Hector vs Kaison

Hector’s parents greeted him with cheerful laughs and a hug as they came up to each other. Hector’s mother began fussing over him, making sure his hair was straight and whatnot, to which Hector responded by groaning in embarrassment and trying to brush her off. Hector’s dad, meanwhile, was laughing at this turn of events. Eventually, they began to talk about Hector’s performance in the school.

“I’m doing great, mom, dad,” Hector said. “The duels are tough, but even when I lose, I always learn from my experiences.”

“Good, good,” Hector’s dad nodded. “Always make sure not to get complacent. That’s a surefire path to failure.”

Jon watched his brother as he stared off at the horizon. He was back to wearing his default casual smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Their parents didn’t show up, which wasn’t really any surprise, though Jon still didn’t want Kaison to just walk away from the docks and go back to his weird dueling fugue. He’d been going on a proverbial rampage ever since his break-up, and after losing soundly to him, it didn’t feel right for Jon to continue trying to duel him out of his funk

Not that he would win, probably. Kaison’s deck was a hard counter to his, and he was always the better duelist besides.

As he started people watching the other students and their parents, he caught sight of his roommate Hector chatting with his parents. Maybe he could give it a try?

He walked on over to Hector, lingering awkwardly a couple steps away, looking for an opportunity to butt in and not really finding it. Eventually, Hector mercifully took notice of Jon.

“Oh, hey. Mom, dad, this is my roommate, Jon.” He turned back to Jon, giving him a pitying look. “Parents didn’t come?”

“No, but that’s not important. My brother is moping, and I was wondering if you could beat him in a duel.”

Hector raised an eyebrow. “And that would help?”

Jon nodded like it was undoubtable. “It would.”

Hector looked at Kaison, then shrugged and readied his Duel Disk. “Then let’s get this duel underway,” Hector answered, grinning at the prospect of facing a new opponent.

Jon brought Hector over, said that he’d like to duel Kaison, and Kaison nonchalantly agreed without issue. The duel had begun, and all the parents gathered there would be their audience.

Kaison went first, simply setting a monster and ending his turn.

Hector began his turn by drawing a card. “First, I’ll activate Assault Teleport, allowing me to place my /Assault Mode monster back into my deck and draw two new cards,” Hector announced. “Not bad. Now I’ll play my Field Spell: Magical Citadel of Endymion!” The area around them changed, forming into a beautiful city with magic circles in the sky above them. “Next I’ll play Spell Power Grasp! This allows me to place a Spell Counter on one of my cards and add another Spell Power Grasp from my Deck to my hand! And I choose my Magical Citadel!” The Citadel in the distance then displayed a number 1. “And when a Spell Card resolves, Magical Citadel automatically places another Spell Counter onto itself!” With that, the 1 soon changed into a 2.

“Now I’ll Summon my Assault Sentinel!” A hooded beastman then appeared on Hector’s field. “And I’ll use its effect to Tribute itself, allowing me to Special Summon my Level 1 Tuner monster: Psi-Reflector.” The beastman dissipated, and was quickly replaced with a humanoid creature wearing a large suit, its arms glowing with green pulsating energy. “By revealing ‘Assault Mode Activate!’ in my hand, its effect allows me to Special Summon one monster that mentions “Assault Mode Activate” from my Graveyard, and increase its Level from 1 to 4. Of course, I choose my Assault Sentinel and increase his level by 2.” The beastman returned, and its level was increased to 6. “I activate Assault Sentinel’s other effect, which allows me to reveal one Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck and change one of my monster’s Type and Attribute to the revealed monster’s. I’ll target my Assault Sentinel for this effect, and change its Type and Attribute to LIGHT Spellcaster!” Hector declared, revealing his Arcanite Magician.

“Finally, the moment of truth,” Hector said, and he took a deep breath. “I Synchro Summon using my Level 1 Psi-Reflector and my Level 6 Assault Sentinel! Come forth, Arcanite Magician!” The two monsters formed into a singular ring and 6 glowing stars, merging to form the white-robed mage. “When Synchro Summoned, its effect places two Spell Counters on itself, and it gains 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on it! And that’s not all! I activate Arcanite Magician’s effect! By removing a Spell Counter from my field, I can destroy 1 card you control!” The Magical Citadel’s counter dropped from 2 to 1, and Arcanite Magician fired a bolt of black lightning from its staff, destroying Kaison’s face-down monster. “Battle Phase! I attack directly with Arcanite Magician!” Arcanite Magician fired another bolt of lightning, this time white, striking Kaison and dropping his Life Points down by 2400.

Kaison LP: 8000 > 5600

“Now I’ll place 1 card face-down and end my turn,” Hector said.

Kaison drew a card for his turn. “I special summon Treeborn Frog from the grave.” He gave Arcanite Magician a strange look, (perhaps one of pity?) before turning his attention back to his hand. “I activate One for One. By sending a monster from my hand to the grave, I can special summon a level one monster. I choose Morphtronic Vacuumen.”

“A vacuum cleaner.”

“Yes. It has this handy ability where it can suck up one of your monsters, like this. Go!”

The dust-busting menace aimed its deadly suction hose at Arcanite Magician, and like a saturday morning cartoon and/or unfortunate astronaut in deep space, it started to spaghettify.

“In that case, I activate my Trap Card: Assault Mode Activate!” Hector countered, the card flipping face-up on his field. “With this card, I Tribute a Synchro Monster and Special Summon its upgraded version from my Deck! Behold, Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode!” Hector’s Arcanite Magician robe began to glow, and with a flourish the magician exploded in a flash of light, revealing its bright red-orange armor underneath.

Kaison put his hand on his chin, seemingly admiring the new armor. “Neat.” He pulled a card out of his extra deck. “Using Treeborn Frog and Morphtronic Vacuumen, I XYZ Summon Lyrilusc - Promenade Thrush. I’ll detach Morphtronic Vacuumen to target the Magical Citadel of Endymion, shuffling it back into your deck.”

The grand city and magic circles of untold power fade away without a trace.

“Next, I’ll normal summon Kinka-Byo, and use its effect to special summon a level 1 monster from my graveyard. Guess who?”

Hector grimaced. The stupid vacuum cleaner was back.

It’s not a hard once-per-turn.

“Let’s try that again. Suck up Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode!”

Like staring down the barrel of a gun, Hector watched as his strongest monster spiraled away into a black void of nothingness.

“Now, using Kinka-Byo and Morphtronic Vacuumen, I’ll XYZ summon Ghostrick Dullahan.”

A headless horseman appeared, riding a white steed with mad red eyes. It’d be more intimidating if it wasn’t so small, though.

“Promenade Thrush, Ghostrick Dullahan, attack directly!”

The bird girl and the ghostly cavalier charged at Hector, dealing damage, one, then the other. “Using Promenade Thrush, I can detach Treeborn Frog to increase Ghostrick Dullahan’s attack by 300.” Ultimately, their attacks didn’t hurt that badly, though

Hector LP: 8000 > 6000

“Main Phase 2, I’ll XYZ Summon two Downerd Magicians using Lyrilusc - Promenade Thrush and Ghostrick Dullahan. Your turn.”

