The victim of a longevity spell that backfired, the Skeleton King Ostarion has built an empire from the bones of his enemies. He lives only to extend his reach, for as long as he is perpetually building and adding to his domain he cannot die. The walls of his palace are formed of fired bone; the streets are paved with bones of every sort of creature and every enemy; and even the wood and other natural features of his land have been swept away and replaced with replicas formed of bone. From the Ivory Forest to Ostarion's towering Throne of Bone, nothing happens in the Empire of Bones without the full knowledge of its Skeleton King.
Venwyn had already finished his breakfast when the announcement had sounded. On top of that, Transformer hadn't yet found him. Perhaps he'd forget the whole ordeal in a few... years. Maybe. Probably not. Venwyn took a look at his own Duel Transceiver, it was surprisingly easy to navigate through the various functions and pages. The class he was supposed to be going to was a Fusion Summoning one. Needless to say, Fusion Summoning was not one of the summoning types that Venwyn wanted to focus on, since the deck he currently used had no Fusion Summoning cards - nor did he want any. Still, learning about Fusion Summoning could still come to be useful at some point, so Venwyn opted to attend anyway.
He wasn't the first to enter the classroom, but the current students within wouldn't see him enter. He sort of just... appeared in one of the far corner chairs while nobody was looking, this time without his signature puff of smoke that would normally prelude his entry. He sat patiently, awaiting the lesson to begin.
It was early in the morning. Around an hour and a half prior to the announcement. The halls were empty and quiet, aside from the sloshing and splashing sounds made by the mop being used by that one special janitor who had to clean the halls in the early hours of the morning. The lights in the dorm hallways were off at this point in time. The academy would turn them off past 12:00pm - or just dim them - as a way of deterring students from wandering around at night sometimes. Despite that, it was still possible to see down the hallway... for a few meters; everything else was just complete darkness. The only person who was in the hallways at the time was Pedro the Hyper Janitor, the Duel Tower's most skilled janitor and third-time victor of the annual Grand Janitor Games.
It was at this point in time there was a thundering sound coming from deep within the Earth hallway. The slight rumbling of which caused some of the water in Pedro's Hyper Bucket to spill slightly. It was the sound of footsteps. Loud footsteps. The noise grew much louder, Pedro sighed, as though he knew what was about to happen.
"GET BACK HERE!" Shouted a deep, aggressive voice.
From the darkness darted a student, darting past the Hyper Janitor and coming close to knocking his supplies over. It was Venwyn. The boy didn't stop to apologize to Pedro; he didn't even acknowledge him at the time, speeding through the first half of darkness and into the next, but it wasn't him who was making the noise: Venwyn was quiet in his movements. A few seconds after Venwyn's departure marked the arrival of the thunderous figure who was causing all the noise.
"I SAID 'GET BACK HERE'!" The voice shouted again. A large figure - easily passing 6 feet tall - burst through the darkness in pursuit of the ninja, barrelling past Pedro's equipment and knocking them over. At least the bucket was fine.
The large figure was none other than Acen Honj; the long-standing burly and athletic teacher who did... everything and anything. Teaching, counselling, hall monitoring and announcing were in this man's repertoire - and those were only the "normal" jobs, ignoring the smaller odd jobs that he did for the academy. His overall aggressive and threatening nature in addition to his inability to speak in any volumes other than loud and very-loud led him to be known as "Transformer," because the students felt that he could "transform" your limbs into broken ones. Despite his reputation among the students, he wasn't really well known amongst the first years quite yet, but the rumours about him had definitely been circulating well since the first day.
Currently, Transformer was chasing Venwyn with what appeared to be... the school uniform? It was true. Acen was holding the uniform in its entirety with a coat hanger; the Light uniform, to be precise. They had been going at this for around an hour now, running around the hallways of the various dorms and floors.
"DAMN IT KID, WEAR YOUR UNIFORM!" Transformer yelled as he stampeded after Venwyn.
"You'll have to catch me first, boob!" Venwyn retorted. He was still wearing his regular clothes - the uniform of the Ael Clan. Venwyn disliked the Light uniform. Needless to say, it was a combination of how it looked, and his own prideful nature. Well, that, and the fact that he had like, 30 copies of the same Ael Clan uniform and he didn't want them to go to waste.
The chase continued into the hallway of the Wind dorm. Melchior's announcement had sounded off at this point, and students were beginning to wake up and make their way toward the cafeteria. The loudness of the announcement didn't seem to faze either of the two. They hurdled over and weaved through the students as they emerged from their rooms.
"YOU CAN'T KEEP THIS CRAP UP FOREVER!" Transformer bellowed. This was probably the first time he had encountered someone with such endurance - normally he'd have caught them by now.
"YesIcanyouboob." Venwyn said unnecessarily quickly, increasing his speed and gradually edging toward the wall of the hallway until he was... running on it? He can do that? Seriously? It seemed sort of anime-like, fictional: almost as if this were simply a passage of text on a roleplaying forum. In fact, one might say that a very similar situation has happened before. Perhaps in an alternate timeline long past? Perhaps the ninja was even in a different dorm back then, too. He continued to run across the wall through the final lengths of the Wind hallway, with the burly teacher not too far behind.
The chase had managed to progress into the Light hallways. Venwyn was back on the ground again as normal, but still running away from his pursuer. Kind of like one of those gazelles running away from a lion or something. In the same vein though, the lion would win. Transformer had kept pace with Venwyn, reaching out to grab him by his scarf, but as he grabbed it there was Venwyn's signature puff of smoke. It didn't daunt Transformer, and he continued to reach into the smoke to catch Venwyn, grabbing and pulling out a... log? The dust had settled, and Venwyn was gone.
In Venwyn's place was a large pile of logs though. At least seven logs.
Why seven logs? I don't know.
