//------------------------------//
// Episode Zero, Chapter Three: Duel With The Devil 
// Story: The Duelist: The Beginning 
// by UniqueSKD 
//------------------------------//


"To give pain, or to receive it? You may have the one, which you hate the most..."


Unique felt an unnatural cold burning through his body as he slowly began to awaken, his consciousness returning to him  As his vision became less of a blur, he saw no leaves or twigs of the forest he was in before, but icy, cracked stone. Puzzled, Unique began to pick himself up, and looked around.

He no longer was in the forest. It was a cemetery.

All around him, there were numerous gravestones, many of them worn by time and decay, others cracked and breaking apart. The writings upon them all were withered, almost illegible. An eerie fog shrouded the place, and the air felt awfully cold, seemingly chilling the pegasus from the inside. The graveyard seemed to stretch endlessly, a vast plain littered with burial mounds and grave markers, and far, far away in the distance, massive rusted iron fences marked the supposed edges of this realm, extending upwards and higher still, into a vast infinite sky, that was darker than the blackest of Lady Luna's nights.

Unique felt a great unease in his stomach, as he looked high and low at his surroundings. Where was he? How did he get here? Who was responsible for this?

A voice violated the cruel silence, a deep raspy voice accompanied by possibly a hundred quieter voices, screams and sobbing just faintly heard amid the bone-chilling tone that spoke to him. "And so another enters my sanctum." Unique spun around, but saw nopony there. 

"W-ho is there? Who are you?", the pegasus demanded, his eyes darting here and there for any sign of other life here besides himself.

"Many have there been before you, who asked me this question, and to them all did I give the same answer," the voice replied, seeming to come from every direction and angle. "I am a shadow born from the light of the first dawn, a demon that witnessed the birth of the world, and trod its burning sands, drank from its salted oceans, watched it evolve over time and age. I am many things, but to you and those like yourself, I am the Ancient One."

Unique looked to the endless void that was the sky, as if maybe the voice was that of some higher deity, speaking from the black heavens above. "Then you are the one who grants the wishes of anypony who beats you, right?".

Replied the voice, "Yes. But none have there been who have proven worthy of that prize. But perhaps you may be of some amusement, Unique?"

Unique took a step back at the mentioning of his name. "My name...how did -"

"I heard your name through my servant before you Dueled him," the voice replied before Unique had a chance to finish his sentence. "Through my servants, I can see and hear the world through their eyes and ears. They are my connections, my links, to the realms outside my own. But enough talk. Time is withering away, and my cards wish to do battle now."

If the air wasn't cold before, it certainly was now, as Unique swore his very sou had just frozen over, an ill wind causing the hairs of his fur to spike up. He felt a strange presence behind him, and as he turned to look, he watched in surprise as a large black hole opened up in the ground just a few feet from where he stood. shadowy arms slowly rose from the edges of the circle, followed by the moans and groans of presumably tortured damned souls. From the center, a figure began to emerge, adopting the form of a stallion wearing some strange sort of helmet with large horns protruding out of it. Two smaller curved horns stuck out from the top of his head. He wore a very old-looking attire, bits of armor and royal linen adorning his body, tattered strands of cloth wrapped and hanging from his arms. A pair of jagged wings flapped behind his back, and he glared at Unique with a sinister pair of red eyes, an unnerving smile upon his lips.

When the figure had fully emerged from the ground, the shadowy hands were pulled back into the hole, and the hole closed up beneath the figures feet. He looked the white pegasus up and down, before giving a polite bow. Unique's body tensed up, cringing a little, when the figure spoke, his voice the sound of a hundred voices at once, satanic in tone and reeking of falseness. "I am the Ancient Duelist, and I welcome you to my sanctum of Shadows, Unique." He straightened himself up, and held out his arm, a large black Duel Disk appearing out of nowhere and strapping itself to it. "Now, shall we begin?"

Unique gulped as he steadied his nerve, the appearance of the Ancient One intimidating him and putting him in a state of unease. Come on, Unique, you got to pull it together. You've come this far following rumors and hoping they were true. You know they were now, and you can't suddenly lose your cool because of some scary-looking stallion. Taking a deep breath and opening his eyes again, Unique nodded. "I'm ready."

The Ancient One smiled, his Duel Disk brought in front of him. "Good! Then come, and dance with the Devil himself in the abyss of Darkness!"


DUEL! Unique VS. The Ancient One!


