Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Clubit Academia ❯ Act 2 Chapter 3: The queen of the duelists ( Chapter 10 )

Act 2 Chapter three: The Queen of the duelists.

 

“At the moment, your Soul deck is controlling you. Without total knowledge, you cannot make the focused decisions that you would have been able to do before. Your desires are temporarily stunted. In other words, your deck is controlling your destiny, so it will choose if you are ready to enter the rankings or not.”

 

“What's he talking about?” Priestess asked Dorou, as they listen to the lecturer speak to Paine.

 

“No clue,” Dorou replied, with a light smile. “just started talking. “He does this in lectures sometimes. Just starts talking without prompting. Nobody understands.”

 

“No,” Leblanc sighed, feeling defeated early. “No one ever does.”

 

“You're saying I'm not in control of your destiny?” Paine asked, now standing up and away from his bed across the room from his latest opponent. He felt a little wrong for not having shaken the lecturer's hand, but the circumstances had been a little off kelter.

 

Shariku had left. It occurred to him now that she had only ever watched one of his duels. He wanted to show her. To prove he could do this. He felt like Dorou had gone a little too far, but now wasn't the time for that. He put it all aside, including the question he wanted to ask now most of all, asking what Priestess meant.

 

“Some say that destiny controls us, or that we control destiny. Neither is as completely correct as they are false. Destiny will only take control if we allow it. It is submissive, but willing to take the reins if necessary. In this circumstance, it is different. You have no control over your deck, as it is still growing. So i shall provide you with an edge. That edge... You may choose my cards for me.”

 

“You... You're letting me decide your moves?”

 

“Not my moves per se. You will just choose the cards from my hand. I will still decide what moves i shall take. It is merely returning an edge to you that you have lost. We shall allow fate to own a portion of the duel, and discover soon what it deals us.”

 

“But if i do that, aren't i relying on destiny, being submissive to it. I'm choosing a card i can't see. I'm relying on fate to give me good luck.”

 

“We shall soon see,” Leblanc muttered, fiddling around in his pocket, looking a little annoyed. “Say, do you have a silver coin?”

 

“What?”

 

“To flip,” LeBlanc responded. “You know, to see who goes first.”

 

“Oh right,” Paine rummaged around quickly in his pockets, quickly pulling out a fifty pence piece that survived the travesty occurring in the dinner hall. He was about to flip it himself, when he saw Leblanc's hand sticking out. Feeling strangely compelled, he passed it over to the lecturer.

 

“Heads or tails,” Leblanc asked.

 

“Heads.” Rotating rapidly into the air, the coin hid itself in speed, before dropping to the floor, rolling under Dorou's foot.

 

“Heads it is,” Dorou announced, kneeling down to check. Leblanc picked it up to confirm.

 

“Indeed it is. First or second, Mr. Fifty nine?”

 

“First of course,” Paine announced, feeling his Duel Disk hum to life as the sleek metallic polygon slipped parallel to his forearm. Six cards later, and he was ready to go.

 

“Duel!”

 

His start felt a little off. He had nothing too powerful in his hand. Mainly support cards, they weren't going to make for a powerful initial assault. Figuring on defense for the first move, he hoped he opponent was as worse off as he was.

 

“I play one card face down, and set down a further one,” he said, placing them slowly. “And end my turn.” As he finished up, he felt his headache clearing a bit. That was a relief, he needed his wits about him if he was going to win this one. LeBlanc had seen his deck, technically anyway. He had no idea what LeBlanc's was, but then that wasn't that different from usual anyway.

 

Thinking of the unknown, it occurred to him he had already forgotten what the second card he had placed down was. Did that mean it was a new one? Reaccounting all the tips he had been given so far, he tried to focus on the card, to see if he could regain some semblance of control. This destiny talk unnerved him. To improvise was necessary. To rely solely upon it was suicide.

 

The card didn't respond to him. He had no clue what he was expecting, but there was nothing to be done now. Peeking felt as impossible as ever, and he had no time left to think of anything else.

 

“If you would, Mr. Fifty Nine,” Leblanc began, taking his sixth card and adding it to his hand. “Would you please choose your first card?”

