he heard the deafening hiss of steam, from the great motors beneath him. Noboru was well aware that the monster he was about to bring out went against everything in Dueling he'd been raised to believe, as happened so often when the titans of tradition and innovation clashed at those seminal moments of history. For that reason, he was well aware that in those times of great change, even the most noble of men would find himself waging a battle so profound that it would try his very soul.
"Synchro Summon! Now, depart for the front! Appear! Level 12! Superheavy Steam Oni Tetsudō-Ō!"
And scarcely had he thundered out the name of his monster when it had burst from the sand at last, sliding forth like some gigantic, mechanical pit viper. Flaming wheels screeched to a halt, sending up sparks so hot that the desert beneath was melting into glass. A low hiss of steam erupted from the leering mouth that topped the locomotive, somewhere between lion, dragon, and demon. The ripping fangs set within, and the glowing eyes that crowned it, made that face look strangely alive in comparison to the rest of the leviathan (Level 12: ATK 2000/DEF 4800).
Though Noboru could not see the beastly maw from where he stood, it had blocked out all else in his mind's eye—and the sibilant voice in his head, hardly audible over the engine of his most powerful monster, seemed to belong to no other. He could almost hear Tetsudō-Ō taunting him—as readily as it must be sneering at Jim Cook as well.
Are you so scared of this man?
But even as his doubt rose around him like a cloud of smoke, the desert sun dispelled it with a mere effort of will. I shall be resolute. He knew that none of his monster's abilities could be used at this point in the Duel; the only other cards on the field belonged to Shingo himself—and that was as good an excuse as any to choose not to use them. It was little more than a wall, and a wall it would remain—the strongest wall Noboru could build to protect his friends.
Let this be my trial, he thought, dispelling the visage of his Synchro Monster as best he could, and looking to the sky as if in prayer. Perhaps that was even what it was. Let this be my temptation.
And let it be said today that the noble man, Gongenzaka, shall stand his ground, come what may. I shall not run.
He tensed every muscle in his body … and finally leveled his gaze at the Duelist that barred his way. "Turn end."
A/N: (peeks in) … um … is—is it safe to post again? Is the site fixed?
Okay. So. Right. … After my last post turned out to be part one, I got so carried away with part two that I inadvertently made part three in the process. That seems to be a running gag with this current arc of mine. Fortunately, that next update is pretty much complete as well, so there won't be near as long of a wait for it to come out—though I still might sit on it for a bit in case I want to build up some backlog again.
Wow. Backlog. Haven't used that word in a while.
I credit three weeks off work in a row with all the writing I did to make these two chapters happen, and I hope it's a rush of energy I can sustain well into the next year. I've missed it, I'll be honest—and so have my fingers, however much they protest.
Happy 2024 to all of you. May the year to come be memorable—and for reasons that actually make us want to cheer. Thanks for reading! – K