Author’s note: The events of this chapter take place in the late afternoon a couple of hours before the events of Ep. 37. By this time, Rua’s duel with Divine has occurred, but more importantly, the two Earthbound Gods Aslla Piscu and Ccarayhua are preparing to bestow their gifts upon their chosen ones. Before the night is out, the Dark Signers will be a complete team…



CHAPTER FORTY-ONE







You all are likely thinking, “What the Hell is wrong with you, Ember? What ever possessed you to go after Hebi-Na when you knew that the others couldn’t help you?” Well, my job would be hard, but I wasn’t the only young apprentice that had chosen a difficult Rite of Passage.

You already know that Jinx went after a redcap. Shichiro defeated a sahuagin mutation. (Sahuagin believe that members of their race who are born mutations are blessed by their gods, and these incredibly powerful sahuagin usually act as the race’s leaders.) Gears defeated a skinwalker for his Rite of Passage. (You’re probably better off not knowing what that is.)

Still, I was about to take on a member of a race that considered themselves enemies of humans by culture and tradition. To the ophidia, humans were only good for slaves, or even better, for food. The Shadowchasers were likely the only ones who kept them from hunting humans in the same way that wolves prey on lambs.

And before the night was over, I would come face-to-face with a horror from another reality, who would show me a deep, dark abyss of terror and try to shove me into it…


“Jinx, please!” protested Gloria. “I didn’t do anything to her! I don’t want any trouble…”

“Then I won’t give you any,” said Jinx. “I just want to know where she went.”

“I don’t know…” moaned the gorgon.

“TALK!” shouted Jinx.

“You don’t know what it’s like…” sobbed Gloria. “Whenever Shadows and Awares come in here for the first time, they don’t dare look me in the face. They’ve all heard legends of gorgons who turn victims to stone, and then use them to decorate their lairs like a ghastly museum…

“A gorgon would have to be dumb to display her victims like that… It would give her away!

“But I don’t do that, Jinx! I’m just a merchant who runs this store, that my poor mother opened with the money she scraped together in the five years after she was pulled into this world…”

“But you deal with the ophidia,” replied Jinx. “You sell viperwine.”

“And do you know how hard it was to get that license?” asked Gloria. “I had to go to Shadowchaser Headquarters in person three times! They grilled me, did background checks, lie detector checks, found out stuff about me that even I didn’t know! They wanted to make absolutely sure I wouldn’t try to profit by offering it to someone who couldn’t survive drinking it!

“Yeah, I deal with the ophidia… Jinx, if some mob boss goes into a café and orders a hamburger, and the waiter gives it to him, does that make the waiter a bad man? Everyone’s gotta eat, and if someone wants to buy liquor, I’m the one who sells it.”

She sighed.

“All I know is, Ember said that she might try to find a place where ophidia like to go.”

“Any idea where that might be?” asked Jinx.

“How am I supposed to know?” asked Gloria. “I’m not an ophidia.

“I might know where to find some you can ask, though… Although they aren’t as nice as I am…”


* * * * * * * * * *



Four PM.

Ember slowly walked through the entertainment district.

Her eyes moved to the place where the tipster had directed her to, although she wasn’t sure if she trusted him. She was almost certain she had heard a sinister snicker from him when she had turned away.

The bar had a large sign shaped like a cobra about to strike above the entrance. The sign called the place The Den.

Seems like a place where snakes would hang out, she thought.

She took a deep breath and went in.

She was shocked as she went in. She had been right.

About half of the patrons looked human. The other half, like Hebi-Na, were half-snake in some way. However, not all of them were of the same design that she was, with a human upper half and a serpent’s trunk in place of legs.

Some had snakes’ heads. Others looked like humans with scales all over their bodies. Some had both legs and tails. Some, most shocking, had snakes in place of arms. And most had combinations of all of these features.

Ember shuddered in fear. Then she swallowed hard.

Take it easy, Ember… she said. There are humans here… You can see these creatures for what they are, but they don’t know that you can.

She was a little worried about exactly why there were humans here. She wondered if they didn’t work for the ophidia, willingly or not.

She slowly made her way up to the bar. The bartender was human, but two male, muscular ophidia with colorful tattoos on their scales were there, drinking some sort of beer.

“Eh, it isn’t viperwine,” said one of them to the other, “but it’s good stuff.”

Ember sat down at the bar.

