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

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

[spoiler=Characters]

 

Characters

1. Honestly, they are all amazing and have lots of development so far, but if I had to pick one, it would be Sabin. I don't do worsts. Just brings down the level of the fan-fic.

2. Best Villain (Demon, Erin, Raesir, Gear, Urusula, Alpha & Omega, Nero, Fygmorke), why, and the worst? Fygmorke, definitely, hands-down. He is the most vicious kind of bad guy I've ever met.

3.Dravir's brother (can't remember the name) in Arc 2. Hope that's specific enough for you. LOL.

4. I say Sabin has developed the most over the entire story, changing from his arrogant personality to one of love and hope, as displaying after the Yuma fight. Here I think I will do a worst and say Hikari, because she's not usually given much "screen time".

5. Dialogue is very important in any novel, so yes, there definitely was a lot of interaction that helped mold and develop everyone efficiently.

6. You know, some writers say that Duels are the most important aspect while others say that a plot is necessary to keep going, but I have always preferred a middle. I think this story qualifies.

7. Indifferent. Appearances don't interest me, only what the character does is what makes a difference later on.

8. Although I don't think bios are necessary (and I'm not one to talk, I do it as well), sometimes they help to get readers back on the right track about where the characters are going.

 

 

[spoiler=Settings]

 

Settings

1. Sometimes being overdescriptive is a good thing. Yes, they were very detailed, right down to the last cloud in the sky.

2. Sadly, with this one, I don't think it compared much with the cities.

3. Yes, it really gave off a fitting sense of atmosphere, more so than actually what was generically inside of the temple, or that specific place.

4. Good. If you don't have good scenery, you don't have a good movie. Doesn't really apply here, but I think you get the idea.

5. If it helps move the story along, then I don't really care. Indifferent.

6. Was the mood of each setting well established and appropriate? Yes. Feeling and mood are two important aspects that some writers forget to incorporate into their stories, but I feel that it was perfectly situational here.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Plot]

 

Plot

1. I felt a little more could have been done with it in some parts, but it was a good set-up for the next series.

2. Unfortunately, I found it too cliche or my tastes (how do you get the accent over that e? It's really annoying.)

3. There were some parts that were a little bit muddy, but overall, after I trekked through and reached Terra Fir ma, it ended up being very solidified and well-done.

4. Didn't I get asked this already? Anyways, plot development and Dueling need a balance, and I found quite a good balance with this story.

5. Too many sub-plots can lead to a downfall of the story, since it bugs the crap out of the audience when a plot isn't finished fully. Here, all the plots seemed to tie together and incorporate into one another to bring out the story's full potential.

6. Everything.

7. Nothing.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Dueling]

 

Duels

1. You can never assume anything in the world of fan-fiction, so nothing was "too" predictable for me. For Dueling as a whole to me, it's about WHY the characters are Dueling, not WHEN or WHERE or WHO is dueling.

2. All of the duels seemed to contribute to the plot very nicely, except for the XYZ fight.

3. LOL Juruo doesn't know how to figure out Dragunities half the time. But other than that, the balance of cards seem to fit with the character's personalities.

4. Staples are just....eww....

5. They seemed fine to me in terms of speed and how the Duel flowed.

6. Dialogue is just as important as Dueling. This fan-fic displayed an excellent balance between both.

7. Hikari's Fablesworn Deck. Interesting combination of Archetype.

8. Tyrana vs. Luca. That Duel was incredibly gripping.

9. Sometimes it was unnecessary because the "End of the Round" approached so fast that it was like "yea, we can remember that." I can't avouch for anyone else here, though. Hyperlinks are a MUST in Duels, I believe.

 

 

[spoiler=Storytelling]

 

Storytelling

1. Of course. Everything flowed smoothly and there were no choppy parts.

2. I've taken English classes for 12 years. Of course it was easy for me to understand.

3. Just right. There weren't any plot holes that I recognized, although there were a bit of cliche parts here and there.

4. I ALMOST teared up when reading the Tyrana and Luca Duel. :P

5. Nah. I don't usually get angry. I just like to point out flaws in the story, because, in reality, anger really is the stocking source of my amusement.

6. I didn't generally feel elated when reading this. No one reads an "end of the world" story smiling.

 

And Finally...

1. Not really.

2. Nope. I think everything got resolved the way everything should have been resolved.

3. Avoid bringing unnecessary sub-plots into the main plot too soon (and you know I'm taking about the Erin and Juruo romance).

4. It would be nice to use some Custom Cards every once and a while, like I do.

5. PROBABLY THE GREATEST FAN-FIC I HAVE EVER HEARD!

 

 

 

 

[spoiler=Another note]

 

Oh, I probably shouldn't be throwing this around, but you are totally in the lead for Best Fan-Fic of the YCM Awards, Matt.

 

 

 

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Thanks for that DA, but seriously it can't all have been that good.

 

This story has been very cliche I know, hopefully the next one won't be as much.

 

Worked out how to do proper hyperlinks now, so they might be back in the next chapter. (I summon Gogogo Golem) Absolute pain in the ass to do now though.

 

Seen I've been voted for in a few categories, nice way of discovering new readers. Seriously though Dead Zone is a more deserving winner and I kinda hope there's a late surge of fans vote for that.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Yeah, I'm gonna come right out and say it, I'm disappointed... strike that, pretty dismayed that only three people did the questionnaire when I can name 12 who read this. Yes I can be a (insert naughty word) for praise somnetimes but I'm like that, but I really also want as many perspectives and thoughts as possible so future writing can be the best it can be. *Sigh* Moving on then...

 

So, we're entering our final two weeks (insert drumroll). The following chapter is the shortest of the remaining and by some way, so enjoy the light reading while you still can. Hope this chapter sets the scene of the end of the world, and sets up an exciting week of madness. Enjoy.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 61]

Chapter 61 - Into the Unknown

 

Passing through the swirling black vortex felt like stepping into thick oily water. It made movement one hundred times harder to make; sluggish and weighty. Subconsciously Hikari couldn’t stop herself from taking a deep breath and holding it as she plunged under the ominous surface after Sabin, who was now invisible in a heavy veil of darkness, before realising she could breathe normally under the surface. Ahead of her, Sabin was keeping his movements slow, unable to see any path ahead of him, fearing he would walk over the edge of the rock and into oblivion at any moment, his senses were on high alert all the same. At the back of the group, Juruo felt like he was sinking regardless of the stone under his feet into an empty hell, without sight and sound and with no escape. This sensation of blind, crushing darkness enveloped the party for minutes as they plodded on downwards, before it finally lifted as they descended from the clouds into the inner sanctum of the inter dimensional void.

 

The place had the aura of a world that was dying. A dark replica of the above ‘normal’ outer sphere, habited only by the same floating rocks and connecting pathways that occasionally exploded into fragments without warning. Weak stars littered the endless black horizon, their light dimly refracted across this inner nucleus as they flickered, died for a moment, then came back on again in an erratic cycle. Purple streaks of lightening crackled over the surface of the sphere (for unknown to the three this sub space was spherical) above them, whilst below them, far far below their winding path and with none seemingly leading to it, was a gigantic ball of energy miles in diameter. Like the sun except the surface of swirling liquid was glowing a dull blood red, it appeared to the more focused observer than the floating rocks were gravitating around it, as though it was the heart of this dimension.

 

Continuing on down their solitary path, something else slowly came into view in this dark space that took most of their attention. The shadows of two figures were ahead of them in the darkness, standing possibly with their backs to them further down the path. Even in this light, they were easily identifiable with the bright flame coloured hair and blue linear tattoos of the shorter man which seemed to glow of their own accord in here, and at closer inspection as the trio ran down the path towards the figures, the thinner misshapen frame of his associate who was wearing his usual darker biker kit over his bare chest, the light of the life support machine in his torso flashing in the gloom. Hearing the sounds of footfalls rushing towards them, Raesir and Gear turned to the signers as they approached. They were not smiling, but they did not react angrily or defensively as the group came up to them. They just stood there, Gear perfectly still, Raesir awkwardly flicking a lighter on and off in his hand, perhaps looking a little surprised but otherwise stoic.

 

“So, some of you showed up at last” Raesir said as the new arrivals came to a stop a few feet away from him. His tone was not malicious or scornful like it usually was, instead he sounded tired, even resigned. “Figured you three at least would be persistent enough to make it one way or another. I take it the others weren’t so lucky?”

 

Raesir sounded so pessimistically empty, so devoid of feeling, that the signers who were already emotionally battered found it hard to respond. Juruo could only manage to mutely shake his head in reply, prompting Raesir to bow his own. He looked so genuinely sorry, as did Gear who has silently copied his actions. This sudden change in behaviour seemed irrelevant to one of them though. As the flame haired duelist opened his mouth to speak again, Sabin stepped forward and swung, punching him hard enough to knock him to the floor.

 

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry” Sabin threatened, each word slow to emphasis his point as everyone else stared at him. Rubbing his jaw where he’d been struck, Raesir pushed himself back up to his feet and sighed.

 

“I couldn’t apologise enough for all the horrors we’ve committed anyway. To you, to the people who’ve suffered directly at our hands over the years, and now everyone we’ve endangered with our greed for an escape from our lives, and blind lust for eternal happiness. However I hope you’ve realised that despite everything we’ve done, we are no longer enemies of yours. Your reaction to us being here suggests you met Demon and he told you what is going on?”

 

Hikari nodded. “He said that you had all been deceived by Fygmorke. That he used you with lies about Utopia in order to seek complete destruction instead, and that you two and Erin had chased him here the night before we arrived...”

 

Raesir turned to Gear with a look of panic on his face. “We’ve been in here a day?”

 

“That’s not what she said” the half mechanical duelist, usually so crazed but now calm and focused, replied with a little sarcasm before turning to the arriving signers. He still looked extremely concerned. “What time was it when you entered the archway and came through here?”

 

None of the signers knew exactly, but Hikari explained they had entered the castle at midday, been locked in the water chamber whilst Luca and Tyrana were forced to fight to her death (Raesir put his head in his hands and cursed that the trap Fygmorke had made him set up had been successful after all) and then witnessed Demon and Yuma battle to activate the archway and the aftermath of their duel, before hazarding a guess that it was between three and four in the afternoon. It seemed not an unreasonable estimation, to which Gear frowned.

 

“I see. It’s been impossible to tell in here. That means we have just about eight hours to reach and stop the bomb forcing the power of the Sacred Beasts through its mechanism from going off, and prevent this reality from total collapse. Because if that happens, everyone is screwed. We’ve been searching for it and Fygmorke ever since we arrived. He hasn’t turned up anywhere, and as for the bomb...”

 

“And why do you guys care about stopping the bomb from wiping out all existence all of a sudden?” Sabin interrupted him vehemently. “I thought you two were all bitter and hated everyone?”

 

“For a long time we were angry and despised life, and the hands it had dealt us” Raesir replied, putting his lighter back in a pocket of his red sleeveless jacket. “We were in the gutter when Demon came to us and promised us an escape from our hell, to Utopia where we would get our hearts desires. In desperation, blinded by the same fantasies he was, we accepted without regard for anyone else. You may not know this, but seven years ago, a factory explosion in my hometown cost the lives of all my direct family.” Sabin and Juruo exchanged a look, now was not the time to point out that they did know this after a very drunk Raesir had told this story to them in a village pub they had happened to run into him in. “At the time the Empire was preparing for war, and pushing its factories to the limits. The explosion that blew up half the industrial part of Sennen’Yama was covered up by the Empire, but it was because they really had no idea of what caused it. But now I know what happened. Fygmorke caused the explosion.” Raesir swallowed awkwardly as he completed his sentence.

 

The fact that Fygmorke would, or indeed could, blow up half a city area did not really surprise Juruo. But one thing did puzzle him. “Why would Fygmorke do that on the off chance of getting to you?”

 

Raesir shrugged. “He needed strong duelists to serve as his enforcers, as well as a distraction from himself, and at the time I was a promising young duelist in the making, going up against professional duelists at just ten years old and regularly beating them. You can imagine the effect of the tragedy of losing all your family would have a young boy, who could easily be manipulated and shaped into a weapon for his use. I joined the cause as I thought that if I reached Utopia I would be rejoined with my family, and I did everything Demon and Fygmorke asked me to in pursuit of that selfish dream. My dream has been put out, but I cannot allow the flames of hell to envelop everyone else. My family would never forgive me if I let the darkness that controlled me win.”

 

“Fygmorke’s method of recruitment was used on me too” Gear added gravely. “You already know I was the rising turbo duel hotshot of the time, and about the way I went out on my runner into every match looking to completely destroy opponents. Fygmorke must have thought all his dreams had come true when he saw me the day of the championship match against Tatsan seven years ago.”

 

“He caused you to crash, didn’t he?” Juruo asked slowly, to which Gear nodded.

 

“Yes, Fygmorke did this to me, and is responsible for all my pain. Not you or your father. I’m... sorry” Gear forced out the apology with a pained look, his pride stung after being wrong for such a long time about something he was so adamant about. There was a moment’s awkward silence before he spoke again, his metal fingers flexing and clamping shut. “All my body feels is cold and inhuman. I just wanted an escape, and Utopia was the only way I could find, like a candle in the darkness. The world I saw with such spite is not to blame, neither are the duel monsters I sought to destroy. I am going to get my revenge on Fygmorke for what he did to me, for using me as his puppet like he has.”

 

“Erin is in here to, further down the path” Raesir added, looking down towards the glowing red sphere in the distance. He swallowed once more. “She’s been hunting Fygmorke relentlessly since we followed him here. You’re familiar with the expression ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ and all that right? Well I’ve duelled her twice now after having put her brother’s life in grave danger, and I nearly didn’t survive. I’d hate to be the one who was actually responsible for his death facing her now.”

 

Hikari and Sabin turned to Juruo, her eyes wide in alarm. He had visibly whitened, as he turned to Gear. “Erin thinks Mel is dead?” he asked slowly.

 

Gear nodded equally slowly as if this was a stupid question. “Yesssss. I respect her, and I thought she had the right to know about how her brother died and why. What are you looking at me like that for?”

 

“Tyrana managed to revive Mel after you’d gone” Hikari answered on Juruo’s behalf. There was another long awkward silence, which was broken by Raesir emitting a long breath.

“Well I hope you can convince her that’s the truth Juruo, for your sake. She’s incensed that Fygmorke took control and used Melanc in the first place, but as far as she knows he’s only half culpable after presenting him to his executioner. In her eyes, you’re still the one who pulled the trigger.”

 

“Right then, so we’ve all been hurt personally by the same guy, and we’re all on the same page now in terms of stopping him from destroying everything” Sabin stepped forward, ignoring Juruo’s shudder and marching past Gear and Raesir in the direction the latter had indicated without looking at either of them, making no attempt to pass Gear without barging into his shoulder. “Don’t expect me to be all buddies with Erin or you two all of a sudden, you still did what you did whatever your excuses. This just means a few less people standing between me and avenging Yuma.”

 

“But we can work together for now” Juruo regained his voice, pulling a hand through his mess of hair in stress at this latest potential disaster of a development. “We might not see on eye to eye, but against this enemy we need all the strength we can get to stand a chance, all of us. Truce?” He did not extend a hand, and the two former minions did not either, mutely nodding and following Sabin down the trail.

 

...

 

The group continued down the steady slope of a path that was leading them in more or less a straight line down, travelling deeper and deeper into the heart of the void in complete silence. Eventually the path levelled out and branched out into a wider rock ahead, the end of the road. In the darkness they could all see the figure waiting alone on this rock, the tall figure that was bulked out by the cloak draped over her shoulders, with long blue hair flowing down her back. She was stood with her back to them, her arms folded across her chest, staring out across the endless expanse ahead of her, unable to go on. Erin turned her head slightly as she realised people were approaching. Assuming it was just her two comrades she turned, and shock came across her face at the sight of them with Sabin, Hikari and Juruo.