Hector drew his next card, his mind lost in thought. Because his Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode wasn’t destroyed, he could not activate its effect to bring back the original, and the Magical Citadel’s protection effect was easily circumvented. “I’ll play Endymion’s Lab,” Hector said, the Continuous Spell appearing on his field. “Endymion’s Lab’s name is treated as ‘Magical Citadel of Endymion’ while it’s face-up on the field. And I’ll activate Spell Power Grasp, allowing me to place 1 Spell Counter on it and add another Spell Power Grasp from my Deck to my hand. Endymion’s Lab also gains 1 additional Spell Counter when a Spell Card resolves.” Hector looked at his hand once more, then sighed. “I’ll end my turn with that,” Hector said.

Kaison drew again. “I special summon Treeborn Frog from my grave, then normal summon Battle Fader. Using Battle Fader and Treeborn Frog, I XYZ summon Ghostrick Dullahan.”

His Downerd magicians giggled demeaningly. 1200, 2300 and 2500. He had exact change. This was it.

“Now, Dullahan, Downerds, attack directly!”

Hector’s LP: 6000 > 0

Kaison was smiling just the same as when he started the duel, but Jon looked troubled. Kaison was difficult to read, so he couldn’t say for certain Hector’s efforts were in vain, but he had just asked his roommate for a favor that ended up humiliating him in front of his parents.

Hector dropped to his hands and knees in defeat. He had been overwhelmed practically one-sidedly. It was so… so…

Exhilarating!

Hector raised his head, his eyes lit up with excitement at Kaison’s dueling style. The ability to swarm the field with Level 1 monsters and summon multiple Xyz monsters was new to Hector. “That was incredible!” Hector said to Kaison, leaping back onto his feet. “You made use of so many different effects to dismantle my field and establish your own! And they all came from Level 1 monsters! I’ve never seen anything like it! How’d you come up with all this?”

Kaison’s face didn’t undergo any drastic changes, but from Jon’s perspective, it lit up. “I just really like underdog strategies. I started with strategies revolving around certain low-attack monsters or a bunch of normal monsters, but I found I liked playing my level 1 deck more.”

Hector nodded, “I see, I see.” Taking out a notebook and pen from within his jacket, Hector began to write within it, jotting down notes like ‘Treeborn Frog’ or ‘must inves. fur.’ “I’m no stranger to underdog strategies myself, but it seems I’ve been too focused on specific archetypes. It’s good to keep in mind the individual cards themselves as well. Thanks for reminding me about that,” Hector said.

Kaison looked embarrassed, putting a hand on the back of his head. “Oh, thanks, anytime. I’m not too familiar with Spell Counter strategies, but they look interesting.” He glanced at Hector’s parents, gauging how much he was getting in the way but not coming to a definite conclusion. “Wanna exchange contact information? We can talk more about it later."

“Sure!” Hector agreed. Hector’s parents were laughing as they talked to each other. They had been initially concerned at their son’s loss, but it was clear they had nothing to worry about.

Oh, boy. How to get out of this one? She'd dueled the guy last night, of course she should have realized that he'd probably have questions about what the hell had happened if he was just a normal person. And what weird Obelisk girl? Valerie had caught brief glimpses of an Obelisk uniform during the previous evening's shitstorm, but she didn't get a good glance at who exactly it was. Still, it was good to know that at least someone else on this island had an idea of what Duel Spirits were. What wasn't good was that now the onus of explaining all this was dumped onto Valerie.

Or it would be, if she actually gave a crap about it. As it stood, she was in no mood to deal with any of this. Plus, thanks to the Obelisk girl, Valerie couldn't even play dumb and pretend it wasn't just an elaborate case of smuggled alcohol and drugs. Great.

"Alright, I'm going to keep this short." Valerie tucked her deck away with a sigh, turning to face Leo as she sat. "The Obelisk girl wasn't screwing with you, spirits are real. If you can't see or hear them, tough luck. It took years of being around one for me to hear him, but considering there's more than a few of those around this island, who knows? Anyways, if you don't believe in Duel Spirits, we're about done here. I seriously can't explain this otherwise."

@King Cosmos

Donte
"I want you to expel me."

"Excuse me?"

He had burst into Ms. Hibiki's room, which doubled as her office, and announced it out of nowhere. "You heard me."

The woman shook her head. "I didn't hear a 'why'."

Donte crossed his arms. "Because I don't want to be here anymore."

Ms. Hibiki raised an eyebrow. "Why would your father send you here if you didn't like dueling? Isn't he a tech magnate?"

"Yeah, yeah, 'hOw CoUlD mR. pErFeCt MaKe A mIsTaKe?' Well, I'm telling you, he did."

"I was just going to ask why he'd go out of his way to send you here if you hated dueling. Don't most successful businessmen like him want their children to 'inherit the empire' or something?"

"Hell no. Maybe when I was a baby and he didn't think of me as a such a fuck-up."

"Donte. Look at me. You're not a fuck-up."

Donte frowned. "Damn STRAIGHT I'm not, so you gonna expel me or do I need to damage school property first?"

A voice rang out from upstairs, interrupting their conversation. It wasn't hard to hear through the walls at all. "DONTAVIUS LORENZO!"

Donte grit his teeth, visibly going into fight or flight mode. "Fuck. Hide me."

Ms. Hibiki shrugged. "You can hide, but I'm not going to lie to your father's face."

"You're useless, then." Donte didn't waste any more time here, bolting out the door as quickly as he could without making a ruckus.

He needed to hide and fast. He was bound to be found in no time in the mess hall, but hey, none of the Slifer Red Dorms actually have locks. He ran into the nearest one, Room 102, shutting the door quickly and quietly behind him before pressing his back to the door and sliding down it.

@Darkmoon Angel

@Ryik

Mina, with her parents in tow, made their way to the Ra Yellow dorms and into her dorm room. “Here is my dorm.” she said, but they did not look pleased.

“I thought you would have made it to Obelisk Blue.” Her father sounded quite disappointed that she was not living with the best. But from what they were told, she had not been winning all of her duels as expected. Her mother made her way towards her bed, “And who is your roommate?” She asked with an interested tone in her voice.

“I live with another girl named Rin, she has a copycat deck and she is quite skilled.” She didn’t want to mention to her parents that she had lost to her before.

Her parents thought that this Rina was quite weak with an equally weak deck. ”And how many wins does she have?” Her father added, but Mina just shrugged as she didn’t know the answer to that question.

“What is your matchup record against this girl?” Mina’s mother asked.

“Ummm…” She fumbled with her answer.

“And this is my room, dad.”

Like an angel of mercy, Rin had arrived alongside her father to save Mina from her parents’ probing questions.

“Oh! It seems your roommate beat us to it.”

“Hi, Mina. Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hākā.”

Both of her parents were looking quite unimpressed with Rin. “Hello.” Both of them said in unison.

Rin’s father stepped forward, offering the couple a handshake. “Hi, I’m Rin’s father. Nice to meet you two.”

Mr. Hākā looked over at Rin’s father before looking at Mrs. Hākā, “It is nice to meet you Mr?” The man trailing off to know what his first name was.

He retracted his handshake, taking the blatant rejection in stride. “Ren. It embarrasses my daughter that our names are so alike, so please call me Mr. Sato.”

“Dad…” Rin looked more embarrassed that he brought it up. You say something about it once in elementary school and he has to let everyone know for the rest of your life.