So what now? she thought. What do I…

“Hey, Francis,” said a familiar voice next to her. “Let me buy my friend here a drink…”

A chill ran down Ember’s spine. She slowly turned her head. She shivered as she saw that smile again.

“I’ll have a martini,” continued Hebi-Na. “Ember?”

“Diet Coke…” said Ember, softly.

“Heh,” chuckled Hebi-Na. “You come to a bar and order Diet Coke?”

“I’m underage,” replied Ember.

“Do you really think that someone would card you in a place like this?” asked Hebi-Na.

As the bartender put the drinks in front of them, Hebi-Na’s voice sank to a low whisper.

“You’ve got a lot of guts, kid,” she said. “You think you’re safe because the other ophidia here don’t know that you’re not one of our servants?

“Well, guess what kid… I know that you’re not, and that you’re also a Shadowchaser in training. Know what would happen if I stood up and told everyone? They’d tear you apart.”

Hebi-Na grinned evilly at Ember, and panic started to rise in her bones. Hebi-Na sipped her martini.

“Not gonna do that, though…” said Hebi-Na. “You coming here was a bit of good fortune…

“I could use a hostage when your friends finally come after me.”

“You were expecting them to come after you?” asked Ember. “What are you planning?”

Hebi-Na tapped the Duel Disk on her left arm.

“You came here wanting a duel,” she said. “I’ll give it to you… But if you lose, you agree to surrender your Disk and deck and become a cooperative hostage from this point on.

“I doubt you’ll have much fight left in you after see what’s in this deck anyway.

“And by the way, agreeing is the only way you’re getting out of this place alive.”

“How can I say no?” asked Ember, with a nervous grin.

Hebi-Na finished her drink, and threw a bill on the counter.

“Then let’s take this outside,” she said.


* * * * * * * * * *



Ember stood at the end of the alley. Hebi-Na was in front of her, so she wasn’t getting out that way. The ophidia was shuffling her deck.

“I don’t get it, Hebi-Na,” asked Ember. “Why?”

“Why what?” asked Hebi-Na.

“Why do you guys hate humans so much?” asked Ember. “What ever happened that made you so cold-hearted and dark?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” said Hebi-Na.

“I have nowhere to go,” replied Ember.

Hebi-Na sighed.

“Let me explain it to you…” said Hebi-Na. “Life on Earth is torture for predators like us. The Treaty we’re forced to live under is like an abomination to us.

“When I first came to this world, only two years ago, I lost most of my memories, like most Shadowkind. But at first, I thought I was in paradise. I was in a place full of humans who couldn’t perceive me as an ophidia. I thought I could hunt at my leisure, and they wouldn’t know they were in danger until my hands were around their necks.

“But then, another ophidia found me and told me I didn’t dare, due to a treaty that humans and folks like me had agreed to.

“I was shocked. Since when did ophidia ever make deals with humans? I asked him why we didn’t tell whoever had written the Treaty to go to Hell. Then he told me the story of one ophidia who had tried.”

Ember started to listen closely.

“Five years ago, a very powerful ophidia clan leader named Saramanda got fed up,” continued Hebi-Na. “She got tired of all the years of having to give up raw human flesh and eat boring roast beef. So she announced that she was going to openly defy the Treaty, and any ophidia who was also sick of it was welcome to join her. To live life as true ophidia.

“About three hundred ophidia flocked to her side, and she started to make plans, daring the Shadowchasers to stop her. For three days life had meaning again for the ophidia… They hunted as my race was meant to, and they were feared.

“But the Shadowchasers took action. They gathered a group consisting of all their members from all the neighboring geographic regions. Saramanda told her followers not to worry, and her army armed themselves. She promised that the Shadowchasers would be defeated in a battle that would make the heavens weep in anguish…”

Hebi-Na sighed.

“But there was no battle… Saramanda had made a dire error. She had assumed that all humans wouldn’t dare disregard their precious Rules of Engagement. What she didn’t realize was, the Treaty more-or-less is the Rules of Engagement as far as Shadows are concerned. Since she had decided to defy it, she forfeited all the benefits it allotted her.

“The Shadowchasers didn’t confront them directly and didn’t present them with a target they could fight back against. The fair fight clause was now null and void, after all. They directed a squad of iron golems to smash down the fortified gates of Saramanda’s compound. The ophidia’s weapons couldn’t scratch them. A few of the ophidia threw down their weapons and surrendered, but the golems knocked them aside to get to the ones who were trying to fight back. No mercy is shown to anyone who thinks they’re above the rules.