Five cards drawn, his hand on top of his Deck, the Ancient One called out to his new challenger. "I'll play first card, and I draw!" Picking up the card from the top of his Deck, he gave it a look, and placed it in his hand. "I'll start my turn," he began as he held up a card between his fingers, "by laying this card on the Field." He inserted the card into his disk, and a larger duplicate of the card appeared in front of him, face-down like the card he had placed.



"And then, I will summon the 'Vampire Baby', in Attack mode!", he exclaimed. He placed his Monster card into his Duel Disk, and in front of the face-down card, a bright light appeared. It flashed for a few seconds, and then disappeared, leaving behind a small infantile creature with eerie blue eyes, a pair of long pointy ears, and two sharp fangs. It giggled like an innocent child, and nuzzled the green cloak wrapped around itself. "My child of the night looks quite adorable, does he not?", the Ancient One asked with a small smile as the creature continued to coo. "I will end my turn. Now show me your power, Unique."

Unique looked at the creature curiously. It probably looks cute, but I'll bet it's a lot more dangerous than it looks, the pegasus thought to himself. "Okay, my turn. I draw my card." Picking the top card of his Deck and dding it to his hand, Unique took a moment to see what he had to work with. "For my turn I'll play one card on the Field," Unique announced, setting his card in his Duel Disk, "and for my Monster, I'll summon my 'Dark Blade' to battle!". Another bright light flashed in front of Unique, and when it went away, a large Monster wearing spiked black armor appeared. A pair of red eyes glared from beneath its helmet. It carried a pair of huge swords in its hands, which it swung side to side as it let out a deep battle cry.



Unique pointed towards the 'Vampire Baby', which was now rocking back and forth on the spot. "Now, 'Dark Blade'! With your mighty swords, attack the 'Vampire Baby'!", he commanded. The Ancient One put that Monster in Attack mode, but its attack power is weaker than my Monster's, so he'll suffer battle damage. For the most powerful Duelist in existence, he made a pretty big mistake.

The 'Dark Blade' held its swords high above its head as it charged towards the 'Vampire Baby'. Neither the 'Vampire Baby' nor the Ancient One flinched when the 'Dark Blade' brought its swords down upon the small creature, slicing it clean in two halves. The halves of the Monster broke into fragments of light, and disappeared into thin air, but not before the destroyed Monster let out a final childish giggle.

The Ancient One smiled. "I'll activate this Trap card of mine in response to your attack, the Jar Of Greed'." He turned his face-down card over, revealing a picture of a weird grinning jar. "This card allows me to draw one card from my Deck," he said, as he proceeded to do so. Looking at the card he had picked up, he gave an approving smile, and added it to his hand.

The Ancient One looked down at his Duel Disk to the counter on top. "I lose 1100 Lifepoints from that attack. It is nothing to fret about," he said with a shrug. His reaction surprised Unique. He just lost Lifepoints, but he's acting it's no big deal to him? I wonder if that card he drew has something to do with it...

Unique decided not to think about it for now. The supposedly scary and powerful Duelist he had sought to battle had already suffered damage, so Unique had a good lead in this fight. "After that attack, my turn is over," Unique said, as his 'Dark Blade returned to his side, its black cape swaying side to side with each movement.

"Now let's see how he retaliates," Unique said quietly to himself.

"I draw my card," the Ancient One called. He examined his new card, and immediately placed it on his Duel Disk, along with another card from his hand. "For my turn, I'll lay these two cards down on the Field, and then I'll set this Monster," he held up the card he was referring to, though with the back side facing Unique so he could not see what it was, "face-down, in Defense. I'll end my turn here."



Unique looked at the Ancient One, a little confused and suspicious. "He didn't try to fight back? Either he doesn't have a stronger Monster to use against my 'Dark Blade', or he has something else in mind," he muttered. With it being his turn now, he drew his card from his Deck. It was a Spell card - 'Dian Keto the Cure Master'.



"I'll start my turn by playing two Spell cards," Unique yelled, inserting two cards into his Duel Disk. On the Field, two larger depictions of the cards he had inserted appeared. One card was titled 'Dian Keto the Cure Master', and the other, 'Goblin Thief'. "My first Spell card increases my Lifepoints by 1000 points, while my second card takes 500 Lifepoints from you, and adds it to mine!", the pegasus explained raising his fist. I was going to save those Spells for later, but it's probably better to get an advantage over him now, thought Unique.

