"Team Mystic seems to be in a bind. One more defeat and they are out of the tournament and our beloved Team Camelot advances!" M.C. announced and was right. Since Marcus lost to Chester, they are down by one point and they can't afford to be. "Now, it's on to the second match. From Team Camelot, it's Stephanie!" Stephanie came out on the field and was ready for her turn.
"So, which one of you will have the honor of dueling me?" Stephanie questioned. That's a good question given their predicament.
"What do we do now?" Cindy questioned. "Kent and I don't have much of a chance against her, but Yukons holds the best chance against Arthur."
"I guess there's no choice. I'll have to go." Yukons said.
"No. I'm the one that's going." All of them looked and were surprised to see Felix was up already.
"Felix, you're up!" Kent said.
"Are you sure?" Marcus questioned.
"I am." Felix said as he has to be.
"Excuse me?! Are we going to have a duel or not?" Stephanie questioned.
"We are! I'm your opponent, Stephanie!" Felix called as he went on out with his team worried the dark power causing him to go crazy again.
"It looks like Stephanie's opponent is Felix! Hopefully for Team Mystic, Felix can pull off some sort of miracle." M.C. announced.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you won't be able to win this. Your team's time in the tournament ends here." Stephanie claimed.
"I don't think so." Felix said as he had to ready himself for whatever might happen. 'I can do this. Raika said the more I resist the darkness, the stronger I make it. So, I have to embrace it? Can I really do that and still remain me? I think so. Raika was able to control the dark power. I have to try.' He thought as he has to gain control.
"Its now time to begging the second match!"
"Let's duel!" Both said as they were starting with 4000LP.
"The first move is mine!" Stephanie claimed as she went first. "I'll start by summoning my Bright Valkyrie to the field!" She summoned out one of her valkyries with it having 1500atk points. "Next, I activate Photon Lead! That allows me to summon another Bright Valkyrie!" A second emerged on the field.
"Not good. With two on the field, Felix can't attack." Cindy claimed.
"I place one card facedown to end my turn!" Stephanie claimed.
"My turn!" Felix said as he drew his next card.
"That's right, Felix." Felix could already feel the darkness taking him over as he could see his dark side standing before him. "You must win, so use my power and win. Submit to me." His dark side was trying to take him over, but he did his best to ignore it. Of course, that might make it worse.
"I'll begin my turn by summoning Gladiator Beast Torax!" Felix said as he brought out his blowfish warrior with it having 1400atk points. "Next, I summon Test Tiger since I have a Gladiator Beast!" He summoned out his tiger with it having 600atk points. "Now, I build my circuit!"
"You can link summon?!" Stephanie questioned.
"That's right! The summoning conditions requires two monsters, one being a Gladiator Beast!" Felix said as a cybernetic gate appeared behind him and both of his monsters went in the bottom and bottom-left arrows. "I link summon Link 2 Test Panther!" He summoned out a panther with it having 800atk points.
"A link monster?" Kent questioned as that was new.
"I guess Felix is trying different combos. He'll have to think outside the box to win this." Yukons claimed.
"When Test Panther is summoned, I can add Gladiator Beast Murmillo to my hand!" Felix said as he added a card. "Next, I activate Gladiator Comeback! That allows me to bring back Torax!" Torax came back to the field.
"You summon all these monsters and yet not one really helps. Are you going to do anything productive?" Stephanie taunted.
"You're about to see. By returning Torax to my deck, I can summon a different Gladiator Beast, and it counts as the summoning needed to bring out their special abilities." Felix claimed as he brought back his fish. "Join the fight, Gladiator Beast Augustus!" He brought out Augustus with him having 2600atk points. "When Augustus is summoned, I can also summon Murmillo!" Murmillo came on the field with him having 400def points. "That triggers Murmillo's ability to destroy one of your Bright Valkyries! Since it's not an attack, you can't stop it!" Murmillo blasted pressured water and destroyed one of her valkyries. "Time to brawl! Augustus, destroy her other Bright Valkyrie!" Augustus attacked and destroyed her other monster and caused her life points to drop to 2900. "That means Test Panther can attack you directly!" His panther attacked Stephanie and caused her life points to drop to 2100.
"That was a lot of fancy moves, and it seems to have paid off as Stephanie lost nearly half of her life points."
