Yu-Gi-Oh: Tilting the Balance

[Master of Paradox]

The name is Sol Kilkarn. Yes, it's short for Solomon. I can't help but find my full name overblown, which is why I cut it short. Until recently, I was just a minor duelist on the Minnesota circuit...

...and then the city was hit by the Darkness Infection, and I became a monster. This didn't last long, but it was long enough. I still can't believe what I could have done if Chad Montmelier hadn't stopped me.

Now I'm wandering the Twin Cities, hunting Darkness Infected and freeing them from their condition by defeating them in duels. Of course, that was before they all disappeared... Yesterday it seemed I was out of a job.

This morning, however, someone far more important crossed my radar. By all rights he should be helping the Light, but he serves the Darkness instead. It seems I caught Degas and Alexander's attention after all, because this man seeks my defeat.

I have to take him down. The path to atonement begins here...

Chapter Twenty-Four: In the Name

For the first time in many days, the Twin Cities were finally quiet. With the defeat and sealing of the Demon Prince Graz'zt, the Darkness had faded into the background for the time being. No Darkness Infected stalked the streets of St. Paul or Minneapolis, no Pillar wandered the roads seeking victims, and the two men responsible for all of the madness were within their lairs and out of reach. And so, with a quiet that the area had not known since before the area was Pig's Eye, a silent night passed.

In the lair of the Darkness, Degas slept on a long, immaculately white bed, arms crossed over his chest. Elsewhere, Alexander slept with Bethany in the crook of his arm, the covers pulled tight around both of them. Caiside slept in his cell while still hanging in his chains, not free from his madness even in repose; in his sleep he babbled, "Let the world bleed... the hand of Death caresses it..."

In his family's mansion, Ulysses Cantrell slept dreamlessly next to his bed, a pool of sweat surrounding him. He tossed and turned, dreams of the Darkness flitting across his mind.

The Beloved of Fire had retreated to a chair after Merlee's call, and so he slept leaning against the upholstery, arms dangling over the sides, his dreams carrying him back into his past, as always. (Of course he dreamed; what good would a servant of Dreams who could not experience them be?) Elsewhere in the house, Vivienne slept curled into her covers, smiling in her sleep.

Demetrius Lark, having gotten a room in a hotel on the other side of Minneapolis from the Hilton, slept in full attire on top of his sheets, cane and Duel Disk close at hand in case any enemies tried to break in. In case of attack by the Darkness in the night, he planned to go down dueling and/or thrashing people over the upper body with a stout length of oak.

Hidden from as many prying eyes as they could, in separate parts of the city, Jean-Vic Viper and Donna Abernathy (formerly Menardi) cowered in fear, ready to awaken and flee on a moment's notice.

In the Minneapolis Hilton, Chad was on his bed and snoring slightly, folded in on himself. Battling a Dark Duel, after all, leaves one drained. He hadn't even had enough time to register Laura (in her underwear) and Gerald sleeping in each other's arms before collapsing onto the mattress.

And in the other bed, Gerald and Laura still held each other, both sleeping soundly. Gerald's sleep was soon marred, however, as a headache rushed over him. Before it could awake him, the vision unfolded as a dream...

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The Balance, great and glorious, hung overhead, the Darkness prominent and the Light diminished. Within the center lay ever-swirling, ever-mutating Chaos, the result of the Balance's disorder.

But then the Darkness retreated, and the lines surrounding the Balance fell back into place. The Chaos faded away, and at its center lay something Gerald couldn't see. Just being in its presence was enough to drive away all of his fears and worries, however.

And then... he began to see the past. Images, stretching back across millennia...

On a 19th-century merchant ship, a man in monk's robes stepped out on the bow, hefting a massive spear in his hands. Rising from the sea was an abomination, a horrid creature standing forty feet tall and with the scales of a fish. There was a flash of the Balance's center, and the monk cried, "Back to the depths, damned Tha'hon!" as he drove the spear into the abomination's chest...

In a massive castle, around the time of the Renaissance, a man in an elegant purple suit stepped into the dungeons. Around him swarmed vaguely human creatures, fanged maws dripping saliva, and a tall, pale figure stepped out among them (a vampire, something told Gerald). The man in purple smiled and began to mutter something. Another flash of the Balance, and a circle of light surrounded him, driving off the vampire's minions and sending the undead to his knees as the man took out a stake...

Within another castle, further back in the past (the turn of the 12th century, Gerald sensed), a knight in brilliant armor fought off a hideous pig/ape monstrosity, a demon if ever there was one. "Lord, grant me strength," the knight prayed, desperately blocking the demon's swipe on his blade. There was a flash of the Balance, and white fire suffused his sword, causing the demon to recoil. It was the opening the knight needed, and he struck the weapon home...

Amid cherry trees, a Japanese woman in the robes of a shrine priestess, a mikado, knelt over a dying man. The man raised a hand to the sky, uttering words Gerald couldn't understand but that he knew were a plea for mercy. Stroking his face, the mikado slid an ofuda over his face and pulled a silver knife from inside her robe. Once again the Balance flashed, and the knife slid into the man's heart, driving a black presence - a demon - from his body...

And among the ruins of a massive crystal prison, a dark-skinned man in linen robes (a sorcerer, the vision indicated) and a Roman centurion battled a wizened, corpselike man in the remnants of a toga, a lich. The lich, cackling, hurled a ball of black fire at the duo, but the robed man caught it on the head of his staff. As the fire faded, the sorcerer chanted in a language long since dead and drew on all his powers. A final time the Balance flashed, and the sorcerer let out a blast of arcane power. It struck the lich and smashed through him, blowing away his unnatural life...

These visions and a thousand others danced about on the edge of Gerald's thoughts, and at their center was the Balance in alignment...

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Half-turning in his sleep, Gerald blinked into a fuzzy wakefulness. He groped for a pen, clicked it on, and scribbled a few words on a pad before succumbing to his sleep once again.

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Only a handful of people stayed awake on this night. One of them was a young man with dark, curly hair, standing just over five and a half feet and clad in a light brown ensemble, a chain around his neck and leading under his shirt. A Duel Disk was affixed to one arm, and he currently leaned against a wall, going through a deck of Duel Monsters cards.

This young man was Sol Kilkarn, and he glanced up at the stars, marveling at how much brighter they were this night. His wandering had led him to upper Minneapolis, near the ruins. For some reason, he couldn't sleep.

Actually, he knew the reason - a voice had told him not to. He'd heard the voice just before he would have gone to bed, and so he had spent much of the evening making his way here.

What's the saying? Sol thought as he flipped through his deck. It's all right to hear voices as long as you don't do what they ask you? Well, I broke that rule...

He loaded the deck into his Duel Disk again, satisified with it. Earlier in the day, he'd given it a drastic redesign, and now he was content with how he had reshaped it. Taking a deep breath, he stepped off the wall and entered the ruins.

Even though he had seen the meteors come crashing down into the city two days before, Sol still gasped on seeing the results up close. None of the buildings were intact for a solid mile in every direction. Smoke still rose from parts of the rubble, although nothing was left to burn. As the stars were bright, Sol could see, but other than that nothing lit the ruins - all the streetlights were melted or crumbled.

The young man picked his way through the streets, swerving around larger pieces of debris as he worked his way towards the center. He couldn't think of a good reason to be here, but the voice had told him there was something in the ruins, and so he followed that advice.

It turned out to be good advice, as he walked across a shattered piece of road and saw someone else, a man kneeling next to a Coleman lantern. He hurried his pace...

...and then stopped as a wave of realization coursed through him.

The man knelt in front of the remains of the Wells Fargo Building, although someone who hadn't known the building's identity would not have identified it. From behind, all that could be seen was a black jacket, black dress pants, and a reversed collar. Hearing Sol's approach, the man stood up and turned around, revealing he wore a white shirt and a cross around his neck. He had graying hair, and regarded the younger man through a pair of bifocals. The man - the priest - had lines on his face belying a long, bitter experience with the world.

Even though his time as a Darkness Infected was relatively short, Sol knew the man's identity on description alone. "Father Young," he said, eyes narrowing.

"And you would be Sol Kilkarn," the priest replied, nodding his head, "the Darkness Infected turned free agent. I am indeed Father Emil Young, formerly of the Church of the Wondrous Assumption, now unassigned. What brings you to the heart of such a desolate place, my child?" His voice had a tinge of a southern accent to it, but Sol couldn't place the region.

"I could ask you the same question. What would the Darkness want with this dead zone?"

Father Young chuckled, although the gesture had no humor in it. "Absolutely nothing, my child. Nothing at all. I came here myself, to pray for the souls of those killed by the Dark Servant's foul magic. Is that what brought you?"

Sol shook his head. "I don't remember the prayer. Nor do I really believe you, either." His curiosity reached the breaking point, and he finally asked it. "Why would you even bother? You're not a real priest."

"I am," the accused man replied, glaring through his glasses at Sol. "This isn't a costume, Sol. Since 1977 I am an ordained priest, a servant of the Lord Almighty, and I do not take kindly to such accusations. Even if I no longer serve a parish, that doesn't excommunicate me." He then paused, the glare fading, and said, "But you're wondering why I serve the Darkness. Sit down, this will take a while."

Still doubting Father Young's words, Sol sat on what used to be the steps of the Foshay Building (thrown by a meteor) and faced the older man.

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A few other people were awake, but they were not in the Twin Cities. Nor, for that matter, did one of them truly qualify as a "person".

The air blurred outside the limits of the city of Shakopee, and Hanzaki emerged, leading a small band of Darkness Infected. Unlike the usual type, however, these Infected had pure black eyes, and the marks on the backs of their hands wrapped up and around their arms. The Lycra-clad man thought of them as the "packages".

"Okay, Number 53," he said, checking a clipboard in one hand, "you're up. Make your way towards the center of town and then just stand there - the rest will take care of itself."

The person addressed, a thin, sweaty man in yellow clothing, nodded a few times and staggered into the city, body shaking with every step.

Taking a pen from the pouch hidden behind his symbol, Hanzaki checked off the first item on his clipboard. His eyes went down the list, and he pondered the next destinations - Glendale, Apple Valley, Farmington, Eden Prarie, Albert Lea... Choosing one of them, he made a gesture with one hand, and he and the other "packages" disappeared as the air bent around them.

As they vanished, the man he'd sent out haltingly walked on, beginning to babble in the most incomprehensible way. After a few more steps, however, he stood rigid, arms at his sides. He'd reached the center of town.

The man then looked up and screamed as a wave of darkness burst out from his body, washing through the city and everyone in it. Two more waves followed, digging into every building and blacking out the lights.

Once it was over, the man appeared once again as a normal Darkness Infected. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed, going still. The only time he moved was when the shield of force passed over him.

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Father Young cleared his throat and began, "My family has always spread the Lord's word. My grandfather was a chaplain in World War I, and my father preached in the Church of the Wondrous Assumption before I took his place. My older brother, Marcello, is a priest as well, and my younger sister married a reverand. I grew up with no greater desire than to serve the Lord by preaching his Gospels. And so I entered seminary almost the moment I finished high school..."

"Pardon my interruption," Sol asked, "but where exactly are you from?"

"Florida. The panhandle, to be more exact."

"Wouldn't have guessed that..."

The priest shrugged, adjusting his glasses. "Most people guess Lousiana. I think it's the accent. As I was saying... I went through seminary and was ordained as a priest on June 21st, 1977. Shortly thereafter, I stepped into my father's place as the pastor of the Church of the Wondrous Assumption. For the next twenty-three years, I could think of no better way to spend the balance of my threescore and ten..." He sighed.

There was a long moment's silence before Sol asked, "What happened?"

"I will admit it was foolish of me to think the Lord would pay the turning of the Millennium any special attention - God is not bound by the calendar of Man - but it was still kind of a sting. But more importantly, around that time I'd begun to see a look on the faces of my congregation that didn't seem right. It was a look of utter disinterest, like the last thing they wanted to hear was the word of the Lord. I'd used to teach Sunday school, so I was familiar with it..."

Father Young paused, clearing his throat.

"A short while later," he continued, "I began to test them. I would announce the topic of my sermons before giving them, and then stand by the door after Mass and quiz them as to what topic I'd preached. Without fail, they would always parrot back the topic I'd given, usually repeating my exact words. It was a sign they hadn't listened to a word of it. So I moved on to the ultimate test...

"One warm April Sunday, we went through the Mass as normal, and after the Gospel reading I stood before them and announced that my topic was 'Lying and the human heart'. And then I began to speak complete and utter gibberish. I made sure not to say a single word that would make any sense whatsoever; everything I said consisted of random syllables, thrown together. For ten minutes, I said the most random babble I could, and after Mass I stood at the door, asking them what my sermon was about." He paused again, hanging his head.

Sol thought for a second, and then frowned, saying, "Let me guess. They all said, 'Lying and the human heart'."

"Every last one of them. Nobody had even noticed I'd said anything out of the ordinary... that would have required them to listen to me. As the last of them left, it hit me that these people were supposed to be God's chosen ones, his children on Earth, created in his image. How could the Lord allow such faithless, empty souls to be his people? I left the church the next day, leaving them to their lack of faith and their wasteland of the spirit. As far as I was concerned, that church was dead."

"And this is why you serve the Darkness?" Sol asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because of one group of people?"

The priest laughed at that point, shaking his head. "I'm not that petty, my child," he replied. "But it isn't just that group, either. They were just a symptom. The world has forgotten there's anything greater that what it can see. The last time this happened, God flooded the world and wiped the slate clean, except for Noah... but then God tied His hands by promising Noah he'd never repeat the process, sealing the pact with the rainbow. The Darkness has no such binding agreements." Father Young pushed his glasses back up from where they'd slid and smiled. "When the Darkness has scoured the world, humanity will once again see that something greater exists. Their faith will be renewed, and those who had the strength to survive will once again follow the ways of the Lord..."

Before Father Young could even finish his sentence, Sol sprang to his feet, eyes wide. "So that's it?" he said, disbelief running through his words. "You think you're a new Noah? How the hell can you believe that's what God wants?"

"It's not," the preacher said, lowering his head again. Overhead, false dawn had come upon the city. "This must be done, but it is not the Lord's will. By doing this, I have damned my soul forever. But I accept this... What price is one soul for the world?"

Sol moved up to Father Young's face, glaring into his eyes. "You do realize I can't let you get away now, right?"

"Away!" the priest yelled, and a burst of force pushed Sol back, nearly knocking him down. "In truth, I told you all of this because I rather wanted you to react like that. Degas and Alexander wanted us to duel - they wanted me to deal with you before you could further aid Gerald and his allies. Are you ready?"

Rather than answer with additional words, Sol raised his Duel Disk and activated it. It hummed, searching for an opponent, and he thought, When I was still a Darkness Infected, one of the others told me about Father Young and how powerful he was. If I can defeat him, I can strike the Darkness a hard blow...

Behind both duelists, the sun slowly began to rise. Father Young raised his arms and looked to the sky...

A black circle, the mark of the Dark Duel, drew itself around both men, and then the ground shook. The circle fractured, the center laying between the duelists and a ten-foot radius stretching from it. Dust rose from the street, and this newly-created platform rose up, rising ten feet off of the ground.

That done, the priest raised one arm, which glowed with white energy. When the energy faded away, he was wearing a dark red Duel Disk,an inlaid-gold cross beside the deck slot. A deck was already loaded into it.

As Father Young activated the Duel Disk, he thought, My words did what they were supposed to do - they goaded you into battle - but there's another reason I want to duel you. This will be a trial, my child - prove your strength.

"I cannot show you mercy, my child," Father Young said audibly. "Come forth with all your might!"

"I didn't plan on doing anything less!" Sol replied. "Let's go!"

Both Life Point counters went to 8,000 and the battle began.

As Sol finished drawing his opening hand, he thought to himself, I need to be on my guard. This isn't the first time I've run the deck as it is now, but it's still rough on the edges.

Father Young, meanwhile, tucked his last card into his hand and said, "I think I would prefer to let my opponent take the opening turn."

"All right, then," Sol replied as he drew another card. He looked at his hand and thought, It's not much, but a classical opening will do. "I set one monster in Defense Mode and two cards facedown." The holograms flashed into place at the center of the Dark Duel's circle. "That will settle my turn."

The preacher nodded, drawing his own opening card, and pushed his glasses back up. "I begin by calling down the Shining Angel in Attack Mode," he said.

A ray of light from the rising sun shone on the platform, and a winged man in a toga descended onto the rocks. He had the bearing of a Spartan athlete, and his demeanor as he stared at Sol was not a friendly one. (1,400/800)

"Now I'll set a card facedown," Young said as he did so, "and let you take over."

Sol drew, smiled, and declared, "I play the Continuous Magic Card called Ancient Gear Castle!"

The street below the duelists shook, and a large building rose from the ground. It resembled a medieval fortress, studded with torches and bearing what looked like a sharpened battering ram within the doorway. Dust rose from its foundations.

"Now," Sol continued, "I summon one of the creations put together within it - the Ancient Gear Soldier! And due to the effect of the Castle, it gains 300 Attack Points!"

A hatch opened on the top of the castle, and a column with a large block-and-tackle on the end rose up. At the end of it was a crude mechanical soldier, multiple gears showing; one of its arms was a machine gun. The primitive crane lowered it to Sol's field, and it brandished its gun at Father Young. (1,300/1,300) Several chains launched from the castle and hooked into it, tightening its gears, even as one of the torches on the building's front lit. (1,300/1,300 - 1,600/1,600)

With a sigh, Father Young said, "I'm familiar with how the Ancient Gear monsters operate, so I know you can attack without worrying about my facedown card..." At the same time, he thought, This trap isn't that sort, Mr. Kilkarn, but I'd have to offer a monster to make it work, and I don't feel like wasting it on something that's not a threat.

"Glad to hear you know them," the young man said. "Ancient Gear Soldier, take out the Shining Angel!"

Raising its gun, the Soldier took aim and opened fire, the bullets slamming into the Shining Angel. His wings were obliterated, and he staggered a moment before he fell, shattering. Father Young's Life Point dipped to 7,800.

"When the Shining Angel is destroyed, I can bring out any Light monster with less than 1,500 Attack Points," Father Young noted. "And I pick one that doesn't have any at all! I Special Summon the Angel of Wisdom - Mercury!"

One feather from the slain Shining Angel settled on the platform, and a pillar of light shone down on it. The feather glowed and vanished, and soon a new being stood in its place. It looked like a young woman, but she was completely bald and had emerald-colored skin, clad in a leather dress. Large wings sprouted from her back, and she carried a book under one arm. (0/1,700)

Sol raised an eyebrow and asked, "Shouldn't that be 'Agent of Wisdom'?"

The priest's eyes narrowed. "Do not insult my angels by calling them that silly title. It was invented to keep overreactive parents from complaining. And don't call them 'fairies' either. Do they look like the fae?" Shaking his head, he continued, "They are angels, my child. Plain and simple. Every one of my monsters is an angel in some way, and so I will call them as such. Just keep that in mind and you won't get confused."

"All right, then..." He was confused already, but Sol managed to keep from showing it. "I'l end my turn here."

Father Young drew, and then took another card from his hand. "As I am not satisfied with my holdings, I play Reload, letting me shuffle my hand back into my deck and draw that many cards." He did so in short order. "Then I will switch Mercury into Defense Mode..." The angel knelt, folding her wings in front of her. "...and summon a being created by the forces of Heaven to punish those who defy celestial law! I call forth the Majestic Mech Ohka!"

Fire fell from the sky in a single, massive ball. This fire began to take shape, soon taking on a form similar to a winged, shining lion with red lines of force drawn along its frame. A bright red jewel shone on its chest, and it exhaled red energy. (2,400/1,400)

Another torch on the Ancient Gear Castle lit, and Sol thought, The Majestic Mechs... I'm not too familiar with them, but I believe this one normally needs a Tribute. Summoning it without one kills it at the turn's end.

"You who have created a machine in mockery of the human form and given it life," Father Young said, "now you will see it rent asunder! Majestic Mech Ohka, attack the Ancient Gear Soldier with Righteous Flame!"

The heavenly being rose high above the platform, gathering together incredible amounts of power. It aimed its head at the Ancient Gear Soldier, and a single wave of glowing red power arced down at it...

Sol tapped a button on his Duel Disk and announced, "Activate Sakuretsu Armor, which destroys your monster and saves mine!"

There was a brief flash as the glowing armor surrounded the mechanical creation, and then the energy hit it. The armor shattered, but the force of the impact sent the energy back at its source. In seconds, the Mechanical Mech Ohka convulsed under the force of its own energies, and then vanished, consumed utterly.

The priest shrugged, saying, "Not that it mattered. Either way Ohka would have gone to my Graveyard. I'll just set a card facedown and end my turn on that."

Drawing, Sol thought, I don't have anything that can defeat Mercury just yet, and I still don't know what he has facedown. This will do for now.

Before he could play the card in question, however, Father Young waved to his activating facedown and declared, "I open my facedown card, Solemn Wishes, which will give me back 500 Life Points every time I draw. Now, back to your turn..."

"Right," Sol agreed. "I set a monster facedown..." As the monster appeared, a third torch lit on the Ancient Gear Castle, one more than he'd have any need to sacrifice. "And I'll call that the end of my turn."

"You could call it many things, but most of them would be unbecoming to a servant of the Lord," the preacher muttered. He drew, and a rain of light fell upon him, raising his Life Points to 8,300. "Now I'll summon an angel unlike most of Heaven's servants - one whose primary occupation is study and research, not war or guarding humanity. I call forth the Hysteric Angel!"

More light shone upon the platform, the sun rising in the sky behind the duelists. In that light, a very fussy angel appeared, adjusting a pair of glasses. The angel's gender could only be described as ambiguous - it was hard to tell whether it was a feminine man or a woman. Then again, everything Sol had read indicated angels had no need for genders. (1,800/1,000) Yet another torch lit on the Ancient Gear Castle.

After a moment's consideration, during which Father Young's eyes flicked between the facedown monster and the Ancient Gear Soldier, he came to a decision and ordered, "Hysteric Angel, undo the sin that is the Ancient Gear Soldier with Holy Ray!"

Taking hold of his/her/its glasses, the Hysteric Angel adjusted them for a moment, and then the angel's eyes glowed white. A beam of pure light fired out of the Hysteric Angel's eyes, focused by the glasses until it was sharpened into a single point. This carved through the mechanical man, and it fell apart into a hundred pieces, leaving Sol's Life Points at 7,800.

"In my second Main Phase," Father Young continued, "I play Terraforming, letting me search my deck for a Field Magic card and put it into my hand." A beam of blue light shot up next to him, and several images flicked across it. After a moment, he touched one of them, and the card solidified. As he took it, he tipped it to Sol.

Sanctuary in the Sky, the young man thought. It was that or Luminous Spark, and given his attitude there was no contest.

"I won't play it just yet, however," the priest concluded. "Instead, I'll end my turn."

Drawing his next card, Sol held it up and said, "How appropriate. I play Graceful Charity!"

The angel descended from the sky above them, pointedly ignoring Father Young (who merely adjusted his collar). She gestured to Sol, and three cards from his deck rose into his hand. Taking the Ancient Gear and Mine Golem from his hand, he handed them to her, and she disappeared.

Of course she ignored me, Father Young thought as Sol studied his cards. She wasn't called down for my benefit, after all. Still... He frowned at the idea now in mind.

Taking another card from his hand, Sol continued, "There are three more counters than I need, so now I'll give up the Ancient Gear Castle for its second most powerful creation. Meet the Ancient Gear Beast!"

Dust began to rise from the Ancient Gear Castle as it shook, bricks falling out of the structure as all four lit torches went out. Parts of the wall cracked and fell apart, and then a massive metal paw smashed through the battering ram at the castle's front. The entire castle fell in, and the Ancient Gear Beast, as always resembling a giant metal dog, rose to its feet. (2,000/2,000)

"Another mockery of life," the priest said, observing the machine's entrance. "This always was your style..."

Reaching for his facedown monster, Sol continued, "And it's not the last one this turn. I'm going to do your Hysteric Angel a favor and banish him... er..." He paused, blinked, and asked with a slight blush, "What pronoun should I use?"

After a long, heavy moment, Father Young adjusted his cross and said, "To be perfectly honest, my child, I don't know either."

"Well, I'm sending the angel back to Heaven, anyway. I flip my Golem Sentry into Attack Mode, which sends the Hysteric Angel back to your hand!"

Part of the platform turned malleable, raising up into an arch with a door at its center. Soon it developed a head, arms, and legs; the door-creature wore a red loincloth and carried a staff. (800/1,800) Reaching into itself, the Golem Sentry opened its door, and a glowing hand reached out, grabbing the Hysteric Angel. Fight as the angel would, the hand drew the diving being into itself and slammed the door shut.

The priest tucked his card back into his hand and asked, "I have to ask. Ancient Gear monsters are their own group, but you're also playing Rock monsters... where is the logic?"

"There are two reasons," Sol said, his eyes closing. "One is that you can't really build a deck with nothing but Ancient Gears... and the other is a family reason. All my Rocks are Golems. My grandmother once told me that my family's lineage goes back to Judah Lowe..."

"I know that name," Father Young said, eyes widening. "He was the rabbi who created the Prague Golem. But if I recall the story, his golem turned against him."

Nodding, the young man added, "It was because he tried to create life, going against the law of Heaven. But the Ancient Gears aren't an attempt to create life - they merely imitate it. Same with my golem monsters. I need never fear my ancestor's misfortune. As I was saying..." Turning to his Ancient Gear Beast, Sol ordered, "Attack Mercury with your Gear Fang!"

The giant mechancial dog sprang forward, jaws opening wide, and caught the emerald-skinned angel in its fangs. Its head shook, and it thrashed about, slamming the unfortunate Mercury against the ground, before she finally shattered.

"Now," Sol continued, "Golem Sentry..." He paused, tensing up as he thought, Even if he serves the Darkness, what am I going to bring down on myself by attacking a priest directly?

Seeing this, Father Young spread his arms and said, "God's favor never stopped anyone from beating a clergyman at chess. You cannot afford to hold back in this duel, my child."

Relief spread through Sol's body as he ordered, "Golem Sentry, attack directly!" He then turned away.

Raising its staff, the Golem Sentry stamped one foot on the platform. A large rock hand grabbed Father Young and squeezed until a bone cracked. He cried out and dropped to one knee, groaning as his Life Points lowered to 7,500.

"As per its effect, I turn Golem Sentry facedown," Sol concluded. The monster disappeared. "One card facedown and this turn is done."

It was a moment before Father Young pushed himself back onto his feet, his glasses askew. He moved them back up on his nose, took hold of his next card, and muttered, "Despite my comment, I don't think chess games usually get that violent..." He drew, and Solemn Wishes flashed, a rain of light covering him as his Life Points went back to 8,000.

And we're back where we started, Sol thought.

As if he'd read Sol's mind, the preacher declared, "I play Pot of Greed, which raises my Life Points past the starting point with Solemn Wishes... a pity I only gain the Life Points once." There was another rain of light as Father Young's Life Points went up to 8,500, and he ignored the hologram while drawing. "And now..." He held up a card Sol had expected.

"You realize how hypocritical your playing that card is, right?" the younger man muttered.

"How can a card be hypocritical?" His Field Slot opened, and Father Young slid the card into place. "I play the Field Magic Card called The Sanctuary in the Sky!"

Under the feet of the duelists, the platform slowly transformed. It ceased to be tar, and instead slowly turned to gold, the light of the rising sun shining painfully bright off of it. And then that light ceased to matter - the entire sky lit up, and Sol was temporarily blinded.

Once his vision cleared, their platform was fully golden, and clouds had replaced the ground beneath it. Behind the preacher, a massive, beautiful castle (the Sanctuary itself) sprouted from this insubstantial "landscape", the top marked with a column that ended in a crescent and orb.

"Welcome, Sol," Father Young said, "to the kingdom of Heaven. In this sacred place, when an angel falls in battle, I am spared any damage from its defeat." He sighed, looking around. "How sad that this is about as close as I'll ever get. Either way..."

He took two cards from his hand, setting one facedown in a Monster Zone and one in his Magic/Trap zones, before waving to Sol and looking around again.

Hmmm? Sol drew his next card, distracted by Father Young's actions, and then shook his head. Focus, Sol! He smiled at his draw, turned back to his Duel Disk and declared, "I sacrifice my facedown Gear Golem the Moving Fortress for Steel Ogre Grotto #2!"

For a brief moment, a squat metal creature appeared on the field, looking like someone had haphazardly welded it together. But then it melted, the liquid metal flowing upwards into another form. It looked like a massive, barrel-chested, thick-limbed robot with a single glowing eye. (1,900/2,200)

"In the days of Judah Lowe," Sol noted, "they made golems out of clay. Now they make them out of metal..." He then shut his eyes for a second, thinking, There aren't many Fairy-type flip-effect monsters in this game other than Skelengel, and I can afford to give him a card; beside, I doubt he's playing it. It's only 100 extra points of damage, but with Solemn Wishes on the field, any extra damage is good! "Steel Ogre Grotto #2, attack his facedown monster with Overdrive Fist!"

The robot pounded its chest, and then stomped forward, pulling one steel arm back to crush the facedown monster.

"Activate Draining Shield, turning the attack and the damage into healing!" the preacher countered as his facedown card flipped.

A shield of force covered the facedown monster, a metal circle at its center. Trapped by its programming, the Steel Ogre Grotto slammed its fist into the circle. Arcs of electricity danced over it as a beam of green light fell on Father Young, his Life Points rising to 10,400, and the priest gave a thin smile.

The robot staggered back to Sol's field, throwing off sparks, and he frowned. Now why would he protect that? If it had an effect, the Steel Ogre Grotto would have set it off, but the Ancient Gear Beast wouldn't have... unless it's too strong for me to destroy with it. Argh, I'm confused... "I end my Battle Phase," he finally decided, "and flip my facedown Ancient Gear Drill. By discarding the last card in my hand, I can set any Magic Card from my deck on my field, although I can't activate it yet. So I discard my Trap Hole to make it work!"

Sol slid his last card into his Duel Disk, and the drill rose on his field, the bit rotating rapidly. It dug into his deck until a loud clank sounded, and then the claws surrounding the bit came down and latched with another loud clank. The drill rose, bearing a single card, and set it on Sol's field before vanishing.

"That's it for me," the young man concluded.

"In more ways than you know," Father Young replied as he drew his next card. A rain of light covered him from Solemn Wishes, and his Life Points reached 10,900. He then grinned and shouted, "Now that we're in the Sanctuary, my child, the forces of the Lord can inflict their wrath directly upon you! I flip my facedown monster into Attack Mode... Angel of Force - Mars!"

Sol gulped.

The sky turned dark, and a roll of thunder issued, even though there was no sign of storms. A winged figure appeared on the top of the Sanctuary, and this time Sol could fully understand the priest's insistance on calling his monsters angels instead of fairies. Fairies had mercy, and nothing in this monster's bearing indicated he knew that word existed. He had reddish-brown skin, marked with battle scars (who knew angels could scar?), and a face hardened by ages of combat. He wore a red-and-gold headdress and a dark red wrap around his waist, and carried a mighty spear in one hand.

Spreading his purple-feathered wings, the Angel of Force ascended from the Sanctuary and came down to land in front of Father Young, pointing his spear at Sol. His expression said simply, "You are nothing before the Lord." (0/0)

Before Sol could comment on the contrast in the monster's attitude and its statistics, Father Young explained, "In this most sacred of places, Mars draws power from my victories over you. His Attack and Defense Points are equal to how many more Life Points I have than you do, and right now, that's 3,100."

Raising his spear, the angel shouted a mighty battle cry, light issuing up from his feet. (0/0 - 3,100/3,100)

Taking another card from his hand, Father Young said, "I next summon my Mystical Shine Ball in Attack Mode."

The clouds beneath them parted, and a glowing white ball popped up, humming slightly. (100/100)

"But I will not keep it for long," the preacher continued, "because now is the time to use the Trap Card I set at this duel's beginning. It's called Light of Judgment, and by sending one of my Light monsters to the grave, I can destroy any card on your field or force you to discard a card from your hand. I give up my Mystical Shine Ball to destroy your Golem Sentry!"

The trap flipped up, and the Mystical Shine Ball vanished. Energy danced between the points of the crescent topping the Sanctuary, a white aura soon surrounding it. Seconds later, a beam of burning light fired down from the symbol and seared through Sol's facedown Golem Sentry, leaving nothing but a scorchmark in its place.

Wise move, Sol thought. Otherwise I could have kept sending his monsters back to his hand...

For a long moment, the priest did not say a word, instead watching Sol with grave intent. He then ordered, "Mars, attack the Steel Ogre Grotto #2 with Fury of the Highest!"

Those mighty wings spread, and the Angel of Force rose over Sol's field, his spear in hand. Soon the weapon began to glow, burning energy covering it, and the angel smiled in grim satisfaction. The energy became overwhelmingly bright, and Mars drew it back before throwing it down at the robot...

"Activate Negate Attack!" Sol declared. An invisible wall blocked the spear, which exploded on contact. The angel grunted and came down to land on the platform, his spear back in his hand.

Without any traces of disappointment, Father Young said, "I set a card facedown..." He did so. "And end my turn."

Sol drew and immediately played the draw. "Pot of Greed!" He took up two more cards, smiling, and said, "I set a monster in Defense Mode and activate my facedown card, Limiter Removal, which doubles the Attack Points of my Machine-type monsters! And that includes all Ancient Gear monsters!"

The facedown monster appeared, and Sol's card lifted up...

Tapping a button on his Duel Disk, Father Young interrupted, "I counter that with my Magic Drain. Can you discard a Magic Card from your hand?"

The young man's face fell, and he looked at his hand. "No, I can't," he replied.

"Then Limiter Removal is negated and destroyed."

All the color drained from the Limiter Removal card hologram, and it collapsed in several pieces.

"In that case," Sol said, hand twitching, "I switch both my monsters to Defense Mode and end my turn." The Ancient Gear Beast laid down like the dog it resembled, and the Steel Ogre Grotto #2 drew its arms across its broad chest, squatting down.

As Father Young drew, yet more shining rain fell on him, and his Life Points escalated to 11,400; in the process, a burning aura surrounded Mars, increasing his power. (3,100/3,100 - 3,600/3,600) "I set a card facedown," the preacher began, "and summon the Hysteric Angel to my field once more."

Unfortunately, as the Hysteric Angel settled on Father Young's field again, this second summoning didn't answer the question of the angel's gender. (1,800/1,000)

"Now, Mars," Father Young ordered, a certain amount of wrath evident in his voice, "destroy the Steel Ogre Grotto #2! Fury of the Highest!"

Again the Angel of Force ascended over the Sanctuary, spear in hand and glowing with his divine rage. He hurled the spear down, and this time nothing impeded its flight. The weapon struck the machine like a comet, hurling gears and scraps of the frame every which way; smoke rose from the ruins.

Sol could only shudder, remembering that this was a Dark Duel. What would a direct attack do to me? he thought.

"I end my turn," the priest concluded, holding out his empty hand.

With a moment's pause, Sol drew and shook his head. "I pass."

As Father Young drew, Solemn Wishes went to work again, the light raising his Life Points to 11,900. By now Mars was shaking, his power almost to a point where he couldn't contain it. (3,600/3,600 - 4,100/4,100)

Looking to his Duel Disk, the preacher pressed a button, declaring, "I activate Beckoning Light, which returns two Light monsters from my Graveyard to my hand. I choose Majestic Mech Ohka and Shining Angel!"

The clouds on either side of the platform parted, and two bubbles of light rose up, bearing the leonine angel/robot and the winged man in a toga. The bubbles popped and they disappeared, two cards appearing in Father Young's hand.

"Next," he said, "I play a Magic Card called Stray Lambs, summoning two Sheep Tokens to my field in Defense Mode..."

Two little sheep appeared next to Mars, who regarded them with annoyance. They looked like Scapegoats, and seemed to be sleeping. (0/0)

Sol braced himself, and rightfully so, for the priest's next words were, "Mars, Fury of the Highest! Destroy the Ancient Gear Beast!"

Once more the angel flew into the sky, once more he hurled the burning spear... and this time gears flew in all directions as the Ancient Gear Beast blew apart.

Narrowing his eyes, Father Young looked to Sol and said, "If the Light truly counts on you, now is about the time it would matter. Because so far, I don't see any evidence it actually cares. But either way, my turn ends now."

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

He's got a very good point, Sol thought as he drew. He then paused, smiled, and tossed the card on his Duel Disk. "I activate the Magic Card Ancient Gear Garage, returning an Ancient Gear Monster from my Graveyard to my hand!"

Beneath the platform, the clouds began to roil and spin, becoming a tornado of white, fluffy material. Gears and bolts rose from within the funnel, assembling piece by piece into the Ancient Gear Beast, now the worse for wear. It disappeared, but the card shone in Sol's hand.

"Next," Sol continued, "I set a card facedown and play another Ancient Gear Castle!"

The facedown card flashed into being, and then the clouds parted as the age-worn, torch-studded castle rose up from the street below.

Scowling, the priest muttered, "You profane this sacred ground with that blasphemous place..."

"I thought all acts of creation were holy?" the young man queried. "You keep calling my monsters unholy and blasphemous..."

"There is a difference between creating and playing God, and your Ancient Gear monsters cross that line."

"Whichever... I sacrifice my Mine Golem to bring out the Ancient Gear Beast again."

As Sol said it, it happened - the facedown Mine Golem vanished, and the top of his Ancient Gear Castle opened, emerging the primitive crane again. This time, the newly-repaired Ancient Gear Beast hung from it, swaying slightly in the early morning breeze. With immense care, the crane set its load on the field, and the clockwork monster glared at Father Young as a torch lit on the castle. (2,000/2,000) Several chains fired from the castle and hooked to the Ancient Gear Beast as they had to the Soldier previously. (2,000/2,000 - 2,300/2,300)

Father Young's scowl only deepened as he thought, There's one turn-around... He then sighed.