“It is nice to meet you Ren, my name is Ryuji, and this is my wife Lucy.” Mina’s father pointed over towards his wife sitting at the bed. Mrs. Hākā nodded her head, standing up to be near her husband. “Charmed.”

Mina looked over towards Rin’s father. “Nice to meet you, my name is Mina.” She seemed more excited to meet him than she was to see her own parents again.

“Hello there! My daughter told me all about you. Thanks for taking care of her. I know she can be a handful-”

“DAD!” Rin was flushed with embarrassment.

Mina shook her head, “She was quite well behaved, it was me that was being quite the handful.” Mina’s parents were looking at Mina like vultures watching their prey.

“And what did you do that was so harmful?” Her mother said with a raised brow.

Rin shook off some of her embarrassment to join in the conversation, looking confused. “What did you do that was so harmful? I don’t remember anything bad.”

“Nothing of course.” Mina said, trying not to mention how she stormed off into the forest after losing their first duel.

“Well, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, I’m here for you, Mina.”

Mina was touched, though Rin’s father partially ruined the moment by audibly fawning over his daughter. “Awww.”

Mina’s father interrupted the sweet moment completely in order to pull aside and speak to his daughter. “Mina, we would like to test your dueling abilities. We do not want to keep wasting OUR money if you are unfit to be a duelist.”

Annoyed by his spurned handshake and the way they refused to address him by his surname, Rin’s father decided to butt in. “Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Mina’s father looked over his shoulder and sent Mr. Sato a deathly glare.

He continued, unperturbed. “I’m sure your daughter will become a fine duelist at the Academy. Even if there’s some uncertainty, isn’t it best to support her aspirations?”

Ryuji again kept staring at Mr.Sato, “Mr.Sato, we have spent a lot of time and money trying to train Mina to be the best duelist in the world. Kind words will not make her a better duelist, winning is what will make her the best. The queen of games if you will.” He said now looking over at Mina. Who was now slowly moving towards the door.

“Well, they say you learn more from losing than from winning, and her Academy Days aren’t quite as high-stakes as professional dueling tournaments. Even the doesn’t have a flawless record, and I’m inclined to believe he’s better for it, don’t you?”

Ryuji thought for a moment, His large hand starting to rub his chin. “But she has to be ready for those professional games, and she will be useless if she is not ready for the real thing.”

“Useless? Surely more duelists than just Yugi Muto are worthy of respect.”

Ryuji thought for a moment of who else would be considered the best of the best. There were a few on his mind that were quite respectable. “Perhaps there are a few that qualify as being worthy of respect.”

“Yeah! I mean, Seto Kaiba’s an obvious one. He practically rules the world nowadays.”

Both of Mina’s parents looked quite annoyed when the name Seto Kaiba was brought up. “He is a dumb brat that just got lucky. One day he will be knocked down a peg.”

“Oh? I always thought he was rather unlucky, given how many times he’s challenged the King of Games and lost. Then again, in terms of wealth, he’s probably the luckiest, haha!” Rin’s father laughed obliviously as Mina’s parents seethed in anger.

It seemed Kiba’s dueling abilities were not the only reason they were jealous of the young businessman. Ryuji stepped forward, his hand curling up into a fist, but her mother placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Perhaps we should not cause any trouble, and have Mina be kicked out of the academy.” Her mother whispered, rubbing his chest. Mina was looking very embarrassed.

Unlike her father, Rin wasn’t oblivious to the Hākā elders’ body language, and so she decided to step in between her father and them, readying her duel disk. “You said you wanted to test Mina? Why don’t we have a tag duel? That way, both of you could test her at the same time.”

The two thought for a moment before nodding their heads, “I think that would be a great idea.” Mina’s mother said.

“Yes, I think that would be for the best, but Mina, if you lose, we will remove you from the academy where you will work for us as a secretary. You will never duel again.” Ryuji said.

“Fine. But if I win, then I get to stay and you will stop bothering me with your damn prodding.” Mina said with some defiance in her voice.

Rin added her own demands. “If we win, you’ll apologize for calling your daughter’s efforts useless!”

Rin’s father looked concerned. “Honey-”

Mina’s father looked unbothered. “Very well. It follows then, that if you lose, you’ll admit they were pointless. Both yours and hers.”

Rin’s father sharply turned to Mina’s and immediately raised his voice. “HEY-”

Rin grabbed one of her father’s arms with both of her own. “It’s okay, dad.”

Rin’s father, barely keeping to an inside voice, leaned down at eye level to look into Rin’s. “No, it’s not, dearie.”

“I… I want to do this.”

The man grit his teeth before sighing. He can’t deny his daughter when she asks him while looking so determined. He lowered his voice more, to keep it between him and Rin. “Fine, but are you sure you’re okay with this? Do you want me to duel them instead?” Rin had always struggled with her self-esteem, and if he was being entirely honest, he was probably gonna throw hands if she lost and they bullied her daughter about it.

“No, dad. It has to be me. I saw the look they gave me. It’s better if they lost to some nobody Ra Yellow girl.”

“You are not nobody.”

“I know, dad.” She didn’t, but hearing that should make him happy. Mr. Sato backed off, and Rin turned to Mina’s parents. Let’s duel where me and Mina had our first duel. The Ra Yellow lounge is really spacious.”

Both of her parents nodded their heads. Mina was unsure if she would be able to win against her parents. But she could not back out now. “Yes, and by this time a lot of the Ra Yellow students should be there.” She wanted to humiliate them for all the years they had tortured her.

They took up opposite ends of the lounge and brandished their duel disks. Mina’s parents had each brought their own, both using a high-end model with a sleek metallic shine

Mina and Rin vs. Mr. and Mrs. Hākā

Rin, filled with uncharacteristic righteous fury at the way her friends’ parents treat not just their daughter or her but everyone, took the first turn. As she began, she went back to her usually placidity like a tiger crouching in the grass. “I set a monster and a face-down, then end my turn.”

Mr. Hākā drew his hand, looking through it with a pompous carelessness on his face. “I play Mezuki in attack mode, then place one card in my back row and end my turn.”

Mina drew her cards placing a face down card in her spell/trap field, along with placing a monster card in face down position. “I end my turn.”

Mina’s mother was glad to have drawn some excellent cards. She started by summoning Zombie Master from her hand in attack mode. After, she used its effect to discard and then special summon Wightprincess, used its effect to send Wightprince from the deck to the grave, then used its effect to send Skull Servant and Lady in Wight from the deck to the grave. She then activated Wightprincess’ effect just to send it to the grave, and then, used the effect of Wightprince, banishing it, Skull Servant, and Lady in Wight from the grave in order to special summon King of the Skull Servants from her deck. Finally, she discarded Wightmare in order to return the banished Skull Servant to the grave, putting King of the Skull Servants at an impressive 3000 attack. She wore a smug smile as she said, “and that will be the end of my turn.”

Mina drew for her turn, readier than she’s ever been to finally wipe that smile off of her mother’s face. She looked over her cards carefully, thinking over her strategy.

