Chapter Text
No sooner had Keitaro gotten back to his feet and the sun peeking back out from the storm clouds had a beam of orange gold light shot up into the sky, summoning back dark clouds and shrouding the entire island in black mist.
“Last I checked, Hiro wasn’t among the people attacking the Academy, so…he might be there, right? Lee messaged saying that Chancellor Goro had dealt with the Vice-Captain and just sent the Captain running off scared.” Eduard explained quickly.
Keitaro looked at the beam and could feel the cold from the mist seep into his wounds.
“Go get everyone and meet me there: I’m gonna go save Hiro and stop all this.” He commanded, and Eduard simply nodded as they split up.
The din of far-off battle got louder as the dark duelists went reckless and the academy duelists fought to be able to make their way to the beam. Keitaro was already far off from the front lines, so it wasn’t all that difficult for him to sneak his way to the beam.
Standing there draped in black vestments, with a mess of orange hair being the only splash of color, was indeed Hiro. Before Keitaro could even say anything, he turned around. His eyes were dull and he looked like he was flying high.
“Keitaro! You came! That’s amazing, you know: Water was pretty strong, you know? But you’ve always been so special and good at everything, you know? Everyone always loved you immediately, you know? Me too, you know? But you always shined so brightly I felt blinded, like I couldn’t keep up, you know? But now…now, in the hugging darkness, I was finally able to see. So now, I’ve surpassed you. I can prove it too, you know? I was left here to manage the captured keys: I’m the Guardian of the Champions, and you're the Champion of the Guardians. I wonder which of us is better, you know? Let’s find out: duel me, my friend!”
Keitaro was left speechless by the display and needed only a moment to steel his resolve. Hiro took the first turn.
“Here we go, Keitaro: I can show you how much I’ve grown! I activate A Hero Lives: at the cost of half my life points, I can special-summon a Hero from the deck, and I choose Shadow Mist, who will add to my hand a Mask Change on summon. I’ll then activate it, sending Shadow Mist to summon! Come forth, anti-hero! Dark Law! This guy causes all your cards to get banished instead of being sent to the graveyard. And then, yes, I’ll say it: I’ll cheat and activate Shadow Mist’s second effect, adding to my hand Malicious.”
Hiro may have a consistent history of misplaying and missing activations and continuous effects, but he’s never intentionally cheated before. And to be so flippant about it…it’s like he's been freed from something.
Keitaro thought.
“Now, my growth! I activate Branded Opening, sending Evil Hero Necrom to special-summon Aluber, Jester of Despia in defense mode. On summon, he adds a Branded Fusion to my hand. I’ll banish Necrom to special-summon from deck an Evil Hero Malicious Edge.”
The Evil Hero monsters… they’re not considered all that good and aren’t usually played in Hero decks. The fusions can be pretty annoying if you're unlucky, but otherwise they see no play and were never good historically. Besides, being called “Evil Hero” turned a lot of people off them. But now, Hiro is playing them…
“I activate Dark Fusion, using Malicious and Malicious Edge as material to fusion summon! Witness darkness itself! Evil Hero Malicious Fiend! But I'm far from done! I use Malicious to summon another Malicious, and then…welcome to my world, my friend. I activate Supreme King’s Castle! This lets me use other fusion effects aside from Dark Fusion, and can boost up my Fiend type monsters in battle.”
A humanoid in dark armor in harsh edges and blacks and dark purples emerged armed with large Wolverine type claws, and then the field spell activated. An imposing dark castle erupted out of the ground, spilling black smoke and mist into the area, which transformed violently into a brambly, dead, and desiccated garden landscape. Pitch black clouds filled the sky around them, making it look like twilight in the duel area.
“I’m not done! I activate Branded Fusion, sending from the deck to the grave a Fallen of Albaz and another Necrom to fusion summon! Come forth, Lubellion the Searing Dragon! On summon, I activate its effect! I shuffle back both Malicious’ to fusion summon! Come forth, rage incarnate! Evil Hero Malicious Bane! Try to get past this! Mal Fiend is the only monster you can attack, and if you go into your battle phase, all your monsters are forced into attack position and must attack. Bane can't be destroyed by card effects, and Dark Law turns off your graveyard, Aluber is in defense mode, and Lubellion is no slouch either. Good luck, my friend.”
Keitaro drew for turn and knew: he could easily lose this game. But he could also just as easily win. He likes to play fairly and not actively use cards that are too strong, but right now, he may have to go no holds barred… against his oldest friend, to save him. It’s a tight window, but from the hand he has, he believes he can make it happen. Just barely, if he’s lucky yet again. But doing this… maybe he can also get Hiro to surrender.
“What is all of this, Hiro? What do those keys unlock? What is this beam?” Keitaro called out. Hiro laughed.
“You know how many monsters and spells have been sealed before? The Sacred Beasts? The legendary Dragons? Zarc, Zorc, Numbers, Earthbound Immortals, Meklords, and so on? This is the first sealed monster, the strongest in all existence. And with the magic the Captain had found, all of its power can be stolen and used by us! Keitaro! We can make the world exactly how we want it! No one would even know anything has been changed! Goro is embarrassing the Captain and Vice-Captain as we speak, and all the other Dark Champions have lost! Everyone is engaged in battle, and we are the only ones here, with the power about to be at our mercy! Come on, take my hand, and make a new world at my side!”
The strongest monster that is the first to be sealed? Who is that? “Hiro…no, I can't let you do this! If you make a new world, then this one will be destroyed! I won’t throw away all the bonds I—we—have made with everyone and each other! I’m sorry but I have to beat you and stop this.”