 

Her striking blue eyes flashed at the sight of Juruo.

 

“As you can see, this is as far as we’ve been able to get to the heart of this place” Gear continued, oblivious or seemingly trying to gloss over the silent stare down. He walked towards the edge, past Erin, with Sabin following him, nodding curtly to Erin without looking at her. The two looked down upon the giant sun like thing far below them. “After Demon threw the Armageddon Bomb into the unknown, it must have sunk into this world down to here; been pulled into there by its gravity and now rests at its centre, ticking away and the power of the sacred beasts slowly spreading into the nucleus, corrupting it. A lot of this is speculation and logical guesswork, but once the timer, Final Countdown, is complete, the bomb will explode in the nucleus, the destructive might of the three gods enhancing its power to rip through this reality and make it collapse. Like tipping a domino, once this place falls, the rest come down with it.”

 

Whilst Sabin was taking all this in, Juruo was walking to the centre of this rock towards Erin. Hikari took a few tentative steps after him, before letting him go. Raesir hung back mutely, rubbing his head and trying to shake out the slight buzzing noise that was developing within it. Erin’s stature did not change as Juruo approached her, silently looking at him, waiting for him to speak. Juruo reached into the neck in his shirt for the ring on a chain Mel had given him.

 

“Erin...”

 

Before he could get out another word, Erin moved with lightening speed, and grabbed him around the throat, shaking him violently. Her face was contorted with rage as she whispered to him. “After everything... I did for you... for us... After everything I said to you... You take away my whole world and everything I care about... I thought you cared about me and Mel too...”

 

“Wait... Erin stop. Mel’s not dead.” Stunned for a moment, Erin did stop shaking Juruo, long enough to notice that dangling around his neck was a necklace with a cerulean ring on it. Mel’s necklace! Her eyes narrowed. Choking under her grip, Juruo managed to splutter “He’s in the castle now; he gave this to me to show you. It’s your fathers. I know that you’ve been through hell the last few days, but he is still alive and he still loves you, he just wants you to stop this madness and to come back to him.”

 

Erin held the ring in one hand and looked at it for long time, whilst Sabin Hikari and Gear continued to observe in awkward silence. Her expression was unreadable. Juruo tried to make eye contact with her as he waited, hoping she would believe him. She had to believe him.

 

Erin put her head right up against his, stared right into his eyes, breathing slowly on his face, and with the strength of an experienced swords fighter tightened the grip on his throat. Her eyes were filled with demented rage. “Oh, so you’re a liar and a thief too? I thought you were better than everyone else Juruo. I loved you. Mel hero-worshipped you. He couldn’t stop himself from being used against you, but you still crushed him because he was in your way.”

 

“Erin, I...”

 

A choking noise to Juruo’s left interrupted him. Erin’s glare rolled from him to Raesir, who was standing away from the others with Hikari now backing away from him in silent terror, and looked like he was having a fit. His body had turned rigid and was shaking violently, his head had rolled back and he was making the most horrible gurgling noise from his throat. The duel shield on his arm burst into purple flame, and Juruo Sabin and Hikari immediately realised what was happening.

 

“Gear, do you guys have Infernity cards in your deck?” Sabin croaked as he stared wide eyed in fear, fixated at the convulsing Raesir.

 

“Yes” Gear replied, looking bewildered at his ally.

 

“Of course not” Erin snapped, furious enough with this distraction to lessen her grip on Juruo. He took his chance to worm free and back of, instinctively arming his duel shield for the danger that was approaching.

 

“Take them out. Now.”

 

“It’s too late.”

 

The voice that came from Raesir’s throat was not his own. It was deep, gruff, and filled with wicked glee. He had stopped shaking now, his possession now fully taken control. The duelists head snapped forward at an awkward angle, to reveal the twisted grin and now purple eyes. “It’s too late for you to stop the destruction that I have bought all existence to the brink of. This worthless puppet feels so alone as he seeks reunion with those that I bought to peace. Well now he can join them. You two can also escape the torment that plagues you.” As if pulled by a string Raesir raised his arm to point first at Gear, who was frozen by the sight of what was happening, and then to Erin who had armed her own duel shield and was glowering furiously at him, completely forgetting about Juruo in the presence of her other enemy.

 

“If I’m going to hell, I’m going to make you suffer first” she snarled.

 

Raesir broke into a slow cackle, his head rolling to the other side. “Oh Erin, don’t be mad at me. I’m only trying to ease your suffering. Suffering caused by everyone you’ve ever met. Every loved one you’ve ever had has hurt you in the end, even Juruo. He’s the one who killed your brother in cold blood. But I’m going to make all that pain go away.”

 

“Don’t listen to him Erin” Sabin made a step towards Erin as she glanced between Juruo and Raesir with a frustrated look, undecided who to attack first. Raesir’s attention snapped to him instead.

 

“Your heart bleeds sorrow for your loved one too Sabin. Life has torn a hole in your soul and left it broken, empty and irreparable. But not for much longer as I deliver you all into peaceful slumber.”

 

“Shut up. It’s your fault my heart bleeds, since you forced Demon to take Yuma. Come to think of it, if it wasn’t for you and your screwed up psycho plan, I’d have never met Yuma at all. So thanks, thank you for giving me one night of happiness to treasure, to keep me focused when I’m stamping on your face.”

 

“At least everyone knows the truth now Fygmorke” Juruo gasped while still rubbing his throat. “There never was a Utopia; all you want is total oblivion and emptiness.”

 

Raesir smiled. “These things are one and the same in the eye of the beholder. A world without pain, without suffering, without sorrow, that is my Utopia. The paradise of eternal slumber in oblivion.”

 

Erin interrupted Juruo and Sabin as they both went to speak. “Don’t bother trying to understand or reason with him, he’s out of his mind. Let’s just...” Erin turned as a scream disrupted her. Gear had fallen to his knees as the same purple flames engulfed his translucent shield, and he was clutching his head as if to defend it from invisible attackers. She was not concerned about him, until a second later, when her own shield burst into the same fire. “What?”

 

The signers could only watch as Erin too was taken possession of by one of Fygmorke’s cards, planted in her deck. She did not fall or cry out; just went limp for a second with her head bowed. When she looked up again, her eyes had turned the same violet shade as Raesir’s. So had Gear’s.

 

“The end is not far now” Fygmorke’s original mouthpiece continued, as he armed his own shield. “So let’s all have some fun while we still can. You all want to get to me; well you’re going to all have to go through each other first to do so. In a battle royale!”

 

The ground began to shake beneath them. Cracks started to emerge in the thick stone. Before anyone could move, the slab of rock split into several large pieces. Some were shaken enough to fall from the violent movement as the rocks floated away from each other, each duelist separated from the rest by the widening gap between them. The rocks continued to drift apart, pulled apart by some invisible force, until a wide empty arena was opened between them, and everyone shuddered to a stop roughly in the position of the points of a hexagon. The three possessed duelists seemed unperturbed by this, each grinning maliciously as their duel shields shuffled their decks for them. Shaking, the signers readied themselves. Hikari noticed that she had Erin to her right and Raesir to her left, with Gear directly opposite and the two boys in the gaps. Fair enough that they had happened to be standing like that, but the rock breaking up to form this duel arena was way too coincidental. Six opening hands were drawn, and six voices cried out all at once.

 

"Duel!"

 

“I’ll go first” declared Raesir. His voice had returned to something like its regular self, the cocky arrogant tone had returned. “Soon there will be no more fear. No more loneliness. No more pain. Only fire, before all is consumed by the end and burned into nothingness. I play Summoner Monk in defence mode.” An old man with long white hair flowing from under his hood, garbed in violet and white robes, appeared and floated before them (DEF: 1600). “Then I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

“I’ll go next.” Juruo, standing directly to Raesir’s left, quickly bagged the second move. He glanced over his hand and frowned. The sword wielding dragon Mystletainn was there, and would be easy to summon by releasing one of the other Dragunity monsters in his hand this turn. However Raesir’s turn bothered him. He had not used Summoner Monk’s effect. Either he hadn’t got a spell, or more like with such a long time and so many duelists between him and his next turn, he must be starting cautiously, not wanting to overly commit before seeing what everyone else was going to do. The other cards in his hand were traps, but not all were available to use at will. Maybe he should take a similar approach for now.

 

“I summon Dragunity Tribus in defence” Juruo cried. A man whose face was fully hidden by a bird mask and dressed in a flowing white tunic with a belt carrying pouches of feathered darts, soared through its portal on a pair of magnificent feathered wings (DEF: 300). “When Tribus is summoned, I can send a level three or lower dragon from my deck to my graveyard. I choose Dragunity Phalanx. Then I end my turn with one face down card.”

 

Continuing the clockwise turn taking, Gear drew his sixth card. His eyes narrowed as he viewed it, before mixing it in between the rest of his hand. “The nightmare is coming to an end. I activate the continuous spell card Karakuri Anatomy. Each time the battle position of a Karakuri monster is changed, this spell gains a counter. Next I summon Karakuri Soldier Nisamu in defence.” The standard mechanical soldier armed only with a bamboo pole crouched before Gear and held its weapon out ahead of it, much to the surprise of both Juruo and Sabin either side of him (DEF: 400). “I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

 

‘Well that was weird’ Sabin thought to himself as he drew his card, ignoring the grinning Raesir opposite him. He knew from his last fight against the fellow machine type user that the Karakuri automatically switched to defence mode when under attack, which would surely serve his Anatomy card better. Maybe he just wanted to gain his counter by turning it into attack mode next turn, knowing he was safe from attack until everyone had made their opening move. He shrugged it off for now, glancing at the tuner monster he had just drawn, then to the series of weaker monsters in his hand. Tricky start.

 

“I summon Genex Ally Remote in defence mode.” A white metal ball with arms and legs sprouting from it leapt forth, with a remote control attached where a right hand should be (DEF: 1800). “Two face down cards will do for now.”

 

Erin silently drew her card, glancing at it long and hard as she considered her move. She didn’t seem as excitable and crazed as Raesir and Gear had become. She seemed calmer, more collected, completely comfortable in the middle of this empty space on her little platform. This would be the calm before the storm. One that was about to hit Juruo full force as her eyes turned across to him standing across the gap in space between them, behind that pathetic excuse of a warrior. Everyone had been cautious so far, preparing their defences, testing the waters. She would not be following suit.

 

“I activate the continuous spell card known as Side Attack. This card was designed for tag duels, but can also be used under battle royale rules. This allows me to select one of my opponents, and separate us from the rest of the battle.”

 

“I’m guessing this means me right” Juruo cursed through gritted teeth, prompting a smile from the girl who had once recruited him into the resistance, then rode beside him across the Empire. Who had loved him, slept with him, then held a knife to Hikari’s throat as she revealed she was with Demon in trying to achieve Armageddon and Utopia. She had continued to feel strongly for him despite their opposition, but now convinced beyond reason that Mel was dead, was about to unleash all her fury on him.

 

“Now you’re going to suffer for everything you’ve done to me dear Juruo. With Side Attack in play, our monsters can only target each others for attacks, and the same applies to the targets of our card effects. Furthermore, other duelists in this fight cannot select us or our cards for their attacks or card effects. You’re all alone now Juruo, but not as alone as you’ve made me. You’ve broken my heart, and now I will break you in two. I activate Ice Age Panic to summon Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier straight from my deck. Then when I control an Ice Barrier monster, I can special summon Preacher of the Ice Barrier as well.”

 

Juruo’s breathing started to quicken as a blue haired girl wearing a tight red winter bustier and flapping lavender scarf carrying two six-spiked weapons, and a bearded man in a hooded cloak and carrying a long staff, appeared one after the other. But why not summon a stronger monster? Erin’s smirk was more than enough to tell him he was about to find out.

 

“Now because I control another Ice Barrier monster, Dance Princess’ effect activates. By revealing Gantala in my hand, I can return a face down trap card to your hand. Also, whilst Preacher’s special summoning may prevent me from special summoning a level five or higher monster, it doesn’t stop me from advance summoning one. I release my two monsters to summon General Gantala of the Ice Barrier.” The black skinned man tattooed with the mark of the Ice Barrier, and equipped with the enchanted fist giving him full mastery over cold, was a monster whose power Juruo already knew well after it had decimated Hikari (ATK: 2700). Erin clenched a fist in similar fashion as she placed one more card in the slot of her shield. “I place one card face down and end my turn, thus Gantala summons Dance Princess back from my graveyard.” (ATK: 1700)

 

“Finally, it’s my turn.” Hikari drew her card with vicious force, glancing at Lumina in her hand. Combined with the rest of her hand, she could make just as fast a start. “I activate Solar Recharge. By discarding one Lightsworn monster, I can draw two more cards. Then the top two cards of my deck are sent to the graveyard.” She remained poker faced as she looked at the milled cards. Losing Pot of Avarice was irritating, but getting Necro Gardna in the graveyard early on could be key to survival in this melee. Then to the drawn cards. They helped her opening move even more.

 

“I summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. Then by discarding one card, I can summon the card I previously discard. Jain, Lightsworn Paladin. Also because he was discarded, Fabled Beast Cerburrel is summoned too.” The three monsters appeared side by side; the blonde sorceress (ATK: 1000), the grand looking knight (ATK: 1800) and the little three headed puppy (ATK: 1000). “Next I activate Star Changer to decrease Lumina’s level by one. Fabled Beast Cerburrel, tune with Lumina to bring forth Fabled Beast Unicore.”

 

She could have summoned Valkyrus, but Unicore’s effect that would negate all effects activated by duelists who had the same number of cards in her hand as her would be fatal to the unwary. The pure white beast’s attack was not unreasonable on its own anyway (ATK: 2300). “I place two cards face down and end my turn, at which point Jain sends two more cards to my graveyard.”

 

Raesir smirked as he reached for his next card, excitably switching his gaze from Hikari to Sabin and back again. Everyone had now had one turn, now they were all free to attack each other. In his possessed state, he did not know what was going to happen or care, as long as he destroyed those who stood against his master, who was watching the battle through his eyes. All he knew was there would be mayhem, and that when he was stood over the signers crumpled bodies as the victor he would be rewarded with an end to his suffering. The same thought crossed Gear’s mind as his mechanical wrist span in its socket. The storm of chaos would be followed by infinite, emotionless silence and peace.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Postscript]

Good lord this new forum is taking getting used to. No idea how I managed to sort that. (So many cards get played on Wednesday too).

 

Chapter 62 - Battle Royale will be up Wednesday if, and only if, I get time. Busy day expected.

 

Hoping to finish writing the final chapter sometime towards the end of the week. Its going slowly at the minute.

 

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Yeah, I'm gonna come right out and say it, I'm disappointed... strike that, pretty dismayed that only three people did the questionnaire when I can name 12 who read this. Yes I can be a (insert naughty word) for praise somnetimes but I'm like that, but I really also want as many perspectives and thoughts as possible so future writing can be the best it can be. *Sigh* Moving on then...

 

Maybe people have already discovered that you are a fantabulous writer and really had nothing to contribute, because as such. Also, Fusion is pretty busy hosting the YCM Awards right now, so another reader/commentator has his hands full right now. At least you've got me! :)

 

So, we're entering our final two weeks (insert drumroll). The following chapter is the shortest of the remaining and by some way, so enjoy the light reading while you still can. Hope this chapter sets the scene of the end of the world, and sets up an exciting week of madness. Enjoy.

 

Woohoo. A conclusion to another story. I feel bad about Fusion's topic though, I heard it got locked this morning...

 

Six opening hands were drawn, and six voices cried out all at once.