 

Looking over the six cards that his opponent presented to him, he imagined himself a game show contestant, but that felt wrong for some reason. Picking this wasn't like picking a prize, it worked in smaller increments. The third card gave off a good feeling. Hesitating only a moment longer, he announced his decision, feeling a little put back when Leblanc didn't seem concerned by his choice. He took it out from the rest and showed it to Paine, before placing it down on the duel disk.

 

“A monster: The Magician.”

 

From nothing, infinity appeared, and hovered over the head of the first card. A man dressed in red robes appeared, his right hand held high as it held his wand. Paine watched as the man pointed to the floor, away from the pile of items that were on the table that had come with him from the nothingness monsters always did. His eyes following, the duelist found himself confused, the man's static hand led nowhere, indicating nothing save the ground.

 

“Your conscious efforts of succession and desire. As you reach up, so too you fall down. Truly an ominous card to start off with, Mister fifty nine.” Leblanc smiled to Paine, as Paine stared at the monster. 1600ATK. It was likely it would have an effect. “If you would...”

 

“What?” Paine replied with knee-jerk precision. “Oh right...the far card on my left.”

 

“The spell card, Pot of Greed.” Leblanc waited a moment, seeing if Paine had any objections, before sliding two cards into his hand, and discarding the greedy tea kettle into his graveyard. “And now, if you would excuse me, i shall activate the effect of my atentative monster.”

 

Paine smiled. He knew it had to have an effect. “The Magician of the Major Arcana allows me to use any spell card that lies in the graveyard by removing it from play. So, since my only card is Pot of Greed, i shall activate it, drawing a further two cards.” He did so, this time not waiting, knowing he did not need to. Paine looked on a little frustrated. He had just allowed his opponent to draw four cards. Guessing cards wildly should have messed his opponent up, not gave him an advantage.

 

“But two cards is enough for the first reading. I have already learned much about you. Let us move on.”

 

“What?” Paine muttered under his breath. From the corner of his eye, he could see Priestess edge closer to his side of the nurse's office.

 

“I believe it is only fair to spring whatever you have waiting for me,” Leblanc uttered. “So i shall have my Magician of the Major Arcana attack your face down card.” With a motion of his hand, gloved fingers pointing towards Paine, he issued the attack. “Go.”

 

The Magician, who had not moved an inch since appearing, now grinded into movement, placing his wand calmly on the table,.. Breathing in, it moved slowly, grabbing the hem of its crimson robes and tossing it around its neck, trapping the white undergarments beneath it. Then, with but an instant, it grabbed the sword and plunged it through the defenseless monster card.

 

Shattered glass cracked through their ears, a scream of purest cacophony and painful melodrama attacking their ears. The Fat Lady appeared from beneath her own robes, and the sword dissipated, the fragments scattering across the room and through Leblanc (7600).

 

“Impressive,” Leblanc commented. “I suppose my turn ends then.”

 

“Not quite,” Paine shouted. “I activate my trap card.”

 

“YOU'RE FIRED!”

 

The Magician froze, a gasp leaving its lungs at high speed, taken aback by the voice. It looked around, trying to find the location of the voice, but, unsure of what to do, found nothing and slowly slunk away, its table disappearing as it faded away.

 

What had happened? It was something to do with the negation of the attack, but the result, rather the cause. Had failing its attack been the last straw? Paine couldn't understand, but Leblanc looked a little moved, albeit in a positive sense.

 

“Ah, to damage me first, even more impressive. But shall we see if you can continue this little course of action? Now, as you can see, i have eight cards left in my hand, and so have to discard before ending my turn. Shall we see? If destiny is on your side?”

 

“I you're going to discard, just hurry up and discard.” It was beginning to feel like stalling, like some great entity was trying to forestall the next move of the duel in order to fill space. Paine wanted to move it along.

 

“Ah, but it is your destiny being tested here, Paine.”

 

“Excuse me? I don't need my destiny testing. I just need to win.”

 

“Oh? And to do that, would you not need destiny on your side?”

 

“What?”

 

“A large part of Duel Monsters is the simple equation of luck. A duel can be wasted by a simple bad hand, or ended in an instant if the fates smile upon you. If your destiny favors you winning, then surely it can be shown in the course of the duel.”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“Isn't it obvious. Even in a game like this, it can be clear when things start to go badly, that they will continue that way. Shall we see if we can cause a bad event to occur? If it does not, then the duel will surely turn your way.”

