Chapter 23: Scorn
Out in front of the Spica stadium where the Etoile Tournament was being held, Jaden and Shizuma had teamed up to duel Nagisa, who had been corrupted by The Wicked Avatar. Chikaru, Kizuna, Remon, and Kagome were watching from the entryway of the stadium, where they were also tending to an unconscious Tamao. Also there watching was the ghost of Lyman Banner, who had managed to guide Pharaoh to the location. The duel was just beginning. Nagisa had 8000 life points, while Jaden and Shizuma were both playing with 4000. It was Jaden who had the first turn. He didn’t have the best opening hand, but at the very least he could put up an adequate defense for the first turn.
“I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!” Jaden announced. His stone armored hero appeared on the field. “I end my turn!”
“First I summon Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World in Defense Mode!” Nagisa announced after drawing her first card. The same orange-handed grey demon that Kaname had played during the Etoile Tournament appeared on the field. “Next I set two cards on the field and end my turn!”
“Just so you know Nagisa, I’m dueling you with my true deck.” Shizuma said as she calmly drew her card. “I activate Polymerization and fuse Elemental Hero Heat and Elemental Hero Lady Heat into Elemental Hero Inferno!”
Appearing on the field was a masked warrior in a red, white, and orange costume, and a female warrior wearing a similar costume. The two jumped into the small fusion vortex that appeared on the field and emerging from the other side was a much larger warrior in red and white armor. The hero’s hands glowed like burning magna, and there was also a hole in his chest armor that also showed burning magma. Jaden was a bit surprised to see Shizuma play an Elemental Hero. Although he did remember reading in the Miator library that Shizuma won the last Etoile Tournament with an Elemental Hero deck.
“Inferno, attack Renge!” Shizuma commanded. “Heat Blast!”
Inferno fired a blast of flames at the demon. At that moment, an insane smile appeared on Nagisa’s face.
“I activate my Trap, Hate Buster!” Nagisa announced. “When a face up Fiend-type monster I control is selected as an attack target, my Trap destroys the attacking monster, the attack target, and inflicts damage to my opponent equal to the attacking monster’s ATK points! And since Inferno is your monster my dear Shizuma, you’re the one who takes the damage!”
Both Inferno and Renge exploded and a sort of dark lighting suddenly shocked Shizuma. Her life points dropped from 4000 to 1700. The silver haired girl screamed in pain as the lighting shocked her. Jaden and those who were watching were surprised to see that Nagisa’s Trap card seemed to cause Shizuma actual pain. Nagisa merely laughed madly at the sight of Shizuma crying out in pain.
“That God card must be giving Nagisa the ability to inflict real damage somehow.” Yubel guessed as she appeared behind Jaden. Jaden nodded in agreement.
“I… summon Elemental Hero Woodsman in Defense Mode!” Shizuma announced after she recovered a little from the damage. A warrior that looked like he was half tree appeared on Shizuma’s part of the field. “Next I set one card and end my turn!”
“First I activate Polymerization!” Jade announced after drawing his next card. “I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman into Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!”
The blue and gold costumed electric hero appeared on the field momentarily before he merged with Clayman into a very large warrior in a purple costume with brown and white armor.
“Thunder Giant, attack Nagisa directly!” Jaden commanded. “Voltic Thunder!”
The giant hero raised his arms and a large ball of electricity formed in between his hands. Just as he was about to throw the ball though, Nagisa reacted.
“I activate my Trap, Sakuretstu Armor!” Nagisa announced. “Now your monster is destroyed!”
Before he could though his ball of electricity, Thunder Giant exploded, leaving Jaden’s part of the field completely exposed. Since he and Shizuma had separate life points, Nagisa could attack Jaden directly. Jaden didn’t have anything in his hand he could use to defend himself from an attack, so he hoped that Shizuma’s set card could block whatever Nagisa had in store.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced.
“I activate the Spell card, Ancient Rules!” Nagisa announced. “This let’s me summon Gogigia Gagagigo from my hand!”
Ngaisa’s raging cybernetic man-lizard appeared on the field. Jaden was certain that Nagisa was going to attack him directly.
“Gagagigo, attack Woodsman!” Nagisa commanded, surprising Jaden. “Giga Slash!”
“I activate my Trap, Draining Shield!” Shizuma announced. “The attack of your monster is negated and I gain life points equal to Gogiga Gagagigo’s ATK!”
As the man-lizard charged forward, a silver shield appeared on Woodsman’s arm. The plant warrior raised the shield just in time to block Gagagigo’s metal claw, and Shizuma’s life points rose to 4650. Nagisa stamped the ground with her right foot in frustration.
