Chapter 32: Opening the Gates
Matt was on his usual walk back from DA-Rec, rounding the lake along the sidewalk in front of Obelisk Blue so early in the day that the sun was only flecks on the horizon, when he felt an odd chill. He did live on an island most of the year, and it was technically still March, but the weather had warmed rather quickly, so that sensation was unusual. Besides, it's not like real chills where his skin produced goose bumps or anything. This was more like the unease he felt in Italy when the spirits got restless each time the duel stations kicked on.
The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to be pulling him toward the Obelisk dorm. Curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the pull. Instead of heading inside the dorm, he walked along the lake shore until he passed by the side of the building. There was an unofficial path by the yard, not marked by anything—even worn grass. It was not a trodden path, but Matt had taken it once before when he was invited to duel against Haruki Yagawa from within the forest. He continued to walk past Obelisk until he reached a small clearing in the trees. Apart from a single picnic table and a grove of budding flowers, there wasn't anything of interest out here, yet Matt felt it was the source of whatever made him ill at ease.
That's when he heard the conversation on the other side of the fence.
"I've already called Sergeant Stilson to have you detained until you can be removed from the island." That sounded like Dr. Lankford. Few voices could portray that much negative judgment with only one sentence.
"Yeah, yeah. It's too late for that to matter. I've already handed you my challenge card." Whose voice was that? Not a student's, but someone's Matt had heard before. Very familiar, in fact. It was softer male voice—tenor in pitch and somehow evoking the image of a scraggly beard. "My card, not one that someone else gave me." That proved it wasn't a student. An alumnus or else a family member of a student. But how? Didn't all the visitors leave on the cruise ship the day after the festival?
And the nature of the challenge was a demand, not a request. Someone knew about the faculty being guardians of something at Duel Academy. Did he also know what was sealed away?
"I'll accept your challenge, but Stilson can stop the duel."
Well, that just seemed dumb. If losing a duel meant Dr. Lankford's key was stolen or whatever, then why not just decline the duel? Or just buy time until Sergeant Stilson could arrest whoever it was.
"Are you sure that will work out for you? You know what happens when you decline an official challenge."
Matt didn't know. Cary mentioned it, but she didn't know, either. Was declining the same as losing? It made sense in the sick way that Dr. Lankford always told everyone they weren't permitted to decline an official challenge. It always sounded like cultish behavior from a professor who maybe loved the game a bit too much, but maybe it was ingrained in him because of whatever magic seal he supported.
"Stilson can negate the challenge through his own authority. I've accepted your challenge, so nothing is declined."
"You really want to test that theory when yours is the last seal? If I don't accept the distraction, and you allow it to happen, you might as well forfeit."
The familiarity of that voice was driving Matt crazy, but not crazy enough to place it yet. It definitely sounded like someone Bryan would talk to more than Matt would. But face reality: The only two people Matt spoke to more than Bryan did were Kasumi and Cary, and neither of them were hanging out in the Obelisk Boys' backyard at 6 AM.
Dr. Lankford finally asked the question that Matt wondered. "Do you even realize what you're trying to unlock?"
The student chuckled. "Yeah-yeah. Some rich guy's vault."
Son of a bitch! Matt had heard that phrase in that voice before. It was Howard Urizar, the Duel Academy graduate he had met during the Deck Limitations Tournament in Italy. Howard had visited for the Spirit Day Festival, though Matt didn't spend much time with him. How did he skip getting back on the boat?
"What do you think is in there?" asked Dr. Lankford.
"The real god cards."
If Matt were a social being, he might have yelped. Instead, his eyebrows rose and got stuck that way. So he was right about the god cards, how they were fake, which meant the theft last year was also fake, or at least pointless. All those damn lies Howard told about not knowing who stole the god cards or why. He was probably the thief, and that's how he figured out that all of the cards were fakes. He somehow figured out that the real god cards were hidden at Duel Academy and that the professors were trying to keep them secret.
