Yu-Gi-Oh! Armageddon (PG13) - Finished

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Next time the YCM Awards come around, I want him to win Best Writer/Fan Fiction.

 

And when is that?

[Fusion X. Denver]

I have no idea actually.

The last one was in December, so they'd come around in December at the latest.

But I could have sworn it was a bi-annual event <-may definitely be mistaken.

[Aviv: D's Knight]

Oh, I see.

If you ever do end up reading DEF, heads-up, it's long.

Like

800 something pages.

And I haven't even written the ending chapter/epilogue.

 

Although, I don't compare to Matt when it comes to writing.

Next time the YCM Awards come around, I want him to win Best Writer/Fan Fiction.

 

My guess is:

1 and 2:You/Saber

3 and 4:Umbra and Matt

5Legendhiro

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

I think my fan-fic is pretty good myself, but:

 

1. I don't want to show off my arrogance in the fan-fic forum.

 

2. I need to actually have other people read it to get a feel for the story, and their feedback counts more than mine.

 

3. I'm not shooting for any awards or anything like that, but it would be nice to at least get recognized (I think this conflicts #1 in some way).

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Chaps and chapesses,

 

as I've previously stated, I'm on holiday from 12th to the 20th this month.

 

My dad goes on holiday on the 22nd. Leaving his house empty for 2 weeks. With full internet access.

 

So I'll be using those two weeks to publish some updates on my dads computer and hopefully in that time have my own deal sorted to come back full time.

 

Also hopefully YCM will have got over the technical glitches the new look seems to be suffering from.

 

See you in three weeks.

 

Matt

 

PS: Regarding awards - there were some in December/January, imagine its an annual thing. Would be happy just to get one nomination in any category again really.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Chaps and chapesses,

 

as I've previously stated, I'm on holiday from 12th to the 20th this month.

 

My dad goes on holiday on the 22nd. Leaving his house empty for 2 weeks. With full internet access.

 

So I'll be using those two weeks to publish some updates on my dads computer and hopefully in that time have my own deal sorted to come back full time.

 

Also hopefully YCM will have got over the technical glitches the new look seems to be suffering from.

 

See you in three weeks.

 

Matt

 

PS: Regarding awards - there were some in December/January, imagine its an annual thing. Would be happy just to get one nomination in any category again really.

 

**Screams in joy**.

 

But srsly, I will catch up with you one of these days in the fan-fic business. I'm already up through Chapter #12 of my fan-fic, and I started only like a month ago.

[Lexadin]

Well I hope you'll have a nice vacation Matt.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

We're back.

 

Holiday was great for all of you who care, back to work tonight. Hopefully should get some Internet deal for my flat in the next few weeks, but until then I'm going to be abusing my dads Internet whilst he's on holiday to bring you the final chapters of Armageddon.

 

Story proper resumes on Wednesday, but before then, this little 'welcome back' chapter that just appealed to be. I wrote it thinking it would just be a short, but it ended up being 8 pages, and a duel rather just broke out too.

 

Apologies for lack of hyperlinks, the site change seems to mean we can't change the text on the link now and they look s... so may need to change to the Saber style spoilers in the future unless its fixed. Anyway, enjoy.

 

[spoiler=Bonus Chapter]

Snow crunched under heavy black boots, leaving a trail of deep imprints chronicling the path of the young man marching alone along the treacherous path of the solitary black mountain, getting steadily closer to the destination that was coming into view. Travelling across this wasteland had been tough; he was freezing, he was starving, but the physical pain was nothing to him. The man known currently as Dravir Jackson finally stopped at a rusty metal gateway and turned his deep purple eyes to the house on the mountain he was about to approach. He was in the middle of nowhere, in a land way beyond the northern boarders of the Empire, far beyond the reach of civilization. No one would chose to live in this frozen wasteland unless they wanted privacy; which he was about to invade on and for good reason.

 

The house itself was well built; an old mansion symmetrical in design with an angled slate roof (mostly white for snow though) and built from the heavy black rock of the mountain. Those walls were likely to be a good half a metre thick; they had to be to keep out this cold. There were very few windows for the same reason, and back on the roof two chimneys were smoking away, the only indication of life inside. Shivering for reasons other than frostbite, Dravir pushed at the gate. It was frozen shut so he had to climb over instead, which in his heavy overcoat was quite treacherous and highly undignified. Obstacle crossed he wasted no more time, marching up to the door and pulling on the old fashioned chain to ring the bell.

 

Predictably, there was no answer.

 

Shrugging, Dravir reached into one of the pockets of his coat, and took out an extendable silver rod. This rod had a thick handle at one end, and was connected to a battery pack of some kind. It was his own design, a sort of improvised welding iron that was very handy for these situations. Inserting the silver end of the rod into the key hole, Dravir switched on the battery and looked away as very quickly the device began to heat up and burn red. After a minute there was a clink as the internal lock of the door melted and Dravir removed the device; sticking it into the snow for a few seconds before reinserting it in one of his deep coat pockets. Entry gained, the young man cracked his neck and braced himself as he pushed the door open.

 

He was greeted by head splitting agony as thousands of volts of electricity passed through his body. Every piece of skin was burning, every organ seemed to stop and contract into a tight ball, every sense screamed for an end to this pain. Dravir was rooted to the spot for a few seconds that felt like an eternity as the electricity circulated around his body, before a second blast – a more directed force, threw him backwards from the entranceway and he flew into the snow outside, landing spread eagled in the house’s garden.

 

A twisted, greyish hand with long fingers lowered and pulled back inside a ragged set of purple robes that covered the owner of the house from head to foot. Leaning on his long wooden staff, the man hobbled forward into the doorway and stared down at the intruder to his home, interested to see who had climbed this remote and barren dead zone, and had dared interrupt his study. A young man dressed all in black, not a polar explorer like the last two then. He was smoking slightly from where he had been hit by the electric charge attack. Well whoever he was, he should have known better than to try and break into his house. Sighing, the old man turned to find the bell to call his servants, to have them dispense of the body.

 

The body that was groaning, and slowly sitting up.

 

...

 

Dravir shook his head to clear some of the lingering headache from the shock, and nervously took a sip of the strong tea that had appeared on the little table beside his grand faded green armchair. I say appeared, because the old man sat in a similar armchair across the burning fireplace from him had called for a pot to be made when they entered the sitting room stroke library and sat down across from each other. One second the table was bare, then there was a tray of teapot, mug, milk and sweeteners, and an identical tray beside the man in robes whose purple eyes were now boring into him. No one had come in with these trays, yet all the while Dravir felt he was being watched by eyes other than those of the man opposite him. He had never been nervous of anything he had met in this world, but this man was making him nervous. How ironic, considering who he believed him to be. Without looking away from his host, he took the drink, and did well to stop himself from spluttering. He had never tasted the stuff before, but he was sure that was whiskey in there, and a strong one too. That would warm him up alright.

 

The host hadn’t touched his drink. His guest was far more interesting. Neither had said a word since he had watched him slowly stagger upright; an impossible feat after having been on the receiving end of his assault. This was no chance meeting; this young man had come here specifically to find him, and would have had to have gone to great lengths to find his location. Lengths he would have to ensure could never be met again (well, either that or move, but he was comfortably set up here). His gnarled fingers flexed and tightened on the ends of the arms of his chair, daring his guest to break the silence.

 

Dravir took the hint. He place down his teacup (nodding and mouthing the word ‘thanks’) before clearing his throat slightly. His mouth opened, but silence. He tried again, and still no words. For goodness sake, he’d been preparing himself for this meeting for months, rehearsing what he would say, but now he was actually here nothing would come out. Cursing himself mentally, he had another go and finally managed speech.

 

“You’re a difficult man to find Fygmorke; it’s taken me almost a year to get here, and I’ve had to jump through many hoops to do it. But it was worth it, and if you’ve realised who I am by now, I hope you’ll agree and be happy I managed to find a way.”

 

The old man’s face was hidden by his robe, apart from the narrowed eyes that were peering through a fold in the fabric. His voice was slow, deep and menacing. “Where did you hear my name, and why would I be happy to find a stranger breaking into my house?”

 

“My mother could never forget your name. You remember Naomi don’t you?” Dravir let the question hang for a moment, yet Fygmorke didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to recall any Naomi. “Naomi is my mother, who you enchanted and... er... had your way with, about twenty years ago now. It shouldn’t take much of your vast intelligence to see where this is going...”

 

Fygmorke blinked, and sat forward in his chair. Dravir didn’t realise that he was leaning back into his chair at the same time. A slow, rattling breath came from underneath the fabric of the robe.

 

“I have... a son...?”

 

Dravir nodded, and Fygmorke sat back in his chair. Was he in shock? His breathing seemed to have quickened certainly, and his fingers were rapidly twitching and tapping against the armchair. The two were sat there in renewed silence for a few minutes. Dryness griped Dravir’s throat, but he wouldn’t dare go for the tea. How was his father going to react? Was he just getting used to this idea, or had he just lit a time bomb that’s fuse was about to run out?

 

Fygmorke clutched at the staff rested against his chair and pulled himself upright. He hobbled slowly towards the door, and waved for Dravir to follow.

 

...

 

After descending several flights of stairs, the two were now in a basement converted into an underground laboratory. Dravir was already aware from the stories he’d heard that Fygmorke was a sorcerer practised in black magic, but it was still a shock to see this lab was more magically orientated than scientific like he was used to. Various jars of potions and weird things sat on the shelves, along with more books and other classic wizard dungeon stuff that was all pushed tight to the walls leaving an empty gap in the middle of the room. What was slightly less in keeping with the theme were the two metal pods against the far wall, separated by a set of stairs that lead to a balcony above, from where various concoctions could be poured into the open hatches in the pods presumably. There was a small door with a window in each of them, which Fygmorke walked over to and peered inside.

 

“I accept the possibility that I could have a son, and it stands to reason that you must be him, having found me and managing to somehow survive a taste of my power. However, that does not mean I have to just accept you on blood alone. Your being here means you want to be with me, but I will only have you if you are at least of competent use. To determine that, I assume you will not refuse a little test of your abilities?”

 

“This test being something to do with whatever is in there right?”

