//------------------------------// // Duel 03: A God and His Angels // Story: Confessions of a Lone Vagabond // by Azure5555 //------------------------------// -Topside- "Knighty?" Pinkie piped up as she kept attempting to press down on the organ's keys, "Why can't I play anymore?" "Quite the question, princess. We're I to fathom a guess, I would say that an outside force has seized control of the pipes." The Knight suggested. "Oohhh… is that why it's playing randomly?" As the party pony asked this, the piano had begun playing an incredibly ominous and foreboding song on its own…  -Vagabond- As I walked through what I presumed to be the entrance to the main chamber, I could hear the sound of grinding stone within the walls, several spear traps activating halfway only to lock, blow darts slowly being pushed out of their chambers instead of being fired… it sounded like whatever traps that were waiting for me were all being undone. "At least I don't have to watch my step any-" I flinched, took a step back, and started examining the floor, "Solid… just checking…" It wasn't long until I came upon a stereotypically designed Egyptian style doorway, the blues and golds of the entrance enhancing the sight of the massive winged scarab. Sighing, I took the time to review the cards Ryuzaki had given to me… "Fuhma Girl?" The cards had an archetype effect similar to the numbered Harpy Lady making it so they were all still technically Getsu Fuhma though luckily only on the field and graveyard, but the cards were all named after the girls, they all had varying stats and attributes, and they each had personal effects. Thinking it over, I decided to rework a Different Dimension deck, thinking it would be my best bet against a zombie deck. Though, it's honestly pretty good against a lot of things... The Pharaoh's main chamber was probably far more massive than the crossroads room I had found myself in at the start of this mess. Statues of gold stood at either side of a jeweled sarcophagus and massive fire pits were blazing along the staircase leading to the upright sarcophagus. I didn't take more than two steps before the massive sarcophagus began to creak open, a bandaged claw hooking onto the side of the coffin. Disk at the ready, I made my ascent as the Pharaoh pushed their way out. "Who dares defile these ancient halls?" The ancient Pharaoh growled out. "Vincent Price!" I shouted as I threw my arm up, my disk locking into dueling position, "I'm here for the eye!" "You will die trying…" After the Pharaoh said this there was a polite cough from behind him making him freeze. “Excuse me… What do you think you’re doing?” Said what sounded like a woman that if I had to guess was around forty five years old. The Pharaoh turned slowly, letting me see a woman in purple armor with red orbs decorating it, a purple hat, straight black hair that went down to her shoulders, and a dark red staff with what might have been a bat at the top. Tapping her foot she calmly looked up at the Pharaoh, “Well?” "I-I was only trying to intimidate him, that is my job after all…" The Pharaoh said sheepishly. "Hey, I'd ask what the hell's going on, but I'm kinda busy here, so either one of you duel me, or I pull out Envoy of the Beginning!" I shouted. The woman took a step to the side, letting me see her pointed ears, “One moment please,” Looking back at the Pharaoh said said, “It was your job. However if you remember, you were fired four hundred years ago for letting HaDes and his ilk inside the tomb.” “But...but you let Sand Gambler and his bar in!” The Pharaoh whined, “What makes him so special?!” “Simple. We gave him strict guidelines when he rented that area of the tomb. Guidelines he’s followed to the letter and has paid rent on time every year. HaDes on the other hand has never and will never follow any rules but his own. At least my partner and I managed to lock him and his ilk in a single room until Vampire Hunter’s available to take care of them,” The Elf said evenly. "Beat you to it, Fuhma unit. Who knew?" I said with a bit of snark while folding my arms. "Oh come on! A Getsu Fuhma wouldn't have lasted more than three seconds in that room!" The Pharaoh shouted with righteous indignation, claws clenched and smoke seething from his bandaged mouth. "What can I say, mine are special." “Indeed,” The elf said with a smile, “Thank you for dealing with them. However before we can get to our business, I’m afraid I need to deal with him,” With that she pointed her staff to the ground under the Pharaoh and a large crack appeared under him. "WHAT WAIT NO-" As he fell into the hole in the ground, he gave a comical scream, "YEEEEE HOO HOO HOOEY!!!" Once the fissure in the ground closed the Elf looked at me again, “Well then. Down to business. You said you were after Ra’s Eye? I can lead you there, but first… perhaps you could help me with something,” Placing her staff on her right arm it morphed into a Duel Disk “DUEL!”  "And now we've reached the important part of the program…" I mumbled as I drew my hand, "So, much like Greg, something tells me you have a name too." “Correct. You may call me Sally. An Ancient Elf and one of the two Guardians of Ra’s tomb,” she said with a small bow of her head, “however as I am the one who challenged you it is only right for you to go first.”  Sally, the Ancient Elf: 8000 LP Hand Count: 5 VAGABOND: 8000 LP Hand Count: 5 "Welp, guess I'll go first!" Dimensional Prison, Mystical Space Typhoon, Necro Face, D.D Warrior Lady, and D.D Assailant… would have liked Gold Sarcophagus, but I'll have to make it work. "I set a monster and two cards, turn end!"  “My turn then,” Sally said calmly, “I’ll start by activating the field spell Realm of Light,” Upon activation, the roof had turned into a cloudy sky with streams of light peeking out, the two of us standing before a gate to a large stone city and in a large wooded park with a few fountains dotted around the area,  “With this, every time a card is sent from my deck to the graveyard a Shine Counter is added to it, and all my Lightsworn monsters gain 100 attack points for each counter.” "Bull… shit…" I couldn't really help but go a little wide eyed, a vanilla Spellcaster using Lightsworns? "No, no.. that's fine…" “Now I activate Solar Recharge, by sending one Lightsworn monster to the graveyard I draw two cards. However the top two cards of my deck are also sent to the graveyard…. Now I activate Foolish Burial to send Wulf, Lightsworn Beast from my deck to the graveyard which activates Wulf’s effect letting me special summon him,”  Jumping from the city’s wall was a tall shirtless humanoid with the head of a white wolf adorned with white and gold shoulder guards, a large axe slung over his shoulder, a golden belt keeping his white robes in place along with his green pants and he had white and golden greaves.  As he looked at me he cricked his neck and smirked. As this happened, beads of light started to appear around us to represent each of the Shine Counters. (Wulf ATK 2100-2400 “Now I summon Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn,” From behind me a figure lept from the trees and landed next to Wulf. He came up to Wulf’s shoulder and had dark skin a purple scarf… no shirt… again, golden swords with light blue edges held in reverse grips, purple pants with some armor strapped to his legs and greaves similar to Wulf’s. “Now I’ll place one card and activate Raiden’s effect sending two cards from my deck to the grave.” (Wulf ATK 2100-2400, Def 300. Raiden Atk 1700-2000, Def 1000) “Now then, Raiden, destroy his face down monster,” With that order Raiden readied his blades, the blue edges started glowing as they gathered power. Jumping into the air he used Wulf’s shoulders as a springboard to jump even higher in the air his blades raised high to strike down my monster. As blades met card, the image of a blonde woman in tight black leather materialized, Raiden's swords through her chest… With a pained grin, D.D Warrior Lady shoved her royalty free lightsaber into the floor, a rift opening below them that sucked them both into the Different Dimension. “Wulf direct attack,” Growling, Wulf grabbed his axe with both arms and charged at me, fury in his eyes… and ran directly into a rip in space to the Different Dimension, “D. Prison... How annoying. Well with that I end my turn.” Sally, the Ancient Elf: 8000 Hand Count: 2 Realm of Light Shine Counter: 3 Vincent: 8000 Hand Count 2 On her end phase, I flipped MST destroying her one trap. "Okay… how the fuuuuck do you have LIGHTSWORNS!?" I uh… may have lost my cool a little… "No, nevermind, DRAW!" I drew a Magic Cylinder, that might be useful… "I set one monster and a backrow, I end." With an Assailant on the field, I would be just fine… I hope. “My turn… I activate another Solar Recharge and send Celestia Lightsworn Angel to the graveyard…” Sally said. “Now I activate Charge of the Light Brigade! By sending the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard, I can add any level four or lower Lightsworn monster to my hand. So I’m adding another Raiden to my hand.”  "Cause that worked out really well the last time…" I whispered to myself. “I now summon Raiden to the field, and activate his special effect… oh look. Felis, Lightsworn Archer was sent to the grave. That activates the second part of Raiden’s effect and Felis’ graveyard effect. First Raiden gains 200 ATK till the end of your next turn on top of what my Field Spell gives him, second, Felis is summoned to the field.”  