"Ancient Gear Beast," Sol ordered, "attack the Hysteric Angel with Gear Fangs!"

In response, the mechanical creature hurled itself across the field, biting into the Hysteric Angel and thrashing about. And then the issue of the angel's gender was finally settled - she let out a remarkably feminine scream before she shattered.

The Sanctuary glowed, and a shield of holy light shot up into place around Father Young, the force of the energy causing his jacket to ripple. "Did you forget?" he said. "As long as I stand before the Sanctuary in the Sky, the defeat of my angels cannot harm my Life Points!" The shield soon faded, and the priest adjusted his glasses.

"I didn't forget," Sol replied, adjusting his hand. "I end my turn with that."

Father Young drew his next card, his scowl fading slightly as yet another rain of light covered him, raising his Life Points to 12,400. In front of him, the Angel of Force growled, his muscles bulging as his power increased further. (3,600/3,600 - 4,100/4,100)

Wow... Sol thought as he looked at Mars. It could almost crush the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon under its heel now. He then looked to his facedown card and thought, That won't last.

"You know the difference between Stray Lambs and Scapegoat, my child?" Father Young said. "You can't use a Scapegoat as a tribute for summoning monsters, but Stray Lambs work just fine. So now I call back my angelic creation - I sacrifice a Stray Lamb token to summon the Majestic Mech Ohka!"

One of the two little sheep disappeared in a puff of tiny lights. Those lights flew into the Sanctuary's door, and the symbol on its top glowed with a holy light. Soon the points of the crescent shot out blue electricity, forming it into the outline of the artificial winged lion. This outline turned red, and then it was there, roaring as it came to life. (2,400/1,400)

Behind Sol, another torch burst to life.

After a quick smile of satisfaction, the preacher shouted, "Ohka, strike down the Ancient Gear Beast now! Righteous Flame!"

The Majestic Mech threw back its head, drawing in a long, steady breath, and then fired a wave of red energy at the Ancient Gear Beast...

...and it hit an upraised cannon, which flipped around and pointed at Father Young. Sol merely held up the Magic Cylinder card, and a second later the blast hit the priest, throwing him to the ground as his Life Points dropped to 10,000.

As the Life Point counter went down, Mars staggered, feathers flying from his wings. He then sank to one knee, eyes half-shut as his power drained. (4,100/4,100 - 2,200/2,200)

My Angel of Force isn't powerful enough now, Father Young thought in irritation. But as long as the Sanctuary still stands I am in no danger. "I set a card facedown and finish my turn," he said.

Sol drew and glanced at his Graveyard, counting cards in his head. He then nodded to himself and said, "I play Pot of Avarice." The unusual jar appeared, and the Steel Ogre Grotto #2, Golem Sentry, Gear Golem the Moving Fortress, and two Mine Golems appeared for a second before funneling into it. The jar vanished and Sol drew twice before his eyes went wide. "And now I play Mystical Space Typhoon on the Sanctuary in the Sky!"

All the priest could do was cry out.

A mighty wind picked up, and the clouds beneath Sol and his opponent were torn asunder by the gale. They vanished into the aether, revealing the street and the foundations of the Ancient Gear Castle. While the clouds vanished, the Sanctuary itself began to shake, its towers and the symbol atop it all toppling into the building itself. Stone rained from the sky, and the grand edifice shattered, crashing to the ground below.

Silence ruled, and then Father Young looked at the younger man, hatred in his eyes. "You have brought about the fall of Heaven, child," he said, slow and with a heavy anger on his words. "Rest assured you will pay in blood for your misdeeds."

"Any Heaven where you stand on the clouds is Hell disguised," Sol replied, glaring at his enemy. "Let me point out that without the Sanctuary to power him, your Angel of Force - Mars has no power."

Indeed, the fall of the Sanctuary in the Sky had hit Mars hard. His feathers molted off his wings, and he sank to his hands and knees under the weight of his spear. Finally, he let it fall from his hands, panting in agony. (2,200/2,200 - 0/0)

Blast! Father Young thought as he saw this. Why didn't I switch him to Defense Mode?

Looking at the other card he'd drawn, Sol let out a slight laugh and said, "Now allow me to show you my most powerful creation... the Ancient Gear Castle has two counters on it, and so I can sacrifice it for the Ancient Gear Golem!"

Again, the castle began to shake, but this time a triumphant theme began to play from within it. Both torches went out, and the building's foundations cracked straight up the middle. The chains attached to the Ancient Gear Beast shattered as part of the wall fell in. (2,300/2,300 - 2,000/2,000) More of the foundation pulled apart, stone and mortar falling inwards, and something rose from the street.

The castle finally fell apart, and the monster summoned stood amidst its ruins. It was a giant, clockwork-powered robot in the shape of a man, one arm thin and spindly and the other arm immense. Its head looked as though it wore a finned helmet, and its eyes glowed a bright yellow. Taking a step forward, the Ancient Gear Golem leapt onto the platform, shaking it as it landed. (3,000/3,000)

"I haven't done anything Heaven can punish me for," Sol said, arms crossing. "For that reason, Heaven's 'avengers' should go back where they came from! Ancient Gear Golem..." He raised an arm over his head. "Prove you're the stronger artificial being! Bring down Majestic Mech - Ohka with Ultimate Pound!"

On being ordered to do so, the Ancient Gear Golem drew one of its fists back, energy charging inside of its frame. It swung the powerful fist around, crushing the leonine being under the force of the blow and cracking the platform on impact. Father Young threw up his arms and struggled to stay upright as his Life Points dropped to 9,400.

As soon as he'd caught his own balance, Sol ordered, "Ancient Gear Beast, attack the Angel of Force with Gear Fangs!"

The giant clockwork dog sprang out, jaws locking around the once-mighty angel, and began to thrash its head about. Mars was too weak to even protest, and fell limp inside the metal monster's teeth, soon vanishing in a burst of light. His master sank to one knee, Life Points now reading 7,400.

Having expected more of a reaction, the young man merely shrugged, ran his fingers through his hair, and said, "That'll be all for me."

Father Young drew another card, but he did so numbly. His Life Points went up to 7,900 as light rained onto him, and then he stood back up, swaying for a brief moment as he caught his footing. He then examined his draw and slid it into his Duel Disk, announcing, "I'm getting a little tired of Solemn Wishes, so I'll dispose of it with Emergency Provisions and regain 1,000 Life Points. Think of it as one last donation in the collection plate..."

He must be rattled if he's making such an obvious joke, Sol thought.

The unearthly mouth stretched out, bit the Solemn Wishes card in half, and retreated as the preacher's Life Points rose further, to 8,900. Without missing a beat, Father Young took another card from his hand and declared, "I now activate Swords of Revealing Light! If I can't kill your abominations, I can at least hold them still!"

Holes opened in the sky, and it rained swords composed entirely of light, their blades piercing through the platform as they struck it. The Ancient Gear Beast and Ancient Gear Golem froze to a halt, their gears locking up.

His composure regained, Father Young pushed his glasses back up and said, "That concludes my turn."

"And I draw..." Sol looked at the card in his hand and frowned, thinking, That won't help for the next three turns. "I pass." Around him, the swords began to dim.

Drawing his next card, Father Young slid it into his Duel Disk, announcing, "One card facedown and I end my turn."

Now Sol drew again, but as he did so, the priest activated a facedown card, declaring, "I activate my Trap, Jar of Greed! Greed may be a sin, but drawing another card is worth the cost." Taking another card from his deck, Father Young tucked it into his hand.

The younger duelist decided not to acknowledge that act, instead frowning as he looked at his cards. "I pass again." As Sol's turn ended, the Swords of Revealing Light turned translucent around him, and his monsters began to move again, albeit with great difficulty.

Father Young drew another card, and then sighed. "I play the Magic Card Pot of Charity, which allows me to draw three cards, but requires a Light monster in my Graveyard to leave the game altogether. It seems the Angel of Wisdom will let me draw more cards after all... even if the price to her is a little steep." The beautiful jar hovered in front of him, and there was a moment's cry as Mercury was sucked into it. The jar then vanished, and the priest drew three cards. "Now I play Terraforming..."

Oh, not this again... Sol thought.

The blue beam of light appeared before Father Young, and again he stopped it after a few seconds, taking the card that appeared. But this time, he immediately opened his Field slot and inserted it. "I play a second Sanctuary in the Sky!" he declared.

Again, the clouds gathered underneath the platform, and the grand building of the Sanctuary rose up behind its controller. Despite its earlier total destruction, the building seemed none the worse for wear. As a matter of fact, it was actually gleaming. Sol then remembered this was a different Sanctuary in the Sky, not the one he'd destroyed.

"I summon Shining Angel and end my turn," the preacher finished. Again, the toga-clad angel landed in front of him, arms crossed. (1,400/800)

If it weren't for those swords, I could knock the Shining Angel down, but what good would that do with the Sanctuary out? Sol thought. He drew, paused for a moment, and then said, "I summon the Ancient Gear Cannon in Attack Mode."

The platform shook for a second as a large, primitive cannon rose from it, gears flanking the barrel. (500/400)

"Now," Sol continued, "I activate its special ability - by sacrificing it, I can deal 500 points of damage to your Life Points. To put it another way..." He swung his hand down. "Fire!"

A burst of smoke came from the cannon's muzzle as it exploded, and a cluster of gears struck the priest, knocking him onto his knee again. He coughed briefly as his Life Points lowered to 8,400.

Giving a glare at one of the swords around him, Sol muttered, "That's it for now." The swords vanished, and his monsters moved freely once more.

After drawing his next card, Father Young paused for a moment, dusting off his clothing. He then held his cards at arm's length and crossed them with his other hand, whispering, "Lord, defend the poor child's soul as I lay waste to his body..." Looking at his opponent again, he took a card from his hand, saying aloud, "I offer two monsters as a Tribute for my next monster - my Shining Angel and the surviving Stray Lamb. You seem to be familiar with the Majestic Mechs..."

"Yeah," Sol replied. "As I recall, there's Senku..."

"The Messenger, whom I haven't drawn..."

"Ohka..."

"The Protector, which you destroyed..."

"And..." Sol paused, and then his eyes went wide.

Father Young nodded. "The Destroyer, which I am about to bring forth. I tried to go easy on you, my child, but now Heaven demands your defeat! I summon the most powerful of Heaven's creations, the Majestic Mech - Goryu!"

Both the long-forgotten sheep and the Shining Angel looked to the sky, and then they vanished in twin flashes of light. Overhead, the early morning sky parted, and... something emerged. It slowly flew down from the heavens above, looking like a gold-and-white serpent for most of its considerable length. Its body was topped by a vaguely triangular chest, with massive white wings stretching from its back and a featureless head looking upon Sol. (2,900/1,800)

It's not as strong as my Ancent Gear Golem, but there must be something in Father Young's hand to power it or he wouldn't have made two sacrifices for it when one would have brought it out for the turn... Sol prepared himself.

"'In my father's house there are many mansions...'" Father Young taunted, holding up another card. "This card is one of them. It's an Equip Magic Card called Shine Palace, and it grants a Light monster 700 Attack Points - and Goryu, as a creation of Heaven, qualifies!"

The clouds of the Sanctuary in the Sky parted, and a glowing castle rose from them next to the Sanctuary in the Sky itself. Its light flowed over Goryu, which trilled in appreciation. (2,900/1,800 - 3,600/1,800)

"Now, Goryu..." Father Young bowed his head. "In the name of God, we shall strike down the damned abomination called the Ancient Gear Golem with the eternal Radiant Eruption. Amen."

Goryu rose over the heads of the duelists, pinpoints of light covering its body. Those wings stretched out, and then it was as a rain of needles falling onto the Ancient Gear Golem, burning a thousand holes through the machine's surface. Its clockwork came to a halt, and it slowly toppled over with a sound like an ironworks collapsing before shattering. Sol couldn't help thinking it was somewhat overblown, as his Life Points only dropped to 7,200.

The Majestic Mech descended again, and Father Young smiled. "End turn."

Sol drew, thinking, Well, hello... He then glanced to the Ancient Gear Beast, which was rusting slightly from nonuse. Sorry in advance. "I set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode," he said now. "That's it."

"In that case, I draw," Father Young said, doing so. He looked at it, and then smiled. "You have slain six of my angels thus far. Most demons could not claim to be as hostile to the forces of Heaven as you are... Now I call upon the might of a mortal who has vowed to avenge my slain angels! Come forth, Mudora!"

A hot wind blew, and a tornado of sand whirled over the field, before releasing a large man in a bronze mask. He had tanned skin, wore a loincloth, and bore a sharp knife in one hand. Clenching a fist, he turned the knife over in his hand. (1,500/1,800)

"And for each angel in my Graveyard," the priest noted, "Mudora gains 200 Attack Points. Because I removed Mercury for Pot of Charity, there are five in there." In front of him, Mudora's fist tightened, and he growled under his breath. (1,500/1,800 - 2,500/1,800) "Now, Mudora, attack the Ancient Gear Beast!"

Pulling his knife back, the Egyptian man dashed across the platform, head down and other arm at his side...

"I activate Draining Shield!" Sol countered, watching the card rise in front of him.

Before it even rose all the way, Father Young replied, "This is why I have Trap Jammer, my child. You won't stop Mudora's vengence!"

The preacher's facedown card lifted, and the Draining Shield never even formed - the card merely shattered. Mudora reached the Ancient Gear Beast and swung his knife around, a glowing arc of light tearing through the clockwork dog. It exploded, hurling gears and framework to the ground, and Sol winced as his Life Points dropped to 6,700.

One gear landed next to Father Young, and he kicked it off of the platform as he ordered, "Goryu, strike down his facedown monster with Radiant Eruption!"

Again the Majestic Mech rose over their heads, spreading its wings and generating its pinpoints of light. They rained down from its body, tearing through the now-revealed Gear Golem the Moving Fortress. Smoke rose from the destroyed machine's casing, and it detonated, flooring Sol in the explosion and leaving him with 5,300 Life Points.

"That's all I can do for now," Father Young concluded.

Staggering to his feet, Sol wondered, That hurt a great deal... I know this is a Dark Duel, but it definitely doesn't feel like any of the ones Gerald ever fought in. Am I just buying into Father Young's delusions, or does Heaven really have a hand in all this? He then shook his head, thinking, This duel is getting to me! He drew a card, blanched at his limited options, and thought, I am in serious trouble. "I set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode. End turn..."

The priest drew another card, thinking, Now he shall experience a trial of the flesh. And none too soon - I think I'm running low on cards. "Remember when I mentioned the Messenger of the Majestic Mechs?" he said aloud. "He comes now. I call down Majestic Mech - Senku in Attack Mode."

There was nothing of the fanfare that accompanied Goryu's summoning. Instead, a being made of the same substance as the other Majestic Mechs floated down from the sky. It looked something like the Shining Angel as modeled in that way. (1,000/500)

Both of Sol's feet dug into the platform, and he crossed his arms in front of his face.

"Bracing yourself won't help, my child," Father Young said, shaking his head. "Goryu, unleash a Radiant Eruption upon his facedown monster."

The wings spread, the Majestic Mech raised its body, and the light rained down once again. A crude clay being, its body assembled from small cylinders, appeared for a moment to be full of holes, and then it collapsed. (1,000/1,900) Sol quivered slightly as his Life Points hit 3,600.

As the monster died, a mine landed at Father Young's feet. It beeped twice, and before the priest could react it exploded, knocking him to the ground. His Life Points dropped to 7,900, and as he pulled himself to his feet he muttered, "Ah, yes... that was a Mine Golem. I should have guessed you would play those."

Sol ignored this, as he was busy being pessimistic. My trap won't save me - it does nothing by itself to prevent attacks! I'm wide open... He then saw the black lines of the Dark Duel at his feet, looked to his Life Points, and remembered something.

Taking a deep breath, Sol called out, "I bring forth my Image!"

What lies in your soul, my child? Father Young thought.

A white fog emerged from Sol's palms, much to his confusion - he had expected it to come from his back - and gathered in the air around him. Lines of pure light began to form in the fog, slowly drawing themselves in midair. They looped, curved, and arced about him, and soon the creation was complete - a gigantic man-like being composed of the light lines, hunched over Sol's field and glaring at Father Young.

"Protector of the Sanctuary," the preacher noted. "Judah Lowe, the story says, created a golem to protect the Jews of Prague from those who would harm them. You seek to protect the world, with your deck containing the golems you use for that purpose. I guess it works. But unless its effect prevents direct attacks, you won't be protecting anything today."

There was a rush of information into Sol's mind, he instinctively knew the powers of his Image... and his heart sank. It was useless at the moment. "...it can't..."

"In that case, Senku, attack him directly with Bright Arrow!" Father Young shouted.

Hoverign in front of Sol, Senku placed all six of its legs in front of itself, charging up a ball of light. This it hurled into Sol's face, and the young man cried out as the light burned into him, his Life Points now at 2,600.

The priest drew a card, noting, "On a direct attack from Senku, I get a card from my deck. Now, Mudora..." He sighed. "Had I not played Pot of Charity, this duel would be over. As it is, Mudora, smite him!"

Even as he shut his eyes, Sol could hear a cry of assent from Mudora. He could hear the thud of sandaled feet striking the pavement that composed the platform on which they fought.

And he could feel Mudora's knife sinking into his stomach, reaching his spine before it came to a stop. The monster's hand pressed against his chest, and Sol fell back, pushed off of the blade. He hit the ground wordlessly, hearing a whirr as his Life Point counter moved to 100.

"My turn ends," the priest said, "and Senku goes to the Graveyard as per its effect." The smaller Majestic Mech faded away, and Mudora punched his free hand into the palm of his knife-hand. (2,500/1,800 - 2,700/1,800)

Behind his glasses, Father Young looked at Sol with a worried expression, watching the downed young man stir. Get back on your feet, my child, he thought. Do not tell me the Light allows those who are willing to give up to seek it.

A long moment passed, during which Sol turned his thoughts inward...

0000000

Gerald was asleep, and thus the Heaven's Sphere did not actually exist at the moment. It never did when he was unconscious, even in such a benign way.

But there was a glimmer of light over his sleeping frame, one in a somewhat spherical shape. He stirred, tugging Laura a little closer to him, and had one of the more unusual dreams he would ever have.

0000000

"Get up, Sol."

On hearing his name, Sol Kilkarn pushed himself to his feet, dusting off. He was surprised to see a distinct lack of knife wounds, but then remembered he was dealing with holograms, not actual divine avengers with sharp objects. And standing next to him... "Gerald?"

Indeed, the Chosen of the Light was standing next to him, or at least a transparent facsimile of the same. His hair was tussled, and he looked half-asleep - even more so than usual. "The last time I checked that was still my name. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Sol sighed, looking to his opponent. "Father Young has me on the ropes. I brought my Image out, but without monsters even that can't protect me. Even if I had monsters I would still be in trouble..."

"Yes, I know the feeling. The Darkness is exceptional at backing people into corners. Ever hear of Jacob Waterknot?"

"No..."

Gerald shuddered and said, "Then you have more luck than you think. Either way... As far as my senses for this sort of thing go, the Light tapped out its resources earlier today, so don't hold your breath on being helped directly. Indirectly, on the other hand..." He smiled. "Get up and draw your next card. You still have to make up for your misdeeds, but you'll do so in person, understand?"

Nodding, Sol smiled back. He got the picture. "I understand. We'll meet again, I suppose?"

"And sooner than you think." And Gerald vanished with that.

0000000

When the dream ended, Sol was standing up again, although he had no memory of actually rising, and he was holding his draw for the turn. And it was just the card he needed. "I play Card of Sanctity!" he announced. "Now let's both refill our hands!"

After he and Father Young had both drawn their hands up to six cards, he activated his facedown card, continuing, "Now I activate Trap Trip, returning a Trap Card from my Graveyard to my hand, and I pick Negate Attack!" He retrieved it and slid two cards into his Duel Disk, concluding, "I set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode, and turn the game over to you."

He has confidence again, Father Young thought as he drew his hand to seven cards. I wonder what he saw while he was down... He paused. Attacking will trigger his trap, but it won't hurt me, and I have no way to take it out. "Goryu," he said to his monster, "attack his facedown monster!"

The pattern repeated itself - Goryu rose up, drew forth its lights, and fired them into the air. This time, however, they struck against an invisible barrier. Sol did not name the card, but his Negate Attack was face-up for both to see.

Briefly nodding, Father Young said, "I set two cards facedown and end my turn."

This time, Sol didn't even look at the card he'd drawn. It wasn't part of his plans for the turn. "I flip my Dummy Golem into Attack Mode!" he declared.

The resulting monster was another crude replicia of a human being, but much shorter and carved from stone instead of the Mine Golem's clay body. Whoever had carved it had decided that a "I'm better than you" sneer was an appropriate facial expression, and thus had likely deserved a sound thrashing. (800/800)

Just seeing the monster threw Father Young into a brief moment of panic, but then he recovered and interrupted, "I activate my Trap, Divine Wrath! By simply discarding my Chosen One from my hand, I can negate and destroy that blasphemy and its effect!"

Clouds formed above the Sanctuary in the Sky, and lightning danced on their edges. Soon, a single crackling bolt shot down from the sky, aimed directly at the Dummy Golem...

But then Sol slid a card into his Graveyard slot, and the Protector of the Sanctuary turned solid, its body a bright blue. It lifted a hand, and the lightning bolt fizzled out harmlessly against its palm.

From within the Protector, Sol explained, "My Image effect has quite a lot of usefulness. By discarding one card from my hand, once per turn, I can negate and destroy any one effect that would destroy a monster I control. So my Dummy Golem survives, and all it cost me was an Ancient Gear." His Image turned clear again, and he smiled. "And as you seem to know, that means I can trade Dummy Golem for one of your monsters. You get to pick which one."

The priest laughed for a moment, thinking, There aren't any angels in his Graveyard, so Mudora's Attack Points will drop right back to their starting amount. So all I have to say is... "I choose Majestic Mech - Goryu." He then clapped a hand over his mouth and thought, Why did I say that?!?

Blinking, Sol muttered, "All right... Didn't expect that, but the trade is confirmed."

In front of him, the Dummy Golem began to spin rapidly, a cloud of dust developing around it. A similar cloud developed around the Majestic Mech, which twitched and rotated nervously. Soon neither monster could be seen behind their dustclouds... and then the clouds cleared, and the Dummy Golem was on Father Young's field, while Sol controlled Goryu.

And then something strange happened. It was hard to tell with a featureless creature like Goryu, but the angelic creation seemed to relax once it was on Sol's field. Its wings lowered, and its body went slack.

Raising an eyebrow, Sol ignored this, instead continuing his turn. "I now play my final Ancient Gear Castle..." For a third time, the proud fortress penetrated the clouds, all its torches cold. "...and summon another Ancient Gear Soldier in Attack Mode!"

Once more, the primitive crane swung out from the castle's top, depositing a metal soldier on Sol's field next to Goryu. (1,300/1,300) Several chains fired into its body as a torch lit on the Castle, and the gears tightened. (1,300/1,300 - 1,600/1,600)

"Thanks for teaching me the monster's attack name, by the way," Sol went on. "Now, Goryu, attack Mudora with Radiant Eruption!"

The attack was different this time, and Sol couldn't understand why. As before, the Majestic Mech flew high into the sky, its wings spread... but this time, the wings folded in on either side of the head, and a bizarre configuration of lines formed at its base. Those lines ran up Goryu's body, and a powerful blast of blinding light shot from its face. The blast hit Mudora, and when the smoke cleared, only his knife was left behind.

As before, the Sanctuary's power engulfed Father Young, surrounding him in a shield of light, but he still flinched as his monster died.

Sol paused, thinking, If I attacked with the Ancient Gear Soldier, I could destroy the Dummy Golem... but it's not a Fairy - or an angel, as Father Young keeps calling it. That facedown card's not an anti-monster trap, so I could do more damage by waiting until my next turn and destroying it with Goryu. "I set a card facedown and end my turn," he said.

Sweat rolled down Father Young's forehead as he drew. He then went to his Duel Disk, saying, "I activate Beckoning Light, returning Ohka and Mars to my hand!" The two monsters appeared for a moment and returned to his hand. He went on, "I set a card facedown, switch Dummy Golem to Defense Mode, and summon the Angel of Force - Mars once again!"

The golem crouched, and overhead, the sky parted as the mighty purple-winged angel flew down from Heaven once again. He still bore all the scars from his previous battles, and a new line of teethmarks on his waist. Landing atop the Sanctuary, he glared at Sol. (0/0) Extending his hand, he drew forth power from the building, his eyes shut. (0/0 - 7,800/7,800)

Two torches now burned on the Ancient Gear Castle.

He has only 100 Life Points, Father Young thought. I can't lose! I cannot possibly lose! In the rush, he yelled, "Angel of Force - Mars, Fury of the Highest! Strike down the apostate Goryu!"

Flying off of the Sanctuary in the Sky, Mars took aim with his spear and hurled it at the Majestic Mech, watching it burn towards its target... and then it hit a octagonal barrier, and began to fly back towards him...

"Mirror Force," the priest whispered as he saw the facedown card on Sol's field lift. "Damn my pride. Damn me."

The spear struck Mars, and the angel quite simply exploded, balls of burning fire striking the field around his master. One hit the Sanctuary in the Sky, which began to smolder.

Blinking, Father Young muttered, "All I can do is end my turn."

Drawing another card, Sol nodded at that. "I play Monster Reincarnation," he began, "discarding my Brain Control to return a monster to my hand. Guess which one."

"Your Ancient Gear Golem."

"Right." The stylized holy symbol, which resembled but did not match the Monster Reborn ankh, briefly glowed on the field before a single card appeared in Sol's hand. The young man then said, "I sacrifice the Ancient Gear Castle and its two counters to summon the Golem itself!"

As before, the castle fell in on itself, and the Ancient Gear Golem itself rose up in glory, even as the castle's chains snapped off of the Soldier. (3,000/3,000) (1,600/1,600 - 1,300/1,300)

All Father Young could do was watch, as behind him, the Sanctuary in the Sky fully caught fire. The clouds, being mostly water vapor, were unaffected, but embers were flying over the Shine Palace attached to Goryu.

"I switch the Ancient Gear Soldier to Defense," Sol continued, "and now, Goryu, strike down the Dummy Golem!"

Rising over both players, the Majestic Mech called forth another burst of light. Not even dust was left when the attack concluded, although one of the Dummy Golem's fists did survive. It shattered a second later, and Father Young's Life Points stopped at 5,100.

Before Sol could keep going, he shut his eyes and covered his face with his free hand. He then ordered, "Ancient Gear Golem... direct attack. Ultimate Pound."

The imposing clockwork titan took a few steps forward, the clouds and the platform both quaking with each step. It looked at Father Young as if it were a waste to expend energy on him, and then drew its fist back. The resulting impact cracked the platform, left a hole in the clouds, and stunned the preacher, leaving him with 2,100 Life Points.

"That ends my turn," Sol then said.

Several minutes passed before Father Young got his composure back together, readjusting his glasses. One lens had a hairline crack inching across it. He straighened his jacket, and then shouted, "Emerge, my Image!"

Unlike Sol, the fog did not rise from the priest's hands - instead, the black cloud rose from his mouth, as if he were exhaling his soul. It gathered over his head and became solid, eventually turning into a blue-skinned demoness with small horns and red hair. She wore the remnants of a white robe, and gently fluttered her wings, blushing a little at her lack of more suitable attire.

"Marie the Fallen One?" Sol said, looking at his opponent's Image as his own shifted its weight. "Well... I guess it's the only suitable Image for a hypocrite."

"Silence, my child, I must concentrate," Father Young replied as he studied his hand. Inside his head, he thought, I'm holding Ohka, Graceful Charity, Mirror Force, Senku, and the Angel of Judgment - Saturn I just drew. Graceful Charity might well deck me if I play it... I don't need it, anyway. Marie's Image Effect lets me use her as an Ultimate Offering for Light monsters by paying 1,000 Life Points, so I can summon Senku or Ohka, and then use her effect to summon Saturn and finish him off. He only has 100 Life Points, so any advantage will be enough! I can win this right now... I can win... I can...

The priest's hands dropped. Oh, who am I trying to fool? he thought. I could have won with Mars. I could have won with Goryu and Mudora. But both times that boy drew just what he needed to get out of the hole. Every time he nears defeat he escapes it. I should have seen it several turns ago... I was never meant to win this duel. A part of me knows that, even - that's why I gave him Goryu instead of Mudora.

He managed a laugh at this point. The Light wants that boy to keep going. It wants him to win. It does not want a self-righteous hypocrite like me - face it, Emil, you are hypocritical as they come - to bring him down. If I want to even pass for having an iota of faith I have to accept it.

"I pass this turn," Father Young said aloud. "Do what needs to be done." He bowed his head and stepped to the platform's edge.

Sol drew, giving Father Young an expression of pity. "I understand... I play Ancient Gear Tank on my Ancient Gear Golem, giving him 500 more Attack Points."

The Ancient Gear Golem raised its arm, and what looked like a motorcycle with a cannon on the front welded to the appendage. Steam rose from its gears. (3,000/3,000 - 3,500/3,500)

"I'll spare you an attack from your own monster," the young man concluded. "Ancient Gear Golem, end this duel with Diesel-Powered Ultimate Pound."

For the last time, the Ancient Gear Golem raised its fist, the one with the Tank hooked to it. It brought the arm down with enough force to blow away the burning Sanctuary, shatter the platform into ten thousand fragments, and throw the priest facedown. Father Young's Life Points hit zero, and the Dark Duel circle disappeared.

Enough of the platform remained for the two duelists not to plummet, but the Ancient Gear Golem's attack also shattered the seal of the Dark Duel, and so the holograms and their Images faded. Sol shut off his Duel Disk, breathing heavily as he did so. Slowly, the ruined portion of the street settled back to the ground.

It was several minutes before Father Young stirred, his Duel Disk vanishing in a cloud of darkness as he rose to one knee. He dropped his head and murmured, "I yield. You stand victorious, my child..."

What do I do now? Sol thought. He crossed his arms in front of him, watching his defeated opponent with a wary look in his eyes.

The priest laughed, shaking his head and picking up his glasses. "You don't trust me, do you?" he said. "I can't blame you... After all, my words were picked in order to goad you into the Dark Duel. But while you may not believe it, most of them were a lie."

"What?" Sol yelled. "What do you mean you were lying? That was a Dark Duel, you just said so yourself!"

"Allow me to explain," Father Young said, raising his hand. "Those words were true before last night. But last night the Darkness committed a sin I cannot allow, a sin that made me rethink all that I had thought..." He paused, fists clenching. "They summoned a demon to this world."

The thought of it made Sol shiver. "Degas and Alexander did what?"

"That was my reaction when I sensed it. I was willing to damn my own soul to see the plan through, but when they called on the demon, I could no longer lie to myself - the Darkness isn't going to scour the world, it's going to tear it apart! There was no way I could continue telling myself I was doing what the Lord needed done after that!" Father Young then sighed. "But once I knew that, I needed to see if the Light had enough power to truly challenge the Darkness."

A lightbulb went on in the young man's head, and he said, "So you challenged me to test the Light's strength."

The preacher nodded, continuing, "Do not take this the wrong way, but you are the weakest of those battling Degas and Alexander. If I defeated you, then my orders would be fulfilled. But every time I came close to victory, you overcame it and struck back. The Light truly stands powerful enough to challenge the Darkness, and I know it for certain. Thus I shall refute it." He held out his open hands, and dark smoke began to rise from them.

Now that the battle was over and the adrenline wearing off, Sol yawned wide, turning towards the outskirts of the ruins. "I think I'll leave you to whatever you're going to do next," he said, eyes already starting to close.

"Wait, my child..." Father Young said. "Before you go, allow me to give you my blessing."

Sol blinked, turned back towards the preacher, and muttered, "I would, but I happen to be Jewish." He pulled up on the chain around his neck, revealing what was on the end of it - a silver Star of David.

"You're still my child - we are all children of the Lord - and we follow the same god, despite calling him different names." Father Young held out one hand, two fingers extended, and crossed the air in front of him. "May the Lord be with you, the saints preserve you, the angels watch over you, and Heaven help you..."

Nodding, the young man yawned again and walked out of the ruins, head drooped.

Father Young watched him go, thinking, So that's one of those who serve the Light. If Gerald is stronger than he is, they may stand a chance... He frowned. But they're still fighting a losing battle. The Darkness has no boundries anymore. They've already summoned a demon to their side... I don't even want to think about what they'll do to top that.

He picked up his Bible from the ground, holding it under one arm, and thought on. The only thing I can do is challenge them directly. Degas, Alexander... I believe, cliche as it is, that I must bring the wrath of God upon you.

There was a burst of darkness, and the priest disappeared.

0000000

Within the lair of Degas and Alexander, the rising sun had no power. There, the only way to tell if it was day or night was to trust one's watch.

Degas awoke, his senses filtering through various layers as he sat up on his bed. "Father Young's betrayed us," he said to himself as he picked up an image of the duel. "Ah, well. We still have use for hm..."

Sensing something else, the Hand of Darkness smiled, putting his sunglasses back on. "It will be moot anyway. The Pillar of Death is free."

TRAP TRIP
Type: Normal Trap Card
Image: A hand reaching for a mousetrap baited with a candy.
Effect: Return one Trap Card from your Graveyard to your hand.
Note: This card was used by Mad Dog in the GX episode "No Pain, No Game". Creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

SHINE PALACE
Type: Equip Magic Card
Image: A glowing fairytale castle rising from a green book.
Effect: Increase the ATK of a LIGHT-type monster equipped with this card by 700 points.
Note: This is an actual card in Japan, but has not yet come out in America.

PROTECTOR OF THE SANCTUARY
Image Effect: "Guarding the Populace" - Once per turn, you may discard one card from your hand in order to negate and destroy an opponent's card effect that would destroy a monster or monsters you control.

MARIE THE FALLEN ONE
Image Effect: "Sophistry" - You may Normal Summon an additional LIGHT-type monster during your turn by paying 1,000 Life Points.

Coming next chapter: With the last of the Pillars awake, Gerald and his allies could use all the information they could get. As it happens, one last Darkness Infected walks the streets of St. Paul, but the circumstances are a little odd. If they're going to get the knowledge they need, the Chosen of the Light and friends will have to put their trust in someone else... and hope things don't turn too weird to handle. What am I talking about? You'll see in Chapter Twenty-Five, "Catfight", which might be misnamed...

[Dark Sage]

So, Sol is a descendant of Rabbi Lowe? Figures. That explains why he uses Golems. I'm not Jewish, but I know the legend of the original Golem well. It was a forerunner to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, although no one is sure if she was actually inspired by the legend (which many say was true).

I'm glad that Young eventually saw the light, so to speak. He finally realized that you can't use evil as a stepping point to doing good, no matter how hard you try. Unfortuanately, I do not believe he will survive to see the end of this story (I'm not sure if he will even make a full appearance again).

I was surprised to see Sol use that Trap Trip card. I always thought this anime-only card was a little broken... Retrieve any Trap from your grave with no conditions or costs? It seemed to be an incredibly easy substitute for Mask of Darkness.

It is my belief that the Pillar of Death is going to double-cross Degas and Alexander, but that's just my belief. I'll be watching.

[Perfect Chaos]

I actually liked this chapter. Sol and Father Young seemed pretty evenly matched, and you fit monsters into Young's deck that suited his playing-style of Angels in general. Even his Image basically was a carbon copy of what he really was.

I completely forgot what Sol played since we haven't seen him duel since Gerald cured him of the Infection, so I found seeing the Golems again a bit refreshing.

The dueling itself kept me interested. They both exchanged blows almost evenly and it took a while for either of them to finally dip past the half way point, so it was nice to see a little difference.

So the Pillar of Death has been freed finally? It seems things are going to start getting REALLY interesting now.

See you next chapter.

-Sean

[Blademaster]

Hmph... I guess Young wasn't that much of a hypocrite after all... It took him long enough, but at least he came around eventually...

OK, the duel itself was pretty impressive, but the addition of all those minor details (Hysteric Angel's indeterminate gender, Sol's comments on a bunch of the Father's moves, etc.) made it a bit more interesting, for sure.

Now, let's see what's next... the Pillar of Death has to wait another chapter, so let's focus on the next chapt... ah, who am I kidding? I have no clue about the next chapter.

Oh, well, if the last few chapters are any indication, I won't be disappointed.

See you next time!

[Shuppet Master]

I agree, we're entering the endgame.

Great chapter, Paradox. I liked how you pitted golems against angels and did something similar to Professor Banner's duel with Jaden.

[Master of Paradox]

I hate VBulletin. I Hate it so much. And I hate having to repost because someone up top thought we needed to switch boards...

You can call me Dita for now. Gerald asked me to help him out, and I accepted. Why shouldn't I?

Less than a week ago, this city was running normally, without any signs that something was about to go wrong. Now... Now I can't even recognize it. I understand Minneapolis is just as bad.

I keep wondering why the Twin Cities were targeted, but I'm not about to expect an answer anytime soon. All I know is that by helping Gerald and his friends, I can make things better. Of course, if circumstances were different, they wouldn't need my help, but that's a moot point by now.

They just can't duel this woman, and they need to defeat her in order to get ahead. I can duel her, so I will. Do I need more reasons?

[size=14pt]Chapter Twenty-Five: Catfight[/size]

In the lair of Degas and Alexander, in the room with the pillars, the last one began to crack and fall apart, its process almost complete. Obsidian lined the floor, the remnants of the other three pillars. Now the final one prepared to break apart.

