The duel between Team Camelot and Team Void has already begun, but Team Camelot is already behind. They lost the first round to Vincent, and now they are down by one win. If they lose again, it's over for them.
"I just can't get over it." Marcus said. "Chester was thrashed around like it was nothing. I can't believe that Vincent was able to do that to him, and he actually enjoyed it. He's got a sick sense as what he thinks art is."
"Not to mention he's got one of the Malicious Fiends. I sure hope Arthur knows what he's doing. What else could Team Void be capable of." Yukina said as she's getting concerned. The medics had to come in and take Chester away, and he might not be the only one.
"How could someone do this to Chester?" Stephanie questioned.
"I don't know, but I will avenge him." Arthur said as he was stepping out for the second match.
"Arthur, are you sure you wish to take part in the second match?" Stephanie said.
"That was the original plan. Chester was suppose to go in for the first, and I close it with the win for the second." Chester said. "Now I must go for redemption. I will not allow us to lose again." Arthur wants to win this badly. It's a matter of pride for him.
"That first match was nuts, but here comes the second one. Coming out for Team Camelot is their leader: Arthur!" M.C. announced with Arthur standing forward to battle. "His opponent is the leader of Team Void: Zash!" Zash met with Arthur as he too took this duel.
"Zash... That's the guy that attacked you guys. So he's also the team's leader?" Yukina said. A good note for that must mean he's the strongest of the three. The two leaders faced each other, but Zash didn't looked impressed.
"So you hold one of the Malicious Fiends as well? How did the likes of you get one?" Zash said. "There must have been some foolish mistake."
"Are you speaking to me? Are you trying to insult your superior?" Arthur questioned.
"Superior? I don't think so." Zash said. "I doubt you'll be able to take away any of my life points, but I do hope you will last long enough for me to see that Malicious Fiend you hold."
"Don't be so sure of that. You clearly don't understand who you're up against." Arthur said as he was already in a bad mood. Zash only made it worse.
"Well, the trash talk has been thrown down, but now it's time to just that with cards." M.C. claimed. Both of them placed their duel disks on and were set to go.
"Let's duel!" Both said as they were starting with 4000LP.
"I will be the one to make the first move!" Arthur claimed. "I'll begin my turn by activating my Scapegoat spell! Now I get four scapegoat tokens to my field!" Four tokens appeared on his field with each one having 0def points.
"Four tokens like that? He must be getting ready to summon Dark warrior." Yukina said.
"Next, I summon my Gladiator of Vengeance to the field!" Arthur said. He summoned out a gladiator with silver armor and glowing red eyes that wielded a spear and had 1700atk points.
"That's weird. I thought he was going to bring out his Dark Warrior. Maybe he doesn't have it in his hand yet." Marcus figured, but the truth was that he did have it in his hand.
'I will not make the same mistake. In my duel against Yukina, I was arrogant and underestimated her.' Arthur thought. 'With my field set like this, I will be able to summon my warrior on my next turn, and then I can use Sword of Lancelot to allow it to attack twice. I will also have my Gladiator of Vengeance to help.' "I believe it's your turn now."
"In just a few short moves, Arthur filled his entire field. How is Zash going to get around this?" Zash didn't looked impressed or intimidated. He just simply drew his card.
"What's wrong? Silent out of fear?" Arthur said.
"No. I'm just not that impressed." Zash said. "It means nothing as I summon my Earl of the Departed!" He summoned out a reaper-like monster with it wearing a black cloak and wielded a scythe in his hands. It also carried 1500atk points. "You summoned five monster, but they're all about to disappear with just one. I activate Hades Inferno! Thanks to this spell, all I have to do is send one card from my deck to the graveyard to destroy every monster on the field."
"All of them?!" Arthur questioned. Once Zash discarded a card, a pillar of fire erupted right in the field and destroyed all of the monsters. "This can't be, but you just destroyed your own monster as well!"
"Not quite." Zash said as he looked like he was one with the fire until it all dissipated. "When my Earl of the Departed is destroyed by an effect, it resurrects once a turn." His monster returned to the field and it was now the only one on the field. "Now he'll reap your life points! Attack him directly!" His monster swung its scythe and unleashed a shockwave and blasted Arthur with his life points dropping to 2500.
"No way! Not only did he clear Arthur's field, but he also landed the first attack?!" Stephanie questioned.
"Don't worry. As long as I am the one left standing, it will all be well." Arthur said.
"Keep telling yourself that." Zash said as he placed a facedown to end his turn.