Matt had always been a climber—low overall body mass with disproportionate upper body strength. Most of the trees around the picnic table were trimmed specifically to prevent anyone from climbing trees and hopping the fence into the Obelisk yard, but Matt didn't need to hop the fence: He just needed to be high enough to see what was going on. He found a tree on the other side of the clearing with a limb just low enough for him to grab with one good jump off the trunk. After getting past the jolt of feeling like his arm was being pulled out of its socket, he managed to swing himself onto the limb. He was pretty far from the fence, but from there, it was easy enough to keep climbing until he could see Dr. Lankford's head and Howard Urizar's frizzy hair over the top of the fence.
"Do you know the true reason they're locked away?" Dr. Lankford was quieter now, but Matt was still able to hear, as long as he focused on ignoring all other stimuli.
"Something about how they don't get along and waged a giant war against each other. I don't really care about that part."
"You should. Their power combined in battle like that could destroy the world."
A war between the real god cards? Matt never read about that in any of his history books. None of the Kaiba Corp lore about Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming included all three sets of god cards at the same time, either—at most, the Egyptian God Cards plus one other set.
The distinct sound of a Duel Disk entering duel mode. "Time's up. Accept the challenge or forfeit."
The next chime was clearly Dr. Lankford accepting the challenge. His Duel Disk was pairing with Howard's. "Even if you manage to be the one who finally defeats me, you'll never get away from here to find out where they're hidden."
"This isn't about me. My only purpose is to break the seal."
Oh, my god! So Howard wasn't working alone? Was Darcy Purves in on this insanity? Was it possible for her to sneak onboard the cruise ship and then sneak around the island while Howard went around defeating the faculty and stealing their keys?
According to what Cary had heard Dr. West say: Even after the seal was broken, it would take time to locate the door, and by then the faculty would reconvene to prevent anyone from stealing the real god cards. But where was the door? Did Howard know about it already? Did Darcy?
Dr. Lankford took the first turn. "Upstart Goblin, then Dark Contract of the Gate." First a goblin creature gave him a card while the energy from the deck gave Howard 1000 LP. After, an obsidian statue accepted from him a bound scroll and gave him a card from his deck. "D/D Savant Kepler (1: 0|0)." It was a monster card on the field, but it looked like a machine model of the solar system. "D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok." This time, he placed his giant monster on the side of his Duel Disk, in the Pendulum Zone. Matt wasn't aware that any of the professors actually ran a Pendulum deck.
"Dark Contract with the Swamp King." Another altar, but this time, it looked like a head that appeared out of a particularly grimy bog. He discarded two cards from his hand and then pulled a card from his Extra Deck. "D/D/D Flame King Genghis (6: 2000|1500)." Matt couldn't figure out what that card was supposed to be: some humanoid with a riot shield and a corkscrew for a sword. But the important part was D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok: "Summon D/D Lamia (1: 100|1900)." Matt didn't know the D/D cards well enough to know why Dr. Lankford was allowed to revive a monster from the Graveyard, but he understood that it cost 1000 LP.
And then D/D/D Flame King Genghis activated a similar effect to summon D/D Savant Thomas (8: 1800|2600) from the Graveyard. As soon as the dust settled, Lamia (1) and Genghis (6) tuned until they could Synchro Summon D/D/D Gale Overlord Alexander (7: 2500|2000). And it was pretty obvious Dr. Lankford didn't care about the new card when he sent Dark Contract with the Swamp King to the grave so he could summon D/D Lamia again. Immediately, Lamia (1) and Alexander (7) tuned into Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon (8: 3000|2500), a brilliant and shimmering monster that would have sparkled rainbows if it had been sunny out.
"D/D Savant Thomas activates," said Dr. Lankford. His Ragnarok card in the Pendulum Zone disappeared, replaced by another copy of D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok (8: 2200|3000) from the deck. The professor overlaid Thomas (8) and Ragnarok (8) to Special Summon D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga (8: 3500|3000). Clad in purple armor with no weapons, Yuga didn't look nearly as intimidating as his attack points implied.
"Turn over," said Dr. Lankford.