Venwyn reappeared in the cafeteria, although he wasn't the first one to arrive this time. His arrival was, however, accompanied by a series of tremors through the school caused by the enraged stomping of Transformer. Perhaps he should have vanished during the chase sooner; most of the tables had been filled already. Venwyn requested his food, and simply ate it while standing up. It was probably a good idea to do so: if Transformer managed to find him, he'd be able to run away rather quickly.
The arrival of many students seemed to align with whatever Venwyn was thinking when staring the food collection. However, the subsequent arrival of his two fellow clan members had forced him to temporarily halt anything that he was about to be put in motion, lest they get in the way somehow. Of course, it was unlikely that they would be able to stop him, per say, just interrupt him. Instead, Venwyn opted to try one of the sandwiches, biding his time. While the clan (and by extension, Venwyn) didn't have a very exotic food selection, they did have sandwiches. Even so, the selection of sandwiches at the Duel Tower was rather daunting. Venwyn briefly considered choosing something different than what he knew, but decided not to. It made more sense to stick to what one knew, anyway. Venwyn chose a run-of-the-mill sandwich: ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and the like. After picking his meal, he went and sat down alongside the other students who were eating - albeit he didn't sit with them out of choice. The seats were gradually being filled, and it had become near impossible for him to sit alone because of it.
Despite being missing for the remainder of the Duels that took place after his own, Venwyn was able to pick up on the announcement and quickly arrived at his designated dorm room. It would have been somewhat easy to find (those ninja-senses are useful, you see) regardless, but it was made even easier by the fact that the dorm rooms did have the names of students on them.
Light. It was said to be a good thing to be in this dorm, although as far as the concept went, it made Venwyn feel rather disconnected from both Wind and Earth - both of which would have been much more fitting to be in (in terms of the dorm names). I mean, if light travels so fast, how come it's never caught a ninja?
Opening the door to the his room, it only took a brief moment for Venwyn to assess the room in its entirety. Needless to say, it was large and luxurious, so much so that it was somewhat staggering to look at. Whoever prepared the room beforehand must have been extremely meticulous in their cleaning. The room was spotless, and the addition of all of the auxiliaries (the request form in particular) made it quite obvious as to why the Duel Tower students seemed to aim for the Light Dorm. Unfortunately, these luxuries were wasted on Venwyn. His living spaces were always mundane, with very little luxuries within them. It was a combination of both Ael Clan teachings (despite this being a lenient teaching, at most), and his own ideals amping those teachings much higher than the other members. It would take a while before he considered using most of the luxuries presented before him. He did, however, take the Duel Transceiver - even if only for the usage of the lesson plan. His in particular had a blueish-green colour, which was fairly fitting for some reason.
Venwyn disappeared from his room in a burst of smoke, appearing in the staircase entrance where the food was located. He was fast; nobody else had quite arrived before he did. He wasn't actually hungry, but was thirsty. Despite that, he didn't take anything. He sort of just... stared at the collection of sandwiches and water bottles, even when the other students began to arrive.
It was as though he was planning something.
Somewhere else...
The powerful entity once again sensed something about to happen. There was definitely a troublesome student in the midst of something, and it would be dealt with.
Ethel saw the names flash up on the screens hanging in the middle of the room, clicking her tongue as she was one of the first to go. Still, it's better than constantly hanging around people who seemed to adore annoying her to death. The speaker in the next corner over announced Megan and Akira first, then soon after followed by Venwyn and Ethel. The hooded girl picked up the disk laying on her side, sliding the structure deck into it as well as putting the extra deck into the modified built-in zone. The girl rose up. "I'm going now." they informed the boys gathered around, then began walking off. She made her way down the audience seats and into a small entrance near the desk from earlier, the hallway into Arena 2. That disk on Ethel's wrist was weighing down hard, and when she arrived she took a moment to take in what she was actually doing. Everyone in this side of the arena was staring at her... And something else. The blue-haired girl turned her attention back to the field.
On the opposite side of the arena was Venwyn. He was sitting down, arms and legs crossed. He didn't seem to acknowledge the stares of the students in the arena at the time. It seemed as though he had been waiting for a while, and yet nobody seemed to see him move onto the field at any point. Weird. Still, upon getting Ethel's attention, the boy stood up and activated his Duel Disk. With a few clicks, the Duel Disk had set itself without issue, Venwyn placed his newly-made Deck inside of the compartment and awaited his opponent to do the same.
"Let's begin," Venwyn said with a neutral expression.
Ethel raised up her Disk as well, holding out her arm so that it was facing towards Venwyn at a perfect 90° angle. She liked him already, unlike others he didn't waste time. "...Agreed, let's begin." The momentum in the hybrid disk flared up, showing the rainbow colored pattern underneath it.
"Duel!"
Turn 1: Venwyn Venwyn 4000 LP, 5 cards in Hand Ethel 4000 LP, 5 cards in Hand
Venwyn drew his five starting cards, nodding in approval.
It was a...defensive hand, to say the least.
"I place three face down cards, and end my turn." As the boy said it, three face down cards appeared on the field. One was in the Monster Zone, and two were in the Spell and Trap Zone.
"Your move."
Turn 2: Ethel Venwyn 4000 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 2 S/T Ethel 4000 LP, 6 cards in Hand
Ethel drew hard card, then clicked her tongue. The hand wasn't bad by any means, but great wouldn't be the right word either. "...Summon. Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame." The girl picked the card from her hand and slid it onto the rather large disk, revealing a humanoid raven of sorts flying up out of a vortex.
Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame: 1800 ATK/1200 DEF Level 4 DARK Winged-Beast
"Kris the Crack of Dawn's effect... Summon." Once more a vortex opened, next to Shura now, and another humanoid bird flew out. Their mask had two glowing dots in them, and a positively creepy smile was on Kris' face.
Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn: 1900 ATK/300 DEF Level 4 DARK Winged-Beast
"Battle Phase... Shura, kill that monster!" A sinister smile crossed Ethel's face when she spoke those words, the feeling returned by Shura as he launched up into the air and shot three feathers into the face-down monster.
"Sakuretsu Armor," Venwyn said, revealing one of his face-down cards. As the Blackwing monster went to attack, spiked armor emerged from Venwyn's face down card and pierced through the bird creature, destroying it.
Ethel clicked her tongue as Shura shattered into pixels, though this wasn't going to stop her. "...Kris, kill it instead!" the girl shouted, making her monster flinch a little. It slid its hand over the blade firmly locked into their talon, rushing forward to try and slash at the card.
"A life for a life,"
Venwyn said as the second Blackwing Monster attacked his face-down card. The card flipped up, revealing his hidden Monster.
Ghostrick Doll: 300 ATK/1200 DEF Level 2 DARK Spellcaster
As quickly as it appeared, the bisque doll was destroyed, but not before activating some kind of magical wave that seemed to do nothing. Venwyn's expression didn't seem to change in the slightest, though.
Ethel slid a card into her disk, revealing a face-down S/T before muttering "Turn end." Then, Kris forced itself down and disappeared under its own card back. "...Wait, what? What did you just do?!" Ethel was taken aback by this, and her voice reflected that as such.
"Ghostrick Doll's effect forces all face-up monsters face-down at the End Phase," Venwyn explained.
"It would also allow me to special summon a Monster with the same level as the number of Monsters turned face-down, although I won't use that part."
"Drawing," Venwyn said, drawing the first card of his turn.
"I activate the field spell, Ghostrick Mansion." As he said this, he placed the card into the Duel Disk field spell area. The field seemed to rumble and shake as walls erected themselves around the two Duelists. Dusty and old furniture appeared, lights flickered and spectral wisps flew around the room, accompanied by childlike laughter on the occasion.
"I also place one more face down card," the boy said. Another face down card appeared in the S/T Zone to replace the one he had used previously.
"Continue."
Turn 4: Ethel Venwyn 4000 LP, 1 cards in Hand, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 4 cards in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
"My turn, Draw!" Ethel swiped the card from her deck, and didn't even need to take a closer look to know if it would help her or not. Damnit! "...Activate Cards for Black Feathers. Banish Blackwing - Damascus the Polar Night. I can now draw two..." After the explanation, Ethel revealed Damascus in her hand and put it in the box she got for the structure deck, it hanging onto her skirt (somehow) as an improvised deck holder.
She drew two more cards and again saw nothing useful amongst them, infuriating her even further. "...Kris will now come back." the girl informed, flipping up the card on her disk to reveal the same creepy bird stroking their blade.
"No it won't," Venwyn said, clicking his fingers as the Spell Card on his side of the field flipped up.
"Book of Moon."
As quickly as Kris had appeared, he disappeared again under his card once more. A large blue book appeared, it's cover depicted many ancient symbols - one of which was a large black crescent in the centre of the cover of the book. The book opened, revealing a creeping darkness which forced the Blackwing's card face-down.
Kris stared at Venwyn for a second, dumbstruck and humiliated. It grabbed the card back they threw away and just sunk back under it, completely ashamed to have even tried. Ethel wasn't so happy with this. "Argh...! ...Fine, Normal Summon Raidraptor - Sharp Lanius!" Ethel's face changed to a frown, signalling that she was starting to lose it slowly. A vortex opened up next to Kris, this time a mechanical bird shooting out and flying into the sky. It had four light-blue, glowing eyes and razor sharp talons sticking out of its red-painted armor.
"Battle Phase." Ethel's calm had come back, her taking a breather and telling herself not to get so wound up. She stared at Venwyn's face-down card, scared, but also thinking it can't be worse than before or Venwyn'd have used it on Kris. "Sharp Lanius, hurt Venwyn!" the girl declared and gained that sinister grin again, pointing with her free hand to the ninja teenager. The bird happily obliged, letting out a cry and flying up higher. It scanned the area, then locked the blades on it's side forward to try and divebomb Venwyn.
The ninja simply allowed the Monster to attack him, although he didn't quite react to the strike of the divebomb as much as one would probably hope. It was just a small wince.
"Ghostrick Mansion will halve the damage of any Monster that isn't of the Ghostrick archetype. "
True to what he said, Venwyn had only lost 850 Life Points.
Venwyn 4000 LP > 3150 LP
Sharp Lanius made a sharp turn once having passed through Venwyn, flying back to its vantage point near Ethel. "...Turn end." she said, passing the turn order back to Venwyn.
Turn 5: Venwyn Venwyn 3150 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 3 cards in Hand, 1 face-up monster, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
Venwyn silently drew his next card, his facial expressions were relatively constant, so it made it difficult to discern whether what he got was good or not. It was like... an ultimate poker face of sorts.
"I place (yet another) face-down Monster and end my turn."
As he said this, another face-down Monster Card appeared onto the field.
Turn 6: Ethel Venwyn 3150 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 4 cards in Hand, 1 face-up Monster, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
"My turn. Draw." Ethel put yet another card into her hand, then groaned. Still nothing. She had a major advantage though, with two monsters staring Venwyn down. "...Ghostrick Mansion's effect." The girl gained a smug smirk, knowing about that card since she had learned about it.
"...Monster Reincarnation." Ethel revealed the spell card, not bothering to explain the effect. She showed Blackwing - Abrolhos the Megaquake in her hand and deposited in the graveyard, then put Shura back into her hand. "...Come back, Kris. Summon Shura." One after the other, both birds flew back into the field. Kris ESPECIALLY didn't look pleased, that grin from before now aimed downwards while pointing the sharp edge of it's blade to Venwyn.
Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame: 1800 ATK/1200 DEF Level 4 DARK Winged-Beast
Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn: 1900 ATK/300 DEF Level 4 DARK Winged-Beast
"Battle." Ethel pointed to Shura first, who flew further up into the air and spread its wings. "Ghostrick mansion, right?" She grinned, Shura matching the sentiment with black feathers starting to rain down on Venwyn.
"Unfortunately, not this time."
Venwyn activated the trap card he had placed face down for a while - since the beginning of the duel, actually.
"Negate Attack."
It was something which he had placed since the start, as a damage control of sorts. It was a temporary halt to the issue at hand, but good enough for now. Feathers bounced off of a translucent barrier of blue and red, falling to the floor harmlessly.
"The Battle Phase ends."
Whatever good mood Ethel had disappeared in a flash, the scowl from earlier returning. "...Set card. Turn... End."
Turn 7: Venwyn Venwyn 3150 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 3 face-up Monsters, 2 S/T
Venwyn drew forth yet another card. Whereas for most of the duel he was relatively level-headed, there was a brief moment of surprise in what he had drawn, although he quickly returned to his regular self.
"I place a spell card. Pot of Duality."
He proceeded to place the Spell Card onto the field, and a pot - split down the middle - appeared from the card that had been placed. He didn't deign to explain the effect this time - the card was relatively well known as is. Instead, he excavated his cards and systematically dictated them as they came.
"Night Assailant, Gravity Bind, and Tour Guide from the Underworld"
Analyzing his current situation, Venwyn went with the most defensive option - Gravity Bind. Showing the card to his opponent, he placed it into his hand and shuffled the other two cards back into his Deck.
"I place one more face-down card and end my turn."
Ethel bit down on her tongue, knowing what was coming next.
Turn 8: Ethel Venwyn 3150 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 3 face-up Monsters, 2 S/T
"My turn. Draw." Just as announced, Ethel drew. She knew what the face-down card was going to be and also that she wasn't going to like it. "Battle." she announced "Shura, hurt Venwyn." The bird-man flew up high again, bracing its wings to fire another volley of feathers.
"Gravity Bind," Venwyn said, activating the card. It was a somewhat obvious activation though, since he had specifically chosen and set it in the last turn.
A blue sphere appeared in the middle of the field, it pulsed with an energy which pressed down on the Monsters currently on the field, sans Venwyn's own face-down Monster. Noticing the look on Ethel's face, Venwyn assumed that she understood what was happening, and decided not to explain Gravity Bind's effect.
"Main Phase Two. Spell card activate." The first facedown Ethel had set revealed itself to be Dark Mamebele. "It Banishes Gravity bind with three DARK monsters." Ethel explained the card to Venwyn, a guillotine blade suddenly falling onto the Gravity Bind out of nowhere and slicing in in half.
"Set card. Turn end."
Turn 9: Venwyn Venwyn 3150 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 3 face-up Monsters, 2 S/T
"Alright," Venwyn said, drawing his next card.
"I flip my Monster face-up," Venwyn said, raising his hand. The Monster Card on the field lifted, revealing a large sitting Yeti, slightly sleepy from the time it had spent under its card.
"I will then summon Ghostrick Mummy in face-up Attack Position."
As he said this, another Ghostrick Monster appeared on the field. A large Mummy - around the same size size as the Ghostrick Yeti. Surprisingly, it seemed to be just as tired despite not having been on the field at all this Duel - something which the Ghostrick Yeti pointed out in incomprehensible growling, to which the Ghostrick Mummy shrugged.
"I will overlay the two Monsters in order to summon Ghostrick Alucard."
Venwyn overlaid the two level three Monster Cards. A black card appeared on the field over the two Ghostrick Monsters. A vampire clad in a cape and formal attire rose from the image of the card.
Ghostrick Alucard: 1800 ATK/1600 DEF Rank 3 DARK Zombie/Xyz
"...Overlay?" Ethel inquired, quite obviously having never heard of it.
"Overlaying is the act of Xyz Summoning a Monster. A type of special summoning." Venwyn said, trying to sum up the process in a quick way. He wasn't exactly a teacher.
"Moving on, I activate Ghostrick Alucard's effect, on the S/T Card you placed earlier." Venwyn detached a card from the current stack of Monster Cards. The vampiric Monster glanced over to Ethel's face-down Spell/Trap Card, the one she placed on her previous turn. The Monster clicked it's fingers, and the card developed a series of cracks before shattering to pieces and dissipating in a yellow particle effect.
The card Venwyn destroyed left an image for just long enough to show it was Black Return.
"I'll now go on to Xyz another Monster - Ghostrick Angel of Mischief."
Venwyn went on to overlay yet another card onto the current pile of Monster Cards. The Ghostrick Alucard shrugged, disappearing in a yellow particle effect akin to the card he destroyed. Several pink and purple hearts welled out of the card that Venwyn had placed, and an angelic figure appeared in the place where Alucard once stood.
Ghostrick Angel of Mischief: 2000 ATK/2500 DEF Rank 4 DARK Fairy/Xyz
"And now, I'll use the Ghostrick Angel's effect to obtain a Ghostrick Trap Card from my Deck," Venwyn said, detaching the Ghostrick Mummy and putting it into the graveyard. Venwyn proceeded to obtain the trap card Ghostrick Vanish, which he showed to the opponent before adding it to his hand.
"I'll then place two face-down cards, and end my turn."
Turn 10: Ethel Venwyn 3150 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 face-up Monster, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 3 face-up Monsters, 1 S/T
"My turn. Draw." Ethel looked at the card she drew and instantly slid it into her Duel Disk. "Mystical space Typhoon. Destroy your first set card." Ethel motioned, beckoning Venwyn to get rid of the trap card he set first on his previous turn.