 

So we have a 3v3 Duel going on? I was a bit confused at this point.

 

I activate http://yugioh.wikia....i/Ice_Age_Panic to summon http://yugioh.wikia....the_Ice_Barrier straight from my deck. Then when I control an Ice Barrier monster, I can special summon http://yugioh.wikia....the_Ice_Barrier as well.”

 

You are aware that the "Ice Barrier" Archetype consists of mostly Water Attribute monsters, right? Therefore, "Ice Age Panic" was probably not the ideal Spell to use, as it targets Earth Attribute Monsters.

 

“I activate http://yugioh.wikia....Solar_Recharge. By discarding one Lightsworn monster and sending the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard, I can draw two more cards.” She remained poker faced as she looked at the milled cards. Losing http://yugioh.wikia..../Pot_of_Avarice was irritating, but getting http://yugioh.wikia....ki/Necro_Gardna in the graveyard early on could be key to survival in this melee. Then to the drawn cards. They helped her opening move even more.

 

This is obvious nitpicking, but I feel is a nitpick that needs to be addressed: The order of the card effect is wrong here. First, you draw 2, then you send the top 2 from your Deck to your Graveyard.

 

“I summon http://yugioh.wikia....sworn_Summoner. Then by discarding one card, I can summon the card I previously discard. http://yugioh.wikia....tsworn_Paladin. Also because he was discarded, http://yugioh.wikia....abled_Cerburrel is summoned too.” The three monsters appeared side by side; the blonde sorceress (ATK: 1000), the grand looking knight (ATK: 1800) and the little three headed puppy (ATK: 1000). “Next I activate http://yugioh.wikia....ki/Star_Changer to decrease Lumina’s level by one. Fabled Beast Cerburrel, tune with Lumina to bring forth http://yugioh.wikia....abled_Unicore.”

 

When did Jain get into the Graveyard? The paragraph above stated that Hikari milled Pot of Avarice and Necro Gardna. Then, Hikari activated Lumina's effect to discard "Jain, Lightsworn Paladin" (who is a woman by the way, and is symbolized as Joan the Ark) and immediately revive her. Am I right?

 

1. You cannot activate the effect of "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner" if you have no Lightsworn Monsters in your Graveyard.

2. When did "The Fabled Cerburrel" appear during that chain? Did it just magically happen to get discarded? I got lost after that point.

 

I wasn't so thrilled with this Chapter as I first anticipated. But I'm sure that it gets better; we sometimes have our mishaps with our Dueling. I would've liked it if Raesir had made his turn, that way, it would have been the end of the first rotation, which is a good stopping place for Tag Duels. I absolutely can't wait for the last few Chapters. The only thing that needs fixing up is the hyperlinks.

 

[url=http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/(card you want to put here)](Card you want to put here)[/url]
That is the basic code for a Hyperlink. Unfortunately, copy-pasting URL's for some reason does not work.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Maybe people have already discovered that you are a fantabulous writer and really had nothing to contribute, because as such. Also, Fusion is pretty busy hosting the YCM Awards right now, so another reader/commentator has his hands full right now. At least you've got me! :)

 

It can't be perfect, there has to be things that anyone can point out. Especially just highlighting which were their favourite characters and duels at least, so I know which were the better ones ands which weren't so good. And Fusion did the questionnaire, I don't expect people to comment on every single chapter, just time to time is nice.

 

Woohoo. A conclusion to another story. I feel bad about Fusion's topic though, I heard it got locked this morning...

 

Yeah, it'd be awful if I quit this close just to screw you all. I believe in completing things I start as best I can.

 

So we have a 3v3 Duel going on? I was a bit confused at this point.

 

You are aware that the "Ice Barrier" Archetype consists of mostly Water Attribute monsters, right? Therefore, "Ice Age Panic" was probably not the ideal Spell to use, as it targets Earth Attribute Monsters.

 

This is obvious nitpicking, but I feel is a nitpick that needs to be addressed: The order of the card effect is wrong here. First, you draw 2, then you send the top 2 from your Deck to your Graveyard.

 

No. We have a battle royale going on, not a three on three. However strategy wise it is within everyone's best interests to act in teams, or to do what Erin did and cut the battle in half(ish). It would be foolish for anyone to try and go through everyone else solo.

 

Right. That page must have been wrong when I first put together Erin's deck then, because when I first used it (Erin vs Raesir) it definately said Water monster. It was even listed under 'list of water support cards' on the Wikia, which is how I found it to begin with. Think I'll stick to OCG/TCG only cards next time.

 

Lazy mistake. Will edit momentarily.

 

When did Jain get into the Graveyard? The paragraph above stated that Hikari milled Pot of Avarice and Necro Gardna. Then, Hikari activated Lumina's effect to discard "Jain, Lightsworn Paladin" (who is a woman by the way, and is symbolized as Joan the Ark) and immediately revive her. Am I right?

 

1. You cannot activate the effect of "Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner" if you have no Lightsworn Monsters in your Graveyard.

2. When did "The Fabled Cerburrel" appear during that chain? Did it just magically happen to get discarded? I got lost after that point.

 

Discarded for Solar Recharge. Then Cerburrel was discarded by Lumina.

 

I wasn't so thrilled with this Chapter as I first anticipated. But I'm sure that it gets better; we sometimes have our mishaps with our Dueling. I would've liked it if Raesir had made his turn, that way, it would have been the end of the first rotation, which is a good stopping place for Tag Duels. I absolutely can't wait for the last few Chapters. The only thing that needs fixing up is the hyperlinks.

 

That's cool, it was mainly just setting up the rest. I've made way too many mistakes with cards in this fic. Sometimes deliberatly for story purposes (Frozen Fitzgerald), but sometimes just damn stupidity.

 

Everyone has had one turn, and Raesir's next turn will be the first one where anyone can attack, so it seemed the sensible stopping point as no-one has taken any damage or made any huge plays yet, just feeling their way out, the calm before the maelstrom as it were. Raesir's next turn is when the plays starting getting bigger (Raesir's turn last a few pages in itself) so was best left to open chapter 62.

 

I dunno about you, but I've just tried every hyperlink and they all work.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

I dunno about you, but I've just tried every hyperlink and they all work.

 

The ones with the periods at the end don't. They take you to a blank page. All of the rest are fine, just those ones are the ones that need fixing. It gets distracted to see a random website right in the middle of a Duel, though, so that's why I posted the Hyperlink code.

 

Discarded for Solar Recharge. Then Cerburrel was discarded by Lumina.

 

Okay. Now I understand.

 

Yeah, it'd be awful if I quit this close just to screw you all. I believe in completing things I start as best I can.

 

Well, the mod locked it because it was turning into Off-Topic Chat.

 

It's amazing that your minor character Hikari very much symbolizes my main character Ayame in my Fic. They even have the same Dueling Style, except Hikari uses FableSworns, and Ayame uses LightSabers Sabersworns.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

The ones with the periods at the end don't. They take you to a blank page. All of the rest are fine, just those ones are the ones that need fixing. It gets distracted to see a random website right in the middle of a Duel, though, so that's why I posted the Hyperlink code.

 

Being Phalanx, Gantala, and a few Lightsworns? I already edited this, they work now. If they're still not working for you then it's your end. If others have the same problem I'll be stumped.

 

Well, the mod locked it because it was turning into Off-Topic Chat.

 

It's amazing that your minor character Hikari very much symbolizes my main character Ayame in my Fic. They even have the same Dueling Style, except Hikari uses FableSworns, and Ayame uses LightSabers Sabersworns.

 

Just noticed. Well if the story is finished, then I guess Kyubey has a point. It could however be stikied for a while in commemoration though.

 

Hikari... minor character? Er wut?

 

She should have duelled more often than she has done in this I admit, but minor character no way :D

 

Never really even looked at X-Sabers. Dunno why, just haven't.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Right. That looks WAAY better than last time. Sabersworns like being in the Grave, so they work well in conjunction with each other. I think that is the one reason "Lightsworns" are so good is because they can be pretty much balanced anywhere. Everything is so Graveyard-heavy these days that Lightsworns are a necessity.

[Lexadin]

Alright, as I missed quite some releases I'll comment on them now.

 

Chapter 58: Huh, didn't expect her to die. I gues there was no miraculous winning option here. Well... Maybe a Draw, or did Demon prohibited that. I can't remember.

Anywho, it was a good chapter. You could really feel the pain of both Tyranna and Luca.

 

Chapter 59: Lol at Sabin just grabbing one of Demon's towels.

Wow, Demon's story actually made me feel sorry for him. He only wanted to be relieved of his eternal suffering.

I have a strong feeling that Demon or should I say Dravir is now possessed by Fygmorge.

 

Chapter 60: Infernity Zero, the ultimate Rage Quitter.

Lol Exodia vs. Infernity Zero, Honestly I think Infernity Zero's effect cancels out Exodia's effect. But that's just me.

OMG STARDUST'S FEMALE!!!! I'd never expected that. Though I gues it kinda makes sence.

 

As for the questionary, I'm not good in such things, as I'm horrible in choosing things like 'fav character' and stuff like that as I'm pretty neutral about almost everything and everyone, so I'll skip it.

 

Chapter 61: Now THAT's an Battle Royal. Eh, for some reason I expect Erin to die though.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Alright, as I missed quite some releases I'll comment on them now.

 

Chapter 58: Huh, didn't expect her to die. I gues there was no miraculous winning option here. Well... Maybe a Draw, or did Demon prohibited that. I can't remember.

Anywho, it was a good chapter. You could really feel the pain of both Tyranna and Luca.

 

Good to have you back, hope you enjoyed your time away.

 

As I said previously to Horus, good guys die occassionally, and I hadn't really killed off a major, I mean major as in a signer. In the event of a draw, they'd have both drowned.

 

Chapter 59: Lol at Sabin just grabbing one of Demon's towels.

Wow, Demon's story actually made me feel sorry for him. He only wanted to be relieved of his eternal suffering.

I have a strong feeling that Demon or should I say Dravir is now possessed by Fygmorge.

 

That's just how he rolls lol.

That would be the case, Fygmorke manipulates him via the planted Infernity. They'll be more of that as we go along.

 

Chapter 60: Infernity Zero, the ultimate Rage Quitter.

Lol Exodia vs. Infernity Zero, Honestly I think Infernity Zero's effect cancels out Exodia's effect. But that's just me.

OMG STARDUST'S FEMALE!!!! I'd never expected that. Though I gues it kinda makes sence.

 

As for the questionary, I'm not good in such things, as I'm horrible in choosing things like 'fav character' and stuff like that as I'm pretty neutral about almost everything and everyone, so I'll skip it.

 

Yeah, thats what we eventually worked out. Did just like the idea of 'this does not compute, error, ERROR!!! *Reality fails*

 

Was wondering when someone would mention that. I just don't like the idea of 'male signer must have male dragon' and vice versa. One of the reasons Eragon works quite well (not so well because its an alright book, not great) is because the relationship is between male human rider and female dragon, and creates some good moments on its own.

 

Chapter 61: Now THAT's an Battle Royal. Eh, for some reason I expect Erin to die though.

 

Indeed it is, and the second part is coming up in a bit (would like someone to post something so that chapter 62 isn't mixed in with this post, its rather long. Anything will do chaps).

 

Second person to call that, hmmmmm. We shall see. I'm half way through writing the final chapter now, got a few days off in which I hope to get it done. We shall see.

 

Anyone else want to pass a comment before chapter 62? Any predictions at all?

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

Anyone else want to pass a comment before chapter 62? Any predictions at all?

 

I predict, with my magic Crystal Ball that I keep cleverly tucked away in my office space, that Frygmorke will show up to kill everyone of his colleagues and then the Duel will escalate into a 3v1, just like it did with the Emperor. I expect to see a lot of death and destruction in the coming chapters, and an even more awesome duel.

[Vector Nightmare]

Eh, I really don't want to pass judgment on 61 without reading at least 62 first... but I will say that it was not as I had hoped for, and that some parts quite disappointed me. Why does Erin always get the really short end of the stick? First Hikari gets all the crap, then Tyrana dies, then Yuma... well, bad stuff happens to her, and now Erin can't even catch a break, going from thinking her brother's dead to plain out possessed by Fygmorke... bluh, what do you have against your female characters (and incidentally, my favorite character as well)?

[BlackSkullCortez]

Hello, new reader coming through, after plowing through this excellent piece of work!

I'm just going to say as many of my opinions as possible in the last questionnaire you did.

Sorry if it's vague, because my memory isn't really working well at the moment.

[spoiler=Questionnaire]

Characters

1. The Best Hero was probably Sabin. He probably made me laugh the most, although I can take him really seriously at times, and he was probably the one who did the stuff that is normally done by people who are selected as favorites. At the same time, he seemed to mildly become more modest and admit to himself, but still was very secretive in his own way, which I liked. And he also seemed to have more heroic qualities than Juruo. Dominik I felt was the worst hero, mostly because I vaguely remember even liking him much in the first place, and didn't exactly see him exactly fitting in the plot.

2. The best villain was definitely Ursula. She legitimately freaked me out at times, and I honestly could hear the evil voice echo in my brain. She also seemed to have the more villainous qualities in my opinion, too. Fygmorke, I will say, I didn't really like too much, mostly because the purpose behind what he did isn't really the most likable thing I find in a villain. Because, really, it's interesting when you can have a villain like Demon and Ursula actually develop, but with Fygmorke, I can't really say that. The easiest way you can get around that is pure insanity, but that's pretty difficult to get. The Hobgoblin is the only true success for that.

3. Honestly, I can't exactly decide how to answer this one. If he isn't considered a protagonist, I would probably say Vardus, because he was probably the main figure that began driving the story to Demon and the rest of it. The worst, I can't really say.

4. The character that developed the most was probably Hikari, since all the crap happened to her and then she ended up having to flush the crap that gathered in... this is a bad metaphor, but you probably see where this is going. The least is... probably Yuma. I don't really feel that much difference with her.

5. I honestly felt that the interaction between the characters was very realistic. There were no real inconsistencies.

6. Very much so. There were enough Duels to support the general flow of the action of the story, yet not too much to make it a Michael Bay story. "Oh, the plot's weak here. Let's lack development and put in more explosions." I'm saying that the story wasn't like that, for clarification.

7. The physical descriptions actually let me picture the characters, so I guess so.

8. Yes, they were.

 

Settings

1. If I could understand what it felt like, yes.

2. Same as above. And the one where Gear appeared was probably my favorite. (Before you say anything, yes, I'm just like Fusion)

3. Pretty sure.

4. The descriptions were outstanding.

5. It was just right. I liked how you didn't make it seem like there were too many environments, and that the world actually seemed realistic.

6. Yes. You may have done this, (hazy memory) but it may have been interesting if you did an ironic atmosphere compared to the scenario. In a world like this, that would have made sense. Honestly, though, it doesn't really matter too much, but since I know you're at a high level, I'd just like to give some pointers of things I find in engaging writing.

 

Plot

1. It started out a bit slow, I will say. However, as you began to delve into it, it got much better.

2. The element was honestly a pretty amazing element. The way that it was done made it interesting, too, though. Cliche isn't really something I care about, because if it's cliche, it must be good, and if a story is cliche, then it's usually good, too.

3. I did when I read the story while I was completely awake.

4. Repetition. Yes. Yes.

5. Yes, there was enough to put in variety, but at least you didn't overflow with it.

6. I actually pictured the characters as people I may encounter in the world, and the world actually seemed like it could be possible to me.

7. Signers.

 

Duels

1. The Duels were very enjoyable. I'm a casual player that knows a lot about the game, so they were fine. The Duels kinda had points where they were really good to where they were kinda dull, but as the Duelists became more interesting, it became better.