Lankford: 7000 LP, 1 card
Howard: 9000 LP, 5 cards
"I thought you ran Monarchs," said Howard.
Dr. Lankford scowled. "I always carry around a backup deck. If anyone sees me duel with it, I trade it out. That way no one knows my strategy in case of this exact scenario. I do hope you built your deck with the goal of defeating Monarchs."
"I built it to defeat everything," said Howard. Sweet comeback, but he'd have to work pretty hard to prove it against the best dueling professor at Duel Academy. "I summon C-Crush Wyvern (4: 1200|2000)." It was a blocky dragon, very much designed with transformation in mind, of the Voltron and Power Rangers variety. "I use Transmodify to send Wyvern to the Graveyard and summon Galaxy Soldier (5: 2000|0) instead." The monster looked like a dude in white-and-gold star armor. It reached for Howard's deck, but…
"Crystal Wing activates," said Dr. Lankford. "Galaxy Soldier's effect is negated." And the card was destroyed. Not only that: Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon (+5000) gained points equal to Galaxy Soldier.
Howard appeared to shrug it off, but only because Matt couldn't see well enough to tell if Howard's face darkened with a scowl. "When C-Crush Wyvern is sent to the Graveyard, it summons another Union Monster: A-Assault Core (4: 1900|200)." Still Voltron vibes, but this one looked like a scorpion. "I'll discard B-Buster Drake to summon another Galaxy Soldier (5: 2000|0) in defense mode.
"Now I'll banish A-Assault Core, B-Buster Drake, and C-Crush Wyvern to fuse them into ABC-Dragon Buster (8: 3000|2800)." There was the Megazord card that Matt was looking for: tank treads like a scorpion and two heads like a wyvern and drake, plus the weaponry from all three monsters. And all the rockets and tank shells aimed straight for Crystal Wing (5000). "By discarding, ABC-Dragon Buster banishes your card from the field." Exploding underneath all that firepower, the most powerful monster on the field vanished. "Now just a regular attack on D/D Savant Kepler (0)." The barrage was much smaller but just as effective, depleting a ton of Dr. Lankford's LP.
"That ends my turn."
Lankford: 4000 LP, 1 card
Howard: 9000 LP, 0 cards
Matt found himself excited to witness Dr. Lankford taking a hit like that. He knew, deep down, that he should root for Dr. Lankford to win this duel. Protecting the seal was probably important, right? But he was really curious to see the real god cards and how they were different from the fake versions.
As soon as Dr. Lankford drew, Howard said, "One thing I'll change: I'll send ABC-Dragon Buster to the Graveyard to I can summon C-Crush Wyvern (4: 1200|2000), B-Buster Drake (4: 1500|1800), and A-Assault Core (4: 1900|200) in defense mode." Now he had four defenders on his field. Matt was a bit in awe at how well he slammed the school's toughest professor and then took cover behind an entire wall of defense. And Dr. Lankford was in for even more trouble when his Dark Contract with the Gate deducted 1000 LP as a maintenance cost.
But he was no stranger to banishing his cards. "Pot of Desires," he said: Ten cards flew from his deck out of the game just so he could take two more in his hand. His Dark Contract with the Gate leaked energy again as he took another copy of D/D Lamia to his hand. "Activate D/D Swirl Slime for D/D/D Flame King Genghis (6: 2000|1500)." The same Fusion monster he played last time, this time fused by the stickiness of the Swirl Slime itself when discarded alongside Lamia. And when the Dark Contract with the Gate disappeared, D/D Lamia (1: 100|1900) revived once again.
Just like last time, Flame King Genghis summoned D/D/D Gale Overlord Alexander (7: 2500|2000)—more easily this time, though, because summoning a D/D monster like Lamia provided the energy to revive any D/D monster from the Graveyard. But Alexander and Lamia tuned the exact same way as last time to Synchro Summon another copy of Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon (8: 3000|2500).