She began her turn by placing a face-down and activating Vampire’s Domain. She then nodded to Rin, who proceeded to activate her face-down Conscription. The top card was revealed to be Wightbaking, which was special summoned to their field before promptly being tributed for Shadow Vampire. It would activate Wightbaking’s effect for her mother, but it was worth it. Her mother discarded and Mina smirked. She used Shadow Vampire’s effect to special summon Vampire Lord from her deck, then used them both to XYZ summon Crimson Knight Vampire Bram. “Come on out, Crimson Knight Vampire Bram!”

Right after it hit the field, she took one of the cards underneath Vampire Bram, putting it in the graveyard to activate its effect. “Now I will remove Vampire Lord as material, so I can summon Armageddon Knight to my side of the field.” Mina felt particularly proud she was able to use their own monsters against them, something she wasn’t able to pull off before. “And for shits and giggles, I’ll use its effect to send Vampire Sorcerer to the graveyard. Finally, I’ll pay 500 LP to summon Vampire Lady to the field. That’s all.”

[16000 LP > 15500 LP]

Her father was going next, carefully looking at his cards similarly to what Mina did a few minutes ago. “I place Zombie World on the field.” But before he could even activate it, Mina activated her face down card.

“No so fast, papa, I play Vampire Awakening to place another Vampire Red Baron onto the field.” Mina said it with a big grin on her face as she put Vampire Awakening into the graveyard, although her father did not look impressed with that particular play.

“That does nothing to help you Mina.” Her father said, playing Foolish Burial to send a card to the graveyard. “I summon Mezuki onto the field, and attack Rin’s face down monster.” As Mimicking Man-Eater Bug flipped face up, destroying King of the Skull Servants, he scoffed. “Main Phase 2, I banish the Mezuki I had sent to the grave earlier to bring back King of the Skull Servants.” He had multiple, it would seem. For a moment, Mina had flashbacks to her battle against Haruko. She shook it off. She won that battle, after all, nevermind what came after.

Her father ended his turn, passing back around to Rin. Vampire Red Baron goes to the graveyard, and Rin looked at her hand without any visible concern.

On one side of the field, there was Crimson Knight Vampire Bram, Vampire Lady, Armageddon Knight, and Mimicking Man-Eater Bug. On the other, King of the Skull Servants, Zombie Master, and Mezuki.

“This is too easy.”

Mina’s mother gave her a dirty look. “Excuse me!?”

Rin didn’t answer her, instead turning to Mina. “Would you mind-”

Mina shook her head, trusting in her friend. “Whatever you think is best.”

Rin gave her a warm smile as she started her turn. “First, I’ll activate Snatch Steal on Zombie Master, then I’ll use his effect to discard a monster and special summon your Wightprincess from the grave. Next, I’ll use Enemy Controller, tributing Armageddon Knight to take control of your King of the Skull Servants.”

“Won’t be of much use to you with no Skull Servants in your grave.” Mina’s father sneered.

She admonished the man matter-of-factly. “Wrong. I’ll send it and Zombie Master to the grave to summon Dharc the Dark Charmer. His effect allows me to special summon a monster from your grave to my field, such as the Zombie Master I just used as material. Wouldn’t you know it, he’s not a hard once-per-turn. I’ll use his effect again, summoning Vampire Sorcerer to my field. I’ll switch Mimicking Man-Eater Bug to attack and enter my battle phase. You know how this plays out from here. Go, Zombie Master, destroy Mezuki!”

Like a sith lord, he zaps the bipedal horse monster into dust.

“Now, the rest, attack directly!”

[16000 LP > 10500 LP]

The effect of Vampire’s Domain activates on Vampire Sorcerer’s attack, increasing Rin and Mina’s life points.

[15500 LP > 17000 LP]

“Main Phase 2, I’ll link summon Aussa the Earth Charmer using Mimicking Man-Eater Bug and Dharc. She has a very similar effect, allowing me to special summon one of your earth monsters from the grave, such as that Mezuki. Hand him over.”

Both of Mina’s parents frowned. At the end of it, her field was almost completely filled with monsters that didn’t even belong to her. She broke character then, turning to Mina to ask if she wanted Vampire Sorcerer back, but Mina shook her head, insisting she should hold onto them.

In addition to Aussa and Vampire Sorcerer, she now had Mezuki, Zombie Master, and Wightprincess.

She ended her turn and Mina’s mother drew from her deck with a scowl. Of course, she still had the cards she had gotten from Wightbaking.

“I summon Wightprincess, and use her effect to send Wightprince to the grave.” She repeated her Wightprincess combo, ending on Wightprincess and a 2000 attack King of the Skull Servants. “Now, I’ll be taking my monsters back! Wightprincess, attack Wightprincess.”

They crashed into each other, both returning to Mina’s mother’s grave, and thus raising King of the Skull Servants to 4000 attack.

“Look at what you’ve done, dear. You’ve only delayed the inevitable. Now, stop messing with my graveyard! King of the Skull Servants, get rid of Vampire Bram!” Although putting Mezuki back for her husband or Zombie Master to keep Rin from doing the same were good options, Mina’s turn was up next, and it was best to limit her options more than Rin’s. King of the Skull Servants extended a bony hand towards the Vampire, and without making so much as a move, the Vampire gripped its chest, as if its name was written in a death note, before falling over and disintegrating into particles.

[17000 LP > 15500 LP]

Mina’s mother ended her turn and it was Mina’s turn once more. She gave her father a defiant smile as she began her turn. She knew exactly what to do here. She looked over to Rin for confirmation, and with just a look, she nodded, saying: “whatever you need; it’s all for you.”

Mina returned the smile, before she turned back to her parents and the smile took on a devilish character. “First off, I’ll resummon Crimson Knight Vampire Bram in defense mode with its effect. Then I’ll activate Vampire’s Desire. By sending Rin’s Aussa to the grave, I can special summon any Vampire in my grave. Now, what was that about Vampire Awakening being useless?”

“You…!”

“Yes, me. I choose Vampire Red Baron. He has a nifty effect where I can switch control of a Vampire on my side of the field with any monster on yours. Of course, I want to keep my Vampire Lady to attack you with, so why don’t you take Rin’s Vampire Sorcerer instead?”

Like that, the 4000 attack King of the Skull Servants changed fields once again, falling to zero attack in the process.

She continued, “Now, with Crimson Knight Vampire Bram and Vampire Lady, I can Link Summon Vampire Sucker, and use its effect to special summon a monster to your side of the field. Let’s go with a regular Skull Servant. Her effect also lets me draw a card when I do so. Now, using King of the Skull Servants and Rin’s Mezuki-”

”My Mezuki.”

“Pfft, is that my own father being a sore loser?”

The man scowled as the Ra Yellow peanut gallery let out a chorus of ‘oo’s. Mina knew she was walking a fine line here, but you know what? Fuck it!

“Using those two, I can XYZ summon Dhampir Vampire Sheridan. I activate his effect, detaching a material to destroy Skull servant, then detaching another material to special summon it to my side of the field. Now, with Skull Servant and Rin’s Zombie Master-”

“Young lady…”

Mina repeated it, just to annoy them. “-RIN’S Zombie Master, I XYZ summon another Dhampir Vampire Sheridan. You wanna know what’s funny? I haven’t even used my normal summon yet! I have two of them for crying out loud!” She began cackling as she paid 500 life points for the effect of Vampire’s Domain.