“The ophidia panicked. Saramanda was about to give the order to retreat, when the golems flooded the whole compound with a cloud of powerful alchemical gas, specially designed to paralyze the muscles of reptiles. Five minutes after the assault started, all of Saramanda’s forces had been subdued. Not one of them escaped.

“Saramanda didn’t even get a warrior’s death. She was shamefully led away in handcuffs.

“But it didn’t end there… Oh no… At her trial, she and her top aids were charged with the murders and terrorist acts they had committed during her insurrection by a special tribunal. Since they had defied the Treaty, they weren’t allowed to choose any part of the defense team that represented them. Like I said, when you defy the Treaty, you lose the benefits it gives you. That’s one of the ways Jalal and Maskent enforce it.

“Not that any defense team could have done much. The case that they had against her was overwhelming. What was her defense, that ophidia were supposed to prey on humans? As Jalal is fond of saying to many criminals, in another place and time, they wouldn’t even get trials.

“All ophidia assumed that Saramanda would remain defiant and die as a martyr. But she wouldn’t. As soon as the death penalty was proposed, she turned into a frightened coward. She changed her plea to guilty, and begged for her life, saying she would do anything if she only wasn’t executed. Jalal accepted her offer.

“She became one of the Submitted…”

“Submitted?” asked Ember.

“It’s like states’ evidence for Shadowkind!” growled Hebi-Na. “In exchange for everything she knew about illegal activities, she would live. To some criminals, it’s the best offer they can get.

“Overnight, she turned from champion of the ophidia to traitor. She told the Shadowchasers about every ophidia activity she knew about. Drug running, smuggling, blackmail, slave trading, illegal religious rituals. She even went so far as to give all the details of a sacred ritual that the ophidia elders had been preparing for three centuries, which would be completely ruined a week later when Shadowchasers stormed the stronghold where the preparation was being conducted. Within a month of this, hundreds of ophidia in positions of power were apprehended, and to this very day all ophidia clans who followed them are forced to agree to stricter rules and sanctions if they want to stay out of jail as well. It has been worse for us all since then than it ever was before. All because one of them dared to defy the Treaty.”

Hebi-Na sighed again.

“No-one knows where Saramanda is now. Powerful ophidia everywhere have bounties on her head, but according to legend, the Shadowchasers keep the Submitted at some secure stronghold in some remote area that no-one can even locate, let alone go to, without Jalal’s personal permission.

“Once I heard the whole story, I knew I wasn’t in the paradise I thought I was in… I was in the darkest of hells…”

“It’s no wonder most Shadows don’t defy the Treaty,” said Ember.

“Stuff it!” shouted Hebi-Na.

She took her glasses off and looked at Ember with those frightening reptilian eyes.

“Ophidia can’t live like true ophidia because of it. I’ve almost forgotten what the sweet, tender taste of your race’s flesh is like, I’ve gone so long without it…”

Her Disk activated.

“And once you’ve outlived your usefulness to me as a hostage, I just might try to find out again…”

Ember gulped, and activated her own Disk.

“That’s it, little girl,” said Hebi-Na. “Duel me… I promise you a duel like you’ve never had before, and fight unlike any you’ve ever experienced!”

Lightning flashed…


(Ember: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - - (Hebi-Na: 8,000)



“By all means,” she continued, “make the first move…”

Ember nervously drew.

“I… set a Monster…” she said, “and then a facedown card…”

Two reversed cards, one in her Monster Zone, and one in her Spell Zone appeared.

“That’s all.”

Thunder rumbled as Hebi-Na made her first draw. The ophidia looked up at the sky.

Odd weather… she thought.

She looked at her deck.

It’s too soon for the power in my deck to be causing it… Something else is brewing somewhere in the city…

Ah, well… At least it will unnerve Ember…

“I summon Venom Snake,” she said.

In a dark shadow, a Monster appeared that was, well, it was a snake. That was the best way to put it. It was rather large, and its fangs indicated that it was poisonous, but Ember had certainly seen nastier snakes. (1,200 ATK)

“Afraid?” asked Hebi-Na.

“Heh…” said Ember, nervously. “Afraid of that? You’re scarier than some dumb snake with low Attack Points.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Hebi-Na. “I’ll set one card, and end my turn.”

A facedown card flashed into existence behind the Snake.

Ember made a draw.

“I call out Blazing Inpachi!” she shouted.