With a loud crash, the fourth pillar finally shattered, freeing the person within. It was a painfully thin man, with gray hair and lines around his eyes, his skin tight and pale. He wore a long white coat, and underneath it a blue shirt and thin black pants.

He fell to the ground, gasping for breath and laying helplessly amid the ruins of the pillar.

A moment later, Degas stepped through the door, carrying a small oxygen tank hooked to a mask. He knelt next to the prone Pillar, pressing the tank into the man's hand.

Taking it, the thin man held the mask to his face, opened the valve on the tank, and took several long breaths before rising to his knees. "Thank you," he said after a moment, his breathing returning to normal.

Once the tank was out of his hands, Degas stepped back, hands behind him. "After you recover, you are to find Gerald Laxina and his friends and deal with them," he said.

The Pillar of Death nodded, clipping the oxygen tank to his belt. "Any required order?" he asked.

"No," Degas said. He reached into a pocket and tossed three photographs to the kneeling man. "Here is what they look like. You should be able to sense them once you have regained your strength."

"Any limits to actions?" the Pillar asked, taking another breath from the tank.

Shaking his head, the man in black replied, "Do as you must."

The other man looked up, under Degas's sunglasses, and a thin smile crossed his face. He paused and then exhaled. "Understood."

"You may act when you are ready," Degas said, turning on his heel and leaving the room. He exited in the mirror room, letting out a long sigh and slumping over.

Alexander was in his chair, working on a piece of toast. "And how is he?" he asked his partner.

There was silence for a moment, and then Degas said, "He looked into my eyes. And all it made him do was smile."

The man in green shivered.

0000000

Owing to various circumstances (two Dark Duels and general sloth being among them), it was 1:14 P.M. before Gerald's group was fully awake and able to begin planning again. They gathered around a table in the corner of the suite, Gerald himself manning the room's coffeemaker.

Laura had raided her rather limited wardrobe, and having found nothing, now wore a thin white turtleneck and a pair of gray pants borrowed from Gerald; the ankles were rolled up halfway to what were supposed to be the knees, and her belt was much tighter than usual. Chad wore a fringed green shirt and khakis, and Gerald was in the last of his gray outfits, this one a gray button-down shirt and slacks.

The first ten minutes passed with Chad relating his battle with Bethany and Laura describing the duel with Graz'zt; the former also noted his meeting with Alexander, while the latter brought up her encounter with the Light and the Soul Savior. (Neither Laura or Gerald discussed their kiss - both of them wrote it off as a result of her relief at surviving, although Chad noticed they couldn't look each other in the eye.)

"So," Gerald noted, sipping his coffee as he sat down, "once Heaven's Sphere left me, it transformed into that Holy Weapon Soul Savior card... And here I was accusing it of not helping out." He took the card from his deck and slid it across the table to Laura.

Picking it up, the young woman tilted the card down. As soon as her fingers touched it, it had become the Holy Weapon Soul Savior once again. She then slid it back to Gerald, who picked it up and turned it around - it was Heaven's Sphere once again.

After a moment, Chad took out his deck and flipped through his cards until Totem of the Merciful Lion slid off the top. He pushed it to Laura, and she tried to pick it up... only to have her hand pass through it. "Just as I thought," Chad murmured. "That one's not a real Heaven's Gift, persay. It's part of me, not part of the Light."

"Still, it proves the Light has some interest in you," Gerald noted. "The Darkness must as well, if Alexander was willing to chat." He paused, and then said, "Wait... Laura, who did you say gave you the Soul Savior?"

The young woman thought for a moment before saying, "He called himself Obrimos. Why do you ask?"

"Because that name sounds familar... Ah. It might have come up in my vision."

"You had a vision?" Chad asked.

"Last night, as I slept..." With another sip of his coffee, Gerald revealed his vision, one hand rubbing at his sore temple. After it was done, he said, "The part that frustrates me is that I could never make out what was written on the center. Apparently the Light had enough leeway to show me the Balance in alignment but not what it is."

During Gerald's description, Laura and Chad had shut their eyes and turned their thoughts inward. Finally, Laura said, "Well, let's see... First of all, were the people you saw related?"

"Wait," Chad said, blinking as something hit him. "They were a monk, a vampire-slayer, a knight crusader, a priestess, and a sorcerer battling the undead. They're all people we would call 'holy', aren't they?"

"You've got a point," Gerald noted. "And whatever force it was aided them at their time of greatest need. That knight... no... all of them were praying before the force came to their aid-" He stopped, hands hitting the table, and then lowered his head. "It's so obvious now."

A moment of awkward silence passed before Laura hit the table as well, saying, "Of course... It's the only thing that makes sense."

Chad's fingers twitched, and he struck the table out of anger. "Argh... I can see what you're getting at, but I can't quite connect the dots! Give me just one clue..."

Obliging, Gerald said to his friend, "The Balance unaligned is Chaos. What's the opposite?"

"The opposite of Chaos is Order..." And then it struck him, and Chad laid back so far in his chair that it nearly fell over. "Why didn't I see it before?"

Getting up, Gerald rubbed his hands, wondering why he'd gotten so enthusiastic. "The Balance unaligned is Chaos... but aligned, it's the source of all order. Something seemed off... I don't think it's God, persay. It felt more like the foremost servant of a greater power..."

"Assuming one exists," Chad interrupted.

"Yes... although I wouldn't rule it out. We've run into demons, Chad. Logic suggests their opposite number is real as well."

Letting out a long breath, Laura said, "I think I know what to call it. Lucifer has something he says when he's surprised." She paused and continued, "He says, 'By the Divine'. I think that's what they call it... The center of the Balance is the Divine."

There was nothing to say to that. All three of them leaned on the table, all thinking the same thing: All this for the Divine...

A knock came at the door, and a familiar voice called, "Room service!"

The three, knocked out of their thoughts, looked to each other, and Laura muttered, "We never ordered room service..."

"And I doubt the staff avoided the Darkness Infection," Gerald added. "Besides, I know that voice quite well." Pushing his chair back, he snuck across the suite, grabbing his Duel Disk off the foot of the bed and holding it as one would any improvised bludgeon.

With one motion, Gerald opened the door, pushed it open, and spun into full duelist stance... only to see the door pass through a blur in the air. Sighing, he said, "Just as I thought." He reached around to the door's front and tugged something off of it, moving back to his friends.

"A message?" Chad said. He took the message, which was several pages long, from Gerald and read: "'To the Chosen of the Light and his friends: the Pillar of Death is loose on the Twin Cities. We have measured the Reciprocal, and it will take just one more Darkness Infected to get another vision. My bosses have decided to give you a chance to earn such, but given the events of last night, it would be unfair to drag you into this right now.'"

He turned the page and continued, "'For that reason, the Darkness Infected will be waiting on the Stone Arch Bridge at 7:00 P.M. Don't be too late - she needs to sleep too, you know. And we strongly suggest you bring a friend. See you there, Chosen. Signed...'" Instead of reading on, Chad held up the message. It was "signed" with an odd symbol.

"Ah," Laura said. "That's the same mark Hanzaki has on his chest." She then paused. "What's the Reciprocal?"

"The amount of Darkness that must be defeated for me to earn a vision from the Light," Gerald replied. "Apparently, there was so much after beating both Bethany and Graz'zt that one more victory will tip it over." He then finished his coffee. "We have until seven tonight... What shall we do until then?"

Laura answered quickly enough: "For starters, we need to go clothes-shopping. I am not going to spend the rest of our time here borrowing from you two." She looked to Chad with a slight smile. "I would need an industrial press to keep the legs of your pants from tripping me."

0000000

In the lair of the Darkness, the one-eyed man muttered, "Their progress so far," and turned over the top card of his deck. He smiled at the draw, saying, "The Eight of Cups - the card of abandoned prosperity. But it also means that what one has done so far is of little consequence in the long run. Their achievements up to here mean little."

He set that card aside, said, "Their position now," and turned over the next card. The result did not surprise him: "The Emperor. A card of stability and power. Certainly after defeating Graz'zt and the Pillar of Chaos, one could argue that. It also signifies powerful aid, and this they have in both the Beloved of Fire and the two 'free agents'. But how long will this persist?"

Pausing, the one-eyed man took hold of another card and said, "Their future path." He picked it up and looked at it before giving a sly smile. "The Five of Swords. Once again a sword stands in their path, but the blade is turned against them. After all, the chief meaning of this card is defeat..."

He swept the three back into his deck and shuffled.

0000000

As the time and temperature sign over a First National Bank turned to 3:00 P.M., the '86 Corolla GTS rolled into downtown Minneapolis, stopping in front of a long stretch of small stores.

The door to the closest clothing shop was locked - apparently, it hadn't opened before the Darkness Infection took out its staff. This did not deter Gerald's party as they climbed out of the Corolla, however, as there was a handy ashcan next to the door and a large glass window nearby. One swing gained access, and the other swings were to pound down the shards still sticking out of the frame.

"The things I do for the Light," Gerald muttered as the group climbed into the store. He then bit his lip, feeling a twinge of guilt at invoking the Light so frivolously.

Once inside, the three split up - Laura disappeared into the Women's Clothing section, Chad vanished into the Menswear, and Gerald drifted around the register, unsure what to do.

After several long moments of staring at an issue of People, he found himself developing an emotional bond with it and picked it up, flipping through it as he moved into the clothing racks. His eyes wandered past one item in particular, and he muttered, "Hum... 'Seto Kaiba was seen ordering flowers at the upscale 'House of Kittens' florists. The destination - Cairo'... Seto Kaiba has interesting tastes in women..."

He collided with Chad, who had several shirts over one arm and several pairs of pants over the other. "Not getting anything?" the tall artist asked him.

"Nothing strikes my fancy," Gerald replied, stepping out of his friend's way. "It seems plenty of things have struck yours, however."

Chuckling, Chad held one pair of pants to his waist. It didn't even reach his calves. "I only bought one outfit. Everything else here is Laura's. I have to admit she's got good taste... or maybe I'm just not used to seeing someone dressing in more colors than just gray."

The taller man headed towards the front, and Gerald blinked a few times. He then slid over to the Menswear section, moved to a circle rack, and studied one of the Hawaiian shirts hanging from it.

A door slammed, and the lazy man was about to spring up when he realized it was coming from the back of the store. Concluding that Laura was done with the dressing room, he backed away from the shirts and looked in that direction.

Laura's chosen outfit worked perfectly for the athletic redhead she was. She'd picked out a light purple shirt, which she was wearing with the sleeves half-rolled as it was a warm day, and paired it with a pair of light gray jeans. They seemed a little tight on her hips, but this made her legs stand out even more, and they were the sort of legs that asked to be shown off.

As Laura shook her hair out, running her fingers through it to get a tangle out of the mess, Gerald finally remembered to blink. His foot cramped from being pressed down for too long; he'd planned to take a step forward and moved his weight to that foot before forgetting to move. Turning his brain back on, he looked over to Laura and said, "That looks very good on you."

"Thanks," she said, taking her previous outfit off of the hook on the dressing room's door and tossing it to Gerald. "You can have these back now... and stop staring."

Shaking his head, Gerald caught the incoming clothing, blinking several times. "My apologies."

The group left the way they'd came, but they left a sizable amount of money on the counter. They weren't thieves, after all.

0000000

"Good evening, and welcome to the 6'o'clock news. Our top story is the escalating crisis in Minnesota. Over the course of the last twenty-four hours, eleven additional cities have joined Minneapolis and St. Paul behind an inexplicable field of energy. We take you live to a press conference being held at the Pentagon, where General Lewis Majors is expected to deliver the results of earlier tests on the field..."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have received the official conclusions of tests performed on the unidentified barrier this morning by various scientific factions. Before I begin, I wish to clarify that I will use the terms 'field' and 'barrier' interchangeably.

"First of all, human beings cannot pass through the barrier by any means. It is invisible, but can be touched. The barrier is intensely solid to the touch, but has no apparent feel other than resistence. Attempts to drive through the field were unsuccessful, as it also repels vehicles. This includes bicycles and motorcycles.

'The field seems to stop only human beings and human-created vehicles. Tests involving colored compressed air and jets of water have concluded that the field is fully permeable by air and water - both pass freely in and out of the cut-off area. In addition, witnesses have seen birds flying into and out of the area surrounded by the barrier. A National Guardsman attempted to pass through the barrier on horseback. The horse passed through, but he was pushed off on contact with the field. I assure you the horse was unharmed.

"Weapons have no effect on the field - they pass through it without any effect. The National Guard tested weapons ranging from nine-millimeter pistols up to artillery barrages on the barrier, all of which passed through as though the barrier did not exist. More primitive weapons, including swords and crossbow bolts, passed through as well. As you may have guessed, this means destroying the barrier will not be possible with conventional methods.

"Currently, the barrier encloses an area of two hundred square miles, and may well grow in due time. We are enforcing a strict no-fly zone, but we don't actually know how high up it goes. Reports from NASA indicate that both satellites and a manned space station have passed over it, so we do know it does not extend into space.

"All methods used to scan the barrier's composition have failed to match it to any known form of energy. Geiger counters do not register any radiation from it, and it does not seem to produce heat or electromagnetic fields. In short, whatever is producing this field is not anything the world has known...

"I will now take questions."

0000000

The Corolla pulled up to the Stone Arch Bridge just as a nearby clock clicked to 7:00 P.M. A figure was standing out on the bridge's span, and so Gerald and his friends climbed out of the car and headed out towards the center.

As they walked, Chad tightened the Ring of Purity on his finger. Gerald looked at him, and the taller man replied, "After last night, I have trouble with people on bridges." He then paused and added, "The next time we see Lucifer I'll have to remember to return this."

It wasn't long before the three arrived at the center of the bridge, where the figure was waiting. It was a woman, standing five foot nine, with blonde hair done up in a long ponytail and hard eyes; one glance into them confirmed she was among the Darkness Infected. She had a very muscular figure, and her other... attributes were impressive along with it. Like Fuu, she wore armor, but hers was made of blue metal, consisting of a breastplate and a steel band around a slitted blue skirt. On top of her head she wore a winged helmet, the crest stopping just over her eyes.

Well, I suppose the Darkness would specialize in lunatics, Laura thought as they reached the bridge's center. But who knew they had a thing for women in armor?

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:"You're on time," the Darkness Infected noted, readying the Duel Disk on her arm.

"We tend to be," Gerald said. "People are more willing to accept a slow-moving man if he doesn't make them wait. Your name?"

"Ida Hoyle, champion of last month's St. Paul Citywide Duel Monsters Special." She then adjusted her helmet and added, "But some just call me Freya's Maiden."

After a few seconds of looking between themselves, Gerald stepped forward and readied his Duel Disk. "Let's begin, then," he said, starting to load his deck into the slot.

Ida blinked, shook her head, and said, "Sorry, but outside of tournaments, I don't duel men."

The lazy man nearly scattered his deck every which way on hearing that, barely keeping the cards in a neat stack. His eyes went wide, as did Chad's, and he managed to muster enough of himself to ask, "What was that?"

"I don't duel men casually. The idea makes me ill." The armored woman shuddered, holding onto herself.

Gerald gave Chad a helpless look, only to see it returned. Both men sighed and stepped back, Laura stepping forward as they did so. "Leave this one to me, guys," she said to them. "And I do mean guys."

Before Laura could get any closer, however, Ida snorted. "Please," she said. "You're barely feminine enough to count as having two X-chromosomes. And you're definitely too masculine to duel me."

It took all the strength in both young men to keep their companion from pouncing on Ida. Straining against them, Laura shouted, "Let go of me! She needs to die!"

"Killing her will not fill the Reciprocal, Laura," Gerald said with a remarkable amount of calm. "Spare her life. We need this information."

After several minutes, the redhead finally calmed down and slumped in her captor's arms. The three thought for a moment, and then Chad told Ida, "We'll get back to you."

"I'm not going anywhere," she replied. "But just keep in mind I won't duel any of you..."

The group retreated back to the other end of the Stone Arch Bridge, where they'd parked their car, and Chad said, "Who knew a Darkness Infected could refuse a challenge?"

"They probably altered her so that she could," Laura theorized. "Either that or her prejudice was powerful enough to outweigh the Darkness Infection. Either way, we're in trouble."

Gerald nodded. "We need the vision, but we can't get it. This is why the note said 'Bring a friend'. I wonder if Vivienne would be interested?"

"Lucifer would never allow it." Chad shook his head. "He would set us all on fire before he would ever let his daughter duel a Darkness Infected, and I can understand why. But that still leaves us with nothing."

"And aside from me, she's the only female duelist we know who's on our side," Laura concluded. "You know, our entire time here we've seen six female duelists, not counting me, and about twenty male duelists. This game really is male-dominated, isn't it?"

Even as he nodded, Gerald was thinking to himself. He then snapped his fingers and said, "Wait here... I think I know someone who can help us." Without any further explanation, he walked away.

Half an hour later, Ida was paging through a magazine she'd retrieved from under her breastplate, Chad was sitting on the hood with his eyes closed, and Laura was stretching. The sound of shoes on pavement caused all three to look down the street.

A girl with long brown hair walked up to them, smiling shyly. She was only slightly shorter than Chad, and she wore a long yellow dress with full sleeves and white gloves. There was a Duel Disk on one of her arms, a purse was slung over the other shoulder, and she kept her hands clasped in front of her.

"Hello," the girl introduced herself, blushing slightly. "My name is Dita... Gerald told me you could use some help." She blushed a little deeper. "We knew each other a while back, and I still owed him a favor."

Laura tilted her head, thinking, Weird. She seems familiar somehow. Well, other than looking like Daisy from the Mario series.

My goodness, she looks like the Maiden in Love, Chad thought. He then shook his head and asked her, "You know the risks?"

Dita nodded, looking to Ida. "I'm pretty sure I can win. She might have won the Citywide Special, but I placed pretty high, too. Now..." She walked onto the bridge, smiled to Ida, and held up her Duel Disk. "Am I an acceptable challenge, Miss Hoyle?"

Blinking, the Darkness Infected looked her opponent over, thinking, I don't recall seeing her in the Citywide... She then smiled back and activated her Duel Disk. "Finally, someone I can duel. Let's go!"

"Yes," Dita replied as she retrieved her deck from her purse and slid it into place. Both Life Point counters set themselves at 8,000.

0000000

Somewhere in St. Paul, three people were watching the mirrors this time- Degas in his chair, Alexander in his, and Bethany seated on Alexander's lap. The Hand of Darkness was in no mood to object, as he was on the phone and receiving some unsettling news.

"He's already left?" Degas said. "Any clues as to where he went?" There was a pause. "I see. That matches what I know about him. Leave him to his work, but if the situation starts to move out of control contact me immediately." He hung up and pushed the phone away, frowning.

"What did Hanzaki say?" Alexander asked.

The man in black replied, "The Pillar of Death is fully recovered and on the move. He's in Bloomington at the moment, but if Hanzaki's analysis is correct, he may leave at any moment."

Bethany looked down to Alexander, murmuring, "Which one was he again?" The man in green whispered into her ear, and she gulped, curling tighter against him.

"Relax, my Bethany," Alexander said to her. "I won't allow him to so much as touch you." He then looked to the mirrors and addressed Degas: "Are you sure that it's wise to tempt fate like this?"

"I assure you," Degas replied, "regardless of how much information the Light gives them, it will do them no good against the Pillar of Death. I can only wonder where they found Dita, however - not everyone was hit by the Infection, but why would she risk fate like that?"

Alexander suddenly giggled, causing Degas to glare at him. "You'll see," the Dark Conduit said.

Rolling his eyes, the Hand of Darkness closed them and concentrated.

0000000

Before the duel could start, Ida heard Degas's voice inside her head, asking, Are they in your deck?

All five of them, Ida thought back. The Card of Night I can understand, and it helps a lot with this deck, but why did you give me the other four cards? They don't even fit my theme! They're not even the same type!

Consider it an experiment. Those cards took a lot of magic experimentation to work out. Besides, you have to admit they're powerful.

Powerful or not, there's only so far you can stretch a deck off-theme.

Silence, Degas thought with a stern tone. You're using those cards and there will be no argument. Now get to it. And he went silent.

Dita and Ida both drew their opening hands, and Dita paused for a moment, carefully studying her cards. "I'll begin," she said, "and I'll start with a monster facedown and two cards behind it." The three-card layout appeared before her, and she added, "I'll end my turn."

"Standard opening," Chad commented. "We can't predict her deck theme yet."

Noting this as well, Ida drew her first card and promptly played another, declaring, "I summon my Element Valkyrie in Attack Mode!"

A flame lit at the center of the armored woman's field, slowly expanding into a circle of fire. It lifted off the ground, and the river beneath them swelled up, two columns of water launching up over the rails. The water landed in the center of the fire, and the flames wrapped around it. From the mix came a woman in red armor, bearing a short sword in one hand. (1,500/1,000)

Laura blinked, and then said to Chad, "The last time I saw that card, its owner was running an Alchemy Deck. But I don't see that working with Ida's personality, do you?"

"Far from it," Chad replied. "But this is a Darkness Infected - she may be playing that deck due to orders."

Actually, I have other reasons for that card, Ida thought. Now, to begin the onslaught... "Element Valkyrie," she ordered, "attack Dita's facedown monster with Burning Steam Slash!"

The sword in the Element Valkyrie's hand glowed white-hot, and she threw herself forward, drawing her blade back as a cloud of steam followed her.

"I counter with Enemy Controller," Dita quietly countered, her card lifting up. "I could take over Element Valkyrie, but I have other plans for my facedown monster. Therefore, I will use the second effect."

The girl held up one hand, and the odd-shaped controller landed in it, a cord stretching out to the Element Valkyrie and pausing her where she stood.

Smiling, Dita tapped at the buttons, whispering to herself, "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, and... Start." Electricty shot along the cord and the Element Valkyrie knelt as the girl explained, "With this effect, I switch your Element Valkyrie to Defense Mode. Anything else?"

Ida scowled, tucking a card from her Duel Disk into her hand. "I set this facedown and end my turn."

Chad laughed, causing Laura to glance at him. He shrugged and said, "I just never thought anyone would do the Konami Code on Enemy Controller before."

With a nod, Dita threw the controller away and drew her next card. "Now I'll activate my facedown card, Micro Ray," she began.

As Dita's card lifted up, a mechanical contraption rose into view. At first it looked like a metal cylinder on a small square base, but it slowly unfolded, rising up and back until it towered over both duelists. There was a small red button on a console in front of its player.

"Through the use of scientific principles I don't quite get," Dita continued, flipping a switch under the button, "Micro Ray will reduce the Defense Points of Element Valkyrie to zero for the rest of the turn. I don't think she's going to like this next part."

She pressed the button, and rings of energy fired out from the ray, covering the Element Valkyrie. She slowly shriveled down, reducing to about the size of a Kuriboh, and began to yell in a squeaky voice. (1,500/1,000 - 1,500/0)

"Now," Dita went on, "I will flip my facedown monster into Attack Mode - Poison Draw Frog."

Without any real flourish, the facedown card disappeared, replaced by a small, light brown frog. It cracked at something small and unseen in the air with its disproportionately long tongue, but judging from its expression, it had missed. Given that it was a frog, though, its expression never really changed. (100/100)

"Poison Draw Frog, attack the Element Valkyrie," the girl ordered now.

The frog never even began to move, however, as Ida let out a shout of, "I activate Loge's Flame!"

A blue fire lit on the end of the Element Valkyrie's sword, and she upended it, burying it in the bridge. The ground shook, and Chad and Laura exchanged looks before a massive sheet of blue flames shot up directly between the duelists. The Poison Draw Frog sprang backwards in shock, a croak passing through its lips.

"Loge's Flame is a Continuous Trap that prevents monsters of less than 2,000 Attack Points from passing through it," Ida said. "This affects me as much as it does you, of course, but I have ways around it. You, on the other hand, likely don't."

Frowning, Dita sighed and said, "I set one monster in Defense Mode and end my turn." The facedown monster appeared next to the Poison Draw Frog. Meanwhile, the Element Valkyrie grew back to normal size, adjusting her armor and taking a few deep breaths. (1,500/0 - 1,500/1,000)

Laura frowned, humming for a second. "Where have I seen Loge's Flame before?" she thought aloud.

Ida drew, her hand now consisting of five cards, and smirked. "I play Brain Control to take over your froggy!" she announced. Her Life Points sank to 7,200.

Two bony-fingered hands appeared on either sides of the Poison Draw Frog's head, and electricity crackled between them. The amphibian gave a startled croak, and then its eyes glazed over. It hopped onto Ida's field, the hands still flanking its head.

"Now," Ida said, pausing for a moment to soak up the tension, "I sacrifice the Poison Draw Frog to summon.one of Odin's handmaidens... Behold Valkyrie Zweite!"

Laura's fist smacked into her palm as she cried out, "I remember now... Oh, crap!"

"Hmmm?" Chad said, startled. "You've seen this before?"

"Remember the KC Grand Prix?"

The taller man's face paled. "Ah, yes... Ziegfried von Schroder. I was wondering when those cards would cross the Atlantic."

The clouds parted, and a winged horse galloped down from the sky. On its back there sat an armored woman, wielding a sword in one hand and glaring down on the earth below her. She bore a remarkable resemblance to Ida, but whereas the duelist had blonde hair, Zweite's hair was light pink. (1,600/1,600)

Ida continued, "As per Poison Draw Frog's effect, since it went to the Graveyard, I draw a card..." She did so. "And due to Valkyrie Zweite's effect, since I summoned her, she will now destroy your facedown monster. Get it!"

The winged horse reared up, and the Valkyrie raised her blade, bringing it down in a high arc. A slash crossed Dita's facedown monster, and it was briefly revealed to be a robotic dog of small stature, looking much like a robot of the Outstanding Dog Marron. (1,000/1,000) It exploded, and a jolt of electricty fired out from the blast zone, zapping Ida. The electricity arced across her armor, and she cried out.

"Bad idea," Dita said, smiling. "You killed the Mecha Dog Marron, and when it's destroyed outside of battle, its killer loses 1,000 Life Points. Just a little failsafe feature in the new models."

Smoke rose from Ida's skin, and she coughed as her Life Points hit 6,200. "Good move," she conceded, a spark flicking out from her helmet. "Now, my Loge's Flame is still pinning us both down, and Zweite's not strong enough to cross it..."

The Valkyrie seemed surprised to hear that, and she shook her horse's reins, guiding it forward. Blue fire sprang up before her, and she pulled back, eyes wide. She then turned to her player and nodded.

"...so my turn ends here," Ida concluded.

Dita drew a card, took one from her hand, and said, "I play Heart of the Underdog." Said card appeared in front of her.

"I remember that one," Laura noted. "Gerald's dad used it against him."

"Now..." Dita twisted a lock of her hair around her finger for a moment, and then played another card. "I summon Skull Dog Marron in Attack Mode."

A pile of bones fell from the sky, landing in front of Dita. A collar fell last, with the word "Marron" on it. The bones slowly pulled themselves into a dog skeleton, the collar around the base of the skull. It looked longingly at Ida, who grimaced. (1,350/2,000)

Chad tilted his head, noting, "Even without Loge's Flames, that monster would be worthless on the attack."

Shaking her head at Chad, Dita held up another card, continuing, "This is why I have Rush Recklessly. I'll play it on Marron, and..."

A burst of energy outlined the bones, which now shook and rattled as the dog let out an unearthly bark. (1,350/2,000 - 2,050/2,000)

"Skull Dog Marron," the shy girl ordered, "destroy Element Valkyrie with Abandonment Avenger."

The skeletal dog let out another bark, and then broke into its component bones. They flew up to the Element Valkyrie, whirling her about and lifting her into the air. Soon the bones pressed inward, crushing the valkyrie until she exploded into shards. That done, the bones flew back to Dita's field and reformed into the Skull Dog Marron, which barked again.

Urgh... Ida thought. My monster just got killed by Hachiko.

"I end my turn with that," Dita concluded. She then thought, As weak as Skull Dog Marron is, Loge's Flames should protect it for the time being...

Drawing another card, Ida paused, her eyes narrowing. She held the draw up, her eyes running over the text again, and then sighed before slipping it into her Duel Disk. "Degas and Alexander insist, so... I activate my Card of Night, Crusade of Sacrilege!"

In turn, Chad, Laura, and Dita swallowed hard.

The card flashed into being in front of the armored woman, its picture showing hideous men in bloody armor smashing a bejeweled goblet with clubs. Overhead, the skies turned black as clouds rolled in, lightning flashing between them. Inhuman figures prowled on the other side of the bridge, and banners with abhorrent designs lifted into place on either side of Ida. Valkyrie Zweite herself began to tremble.

"Let me explain," Ida began. "This Card of Night is, like all of them, a two-edged sword. I can use it to build a mighty army, but its only purpose is the finding and destruction of holy relics, so every last one of us is damned. In game terms, I can make as many Tribute Summons as I want to each turn, and every time I deal Battle Damage, Dita will have to discard a card from her hand." She gave her opponent a savage grin. "And any cards discarded from your hand, at any time, are removed from the game."

"And the dark cost?" Laura asked.

"If the Crusade of Sacrilege is destroyed, I have to pay for all the relics I've destroyed... with one of my limbs. I won't know which one until it happens, but when it does, I lose a limb permanently."

Chad winced. "Ouch. Alexander must not like you."

Ida shrugged, playing another card. "I'm not going to dwell on it," she said. "Now I'll play Valkyrie's Embrace. By switching a Valkyrie to Defense Mode, I can destroy one of Dita's monsters."

Spurring her horse, Valkyrie Zweite leapt over Loge's Flames, her horse's hooves clipping the fire. She landed next to the Skull Dog Marron, slid off of the horse, and hugged the skeletal dog to her. Her grip tightened, and the dog shattered into little fragments of bone. She then turned, trotted back to Ida's field, and knelt the horse as she switched to the defense.

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

"Now," Ida continued, "I'll sacrifice Valkyrie Zweite for another one of Odin's favorite servants, the Valkyrie Yuuki!"

Light fell over Valkyrie Zweite, and she vanished into the beam. In her place rode down another armored woman, also riding a winged horse. This one looked a lot like Zweite, but didn't look quite so stern, and her hair was a golden blonde instead of pink. She also carried a large hammer instead of a sword. (1,600/1,000)

Chad broke out laughing, causing everyone to stare at him. After a few moment's more of snorting, he shook his head and said, "You wouldn't get it..."

Yuuki hefted her hammer, and energy spun around it. The ground at Dita's feet broke open, and bones flew up from that rift, including a familiar collar with "Marron" written on it. These bones and the collar flew around her, and she flexed her muscles, causing all the bones to evaporate into dust. The energy from her hammer covered her body, and her horse reared up, letting out a loud whinny as she readied her weapon. (1,600/1,000 - 2,950/1,800)

With a sigh, Laura explained, "When Valkyrie Yuuki is summoned, she can remove one of Dita's monsters from the Graveyard and add its Attack Points to her own score for the turn." She then paused, and added, "Although I don't recall Ziegfried using her... Chad, what on Earth is so funny?"

The artist straightened up, sighed in turn, and said, "It's a personal joke."

Dita sighed as well, taking Skull Dog Marron out of her Graveyard and putting it into her purse.

"Thank you for the explanation," Ida said to Laura. She then turned back to her monster and shouted, "Valkyrie Yuuki, attack Dita directly! Valkyrie Smash!"

The Loge's Flames died down, and Yuuki tapped her hammer on the surface of the bridge. She then kicked her horse on the flanks and galloped forward, drawing her hammer back.

I'm going to be in a lot of pain, Dita thought, and raised her purse in front of her. The hammer, being a hologram, passed right through it and struck her anyway, knocking her down with a loud thwack. Her Life Points dipped to 5,050 as she laid there, catching her breath. Dark marks could be seen on the backs of her hands, even through the gloves.

"Look on the bright side," Ida said, crossing her arms. "If you die in this battle, you're guaranteed a trip to Valhalla."

As she stood back up, Dita muttered, "Actually, since I'm a girl, I wouldn't go to Valhalla... Women slain in battle went to Sessrumnir, Freya's hall."

The armored woman slapped herself on the forehead. "Oh, right..." She then shook her head and added, "Don't forget, due to Crusade of Sacrilege, you lose the last card in your hand!"

Dita nodded and slid the card into her purse without complaint.

"I set a card facedown, and that ends my turn," Ida concluded. The Valkyrie Yuuki sighed, the energy on her body fading away. (2,950/1,800 - 1,600/1,800)

As Dita drew, she noted, "Now I get that card back..."

"That's not how this game works," Ida protested. "You don't just get cards back from the Removed from Play pile..." She blinked, and then slapped her forehead again. "Of course. All the cards in the game, and the one I remove is..."

"Card from a Different Dimension," Dita confirmed. The card blinked into existence in Dita's hand, and both duelists heard a beep from their Duel Disks. They reached down, and both drew two cards. Studying her new acquisitions, Dita took one and said, "I play Graceful Charity."

As usual, the clouds parted, and an angel descended from above. She waved a hand over Dita's deck, and three cards launched themselves partway out. The girl drew them into her hand, took two cards, and handed them to the angel. Crusade of Sacrilege glowed, and the angel exploded into a demon, which laughed and vanished.

Laura shuddered - the demon had looked far too much like Glasya the Duchess of Desire for her comfort.

"So what did you discard?" Ida asked as her opponent tucked the cards into her purse.

Dita shrugged, replying, "They're removed from the game anyway, what does it matter? Either way, I now play Different Dimension Capsule." The capsule appeared, and Dita took a card from her deck, tossing it into the open capsule. Said capsule sealed shut and faded away. "In two turns, I'll get to add that card to my hand. But that said, I set a monster in Defense Mode and end my turn." The monster appeared as she said it.

Ida drew her hand to six cards, thinking, If I hit Dita's Life Points, the Card from a Different Dimension could get removed from play again.. and that would just make her day, wouldn't it? I'm not sure what she's trying to do, but giving the drawing tools she's used so far, there's only one real answer... "I begin my turn with Pot of Charity, removing my Element Valkyrie from the game to draw three cards!"

"Everyone's got that card anymore," Chad muttered.

Laura looked at him and said, "I don't."

"Yes, but all your monsters are Earth, Wind, or Dark. You couldn't use it if you had it."

As always, the attractive cousin of the Pot of Greed faded into being, the Element Valkyrie's spirit sitting atop it. The pot shook, the valkyrie fell into it, and the whole mess shattered, whereupon Ida drew thrice, folding out the nine cards in her hand. She then announced, "I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon and chain my Dust Tornado to it! Going in reverse, the Dust Tornado will destroy your Different Dimension Capsule..."

"And the Mystical Space Typhoon will destroy my Heart of the Underdog?" Dita asked.

In response to that, Ida just chuckled. "It will destroy my own Loge's Flame!"

Well, all it was doing was pinning her down, Laura thought. You can't always draw Emergency Provisions when you need it...

Two separate windstorms came up, the air over the bridge being drawn down and around the two Magic and Trap cards. One was comprised of dust and grit, and slowly encircled the Different Dimension Capsule, grinding away at it. Pieces of the capsule soon broke off and flew off into the sky. The other windstorm was quick and invisible, and it blew the Loge's Flame card to fragments.

But as the fire died, a burst of light came from the ground. There was a loud whinney, and a winged horse flew up into the sky, yet another armored woman upon its back. This one resembled the other two Valkyries that Ida had summoned, but she had a much more noble bearing, and her hair was a deep, rich blue. She let out a battlecry, clashing sword against shield and thrusting her weapon skyward. The shadows from the Crusade of Sacrilege backed away, nervous. (1,800/2,000)

Dita sighed, murmuring, "Ah, yes. In the tales of the Ring of Nibelung, the Valkyrie Brunhilde was trapped within a circle of fire. But as I recall, her rescue was part of what caused her death..."

"This time, however, she won't wind up marrying the wrong man!" Ida countered. "When Loge's Flame is destroyed, I can Special Summon this monster, the Valkyrie Brunhilde herself!" She threw another card from her hand into her Duel Disk, shouting, "And now it's time to bring down all the wrath of Valhalla! I play the Magic Card called Ride of the Valkyries!"

And then something quite strange happened - her Duel Disk flickered, and a quite melodious tune began to play. It was one of the most familiar pieces of classical music in the world.

Dita, Chad, and Laura all swallowed heavily, and Chad asked, with a nervous quiver in his voice, "Okay... does anybody know a video game character with Wagner on their soundtrack?"

"Not that I can name," Laura said, just as nervous, "but then I'm not big into video games..."

"Relax," Ida finally said, shaking her head. "When I play Ride of the Valkyries, the Duel Disk plays Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' from the Nibelung Cycle suite. It also lets me Special Summon as many Valkyries as I wish from my hand." She took three cards in turn from her hand and threw them onto her Duel Disk as the music swelled.

Wait... Ring of Nibelung is another one of Ziegfried's cards, Laura thought. And if Dita's deck is what I think it is, that card would tear it apart... But does Ida have it?

The dark clouds opened up, and rays of light fell on the eerie battleground, contrasting harshly with Ida's Card of Night. A bridge made of rainbow light came into being, and three valkyries rode upon it, shaking the reins of their winged mounts as the rainbow shook from impact. The one at the head of the group was Valkyrie Yuuki, looking identical to the one already in play, but the ones behind her were new - both were smaller than Yuuki or Brunhilde, and red hair streamed after them.

All three valkyries rode up onto Ida's field, drawing their swords and crossing them with the valkyries already there. The Card of Night seemed to fade away for a moment as they saluted each other.

"You already know Valkyrie Yuuki, but the redheads are both Valkyrie Dritte!" Ida explained.

Both of the red-haired valkyries bowed in harness. (1,000/1,600 x2)

Letting out a deep, loud sigh, Laura confessed, "Guys, I have to say it... without their different hair colors, I'd never tell the valkyries apart."

