Gozu - 4000 LP
Zato - 6500 LP
Chizu - 4000 LP
Yuu - 4000 LP
Daimonji Manor was no stranger to battle. In Mezu Daimonji's day, such matters would have been settled by the blade. Over time, they had gradually come to embrace the game that was the bloodflow of the Atrium. With Duel Monsters, there was a certain levity to their internal disputes now, but nobody had lost a finger in months, an unprecedented record.
And now, Gozu knew that it was all a con. The more the Monji relied on Duel Monsters, the more they played right into the hands of Heart. Their attempts to rob the supply had only made them reliant. Mezu had failed to see that, and Gozu had failed until it was too late, and her authority over the Monji was on the line against the vicious cabal of Zato Sanada, Aunt Chizu, and Yuu Tokari.
Even so, she would prevail.
"It's my turn!" Gozu drew. Her fingers ran across the crystal ridges of her duradine card, and she glanced at it.
Goblin Zombie in my hand; Felgrand, Bolan, Tengu, and a Trap Card on my field. It looks like I'm winning, but if this board gets wiped out, I won't have a backup.
Skeletal Dragon Felgrand loomed over the field, golden sparks firing off from its gnashing maw. Although it seems like we'll be getting the same amount of turns, our decks tell a different story. I started with 5 cards; theirs added up to 15. I have to manage my resources perfectly.
Her three opponents looked at her nervously; even after Zato's elaborate turn, her monsters were unscathed. But Zato's still got that facedown card. And even if I take him out this turn, I could end up losing to Chizu or Yuu. What should I do? I can't reuse my Crow Tengu because the monsters summoned with Jack-O-Bolan are banished when they leave the field.
Gozu blinked. Wait. What was it Grandfather taught me? Something about what happens when a monster becomes an Xyz Material… This was among the lesser known Monji tenets, mired in the brief subsection that focused on Duel Monsters rulings.
Gozu pulled a sinister face as she pounded her card onto the field. "I Normal Summon Goblin Zombie."
Goblin Zombie / Level 4 / DARK / Zombie / ATK 1100 / DEF 1050
Once again, the insect-like creature slashed free from its earthly bindings, its feelers clicking menacingly. It threw up its hands exultantly as it disintegrated into purple light. Crow Tengu as well was glowing a burnt sienna. This was the color of an EARTH Xyz Material, just as Goblin Zombie had become a DARK Xyz Material. Needless to say, Gozu was executing an Xyz Summon.
"I build the Overlay Network with Level 4 Goblin Zombie and Level 4 Crow Tengu. Come, Tornado Dragon!"
The room was knocked at an angle as the winds concentrated and bulged into the shape of a raging dragon. Like a shark, its life was movement, its essence erosion. Chizu's mink scarf flew up and battered her face.
Tornado Dragon / Rank 4 / WIND / Wyrm / ATK 2100 / DEF 2000
Gozu reached beneath Tornado Dragon on her field, grabbing Goblin Zombie and slotting it into her graveyard. "Tornado Dragon can detach 1 Xyz Material to target a Spell or Trap and destroy it! I choose your facedown card, Zato!"
Zato grimaced as his facedown card was pummeled under the force of the storm, twisting into an unrecognizable shape before dispersing from the field.
"I now send all three of my monsters to attack. Tornado Dragon, Jack-o-Bolan, and Skeletal Dragon Felgrand will strike you down!"
Tornado Dragon - 2100 ATK
Zato - 6500 LP ~ 4400 LP
The winds blew apart Zato's footing and slammed him against the wall. Spittle flew from his mouth as he gasped in pain.
Jack-o-Bolan - 1500 ATK
Zato - 4400 LP 2900 LP
Zato yelped as blue flames enveloped his body, only calming down when he remembered that they were only a projection. The hard light pressure was still an unpleasant sensation, like dental tools ripping up a numbed mouth.
Gozu stood tall beneath her family's legacy. "Skeletal Dragon Felgrand! Creation's Decay!"
Felgrand took flight, a filmy grey ectoplasm patching its rotten wings. The ruins of the once great beast crashed through Zato, making him cough up spittle again and drop to his knees.
Skeletal Dragon Felgrand - 2800 ATK
Zato - 2900 LP ~ 100 LP
"I end my turn," Gozu declared.
The room went quiet as Zato gasped for breath on the ground. Even Yuu was in shock. "If you hadn't gained those life points with Arcastral Dancing Star, you'd have lost!" he marveled.
Zato scoffed, then coughed. "I know that, kid. Why do you think I gained them?"
He stood back up, goading Gozu with that look in his eyes. It was this look that seasoned all of his schemes, brashness hiding calculation hiding rage. She had dug to a layer of Zato she had not seen before, but there was no telling what part this played in their charade. She supposed it was a full-on coup now. There was no one she could trust anymore.
Aunt Chizu smiled, which would have looked natural but for showing too many teeth. "Gozilla, you're absolutely stunning. But I won't-can't-shan't WILL NOT forgive you for hurting my Zato!"
