//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: The Game of Darkness: Part 2 // Story: The Magic of Dueling // by CrystalQueen //------------------------------// Twilight 4700 LP Hand: 1 Ernesh 5100 LP Hand: 5 Ernesh’s Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair (Level 8, 3000 ATK 2000 DEF) stood haughty, facing down Twilight alongside a face down card compared to her field, which was completely empty, save for the Mask of Restrict Trap Card and Torment Token (Level 3, 1000 ATK/DEF) Ernesh Summoned to her field. “This is bad.” Twilight thought to herself, carefully examining the current situation. “Not only is Ernesh ahead in terms of Life Points, but he also has 5 more cards than me, but at least I won’t have to worry about that Field Spell tributing my monsters anymore, but at the same time, I can’t Tribute monsters anymore either…” “You can do it Twilight!” Pinkie called out. “Kick his butt! Don’t leave a single point in his life!” “Yes darling, don’t let him escape! Finish this now!” Rarity shouted. “I activate my second Pot of Avarice!” Twilight shouted. “I’ll return Hyper Psychic Blaster, Magical Android, Decode Talker, Crystron Needlefiber, and Coral Dragon to the Extra Deck, and draw two cards! And I’m not done drawing yet! Now I activate my Pot of Greed! This will let me draw two more cards, and unlike my Pot of Avarice, this won’t require me to pay any costs! With that, I’ll Summon my Risebell the Star Psycher, in Defence Position!” (Level 4, 1500 ATK 1500 DEF) “And now I set one card face down, and end my turn!” “Very well Princess!” Ernesh shouted. It’s my turn! I draw!” Twilight 4700 LP Hand: 1 Ernesh 5100 LP Hand: 6 “Well, I’m sorry to say Princess, but I’m running out of time.” Ernesh said. “Ergo, the pleasantries must end here! I’m killing you this turn! To begin, I activate Big Bang Shot! This Equip Spell will boost Darkest Diabolos’ Attack Points by 400, and when it attacks your Defence Position monster, Piercing damage will be inflicted!” (Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair 3000 -> 3400 ATK) “Now I activate my Wicked Trample Continuous Trap! This will double all Battle Damage you take, except for direct attacks. Battle Phase! Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair, attack her Torment Token! Hell Shackle!” Ernesh shouted, as his dragon wound up to punch Twilight’s Token monster. “Oh no!” Pinkie shouted. “If this attack goes through, Twilight’s going to lose!” “Wait, doesn’t she still have some card in her Graveyard to stop Battle Damage like before?” Spike asked, a panicked look on his face. “No, she used up the last one she had several turns ago.” Rarity said. “That means she only has the cards on her field to fall back on.” Ernesh’s dragon let out a loud roar as it punched Twilight’s token, the force of the impact creating an explosion that completely enveloped her. “TWILIGHT!” Spike shouted, tears rolling down his face. “There, it is now done.” Ernesh said. “Look upon the remains of your princess! I’ll give you the chance to surrender peacefully, and become cards painlessly, but know that you all will inevitably share the same fate!” “Are you sure about that?” Twilight asked, as the smoke around her cleared. “What!? Your Life Points are 0! How are you still standing!?” Ernesh shouted. “If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that I activated my Defence Draw Trap card! This reduces damage from one battle to 0, then it allows me to draw one card!” Twilight explained, as her Trap revealed itself, before dissipating as she drew another card. “Persistent bitch-! I set one card and end my turn!” Ernesh said, as his card appeared in front of him. “Again, what does bitch even mean!?” Twilight asked in frustration. “It’s an insult.” Said a voice from outside the room. “It’s typically used to describe women who annoy you.” Red said, walking into the throne room. “RED!” Shouted everyone in the room. “Impossible! The Crystal Empire is surrounded by eternal winter! You should have died from hypothermia!” Ernesh shouted. “Please, don’t insult me like that. It takes more than a little cold weather to kill me.” Red responded. “That’s nothing compared to the winters back home. Now, weren’t the two of you in the middle of the of a Duel? I’d say you have bigger things to worry about.” “That’s right!” Twilight shouted. “It’s my turn, I draw!” Twilight 4700 LP Hand: 3 Ernesh 5100 LP Hand: 4 “I Normal Summon Genomix Fighter!” Twilight shouted. (Level 6, 2200 ATK 1100 DEF) “Wait, how did Twilight Normal Summon