 

“Wh-what?” The rattle was shaking in his head now. His previous headache was returning. “What do you suggest?”

 

“It is simple really. Choose one of my cards, and i shall choose to discard that one.”

 

“That's it?”

 

“Indeed it be that.”

 

“Very well.” Paine replied excited. There was a lot riding here, but in that regard, it was like a similar opposite of Painful Choice. He could make Leblanc discard a powerful monster, just waiting to be resurrected, or he could choose something weak. All he had to do was pick a powerful spell or magic card, and he had a second advantage. “The second from my left,” he shouted, letting destiny take its course.

 

Leblanc's head bowed, and Paine's heart soared, though his brain still stung, and a lot worse now. He got it in one. If this was part of the test, he was definitely passing.

 

“To show joy before even knowing the answer,” Leblanc said, barely a whisper. “Perhaps i was wrong about this.”

 

“What?”

 

“I discard the monster card, Death, to the graveyard.” Why was he looking like that? Was it a bluff? Death sounded pretty powerful.

 

A card appeared on LeBlanc's side of the field, but not in the monster zone, nor even the spell and trap zone. It took a moment for Paine to even remember what the area had been from the old playing mats, and for a second assumed a field card might have been activating.

 

But there was no mistake. This was obviously the graveard.

 

From nowhere, fog appeared, cumulating from nowhere, it built up until it reached density so thick it began to turn black on its own shadow. It surrounded the graveyard and, as he was staring, from the corner of his eye, it soaked into his graveyard too. Paine had never given much thought to the location of the graveyard, but now the two areas filled his eyesight, and from LeBlanc's, he could see it. A shadowy creature, not rising, not moving, just becoming there.

 

“When Death (ATK1500/DEF2000) is sent to the Graveyard from the hand, it may be special summoned from the Graveyard in DEF mode.”

 

“No way! Of all the cards...”

 

“And when this occurs, i can draw one more card,” LeBlanc said, looking slightly amused. “So you know what this means...”

 

If he saw his face, Paine could imagine it being scrunched up into a paper ball in the anger he was feeling now. Was this guy trying to toy with him? He hesitated even less than before. “The card you've just picked up!” he shouted, pointing to it.

 

Leblanc didn't even wait to pull it with the rest of his cards. “So you would capitalize on the moment, to catch a fish as it jumped out of the water. Admirable. But this time...” He turned the card over, revealing a man standing above two sphinxes, both black and white, but polar to each other. Above them, the man looked to hold onto them with invisible reins, as if driving them through sheer force of will. “Chariot is a simple spell card really, and would have protected one of my monsters from being destroyed in battle. But being sent to the graveyard leaves it without value. I end my turn.”

 

“Finally,” Paine said through gritted teeth. This guy was going down. No body likes a show off.

 

I really gave you quite the choice. It would have been simple to drop the one known as Death off myself, but to have you choose it for me. It seems fate is against you.”

 

“Oh, yeah?” Paine said, feeling confidence surge through him at the very corniness of the remark. “I don't need fate, but I'll beat it.” He drew his card.

 

“I'll play the SugarPlum fairy in ATK mode (1500)...” His words were halted as his brain flared, intense white hot agony interrupting the duel in his mind. He held his ground, only scowling on the outside, seeing the sofa appear, a small child resting on it, looking ready to drop off, but forcing herself to stay awake, as if waiting for the incredible, a small nutcracker held tight in his small hands. What weirdo monster had he summoned now?

 

Floating snowflakes filled the world, and a small fairy sat on the leave beside the sleeping girl. What the hell? A fairy? His brain screamed again. He couldn't even remember the play this came from, let alone the concepts and storyline, and there was someone missing. It didn't matter.

 

“I'll play Stage Set!” he called out, shaking his head clean, but only for a moment. Soon, the lightning bolts resided, and he could now see everyone now, looking at him worried. He barely noticed the stage above, wooden floorboards replacing linen, grand tapestries of curtain replacing privacy cords. It was different than before, but he didn't care. He had powered it up enough for the moment, and he had something to get rid of.