 

Fygmorke chuckled softly. “Your fear is obvious. It is not unwarranted, but currently misplaced. You don’t need to worry about going in the pods if that’s what you’re afraid of, what is currently inside is about to come out to you. They shouldn’t be too scary though. I hope, for your sake, you have inherited from me some skill in duel monsters?” Dravir nodded as Fygmorke presumably raised an eyebrow (he presumed he had eyebrows to raise) towards him, and removed his heavy winter coat. Underneath was his black Jinzo jacket with straps and chains, and a regulation duel shield was attached to his right arm.

 

Fygmorke chuckled again. “Good. Inside these pods are two creatures I have been experimenting on. My research revolves mostly around removing the existence of pain and suffering, although my methods are... questionable by society. These two are test subjects to create humans who have had certain, weak senses and emotions blocked, but I’m disappointed to admit they have been failures on my part so far. It seems without a full set of emotions they have gone mad. One has become delirious, and the other dark and twisted. Maybe they are just too feeble subjects to work on to begin with. They were moderately skilled duelists in life before they became here, but neither should be a match for you one on one.”

 

“Good job I’m here then” Dravir declared, activating his duel shield so the cards shuffled. “I have known what it is like to be without certain feelings since birth. I know nothing but pain, and duelling is my release from my constant torment. Bring them both on.”

 

“Very well” chortled Fygmorke, flicking the latch on each pod, and climbing the steps to the balcony as the inhabitants pushed their way out. Two men, dressed only in plain underwear, fell out onto their hands and knees, gasping for oxygen. One was long, thin and powerful, and had pure white hair dangling down in front of his face as he knelt there. The other was stout, arguably pudgy, and his black hair was of similar length, obviously a trivial unattended to matter rather than out of personal choice. Both were armed with old duel disk models, without the new shield attachment. In slick sync, both of their heads snapped up to look at Dravir, who flinched. They were completely faceless. No eyes, no nose, no mouth, no anything, just two blank spaces of skin.

 

Now atop the balcony, Fygmorke reached up onto a shelf, grabbed two things, and threw them down where they clattered on the stone floor. Two old theatre masks, one white smiley face and one black crying face. The two figures reached around blindly for them, before each picked up their corresponding mask and placed them upon their empty faces. On their arms, their disks shuffled their cards for them.

 

“Some might say I was playing god, creating my own subspecies of human. Hence I have christened them Alpha and Omega. They need their masks to be able to see and speak, by means greater than the science and technology you have been exposed to by humanity” Fygmorke explained from where he was resting against the balcony rail. “Now, defend yourself son.”

 

Duel!

 

“I’ll go first. I activate the spell card 'Momentary Truce', which allows everyone to draw one new card” Dravir drawled confidently, staring across at his two opponents who could now see their prey, and were chuckling to themselves as they drew their hands. As for his own hand, two traps, one spell, a low level monster and a much higher one that could be helpful, and now his favourite ally had joined him. “Then I’ll place two cards face down and end my turn.”

 

“My turn” Alpha declared in a high pitched cackle, his grinning mask dancing as he drew in a long swinging motion. “I activate the spell card ‘One for One’, sending a monster in my hand to the graveyard to summon the level one tuner monster ‘Effect Veiler’ from my deck. Also, the discarded monster is ‘Light Serpent’, which is thus special summoned.” A snake with a glowing light blue body and a teal haired child appeared side by side, across from the unimpressed Demon. “Next, because I have monsters on the field and none in my graveyard, I can summon ‘Mirror Ladybug’ from my hand, and its level becomes equal to the combined levels of my monsters on the field.”

 

“So what?” Dravir asked in a bored voice, as the shiny ladybird appeared next to the other monsters.

 

“So now, I tune Light Serpent and my now level four Mirror Ladybug with Effect Veiler to summon the ‘Light End Dragon’!”

 

A slender dragon with angels wings and pure white scales that glistened with their own light appeared. It was protected by an ornate golden headdress and a shield piece that covered the body over its heart (ATK: 2600). “Then I place three cards face down and end my turn.”

 

“My turn begins” Omega declared in a cold, deep tone. His movement was a lot less exuberant than Alpha’s. “I summon ‘Dark Grepher’ in attack mode and activate its effect, discarding one dark monster from my hand and sending another from my deck to the graveyard. Next I activate the spell card ‘Silent Doom’, to resurrect ‘Masked Clown’, and then by placing one card in my hand back on the top of my deck, I can summon back ‘Plaguespreader Zombie’ as well.” A rotting disfigured zombie appeared briefly between the other two monsters before splitting into stars. “I tune Dark Grepher and Masked Clown with Plaguespreader Zombie to summon the ‘Dark End Dragon’!”

 

Floating on torn and frayed wings, a giant black hided dragon with spikes producing from the side of its head and end of its tail roared at Demon. A second face in the creature’s stomach grinned at him (ATK: 2600). “Now my dragons effect activates. By lowering his attack by five hundred, one card you control is destroyed. I choose the left face down.” The dragon roared and unleashed a shockwave from its jaws (ATK: 2100). The card, ‘Sakretsu Armour’, exploded without resistance or indeed reaction from Dravir. “Dark End Dragon. Light End Dragon. Direct attack!”

 

Two streams of black and white flames crashed down on Dravir, hiding him from sight. Alpha and Omega laughed in wild delirium and contended scoff respectively, whilst on the top of the platform Fygmorke’s eyes narrowed. Half a minute passed, the smoke cleared, and Demon reappeared; eyes closed, grinning smugly, completely unmoved, completely unharmed. The duo stared at him, incapable of expression, but he could sense their terror as Omega placed his remaining cards face down. So they should be.

 

“Fools. The second effect of Momentary Truce. No players take any damage until everyone has completed their turn. Your attack achieved nothing, except incurring my wrath! I DRAW!”

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 1]

Demon - Front Row: -. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 4 LP: 4000

Alpha - Front Row: Light End Dragon. Back Row: Face Down x3. Hand: 1 LP: 4000

Omega - Front Row: Dark End Dragon. Back Row: Face Down x3. Hand: 0 LP: 4000

 

 

 

‘I have everything I need’ Dravir thought to himself, as his ritual spell appeared in his hand. But before then. “I summon ‘Djinn Disserere of Rituals’ to the field. But you don’t need to worry about him very much as I’m releasing him to activate ‘Nightmare Archfiends’. Now three Nightmare tokens are summoned to your fields.” Alpha and Omega jumped at the appearance of the three wicked spirits that were split between them. “Next I activate the field spell ‘Gear Town’. Then I activate the ritual spell ‘End of the World’, releasing ‘Gorz’ from my hand and removing Disserere from my graveyard to summon ‘Demise, King of Armageddon’!”

 

Dravir’s ace ever since he had put together this deck, the black and silver armoured fiend wielding a massive axe and laughing mechanically appeared in a burst of wild blue fire, standing defiantly before the twin dragons. He wasn’t laughing quite as much as Omega was though.

 

“I activate ‘Bottomless Trap Hole’, removing your summoned monster from play. All that for nothing.”

 

“You still have no idea” Dravir scoffed to himself, as the portal to a hole to another world opened beneath Demise, and did absolutely nothing. “Because Disserere was used for the summoning, Demise is unaffected by any and all of your traps. So whatever you have, you can’t stop his effect. By giving up half of my four thousand life points, every other card, including Gear Town and the Nightmare tokens, are destroyed! Feel my pain!” Dravir roared across the field as the entire lab burst into flames. Each face down flipped upright, revealing Mirror Force, Divine Wrath, Call of the Haunted and others, before exploding. Both dragons screamed before they shattered into stars. Each Nightmare token shrieked and plunged into the two duelists, crippling them (Alpha LP: 2400/Omega LP: 3200). Finally the illusory city of grinding gears sank to the ground, and the ominous rumble continued after it had gone.

 

Dravir raised a clenched hand high above his head. “Now when Gear Town is destroyed, I can summon any Ancient Gear monster from my deck. I choose the only one I need, the almighty, all powerful, ‘Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon’!”

 

A giant dragon made entirely from stone gears, wings and all, crashed down behind Demon, shrieking at the two masked duelists. It extended its long mechanical neck down so its stony grey face was level with Omega, eying him with its tiny glowing red eyes, whilst to the dragons left; Demise was hoisting his axe over his shoulder, glaring straight at Alpha. No emotion of fear could be read from those still masks, maybe Fygmorke had removed all sense of fear from their brains. Lucky them. Demon roared attack with twisted glee and the two monsters struck their respective targets, the blows knocking the duo to the floor. Alpha was still, lying face down (LP: 0), whilst Omega was propped up on one knee, staring emptily through his mask at Dravir and panting heavily (LP: 200). With a shaky hand he reached for his deck, before he too fell forwards and collapsed. Satisfied, Dravir moved to deactivate his shield.

 

“Wipe that smug look off your face!”

 

Fygmorke obviously wasn’t impressed with his double OTK then. Clutching tightly to the stair rail with one hand he descended to the lab floor where his two test subjects were lying unmoved after their respective crushing blows, and stared at Demon thunderously.

 

“You are too cocky and reckless with your play. Simple maths told you that you would fall short of defeating them both, yet you still used up half your life points and all your cards in one attack, leaving yourself without any defence from the next play. Such blind abandon is intolerable in my presence.”

 

“Oh come on, look at the field” Demon protested indignantly, gesturing to the two monsters either side of him that were just starting to fade away. “There is no way they would have come back from this.”

 

“You’d think so, but a duel is never won until you have completely destroyed your enemy, no matter how far ahead you think you are. You need to be cautious, plan for every eventuality with meticulous care, and close every possible hole they could worm an escape out of, and then unleash your full terror. You were too absorbed in your wild rage to notice that before he was defeated, Alpha activated ‘Burial from a Different Dimension’, which returned Omega’s Plaguespreader Zombie to the graveyard. If he hadn’t been so weak, he would have then drawn the card he had returned to the top of his deck with the same Plaguespreader, which was...” Fygmorke turned his back to Demon and leaned over the fallen dark haired subject. Dravir was furiously made to wait as his father reached down for a moment, then turned back to him to reveal a card that chilled his blood.

 

‘Dark Armed Dragon’.

