"Well Shadow, it's all on you from here.", Burst said. "But before you go...." Burst picked a card out of his deck. "Take Blue-Eyes with you. We promised you that you'd face Paradox on your own. But that doesn't mean we can't give you some support with our cards."
"Here's Red-Eyes.", Inferno said with a smile. "Make sure to get in a hit from me!"
"You already have the card my dad made.", Gold said as he handed Gold-Eyes Crimson Dragon to Shadow. "But Burst and Inferno have the right idea. Also, the card dad made has to do with the legendary dragons. So here's Gold-Eyes Crimson Dragon. It's also got a pretty good effect to boost its power."
"Stardust Dragon and Starlight Road are pretty useful. Especially against destruction effects.", Nightmare said with a smile. "They should be able to help you out."
"Here's Rainbow Dragon!", Rainbow Dash said proudly. "You might not be able to summon him, but at least he can watch as you kick Paradox's butt!"
"Same goes for Timaeus and Red Dragon Archfiend.", Ace said as he and Ice gave Shadow their legendary dragons.
"Show Paradox the power of dragons united!", Ice boasted.
"This is your story Shadow.", Burst said with a smile. "Make sure it has a happy ending for you and Starlight."
"Thanks everyone.", Shadow said as he turned to the main door. "This is it!" Shadow opened the door and was met with a blinding light! Shielding his eyes, he moved on and entered Paradox's chamber. Shadow's eyes adjust, and went wide at what he saw! "Starlight!" Shadow saw Starlight imprisoned with chains of crackling green energy, and suspended in the air. As Shadow ran towards her, Paradox stepped out of the shadows. "You!"
"I'll admit I'm greatly disappointed. I was expecting all those bonded with the legendary dragons to face me. But then again, I did steal the girl you declared your love for. But you hold copies of the legendary dragons. And like them, you shall fall before me." Paradox summoned a duel disk.
"The only one going down is you!" Shadow activated his duel disk, and Paradox sneered.
"So be it hero. Let our battle occur on a grander stage!" Paradox activated his duel disk in kind.
Paradox Truth: 8000
Shadow: 8000
"Since you so rudely intruded upon my dwelling, I'll take the first move!", Paradox said with a smug grin. "Malefic World was just a prototype compared to the true Malefic deck! I play the field spell Malefic Universe!" The minute Paradox activated the card, the whole lair altered to the substance that made-up the Malefic World! "Normally, only one Malefic monster can be on the field at a time. But thanks to Malefic Universe, that is no longer an issue! Now I'll set a card and banish Blue-Eyes White Dragon to bring out Malefic Blue-Eyes!" Malefic Blue-Eyes let out a fearsome roar as he took the field! "I end my turn."
'Great. He's not pulling punches.', Shadow thought. 'Even if I could summon Dragluon, he'd just get taken down! However, the Malefics could still be vulnerable to card effects! Let's see if I'm right!' "I draw! I summon a monster in defense mode and set a card! I end my turn."
"My turn." Paradox drew his next card. "I'll attack your monster with Malefic Blue-Eyes! Malefic White Lightning!"
'He took the bait!' "I activate my trap! Mirror Force! This destroys all attack mode monsters you control!"
"I don't think so!", Paradox said with a sneer. "Malefic Universe's effect prevents my Malefic monsters from being destroyed by card effects!"
"What?!" 'No way! His monsters have protection now?!'
"And I'm not done yet! I activate my trap! Malefic Rage! This trap allows all Malefic monsters I control to inflict piercing damage! So much for your defense!" Shadow cringed as his monster was destroyed! He could feel the attack break through his monster and strike him! "I end my turn. Did I mention that Malefic Rage is continuous?"
Paradox Truth: 8000
Shadow: 6900
"Since you destroyed Masked Dragon, I can special summon a dragon-type monster with less than 1500 attack! I'll bring out Mythic Tree Dragon! And since I have an EARTH monster on my field, I can special summon Mythic Water Dragon! Now I'll use Mythic Tree Dragon's effect! I'll make him the same level as Mythic Water Dragon! Now I overlay my two dragons!" A swirling galaxy appeared on the ground, and Shadow's monster turned into orange and blue beams of light that flew into the galaxy! "I xyz summon Dragluon in defense mode and end my turn!" 'At least my life points will be safe now! If his monster attacks, both will stay on the field! Maybe I can stall him until he runs out of cards!'