“Fine! I set one card on the field and end my turn!” Nagisa announced in an annoyed tone.
As Shizuma drew her next card, Jaden tried to figure out why Nagisa attacked Shizuma’s monster instead of attacking him directly. Jaden could hear that the ones who were watching the duel were wondering the same thing.
“I don’t get it, why didn’t Nagisa go after Jaden? He was wide open.” Kizuna asked.
“Maybe She thought that Shizuma’s monster was too big of a threat.” Remon answered.
“First I activate Woodsman’s effect and add Polymerization from my Graveyard to my hand!” Shizuma announced. “Next I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck! Now I activate Polymerization and fuse Woodsman and Elemental Hero Ocean into Vision Hero Adoration!”
The aquatic blue hero momentarily appeared on the field before merging with Woodsman into a completely different hero. The hero that appeared wore a black costume that only revealed his grey arms. Though he was masked, it could be seen that the hero had one eye on the center of his face like a Cyclops.
“Next I activate Miracle Fusion and remove Ocean and Woodsman from the Graveyard to fuse the into Elemental Hero Terra Firma!” Shizuma announced.
A giant warrior that looked as if he was made of white stone dropped onto the field. Jaden found that he was quite impressed with Shizuma. For one thing, she had Elemental Hero Terra Firma, an incredibly rare card. The two monsters that made Terra Firma were quite easy to find. Jaden had Elemental Hero Ocean in his own deck, but Terra Firma itself was a very hard to find card. The other thing that had impressed Jaden was that Shizuma had used the same two monsters to create two different fusions. Plus he had never heard of Vision Heroes before. Jaden decided that he would have to ask Shizuma for a rematch later. At the moment however, the important thing was saving Nagisa.
“Now I activate Adoration’s effect!” Shizuma announced. “By selecting an opponent’s monster and a Hero monster I control, I can decrease the ATK of the opposing monster by an amount equal to the ATK of the selected Hero! So I choose Terra Firma to decrease the ATK of Gogiga Gagagigo by 2500!”
Adoration raised his arms forward and sent a sort of mirage of Terra Firma at Gagagigo, weakening the man-lizard.
“Wow, now Nagisa’s monster only has 450 ATK!” Kizuna exclaimed. “I had no idea that Shizuma was so good!”
“She had to be in order to become Etoile.” Chikaru reminded Kizuna.
“It pains me to do this Nagisa, but you’ve left me no choice. Adoration, attack Gagagigo!” Shizuma commanded. “Mirage Beam!”
The mysterious hero fired a laser beam from his eye at Gagagigo, causing a huge explosion. Nagisa’s life points dropped to 4750. When the smoke cleared however, standing in the man-lizard’s place was a gigantic black skeletal dragon with a main of grey hair. Its eyes glowed with a mindless red light.
“What on earth…?” Shizuma asked with a shocked expression.
“When you destroyed Gagagigo, I activated my set card, A Deal with Dark Ruler.” Nagisa explained with an insane smile. “This card let me Special Summon Berserk Dragon from my deck.”
“I… end my turn!” Shizuma announced.
Jaden drew his next card. He didn’t have much that he could use to defend against Nagisa’s monster, but he did have something he could use.
“I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in Defense Mode!” Jaden announced. The wilderness hero appeared on Jaden’s part of the field. “That ends my turn!”
“It’s my turn!” Nagisa announced gleefully as she drew her next card. “I should probably mention that in addition to having 3500 ATK, my Berserk Dragon can attack every monster on my opponent’s side of the field at least once.”
“Seriously? That thing is way too overpowered!” Kizuna exclaimed from the sidelines.
“That power does come at a cost though.” Chikaru added. “At the end of each of its wielder’s turns, Berserk Dragon loses 500 ATK points.”
“Berserk Dragon, destroy them all!” Nagisa commanded. “Rampage Slaughter!”
The skeletal dragon threw its head back and shot three huge fireballs from its mouth. All of Jaden and Shizuma’s heroes were completely destroyed. Jaden’s life points were untouched, but Shizuma’s life points had fallen to 2950.
“I set one card on the field and end my turn!” Nagisa announced. Shizuma drew her next card.
“I summon Phantom Magician in Defense Mode and end my turn!” Shizuma announced. A short human skeleton carrying a small wand, a white mask, and a tattered black hood and cloak appeared on Shizuma’s part of the field.
Jaden drew his next card and was relieved to find something that he could use to stop the Berserk Dragon’s rampage.