 

“SugarPlum Fairy, attack Death!” From its clover, the SugarPlum looked up, appearing confused. Failing to disobey its master, it fluttered up, and flew past the now sleeping girl, twirling round her once, but charging straight on at death. As she did, a thousand NutCrackers flew with her, all slamming into the shadowy visage at once.

 

The attack finished, neither monster destroyed. Paine looked on in confusion. Nothing had happened. Nothing had been activated. What was going on?” the SugarPlum, stopping its assault, turned back towards him, seemed to shrug its tiny shoulders, and flew back to the leaf where once it sat. Sitting back down comfortably, it looked to the little girl, who moved, but only to stir restlessly in her sleep.

 

“Are you feeling alright?”

 

The words set his confusion asunder, revealing to him his mistake. What was he thinking? Death had the same DEF as the SugarPlum Fairy's ATK. Of course nothing would happen. What a waste of a move.

 

“Strange, but fascinating certainly,” Leblanc commented. “I did not have time to refer to it, but it seems that Death is not hidden by the effect of Stage Set. I can only theorize that this is because it is classed as being in the graveyard, and is considered an exception to the rule.

 

“Shut up...” Paine whispered, with no one apparently hearing. He needed to be rid of this Death creature. The notion of such a card was just too powerful. But he had no cards to remove it from play, nor take it back to the hand. He couldn't even be sure if he were able to control it with something like Snatch Steal. If he could get it back in the deck and shuffle it somehow.

 

SugarPlum Fairy did that.

 

He saw it nodding at him, a small smile on its pixie face, assuring him of his actions. SugarPlum Fairy did that. If it defeated a monster, that monster was sent to the bottom of the deck. Excellent.

 

“SugarPlum Fairy!” he announced. “Attack Death!”

 

Everyone went quiet. The SugarPlum Fairy seemed put out. Priestess's jaw dropped. Dorou issued a small titter of silliness. All around them, in every corridor of the Academia and every molecule of the universe, everything just stopped.

 

“Are you absolutely sure you're alright?” Leblanc asked.

 

He was immensely glad that the duel wasn't being recorded.

 

 

“Oh, what is he doing?” a voice shouted from an undisclosed location, the small closest buzzing with attention as the two people patted heir paper perpendicular and readjusted their adjustable microphones..

 

“A clear disregard of the rues, Shariku,” the commentator replied. “Our boy is clearly panicking. Could it be he's not in top form after his fainting spell earlier?”

 

“Hhhmmm n00bs do often take poor care of themselves. The fans will just have to hope that he improves as time goes by.”

 

“What are you talking about,” the commentator replied, unable to see his own tie in the dark room. “There's nobody watching. We took too long setting up. Everyone wandered o...”

 

“There. Are. Fans.” Shariku insisted, forcing her nose into the man beside her until it threatened to break. “As long as there are things they foolishly believe they can relate to; There. Will. Be. Fans!”

 

 

“I place two cards face down,” Paine muttered, feeling aghast at himself. “And end my turn.”

 

Dammit! What had he been thinking? The left side of his forehead danced with light jingles of misery, but the right side was just screaming as if its temple had just been shot off by a mugger wanting his fix, but didn't have the time to get a full time job.

 

It was okay though, he hadn't lost too much. He hadn't lost anything except a turn really. In many ways, he could still turn this around for himself. The idiot across from him was still giving him the advantage.

 

The man across from him was sucking his lips in, looking across to the others as if wanting to convey a message. “Are you...”

 

“Aren't you gonna draw?” Paine spat out to the aristocratic lecturer. “Hurry up.”

 

The man exhaled, hiding his frustration, pulling his next card out. Before selecting three more and separating them from the rest. “I have four monster cards here. Pick one, and i shall summon it.

 

“The middle...left,” Paine said between breathes. Now he was feeling exhausted. His brain was pushing him to his limits with this little uprising. He wanted to get back into bed, to just lie down and finish the duel there. It wouldn't have been too much of a notion, but the very thought of it horrified him.

 

“One of the four strongest of the minor arcana. Seen everyday, its meaning forgotten...” Leblanc began.

 

“Get on with it!” Paine shouted, taking Leblanc aback.

 

“I...I summon The Court Card: King.”