2. I would probably say indifferent. The suspense normally comes in during the climactic Duels, but otherwise... yeah.

3. Definitely. I honestly also liked how Sabin also kinda gave his advice to Juruo at moments.

4. Stable Meta Cards would have basically made it very repetitive. I honestly thought that the card diversity was great.

5. Definitely fine paced.

6. Definitely. I actually think that this story has that quality better than the Anime, but that's just me.

7. Um... I would say Sabin, but I can't exactly say that it is, simply because I would find it so much more interesting if he had DNA Transplant. So I'd guess I would go for either Juruo or Hikari.

8. Juruo VS Demon. Even with the end being kind of bad, the overall development made me so happy. The ending especially, because I was wondering what Demon would do with Demise.

9. It depends on the points of the story. Towards the beginning, you kind of relied on the links, especially during the first Juruo VS Sabin Duel (specifically Synchro Blast Wave). Although I still found it interesting to see what the cards looked like. The summaries I found helpful at first, but then I began reading through the Duels faster and only used them when necessary. But they were still helpful.

 

Storytelling

1. Definitely. To both questions.

2. Yes it was.

3. It was fine, except the sacred beast part happened really quickly.

4. When I read quickly, I take in facts and have no emotional reactions, sadly. Fusion knows this.

5. Hikari. Just entirely. I honestly felt so bad for her when she was about to give the rose to Juruo.

6. I was like, "Oh, Juruo and Erin. Yay!" And then the Hikari thing happened and I felt sorry for her.

 

And Finally...

1. Hikari's emotions for Juruo. Dark one doesn't count, though.

2. Yuma VS (Dark) Hikari might be interesting.

3. Not specifically. If something comes up, someone will tell you, and then you can fix it.

4. I'd like to see Sky Scourges included. I honestly expected Demon to use them (I would say why, but I won't) Spell Counter magicians, if you didn't put them in, and more Koa'ki Meiru.

5. This story is probably Yu-Gi-Oh at its best. This is definitely the greatest thing that you could probably put together with regular cards and people. And I love the relation between the characters and elements.

Juruo = Wind

Sabin = Dark

Hikari = Light

Erin = Water

Gear = Earth

Raesir = Fire

 

And I've been meaning to ask this for a while.

Is Gear's name meant to be a pun?

Since Robert sounds vaguely like Robot?

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Eh, I really don't want to pass judgment on 61 without reading at least 62 first... but I will say that it was not as I had hoped for, and that some parts quite disappointed me. Why does Erin always get the really short end of the stick? First Hikari gets all the crap, then Tyrana dies, then Yuma... well, bad stuff happens to her, and now Erin can't even catch a break, going from thinking her brother's dead to plain out possessed by Fygmorke... bluh, what do you have against your female characters (and incidentally, my favorite character as well)?

 

You forgot Urusula getting eaten...

 

I'm not deliberately aiming at the girls, that's just... how its turned out. Erin just seems to have been born without any sort of luck, just one of those people who nothing seems to go right for (I hate doing it when I love her so much as well you know). Erin will be awesome for the rest of this fic, I promise.

 

I think I'd better get Chapter 62 up then hadn't I? Things are about to heat up (geddit) now that everyone has had one turn, and are free to attack without mercy from here on in. Some of the moves that get played may be questionable to some of you who actually play this game, but bear in mind the situation of the duel - what its going to take for them to survive a battle royale - and that the duelists are having to bear it in mind as well.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 62]

Chapter 62 - Battle Royale

 

“It’s my draw” Raesir declared as he placed his hand to his deck. For the moment, Juruo could feel relieved that Erin’s Side Attack was keeping him out of the firing line despite his near empty field. Sabin and Hikari however braced themselves for the battles start, as across the starry rock filled space, Raesir drew.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 1]

Raesir - FR: Summoner Monk. BR: Face Down. Hand: 4 LP: 4000

Juruo - FR: Tribus. BR: -. Hand: 5 LP: 4000

Gear - FR: Nisamu. BR: Karakuri Anatomy, Face Down x2. Hand: 2 LP: 4000

Sabin - FR: Remote. BR: Face Down x2. Hand: 3 LP: 4000

Erin - FR: Gantala, Dance Princess. BR: Side Attack, Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 4000

Hikari - FR: Unicore, Jain. BR: Face Down x2. Hand: 1 LP: 4000

 

 

“First I activate the effect of Summoner Monk. By discarding a spell card from my hand, I can summon a level four or lower monster from my deck called Neo Flamvell Sabre."

 

“Neo Flamvell?” Sabin mouthed, as from a ball of flame emerged a warrior with wild red hair and battered leather armour, holding a flaming sword (ATK: 2100). Clearly Raesir was about to up his game, if the demented cackle was anything to go by.

 

“The Neo Flamvell are a subtype that revolve around the graveyard. For example, because most of us here have less than four cards in our graveyards, Sabre gets a power boost. But you don’t need to worry about him Sabin, not yet. Not until I release him to advance summon Flamvell Commando, and activate his effect, removing Sabre from play to inflict damage to your life points equal to his original attack.” The flame haired soldier had barely exploded from its fiery portal when it shot its flamethrower at Sabin, a ghostly image of the flame sword the spear tip of the blast as it shot towards him. Sabin threw his shield out to block the assault, but yelled all the same as the wave of heat hit him. The pain was intense, he felt like his body was melting away, that every part of his body felt disconnected. He closed his eyes, and did not open them until the attack and the pain was lifted. When he opened them, he realised he was crouched on one knee, and struggling for breath (LP: 2500). His throat didn’t feel parched though, quite the opposite. Confused, Sabin spat onto the rock to clear it, and turned white at the red stain that appeared on the surface.

 

“What the...?”

 

“Now because you’ve taken damage, I can activate the trap card Rising Rush, to special summon a tuner monster from my hand;Flamvell Baby." As the flame sprite appeared beside the commando, Hikari’s heart quickened. Raesir was down to two cards. If he just played one more, he would fall straight into her trap. “I tune Flamvell Baby with Commando to Synchro Summon Ancient Flamvell Deity!" An enormous demon made from molten lava rose up before the possessed duelist. Flames sprouted from its shoulders, fists, and horned head. Raesir smiled as the fiend towered over the field, smiled directly at Hikari. “Now I’m going to switch my focus to you, and take out that annoying pony of yours. Deity’s effect activates, removing from play cards in your graveyard equal to the number in my hand. So you can say goodbye to Lumina and Necro Gardna.”

 

Hikari gaped in shock as the two monsters vanished from her reach, something that further amused Raesir. “Now Deity’s second effect activates, increasing his attack by two hundred for every card removed by its first effect (ATK: 2900). Next from my hand, because the majority of you all have less than three cards in his graveyard, I can special summon another tuner monster Neo Flamvell Origin, and tune it with Summoner Monk to Synchro summon Flamvell Uruquizas. Ancient Deity, attack Unicore.”

 

A giant flaming fist came down on the panicking horse and instantly destroyed it, while at the same time the smaller demon rose behind it (ATK: 2100). Raesir gave the command to attack Jain, which would leave her open. Desperately she cried out “I activate Lightsworn Barrier, milling two cards from my deck to block any attack on a Lightsworn.”

 

“I activate Karakuri Cash Shed" Gear cried out, springing his trap. “Whilst I have a Karakuri in defence, this card can negate any spell or trap.” Hikari’s trap exploded, and the gallant white paladin shortly followed as it felt the crushing fist of the raging demon. Hikari buckled under the strain of the two attacks, her scars screaming (LP: 2600). When it ended, she could feel the sting remain, her body sore and tender whilst the Flamvell’s own strength increased (ATK: 2400). Mercifully, Raesir ended his turn.

 

Juruo drew his next card, and was disappointed to see Totem Dragon. With only Tribus defending him and staring at the two Ice Barrier monsters ahead of Erin, he knew he would have to do something drastic, and hope that face down card couldn’t protect Gantala. Thankfully the rest of his hand was good. “I summon Dragunity Legionnaire and activate his effect. He equips himself with the Phalanx in my graveyard, and then by sending it straight back I can destroy General Gantala.”

 

Erin did not bat an eyelid as the winged strongman appeared on the back of the bronze plated dragon, and leapt clear as it crashed into the warrior. Juruo’s heart skipped several beats. This was his chance. “By releasing Legionnaire I can special summon Dragunity Arms Mystletainn who in turn equips with Phalanx. Then Phalanx special summons itself to the field.” The gold plated sword wielder and smaller dragon in bronze armour appeared, and Juruo’s thoughts turned to his signer dragon. However, its last words echoed in his head. ‘Summon the monster the situation calls for; don’t feel obliged to rely entirely on us’. With that in mind, another card appeared in Juruo’s mind as he raised his hand. “I tune Phalanx with Tribus and Mystletainn to Synchro summon the herald of the mightiest storm. Mist Wurm."

 

A giant worm that sailed through the air was far larger than Stardust or Barcha, the creature’s thick purple body was covered in spikes and blowholes that threw out a heavy fog. The things many red eyes stared down at Erin, who still seemed unruffled by its appearance (ATK: 2500). Behind the mighty worm of the sky, Juruo had to shout over the sheer noise it was making. “When successfully summoned, Mist Wurm returns up to three cards to your hand. I choose Dance Princess and...”

 

“I activate Solemn Warning." Erin’s face down card pulled back to reveal the devastating trap card. “By paying two thousand life points, your monsters summon is negated.”

 

Juruo froze as Mist Wurm simply evaporated from existence before him. The toll of paying life points looked agonizing, but he knew Erin was good at masking her pain from others. Looking into her miscoloured eyes that were glaring at him, filled with hate and malice, suddenly made speech a lot harder. He eventually managed to stutter “I place two cards face down, and end my turn.”

 

Meanwhile, Sabin and Hikari were in equal trouble. Gear was about to start his turn, and Hikari only had one face down out. Sabin had no idea what it was, but there was no guarantee it could protect her if Gear went after her, and if it couldn’t... he’d already spat out enough blood to realise that couldn’t happen. “Hey one arm.” The biker snapped his head to look at him so fast and glared at him so furiously that Sabin knew immediately he could bait this guy. “Guess what? On my next turn, I’m going to defeat you just like I did at the gorge and go two zero up on you.”

 

A vein pulsed in Gear’s temple as the comment reminded him of the tag team duel which he had been screwed out of winning by his unwilling partner. Something that Sabin knew would still be eating at him and his pride. “You never beat me you worthless piece of garbage! No one here has ever beaten me! I’m the best, and I’ll prove it right now by destroying every, single, one of you!” Gear cast his mechanical arm with his cybernetic shield attachment out at every duelist, Raesir and Erin included, before turning back to Sabin. “I’ll start with silencing you. I switch Nisamu into attack mode, then summon Karakuri Muso Haipa to join him before entering the battle phase.”

 

“Yeah I’m quaking” Sabin retorted as the robotic spear carrier appeared beside the smaller soldier.

 

“You better be. I activate the spell Karakuri Gold Dust, which puts my soldier back in defence mode, then lends its attack power to Haipa. Then because Nisamu’s position changed Karakuri Trick House is triggered, destroying your monster and leaving you wide open.” Remote exploded in front of Sabin, and from the smoke the spear carrier shot through towards him, poised to drive it through him (ATK: 3500).

 

“Stupidity must be a symptom of possession. Did you really expect that to work? Battle Fader activates from my hand, cancelling your attack.”

 

Gear ignored the stream of profanities aimed at him by Raesir. “I’ll make you choke on your words when I strangle you myself with this one arm. After attacking, Haipa is forced back into defence, and thanks to the amount of position changes, Karakuri Anatomy has reached its maximum of two counters. Now by sending it to the graveyard, I can draw two cards.” Gear looked at them briefly and scowled. “I place one of them face down and end my turn.”

 

“Good job you’re all the way over there then” Sabin pointed out, smirking at Gear’s frustrated reaction. He glanced at Hikari, who was mouthing thanks to him. Clearly she would not have survived his assault then. “I activate the trap card Revival Gift, which lets me summon a tuner monster back from my graveyard. Also, you and dragon breath over there each get a gift token.” Raesir and Gear jumped as a clay frog like creature appeared on each of their fields (ATK: 1500), whilst Remote reappeared before Sabin. “Next I summon Genex Ally Changer and activate his effect, turning Battle Fader into a fire attribute monster. Then by discarding Genex Ally Chemistrer from my hand, Changer himself becomes earth attribute. Now Remote, tune with Changer and Battle Fader to Synchro summon Genex Aly Triforce.”

 

The monsters split into stars of multiple colours as Remote tapped into his control pad, and from the light emerged a silver cybernetic suit, a high tech battle unit with a laser cannon attached to its right arm. This cannon had three points of fire; two were currently glowing bronze and red respectively (ATK: 2500).

 

“Now this special machine gains effects depending on the attributes of the monsters used to summon him. As of now, you can’t activate any cards when he attacks, and when he destroys a monster its controller takes damage equal to that monsters attack. So it doesn’t matter how much your Karakuri hide in defence. Triforce, attack Haipa.” Gear yelled as he twin lasers fired from the machines cannon, intertwining between each others as they blasted through Haipa’s chest and towards him. The grizzly duelist buckled and fell backwards, and came up snarling in anger. The laser had blasted a huge hole in his metal shoulder, which was sparking. When he tried to move his arm, it hung limp, useless (LP: 1900)

 

“My arm! You bastard! Look what you did.”

 

Sabin stared at the damage in horror. Hikari felt her own arm, still feeling the effects of the previous attacks, cringing at the fresh wave of pain. Even Raesir, in his demented state, swallowed hard at the sight.

 

Seeing this, Erin wasted little time in going on the assault of the unprotected Juruo. “Well Juruo, this doesn’t look good for you now does it? I summon Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier in attack mode, and attack you directly.”

 

Juruo was surprised. He knew Cryomancer was a tuner, and that Erin’s Brionac was available to summon and use the effect of. He had actually hoped she would go for it and target its effect on his face down. Who knew what she was planning instead. “I activate Negate Attack, shutting down your attack and the battle phase.” The reprieve would only be temporary, but it was enough for him for now. Erin shrugged it off.

 

“One card face down, and everything is set to annihilate you. Foolish naive little boy, you should have accepted everything I offered you when you had the chance. You think I betrayed you when I was doing what was best for us. But you betrayed me and killed the only thing I had.”

 

“For the last time, Mel isn’t dead” Hikari shouted in frustration at Erin. She shot her a withering look.

 

“You stay out of it you wretched child. Or have you forgotten what happened last time you got in my way?”

 

“Whatever. I activate Beckoning Light, discarding the two cards in my hand and bringing back two light monsters to it.” The images of ‘Garoth’ and a small girl in a black dress appeared briefly. “One of the discarded cards is Fabled Krus and her effect activates, reviving Fabled Gallabas from my graveyard that I milled earlier. By discarding one card, Gallabas destroys a monster with defence lower than its attack.” The lizard like creature leapt across the gap towards Raesir’s Ancient Deity (ATK: 1500), who was stunned to see the huge mace smash into his monsters head and destroy it.

 

“The discarded card is the Fabled Beast Cerburrel you’ve seen before. I join it with Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid, and tune him with Cerburrel to summon Fabled Ragin who in turn lets me draw two cards (ATK: 2300). Ragin, attack Raesirs gift token, and Gallabas attack Nisamu.”

 

Both duelists were engulfed in smoke as their respective monsters exploded. Gear managed to wave away some of it, coughing as he activated his monsters effect. “When Nisamu is destroyed, I can summon another Karakuri from my deck, the Karakuri Watchdog Saizan.”