“I activate Spright Starter to special-summon Jet from deck and take 1300 damage from the spell. Then Jet adds Spright Smashers to my hand.”
He didn’t use Dark Law’s effect to make me discard a card? Why? Is he waiting for better odds? He must not know what this spell does then.
“I cheat activate Smashers, banishing Pixies to banish your own Dark Law! Now my grave is live again! So, I’ll special-summon Blue and add Carrot to my hand. Now, time for my combo! I link into Sprind, and use its effect to send a Nimble Angler to the grave, whose effect will activate to special-summon another Angler and a Beaver, which I’ll quickly overlay into Gigantic Spright in attack mode. Gigantic’s effect, detaching Beaver to SS Swap Frog, who will send Ronin to the grave, and then I’ll use its effect to add it back to my hand, and then its other effect to summon it again by discarding Dupe Frog, and once more on summon it’ll send another Swap Frog. Now I’ll banish Dupe to summon Ronin, and then I’ll overlay into Toadally Awesome. I’ll SS Carrot in defense mode, and then… I haven’t normal-summoned yet, you know? I normal summon Beaver, which will summon another Beaver, and I’ll link them into… I:P Masquerena, set one spell/trap, and end my turn without going into my battle phase.”
The Sprights, Frogs, and Nimbles swarmed the field in lightning, hops, and droplets to leave behind an otherwise unassuming setup. No one has seen one of Kei’s boss monsters yet, so all this looks like is one negate and a quick link into Elf to revive the Toad for a second negate, plus whatever the facedown is. Two negates and a trap isn’t bad, but Hiro has already comboed: there might not be a point.
Hiro drew for his turn and saw a line for more.
“I banish Necrom to SS another Malicious Edge, and then –”
“I activate my trap card, Spright Double Cross! I target Malicious Bane, and choose the effect to attach it as material to my Gigantic Spright, which allows its effect to apply to make it 3200 attack points.” Kei said in the middle of the turn.
“It can't be destroyed by card effects, but he can be targeted, huh? But you still have a bunch of vulnerable monsters.”
“Two less now: I activate Masq’s effect, quick link summoning! Link 2 Masq and Link 2 Sprind, come together! Link 4! Champion hero of the world, come forth now and save us from this darkness! Link 4! Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax!”
Masq and Sprind turned into blue light and spiraled together, ending in a brilliant light that faded to reveal a splendid warrior in futuristic magical armor with a key like sword and ringed shield. Magical blue tattoos were clearly visible on his skin, and his posture and stature were imposing and confident, hardened after a hard and devastating adventure. He glowed with a soft light-blue light, and the field around him seemed to recede, revealing the real world again, just around his feet. He was beautiful and tragic in all his majesty, and stood in defense of Keitaro and the light.
“You can’t target other monsters for attacks aside from Avramax, and every battle, in damage calculation, he can quick effect to gain attack equal to the attack of the monster he's battling. Also, since Masq was used for his Link summon, he can't be destroyed by your card effects.”
Hiro was stunned into awe by the brilliance of the new monster, and for a moment, he felt his hand gravitate towards the top of his deck to surrender. But the shadows pulled his hand back and recentered his focus.
I can still target other monsters for effects though, so I’ll force out his Toad negate with this monster…but killing it will be tough.
“I normal-summon Albaz and activate its effect, targeting Gigantic Spright to fusion summon!”
“No! I activate Toad, tributing it to negate the effect and destroy the card!”
I can’t attack: Avramax will always be bigger than my monsters. But he will at least have to waste that attack to try to defeat my Malicious Fiend.
“This was looking only a little dicey for me, before I drew this card for my turn: Spright Smashers, banishing the Jet in my grave to cheat banish your Malicious Fiend!”
“Gigantic effect, summoning another Swap Frog, and then I banish one to summon Ronin. Now, I overlay! Come forth, damned frontline soldier! Phantom Knights of Cursed Javelin! Now his effect, detaching Ronin, to make your Malicious Edge have zero attack! Then I use Ronin again and then link into Spright Elf! Elf effect to summon Toad, and now battle!
“Hiro, this is it: prepare to be saved! Avramax, attack Malicious Edge! Wipe way the darkness! World Legacy Key Blade Slash!”
Avramax moved into position and raised his sword for a downward slash at the darkness from the Castle as the spirit of Adusted Gold empowered Malicious Edge to 800, causing 2200 damage to Hiro’s already halved life points.
“Gigantic Spright, clear away that dragon! Gigantic Surge!”
A surge of black lightning blasted away Lubellion for 700 more damage, dropping Hiro to 1100 life points.
“Cursed Javelin, pierce through that defending jester Aluber! Now! Hiro, you know this monster is my favorite, and now, it’ll save you! Toadally Awesome! Attack directly! Awesome Croaking!”
Toadally Awesome hopped to the front and took in a massive breath. A moment of silence followed, and then it let loose a supersonic wave of force quickly followed by the most majestic toad croak ever uttered. The light of Avramax mixed with the water from Toadally Awesome as the black lightning from Gigantic and the wraith aura of Cursed Javelin flanked, to the effect of clearing away the darkness, purifying the cursed ground, and bringing light and life back to the dark Castle of the Supreme King. More than dealing damage to Hiro, Keitaro’s monsters banished the darkness of the dark cult and the magic held within the Castle field spell, clearing the dark clouds, and evaporating the Castle in warm blue light.