Zato stood up immediately, looking annoyed. "This is still all fake," he clarified, but Chizu wasn't hearing it.
"I draw!" she shouted.
If she decides to Pendulum Summon, I won't get a chance to respond and prevent it! Gozu flung her hand out. "I activate Tornado Dragon's ability again during your Draw Phase! Destroy Arcastral Flipper R and break the Pendulum Scale!"
A tornado gripped Arcastral Flipper R, smashing it against the wall like a toy. Zato smiled.
Chizu looked shocked. "Gozi, it's not like you to be so forward. That's why I could scarcely believe you were seeing someone, but the rumors were true! Such a shame he turned out to be human garbage." She had been pushing downwards on Yuu's head with the palm of her hand as though to drive him into the ground.
"It's not that," Gozu said. She suddenly felt an unwanted kinship with Zato Sanada: Sometimes, it was easier to just let Chizu's comments fly. "I'm simply preempting your plot and dismantling it ahead of time."
Chizu shook her head. "Well, that's just the thing, Gozi. I wasn't using the Pendulum Scale."
She sighed, holding her hand like an injured bird. "I wish I could have gotten a monster within the level range of the scales, but alas! It won't work. I'll just have to play this turn solo. So, I'm introducing my Field Spell, Amorina's Passionate Manor!"
Amorina's Passionate Manor / Field Spell
Every Duel Disk in play whirred as it lent its processing power to the simulative graphics. A fountain with heart-shaped streams rose out of the ground between them, just as an elaborate dream house rose up behind Chizu, completely warping the terrain. Zato found himself with his head sticking out of one of the lion statues at the gate; Yuu's limbs jutted out of a topiary duck in distress.
Gozu looked at her surroundings and cursed. I was trying to disrupt their team strategy, but I ended up wasting my chance to stop her own plan! Maybe she's the one pulling the strings after all.
For six years, something had been off with Aunt Chizu. Always too emotional, too rambunctious, prone to starting fights at the round table. The loss of her big sister had done nothing to temper her into a responsible role in the family; instead, she seemed to flout the Monji's code entirely. But that facade would soon run its course, and Gozu's downfall would bring about Chizu's matriarchal rule.
Gozu felt a pang of sadness. She had always wanted to see the real Aunt Chizu again.
"Ah, an Amorina deck!" Fey sat on one of the benches by the fountain, smiling intently. "That's a little high-tier for the Atrium, don't you think?"
"True love won't compromise for anything," Chizu said, as though it perfectly answered the question.
The mahogany double front doors of the mansion began to shimmer and shake. "Amorina's Passionate Manor lets me special summon 1 Fairy-Type 'Amorina' monster from my hand or Deck to the field," Chizu declared. "Follow your dreams, Amorina the Purehearted!"
The doors burst open. As she descended the manor steps, all eyes in the room were drawn to her flowing red dress, her flowing brown hair, her flowing crying eyes. Amorina the Purehearted looked as though every emotion in the world had been squeezed into her figure. Her bronze skin glistened despite her entire self being a hologram.
Amorina the Purehearted / Level 4 / FIRE / Fairy / ATK 0 / DEF 0
Yuu moved as though to comfort the maiden, before remembering that it was just a card. Gozu carefully filed away her feelings of irritation.
Chizu's extravagant attire was now right at home in her Field Spell. She pulled a card from her hand like she was throwing confetti. "Time to show you what the power of love can really do! I activate Amorina's Long-Lost Sister!"
Amorina's Long-Lost Sister / Equip Spell Card
Tornado Dragon's windstorm suddenly dispersed in a flurry of rose petals. Gozu watched, dumbfounded, as the air currents reshaped themselves into another woman, the spitting image of Amorina. Tornado Dragon caught a glimpse of her new form in the fountain's mist, and touched her own face in astonishment.
"While an "Amorina" Monster is on the field, I can take control of one of your monsters!" Chizu explained. "It turns out that your Tornado Dragon just realized the truth of its past! Now, at long last, it rejoins its sister on the battlefield!"
"Not so fast," Gozu vowed. "I'm using the effect of Jack-o-Bolan! Pumpkin Reincarnation!" The vegetable wizard combusted azure for the second time, as the smell of burnt pumpkin filled the room.
"Oh, that's fine, dear," Chizu said. "Bringing back Goblin Zombie? Or maybe Uni-Zombie? Since Crow Tengu's out of the picture, I'll just keep going ahead."
"Bolan targets Crow Tengu." Crow Tengu soared and swooped back onto the field, bursting free from Jack-o-Bolan's carcass just as it had on Zato's turn.
Chizu drew back, shocked. "Hold on, Gozi, I think you made a mistake. Jack-o-Bolan's Pumpkin Reincarnation doesn't let the revived monster return to the graveyard. Crow Tengu should have been banished when it left the field!"
"That would have happened, had Crow Tengu actually left the field." Gozu fought back the urge to smile. Overconfidence would undo her at this stage; still, she was proud to have executed her new strategy.
"Of course!" Zato exclaimed. "When a monster becomes an Xyz Material, it doesn't count as leaving the field!"