The counter on his Duel Disk beeped as his score increased, his Lifepoints increasing to 5500, while the Ancient One's Lifepoints reduced by 500. The Ancient One responded with a sigh and another shrug. Unique stared at him. "Why isn't he bothered about his Lifepoints going down? What is he up to?", Unique whispered to himself. He took another card from his hand, and played it on his Duel Disk. "I'll summon a new Monster to the Field - go, 'Maryokutai'!", he called out, as a transparent skull with a large red pulsing organ on its cranium appeared. It floated above the ground, green eyes staring forward.

"Now, 'Dark Blade'! Attack that face-down Monster!", Unique yelled. As his command, the 'Dark Blade' ran straight towards the card, and the card turned itself over as it came closer. From out of the card, a large graying turtle with an even bigger pyramid-like structure on its back appeared. With two swings of its swords, the 'Dark Blade' sliced the strange creature into halves, and dispersed into fragments of light.

Unique watched the scene before him in wonder. "What in the name of Mother Faust was that Monster?"

His answer came in the form of laughter from the Ancient One. "The Monster your 'Dark Blade' just killed off was 'Pyramid Turtle', a Zombie Monster with a special effect." He put the cards in his hand into another slot on his Duel Disk, and then took out his Deck from the small compartment they were stored in. "When my 'Pyramid Turtle' is destroyed as a rsult of battle," he explained as he searched the contents of his Deck, "I can special summon any Zombie Monster with 2000 Defense or less to the Field, straight from my Deck." He stopped at one of his cards and smiled wickedly. "Ah, this one will do nicely." 

Taking the card out, and shuffling the rest of his cards before placing them back into the compartment, he took back the cards he had in his hand, and then placed the card taken out of his Deck onto the Duel Disk. "The Monster I special summon to the Field, will be my 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower'!", he shouted. Suddenly, from out of the ground, a large towering spire of bones burst through, throwing soil everywhere, and knocking over a few headstones in the cemetery. The spire was adorned with thousands of skulls, each one groaning and moaning in agony. At the top of the spire, several ghostly apparitions circled around like vultures, their own cries added to the chorus of pain.

Unique looked on at the sight of the horrendous structure, mouth agape in shock. "What the Tartarus is THAT thing?", he cried, fear evident in his voice, his eyes wide.

The Ancient One grinned. "It is a nightmare, and with good reason." He motioned to the spire of bones. "While I have another Zombie Monster in play, your Monsters will not be able to attack the 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower'.

Unique, his eyes still fixed on the Monster, replied, "But, you don't have any other Monsters on your Field besides this one?"



Chuckled the Ancient One, "True indeed, Unique. So I will correct that." He turned over the two face-down cards behind his Monster on his Duel Disk. "I activate ''Call of the Haunted', and 'Book of Life'!" The cards revealed themselves on the Field, and both began to glow brightly. "'Call of the Haunted' revives one Monster in my Graveyard and special summons it to my Field, keeping it alive so long as this card remains in play. 'Book of Life' revives any Zombie Monster from my Graveyard, and removes one card from yours from play."

Unique's eyes widened even more. "But then...that means...!"



The Ancient One smirked. "Yes. The Monsters you destroyed will rise from the shackles of Death once more!" At that, two coffins burst from out of the ground, the lids opening by themselves. A massive cloud of dust and smoke poured out off them, sending Unique into a coughing fit. When the cloud has cleared away, the 'Pyramid Turtle' and 'Vampire Baby' from before stood where the coffins had been, their eyes set on Unique, two pairs of dead, menacing eyes staring him down.

"There is also another effect that the 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower' possesses - whenever a Zombie Monster is special summoned, two cards are sent from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard. And since I special summoned two Zombies..."

"...I lose four cards from my Deck," Unique finished, looking down at his Deck, secured in the side of his Duel Disk. Is that why he wasn't worried about his Monsters being destroyed? So he could revive his fallen another turn later?

The Ancient One raised his hand to the 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower'. "Correct, and now, the souls of this spire of bone, come forth and wither his Deck!"

At the command of the Ancient One, the ghostly apparitions atop the tower began to descend, spiraling around the tower as they fell. They then circled around Unique, who spun around as he tried to keep watch on them, while trying to bat them away with his arm, but to no avail. A stinging chill ran down his arm as he tried to swat them, his arm passing through them as if they were but thin air.

They then flew towards his Duel Disk, and with long bony arms, they each grabbed a card from the top of his Deck, flying around him and placing it into his Graveyard slot as they passed him. As the forth card was sent to the Graveyard slot, the ghostly creatures circled Unique one last time, before racing back to the top of the tower wailing and screaming.