As the card in question was destroyed, it was revealed to be Ghostrick Break. A storm raged over the face-down card, before shattering it to pieces.
Ethel thought for a bit. She saw what Venwyn had done earlier to summon Alucard... Was that what those black cards were for? It couldn't hurt to try... "I'll... Overlay Sharp Lanius and Shura..." True enough, the same vortex from before opened up in front of Ethel's monsters. It was kind of intimidating, but Sharp Lanius and Shura didn't seem to mind as they quickly turned into two pulsating lines of dark energy. Both lines jumped in and mixed inside the vortex, revealing a flash of light exploding from within moments after. "Sharpen your claws to protect your precious home from the robbers who try to steal away the riches... Xyz Summon!" From the vortex a blue, crystallized wolf of sorts jumped out, baring its fangs and digging their claws firmly into the ground. It had a gray armor on with red outlines, and two curved crystals ran from it's back but seemed to stop halfway before connecting. "Sacrifice to protect, Diamond Dire Wolf!"
Diamond Dire Wolf: 2000 ATK/1200 DEF Rank 4 EARTH Beast
Ethel was kind of... Taken aback by how easy that went. Now she knew what those cards were for... She looked towards the wolf, two purple glowing orbs floating around it in a circular manner, parallel to eachother. The girl then glanced down at her disk, seeing how she put two cards over each other with Diamond Dire Wolf on top. But... "Wolf's effect... I destroy Kris and Angel..." Ethel commanded, the wolf giving a threatening roar to Ghostrick Angel after absorbing one of its overlay units. Kris was panicking, but seemed to find some sort of resolve in Diamond Dire Wolf's behaviour, lunging forward blade first to try and get rid of the other Xyz monster.
Kris plunged it's blade right into Angel's shoulder, the Ghostrick wincing in pain from the sudden strike. She bit it back and blasted a magical bullets straight into Kris, shattering him and her at the same time.
"Now I activate Creeping Darkness..." A spell card materialized on the field as two monster cards popped back out of Ethel's grave, Abrolhos and Kris. She showed them to Venwyn, putting them alongside Damascus in her deck holder and adding Blackwing - Bora the Spear from her deck into her hand. "Summon." Staying as deadpan as ever, Ethel slid Bora's card onto the disk as the humanoid raven shoots out onto the field, wearing an even more creepy smile than Kris while being unable to see their eyes.
Blackwing - Bora the Spear: 1700 ATK/800 DEF Level 4 DARK Winged-Beast
"Battle. Both my monsters will hurt you." Ethel's eyes lit up with glee again after speaking those words, both Diamond Dire Wolf and Bora the spear lunged forward with their respective ways of attacking to take a chunk out of Venwyn's lifepoints.
Venwyn LP 3150 > 1300
"Turn end." Ethel's joy from earlier went as soon as it came, passing over the turn to Venwyn.
Turn 11: Venwyn Venwyn 1300 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 2 face-up Monsters, 1 S/T
"Quite the summon," Venwyn said, although he was rather dismissive about it. Although he didn't show it, the situation was definitely dire. Some level of strategy would have to go into his next move, otherwise there would be a problem.
"Draw."
...
...
"Pot of Dichotomy."
A card appeared on the field, and from it materialized a pot that was split down the middle, akin to the Pot of Duality seen in a previous turn, except the juxtaposition here seemed more sinister here. Venwyn once again systematically called out cards - this time they would be Monsters to add to his deck. "Ghostrick Mummy, Ghostrick Angel of Mischief and Ghostrick Doll."
Adding the cards to his deck, and drew two more. The air around Venwyn became less heavy. He could work with this. It was extremely dependant on luck.
"Tour Guide from the Underworld," Venwyn said, placing the card on the field.
Tour Guide from the Underworld: 1000 ATK/600 DEF Level 3 DARK Fiend
"The Tour Guide of the Underworld allows me to summon a level three Fiend Monster, although its effect is negated."
As Venwyn said this, another Monster appeared on the field alongside the Tour Guide. It was the Night Assailant.
Night Assailant: 200 ATK/500 DEF Level 3 DARK Fiend
"Overlay," he said, overlaying the two cards.
"Three times a curse."
For the third time, a black card manifested itself on the field, but this time, it was...different. Whereas the Ghostrick cards were somewhat lighthearted, this one was not.
"Vinyl Fiend."
From the black card swirled an ominous purple aura, the miasma cloumping together to create a robed, wraithlike and skeletal figure that wielded a silver scythe.
Vinyl Fiend: 1800 ATK/0 DEF Rank 3 DARK Zombie
The creature itself was intimidating, however, Venwyn opted not to attack this turn for some reason. Instead, he simply placed a face-down card and ended his turn as normal.
Turn 12: Ethel Venwyn 1300 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 2 face-up Monsters, 1 S/T
"My turn. Draw." Ethel swiped the next card from her deck, then decided to take a quick look. Her lips curled upward ever so slightly. "Monster Summon." She declared, a man-raven wearing some sort of red feathered shawl behind it's head, facial features obscured by the bird-like appearance of it.
Blackwing - Estian of Two Swords: 400 ATK/1600 DEF Level 3 DARK Winged-Beast
"Wolf's effect activates." Ethel declared, detaching the remaining overlay unit as Diamond Dire Wolf gave off another threatening roar. The girl lowered down her finger and pointed at Vinyl Fiend, intent on destroying them. Estian jumped back a little, but same as with Kris, found something motivating in that roar. It braced itself, then rushed forward with its razor sharp talons to try and take Vinyl Fiend down with it.
"Chain."