“I lay down a facedown and end my turn!” Jaden announced. Nagisa drew her next card.
“Berserk Dragon, attack Phantom Magician!” Nagisa commanded. “Rampage Slaughter!”
The skeletal dragon threw its head back and launched another fireball.
“I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!” Jaden announced. The fireball vanished into a vortex that appeared in front of Phantom Magician. Nagisa’s expression changed to one of anger and annoyance.
“STAY OUT OF MY WAY JADEN!” Nagisa shouted.
“Woah, that was a little harsh.” Yubel commented from behind Jaden.
It suddenly dawned on Jaden why Nagisa attacked Shizuma earlier in the duel instead of attacking him directly when she had the chance, Nagisa was angry with Shizuma. It was understandable since Shzuma more or less rejected her, but it seemed that Nagisa’s anger was being drawn to the surface. The Wicked Avatar was using that anger to drive Nagisa.
“I end my turn!” Nagisa announced after regaining some composure. As soon as Nagisa’s turn ended, Berserk Dragon’s ATK fell to 3000. Shizuma calmly drew her next card.
“I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in Defense Mode!” Shizuma announced. Appearing on the field was an alternate colored version of Jaden’s electric hero. The blue parts of Shizuma’s Sparkman were red instead, and its gold armor was more of a rosy pink. “I end my turn!”
“First I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in Attack Mode!” Jaden announced after drawing his next card. The female hero of flames appeared on the field. “Next I activate Miracle Fusion and remove Bustinatrix on the field and Clayman in the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster in Defense Mode!”
In a flash, Burstinatrix was covered in a more advanced version of Clayman’s armor. Rampart Blaster went into a kneeling position and raised the shield on her left arm.
“While Rampart Blaster is in Defense Mode, it can attack my opponent directly, though the damage is cut in half!” Jaden announced. “Rampart Blaster, attack Nagisa directly! Rampart Shot!”
Rampart Blaster fired the cannon on her left arm. The attack hit Nagisa and her life points dropped to 3750.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced. As soon as Nagisa drew her next card, Jaden felt the sense of danger that he had been feeling from Nagisa grow stronger. Nagisa’s lips curved into an insane grin.
“First I summon Double Coston!” Nagisa announced. A small black blob with beady green eyes appeared next to Berserk Dragon. “Next I activate my Trap, Birthright! This lets me summon Gogiga Gagagigo from the Graveyard!”
Nagisa’s cybernetic man-lizard roared as it reappeared on the field. Jaden knew what Nagisa was about to do.
“Next I play Double Summon, which lets me Normal Summon one more time this turn!” Nagisa announced. “Now I tribute Berserk Dragon and Double Coston to summon The Wicked Avatar!”
Double Coston split into two copies of itself before shattering along with Berserk Dragon. A column of purple light shot into the sky before fading and revealing a sphere that looked every bit like a black sun. In an instant the sphere shrank down and reshaped itself into a pitch-black version of Gagagigo.
“Gagagigo, attack Sparkman!” Nagisa commanded. “Giga Slash!”
With one slash of the man-lizard’s metal claw, Shizuma’s Sparkman was cut to ribbons.
“Wicked Avatar, destroy Phantom Magician!” Nagisa commanded. “Dark Giga Slash!”
The picth-black version of Gagagigo charged forward and slashed the skeletal mage to bits.
“When Phantom Magician is destroyed, I can Special Summon a Hero monster with 1000 or less ATK from my deck in Defense Mode!” Shizuma announced. “So from my deck I summon Elemental Hero Clayman!”
A more rose colored version of Clayman appeared on Shizuma’s part of the field.
“I end my turn!” Nagisa announced. Shizuma drew her next card.
“There’s nothing I can do. I end my turn!” Shizuma announced. Nagisa’s mad grin grew wider.
Things were looking bad, especially for Shizuma. The silver haired girl only had 2950 life points left, that exact amount of ATK that Gagagigo had, and only one monster to defend herself with. All Nagisa would need to do would be to destroy that one monster and attack directly. What was worse was that since The Wicked Avatar was summoned, neither of them could activate Spell or Trap cards for two of their turns. Jaden needed to figure out a way to protect Shizuma from Nagisa’s wrath, and he suddenly got the idea to use Nagisa’s anger against her.
“Rampart Blaster, attack Nagisa directly!” Jaden commanded after drawing his next card. “Rampart Shot!”
The armored hero fired another shot from her cannon, which hit Nagisa and reduced her life points to 2750. An annoyed expression appeared on Nagisa’s face.