 

“Fine, I place two cards face down and end my turn.” Hikari breathed a small sigh of relief that she was still in this, but there was still a long battle ahead. She had been given a reprieve so she and Sabin could keep going back forth against the two boys, but Erin was destroying Juruo and there was nothing she could do to help him.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 2]

Raesir - FR: Flamvell Uruquizas. BR: -. Hand: 1 LP: 3200

Juruo - FR: -. BR: Face Down. Hand: 2 LP: 4000

Gear - FR: Saizan, Gift Token. BR: Face Down. Hand: 2 LP: 1900

Sabin - FR: Triforce. BR: Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 2500

Erin - FR: Dance Princess, Cryomancer. BR: Side Attack, Face Down. Hand: - LP: 2000

Hikari - FR: Ragin, Gallabas. BR: Face Down x2. Hand: - LP: 2600

 

 

Raesir drew his card, scowling after taking his first taste of damage, however small. “I activate the spell card Flame Recovery;. By discarding a fire attribute monster from my hand, I can summon back my Ancient Deity.” Hikari groaned as the molten behemoth returned no sooner than she’d got rid of it, slightly weaker than before but still more powerful than her monsters (ATK: 2500). Sabin knew he was safe, but was unable to help Hikari this time. “Then I’ll have it go after Ragin, and Uruquizas takes out Gallabas.”

 

The two flaming devils were merciless in the assault, destroying the demon prince and the mace wielder with ease. Hikari coughed and hacked as smoke and flame enveloped her, sinking to one knee as the fire dazzled her, reaching for a card despite her muscles screaming in protest (LP: 1500). “I activate Synchro Spirits. By removing Ragin from my graveyard, Aurkus and Cerburrel return to the field.”

 

“Why are you still fighting?” Raesir asked incredulously as the albino monk and little puppy returned to protect their duelist (DEF: 1800 and 400). “You spend every waking moment in horrible pain. You are unable to have anything you want because of what happened to you. Why won’t you make it easy on yourself and let it end?”

 

“Because I endure my pain, despite how hard it is, in order to have the moments that can make me forget about it. Moments when it doesn’t matter how my body feels, when I’m happy inside. I want more of those moments, and I want everyone else who can’t fight against you to have them to.”

 

She turned away from Raesir’s bemused look to Juruo and Sabin, who were nodding approvingly. Sabin raised his arm to reveal the wing marks shining upon it. “Same here. I’ve lost everything that mattered to me, but you think I’m just going to be a jerk and throw my life away? Maybe the old me, but not when I’m responsible for the lives of so many others. Sure I’m driven by revenge a whole lot, but I also want people to have the time with their loved ones that’s been robbed of me and Yuma. No one else is going to be made to suffer by you morons and Fygmorke like I have.”

 

Juruo couldn’t help but smile. Seeing Sabin grow, the transformation he had gone under, was quite something. He turned to Erin, who was looking as confused as Raesir. “Erin, you haven’t lost everything like Sabin has. You still have plenty to live for. Mel fought off Fygmorke’s control, surely you can too.”

 

“You think I’m going to destroy you just because Fygmorke wills it?” Erin smirked and shook her head. “Oh no, I’m going to destroy you for myself. I will fight it off when I am ready.”

 

Strange words, but menacing nonetheless as Juruo picked up his next card. ‘Icarus Attack’, definitely not a helpful draw when in this position. “I summon Totem Dragon in defence mode and leave it at that.”

 

“My turn then” Gear cried, snapping everyone’s attention (except Erin) back to the melee as he stooped low to draw from the duel shield hanging limply at his side. “I summon Needle Soldier in attack mode, and you know what comes next. Something I couldn’t have done without your generous help Sabin. This time I will finish you off. I tune my level four Watchdog with my gift token and Needle Soldier to Synchro summon Scrap Dragon.”

 

Sabin gulped. Gear was right; he was going to finish him off. He had no defence against the mechanical monstrosity that was about to appear. A direct attack from that thing would have a devastating effect, even possibly be enough in this environment to cause a fatality. He was going to fail Yuma.

 

“I activate the trap Vanquishing Light. By releasing Aurkus, I can negate the summon of any monster and destroy that card.”

 

Gear stood open mouthed as the blast of light released by Hikari’s trap card punched a hole through the monster, and his dragon fell apart before his very eyes. His hopes of surviving fell apart with it. Wordlessly he placed another card face down. Sabin drew, and went for the finishing blow. Gear beat him to the punch however. "Call of the Haunted revives Saizan from my graveyard.”

 

Sabin blinked as the mechanical watchdog appeared before him (ATK: 600). Clearly Gear didn’t rate his chances of keeping Scrap Dragon around until his next turn as too great, and was having to cling onto this duel by the tips of his metal fingers. With eighteen hundred defence points, Triforce wouldn’t be able to take him down this turn. He looked down at his drawn card. His duel spirit, Attack Gainer. Credit in hindsight, Gear had made the right call in terms of his own survival. Sabin would instead be able to focus on Raesir, and taking out his monster that was slowly getting out of hand.

 

It was time.

 

“I summon the tuner monster Attack Gainer, and have it tune with Triforce. Behold my burning passion and tremble before my strength and fury in the form of this mighty beast. Red Dragon Archfiend!”

 

The wing marks on Sabin’s arm began to glow brighter than ever, as the space in front of him exploded as the demon dragon burst forth into the battle, unfurling its heavy wings to reveal its full bulk, and the sheer power that it possessed (ATK: 3000). Sabin had to bellow over the dragons own roar “Now Attack Gainer’s effect activates, decreasing the attack points of Uruquizas by one thousand. Now Red Dragon Archfiend, destroy it.”

 

Dark red flames erupted from the dragon’s fist, as it soared and struck the demon in the chest. The flames shot through the destroyed monster and crashed down on Raesir, who sank to his knees under the strain. Never had he felt anything this intense, the crushing sensation on his brain was blinding agony. Then it stopped just as suddenly. He was panting, weak, but still alive (LP: 1900). The rock beneath was scorched, and had cracked violently. He looked at the damage about him and gulped. He wanted it to end, he didn’t want to fight. But as soon as he thought that, the power that had taken hold of him tightened its grip, blinding him with visions of his dead family, of his desire to be with them in oblivion, where he would feel no more pain. Sabin had ended his turn, and now Erin was beginning hers.

 

“Now Juruo, it is time for you to weather the full force of my storm. I activate Limit Reverse to special summon Preacher of the Ice Barrier back from my graveyard. Then I activate his effect, releasing him to special summon any Ice Barrier monster in my graveyard. General Gantala returns.” Juruo felt his insides tighten at the sight of the returning warrior, something that made Erin smirk. “Oh it gets better. Now I tune Cryomancer and Dance Princess to summon the king of the Ice Barrier...”

 

‘Here it comes...’

 

"Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier!" Certainly not Brionac, a white tiger of gargantuan size, its upper body covered in black armour with a gold pattern as were the gauntlets on its legs. Its claws and back were covered in sparkling crystals that were hardened and sharpened into weapons that would tear through him at Erin’s will (ATK: 2000). “Now by returning Side Attack and Limit Reverse to my hand, Dewloren gains one thousand attack points until the end of the turn. Now Gantala, attack that dragon.”

 

“I activate Windstorm of Etaqua, switching all your monsters into defence position.”

 

“Not good enough. From my hand, the spell card Snowfall Sword. When a warrior monster attacks and you activate a trap, this card negates and destroys it. So Gantala, go ahead and freeze that lizard.”

 

The ice beam encased the little dragon in midair, letting it drop a few feet before it shattered into pieces. Then it was the tigers turn. Juruo desperately tried to keep calm, hoping the reinforced duel shield could keep his brain receptors under control as Dewloren roared as it charged. It did little. The tiger tackled him with its spiked shoulder, knocking him to the ground whilst slashing at him with a mighty paw, with those claws. Juruo screamed in agony as the claws ripped through his right arm and into his ribs. Blood, real blood spurted out from the respective wounds. Juruo nearly fainted in shock at the injury, but what was worse was the chill inflicted with each wound, the freezer burn that was creeping from his flesh wounds into his body. Juruo struggled to stand again (LP: 1000)

 

Across the space, Erin was staring coldly, unsmilingly at him. “I reactivate Side Attack and replace Limit Reverse face down. No matter what you do, I’m going to continue this combo, every turn, for as long as I need to, until I destroy you. Then Sabin, who helped you commit murder. Then Hikari, then these two buffoons. Then finally, I’m going to find Fygmorke, and destroy him.”

 

“Wait, how do you figure that out? Fygmorke’s controlling you.”

 

“Maybe he is a little bit. But no matter how strong his control is, he cannot overcome my anger completely. He cannot escape my rage, whatever tricks he might try. For now he wishes that I remove you, which is fine by me anyway. But when I win this little qualifier, he will have no-one left to protect him from me. I will get revenge on everyone who has hurt me before the end.”

 

“Juruo, let it go. You can’t get through to her now. Just try to stay alive.” Juruo turned in shock to see Hikari calling to him as she drew her card, before pressing on with her move. She grimaced to herself, she had the perfect card. The battle was taking its toll in a very real way, but she had to do what she had to, it was a war for survival, and for the safety of the world Fygmorke was going to destroy. She thought back to her early rebel days, and what called her to arms to begin with. She needed that motivation, that resolve to stay strong, for all those faces who were in another world, staring up at the fires in the sky above. “I activate Charge of the Light Brigade, sending the top three cards of my deck to add any Lightsworn monster to my hand.”

 

As the cards flew into her graveyard slot, one of them glowed and a roar reverberated around the arena, as Wulf, Lightsworn Beast finally emerged to battle, golden axe slung across his shoulder (ATK: 2100). Hikari ignored that Glorious Illusion and Fabled Raven had been less fortuitously lost, as she brandished her selected card. “Next I summon Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, and attack Karakuri Watchdog.”

 

Gear shook his head with a smug look. “So what? My monster shifts straight into defence, and now its defence is higher than Ehren’s attack?”

 

“Actually, that’s what I’m relying on. When attacking a monster in defence, Ehren returns that monster to the deck before damage calculation, so its effect is meaningless.” Gear took a step back as the warrior monks flying kick toppled the machine and it vanished into his deck, a few loose pebbles crumbling under his feet. “Now Wulf, finish this with a direct attack!”

 

“I activate Iron Resolve. By paying half my life points, the battle damage is reduced to nothing. (LP: 950).”

 

Hikari cursed that she, fearing Mirror Force, had left Cerburrel in defence. “I tune Cerburrel with Wulf and Ehren to Synchro summon Fabled Leviathan.” The most powerful Fabled monster descended before the scarred warrior, who ended her turn with it.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 3]

Raesir - FR: Ancient Flamvell Deity. BR: -. Hand: - LP: 1900

Juruo - FR: -. BR: -. Hand: 2 LP: 1000

Gear - FR: -. BR: -. Hand: 1 LP: 950

Sabin - FR: Red Dragon Archfiend. BR: Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 2500

Erin - FR: Dewloren, Gantala, Dance Princess. BR: Side Attack, Face Down. Hand: - LP: 2000

Hikari - FR: Leviathan. BR: -. Hand: - LP: 1500

 

 

Raesir looked across the field. The life points might well be close, but it was clear that Erin, ahead to his right, was way ahead at this point. Although Sabin and Hikari had more powerful monsters out, they looked short of backup, whereas she was keeping a regular supply of big monster after big monster coming. At the other end of the spectrum, Gear and Juruo to his left were hanging on. Hatred was just keeping Gear going, but Juruo, as well as the other signers, were driven by their need to fight Fygmorke for other people’s sake. People he had doomed to the fires of hell, and the emptiness waiting beyond. The guilt did not last long, as once again the purple light gripped him, and forced him to draw his card. ‘They will be better off after Armageddon. They will be free from their pain.’

 

“I place one card face down and end my turn.” There wasn’t anything else he could do.

 

Juruo had to do something. Anything to overcome at least some of Erin’s rapidly expanding army that was going to tear him apart, quite literally. The claws hadn’t managed to sink too deep into his ribs, but his arm was now a crimson mess, the blood loss was making him feel dizzy. Shaking to try to restore focus, Juruo looked at his card, hoping his deck could save him once more.

 

“I summon Cyberdark Edge, and use its effect to equip him with one dragon type monster in my graveyard. I choose Dragunity Phalanx, and I use his effect to special summon him.” The metal winged scorpion like creature appeared, dragging the little bronze plated dragon with it. “Then I activate the effect of Totem Dragon in my graveyard, summoning itself back to the field.”

 

A fantastic roar thundered across Juruo’s mind. “I tune Phalanx with Edge and Totem Dragon to Synchro summon the mightiest beast from across the stars, a blessing from another world. Take flight, Stardust Dragon!”

 

The striking silver dragon spread its wings, its slender body shimmering with its own light, craning its neck to cry out to the stars around it, all very impressive. And with enough bite to take down one of Erin’s monsters (ATK: 2500). Juruo gave the command to attack the white tiger and the dragon screamed to oblige, a stream of white energy cascading down upon the beast and eradicating it from existence. For the first time Erin had to feel the sting of battle, and had to wipe blood from her own cheek (LP: 1500). The look she gave Juruo would make most men tremble. “I end my turn with a face down.”

 

Gear snatched desperately at his card, and frowned at the result. ‘Dammit, I’ve had one half of my combo in my hand since my first draw. Where’s the second part when I so badly need it?’ “I summon Karakuri Strategist Nishipachi in defence mode, and use its effect to switch Fabled Leviathan into defence too.”

 

Sabin drew, hoping for a strong enough monster to take down both Raesir and Gears final defences. He didn’t get it, and the one already in his hand, an Ally of Justice monster he hadn’t used before, was not enough to do the job either. After some thought, attack was declared on Ancient Flamvell Deity. The molten behemoth crumbled as did its master behind it, a master no longer in the state of delirium he had been in earlier, now bloody and beaten from the dragons assaults (LP: 1400). It would have to do for now. He looked across at Erin drawing her card. Juruo was going to be lucky to survive her assault much longer. If he didn’t take out Raesir and Gear quickly, they would outnumber them, and she had a huge field advantage that would only grow.

 

As soon as Erin caught sight of her drawn card, she knew she was in complete control. What a fitting executioner for Juruo. “I activate Limit Reverse once more, summoning Preacher of the Ice Barrier once again.”

 

Juruo braced himself for Dewloren’s return. This time he’d had it. His face down card meant he could survive two attacks, but not three. As expected, the bearded man vanished, but the cold princess disappeared with him, each encased in a block of pure crystal. ‘An advance summon?’ he thought. The watery reflection of a dragon rising behind Erin confirmed this, an image that would chill him to the core. The ice blocks shattered and the dragon took solid form. Made seemingly from the purest crystal, two piercing blue eyes looked down at its master’s adversary as the beast shook its head and flexed its long wings, sending small water droplets flying across the alternate reality (ATK: 3000).

 

“Behold my own strongest dragon; the White Night Dragon. Now with this on the field, no one will stop me from getting my revenge on all of you and Fygmorke. Now White Night Dragon, take down Juruo’s precious signer dragon, his last hope.”

 

“I activate Tuner's Mind, returning Stardust to my deck and bringing back the monsters used to summon her.” Totem Dragon did not return, having been removed from play after using its effect, but Phalanx jumped out and took the first hit. Juruo fell to one knee. Relentlessly, Erin commanded Gantala to take out the Cyberdark. Now he was on both hands and knees, shuddering, and struggling for breath.

 

“I end my turn, at which point Gantala summons Dewloren back from the dead.” The white tiger roared as it materialised to Juruo’s right, with the warrior to the left and the giant dragon between them, and Erin standing behind, arms folded and eyes closed. Her words were solemn and blunt. “You are going to die Juruo, right here in the middle of this empty space, stripped of everything you believe in, unable to accomplish anything you set out for. The dragons will not save you here, and you in turn will not save their world or ours. Everything is going to end, and everyone will be free from the despair that crushes them.”