 

Quickly, a man appears, holding a crown and a sword behind his head. He stands in royal robes, red in nature. It surprised Paine, but only for a moment.

 

Its ATK was high. Paine felt a need to remove it in this turn.

 

“Let us not hesitate,” LeBlanc said. “First, i move Death to attack mode. And then... King, attack his Sugarplum Fairy.”

 

Pulling the sword from behind itself, the King strode up to the fairy, who sat there, looking a little scared. The girl groaned loudly this time, and shook around the soft, green sofa, the nutcracker nearly dropping from her hands.

 

“I activate the Trap Card, Drunken Interruption!”

 

“Ey up!” a voice shouted. The king stopped his attack, the distraction catching him and his sword mere inches off their target. The Sugarplum fairy, who had been covering its eyes, now peeked through slitted fingers to see what was there.

 

It was the Star of the Show, but not as Paine recognized him. He was staggering, falling through the curtains and fighting with them as they attempted to take his balance away. He growled at them threateningly for a moment, before turning back.

 

“Hello, everybody,” he said, waiting for an answer that didn't come. “You all know me...” For the first time Paine noticed a bottle in his hands. He could guess what it was. “I don't think I'm on today, but you know me, can't resist.” he laughed jovially, his mirth quickly clogging in his throat and causing him to choke it out. Paine felt his cheeks tinge red as he watched one of his top cards loe it all in front of them.

 

“Ah, the King,” the Star announced, seeing Leblanc's card and stumbling over to the heart emblazoned lord. “A pleasure my majesty. Whilst i do not serve you, i do offer my...WOAH!” Tripping, over nothing it seemed, the star fell into the noble lord and knock his sword flying. Everyone watched as it swung towards the SugarPlum Fairy, who watched in horror as her clover leave was sliced cleanly in two, missing the attack easily. Hovering a few more feet into the air, her eyes showed where she lay the blame. Charging full speed, a thousand nutcrackers collided with the Court Card, and removed him from the field, an intoxicated Star wobbling out of harm's way just in time.

 

“Well... that was...insane,” Leblanc commented, looking in confusion at the cards presented above him, his own king fading away into the digital nothingness that surrounded them. “For my second attack...”

 

“What?” Paine shouted. Was this a special effect of Death? Did it not have a weaker ATK?

 

“Is there a problem?” Leblanc inquired, appearing to sense Paine's discomfort. “I am going to use the special effect of your trap card.”

 

“You're doing what?”

 

“Did you not think i would not know it? Or be able to guess what such a card would do?”

 

“I don't know what it does that you want to do,” he stopped talking, feeling himself trip over his own tongue. The card was telling him. He could decrease an ATK by 500 in the first attack, but the opponent could then do the same in the second attack, and so on until the battle phase had ended. How could he have not heard that?

 

“Are you not even listening to your own cards. Even after their effect has occurred? Are you sure you're feeling okay, Mr. Fifty Nine?”

 

“Stop calling me that!” Paine spat with venom.”Just do it to me already.”

 

“Very well,” Leblanc replied, looking a little insulted. “I decrease the ATK of The SugarPlum Fairy, a delightful little piece if i might add... and then use my Death to attack it.”

 

“Hey it's a it's a it's a...” the Star stopped, staring at the minuscule creature just below its eyesight. “I know what you are...you're a...”

 

Death didn't move. Indeed, were it to even have eyeballs, Paine was not sure if it would have even blinked. The fairy, who was distracted by the presence of the drunken knight just let out an ungodly shriek, becoming frozen in its pain, but still hovering straight. Everything fell silent once again, and the Star turned around confused, unsure of what had happened to the creature in front of him. To their side, they heard a loud yawn, and everyone looked to see the little girl, looking around into space, no one answering her sight. She wandered off, taking her nutcracker with her and holding her head as if to question everything. Paine felt 500 of his life points draining. The Star disappeared, no longer able to look at anything.

 

“Activating the special effect of Death,” Leblanc said calmly, his face not budging an inch as he continued his assault. “Absorb the 1000ATK points of the SugarPlum Fairy and add it to a counter. That ATK can then be made part of Death's ATK, bringing it up to 2500. The card may also attack again.”