And for the real kick in the pants: "Raigeki." A powerful lightning storm struck the field, wiping out all four of Howard's defensive monsters in one fell swoop. Even from this distance, Matt could see that Howard wasn't happy about that play. But his three Voltron pieces activated. Well, technically C-Crush Wyvern never activated because it would summon something from Howard's hand, except his hand was empty. So B-Buster Drake activated to move a Union Monster from the deck to Howard's hand, and A-Assault Core activated to give Howard a Union Monster from the Graveyard.
"Crystal Wing negates," said Dr. Lankford, blocking A-Assault Core's effect. Which meant that Howard ended up with only one more card in his hand. Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon (3000) didn't gain any points because the target was already destroyed at the time. But the existing points added to Flame King Genghis (2000) and Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga (3500) were still enough to deliver a One-Turn Kill…
Or they would have been in any other duel. Even after all the dust settled from those devastating direct attacks, Howard clung on by 500 LP, given to him by Dr. Lankford's Upstart Goblin card during the first turn.
"Turn over," said the professor, clearly upset that he hadn't ended the duel. "Last chance to end this peacefully."
The way his voice still dripped with disdain, even when Howard was equally matched, rubbed Matt the wrong way. He realized that he wanted Dr. Lankford to lose this duel just so he could remember how it feels. Maybe he'd let up on Bryan a bit.
Lankford: 3000 LP, 1 card
Howard: 500 LP, 1 card
"Close call," said Howard.
Dr. Lankford said, "I'll end this before Sergeant Stilson even gets here."
"I like that idea." But despite his tough talk, Howard had absolutely nothing on the field. What the hell did he think he could do that would still win this duel?
"Unexpected Dai," he said. Weird name for a weird card, but it let him summon a Normal Monster from the deck: Angel Trumpeter (4: 1900|1600). "I also summon C-Crush Wyvern (4: 1200|2000)." The emergency card he had received when his cards were destroyed by Raigeki. "Now I banish the monsters from my Graveyard again to Special Summon ABC-Dragon Buster (8: 3000|2800)." This card could be fused by cards under Howard's control or his Graveyard, which was a significant boon to his effort. So at least he wasn't totally screwed.
"I overlay Trumpeter (4) and Wyvern (4) for Number 39: Utopia (4: 2500|2000)." His two monsters became the powerful warrior who always reminded Matt of a clunkier version of Elemental Hero Neos. "Utopia is the overlay for Number S39: Utopia the Lightning (5: 2500|2000)." Without a second monster, Utopia evolved into a stronger version of himself—with wings made out of swords that might look cool but would be utterly useless for flying.
Finally, Howard had something strong enough that Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon could use its power, but Utopia the Lightning had the same power: When it attacked Crystal Wing, Utopia prevented Dr. Lankford from activating any effects: That's how Utopia the Lightning (+5000) was able to discard two of its Xyz materials to double its attack points and obliterate Crystal Wing (3000).
Kali Yuga (3500) was too strong to overcome, but ABC-Dragon Buster (3000) was still powerful enough to destroy Flame King Genghis (2000).
And unfortunately, that was all Howard needed to end the duel.
Lankford: 0 LP, 1 card
Howard: 500 LP, 0 cards
Matt froze in place. To his eye, everything froze as he tried to watch everywhere all at once. Something was about to happen… something big. He could feel the energy brimming from within the island. He braced himself in case the shattering of the final seal would shake the whole campus, rattle the tree he was in, and shake him loose.
But nothing happened—nothing Matt could see, anyway. He definitely felt something going on beneath the surface, but he didn't hear anything. Nothing shook, no one screamed, not even one structure fell over. So maybe Dr. Lankford didn't have the last key after all? Or maybe Matt just had no idea what to look for.
Howard and Dr. Lankford still stood exactly where they were during their duel, although Dr. Lankford looked a bit woozy. When he swooned, Matt almost caught a glimpse of something shining around his neck, about the right position for a necklace. While he was disoriented, Howard said, "I guess I should leave you here."
Dr. Lankford grumbled something that Matt couldn't make out from the distance, but he tried to lunge after Howard and missed. Either he was blind with pride over losing a duel, the spirit key was draining him, or Howard had drugged him somehow. Whatever the case, Howard darted inside Obelisk Blue, where Matt promptly lost sight of him.