In a beam of light, a woman with light green hair along with light blue cat ears and tail in simple leather armor with an ornate golden bow appeared in a kneeling position with a hand on her quiver, ready to draw an arrow. (Raiden ATK 1700-2300. Felis ATK 1100-1500. Def 2000) “Now I activate Felis’ special effect. I sacrifice her to destroy your face down monster,” Pulling back her arrow which began to glow with a radiant power, she released it as she jumped backwards the force of her magic arrow sending her into the trees and out of sight as her arrow shot forward so fast I could just barely see it. My D.D. Assailant appeared only to get shot through the heart and vanish again. One of the walls had opened up to reveal a trio of Pharaonic Protectors as they shouted, "SHOT THROUGH THE HEART!" Eye twitching, I said nothing as I was now left wide fucking open… “And since I activated Felis’ attack I send three more cards to the graveyard,” Sally said… before a small smirk appeared on her face. (Raiden ATK 2300-2600) "Oh balls…" If robots could pale… well I was probably that robot. “Raiden, attack him directly,” Once more Raiden readied his blade and slashed the air sending two arcs of pure light magic. Once the arcs were about halfway across the field a Magic Cylinder appeared and sucked up the attack. "Holy SHIT that was close!" I shouted as I actually started to hyperventilate a little, even put my hand on my chest to calm my non existent heart beat. Moments later the attack shot out of the cylinder and shot past Sally. Frowning Sally said, “I activate Pot of Avarice to move five monsters in my graveyard to the deck, then I draw two cards.” Sally, the Ancient Elf: 5400 Hand Count: 3 Realm of Light Shine Counters: 7 VAGABOND: 8000 Hand count: 1 “Then I’ll set two cards and end my turn and due to Raiden’s effect I send two cards to the graveyard…. Well looks like Felis is coming back along.” Felis leapt out of the forest and retook her place on the field. (Raiden ATK 2100-2200. Shine Counters 8) Alright… heart of the cards… Heart of the fucking cards! "Draw!" With the tried and true over dramatic draw, I slowly tilt my card to find… D.D Warrior… well… fuck my life, "I… set one monster and end." “My turn then,” Sally replied. Sally, the Ancient Elf: 5400 Hand Count: 4 Realm of Light Shine Counter: 8  VAGABOND:8000 Hand Count: 1 “I activate Solar Recharge to send Jain, Lightsworn Paladin to the grave… and it looks like Wulf is making a return,” Sally said with a smirk as Wulf walked out of the forest behind her and growled at me, “I activate the spell, Reserve of the Lightsworn, this card lets me take one monster on my field and swap them for another Lightsworn monster in my hand, but in return, I send three more cards to the graveyard. So, I’m bringing Felis back and summoning Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden. "Reserve of what!?" Okay… now there are new world only archetype cards… Can this shit get any worse? “Now tune level three Minerva to level four Wulf to Synchro Summon in order to summon Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn!” The gates to the city slowly opened up, revealing a tall man in golden armor with golden wings and a greatsword made of pure light as he slowly walked down the stairs to stand before Sally, a calm look on his elderly face. “Time for me to activate Raiden’s effect… and once more the return of an old friend,” Wulf walked out of the forest, a large smirk on his muzzle this time instead of a growl… and that really worried me, “Now, since I have so many Lightsworn in the graveyard, I can special summon Judgment Dragon,” Did she just say… "You're fucking with me…" I dropped my one card as my eyes became glued to the sky. A loud roar shook the area and heavy wing beats summoned a strong wind making the trees scrape against each other seconds before a giant dragon covered in pure white feathers with blood red claws landed behind Sally, not caring that it was destroying the trees. Michael spread his wings and took to the air only to land on Judgment Dragon’s head. “I activate Michael’s ability. By paying 1000 Life points I can banish any card you control,” A beam of pure light shot from the Arch-Lightsworn’s blade, disintegrating my face down, “I do believe this is my victory… New Champion of Ra!”  