 

Hikari slowly placed a hand to her deck as she looked across at Juruo. He looked just as he had done after she, in her darkened state, had beaten him half to death. Throughout that match he was determined to stick by her, determined to rescue her from herself, regardless of what happened to him. If only she had said things sooner, maybe all that would have been avoided. In the end, it was Sabin who had defeated her raging alter ego. She was grateful for everything he had done, Sabin was definitely one of the best friends she had ever made thanks to this journey. But still... hopefully she would have a day to tell Juruo what he meant to her. She placed her hand to her deck and begged. The card that appeared was that of her spirit, the gentle and affectionate Rinyan who had fiercely protected her when in danger.

 

“I summon Rinyan Lightsworn Rogue, and activate her effect. By returning Garoth from the graveyard to my deck, I can draw one more card.” ‘Please, give me that one card to save him with.’ Hikari drew, and slowly turned the card over.

 

Her breathing stopped at the sight. It was here. The one card that could save Juruo. But it was still a risk. Everything still hung on his and their opponents next few draws. Her play would wipe away Sabin’s advantage. It was selfish in every regard. But... she had to do it. For herself. For Juruo.

 

“Erin.” The older woman’s head snapped to look at the scrappy little girl who was daring to talk to her again. She was staring at her in a strange way, a determined expression of someone defiant, someone who believed so adamantly in their cause. “I respect that you fought for what you believed in, however misled. But you have fallen into despair and let it control you, just like I did once. I won’t allow it to hurt you anymore, or let you hurt anyone else. Now I shall deliver you from the hopelessness and the anger consuming you. There are four Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard, which enables me to summon their ultimate monster.” The ghostly spectres of Aurkus, Ehren, Jain and Wulf rose in front of Erin, whose expression changed, for the first time, to absolute fear, as Hikari slammed the card into her duel shield. “Come forth, the bringer of holy light. Judgement Dragon!”

 

The boys, even the two possessed ones, stared up in wonder at the pure and mighty creature appearing before Hikari. A giant oriental dragon with soft white feathers instead of scales, proudly standing on thin air on all four clawed legs, two angel wings arched out wide. Several plumes fell from its neck like a majestic crest, the beast’s long tail swayed softly as if caught in a breeze only it could feel. Hikari’s dragon stood face to face with Erin’s, and unleashed an ear splitting shriek (ATK: 3000).

 

Hikari tilted her head to look past the crowd of monsters to see Sabin. “I’m sorry, but I have to.” His reaction indicated that he had no idea what was about to happen. Juruo looked unaware as well. Erin was however trembling at the sight.

 

“Hikari. You wouldn’t dare...”

 

“Oh no, I would. By giving up one thousand life points, Judgement Dragons wipes the slate cleans completely, destroying every other card on the field. Every... single... one...”

 

Hikari did not shout, did not scream, just simply stated it. By this point, the effects of this cost felt next to nothing (LP: 500). Another shriek from the pure dragon, and everything simply evaporated into nothingness. Red Dragon Archfiend disappeared, then Gear’s monster, as did her own Leviathan. All the face down cards. And one by one, each of Erin’s monsters vanished into nothingness. As did Side Attack. Erin did not falter, she would not beg. She simply looked at Juruo, still crouched down bloody and battered, swallowed, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Juruo bit his lip, but did not dishonour her and look away, nor did he try to stop Hikari as she raised her hand and called for her dragon to attack. The great dragon tipped back its plumed head, before releasing a stream of white flame down upon Erin, who instinctively raised her shield to meet it. For a few long seconds, no one could see anything.

 

When the dragon’s breath finally ran out, Erin was on her back, her face hidden from everyone else. The purple light engulfed her once more, and to the signers collective horror a shield shaped demon, with a flaming skull at its heart, rose from her body, before vanishing into the darkness a second later. Her chest was slowly rising and falling, breathing very shallowly, but she was just about alive (LP: 0).

 

“What... happened?” Juruo croaked, as Hikari picked out three cards offered to her by the terms of Fabled Leviathans effect without looking at them, staring calmly at Erin’s still figure.

 

“Judgement Dragon decided for itself she did not deserve to die. Despite everything, she is still a good person, just deceived and abused by Demon and Fygmorke. Juruo, I...”

 

"Soul of Fire!"

 

Hikari was cut off as a blast of fire hit her in the side, unable to react in time. The fireball, preceded by the blazing spirit of the flamethrower demon, shot through her, some of the blast hitting the shield hanging from her side, while the rest passed through her with little more than a gasp. She fell forwards, collapsing against the edge of the rock, her right arm dangling over the edge. The three cards dropped from her fingers, disappearing into the darkness below. Her brown eyes glistened as they caught Juruo’s for a moment, then closed (LP: 0).

 

 

I've got to speak to Kyubey about putting the old hyperlink system back in because this is ridiculous. This took over 90 minutes to do. So go ahead, complain that hyperlinks don't work. I DARE you to complain that hyperlinks don't work...!!!

[Aviv: D's Knight]

What happened?

[Lexadin]

As I said previously to Horus, good guys die occassionally, and I hadn't really killed off a major, I mean major as in a signer. In the event of a draw, they'd have both drowned.

 

Ah, I gues so. As expected.

 

Yeah, thats what we eventually worked out. Did just like the idea of 'this does not compute, error, ERROR!!! *Reality fails*

 

Yeah, mayham ashured.

 

Was wondering when someone would mention that. I just don't like the idea of 'male signer must have male dragon' and vice versa. One of the reasons Eragon works quite well (not so well because its an alright book, not great) is because the relationship is between male human rider and female dragon, and creates some good moments on its own.

 

Well it does make more sence. But Tyranna also has LSD, which was obviously male, but SD being female... Just suprised me. Though it does explain the dragon bwbs.

 

Anywho onto chapter 62.

 

Eh, honestly I didn't like this chapter that much. The duel(s) just didn't seem to drag me in.

[spoiler=Spoiler]

And again both females lost AND ANOTHER ONE DIED. Honestly this is starting to look suspicious. This wouldn't have happened if she'd still used FabledWorld. Expecially with the new Dark World cards being released.

 

 

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Hello, new reader coming through, after plowing through this excellent piece of work!

I'm just going to say as many of my opinions as possible in the last questionnaire you did.

Sorry if it's vague, because my memory isn't really working well at the moment.

 

And I've been meaning to ask this for a while.

Is Gear's name meant to be a pun?

Since Robert sounds vaguely like Robot?

 

Thanks for posting Cortez, glad you enjoyed it.

 

Questionaire answers were great mate, picked up some things I hadn't noticed or forgotten about.

 

What happened?

 

(...and the award for most vague comment of the year goes to...)

 

Okay seriously, if its about the ending of 62, Hikari couldn't play any more cards having used her normal summon on Rinyan, so Raesir just got on with his and blasted her with the Soul of Fire he had just drawn (Flamvell Commando was the ammunition).

 

Anywho onto chapter 62.

 

Eh, honestly I didn't like this chapter that much. The duel(s) just didn't seem to drag me in.

 

And again both females lost AND ANOTHER ONE DIED. Honestly this is starting to look suspicious. This wouldn't have happened if she'd still used FabledWorld. Expecially with the new Dark World cards being released.

 

Interesting you should say that it didn't hook you. Did the fact it was two duels in one - that constantly switched between Sabin and Hikari vs Raesir and Gear, then to Erin vs Juruo every third turn, have something to do with that?

 

You may want to read the spoilered bit after you've read 63. May or may not, obviously I won't tell you what to do.

 

[spoiler=Spoilers]

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and guess that almost every one of you would have guessed when the match started they would be eliminated something along the lines of Raesir, Hikari, Gear, Sabin, with Erin and Juruo left one on one at the end. I'm guessing. I wanted - we all wanted - Erin vs Juruo, and I wanted Erin to really show she is probably the strongest duelist out of the six with her play, but at the same time I wanted Hikari to have her say since she still has feelings for J that she struggles to show, and seeing Erin beating him down on him and coming up with the save was very sweet in mind. Plus a bit of personal revenge for her. I hate giving Erin the brunt of the pain a lot, but there was no way Juruo was going to beat her one on one. As for Hikari getting eliminated next turn, well if you've got something like Judgement Dragon on the field, you are instantly going to become a target for everyone. Plus it does have implications on the rest of the duel and certain characters reactions.

 

And where did it say she was dead? Hinted as likely, but not definately stone cold dead like Tyrana was.

 

 

Anyway can tell a lot of you are waiting for chapter 63 before final judgement, so here it is (post being updated).

 

So here we go, Chapter 63. Expect Juruo and Sabin to have many epic moments as they face off against Fygmorke's remaining soldiers. Enjoy and feedback on what has been a difficult duel would be appreciated.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 63]

Chapter 63 - Last Man Standing

 

For a minute, neither Juruo nor Sabin could speak. They could barely breathe. Everything felt numb. Hikari was lying face down in the middle of this arena, dangling over the side of her little platform, still and lifeless. Judgement Dragon had vanished. Gear was watching events from the back, his own thoughts masked. To the right of her, Raesir was smirking, blowing his spell card like a western gunman before sending it to the graveyard.

 

“Two down, three to go.”

 

That arrogant stance. That haughty grin. Juruo was shaking. Throughout their journey, he had seen Raesir as just another enemy, someone who standing against them in the pursuit of this dreamland. He had empathised with him, just a little, after that country pub encounter in which he’d poured his heart out, and had only a short while ago admitted his mistake, and his determination to atone. Now he was fighting them again under Fygmorke’s will, but that didn’t matter. Fygmorke didn’t matter period. Without compassion or mercy, he had blown Hikari away. Seeing her lying there ignited something inside. Right now, Raesir was the most loathsome, foul devil he had ever met, and now he was going to find himself standing before the full wrath of his dragons.

 

The boys smirk widened as he saw Juruo glaring at him. “Oh I’m sorry, have I pissed you off? Well consider yourself lucky it wasn’t you...” Raesir paused for a second.

 

“...yet.”

 

“You... you just wait for my turn when my dragons get their teeth into you. You’ve got nothing left to play.”

 

Cue more demented laughter. “Actually, you’re incorrect. Because the face down card took out by Judgement Dragon was Fire Trap, I got another card. I summon Flamvell Archer; in defence mode.”

 

The appearance of the flaming bowman was a nuisance (DEF: 200), but a weak road block that could be easily smashed out of the way. Head spinning from rage and blood loss, Juruo drew with full force. His mood must have had an effect on his drawing ability, because he wasn’t going to get Raesir this turn. Not for want of trying. “I summon Dragunity Militum and have her go straight after Archer.” The swordswoman struck without mercy (ATK: 1700), although Raesir was unmoved by the effects of his monster exploding in his face. “You won’t be smiling for long. One face down. Turn end.”

 

“I draw” called someone. Juruo turned, and hated himself for doing so when he saw Gear, clear field and all, drawing from his duel shield that was dangling at his waist from his broken metal arm and beginning his turn with the relieved look of someone who had temporarily been let off the hook. Sabin was looking at Gear with equal surprise and frustration.

 

“Oh damn. Sorry about that.”

 

Sabin glowered at him. However it was out of shared hatred for the Flamvell user. “No worries. I’d have done the exact same thing with my turn.”

 

Back with the puppet that was now Gear, and things were still going badly. He had just seen Erin engulfed by the rage of a dragon that had, apparently, been sparing on her. Then Hikari had been snuffed out, just like that. Such weak and trivial concerns were however quickly put at ease by the Infernity monster controlling him from within his deck, blinding him to all thoughts of pain and death. Soon those things would not exist; all there would be would be emptiness. In terms of what he had to play with, still one card that was useless on its own plagued his hand, and the monster that had joined it was too weak to do any serious damage to the open Sabin. Right now he would just have to play it safe.

 

“I summon Karakuri Barrel Shinkuro in attack mode.” A small barrel rolled through the portal, before legs and arms sprouted from it along with a hatch opening to reveal a set of lamp like eyes (ATK: 400). The thing cannoned towards Sabin, striking his shield with a clang. Despite being a weak attack, the machines momentum knocked him back a step, towards the edge of his platform, and dented the shield slightly (LP: 2100). “Like all my Karakuri, he’ll go into defence when under attack. But also, once per turn, this monster can’t be destroyed by battle.”

 

“My move then” Sabin declared, snatching out his card. Another trap card to add to the one he was now mightily relieved he hadn’t set last turn, he didn’t know why, but something had just told him not to. He shrugged it off. He had been hoping for a monster to finish Raesir with, but only had a weak one which again some nagging feeling was telling him not to play yet. But he might be able to engineer himself one. Like Gear, he would just have to start rebuilding for now. “I place two cards face down and call it a turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 6]

Raesir - FR: - BR: -. Hand: - LP: 1400

Juruo - FR: Militum. BR: Face Down. Hand: - LP: 1000

Gear - FR: Shinkuro. BR: -. Hand: 1 LP: 950

Sabin - FR:-. BR: Face Down x2. Hand: 1 LP: 2100

 

 

Raesir drew, and Sabin gulped. So did Juruo. The fires that burned behind his tainted eyes were now dancing wilder and more manically than ever. There was no prize for guessing what he had just drawn, as the boy, between wheezes of laughter, managed to scramble out the words “You signers are both finished. My heart burns with the flames of hatred, and they’re about to spread out of control and consume everything in their path. I activate the spell card Rekindling, which summons every fire attribute monster in my graveyard that has two hundred defence points to the field. Come on back everyone.”

 

The other three duelists were forced to shield their eyes from the fireworks going on around Raesir as several monsters appeared and surrounded him. The archer, the small baby imp, the flaming spirit, a strange tiger like creature wearing a tribal mask which had presumably been discarded for Flame Recovery, and towering over the back the molten Ancient Deity. A formidable arsenal of monsters with a combined six and a half thousand attack, although that would not remain the case for long. “Now at the moment I have three tuner monsters out, so first I’ll have to tune Flamvell Archer with Neo Flamvell Shaman to summon my second Uruquizas.” Another warrior appeared beside the taller Deity, before the two remaining tuners burst into lights. The monsters disappeared into the familiar columns, not of flame, but of darkness.

 

“What on earth now?”

 

“You can’t win, for I summon two indestructible forces, who you know all too well from your past Sabin. Seek and destroy all before you, Colossal Fighter.”

 

Not one, but two gigantic warriors in thick grey battle-suits crashed through the darkness and landed on the invisible arena floor between Raesir and the two signers. Juruo remembered when Sabin had summoned his one from his old deck, first against a helpless palace guard, then to no avail against the leader of the resistance Vardus. In that duel, it had been prevented from doing much by Vardus’ Clear World, so he wasn’t familiar with the effect. He turned to Sabin, who was looking up at the metal fighters with an unfathomable expression.

 

“Sab, when he says invincible...?”

 

“When Colossal Fighter is destroyed by battle, it can special summon any warrior from the graveyard. But because it was designed carelessly, that includes being able to revive itself, again and again. The only way to beat them is by card effect.”

 

Juruo’s eyes flicked from Sabin to his duel shield. Behind the two gigatech fighters, Raesir was doubled over, clutching his sides, jaw clenched as he tried to hold back his demented glee. “Thanks for explaining that for me. Not the most fitting choice of last words you’ll ever say though.” There was a long pause as Raesir rocked backwards and forwards, eyes dancing between each duelist, seemingly taking a long time to make up his mind. “Colossal Fighter number one, attack Sabin directly.”

 

The fighter on the right pulled a fist back above its head and slowly lunged forward, bringing its hand down like a hammer that would crush Sabin. Instinctively, Juruo went for the save. “I act...”