Matt wasn't sure he could climb the type of fence that surrounded Obelisk, designed as it was to protect its precious outdoor pool and other amenities from the lowlifes who… paid tuition to the school. He hopped down out of the tree and jogged over to the front of the dorm, ready for whenever Howard emerged. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to both Cary and Bryan: Lankford lost.
Five minutes passed, then ten. Matt couldn't believe that Howard would take so long to escape the dormitory… and then suddenly he could believe it. He wasn't trying to escape—he was trying to hide. He had obviously been hiding ever since the Spirit Day Festival. He wanted to burst in there and go find Howard himself, but several things stopped him. Most prominent among his reasons was that Obelisk Blue was off limits. Matt didn't have access to the dormitory, and that dorm was even more restrictive than the Guardhouse in terms of having visitors. Rumor was that no one who didn't have a blue Duel Academy jacket could enter, even as a visitor.
Cycling through his phone contacts, Matt made a face. "Do I not have even one acquaintance in that dormitory?"
Finally Cary texted back. He lost? What happened with the keys?
No idea. I can't tell what's different.
Then he changed the subject: Can you text Haruki or Rikuto? Howard Urizar is in Obelisk Blue somewhere.
Didn't he graduate last year?
Stop texting me and ask them to look for him!
Cary's next reply took longer, which he took to mean that she was doing as he asked. When she did reply, her annoyance was palpable even through text messaging: Dick.
Before long, Obelisk students began exiting the dormitory. Time rapidly approached for the morning classes to start. Matt wasn't eager to be late for class, but he was willing to risk it in favor of learning more about what Howard was trying to do and what would happen now that the seal was broken on the real god cards.
The first student walking out was Kai Jackson. They weren't friends, and Matt wasn't especially fond of him, but circumstances called for a conversation. "Kai! Have you seen Howard Urizar in your dorm? He graduated last year, short guy, a beard that looks like Einstein cloned his hair on his chin…"
Kai frowned. "I don't have time for whatever prank you're playing."
"Prank? I'm just asking about intruders in the Obelisk dorm."
Another voice called, "Intruders like you?" Kai accepted the distraction as a chance to walk away. The only person in that dorm who hated Matt more than Kai did—Thomas Estrada, though the hate was for different reasons. Kai had that weird belief that somehow he and Matt were Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou reincarnated for an eternal struggle. Thomas just hated everybody, but especially everybody with a red jacket. "Slifer Scum shouldn't be anywhere within five hundred meters of Obelisk Blue."
"That's a ridiculous restraining order. I wouldn't be able to use the sidewalk or even the forest. DA-Rec would be completely off limits unless I walked through the volcano to get there."
"Maybe you jump in while you're there," Thomas added.
"Fantastic dialogue. Do I take that to mean that you have not seen someone actually inside the dorm who shouldn't be there? He's wearing jeans and a charcoal fleece, so not even a Duel Academy uniform."
"The only person who doesn't belong here is you, Slifer Snot."
Matt made a face. "There's an image I hadn't considered before. But seriously, you're useless." How could someone who stands out as much as Howard be so easy to miss? Sure, he had an unassuming presence. He was softspoken and never gesticulated when he spoke. But no one had that much facial hair—not even Leon. And everyone at school wore the same damn clothes except for him! Unless he changed clothes as soon as he got inside…
Or maybe Thomas was a co-conspirator. Howard had been hiding on campus for a couple of weeks, picking off the last of the professors one by one. To hide for that long, he must have an accomplice.
That was the time the campus police finally showed up: Sergeant Frank Stilson and two of his officers. Matt pointed to them. "See? Someone more important than you is taking this seriously." He walked away from Thomas and approached the officers.
Sergeant Stilson and Officer Rader ignored Matt, but Officer McDaniel saw him coming and did that thing where adults use The Force to push students away without ever touching them. "Whoa there. You're not permitted in this dorm," she said.