Wulf, Raiden and Micheal raised their weapons as beams of light all connected to the same spot before the Dragon’s maw, creating a blue, white and golden orb. The Dragon then ate the orb took a deep breath and breathed pure golden fire which created a blinding light. Sally, the Ancient Elf: 4400 Hand Count: 1 Realm of Light Shine Counter: 10  VAGABOND: 0 Hand Count: 1 As the blinding light faded… and my overloaded eyesight stopped going hazy… I found myself plopped onto the floor on both knees, "Well… shit," Moments later a light rain filled the room giving me 1000 life points back... well, at least I wouldn’t pass out… Gulping, I shakily got back to my feet. "That could have gone worse…" “Rain of Mercy,” Sally said simply, “Now then, Champion of Ra, please follow me,” Did she say… "Uh… yeah, sure…"  Turning, Sally then started to walk away, “Oh and thank you for helping me to alleviate my boredom. With my partner away on business and so few people here I can truly talk to… well you get my point.” For some reason my feet seemed to stop working… "You… Challenged me out of boredom? I feel like I should be mad."  “Probably,” came the reply, "but at least I didn't cause an Equestria wide incident in my boredom." "Riiiight… anyway, I know that Ra says he's been down here for a while, but how long is a while?" I ask, my feet finally deciding to work again as I followed my guide. “For… About five to six hundread years longer than Luna was sealed on the moon I believe,” Sally said. "Enough time to make a man go crazy… god or not…" I actually felt kinda sorry for Ra, "Welp, guess that's why I'm down here." Sally them hummed something, straining my ears I heard something that sounded like “Who can know what secrets a God can hold~ Man and Woman from times of old~” "Hm? Yeah… guess there are female gods too…" A short walk later and we found ourselves in a smaller room filled with golden light, a massive stone eagle head looking down at the floor from the ceiling, "Looks like this is it." "And about time too!" Ra's voice echoed, an ethereal image of the golden eagle appearing in the room, "I see you've met Sally." "She beat my ass, so… yeah." “Borrowing Celestia’s deck too,” Sally said, “Small bet between the two of us, to see if we can use each other’s decks.” “Yes… where did that Lightsworn Angel go again?” Ra asked and I could hear the frown in his voice… wait, there’s a Celestia here too?! “She got called by the Lightsworns to attend a meeting, I believe,” Sally said calmly. "Wait! Wait wait wait wait!" I shouted, getting their attention, "The Celestia Greg mentioned… she's…"  “The Lightsworn Angel, yes,” Sally replied, “and the one the Pony Celestia is named after… but personally I think that’s become more of an insult than compliment of late,” "Oh? Trouble with the royalty?" I asked snarkily, a hand on my hip. "Ahem, Vincent? My eye?"  “I never understood why you called it that,” Sally said her face never changing from it’s neutral expression, “If it’s your eye… why don’t you have an eyepatch?” Ra only rolled his eyes as he pointed at the eagle head. Shrugging, I went up to the stone head, placing a hand on it's closed beak. In a flash of golden light, the stone broke away to reveal that the statue was made from gold itself, a sapphire gemstone held within one of the eye sockets. The gem itself was encrusted into a golden eye of Horus. "This is it huh, it just looks like a normal jewel…" Reaching for it, I had to pull back a bit as another flash of light hit me, this one turning the eye into a card… "And there it is…" THIS time, there were no lights and the card itself seemed rather simple, a lot like a Normal Monster card, only it's flavor text was in Egyptian hieroglyphics and the image of Ra… it was surprisingly awe inspiring for only being the normal artwork. "Sooo… how do you like your replacement card?" Ra asked excitedly. "You know this isn't tournament legal, right?" I joked with a sly smile, though I did drop the smile, "You're still giving this to me even after I lost?" “Whether you won or lost… it never really mattered,” Sally replied, “You’re the Champion of Ra, so it belongs to you. I just wanted to see if I could use Celestia’s deck and fight off some boredom.”  "Plus, you're a muuuch better pick than my last Champion…" Shrugging, but smiling, I slipped the card into my disk pretty much blacking out as a mass of data hit me like a ton of bricks… "Give him room! He's coming too!" I heard a voice call out. "But! Vinny!" Another voice shouted. "Consarn it, Pinkie, if the lady says make way, we make way!" Hard to mistake that accent… Blinking, I took in the sight of Shidou hovering over me, the smiling Fuhma girl was then dropped to the ground by Pinkie and AJ. "What… just happened?" I ask as the ponies got me on my feet. "Sally brought you here when you passed out." Houoji stated as she helped Shidou to her feet. "And… where are we?" "My bar of course! No safer place in the underground." The Sand Gambler commented, "It's… a shame she couldn't stay longer…" He looked rather forlorn, sighing sadly as he looked away. "Uh huh… when did…" I looked at AJ and Pinkie, the ponies smiling before tackling my legs, "They get here?" "You're welcome." Ryuzaki said rather coldly. "Right… I guess we head home?"