Yuu scratched his head. "Wait, why is that?"
"They're placed under the Xyz Monster to become Xyz Materials, which is still on the field. They only return to being monsters once they reach the graveyard after being detached. So the condition that the 'monster' 'leaves the field' is never fulfilled all at once."
Yuu scrunched his eyebrows. "That sounds…kind of fake, honestly. But I guess that's also why Gozu couldn't use the effect of Goblin Zombie to add a monster to her hand. Since it needs to be sent from the field to the graveyard."
"Right," Zato said. "Well, that and one other reason. Remind me to talk to you about missing the timing."
Yuu blinked helplessly. "When?"
"Crow Tengu, destroy Amorina the Purehearted!"
Amorina wailed as Crow Tengu's mystic winds battered her; at the height of the storm, she vanished, as though spirited away into nature itself. Her sister immediately exploded.
"With Amorina herself gone, Tornado Dragon is free from the effects of Amorina's Long-Lost Sister." The remnants of Amorina's detonated sister re-formed the dragon on Gozu's side of the field.
Every light in the mansion behind Chizu turned deep red. Chizu shook her head again. "Wrong move, dear. Amorina's Passionate Manor activates! If Amorina the Purehearted is removed from the field by a card effect, I'm able to Special Summon a different Amorina monster!"
She put her arm forth lavishly. "Arrive, Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law!"
The woman who now descended the steps of Passionate Manor was a darkly powerful woman. Heavy red lipstick and a diamond necklace marked a look of old-money superiority, and she wore a black silk dress with a plunging neckline. All in all, she did not look too dissimilar from Chizu herself.
Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law / Level 8 / FIRE / Spellcaster / ATK 2700 / DEF 2450
Instinctively, Gozu's eyes flitted over to Yuu to check for his reaction. Yuu had been looking away from the monster out of embarrassment, and their eyes ended up meeting. Gozu's irritation was much stronger this time, and she turned her nose up haughtily. She would spend the next ten seconds internally berating herself for such a childlike gesture.
Chizu continued her turn. "Next, I activate Amorina's Amnesia! Once per turn, I can add 1 Amorina monster from my Graveyard or banishment to my hand! I'll Normal Summon her now. Return, Amorina the Purehearted!"
A lady who looked suspiciously like Amorina appeared on the steps of the mansion, begging for scraps. The shawl drawn over her head was an inadequate disguise; the Wicked Mother-in-Law recognized her in a heartbeat.
"The wicked mother doesn't approve of Amorina's relationship with her son! She'll do anything to get her out of the picture," Chizu explained. "By banishing Amorina from my field, I can banish all face-up monsters you control!"
The Wicked Mother-in-Law's heel descended like a lightning bolt. At the same time, a very literal lightning bolt came down in the background and struck all three of Gozu's monsters. Exeunt Amorina stage right to the banishment zone, followed by Gozu's menagerie of beasts.
Gozu grimaced; she was now in the same situation as Zato one turn ago: no monsters, just hanging on with one facedown card.
"Now, Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law! Attack Gozi directly!" The Mother-in-Law's obnoxious laughter rang out as she extended a talon-like nail and conjured a bolt of pure narcissism. The narcissism bolt had suspiciously similar properties to a gun. It launched across the field, shattering the heart-shaped fountain. Fey gripped his lapel, scandalized.
Gozu didn't waver. "I activate my Trap Card, Haunted Zombies. By banishing a Zombie from my graveyard, I can create two Haunted Zombie Tokens to defend me."
Goblin Zombie plunged into a soft-earth grave. The headstone over it vibrated like a radio tower as two bandaged mummies crawled out, each one with a decayed half of its insectoid face.
Haunted Zombies / Normal Trap Card
"Then I'll destroy one of them," Chizu replied. The Wicked Mother-in-Law augmented her Narcissism Bolt with a Passive Aggression Charge, boosting its properties to that of a rocket-propelled grenade. It tore through one of the mummies like tissue paper, then exploded, blowing its flesh across the mansion courtyard. The surviving zombie's jaw hung open in flabbergasted rigor mortis.
"That'll end my turn," Chizu said proudly. "You're up again, Gozi."
Gozu cursed under her breath. This is exactly what I was afraid of. She wiped out my field, and I don't have a card in my hand to defend myself. "At your end phase, Jack-o-Bolan returns to my field."
The pumpkin wizard cobbled its body together once more, hovering up onto Gozu's field. It was probably just a spasm from the reanimation, but she thought she saw it turn its head in confusion at where her other monsters had gone. Never mind that now.
Gozu punched her left hand into her right palm, before reaching up and ripping a card out. "I draw!"
Her face set in determination. "The monster I've just drawn can be normal summoned by Tributing one Zombie monster. I sacrifice my remaining Haunted Zombie Token to Tribute Summon Daidara Bocchi!"