[15500 LP > 15000 LP]

"Because of Vampire Sucker, I can even tribute your monsters! I’ll tribute summon Vampire Dragon using Vampire Sorcerer, returning it to my grave, then banish it to normal summon Vampire Grimson without a tribute. My board’s nice and full, now.”

Vampire Sucker - 1600/LINK-2
Vampire Grimson - 2000/1400
Vampire Dragon - 2400/0
Vampire Red Baron - 2400/1000
Dhampir Vampire Sheridan - 2600/1000
Dhampir Vampire Sheridan - 2600/1000

“Dhampir Vampire Sheridan’s not even a hard once-per-turn. If you had another monster, he could have just popped it and even stolen it. Is this really it? Is this what being a perfect duelist means to you two!? Am I living up to your expectations Mom!? Dad!? Are you proud of your useless Ra Yellow daughter!?”

Rin looked to Mina, concerned. They were dueling with an audience, and knowing these two jerks, public humiliation probably wasn’t the best way to get them to change their ways. If Mina’s relationship with her parents became completely irreconcilable, it’d be her fault, wouldn’t it?

Still, it was too late to change things, and she couldn’t think of any way of handling her parents that could possibly be as good as this. Mina yelled to her monsters, sounding hysterical with a voice that kept cracking, but she put on a brave face. It wasn’t hard with how angry she felt too. She refused to cry this time. Not in front of Rin. She directed the monsters evenly, three each to her mother and father. “Vampire Sucker, attack!”

“Vampire Grimson, attack!”

“Vampire Dragon, attack!”

"Vampire Red Baron, attack!”

“Dhampir Vampire Sheridan, attack!”

Even when her parent’s life points hit zero, Mina wasn’t done. “Second Sheridan, attack!”

When the hologram didn’t immediately respond, she slammed her duel disk with her fist, demanding it cooperate. “I SAID ATTACK!” Someway, somehow, the second Sheridan moved.

Vampire’s Domain kept on activating on each attack. Finally, as the last of Mina’s monster attacked, the duel came to an end.

The final score was 28600 LP to -3100 LP, bugged out to show the value past zero. Mina’s duel disk would need to be fixed, it seemed, but that was the last thing on her mind right now. Their lifepoint difference was almost twice the starting value, which was already twice the normal value because it was a tag duel. She had beaten her parents soundly and thoroughly. For the first time in a long time, she felt free.

She was breathing heavily from the adrenaline. Her parents were dumbstruck. Scattered clapping from the crowd rose up and died down, too awkward to turn into full-blown applause in the wake of the unfolding family drama.

However, Rin wasn’t about to let her embarrassment or apprehension get in the way of her friendship this time. She was the first to run up to Mina, immediately going for a hug.

“...Rin?”

“You were incredible, Mina. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not an amazing duelist.”

Mina turned around to face Rin, there was an uncharacteristic smile on her face. Hugging Rin very tightly. “Thank you, I could not have beaten them without your help.” She noticed her parents were looking strangely pleased with her victory. Mina removed her arms from Rin, looking embarrassed by hugging Rin. But mostly she wanted to talk to her parents.

The two of them looked at each other before looking over at Mina. “That was very impressive, we will keep our end of the deal. We will speak again when you have graduated from the academy. You may have the potential of taking over my position as CEO.” It seemed Mina was not interested in taking the job.

“No thanks, you can shove that CEO job up your ass.” Was Mina’s response. Her parents looked royaly pissed, walking off towards the docks. Part of them was satisfied that Mina proved she was a capable duelist. But they knew she had a long way to go, to be the best.

Leo Wilde – Slifer Red

Crossing his arms across his chest, Leo stared at the abrasive Ra. So this girl was just going to feed him the same story as the other one huh? He resisted the urge to scoff or roll his eyes, feeling like the conversation would end immediately if he did so.

Alright, sure; spirits. The idea wasn’t any more believable now than it was then, but this girl clearly wasn’t going to tell him anything else if he didn’t at least play along. Besides, she was saying it seriously enough that it didn’t sound like a joke and she didn’t seem like the kind of person who just believed in fairy tales; too intense for that.

“Alright, fine. Spirits are real. So what was everyone doing in the wood last night? The other girl said she felt something from her room?”

@Psyker Landshark

Helena wiped her eyes with her sleeves and sighed. “Whatever… If they don’t care… Then I don’t either…” She said as she took off back to the Slifer Dorms. “Helena…” Chosen followed close behind her. “Maybe… You could do something to take your mind off things? Look through your deck? Strategize a bit?” The elf spirit suggested to her. She nodded her head as they came to her and Haruko’s room. “I suppose so…” she said as she entered. It didn’t look like Haruko was there, more than likely she was still out with her parents. “I have the room to myself at least.” She said as she closed the door behind her.

She spent the next few minutes sitting at a desk, rummaging through her deck and figuring out how best to go about certain situations she might face. She also had to figure out a way to keep her psychic powers in check, or at least find a way to mitigate the damage she might do. Lost in thought, she snapped out of it after hearing the door open up. That must’ve been Haruko. She got up and turned to face who she thought was her roommate, only to met by a boy.

Recalling the introductions on the first day, it was Donte. “Who the heck is this guy?” Chosen said in confusion. Helena, equally as confused, spoke up. “Um… I think you have the uh… Wrong room…”

Donte
It was such a relief to be out of the line of fire that Donte didn't even notice the girl sitting at her desk until she spoke up. "Oh. Hey."

What was she doing here?

Well, obviously, it's gotta be her room, but he and his father didn't waste much time coming here. It took some time to ditch him, but the bottom line is that if she's here alone, her parents were probably no-shows, which meant he was in the clear. Not as lucky as finding an empty room, but he could work with this.

He stood up, dusting himself off. "-And naw, this is right where I'm tryin' to be right now." He casually took a few steps into the room and started leaning against the foot of the bunkbeds. "You don't need to mind me, though if you do, make sure it's scandalous." Despite sounding like he was coming on to her, his tone was matter-of-fact, and his body language was disinterested. He had said it without even looking in her direction, pulling his PDA out of his pocket and fiddling with it as if hanging around uninvited was a perfectly natural thing to do.

He didn't believe her. That was fine. In his place, Valerie wouldn't have bought the story either. Outlandish claims necessitated physical proof, and without spiritual sensitivity on his end, there just wasn't much to be done. Of course, she would have liked it a lot more if Leo just gave up here and stopped asking questions, but this just wasn't her day, now was it?

"Can't speak for everyone else," Valerie shrugged, meeting Leo's gaze with a dispassionate stare. "But at least whoever you talked to has the same story as me. Yeah, I felt it. Then I saw it. Big pillar of light coming out of the woods. Normal, sane people wouldn't go towards it." She smirked ruefully at that. "But, hell, I might as well tell you. I came to this academy just to see if there were other people like me affected by Duel Monster spirits. Make sure I didn't actually hallucinate the voice in my head all these years."

A beat.

"Plus, I like card games."

@King Cosmos

Leo Wilde – Slifer Red

“Huh.”

A big pillar of light in the forest. Feeling something that compelled you to go investigate. Leo wished he could dismiss all of this as some big joke, say that the Obelisk girl was just weird and that this girl was just going along with it for a joke, but unfortunately he couldn’t. Last night he’d felt something too, something that kept dragging his eyes towards the forest like he was going to see something out there. A strange feeling that told him that the missing students were somewhere out there.