"Don't be ashamed, it's a common problem," Ida replied. "Their abilities help with identification, too... First, my new Yuuki will absorb Dita's Poison Draw Frog, and then both Drittes will gain 100 Attack Points for each monster removed from play. With the Poison Draw Frog, that's five, because both of Dita's discards for Graceful Charity were monsters."

Dita shook her head, sighing again. "Six... The card in my Different Dimension Capsule was a monster, too."

The little red frog rose from Dita's field, and Yuuki shot it a look of distaste before turning it to energy. She took it in, giving a slight huff. (1,600/1,600 - 1,700/1,600) The Drittes, meanwhile, stretched out their hands, calling down a rainbow-colored energy and absorbing it. Both smiled, their muscles bulging. (1,000/1,600 x2 - 1,600/1,600 x2)

With a nod to her monsters, the armored woman ordered, "Stronger Valkyrie Yuuki, destroy Dita's facedown monster!"

After a smirk at being called "stronger", the valkyrie thus addressed charged forward, bringing her hammer down hard on the targeted monster. It appeared as a small, brown dog, and let out a loud yelp before shattering.

"That was the Outstanding Dog Marron," Dita noted, "and it goes back into my deck when slain." She shuffled the monster back into her deck, sighing again.

"And now you've got nothing!" Ida yelled in triumph. "Brunhilde, direct attack! Odin's Embodied Wrath!"

Readying her blade, Brunhilda spurred her horse and charged ahead, head down as its hooves struck sparks on the bridge. She rode up to Dita and drew her blade back, electricity arcing between them... but as she brought it down, a tiny ball of fur got in the way. The valkyrie glared and tried to strike again, only to hit another ball of fur. The Kuribohs gathered around her, and she finally gave up and rode away.

Dita held up her Kuriboh card, and then slid it into her purse as Crusade of Sacrilege glowed. All of the Kuribohs turned black and melted away as the Card of Night went to work.

Both of the Drittes held up their hands, drawing in a little more rainbow energy as they sighed happily. (1,600/1,600 - 1,700/1,600 x2)

"Kuriboh was removed from the game, so this duel is almost over!" Ida yelled. "Weaker Yuuki, Drittes, attack Dita directly!"

Laura shut her eyes, did some mental math, and then shuddered, saying, "That will leave her with only a handful of Life Points..."

"She had no choice," Chad said, frowning. "If she hadn't stopped Ida's attack, she would have lost this turn anyway."

The remaining valkyries crossed their weapons and spurred their mounts, taking to the air. They rode around Dita, their hooves marking a circle around the girl, and then Yuuki swooped down and smashed her in the back, making her cry out as her Life Points hit 3,450. The first Dritte now stabbed her in the stomach, leaving her with 1,750 Life Points, and the other Dritte rammed her sword through Dita's chest, dropping her Life Points to a pitiful fifty Life Points. The valkyries rode away and settled in front of Ida, crying out in victory.

Adding to the pain, Crusade of Sacrilege glowed, and Dita groaned as she dropped the last cards in her hand into her purse before falling to one knee. Her pupils disappeared, and the veins in her eyes turned black as black marks rose up on her neck.

Ida smiled and said, "I move into my Main Phase 2. Now, Ride of the Valkyries will return the valkyries I summoned with it back to my deck at the turn's end, but thanks to my Crusade of Sacrilege, I can make better use of them." She took two cards from her hand. "I begin by sacrificing the two Drittes for a monster in facedown Defense Mode..."

The Crusade of Sacrilege glowed, and the two Drittes fell from their horses, melting into black energy which itself became a facedown monster.

"And I sacrifice my newer Yuuki for Fortune Chariot," Ida concluded, "which I'll Union with Valkyrie Brunhilde. We'll discuss what that does next round."

Yuuki grabbed at her chest and fell from her mount now, both turning into dark energy. The energy swirled about and formed a chariot, pulled by two magnificent brown horses. (1,000/1,000) Leaping from her own horse, Brunhilde landed on the chariot, taking its reins.

"That will be my turn," the armored duelist said. And next round, she thought, I'll use that chariot to knock this girl down. Maybe then the Darkness will keep our deal... She ran the back of her hand down her side. A pity that I had to remove Card from a Different Dimension again, but the extra draws can't hurt.

A moment passed before Dita stood up, drawing her next card. "Card from a Different Dimension now comes back to my hand," she began. The card appeared, and both duelists drew twice. "And during my Draw Phase, I drew a Normal Monster, so Heart of the Underdog now activates." She turned her drawn card around.

It was the Left Arm of the Forbidden One.

"An Exodia deck?" Chad said in disbelief. "How can she expect to win with it now? I'm almost certain she used the Different Dimension Capsule on the head, and that's out in the Different Dimension for good now!"

"I have my ways," the brown-haired girl told him as she drew again. She took that card and showed it to Ida - the Right Arm of the Forbidden One. Drawing again, she shook her head. "This one doesn't count for Heart of the Underdog. Now I play Pot of Greed..."

The ghastly-looking jar rose in front of Dita, and she drew twice. She then paused, staring at one of the cards she'd drawn. Her eyes flicked back and forth from Ida to the Crusade of Sacrilege and back, moving faster with each flick.

"Oh, just play it, already!" Ida yelled. "Don't waste my time being nitpicky!"

Letting out a massive sigh, the girl replied, "I'm so very sorry I have to do this, but that Card of Night will ruin my plans if it's still around in a few turns. For that reason, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your Crusade of Sacrilege." She lowered her head. "Forgive me if you can."

The bridge shook, and the debris and dirt of the battlefield flew off into the sky as another storm struck the field. The shadowy figures faded, and the dark clouds began to part just before the Crusade of Sacrilege card exploded into a thousand rectangles.

At first, nothing seemed to happen to Ida, short of her considerable sweating. And then her left arm exploded into black blobs of goo, which splattered to the ground and evaporated. She screamed and fell to her knees, her Duel Disk clattering beside her as she clutched her shoulder. There was no evidence left that she had ever had a left arm to begin with.

Dita shook her head, murmuring, "I'm so very sorry..."

But as Ida rose onto one knee, something else happened that threw off everyone's perception. The breastplate, one of its straps now loose, slid off of her shoulder... and her entire bosom went askew. She saw this, and tried to correct it with her right hand, but it just made things worse.

All three of the non-Darkness Infected there stared at this, their mouths dry. Finally, Laura blinked, swallowed, and said, "You're a guy?"

Glaring at them, Ida finally gave up and yelled back, "Who are you to judge me?" Her voice had not changed, but now that there was other evidence to the armored woman's real gender, it seemed somewhat more masculine. "Ever since I started playing Duel Monsters, I've dressed like this... it just makes me more comfortable. And if I take you down, Degas and Alexander have said I can stop pretending - they'll turn me into an actual woman, not one of those surgical fakes!"

Chad hid a smile behind his hand, saying to Laura, "I have to say, knowing he's a crossdresser gives his deck a rather disturbing edge to it."

"I'm still thinking of him as a woman," Laura replied. "Is that wrong?"

"Not really, just remember there's a guy under the armor."

Continued in the next post...

[Master of Paradox]

continued from the last post:

Dita shook her head again, saying as she took up another card, "I will not cast judgment on you, but do not expect leniency just because you're a woman trapped in a man's body. Now, since I have more than five cards removed from play, I will use my Miracle Dig to bring three of them back to my Graveyard. I think you know which ones?"

Three crude holes ripped open in the air around Dita, and the head and legs of Exodia passed out of them, falling into a hole in the ground that had opened at the same time.

"Now," she continued, "I play Spell Reproduction. By discarding two Magic Cards from my hand, I can replay a Magic Card from my Graveyard." She picked out two cards, explaining, "Pot of Avarice would merely ruin my planning, and Card from a Different Dimension is unreliable without your Crusade of Sacrilege, so I'll discard them to replay Graceful Charity."

Dita tossed the cards into her Graveyard, and the angel rose from a crack in the bridge, shivering as she ascended. She gave Dita three cards, and Dita handed over two of them (which were tilted enough for the observers to see that they were the arms of Exodia). That done, the angel sank back into the Graveyard.

Giving her Graveyard one last check, Dita took another card out of her hand. "Now... I often wonder why Exodia decks carry this card. It seems like too much of a last-ditch effort to me, like an admittance you cannot win by the usual methods. Nonetheless, it works, and at the moment it may be all that saves my life. I activate the Magic Card named Contract with Exodia."

"Do you know that card?" Laura asked Chad.

The tall man swallowed and replied, "Only by rumor. The Contract was only printed for public use about six months ago... and they say only 500 copies circulated. I see she has one, but I don't know what it does."

The skies grew cloudy again, and five tombstones pushed their way up from the bridge around Dita. Each one bore the image of a piece of Exodia: the legs were behind her, the arms were at either of her sides, and the head stood in front of her. The tombstones began to shake, and the ground in front of them cracked open. Five streams of dust rose up from them and mingled over Dita's head...

"I have no idea who wrote the Contract," Dita explained. "Nor do I know what the terms were or how they were fulfilled. All I know is that when all five pieces of the Forbidden One are in my Graveyard, this contract allows me to summon forth Exodia's darker side... Exodia Necross."

Over her head, the dust disappeared, and a being tainted with the very essence of death stepped in front of Dita. It towered over both duelists, its shadow completely obscuring Ida as she shuddered. Despite its obvious resemblence to Exodia, this monster had traded in its counterpart's regal bearing for the mark of the grave - jet-black skin, lined with cracks, covered its surface, and its face was practically a skull. It struck at its chest with both fists...

...and then sank to one knee, crossing its arms before it. (1,800/0)

Ida blinked, adjusting her helmet (judging from how her hair shifted, it was a wig). "Wait... you summoned that behemoth in Defense Mode?" the crossdresser asked. "What good will that do you?"

"Plenty," Dita answered. "Exodia Necross is already dead, and as such cannot die again. It can't die in battle, and Magic and Trap cards cannot destroy it. It makes a perfect shield. Now..." She slid a card into her Duel Disk, saying, "I end my turn with this facedown."

And now, Chad thought, we get the answer to the eternal question - namely, how do you duel with only one arm?

By this point, Ida had adjusted herself into a half-sitting, half-kneeling position. (Despite the truth, the other three still thought of the crossdresser in terms of feminine pronouns.) She set her cards on the ground and tugged the Duel Disk onto her lap, pinning it with her knees. She drew a card, setting it next to the rest of her hand on the ground.

It's awkward, but it works, Dita thought.

"I might be a man in woman's armor," Ida said, taking a few deep breaths, "and I might be missing an arm, but I won't lose this duel... By cutting Brunhilda's Attack Points in half while she's riding in the Fortune Chariot, I can attack directly! Brunhilde! Finish her off!"

The Valkyrie Brunhilde picked up the reins of the chariot, wincing as they cut into her hands. (1,800/2,000 - 900/2,000) She then let out a shout, and the chariot charged at Dita, flying directly over the head of Exodia Necross...

A wall of spirits shot up between Dita and the chariot, and Brunhilde was thrown from it, bouncing off the streets with a loud clang. After a few seconds of dazed confusion, she rose to her feet, staggering back to Ida's field with the Fortune Chariot in tow.

"Do you think I'm a fool, Ida?" Dita said, waving a finger at her opponent. "Direct attacks are one of the banes of Exodia Necross, so any deck using it has to be able to get around that. Spirit Barrier is one such way."

Grunting, Ida muttered, "I set two cards facedown and end my turn..." She picked up the two cards one at a time and forced them into the Duel Disk.

Laura now took her turn at thinking about the battle, pondering, I wonder how Gerald would deal with this situation. Spirit Barrier is one of those cards that would shut him down. She then blinked and wondered, Say, where did he get off to? "Hey, Dita," she asked aloud, "If Gerald sent you here, why didn't he come back with you?"

"I asked him to keep an eye on my job while I was out," Dita replied. She then drew her next card, noting, "During my Standby Phase, Exodia Necross gains 500 Attack Points."

The already gigantic creature swelled further, loud cracking noises filling the air as the stress of additional muscle twisted its bones. (1,800/0 - 2,300/0)

Frowning at the one card in her hand, Dita said, "I'll set this facedown and end the turn." Her card appeared before her.

Drawing another card, the armored would-be-woman took a deep breath to steady her nerves. All right... Ida... Remembering her alias calmed the Darkness Infection somewhat. You survived one brush with dark magic, you can survive another. "I activate my facedown card," she declared. "It's not a Card of Night, but not for lack of trying - go, Pyramid of Light!"

"Pyramid of what?" Dita whispered, raising an eyebrow.

A single spark of light appeared in the sky between the duelists. It drew four lines down to the earth between them, forming a square of light on the ground. Blue sheets of energy cascaded between the lines, forming a shining blue pyramid. Something was wrong, however - whereas most of the light Chad and Laura had seen carried a comforting aura with it, there was a feeling of pain and anger within this pyramid.

While the Pyramid settled into place, Brunhilda panicked and rode away from it, settling on the other side of Ida's field.

"This isn't the Light," Chad muttered. "This is Darkness masquerading as Light... The Light of Ruin..."

0000000

"Good guess, Mr. Montmelier, and correct as far as it goes," Degas said to the mirror, allowing himself a smirk. "But in truth, during its first incarnation, it was Shadows masquerading as Light. You see, Alexander and Bethany, the Pyramid of Light was designed by a powerful being born in Tenebreos - the Shadow Realm, as some call it - named Anubis. He actually invented it to seal the Egyptian Gods."

Alexander blinked, and then smirked as well. "So this is a weapon designed to combat Yugi Motoh. Pitted against an ordinary woman, it should do quite well."

"But if it's Shadows, how is a Darkness Infected using it?" Bethany asked, lifting her head from Alexander's chest.

"That," Degas said in response, "was actually an easy matter. Unlike our spell to summon video game characters, we did not have to change any of the functions of the Pyramid. All we needed to do was change the source of energy it drew power from. That done, we could utilize it with no further difficulty. A shame it's in the hands of a transvestite, but a Darkness Infected is a Darkness Infected."

As they turned back to the mirrors, the man in green asked his partner, "What became of Anubis, by the way?"

The man in black snorted. "He made the mistake of trying to use Seto Kaiba as a weapon against Yugi Motoh, and then betraying him. In other words, he fought against Yugi and Kaiba simultaneously. No amount of power protects against that level of stupidity."

0000000

"So..." Dita swallowed hard before looking to her opponent. "What does this Pyramid of 'Light' do?"

"First of all," Ida said, "remember that facedown monster I made two sacrifices for? I'll switch it into Attack Mode now. Go, Androsphinx!"

The facedown card disappeared, and a roar split the evening air. Dita clapped her hands over her ears as the roar grew louder. Now a humanoid beast in blue armor stood on Ida's field. It had the head of a lion, with a thick mane of blonde hair and claws on its fingers, and it stood almost taller than Dita's Exodia Necross. (3,000/2,500)

"Next," the crossdresser continued, "I can pay 500 Life Points to the Pyramid of Light and Special Summon Androsphinx's female counterpart - Sphinx Tellia..."

Ida's Life Points dropped to 6,300. At the same time, a beam of light fell from the top of the Pyramid, and something began to come into being. It was a more traditional sphinx, the sort people saw when they thought of the creature - a monster with the body of a winged lion and the head of a beautiful woman, this one with crimson hair and a sly smile. She wore a manacle on one paw and a collar around her neck, however, and when she grinned, there were far more teeth there than she had any right to have. (2,500/3,000)

Chad blinked, and then groaned, shaking his head.

"What's wrong, Chad?" Laura asked.

"They're beasts. Very powerful beasts... Why the hell do they have to be Darkness?"

Studying them, Laura's eyes widened, and she said, "Chad, those things are Light."

"Card attributes don't count as far as the Balance goes," Chad replied. "Jean-Vic used Gradius. Menardi used the Cyber Dragons. Bethany used the Maiden in Love and Mokey Mokey. All of those are Light..."

Turning to her next facedown card, Ida activated it, declaring, "Those are both powerful monsters, but I need them to die. So I'll activate Two-Pronged Attack, sacrificing Androsphinx and Tellia to launch the attack on Exodia Necross!"

The two sphinxes roared in confusion, and then turned into raw light. This light flowed into a single, massive ball, which hurled itself at Necross. Exodia's undead revenant merely swatted the ball of light into the river, where it exploded.

"Did you forget that Necross is immune to death by trap?" Dita said, leaning forward over her Duel Disk.

Shaking her head, Ida answered, "Not at all. But here is the real trick - if Androsphnix and Sphinx Tellia are slain at the same time, 500 more Life Points will unleash the creature at the heart of the Pyramid of Light's power. Behold Theinen the Great Sphinx!"

The Life Point counter on Ida's Duel Disk clicked down to 5,800, and the front of the Pyramid of Light began to fade. From within, a sihoulette raised its head and turned towards the faded panel before moving. It emerged from the pyramid's center, looking for all the world like Androsphinx's upper body fused to Tellia's lower body. Raising its head, which had Tellia's face on its back, Theinen roared from both its mouths, the bridge shaking as it did so. (3,500/3,000)

"Now, attacking is pointless for now, so I'll end my turn," Ida said. "And before you even ask, playing this card wasn't my idea."

"Degas and Alexander?" Laura asked.

"Exactly." The crossdresser sighed, adjusting her breastplate with her intact hand.

Light save me, Dita prayed silently as she drew.

In front of her, Necross shook, its muscular structure bulging unnaturally as it grew ever stronger. Its eyes burned with an unnatural rage as it swelled, now only slightly smaller than Theinen. (2,300/0 - 2,800/0)

Dita's thoughts continued, Now I could attack and destroy Brunhilda with Necross, but then Theinen would counterattack on Ida's next turn, and with fifty Life Points I can't take any chances at all. Especially if she summons another Zweite, because monster effects are Necross's only weakness... "I set a monster in Defense Mode," she said. "And that's all I can do."

Drawing again, Ida picked up the rest of her hand, comparing it with what she had out. The Pyramid of Light glowed slightly, and she took a few seconds to concentrate. "All right..." she finally began. "I play the Magic Card called Swan Maiden, which allows me to Special Summon any one Valkyrie from my hand. So meet another Valkyrie Zweite in Attack Mode!"

Just as I thought, Dita thought, rolling her eyes.

Once again, an armored woman rode down from the sky on a winged horse. She had to veer out of the way of the Pyramid of Light, which flashed a brilliant white. She came down for a landing, panting. (1,600/1,600)

"I noticed that you didn't say Necross was immune to monster effects, so now I'll use Zweite's effect to destroy it!" the armored transvestite declared.

Zweite did not move from her spot - she refused to get anywhere near Exodia Necross. Instead, she pulled her sword back and threw it at the revenant. The sword slammed through its chest, sending pieces of black skin flying. Shaking, Necross sank onto one hand, exhaling a deep grey fog, before it exploded in a cloud of bone shards and dust.

"Drat," Dita muttered.

For the first time in a while, Ida smiled before ordering, "Theinen the Great Sphinx, attack her facedown monster! Roar of the Offering Fields!"

Raising its arms, Theinen opened both of its mouths and let out an incredible roar. The bridge shook so badly that Chad and Laura thought it might well collapse; the sound waves themselves were visible, it was so loud. A crack appeared in the bridge between the duelists...

...but the sound waves just bounced off an invisible barrier in front of Dita. "Negate Attack," she explained.

Shrugging her one intact shoulder, Ida said, "I'll end my turn."

Letting out a small yawn (Chad's eyebrows rose), Dita drew another card and held it up. "Most Exodia decks would never touch this card, but it works when you have most of the Forbidden One in your hand already," she said as she played her drawn card. "So... Card of Demise."

Five candles appeared in front of Dita, and she drew five cards as they lit up. She shrugged, playing another card. "I'll use Soul Release to remove two pieces of Exodia from my Graveyard - the Head and Left Leg." They appeared for a moment before vanishing. "And finally I'll set a card facedown. Your turn, Ida."

Blinking repeatedly, Chad rubbed his eyes, asking Laura, "Why did she do that?"

"Did you hear her yawn?" Laura said in return, ignoring his question. "Maybe I've hung around Gerald too long, but I keep thinking this duel is almost over."

After a moment, Ida snapped. "You've played the last four turns with just fifty Life Points!" she shouted. "You will die this turn! Theinen, crush his facedown monster with Roar of the Offering Fields!"

"In response," Dita said, "I activate Return from the Different Dimension. This will return as many monsters from my removed-from-play pile to play as I can. I'll bring back Exodia's head, his left leg, Skull Dog Marron and Poison Draw Frog in Defense Mode. And it only costs half my Life Points."

The air rippled on Dita's field, and the monsters thus named appeared in front of her as her Life Points dropped to a paltry 25. Exodia the Forbidden One was first, floating without its limbs. (1,000/1,000) Then came a manacled leg. (200/300) The skeletal dog was next. (1,350/2,000) And finally came the tiny red frog. (100/100)

"So?" Ida yelled. "That doesn't trigger a replay, so finish off the facedown monster, Theinan!"

Once again, the mighty sphinx roared, its voice cracking the bridge even further. The sound waves tore through Dita's facedown monster, revealed to be a tiny sword-wielding penguin. It dropped its weapon, trying to put its flippers over its ears before it exploded. (750/500)

"Penguin Soldier," Chad commented, smiling a little. "There's one I'm familiar with."

Dita nodded, saying, "As per its effect, I'll return Exodia's head and left leg to my hand." Both of the monsters named vanished in twin splashes of water, and she tucked the cards into her hand.

Snorting, the crossdressing duelist yelled, "Like that means anything with the rest of it in the Graveyard! Valkyrie Zweite, kill the Poison Draw Frog!"

The valkyrie never got the chance to move. Instead, the girl opposing her activated another facedown card, shaking her head. "I win. Activate Backup Soldier."

There was a long pause, and then Ida buried her face in her hand, whimpering, "But... but that lets you..."

"Return three Normal Monsters of less than 1,500 Attack Points to my hand from my Graveyard, yes. Which means I get back the other parts of Exodia and complete my win." She reached into her Graveyard and took out three specific cards...

...and a Spellbinding Circle came into being on her field. This one was far larger than the standard, but with good reason - because stuck on its surface was the immense figure of the Forbidden One himself. He stood chained to the circle, eyes burning with a need for freedom. And then he began to pull.

First the chain on his right arm broke, and then the chain on the left Exodia flexed his freed arms and bent forward, yanking on the chains around his feet. They snapped with only the slightest exertion of force, and he straightened up, landing on the ground below. With one mighty backhand, he shattered the Spellbinding Circle before turning to glare at Ida.

"That's the most roundabout Exodia victory I've seen in years," Chad murmured.

"Don't knock it," Laura said. "A victory is a victory."

And with a slight yawn, Dita ordered, "Exodia... obliterate."

The Forbidden One rose his hands to the sky, drawing in power from the sky above. The clouds roiled overhead, and he clenched his fists, light surrounding them. This light grew greater and brighter, and the bridge again shook under the duelists, until he lowered his hands and stared between them.

And then he fired a single, massive beam of power. It tore through Theinen, reducing the Great Sphinx to ashes in seconds. It blew away the Fortune Chariot, scattering it as splinters across the ground, and incinerated both valkyries. It shattered the Pyramid of Light into ten thousand fragments, hurling them into the river below. And it picked up Ida, carrying her on its forefront and hurling her across the bridge entirely. She struck the ground, bounced, and rolled to a stop, leaving her breastplate behind, as her Life Points hit zero immediately.

Concluded in the next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

A few seconds passed, during which what was left of the holograms faded, and then the unconscious Ida convulsed as the Darkness Infection vanished from her body. Everyone exhaled.

"Now that that's done..." Dita shut off her Duel Disk, tucked her deck back into her purse, and moved up to Chad, a smile across her face. "We need to talk, big man."

Chad broke into a sweat, inching away from Dita as she approached him. "Ummm... about what?" he asked.

"Oh, come on. Don't act like you don't know..." She curved towards him, causing the artist to fall back.

Rubbing one of her eyes, Laura said, "Wait... you two know each other?"

"I've never seen her before in my life!" Chad yelled back, nearly stumbling over a piece of debris.

Frowning, Dita moved her face closer to Chad. He bent backwards to avoid it, and she glared down at him. "You're going to keep acting like we've never met?"

"Well..." Stammering for a moment, he caught his breath before saying, "We really haven't..."

"Please... Don't tell me I have to..." And then, to the shock of both Chad and Laura, Dita's voice dropped several octaves. "...start talking like this again..."

Absolute silence ruled, before Laura muttered, "Oh, my God..." She paused, blinked, and said, "Gerald?"

Moving a step back, the "girl" took hold of "her" hair and lifted it up, revealing a bald cap. "She" took hold of this and peeled it away, revealing a shorter brown hairstyle. With a good shake and a mild slouch, "Dita" was Gerald Laxina once again. "What I do for the Light..." he said, sighing.

As he straightened up, Chad couldn't resist a glance to Ida, who without the breastplate wasn't quite so feminine-looking. He then glanced back to Gerald, still in the yellow dress, and thought, Wait... they were both crossdressing? He shuddered. I feel so dirty!

"So what were you really going for when you left us?" Laura asked, holding back a laugh.

Taking a deep breath, Gerald exhaled, adjusting his skirt. "There was a costume shop up the block with the 'Open' sign still lit. I walked in and told the woman behind the counter I needed to pass as a female... I didn't specify why. She turned out to be a duelist, so I had her lend me her deck, too." He smiled, switching back to the Dita voice. "I think I make a pretty good woman, don't you?"

Chad shivered, wiping the sweat off of his brow. "Don't do that. It's immensely disturbing."

Curtseying, Gerald strode across the bridge, standing over Ida. "The difference between us," he mused, "is that he did it for comfort, while I did it for business." He then knelt, touching where the other crossdresser should have had a left arm. "But this isn't fair. Ida, or whatever his name was, did not serve the Darkness willingly. And now he has to pay for it by spending the rest of his life with one arm. Where is the fairness in that?"

"The Darkness has trouble with the concept of fair," Laura told him, leaning on the bridge's rail. "This is why they used people like Ida as weapons. The best we can do is fight it off and try to get at the head."

The lazy young man nodded, straightening up, and then grabbed his head, swaying on his feet. "Well, that would be the vision..." Just before it overtook him, he could see Laura and Chad running to catch him...

0000000

It had no concept of a body. Before the worlds mortal man knew were ever born, it had hatched from the primordial Chaos, passing through the Darkness as it emerged. Now it contained an infinite dark power within itself, but it needed a vesel of flesh through which to focus the energy.

Long it had slumbered, but as the Balance began to shift and roil with the Shadow Queen's increased preparations for her own movements, the power awoke. Its vessel now lived in the world of humanity, and it now readied to seek it.

Reaching across the walls of worlds, it caught hold of a passer-by. Its influence made the man dark and powerful, but this wasn't the vessel it needed - there was too much within his soul. The one it sought would have a hollow within his spirit to contain the power.

And so it passed from soul to soul, jumping at the first sign of defeat - the first lost at dice to another, who lost at chess to a third, who was beaten in combat by a fourth. And then the fourth...

The vision jumped, and a man who looked exactly like the Master of Chains stood in a duelist's podium, looking through his cards. His opponent was not visible at this point. "I end my turn," the man declared. Gerald now realized who this was - it was Walter Kanlon, Laura's sister's fiance.

As the vision shifted viewpoints, Walter's opponent came into view: a man in light green clothing, standing about 5'9", and he seemed mildly athletic. He had messy brown hair and blonde highlights. There was only one person Gerald knew who looked like that, and it was Alexander.

"If you're truly done," Alexander said, "then I'll finish this duel right now."

The moves came too fast for Gerald to follow, but he did hear a loud cry of "BWAH!" before Walter collapsed at his podium, his Life Points down to zero. From his back rose a ball of black lightning...

It had found its vessel now, after all this time. Extending two black tendrils, it dug into Alexander's chest, causing him to stiffen up slightly behind his console. In one smooth motion, the energy entered his body, and he gave a grim smile as it settled into place.

They were one now, the vessel and the Dark Conduit...

0000000

Groggy, Gerald pushed himself off of the bridge, his head rising from Laura's lap. She stood up and dusted off her legs as he moved into a sitting position, blinking a few times. His head throbbed, as always after a vision.

"What did you see?" Chad asked him.

Groaning, the lazy young man shook his head. "Too cryptic... I can't remember anything specific," he lied. "I can tell you this much, however... it wasn't about the Pillar of Death. The Light apparently wants us to go in unprepared."

"So in other words, Ida lost an arm for nothing," Laura summed up, acid dripping from her words.

The three regrouped, Gerald dusting off the dress, and Chad asked, "Now what?"

"First of all, we're going back to the costume shop," Gerald said. "I need to return the deck... and this dress." He shook out the skirt and continued, "After that, we're stuck playing the waiting game again."

Inside his head, however, Gerald thought, That vision... Why did the Light let me see that? It destroys my belief as to the nature of Alexander, yes, but... He paused and then held his head. Oh, no... That's just what I feared...

They didn't say a word to each other as they headed towards the costume shop.

0000000

Shortly after the conclusion of Gerald's duel with Ida, three men and one woman were playing a game of Clue somewhere in St. Paul. One of the men, dressed in black, was controlling Colonel Mustard; one, dressed in green, was Mr. Green; and one, left eye covered by a patch and dressed in purple, was Professor Plum. The woman, meanwhile, had picked Miss Scarlet. It was Mr. Green's turn.

Taking his piece, Alexander moved it into the Conservatory and said, "I suspect Miss Scarlet, with the Wrench, in the Conservatory." He took Bethany's piece and moved it to the Conservatory before looking to Degas, who shook his head, and then to Klaus, who held up the Wrench card. Nodding, Alexander checked off that item on the checklist sheet.

The turn passed to Degas, who rolled the dice. They came up a three, and he scowled, moving towards the Dining Room. Next came Bethany, who rolled a four and moved out of the Conservatory.

Klaus now picked up the dice and threw them, getting a seven. He moved into the Study and said, "I accuse Mr. Green, with the Revolver, in the Study."

Taking the Solution envelope, he pulled the cards out of it and tossed them onto the table. They were indeed Mr. Green, the Revolver, and the Study. "Victory, my fellows," Klaus mused.

"This is why I was against playing Clue with the fortune-teller," Degas muttered.

"I assure you I did not divine the outcome before we began. I'm simply good at deduction."

Alexander shrugged and said, "That, and you kept rolling high. You can go back to your chamber now."

The one-eyed man bowed and left the table, stepping out of the mirror room.

As Bethany put away the cards, Alexander shook his head. "As fun as this was, I still can't get my mind off the Pillar of Death. I think we may have made a drastic mistake."

"We can't take it back now," Degas replied, sweeping the pieces off the board and folding it. "And remember, however we feel about it, Gerald and his party will feel a thousand times worse."

Taking a plastic bag, the Dark Conduit scooped the pieces into it, resealing it as he said, "Well... I suppose that much is true. And we are running a little low on servants, anyway." He held out the bag, which Bethany took and set on top of the board, itself back in the box.

"I know... I sensed it too. You would think a priest who's broken one set of vows would think twice about breaking another." The Hand of Darkness shook his head. "I've already altered the gateway; he won't be getting back in. Sooner or later, Hanzaki will find him, and we will have one less free radical to worry about."

"Or the Pillar of Death will find him..." Alexander frowned, shutting his eyes. "For Father Young's sake, I hope Hanzaki finds him first."

0000000

The day had just gotten into full swing for a fishing boat out in the Sea of Japan, and its captain (also its sole crewman) had just finished setting the nets when he heard something in the hold. It sounded like three low bursts, unlike anything he'd heard in his life. Adjusting his tall, spiky black haircut, the captain reset his headband and stepped down into the hold, spear in hand.

At first, nothing seemed to be there. However, the captain hadn't gotten through his life to that point by hearing things that weren't there, and he hadn't played Duel Monsters for several years without gaining an eye for details. There was a small scorch mark on the floor in front of him, and so he headed further in.

And then he found what he was looking for - someone sitting on a barrel. The intruder was incredibly pale and thin, holding an oxygen mask to his face and taking slow, painful breaths. His appearance was only a secondary concern, however.

"How did you get on my ship?" the captain wondered, lowering his spear. "I swept this boat twice before setting out, and I was sure nobody was on board but me..."

"Nobody was," the thin man replied in heavily accented, but well-pronounced, Japanese. "Took an alternate route. Worked just as well."

Not one to settle for obvious fallacies, the captain flexed his muscles and raised the spear again. "Now, listen here, you..." He then coughed, which confused him - he never got sick. He gathered his attention again, shaking his head. "Listen here - I don't like stowaways, even ones I can't explain. You and I are going back on the deck, and..." He burst into a fit of coughing, taking a minute before he could get his breath back. "We're going back on the deck, and I'm calling the harbor patrol to take you away!"

The man shook his head, taking another pull on the oxygen tank. "In a few seconds, will be unnecessary. In fact, will be leaving in due time. With you in tow. Take too long to explain."

"What the hell are you-"

And then it felt like his lungs had exploded inside his chest. The spear clattered to the floor, and the captain collapsed, drawing helplessly at the air. All the strength drained out of his muscles, and the last thing he saw before the world turned gray was the thin man, leaning over him and staring into his eyes.

Those eyes were the coldest ones he had ever seen. Nothing in them indicated that the man looking through them possessed a shred of compassion or kindness. They flicked about, and then the captain realized how the man was looking at him: he was examining him with the same detachment fishermen had towards the fish they brought to market.

A moment passed, during which the familiar marks of the Darkness Infection set in on the captain's body. The man straightened up, taking another breath from his oxygen tank, and exhaled. "Still alive. Not sure what release of energy would do to him. Experiment suceeded. Now..." The man slowly clenched one fist. "Back to the United States. To Minnesota. Work to do yet."

Three bursts of black energy traveled out from his body, and both the man and his victim vanished.

That afternoon, a small fishing boat washed up, unmanned, on the shores of Okinawa. The records indicated it belonged to the fisherman and duelist named Mako Tsunami, but he was not aboard. In fact, there were no signs he had ever boarded or left the craft. The only unusual circumstance the investigation revealed were two identical burn marks within the ship's hold.

RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES
Type: Normal Magic Card
Image: Several ancient buildings atop the clouds.
Effect: You can Special Summon any monsters in your hand with the word "Valkyrie" in their name. The monsters are returned to your deck at the end of the turn.

VALKYRIE ZWEITE
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Monster/LIGHT/Fairy/5/1600/1600
Image: A stern female warrior on horseback, with long pink hair.
Effect: When this monster is summoned, destroy one opponent's monster on the field.

LOGE'S FLAME
Type: Continuous Trap Card
Image: A tornado of blue fire.
Effect: Monsters with an ATK of 2000 points or fewer cannot attack. When this card is removed from the field, you can summon "Valkyrie Brunhilde."

SWAN MAIDEN
Type: Normal Magic Card
Image: A swan flying in front of the vague image of a beautiful woman.
Effect: Special Summon 1 Valkyrie monster from your hand.

VALKYRIE BRUNHILDE
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Monster/LIGHT/Fairy/7/1800/2000
Image: A female warrior on horseback, armed with sword and shield, with dark blue hair billowed around her.
Effect: Increase this monster's ATK by 300 points for every Warrior and Dragon-Type monster on both sides of the field. If you reduce this monster's DEF by 1000 points, it is not destroyed in battle. Damage calculation is applied normally.

FORTUNE CHARIOT
Type: Union Monster Card
Statistics: Monster/LIGHT/Beast/Union/5/1000/1000
Image: A golden chariot pulled by two strong horses.
Effect: Equip 1 Valkyrie on your side of the field to this card. The equipped Valkyrie can reduce its ATK by half and attack your opponent's life points directly.

VALKYRIE DRITTE
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Monster/LIGHT/Fairy/4/1000/1600
Image: A mounted female warrior with red hair.
Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 100 points for each monster that has been removed from play.

VALKYRIE'S EMBRACE
Type: Normal Magic Card
Image: A Valkyrie descending to embrace a man.
Effect: Switch one Valkyrie monster from Attack to Defense Position. Destroy 1 opponent's monster.
Note: The preceding eight cards were used by Ziegfried throughout the KC Grand Prix arc of the original series. All creative credit goes to the writers of that arc.

CRUSADE OF SACRILEGE
Type: Continuous Magic Card/Card of Night
Image: Two men in hideous black armor crushing a bejeweled goblet with iron clubs.
Effect: As long as this card is in play, you may make as many Tribute Summons each turn as you wish. Whenever you deal Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points, they must discard one card at random from their hand. All cards discarded from the hand are removed from play. If this card is destroyed, one of your limbs will cease to exist.

CARD FROM A DIFFERENT DIMENSION
Type: Normal Magic Card
Image: A card being created in an energy chamber.
Effect: When this card is removed from play, return it to your hand on your next Standby Phase, and both players draw two cards.
Note: This card was used by Zane in the GX episode "Graduation Match, Pt. 1". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

VALKYRIE YUUKI
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Monster/LIGHT/Fairy/6/1600/1000
Image: A mounted warrior maiden with blonde hair, carrying a large hammer in one hand.
Effect: When this monster is Summoned, including Special Summon, choose one monster in your opponent's Graveyard and remove it from play. Until the end of the turn, this monster gains ATK equal to the ATK of the removed monster.

I understand if you all just repost your reviews.

Coming next chapter: ...actually, I can't tell you. The effect would be lost if you knew what was coming. In fact, I cannot even tell you the title - it might be too much of a hint.

[Blademaster]

OK, I already reviewed, but I'll say it again anyway:

Cons:

1. I don't like the Valkyries.
2. I don't think Mako's inclusion in this story was necessary, especially considering he seems to be just a hostage for the Pillar of Death (which sounds just weird to me).
3. All these little references being slipped into the story I don't understand are distracting and annoying. The 'Konami Code,' the name Ida called Skull Dog Marron, Chad's giggling at one of Ida's Monsters, etc. are examples of what I mean.
4. Exodia decks are too stale for anyone to really use anymore.