Daidara Bocchi / Level 10 / EARTH / Zombie / ATK 2900 / DEF 2500
The Haunted Zombie Token began to contort, its bandages unraveling to show pure darkness between the gaps. In each of these darknesses opened a haunting, ebon eye. Daidara-Bocchi laughed as it burst, genie-like, from the re-dead corpse of the Haunted Zombie. Its tongue waggled as its gigantic fingers flexed mischievously. It was nearly the size of the mansion, and only getting bigger.
"Daidara Bocchi gains 200 ATK for every other Zombie-type monster on my field," Gozu continued. "Now, Daidara Bocchi! Attack Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law!"
Daidara Bocchi - 2900 ATK 3100 ATK
Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law - 2700 ATK
Chizu - 4000 LP ~ 3600 LP
The Wicked Mother-in-Law screamed as the genie picked her up by her hair, lifted her over its mouth and dropped her in. Gozu would admit to herself that it was very heavy-handed imagery, certainly a bold departure from Amorina's previous genre. Daidara Bocchi patted its stomach happily.
And now, the most wicked woman in the room was herself once more. Gozu shouted, "Now, Jack-o-Bolan attacks you directly!"
Chizu wilted daintily as Jack-o-Bolan's blue flames coursed over her. All the while, she was side-eyeing Zato.
Chizu - 3600 LP ~ 2100 LP
Gozu sighed. "I end my turn."
The triumvirate of usurpers was fighting as hard as they could. Even so, all of the tension had somehow diffused from the room. Gozu kept telling herself that this was Chizu's way of luring her in, the same as Zato, the same as Yuu. But now she'd wiped out nearly half of her opponent's life points, and they still seemed relatively unbothered. Didn't they understand the stakes of this battle? Or maybe their political maneuvering went even deeper than Gozu could fathom, and she'd already lost face regardless of the duel's outcome.
Whatever the case, at this rate they would have to accede to her demands. And for Yuu Tokari, that would mean that regardless of the lies and cheats he could conjure, he would never see her again.
She looked at him. What would it mean, then, for her to beat him? She knew what would happen practically, but for her, it would just mean walling off these complications, these irritations.
Yuu drew without speaking, without looking. Gozu wanted to pry up his eyes and peer into the holes, see close the pumping of his brain. She wanted to know every strategy he'd brought, everything he'd become at the edge of death. Would he summon Prometheus with Supernova Shield? Or maybe power up his Dark Crusader to fight Daidara-Bocchi? He still had the same fascination with dueling that she remembered, but now she wanted to see deeper, to experience the animus motivating his plays.
She thought she knew what never seeing him again would mean for her. But she wanted to know what it would mean for him.
Yuu's hand tipped downward. His eyes met Gozu's.
"I end my turn," he said.
At the edges of the Atrium, enormous steel ribs arced upwards into the rock ceiling and intersected at the center, making a dome that held the colony's shape. It was as though Atlas was holding the world up with his back, crawling on his hands and knees in the hope of escape. Between his fingers grew the mushrooms.
You could pay a child five dollars or a dirty joke, and they'd crawl down in the knots of steel and the twisting, rusted bolts, to emerge with fistfuls of tang. Tang was the taste and the name, and the caps had to be boiled before eating. The stems were sometimes fried, sometimes grilled. An enduring mark of authenticity for the ramen shop was to have a tang stem in every bowl.
Clavis put his spoon in the soup bowl and tried to keep it steady on its raised cooking stand. He kept the fire thin and hot, since he was sure that Fey's rundown apartment had all sorts of hazardous flammables in it. Beside him was the table, a half-finished game of Duel Monsters played hand-to-hand upon it. Otaro Yamatano was winning.
The boy hadn't moved from his sister's bedside, making his moves without looking while Clavis had to pause every few seconds to read his cards. Eventually, cooking seemed like a more productive use of his time, especially since the boy wouldn't even leave to get food.
No, not a boy. This man and his sister were around the same age as Yuu.
Ori Yamatano stirred on the bed, her eyes fluttering open without focus. She'd been getting better for a few days now, standing up and moving around, but it wasn't clear how far she could go now. Her recovery would have to be taken day by day.
Clavis doused the flame and blew on the soup to cool it. Then he stood up and approached the bed.
Otaro's glare nearly blew him back five feet. There were deep bags under his eyes, and his platinum hair had fractured at the bangs, showing some of the roots.
Clavis said nothing and offered the soup. Of course the boy was scared. His sister had been hurt in this mysterious place, this mythic engine of hopeless toil where the good children of the surface hoped to never end up. His was the look of every newcomer.
Otaro reached his hand up to bat the bowl away, before a hand tugged his sleeve.
"I'm hungry, Otaro," Ori said. Her voice cracked from dryness. "Can you pour me some?"
Clavis pulled up Fey's overlarge chair, and they sat in an odd triangle, enjoying the tang soup. Ori refused to let Otaro feed her, but he still kept the spoon at his side, his own bowl untouched.
Whenever Ori regained consciousness, she'd spend a bit thinking of a question to ask. Where they were was the most troubling to answer; she'd gone pale upon hearing that she was in the Atrium. Once Otaro had explained the situation to her, though, she relaxed somewhat. Slowly, her memories returned up to the day of the accident. But at the last pieces, she always seemed to struggle, trying to picture something in her mind, but knocking it out of focus every time. Eventually, she gave up and sighed. "So what happened to Yuu after that?"