a Level 6 without tribute?” Spike asked, looking to Red for the answer. “Genomix Fighter is a Tuner monster that allows you to Normal Summon it without tribute by cutting its Level, as well as its Attack Points in half.” Red explained. “Monsters with that design philosophy are actually quite common, but this one is a Tuner monster, so I’m excited to see what kind of Synchro Monster Twilight plans on bringing out!” (Genomix Fighter Level 6-> 3 2200 -> 1100 ATK) “I’m Tuning my Level 3 Genomix Fighter to my Level 4 Risebell the Star Psycher!” Twilight shouted. “The darkest petals shall be turned to the light of hope! Come to life! Synchro Summon! Black Rose Dragon!” (Level 7, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF) “What? No, it can’t be-!” Red said. “That has to be Black Rose Moonlight Dragon-! But why would Twilight waste her resources to Synchro Summon such a contextually useless monster?” “When Black Rose Dragon is Synchro Summoned, it can destroy all cards on the field! Go, Black Rose Dragon! Black Rose Annihilation!” Twilight shouted, as her Rose Dragon shrieked, causing a storm of rose petals to envelop the room, as all cards on the field were shattered into pieces. “And when Big Bang Shot leaves the field, the equipped monster is Banished!” Twilight added, as Ernesh’s Darkest Diabolos dissipated into particles of light. “What-? There’s no way-! Nobody can just control the Black Rose Dragon so easily-!” Red said, stepping back in shock. “Now, darling, whatever are you talking about?” Rarity asked. “By the accounts you’ve told us, the real version is just cardboard with ink on it and a computer chip in it, not a living creature with free will.” “Yeah, you’re starting to weird even me out.” Pinkie added. “You take your card games just a bit too seriously.” “So you’ve destroyed my entire field.” Ernesh said. Do you really think that that’s enough to win the Duel?” “No, but this will be! I activate Soul Charge!” Twilight shouted. “This card lets me Special Summon any number of Monsters from my Graveyard, but I lose 1000 Life Points for each monster Summoned this way! I revive PSY-Framelord Zeta and Black Rose Dragon!” (Level 7, 2500 ATK 1800 DEF) (Level 7, 2400 ATK 1800 DEF) Twilight 4700 -> 2700 LP “And I’m not done yet! I overlay the Level 7 PSY-Framelord Zeta and Black Rose Dragon! Metal Dragon from another world, please heed my call, and end this Duel! XYZ Summon! Appear, Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!” (Rank 7, 2800 ATK 2400 DEF, 2 OLU) “R-Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!?” Red shouted in shock. “I-Imposible! She Summoned that high Rank XYZ monster like it was nothing!” “During the turn I activate Soul Charge, I can’t declare an attack, so I set one card and end my turn.” “You’ll pay for Banishing my Darkest Diabolos like that!” Ernesh shouted. “This is the last turn of the Duel! I draw!” Twilight 2700 LP Hand: 0 Ernesh 5100 LP Hand: 5 “First, I activate my Graceful Charity! This lets me draw 3 cards, but then I must discard  2 cards! The cards I’m discarding are Dark Resonator and Makyura the Destructor!” Ernesh shouted. “And during the turn Makyura the Destructor is sent to the Graveyard, I can activate Trap cards from my hand! Following this, I Normal Summon my Junk Synchron!” (Level 3, 1300 ATK 500 DEF) “Junk Synchron?” Red thought to himself. That must mean-!” “When Junk Synchron is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 2 or lower monster from my Graveyard by negating its effect! Come back, Absolute King Back Jack!” (Level 1, 0 ATK/DEF) “Now, by discarding my Level 5 Dark General Grephor, I Special Summon my second Dark Grephor!” (Level 4, 1700 ATK, 1600 DEF) “Now, I’m Tuning my Level 3 Junk Synchron to my Level 1 Absolute King Back Jack and Level 4 Dark Grephor!” Ernesh shouted, as his Junk Synchron pulled a rev cord on its abdomen before dissolving into three green rings. “Devil from the pits of Hell, arise and decimate my foes with your unholy might! Synchro Summon! Arise, Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons!” (Level 8, 3000 ATK/DEF) “Battle! Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons! Wipe that dragon from my sight! Hellfire Blast!” Following its masters command, Ernesh’s dragon fired a burst of energy from both of its mouths, aiming squarely towards Twilight’s dragon. “I activate my Spell card!” Twilight interjected. “Battle Tuned! This card will Banish one Tuner from my Graveyard, then increase the Attack Points of one monster I control by the Banished monster’s original Attack! I Banish Genomix Fighter, and give his 1100 Attack Points to Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!” (Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon 2800 -> 3900 ATK) Twilight’s dragon retaliated to Ernesh’s dragon with a fireball of its own, overpowering Ernesh’s energy blasts and directing all three of them towards the original sender. Ernesh 5100 -> 4200 LP “No matter.” Ernesh said. “Beelze cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, and whenever I take battle or effect damage, Beelze gains an equal amount of Attack Points! It’s over! No matter what card you play, Beelze will only get stronger!” (Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons 3000 -> 3900 ATK) “What? No-!” Twilight said, falling to her haunches in despair. “Everything we’ve fought for...Everything we stand for...Is this...the end?” “You are already dead.” Red said. “What?” Ernesh responded. “Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon’s effect activates!” Red shouted. “When the opponent activates a card or effect, 500 damage will be inflicted to the opponent’s Life Points immediately after it resolves! Melting Flare!” Appearing to recognize Red’s command, Twilight’s dragon breathed a stream of flame towards Ernesh. Ernesh 4200 -> 3700 LP “So what? You inflicted 500 points of damage to me. That only means that-” “Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons’ effect!” Red interrupted. “When the player receives battle or effect damage, Beelze will gain Attack Points equal to the damage received!” (Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons 3900 -> 4400 ATK) “This triggers Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon’s effect! You take another 500 damage, triggering Beelze’s effect, which in turn will trigger Red-Eyes’ effect, which will in turn trigger Beelze’s effect, creating a loop that only ends when your Life Points hit 0!” Red  explained. “And because both monsters are immune to destruction by card effects, there’s not a single card that can save you!” “Shit! He’s right!” Ernesh thought to himself, before looking at the Ring of Destruction and Forbidden Lance in his hand. “I activate Ring of Destruction! This will destroy one monster on the field, and then inflict damage to both players equal to the Attack Points it had upon destruction! I’m targeting my Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons!” As Ernesh placed the Trap in his Duel Disk’s Spell/Trap slot, a ring lined with grenades materialized around the two necks of his dragon, binding them together at the throat. “It’s useless! Beelze cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects!” Red shouted. “Your Ring of Destruction will resolve with no effect!” As Red finished his sentence, the ring around Beelze’s necks detonated, creating an explosion that engulfed the entire room in a thick smoke. “Is-is everypony okay?” Twilight asked, coughing on the smoke, as she looked around the room. “Red, does this normally happen at the end of a Duel?” “No, it doesn’t.” Red said, putting his goggles over his eyes to protect them from the smoke. “Why the hell is this smoke so thick? It should just be Solid Vision…” “Hey, guys?” Said Spike. “What happened to Ernesh?” Red and the ponies focused their attention to the throne that the mad God of Death once stood in front of. “Crazy bastard.” Red said. “He’s the God of Death in this world, so I guess he just couldn’t accept going out on anyone’s terms but his own, even if it was only in his head. So Twilight! You can use both Synchro and XYZ Monsters! Looks like I’ve got a new rival to look out for!” “Say, darling, didn’t Rainbow Dash jump off the train with you?” Rarity said, motioning towards the absence of her loudest friend. “Oh, that...I was hoping to skirt around the issue until later, but…” Red said, before pulling Rainbow’s card out of one of the deck boxes strapped to his leg and presenting it to her remaining friends. “Dashie...” “Simply repulsive-!” “Rainbow-! No-!” “I’m not the new Rainbow Dash again, am I?” “I think one of you guys should hang onto it.” Red said. “After all, she was one of your friends, I don’t see why I should be the one who keeps it.” “Alright…” Twilight said, levitating the card into her saddlebag. “Now, come on, we should report back to Princess Celestia, she’s expecting to hear back from us in regards to Ernesh’s defeat.” “Yes, that sounds like the best solution.” Red added. “I can only imagine how shit you feel, but at the same time, I think I know