"But I saw who attacked Dr. Lankford," said Matt. "He's a graduate from a year ago: maybe nineteen years old, height five-five, weight one-thirty, fluffy hair all the way around his head like a child's drawing of the sun but brunette. Or brune. Whatever the male version of that description is."
"We'll take care of it. You just get to class."
Matt was confused. "Don't police usually take witness statements? And won't you need help searching this dorm? It's huge, and like I said, the perp is not."
"We'll, take, care of it," she repeated, spacing out her words enough to be condescending but not so much as to make separate sentences. And even though she took steps closer to the dormitory entrance, she held out her hand as if Matt were a lion she had to stare down.
He finally decided that his presence was only distracting the campus police from doing what they needed to be doing, so he turned toward the Duel Academy building. The time hadn't mattered before, but if he was going to class after all, he preferred not to have to run all the way to the dorm and come right back. So he pulled up a text message to Bryan, and that's when he realized that Bryan never responded to the message about Dr. Lankford. Weird, considering Bryan was usually so attached to his phone.
Hey, man. If you get this, will you bring my bag to the main building? Fortunately Matt always packed his backpack before heading to DA-Rec, so his chemistry textbook and his notes should already be inside.
He reached the building slightly later than usual but still on the early side. The library was full of early birds who squeezed in studying before they even had coffee. The halls were quiet as he walked to the Takasugi A lecture hall. The only person already present was Emily Li, small enough to hide unnoticed behind the desk chair.
"Good morning, Mr. Luther," said Dr. Apple, never turning away from his lecturn. "You're slightly later and much less equipped than usual." So he noticed Matt's missing backpack.
He thought about making a sarcastic comment, but then he decided to tell Dr. Apple exactly what had happened. "I fell behind schedule this morning because I stopped to watch Dr. Lankford lose a duel."
Now he had Dr. Apple's attention.
"An official challenge," he added to drive home the point that he knew about the professors and what they were doing.
Emily didn't know. "I didn't think Dr. Lankford would accept a challenge from a student."
"It wasn't a student. His opponent was an alumnus who somehow managed to sneak around on the island when he was supposed to be shipped off with all the other Spirit Day visitors."
Dr. Apple appeared to be staring in Matt's direction, but his gaze was actually fuzzier than that, as if he were looking through Matt. "Yes, that's quite the disturbing revelation. Protocols must certainly have been breached." Finally he made real eye contact. "Who was the perpetrator?"
"Name is Howard Urizar."
"Ah, should have guessed. Former Guardian Dueler, asked a lot of questions about dueling against professors. And you know what he's after."
Matt nodded. "More or less."
But Dr. Apple was already disconnected from chemistry class and didn't seem to hear that part. "Mr. Luther, come with me. Ms. Li, you're in charge." He was spry and disappeared outside the lecture hall before his words were even done. Matt started to follow, but Dr. Apple stepped back inside the room sheepishly.
"No, that suggestion utterly lacked foresight. Ms. Li, please go upstairs and tell Ms. Kino that she is in charge." As if convincing himself that was a better decision, he muttered, "She's a teaching assistant. It's one of her duties to cover classes." Satisfied with the new circumstances, he took off again. Matt didn't wait for Emily to object before darting out.
"No running in the halls," said Shane Pricer. He looked like he was laughing at his own joke and trying to get Jeri Fleig to laugh, too, but she had higher standards than that.
Dr. Apple didn't get the joke. "It's okay. I have credentials and a qualified excuse this morning." Not that Shane was even looking at Dr. Apple when he made that comment. Matt was the only one he wanted to get in trouble. But since Dr. Apple was in the lead, Matt wasn't too concerned about being singled out. The professor even moved so quickly that Matt abandoned the urge to ask where they were going, figuring they'd get there soon enough.
When they stepped outside the main building, Matt expected to turn toward the Guardhouse. But instead, they turned north, in the direction of the Slifer dormitory. Well, almost. As Dr. Apple dove into the trees, he would need a western bearing to reach Slifer. Instead, they were heading straight north, where there was nothing but forest.
