Chapter 27: A World Without Love
The situation did not look good for Jaden in his current duel with Tamao. He had managed to save himself from defeat with the help of Full Metal Dragon, but he had only a small amount of life points left. Meanwhile, Tamao’s life points were beginning to skyrocket thanks to Orichalcos Deuterous and Orichalcos Rejuvenator. What was worse though was that the duel had only just begun and Jaden had a feeling that Tamao had something far worse waiting in her deck. But as Jaden drew his next card he hoped for something that could end the duel quickly.
“I play Polymerization!” Jaden announced. “I fuse Wildheart on the field with Neo-Spacian Dark Panther to summon Elemental Hero Escuridao!”
Appearing momentarily on the field was a large black panther with a golden collar and a black cape. Both Dark Panther and Wildheart flew up into the fusion vortex that had appeared above the field. Emerging from the vortex moments later was a slender warrior in pitch-black armor. Two long forked and jagged blades jutted out from the warrior’s back. In place of his right hand, the warrior had a weapon with three jagged blades. An unearthly blue aura emanated from this dark warrior.
“Not only does Escuridao have 2500 ATK, but he gains 100 extra ATK for every Elemental Hero in my Graveyard.” Jaden explained. “Right now I have five heroes in my Graveyard, making Escuridao’s ATK 3000. Escuridao, attack Orchichaclos Strength Drainer with Dark Diffusion!”
Escuridao shot a beam of blue energy from the blade weapon on its right arm at the Strength Drainer. The twisted masked Spellcaster was destroyed in the resulting explosion and Tamao’s life points dropped to 11950, but when the smoke cleared a new monster was standing in his place. It was a woman with long blue hair and light green eyes. She wore a flowing blue dress and a matching cape with a long collar. On her head was a blue conical hat and around her neck was an amulet with the symbol of the Orichalcos on it. In her right hand the woman carried a long silver staff with a green orb on top.
“I’m sure you remember my Orichalcos Witch from my duel with your friend Clive.” Tamao reminded him. “I can summon her when one of my Spellcaster monsters is destroyed. Not only that, but she destroys all other monster on the field when she appears.”
The witch raised her staff in the air, and from the orb at the top came an explosion of green light. Escuridao, along with the Seal Master and the Rejuvenator, were all vaporized.
“Damn that Tamao!” Shion angrily shouted on the sidelines. “Just when Jaden had turned things around again she comes back with a stronger monster!”
“It’s not all bad though.” Chikaru pointed out. “At least that Orichalcos Rejuvenator is gone, which means she won’t be able to increase her life points as much as before.”
“It’s still your move.” Tamao pointed out to Jaden back in the duel.
“I lay down a facedown and end my turn!” Jaden announced. Tamao drew her next card.
“First of all, Orichalcos Deuterous gives me 500 extra life points.” Tamao announced. The seal flashed again and Tamao’s life points rose to 12450. “Now then, it’s probably pointless at this point, but with a duelist like you I feel I should play it safe. I play the Field Spell, Orichalcos Tritos!”
A third ring of ancient text suddenly appeared around the seal. It spun around for a few moments before locking in place.
“Orichalcos Tritos gains the original effects of The Seal of Orichalcos and Orichalcos Deuterous.” Tamao explained. “But in addition to that it also allows me to prevent my monsters from being destroyed by an effect. Just in case that facedown of yours is something meant to destroy my witch.”
“Now what’s Jaden supposed to do?” Tsubomi asked from the sidelines with a worried expression.
“I think now is a good time to activate the effect of my Oriclacos Witch.” Tamao announced. “By removing a Spellcaster monster from my Graveyard I gain 2000 life points. So now I remove Orichalcos Strength Drainer.”
The witch raised her staff in the air and shot forth a ball of green light. The ball hit the barrier of the seal and smaller sparkling green lights rained down onto the field. Tamao’s life points rose again to 14450.
“Now my Orichalcos Witch, attack Jaden directly!” Tamao commanded. “Orichalcos Magic Blast!”
“I activate my Trap, and it’s one you know pretty well, Draining Shield!” Jaden announced as the witch fired a large ball of green energy from her staff.
Jaden raided his duel disk arm and over his duel disk appeared a shield. The attack hit the shield and Jaden’s life points rose to 3950.
“You never fail to impress me Jaden.” Tamao chuckled. “Still, no matter how you try you will not defeat me. And when I’m through with you I’ll finally remake this unfair world!”
“What do you mean by unfair?” Jaden asked.