 

Dravir shook slightly. If Omega hadn’t collapsed, he’d have been defeated and failed. Maybe he’d failed anyway. Fygmorke was clearly unhappy with his attitude. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

A hand tightened and gripped on his shoulder, forcing him to open his eyes. Fygmorke was standing beside him, not looking at him, but had calmed significantly.

 

“You have scraped past sufficiently. You have proved you are raw and mouldable; you will naturally change here as you serve as an apprentice to me. You will do anything I ask you to, for everything will be of purpose, even if it is not apparent to you immediately. In such cases, you do not question. I will impart to you my knowledge of the dark arts, and in exchange you will share your skills in modern technology and science you seem to have a knack for. You will start by changing whatever name it is your mother and adoptive father gave you, I’m sure I would not like it. Understand?”

 

“Thank you father.”

 

Fygmorke huffed to himself, before hobbling over to one of the many bookshelves against the walls. “You say you have felt nothing but pain throughout your life to date son, and that you are looking to alleviate it?” Dravir nodded as the sorcerer took down a book and opened it. Fygmorke smiled to himself, things were beginning to fall into place, and could be accelerated onto the next stage.

 

“Tell me young apprentice, have you ever heard of Utopia...?”

 

 

 

[spoiler=I know, I know...]

PS: I have since become aware that a certain monster used cannot be Synchro Material. I had no access to YGO Wikia at the time kay?

Or look at this way, I could have used Fabled Ganashia... and how weird would that have been?

 

[Fusion X. Denver]

Hey, you're back.

Nice bonus chapter, brah.

I kinda think there was a missed opportunity for Alpha and Omega to be characters introduced already, like Gear or someone (unless I'm forgetting an origin of his) but it worked fine.

And during the duel, you said Demon rather than Dravir at some points.

But interesting side story, looking forward to this getting back up again.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

I haven't read this in so long....I forgot all of the characters..............

[Lexadin]

It was quite long, I almost forgot Demon's real name. Also huray for your Lumis and Umbra!

 

Anywho it was a nice extra chapter and welcome back.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Yes, welcome back, Bahamut.

 

EDIT: **Grumbles**I swear, one of these days, I will beat him at his own game.....

[Vector Nightmare]

This was a pretty good chapter, Matt. I was not expecting something like this to come up, but it does fit perfectly, and sets up the current situation of the villain group nicely. The duel was so-so, not one of your best, but it did get the point across, and the whole thing had me wondering about Alpha and Omega. Overall, it was a job well done, and also got me motivated to write a bit. Looking forward to Wednesday.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

So many responses to get through, makes me happy. :D

 

Hey, you're back.

Nice bonus chapter, brah.

I kinda think there was a missed opportunity for Alpha and Omega to be characters introduced already, like Gear or someone (unless I'm forgetting an origin of his) but it worked fine.

And during the duel, you said Demon rather than Dravir at some points.

But interesting side story, looking forward to this getting back up again.

 

Thank you.

 

Don't think I understand what you mean, Gear should have been opponent? Well these events took place 15-18 years prior to where we are, so Gear would be too young (Raesir would be bordering on not even born yet). Besides, Light and Dark End Dragons!

 

Whoops, my bad.

 

I haven't read this in so long....I forgot all of the characters..............

 

Sorry, couldn't be helped. Sure you'll be back up to speed soon broski. :)

 

It was quite long, I almost forgot Demon's real name. Also huray for your Lumis and Umbra!

 

Anywho it was a nice extra chapter and welcome back.

 

Lol, stop calling them that. Konami will sue me! :D

 

Good to be back.

 

Yes, welcome back, Bahamut.

 

EDIT: **Grumbles**I swear, one of these days, I will beat him at his own game.....

 

Thanks.

 

Mwahahahahahaha!

 

This was a pretty good chapter, Matt. I was not expecting something like this to come up, but it does fit perfectly, and sets up the current situation of the villain group nicely. The duel was so-so, not one of your best, but it did get the point across, and the whole thing had me wondering about Alpha and Omega. Overall, it was a job well done, and also got me motivated to write a bit. Looking forward to Wednesday.

 

It was just something that wandered into my head that I just started typing a bit of, then got more and more into. I just had a vision of this reverse Darth Vader kinda moment...

 

"Darth Vader. I... am your son!"

"Nooooooooooo!!! That's not possible!"

 

Made me smile anyway. I struggled doing the duel with A&O's cards, admitantly they weren't smooth moves at all. I will say this though; had it not been for the extended break and using this for a 'welcome back', this would have gone between chapters 60 and 61 (there will be a break for bios there as well). It might be worth reading it again after 60 is released, it might have been better there, and some things might change in perspective.

 

Anyway, really sorry to say I'm going to be mega busy Wednesday, so I'm going to have to delay updating this...

 

...

 

...

 

Oh alright, I'll put the new chapter up now then. Gimme a minute.

 

Right, still struggling with hyperlinks and formatting in general, but nevertheless, back to the story proper, and the final battles. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will be saved... will anyone be saved? Everything will be answered within the next few weeks.

 

This is the shortest of the remaining chapters (I've only got the last two left to write now...) and probably moves too quickly. Kept trying to pad it out but didn't succeed, which probably save you from pointless prattling on. We'll see how we go. Enjoy, and tell me what you think. I'm interested in the reaction to this one.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 57]

Chapter 57 - Cursed Castle

 

The three runners rolled cautiously into the grand entrance way of the castle. Half of the party had been here before, the large hall with two sweeping staircases on either side of an open corridor, leading up towards the top balcony that ran along the back wall, and more corridors plunged into the depths of the fortress at other angles. Red candles adorned the walls in their familiar skull fittings. But there was nothing else. No member of Demon’s group was in sight. All was completely still and silent.

 

“O...kay... I wasn’t expecting that” Sabin admitted. “They chase us back and forth across the country, and when we barge through their own front door they aren’t here?”

 

“They’ll be in here somewhere ready for us.” Luca glanced around the room edgily. “Where do we go from here?”

 

“We find the main chamber, there’s a natural cave like area with this giant archway in it” replied Juruo. “As to where it is though, it’s going to take a while to find. Last time I came in from the air, and was presented with a route. Doubt they’d be as accommodating this time.” Great, time was already starting to slip through their fingers without having another lengthy search.

 

“Well, if it’s a natural cave, it has to be on the north side, where this castle is buried in the rock face” Hikari said. This seemed logical. The front doors they had entered through were on the south wall, so the group reasoned that getting to the back of the castle and working their way up floor by floor was the best option. There was also the decision in to whether to split up into groups. Although they could search faster, it would leave them exposed, and since they would only be able to contact each other via their runners which clearly wouldn’t be able to get everywhere in here, it was agreed they should all stick together.

 

Plan set, the group switched of their engines and dismounted their runners for the final time. The three battered, muddy, yet faithful machines that had carried them across the Empire on this adventure had served them well, but with the tight staircases preventing their getting above the ground floor, they would have to be left here. Sabin, Juruo and Tyrana pulled their duel shields out of the machines mainframe, attached them to their arms, and set off into the heart of the castle after the others. Yuma shivered, prompting a reassuring hand from Sabin.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“There is a strange aura in this place. It makes me feel... disconnected. I cannot feel the presence of Ancient Fairy Dragon and the other duel spirits that surround me as much as I usually can. It’s like she warned me in my dream, they are being kept at bay by some strange force. I’ve never felt so alone before... oh... sorry.”

 

Sabin shrugged off her unintended remark. “Nah it’s fine, I know what you meant. But I’ll protect you alright.” The sight of the two holding hands was a ray of light in the darkness.

 

The group moved slowly on, and the silence was becoming more and more creepy. Everyone was expecting an enemy to lurch out at them from every shadow. The graphic carvings of battles between humans and monsters were once again in place, depicting increasingly gruesome scenes. Mel swallowed as he passed a suit of armour, a rare piece of decorum in the identical corridors, that had been mangled and ripped apart, presumably an invader who had met his death in this castle at the hands of some terrible beast and put on display as a warning. The broken bones of the warrior were still inside. Tyrana nearly vomited at the sight of the body of a decaying rat she came close to stepping on. Still at least the corridors of this castle went in a straight, criss-cross like pattern, so getting from the very south wall to the north side didn’t take long even though they were taking it slowly. Eventually they reached a wall made not out of brick, but that was sheer, natural rock face. Hikari reached out to the stone with a wrapped hand. It was freezing to the touch.

 

“Well we’re at the very back now. Juruo, can you remember from before if you went up or down when you came here last. What about you Mel?”

 

“I can’t remember which floor exactly me and Phalanx burst into except it was near the top, maybe five or six up at least. The path I was guided down was very windy, I think overall I went... down two floors.”

 

“I’m sorry; I can’t remember much apart from my room, which overlooked the front.”

 

“Don’t worry Mel, its fine. So our target is probably somewhere on the middle floors of the castle” she reasoned. “I guess all we can do is go back and forth along this rock face as we ascend the floors until we find what we’re looking for. Now to go up, left or right?”

 

The group looked down the corridors stretching either way. They both looked identical. Figuring there had to be a stairwell somewhere; Sabin just went right without any particular reason, Yuma following him closely. After about one hundred metres they reached a spiral stairwell and climbed up to the second floor. This floor was skipped as it was too low by Juruo’s predictions. Up on the third floor, the group looked down it. There were doors in the rock face; perhaps one would lead them to the main chamber. Juruo said he’d recognise the right door if he saw it again, so this would just be trial and error. So began the process of walking down the corridor, poking their heads in the occasional door that came along, still alert for any sign of danger, still waiting for someone to confront them. The last two doors along the corridor were black and heavily locked, but there was no interest in breaking into them. Still there was no sign of any of the group who operated here, or any living thing generally, something that was becoming increasingly eerie. The group climbed the west stairwell up to the fourth floor, and started the methodical search again on this level. This hall seemed to have fewer doors in the cliff side, but still that could mean it housed solely the one they wanted.

 

As soon as the one at the back of the group had got into the corridor, the castle began to shake.

 

“What the hell?” someone swore.

 

As suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped. Everyone froze on the spot, duel shields instinctively armed, waiting for the source of the quake to reveal itself. But nothing seemed to be moving, it was like it had never happened.