Or Matt had always assumed that was the case—every map of the island showed no landmarks there. But Dr. Apple led the way to seven obelisks standing among the trees, not as tall as the ones constructed beside the Duel Academy building and not even constructed well. All of them leaned, one so far that it nearly toppled. And in the middle was a hole in the ground. As they moved closer, Matt saw the small bunker, like a shed with a missing door.
"Was this here the whole time?" he asked.
"No. The spirit gates only appeared when all seven keys were released. Bringing them to life also released the seal on that cairn," said Dr. Apple. "But there's supposed to be a door on it."
Now that they were on top of the bunker, Matt was certain there was no door. "Then someone's already in there."
Dr. Apple traced his hand over the door frame. "There was a challenging puzzle applied to the locking mechanism on this door. Whoever broke in is no ordinary opponent. Of course, we knew that already, if they managed to defeat both Kevin and Gabby."
"What was the puzzle?" asked Matt.
"A dueling scenario. You start with a field where all three Sacred Beasts oppose you. You have limited cards remaining and one directive: Win in a single turn."
Matt rolled his eyes. "So it's a dueling puzzle. The first layer of protection against these god cards is needing to win a duel against seven of the strongest duelists in the world, and then the second layer is to win a duel against a metal door and a computer?"
"Don't oversimplify. It's much more complicated than that." But Dr. Apple seemed baffled by his own comment. "Okay, maybe it's not. Still… It's challenging!" He entered through the door and walked away from the conversation.
The bunker contained one small room with a stairway that went underground. Perhaps Layer 3 protection was to make sure no one with claustrophobia could find the god cards. But there was no Layer 4. All that was present in that basement were three plinths and the flashlights from three cell phones.
"Who's there?" called a voice Matt recognized. The voice was annoyed with him despite being the one to flash the light in Matt's eyes, temporarily blinding him and giving him afterimages.
"Is that… Anand Miyagawa?" Matt turned on his own flashlight. It wasn't great, but the bunker was small enough that he could see everything, as long as he avoided looking into Anand's cell phone. He had two cohorts. Howard had somehow snuck out of Obelisk already without being caught, and he got to the bunker faster than Matt did. "And… Lana Tao?" The third person was a slender, Asian girl with an expression as fierce as the mask of a samurai warrior.
Lana scoffed. "I thought we'd be confronted by more than just one professor and a Slifer Slacker."
"No one else matters now," said Howard as he looked between the three plinths. "They're all here: the original god cards."
Dr. Apple approached cautiously. "Howard. Lana. Anand. You can't touch those. The consequences would be disastrous. Their spirits are in balance right now. Disrupt that balance and you ruin this world. Imagine every fairy tale you've ever heard associated with Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming and multiply it by ten thousand." Hearing the fear in Dr. Apple's voice made Matt feel guilty that he actually wanted Dr. Lankford to lose that duel.
"Finally past the point of lying to us like children?" asked Anand. He seemed somehow bitter about the fact that Duel Academy faculty would lie just to hide the nuclear weapons hidden underground…
"Just the truth. The gods were in constant conflict when they roamed freely. They killed and enslaved millions of humans and billions of other living entities solely because they cannot coexist. Only through sheer providence were humans with strong wills ever able to seal them away."
"Then they've had sufficient time to rest," said Lana. "And they just need a few more strong-willed humans to control them this time."
"They cannot be controlled by humans. Even Overlords can't hope to control them—only contain them. And they must be contained if you have any hope of surviving into the future, for anyone to survive."
Howard rolled his eyes. "We know all about how these cards are artifacts that hold magical power, but they're not alive." He turned around and reached for the nearest plinth.
"Howard!" Dr. Apple's voice was so commanding that Howard actually stopped to look back at him again. "They are."
For just a second, Howard hesitated. But then he scoffed, like he was angry that someone would dare reprimand him or convince him against whatever he wanted to do. He quickly snatched up three cards and then yanked his arm away from the plinth as if he had stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. It only seemed to make him angrier and drove him to snatch the cards off a second plinth. This time, he let out a ferocious, pained cry as he fell to his knees and held the plinth. Instead of shocking him, this one appeared to burn him. Lana and Anand both moved to help him stand. He handed off the two stacks of cards to them before he lunged at the third plinth. All three of them cried out and collapsed underneath the sheer pressure that expelled from the cards. The air pressure built so much it threatened to explode the entire bunker.