"We got him out of there," Clavis replied. "He's a little shaken up, but he's fine."
Otaro glowered and said nothing. Clavis couldn't tell if there was some kind of grudge against Yuu for being there when the earthquake happened, but this was the kind of thing someone should work out on their own. It wouldn't do for him to anger his dueling tutor, anyway.
"You were the one who found him, right?" Otaro asked. "But you haven't gone to visit him once. Instead you're here, watching me and my sister."
His tone was defensive, but Clavis couldn't help but acknowledge the reality of the situation. Otaro thought he might be trying to work his way into their good graces, but he really just couldn't face Yuu at the moment. Not while he was still losing.
Ori seemed to sense the tension in the room. "Where's Fey?" she asked.
"Gone off with Zato," Otaro replied. "Asking a local gang for protection."
"Tomorrow's the big day," Clavis mused. "Are you feeling up to it?"
"Of course she's not-"
"I am," Ori said quickly, cutting off her brother. "I've just got to rebuild my deck a bit."
Otaro accepted this answer silently.
"So, no Dustons?" Clavis could still remember his humiliating loss streak against Ori's One Turn Kill. But you didn't live long by acting on grudges, so he kept his tone neutral.
Ori shook her head. "I think I have to start taking this seriously."
"Ah, now you're serious," Clavis said. He couldn't help the bitter edge that crept into his voice. "Well, that'll make you a bit of a spoiler for tomorrow's tournament, won't it? Since you're already signed with Fey. I'll have to overcome you before my professional debut."
Ori's eyes went somewhere far away. "That's right, Clavis. It wouldn't be a challenge otherwise."
The thought of a challenge still made Clavis uneasy. At his age, he could never be sure how much more he had to give. But he hadn't gotten this far by backing down, either.
"I've changed my deck as well," he said, fitting his sheaf of duradine back together. "I look forward to showing you what I've learned." His voice hitched as he spoke, spilling a drop of emphasis onto "you," lengthening it into a name.
"Clavis," Ori said. She placed a hand over his, smooth to the touch. "Whatever happens tomorrow, even afterwards, I want you to know that your work matters. All of this sweat and blood matters so much to the rest of the world, and they know that, deep down."
Otaro scowled. Clearly Ori's actions were something of a breach of conduct. Besides, Clavis already knew she was wrong. The rest of the world never thought about the work they were doing; they simply pictured the people who would deserve to be doing such work. And if they deserved to be working in these squalid conditions, then why thank them for it? The best they could earn was pity.
The people of the world formed their wisdom from the inflexibility of the way things were. As long as nothing changed, they would continue to be correct. As the last miner of his generation, Clavis was the biggest fool on or under the earth. At least his peers were wise enough to have avoided survival.
He gently brushed her hand away. "I know you mean well," he said. "But to me, Dust Lord, none of that is enough. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want more for myself."
Ori's face fell. "Right. I'm so sorry."
The room felt rather awkward now. Clavis had never felt the weight of his own secrets before. They had used to be just details, clattering around in his life like dice in a bowl. But now they seemed to animate, whirling around the dish, dangerously close to spilling out.
Clavis slipped the rest of his soup into his belly and stood up. "I think I might go tell Fey the good news," he said. "He still has time to put you back in the bracket."
"I can tell him myself," Ori said, throwing the covers back and sliding her feet to the ground. "I've been meaning to have a chat with him, anyway."
Otaro stood up, calm and resigned. "Let's get going, then." His eyes never left Clavis.
"I end my turn," Yuu said as his hand came down empty. He peered at Gozu, trying to beam his thoughts across the room. I swear, I'm not trying to hurt you.
In the back of his mind, he'd wondered if he'd made a mistake, coming here today. Admitting that he'd cheated in their first duel had taken a weight off of his chest, but it had clearly affected her. It was his responsibility not to repeat that kind of mistake now.
When you change your own nature, you change your problems, too. Zekara's advice rang back into his head. If Yuu wanted to change Duel Monsters, he needed to change himself first. Dueling for the stakes had cost him his integrity and Gozu's trust. But at that time, he'd limited himself to what he thought dueling could accomplish. This time, he needed to go further.
Gozu stared back at him silently. Then, she closed her eyes. When they opened again, they were distorted with rage.
"Before your turn ends, I'll use Jack-o-Bolan to bring back Uni-Zombie," she snarled. Jack-o-Bolan crumbled for a third time, and this time the two wayward companions tumbled out of its maw. "Do you still end your turn, Yuu Tokari?"
At present, Daidara-Bocchi still presided over the battlefield, waving its limbs as it juddered in a dream-like state. With the addition of Uni-Zombie, its power soared to 3300 attack points. If Gozu kept using Jack-o-Bolan to bring back her monsters, she could fill her field and wipe them all out in one fell swoop. But even though she occupied the winning position, her demeanor was one of pure desperation.