“It’s simple. I want to create a world without love, without friendship.” Tamao explained. “All my life I’ve been alone, my parents never had time for me, every year I would be without a dorm mate, and I’ve never had too many friends here on the island. For a time I thought that had changed with Nagisa, but I was only fooling myself. In the end I was still alone, never finding love while those around me still did, including my so-called friends.”
“So this is all because you’re jealous of all your friends here on the island finding love?” Jaden asked sounding surprised.
“You’re so small minded.” Tamao laughed. “This goes far beyond me. The Orichalcos has shown me the truth, and that’s that my situation is not unique. All around this world are people who’ve found love, who are surrounded by friends and family. But at the same time there are many more people who’re completely alone. It’s simply unfair that only a few aren’t alone while there are many others who are. And that is what I will change.”
“I see… now it all makes sense why you’re doing this.” Jaden observed with a sad expression. “But Tamao, no one in this world is ever truly alone, not even you. You have friends all around you, including me.”
“You, a friend of mine?” Tamao laughed bitterly. “Please, you’ve been nothing but a nuisance to me! For one thing you’ve meddled in my relationship with Nagisa, though I guess I should thank you since you helped to show me how pointless that was. But since then you interfered with my plans and corrupted my student council. You claim to be my friend, but all you’ve done is get in my way!”
Jaden was about to debate that point, but he knew that Tamao was right to an extent. As he thought about it, his surroundings became dim until he was standing in darkness. Yubel suddenly appeared next to him.
“What’s got you down all of a sudden?” Yubel asked.
“Tamao’s right, I haven’t been a real good friend to her.” Jaden told her. “Even before this whole mess started. I interfered with her relationship with Nagisa and ended up helping to push Shizuma and Nagisa together. Not once did I consider how Tamao felt. This whole thing is my fault.”
“Oh please, you knew that what Tamao had with Nagisa wasn’t going to work out.” Yubel reminded him. “You did the right thing back then, not just for Shizuma and Nagisa, but for Tamao too.”
“Still, because of some of the things I did Tamao ended up alone again.” Jaden pointed out. “And because of that she’s come up with this twisted plan of hers.”
“Hey! First of all, Shizuma and Nagisa got together on their own, you just helped them along a little.” Yubel argued. “Second, it’s because of that Orichalcos ring of hers that Tamao has started this whole plan to make a world without love. You can’t blame yourself for any of this.”
“Yubel is right Jaden Yuki.” Timaeus said as he, Critias, and Hermos walked out of the darkness in their knight forms. “The Orichalcos twists the minds of all those who wield it, just as it did with King Dartz and the Nameless Pharaoh. It is the Orichalcos that is the true enemy in this fight.”
“When you think about it, Tamao isn’t all that different from how you were the Supreme King.” Yubel pointed out to Jaden. “She’s been taken over by her own inner darkness like you were.”
“Yeah, and my friends fought to help bring me out of that darkness.” Jaden recalled as he remembered how his friends, Jim Cook and Axel Brodie sacrificed themselves to free Jaden from his own evil. “Now’s my chance to do the same for Tamao, and to destroy the Orichalcos once and for all!”
“Then let us help you in your battle Jaden Yuki.” Hermos said as he, Timaeus, and Critias held out their hands over each other. “We would be honored to fight at your side.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Jaden said with a smile as he put his hand over those of the three knights. In a flash of white light, Jaden was back in the duel and had already drawn his next card.
“It’s about time you started your turn.” Tamao said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Tamao, I’m going to win this duel and save you from yourself!” Jaden declared.
“You’re going to what?” Tamao asked with a raised eyebrow.
“The Orichalcos has twisted your mind and make you think you don’t have anyone who cares about you. But you have friends all around you.” Jaden told her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The Orichalcos has shown me the truth about the world.” Tamao maintained.
“You’re wrong! The Orichalcos has only used your loneliness to twist your view of the world so it can bring destruction!” Jaden insisted. “And I’m going to destroy it to save you and free the souls of Striker, Clive, and anyone else you’ve trapped!”
“And just how do you plan to do that?” Tamao scoffed.
“Well for starters I’m going to activate Swing of Memories and summon Burstinatrix back to the field!” Jaden announced. The female hero of flames reappeared on the battlefield. “Next I’m going to play another Polymerizatuon and fuse Burstinatrix with Avian in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!”
Avian momentarily appeared on the field as he and Burstiatix flew into the fusion vortex created by Polymerization. Within moments Flame Wingman emerged from the vortex.
“I don’t see what good summoning that monster will do.” Tamao told him.
“Now I play the card, Legend of Heart!” Jaden announced. “First I pay 1000 life points and tribute Flame Wingman. Then by removing The Eye of Timaeus, The Fang of Critias, and The Claw of Hermos, I summon to the field, Legendary Knight Timaeus, Legendary Knight Critias, and Legendary Knight Hermos!”
