Chapter 26: Supreme King vs. Dark Queen
Only an hour had passed since Tamao’s duel with Striker, and the stadium was once again packed with the students and faculty of Astraea Island. But the crowed was completely silent due to sort of tension hanging in the air. There were little who knew the fully story of what was going on behind the scenes of the tournament, but many could tell that there was something very strange going on. Everyone knew that Clive and Striker had ended up in a coma after losing to Tamao, and they could not deny the strangeness of Jane’s duels with Chikaru and Jaden. Already, Jessie, Yaya, Tsubomi, Chikaru, and Shion had gathered to watch the duel from the sidelines, and Hikari and Amane soon stepped up on stage.
“Welcome everyone to the final duel of the Astraea Star Cup Tournament.” Amane said into the microphone. “Will Jaden Yuki and Tamao Suzumi take their places on stage please?”
Within moments Jaden emerged from the waiting room and walked onto the stadium platform. Tamao walked onto the stage moments later. Jaden glared at Tamao as the two of them took their places.
“You’re pretty serious.” Tamao commented with an arrogant smile. “You should relax and try to have fun. I know I certainly would.”
“I’m taking you down!” Jaden declared.
“By the decision of the coin toss, Tamao will go first.” Amane announced. “Let the duel… begin!”
Hikari and Amane quickly got off the stage as the life points of the duelists were set to 4000. The duel began after Tamao drew her first card.
“First I discard Orichalcos Seal Master to add The Seal of Orichalcos to my hand.” Tamao announced. “And now I play The Seal of Orichalcos!”
The glowing outer ring of the seal descended down from the sky and surrounded the two duelists. The line of the hexagram formed, completing the seal.
“Now I discard a card from my hand to summon Orichalcos Seal Master to the field in attack Mode!” Tamao announced.
Appearing on the field in front of Tamao was a man with long light-blue hair, pale skin, and green eyes. He was wearing black robes and white chest and shoulder armor. In his right hand he carried a sort of black scepter with a large Orichalcos green orb on the end, and atop his head he wore a white conical hat. Jaden thought that Tamao’s monster resembled King Dartz, who he had seen before in his dream vision of the battle of Atlantis.
“With the seal in play, my Orichalcos Seal Master has 2100 ATK points.” Tamao revealed. “Not that it matters since I can’t attack this turn. I’ll end things for now by setting two cards on the field.”
“My move!” Jaden announced as he drew his first card. “First I play Polymerization and fuse Burstinatrix and Clayman in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster in Defense Mode!”
The two heroes appeared momentarily on the field before merging into the armored version of Burstinatrix. Rampart Blaster kneeled down and raised her shield.
“Next I play Miracle Fusion and remove Clayman and Burstinatrix in the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Gaia!” Jaden announced.
Dropping down onto the field was a massive warrior covered in dark-brown armor. The armor around his forearms was extreamly thick, giving one the impression that he had giant fists, and parts of the armor were highlighted in gold hand had red gemstones embedded in them.
“Now for Gaia’s effect!” Jaden announced. “When Gaia is summoned to the field I can cut the ATK of an opponent’s monster in half until the end of the turn and add that same amount to Gaia’s ATK points. And the monster I choose for this effect is Orichalcos Seal Master!”
Gaia slammed his fists into the ground, creating a path of broken earth between himself and the Seal Master. Green energy began to flow out of the Seal Master and down the path into Gaia.
“Impressive.” Tamao commented.
“I’m not done yet!” Jaden announced. “Now I play Parallel Word Fusion and return Burstinatrix and Clayman to the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!”
Appearing on the field next to Rampart Blaster and Gaia was a warrior with a flowing red cape and fiery colored armor. Many members of the audience murmured in amazement at Jaden’s move.
“Wow, I can’t believe Jaden used the same two monsters to create three different fusions!” Tsubomi exclaimed sounding very impressed. “If Jaden’s attack get through he’ll win!”
“It’s too easy.” Chikaru said grimly. “Tamao still has those two facedown cards on the field. I think she wants Jaden to attack.”
“I attack directly using Rampart Blaster’s effect!” Jaden announced. “Rampart Shot!”