"I'll still end my turn." He felt dizzy, stumbling over the weight of his words as they fell. Losing to Gozu would mean never seeing her again. Being around her would be meaningless if she couldn't trust him, though.
The proud leader of the Monji looked, for all her grandeur, like she had been cornered, her shadow thrown high against the wall by their Duel Disk display holograms. Yuu knew that kind of look. He'd seen it on the way here, in Badtown, where a person's eyes were defensive tools, the last line of resistance in their wasting bodies. Gozu's eyes shuddered in her head, flicking between each of her opponents. But she also shrank back from the ceiling, as though she'd invented some upper row of specters who rebelled against her.
Yuu couldn't stop Gozu from lumping him with Zato and Chizu; it seemed only fair, given his past association with Zato. But he wouldn't participate in it. He smiled at Gozu, trying to hide the bitter taste in his mouth. I guess my dueling can't solve everything perfectly. This ought to be good enough for me.
"Yuu!" Zato shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. "What do you think you're doing?"
Yuu just lifted his arm to show that the marker on his Duel Disk blinking. It turned red, indicating that it was Gozu's turn again.
"My turn. Draw." Gozu plotted, her face half-hidden by her card. "And I will show no mercy, Yuu Tokari."
"Did those painkillers make you forget how to duel?" Zato jeered. "Here's a tip: Play literally any card."
Yuu glared back at him. He knew that Zato brought out the worst in him, but maybe he needed to be a little worse to stand up for himself. "I don't take orders from you. I'm your champion, remember?"
Zato's lips sealed to a hard line. His jaw struggled for a moment before he visibly changed tack. His voice dropped to a low, sympathetic growl. "You know, if you lose this duel, she's never letting you set foot in this town, ever again. Do you really want that?"
Yuu couldn't look him in the eye. "Being here won't mean anything if she can't trust me. Stay out of it."
"Well, sure, but-" Zato looked to Chizu, frustrated. "Anything you can say to him?"
Chizu turned her nose up. "I wouldn't mind if this philanderer was never seen again. He's lucky I'm not making it so right now. Besides, even if Gozi kicks him from the duel, Chizuzato is more than enough to win!"
"I suppose the deal's still on if that happens," Zato agreed, as his brow creased in annoyance. "Although, what did you just call us?"
"You shouldn't talk about a Daimonji as if she's not here," Gozu called across the field. She glanced to Yuu. "And for the record, in a moment it won't matter if I ever trusted you at all."
She thrust out her hand. "I'll begin by using Uni-Zombie's effect to send Alghoul Mazera to the Graveyard. This time, I'll be raising the level of my Daidara-Bocchi to 11." Daidara-Bocchi's body ballooned as the two humanoid zombies picked up a two-man barbershop hum.
"Now, Level 3 Uni-Zombie tunes Level 7 Jack-o-Bolan!" Instead of raising her card, Gozu brought it down in front of her, held out from the wrist like a blade, dividing her body perfectly. Her other hand raised two fingers in prayer, focused upwards like a lightning rod.
Surprise leaped across Chizu's face. Yuu heard her murmur, "She looks just like him."
A holographic pentacle inscribed itself in flame beneath Gozu's feet. "I learned to Synchro Summon so that I could inherit my grandfather's strategies. With this, I claim the legacy of the Monji! Now, return from beyond to fulfill your clan's oath! Level 10, Shiranui Sunsaga!"
3 + 7 = 10
Shiranui Sunsaga / Level 10 / FIRE / Zombie / ATK 3500 / DEF 0
The flames exploded outwards. Just as quickly, they froze in an eerie shape, as though they were a painted set in an old stage play. From between the partitions, a ghostly figure appeared atop a striding horse. Its splendid armor shone beneath its distinguished white robe, and it held aloft a shimmering blue sword. Gozu mirrored its motion as she pointed to the field.
"Chizu Daimonji. I'm going to show you that I'm the only one fit to lead this clan. And whatever house of lies you have assembled against me, I will eradicate fully! Shiranui Sunsaga's effect can shuffle back any of my banished Zombie Synchro monsters, and use them to destroy cards on the field!"
"You mean the Synchro Monster I banished with Amorina's Wicked Mother-in-Law!" Chizu realized aloud.
"That's right," Gozu snarled. "And I'll use it to target Amorina's Passionate Manor! Go, Sunsaga! Inheritor's Daybreak Blade!"
A golden aura leapt out from Gozu's banishment zone and collected around the hilt of Sunsaga's sword. A spiral wrought from the tip of the blade, forming in midair the maw of Felgrand as it rushed across the field in a shockwave. The holographic mansion cleaved in two and vanished, leaving them back in Gozu's study.
"That's the last of your defenses, Yuu Tokari," the Monji boss noted tersely. "And with Sunsaga and Daidara-Bocchi, I've got more than enough power to eliminate you from my life forever."
Yuu tried to catch her eye, trying to see what she was feeling, but Gozu was already making her grandfather's pose, commanding her monsters forward like a falling sword. "Sunsaga attacks you directly!" she declared.