Pros:

1. Two crossdressing duelists was a nice touch, and the fact I saw neither of them coming only makes it better (But Dita's yawning is so OBVIOUS now... sigh...).
2. As usual, the amount of detail work you've fit in this chapter is just stunning.
3. Theinen VS. Exodia... It's something I've never seen, and yet it just seems so... natural. Kudos on that little addition.
4. Mario reference... w00t.

Overall: Not as great as some of the rest of the story, but not a bad chapter, either. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Laterz!

[Dark Sage]

I already reviewed too, but it was a good chapter. Too bad this whole board got screwed up.

Keep up the good work Jason. Don't let the new format frustrate you.

[Master of Paradox]

Blademaster, allow me to explain those references that bothered you:

The Konami Code: Likely the most famous code in video gaming history; it originated with Gradius (gives all power-ups), is most famous for its use in Contra (30 extra lives), and has appeared in most everything Konami has done. The only changes to it are the buttons used - it's always Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, and then two buttons on the controller. Honestly, Blademaster, you can't call yourself a video gamer if you didn't get that reference. Note that the code works perfectly well on Enemy Controller's layout.

Ida's name for Skull Dog Marron: Hachiko was a dog that belonged to a professor at the University of Tokyo in 1924. Every day he would wait for his master to come home from work at the Shibuya train station. Even after his master's death, Hachiko would wait for him at the station every day. There's now a statue of him at Shibuya Station. Reread Skull Dog Marron's flavor text and you'll see the connection.

Chad's laughing at Valkyrie Yuuki: I don't want to wreck the fun... Do a search for "Valkyrie Yuuki". Disregard any links that lead back to this story.

[Blademaster]

OK, I get the Skull Dog reference and the (snicker) Yuuki reference, but hold up right here:

Honestly, Blademaster, you can't call yourself a video gamer if you didn't get that reference.

Correction: I can't - and don't - call myself a KONAMI gamer if I don't get that reference. I've played many video games in my life, most of which are/were Mario-themed. I have others starring Donkey Kong, Turok, Pokemon, Yoshi, and more, but no Konami games - the only game that the Konami code works with that I have ever played regularly is Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom, which, in my very humble opinion, sucked. I gave up after the first three weeks, so I never learned the code could be applied there.

So, yeah, sorry to rant on you, but I had to respond to that.

[Shuppet Master]

Well, this board got screwed up...

Blade, even if you haven't played any Konami games(which i can't attest to, I've played quite a few, including the Suikoden series, which is a pretty good strategy-RPG game), you probably heard about it from sources. I've watched G4TV's shows like Cheat!, which feature the code.

Great chapter, Paradox, and I bet you based Ida on that Valkyrie Yuuki reference. (I looked it up, I was grinning a lot. I remember reading a fanfic where the Sailor Senshi were men, and Sailor Mercury was a pervert.)

[Master of Paradox]

It's finally time for another chapter... and I have to warn you.

The Graz'zt chapter got fairly graphic, but this... this one is just as bad. Reader discretion advised.

They say the brave don't fear the grave. Cowards die a thousand deaths, but the truly brave only die once. (As someone once said, yes, but the brave die the death that actually counts.) Courage is the art of resisting fear and staring death in the teeth.

I'm doing that right now, and bravery is not among my feelings. Panic and fright are, however. Then again, how often do the brave stare Death literally in its eyes? Eyes that don't blink, and look at you like you could not be any lower on the scale of living things...

He appeared from nowhere, and where he took me... I have no idea. Unless I can overcome him, I won't have time to find out, either. Just like when I battled Graz'zt, I have no escape unless I win.

When I fought Graz'zt, he almost killed me - I only survived due to the Light's intercession. Nobody is coming to save me this time. If I don't win, I'm at the mercy of Death itself...

Chapter Twenty-Six: Infection

Oliver Laxina checked over his room's supplies one last time. He had stopped in a small grocery store after meeting with Gerald the day before, and now had enough food and water to last about a week. He silently hoped that his son and his son's friends would be able to settle the issue by that time, because he was fairly sure that looting the motel's stores would not add much to the supplies.

The older man ran his hands through his hair, adjusted his shirt, and picked up the room's phone. As he had expected, there was no signal - the employees at the phone company were likely among the Darkness Infected. Sighing, he hung up the phone and flipped open his cell phone, tapping in a long-distance number. To his surprise, he got reception, and thus set the phone to his ear. A few seconds later, there was an answer.

"Faye?" Oliver said. He paused, and then smiled. "Everything's fine so far. 3M already has everything in place for when we move in. I saw our house today; it's in just as good a condition as when we stopped there in April. Once I have all the details settled out, I'll bring you up... Oh? That's good to hear. By the way, I ran into Gerald yesterday..."

He paused, chuckled, and continued, "You know Gerald, honey - he had his reasons for being here, too. I didn't probe too deeply into them. We dueled... He won, of course. I have a good deck, but he didn't win all those tournaments for nothing. He had a couple of friends with him... including a girl..." He winced, pulling the phone away from his ear for a moment, before setting it back into place. "No, I haven't started drinking, Faye. The last time I ever touched alcohol was at our wedding, and that was because your mother insisted, remember? Yes, he had a girl with him." He chuckled again. "It seemed that way. Looks like our son has enough energy to be interested in the opposite sex after all. So, how are things going in your part of the country?"

As Oliver listened to his wife's rundown, he didn't see the air blurring outside of his window. Thus Hanzaki was able to slide up to the window and press the part of his head where a normal person had ears to it without interruption. Not that he had orders to do this, but he figured spying on Gerald's father would produce interesting results.

"Well, that sounds about normal," Oliver said now. He paused, and then smiled again before responding, "Yes, I haven't forgotten. I told Gerald about it, as well. He didn't seem very happy to hear it..." He then frowned. "I know it hurt him as badly as it did us, but after five years you think he would forgive... No, I don't think pressing it would be smart. Just let him deal with it his way, Faye... Well, if you have plans, I guess I'll let you take care of them. Love you, and I know the boys do, too. Goodbye." He hung up and set his phone back in the charger, sighing as he sat down.

The Lycra-clad eavesdropper blinked at that last statement. "Boys?" He then flinched, realizing he'd said it aloud.

At that point, Oliver looked towards the window, but all he saw was a blur in the air. "I must be getting old," he muttered, rubbing his eyes.

0000000

Across the Twin Cities, in the back seat of the Corolla GTS, Gerald was back in his original outfit, fast asleep. Chad had made the mistake of asking him, "Why didn't you fall asleep after you defeated Ida?" On hearing that, the lazy young man had slumped over in his seatbelt and dozed off.

As Gerald slept, however, he dreamed. This was odd, as he hadn't slept long enough to pass into REM sleep. And it was not a good dream.

He stood in the Portland Jetport again, but this time there were no people there. All the seats in the gate were torn apart, and the windows were broken and shattered on all sides. Looking out, he couldn't see any planes, and the sky was pitch-black.

A voice came from behind him, saying, "Impressed? This is just the start."

After he got his nerves back, Gerald slowly turned around, staring into an unexpected familiar face. "Aaron Torlar? I thought we left you in Maine."

"You did," Aaron said. He was a Darkness Infected again, but now the marks ran up his arms and across his forehead, winding around his eyes. "But that won't matter soon enough. Ah, memories..." He grinned, but not in a healthy way - it looked like a corpse's smile. "I was the first Darkness Infected you ever fought. Back then, you thought it couldn't get any worse. You were kind of a dope then, weren't you?"

"I learned quickly enough," Gerald replied, glancing about the ruined airport. "What did you do to this place?"

Shaking his head, Aaron replied, "I didn't do a thing to this place. That was..."

The world blinked out, and suddenly, Gerald stood atop the Cathedral of Saint Paul again. High over his head, Jean-Vic Viper balanced atop the highest cross, his silver armor freshly polised and gleaming. The Pillar of Destruction gestured out, and both of them looked down.

The city was burning, a thousand fires dancing along the skyline. Armies of people entered each building in turn, carrying items out before setting fire to the structure. Other groups roamed about, armed and ready for... something.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Jean-Vic said, leaping down to stand alongside Gerald.

Face pale, Gerald turned to his fallen opponent. "It's sickening... How could this happen?"

"The Pillar of Death made it happen." The Pillar of Destruction put a hand to his chin. "I was the first of the Pillars to join Degas and Alexander. Before I joined them, I was a pathetic little man, working at a Gamestop. Menardi was a secretary, desperate for beauty. Bethany..."

"...was Alexander's girlfriend, willing to do anything for him, I know."

Jean-Vic chuckled, and then turned serious. "We all joined out of some need. The Pillar of Death's need was a need to avoid being imprisoned. They recruited him out of the back of the truck taking him to prison, the day after he received a sentence of fifty years."

"What was the crime?" Gerald asked, although he could guess.

With a sigh, the Pillar of Destruction began to speak...

Before Gerald could hear the answer, the world blinked, and he was standing on the streets of Minneapolis. All around him were the remains of the skyscrapers - the dream had sent him to the ruins of Downtown. Groups of people worked to cart away the debris; now that he stood among them, he saw they were all Darkness Infected, bearing the same marks as Aaron.

Even though he knew to expect it, given the location, Gerald's blood still turned to ice as Jacob Waterknot walked up to him. Blood ran from his mouth, and there was a massive red bruise on his chest, the marks of his death. The runes on his chest had faded, and were no more than ruined flesh.

Swallowing hard, Gerald took a deep breath and asked, "Aaron and Jean-Vic I can understand, but what are you doing here?"

"I'm illustrating a point, Chosen of the Light," the dead man replied. "When you fought Aaron, you thought that was as bad as the Darkness could be. When you fought Jean-Vic, you readjusted that view and assumed he was the worst. The same thing happened with me. But now that the Pillar of Death is free, you'll need to adjust that again."

"How can a Pillar be worse than you?"

Jacob chuckled, revealing his teeth were sharpened into fangs. "I admit I had my tricks. After all, I had sold my soul to thirty-one demons, I killed freely and without restrain... I was a cannibal, but that's not important for our purposes..." He then stopped, frowned, and said, "I may not have had a human conscience, but I had scruples. I didn't resort to deadly force until it seemed necessary if I was to kill you. I tried to restrain myself, because I knew killing innocents would hinder Degas and Alexander's plan." He glared at Gerald and said, "The Pillar of Death has nothing like that. Nothing holds him back. Nothing."

For the second time, the first since his battle with Jacob himself, Gerald felt terror pulse through his body.

Gesturing around him, Jacob explained, "All this is the outcome of Degas and Alexander's victory. This is the Twin Cities under their rule. And this is what will be if the Pillar of Death triumphs. To be honest, Chosen of the Light, I rather like it like this." He then looked at Gerald again and concluded, "If you rather would not have it come to pass, hold nothing back. The Pillar of Death won't. And your friends will not stand a chance at stopping him."

"What do you-"

The dream faded, and Gerald awoke, holding onto his head. The last touches of a splitting headache faded away, and he wondered what sort of vision that was supposed to be.

0000000

In a world beyond mortal ken, the golden sphere withdrew into itself, saying to itself, That is the last of the Reciprocal. Chosen... We can't help you any further. The rest is in your hands, from now until the Darkness falls again.

0000000

A shake of his head cleared Gerald's vision, and he realized Laura was leaning over in her seatbelt, stroking his face. She blushed once he looked at her and pulled away, wringing out her hand. "So... did you see anything?" she asked.

"When?"

"While you were asleep... did you dream?"

Nodding, Gerald took a deep breath and said, "I saw... the world as it would be if Degas and Alexander won. And then Jean-Vic showed up... and Jacob. They were talking about the Pillar of Death."

"What did they say?" Chad asked, slowing the car down and glancing over the seat back.

"Not much. But what I did hear was interesting..."

Before Gerald could say any more, three booming noises came from down the street. A pale man stepped out of nowhere and glared at the Corolla.

Letting out a gasp, Chad struck the brakes and bent over, grabbing his chest as Laura recoiled and Gerald grabbed his head. The tall man quickly held out his right hand, the Ring of Purity still on it, and chanted, "Ring of Purity, protect us from zis dark and evil presence..."

The pink bubble engulfed the seats, and the three caught their breath. Wiping off his brow, Gerald muttered, "The feeling is unmistakable. He's out there. We're in the Pillar of Death's territory."

"But why here?" Laura asked. "There isn't anything of strategic value. This is just a row of shops in the center of Minneapolis."

The three booms sounded again, and then the pale man stood outside of the car. He tapped on the glass, and everyone jumped, looking at him.

This time, the booming noises were accompanied by black rings of energy. Laura let out a cry of shock, and then she and the man were gone.

"Laura?" Gerald called, undoing his seatbelt and opening the door. As he stepped onto the street, there was no sign of either Laura or the man - just a scorch mark on the road.

0000000

"Get out of here, Bethany," Alexander said as he settled into his chair before the mirrors. "You do not wish to see this."

The young woman in question had just finished folding the card table, and so she nodded and carried it out, the door shutting behind her.

The man in black sat next to his partner, interlacing his fingers. "They always go after Laura first," he noted, setting his chin on his hands. "Perhaps they think she's the weakest one."

"There's some truth to that," the man in green said. "Gerald is an experienced tournament champion, and Chad's trained alongside him. Laura's a pure amateur." He then paused and shuddered as something hit his senses. "Wait... The Pillar of Death is in our lair. I can't sense where, exactly, but he's here..."

Raising his head, Degas smiled. "He has taken Laura to the Pillar Room. I removed the door earlier this afternoon, but I haven't quite removed the room itself yet. It makes an admirable pen for combat."

Frowning, Alexander stared at the mirrors as the image appeared on them.

0000000

Three booming noises pounded inside Laura's head as she fell to the ground, her cry finishing itself with a brief spike as something pressed into her legs. She shook her head, hair fluttering about, and then pushed herself back onto her feet. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around.

The room was dark, the only light a dim radiance from the ceiling. All over the floor sat small chunks of obsidian, which she had landed on. They were scattered everywhere, but clustered in four specific points. She could hear wind somewhere, so the room wasn't completely contained, but there were no doors or windows.

And standing across from her was the man from the street. He was taller than she was, but not by much, and painfully thin. His skin looked stretched and pale; she could see the veins in his hands, and there were lines around his lines. He had thick, graying hair, and his face had a permanent expression of pain. The man wore a long white coat, with a blue shirt and black pants underneath it, and there was a small oxygen tank clipped to his belt, the mask dangling from it.

A moment passed, and then the man began to cough violently, blood flecking his hand as he covered his mouth. He retrieved a syringe from his pocket and jabbed it into his neck, partially depressing it. It took a few seconds before his coughing stopped, and he shook the blood off of his hand.

"Apologies," he said to Laura. "Happens often. The medication helps. Used to think it was TB, but misdiagnosed self."

Shaking her head, the young woman looked her abductor over and said, "Judging from the aura back on the street, you're the Pillar of Death..."

"Go by Reston," the Pillar replied.

"Reston. Right." Her head lowered. "First I get grabbed out of Maine by Ogre and threatened with a rat pit, then I have to fight the Pillar of Terror, then I get attacked directly by the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and then a Demon Prince almost kills me... and now I have to fight the Pillar of Death?" She raised her head and yelled, "Why does Fate hate me?!?"

Reston shrugged. "Blame yourself or God. Just job to duel you. Cannot go against it." He coughed again, lifted the oxygen mask to his face, and took a drag from it.

Seeing this, Laura blinked and asked, "Why do you need that? In fact, what's wrong with you in general?"

The man sighed, holding the mask away from his face. "Reason became a Pillar. Was a doctor once, but came down with disease. Progressing towards terminal. Disease suspended - but not cured - as Pillar. Seek victory to cure disease."

"What's the disease... if I may ask?"

"You may." Clearing his throat, a little blood splashing onto his fist, Reston took another drag off of the mask and said, as if reciting, "Feinglory's Systemic Circulatory Deterioration. Weakens the veins and arteries of the victim, causing them to leak. First signs are increased, inexplicable bruising and constant fatigue. In first stage, symptoms include increased heart rate, mild to moderate anemia, and unusual weakness. Second stage marked by pale, clammy skin, inability of blood to clot, reduced body temperature, and organ damage. Third stage terminal, usually by internal hemhorraging or heart failure." He paused, took another breath from his tank, and added, "Trademark sign coughing up blood, caused by leakage of veins in the throat and lungs."

Sounds like a horrible way to die, Laura thought. If I had it, I'd do what I could to handle it, too... She then stomped herself on the foot, thinking, Wait! I can't sympathize with a Pillar! "So..." she said, and then paused for a moment before continuing, "You were a doctor?"

The Pillar of Death nodded. "Medical degree from Johns Hopkins... Worked 20 years at associated hospital. Left Maryland to seek treatment in other states when diagnosed with Feinglory's SCD... None available." He sighed, and then broke into another fit of coughing, covering his hand with blood as he hacked away. His hand flashed, returning with the syringe, which he jabbed into his neck and emptied.

"I'm guessing being a doctor has to do with why you talk like that."

"Medical profession requires much shorthand. Became habitual. Could talk normally if tried." Taking a strap from the back of his oxygen mask, Reston slipped it into place, adjusting the mask on his face until it fit. His next words were somewhat more muffled, but still audible. "Talked too long. Duel must begin now."

Laura's expression turned grim, and she thought, All right... This is the fourth and final Pillar. If I win this battle, the foremost weapons of the Darkness will be destroyed once and for all. I have to win this battle... for myself, for the Light, and for Gerald... She activated her Duel Disk and nodded to Reston, saying, "I am ready."

"Readiness not a factor." Crossing his arms overhead, Reston shut his eyes. Black lightning crackled up his body, dancing around his right arm and exploding into an unearthly light. This light slowly faded to reveal a pale Duel Disk, already on. He lowered it in front of himself and stared into Laura's eyes.

Despite herself, Laura broke into a sweat. There was something inexplicably wrong about Reston's eyes - they looked normal, but something was missing. Perhaps it was just because he didn't seem to blink. She could not place what, but without it, he seemed incomplete - inhuman.

"Begin game."

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

The Duel Disks went up to 8,000 Life Points, and the seal of a Dark Duel drew itself around both players.

"I begin." Reston reached for his deck and drew out six cards with one twitch of his fingers. He fanned them, glanced over his hand, and then delicately plucked a card from it and set it sideways on his Duel Disk. "Monster facedown..." His fingers twitched twice more. "Two cards facedown. Turn end."

Drawing her own hand, Laura thought, That's the standard opening move. It keeps your theme a secret until they attack... Looking at her hand, she sighed. I have two normal Sasuke Samurai in this deck, why do I never draw either of them? "I begin by summoning Gearfried the Iron Knight in Attack Mode," she said.

The metal-armored knight rose into view, sunlight glinting off the edges of his arms. His red eyes turned on Reston, and he pounded one fist into his other palm. (1,800/1,000)

"Gearfried," Laura ordered, "attack his facedown monster with Iron Edge!"

As commanded, the knight slid forward, one of his armblades at the ready. He ran up to Reston's facedown monster and brought his blade down hard, slicing it into two halves. It was a small, chubby rodent, eyes wide as it was bisected, and it exploded into a small cloud of purple dust. (900/400)

A card jutted out of Reston's deck, and he explained, "Bubonic Vermin. When flipped, can set another Bubonic Vermin facedown. Will do so." He took the jutting card and set it into place, adding, "Activate trap, Michizure. One of my monsters destroyed, one of yours destroyed as well."

The card flipped faceup, and the floor of the Pillar Room crumbled to dust under Gearfried's feet. He let out a cry of shock as he fell through the floor, plummeting out of sight.

Bubonic Vermin? Laura thought. Why does anyone play that? There are other monsters in the game that replace themselves and have other effects to go with it... She shrugged, saying, "I'll set these two cards facedown and end my turn."

Drawing his next card, the Pillar of Death looked at it and nodded. "Hand not any good. Play Magical Mallet, allowing to shuffle hand into deck and draw again. Will do so with all cards." He folded his hand, withdrew his deck, and shuffled them together before drawing three cards. Pulling three cards off the top, he unfolded them and flicked his eyes along them before picking one out.

Laura gulped. Nobody switches out their entire hand without that card unless they're looking for something. What is he looking for?

"Activate Continuous Magic Card, Dark Snake Syndrome," Reston answered as he played the card.

At first nothing happened... and then Laura swayed a bit, her head spinning. She set a hand to her forehead, only to find it was much hotter than normal. Her arm itched, and she yanked up her sleeve to see it was covered with thick black bands. "What the hell?" she muttered, before turning to Reston and seeing he had the same markings.

"Dark Snake Syndrome," the Pillar of Death began. "Cause of transmission unknown. Believed to be a viral contagion. First symtoms include weakness, fever, and development of black marks on skin. Disease causes massive tissue damage, inflicting severe pain on sufferers. Time until terminal phase begins varies from case to case. In game terms, deals 200 Life Points of damage on my next Standby Phase, doubling the amount dealt with each turn until destroyed or game ends. Quite painful."

The young woman bit her lip. Oh, now I remember this card, she thought. It was painful enough watching people get hit by it in normal duels. This is a Dark Duel - will I even survive?

"Until next turn, disease in incubation period," Reston concluded. "So set monster in Defense Mode and end turn." The hologram appeared next to his previous monster.

Laura drew again, taking a few deep breaths. Maintain your calm, or this duel will not end well, she thought. She then looked at her new card and grinned. "I play Reinforcements of the Army, allowing me to add one Warrior to my hand - and I choose Sasuke Samurai!" she declared.

All the Pillar of Death did in response was stroke his chin.

As she searched her deck, Laura muttered, "You could at least show an emotion or two..." Withdrawing the monster, she then said, "Now I'll summon my Sasuke Samurai in Attack Mode!"

The superdeformed swordsman flashed into view, hand hovering over the hilt of his sword. Both of his large eyes were trained on Reston, and he seemed angrier than usual. (500/400)

The Pillar of Death looked at the one card he was holding, and then glanced to the Sasuke Samurai as he thought, Unimportant.

"Sasuke Samurai," Laura ordered, "dispose of the older facedown monster with High-Velocity Wakazashi!"

Setting his feet, the small warrior drew his blade and flicked it out before resheathing it. A gust of wind crossed Reston's face, and then the Bubonic Vermin appeared. It slid cleanly in half along a diagonal before shattering.

With an idle wave of his hand, Reston noted, "Cannot summon new Bubonic Vermin due to Sasuke Samurai's effect. Destroyed without flipping, so effect does not trigger. Pity."

Laura nodded, looked at her hand again, and then said, "End turn."

"Draw," the thin man replied, adjusting his oxygen mask before doing so. He then said, "Incubation complete. Dark Snake Syndrome activates."

There was a loud hiss in the air, and then Laura's entire body felt like it was on fire. She gasped, biting hard into her lip as pain washed over her. A moment later, she dropped to one knee, the pain evaporating and leaving her with a tingle along her spine. All the while, Reston merely watched her, as the Life Points of both duelists moved to 7,800.

After a shuddering breath, Laura asked, "W-Wait... didn't you feel that pain?"

"Pain meaningless to me," the Pillar replied. "Feinglory's SCD cuts off blood flow to nerves along skin. Cannot feel pain unless inflicted deep within tissues. Dark Snake Syndrome pain superficial."

Great, the redhead thought as she stood up. I'm at another disadvantage.

"Now play Ekibyo Drakmord on Sasuke Samurai," Reston said, sliding the card into place.

A green cloud covered the little swordsman, and he let out a cough. Green rashes suddenly broke out along his skin, and he collapsed in on himself, eyes shutting as he coughed some more. Blood dribbled out of his mouth.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Laura yelled.

Following another long breath, the doctor explained, "Ekibyo Drakmord. Caused by viral agents of unknown origin. Onset imminent. Symptoms include green rash, internal bleeding, and damage to all organs, especially lungs and stomach. Terminal rate 100% without immediate treatment. In game terms, cannot attack with Sasuke Samurai, and monster will be destroyed on your second Standby Phase." He paused, studying the monster's convulsions. "End turn."

"Now I'm beginning to understand why you're the Pillar of Death," Laura whispered to herself, drawing. She held up a card and declared, "I summon the Familiar Knight in Attack Mode!"

The knight stepped out, still wearing his face-concealing helmet and breastplate. He tapped his sword against his shield and glared at Reston. Somehow, even here, there was a breeze to ripple his cape. (1,200/1,400)

Gulping, Laura ordered, "Familiar Knight, attack the facedown monster with Chivalrous Slash!"

Slamming his blade against his shield, the knight rushed forward and swung the sword around, cleaving through Reston's monster... or so he tried. A linen-wrapped hand caught the sword and twisted it downwards. The Familiar Knight just stared as two mummified men in purple wrappings rose up, their eyes full of pain. (1,000/1,800) One breathed into his face, and the knight stumbled away, coughing.

Even as her Life Points lowered to 7,200, Laura saw one of the mummies looking at her. It reached into itself and pulled its wrappings apart, letting out a cloud of purple smoke. It rolled over Laura, and for a moment she couldn't catch her breath, choking and sinking to her knees. Her Life Points dropped further, to 6,700, before the cloud departed and she took several long breaths.

"Monster was Poison Mummy," the Pillar of Death noted. "Effect deals 500 Life Points of damage when turned face-up. Add clash damage, and total is 1,100. Continue?"

"Give me a moment," Laura wheezed, coughing again. She stood up once more, staggering for a moment, before shaking out her hair and saying, "My turn ends." In front of her, the Sasuke Samurai convulsed again, arching his back up.

Reston drew, and then noted, "Dark Snake Syndrome activates."

This time, as the hiss sounded, Laura could see a red haze on the edge of her vision. And then the pain hit her anew, and she bit her lip, fingers curling into her palms. It almost felt as though the bands around her limbs were crushing her... and then the pain released, and she exhaled. Her Life Points lowered to 6,300, and Reston's went down to 7,400.

"Play Pot of Greed," Reston said, no hint in his voice that he had even noticed his card's effect. The hologram appeared and disappeared, and he took two cards off the top of his deck. "Monster in Defense Mode. End turn."

"Are you actually going to use your turns, or can I have them?" Laura muttered as she drew.

Once the card was in her hand, Reston glanced to her Sasuke Samurai and said, "Ekibyo Drakmord activates. Sasuke Samurai destroyed."

The little swordsman vomited at that point, blood dripping from his mouth, and his arms and legs thrashed about, snapping all four limbs in turn. He spasmed twice more, and then with one long rattle, his breathing stopped.

The Pillar of Death made a hand gesture, and the body of the Sasuke Samurai flew to his field. Laura blinked and shouted, "What the hell are you doing?"

Reaching into his robe with his left hand, Reston replied, "Never seen a monster slain by Ekibyo Drakmord before. Need an autopsy." He knelt next to the slain monster and took out a scalpel. "Will only take a few minutes. Patience appreciated." One hand tore away the Sasuke Samurai's armor and clothing.

0000000

Standing up, Alexander turned his back on the mirrors. "Forget it," he told his partner. "There was an open-heart surgery scene in the movie 'All That Jazz', and that was all the medical proceedings I ever needed to see. Tell me when it's over."

"All right," Degas replied, leaning forward in his seat. A smile crossed his lips.

0000000

As Laura watched, her stomach turning over, the doctor-turned-Pillar made a set of incisions in the shape of a Y on her dead monster's chest. "Wish ribspreader at hand," he muttered. More audibly, he noted, "Patient Sasuke Samurai. Age: unknown, cause of death: Ekibyo Drakmord, time of death: 7:58 P.M., June 26th, 2005."

Putting the backs of his hands together, he plunged them into the monster's chest and caught hold, pulling hard. The ribcage cracked, and the chest cavity tore open, revealing the inside of the monster. To Laura's surprise (and adding to her disgust), there was a very human set of organs within.

As he looked inside, Reston muttered, "Further wish for scale. Will have to estimate weights." He flicked the scalpel across the veins and connective tissue surrounding the Sasuke Samurai's left lung, picked it up, and weighed it in his hand. "Lung about two pounds, give or take. Apparently full of fluid..." He gave it a gentle shake. "Yes. Pleural fluid build-up in lungs." Setting it back in the cavity, he cut loose the heart, hands already stained with blood.

"For the love of God, stop!" Laura screamed.

By that point, Reston was already examining the heart, saying to himself, "Heart seems enlarged, possibly due to fluid build-up..." He then looked up, sighed, and tossed the Sasuke Samurai's heart back into his chest. "Fine. Autopsy fairly worthless without chart, anyway."

The Pillar of Death rose to his feet, and the violated corpse of Laura's monster shattered at last, to her great relief. "Ekibyo Drakmord returns to my hand," he told the young woman, picking up his card. "Still your turn."

As Laura reached for her next move, she realized her hands were shaking. Even when she had battled Graz'zt, her hands had remained steady. How badly is this duel getting to me? she wonder. I have to remain calm... like he is... Good God, is he even human? Stamping herself on the foot, she steeled her nerves and tossed a card onto her Duel Disk, yelling, "Double Pinaska, get him!"

From behind Reston, two machetes whipped down, striking the floor in front of Laura. Their owner sprang out, rolling between them, and caught up his weapons as he moved. He was a Spanish man in full array, and he crossed his blades, smiling to Laura. (1,500/1,500)

"He will not touch me," Reston countered, activating a facedown card. "Will get him instead, with Nightmare Wheel."

The hideous, chain-covered wheel rose up from the floor, turning slowly. Spikes covered its surface, sharp and waiting for a victim. Three chains whipped out, catching the Double Pinaska before he could even stand fully upright. They dragged him up into the sky, and secured him to the wheel, causing him to grimace.

"Monster trapped by Nightmare Wheel cannot attack or switch modes," the Pillar of Death explained. "In addition, 500 Life Points deducted from you each of your Standby Phases."

Laura could feel herself slowly turning pale. I'm going to regret this, she thought, but if I don't attack him he'll just set off the traps and tricks himself. At least if I attack I'm setting the timing. "Familiar Knight, attack his face-down monster," she said.

The knight threw himself forward and brought his sword around. It smashed through a small blue slime, splattering it to pieces. (800/1,000)

Part of the slime hit the back of Laura's hand, and she let out a sudden scream as it burned into her. The slime fell off, leaving a dark red burn where it had hit. To no one's surprise, her Life Points fell to 5,500.

"Acid Slime," Reston explained. "When destroyed in battle, reduces your Life Points by 800. Anything else?"

With another gulp, Laura shook her head.

As the Pillar of Death drew, the familiar hissing and red haze of the Dark Snake Syndrome came upon them. This time, as the pain hit, Laura bit her lip hard enough to break the skin, blood dripping to the floor as her nails dug into her hands. It lasted several agonizing seconds before fading away, leaving her shuddering. Her Life Points sank to 4,700, and Reston's went to 6,600 at the same time.

When it was over, Reston, as always unaffected by his card, fanned out his cards and picked one out. "Dark Room of Nightmare."

Four black shafts rose up from the ground around Laura, dark energy dancing between them. Soon her view of Reston was obscured by a thin wall of unearthly black light; looking closely, she could see her reflection on it. Her hand went out to touch it, and a black spark jumped from the wall to her hand, making her wince.

"When Effect Damage is dealt to your Life Points," Reston explained, "Dark Room of Nightmare addes 300 points to the amount. Next, play Ekibyo Drakmord on Familiar Knight."

The knight dropped his sword and shield as the green rashes shot up his arms. He shot a helpless glance to Laura before dropping to his knees, grabbing at his throat.

"Set monster in Defense Mode," Reston concluded, "and end turn. Once you draw, cards combined will deal you 800 points of damage."

True to the Pillar's word, once Laura drew, the wheel revolved while holding the Double Pinaska in place, making him scream in pain. Red light shone down from the Nightmare Wheel and onto Laura, and suddenly she could feel his pain burning down her spine. Her muscles contracted, and she grabbed at herself, her Life Points now at 4,200.

The Dark Room of Nightmare fired four bolts of black energy into her as well, and her legs gave out - she fell to the ground, her breathing ragged as her Life Points set to 3,900.

A moment later, the young woman stirred, wiping blood off of her mouth with the back of one hand. Her limbs twitched as her muscles contracted, and she whispered, "I call my Image."

Will not help, but go ahead, thought Reston.

The white fog left Laura's body, formed into a human figure, and soon the brown-haired woman in armor - Kanan the Swordmistress - stood alongside her, hand resting on Laura's shoulder. The redhead stumbled, and her Image held her upright.

Even as they convulsed in their separate agonies, Laura's monsters turned to Kanan and nodded, drawing some strength from her presence. (Familiar Knight: 1,200/1,400 - 1,600/1,400; Double Pinaska: 1,500/1,500 - 1,900/1,500)

"Now," Laura continued, "I play Graceful Charity. I'm fairly certain you know what this does."

The Dark Room of Nightmare's walls blinked out, and an angelic figure descended in front of Laura, waving a hand over the woman's deck. She drew three times, thinking, Something tells me he's never going to attack, so these two cards will be of no use. She handed the angel her Negate Attack and Swords of Revealing Light, and there was a flash of light as the angel vanished.

"And now," Laura shouted as she held up one of her draws, "I play Heavy Storm! My facedown cards are worthless, so this is only going to hurt you! That'll be a change, huh?"

For the first time in the entire duel to this point, Reston blinked.

It was as though the room itself was being thrown about by the wind, as the mystic hurricane roared across the field. Laura's Scapegoats and Magic Cylinder were torn apart; at the same time, the Double Pinaska sprang back to Laura's field as the Nightmare Wheel shattered to pieces, the marks of the Dark Snake Syndrome faded away, the Familiar Knight rose to his feet with a sigh of relief, and the Dark Room of Nightmare crumbled away, leaving Laura's vision unclouded.

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

With the field clear, Laura smiled for the first time since the duel had begun. "Now I summon the Goblin Attack Force in Attack Mode," she said.

The club-wielding goblins marched into place, adjusting their hard hats. Several of them tossed their clubs in the air and, for the most part, caught them. (2,300/0) Kanan shook her head, but still gave them a warm smile, which they returned with multiple leers. The other warriors chuckled to themselves. (GAF: 2,300/0 - 2,900/0; Pinaska: 1,900/1,500 - 2,100/1,500; Knight: 1,600/1,400 - 1,800/1,400)

"Goblin Attack Force," Laura ordered, "destroy the Poison Mummy!"

The goblins let out a phlegmy laugh and marched forward, carrying their clubs high. They pounced on the dessicated mummies and smashed them into dust, bits and pieces of linen flying about as they obliterated the target. That done, they marched back to Laura's field, high-fiving each other, before settling into Defense Mode and falling asleep.

"Crude," Reston noted.

Laura shrugged. "They get the job done. Now, Double Pinaska, attack his facedown monster!"

The Spanish man grinned at her, spun his machetes in front of him, and dove forward with weapons in hand. The blades flashed, cutting through what looked like a horrible wall of muscle tissue with a female face. As the muscles collapsed into a pool of blood, the face screamed, and the Double Pinaska covered his ears before vanishing, returning to Laura's hand.

"Wall of Illusion," the Pillar of Death said. "Constructed from human muscle, mainly from the solar plexus, triceps, and gluteus maximus regions. When attacked, sends the attacker back to the hand."

Laura's eyebrow rose. "Wait... Gluteus maximus... that's the..."

"Very strong muscle, regardless of where it originates."

Why is it, Laura thought, that after all the garbage I've gone through today, that's the freakiest thing so far? She looked at her field, her monsters slightly weakened without one of their number. (GAF: 2,900/0 - 2,700/0; Knight: 1,800/1,400 - 1,600/1,400) "Ah, whatever. Familiar Knight, direct attack, now!"

She had hardly needed to give the order. The Familiar Knight charged across the field, sword shining, and rammed the blade home, impaling the Pillar of Death through the stomach. It went through as though the skin, organs, bones, and other tissues did not exist.

Even as Reston's Life Points lowered to 5,000, he locked eyes with the knight, and the armored man sank to his knees, still holding onto his sword. The Pillar grabbed hold of his impaler's helmet and pushed, the blade sliding out, before throwing the knight back to Laura's field.

"I end my turn," Laura said, wiping off her brow.

Reston drew, paused, and then remembered his field was empty. "Need time to think," he said. "Activate Nightmare's Steelcage."

The card was familiar to Laura, as Graz'zt had used it on her previously. Several steel bars arced overhead, forming a latticework pattern, and spikes jutted out from the junction points. A steel grid slammed into place between them, holding her monsters back.

"Set card facedown," the Pillar continued, "and end turn."

Laura drew, and the facedown card lifted, causing her to flinch... until she realized it had nothing to do with her. And then she recognized it, muttering, "Damn."

"Sixth Sense," Reston replied. "Medical science offers no proof of ESP existence, but it makes a useful drawing tool. Name two numbers, then roll one die. If number rolled is number named, draw that many cards. If number rolled is not number named, discard that many cards from deck. Name 3 and 5."

The air around the Pillar of Death turned purple, and a large, six-sided die fell from the air, bouncing three times. To Laura's annoyance, it came up a 5. With a nod, Reston took hold of his deck and pulled five cards off of it.

Since that cage is still in the way, Laura thought, all I can do is set up. "I summon Sasuke Samurai #4 and end my turn," she said.

The daimyo emerged into place, naginata over one shoulder. (1,200/1,200) Kanan crossed blades with him, and he nodded to the other warriors, who saluted him. (GAF: 2,700/0 - 2,900/0; Knight: 1,600/1,400 - 1,800/1,400; Sasuke: 1,200/1,200 - 1,800/1,200)

As Reston drew, his hand now at six cards, the Nightmare's Steelcage began to rust through, the wall between them pitted and cracked. He ignored this, however, and instead merely played out his cards. "Graceful Charity," he began.