After Flame Wingman had shattered into triangles of gold light, Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos appeared in their dragon forms and flew up into the air, followed by three swords. A massive bolt of lightning hit the ground and from it emerged the three knights. Timaues, Critias, and Hermos raised their swords and swung them to the ground, causing The Seal of Orichalcos to shatter like glass. The audience and those on the sidelines looked in awe at the appearance of the three knights.
“Wow, not only did Jaden summon three powerful monsters, but he destroyed that Field Spell of Tamao’s too!” Tusbomi happily exclaimed.
“Yeah, but what I don’t get is why he sacrificed Flame Wingman when he could’ve just sacrificed Burstinatrix or Avian.” Yaya pointed out.
“Unless Jaden needs Flame Wingman in the Graveyard for something else.” Chikaru pointed out.
“What happened to the seal?” Tamao demanded back in the duel.
“The seal cannot exist in our presence, witch!” Timaeus proclaimed.
“I see, so it was destroyed when Legend of Heart summoned you three.” Tamao observed. “Well it doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t need the seal to defeat you, not when I have my ultimate card.”
“You mean The Great Leviathan, don’t you?” Jaden guessed. “I had a feeling you’ve been planning to summon that monster from the start.”
“Well I was thinking that I would beat you before it came to that.” Tamao admitted. “But it seems I once again underestimated you.”
“You’re not gonna get the chance to summon it!” Jaden declared.
“I don’t see how you can stop me. Right now all of our monsters have 2800 ATK points.” Tamao pointed out. “I suppose you could take out my witch in a suicide attack, but even if you did the combined attack of your other two knights wouldn’t be enough to finish me off.”
“There won’t be a suicide attack, because I activate the effect of Hermos!” Jaden announced. “By removing an effect monster from my Graveyard, Hermos gains the effect of that monster until the end of the turn! And the monster I choose to remove is Elemental Hero Escuridao!”
Hermos raised his sword, and the blade began to glow with a blue light. A ghostly image of Escuridao appeared and flew into Hermos. Hermos then began to glow with an unearthly blue aura.
“Now Hermos gains 100 ATK for each hero in my Graveyard!” Jaden explained. “This means that for this turn his ATK is 3500! Hermos, attack Orichalcos Witch!”
“Sword of Courage!” Hermos cried as he slashed the Orichalcos Witch in half.
With the attack there was an explosion and Tamao’s life points dropped down to 13750. When the smoke cleared however, three new monsters stood on Tamao’s side of the field. They were shadowy creatures with red eyes, and each one was wearing armor identical to each of the three knights. The one wearing Timaeus’s armor had only one eye as if the other was scared shut, though it was on the opposite side.
“What sorcery is this?” Critias demanded to know.
“I activated the Trap I set a few turns ago, Orichalcos Dark Mirror.” Tamao explained. “When my witch was destroyed in battle I was able to summon a Dark Reflection Token for each one of my opponent’s monsters. And for each token I’m able to select one enemy monster and give that token the monster’s ATK and DEF. It seems that once again we’ve reached a stalemate.”
“I end my turn then!” Jaden announced. Tamao drew her next card with a sinister smile on her face.
“I guess I should thank you for summoning your friends the knights Jaden.” Tamao told him. “Because you did I have everything I need for my next move.”
“What do you mean?” Jaden asked as he narrowed his eyes.
“My ultimate monster needs three tributes to summon, and right now I have three Dark Reflection Tokens because of your knights.” Tamao explained. “So now I sacrifice my three tokens to summon… Leviathan Omaga!”
The three twisted mirror images of the knights shattered and a pillar of black energy shot up into the air. The blast was so powerful that it physically blew the roof off the stadium. Thankfully none of the debris fell on the audience. The sky above grew thick with storm clouds and the wind suddenly picked up. Bursting forth from the sky was a massive black sea serpent. Parts of its body were covered in shining black metal. One of its dorsal fins looked to be made completely out of metal. All of the creature’s jaw was metallic. It had a mane of grey hair, and on top of its snout was a large cannon with hoses reaching from the cannon’s sides to the topside of the creature’s neck.
“Is that The Great Leviathan?” Jaden asked with a look of horror.
“It has taken a different form from before!” Timaeus confirmed. “It’s as if its become a machine!”
“Well the Leveiathan was resurrected using modern technology rather than simple magic.” Tamao pointed out. “But because of that it’s far stronger than it was in the past. And now that my pet has been summoned your end is near, as is the end of this unfair world!”