 

“Ideas anyone?” Juruo asked.

 

“Surely the countdown can’t be completed yet” Yuma gulped. With no natural light in here, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed, but they couldn’t have been in here for much more than half an hour yet. But something certainly wasn’t right about this. There was a second, smaller rumble.

 

Hikari shouted as she saw the cause of this second one. A stone wall was coming across out of the side of the stairwell, sealing it off. Spinning around, the group could see in the distance that halfway down the passage, another stone wall was coming down from the roof across the corridor. Instinctively, the group scattered; Hikari, Juruo and Tyrana sprinted towards the falling wall, the others going in the opposite direction towards the west corner. Horror and dismay clutched them as they reached the corner and found themselves running straight into a dead end; a wall was already down to block their escape, hidden by the bend and the darkness. Running surely for their lives, the three who had gone for the descending wall fell far short, as it hit the floor with a bang and sealed off their only exit. Juruo couldn’t stop himself from pressing desperately against the wall, sweating and panting slightly.

 

“Well this can’t be good.” Hikari gasped, her voice strangled with fear, glancing around the sealed passage, hoping for some kind of support or reassurance. Tyrana fell to the floor in dismay. Tyrana fell through the floor...

 

“What the...? Tyrana!”

 

Underneath were she had sat, a stone had collapsed to reveal a hole, dropping Tyrana onto a slide. As soon as she fell through she was slipping into the darkness, and the fake stone snapped back up. Juruo jumped on it, but it refused to budge a second time.

 

At the other end of the sealed passage, Yuma was squeezing the pale looking Sabin for dear life, Mel was frozen like a statue in terror, whilst Luca was pounding against the stone. He walked the entire length of the wall, feeling and striking it hoping for... something... anything. Revealing nothing he kicked it in frustration, earning himself a lot of pain in the foot, and started back towards the other half of the group. He took a few steps when he heard Juruo shout something. He didn’t quite catch it due to his cursing, but it must have been bad. He took another step towards them to see what was up, and the ground collapsed beneath him. Yuma cried as she and the others watched him sink through a hole in the floor and disappear. Sabin let her go and ran to where he had been standing, finding no trace of the trap.

 

Juruo and Hikari ran back over to the others. “Demon must have set this as a trap for us. We’re sealed in completely, and Tyrana just disappeared through a trap in the floor.”

 

“Luca just vanished too. Do you think they’re just going to seal us in here until time runs... out...?”

 

Mel was interrupted by the sound of a stone falling to the floor just to his left. Everyone silently exchanged pale looks as the stone bounced, wobbling as it landed for the second time, vibrated, then became still. Breaking free from his trance, Mel crept slowly towards the small slab of stone that was lying on the floor, right by the natural wall, and bent down. It was just a little bigger than his hand, and quite weighty to pick up. Looking upwards to see where it had fallen from, he and the others could see a small hole in the rock face. He could hear a rushing noise. Then another resonating clang of stone on stone, as a second lump came free from the rock and landed further down the corridor, then again on the other side. Nobody could feel themselves breathe at this point.

 

Drip... drip...

 

A trickle of water started to fall on Mel’s forehead as he stared up at the hole in the wall.

 

...

 

Flying off the end of the slide, Tyrana fell the remaining four feet and landed with a heavy bump. Rubbing her sore parts from the fall, she stood up and took a look at her new surroundings. This room was quite a bit lighter than the areas of the castle she had seen so far, illuminated by flood lamps in the ceiling. The room was empty, apart from a large television monitor hanging high on the right wall along with a speaker to the side of it and a load of cables hanging below it, and the black door to her left – it must be one of the locked doors from the below floor. A duel field had been painted on the stone floor and half way across – cutting the field and room in half – was a giant glass wall of some kind. It looked incredibly thick as she walked towards it, and the other half of the room mirrored her side exactly. Lying face down on the other side of the screen was Luca.

 

“Oof... what?” he groaned as he got to his feet, and slowly became familiar with the same surroundings. “Tyrana.” Alarmed to see his partner across the room from him he ran over, hammering at the screen which was inches thick. “What are we doing down here?”

 

A crackle overhead from the speakers that answered him. The voice that came over the speaker was one neither duelist had heard before. It was high pitched, and filled with glee.

 

“Dear signers, you find yourselves and your friends sealed inside these connected rooms as part of a water torture. Listen closely, and I’ll explain what is what is going to happen now. There should be two signers trapped either side of this duel arena listening to this message, whilst your remaining four friends are in the chamber above. A chamber that is slowly filling with water.” The duo gasped as the two television screens flickered into life, revealing a camera feed from the above chamber. Three streams of water were starting to fall into the chamber where the others were, slowly beginning to flood the room. “The water is coming from the endless amount of snow that is currently melting along the mountain in the wake of my Armageddon.”

 

“You... you’re Demon. You bastard, if you want to fight, let them go and fight like a man!” Luca yelled.

 

The speaker promptly ignored him. “I have no idea how long it will actually take to fill that chamber, but I can’t imagine you want to wait and find out. You’ll no doubt want to try and free them, and the only way to do that is for the two of you to duel, right here and now in this arena. It is a simple task for you. Each time you take damage, some water will be released from the chamber above, although you’ll have to attach those cables below the monitors to your duel shields for it to register with the system. Once one of your life points hit zero, the chamber will be unsealed and your friends released.”

 

The two looked at each other as the speaker cut out. Luca gulped, Tyrana was furious. She plucked out a few cards and slammed them into her duel shield. “The hell we’re playing your game. Iguanon, Guaiba, smash that door down!” Two of her flaming reptiles appeared before and charged the door, fire licking their tough hide and producing from their jaws as they attacked the door simultaneously. As the flames burst forth, they simply seemed to simply pass through, and the door promptly did not move.

 

There was a crackling from the speaker overhead, as the attack provoked an amused response. “Did you think for two seconds I hadn’t thought about that? It is pointless to try to summon your monsters by means of an escape, as within the walls of this castle they are unable to physically affect their surroundings; like how things were before Final Countdown started. They will be able to pass through the screen separating you two, and only be able to attack each other. Escape without or mid duelling is impossible, so for your friends sake you may want to start fighting about now...”

 

“Why you... hey what are you doing?” Tyrana blinked as she saw Luca spring away from her to the wall in front of them and pick up a handful of the long cables. With a bit of fiddling, they connected to his duel shield.

 

“Well we can’t just stand here and do nothing. We have to get those guys out of there... whatever the cost.” Luca gulped as his shield activated and deck shuffled automatically. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste.”

 

Tyrana nodded, not that she thought she had a choice. Sprinting over and attaching the few cables into a slot on her own duel shield, a life point total for each duelist appeared in the corner of each television that was showing the chamber trapping the others, where the water level was steadily increasing. They would have to play along to Demon’s sick game for now, and try to work out an escape in the process. Their decks shuffled, and the two drew their opening hands.

 

“Let’s Duel!”

 

...

 

“Soar, Vortex the Whirlwind!”

 

“Rise, Ally of Justice Catastor!”

 

Due to the height of the locked down chamber, the bird warrior and the claw legged silver machine were about the strongest monsters Juruo and Sabin could summon in here as they stood in the ankle deep water that was slowly rising, not to mention bitterly cold. As soon as they appeared, each monster attacked the wall with a barrage of feathers and lasers respectively. The group watched and hoped as the duo bombarded the fallen wall with all their might, and yet.

 

“No effect at all?” Sabin cursed, as the attacks seemed to stop at the wall without contact. “Come on, the attacks were so real on us yesterday. How can they not have an effect now?”

 

“It’s this place” Yuma said. “There’s something in the air I can’t explain, but it is affecting our monsters spirits.”

“This is how attacks from monsters would usually be, before all this started. It’s like this place isn’t affected by Final Countdown like the rest of the world has been” Juruo added, horrible realisation dawning on him. This must have been what Decoy Dragon was trying to tell him earlier. Now they were trapped with no means of escape. Hopefully the two who had got away would be able to rescue them.

 

...

 

The silence was awful as the duel shields starter lights flashed red and green intermittently. The two duelists facing off who had known each other for years, lived and worked and shared everything together. They knew each other inside out, a relationship deeper than brother and sister, perhaps deeper than lovers. A relationship that was now going to be put to the ultimate test, as the green light stopped on Luca.

 

"Here we go. I summon ‘Gale Lizard’ in attack mode." A small airborne reptile with long red wings glided through the overhead portal and landed before him (ATK:1400). "With that I end my turn."

 

"That's all?" Tyrana blinked as she drew her card, looking at the small creature standing alone on the field.

 

"You heard the guy" Luca said, pointing up at the screen with his free hand. "Life points go down, so does their water level. Now get a move on and attack."

 

'It can't be that simple though' Tyrana thought. She had seen the effects duelling had had on the others in the last few days, and felt them herself. Demon must be looking to use that somehow, these cables she had attached to her shield maybe? She glanced up at the image of the five duelists in the flooding chamber. Juruo and Sabin had summoned monsters that were fruitlessly attacking the lowered walls, and were having the same nullified effect her monsters had. Clearly they weren't going to get out without their help. She looked over her hand and frowned. Plenty of monsters with attack higher than Gale Lizard, but she had a bad feeling about this.

 

"I summon Jurrac Dino in attack mode, and have it attack Gale Lizard." A small fireball rolled through the portal, unfurling itself to be the small horned dinosaur (ATK: 1700). It charged straight for Luca's monster - its spirit passing through the glass screen like it wasn't even there - and fire enveloped it as it reached top speed. Flames incinerated the lizard as the dinosaurs head rammed into its body, across the field Luca winced from the impact as it translated to him (LP: 3700). Straight away both duelists looked up at their respective screens. There was no obvious change in the guys predicament, although the damage had been minimal... wait... what was that rumble?

 

Tyrana screamed as a stone high in the wall behind Luca's head rolled sideways into a gap, and a stream of water burst through. Luca span to see what was the matter, and went pale when he realised what had happened. His skin prickled as he felt the water reach him, washing over his shoes. After a few seconds, the cascade of water stopped as the stone rolled back into place, leaving Luca standing in a small puddle of water spread out across the even stone floor. This chain of actions prompted another crackle from the speaker in the wall.