But Matt almost missed all of that. The ground began to rattle deep beneath the surface, and its intensity grew so rapidly that he lost his balance in the quakes. A horrific sound from outside the bunker tore his attention away from Howard, Lana, and Anand.
It was early morning with the sun just cresting the horizon when he had entered the bunker, and now the sky was completely dark. A colossal figure towered over the island, reaching staggering heights that swallowed the sun and half the sky. Its body was like white gold, ethereal in its divine presence. It strode forward, away from Academy Island, breaching the physics of reality: both gliding through the waves without resistance and also sweeping aside tidal waves big enough to consume the entire school at once. Even though each step planted in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, the ground quaked, sending tremors rippling through the earth on land and sea.
And yet, it wasn't the creature's immense stature that inspired fear, but rather the unearthly sound that emanated from its lips. The creature turned its gaze towards the heavens and spread its wings wide, its features illuminated by a celestial glow, and unleashed a shriek that pierced the morning air with the force of a thousand hurricanes. The sound reverberated through the very core of existence, a cacophony of divine fury and celestial wrath.
Matt's blood nearly froze as he watched the creature carry itself with a bearing that transcended mortal comprehension. An ancient power from aeons long past, with the voice of a god, raw and primal.
"Oh, dear," said Dr. Apple. "Holactie, the Creator of Light. But not Armityle the Chaos Phantasm or The Wicked Endgame. Seems only one of the triad was sealed in this location. But the keys—their cards—were stored in such delicate balance that merely disrupting them was enough to awaken the spirits. Best to assume all three have awakened even if we can't see them from here."
Dr. Apple continued muttering, but Matt could hardly focus. All his attention was glued to the unearthly creature that stood out against the horizon like bad CGI, so clearly out of place. It didn't belong here. He felt uneasy just knowing a creature like that existed.
"That entity needs to be detained," he said.
"Of course, that should be the goal," said Dr. Apple. "How to do so may be a lost art. It hasn't been needed for millennia."
Matt said, "This should never have happened. Spirits like that don't belong in real space. It never should have been anchored to those cards! Who the fuck made such a dumbass decision as to bring that to our world?"
"I daresay that decision may also date back too far for recorded history to answer it." He placed his hand on Matt's shoulder. Doing so had a calming effect, surprisingly drawing Matt back into his body, breaking his mental obsession with the divine beast that stalked away. "Everyone will have seen by now, or at least heard. Still, we would best serve by alerting the other campus authorities as to what we know."
"What about Howard's crew?"
The two of them turned toward the bunker only to see it covered by a black mist that wasn't there before. Dr. Apple reached out. "What is that!… aye… that. Do not touch it." He grasped his hand in pain, flexing his fingers to make sure they still worked. "That miasma appears to be a colloidal gel with reflective physics and perhaps radioactive properties. Touch it and it pushes back threefold. I shudder to think what would happen if we struck it."
"If Howard's still in there, then is this miasma caused by the god cards?"
"Though it sounds in the realm of fantasy, it is impossible to rule out. Perhaps the other professors will know more."
"And what about the giant?"
It was the first time Matt had ever seen Dr. Apple's expression turn grim. "That is not something mere mortals can handle. At the very least, not without military might."
For those of you who read the previous version of this story, I hope my attempt to raise the stakes amuses you: It's not just the god cards running around and threatening Duel Academy in card form this time. In this version, the real god cards serve as the keys that seal away the three original gods. Obviously I'll be taking some liberties with them from here. As hinted already, the next chapter will attempt to demonstrate what these gods are capable of. I had fun writing these creatures, so I hope you'll enjoy my renditions of them.
Thanks again to the OCs in this chapter:
* Emily Li... Amourenvie
* Kai Jackson... SketchyWolf