"If you think your wall of a monster can keep you safe, you're wrong!" Paradox sneered as he drew a card! "I told you that now I can have more than one Malefic monster on my field. Time for you to bear witness to the truth of that! I activate Malefic Universe's other effect! I can shuffle my whole hand into the deck, and add as many Malefic Cards as the cards I discarded!" Paradox shuffled his hand back into the deck, and selected three new cards. "Ah! These shall do quite nicely! I activate the continuous spell Malefic Dread! This prevents your monsters from changing their battle positions as long as I have a Malefic monster on my field! Meaning Dragluon is stuck in defense mode! Also, your monsters can't be destroyed by battle their dread is so great! Now I'll banish Cyber End Dragon from the extra deck to special summon Malefic Cyber End! Now! Attack Dragluon! Malefic Super Strident Blaze!" Shadow cringed as he felt Malefic Cyber End's attack pierce through Dragluon's defenses! "I end my turn."
Paradox Truth: 8000
Shadow: 5900
'Oh man! Not good! It was bad enough his Malefics had protection thanks to his new field spell! Now he can swarm the field with high-attack point monsters! Not to mention he can summon them so easily! There's gotta be some way around this!' Shadow drew his next card, and frowned. 'It's not much better, but at least it'll be able to take down Malefic Cyber End Dragon!' "I activate Dragluon's effect! I'll detach an overlay unit to special summon a dragon from my hand since Dragluon's the only monster I control! I summon Soul Drain Dragon in attack mode! Since my life points are lower than yours, Soul Drain Dragon gains attack equal to the difference! The only drawback to that is you won't take any further damage this turn. But at least I can take out your Malefic Cyber End Dragon! Soul Destruction Stream!" Soul Drain Dragon fired a beam of purple energy! Melting Malefic Cyber End Dragon into scrap! "'l end my turn."
"Impressive. You've summoned a monster that outclasses the strongest monster in my main deck. But then again, I've perfected my deck now! And I now have access to an extra deck! The time has come to come face-to-face with my ultimate beast! I draw! Yes....YES! AHAHAHAHHAHAHHA! Your story ends here! I play Malefic Fusion!" A swirling vortex of black and white appeared before Paradox! Sickly green energy crackled around it! "I can banish Malefic monsters from my hand, or graveyard in order to summon my ultimate dragon! I banish Malefic Blue-Eyes, Red-Eyes, Cyber End, Rainbow, and Stardust Dragon!" The five malefic dragons flew into the vortex, and once they were in the vortex began to ripple and bulge! "Yes! YES!" As the vortex settled, a massive dragon stepped out of the portal! Its entire body was composed of the black-and-white substance that covered Paradox's Malefic monsters! "BEHOLD! Malefic Apex Dragon! Now I activate her effect! I'll destroy my field spell!" Malefic Universe shattered! "Malefic Apex Dragon doesn't need a field spell to maintain her existence! And since I destroyed my field spell, all cards on your field return to your hand!" Shadow was shocked to see Dragluon return to the extra deck and Soul Drain returned to his hand! "Now I'll attack you directly! Apex Stream of Oblivion!" Malefic Apex Dragon began to gather crackling green-and-black energy, and unleashed it once it hit its peak! Shadow cringed as the energy struck him full force! Knocking him to the floor! "Magnificent isn't she?", Paradox said with an evil smile. "She can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects, and can also inflict piercing damage when she attacks a defense mode monster. And with her attack strength, it's almost impossible to destroy her!"
Paradox Truth: 8000
Shadow: 900
'That monster....no wonder its has Apex in its name.', Shadow thought while he was on his back. He lifted his head to look at his duel disk. 'He doesn't even have a scratch on him! And he's gotten rid of most of my life points! I'm on my last legs. But the worst part....' Shadow then looked to Starlight. 'She's not even awake to try and cheer me on...' Starlight stirred, and opened her eyes. Almost as if she had heard Shadow's thoughts! When Starlight saw Shadow, she was horrified!
"Shadow!"
'Huh. Scratch that last one. I guess she is awake. At least I'll get to see her looking at me before I lose...' "Nice of you to wake-up Star.", Shadow said with a weak smile.