exactly how you feel…But Twilight’s right, Celestia’s probably expecting us to come back with word of his defeat. And besides, maybe she found a way to restore Starlight and Trixie while we were gone.” “Yeah! And you what Dashie would have wanted?” Pinkie asked. “A PARTY!” Pinkie shot her party cannon, Red falling over in shock, while the rest of Pinkie’s friends barely flinched at the sudden production of a cannon.” “What the-!? Where the fuck did she pull that cannon from!?” Red asked. “It’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.” Twilight responded. ********************************************** “So, do you two have any daily duties to attend to, or do you just stand here, doing nothing all day?” Cadence asked, looking around the Canterlot Throne Room for something to pass the time with. “I mean, I appreciate Flurry Heart being able to sleep this much, but there has to be something we can do while waiting for Twilight!” “Relax Cadence, Twilight will pull through, just as she always does.” Celestia said. “Yes, and with a talented Duelist such as Lance alongside her, Twilight and her friends will surely prevail.” Luna said. “Also, to answer your last question, in times of emergency such as this, my sister and I are both taken from our duties to act as mentorship figures, and as Princess of the fallen Crystal Empire, it is in the best interests of your safety that you be safeguarded with us.” “Fine, it’s just that I need something to keep my mind busy! It feels like we’ve just been standing here for 6 months!” Cadence said, trying not to wake Flurry Heart. “The fuck are you talking about?” Red said, forcing the throne room door open. “Assuming Equestria runs off the same rate of time as my world, it’s been about 4 to 5 hours since we left.” “Red! You can’t just talk to Princesses that casually!” Twilight said, a look of panic on her face. “They’re...you know, the rulers of Equestria! They can end your life in an instant!” “Oh really now? If the death penalty is given out for not following formalities, then I wanna see how you guys take care of actual criminals!” Red responded. “But anyways, we’re back! And that Ernesh fucker is good and gone!” “My little ponies, I knew you could do it!” Celestia said. “And Lance, I must thank you personally, as an ambassador from Equestria, for assisting us in our great hour of need. ” “Really?” Red thought to himself. “But, I guess it won’t kill her to not know that my contribution to the operation was explaining a loop and nearly freezing to death.” “Say, where is Rainbow Dash?” Luna asked. “She was in your party when you left, did something happen to her?” “Yes…”Twilight said, raising Rainbow’s card out of her saddlebag with her magic. “She lost a Duel, and the stake was that the loser got turned into a card.” Red explained. “I was participating, so I should’ve stopped it...I’m sorry…Say, on the topic of ponies turned into cards, did you find a spell to restore Trixie and Starlight?” “Well, our efforts proved fruitless as well, and for that we must apologize.” Luna said. “We believe it is best if you keep them in your possession Lance.” She said, as she levitated a gem encrusted box towards Red with three cards in it. “Wait, what’s the deal with this third card?” Red asked. “It’s a Fusion Monster, but asides from the border signifying that, it’s completely blank, what even is it?” “It’s a card imbued with magic from all of us.” Cadence began. “Its true form will come when you need it most.” “I see...Then I’ll keep it in my Extra Deck for whenever the situation occurs.” Red said, placing the Fusion Monster in his Duel Disk’s Extra Deck slot on the back of it, as well as Trixie and Starlight’s cards in his Main Deck slot, the auto shuffler burying both of them deep into his deck. “Now, all that remains is the issue of getting you home…” Celestia said. “It was Starlight Glimmer who brought you to Equestria, and with a mare of such extraordinary magical prowess gone, it could prove to be difficult to open a portal stable enough to return you to your world without doing who knows what to you…” “It’s fine.” Red said. “When Twilight kicked me out to some other world, I made some connections, and now I’ve got a guy working on it, that way I can come back and visit whenever I want, so now I just need to hold tight and wait for those guys to get it done.” Red explained. “And even then, I won’t leave until I find a way to bring back those who have fallen so that we could defeat Ernesh! So, until then, I guess you guys are just stuck with me!”