A bonfire appeared in front of her, and the flaming wicker man rose from the flames. (1,850 ATK)

“Stomp that Snake!” she shouted. “Attack!”

Blazing Inpachi threw a punch at the serpent. It hissed, and was blown into shards.


(E: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - - (HN: 7,350)



“Thank you,” said Hebi-Na. “You’re too kind…”

“Huh?” said Ember.

Then she noticed Hebi-Na’s Trap Card, that she had activated.

“You might remember this from my duel with Shichiro,” she said. “Damage = Reptile. Now, once per turn, I can Special Summon a Reptile from my deck, with equal or less Attack Points than the damage I took.”

“You only took 650 points of damage,” said Ember. “What sort of Monster could you…”

Then she stopped short.

“I’m summoning one with zero Attack Points!” laughed Hebi-Na, as a large, shadowy figure rose beside her. “Meet Vennominon, the King of Poisonous Snakes!”

The snake that appeared this time was ten times larger than the first, and about a hundred times more frightening. It had two masses of smaller snakes that served as arms, wore a royal cape, and a crown shaped like a cobra’s head decorated by two smaller golden cobras. (0 ATK)

“But he doesn’t stay at zero for long,” said Hebi-Na. “His Attack Score becomes 500 for each Reptile in my Graveyard.”

(500 ATK)

“With only one there, that isn’t much,” said Ember.

Hebi-Na drew a card.

“Well, I’ll just have to put some more in there,” she said. “I play the Spell Card, Snake Rain!

“Now, I toss one card…”

She discarded a card, Rivalry of Warlords.

“…and I get to discard four Reptiles from my deck, making his majesty even stronger.”

She quickly discarded four cards, two more Venom Snakes, one Venom Boa, and a Venom Serpent. Vennominon glowed with evil magic… (2,500 ATK)

“Now, your highness… Attack her Blazing Inpachi! Fang venom!”

Vennominon hissed, and shot a spray of foul venom at Blazing Inpachi.

“Go, Martyr’s Flame!” shouted Ember. “This turns your attack into a direct attack, and cuts the damage in half!”

“A foolish choice…” replied Hebi-Na.

Ember screamed in pain as the poison soaked her, and burned her skin like acid.

“It burns!” she screamed. “It burns!”

“Did you expect my King to treat you with kid gloves?” asked Hebi-Na. “I’ll set a Monster and a facedown card, and my turn ends there…”

A reversed Monster and a reversed card appeared.


(E: 6,750) - - - - - - - - - - (HN: 7,350)



Ember gasped for breath and looked at Vennominon.

What is going on? she thought. How could this be a Shadow Game? Hebi-Na may be a murderer and a snake-woman… But she’s not an honest-to-goodness magician.

Something is helping her… Some dark presence somewhere else…

But who? Edmund? Are he and DaPen behind this whole thing? Did they engineer the whole jailbreak and give Hebi-Na these cards?

She made a draw.

I have no idea… But I have to fight on…

“I summon Little Chimera!”

In a small burst of flame, the small, white cat with black, bat-like wings appeared. (600 ATK)

“And when it’s on the field, all Fire Monsters gain 500 Attack Points.”

Blazing Inpachi rose to an Attack Score of 2,350, while Little Chimera rose to 1,100.

“Not good enough, I’m afraid,” chuckled Hebi-Na.

Ember played a Spell Card.

“I also play Double Summon,” she said. “Now, I can make a second Normal Summon. So I sacrifice Blazing Inpachi…”

The Inpachi vanished in a plume of flame.

“…to summon Flamvell Devil!”

In a stream of violet flames, the fiery Fiend appeared, and roared with anger. It exchanged looks with Vennominon… (2,100 ATK) –> (2,600 ATK)

“Attack the King of Poisonous Snakes!” she shouted.

Flamvell Devil belched a cone of blue fire at the large Reptile. The King groaned, and was blasted into pieces.

“And since I have one Pyro in my Graveyard,” she continued, “you lose an additional 200 Life Points.”

“Heh, heh,” said Hebi-Na. “So be it, but you can’t defeat Vennominon that way…”

One Venom Snake slipped out of her discard slot.

“All I need to do is banish one of his subjects in my Graveyard from the game…”

The card melted into glowing residue.

“…and he makes his triumphant return…”

Vennominon appeared again. (2,000 ATK)

“True,” said Ember, “but he’ll come back weaker each time.

“And I’m not done with you…”

Little Chimera shot a bolt of fire at the facedown Monster. A Morphing Jar appeared on the card, and was burned to ashes.