This time, as the angel descended, she seemed very worried, constantly checking over her wings. Her hand waved over the man's deck, and he pulled three cards from it. A moment passed, and then he handed her two of them - as far as Laura could tell, they were Germ Infection and Stumbling. Once the cards were in her hand, the angel flew away so fast that she left feathers in her wake.

Wow, Laura thought. He even scares the angels.

"Summon Nubian Guard in Attack Mode," the Pillar of Death stated afterwards.

A tall man with dark skin and Egyptian features rose between the two duelists, clutching a long spear in one hand and a buckler in the other. Fire danced in his eyes as he glared at Laura. (500/400)

"Next," Reston continued, "change his attribute to Dark with Scroll of Bewitchment."

From nowhere, an ofuda flew down and stuck to the Nubian Guard's chest. He stiffened, and then a vile grin spread across his face as the magic washed through him. His eyes turned black, and - not at all surprising the redheaded woman watching him - the marks of the Darkness Infection faded into view.

Picking out two cards from his hand, the Pillar slid them into his Duel Disk, murmuring, "Set two cards facedown and end turn."

Even as she reached for her next draw, Laura began to laugh to herself, despite the lingering pain in her joints. Oh, please, you bastard, she thought. That's the most obvious move in the game! All I have to do is avoid attacking the Nubian Guard, and your Crush Card will never take effect! And once I get Book of Moon and another Sasuke Samurai, it'll be all over...

Given her train of thought, her shock was quite notable when she drew only to hear Reston announce, "Activate Crush Card."

"Wait! I didn't even attack your Guard!" she shouted back.

One word from the Pillar of Death crushed her hopes: "Errata."

The infamous Trap Card, with its picture of red viruses, rose on Reston's field. The Nubian Guard convulsed, his legs shaking, and sank to his knees, breathing heavily. His muscles swelled, and he looked across to Laura's field before exploding into a mass of red goo.

One by one, each of Laura's monsters clutched at their throats, choking as the disease struck them. The first to die was the Sasuke Samurai #4, who fell forward and melted out of his armor. Next was the Familiar, whose attempt to cut his own throat failed - he wasn't quick enough to do it before his arms fell away. The Goblin Attack Force fell as one immediately afterward. And finally, Laura's Duel Disk beeped, and she frowned, discarding the Double Pinaska and Blade Knight.

But then she stopped, looked at her deck, and said, "Wait... shouldn't I have lost all my monsters with 1,500 or more Attack Points? That's how it works for Seto Kaiba..."

"Errata," Reston replied. "Card was too powerful, but too hard to use. Never worked. Everyone knew what to look for. So Industrial Illusions changed it. Now Crush Card works just by Tribute... but affects only field, hand, and next three draws. Works more often, but does less. Make sense?"

"Yeah... just wish it hadn't hit me..." Looking at the one card in her hand, she slid it into place, muttering, "This facedown and that's it." Overhead, the last pieces of the Nightmare Steelcage rotted through, and the entire barricade collapsed around them.

Drawing again, the Pillar of Death adjusted his hand before picking out two cards and setting them in his Duel Disk. "Monster in Defense Mode and card facedown. End turn."

A thin purple haze surrounded Laura as she drew, and she held up her card once she did. "I drew the Fusion Sword Murasame Blade, so your Crush Card doesn't touch it."

"In response, activate Hidden Book of Spell," the sick man replied, pausing to adjust his oxygen mask. "Shuffle three Magic Cards from Graveyard into deck." He slid three cards out - Laura could see they were Dark Snake Syndrome, Scroll of Bewitchment, and Ekibyo Drakmord - and placed them on the bottom of his deck, whereupon his Duel Disk whirred and began shuffling the cards.

Okay, strategy session, Laura thought. I could use my Call of the Haunted to bring back one of my monsters, and that monster wouldn't be killed by the Crush Card again... but that would just open me up to one of his anti-monster tricks. Man, what I wouldn't give for Gerald's Final Countdown... She paused, and then swallowed. Gerald... "I pass," she finally said.

Nodding, Reston drew again, and then held up his chosen card. "Multiples help. Play Dark Snake Syndrome again."

Again, Laura felt a burning fever along her body, and her entire body felt weak... until she concentrated. I didn't train in the martial arts for fifteen years just to fall over from a fictional disease, she thought, steeling herself. The black bands rose into being on her skin once more, and she took a breath.

"End turn with that," her opponent said.

Laura drew, trying to shake off the haze around her, and then groaned. "I drew the Black Luster Soldier..." The haze flew in around her card, and she winced as it ate at her hand. She quickly slid the card into her Graveyard.

From where he stood, the Pillar merely looked at her.

No choice, Laura thought. "I activate Call of the Haunted to bring back my Sasuke Samurai," she said.

Three gravestones rose into view on her field, and the little warrior rose up before them, bearing light scars from where the Pillar had made his incisions during the autopsy. He did not look happy. (500/400) Kanan gasped at the scars, and the Sasuke Samurai narrowed his eyes further. (500/400 - 700/400)

"Now I'll equip him with my Fusion Sword Murasame Blade," the redhead continued.

Putting his own sword away, the Sasuke Samurai held up his hand. A black hilt formed around it, a long, perfectly-forged blade extending from it. The dim light of the room still glinted off its edge. (700/400 - 1,500/400)

Gesturing at Reston's field, Laura ordered, "Sasuke Samurai, bring down the facedown monster with Hyper-Velocity Wakazashi!"

The samurai gave her a nod, pulled the sword back, and then blurred. He reappeared on the other side of Reston's monster, which was revealed as a long, freakish creature with a single eye. It slid in half before disappearing in a cloud of dust.

"Kisetai," the Pillar of Death said. "Powerful effect... if it had worked. Sasuke Samurai prevents it."

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Laura exhaled again and said, "I end my turn."

Reston drew, and the hissing noise filled the air. This time, however, Laura just glared at him, ignoring the pain that was causing her muscles to jerk. Her Life Points hit 3,700, and Reston's descended to 4,800. After checking his score again, the sick man held up his latest draw, declaring, "Play Poison of the Old Man."

"How fitting," the girl sniped.

"Amusing... Choice given between dealing 800 damage to your Life Points or gaining 1,200 to mine." He paused for a second. "Choose the latter."

A long, tall black bench rose into view beside Reston, two bottles visible on it. One bottle, small and round, contained a foaming purple liquid; the other was taller and wider, and held a thin green liquid. He picked up the taller bottle, the bench and other bottle vanishing, and removed his oxygen mask, hand dropping to close the valve. Taking hold of the bottle's stopper, he yanked it out with a tug and a grunt, and then placed the bottle to his lips and drank.

Only as he performed the last action did Laura realize just how dessicated his muscles were. That took a lot more effort than it had to...

The last drops poured away, and Reston dropped the bottle, pulling his oxygen mask back on. The bottle shattered as it hit the floor, and his Life Points rose to 6,000. He then took another card from his hand and played it. "Shallow Grave. Both players set a monster from their Graveyard on their fields..." A card - Laura couldn't see which one - jutted out of Reston's Graveyard, and he set it into place.

Taking out her own Graveyard, Laura fanned it out, trying to determine her best choice. That'll do, she thought, and she set Gearfried into place on her own field.

"One card facedown," the sick man concluded, setting his last card, "and turn ends."

Laura drew, and the purple clouds of the Crush Card gathered around her. She noticed that they had grown much thinner since their activation, and smiled as she revealed her draw. "Sasuke Samurai #2. Far too weak for the Crush Card." The clouds vanished altogether. "In fact, I think I'll summon it."

The little farmer stepped into place, carrying a basket full of knives on his back. He took one out, running it over his fingers. (200/300) Kanan reached down and patted his shoulder, and he crossed weapons with the other Sasuke Samurai. (SS2: 200/300 - 600/300; SS1: 1,500/400 - 1,700/400)

"Threatening Roar," Reston countered, waving to his trap. It lifted, and a resounding roar echoed through the room, sending both Laura and her monsters to their knees from sheer volume. She got up, but her monsters did not.

"Fine," she muttered, reaching down to her Duel Disk. "I flip Gearfried the Iron Knight into Attack Mode and end my turn."

The iron-clad soldier stood up again, punching his knuckles together as he stretched. (1,800/1,000) With the growing army before her, Kanan began to laugh, a laugh that soon passed to the warriors. (Gearfried: 1,800/1,000 - 2,400/1,000; SS2: 600/300 - 800/300; SS1: 1,700/400 - 1,900/400)

With a shrug of his thin shoulders, Reston drew, and then tucked the card into his other hand as the hissing began anew. Once again, both duelists toughed it out, Laura shutting her eyes and tensing all her major muscle groups as Reston just stood there When the pain faded, Laura's Life Points stood at 3,300, and Reston's had gone down to 5,600.

Taking the card he had just drawn, Reston slid it into his Duel Disk, saying, "Play Vase of Unholy Blight. Remove one Dark monster in deck from game - such as Wall of Illusions - to draw three cards." The evil vase appeared before its player, the wall of flesh disappearing into it, before it exploded away. The sick man pulled three cards from the top of his deck, took one, and continued, "Ekibyo Drakmord on Sasuke Samurai #1..."

The tiny samurai dropped his sword, eyes going impossibly wide. The green rashes formed over his body, and he collapsed again, twitching and convulsing as the disease set in once more.

"Set one monster facedown and end turn," the Pillar finished.

I won't let it happen again, Laura vowed as she drew her only card. This is the turn I get my miraculous turnaround, I just know it! She played the card she had drawn, declaring, "Pot of Greed!" Drawing twice more, she stopped and smiled.

"Happy?" the Pillar asked.

"Very." She slid one of the cards into her Graveyard, thinking, This would just weaken him. "I discard The Warrior Returning Alive from my hand to summon the Master of Chains in Attack Mode!"

There was a blur in the air in front of Laura, and then a hand emerged, holding a sickle. The hand was followed by a grinning head with blonde hair, wearing a red bandana. Seconds later, the Master of Chains himself leapt out of the blur, still wearing the inexplicable Union Jack. (1,600/1,300) Seeing him, Kanan the Swordmistress blushed, and he just winked back at her. (MoC: 1,600/1,300 - 2,400/1,300; Gearfried: 2,400/1,000 - 2,600/1,000; SS: 1,900/400 - 2,100/400; SS2: 800/300 - 1,000/300)

Laura let out a satisfied sigh on seeing her second-favorite monster, adding, "For each Warrior in my Graveyard, the Master of Chains gains 100 Attack Points, and there are five."

Crossing his sickles over his head, the Master of Chains closed his eyes, body glowing with a red light. (2,400/1,300 - 2,900/1,300)

Reston let his eyes stray to the one card in his hand, and he thought to himself, Means nothing.

One of Laura's hands thrust towards her opponent's field, and she ordered, "Gearfried, attack the older facedown monster with Iron Edge!"

The Iron Knight was quick to respond, shouting as he hurled himself arms-first at Reston's monster. His blades tore through two very familiar linen-wrapped figures, scattering their body parts in a haze of purple dust. (1,000/1,800)

"Should have figured it," Laura muttered before the dust settled on her and she began coughing, her Life Points dropping to 2,800.

As he adjusted his oxygen mask, Reston noted, "Poison Mummy only logical target for Shallow Grave, after all."

After catching her breath, Laura coughed once more and said to herself, "Most of his monsters have really good defense, so my Sasuke Samurai #2 would probably just bounce off." She raised her voice and ordered, "Master of Chains, attack his other monster with Chain Bomber!"

Readying his weapons, the chain-wielding warrior sprang forward, turning as he landed. He then arced up with one sickle, performing a sharp-edged uppercut that sliced Reston's monster in two. The monster appeared for just a moment as a disgusting, boil-covered rat, which splattered its innards over the Master of Chains as it died.

"Sewer Rat," the Pillar of Death noted. "When destroyed, permanently subtracts 400 Attack Points from killing monster unless monster is Machine or Zombie. Master of Chains neither."

Indeed, making contact with the creature's bodily fluids had not done much for the Master's health. He staggered his way back to Laura's field, his breathing shallow and his face pale, and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of one hand. (2,900/1,300 - 2,500/1,300)

Sorry about that, Walter, the redhead thought before announcing, "That ends this turn." I do not want to know what would happen if the Sasuke Samurai #2 attacked, even with an empty field.

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

Once more, Reston drew and the hissing noise set in, accompanied by a red haze as the Dark Snake Syndrome came to life. Laura's fingernails dug so hard into her palms that she bled, and she tensed her limbs so much that there was another stab of pain as she pulled a calf muscle. Her Life Points sank to 2,000, and the Pillar watched without passion as his own Life Points reached 4,800.

He then turned around one card he was holding, letting Laura get a good look at the name and the artwork.

All the color drained from the young woman's face, and she fell onto her hands and knees, her energy gone without warning. She knew that card, and knew that it meant the end. There was nothing she could even do to stop it. "I... I can't lose..." she whispered. "If that card is what it looks like, then I lose right now..."

"It is," Reston said, no emotion in the words. "Summon Tribe-Infecting Virus in Attack Mode."

First came an agonized, reptilian creature with purple skin, a blue flush over its muzzle as it loped along. It then raised its arms, screeching in unspeakable pain, and collapsed dead on the field. Its body rotted away, leaving only a brown cloud hovering over its bones. (1,600/1,000)

Sliding his other card, Symbol of Heritage, into the Graveyard, the sick man said, "Discard one card to destroy all monsters of one type in play. Choose Warriors. All Warriors destroyed."

The brown cloud spread over the field, now hovering over all of Laura's monsters. They seemed unharmed for one painful moment, and then the disease awoke.

One by one, the warriors began to suffer. Their bodies grew thin, muscles eating away at themselves, and sores erupted on their skin. The Sasuke Samurai #2 collapsed, a loud crack coming from his legs as they grew too weak to hold his weight. Nothing showed a sign of infection on Gearfried to begin with... and then his armor clattered to the ground, leaking blood.

Each of Laura's monsters died in turn, shattering as they did so. The last to go was the Master of Chains, who dropped his sickles and turned to her, face hollow. He feebly reached for her, and then keeled over, shattering before his body even hit the ground. All she did was shiver.

"Direct attack," the Pillar of Death said once it was over.

The brown cloud now engulfed her, and she felt her cells die one by one from the inside out... or at least it felt that way. The young woman bit through her cheeks to avoid making noise, clutching at the air as the Tribe-Infecting Virus wreaked its agonies upon her. In due time, it pulled back, and she toppled forward, catching herself on one knee. Her Life Points hit 400.

Blinking again, Reston said, "End turn."

Instincts drove Laura to draw her next card, which she set on top of her Duel Disk without much interest. "Monster in Defense Mode and end turn," she muttered.

The Pillar of Death's hand stopped just short of his deck, and he looked at her, saying, "Draw and Dark Snake Syndrome will end duel. Can make this easier if you surrender."

He couldn't tell whether she had heard him or not. In fact, he could not tell if she was still cognizant of the outside world.

"Your choice," he said, drawing his card. "Gotcha." As he had said, the Dark Snake Syndrome proceeded to activate.

And then it became clear that Laura was still aware and awake. This became clear when she screamed her lungs raw, grabbing her head as the syndrome went to work on her body. The scream was so loud that Reston blinked for the third and last time that duel.

The scream cut off with a whimper as she fell, facedown, to the floor, her Life Points clicking to zero and Reston's to 3,200. One of her legs twitched as she hit the ground.

Reston shook his arm, and the pale Duel Disk evaporated from his limb as he walked up to the girl, hands tucking themselves into his pockets. He sank to his knees, shutting off the valve and removing his oxygen mask. "Will take a few moments for the Darkness Infection to sprout. Question?"

"Who..." Laura's voice barely emerged from her, sounding like a hand was around her throat. "Who are you... who can do that to me?"

The sick man reached into his coat again and took out the scalpel, running its blade along his fingertips. "Was recruited from the back of a prison van," he began. "Hired by Degas and Alexander as Pillar of Death due to experience. Was on way to begin a fifty-year sentence, laid down after conviction on twenty-seven counts of first-degree murder."

A gasp, sounding like a dying mouse, escaped Laura.

"Before arrest, moved from hospital to hospital, seeking two separate goals," Reston continued. "Cure for Feinglory's Systemic Circulatory Deterioration one. Victims another. Intrigued by others on verge of death... sought patients with serious illness and tried to see how much damage their systems needed to shut down. Mixed all sorts of different chemicals to make own poisons, crippled different organs, cut veins and timed bleeding to death..." He twirled the scalpel in his fingers. "Never repeated an experiment. Was caught on twenty-seventh patient. Waste. Needed more data."

One memory, a glimmer of a newspaper article, fought its way to Laura's mind even as she felt her body warping from within. Her head raised, and she whispered, "Your name... it's not Reston..."

"Reston just an alias, like Menardi. Name is Paul Arthur Eckhart."

And the memory sprang to full life, causing the redheaded young woman to gasp once again. "Paul Arthur Eckhart... the Wandering Hospital Reaper..." Her head dropped as she breathed out, "Why..."

Putting his scalpel away, Reston set his bony fingers to her forehead and said, "Sleep now. Disease complete."

Waves of blackness extended from his fingers, and Laura's hands and neck exhibited the black marks. And that was all she ever saw as everything disappeared...

0000000

In the mirror room, Degas and Alexander both shuddered, hands clenching into fists. "Disturbing," Alexander muttered. "Then again, we expected that. I almost feel sorry for the poor girl..."

"Save your pity for yourself," the man in black replied, snapping his fingers and turning all but one mirror off. "We are protected only because we control his status as the Pillar of Death. If he didn't risk Stage Three of Feinglory's by attacking us our position would be forfeit."

The man in green muttered, "Like I needed the reminding? But... Despite all of this, I think I see a plan."

"What plan would that be, my friend?"

"I think of it as a reversed Shadow Queen..."

The Hand of Darkness blinked, pushed his shades back up, and smiled. "Ah, I see it now. Where shall we draw them?"

In response, the Dark Conduit held up a hand, shut his eyes, and frowned, directing his thoughts to a mind he did not really want to contact. He then thought, Reston? Do you have any paper on you? ...your old prescription forms will do. Now, write the following words exactly as I say them...

0000000

Half an hour after Laura's disappearance, Chad and Gerald sat against the car, waiting for her return. Gerald fought the urge to doze, grinding a rock around the palm of one hand as he sat on the hood. Chad, meanwhile, continually rotated the Ring of Purity around his finger.

And then the three bursts sounded, and a figure appeared on the street in the center of the black rings. The tall, thin man stood over it for a second, adjusting someone on the stomach, and then disappeared with three more bursts. Both of the men approached, Duel Disks at the ready...

"Laura," Gerald breathed out, and then he ran to her side, kneeling. She was unconscious, her hair matted with sweat, and on occasion her body jerked. The marks of the Darkness Infection were all too prominent. He took a deep breath and lifted Laura's eyelid, confirming that the pupil was gone and the veins were black.

Chad stood back, just watching his friend. "She lost," he said, stating the obvious without thinking. "The Pillar beat her..." He then tilted his head, seeing something pinned to her shirt, and moved up to them to pick it off. Frowning, he muttered, "I can't read this..."

Carefully setting Laura back down, Gerald stood up and took the note from his friend, briefly taken aback. "It's in German. Let's see..."

"You can read German?" Chad asked.

"And write it, and speak it. My mother was born in Bonn, remember?" He paused, shaking his head. "They know I can read German. Degas and Alexander are taunting me."

Rather than ask, Chad said, "Well, read it..."

Clearing his throat, Gerald read through the note silently, and then slowly translated, "'To the Chosen of the Light: Fear not for your friend. She will not get up and attack you. This strain of the Darkness Infection is exclusive to Reston, Pillar of Death. She is in a nightmare-filled coma, but at least you will not have to duel her. To cure a Pillar's victims, you must defeat the Pillar. This one is willing to take that challenge, and plans to meet you in a place for fun in your life. See you there. Signed, Alexander, courtesy of Reston.'"

"'A place for fun in your life?'" the taller of the two pondered. "Where would that be?"

Gerald's eyes went wide, and he replied, "That's an advertising slogan for the Mall of America. That's in Bloomington, just outside the Twin Cities proper... Reston is in the Mall. And if he's in the Mall, that means everyone in it is in danger."

"Yes, but he teleports," Chad noted. "So we can't exactly outrun him, can we? If he's going to infect everyone there, he's probably done that by now."

"Sometimes I wish you weren't right, my friend."

"You wish that?"

"Enough." Gerald sighed, folding and pocketing the note. He then knelt and picked Laura up, again surprised by how light she actually was. "All we can do tonight is get her back to the hotel and make her comfortable. Attacking a Pillar just off a victory is asking for the Infection. In the morning we will head to the Mall." With that, he headed for the car.

Chad blinked a few times at Gerald's matter-of-fact statements, and then pondered aloud, "We seem remarkablely calm and collected under the circumstances. I mean, one of our closest friends was just defeated and stricken with an evil disease..."

"I think it's shock. At any moment, we may-" And then Gerald stopped, having set Laura in the back seat of the Corolla. He paused, and then slumped over her, head in his hands. A moment later he started to sob.

With nothing else he could do, the tall man patted his crying friend on the back and slid into the front seat of the car, starting the engine. Something caught his eyes, and he turned to the rear-view mirror. He could have sworn there was a fireball reflected in it...

...and the fireball hit the ground next to the car, and Lucifer Allumette stepped out of the night. He turned to the backseat, saw Gerald crying over Laura, and shook his head. "Miss Vesnic lost, I presume?"

Chad nodded, sliding the Ring of Purity off of his finger and holding it out. The Beloved of Fire blinked and took it back, sliding it onto his own finger again.

"The Pillar of Death is at the Mall of America," Chad told Lucifer. "Find Sol Kilkarn and Demetrius Lark and tell them we'll be there tomorrow morning. We need everyone we can get against this one."

"Understood. Good evening to you, Monsieur Montmelier."

With a nod, Chad drove away, headed back towards the Minneapolis Hilton, and Lucifer stepped away. A moment later, the ball of fire flew off into the sky.

0000000

Evening slipped into night, and Lucifer delivered the message given to him. In their own hotel rooms, Sol Kilkarn and Demetrius Lark prepared for the next morning's journey.

Outside of the city limits but still within the domain of the Darkness, the Mall of America was pitch-black. Most of the lights were off, and odds were good that as long as the Pillar of Death stalked the hallways they would remain off. Reston himself strode out of the third-floor food court, stepping over an unconscious Darkness Infected on his way out. He had no need for sleep.

Without turning a thought to his actions, the Pillar of Death found himself descending a deactivated escalator, and then another, moving towards a very specific set of escalators. These he moved down, the only sound as he moved being his breathing, accompanied by the occasional hiss as he drew from the oxygen tank.

Now he had entered an underground aquarium, the famous Underwater World, and his shoes clicked against an unmoving conveyor belt. The fish swam away from the Plexiglass of the tunnels as he walked by. Here, the lights were still on, and Reston's eyes narrowed as he walked.

After a few minutes, he came across another figure in the tunnel. It was a heavily muscled Japanese man with spiky blue-black hair, wearing a single blue garment, and he was retying a blue headband around the bottom of his hairstyle. The marks of the Darkness Infection showed clearly on his body, its fringes surrounding his scars.

"Evening," Reston said in accented Japanese.

As he pulled the headband tight, the man replied, "I suppose it is. It's hard to tell time without being able to see the sky. Mind if I ask why you came down here?"

"Chosen and friends coming tomorrow. Will lure them down here. Need preparation."

"Please..." Picking up a Battle City-model Duel Disk, the man tapped its deck. "I don't care how good they are - American duelists are overrated! One good gale would fold them! Why do I need to prepare?"

The Pillar of Death glared at him, causing the man to briefly shake. "Top American duelist among their numbers. Could prove a challenge." There was a pause, and then he held up one hand, several cards tucked into it. "Take this. If Chosen, Montmelier, or Kilkarn duel you, do not use. If Lark duels you, use."

Nodding, the Japanese man took them, setting them next to his Duel Disk as he put both down. "Got it. You know... I kind of hope I duel that Lark guy. Americans always seem to assume they can outdo other countries. It would be a real honor to defeat their Number One!"

"Indeed."

With a yawn, the man stretched out on the floor. "Still... no need to worry until the morning..."

Reston tilted his head, taking another drag off the mask. "Comfortable?" he asked.

"When you're on the sea, you have to sleep whenever you get the chance. At least this isn't made of wood..." And before the Pillar could ask further, the man was snoring.

Odd, Reston thought before he headed for the escalator again.

SEWER RAT
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Lv. 4/EARTH/Beast/1400/1000
Image: A filthy, disgusting rodent, covered in sores.
Efect: Any monster other than a Machine- or Zombie-type monster that battles this monster loses 400 ATK Points as long as they remain face-up on the field.
Note: This card first appeared in Dark Sage's "Yu-Gi-Oh Jr.: Legacy of the Duelist". All creative credit goes to him.

ACID SLIME
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: Lv. 3/WATER/Aqua/800/1000
Image: A small blue slime, vaguely X-shaped.
Effect: When this monster is destroyed as a result of battle, your opponent takes 800 points of Direct Damage to their Life Points.
Note: This card was used by Mad Dog in the GX episode "No Pain, No Gain". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Coming next chapter: Time for a cameo from the anime... Early in the morning, Gerald and his allies make their way to the Mall of America, but shopping is not on the agenda. In the tunnels of Underwater World, a menace awaits, prepared to attack whoever comes his way. Demetrius, however, owes Gerald a favor, and now is the time to pay it back. Can the first among equals bring down this underwater nightmare? The next chapter is Chapter Twenty-Seven, and its name is "Crimson Tide".

[Dark Sage]

I predicted this. I knew the Pillar of Death would win the first round. Poor Laura. She seems to have been dealt the worst luck in the whole ordeal.

Still, what will happen when we get to Round Two? We've seen Reston's deck - can he still surprise us?

Speaking of which, I must say that a deck based on poison and disease is rather unique. You've come up with a lot of odd ideas, Jason.

I look forward to the next Chapter, one that I know a great deal about. And to everyone reading this, keep a close eye on my own fic, because that chapter and the next chapter of this fic are related to each other a great deal.

[Shuppet Master]

Fate really really hates Laura, because now she's a Darkness Infected. I'd like to see her take down Degas out of fury.

Nice chapter though. Shows how powerful the final Pillar is - his deck is a modified burn, one of the most evil decks in existence, and Laura got destroyed by a forbidden card. Evil, just plain evil.

That autospy scene was grotesque. Keep up the good work, Jason.

[jkBAKURA]

Hey. I know I haven't been reviewing for a while. I thought I might be too biased, but for this, I can't resist posting.

You've set up Reston for several chapters now, and the hightened anticipation finally got a chance to be released somewhat. Laura through everything she had at the guy, and she didn't even inflict enough damage for him to call his image (Oh dear god, what monster is that going to be?)

That was a nice touch. Having Laura go down at her best rather then have a mental conflict, cheap custom card, or other trick to get her to give up. You definately don't have anything held back with this guy. I can think of several more cards in theme. Reston is the first Villain to have a repat proformance, so I hope his deck does not stale quickly. (on a side note, this is the only Pillar not armed with Light monsters)

As for next chapter, it's obviously going to be interesting. Starjake and DS have brought back canan characters before, so you have a bar to live up to.

[Blademaster]

And once again, Master of Paradox and his twisted mind and writing style has succeeded in giving me nightmares. >>

Seriously, this is one of the best chapters of this fic yet - the conflict felt real, the duel was full of suspense and excitement, and Gerald's and Chad's reaction to Laura's defeat was unexpected, but it was realistic. Well done.

Now, Mako is making a reappearance next time, huh? Against Demetrius... That'll be a heck of a fight, I can feel it.

Keep up the great work.

[The_Missing_Link]

Another good one but I'm not too fond of the way Death speaks but that's a minor thing. I personally thought the chapter before this one was one of the best but I forgot to comment

And can you check the ASB X-Mas Tree? I don't want this to be another Summer Christmas Tree

[Shuppet Master]

And once again, Master of Paradox and his twisted mind and writing style has succeeded in giving me nightmares.

You said it! I was envisioning that gruesome autopsy Retson did on Laura's monster when it died due to Ebikyo Drakmord, and...I ENVISIONED IT RIGHT WHILE I WAS GETTING MY TEETH DRILLED!

[Blademaster]

Speaking of envisioning...

I knew something about this last chapter was a little odd; looking back, I noticed something about Reston...

His appearance, his symptoms, his obsession with death (or, more accurately, the transition to it from life)... He reminds me an awful lot...

...Of John, the 'serial killer' from Saw and Saw II!

Coincidence?

[Perfect Chaos]

hahaha, I think you hit the nail right on the head Blade, that's the exact person I was thinking of when I read over Reston's description and how the previous chapter was portrayed. Maybe Paradox had an inspirational moment when watching the Saw series? (which I thought was completely brilliant)

[Master of Paradox]

I have never seen any of the Saw movies, oddly enough. But I am familiar with them, and it's entirely possible Jigsaw was rattling about in my subconscious when I came up with Reston.

So it's not intentional, but who knows with the maelstrom I call my imagination?

[Master of Paradox]

Happy New Year, my friends. New year, new chapter...

And one note - this story is set in 2005, so the Park at MOA is still called Camp Snoopy. I also took some minor liberties with its layout.

The name is Demetrius Lark, first among equals and the top-ranked duelist in the United States... and Canada, for that matter. I'd be Number One in Mexico as well, except I haven't competed down there yet. Amazing for someone who only discovered this game at age 30, isn't it? I came across Duel Monsters when my older son, Mercutio, told me about a game his friend had started playing. The details intrigued me, and I took it up myself. After a month I swept the local game shop's tournies.

I've seen a lot of oddities in my life. Over my years, I've encountered ghosts, one of which I had a part in exorcising; I fought a swordmaster blade-to-blade on the wing of a barnstorming plane; I studied meditation in Tibet, where I learned to create a tulpa; I've even dueled a sock puppet (not by choice, mind you). But the situation in the Twin Cities is unlike anything I've run into before, and if Gerald Laxina and his friends hadn't aided me I would be in deep trouble. When they retrieved my deck from my tulpa, I vowed to repay them.

Last night one of Gerald's party was defeated by a Pillar. The poor girl's got the Darkness Infection now, and the Pillar retreated to the Mall of America. Gerald's called in his debt, and now I will repay it. We've journied to the Mall, and together we will bring down the Darkness... at least, that's the hope. But things just took a bad turn.

One thing I have always wanted to do is duel Yugi Motoh. Imagine, the King of Games versus the First Among Equals! This is as close as I'm likely to get, though - my opponent once dueled Yugi himself. And given how bad my situation is at the moment, I may be a great deal farther from dueling Yugi than I thought...

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Crimson Tide

Somewhere in St. Paul, Alexander could not sleep. He could feel Bethany curled against him, her breathing a steady rhythm, but her presence somehow failed to provide the usual calming effect that it imparted on him. Unconsciously, he began to stroke her hair, whereupon she murmured and tucked herself closer to him.

After about ten minutes, he glanced to the clock on his nightstand. It showed 3:51 A.M., whereupon he smirked. It's today, he thought. I never considered that. He continued to look at the clock until the numbers clicked to 3:52 A.M.

I give up, he thought, and he carefully extracted himself from his beloved. She curled against herself in his absence, not waking up. Throwing on a green bathrobe, Alexander stepped out of the door.

The next room he stepped into was Caiside's prison, where the maniac hung from his manacles and shook slightly, standing on his toes. He raised his head on hearing the Dark Conduit approach, and giggled to himself.

"You seem entertained," Alexander said as he finished tying his robe. "Have you seen anything recently?"

Another giggle left Caiside as he pulled himself up on the chains, muttering, "No alias... The girl of chaos using her real name... not always the case... Athena... sounds like Bethany, but what sense does it make..."

It took an effort of will for Alexander not to break Caiside's ribs on hearing that. He took a few deep breaths, muttering, "You will not speak of Bethany that way, Caiside. Tell me... have you had any visions recently?"

The madman shook his head, dropping in his chains. "Angels are falling... Twenty two, twenty three... Twenty three, twenty two... Which is which? Can never tell..."

"I admit we have no worry about expenses," the Dark Conduit said, grabbing one of Caiside's arms, "but we still provide you with your upkeep, my prophet. Now I suggest focusing yourself until you can see something that looks less like a hallucination and more like the future. Understood?"

A glimpse of fear crossed Caiside's face, and then he nodded. Alexander released him, and the madman looked to the ceiling. And then his eyes rolled back in his head and he muttered in a different voice, "All comes to a head..."

Alexander crossed his arms and smiled, listening.

"Darkness spreads..." Caiside swallowed and continued. "Confusion shall reign. Two of the same line meet in the night, and what shall result? Long-parted threads retie, and pain and suffering flare from it. But which is Rom-"

Before the man in green could even realize he was doing it, his fist flew out, slamming itself across the madman's face. Caiside snapped his head to the side and collapsed in his chains, knocked out. Withdrawing his hand, Alexander caressed his knuckles, teeth clenched.

"Didn't like what you were hearing?" Degas said from the doorway, adjusting his sunglasses. "A pity... we could have used the rest of that vision."

Turning on his heel, Alexander shoved his hands into the robe's pockets. "That wasn't a vision. It was his lunacy at work again."

"As you say." The man in black lifted a hand, and then let it drop, adding, "It will be a few hours before Gerald and his party set out again. Shall we check on our other projects?"

Still ashamed at his anger, Alexander nodded.

0000000

At dawn Gerald awoke. His back and stomach were both killing him, and his knees were sore. He realized he was kneeling, and then staggered to his feet, rubbing the soreness out of his legs. As he did so, Gerald blinked, his eyes feeling sandy. Judging from the evidence, he had spent much of the night bent over something and crying.

The lazy young man then looked down and saw where he'd spent the night: next to Laura's bed, with the unconscious girl laying on top of the sheets. Her hands and neck were marked with the Darkness Infection, and there was a dent next to her side, with two patchy spots that were still moist to the touch in it.

This shook away the last traces of the amnesia granted by waking up from Gerald's mind, and he set his head on his hand, giving a weak groan. The events of the previous evening were playing themselves out in his memory.

"If it helps," Chad's voice came from the next bed, still groggy, "few people can truly say they've ever cried themselves to sleep."

"I've already had that experience," Gerald replied, rubbing at his eyes. "Once you have done it before, having it again is not something you rush to doing." At that point, he staggered towards the bathroom, adjusting his rumpled shirt and pantslegs. He happened to glance into the mirror as he entered the bathroom, and he couldn't help noting how bloodshot his eyes were. For a brief moment, he imagined what that would look like Darkness Infected, and then shook it off.

Sitting up in his own bed, Chad stretched out, feeling his joints pop a small amount. He then slid out of the bed, stretching further. "Something tells me you keep the details of that previous experience to yourself."

Gerald's voice emerged from the bathroom, a sting added to its usual bored drawl: "Very perceptive."

"Still, at least you got some sleep last night. Didn't that use to be a problem?"

"Chad." The voice had a sharp edge on it. "Now is not the time to joke about this."

The tall man shut up and went to the drawers, searching through them.

A moment later, Gerald emerged from the bathroom, having arranged his hair into something that could pass for orderly. He moved to Laura's bedside again, running his hand across her face, and then straightened out his sleeves. Taking a deep breath, he knelt and retrieved his Duel Disk, brushing it off.

By the time Chad, now clad in a simple denim shirt and white pants, emerged from the bathroom, Gerald was standing by the room's minfridge, halfway through a cup of yogurt. A banana peel laid next to the TV, apparently tossed aside.

"Eat quickly," Gerald told his friend. "Once you're done we move for the Mall of America."

Even as he knelt, searching through the fridge, Chad said, "Gerald... I told Sol and Demetrius we would go to the Mall in the morning, but I didn't say 'by dawn's first light'..."

"The situation is serious enough. They will be there. If not, we fight alone." The young man stroked his fingers through his hair, still messy as only brown hair could be, and noted, "Normally I would agree with you, but I refuse to leave Laura like that longer than I have to."

"That's another point," Chad replied as he pulled back from the fridge, pouring himself a glass of milk. "The damage is done. Can't we afford to take a little while to prepare?"

Gerald shook his head. "We gave the Pillar of Death last night," he said. "I will not give him another morning to spread the Darkness Infection. Besides..." He paused, shivering slightly before finishing the sentence. "How can we prepare for that? Our decks are ready. In this battle, that is all we can count on."

It was 6:44 in the morning when the Corolla GTS left the Minneapolis Hilton's parking lot.

0000000

The previous evening, when Lucifer had relayed Chad's message to Sol and Demetrius, the two had given the same response: "We will be there... but how will we get there?"

And so Lucifer had agreed to drive them. He was already awake by six in the morning, adjusting the Ring of Purity on his finger as he drained a cup of coffee. As usual, he was in an impeccable white suit, his hair excellently combed, but there was a trace of fire flickering around his sleeves.

"Dad," Vivienne murmured as she stepped into the kitchen. Her hair was disheveled, and she wore a long red nightgown that didn't quite touch her ankles. She was running a brush through her hair as she spoke. "Why are you up so early?"

"Because Monsieurs Laxina and Montmelier will be," the Beloved of Fire replied, pouring himself another cup. "If Monsieurs Kilkarn and Lark wish to aid zem, zey will have to be at ze Mall of America as early as ze Chosen." He then raised a hand before adding, "And you will not be helping zem."

"But father!" the girl yelled in French. "Do you expect me to just let Chad walk into it by himself?"