Rampart Blaster raised her cannon arm and fired an energy blast. In that instant Tamao smirked.
“I activate my Traps, Mirror Force and Dark Mirror Force!” Tamao announced. “Mirror Force destroys all of your attack position monsters, while Dark Mirror Force destroys all your defense position monsters and removes them from play.”
The energy blast from Rampart Blaster’s cannon suddenly hit an invisible barrier that had appeared before Orichalcos Seal Master and bounced back to Jaden’s side of the field. NoAll three of Jaden’s monsters were destroyed in a massive explosion, leaving his field completely bare.
“Calm down, will ya?” Yubel told Jaden as she appeared next to him. “If you go at Tamao like that you’ll lose!”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jaden sighed quietly. “I lay down a facedown and end my turn!”
“My, you’re rather worked up.” Tamao commented as she drew her next card. “That was a bold move to heedlessly charge at me like that. It’s that kind of mistake that cost your friend Striker his soul. Don’t worry though; I don’t to intend to finish you off as quickly I did him. With all the trouble you’ve caused me I want to have a little fun destroying you. For my first move I play Terraforming to add a Field Spell card to my hand.”
“But you already have The Seal of Orichalcos on the field.” Jaden pointed out.
“True, but you’ve yet to see the full power of the seal.” Tamao revealed. “Now I play Orichalcos Deuterous!”
Another ring of ancient text suddenly appeared around the outside of the seal. It spun around for a moment until seeming to lock in place, creating another invisible barrier over the first one formed by the seal.
“What the heck is this?” Jaden asked in confusion.
“I suppose you could call it an upgrade, but I think it’d be more accurate to say that Deuterous is a second layer to the seal.” Tamao explained. “In addition to the original effects of the seal, Orichalcos Deuterous gives me 500 additional life points for every monster on my field during the first Main Phase during each of my turns. Not only that I can now block any direct attack you send at me.”
“No fair! This means that Tamao’s life points will keep going up!” Tsubomi exclaimed.
“That looks like Tamao’s strategy.” Yaya observed. “She keeps raising her life points and at the same time wails on her opponent with powerful monsters.”
“Now since I have The Seal of Orichalcos on the field, I can Special Summon in Defense Mode, Orichalcos Rejuvenator!” Tamao announced.
Appearing on the field sitting cross-legged was a figure in dark-blue robes and hood. On his face was a metallic gasmask with black hoses connected to a large metal tank on his back. The tank was connected to a metal chest plate, and on the top of the tank was a large green gemstone.
“That’s the same monster Tamao used in her duel with Clive!” Jessie observed.
“Now, I attack directly with Orichalcos Seal Master!” Tamao announced. “Orichalcos Death Spell!”
From his wand the Seal Master fired a large ball of green light at Jaden. The blast hit Jaden in the chest and knocked him against the invisible barrier of the seal, reducing his life points to 1900.
“I’ll set one card on the field and end my turn.” Tamao announced. Jaden got back to his feet and drew his next card.
“First I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! Then I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart!” Jaden announced. The wilderness hero appeared on the field.
“You seem fond of that monster.” Tamao observed. “I have no clue what you hope to accomplish by summoning him though.”
“I’m not through yet! Now I play The Fang of Critias!” Jaden announced. Critias roared onto the field in his dragon form. “Now I combine Critias with the facedown I laid earlier, Striker’s favorite card, Metalmorph!”
The large representation of Jaden’s Trap card flew into Critias and triggered a transformation. Critias’s wings vanished and his scales became like chrome. His body became more serpent-like and a pair of long whiskers grew from his snout.
“Say hello to Full Metal Dragon!” Jaden announced. “And now I activate Full Metal Dragon’s effect and equip him to Wildheart!”
Full Metal Dragon suddenly turned into a sort of liquid metal and covered Wildheart’s body. The metal morphed into a set of shining chrome armor, complete with a helmet that covered the top half of Wildheart’s face and was styled in the head of Critias’s original dragon form.
“Impressive.” Tamao commented. “You couldn’t use Metalmorph on Wildheart because of his effect, but you’ve corrected that little problem using Critias. Very clever.”