 

"As you may now have guessed, when I said the water in their chamber would be released, I forgot to mention that the water would be instead diverted into your two chambers. Not a rate that is in anyway threatening to you... well, not until your life points hit zero anyway, and the entire contents of the above chamber is emptied into the losers. I should have probably mentioned that earlier. Well anyway, have fun, and try not to take too long fretting over each other, your friends are depending on you. This is only the opening act, I’d hate for the main event to be a... wash out.”

 

And with that awful pun, the speaker cut out and was silent.

 

Luca gulped as he looked across at Tyrana. She was white as a ghost and visibly shaking. He wasn't to realise she was reflecting his own petrified look. Both of the duelist’s eyes flicked to the screen depicting the five who were slowly being flooded. With a quivering hand, she reached for her duel shield, lip trembling as she tried awkwardly to speak. "I... activate Dino's effect; releasing him in order to draw two cards. I end my turn... and am forced to discard one of the extra cards in my hand."

 

Luca almost jumped as his partner emptied her field. He was shocked. Part of him was horrified, part of him was outraged. It was obvious what she was doing, and the very idea appalled him. "What? Oh no, I'm not having that. I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself like that for me. There has to be some way out."

 

Tyrana looked away as she shook her head. "I don't think there is. Demon's thought everything out, blocked every chance of escape. He has set this up to torture us, to make us suffer. We don't have to time to mess around trying to find a loophole, not when the others could all drown. I have to do this." Luca started to protest, but she shouted over him. "Look Luca, we don't have time; with them trapped and the Final Countdown still ticking away. It's either me, you, or all five of them, and I'm not going to kill you. So just hurry up and defeat me so the rest of you can find Demon; take him out and stop this."

 

"Oh, but it's alright for me to sentence you to that fate" Luca snapped. From the outside it was a complete role reversal; usually Luca would be laid back and very hard to anger, whereas Tyrana would be the one to make the outbursts. "I know everyone’s depending on us, but it can't be like this. You can't just give up."

 

Tyrana shrugged and continued to look away, prompting Luca to draw with a scowl. He paused, thinking, trying to find some way out, some solution. "Oh fine. I summon ‘Deep Sea Diva’ to the field. When she's summoned, I can then special summon a level three sea serpent type monster from my deck. Namely, ‘Mermaid Archer’." A turtle sailed through the portal beside Luca and hit the floor with a splash. The turtle was huge, and had great shell like 'wings' on its back that were closed together. The protective shell opened to allow a small crack in the armour, revealing a mermaid inside the defence, holding a crossbow (ATK: 1200). "Now once a turn, I can equip Mermaid Archer with a level three or lower monster I control, and increase her attack by eight hundred." Deep Sea Diva disappeared as the archers strength rose (ATK: 2000)

 

On the other side of the glass screen, Tyrana set herself behind her shield. "Come at me Luca. I am prepared."

 

"Too bad that I'm not prepared to take you out like this. I place one card face down and end my turn."

 

Tyrana went ballistic. "What the hell are you doing?! I gave you a clear field. I told you we can't mess around and hold back."

 

"I'm not holding back. Tyrana, we have been through too much together to have it end like this. I won't have you just throw your life away like it means nothing, and I don't want to take it so readily. So how's this? We duel each other, properly, considering my last move as if it was the first turn and that I couldn't attack you, and may the best duelist win. No lying down in self sacrifice, no regrets, just us two playing it out to survive, and avenge the other. Can you at least agree with me to that?"

 

Tyrana bit her lip and nodded. The two would duel each other out of respect and honour to the other in a duel where the outcome, no matter who won or lost, would be catastrophic.

 

 

[Vector Nightmare]

Wow. I had... not seen that coming, and I must say it is brilliant. This is, simply put, one of the most ingenious twists for a chapter you've thrown so far. More details coming up in spoilers.

 

[spoiler=Spoilers]Alright, first of all, I simply loved the first section of the chapter where they were searching through the castle The descriptions and atmosphere were very realistic, and it projected the image of 'chaos going on outside, world dying, but everything inside is creepily still' that I wanted to feel perfectly well. I thought that part would just be glossed over, but I was very pleasantly surprised here.

 

Moving on, the part where they were taken down and trapped was also brilliant. It had be on the edge of my seat, wondering just what exactly would happen. And I loved the theme you came up with for the duel. It felt realistic and not forced, and it certainly caused the tension to skyrocket. And though I never managed to care for Luca and Tyrana that much so far, I was so into them this chapter.

 

 

This may sound like an exaggeration, but I have no complaints whatsoever. It was a work very well done, and your time away seems to have sharpened your writing talent rather than dull it. And now I'm even more excited to read the continuation...

[Lexadin]

Mhh, for some reason this chapter reminded me of Saw without the gore.

 

Anywho it was an excelent chapter. Great work.

[Fusion X. Denver]

That was an unpleasant twist.

And by unpleasant, I mean unpleasantly awesome.

I'm curious to see who'll win between these two. I got nervous for a second when both of them kept wanting their opponent to attack, but at the end, I'm glad they're going all out.

I'm good with either of them winning, but I think I want Luca to win since I like him a tad more than Tyrana.

[Aviv: D's Knight]

I LOVE THIS CHAPTE! I can't say that I didn't predict this. I love Luca and Tyrana so much, but I completely expected this form the start. I give you my lowest rating ever, seven thumbs up 9.5/9

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Wow guys, I'm really quite overwhelmed by the positive response to this chapter. Thank you all so much for reading and liking it.

 

I was really nervous about how it would be recieved (in fairness I am about every chapter at this point) because despite the length of time I've had to try and work everything out I've had loads of problems with these final chapters and the stuff going on. I get worked up some of it may look like I'm making rules up as I go along, especially with the monsters strengths being 'negated' in the castle (that comment will become clearer next week) and I'm trying to make sure nothing contradicts itself. I guess I just want this to be as good as possible and its kinda stressful.

 

As for the duel, I was also worried because I remember reading Yuusuke vs Maya in Dead Zone (not sure how many of you read Dead Zone. If you don't; do) and people slating Saber for it being a 5D's rip off (I still haven't seen that episode). I loved that duel and the concept, but I didn't want to do the same thing, so I thought 'how can I make it so they actually know they are fighting each other and have to anyway' as oppossed to the having their identities hidden. I was also worried because it might look like I'm just jobbing Luca and Tyrana out and that they might look a bit meaningless. I dunno, maybe I'm way overly critical of my own work.

 

Saber thank you for the comment saying you think my writings getting better. Really means a lot my friend.

 

Anyway, thanks for comments again guys. I intend to spend most of today asleep, but have Friday off to do some shopping. Chapter 58, and the conclusion of this duel, should be up sometime in the late evening.

[Reinforce]

Good chapter :), I wasn't expecting the duel between them but I do expect that they will both somehow survive, cause based on what we have seen I don't think either twin can really kill each other.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Good chapter :), I wasn't expecting the duel between them but I do expect that they will both somehow survive, cause based on what we have seen I don't think either twin can really kill each other.

 

Thanks. It's interesting that you have that veiwpoint, probably my fault for trying to set up a 'card games to the death' scenario since Final Countdown started, and although there have been hefty injuries from attacks no one has actually died directly because of duelling... oh no wait Barakus died as a direct result of duelling when he used 'Self Destruct Button' didn't he? Wow even I forgot that, facepalm. Anyway as I was saying, I've had - or at least felt personally I've had - major grapples with things not seeming consistent with other things I've said, something I'll really have to work on for next time. Maybe I'm paranoid, but hopefully this hasn't/will not detract from anyones reading experience.

 

Dunno how some people have got it into their heads that Luca Vaquez and Tyrana Sauro are twins though. I would have openly said it if they were but they're not as the surnames indicate, just lifelong friends.

 

Right, anyway, Chapter mother loving 58 peeps! Question is: How will the signers get out of this diabolical trap all in one piece? Answer is: They won't...

 

[spoiler=Chapter 58]

Chapter 58 - I Love You and Goodbye

 

"There has to be a way out of here." Juruo was running his hands through his hair so forcefully with stress he was close to pulling it out. The water that was steadily filling the section of chamber that had locked down on him, Hikari, Sabin, Yuma and Melanc was halfway up to his knees now, after a matter of maybe ten minutes. He had suddenly become very conscious of the fact that the corridor was about ten feet in height, giving them some floating room, although not enough to summon much of the heavy firepower out to help them. It was getting darker in here to, with some of the candles mounted on the walls being doused by spray. Yuma was clutching Sabin tightly round the waist, himself looking more and more like a cornered mouse. Hikari was holding Melanc, ignoring the pain she would be inflicting on herself with the contact so she might try to reassure him and stay strong, but the worry on her face was obvious. Catastor and Vortex were stood (or hovering) beside them, blasting at the wall to no avail, as their assaults had no effect on the heavy stone ahead.

 

Sabin started flicking through his deck for reinforcements. "Just keep blasting mate, we gotta break free and quick. Genex Ally Triarm and Jinzo, come out and help.” The others backed off as the armoured battle suit and the sadistic mad looking cyborg appeared either side of Catastor and started blasting away at the wall, to little effect.

 

...

 

Below the trapped group, Tyrana stared across at her friend, despair clutching her every sense. This insane situation was beyond their control. She could see the others hopelessly struggling to escape as the water continued to flood that section. The only way they had a chance of escape was, according to Demon, by her and Luca facing off in a duel and by taking damage, the water would be diverted out of the chamber, and into their own instead. There was every chance he wasn't telling the truth, they could well all be doomed anyway, but for now there seemed no alternative but to duel and hope that they would be released, even at the expense of her best friend, or herself. She was fighting for her life against the boy she had shared her life with, had strove so hard to defeat the Empire alongside and succeeded, and if she was going to live, then he would have to die. She couldn't bear that and he couldn't either, but he had convinced her to duel properly, that the better duelist on the day should survive, rather than one sacrificing them self and forcing the other to live on after condemning them to a horrible fate.

 

"Okay Luca, may the best duelist win. I draw, and summon ‘Jurrac Monoloph’, in defence mode for now." A small dinosaur that looked quite young, with a light blue body and yellow head and limbs, curled up in front of her (DEF: 1200). "Then I place two cards face down and end my turn."