"My move!" Arthur said as he drew his next card. 'I will not allow myself to be defeated again. The Lance Family excels at everything. Education, the arts, athletics, and much more; and I was proud to be a part of it. Dueling is no different. However, when I lost to Yukina, it all came crashing down. I lost my pride from my own arrogance, and Chester and Stephanie suffered for it as well. Ever since that day, I worked twice as hard as I usually have so that I could regain my pride.' His lost to Yukina really did a number on him mentally. That's why he worked and trained hard so that it wouldn't happen again. "I will regain the pride I lost when I lost to Yukina! Nothing will stop me!"
"Whatever. Are you going to make a move?" Zash said as he couldn't care less about any of that.
"Very well!" Arthur said as he drew his next card. "I play my Pot of Greed! It allows me to draw two more cards!" He drew two other cards and one was just what he needed. "Excellent! I can now summon Merlin's Shadow!" He summoned out an old wizard with it wearing a dark robe and pointy hat as it had 400atk points. "Of course, he isn't staying because of his special ability! I can send him to the graveyard to summon a dark warrior-type monster to the field by negating it's special abilities! I believe this is the card you wanted to see! Enter the battle, Malicious Fiend: Dark Warrior!" He traded away his wizard and his all-powerful warrior rose to the field with it holding 2800atk points.
"You summoned it without it's special abilities? That just makes this a waste." Zash said as he was disappointed.
"I wouldn't be too concerned about that if I were you." Arthur claimed. "I equip him with Sword of Lancelot! This will give him the power to attack twice!" He gave his warrior a new sword with new power.
"That is one nasty sword, especially since that big bad warrior now has the power to attack twice."
"Especially when you add up the damage. If this works, Zash will be all out of life points." Cindy said.
"Yeah, but Zash has a face-down." Yukina said as she doesn't think this is over.
"Your earl can't be brought back if it's destroyed in battle! Go now, my mighty warrior!" Arthur ordered. His warrior raised its sword and was set to strike.
"That won't work once I play Zero Hope!" Zash said. The attack went through and destroyed his monster, but Zash took no damage.
"What happened?! Why didn't you take damage?!" Arthur questioned.
"Attack as much as you like. It won't help." Zash said. "Zero Hope reduces all damage to zero for the duration of this turn since there was a fiend on my field when you attacked."
"So be it. Since I can't deal any damage, I'll simply place one face-down to end my turn!" Arthur said.
"What a disappointment." Zash said. "Here you go, acting all high and mighty, but you haven't done anything worth all that talk. You're not king or emperor. You're not even a prince. You're just a little boy that got in over his head. You can't even bring out the true dark power of your Malicious Fiend. What a waste."
"What nonsense are you talking about? You havent won!" Arthur said.
"I'll show you how its really done. My turn!" Zash said as he drew his next card, and it was just the trap he needed. "I activate Styx Flow! Since there is at least one monster in my graveyard, I get two styx tokens. They might have 2000atk points, but they can't attack." He summoned out two thin ghosts with both having 2000atk points. "What I can do is tribute them! Let me show you my Malicious Fiend!" Yukina and the others were really worried about this now as Zash tributes both of his tokens. "Now, release your power and show them power these fools have never seen before! Malicious Fiend: Hades Beast!" Zash summoned out a Cerberus monster with dark fur and each head had spikey collars with chains connected to it. It also had 2900atk points.
"The fifth Malicious Fiend! Team Void has two?!" Yukina said as she couldn't believe it.
"And it's stronger than Arthur's!" Marcus said.
"Allow me to show you power really looks like, and how to really use it. I'm going to take all that pride and confidence of yours, and smash it to bits." Zash warned. "Thanks to Hades Beast's ability, all I have to do is send one card in my deck to the graveyard for your monster to lose 500atk points!"
"It loses power?!" Arthur said.
"Didn't I just say that? Watch." Zash said with him having a dark look on his face. His Cerberus used the chains and lashed them against Arthur's warrior with it losing power. It now had 2300atk points. "The best part is that I can do this as many times as I like."
"He can use that ability multiple times?!" Cindy said.
"It would seem so." Yukina said.
"This is not good for Arthur." The chains kept attacking Dark Warrior. For each card he discarded, Dark Warrior's power kept dropping down. Zash discarded five more cards so that Dark Warrior's power dropped all the way to zero.
"Your monster has no power left, but that shouldn't stop me from having fun." Zash said. He actually discarded another card and had his beast attack once more.
"What's this? Why would Zash use that ability when Dark Warrior's power is already at zero?"
"What are you doing?!" Arthur said.