 

“Wait.” Before Juruo could get there, Sabin had interrupted him. He was standing ready to take the attack with his shield, reaching for his own card. “I activate Reanimation Wave. This halves the battle damage from this attack.” A half barrier of faint light appeared above Sabin, tilted at an angle between the duelist and that mighty fist. The fighters weight pushed against the barrier, slowed only for a second, and passed through, but it was crucially deflected enough to come down not straight on Sabin’s head, but just in front of him. The force still knocked him to the ground as it glanced his shield, before crashing and smashing into the rock, taking away half of the platform. Sabin was flat on his back, and groaned weakly. As he staggered upright, Juruo nearly vomited. His head was scarlet with blood.

 

“Sabin... why?”

 

Sabin felt himself sway slightly. He felt disconnected, like it somehow wasn’t his body. He could feel his head (was that his head?) was sore and covered in something. He was probably concussed. He felt the side of his head, it took a few seconds for him to work it out, then he grimaced as he realised that was wet hot blood that was seeping out. Trying to shake himself out of his daze, he thought for a moment that with this apparent head injury, there should be no way he could possibly be able to stand right now. His bleary glance caught sight of his arm, and the mark burning bright upon it. He remembered why he was fighting, and thus why he was still standing (LP: 700).

 

Juruo and Raesir watched in a mix of disbelief, horror and awe as Sabin spat a load of blood in an excellent arc that fell into the bottomless space below. “Right then, now that feeble slap is out of the way, Reanimation Wave’s second effect kicks in, reviving a Synchro monster from my graveyard whose level is equal to the attacking monsters. Rise again, Red Dragon Archfiend.”

 

The massive black dragon roared as it reappeared before Sabin, flames spitting from its jaws as it did so. Raesir glared up at the beast. He looked different now, less crazed. Was that glare out of anger, or stubborn defiance? “Whatever, it might be stronger than my fighters, but it will never be able to get rid of them. Now number two, crush Militum and eliminate Juruo.”

 

This time Juruo didn’t hesitate. “I activate the trap Icarus Attack, taking down both fighters in one shot. Leaving you totally defenceless.” The winged swordswoman rose and fell at blinding speed, swords outstretched and crashing through both warriors, punching big holes in the battle-suits with its kamikaze attack. Raesir could only watch open mouthed as the two warriors exploded, and Juruo drew. Finally. “I summon ‘Dragunity Dux’, and special summon Phalanx from my graveyard. Then I tune them together to Synchro summon Dragunity Knight Vajrayana!” Juruo’s heart raced as the great dragon in amber armour snaked out of the portal (ATK: 1900). He equipped it with Phalanx. His head was spinning, his breathing quickened. He didn’t need to, but by sending Phalanx to the graveyard, Vajrayana’s attack would double to a huge level. One that would wipe Raesir from existence after everything he had done. He would crush him for what he had done to Hikari.

 

Then he stopped.

 

In the corner of his eye, just past Raesir’s right shoulder, he could see Hikari’s still body. He could see the claw mark of the crimson dragon. It was still there, flickering faintly, but still there. The seconds dragged. Earlier that day, he and the others had found Tyrana drowned in the castles trap. When she had died, the mark on her arm had disappeared. So did that mean...

 

Then he looked at Raesir, and looked at him for a long time. His eyes were still purple, but they were fainter now, and were wide in fear. He was fighting against the control. He had been since the two Colossal Fighters had appeared. He had taken a long time to declare an attack, and had been visibly uncomfortable. He hadn’t been shaking with the delirium like when the battle began. He had been trying to free himself. He had tried; failed but tried, to stop himself. Juruo looked to Sabin and nodded in Hikari’s direction, pointing to his mark. The duelist looked over dully and blinked a few times, before nodding back.

 

“I think you’re right. She’s weak, but I think she’s still alive.”

 

Juruo breathed a massive sigh of relief, before turning back to his opponent. Hikari was alive. In her last moments in this duel, she had shown mercy to Erin, or at least her dragon had. Raesir might have been a fighting against them, but he had been controlled and was trying to break free. Hikari wouldn’t forgive Juruo if he killed him. Just thinking that he might be able to talk to Hikari again lifted him. “I activate Phalanx’s effect, unequipping him from Vajrayana. Then they tune together to Synchro summon the mighty Stardust Dragon once more.”

 

Stardust emerged back onto the field beside Sabin’s larger dragon, staring down at the duelist before it. He was no longer shaking, he just stood there and braced himself behind his shield. Juruo caught his eyes for a moment, the violet hue was fading. “It’s fine” Raesir said hollowly. “Finish it and eliminate the remaining hold on me. Get Fygmorke.”

 

Juruo nodded. “Stardust Dragon, attack.” The silver dragon threw back its head and unleashed its stream of white hot fire down on the Flamvell user. He buckled under the attack, his normal eyes closing as he fell backwards and landed softly on the rock in a heap, moaning lightly and reaching for his shield to indicate he had survived, or been allowed to. Purple fire enveloped his body for a moment as a black skinned devil rose from the shield, before vanishing as had the demonic shield before. As the fire faded, Raesir noticed the top card of his deck was sticking out slightly. Drawing it out of curiosity it revealed the spell card Final Flame. Raesir smiled, then passed into unconsciousness (LP: 0).

 

There was complete still for a moment as the three remaining duelists took in the sight. Raesir looked relatively peaceful now, immune to the danger and despair surrounding them. Rolling his bloody head in a dazed way, Sabin turned to Juruo with a slightly lopsided smirk. “Nice of you to show us what you really think of Hikari when you think you’ve lost her?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Juruo replied indifferently. He felt strangely red all of a sudden, though surely that was just due to pent up anger and frustration. Sabin didn’t seem to think so.

 

“Yeah yeah, sure you do.”

 

“If I might interrupt.” The two boy’s attention snapped back to Gear, who was drawing his card. The last obstacle between them and Fygmorke, and judging from the look of him, wherever he was hiding the sorcerer seemed to have realised this.

 

Gear only felt the full influence of the sorcerer, which had previously been spread across three captives and was now being focused solely on him, for a brief moment. Some... thing, some terrible blackness, had hit his mind like an invisible tidal wave, giving him barely time to scream before it crashed over him. Every fibre of his body felt numb, then crackled with a new electricity coursing through him, restarting the still arms and legs. His heart rate slowed dramatically, as he felt oddly calm. As he reached down and drew his card, realisation dawned that he wasn’t doing that, someone else was, and he was powerless to stop it. His mind was no longer his own. Maybe somewhere, in a deep dark corner of his subconscious, Gear still existed. But now his mind and body was under the full control of the sorcerer. The puppet drew his card.

 

‘Finally’

 

“It’s time to end this charade, and your futile resistance against the embrace of emptiness.” Gear, or the body of Gear, spoke in a darker, gruffer tone now. It pleased whoever was really speaking with that voice how it made the two opponents flinch. “By releasing Shinkuro, I advance summon Cyber Dragon. Then I activate the spell card Overload Fusion! I remove Shinkuro, Haipa, Nisamu, Nishipashi, Needle Soldier, Scrap Dragon, and Cyber Dragon from play, to fusion summon any dark machine type monster I possess.”

 

The boys hearts sank as the spectres of the seven monsters were forcefully dragged back in to the swirling vortex behind Gear. From it emerged a silver metal head, seemingly eyeless but armed with metal jaws that opened to reveal a laser cannon. Then a second head, followed by a third. And a fourth, and a fifth, a sixth, and finally the seventh. All identical heads snaking from long silver necks to a dark grey body of enormous size and power to carry all those weapons, that was followed out of the vortex by a long tail. The heads snapped and bit at each other, or screamed out to space, whilst far down below them, the puppet Gear was celebrating the arrival of his strongest monster. “Behold the ultimate weapon. Chimeratech Overdragon!”

 

“Juruo, remember when I forgave you for not finishing him when you had the chance?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I take it back. You’re an idiot.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Infuriated by the lack of total despair at the sight of his monster, Gear cast his human arm out to command silence. “Tremble in the wake of the unstoppable Overdragon. Now he has been summoned, he gains eight hundred attack points for each monster used to summon him, coming to a grand total of five thousand six hundred. But not only that, but each turn, each head can attack a monster, giving him seven attacks to take out anything you summon. Seven attacks with such power that you cannot hope to survive when it turns its attention to you (ATK: 5600).”

 

“No doubt, that thing’s got fatality written all over it.” Juruo cast a panicked look up at the outmatched Stardust and Red Dragon that were helplessly caught in attack mode. Both could be destroyed in the same turn, and after they were gone there would be plenty of heads spare for Gear to go overkill with and blast their bodies into non-existence. “Sabin. Ideas?”

 

“Why the question? It’s always me with the ideas” Sabin snapped back with an ugly look, as he pulled back his other trap card. “I activate Panic Wave. By destroying one card I control, the effects of all monsters are negated until the end of the turn, rendering your dragon harmless.”

 

“But the only card you can sacrifice is...” The howl of the red and black dragon finished Juruo’s sentence for him, as Sabin’s best monster vanished from sight. The lasers in the throats of the metal dragons that had been beginning to glow went out for a moment (ATK: 0)

 

“Good job I let Revenge Return get destroyed earlier then isn’t it? Now by removing it from my graveyard, I can special summon a monster that was destroyed by a card effect this turn. I trust you’re done over there?” Gear’s silent scowl at the return of the gigantic dragon was taken for a yes. “Alright then. I activate Red Dragon Vase, letting me draw two more cards.” Sabin looked over them critically. Magnet Circle didn’t help, especially since Vase stopped him summoning anything for a turn anyway, but Red Screen would buy them one round. He hoped. “One card face down, turn end.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 7]

Juruo - FR: Stardust Dragon. BR: -. Hand: - LP: 1000

Gear - FR: Chimeratech Overdragon. BR: -. Hand: - LP: 950

Sabin - FR: Red Dragon Archfiend. BR: Face Down. Hand: 2 LP: 700

 

 

“Then it’s my turn.” Juruo shook his head. Judging from the twisted grin and eyes that were now turning from purple to verging on pitch black, Gear wasn’t going to be able to fight against it like Raesir had. “First I switch Stardust Dragon into defence mode. Then I place my drawn card face down.”

 

“That won’t save you. Nothing will save you now” Gear sneered as he drew his card. “Even the mighty signers, who have protected his world from the power of the Earthbound Gods for millennia, are powerless to stop me now. Not even the Crimson Dragon itself can do a thing against me. When my son’s bomb goes off, boosted by the power of the cards sealed inside it, all existence shall end, and with it all suffering and despair. Only emptiness and darkness shall exist.”

 

“So you don’t even intend to survive yourself. You really are a nut bag” Sabin shouted furiously.

 

“It’s easy to brand others insane when their views do not match your own limited perceptions” the sorcerer calmly retorted through Gear’s mouth. “I have lived for centuries. I have seen this world and its people go through many horrors, and there will never be an end to it. I am easing the world’s pain, and the pain of every other world caught up in the mayhem. You two are mere pups by comparison, yet so far in your little lives you have already suffered the loss of parents, living in oppression and squalor, being hunted like animals, having loved ones torn from you, and so on. There will be Utopia, my Utopia, that I shall share with everyone; a blissful, painless existence for all.”

 

“Yeah, it’s been a pretty bleak past for us both” Juruo snapped, Sabin nodding to him in agreement. “But that’s not because of some messed up world. The world is fine when it’s allowed to go untouched; it’s because of messed up people like you who ruin it that cause suffering. Everything that’s happened comes back to you. Now we’re going to protect our world and stop you. Our world won’t become a Utopia because of that, but we’ll make it as pretty damn close as we can for ourselves.”

 

“Fine speech, stirring last words every one” Fygmorke cackled. “But it’s too late. Chimeratech Overdragon is back up to full power and ready to fire. Attack Red Dragon Archfiend.”

 

“I don’t think so. I activate Red Screen, preventing all monsters from attacking while face up on the field.”

 

Gear scoffed at the sight of the trap. “Key words. ‘While face up’. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your barrier and all your remaining hope.”

 

“Not while Stardust Dragon is around you don’t. By releasing herself, she can intercept any card that destroys cards on the field and negate them.” The mighty silver dragon screamed and vanished in a cascade of stars, obliterating the image of Gear’s spell. “Then I activate my own face down spell Super Rejuvenation, allowing me to draw a card. Plus at the end of the turn, Stardust returns.”

 

Gear scowled at being thwarted again, as the dragon reappeared before it. “Your reprieve is temporary. Your suffering prolonged by only a few more minutes.”

 

“Yeah we’ll see. I draw” Sabin declared, and visibly cringed at the sight. The monstrosity facing him might have ridiculous offence, but it was still vulnerable to every method of destruction other than battle. He had been hoping for something that would destroy the dragon immediately. Duradark for example, or even Mind Control just to get it out of the way for Red Dragon to strike. However this spell did not help him at all, especially when he was about to lose Red Screen. His opponent picked up on his dilemma with much delight.

 

“Someone didn’t get the card they wanted then. All those cards in your hand and you can use none of them.”

 

“Bah, I switch Red Dragon Archfiend into defence mode and end it there.” Hopefully, as Red Screen blew up in front of him (he could even feel the force of that burning his cheeks slightly), Juruo would be able to do something.

 

[spoiler=Summary - Round 8]

Juruo - FR: Stardust Dragon. BR: -. Hand: 1 LP: 1000

Gear - FR: Chimeratech Overdragon. BR: -. Hand: - LP: 950

Sabin - FR: Red Dragon Archfiend. BR: -. Hand: 3 LP: 700

 

 

As it turned out, Juruo was needed something from his deck to. Super Rejuvenation had provided him with the Fighting Spirit spell card, a card useless against the many headed behemoth. Looking around the space surrounding them, he couldn’t help but notice some of the stars were starting to go out entirely, and that more of the comets that were floating around the scene were dissolving into nothingness. The end must be coming soon. Hopefully, he would get a game changer this draw.

 

“I place one card face down.” No such luck.

 

“Let’s try this again then” the enemy declared, snatching at his next card. As he caught sight of it, his black eyes narrowed, and the slow cackle began again. “This time for sure. I summon Infernity Dwarf to the field.”

 

Sabin groaned as the monster Fygmorke was controlling Gear through appeared into battle; a stout pot bellied man with a brown beard, wearing a miners uniform and pointy hat and wielding an oversized axe (DEF: 500). “Oh great, and let me guess. You get some great effect whilst you’re handless. What’s this one, direct attack?”

 

“Close, but better. Whilst Infernity Dwarf is on the field and I have no cards in my hand, all my monsters can inflict piercing damage to those hiding in defence position. So I can take you both out this turn. Say goodnight. Chimeratech Overdragon, attack Red Dragon Archfiend.” This time, the head on the furthest right facing them tipped back and fired its bright laser, shooting towards the crouching dragon.

 

“I activate the trap Wotan's Judgement. By returning one spell in my hand to my deck, I can negate any attack and end the battle phase entirely.” Juruo’s trap opened to reveal a man in a green cloak who cast his protective barrier over the attacked dragon, deflecting the cannon fire away, much to the opponents frustration. “Then I get to draw a new card.”

 

“Persistent cockroach. No matter, you are slowly running out of time and cards. Your defeat is inevitable. I end my turn.”

 

Sabin breathed again, having stopped briefly before Juruo’s trap saved him. Fygmorke was right, they were both running out of defensive options. They would have to go on the attack and somehow destroy that seven headed behemoth staring down at them. There had to be a way. Slowly he closed his eyes, and placed his hand on his deck.