“You know what that means,” said Hebi-Na.

She discarded her two cards, while Ember also discarded two. They both drew five. Ember looked at them.

“It’s still my turn,” she grumbled. “I play a facedown.”

A reversed card appeared behind Flamvell Devil.

“Now you go…”


(E: 6,750) - - - - - - - - - - (HN: 7,050)



Thunder rumbled again, as Hebi-Na drew.

She chuckled as she opened the Field Slot on her Disk, and placed a card in it.

“I activate Venom Swamp!” she exclaimed.

The whole alley darkened, and then the backdrop transformed into a dark sanguine swamp, full of dead trees and vines. Ember looked down, and she was in stagnant water up to her knees.

“Ho boy…” she said.

“This swamp is so choked with poison,” said Hebi-Na, “that at the end of every turn, all Monsters except ones with the word ‘Venom’ in their names get a Venom Counter, which reduces their Attack Scores by 500. And this effect is fatal if it reduces the Attack Scores to zero.

“But I doubt your Monsters are going to last that long…

“Vennominon, destroy Little Chimera! Fang venom!”

Vennominon shot its venom stream at the small Beast, melting it into sludge. Ember started to sweat, and Flamvell Devil fell to an Attack Score of 2,100.

“I set a new card facedown, and end my turn,” said Hebi-Na, as a new facedown card appeared. “And that means my Field Spell activates.”

A small snake leapt out the swamp and bit Flamvell Devil on the arm. He groaned, and his Attack Score fell to 1,600.


(E: 5,850) - - - - - - - - - - (HN: 7,050)



Okay, let’s see… thought Ember. How did Judai beat this thing?

Oh yeah… His plan was to defeat it with Elemental Hero Wildedge… It might have worked, but…

She shuddered as she drew a card.

She looked at her own facedown card.

Well… at least I might be able to get rid of this swamp…

“I play Monster Reborn!” she shouted, as she played a card.

In a burst of flames, Blue Flame Swordsman leapt onto the field. (1,800 ATK)

“Now, I use his effect. I cut 1,000 points off of his Attack Score, and give it to Flamvell Devil.”

Blue Flame Swordsman fell to an Attack Score of 800, while Flamvell Devil rose to 2,600.

“Attack Vennominon again!”

Flamvell Devil blew its flames at the King of Poisonous Snakes again, and it groaned again before exploding.

“And by the way, I have two Pyros in my Graveyard now. I discarded a Flame Ruler when I flipped that Morphing Jar.”

“It doesn’t matter!” shouted Hebi-Na. “Because first, in response to taking damage, I use the effect of Damage = Reptile to summon my second Vennominon!”

A twin of the first Vennominon appeared in front of her.

“Then, in response to the first Vennominon being defeated, I remove one Reptile from play to bring him back too!”

The first Vennominon appeared beside the second. (1,500 x2)

“Now you have double-trouble!”

“Not as much as you think,” said Ember.

Her facedown card shot up.

“I wanted you to Special Summon him back. Now, I can activate Demise of the Land. This lets me take a Field Spell from my deck, and activate it! So I’ll burn down your Swamp to play Molten Destruction!”

The Venom Swamp went up in flames, and the dead trees went up like kindling. A flow of lava covered the field. Blue Flame Swordsman rose to an Attack Score of 1,300, while Flamvell Devil shot up to 3,600.

“Very clever,” said Hebi-Na. “But you aren’t safe yet…”

One of her facedown cards lifted up.

“I activate Venom Burn. That Venom Counter may not be hurting your Fiend any more, but it’s still there. And now it’s going to hurt you.”

The snake leapt off of Flamvell Devil and leapt onto Ember’s arm. She froze in fear…

Then she screamed as it sank its fangs into her wrist.

Ember’s hand shook as she reached for a card, and set it on her Disk.

“I… I set a Monster…” she groaned. “And I end my turn…”

A second reversed Monster appeared.


(E: 5,150) - - - - - - - - - - (HN: 6,050)



“My move,” said Hebi-Na.

She looked at the card.

“I sacrifice both my Kings…” she said.

Both of the Vennominon vanished.

“…to summon a third one.”

A third Vennominon appeared where the two had been.

“Why did she make such an odd move, you may ask?”

“Because with the first two in your Graveyard, the one on the field is 1,000 points stronger,” replied Ember.

(2,500 ATK)



Continued…