Seemingly aware of its impending death, the Vinyl Fiend smiled as though it were in on something Venwyn had planned. The ninja boy removed one of the Xyz materials from the card, and a piece of the purple miasma broke apart from the Vinyl Fiend as the enemy Monster approached, creating a Miasma Token in Defence Position.
Miasma Token: 500 ATK/500 DEF DARK Fiend/Token
As Estian struck the Vinyl Fiend, it quickly dissipated into a particle effect, except it was in an unusual purple colour.
Venwyn seemed unfazed by the disappearance of the Monster.
Ethel was unphazed by the appearance of a token, in fact, this could help. "Battle. Bora kills your Miasma token." On cue, Bora raised it's spear to meet his eyes and grinned like a maniac. He flew forward to try and impale the Miasma Token on it.
Venwyn pointed upwards, causing his hidden (Donald) trump card to rise.
"Mirror Force."
A luminescent barrier appeared in front of the Miasma Token as the Monsters went to attack, releasing a powerful counter-strike (global offensive) that razed the field.
The skeleton-faced Miasma Token seemed to grin wider than before.
Ethel's eyes widened just a little as Bora flew straight into a see-through wall, lighting up with rainbow colors at the moment of the crash. The immense shockwave came out, blowing away both Bora and Diamond Dire Wolf. At the same time however, Ethel's face-down also seemed to get swept up in the chaos, revealing itself to be Raidraptors - Readiness before vanishing.
"...End." Ethel spat out, venom hidden in those words. Venwyn was up to play again.
Turn 13: Venwyn Venwyn 1300 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 0 cards in Hand!
Venwyn silently drew his card. He was focused on the duel now. It had been going on for a while, and he had only just managed to avert a crisis through the combined efforts of planning and multiple Xyz Monsters.
"I place a face-down Monster and end my turn."
Turn 14: Ethel Venwyn 1300 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand
Ethel drew her card in silence for once, then grimaced at the sight of what it was. She wasn't helped in any way shape or form by this... "Set. End." One face-down appeared, and the turn was Venwyn's once more.
Turn 14: Venwyn Venwyn 1300 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 1 Set monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 S/T
Venwyn drew his next card, placing it as a Monster in face-down defence position.
Aside from that, Venwyn also lifted his previous face-down Monster, revealing the Ghostrick Jiangshi.
Ghostrick Jiangshi: 400 ATK/1800 DEF DARK Zombie
"Ghostrick Jiangshi's effect allows me to draw a Ghostrick Monster," he said, adding Ghostrick Lantern to his hand.
"Face-down." Venwyn commanded. As quickly as it had appeared, the Ghostrick Jiangshi's card flipped face-down once more.
"I end my turn."
Turn 15: Ethel Venwyn 1300 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 2 Set monsters, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 S/T
"Draw." Once again, Ethel swiped a card from her deck with distaste. At this rate, she'd lose... "Monster, set. End turn." Seriously, what could the girl do right now?
Turn 16: Venwyn Venwyn 1300 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 2 Set monsters, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
Drawing his next card, Venwyn opted to go straight for the Main Phase.
"Flip Summon," he said, flipping over the other Monster Card he had. A small female figure not unlike the Ghostrick Angel appeared, except this one was blond and wearing a witch outfit. The Ghostrick Witch flew out of the card on her broom.
Ghostrick Witch: 1200 ATK/200 DEF DARK Spellcaster
"Again," Venwyn said, prompting the Ghostrick Jiangshi to also summon itself onto the field. Ghostrick Jiangshi's effect also activated, and Venwyn obtained yet another Ghostrick card from his deck. This time it was Ghostrick Nekomusume, which Venwyn proceeded to summon in face-up Attack position.
"Face-down," Venwyn commanded. Only the Ghostrick Jiangshi went face-down once more, whereas the Ghostrick Nekomusume and Witch remained in Attack Position.
"Now I end my turn," Venwyn said, urging Ethel to continue.
Turn 17: Ethel Venwyn 1300 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 3 Face-up Monsters, 1 Set monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
"My turn. Draw." Ethel was slightly panicked. Sure, Venwyn wasn't doing any damage, but he WAS building up a board and it could very easily screw her over. She looked over to her side, at the card between her fingers, and her eyes widened. This was something she could use!
"Flip Summon." From the set card on her field an armored bird shot up, quite a silly one actually. It was Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield.
Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield: ATK 100/ DEF 1800 Level 2 DARK Winged-Beast/Tuner
"Effect. Normal Summon." Wasting no time, Ethel got straight to the point and slid another card onto her disk, out coming a jet-black raven, this time more bird than man. It's black feathers gave off a menacing vibe with them being stretched out, and it seemed to stare right into Venwyn's soul.
Blackwing - Elphin the Raven: ATK 2200/ DEF 1200 Level 6 DARK Winged-Beast
The powerful Monster appearing on the field seemed to alert Ghostrick Nekomusume. She began to charge what appeared to be some sort of magical spell, targeting the card in which Elphin stood upon. She fired a small amount of magical energy towards the card, flipping it over and sealing Elphin underneath.
"Ghostrick Nekomusume turns all Normal and Special Summoned cards face-down if they exceed level three."
The result was almost comical really, the card raised itself above Elphin's head without it ever noticing and then slammed down without warning, making the menacing birk into little more than a mockery as it trashed around, before sinking underneath and disappearing. Ethel wasn't too happy with this, gritting her teeth while muttering "End..." under her breath.
Turn 18: Venwyn Venwyn 1300 LP, 1 card in Hand, 3 Face-up Monsters, 1 Set monster, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
"Draw."
Venwyn once again directed his focus toward the Main Phase. He began by placing a face-down S/T card. He then proceeded to flip the Ghostrick Jiangshi up once more, activating it's effect and allowing him to add Ghostrick Stein to his hand.