Sunsaga's horse whinnied and bucked up ferociously before charging across the field. Yuu tried to slow his breathing, telling himself that this was the only way his dueling could make a difference.
"Hold on!" Zato shouted, a card glowing in his hand. "Whenever you make a direct attack, I can activate Arcastral UFO Capsule effect to take the attack in Yuu's place!"
An odd, pill-shaped spaceship whirred to life and met Shiranui Sunsaga's cavalry charge. Sunsaga's blade ground against its spinning edge until the glass dome popped off, spilling stardust into the air.
Arcastral UFO Capsule / Level 1 / LIGHT / Galaxy / Scale 4 / ATK 300 / DEF 200
"And when UFO Capsule gets destroyed, I'm able to summon a Pendulum Monster from my hand or Extra Deck!" Zato proclaimed. "So get ready for the return of Arcastral Comet Highscore!"
Once more, an impossible mass appeared on Zato's side of the field, warping the firelight of the room into its orbit. Once more, Yuu knew what it was like to punch Zato clean across his face.
The bald man sprawled to the ground, holding his jaw. Yuu barely had time to piece his rage back into words before he was hoisted off the ground and held above Chizu's head like a plank of wood. "What do you think you're doing to my Zato?" she snapped.
"I told you to stay out of it!" Yuu yelled at Zato while the blood rushed to his head. Immediately, their team had descended into chaos.
"Can't be helped, Yuu!" Zato called. "Some of us are trying to win! Now, Arcastral Comet Highscore's effect will destroy both Shiranui Sunsaga and Daidara-Bocchi!"
High-density bands of energy began crisscrossing Arcastral Comet Highscore's surface. "No pesky negations this time! So long, Gozu!"
The convocation point flared outwards, a glittering wave spilling across the room as though it were creating the starry universe. Sunsaga and Daidara Bocchi were flooded in it, vanishing from view.
Chizu set Yuu down roughly. Zato wiped his hands with an exasperated look. "The next turn's mine, so I'll attack directly with Comet Highscore and finish her off. Then we'll be back to negotiating the contract, so calm down already."
"It won't be as easy as that." Gozu's head and shoulders appeared above the wave that had engulfed her field. The rest of her body emerged, her arms folded, her legs apart with feet standing atop Highscore's galaxy. In front of her, a new monster had emerged. What was more, the old ones hadn't left.
Alghoul Mazera / Level 8 / EARTH / Zombie / ATK 2800 / DEF 2300
Zato sputtered as he looked across the field to see Sunsaga and Daidara-Bocchi, still undead and well. "That's impossible."
"Believe what you like," Gozu replied. "When you targeted my monsters, I was able to banish Alghoul Mazera from my graveyard to prevent their destruction. What's more, whenever Alghoul Mazera is banished, I can special summon it back to my field!" The ghastly warrior wore a horned helmet, its chipped blade a testament to countless battles before and after its death.
"There's no end to these things!" Zato cursed.
"And that is the power of the Monji. We are always more than we appear." For a while now, Gozu had been tacking more and more traits onto the Monji eminence. Yuu still thought she was all of these things, but he was starting to see the shifting of the mantle Gozu wore, the chafed shoulder where the Monji ended and she began.
"I end my turn," Gozu said, her manner as wary as ever.
Thoroughly frustrated, Zato pulled up the top card of his deck. When he saw it, he broke into a smile.
"I'll admit that this is just good luck at work, but you're finished now. I activate my spell card, Arcastral Bonus Zone!"
Suddenly, each of Gozu's monsters were surrounded in golden bands of light, locking them in a gilded prize cage. Brightly flashing numbers began to circle them, like rolling text on traffic LEDs. Alghoul Mazera howled as it thrashed against its bindings.
Arcastral Bonus Zone / Continuous Spell Card
"Now that they're in the bonus zone, whenever an Arcastral monster destroys another monster by battle or card effect, those monsters are shuffled into the deck, and you take 1000 points of damage! What's more, Arcastral Comet Highscore is allowed to attack every monster you control once each!"
Gozu grit her teeth. "Do your worst, Sanada."
Zato slipped on his signature slimy smile. "My worst is all I've got. Comet Highscore! Attack Alghoul Mazera!"
Every rancid sore and wrinkle on Alghoul Mazera's face was cast in stark shadow as Comet Highscore's light overwhelmed it, lifting away its flesh like a breeze lifting dust. When it was over, all that was left of Mazera were decaying carbon atoms that sputtered in the comet's furnace.
Arcastral Comet Highscore - ATK 4000
Alghoul Mazera - DEF 2300
An 8-bit prize noise sounded off as the flashing numbers bounced around the room, colliding with Gozu. Even if Mazera had been in defense mode, Bonus Zone would still deal her damage.
Gozu - 4000 LP ~ 3000 LP
Zato finger-gunned his next target. "Next, swing for Daidara-Bocchi!"
Daidara-Bocchi disintegrated from the tongue up, distorting its comical features to express inconceivable agony.
Arcastral Comet Highscore - ATK 4000
Daidara-Bocchi - ATK 3100
Gozu - 3000 LP ~ 2100 LP
"We're going for the record! Bonus Zone nets another 1000 points!"