After he was able to regain his composure, Unique looked at his Graveyard, and his face expression irritation. "Damn it! The cards I've lost from that effect could have been useful," the pegasus growled.

"That is the least of your troubles, I assure you," the Ancient One laughed, a horrible croaking echo. He pointed at his 'Pyramid Turtle' and 'Vampire Baby'. "Because they were only special summoned to the Field, I can still summon another Monster>" He picked one of the cards still in his hand, and played it on his Duel Disk. "The Monster I summon to this battle, will be the 'Mystic Tomato'!"

The new Monster that materialized onto the field looked like a large tomato with a malicious face. It laughed psychotically as it jiggled about on the spot. The Ancient One smiled in amusement. "This Monster may look like nothing more than a rotten vegetable, but his dark powers make him more than a bad stomachache! 'Mystic Tomato'! Attack the 'Maryokutai' with your dark powers!"

The creature was then shrouded in a black aura of magic, which suddenly shot towards Unique's 'Maryokutai' like a shadowy projectile. The aura projectile struck the skull-like creature, exploding upon contact, and destroying 'Maryokutai'.

"With that, you lose 500 Lifepoints from the difference between our Monsters' attack factors," the Ancient One grinned. "I'll place one last card down on the field, and end my turn."



Unique looked at each of the Monsters opposite his side. The Ancient One had more Monsters than he did, but none of them was stronger than his own 'Dark Blade'. Unique allowed himself a little smile, comforted by that fact. "My turn! I draw from my Deck!". He checked the card he had drawn. A Monster card, the 'Mystical Elf'. Hmm, this card doesn't have a lot of attack power, but with 2000 defense, it'll hold its own against the Ancient One's Monsters until I figure out something. 



"I'll set one Monster down on my Field, and command the 'Dark Blade' to strike at your 'Vampire Baby'!", Unique shouted, placing his card on his Duel Disk and gesturing to his Monster. The 'Dark Blade' raised its swords and charged at the little vampire creature.

However, before it had a chance to swing its swords at the Monster, the Ancient One raised his hand. "Not so fast! I activate the Spell card, 'Book of Moon'!", he exclaimed as he turned his face-down card over. As he did so, the 'Dark Blade' stopped in its tracks, and then disappeared out of sight. Unique, shocked at seeing his Monster vanishing without reason, looked around him, but saw no sight of the 'Dark Blade'. "What!? W-where did my Monster go?", he questioned.



"The 'Book of Moon' Spell flips one Monster card face-down upon activation," the Ancient One answered. "You still have your Monster, but it doesn't get to finish its battle this turn."

Unique grunted in anger. "Damn it, and my other monster is already face-down. Gah! I'll end my turn, then."

The Ancient One drew his next card from his Deck. His face broke out into a huge grin. "Muhahahahahaha! It wont be long now before you taste the sourness of defeat, mortal!", laughed the Ancient One. "And the countdown to your demise begins with this card!" He inserted the card into the slot on his Duel Disk, and it appeared on the field. A Spell card. 'Zera Ritual'

Unique's face contorted into a look of fear and dread. "Oh no! A Ritual card!". And I bet he has the Ritual Monster for that card in his hand as well!

The Ancient One continued. "By playing this card, I am required to sacrifice Monsters from my field whose Levels total 8 or more. I think it is safe to say I have enough," he smirked mockingly. "I'll offer my 'Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower', 'Pyramid Turtle', and 'Vampire Baby' as sacrifices for this ritual!". The Monsters mentioned by the Ancient One began to glow, and were all suddenly sucked into the Spell card, which then opened up into a large swirling vortex of darkness.

From out of the vortex, a gigantic monstrosity stepped out onto the field. It towered high over Unique, wearing a large purple cape around itself. Its head was long and had numerous horns, its mouth filled with sharp teeth. It had huge vicious claws for hands and feet, and a skull was visible near its groin area. Several gravestones were crushed beneath its feet, as it stepped out of the vortex. The creature reared its head back, and let out a powerful roar, announcing its arrival.



"Behold!", the Ancient One yelled loudly as he gestured to the beast, the vortex from which it came from closing up behind it. "Welcome my 'Zera the Mant', and the countdown to your own destruction, mortal!"

Unique stared up into the monster's soulless eyes, desperately trying to keep his courage from slipping away as he gazed at the newly summoned creature, born from the depths of the darkness within the darkness.

"How will I fight such a powerful creature as that?", Unique whispered to himself