Lucifer switched to French in order to reply, "First, young lady, he is not alone. In fact, his group is larger than before. Second, I refuse to let you anywhere near a Pillar of Darkness. Finally, as my daughter, you, dear Vivienne, were born in the camp of Dreams. You could not help Chad yourself without breaking the rules, and I could not help you get out of that!"

All of his points were valid, but that did not stop Vivienne from scowling as she stood in the doorway. The scowl faded over the next few minutes, and by the time Lucifer drove away from the house, she watched with a look of deep concern.

0000000

At the desk in his hotel room, Demetrius Lark bent over a piece of paper, pen in hand. He paused for a moment, organizing a stray idea, and then began writing.

"'My dear boys,'" he said aloud as he wrote, "'if this letter ever finds its way into your hands, it means my career has come to a sudden halt. Blame no one but me - I chose to encounter the threats here directly, with a full understanding as to what it might cost me, and I paid the price without flinching. I may not be dead, exactly, but I will never return. I would go into details as to what I mean by such words, but the details do not make sense to me. Please forgive me for not watching you grow up.'"

He paused, blinked the stray tears away from his eyes, and resumed writing. "'Mercutio, Iago, if I am gone then it will be your turn to carry our duty and our blessing - the Lark family's legacy. Our family has held its name high for several hundred years now, and you must never let it falter. Between you, my boys, carry on our family's traditions. Never step back from a challenge. Always keep your promises and repay your debts. But most of all, whatever you do with your life, do it with dignity. That dignity has maintained us since the first days of the family, and it shall last us until our final moments.'"

Demetrius fell silent at that point, but the pen moved on, and he sank into directions for his attorney and accountant. It had taken five minutes to write his message to his sons. It took the better part of an hour to set up his legal affairs.

Once the letter was finished, Demetrius folded it, slid it into an envelope, and sealed it. He then wrote, "To the family of Demetrius Lark" on the flap, stood up, and slid his Duel Disk back onto his arm. One good tug tightened the straps, and he sighed in satisfaction. "And into the breach I go," he said to himself.

A loud honk sounded outside, and Demetrius flung open his window to see a frustrated Lucifer sitting behind the wheel of a car. "Doesn't anyone have patience anymore?" he yelled down.

0000000

As cheap as Sol Kilkarn's hotel room was, it still contained a Gideon Bible. The young man had that open on his lap as he worked his way through a few pieces of toast, sipping a glass of milk with the hand not turning the pages. He frowned at one passage in particular, thinking, The translator thought that was a good wording? Who'd they hire, Jack Chick?

The young man closed the book and set it aside before he slid off the bed, stretching when his feet touched the ground. "Huh..." he whispered to himself. "It was Saturday two days ago. Grandmother would kill me if she knew how I'd spent the Sabbath." The Star of David on the chain around his neck tapped against his chest as he kept stretching, and he frowned. His grandmother had given him that piece of jewelry, and he briefly thought, She lives in Mankato. Has the Darkness Infection reached that far?

Shaking his head, Sol grabbed his milk and finished it before wiping his mouth clean. "No time to worry about that," he said aloud. "The best solution to that problem is to finish what I started. Once the Darkness Infection is gone, she'll be safe and I will have paid my penance all in one go."

He was out the door just as Lucifer's car pulled up.

0000000

By 8:00 in the morning, two cars drove up the ramp into the Mall of America's parking garage. They moved up to the third level and then stopped, whereupon five men climbed out. Four of them were wearing Duel Disks.

"Remember," Sol said as they walked towards the Skyway to the Mall, "we're parked in the Hawaii lot."

The instant they stepped onto the Skyway, all five men recoiled. A number of unconscious people were scattered about, every one of them marked with the Darkness Infection. Gerald and Sol glanced to each other, and then the two moved around the Skyway, moving the victims into the recovery position.

Shaking his head, Chad said aloud, "We can't afford to do that for everyone, guys. The entire mall is probably like this, so get ready for it. Don't forget - we beat the Pillar of Death, everyone gets better."

Once the last person was in place, the group moved on, pushing through the doors and stepping into the world's largest shopping mall.

Bodies lay everywhere. Some lay across the floor of the walkways, contorted into expressions of pain, while some were slumped over benches, hit while resting. The shops were filled with the Infected, whether caught on their way to the doors and now laying half-out of them, unconscious and laying against the racks, or the clerks slumped over their counters, brought down on the job.

The sheer darkness caught all five of the intruders off-guard - with only natural light streaming in through the central skylight, the Mall of America was a very shadowy place. And without any music playing over the sound system, it was a very quiet one as well. After a moment of gathering his courage, Gerald turned to Lucifer and asked, "You won't be able to help us against Reston, will you?"

"Sadly, non," the Beloved of Fire answered, adjusting his sleeves. "Dreams are still neutral in zis whole affair. I help you as I can because I like to."

"In that case, go and turn the lights on. That won't give either sides an advantage."

Nodding, Lucifer disappeared in a flash of flame, replaced by a fireball which shot away. With his absence, the party inched further into the Mall.

By the time they reached Tiger Sushi, all four realized they had no idea what to do. They knelt in front of the large glass panel behind the restaurant, whereupon Sol asked, "So... now what do we do?"

Gerald shut his eyes for a moment, and then said, "There are four of us and four floors to this building. However, the fourth floor is just a movie theater and a handful of bigger-name stores and clubs, so unless Reston is also the Pillar of Entertainment I doubt he would be up there." He paused before continuing, "I will search the first floor. Demetrius, search the second. Sol, you check the third. Chad, you check Camp Snoopy."

"Why do we need another person for Camp Snoopy?" Chad asked.

"Because of it, the first floor is twice the size of the others, so having two people will just make things easier."

Overhead, the lights came on, and everyone blinked. Now the full extent of the carnage became clear, and all four men gulped. "Who could do that to an amusement park?" Demetrius questioned.

"The Darkness," Gerald replied. "Degas and Alexander are not in the business of killing people, but rendering them helpless does not harm whatever moral code they have." He sighed, still wincing on Alexander's name, and then stood up to dust off his knees. "Everyone, be prepared to duel. Now... let us split up."

The four nodded, and then Demetrius headed out along the walkway while everyone else went for the escalators.

0000000

At that moment, the Pillar of Death was moving along the first floor. He stopped, shutting his eyes, and then exhaled through clenched teeth. "Chosen of Light approaches," he muttered. "Not good. Not ready. Must lure him into trap."

He stepped into the nearby Barnes and Noble and slid behind one of the shelves, waiting.

0000000

Stepping off the escalator, Gerald sighed and adjusted his Duel Disk. "The last time I was at the MOA," he noted aloud, "I won my Crush Card in a tournament. Wonder if anyone I know is here?"

It hit him that he hadn't dueled in a while, and he began to wonder if he still had his edge...

...and then his stomach turned over. He began to sweat, and his entire body shook. After a moment, he concentrated, and a wave of light passed over him. "The Pillar's nearby," he said under his breath.

And then the tall,thin man who had stopped their car the day before strode out of Barnes and Noble, holding an oxygen mask to his face. He turned to face Gerald, and then extended one arm, beckoning him forward.

With no other option, Gerald followed, his eyes locked on the Pillar of Death. Reston moved slowly away from the bookstore, rounded a corner, and stepped onto the inactive escalator to the Underwater Adventures Aquarium. He paused and beckoned again before descending.

Storming after him, Gerald moved down the steps and followed Reston. The Pillar in question moved past the entrance and into the tunnels of the underground aquarium itself. After a few moments more, however, he came to a stop.

Before the lazy young man could even shout out a challenge, there were three bursts of darkness, and Reston disappeared.

"Damn it," Gerald muttered. He then admired his surroundings - he was at the center of a Plexiglass tube, which arched up and over his head. Rocks and coral lined the sides, and fish swam about outside the tunnel, which shimmered as the water flowed about it. It was quite a peaceful place.

Footsteps sounded on the tunnel floor at that point, and Gerald spun to face further down...

Continued in the next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

"Nothing so far," Demetrius said to himself as he moved along, cane in one hand and Duel Disk on the other arm. He then thought to himself, And of course you would see nothing. What importance are you to the Darkness by this point? Without the Darkness Infected to thwack, your mileage has plummeted.

He then happened to glance over one side of the walkway and saw a tall, thin figure that could only be Reston luring Gerald towards Underwater Adventures. Something rang false about the entire situation, and Demetrius thought, My friend there is being drawn into a trap. I could just let him fight his way out...

He shook his head. If I wanted to break my vow I could do that. But I must repay him for the earlier assistance, and now's the right time.

Without second thoughts, Demetrius ran for the escalator.

0000000

On the third floor, Sol Kilkarn passed through the North Food Court, his stomach rumbling. He had failed to get breakfast that morning, and it was starting to bother him. Unfortunately, all the fast food stands were empty - the clerks were out with the Darkness Infected behind their counters, and the machinery was off.

And then he passed the Taco Bell counter, and realized it was still operating. A very nervous young woman stood behind it, looking around herself every few seconds.

When he apprached her, the woman let out a panicked shriek, and then blinked a few times and exhaled. "Thank goodness," she said, adjusting her uniform hat. "I thought you were one of them!"

"Actually, I came here to settle that problem," Sol replied. "Why are you still working here? Why didn't you flee once you realized you weren't infected?"

"I tried," the woman replied, blinking her light blue eyes. "But the doors were locked from the outside, and the lights were off, so I had no way to find another exit. Ever try to sleep surrounded by the comatose?" She then giggled despite herself. "I wonder if I still count as on-shift."

Returning the laugh, Sol stretched out and asked, "Would it be pushing it to ask for two soft tacos?"

In response, the woman smiled and went to work, hands a blur. Judging from the speed of her actions, she'd spent a while at this job. It was only a few moments later before she handed Sol his order.

"Thanks," the young man asked. He set his food on a table and went for his wallet...

...and then the woman started coughing. She looked at him apologetically, and then coughed again. The coughs strengthened, and on the last one the marks of the Darkness Infection crossed her hands and neck. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and the clerk fell behind her counter unconscious.

And the friers and other equipment all shut down in turn, whereupon the North Food Court went dead.

Sol blinked, but as he sat down, pure panic ran through his veins. He shivered, sweating immensely, and then took the Star of David out from under his shirt and held it in front of himself, muttering every prayer his grandmother had ever taught him.

"Only works on vampires," a thin voice replied. With that, the Pillar of Death emerged from the shadows, arms crossed before him. He took his oxygen mask and put it on, pulling the straps into place.

There was a pause, and then Sol said, "Reston... can this wait a moment? I haven't eaten all day."

After a moment, the Pillar of Death blinked and nodded.

0000000

Gerald crossed his arms, looking over the other man in the tunnel. The newcomer was easily as tall as he was, and had much larger muscles, which rippled everywhere they could on his frame. Scars crossed much of his exposed skin, and most of his skin was exposed, as he wore only a single garment, which ended above his knees and left his arms and legs uncovered. He had a large amount of spiky black hair, held in place with a headband, and a Duel Disk was strapped to one arm.

As the other man was wearing disturbingly little, the marks of the Darkness Infection showed everywhere. They wrapped around his legs, marked his hands, crossed his chest, and finally met at his neck. But they still weren't enough to hide his face, a face that held a certain amount of renown...

"Impossible," Gerald muttered. "How on Earth did the Darkness manage to pull Mako Tsunami into this?" He then shook his head. "Oh, right. The Pillar of Death can teleport. Apparently across the planet."

Lifting his Duel Disk, Mako cleared his throat, and then yelled a challenge. Unfortunately for Gerald, he yelled it in clear, loud Japanese.

The lazy young man blinked, and then said (in clear, quiet English), "Could you repeat that?"

Mako blinked as well, and then muttered something Gerald could not translate.

"Well, what were you expecting?" Gerald said to himself. "He's a Japanese fisherman who likely stayed out of the education system. He likely doesn't understand a word of English. Pity I only know enough Japanese to get myself into a fight." He lifted his head and asked, "Spreichen sie Deutch?"

Whatever Mako said in reply, his tone made it clear he didn't speak German.

Gerald nodded, and then murmured, "Drat. Still..." He activated his Duel Disk and looked up, speaking only to himself. "I've dueled someone who couldn't talk at all, so this is actually less of a challenge on that score."

Impressed, the fisherman shouted a boisterous remark and activated his own Duel Disk...

...but before either could draw their opening hands, another voice yelled, "Hold!"

Demetrius Lark ran up the tunnel of Underwater Adventures, holding his tophat in place with one hand. He looked between Gerald and his opponent before asking, "Mako Tsunami?"

"Yes. How the Darkness got him I don't want to know. Now if you excuse me..." Gerald began.

Holding up his hand, Demetrius turned to Mako and said in fluent (if shakily pronounced) Japanese, "Excuse me, Mr. Tsunami..."

The fisherman jumped back, and then glanced over Demetrius before replying, "Wait... You're Demetrius Lark, aren't you?"

"You know me?" the older man asked, setting his cane against the side of the tunnel.

"Indeed, American champion. Since the moment I came to this country I was hoping to duel you. I was told to go after the Chosen of the Light..." Mako then laughed, shaking his head. "But why duel someone when I'd have to resort to gestures and grunting to get my point across? At least you speak my language, if not very well."

Frowning, Gerald said, "Demetrius, I can take him..."

"No, you cannot," Demetrius replied. "As much as it hurts to say it, I don't have the backbone to face a Pillar. Too much risk of marring my record, and..." He wiped a tear from his eye. "He scares me. You've done this before, so you know how to deal with it. But if Mako defeated you, who would stop Reston?"

"You have a point."

As he continued, Demetrius grinned. "And remember, I have a debt to pay. Allow this Lark the chance to make up what he owes, won't you?"

Nodding, Gerald shut off his Duel Disk and stepped back. "Good luck, Demetrius."

"Luck?" the older man asked, frowning. "Don't need it, my boy. I'm just good!"

Gerald walked away, and Demetrius stepped into his place, activating his Duel Disk.

"So you are the Number One ranked duelist in the United States?" Mako asked, resetting his Duel Disk. After a moment, it registered Demetrius as his opponent.

"Indeed," Demetrius replied, switching back to Japanese as he tipped his top hat. "Earned that title when I swept Colorado's State Finals."

The other man caught Demetrius off-guard by bursting into laughter. "Like that's anything to boast about!" Mako said once he had himself under control. "Please... all the good duelists are from Japan. Have you ever read the global standings?"

"I'm number twenty..."

"And you're the only American in the Top Fifty!" the fisherman shouted. "All being Number One in the United States means is that all your fellow countrymen are worse than you are!" He drew his opening hand.

As he drew his own opening hand, Demetrius shouted back, "Get off of it! Where are you in the Top 100? Nowhere, that's where you are!"

"If you had ever faced real competiton you wouldn't be on that chart either! And I'm just the man to give it to you!"

Both Life Point counters sprang to 8,000, and the duel began.

Taking two cards from his hand, Mako slapped them onto his Duel Disk, announcing, "I set one monster in Defense Mode and one card facedown. Your turn, landlubber!"

"Please do not start with the sea jokes, it's too early in the day," Demetrius replied. He paused as he drew his sixth card, thinking, How odd. Mako Tsunami is a figure of minor renown for having dueled both Yugi Motoh and Joey Wheeler... more the former than the latter... and I have received a great deal of notice as well. That means both of our decks are a matter of public record, which means both of us can see what's coming. And I know that trick all too well.

Looking to his draw, Demetrius thought, I can at least take advantage of this. "I set two cards facedown," he began, "and set one monster in Defense Mode..."

"And I activate my Trap Card!" Mako shouted.

Clutching his ears, Demetrius replied, "I'm standing right here, you git, you don't have to yell! The acoustics in this place make you loud enough as it is!"

"Sorry," Mako said. "Either way, I activate Torrential Tribute."

For a moment, there was nothing. A sound like rushing water echoed down the tunnel, however, and soon a raging tidal wave rounded a corner, sweeping towards them. Mako's facedown Giant Jellyfish and Demetrius's Chain Thrasher were both caught up in it, and when the water settled down, both their fields were clean of monsters. Mako had nothing, and all Demetrius had were his facedown cards.

"Just as I thought," the older man mused, stroking his goatee. "That will be my turn."

Nodding, the Darkness Infected drew, thinking, He saw that coming. But... my deck is prepared for his. I anticipated him taking over for Gerald, and Degas and Alexander saw fit to lend me a few cards for this duel... "Again, I will set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode," Mako said. "And then it will be your turn."

Drawing, Demetrius said, "What a coincidence. I will set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode as well." He then waved. "Take your turn."

"Indeed." Mako drew and slid the card into place. "I play my Pot of Greed!" As always with duelists, he ignored the hologram as he drew two cards. He then held one up and declared, "I activate my Terraforming Magic Card!"

Here we go, the older man thought.

A beam of blue light shone in front of Mako, and he watched it flicker past multiple images before he reached out, touching one in particular. It became a card, and he opened his Field Slot as he slid it into place. "A fisherman is nothing without the sea. I'm never used to the feel of dry ground under my feet, so enough of it! I play Umi!"

At first, it seemed like the walls of the Underwater Adventure tunnel had cracked. Water leaked down them and onto the floor, and the cracks spread; soon water dripped everywhere. And then there were three loud cracking noises in turn before the Plexiglass shattered altogether, pouring water into the tunnel.

Soon, all that was left was the conveyor both stood on, suspended in the middle of the ocean. The sun shone down, and the water rippled around both duelists, fish swimming by. It took a good deal of concentration for Demetrius to note the flaws in the hologram, all that kept him from believing he was submerged.

"Ah..." Mako sighed his satisfaction, arms crossed for a moment. "Just like my life on the sea. Now I'll Flip Summon my Star Boy, granting all Water Monsters - himself included - 500 extra Attack Points..."

A red starfish sank into place next to Mako, but while most starfish were content with five limbs, this one had a single eye and a purple-lipped mouth. He idly spun in place. (500/550 - 1,000/550) The current spun him some more, but the starfish seemed happy. (1,000/550 - 1,200/750)

"And now I summon my Great White!" the fisherman continued.

Both men went pale as the Duel Disks began to play a very familar "bum-bum" theme. They stared aghast at their machinery, Demetrius wondering, Good Lord, how much did Kaibacorp have to pay for the rights to THAT?

As the music continued, a shadowy, finned figure swam past on one side. It swam past on the other, and as the music hit its climax it dove down onto Mako's field. For all intents and purposes, it was a great white shark, teeth sharp and skin rough. However, it also had very large arms under its gills. (1,600/800) The Star Boy and the current caught up to it, and it flexed its muscles. (1,600/800 - 2,300/1,000)

Wiping some sweat from his brow, Mako muttered, "I apologize for my Duel Disk's cheesiness... either way, Great White, attack Lark's facedown card with Tension Bite!"

The shark hurled itself at Demetrius's monster, whereupon Demetrius countered, "I activate my Trap, A Feint Plan! Now my facedown monsters are safe from attack for one turn, and that's all the monsters I have!"

A dizzying array of currents blew into place, throwing the Great White every direction on the compass. It disengaged, shuddering a bit, before swimming back to Mako's field. Its dead black eyes locked on the opponent.

"One card facedown," Mako noted, "and my turn will stop."

Demetris drew, reached down, and flipped a card over, announcing, "I flip my Penguin Soldier into Attack Mode, activating his effect and sending two monsters back to your hand... and you only have two monsters to begin with!"

The miniscule armored penguin rose into view, quacking slightly. The currents of Umi boosted its confidence, and it stood straighter. (750/500 - 950/700) Holding out its sword, the Penguin Soldier began to spin it.

Underneath Mako's monsters, the water began to spin, forming twin whirlpools. Both the Great White and the Star Boy tried to swim away, but the undertow was too great, and they were sucked in. A moment later, the whirlpools reversed direction, spitting out two cards. They arced through the air and landed in Mako's hand.

Enjoy this while you can, gaijin, Mako thought to himself.

"Now I will summon Mataza the Zapper," the older man continued.

For a moment, the ocean around them grew quite dark. A series of ripples broke the stillness of the water in front of Demetrius, and when the lights came back on the armored ronin stood before them, one hand on his sword. (1,300/800)

After a moment's consideration, Demetrius called out, "Penguin Soldier, direct attack!"

As the waterfowl began his charge, Mako shouted, "Activate Trap! Tornado Wall prevents me from taking damage from attacks when Umi is in play... but then, you've seen Battle City, haven't you?"

The Penguin Soldier was halfway down the conveyor, sword raised, when the ocean shook around them. And then the waters parted around them as a massive blast of wind split the ocean in two. This wind became a tremendous tornado, hurling the penguin back to its owner. Soon the tornado died down, and as it faded the waters flowed back together.

There was a moment's pause, and then a school of clownfish swam in front of Demetrius. Huh, he thought. Nemo. "I activate my Compulsory Evacuation Device to send Penguin Soldier back to my hand."

A splash sounded overhead, and a large cannon sank down to land on the conveyor. Quacking, the penguin loaded itself into it. With a shuddering boom, the cannon fired, and a card hit Demetrius's hand.

"And that will be all," he said.

The fisherman drew his next card, took a different one, and threw it onto the field. "I summon Penguin Torpedo!" he declared.

For once, the name said it all. It was a torpedo shaped like a penguin, and it hovered in front of Mako with a sense of menace. (750/650 - 950/650)

"When will wonders ever cease?" Demetrius mused.

"Spare your sarcasm. Penguin Torpedo, Fire One!"

A burst of superheated water emerged from the Penguin Torpedo's thrusters, and it launched toward Demetrius, rippling the waters before it.

"I activate my Trap Card, Ordeal of a Traveler!" Demetrius countered.

The entire earth shook around the two duelists, throwing the Pengun Torpedo off-course and cutting off its thrusters. From beneath the conveyor, the mighty sphinx rose up, its eyes flickering with purple flames.

Once he had regained his footing, Demetrius explained, "Pick one card in my hand and name its type - Monster, Magic, or Trap. Choose correctly and the attack continues... although I note Mataza will cut your torpedo in half. Choose wrong and your armament goes back to your hand." He shuffled the three cards he held and extended his arm. "So?"

Mako shut his eyes, arms crossing, and thought, I know at least one card in his hand. I just need to pick which one it is. "I choose..." He pointed. "The card on your right, and I say it's a Monster!"

The older man's jaw dropped, and he turned the card over, revealing it to be his Penguin Soldier. "You're correct, but what good will it do you?"

"Did I forget to mention Penguin Torpedo can't attack monsters? It only has one target..."

The torpedo's thrusters reactivated, and it adjusted its course... directly into Demetrius. The thrusters fired, and it shot through the ocean.

"Oh, damn," Demetrius managed to say right before the Penguin Torpedo hit. It let off an explosion strong enough to floor him, even as his Life Points went down to 7,050.

Pieces of scrap metal floated past Mako as the fisherman continued, "Of course, being a torpedo, it explodes on contact. Even if I didn't attack with it, it still dies at the end of the Battle Phase..." He then played another card from his hand. "But that's why I have Return of the Doomed. At the cost of one card from my hand, I can bring back a monster that died this turn. And I'll bring back the Penguin Torpedo."

He slid his Great White into the Graveyard, and a beam of light pierced the conveyor. Parts of the destroyed Penguin Torpedo gathered in this light, reforging into a single warhead. With that, they vanished, and the card reappeared in Mako's hand. He then waved for Demetrius to move.

Struggling back to his feet, the older man stroked his goatee before drawing. He then scowled, thinking, Where are all the cards that work? "I set one monster in Defense Mode and end my turn," he concluded.

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

After his next draw, Mako shook his head. "Please. Ever since I purchased a radar scanner for my boat, underwater obstacles have ceased troubling me. For example, your facedown monster..." He slid a card into his Duel Disk. "...means nothing thanks to my Nobleman of Crossout."

Carefully tucking his cards into one knuckle, Demetrius clenched his fist, his scowl deepening.

A fairly effeminate knight sank through the ocean overhead, drawing his sword as he landed in front of the facedown monster. Raising the blade, he stabbed downwards, impaling Demetrius's Penguin Soldier. The waterfowl and the knight vanished together, and two cards jutted out of Demetrius's deck. Muttering to himself, he picked up all three cards and slid them into his pocket.

"With that out of the way," Mako continued, "time for Fire Two! I summon my Penguin Torpedo again!"

Once more, the strange bird/missile combination floated in front of its player. (750/650 - 950/650)

"Open fire!" the fisherman shouted, and the torpedo's thrusters burned to life, hurling it at Demetrius...

The sphinx's eyes flashed with purple light, and Demetrius held up his hand, shuffling the cards with his free hand. "Choose one."

Now that I've removed his Penguin Soldier, Mako thought, I don't know any of them... and I don't even have enough to facilitate a good guess. "I'll say..." He paused. "The middle one is a Trap Card."

"Oh, so close, good chap!" Demetrius smiled and turned the middle card around, revealing a Hane-Hane. "Now as per the Ordeal of a Traveler, the Penguin Torpedo returns to your hand."

The ocean floor shook as a gaggle of hideous spirits burst from the sphnix's eyes, flying towards the Torpedo. They scooped it up, flying towards Mako, and shoved the card back into his hand before dissipating.

A frown crossed the Darkness Infected's face as he thought, I still have my Tornado Wall, but it's a fragile defense - nobody in this game runs a deck with zero anti-Magic or anti-Trap cards... He looked to his hand and cursed. "I end my turn."

Demetrius replied, "Right." He drew a card and then laughed, unable to stop himself.

"What do you find so amusing?" Mako asked.

Catching himself, Demetrius said, "It's the situation, Mako-boy..." He then bit his lip and thought, -san, not -chan. "I mean, Mako. I start with a card facedown..." The card appeared. "And then play a Magic Card called Giant Trunade. Familiar with it?"

The fisherman's eyes widened, and he put his forehead to his palm, sighing. "Oh, not again..."

A massive gust of wind hit the ocean, splitting it down to the conveyor the duelists stood on. It began to spin, forming a lighter version of Mako's Tornado Wall, and soon gathered all of the water, the sphinx, and all the other Magic and Trap cards into its wake. Cards rained from the sky as the wind died, landing in either player's hands...

...and then a piece of parchment floated down, and Demetrius caught it out of the sky.

Even as he uttered Cantonese profanities, Mako noticed the parchment, asking, "What is that? Something to do with your facedown card, I take it?"

"Indeed," the older man explained. "It's called Treasure Map, and when it's bounced to my hand by another card, I draw twice..." He did so, and then tore the parchment in two before sliding a card into his Graveyard. "But once you find the treasure, the map's useless, so I then discard Treasure Map."

Around them, the hologram of Umi had fully faded, and they once again stood in the center of a large Plexiglass tunnel, the fish separated from them. The only thing left on either field was Mataza the Zapper, whose armor was dripping. He sneered, took off his headband, and wrung it out.

"Relax, my ronin friend," Demetrius said. "It's time to get revenge for how badly your armor will be rusting later. Direct attack with Ronin's Sting!"

Flashing his master a grin, Mataza drew his sword and leapt forward, slashing Mako hard across the chest. The fisherman winced as his Life Points sank to 6,700.

"And again!" came the order, and Mataza flipped his sword in his hand, his next strike crossing the first to form an X. Clutching his chest, Mako exhaled slowly, now at 5,400 Life Points.

Without ceremony, Demetrius picked three cards out of his hand, tossing one onto a Monster slot and slipping two into his Duel Disk. "A monster in Defense Mode and two cards facedown will fill out my turn." Mataza smiled, resheathing his blade.

Adding another card to his hand, Mako seethed, a burning X drawn across his chest by the sword. "I play Umi once again," he began.

The tunnel's walls cracked again, and with a loud snap, Underwater Adventure shattered around them, returning the duelists to the bottom of the sea.

"I set two cards facedown," he continued, "and then play Card Destruction. Now we both discard our hands and draw the same number of cards we had before..."

Both men folded their cards, slid them into their Graveyards, and drew their new hands.

I still haven't drawn it, the fisherman thought with a spark of anger. "Now," he went on, "I summon my Fiend Kraken in Attack Mode!"

Two pale white tentacles came up from below the conveyor, wrapping around it. They pulled, and slowly the giant white octopus rose into view, blank eyes drilling into Demetrius's own. He flinched away as it settled into place, tendrils waving. (1,200/1,400) A whirlpool spun beneath it as the kraken moved about. (1,200/1,400 - 1,400/1,400)

"Fiend Kraken," Mak ordered, "give the Zapper a taste of what you gave the Nautilus!"

Rising off the conveyor, the Fiend Kraken whipped forward, tentacles flailing. It hovered over Mataza, beginning to wrap around him.

"I activate Ordeal of a Traveler!" Demetrius called out. Once again, the sphinx rose up from the black depths, its eyes lined with purple flame. He then held out his cards. "Make your pick."

Gesturing to the left card, Mako said, "I say that's a Monster."

Taken aback, Demetrius growled and turned the card around - Guardian Sphinx.

Without anything to stop it, the Fiend Kraken wrapped its tentacles around Mataza the Zapper and pulled it in, towards an unseen maw. They didn't need to see what happened next - the sounds were ugly enough.

Demetrius felt his stomach turning over as his Life Points lowered to 6,950. He then looked at the back of his hand, and - to his dismay but not his surprise - the black mark of the Darkness Infection appeared on it.

"And that's just for starters," Mako said as he saw that action. "Either way, take your turn."

Remain calm, Demetrius, the older man thought as he drew. Undefeated or not, you've still had worse scrapes than this. He tossed a card onto his Duel Disk with a shout of, "Pot of Greed!" Drawing twice more, he then said, "I Flip Summon my Hane-Hane!"

Over the course of his career as a duelist, Demetrius Lark had seen the Hane-Hane some 1,923 times. But he still could not work out why on Earth anyone would make a card that was, in essence, a nose with hands and wings. (450/500)

After a moment, said giant nose wrinkled, and it let out a loud "ACHOO!" The resulting gust of wind blew the Fiend Kraken straight off Mako's field, blowing it through the water and into his hand.

"Geshundeit, Mr. Chupon," the older man said. "Next, I sacrifice the Hane-Hane for Guardian Sphinx in Attack Mode!"

For a moment, the winged nose seemed confused... and then it vanished. In its place came a crack in the ground, which slowly expanded, apparently ripping the conveyor between them in half (though this was just part of the hologram). Slowly, another look-alike of the Great Sphinx at Giza rose into view, stone fragments rolling off of its body as it did. With a mighty rumble, it finished ascending, towering over both duelists. (1,700/2,400)

A quiet moment passed as Demetrius took in the scene. He had a powerful monster in front of him, even if it was a tremendous stone carving, and Mako had nothing on the field but two facedown cards, neither of which scared him. He could feel his adreneline building up. "Guardian Sphinx," he finally ordered, "direct attack! Monolith Crash!"

"You fool! You know what I have on the field!" Mako shouted back. "Activate Tornado Wall!"

At that, Demetrius actually laughed. "Did you think I forgot that? Activate Royal Surrender!"

Mako's Tornado Wall began to lift, but then Demetrius's own trap snapped into place. A piercing trumpet blast sounded throughout the ocean, and the waters rippled towards the Tornado Wall, shattering it to pieces before it ever went off.

"Royal Surrender," Demetrius explained, "is a Counter Trap that cancels out the effects of Continuous Trap Cards. So Tornado Wall meant nothing to me! Now, Guardian Sphinx, continue the attack!"

Stone ground against stone as the mighty construct lifted one paw. It held it over Mako, letting him take in its shadow falling over him, and then slammed it down. When the paw pulled back, the fisherman was facedown and dazed, his Life Points at 3,700. He raised his head, muttered, "Racoon dog, racoon dog, ha-ah..." and dropped it with a groan.

Raching down, Demetrius turned the Guardian Sphinx over, and it vanished in a purple cloud, replaced by a facedown monster. "Guardian Sphinx's effect lets me switch it facedown, and now that I've done so..." He slid one card into his Duel Disk. "That will be all."

As Mako struggled to his feet, Demetrius frowned, thinking, I usually keep Royal Surrender in my deck to counter another card... one that I've feared ever since I designed this strategy. It is one of my few defenses against that card, but if Mako continues to duel as he has so far, I need not fear it...

Once the world stopped mutating in front of his eyes, Mako blinked a few times and drew another card. He then paused, stared, and thought, This is it. Once I play this card, the duel is in my hands. "I set this card facedown..." He slid his draw into the Duel Disk. "And one monster in Defense Mode. Make your move, mooncalf!"

"You're a duelist, not a pirate," Demetrius replied. He drew his next card, and then paused, studying Mako carefully. Something seemed wrong. "Now," he continued, "I flip the Guardian Sphinx faceup, bouncing all your monsters back to your hand..."

Again the tunnel under them split open, and the age-old monument rose from beneath the surface...

Holding up his Duel Disk, Mako pressed one button, and a Trap Card lifted on his field. Its picture showed up: a Penguin Soldier, its feet trapped in a bog. "Recognize this?" Mako called out in triumph. "I activate the Continuous Trap Card known as Tarfoot!"

For a long, agonized moment, the older said nothing. And then, at the top of his lungs, he yelled, "Oh, dash it all!" It echoed along the tunnel of Underwater Adventure, repeating his lament again and again.

The ocean seemed to solidify around the duelists, turning from flowing water into a thick blue gel. The Guardian Sphinx stopped, only half-risen, its paws still under the surface. Meanwhile, the gel ate away at the Ordeal of a Traveler's sphinx, reducing it from its past glory to a copy of its eroded, cracked modern counterpart. Although he could still move freely, Demetrius could feel the gel pressing down on him.

The worst part was that the ocean still flowed freely around Mako, who noted, "You already know this, but all effects that bounce monsters back to their owner's hands are utterly worthles when Tarfoot is active. So now your Ordeal of a Traveler is negated, and your Guardian Sphinx can flip all it likes for all I care. Try your fancy strategies now, see what good they do you!"

Mind still reeling, Demetrius returned Mako's taunt with a blank look. He then looked over his cards before muttering, "Right... Guardian Sphinx, attack his facedown monster..."

Its paws were still trapped under the conveyor, so the massive monument did not bother trying to lift one. Instead, it turned slightly to face the targeted monster, and purple fire leaped to life on its eyes. It then shot the fire at Mako's monster, covering the Fiend Kraken in purple flames. The water surrounding them had no effect on the fire, and it burned away without a second thought.

"I chain to its destruction with Revenge Sacrifice!" Mako declared, the card with a picture of an entangled woman lifting up. "When one of my monsters is destroyed, I can sacrifice one of yours to summon a monster from my hand. So I'll Tribute your Guardian Sphinx for my Kairyu-Shin!"

The ocean turned red around them, and unearthly tendrils wrapped around the Guardian Sphinx. They forced themselves into cracks throughout its body, teasing them wider, and then suddenly smashed through it, reducing the entire creature to rubble. The broken stone formed into a long line, and with a flash became a long, blue-skinned serpent, with no eyes and sharp teeth. It wrapped around Mako, snarling at Demetrius. (1,800/1,000 - 2,000/1,200)

Barely able to blink, Demetrius merely took a card from his hand. "One monster in Defense Mode... end turn." The card appeared before him.

As Mako drew, he smirked, noting, "Without your bounce cards, you don't have much of a deck, do you? Ah, well... seems your reputation is about to take a hit..."

0000000

A large, metal arm, eaten away by rust, fell to the ground in front of Sol Kilkarn. He staggered back, the Dark Snake Syndrome rendering his movements jerky, and took a few deep breaths. The arm shattered, leaving him with nothing but 600 Life Points.

"Pathetic," Reston muttered as he took a card from his hand, his own Life Point total at 5,500. "Finish with Poison of the Old Man. May choose to either gain 1,200 Life Points or deal 800 damage. Choose latter."

A table rose up beside the Pillar of Death, containing two glass bottles - one was tall and held green liquid, the other short and holding purple liquid. He took the purple, hefted it twice in his hand, and then hurled it at Sol. It shattered against him, unleashing a thick purple cloud, and he broke down in a frenzy of choking coughs, blood flecking his hand as his Life Points sank to zero.

The holograms faded as Reston stalked up to Sol, arms crossed before him. He shook his head. "Sought redemption. Didn't find it. Damnation final. No hope for tainted soul. Learned that long ago."

"For you..." Sol gasped, leaning forward. "You need a serious heart to atone... I have it. You never will... It's not... hopeless for me..."

"Foolish. True or not, sins eternal. Still... dead soon, so argument pointless." He took the young man's face in one hand. "Down."

And the marks of the Darkness Infection once again spread over Sol's body as he cried out, crossing his hands and neck. He shook twice, and then went limp in Reston's hand, falling onto his side.

Shutting off the oxygen tank, Reston removed the mask and sighed. "Feel empty..." He moved away from the defeated duelist, looking over the food court's railings into Camp Snoopy. "Minor opponent. Serious battles still waiting."

His eyes sought out Chad, who was wandering around far below him.

0000000

Drawing another card, Mako adjusted his hand. "I now play Premature Burial," he declared, "letting me play 800 Life Points to bring back a monster from my Graveyard. And the one I choose is Great White!"

His Life Points dropped to 2,900, and a red circle appeared on his field. Blood suddenly flowed out from the X cut on his chest, diluting over the circle... and causing the shark to burst out, snapping at the waters around it. (1,600/800 - 1,800/1,000)

If he had the capacity to feel more than despair, Demetrius would have retched.

"That done, Kairyu-Shin, attack his facedown monster!" Mako then ordered.

The vicious sea worm roared, hurling itself at Demetrius's concealed monster. Its cruel jaws clamped around the bird-headed soldier, a Hayabusa Knight, and ripped it clean in half, throwing bits of metal everywhere as the armor shattered.

With a wave of one arm, Mako announced, "Feeding frenzy time, Great White! Eat up!"