Hell, now that he thought about it, that Pine guy said something about that too; a light in the forest. He’d ignored the dude at the time because, frankly, he was being an asshole about it, but he must have seen something too. Or he was in on the hoax with that Haruko girl; weren’t they dating or something?

Leo uncrossed his arms, stuffing one hand into his pocket as the other went to scratch at the back of his head awkwardly. Okay, maybe there was some truth to all this nonsense. But, if that was true, then didn’t that mean he could also kind of sense these things? He’d thought there was something off about the forest as well, even if he didn’t see this pillar everyone else did, but that still meant he could sense it a little bit, right? Unless it was just so big even normal people could feel it.

“So, err, how’s it going? The search for other people like you?”

@Psyker Landshark

Helena was taken aback by Donte’s behavior. “Barging in like he owns the place, what’s wrong with him?” Chosen said, glaring at the man. Helena sighed. “Well… I do mind… You just came into a girl’s room, uninvited, and expect me to not say anything?” She gestured towards the door. “Please… Just leave… I’m not really in the mood… Especially not after today…” she said before sitting back in her desk chair. Chosen kept an eye on Donte, even if he wasn’t seen, he wanted to at least watch him in case he pulled something.

Donte

Donte sighed. He pocketed his PDA and pulled up a nearby stool, having a seat with an elbow on his knee, holding up his head.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Probably not with him. He should probably explain himself a little.

"Look, I've got some... family issues..." His father interrupted him, yelling his full name from outside one more time, clearly angry and audible to everyone in Slifer Red. Donte winced. "The bottom line is that I ain't going nowhere unless it involves grievous bodily harm or immediate expulsion." He waved his hand nonchalantly, like none of it mattered. "Dealer's choice. You can just say it was self-defense or whatever."

He settled back into a glum, bored expression, hand propped up his head. "Another concussion would suck, though."

“Are you suggesting I…!” Helena looked at the man with a shocked expression. Was he seriously suggesting they get into some kind of fight or something?! She was quiet and looked away, she couldn’t think of what to say after that. Even if these issues were true, and they seemed like it with the yelling of Donte’s father outside, Helena wasn’t the one to start a fight over that. Even if Donte wanted it. She glanced at Chosen, who was just as shocked as her, but didn’t have an answer all the same. She contemplated what he said and sat in silence before sighing. “Look… I really don’t want to get involved in whatever… You’re going through… I have my own family issues I’m mulling over…” She said as she continued picking through her cards.”I can’t help you with expulsion… But… I guess… You can hide here until your father leaves the dorms… But when he does, I want you out.”

Donte

Donte breathed another sigh, this time of relief. "Chivalry isn't dead."

He sat back down, now nonchalantly looking over the cards on her desk curiously. "I'll hold you to that. Fair warning, he doesn't give up easily."

A muffled yell. "IF YOU DON'T COME OUT HERE DONTAVIUS, SO HELP ME."

Donte visibly cringed. What was Ms. Hibiki doing? Just sitting around in her office, hoping he'll go away? He changed the topic, to distract himself as much as the girl. "So, you got a name? I'm Donte, as you might have gathered. You making deck edits?"

How was it going? An interesting question, really. She hadn't really gotten close enough to any of the other students to figure out exactly who had Duel Spirits, but considering last night? They were probably around somewhere. Hell, why did she even tell this guy that? Now Valerie would have to actually answer his inquiry if she didn't want to look like a complete bitch. Really, she blamed it on her no-show parents being the same as ever and today just pissing her off in general.

"Could be better, could be worse. After everything that happened in the forest, I'm pretty sure some of the other students have spirit partners. That Obelisk chick you talked about almost definitely does, if she knew what was going on. Besides, after seeing all the pissed-off ones in the forest, you have no idea what a relief it is to find out that I'm definitely not crazy and I haven't been hallucinating nearly a decade's worth of conversations. Ten years of my Spirit being the only one I've seen and it's been in the back of my mind forever that maybe I made this whole thing up to begin with."

Ceruli mercifully kept silent on this matter, knowing what a sore spot it was for her. She'd never vocalized the matter to him, but he'd known.

"Anyways, enough about that. This Obelisk girl. What'd she look like? Might go track her down, have a chat."

@King Cosmos

“Helena… And yes, I am… Last duel I was in really made me rethink my whole strategy…” She said as she finished up with the cards in her extra deck. “Helena… I think there’s a way you can both benefit from this encounter.” Chosen spoke up. Helena thought for a moment before realizing what he meant. She nervously reached for her duel disk. “Listen… You want an excuse to not deal with your father… And I need an excuse to test out my deck… I think I have a solution to where we both win.” She said as she strapped her duel disk on her arm.

“People I duel… Let’s just say they tend to get hurt… A lot… If we duel, you’ll either be too busy for your dad to bother you… Or you’ll end up in the infirmary where he still can’t bother you… I know it’s not exactly expulsion but… It’s the best I got. What do you say?”

Donte
Donte frowned. Was this girl threatening him? With what? Her wimpy noodle arms? What was she trying to say, anyway? That she was a violently sore loser? Would explain why she's in Slifer, he guessed. In any case, if she thought she could take him, he wouldn't take offense. He did just invite her to pick up a weapon and assault him - it was about as unpleasant as pretending to be a creep, but this was different. "I'm no masochist. I think I'll wait here a bit longer for my old man to get lost. He might still be harassing Ms. Hibiki right about now, and I wouldn't mind spending the whole day here just to be safe." His eyes wandered towards an empty wall as he said this, distracted by the mental image of his father haranguing the poor woman over him.

He turned, making eye contact with Helena, a smirk on his lips and a fire in his eyes. "But if it's a fight you want..." he raised his duel disk. "I'm down to tango." He didn't exactly like to get into fights with girls. It was lose-lose for his rep, but despite what he was just telling Ms. Hibiki minutes earlier, he did like to duel. He wasn't afraid of a brawl either. Certainly not with someone so... waifish.

He didn't peg Helena as the type to get physical, but you know what they say about small dogs. A girl who can't control her temper suited him, he thought.

As an dueling opponent, of course. Better him than some of the wimps he's seen running around Slifer Red. Even if it was coming from Helena, that kimono girl with the glasses looks like she was a single punch away from breaking every bone in her body. Hell, Donte was worried just being around her would give her have a heart attack. It was like watching a rabbit or a hummingbird breathe in and out at speeds that would have a human hyperventilating.

Or was that just because of him?

He frowned, pushing the thought from his mind. "We could duel here and now, without duel disks, though if we do, we'd have to keep any fighting afterward quiet." Normally he wouldn't agree to this - keeping a fight quiet was like trying to keep popcorn kernels from going off in a microwave, but he was a strong, physically fit teenage boy a year older than the rest of his grade level, while she was... Helena. He should be able to stop her from making a racket if she lost all self control. Probably.

Helena vs. Donte

”Ok… Um… Let’s wait until the coast is clear before heading outside… I don’t exactly want to mess up a room I’m sharing with someone… And even if your father eventually finds us… We’d be too busy dueling for him to do anything.” Helena said.