 

"I activate my ‘Insurance’ trap card. I choose to return the face down on your left back to your hand." Tyrana grimaced as Luca forced her card back into her hand; the gloves were about to come off.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Turn 4]

Luca - Front Row: Mermaid Archer. Back Row: Deep Sea Diva Hand: 4 LP: 3700

Tyrana - Front Row: Monoloph. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 5 LP: 4000

 

 

 

 

"It's my turn now." The sorrow and torment was apparent in Luca's quavering voice was apparent as he snatched out his card. "I'm sorry Tyrana, but I can't hold back now. Mermaid Archer, attack." The shell on the turtles back opened slightly, allowing for a bolt to fly from the mermaid’s crossbow through the gap. The bolt passed through the thick glass screen undeterred and buried itself in the raptors neck, destroying it. Tyrana was not upset with this.

 

"Because you destroyed a Jurrac in defence mode, I can summon ‘Jurrac Herra’ straight from my hand." A yellow and green crocodile like dinosaur erupted from the earth, standing tall beside its duelist. On its back it carried two giant flamethrowers (ATK: 2300). Tyrana's big red eyes were misted over with tears. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you want me to fight with honour and without regret, then I can't hold back either."

 

Luca cursed himself for forgetting Herra; of course Tyrana had that monster in defence for that, the situation had distracted him. "I activate the spell card ‘Big Wave Small Wave’. This destroys all water monsters on my side of the field. Then I can replace them with other water monsters in my hand. I summon Fishborg Blaster and Reese the Ice Mistress in defence mode." An illusion of a wave appeared before Luca from the card that engulfed Mermaid Archer and subsided to reveal the strange robotic host for a silver fish and the ice mistress (DEF: 100 and 800). Reese couldn't be destroyed by Herra, and Fishborg Blaster was easy to revive. "Then I place one card face down".

 

"My turn now. I summon the tuner monster ‘Jurrac Gallim’ in attack mode." The half reptile half bird like creature appeared beside the giant Herra. Luca grimaced; he knew what was coming next. Sure enough he was not mistaken as Gallim transformed into rings that surrounded the bigger dinosaur, and a column of fire illuminated the arena. "I tune Gallim and Herra to Synchro summon ‘Life Stream Dragon’."

 

The mark of the claw on her arm started to burn, even more painful than when she had first received it, as the bulky golden dragon burst forth from the column, claws bared and roaring thunderously (ATK: 2900). Across from her, the tail mark bore by Luca was also glowing bright red and given the look on his face was hurting him to.

 

...

 

Yuma clasped her right arm, covered by her long fine silk glove and grimaced slightly. Under the black material, the mark of her heart symbol burned through brightly.

 

"What's wrong Yuma?" Sabin tore his attention away from his army of machines for a moment to see what was hurting her, only to feel the same pain as the mark of the dragon wings on his arm started to burn his skin as well. Juruo and Hikari could also feel their arms twinge from their respective marks, feeling each other’s pain. Mel looked from face to face, looking even more scared and confused at his friend’s reaction.

 

"Luca and Tyrana are enduring great suffering. They must be fighting for us, and it can't be going well." Yuma shuddered slightly, prompting a hug from Sabin. "I can't tell anymore than that. I hope they are ok."

 

"They'll be fine Yuma" Juruo told her. He could feel something in his mind telling him, as well as the others, that the two were hurting, and that they were fighting to overcome something. "They're a tough duo; they'll fight tooth and nail to help us. I'm sure they'll defeat whatever's been placed in front of them and get us out of this."

 

Sabin slowly turned to his machines; they had stopped firing at the wall as they took time to recharge their guns, before turning to Juruo. Juruo gulped; after every horror and tough situation they had endured, he had never seen Sabin this genuinely scared. "I hope you're right J, because I'm starting to think we're not getting out otherwise." Mel started to cry into Hikari's waist, her own face was pale with terrified realisation. Sabin hugged Yuma even tighter. They all had a horrible feeling he was right.

 

...

 

Luca gulped as the great golden beast, one of the holy dragons who served the Crimson Dragon and protected this and the duel spirit world, which was staring him down. He could sense the sadness emanating from it, but there was little chance that it would be merciful as it would seek to protect its own signer, who was looking more and more tormented now with the appearance of her top monster.

 

Tyrana was undecided on her move, or more whether she was doing the right thing by making it. She knew what Luca had said but still, she couldn't attack. No, she had to. The others were depending on one of them being victorious and soon. Time was ticking away. "I activate the trap card ‘Defenders Intersect’. This switches all of your defending monsters into attack position, and negates their effects until the end phase. Now Life Stream Dragon" Tyrana choked slightly, almost unable to bring herself to say the words. "Attack Reese."

 

Half through instinct, half through panic, Luca activated his trap with little conscious thought. "I activate my trap card ‘Fish Depth Charge’. By releasing Fishborg Blaster, I can destroy Life Stream Dragon."

 

"Life Stream Dragons effect activates. By removing the discarded ‘Unstable Evolution’ in my graveyard from play, my dragon survives, and the attack continues." She couldn't look as the bright red flames shot from the dragon’s mouth, through the glass and incinerated the warrioress. Luca screamed and fell to the floor, body burning with the heat of the attack (LP: 1600). Behind him the valves opened again, allowing more water to pour through, crashing down in that half of the room. Luca reacted and sat up in alarm, the water was up around his middle. Across the arena, Tyrana sank to her knees and punched the stony ground in anger.

 

"No Tyrana, don't blame yourself.” With every shocked muscle groaning under invisible weight, Luca pushed himself back to his feet. The water now came halfway up to his knees. Behind him the valves had shut, sealing off the chamber above again. “It's fine; remember that you've bought the others more time. Now due to Fish Depth Charge's effect, I can draw one card. Please understand Tyrana, this is what I want, to go down fighting. If you beat me, it’s because you're better than me."

 

"Stop talking like that. You told me that you would never give up on anything, so stop talking like you are and fight back. I place one card face down and end my turn."

 

[spoiler=Summary - Turn 6]

Luca - Front Row: -. Back Row -. Hand: 2 LP: 1600

Tyrana - Front Row: Life Stream Dragon. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 3 LP: 4000

 

 

 

...

 

Another shot of pain flashed across everyone’s minds.

 

“The situation must be getting worse” Juruo said. No-one could tell where the others were or what was happening to them, but they could tell they were in deep pain. At that same moment, there was a groaning noise inside the locked chamber and the room shuddered.

 

“Guys, I think the water is dropping slightly.”

 

Hikari was right; the level was going down quite a bit. The shuddering and the groaning ceased, and from the soak marks on their clothes everyone could tell the water had dropped by nearly a foot. However the water was still crashing in from above without relenting, replenishing the water that had been lost. The water formed from the melting snow was icily cold, the groups bodies were starting to go numb as they stood together, trying to huddle together for warmth. Sabin swore in confused rage.

 

“Damn it, what the hell is going on? If Luca and or Tyrana are duelling and they just took a big hit to trigger our connection, then why was a load of water released from in here?”

 

“I don’t know, but they are trying to get us out” Yuma stroked his face, trying to calm him down. “They will get us out. Your monsters aren’t doing anything. Call them back and save your strength.”

 

Begrudgingly admitting she was right, Sabin withdrew his three cards from his shield and replaced them in the hub, causing the monsters to disappear. Knowing his bird like monster would be helpless if its wings were wet; Juruo did the same with Vortex the Whirlwind, and huddled up with the others. There was a plopping sound, as two more stones fell from the ceiling into the water, allowing more to cascade in.

 

...

 

The two duelists stared up at the screens transfixed with horror. A lot of water had left the chamber their friends were trapped in, but now the water level was starting to rise rapidly again. Luca had lost half his life points and was now standing in a moderate level of water, and across from him Tyrana, who was still unharmed and bone dry, was looking increasing frustrated. He had seen her look like that a thousand times, but yet he had never seen the underlying helplessness hiding behind her grimace. “Damn it, the chambers starting to flood faster!”

 

“Face it, Demon’s screwing with us” she replied. “How can we believe it when he says he’ll let them go when this duel finishes?”

 

“You got a better idea?” Tyrana scowled, and shook her head. “Thought not, so let’s just continue this duel. If Demon is any sort of duelist, any sort of man, he’ll keep his word.” Luca wasn’t quite sure if he believed that, but anything that might reassure his friend at this point was worth trying. Escape had been proved fruitless for everyone; there was no choice but to continue. Closing his eyes, Luca drew and hoped for something good. His eyes opened to reveal his key monster, one that had served the duo well so many times. Now he was being forced to use it against her.

 

“I summon ‘Abyss Soldier’ in attack mode.” The whale warrior rose from its watery portal, brandishing his trident in his webbed hands (ATK: 1800). Ironic how Luca’s monsters should feel so at home standing in this watery arena. “I might not be able to destroy Life Stream Dragon, but by discarding one water monster from my hand, I can send him back to your extra deck... which leaves you wide open...”

 

Tyrana looked up at her dragon in disbelief as the mighty beast was forced backwards by a torrential blast of water, forcing it back into her deck. Abyss Soldier was now charging at her, its trident held out in front of it. Her hand instinctively went for her face down, but she stopped just in time to see the TV screen. The guy’s chamber was getting filled faster and faster with water was now back up to their waists; the shorter Melanc was up to his chest. She grimaced, and withdrew her hand as the aquatic monster speared her. She fell backwards from the impact, as her mind surged with feelings of pain coursing from her entire body, making her twitch, and she could immediately feel water crash around her, leaving the trapped duelists chamber to fill her own tomb (LP: 2200). Across the field, Luca looked ready to throw up.

 

“I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

“Then I draw” Tyrana cried, standing up and snatching out her card. As its contents revealed itself to her, she gasped in shock. ‘This card... this is my strongest monster. Combined with the other cards in my hand and field, I can summon him. Luca’s face down is probably Poseidon Waves, but I have the means to take care of that too. Does this mean... I have to destroy Luca with my most terrifying raptor? To save the others, I have to sacrifice him? To protect this world from the end, I have to kill someone who is fighting for the same cause, who has spent his life trying to protect the same values of me from the real bad guys? Is this what being a signer is supposed to be about? No...’