The water blurred as the powerful shark launched through the ocean, mouth opened wide. It bit into Demetrius's arm, thrashing about. This brought him back to his senses, and he grabbed his cane from his side, yelling as he struck the shark's gills with it. Finally, the predatory fish let go, leaving Demetrius with 5,150 Life Points and a rip in his sleeve.

"Your turn, Mr. Lark," Mako said, tapping his foot.

Drawing, Demetrius shut his eyes. Assessment time: my theme is powerless as long as he has Tarfoot out, I was fooled into wasting my major weapon against said Tarfoot on his Tornado Wall, I am not holding anything that can counter it, and I have no monsters or anti-attack tricks on my field. What a negative assessment. "I draw."

The foil on his draw glittered under the dim light from outside the hologram, and Demetrius frowned. "I have no choice. I play my Card of Sanctity, allowing us both to draw our hands up to six cards." He shut his eyes, not wanting to see Mako benefit as he did as he drew his cards. On opening them again, however, he smiled. "And now I play the Dark Door!"

A line drew itself out of light on the water between the two duelists, expanding to form a shimmering wall of energy. Soon a green spot appeared on this wall, unfolding to slowly expand into a long rectangle. This rectangle glowed and disappeared, leaving a shining hole in the wall.

"Only one monster per turn can pass through that door," Demetrius noted. "Now I'll set a monster in Defense Mode and end my turn." A facedown monster appeared in the midst of the gel on Demetrius's side.

With a scoff, Mako drew. "The ocean is a thousand times larger than this hologram can show, Lark. You can never block out all of it!" He tucked the card into his hand, taking out a different one. "Now watch as I scour the seafloor with my Magic Card, Big Wave Small Wave!"

The older man's eyes grew large enough that his brow tipped his top hat. He reached up to push it back into place.

Yet again the conveyor began to shake, but Mako held his footing as Demetrius stumbled. The water rolled to one side, lifting itself up and over the platform. The fish within it swam about in panic, even as it lifted up, and the Kairyu-Shin and Great White flopped about helplessly...

And then the water came down in one giant rush, knocking both Demetrius and Mako to the floor and crushing everything it hit. For a moment, nothing could be seen or heard but the raging waters, and then it leveled out. Both men staggered to their feet, noticing that both of Mako's monsters were gone, although all other cards on the field were unaffected.

"The ocean is destructive," Mako mused. "The first effect of Big Wave Small Wave reflects this, destroying all my Water-type monsters. The second effect, however, reflects the bounty of the sea, letting me Special Summon one Water-type monster for each one I lost. And I choose..." His eyes shined. "Mermaid Knight and the Legendary Fisherman!"

A large current pushed past the duelists, exposing two veins of bubbling water. The bubbles slowly grew, expanding into two monsters. One was a mermaid, as Mako had said, but she looked nothing like Ariel - she was rather obese, had stringy red hair, and wore plate armor over her human half; she also held a sword and shield. (1,500/1,000 - 1,700/1,200) The other...

The other was a monster almost as famous as Joey Wheeler. It was a tall, dark-skinned man with wild blue hair, wearing a green loincloth and holding a sharp spear. He stood on the back of a shark, and his eyes burned with excitement. Even before Mako had the Darkness Infection, this monster looked like him; now the marks of the Infection matched the black tattoos on the Legendary Fisherman's body. (1,850/1,600)

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

Blinking, Demetrius asked, "Wait... I thought you gave that to Joey Wheeler during Battle City. Where did you get that one?"

"It's an odd tale, one I feel uncomfortable sharing with someone who doesn't live on the water... but I'll tell you anyway." Mako paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, and then continued. "When I went out to sea one rainy morning, about six months ago, my ship was caught in a massive gale. In order to fight it off, as per an old sailor's suspicion, I began to whistle a song my father had taught me long before - whistling, they say, drives back storms.

"You can imagine how shocking it was to hear someone whistling back in the middle of an empty sea! A few moments later, the gale died down, and a whirlpool came into being just in front of my ship. It lasted but a second, and then a woman stepped out of it."

"A woman?" Demetrius raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you hadn't dipped into the rum?"

"I don't drink rum, Lark - you can't man a fishing boat by yourself if your senses are numbed by alcohol. And yes, it was a woman - impossible to tell her age, but she had shining blonde hair, sickly white skin, and wore a long blue dress. She asked why I was out that morning, and I told her the truth - that I fish for a living.

"'A fisherman?' she said, and then she started to laugh. 'Few have the bravery to sail out into the heart of a storm. I miss the days when men were bold enough to travel my seas no matter what the conditions.'

"It begged the question, and so I asked it. 'Your seas? Nobody owns the water.'

"'I may not own them, but I have a better claim to them than you humans.' She gave me a smile and then bowed, saying, 'I am the Beloved of Water, after all. The waters do as I bid, and the seas dance to my tune. But enough of that... do you duel?'

"And when I said yes, she called up a waterspout. It landed on her arm, turning into a Duel Disk made out of what looked like seashells, whereupon she said, 'Get your Duel Disk and let's begin.'"

On hearing the term "Beloved of Water", Demetrius's mind immediately settled on a picture of Lucifer Allumette. I suppose if fire has a Beloved, so would water, he thought. She must be with the Shadows, then. "Who won?" he asked aloud.

"I did!" Mako replied, thumping his chest. "Did you think I would lose to some girl who just popped up out of the seas? She played a very powerful Water deck, as you might imagine, but I triumphed in the end.

"As she knelt afterwards, breathing hard, she told me, 'You possess remarkable skill. It pleases me that one who harvests water's bounty has more than just brute strength to back them up...' She then laughed, stepping to the very edge of the deck, and said, 'I cannot help but be interested in you. When you look to the waves, think of the Beloved of Water, and know that I'm watching...'

"And then she jumped into the oceans, and disappeared into the waters with a splash. When I went to look for her, however, I nearly slipped on a card. It was another Legendary Fisherman, with a note under it saying, 'He and you are as one'. Ever since then I've had this copy of the card in my deck."

"Impressive story," Demetrius interrupted, stifling a yawn, "but can you finish your turn sometime in the next week?" He gestured to Mako's monsters, who had dozed off as he spoke.

Mako let out a shout at his monsters, knocking them into wakefulness, before playing another card. "Sorry I got long-winded... now I play the Magic Card Salvage, letting me add two weak Water Monsters from my Graveyard to my hand!"

Two bubbles floated up from the depths of the ocean, carrying the Giant Jellyfish and Fiend Kraken. They popped, and the cards floated down into Mako's hand.

"But they won't stick around," he carried on, "because they're just the bait for my ultimate weapon. I play my last card for the turn, Fortress Whale Oath!"

Underneath the conveyor, a large shadow began to loom. The fish scattered around them, leaving Demetrius feeling a deep sense of worry. That worry turned to dread as the shadow began to come closer.

"To summon the Fortress Whale itself," Mako noted, "I need to give seven star's worth of Monsters to the Graveyard. So goodbye, Giant Jellyfish and Fiend Kraken! You are the necessary sacrifices to bring out my mighty Fortress Whale!"

Both monsters appeared on Mako's field, but then they fell from the conveyor. The shadow moved closer, and both disappeared with a chomp. There was then a low roar, and the shadow rose over Mako's field, coming into the light...

Blue whales, though gigantic, are considered one of the less threatening creatures in the animal kingdom. Whoever had designed the card known as the Fortress Whale had taken that into account, because they had made a few deliberate errors in the design. For one, blue whales did not have large horns on their fronts; that belonged to narwhals. Secondly, and more importantly, whales do not usually have massive cannons on their backs. The Fortress Whale had both. (2,350/2,150 - 2,550/2,350)

"Ulp," Demetrius Lark said. He then paused and frowned, adding, "Didn't Joey Wheeler take this card from you, as well? I'm guessing there's a long story behind this one, too."

With a shrug, Mako said, "Joey gave it back after the finals. He said it wasn't fair to take both my trumps from me. Now..." He crossed his arms. "I could attack with both the Legendary Fisherman and another monster, as the Legendary Fisherman's effect makes him immune to all Magic Cards while in Umi... including The Dark Door. But I know you have a 'spin' monster in your deck, and Tarfoot does nothing to those. I would prefer not being forced to draw a Tribute Monster on my next turn, so I'll end my turn here!"

He knows me too well, Demetrius thought with a sneer as he drew his next card. He then played it, announcing, "I play Graceful Charity!"

Instead of an angel, however, a strange young woman floated up on the card's announcement. She had green skin, and her hair was like long, flowing seaweed; a thin blue gown covered her body. Her hand passed over Demetrius's deck, and he drew his three cards.

Even as he handed his discards (Begone, Knave! and a Hade-Hane) to the woman, Demetrius asked, "What is this?"

"Don't you know your myths?" the fisherman said, holding his forehead. "That's a Nereid, a Greek spirit of the ocean waves. I suppose angels don't like operating underwater..."

The Nereid smiled at Mako, and then descended into the depths again.

Is it just the nature of this duel, or have they gotten more elaborate with the holograms lately? the older man pondered. He then took two cards from his hand, saying, "I set a card facedown and a monster in Defense Mode. Take your move, Mako-boy - I mean Mako." Dratted honorifics, he thought. That's the one part of Japanese I've never gotten straight.

With a glare, Mako drew his card, saying, "I'm not sure that's an accident." He then let out a hearty laugh, slapping down his card. "Now I destroy your Dark Door with my Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"Chain!" Demetrius yelled back, his voice bouncing around the concealed tunnel. "I activate Emergency Provisions, sacrificing my Dark Door, my Ordeal of a Traveler, and the facedown Trap Hole on my field to gain 3,000 Life Points! Now what will your Typhoon destroy?"

Far beneath both duelists, the seafloor cracked, a thermal vent shooting to the surface. Around this burst of warm water, a waterspout came to life, hurtling its way towards the shining gateway on Demetrius's field. However, a bizarre mouth leapt from his card, biting the doorway in half, reducing the sphinx to pebbles, and devouring his facedown card whole. The waterspout dissipated without ever reaching Demetrius, and he merely smiled as his Life Points rose to 8,150. The marks of the Darkness Infection vanished from his hands.

But then the fisherman smiled back, replying, "It may have fizzled, but what will that do for your chances? I now play Pot of Avarice..."

The ridiculous-looking pot descended in front of Mako, and his Star Boy, Kairyu-Shin, Fiend Kraken, Penguin Torpedo, and Great White all fell into it. It shattered, and he drew two cards.

He continued, "And now you will regret not having that Trap Hole. I summon the 7-Colored Fish in Attack Mode!"

A school of parrotfish scattered as a long, lithe predator passed through them. It swam over and around Mako, its rainbow-colored scales shining in the dim light of the ocean, until finally settling in front of its owner. Light glinted off the points of its tusks. (1,800/800 - 2,000/1,000)

Despite himself, Demetrius began to shiver. His muscles tensed in preparation.

"7-Colored Fish, attack the facedown monster on the left!" Mako ordered.

With a whip of its tail, the fish hurled itself at the facedown monster, its tusks goring into the monster. A muscular man rose from the card's hologram, grabbing the fish's tusks, and they fought for a moment. (1,300/1,800) Finally, even as he was lethally gored, the man hurled the fish away from him, and it landed atop Mako's deck.

And so dies a Legendary Jujitsu Master, Demetrius thought.

The fisherman nodded his head, noting, "Legendary Jujitsu Master, I know. Its effect sends its opponents in battle back atop my deck, even though I destroyed him." He then looked to the Mermaid Knight. "Aqua Edge on the other facedown monster of Mr. Lark's, Mermaid Knight."

Raising her sword, the obese warrior mermaid swam forward, raising her weapon and bringing it down hard on Demetrius's last monster. It was revealed as a young woman in purple robes, carrying a crescent-headed staff. She yelped before falling apart, divided in two. (200/300)

"Magician of Faith's effect, as I believe you know," Demetrius said, "lets me add any one Magic Card from my Graveyard to my hand on being flipped." He took his Pot of Greed and added it to his hand.

"And Mermaid Knight's effect gives her two attacks when Umi is on the field," Mako rebutted. "You like multiple-attack monsters, right?"

"Not when I'm being attacked."

"Pity. Get him!"

The Mermaid Knight drew her sword back and slashed Demetrius hard across the chest, throwing him to the ground. He let out a shout and fell to the conveyor belt's surface, cursing. His Life Points sank to 6,450, and the marks of the Darkness Infection returned to his hands.

A grin crossed Mako's face as he announced, "Legendary Fisherman's turn has come. Attack him directly with King Fisher's Spear!"

Lifting his spear, the Legendary Fisherman kicked his shark mount in the flanks, swimming into the waters over Demetrius's head. The older man could only watch as the foremost sea warrior took another position, and then threw his spear down at him. The waters actually parted before the weapon, and thus its velocity was not blunted in the slighest as it struck its target in the chest, slamming him back to the ground and taking his Life Points to 4,600.

The marks of the Darkness Infection spread to Demetrius's neck as he staggered back upright, only to have his eyes fall on Mako's final monster - his Fortress Whale. His mouth went dry.

Mako reached out and patted his Fortress Whale on the fin, laughing to himself. "Ever wondered what it's like to be Joey Wheeler?" he asked.

Blinking, Demetrius replied, "No. Actually, I have not."

"Too bad. You're going to get that experience no matter your wishes. Fortress Whale, fire cannons! Whale Bombard!"

The guns clicked into position on the Fortress Whale's back, and all Demetrius could do was stare. He then heard a series of crashing noises as the ammo loaded into the weapons, and all he could say - indeed, all he could think - was, "Oh, bugger."

Every one of the guns sounded off in turn, the blast echoing from Underwater Adventures out into the mall itself, almost shaking the massive building. A series of explosions followed, and smoke filled the tunnel to either end, briefly disrupting the Umi hologram itself as Demetrius's Life Points fell to 2,050.

It took the smoke quite some time to clear, and until then Mako merely looked down the tunnel at where his opponent had stood. In due time, he could see Demetrius Lark, flat on his back and top hat bashed in, cane several yards away. The smoke vanished, and the hologram of the ocean reasserted itself.

"Well, Lark? How did you like a taste of Sea Stealth III?" Mako asked his opponent. He then burst into laughter, pointing to his Tarfoot trap. "With that on the field, you have no deck theme! Nothing you play will get you out of this one, will it, Demetrius? Oh, you American duelists are so pathetic! Maybe I should move to this country - I might just be able to make it big!"

Sitting up, Demetrius shut his eyes, groaning in pain. He may be right, he thought. What sort of duelist can I call myself if I can get trapped in a situation like this? My undefeated streak is legendary, but don't all legends have to end?

And then he could see something, and he had no idea how...

0000000

"And that is that, folks! Iago Lark has defeated his final opponent, and the Hundred-Man Duel Gauntlet comes to a close! For the first time in Duel Monsters history, one man has defeated one hundred opponents in a row with a single deck!"

Demetrius briefly panicked on realizing he could see through his hands, but this faded when he looked up in response to the announcement. He was standing among a capacity crowd, cheering their lungs out; below their seats was a stage, apparently part of a coliseum.

Standing on that stage was a strangely familiar young man with sharp features, a cocky grin, and spiky green hair. He had three earrings in his left ear, wore a sleeveless black shirt with yellow vest and pants, and had a very familiar Duel Disk on his arm - it looked just like Demetrius's own. Taking his deck out of his Duel Disk, the young man shuffled it, and then held it up to the crowd. "Anyone else want to challenge the Lark family heirloom?" he called out.

And then Demetrius remembered what the announcer had called the young man. He gasped - the man was his younger son Iago, grown up.

The scene shifted, and Iago was now standing on the floor of Madison Square Garden, announcing, "Chain Thrasher, finish all this with Chain Rend!"

The Chain Thrasher, thus ordered, charged forward, spinning his weapon in his hand. He stopped just short of Iago's opponent and whipped the chain out, slashing the man across the face. He whimpered and fell over, his Life Points dropping to zero.

The commentator shouted, "And it's over! Like his father before him, Iago Lark has just won the United States Duel Monsters Championship!"

"You're all too kind, my people, you just are!" Iago shouted up as the audience roared their approval.

Again the scene jumped, and a young man who looked a great deal like Mercutio, Demetrius's older son, was standing in the center of a pit of fire, adjusted a strange Duel Disk; Demetrius guessed it was a newer model. His opponent, a strange being in a three-headed hooded robe, was shivering behind an Inferno Hammer, which itself was cowering in Defense Mode.

Snorting, this young man muttered, "Look. Nobody ever beat Grandfather Demetrius, Uncle Iago had a 430/3/1 record - win/loss/draw - and no creep in a two-buck Halloween costume calling themself a Chaosspawn is going to take down Feste Lark, do you understand?"

The three-headed being began to babble in a language Demetrius had never heard before and never wanted to hear again. Its fear was obvious in every syllable.

"Now get the hell off this plane of existence!" Feste reached down and turned over a facedown monster. "Hane-Hane, get that Inferno Hammer whatsit out of my sight!"

The winged nose appeared and sneezed, blowing the Inferno Hammer into the air and causing it to disappear.

"And now, just to prove that you can never stop a Lark, even if you can summon the fires of Hell, I summon my Hayabusa Knight in Attack Mode!" Feste yelled as he tossed down the card.

The bird-headed monster appeared, drawing its twin swords. It clashed them together and chirped.

Taking a moment to wipe off his hands on his shirt, Demetrius's grandson then said, slowly and with careful pronounciation, "I have a message for 'Chaos' on behalf of Grandfather Demetrius, Uncle Iago, and the other inhabitants of the Earth." His voice spiked in volume as he yelled, "PISS OFF! Direct attack!"

The air blurred, the Hayabusa Knight brought down both of its swords, and the Chaosspawn's body split between its hoods as it blew into a thousand fragments.

One last time the scene jumped, and now Demetrius stood next to an oak table. A young, lanky man with light blonde hair sat at the closer end, and he fidgeted in anticipation. Moments later, the door opened, and an old man approached the table, holding an inlaid gold case. To Demetrius's surprise, he could recognize the man - it was Feste Lark, grown old.

"Malvolio," Feste said as he sat at the table, setting the box in front of him. "Tomorrow you leave for Duel Academy, correct?"

"Yes, grandfather," Malvolio replied, his eyes falling on the box. His fidgeting increased. "Is that..."

The older Lark nodded, opening the box. Inside it sat a stack of Duel Monsters cards. They were old, judging by the wear on their edges, and they were in careful-fitting plastic sheaths, but as Feste took them out of the box, Demetrius could feel his connection to them. It was his deck.

With a sigh, Feste Lark said, "If Bassiano... your father... hadn't died in that traffic accident he would be doing this, as I would have for him. But as he's gone..." He then held the deck in one hand, holding it out. "Malvolio, I now bequeth the Lark family's ancestral deck to you. Are you willing to take on the responsibilty?"

Holding out his own hand, Malvolio slowly nodded, saying, "I am, grandfather."

"What are the family's traditions?" the older man now asked.

As Malvolio recited them, so did Demetrius, standing behind him. "'Never step back from a challenge. Always keep your promises and repay your debts. But most of all, whatever you do with your life, do it with dignity.'"

"Correct. Now carry that with you into the school, and make the Lark family proud."

Feste set the deck into his grandson's hand. One hundred years of history passed between them in that gesture, and Demetrius could feel every bit of it.

For a moment, he was surrounded by men and women he had never met, and would never meet, but whom were all connected to him. Finally, he stood before his great-great-grandson, Malvolio Lark. The resemblence was uncanny.

"So this is what I'm fighting for?" Demetrius asked.

The future Lark nodded. "Pretty much."

And they shook hands.

To be continued next post...

[Master of Paradox]

Continued from the last post:

With that, Demetrius's senses returned to the real world, and he pushed himself to his feet, dusting off his coat. His hearing came back to him at that point, and he could hear Mako triumphantly shouting, "I can't believe this... I'm about to do it! I'm about to be the first man to defeat Demetrius Lark!"

The world, as far as Demetrius could tell, turned red.

"LIKE BLOODY HELL YOU WILL!" Demetrius yelled, hand going to his deck. In his anger, he switched back to speaking English. "I am Demetrius Lark, first among equals. I am building a legacy to last as long as Duel Monsters exists, and you will NOT be a part of it!" He drew his next card and tossed it onto the Duel Disk, eyes wild. "Pot of Greed!"

Snapping two more cards from his deck, he tucked them into his hand, laughing as he saw what they were. "And now, I summon forth the Reflect Bounder in Attack Mode!"

A stray current shifted the gel that Tarfoot had created around Demetrius, exposing a mirror on the conveyor in front of him. The light struck it, bouncing off into the water off the edge of the tunnel. It hit a particularly shiny rock and bounced back, before being reflected off a spyglass, the last vestige of a wrecked ship.

All the reflected light landed on Demetrius's field, and from it emerged an odd figure - it looked human, but had mirrors embedded into its body. It adjusted the red robe it wore and held its hands before it. (1,700/1,000) The water leaked into its joints, and there was a creak as it rusted, its movements slowing. (1,700/1,000 - 1,500/800)

The fisherman stared at that monster for a moment before saying, "Wait... that's not a bounce monster."

"There are more than one ways to bounce your opponent to oblivon, Tsunami!" Demetrius declared, returning to Japanese. "Besides, it won't even need to bounce any of your cards - I play the Equip Magic Card Axe of Despair on my Reflect Bounder, granting it 1,000 more Attack Points!"

Each of the Reflect Bounder's mirrors reflected a hideous green axe, and then said axe appeared before it, the blade attached to a severed head. Both spindly hands wrapped around the handle, and it held the weapon before itself. (1,500/800 - 2,500/800)

Even as Mako was about to laugh, Demetrius tossed one more card onto his field, declaring, "And just to add to the fun, I use my Spiritualism Magic Card to return Umi to your hand. And you care to know why Spiritualism is so useful? Because nothing stops it!"

Mako's laugh cut off in his throat.

A gaggle of ghosts erupted from the card as it appeared on the field. They spread out throughout the ocean, slowly spiraling in towards the center. Unearthly laughter spread throughout the water, and white wind surrounded them as, in a giant swirl of water, the ocean vanished, and they returned to the tunnel of Underwater World.

The Reflect Bounder's joints snapped out as the rust rained off of them. (2,500/800 - 2,700/1,000)

Standing as straight as he could, Demetrius made a dramatic point towards Mako, shouting, "Reflect Bounder, erase the Fortress Whale from the seas!"

With a whirr and a click, the Reflect Bounder began to spin around on its waist. It slowly gained momentum, the axe dragging the air before it. And then it released the axe, which hurtled outward and cleaved the Fortress Whale along the middle. Shards of bone rained from its horn, and then it slowly fell into two halves. Before anything could be seen, however, it shattered.

The fisherman's jaw dropped as his Life Points did, sending him to 2,750 Life Points.

"One card facedown," Demetrius concluded as the Axe of Despair faded back into his monster's hands, "and my turn ends. Well, Mako-boy?" This time it was deliberate.

As his body shook, Mako drew his next card, the marks of the Darkness Infection throbbing. I could attack, he thought. Any attack will kill his Reflect Bounder, and then I could finish him off with any of my monsters.

But... Mako paused, frowning. But if I did, I would be reduced to 250 Life Points. This would mean nothing if I won, of course, but he has that facedown card. If it was Sakuretsu Armor, I could win without a problem. But a Negate Attack or a Mirror Force would cost me the duel... and even worse, he could wait until after I had attacked Reflect Bounder in order to activate it! And then any attack would end this duel! But... but what if it's a bluff?

Throwing back his head, Mako screamed in his mind, I can't decide!

"Make a bloody move already!" Demetrius yelled.

Glaring at his opponent, the younger man said, "Fine! I begin by replaying Umi!"

The waters rose around them one last time, and the Reflect Bounder weakened as the monsters on Mako's side regained their power bonuses.

"Next," Mako continued, sliding his draw into the Duel Disk, "I play my own Graceful Charity." As she had for Demetrius, a Nereid floated up to Mako, and he drew his three cards before handing her the 7-Colored Fish and another Umi. As she left, he said, "Then I play Monster Reborn, bringing back my 7-Colored Fish in Defense Mode!"

The rainbow-scaled piscine appeared on Mako's field with a flash of light, curled around itself. (1,800/800 - 2,000/1,000)

Before he made his next move, Mako frowned again, thinking, This card was a crutch for so long... but it still hurts to do this. "And then I sacrifice my Legendary Fisherman for a Monster in Defense Mode. Make your move, Lark."

The Legendary Fisherman let out a cry of shock before disappearing, replaced by a facedown card.

Even as he raised one eyebrow, Demetrius drew his next card. He then studied the field before sliding one card into his Magic and Trap Zones. "I begin with Monster Reborn, revivifying my Guardian Sphinx!"

The long-forgotten Tarfoot on Mako's field shone, thickening the ocean around Demetrius into a blue gel. This did not prevent the symbol of Monster Reborn flashing into being, nor did it stop the Guardian Sphinx from shattering the conveyor belt and rising up... although it did stop it before it got completely out. (1,700/2,400)

"Next," the older man continued, "I summon a Chain Thrasher to the field in Attack Mode!"

A bubble of air expanded into being, holding back the waters around it. Within this bubble emerged a young blonde man, dressed in a tight uniform. His right arm was bandaged, and he wore a leather glove on the left hand; his right hand held the coils of chain that gave him his name. (1,000/600) For a moment, another one appeared in shadow behind the first.

Holding up another card, Demetrius added, "And to increase his power, I'll lend him this Equip Magic Card - the Sword of Deep-Seated, granting him 500 More Attack Points!"

The Chain Thrasher smirked, holding up the free end of his chain. It warped and mutated, becoming a larger, wicked barb. (1,000/,600 - 1,500/600)

All Mako could do was whimper slightly, bracing his feet. This... will sting.

Demetrius stooped, retrieving his cane, and then gestured towards Mako's facedown monster. "Reflect Bounder, kill that hidden one, will you?"

The machine nodded, slamming its arms into its sides to shake off rust. It then began to spin again, the axe in its hands leaving the water cleaved in its wake. With a few more rotations, it let the weapon fly, hurtling it towards the facedown monster.

For a second, the oceans parted, and then the axe cleaved cleanly through Mako's facedown monster, revealed to be a hideous humanoid being, more fish than man. (2,400/1,200) It staggered for a moment, and then fell into two separate halves, which shattered on hitting the conveyor.

"My Amphibian Beast..." Mako muttered.

Catching his hat on his cane, Demetrius flipped it into the air, tipping it once it reached his head. "Pity. Now, Chain Thrasher, take down his Mermaid Knight!" he ordered.

The warrior lifted the barbed end of his chain over his head, spinning it until it made a whistling noise with each rotation. In one smooth motion, he hurled the chain out, watching it blur through the water and impale the armored mermaid. She dropped her weapon, gurgling in pain, and then fell back, floating slain towards the ocean's surface. The Chain Thrasher pulled the barb out, and she shattered before she got there.

"And since there's a Chain Thrasher in my Graveyard, I may attack again with him, so I'll have him dispose of the 7-Colored Fish!" the older duelist noted.

As the barb sank back towards the conveyor, the Chain Thrasher watched it intently, gauging how it sank. It fell near to the 7-Colored Fish, and as it did, the warror gave his chain one careful twist. The barb spun suddenly, slicing through the fish's body, and it flopped about on the platform a moment before shattering.

With nothing left on his field but Umi, Mako raised his arms to cover himself.

Demetrius grinned, shouting, "Take this, Mako-boy! Guardian Sphinx, direct attack with Monolith Crash!"

Once more, the sphinx raised its mighty, stone paw, holding it over Mako. It then brought it down, holding it for a second before dragging the paw away. Much like the last time, the fisherman was flat on his stomach, limbs twitching as his Life Points dropped to 1,050.

"My turn is over," Demetrius said. "Any last moves?"

With a grunt, Mako stood up, swaying on his feet. He then drew a card, and what remained of his thought processes after the Guardian Sphinx's attack kicked in. "I set this facedown," he mumbled, "and end my turn."

"Did you just switch to Kansai Regional for a moment there?" Demetrius asked as he drew. "Well, whatever... Chain Thrasher, end the duel with Chain Rend."

A light went on in Mako's eyes, and he yelled, "Did you forget I play this trap? Activate Tornado Wall!"

Merely looking at his nails, the older man replied, "I chain with my Malfunction Counter Trap. At the cost of 500 points, I can negate that trap and set it facedown again - but that ends the chain, so you can't prevent the attack again. This duel is done, Mr. Tsunami."

Demetrius's trap lifted up, and an explosion struck the bottom of Mako's card. It fell back to the ground, and as it did the Chain Thrasher gave him a mean look, spinning his chain. Even as he prepared to lose, Mako thought, Well... I suppose it's my fault for underestimating American talent.

Out flew the chain, and it wrapped around Mako's body tightly, sword locking against the coils. The Chain Thrasher gave it a couple of test tugs, and then yanked hard. The barb ripped into Mako's back, and the fisherman gave a loud yell, spinning off of his feet and crashing over the surface of the conveyor. His Life Points dropped to zero as he finally landed.

The marks faded from Demetrius's hands and neck, and he watched them do so without changing expression. He then looked over to Mako.

Groans left the fisherman's lips as he sat up, holding his back, and he looked to Demetrius for a moment before muttering, "You... you gaijin, you..."

"Why did I know you were going to call me that?" the American replied.

In one burst, all of the marks of the Darkness Infection left Mako, and he collapsed, unconscious.

Taking measured footsteps, Demetrius walked up to his defeated opponent, checking his pulse and his breathing. Once satisfied they were normal, he shut off his Duel Disk, pocketed his deck...

...and then pumped his fists in the air, shouting, "HURRAH! The first among equals prevails over a man who challenged Yugi Motoh AND Joey Wheeler! No longer are all my triumphs confined to this continent! This one is definitely going into the autobiography!" He then paused, lowered his hands, and admitted to himself, "Granted, some editing will be required. I doubt readers will accept a mystical disease was part of the equation."

Tucking his cane under one arm, the American Number One headed for the exit of Underwater Adventures, thinking, I had best find Gerald and report the fulfillment of my debt. If the Pillar of Death has found him, said debt may not yet be filled...

0000000

In his home, a small affair on the outskirts of the Twin Cities, Ulysses Cantrell straightened his clothes and stared into the fireplace, watching the bones from his earlier scrying blacken and break. As they did so, he felt a dose of relief. He'd done another scrying that day, one to see how the previous battle of the Light had turned out, and it was positive - enough so that those bones could be reused.

As he stared into the fire, a premonition hit him, one that felt like the vision he had received twenty years ago except not as painful. He sank onto one knee, feeling a sudden burst of urgency throughout his body.

When it faded, he sighed, standing up and moving to a side cabinet. He opened it, took out several acorns, an aloe leaf and a sprig of holly, and tucked them into his pockets.

"No such thing as an ex-Chosen of the Light," Ulysses muttered to himself. "But why am I getting called back?"

PENGUIN TORPEDO
Type: Effect Monster Card
Statistics: WATER/Aqua/Lv. 3/750/600
Image: A torpedo with a penguin's features added to it.
Effect: This card attacks your opponent's Life Points directly. At the end of the Battle Phase after this card is Normal Summoned, Flip-Summoned, or Special Summoned, destroy this card. (This card counts as being destroyed in battle if destroyed by its effect.)

REVENGE SACRIFICE
Type: Normal Trap Card
Image: A frightened woman being menaced by evil hands and wrapped in red tentacles.
Effect: You may only activate this trap when a monster you control is destroyed by an opponent's monster. Tribute that monster and Special Summon a Tribute Monster you control to your field.
Note: Both of the above cards were used by Krump in the two-part original series episode "Freeze Play". All creative credit goes to the writers of those episodes. "Penguin Torpedo" has undergone slight modifications.

TREASURE MAP
Type: Normal Trap Card
Image: A treasure map, complete with X.
Effect: If this card is returned from your field to your hand, you may draw two cards. This card is then discarded from your hand.
Note: This card was first used by Chazz in the GX episode "Chazz-anova". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

KAIRYU-SHIN
Type: Normal Monster Card
Statistics: WATER/Sea Serpent/Lv. 5/1850/1500
Image: A long, blue sea serpent with no eyes and massive jaws, rearing back out of a roaring sea.
Flavor Text: A sea dragon known as the King of the Ocean, it attacks its enemies with huge tidal waves.
Note: This card was first used by Mako in the original series episode "Attack from the Deep". Although it has appeared in the video games, I am unsure as to whether it has ever come out in the real game.

TARFOOT
Type: Continuous Trap Card
Image: A Penguin Soldier with its feet caught in mud.
Effect: As long as this card remains face-up, all effects that returns Monsters on the field to their owner's hands are negated.
Note: This card was created by Brian Corvello for his story "Yu-Gi-Oh: Dark Messiah". All creative credit goes to him. Used with permission.

Coming next chapter: Reston has picked his next target, and it's Chad Montmelier. The artist and his beasts now face the Pillar of Death, and they must try to defeat a strategy that not only is unknown to them, but has already brought down one of their allies. Can the force of nature overcome the threat of death harnessed? The answer is to be found in Chapter Twenty-Eight, "Contamination".

[Dark Sage]

Well, you've certainly set up the legacy of the Lark family well. It was a good duel.

I'm more concerned, however, with the upcoming chapters. First Laura, now Sol, and soon Chad. Reston is going to turn into a villain more despicable than Jacob soon. I don't know how long you intend to play this out, but I think it may be for a long time.

Keep up the good work, and hopefully, we'll see this part of the saga through to the end before long. Never despair, and always maintain the creative edge.

[jkBAKURA]

Rarely have I seen a chapter where an Anime character (especially a relatively minor one) was so true to character.

I'm not sure whether you based Mako on his Japaneese incarnation, or his American one, but either way he was undoubtedly a Mako that was instantly recognisable. The ocean references weren't overdone, and the character demands a few of them. You found the balance quite well.

Not only was the character true to form, but what impressed me even more was his deck. True, some of the more modern water cards were present, but most of those haven't seen much fanfic play such as Big Wave Small Wave and Salvage. I almost fell over when I saw you found a way to use Return of the Doomed.

OK, I'll take up too much space if I mention everything, but in short Mako's deck was definately a reflection of the Anime.

As for Demetrius, between you and DS we've seen four Bounce chapters, two of which have now used Tarfoot. This chapter in particular had very little bouncing, but Demetruis's deck was also very recognisable and played very well for a player who was for the most part locked down, both his attack damage as well as theme.

As for the story portion, the chapter opening was a bit slow in getting to the Mall, and story-wise didn't give much, but I suppose this Last Stand at the MOA still has much in store for everyone.

For someone who has actually been to the MOA, I will say you've done your research. Nice callback to TYD with the memory of the Crush Card too.

Well, I've rambled long enough, so I'll stop taking others' posting space.

Good luck Chad, you'll need it.

[Shuppet Master]

You know, Jason, as I read this story, I'm thinking that if the "Thousand Year Door" of Dark Sage was Final Fantasy X, this story is Final Fantasy X-2 and Demetrius Lark is LeBlanc. I loved the tie-in to Dark Sage's other fic, Dark Messiah. (To Brian, I found that there is a game called "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.")

This story is one heck of a show, and you're really making the final Pillar to be the toughest one. I don't know if Chad will wn against the Pillar or not, but everything says he'll be infected too, because Gerald's the one who is going to beat him, no one else can.

Funny, though - you told me about how your Pillars had the same titles as the Sinistrals of Lufia fame. Well, I played Lufia and Lufia 2, and Erim, the Sinistral of Death, was actually good inside and even opposed her brothers, and Daos, the Sinistral of Chaos was the leader. But here, you made your Chaos Pillar the second-strongest and the Death one the greatest of the Pillars. Shows how you can change things to your liking, huh?

Keep up the good work, Jason.

[Master of Paradox]

YU-GI-OH: TILTING THE BALANCE

Nominated for:

- Best Yu-Gi-Oh Fic
- Most Original Concept
- Most Improved Fic
- Best Overall Setting
- Best Battle Scene (Laura vs. Graz'zt, Chapter 23)
- Best Character in a Supporting Role (Lucifer Allumette)
- Most Original Character (Gerald Laxina)
- Best Villain (Graz'zt, Chapter 23)
- Best Romantic Relationship (Chad and Vivienne)

Read now, thank yourself for doing it later...

[Blademaster]

OK, first, the inevitable references I didn't understand:

-Mooncalf
-Gaijin
-Racoon-dog (Tanooki?)
-Mr. Chupon

Next, the complaints:

Nothing, actually - it was quite long, but that's not really a complaint - more like a regret. F**king ADD... ><*

Now, the compliments:

-You caught Mako's personality perfectly.
-The duel was very exciting and well-detailed, as usual.
-Mataza wringing out his headband and Mako's Monsters falling asleep both got laugh's out of me.
-You beat me to using the Jaws theme with Great White! T_T Aw, well... That was a stroke of genius, nonetheless. Good work.
-Great array of cards from both duelists.
-Reston was nice enough to let Sol have his tacoes. ^^;

Overall, more great work from the Master of Paradox. I'm not even gonna say 'Keep it up.' this time - you already got that down.

Laterz!

[Master of Paradox]

Master of Paradox Explains the References:

"mooncalf": I honestly don't know. A pirate used it in Fire Emblem and I borrowed it for here; that's why Demetrius complains about Mako using it with "You're a duelist, not a pirate".

gaijin: A Japanese phrase used to derisively refer to foreigners. If someone in Japan calls you that, they are not your friend.

"Racoon-dog": Actually, Blade, you got that right - common translation of "tanuki". Mako's little song is lifted from another manga I once read.

Mr. Chupon: Final Fantasy VI reference, as Shuppet Master probably knows. Chupon is a recurring boss in that game, famous for hurling your party out of the current fight with a loud sneeze. Ultros (the recurring boss throughout that game, and also my deity in many ways) always called him "Mr. Chupon".