“What’s the matter Nagisa? Are my attacks bothering you?” Jaden taunted. “Maybe you should stop ignoring me in this duel! I end my turn!”
“Quite bugging me and stay out of my way!” Nagisa shouted at Jaden as she drew her next card. “Gagagigo, slaughter that annoying Rampart Blaster! Giga Slash!”
The cybernetic man-lizard charged at Jaden’s armored hero and tore her to ribbons with his claws.
“Now Wicked Avatar, destroy Shizuma’s Clayman!” Nagisa commanded. “Dark Giga Slash!”
With one slash of its pitch-black claw, the demon god destroyed the monster that was Shizuma’s last line of defense.
“Oh no! Now neither of them has any monsters to protect themselves!” Remon exclaimed from the sidelines.
“Yes, but Shizuma is still in the duel.” Chikaru commented with a smirk. “That was Jaden’s plan all along.”
“So much for you beating Shizuma this turn.” Jaden taunted. Nagisa had suddenly realized what Jaden had tricked her into doing.
“You JERK!” Nagisa shouted at Jaden. “Once I take down Shizuma, you’re next! In the meantime, stay out of my way! I end my turn!”
“Why are you so determined to beat me Nagisa?” Shizuma asked.
“You know why!” Nagisa said angerly. “It’s because you rejected me! I wasn’t good enough for you!”
“I see…” Shizuma replied with sad eyes. “You have every reason to be mad at me Nagisa. I don’t blame you for wanting to destroy me. There’s something that you should know however. I… love you Nagisa.”
Nagisa’s expression changed to one of utter surprise, but than twisted into one of anger and rage.
“You LIAR!” Nagisa shouted. “You don’t really love me! You just want a replacement for your precious Kaori!”
“There was a time when that was true,” Shizuma replied, “but I’ve finally let go of Kaori. It took me a little while for me to figure out my real feelings for you Nagisa, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that I love you.”
“Liar, liar, liar!” Nagisa shouted as she stamped her right foot on the ground three times. Tears were starting to stream down Nagisa’s face. “Quit saying that you love me! You don’t…”
At that point, Nagisa fell to her knees holding her head. The redhead’s breathing increased.
“My head!” Nagisa cried. “It feels like… it’s coming… apart!”
“The power of that Wicked Avatar must be too much for the girl!” Banner exclaimed from the sidelines.
“I think Banner is right.” Yubel agreed. “That monster is tearing Nagisa’s mind apart. If we don’t end this soon, poor Nagisa will be destroyed.”
Shizuma started to run towards Nagisa, but The Wicked Avatar roared and slashed at the silver haired girl.
“STAY BACK!” Nagisa shouted. The redhead slowly got back to her feet. Her face was twisted into an insane grin. “I’m going to make you pay for your lies Shizuma. Now start your turn!”
With no other choice, Shizuma drew her next card.
“There’s nothing I can do this turn!” Shizuma announced. “I’m at your mercy Nagisa.”
Jaden drew his next card, desperate to find something that could end the duel. He did draw just the card he needed, but he was afraid to use it. Jaden was worried that the shock to Nagisa would be too great to her already fragile mind. Jaden had no other choice though. If he didn’t use what he drew, Shizuma would be finished.
“I lay down two facedowns and end my turn!” Jaden announced. Nagisa gleefully drew her next card, breaking into a mad laugh.
“It’s over my dear Shizuma!” Nagisa said with insane glee. “Wicked Avatar, attack Shizuma directly! Dark Giga Slash!”
The demon god began to charge at Shizuma. In that instant, Jaden reacted.
“I activate The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh and summon Winged Kuriboh from my deck!” Jaden announced. The white winged brown fur ball appeared on the field. “Now I activate Transcendent Wings and eveolve Winged Kuriboh into Winged Kuriboh LV10!”
In a flash of white light, Winged Kuriboh tripled in size and its wings grew larger. A gold dragon ornament appeared on top of its furry round body.
“Now I activate Winged Kuriboh LV10’s special ability!” Jaden announced. “By sacrificing it during my opponent’s Battle Phase, Winged Kuriboh LV10 destroys all my opponent’s monsters and inflicts damage to my opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed monsters!”
Winged Kuriboh exploded into a nova of white light that vaporized both The Wicked Avatar and Gagagigo. Nagisa screamed as the shock wave hit her, dropping her life points to zero. When the light cleared, Nagisa fell to the ground unconscious. Shizuma ran towards Nagisa calling her name.