Playing yet another face-down Monster, Venwyn proceeded to have his other Monsters turn face-down, excluding the Defence Position Miasma Token. Ghostrick Nekomusume's effect was no longer active on the field.
"My turn ends."
Turn 19: Ethel Venwyn 1300 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 4 Set monsters, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 1 Set Monster, 1 S/T
"Draw." Ethel had to question Venwyn's motives here. Yes, keeping Nekomusume on the field wouldn't have caused Elphin to flip face-down again but at the same time, al Ethel had to do was destroy the Miasma Token and direct attack... Was there some kind of trap waiting for her?
"Flip Summon." Elphin came from underneath his card again, flying into the air and letting out a furious cry to show how utterly displeased it was.
"Battle." Ethel pointed towards the token. "Kill it, Elphin." The usual joy wasn't in Ethel's voice, she just wanted to get it over with at this point. Elphin rushed forward, digging one of its claws into the token and shattering it. "Hurt him." the girl commanded to Mistral, who kind of clumsily waddled over to Venwyn and pecked him on his foot.
Venwyn LP 1300 > 1250
"Mansion effect halves. Turn end."
Turn 20!: Venwyn Venwyn 1250 LP, 1 card in Hand, 1 Face-up Monster, 4 Set monsters, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 1 card in Hand, 2 Face-up Monsters, 1 S/T
"Whereas time may be an infinite river with many eddies, fate is not. Fate has foreseen your end since the day you were born, and has given me visions of what is to come. It has been done. The path has unspooled before me and given the inexorable answer to this game. The end is written, the pendulum has stopped, and this is the final chapter of our tale; the tale of Avians and the Occult."
...
...
What the hell?
"I activate Ghostrick Vanish," Venwyn said, revealing both the card on the field, and a Ghostrick Monster in his hand - Ghostrick Lantern. A thick and dark aura befell Venwyn's side of the field, obscuring his Monsters and making them more difficult to see.
"I activate Ghostrick Scare," Venwyn continued. He revealed the second Trap Card he had placed not too long ago.
"Ghostrick Scare allows me to Flip Summon as many Ghostrick Monsters as I desire, and in turn lets me turn your own Monsters face-down."
As he said this, four of his current face-down Monsters flipped face-up. Ghostrick Stein, Jiangshi, Nekomusume and Ghostrick Witch. The quadruplet spooky quartet performed a unison scare than involves various acts, including but not limited to: not-so-scary faces, shouting "boo!" at various volumes, and that one thing where you make it look like your thumb is removable. Perhaps the terribleness of the act is what made it scary, but it had managed to cause both Elphin and Mistral to hide under their cards for...protection, I guess.
Ghostrick Stein: ATK 1600/ DEF 0 Level 3 DARK Zombie
Ghostrick Jiangshi: ATK 400/ DEF 1800 Level 3 DARK Zombie
Ghostrick Witch: ATK 1200/ DEF 0 Level 2 DARK Spellcaster
Ghostrick Nekomusume: ATK 400/ DEF 900 Level 2 DARK Spellcaster
Somewhere during that super-spooky act, Jiangshi's effect had activated, allowing Venwyn to add and summon another Ghostrick Monster to the field - the Ghostrick Ghoul. The Ghoul was able to piece together the fact that they had missed the scary party that took place moments ago, and was somewhat angry about it, stamping it's foot over and over again in frustration.
Ghostrick Ghoul: ATK 1100/ DEF 1200 Level 3 DARK Zombie
This angry babyrage only came to an end when Venwyn activated its effect.
"Ghostrick Ghoul can make one Ghostrick Monsters attack the combined attack of all Ghostrick Monsters on the field."
In this particular instance, the Ghostrick Ghoul directed its power toward the Ghostrick Witch. A heap of magical energy gathered in the Witch's wand, and she was struggling to control it.
"Battle phase," Venwyn said. It was probably the first time he had said it this match. He hadn't intended to try and end the Duel with an attack, but this circumstance forced him to adapt.
Venwyn pointed toward Ethel, prompting the Ghostrick Witch to attack. It was difficult. The power given to the Witch had manifested itself as a ridiculously large ball of magical energy which was to difficult to fire. It took the combined efforts of the Ghostrick Witch and Ghostrick Stein in order to swing this ball of magical power toward Ethel, rolling across the field and slowly coming to reach it's destination.
The girl wagged her finger at Venwyn. "Trap activate." Suddenly, a circuclar barrier appeared around Ethel, the huge ball of energy exploding onto it and leaving the girl's lifepoints unscathed. "I Banished Raidraptor Readiness from my graveyard. It negates any damage I take." The girl gained a confident smirk as the barrier remained around her, and wouldn't leave until Venwyn decided it was her turn again.
"..."
Venwyn said nothing. Saying something would reduce the potency of his previous sermon on fate. Instead, he commanded all of the Ghostrick Monsters aside from the Ghostrick Witch to turn face-down. The Jiangshi was also exempt from turning face-down, and was instead put into face-up Defence Position.
He then proceeded to end his turn. Silently.
Turn 21: Ethel Venwyn 1250 LP, 0 cards in Hand, 2 Face-up Monsters, 3 Set monsters, 1 Field Spell Ethel 4000 LP, 2 cards in Hand, 2 Set Monsters, 1 S/T
Ethel drew her next card, then sighed. Ghostrick Witch wasn't going to be beaten by the combo she currently has in her hand. She placed her hand on top of her Duel Disk and pressed in the Lifepoint counter, reducing her own to 0. "You win."
Ethel LP 4000 > 0
WINNER: VENWYN
Ethel took out her deck from her Disk, sliding the entirety of it back into the deck box she wa still carrying around from earlier. Venwyn had put up quite the resistance, and that last combo of his proved fatal to her. She looked over to Venwyn and seemed to be... Smiling? "Congratulations. You deserved every bit of that." Ethel gave a polite bow, hands placed on her skirt as she did. Soon after she turned around to exit the arena, honestly not minding the outcome that much.