“Wildheart gains half of Full Metal Dragon’s ATK, making Wildheart’s ATK 2700.” Jaden explained. “Not only that, when Wildheart attacks a monster while equipped with Full Metal Dragon, it gains half that monster’s ATK during the battle. Now Wildheart, attack Seal Master with Full Metal Fist!”
Wildheart jumped in the air and raised his fist to strike the Seal Master. As he did, the armor of its fist began to glow with a white light.
“Sorry, but I activate my Trap, Draining Shield!” Tamao announced. “Not only is your attack stopped, but I gain 2700 life points.”
Second before Wildheart’s fist could strike, the Seal Master raised his arm and on it appeared a silver shield. The Seal Master blocked Wildheart’s fist with his shield, and Tamao’s life points went up to 6700.
“And now the effect of my Rejuvenator kicks in.” Tamao announced. “Whenever my life points increase, I gain 500 additional life points for each monster I have on the field.”
A beam of green light came from the gemstone on the Rejuvenator’s tank and hit Tamao. Tamao’s life points rose up to 7700.
“I end my turn!” Jaden announced. Tamao drew her next card.
“With the beginning of my Main Phase, the effect of Orichalcos Deuterous kicks in and raises my life points by 1000.” Tamao announced. “And I gain another thousand thanks to my Rejuvenator.”
The seal flashed momentarily on the ground, and at the same time another beam of light flowed from the tank on the Rejuvenator’s back at the same time. Tamao’s life points then increased to 9700.
“Now, this duel would be more fun if we both had cards to use, so I play Card of Sanctity, letting us both drawn until we have six cards.” Tamao announced. “Next I summon Orichalcos Strength Drainer in Attack Mode!”
Appearing on the field was a hunched-over grey-skinned humanoid figure with long arms wearing a black muscle shirt, black jeans, black leather gloves, and black combat boots. A black leather mask covered his head. There were red lenses over the eyeholes, and the mouth hole was zipped shut. Around his neck on a thick iron chain was a silver medallion with a large green gemstone. The moment the creature appeared a smaller version of the seal appeared on its forehead.
“Now I activate Strength Drainer’s effect and cut the ATK of Wildheart in half.” Tamao announced.
The mask-wearing creature stretched his arms forward. The stone of his medallion began to glow, and soon red energy was being pulled from Wildheart into the Strength Drainer’s hands.
“That’s not all of course.” Tamao added. “With Orichalcos Deuterous on the field, I gain half of Wildheart’s ATK as life points. Plus my Rejuvenator’s effect kicks in and gives me 1500 more life points at the same time.”
A green light then began to shine from the Strength Drainer’s back and hit Tamao. While this was happening another beam of light went from the tank on the Rejuvenator’s back and hit Tamao as well. Tamao’s life points rose to 12250.
“Strength Drainer, destroy Wildheart!” Tamao commanded. “Life Force Extinguisher!”
The Strength Drainer raised its long arms forward and shot a ball of red light from his hands. The armor covering Wildheart shattered, leaving the wilderness hero unharmed. The attack reduced Jaden’s life points to 850.
“When a monster equipped with Full Metal Dragon would be destroyed in battle, I can destroy Full Metal Dragon to protect it.” Jaden explained.
“Well played, but pointless.” Tamao pointed out. “Wildheart is still going to be destroyed, and you’ll be out of life points. Seal Master, finish this duel with Orichalcos Death Spell!”
The Seal Master raised his wand and fired off another blast. But at the last second Full Metal Dragon reappeared on the field and blocked the attack, shattering in an explosion.
“What?” a shocked Tamao exclaimed.
“If one of my monsters is attacked while Full Metal Dragon is in the Graveyard, I can remove it to negate the attack.” Jaden explained.
“I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.” Tamao said in an annoyed tone. “No matter, I set one card on the field and end my turn!”
“How is Jaden going to get out of this?” a worried Tsubomi asked on the sidelines.
“No clue, but I know J. will figure a way out!” Jessie assured her.
“He had better soon.” Chikaru told them. “Because if this duel goes on for too long, Tamao will become too strong to stop.”