She had a good point, and the less makeshift weapons nearby, the better. “Sure, let’s do that.”

Around 20 minutes later they exited the dorm. By all appearances, the coast was clear.

”Um… Why exactly is your father so hard on you? U-uh! Just curious! If you don’t want to talk about… That’s fine…”

Donte gave Helena a weird look, trying to discern if she was being polite or just stupid. “Because he’s a control freak and I have what Ms. Hibiki calls ‘𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝓎.’” He said it with an insincere sing-songy quality while batting his eyes like Wendy marveling at the rainbows over neverland. He then dropped the facade, abruptly scowling. “He’s got an ego bigger than Seto Kaiba’s and a big company full of yes-men to make sure he never doubts it.” Donte let out a weary sigh. “Any decision he makes is above reproach, any dissent is back-talk, and anything I want to do, he wants to control. I’m sick of hearing him tell me all about how I’ll thank him when I’m older. He’s been saying that shit for a decade and I’ve not once looked back and agreed.” He thought of telling her about juvie and the tattoos, and the subsequent fallout, but he caught himself. He had gone off a bit on Helena, and he barely knew the girl. “Enough about my scumfuck father. You seemed like you were in a pretty bad mood. Family got you down?”

Helena was quiet for a moment before answering. ”They just don’t care as much as I thought they did… Suppose I’m just a monster to them…”

They moved outside, taking up opposite ends of the empty space in front of the Slifer Red dorm. ”Listen… Are you really sure you want to go through with this? I-I’m not joking about me hurting people in a duel…” She said as she activated her duel disk.

“Girlie, I’ve been in fist fights with knife-wielding thugs twice your size. Just keep your glock unloaded and I’ll be right as rain.”

Helena looked to Chosen of the Celtic Guard, who simply shrugged. A glock is a gun, right?

She drew her opening hand. ”First, I summon Celtic Guard of Noble Arms. Then, follow that with Ties of the Brethren. By paying 2000 of my life points, I can Special Summon 2 monsters from my deck that match Celtic Guard’s Type, Level, and Attribute. I Special Summon Obnoxious Celtic Guard and Celtic Guardian in Defense Position!” The three elven warriors stood together as they readied their swords, in preparation to block any incoming attacks. ”Finally, I set a card face-down. I end my turn.

Donte gave a cocky smirk. He had all the tools to dismantle Helena’s defenses, after all. “First, I summon Armed Samurai - Ben Kai, and equip him with Axe of Despair and Butterfly Dagger - Elma. With 1800 attack, he’s just below the 1900 limit of your Obnoxious Celtic Guard, and can even attack multiple times! Go, Ben Kai! Destroy the normal one and the Obnoxious one!”

The Samurai surged forth, one weapon in each hand. It smashed through the normal one with the horrid fleshy axe and stabbed the obnoxious one through the back, appearing behind it and disappearing just as quickly.

“Now, to make sure he’s safe against the big elf, I’ll give him one more weapon; Gravity Axe - Grarl.” A larger two-handed axe appeared on Ben Kai’s back, and its attack rose up to 2300. “1 more face-down, then end my turn.”

Helena sighed with relief. At least one of her warriors survived the attack. She drew and thought for a moment. ”I activate my face-down, The Warrior Returning Alive! This lets me add a Warrior Type in my Graveyard back to my hand. Then, I’ll summon it! Along with Special Summoning Chosen of the Celtic Guard.” The revived Obnoxious Celtic Guard stood with the younger warrior. ”Now I Tune Chosen of the Celtic Guard with Obnoxious Celtic Guard! Give rise to the protector of the faerie forest; Synchro Summon, Faerie Master of the Celtic Guard!”

The warrior in shining white armor rose to the field, as Celtic Guard of Noble Arms’ presence empowered him. ”Next, I equip him with my Faerie Guardian Sword. Boosting his attack by a further 700.” The mystical blade materialized into Faerie Master’s hand, replacing his original sword. ”Now, attack Ben Kai!” Faerie Master lunged at the samurai, sword glowing in hand as he cut straight through. Ben Kai split in two before vanishing from the field, the cutting wind of the attack hitting Donte as he took Life Point damage. ”I… End my turn…”

8000 LP > 7000 LP

Donte blinked as a vertical cut opened along his cheek, dripping flesh red blood. He brought his hands to his face, staring at the blood in confusion. A little higher or closer and he would have lost an eye. He stared at Helena, finally realizing that a temper tantrum wasn’t at all what she meant.

What is this? Of course, he had no idea what a psychic duelist was. Did she hack her duel disk to hurt people with hard light projections? If so, that was incredibly fucked up. It was also hardcore as hell. His respect for the diminutive girl shot up immensely, and he couldn’t help but throw caution to the wind.

Donte drew, a little less sure of himself, now. He wasn’t scared, per se. If anything, the raised stakes were exciting. He chuckled a little. It was a nervous laughter, like a hostage laughing at a bank robber’s joke, but one that they found genuinely funny nonetheless. He had no answer to Helena’s board in his hand, but he could buy time, at least.
“First, I activate Butterfly Dagger - Elma on Celtic Guard of Noble Arms.”

Celtic Guard of Noble Arms - 2400/700

Helena raised an eyebrow. He didn’t want her thinking he was a masochist, so he explained. “this allows me to summon Guardian Elma, in attack. When she’s summoned, she lets me bring back an equip spell from my grave, and I choose Axe of Despair.”

Guardian Elma - 2300/1200

“Now, I’ll equip Celtic Guard of Noble Arms with Rod of Silence - Kay’est, making him immune to all other targeted spell effects and destroying those spells, including Butterfly Dagger - Elma. With its effect, I return it to my hand, letting me equip it to its rightful owner, Guardian Elma.”

Celtic Guard of Noble Arms - 2100/700
Guardian Elma - 2600/1200

“Now, Elma! Attack Celtic Guard of Noble Arms!”

She dashes forward and, with a flip and a flourish, slices through the Celtic Guard in a flashy acrobatic maneuver like the protagonist of a ninja film.

6000 LP > 5500 LP

“I end my turn.”

As proud as he was of that play, it used a lot of resources and didn’t change the situation he was in. His hand was now empty and he still didn’t have control of the board. He grit his teeth and braced himself for the reprisal.

Helena held her head as she was starting to get her usual headaches. Donte’s equip strategy was a smart move on his part, a strategy Helena didn’t see coming. She drew. ”I… I summon Celtic Guardian to my field. Faerie Master, attack Elma!” With Celtic Guardian appearing and bolstering his attack, Faerie Master rushed in and cut Elma down in an instant.

7000 LP > 6300 LP

Donte winced, as the shattered debris of the Elma hologram washed over him like shards of glass.

Celtic Guardian followed suit, attacking Donte directly.

6300 LP > 4900 LP

He was bleeding now, a deep red staining his shirt on his side. It didn’t feel all that deep or serious, but a direct hit seemed to leave a more direct wound.

”Now, Faerie Guardian Sword’s secondary effect activates. When your Life Points are lower than mine, Faerie Master can attack twice during each Battle Phase. I-I’m sorry… Faerie Master, attack!” Faerie Master lunged at Donte, slashing down on him in a way that would’ve cut him in half diagonally.