"Taking it all way. Your pride, your confidence, your hopes, and everything that puts up that act. There's nothing you can do to stop it." Zash said. "I'm going to take it away bit by bit. This warrior represents what you really are."
"What I really am?" Arthur said. Zash continued using that ability again and again with Dark Warrior appearing to take more and more damage.
"He already has all the power he needs to end this duel right now, but he's still using that ability just to hurt Arthur. He's just being cruel." Cindy said. This was wrong, but Zash was enjoying it. Vincent found amusement in this himself, but Snyder actually did find this hard to watch.
"No... This can't be..." Arthur said as he could just watch helplessly as his monster continued to be attacked. It was like all his ambitions and whatever pride he had left were being burnt away. "I'm the heir to the Lance Family, the wealthiest in the world. Winning always came naturally to me. I am like an emperor, a king that must stand at the top of the world. I am... I am..." He always imagined he would win this tournament. It was his goal so that he can uphold the family name he was so proud to be a part of. Now, it's all being burned away. Zash was destroying all that he imagined and breaking him. "Stop! Stop it! Please!" Arthur pleaded as his spirit was breaking.
"Stop this! This is going too far!" Yukina called.
"No it's not! Not as long as the duel goes on!" Zash said. "Have you realized it yet? The depths of your real power is shallow." Arthur was starting to quiver. Zash was breaking away his spirit.
"Arthur, do something! Don't let him humiliate you like this!" Stephanie said. "Remember that you are a king! A king must never show his fear to his people, and must remain strong!"
"Remain strong?" Arthur said. He was able to snap out of it to realize there was still something he can do.
"I'm getting bored. Hades Beast, attack him an end this!" Zash ordered. "Strike with Absolute Horror!" His monster went on the attack as it surrounded itself in a dark aura for the final blow.
"I activate my trap: Knights of Dark Table!" Arthur countered. "By sending one dark attribute warrior-type monster to the graveyard, my monster can't be destroyed this turn and the damage is reduced by that monster's attack points! That is why I will send Dark Crusader to the graveyard to lower the damage by 1600!" He discarded his monster and his warrior was able to block the attack, but Arthur's life points dropped to 1200. "I'm not beaten just yet!"
"Fine. Keep fighting if you want. There's one card I do want to try out." Zash said as he placed a face-down and ended his turn.
"Cocky punk, but he threw away tons of cards." Marcus said.
"What else could he be planning? What card does he want to try?" Yukina questioned.
"You might think I hold no power, but I'll prove you wrong! My turn!" Arthur said as he drew his next card, and it was just the card he needed. "I'll begin by activating my Gladiator of Vengeance's special ability! If I remove a dark warrior-type monster from my graveyard, my gladiator comes back!" He removed his Dark Crusader and his gladiator returned. "I'm also going to activate Reclaim the Throne! A fitting card for me! This will restore all my Dark Warrior's attack points!" He claimed as his Dark Warrior had all it's power again.
"Yes! That's more like it!" Stephanie said.
"So what?" Zash said.
"I activate Gift of the Martyr! If I tribute my gladiator, all of his attack points are transferred to Dark Warrior's!" Arthur said. His gladiator turned to energy and transferred over to Dark Warrior with it now having 3500atk points. "Now, attack!" It seemed like Arthur managed to bounce back and get the win.
"Hey! That actually is impressive! You managed to get your warrior's power back, plus more. Too bad it still didn't help." Zash said. "I activate Gate of the Forsaken!"
"Gate of the Forsaken?" Yukina questioned as that card was all new. Suddenly, a giant gate that appeared with it looking like the gate to the bad place.
"Now, open!" Zash commanded. The gates opened up with it looking all dark inside, but it unleashed an intense light that swallowed up Arthur. No one could see was going on in that light, but it can't be good for Arthur. When the light cleared away, something was wrong. The whole field was clear with Arthur's life points dropping to zero.
"Arthur!" Stephanie called.
"What happened? Arthur lost all of his life points." Marcus said.
"So this is Team Void?" Yukina questioned.
"I... I failed..." Arthur said as he looked like a shell of himself. He looks like the life and hope out of him as been drained with him a whimpering mess now.
"Arthur..." Stephanie said with great concern as she's never seen him like this.
"You're weak. Admit it." Zash said.
"I am... I am..." Arthur said as he was a broken man.
"I'm what?" Zash said.
"Weak!" Arthur declared as Zash managed to break him. He laughed like demonic ruler as he took great pleasure in the state he made Arthur. Team Void might be the most dangerous team ever in this tournament.