"Since Augustus attacked, he now returns to my deck and I can now summon another Gladiator Beast!" Felix said as he had his beast returned to him. "I summon Gladiator Beast Vespasius!" He brought out his beast with it having 2300atk points. "Thanks to his ability, all my monsters gain 500atk points!" He claimed with his monsters now having 2800 and 1300atk points. "I place two cards facedown and end my turn! Murmillo also returns to my deck!" He claimed as his field was finally set.
"Not bad, but you'll have to do better." Stephanie claimed. "My turn!" She drew her card and it was now her time to make her move. "I'll start by activating my trap: Ritual of Blessings! By removing monsters that are in my graveyard from play, I can summon a ritual monster!"
"A ritual monster?! I'm sure you all know what that means!"
"Yes! I summon Bright Queen Alexandria!" Stephanie claimed as she summoned out her queen with her having 2800atk points. "There more! My trap gives her 500atk points until the end of the turn!" She was right as her queen now had 3300atk points.
"No! Now it's stronger!" Marcus complained as this wasn't shaping well for them.
"It will get worse one she uses Alexandria's ability!" Cindy said.
"I now equip her with Blessing of the Queen!" Stephanie said. "As long as she is equipped with this, any battle damage she deals is doubled!"
"Great. With that combo, she can't lose." Chester said as they were rather confident they can win.
"Sorry, Arthur. It looks like you won't get a chance to duel once again." Stephanie claimed. "Bright Queen Alexandria, attack his Gladiator Beast Vespasius!" Felix braced himself as Alexandria unleashed a powerful attack and blasted Vespasius. With her spell, Felix's life points dropped to 3000. "I now activate Alexandria's ability! The monster just destroyed switches to my field!" Vespasius switched over to her field. Without Vespasius, Test Panther now only had 800atk points.
"Stephanie has taken control of Felix's monsters! Is she planning to finish this with his own monster?!"
"This isn't looking good." The darkness in him was trying to take over once again. "If you lose, your time in the tournament is over, and your friends will blame you."
'I can't lose this, but the more I resist the stronger I make this thing.' Felix thought as he tried to weigh his options. 'I have to embrace it...' Felix didn't try to resist, and the darkness was glad for that as it began to grow in him.
"Feel the wrath of being attacked by your own monster!" Stephanie said. She attacked with Vespasius as he destroyed Test Panther and caused his life points to drop down to 1500.
"You fool!" Felix shouted, but he didn't sound like himself anymore. "You did exactly what I wanted!" Suddenly, the dark aura exploded around him.
"No! Not again!" Cindy called.
"Felix, calm down!" Kent called. The real Felix was concentrating on staying in control, but it was a real struggle.
"I activate Damage Condenser!" Felix called as he activated his trap. "By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard, I can summon a monster that has equal or less attack points than the damage that I took!" He discarded one card and got another. "I summon Gladiator Beast Reitari!" He summoned out his crocodile warrior with it having 1200atk points. "There's more! I anticipated you would take my monster! That's why I have this! My Gladiator Taming! This spell allow me to take the Gladiator Beast you have on your field and bring it to mine!" His spell unleashed an energy rope and tied it around Vespasius, and brought it back to his field.
"What's this?! Felix managed to get his monster back and fortified his defense!"
"So you were ready for that. That's okay because Alexandria is still the strongest monster in the field." Stephanie said. "For now, I end my turn by placing one face-down." Since her turn ended, her queen's attack points returned to normal.
"My turn!" Felix said as he drew his card. "I will win! I will win!"
"Felix, stop before you do something you're going to regret!" Marcus called.
"I summon Gladiator Beast Laquari!" Felix claimed as he summoned Laquari with 1800atk points. "Now! Destroy! Destroy!" This wasn't looking good for Felix and it seemed like no one could stop him. The darkness exploded out of him and was wrecking the area. If this keeps up, the place really could get destroyed. It seemed like no one could stop this, but Yukina made a rave attempt as she pulled Felix to face her and slapped him across the face.
"Stop it, Felix!" Yukina called as many were shocked at what just happened. "This isn't you, Felix! The Felix I know doesn't duel for the desire of destruction and madness! He duels because he loves the game, and for his friends! That's the real Felix!"