 

‘It all comes down to this. Everyone’s trust in me, all the belief they all showed that I didn’t deserve; now I have to repay it. If I want to avenge Yuma, and stop Fygmorke’s plan so that everyone else can have what I’ve lost, then I have to beat that thing. I need that final gift from Yuma to spur me on to victory.’ As Sabin waited, the top card of his deck started to glow gold, the one that had appeared before him in the outer reaches of this void. He had no idea if it actually was from Yuma; he just chose to believe that way. That her memory would guide him. ‘Yuma, for you.’ “I draw!”

 

Sabin flipped the card, and the image that appeared answered his prayers.

 

“I activate the spell card Magnet Circle, to special summon any level two or lower machine type monster from my hand. Come forth Ally of Justice Unlimiter.” A small black and grey spaceship with a long spike at the front appeared beside the dragon. “Next I activate Star Blast. By giving up five hundred life points, I can reduce the level of Red Dragon Archfiend by one (LP: 200). And now...”

 

“The gift of the Crimson Dragon...” mouthed Gear, staring at Sabin as he held up his golden card.

 

“Crimson Dragon, Yuma, life, and everyone else who wants me to hand this beating to you. I summon the tuner monster Majestic Dragon.” A tiny pink dragon appeared through space, its translucent body emitting its own radiance. Juruo watched Sabin in awe, whilst across from him Gear was recoiling from this little dragon’s appearance like it was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Red Dragon Archfiend roared as it was engulfed by bright, pure light, and Sabin had to roar louder over the noise. “I Synchro summon the most powerful force from across the cosmos, whose mighty roar sends chills down the spine of all who gaze upon its ultimate form. The Majestic Red Dragon!”

 

Majestic was right. The dragon that emerged from the light was enormous; a long serpentine body that sparkled with its own aura, sprouting four grand white wings from its back and curved claws at the front. A wild scarlet mane fell down its neck from its head crowned with gold horns. The dragon was staring down at the puny Overdragon, flames coursing through its body ready to be unleashed (ATK: 4000).

 

Beneath it, Sabin raised his balled fist. “Now, I can select one monster on the field, and negate its effect until the end phase. Reducing your dragons attack to zero.”

 

Sabin was, but didn’t show, surprised at Gear’s reaction to his withering monstrosity (ATK: 0). He still looked smug, even if the physical body was shaking slightly. “This body may be about to fall, but this isn’t over...”

 

“Majestic Red Dragon, unleash your final flare.” Sabin cut him off, punching the air with his fist in Gear’s direction. The flames that erupted from the magnificent dragon crashed down, wiping away the many headed dragon in an instant, causing it to explode. Standing beneath it, Gear blinked, his eyes returned to normal as Fygmorke released his control. His last moments would be waking to see his most powerful monster exploding above him, and that with his metal arm broken, he could not lift his shield. Gear screamed as the life support unit that kept his heart beating started to overload, flashing rapidly, sending sparks of electricity throughout his remaining body parts and brain that made him flail and thrash in panic. After a few seconds, the LSU exploded spectacularly. Gear stopped thrashing with a last gasp, before collapsing in a heap.

 

After a few awkward seconds, Juruo swallowed. Looking across at Sabin, he saw him with his head bowed, looking dejected. “We did what we had to. Gear is probably in a better place now.”He looked across to the other three bodies lying on the respective platforms; they were all breathing slowly, barely conscious, but all thankfully still with them. “But everyone else is still alive, now we have to make sure it stays that way with the two of us beating Fygmorke and somehow stopping this thing.”

 

To his disbelief, Sabin slowly shook his head.

 

“No, we can’t. It’s not over.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

Sabin sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair that was entangled with dry blood. “The duel hasn’t finished yet, and Fygmorke isn’t going to appear until it is.” He turned to Juruo, his voice was oddly calm, almost soulless. “This was never a three on three, it was a battle royale. Last man standing, winner takes all, all meaning facing Fygmorke on their own. And right now there are just two left, and he’s not going to appear until one of us defeats the other. Do you understand yet?”

 

Juruo shook his head. Not because he didn’t understand, he understood completely. Because what Sabin was saying appalled him. This was too cruel. He could tell Sabin felt the same way, but he was resigned to his fate. “Gear wasn’t the last obstacle between me and Fygmorke, you are. Now when Majestic Red Dragon destroys a monster in battle, all monsters on the field that are in defence mode are also destroyed, including your Stardust Dragon. Of course, you can use Stardust’s effect to negate that and destroy Majestic Red, leaving me open to defeat. Everything will then rest on you. Go ahead.” There was a long pause.

 

“No.”

 

“The hell do you mean ‘no’?”

 

“I mean I can’t win like that. I can’t just destroy that great dragon of yours that way, not when it’s just saved us both.” Juruo smiled at his companion as overhead Stardust Dragon disappeared into nothingness, much to Sabin’s shock. “I don’t want to fight you, but if you say we have to fight, I want to defeat you properly, not like that. You deserve your shot at Fygmorke too, so we’ll do it like this. Because of Wotan’s Judgement, I have Stardust Shimmer in my hand to bring back Stardust with anyway. So I’m going to let it all come down to my next draw. Either I’ll draw something that can win me the duel, or I won’t, and you can go on and take him.”

 

Sabin paused for a second, then shrugged. “Do whatever you want. I don’t want to wax you either, but I have to if I want that shot at Fygmorke. I end my turn, at which point, Majestic Red Dragon disappears, and Red Dragon Archfiend returns.” The terrifying saviour disappeared, to be replaced by the black and red destroyer (ATK: 3000). Beneath it, Sabin folded his arms. “You’ve got one draw.”

 

Juruo flipped his card, and immediately knew he’d won. He waited a second, hoping something, anything, would interrupt. That Fygmorke would appear and they could fight him together. The thinking was wishful. It seemed he would have to do this alone. “I activate Stardust Shimmer, removing Dux and Militum from my graveyard to revive Stardust. Then I play the spell card Dragon Heart, sending three dragons from my deck to my graveyard to increase her attack points by one thousand.”

 

Sabin rolled his eyes and chuckled as first Stardust reappeared opposite him, then shrieked as its strength increased (ATK: 3500). “Still a fluke artist. I just hope your luck holds out for one more duel. Failing that, summon this.” Sabin took a card from his graveyard slot, and threw it across the empty space. It didn’t fall like Hikari’s cards had; it floated slowly across the gap, straight into Juruo’s hand. Majestic Dragon. Sabin smiled, staring past Juruo at the dimly light stars. “Well, I guess this is it. I’m not going to surrender. I doubt that’s even an option anyway. Go ahead, win already.”

 

Juruo nodded, as Sabin ducked behind his duel shield. Wordlessly, he raised his arm for Stardust to attack, and watched as the bright blue flame engulfed the larger black dragon. When it had disappeared from sight, Sabin was on his back, spread eagled, chest slowly rising and falling (LP: 0). Juruo stood alone for a few seconds, staring at the destruction all around him. At the still bodies surrounding him in the black space.

 

A low rumbling noise filled the air, and one by one each stone podium crumbled into pieces. One by one, each fallen duelist slipped from their pedestal and fell into the darkness below. The rock he was standing on was the last to fall apart beneath his feet, and without the energy to snatch out at anything to save himself, to even cry out, Juruo fell into the blackness after them.

 

 

....

 

[spoiler=More spoilers]

Yep, miracle majestic appearance. Well, since Juruo originally had Gae Bulg, Vajrayana and Barcha all appear from thin air during mid duel, it seemed rude not too.

 

Interesting note: The end was something I thought I had planned from the moment I started this fic, that Sabin and Juruo would face Gear together. Originally however, I wanted Sabin to draw Yuma's Miracle Synchro Fusion, using RDA and his Attack Gainer (that's why it was his spirit) to summon Draco Equiste for the win. But try as I might I couldn't get Draco to put Chimeratech over, so this was the backup plan. Ok it was only a little bit interesting.

 

 

Right, ladies and gentleman (do any ladies read this? I'm assuming there must be one given this now has had over 10,000 views), we are entering the FINAL WEEK. This time next week this fic will be over.

 

At least that's what I hope. But I have two problems:

 

1 - I still don't have home broadband. I'm still waiting to be connected up and it's getting right on my wick. I've been online a lot recently because of dad being on holiday and abusing his Internet, but he's back Monday.

 

2 - I've written 64 and 65, and half of 66. That was done a while ago. But now I'm stuck, because (and I'm trying not to spoil the end here) of something that I had decided would happen since the very very start of this thing, and now its got to writing it and... I want to change my mind, I don't want to do it. But I have to. So that's irritating.

 

So in short will try to get the finale up as smoothly as possible, but I might finally break my almost immaculate posting structure because of either limited access to site or because of agonizing over the final bits, and making sure I get it absolutely right. So please bear with me.

 

Oh and yet another thank you to the guys who voted this fic the second best piece of fic writing of 2011. You're very strange to vote for this over Dead Zone though. It's so much better :D. But seriosuly thanks, I'll keep you posted about 2012's fic as it comes together.

 

See you all next week for the end...

 

Matt

[Vector Nightmare]

Well, 63 was definitely an awesome chapter. 62 was, too, in retrospect, barring my disappointment with a few elements. Well, a few things were still bad. Such as, where the hell was Black Rose Dragon in all this? Also, though I had seen Juruo having to fight Fygmorke alone, I still disagreed with the conclusion. I can't complain much since you gave both Sabin and Hikari shining moments through this, even though not seeing Raesir's and Erin's Infernity monsters and Hikari's Black Rose was quite lazy and left a bad aftertaste. And Attack Gainer was gimped, too. Best way to tie everything up? Have Hikari use Black Rose, Sabin revive it, and use that along with Attack Gainer to make Red Demons. But Savior Demons appearing was cool, too.

 

Anyway, I wasn't as thrilled with the battle royale as I had expected, mostly because noone really died except Gears. I might've gone for Sabin-heroic-death here, and I'd almost definitely gotten rid of Raesir. It would've been unfair if Hikari or Erin had died, but the way their threads ended up, it might've been for the best. In fact this would be a lot more grimdark, and proportionally a lot more awesome, if Juruo was totally alone now.

 

So really, one fight left (I'm guessing). I'm a bit disappointed because I really thought the final few chapters before Fygmorke would be all about Juruo, Sabin, Hikari and Erin (pretty much the original group, barring Mel), but Raesir and Gear ended up stealing a lot of the spotlight. Still, I can understand your reasoning, and you handled the whole thing pretty well. I'm looking forward to an even better finale.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Well, 63 was definitely an awesome chapter. 62 was, too, in retrospect, barring my disappointment with a few elements. Well, a few things were still bad. Such as, where the hell was Black Rose Dragon in all this? Also, though I had seen Juruo having to fight Fygmorke alone, I still disagreed with the conclusion. I can't complain much since you gave both Sabin and Hikari shining moments through this, even though not seeing Raesir's and Erin's Infernity monsters and Hikari's Black Rose was quite lazy and left a bad aftertaste. And Attack Gainer was gimped, too. Best way to tie everything up? Have Hikari use Black Rose, Sabin revive it, and use that along with Attack Gainer to make Red Demons. But Savior Demons appearing was cool, too.

 

Saw that comment coming. It's a poor reason, but I kinda thought you'd all think 'well none of the signers are going to get beaten until their signer dragon makes an appearance', but mainly I don't like the complete dependance on them. Which is very stupid of me because that defies the point of them, hurr-durr. I never should have used the signer element because of this, maybe given them the cards without them being signers but still, I should have got her in.

 

Example: Yuma in ZEXAL. Defeats Shark using Utopia. Defeats Uyko using Utopia. Defeats the annoying kid using Utopia. Wins the tag duel using... Utopia. Defeats the samurai using....... Utopia. Defeats Jin using............... an upgraded Utopia.............

 

See what I mean? However it is different with Signer Dragons I guess and I should have got her in somehow.

 

As for Guardian and Destroyer, I should have got Destroyer in. Guardian had very little chance given its effect and the way Erin was smashing Juruo to bits, but it was the Infernity that Erin represented best.

 

Anyway, I wasn't as thrilled with the battle royale as I had expected, mostly because noone really died except Gears. I might've gone for Sabin-heroic-death here, and I'd almost definitely gotten rid of Raesir. It would've been unfair if Hikari or Erin had died, but the way their threads ended up, it might've been for the best. In fact this would be a lot more grimdark, and proportionally a lot more awesome, if Juruo was totally alone now.

 

So really, one fight left (I'm guessing). I'm a bit disappointed because I really thought the final few chapters before Fygmorke would be all about Juruo, Sabin, Hikari and Erin (pretty much the original group, barring Mel), but Raesir and Gear ended up stealing a lot of the spotlight. Still, I can understand your reasoning, and you handled the whole thing pretty well. I'm looking forward to an even better finale.

 

Can't really say too much on this half. Will address it next week if I remember, but I have reasons for them surviving.

 

Trying as hard as possible to get the end right, but am struggling. Will have a go at finishing writing tonight.

[Vector Nightmare]

Saw that comment coming. It's a poor reason, but I kinda thought you'd all think 'well none of the signers are going to get beaten until their signer dragon makes an appearance', but mainly I don't like the complete dependance on them. Which is very stupid of me because that defies the point of them, hurr-durr. I never should have used the signer element because of this, maybe given them the cards without them being signers but still, I should have got her in.

 

Example: Yuma in ZEXAL. Defeats Shark using Utopia. Defeats Uyko using Utopia. Defeats the annoying kid using Utopia. Wins the tag duel using... Utopia. Defeats the samurai using....... Utopia. Defeats Jin using............... an upgraded Utopia.............

 

See what I mean? However it is different with Signer Dragons I guess and I should have got her in somehow.

 

As for Guardian and Destroyer, I should have got Destroyer in. Guardian had very little chance given its effect and the way Erin was smashing Juruo to bits, but it was the Infernity that Erin represented best.

 

However, the Signer Dragons were the symbolic powers that joined the Signers to stop Armaggedon. If this was indeed Hikari's final battle, then there's no way you should've excluded Black Rose from it. I mean, you did go into all that trouble to make them Signers and all.

 

Can't really say too much on this half. Will address it next week if I remember, but I have reasons for them surviving.

 

Trying as hard as possible to get the end right, but am struggling. Will have a go at finishing writing tonight.

 

The end is always the hardest. Hang in there.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Right, forgot to leave a comment.

Likewise, 62 was better in retrospect. At the time, it was hard to get into, but in 63, I practically sped through the whole thing.

It might have been because there was too much going on, but the duel itself wasn't bad.

That end there was nice and I'm glad Hikari made it.

Looking forward to the epic shizz coming next.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Epic shizz is coming up next.

 

Just going to have limited Internet time to be able to post it up. Will make time because I'm not leaving this hanging with such a short time left to go, but will probably only be able to 'splash-and-dash' posts (no hyperlinks).

 

*Obligatory grumble about Orange Broadband going to be another 2-5 weeks before I have Internet in my own flat.*

 

So yeah, final duel left to come, as we approach reality's final hour. Almost finished writing the final chapter (it's very long, effectively two chapters in one, so you may need to set aside a spare hour on Saturday). Just the very end to sort out.

 

As for the last duel, something different is planned, although I'll be gobsmacked if no-ones done it before. Well I guess this YCM where 99% of fics aren't finished, and it has a theme that I think can only be used for a 'final boss' fight.

 

Quick heads up that one of the cards will be used with its anime effect (it will be obvious which and why when you see it), and sorry, but also one more banned card will also make an appearance. It's use is not entirely random though, given an underlying theme of someone's deck. Anyone want to hazard a guess? Likes may be awarded...

[Aviv: D's Knight]

Starbright?

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Starbright?

 

Not a bad idea but no, they are older cards.

[Aviv: D's Knight]

Uria hamon and ravial.