 

“No...” Paine muttered, feeling Death's icy grip reach toward his soul, the bony hand rocketing towards him. For a brief instant, he wondered. Was this what his SugarPlum fairy had seen?

 

“Continuing the effect of Drunken Interruption,” he shouted hastily. “Reduce Death's ATK by 500.”

 

“Ah! Death!”

 

The hand still gripped him, still torqued his soul and threatened to rip it out. For a brief moment of everything he ever was and ever will be, he felt himself losing it all. But then it stopped, and he was safe again.

 

His life points dropped to 6000.

 

“Good, it looks like you can still think,” Leblanc said, looking honestly relieved, if not still looking very serious. “To think, i only played one card. I place two more down, my choice this time, and end my turn.”

 

“Bye bye, everybody. Until next time!” the Star of the Show waved off to the audience, apparently oblivious of Dorou's attempt to wave back, the two burly security guard now hawking him off the stage and obscuring the majority of his view.

 

“My turn!” Paine shouted, pulling his card out and adding it to his remaining one. He stared at the two cards before him. One was one of his favorites. The other...

 

“I summon the Crazy Clown in attack mode,” he announced, lapping the card down on his duel disk as if to break it. He was doing inklings of damage, but at the moment he felt they were only defending against each other. He needed some heavy hitting.

 

From behind red curtains, the Crazy Clown appeared, the obese creature trundling in on a unicylce that looked like it should be crushed under its immense weight. Honking its horn, fanged teeth bit into ice cream, as it rolled backwards and forwards, relishing the crimson sauce that had been sprayed lovingly onto the icicle, and all over the clown's green costume green costume.

 

Crazy Clown was too weak at the moment though, and he couldn't feel its effect. If that was the case, there it was likely there was no need to activate one yet. There was nothing else to do.

 

“I'll play one card face down, and end my turn.”

 

At least his life points were still high. Leblanc drew, staring down at his cards. Resting his hand underneath his chin, his other wrist propping the elbow up, Leblanc seemed to muse at his own cards.

 

“I don't think i can get the picture at the moment,” he mumbled, but loud enough for Paine to hear him. “We'll hold back a card for the moment until i can figure this out.” Paine exhaled with joyful relief. An extra turn. Was this guy really one of the ten?

 

“Death, attack the Crazy Clown.”

 

Paine flinched hard. He saw the icy specter not move as it had before. Reacting on instinct, he flung his hand. “Activate trap card: Mysterious Sandbag!”

 

The Crazy Clown detonated with a proud yet eerie laughter, echoing throughout the room and cascading throughout everyone's ears. A large clunk was heard but, as nothing happened, the snigger's were changed to frustrated mumblings, a trap having failed.

 

“From my hand, i'll play the Hanged Man!” Leblanc said. “Balancing between life and the unknown, the Hanged Man struggles vainly. It can delay, but it will always end.”

 

“Can't you just explain?” Paine shouted across from the clear side of the field.

 

“Oh, but i thought you were a fan of drama?” Leblanc asked rhetorically. “I thought these narrations would have helped in the duel. But if you must know. The Hanged Man quick play spell card means that the monster selected this turn will not be removed from the field until the end of the turn, meaning....Death's attack still go through.”

 

The ice fire gripped him again, spreading throughout his body, taking his soul inch by inch. Feeling himself bite onto life with all his fury, Paine kept himself sane, failing inch by inch, two thousand five hundred times.

 

“OH NO,” a voice bellowed out with hollowness to every letter. Striking the metaphysical symbolisms of death over the head, the sandbag finished its job, and the Crazy Clown laughed itself to the graveyard.

 

“My turn,” Paine announced, pulling his card out. The field was empty, save for a few face down cards. He had to get a good monster, the tide was going too much against him. It didn't matter, but it helped to have security. He needed...

 

Thoughts stopped, and time moved up alongside them to wonder what was wrong. The card in his hand was new, but it was familiar too. He had touched it before, but had ignored it.

 

The Ragged Maiden stared back at him, a lost lonely soul hanging desperately to her broom, as she sat on a small three legged stool, her only companion in the lonely dank basement of the picture being a mouse who was staring at her, looking curious more than playful.