"Shadow, get up!"
"Starlight. My life points are as good as gone."
"But you still have some! Are you really going to give up this easily when you came so close? Are you really going to disappoint me like that?" Shadow's eyes widened, and he leaped to his feet!
"Heck no!", Shadow shouted! He then noticed a rainbow-colored glow coming from his deck. "I draw! Nice! I play Trade-In! I'll discard a level eight monster in my hand and draw two new cards! I can special summon Schwarzschild Limit Dragon since you control a monster with more than 2000 attack! And since I've got a level eight monster, I can summon Parsec the Interstellar Dragon! Now I overlay them! I xyz summon Dragluon!" Dragluon once again took the field in a storm of feathers! "Now for something new! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Harmony's Force! This ranks up my monster into a chaos Xyz monster! Come on out! Number C46: Dragluon Absolute!" Dragluon descended in a column of light! Dragluon has lost his arms and legs, and his scales were now a light gold color! Majestic, silver, feathery wings and a silvery mane and beard now adorned its body! "But I'm not done yet! I play another card! Dragons United! This doubles the number of monster zones I have for one turn! Now I can special summon dragons from level eight to ten from my hand, deck, graveyard, or extra deck ignoring their summoning conditions! Come on out! Blue-Eyes! Red-Eyes! Stardust! Red Dragon Archfiend! Rainbow! Gold-Eyes! And Timaeus!" Each of the legendary dragons flew from Shadow's deck onto the field! "Now I activate Dragluon Absolute's effect! I can detach one overlay unit to banish all monsters you control!"
"NO!", Paradox howled as Malefic Apex Dragon faded from his field!
"Are you scared of your own shadow? All dragons! Attack him directly! Legendary Dragon Blast!" All the dragons combined their attacks, and unleashed a devastating blast of energy! Wiping out all of Paradox's life points! When the light faded, Paradox was still standing, but badly hurt!
"It...Isn't....OVER!" Paradox fired up his magic and began blasting at Shadow like crazy! Shadow then felt something click, and wings like Dragluon's sprouted on his back! Shadow took to the air, and dodged Paradox's blasts before dive-bombing Paradox! Delivering a swift strike with his spear to Paradox! Before Paradox could recover, Shadow kept striking Paradox! Unleashing a flurry of slashes with his spear! Paradox forced Shadow back with a wave of magic, and sent him flying with a stream of crackling green energy! "I've had enough of you!" Paradox began to gather energy as he prepared to wipe out Shadow! However, Shadow had other ideas! Shadow jumped out of the crater he left in the wall! Shadow began to gather golden energy into his spear, and once it was charged, Shadow threw his spear forward! Sending an energy projection of Dragluon flying right at Paradox! Paradox fired his final attack, but the projection of Dragluon pierced it! Paradox put his hands out in vain as the spear pierced the core of his being! Shadow then charged forth, and the spear flew back into his hand!
"Dragluon Seal Slash!" Shadow executed one final devastating slash! Paradox exploded! Causing the chains of energy that held Starlight in place to vanish! Shadow flew up to Starlight, and caught her just in time. "Hey there beautiful."
"I knew you'd come.", Starlight said with a smile. "Care to start again since it's all over?" Shadow was about to go in for a kiss until the lair started to rumble!
"Maybe once we're out of here. Let's go!" Shadow holstered his spear on his back, and made a bolt for the door with Starlight in tow. Shadow threw the doors open. "Something tells me once Paradox goes, this place goes with him!"
"Hope you can keep up love birds!", Burst joked as he, Ace, Ice, Inferno, and Gold summoned their dragon wings while Rainbow Dash and Nightmare ponied-up! The group flew as fast as they could as the entrance just gave way! Shadow and Starlight watched the rest of Paradox's lair crumble and shared a loving smile.
"Well?", Nightmare asked. "What're you two waiting for?" Shadow and Starlight kissed.
"Another happy ending!", Pinkie chirped!
"Not yet Pinkie.", Burst said with a smile. "I think we both know what comes after beating the bad-guy."
"I'll get Sugar Cube Corner ready for after school!", Pinkie cheered as she and the group headed back to school.
"So Shadow? Ready to give us a shot?", Starlight asked.
"Did you even need to ask?", Shadow said with a loving smile.