 

Whilst she was stunned, Luca gulped. He had already guessed what was coming as Tyrana activated her trap card, hand shaking as she did so.

 

“By discarding one card, I activate ‘Fossil Excavation’ to resurrect my extinct Jurrac Herra. Then I activate the spell card ‘Big Evolution Pill’. By releasing Herra, I can keep this card on the field for three turns. As long as it’s on the field, I can summon level five and higher dinosaurs without tribute.”

 

Luca took a step backwards. “Then that means... the card you just drew was...”

 

Tyrana nodded, revealing the card Luca feared. Her voice was hollow as she spoke. “I summon the ultimate dinosaur, ‘Jurrac Titano’.”

 

The earth before Tyrana erupted, the layer of water that came to Tyrana’s knees sprouted skywards as a volcano rose through the arena floor, sending tremors throughout the castle as it rose up. Rocks started to fall from the top of the volcano, burning chunks of magma that made the water boil and steam as they fell into the pool. As the rocks fell away, Tyrana’s ultimate dinosaur revealed itself. A towering behemoth of a monster made from solid black and blood red volcanic rock, the mighty Titano stepped out from its prison and the world shook again. Its amber eyes burned with the flames of destruction, staring straight down at the cowering boy before it (ATK: 3000)

 

“Now I activate Titano’s effect.” Tyrana continued, staring down so that her red fringe hid her eyes, still sounding just as emotionless. “As you know Luca, Titano can’t be targeted by the effects of monsters or trap cards. In addition, by removing Gallim from my graveyard, Titano’s attack is increased by one thousand.” The behemoth roared, sending shivers down his spine (ATK: 4000). “Then I activate the spell card, ‘Tail Swipe’, returning your face down to your hand...”

 

There was nothing he could do. His face down was all he had to protect him, but as he pulled it out of the slot in his duel shield’s blade, Luca couldn’t stop himself from shaking. He was about to die, either by being burned alive by Titano, or by being drowned by this trap set up for them. The holy dragons had chosen him to protect their existence, and his mission and life were about to be ended by his fellow signer. He closed his eyes as the massive Titano pulled back his head and unleashed his fiery breath upon Abyss Soldier.

 

“STOP!!”

 

Luca blinked in shock as Titano half choked on its own breath, trying to stop itself. Tyrana was staring up at it, tears filling her eyes, begging the destructive mammoth to stop. Titano shook violently, trying desperately to swallow its flaming breath back, its eyes giving away that it couldn’t hold it, the attack had to be released. Stamping and turning, the monster dinosaur unleashed its breath at the door sealing the room. Once again, the door was unmoved as the attack passed harmlessly through.

 

“Tyrana... what are you doing? You should have won...”

 

“I’m sorry Luca, I couldn’t do it. This isn’t right. We’re supposed to be saving the world together, fighting together like we’ve always done so that we could have a better tomorrow. But we’re being abandoned to this torture. I can’t let this go on.”

 

“We have to.” Luca couldn’t help but shout, he didn’t mean to but fear was taking its toll. Tyrana looked like he’d hit her as his words stung her. “This is bigger than the two of us. This is about everyone. Yeah I’m not thrilled with it, but if one us has to die so everyone else can live, then that’s what we have to.”

 

“That still doesn’t make it right though. I end my turn.” Luca looked at his friend; she seemed so different her. She was almost always tough as nails, but now she was struggling to keep strong, as he drew his card. The image of the spell hit him hard.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Turn 8]

Luca - Front Row: Abyss Soldier. Back Row -. Hand: 1 LP: 1600

Tyrana - Front Row: Jurrac Titano. Back Row: -. Hand: - LP: 2200

 

 

 

 

'Surfacing? With this I can bring back Reese, tune her with Abyss Soldier to summon Brionac, and then use her effect to force Titano back into Tyrana’s hand. I’d win, I’d survive, but only because she held back. Can I be so heartless?'

 

Tyrana saw straight through him. “See, now you’re holding back from finishing me off, because you have to be the big hero. However you dress it up as being some sort of noble sacrifice, this is... some twisted kind of euthanasia. You’re asking me to kill you, and no matter what the reason I can’t throw you away like that. How can you ask that of a friend, to be a... an executioner!?”

 

Luca shook his head, revealing the Surfacing spell card to his dumbstruck opponent. “The only reason we’re having this discussion is because you gave me a reprieve, how am I supposed to defeat you after that? We agreed Tyrana, to let this duel decide things. I’m not offering myself as a sacrifice or whatever the hell you just accused me of; I’m asking you to duel properly and let our decks determine it. So I’m making this your last warning. Either you defeat me, or so help me I’ll have to defeat you. There’s no other way. I replace my face down card on the field and end my turn.”

 

Tyrana couldn’t stop her blazing temper going over the edge. What Luca was asking her to do was, in her opinion, an unacceptable request. But she couldn’t ask him to do it either. He was too heroic for his own good. “Fine then you selfish idiot! If you want me to be a murderer so damn badly then I activate Titano’s effect again, removing Monoloph from my graveyard to raise his attack to four thousand until the end phase. Titano, attack!” The mighty dinosaur unleashed another barrage of hot magma from its mouth, incinerating the whale soldier.

 

“I activate ‘Half Shield’. This makes the damage from this one battle half, enough to give the others more time, and enough for me to hang on.” Luca felt his skin burn as the transparent barrier blocked only some of the attack, struggling to stand from the attack, while the water rose almost up to his waist (LP: 500). Looking back up at the screen, the water was flooding the other signer’s chamber so badly the damage that was releasing the water into his section was not enough to bring the level down at all, only delay its rise. They could only give this a few more turns.

 

Tyrana had noticed this too, and gulped. “I end my turn” she said shakily.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Turn 10]

Luca - Front Row: -. Back Row -. Hand: 1 LP: 500

Tyrana - Front Row: Jurrac Titano. Back Row: -. Hand: - LP: 2200

 

 

 

 

...

 

Juruo’s feet were no longer touching the floor. Out of the five sealed in here, he was the tallest, although closely followed by Hikari then the slightly stockier Sabin. The chamber was now over half filled with icy water, enough to force them into floating. Melanc was treading water frantically, like a drowning puppy, thrashing wildly in panic, Hikari desperately trying to keep him calm.

 

Juruo felt himself sink on one side, as his mouth dipped under the water line. Damn, the duel shield was weighing him down. Sabin and Hikari had already taken theirs off in order to support Yuma and Mel, but he had clung onto his, hoping he could think of something, anything he could use to help. Now he had no choice. Unclipping the attachment, he removed it and let it sink to the floor.

 

...

 

“It’s my turn. Because I have no spell or trap cards on the field, the ‘Treeborn Frog’ in my graveyard is resurrected to my field.” The winged frog floated up as if ascending the grave, as Luca activated his drawn card. “Next I activate ‘Cup of Ace’ to flip a coin. Depending on the result, one of us can draw two cards.” The result was heads, allowing Luca to add two cards; one of them immediately caught his eye. With this he could summon...

 

“I activate the spell card ‘Surfacing’. This summons a level three or lower water monster in my graveyard in defence mode. I choose the tuner monster Reese the Ice Mistress. Next, because I control a water attribute monster, I can summon ‘Cyber Shark’ from my hand without release.” A large shark with a golden face plate protecting it like a sort of helmet appeared beside the other two monsters (ATK: 2100), before Reese disappeared into rings of bubbles for the other monsters to pass through. “Now I tune Reese with level five Cyber Shark and level one Treeborn Frog to Synchro summon ‘Black Winged Dragon’!”

 

The enormous black bird-like dragon, with grand feathery wings and long silver tail feathers, emitted a screech from its beak as it floated just over the watery playing field. Its strength was formidable, but short of Titano’s (ATK: 2800). “Then I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

“Your signer dragon now?” Tyrana asked, blinking in surprise. “Its attack is not high enough. What are you hoping for, some kind of miracle to save us? Miracles don’t happen twice.”

 

“This card represents the preservation through suffering, and the triumph in sacrifice. It is the representation of my soul, and if you are going to defeat me then it is only fitting that you defeat it too. I will not make it easy for you, because I respect you too much. So come at me full force.”

 

Tyrana drew, and silently gasped. It was over. “Fine, if you want it, here it comes. I remove Jurrac Dino from play to increase Titano’s attack back up to four thousand. Now attack Black Winged Dragon.”

 

“I activate the trap ‘Break Tune’. I may not have a tuner monster to summon with it right now, but I can still use it to cancel your attack and the battle phase.”

 

Tyrana was crying now. It was the first time she had ever cried in front of Luca. “Your reprieve is temporary. I activate the spell card ‘Dino Blast’. This inflicts damage to your life points equal to the level of a dinosaur on my field times two hundred. Titano’s level is nine, so that’s eighteen hundred points of damage, and you have no face downs left to protect you. I’m so sorry, but if you want me to save the others, if you say there is no way out for us, then this is our last goodbye.” Titano charged a second blast and fired directly at Luca.

 

“Not yet. Black Winged Dragon’s effect activates when I would take direct damage. It absorbs the hit and takes on a black feather counter, which decreases its attack by seven hundred.” The noble dragon intercepted the attack, screaming in pain, some of the feathers on it’s wings turning red as it absorbed the flame to protect its duelist (ATK: 2100).

 

Tyrana gulped to herself, her eyes flicked to the screen showing the drowning duelists. “I place one card face down, and end my turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - Turn 12]

Luca - Front Row: Black Winged Dragon. Back Row -. Hand: - LP: 500

Tyrana - Front Row: Jurrac Titano. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: - LP: 2200

 

 

 

 

Luca could see the others were nearly out of time too. This needed to end now. He glanced at his drawn card and swore inside. He could defeat Titano, but he couldn’t win the duel this turn. He had promised to duel with honour, but by the time got to his next turn, the others may have already drowned. Maybe he should just end his turn now. No, that wouldn’t be fair on Tyrana if he hadn’t duelled with all his strength, after pressuring her into this. It would make him a hypocrite.