Gozu - 2100 LP ~ 1100 LP
"Wait!" Yuu cried. "With that amount, after Shiranui Sunsaga gets destroyed, Bonus Zone will put Gozu's life points down to zero!"
"Which I'm gonna remind you, Yuu, is a good thing and also the point of a duel." Zato's irritation seemed to put him back in the character of the workplace gambling broker. "But if there's anything you want to say to Daimonji before you don't never see her again, go right ahead."
Yuu walked into the line of fire and put his arms wide. "If you win like this, it won't change anything! Do you really think you can just force her to go along with the deal?"
Zato shrugged callously. "The Great Daimonji might have thought of that before hinging that deal on the outcome of a card game. I know Mezu would have."
"Zato, dear." Chizu palmed the back of his head like a basketball. "Please don't be so hard on Gozi. She's been working really hard, so we should still support her."
Sweat began pooling on Zato's head like a kappa. "R-right, Chizu. I'll just attack, then. We can work from there."
"Hm." Chizu still hadn't let go of the back of Zato's head. Yuu could see her looking past him, at Gozu. He didn't dare turn around to see what the head of the Monji looked like now. He didn't think he could handle one more look of contempt.
Comet Highscore pulsed once more, and blinding light washed over Yuu as the attack materialized over and through him. "It's over!" Zato declared. "Destroy Shiranui Sunsaga!"
"Gozu!" Yuu shouted in vain, turning around in the jetstream of cosmic dust. Gozu's face was unreadable, bleached into featurelessness by the light. Sunsaga rode forward, its own flames bursting behind it, articulating into the ghosts of an entire clan, joined together in their charge into burning oblivion.
Arcastral Comet Highscore - ATK 4000
Shiranui Sunsaga - ATK 3500
Gozu - 1100 LP ~ 600 LP
"End of the line, kid," Zato declared. "Arcastral Bonus Zone! Show Daimonji the killscreen!"
The golden bands whirled with the flashing numbers. Then, they flickered to a slow, beeping three times in error before vanishing. At their center stood Shiranui Sunsaga, astride its bucking horse.
Fey's eyebrows rose. "Goodness me!"
"Sunsaga wasn't destroyed!" Yuu couldn't believe his eyes. "Bonus Zone couldn't activate!"
"I end my turn," Zato said bitterly, recovering from the shock. "How did she do that?"
"I know how," Chizu said, quiet with awe. "Shiranui Sunsaga can protect itself by banishing another Shiranui monster from her graveyard. And that was Shiranui Solitaire, the very first monster she played this duel. She's incredible."
Gozu drew, her brow heavy with sweat. Her paranoia had honed to singular focus.
"She tries so hard all the time, you know," Chizu continued. "And our little Gozi is talented enough to pull it off."
Yuu just nodded. Everything, from her new strategy, to her unswayed resolve, had attuned to the pressure of the situation and risen above it.
Chizu's expression was strained. Yuu could see her age at the edges of her mouth. "But that's exactly why it'll destroy her, don't you think?"
Gozu's voice cracked as she summoned her next monster. "Because I control a Level 10 monster on my side of the field, I can special summon from my hand Finis Terrae, Tower of the Necroworld!"
Plunging upwards from the earth as though to impale the air, the tower awoke as a lighthouse of eyes. Yuu felt its beams wash over him, and grew cold.
Finis Terrae, Tower of the Necroworld / Level 10 / WATER / Zombie / ATK 1000 / DEF 2800
Comet Highscore seemed to burn ever brighter against the noxious aura of Finis Terrae. In a flash, Gozu had outnumbered their forces yet again.
Zato's tone was barely diplomatic. "Having that much power must weigh on her conscience. A shame she accepted it anyway."
"That's our grandfather's lessons at work," Chizu replied. "Nobody wants to take responsibility unless someone else is taking more. The Monji need a Great Daimonji."
"Well, they've got one," Zato noted cynically.
Gozu's grim voice carried above their conversation. "I will exceed all who came before me. With this, I overlay Shiranui Sunsaga and Finis Terrae to Xyz Summon."
She raised a crystal card above her head, flooding the room with amethyst light. "Rise, great beast, and consume everything in your path! Rank 10! Ruin Varudras, the Remnant of End Times!"
A terrible maw yawned open, the half-rotted flesh revealing the bony, monstrous crest of its head. Its limbs and tail moved with an unfathomable weight, fighting the pull of death as much as the physical laws that forbade a being of such size and power. An apocalyptic force had collapsed unto itself. The being that had enacted Armageddon wasted away, alone in its conquered world.
Ruin Varudras, the Remnant of End Times / Rank 10 / Zombie / ATK 3000 / DEF 0
Now it was not darkness that opposed Comet Highscore's light, but mere, unfillable emptiness. The gaze of Ruin Varudras was like a grasping hand, dragging all three of the duelists into its vacant sway.
Yuu gulped. As worried as he was for Gozu, their own situation had gone from bad to worse.