4900 LP > 1600 LP

Blood was everywhere, now. The cut wasn’t deep by any means, but it was alarming just how much of it was coming out of him.

”I end my turn…”

Donte drew, adrenaline beginning to kick in to take the edge off the sting. His tank top was ripped now, exposing his abs and more of his leg-to-arm tattoo. He briefly pondered forfeiting before things went too far, but then he saw that he had drawn the perfect answer to the situation. The strongest card in his deck. Well, he couldn’t back out now. He smirked at Helena, as if this was a perfectly normal duel.

“I banish an equip spell from my grave to summon Immortal Phoenix Gearfried!”

A flaming knight appeared. Stylistically, it was all new, with shiny white armor and a sword and shield separate from the body. Still, Helena couldn’t help but think of it as the Gearfried she had abandoned coming back to haunt her. It was so surprising that she almost forgot the one card left in her hand.

“Oh! I’ll special summon Celtic Guardian - Swift Faerie Slash from my hand.”

Donte nodded. It wouldn’t matter, probably. Maybe. “I’ll equip Butterfly Dagger - Elma to Gearfried, then attack Celtic Guardian with it, using its effect to take your Faerie Master.”

As Immortal Phoenix Gearfried reared up to attack, the gem on its shield glinted and Faerie Master burst into flames. A moment later, the flames flew over to Gearfried’s sword, lighting it ablaze.

Immortal Phoenix Gearfried - 3800/2200

Its sword came crashing down on Celtic Guardian. As the flaming blade made contact, the elf exploded, dealing hefty damage to Helena.

5500 LP > 3100 LP

“Since Faerie Guardian Sword was sent to the graveyard, I can search for a Celtic Guard card and add it to my hand. I choose Obnoxious Celtic Guard.”

Donte nodded, unconcerned. “Go for it. I end my turn. Show me whatcha got.”

Helena draws. It was another Faerie Guardian Sword. It could help search in a pinch, but she needed an answer to Phoenix Gearfried, and being able to hit over it with sheer attack was one of very few viable solutions. She set Obnoxious face down and switched Swift Faerie Slash into defense before ending her turn.

Donte drew one of his favorite cards - Guardian Tryce. It was an awful card. His face-down Mischief of the Gnomes would let him set it without a tribute, but he couldn’t summon it since he didn’t have the required equip spell. Even if he did set it, what was the point of that? If he tributed Gearfried for it, he could bring it back later, but there was the risk of being banished or bounced. Ultimately Donte decided not to play it. There was no reason to grasp at straws when the momentum was in his favor.

“Gearfried, attack the face-down, and take the other one to boost yourself!” He had two options here, and since Gearfried could only yoink face-up monsters, he might as well go for the option that leaves it with more attack.

Gearfried lunged at it, but as Obnoxious Celtic Guardian flipped face-up, both of Helena’s monsters remained unharmed. “Huh?”

Helena pulled out her PDA, looking up the card. “Uh… it’s limited to 1.”

“Fuck.” He really wasn’t cut out to be a professional duelist. His father shouldn’t have sent him here. Dueling was just another one of his hobbies the man had to go and ruin by signing him up for a regiment he never wanted, just like kickboxing, baseball, fencing, billiards, the violin, and everything else. They were fun, until he had to take hour+ long lessons for them every week.

Dueling… Dueling was still fun, he supposed, though he hadn’t won a single game since arriving here. He wasn’t a sore loser, but damn if it didn’t prove he didn’t belong here.

“I end my turn.”

Helena drew, and to her luck, it was a solution to Phoenix Gearfried’s reign of terror. “I place one face-down and end my turn.”

Donte drew for his turn. Another guardian, but one that was useful when left in defense mode this time. He’d get rid of swift faerie slash this time. “Gearfried! Fry the other elf!”

“I activate my trap card, Mirror Force!”

And just like that, Immortal Phoenix Gearfried was destroyed. Unfortunate, but it wasn’t the end yet. “I set one monster and end my turn.” Nothing on her field could outmuscle Guardian Kay’est’s 1800 defense, and even if she summoned something that could, it would probably fail to take out his remaining 1600 life points. Her deck seemed to revolve around 1400 attack monsters, after all.

Nevermind that Kay’est didn’t stop direct attacks. She wouldn’t attack a face-down blind using a 1400 attack monster, right?

Helena drew her next card, her spirit partner. It was just what she needed. “I summon Chosen of the Celtic Guard and tune it with Swift Faerie Slash to Synchro Summon Faerie Master. I’ll equip another Faerie Guardian Sword to him, and use him to attack your face-down!”

Guardian Kay’est flipped face-up, getting destroyed by Faerie Master’s overwhelming attack. So far, things were going as expected. It wasn’t out of the question to turn things around if he could draw an answer, like another Immortal Phoenix Gearfried or a Moon Mirror Shield or-

“Now, Faerie Master attacks directly!”

Huh. Right, the sword lets her do that, doesn’t it.

Faerie Master of the Celtic Guard stabbed him. Oh. That wasn’t good. A coppery taste flooded his mouth and he coughed. More blood flew out of his mouth, passing through the fading hologram of Faerie Master. That’s also probably not good.

“Good game…”

Donte collapsed.

It took a second for Helena to process the situation before she let out a scream. ”This is worse than what I was expecting!!” She rushed over to Donte as she called the academy staff on her PDA. ”Someone help, please! There’s blood everywhere! I-I’m sorry, Donte! I’m sorry!” She exclaimed in a very panicked tone.

Leo Wilde – Slifer Red

Leo shuffled his feet awkwardly. He was really starting to feel bad about asking all of this, given how real this conversation was getting; it was supposed to be about figuring out what a bunch of dumb kids were doing in the woods at night, not digging up a strangers’ bad memories.

Maybe that was the point, to throw him off track by making him uncomfortable so he’d stop digging deeper into… whatever was going on. He wasn’t so sure it was just a prank anymore, but he still wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of spirits being real; a little less of a sceptic than before, sure, but not willing to fully buy into it yet.

If it was just to get him to feel awkward, it was working. Leo decided to just drop this for now. If something like this happened again, he’d come looking for this girl and get some real answers from her, but for now… he’d just answer her question and leave.

“Short. Like, really short. Long dark hair, kind of purple tinted; it fell in front of her face, covered one eye, but that might just have been because of everything that happened.” That was really all he could remember. It was dark and he hadn’t been trying to remember what she’d looked like at the time. “She used some kind of snake deck. Oh, and she was limping when she left.”

@Psyker Landshark

Huh. That description sounded familiar. A super short girl with dark purple hair and long bangs? Hell, that Obelisk was in their class, wasn't she? Well, that made things easier.

"Right, sounds familiar. Pretty sure she's in the same classes we are." Valerie hopped off the crate she was sitting on, offering Leo an appreciative nod. "Appreciate you letting me know. And for not telling me to screw off the second I started talking about spirits." She made to leave, but not before some mental prodding from Ceruli reminded her of something.

Ugh, did she really just start unloading her baggage onto a complete stranger, even if he was a classmate? God, that was embarassing.

"Oh, uh..." Valerie turned back towards Leo for a moment, scratching her cheek awkwardly. "Sorry for just dumping half my crap onto you like that. My bad?"

@King Cosmos