Venwyn was about to leave rather quickly after the duel had ended. That was what he had intended, anyway. He did not expect his opponent to be so... congratulatory towards him. He wasn't used to it, nor did he know how to respond to it.
"...Thanks?" He said in a confused tone. He didn't stick around for much longer afterwards, and proceeded to disappear in his now-signature burst of smoke.
...
Somewhere else within the school, a powerful entity stirred. He sensed Venwyn would be a...troublesome student. It was only a matter of time.
As time went on, the amount of students around the display had been decreasing, the waves of new students moving towards their chosen seats in the far corners of the room. Most of the students had chosen their Structure Decks and packs, and the line to the display had cleaned up a bit because of it: there wasn't as many people pushing and shouting to get their Decks before someone else did. Still, there was some level of tension - there were only so many archetypes, and it wasn't unlikely that someone's desired archetype would be taken by another student. The teacher at the display was somewhat pleased at the proceedings, there weren't many students left before he could go and do something better with his time. The next student in line was about to move up to the counter, before they were... blown backward by a burst of smoke.
The smoke cleared, revealing a boy clad in a purple ninja garb. Some of the students were taken aback by his sudden appearance in the room. How he had managed to do that was a complete mystery. Did he even use the elevator? Hell, did he even come here on the bus? The teacher at the counter sighed. He wasn't paid enough to deal with this kind of thing.
"What Structure Deck do you—"
Almost immediately, Venwyn placed something on the counter, it was the Ghostrick Ghouls Structure Deck. The teacher shook his head in response.
"You can't just bring your own Structure Deck, you know." The teacher said, moving to the row of Structure Decks.
"It has to come from the Tower." The teacher went to grab what would be the Duel Tower's Ghostrick Ghoul Structure Deck from the layered shelf.
...
...
It wasn't there.
Venwyn had managed to take it without anyone noticing, but when? The teacher widened his eyes ever so slightly, before returning back to his regular, unimpressed self.
"Alright, go and get a Duel Dis—"
Once again, Venwyn placed another item onto the counter. This time it was one of the folding Duel Disks. The ninja boy hadn't said anything yet, and simply waited with an expectant look.
"...Right. I assume you've taken the Booster Pack already? Show me."
The teacher proved to be correct. Venwyn proceeded to reveal the Primal Origins Booster Pack. The bored teacher didn't even bother checking to see if it was still there.
"Finished?"
"Yeah."
With that, the ninja boy disappeared in another puff of smoke, leaving the line of students to continue as normal. It should be noted that the student behind Venwyn had been on the ground throughout the entire ordeal, and was pretty lost as to what just took place.
A few seconds later (if it's a 'few seconds later' it doesn't really need a title, but whatever)
Reappearing in one of the many seats that lined the corners of the room, Venwyn proceeded to open his card pack and Structure Deck, systematically rolling through the cards to view what he cards had obtained.
[centre][img]http://i.imgur.com/TVZBBX2.png[/img]
[b]BECAUSE I AM SWITCHING ACCOUNTS TO [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/Poke]POKE[/url], THIS ACCOUNT WILL NOW SERVE AS A MEMORIAL TO THE ONLY KING [u]THAT MATTERS[/u].[/b]
[hr][img]https://d1u5p3l4wpay3k.cloudfront.net/dota2_gamepedia/0/07/Skeleton_King_icon.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/dWNoOj8.png[/img] [b]Ostarion, the Skeleton King[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/dWNoOj8.png[/img]
[url=http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/9/91/Skel_ability_incarn1_08.mp3]"Bone is strongest where it's mended."[/url]
[i]The victim of a longevity spell that backfired, the Skeleton King Ostarion has built an empire from the bones of his enemies. He lives only to extend his reach, for as long as he is perpetually building and adding to his domain he cannot die. The walls of his palace are formed of fired bone; the streets are paved with bones of every sort of creature and every enemy; and even the wood and other natural features of his land have been swept away and replaced with replicas formed of bone. From the Ivory Forest to Ostarion's towering Throne of Bone, nothing happens in the Empire of Bones without the full knowledge of its Skeleton King.[/i]
[hr]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hXCcEqprB0[/youtube][/centre]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/TVZBBX2.png" /><br><br><span class="bb-b">BECAUSE I AM SWITCHING ACCOUNTS TO <a href="http://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/Poke">POKE</a>, THIS ACCOUNT WILL NOW SERVE AS A MEMORIAL TO THE ONLY KING <span class="bb-u">THAT MATTERS</span>.</span><br><hr class="bb-hr"><img src="https://d1u5p3l4wpay3k.cloudfront.net/dota2_gamepedia/0/07/Skeleton_King_icon.png" /><br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/dWNoOj8.png" /> <span class="bb-b">Ostarion, the Skeleton King</span> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/dWNoOj8.png" /><br><br><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/9/91/Skel_ability_incarn1_08.mp3">"Bone is strongest where it's mended."</a><br><br><span class="bb-i">The victim of a longevity spell that backfired, the Skeleton King Ostarion has built an empire from the bones of his enemies. He lives only to extend his reach, for as long as he is perpetually building and adding to his domain he cannot die. The walls of his palace are formed of fired bone; the streets are paved with bones of every sort of creature and every enemy; and even the wood and other natural features of his land have been swept away and replaced with replicas formed of bone. From the Ivory Forest to Ostarion's towering Throne of Bone, nothing happens in the Empire of Bones without the full knowledge of its Skeleton King.</span><br><hr class="bb-hr"><br><iframe src="//youtube.com/embed/6hXCcEqprB0?theme=dark" frameborder="0" width="496" height="279" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