"No! This is me!" Felix said
"No! I've seen the real Felix!" Yukina claimed. "Felix, remember who you are! You have to find the light to counter the dark! You found that when you dueled for Bryce!"
"Bryce...?" Felix questioned as that man had an impact on Felix. Knowing the truth of what happened to Bryce and who he was helped Felix remembered.
...
Felix
the real Felix was floating around in an ocean of darkness as it stilled tried to completely take him over.
"What nonsense. She thinks you can escape your own darkness." The darkness told him as it took his form again. "The truth is that everyone has darkness in them. It can't be avoided. You can fight it all you like, but you can't escape the fact."
"You're right." Felix agreed as it seemed like he was submitting to it. "However. Wherever there is darkness, there is also light."
"What?"
"The truth is that everyone has light and darkness in them." Felix claimed as he sees it now. The darkness is apart of him and he needs to accept that, but that doesn't change him. "However, I have my friends. I have people like Bryce that help the light in me shine!" He claimed as the light in him shined even brighter that it was hurting the darkness.
"What are you doing?! Stop it!"
"Light and darkness are both inside me, and they helped me become who I am!" Felix claimed. The darkness in him tried t cloud his judgement but his friends help him remember who he really is as he could hear each of them.
"Felix!"
"Felix!"
"Felix!"
"Felix!"
"Together with my friends, we will stand at the top of the world, and put an end to the Malicious Fiends!" Felix declared as the light in him chased away the darkness.
...
The Duel
The darkness may have erupted around Felix, but he gained control over it, and the darkness was swallowed back in him.
"Let's finish this, Stephanie." Felix said as he was himself again. The team was glad to see this. "As I left off, I'm fusing Laquari, Reitari, and Vespasius together!" All three of his monsters fused together and brought out his strongest. "I summon Gladiator Beast Domitanius!" He summoned out his strongest beast with it having 3500atk points.
"Sacrebleu! What did Felix just summoned?!"
"Domitanius, attack her Bright Queen Alexandria!" Felix ordered and attacked.
"All those theatrics only to end up with nothing." Stephanie claimed. "I don't know what was going on earlier, but I think it was just a waste of effort. I activate my Bright Protection! This trap stops your attack!" The attack was blocked with Felix groaning. "What's more is that a bright token appears on your field." A shining white angel statue appeared on Felix"s field with it having 2000atk points.
"She gave him a monster with 2000atk points? That was dumb." Kent mocked. "Even if she destroys it, she can't gain control of it."
"The fools don't know anything." Chester said as they still had a surprise.
"The moment that token is destroyed, you'll lose 2000LP." Stephanie informed.
"2000?!" Marcus said.
"If she destroys that token, it's all over!" Cindy said.
"And it looks like you're all out of moves. So, what do you say we just end this." Stephanie said.
"Go ahead." Felix as he is still calm.
"So be it!" Stephanie said as she drew her next card. "Bright Queen Alexandria, attack and bring victory!"
"not happening! Thanks to Domitanius' ability, I get to choose the target of your attack!" Felix said. "I choose Domitanius himself." Alexandria was forced to change targets as water swirled around the two monsters so they be force to fight. "I also happen to know the drawback of your spell!" He claimed with Stephanie not liking this. "The moment the monster equipped with it is destroyed, you take damage equal to its attack points. I win, Stephanie!" Domitanius attacked and struck his weapon against Alexandria's attack. He pushed right through and attacked her. The queen was destroyed and the blast came at her.
"This cannot be!" Stephanie called as the blast at her and smashed against her with her life points dropped all the way to zero. This was quite a shock to the people of France.
"The... The winner is Felix..."
"Yeah, Felix!" Cindy cheered as the team loved that Felix got them the win they needed.
"I don't believe it! They beat her!" Chester said as this was a surprising blow to Team Camelot. As for Felix, he was glad that he pulled off a win and was able to control his own darkness.
"Felix, are you okay?" Yukina asked.
"I am. I feel like myself again." Felix said. "Thanks, Yukina." Yukina wad glad to see her friend, but now it was her turn.
"Both sides now have one win each. The next duel is set between Arthur and Yukina, and only one walks away.." Arthur and Yukina glared right at each other. Both sides can't afford another defeat. It all comes down to these two fierce duelists.