 

“I activate the equip spell ‘Grief Tablet’. Titano may be unaffected by monsters and traps, but it can still be targeted by spells. But now since it has Grief Tablet equipped to it, its effect is negated, so Black Winged Dragon can now activate his own. By removing the black feather counter on him, his suffering is unleashed on Titano; decreasing his attack by seven hundred and inflicting an equal amount of damage to you.” Screaming to release its pain; Black Winged Dragon spread its wings and blasted the dinosaur with the force of a hurricane, transferring the damage it had suffered to it. As the giant dinosaur buckled in front of her, Tyrana fell to one knee, clutching her waist and grimacing as her life points fell, and the valves released more water into her chamber (LP: 1500). Luca choked, but knew he had to go on. “Also, Black Winged Dragon is returned to full strength, and enough to take down Titano. Direct attack.”

 

The dragon threw back its head and unleashed a torrent of dark flame from its beak. Tyrana raised a hand to her shield and flipped her trap open, to Luca’s horror. “I activate the trap card ‘Chain Arrow’. This increases the attack of one monster on the field by five hundred.”

 

‘Our monsters will both be destroyed in a tie. Then it will just be a case of the first to draw a monster wins.’ The crippled dinosaur unleashed its own attack back at the dragon, their attacks meeting in the middle of the arena as they passed through the thick glass screen that was unaffected by the monsters. There was a large bang that forced both duelists to shield their eyes.

 

...

 

When Luca looked up, Black Winged Dragon was floating above his head (ATK: 3300). On the other side of the glass wall, Titano had disappeared, Tyrana was on both knees, and water was slowly filling her chamber (LP: 500). It took a few seconds before he realised what had happened. “No! You didn’t?”

 

Tyrana nodded slowly. Her words were hollow, resigned. “Sorry Luca, but I had to. I can’t let you be the stupid superman that you are, not this time. I won’t play this game of Demon’s any longer. Now Grief Tablet’s final effect activates when the monster equipped with it is destroyed, inflicting five hundred points of damage to that monsters controller. Goodbye Luca...” (LP: 0)

 

As soon as her life points hit zero, the wall behind opened to reveal a full array of pipes, letting water crash around her. In seconds the chamber filled completely. Ripping the cables out of his shield, ignoring the door that had unlocked itself, Luca ran over and pounded helplessly against the glass as Tyrana floated in front of him. “No! You can’t leave me like this. You should have won.”

 

Tyrana’s outstretched hand pressed against the glass where his fist was and stilled him, her red eyes quivering. She had made her choice. A few seconds passed, although for the two staring helplessly at each other it felt like an eternity.

 

A stream of bubbles came from her throat as water filled her lungs.

 

Her body jolted violently...

 

Her hand went limp.....

 

“TYRANA!!!”

 

...

 

On the floor above, the five were lying on their backs, soaked to the skin, panting to take in oxygen. Blessed oxygen. The walls that had trapped them in had risen - for some reason - allowing the water to disperse, and only a few last drops were trickling in from the holes.

 

“What happened?” Hikari asked.

 

“Don’t know, but whatever, let’s get off this floor before it all shuts down again” Sabin answered. He winced and looked at his mark again, it was glowing and pain was pulsing through his arm. “Maybe the other two have something to do with it. Perhaps...” He was interrupted by shouts from the floor below.

 

The five hurtled back downstairs to find Luca, as soaking wet as they were, pulling madly at one of the locked doors they had passed earlier, his face red and streaming with tears. “Don’t just stand there, help. Tyrana’s in there.” The group exchanged confused looks, to his increased distress. “We were forced to duel to save you lot. She sacrificed herself for us. But I can still save her.”

 

Glancing around in alarm, Juruo noticed a suit of armour further along the corridor behind them. In its hand was a long axe. Grabbing it he returned to the door, shouting at Luca to get out of the way, and swung. One strike over the handle was enough to break it, and the door could be wrenched open. A torrent of water gushed out, halting them as it dispersed. Finally the group rushed in, to find the still and cold body of the redhead girl lying on her back in the middle of the duel field. Yuma buried her head in the shoulder of her numb boyfriend. Hikari did her best to comfort Mel despite her own teary state. Luca knelt over her and cradled Tyrana’s body in his arms, weeping into her shoulder.

 

“Damn it, why’d she have to sacrifice herself? She should have won the duel, not me. I should have been the one. This isn’t fair.” He choked, as did the others, as a cry filled the air. A mournful cry. A light flashed from inside Tyrana’s deck. At the same time, the mark of the claw on her arm started to fade.

 

“No! Don’t you dare abandon her! Black Winged Dragon, get out here.” Luca cried as he slammed the creature’s card into his own shield. The dragon appeared before them, it looked crestfallen as it surveyed the scene, as Luca shouted at it. “You listen to me. My friend came here because you gave her the ability to protect all the people of this world, not to mention your own backs. Where was her protection? I thought that was your job? You get your boss to bring her back right now!” A few seconds of silence passed and the dragon just floated there, a tear dropped from its large white eye. Luca cracked his knuckles.

 

“I’m warning you. Bring. Her. Back.”

 

“Luca.” Yuma had managed to bring herself back with much effort, walking over to and softly putting a hand on the boys shoulder. “If Tyrana gave her life of her own free will, then I don’t think the Crimson Dragon can do anything. I’m sorry.” Luca shrugged her off violently.

 

“What free will? What choice did she have? She had to either kill me or let herself die, and the Crimson Dragon just let it happen. Is that what it wants from us? To be cold hearted killers so that we can stop Demon and make sure their own world is safe? Do we mean nothing to them? I guess it doesn’t matter to them what happens to us, as long as they survive...”

 

“Luca it isn’t like that...”

 

“Shut up! I came here to do save everyone, not murder my friend. Not to be abandoned by the creatures that gave us this god forsaken task. I’ve had it.” Before Yuma could stop him, Luca snatched the Black Winged Dragon card from its slot, and tore it in half. The dragon before them cried and vanished as the two pieces of card floated gently onto the wet stone, and the mark of the tail on his arm slowly faded away. Energy spent, Luca collapsed on Tyrana, refusing to let her go, and continued to weep.

 

“What now?” Hikari asked. There was a long pause.

 

“The countdown is still ticking down to Armageddon. We have to go on” Juruo answered, turning to the others. “The dragons won’t abandon us, it’s just this place is limiting their halo of protection. We need to get to Demon and stop this as quickly as possible. Mel.” The little boy blinked as Juruo turned to him. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you look after Luca? He’s in no state to carry on, but we can’t just leave him here alone. He’s grieving now, but if you could stop him from doing anything he might regret.”

 

Mel nodded, choking on his own tears. “I’ll try. But you have to take this with you.” The boy reached behind his neck and started to fiddle with something. Finally he managed to unclip and then produce a silver necklace, with a blue ring that had been hung along the chain.

 

“This was my father’s ring. It’s too big for me, but Erin gave me the necklace when I was seven to keep it with. She wears a necklace from our mother. When you see her, give this to her. I don’t really know what I want to say to her, other than I want her to open her eyes and stop the final countdown.”

 

“I will” Juruo promised, taking the necklace from the boy and putting it around his own neck. Hikari and Yuma hugged him, whilst Sabin put a hand on Luca’s shoulder and tried to explain what was happening. He wasn’t listened to, as the boy continued to cry uncontrollably into the dead girls shoulder. Unable to offer any further help, each of the four remaining signers rung some of the water out of their clothes, gave their respective blessings to Tyrana, and left.

 

 

 

 

 

[spoiler=Postscript]

Hmm, just noticed this very second that I intended for Brionac to use its effect on Titano during that. That was very stupid of me. Sorry about that.

 

So yes, a signer has died. Not going to be the last death either.

 

Stay tuned. Monday, Chapter 59 - The Truth...

 

 

 

 

 

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=Spoilerz]Wow, this was a really dramatic chapter and all, but... some things didn't quite make sense to me, neither from an in-story nor from a narrative perspective. I get that Luca and Tyrana kept passing the ball to each other for who would deliver the final blow, which was understandable, and even Tyrana's decision to go for it was very nicely done, but Luca getting angry at Blackfeather Dragon for it was... not realistic, to me. To begin with, Blackfeather Dragon was his dragon, so why should it be responsible for Tyrana's fate? If anything he should've gotten angry at Life Stream Dragon. Instead of getting angry at Demon, who set them up, he got angry at his dragon who really had little to do with the whole thing, as it was already established that their monsters had no real power in there. I don't know, the characters in Armageddon have generally been acting with a modicum of maturity, so this plain-out wrongly-directed anger, even under these circumstances, felt like an awkward plot device to basically say 'hey, Luca, your role is over, now take a step back and let the others get on with their plot lines'. Maybe that's just me reading too much into it, but though I kinda expected this resolution to the duel, with one having to sacrifice themselves because the other couldn't bring themselves to kill them (and kudos for choosing Tyrana, too), I did not expect what happened afterwards, and unlike most other surprises you've created, this one didn't sit down quite well. I feel it would be better if Tyrana's sacrifice empowered Luca's fighting spirit for the fight against Demon, and then he ended up contributing to the group's victory in some round-about way, rather than him abandoning the battle altogether. I know this will probably come around and Luca is probably not quite out of the picture yet, but that's certainly the impression left by this chapter.

 

Otherwise you maintained the high-quality writing of the previous chapter - your descriptions have gone up a notch from the past, and your narrative has improved as well, resulting in much more lively scenes and enticing detail that contributes a lot to the story. If it wasn't for Luca's over-the-edge reaction to Tyrana's death, I'd have been fully satisfied with this.

 

[Reinforce]

I am shocked, I never really expected you to kill one of them, but well written, and luca was probably too consumed with grief to really pay attention to what the others were saying, not to mention that it kinda was Black-Winged Dragon that dealt the last blow.

[Aviv: D's Knight]

No Tyrana! You, my favorite character! Bring her back and rewrite this you a*shole!

[Fusion X. Denver]

Tyrana's dead, eh?

That sure blew :T

Well, the chapter was well done and the raw emotion made the story all the better.

I kinda feel bad for Black-Winged Dragon though :/

I hope Luca comes around, it'd be sad if Tyrana's death sent him completely off the deep end.