 

Its ATK was weak, so was its DEF. A hundred per piece. Paine knew playing this would be a bad move, but it had to have something. Some strength to it that would make it an important part of his deck. He needed to listen. There wasn't much to hear. It should have been easier.

 

“Dude, it's still your...”

 

“Shhh!”

 

The room fell quiet, Priestess interruption finishing off all unnecessary noise. All to be heard now was breathing and the distant sounds of cries in a far off classroom. Lonely vibrations sucked the air clean into a vacuum, but nothing came up. Wait. There was something else...

 

“Iaice? Iaice? Mac lou heaj fe?”

 

It was there. Not quite, but definitely there.

 

“Fy ewwemb aooosr lou bo ujas oce focrbej sibh qc ABN ow 2000 oj foje ioicbr acu ib bo louj hacu, eub ocol awbzj uafage maomuoabioc epuaoicg foje bhac a bhouracu. Ioeare yre ib, Iaice.”

 

He heard it! Clear as the day itself. And although he hadn't understood it, he knew it didn't matter. With a fresh breath, he grabbed the card and placed it firmly into attack. The girl on the picture appeared. Still looking sullen, down to the floor, her cheek rosy red, as if she had just been embarrassed by something.

 

“I place one more card down, and end my turn.”

 

“Ah, excellent,” Leblanc said praisingly. “It seems it is finally time to take you seriously. Please, choose your next card.”

 

Almost forgetting the extra game Leblanc was playing, Paine chose the card on the right. The guy still had a lot of cards, and it looked a lot mightier to Paine's zero.

 

“As per your request, I'll hold back my narration of this card, but i will first activate a trap card. Suit to Arms!”

 

The card rose, showing images of what looked like the four different card sets, but slightly different, more like what was on the Magician's table. Then nothing happened.

 

“The first effect of this card allows me to play the card you had chosen. I wish i could say it would help me determine your destiny. Alas, but it is one of the minor arcana.”

 

“And because you haven't thought of anything cool to say,” Dorou shouted out from the sidelines. Leblanc stopped talking, looked to Dorou, his face only slightly off balance, before grabbing a nearby glass and throwing it at the thief. Dorou hurriedly bounced out of the way, watching the shards shatter against the wall with a look of horror on his face.

 

“As i was saying...” Leblanc continued, his calm composure back. “Suit to arms allows me to play Cup, whose effect allows me to summon one Cup Creature from the deck. (ATK1800)”

 

An image of the same Cup shape that was on the Suit to Arms card appeared in mid-air, and from it, a little cup appeared, with eyes on it and two short, stubby hands.

 

“Attack the Ragged Maiden, if you would be so kind,” Leblanc requested of the Cup Creature. It sprang into action immediately, smashing up against the Ragged Maiden, causing her to cry out and disintegrate in one go. Feeling the joy at what was coming next, Paine could only smile as the Cup Creature attacked again, slamming into him again and almost pushing him onto the bed with amazing strength.

 

His life points dropped by 3500, all the way to zero.

 

“What?” he shouted in shock, taken aback by the sudden loss of so many life points. What had happened?

 

“It's over,” Priestess stated, as if unsurprised.

 

“Is it?” Dorou rpelied, sounding more confused than Paine actually was, if that were possible.

 

“Chain the trap card,” he screamed,waving his arms as if he recognized it as a futile gesture. “Activate Mada Mada.” He watched as it emerged from his left side, and breathed in relief as his life points rose back to 200. He was safe, for now.

 

“On the turn it is summoned, Cup Creature can attack twice,” Leblanc affirmed. “Sorry for not exlpaining. I got as little distracted there.”

 

“Not a problem at all,” Paine cried out with excitement, clenching his fist in joy. It was time. He'd turn this turn around in two moves! “Activating the effect of Ragged Maiden! I'll add the monster card, Deus Ex Machina, from my deck to my hand. Let my God hand finish this!”

 

“Are you sure that's a wise idea?” Leblanc asked, looking completely unconcerned at the duelist's actions. So taken aback by the simplicity of the question, Paine instinctively replied.

 

“Well....Well yeah,” he answered. “It is my best card.”

 

“Hmmm very well,” Leblanc acquiesced with a high tone. “I end my turn.”

 

“My turn!” Paine announced, and pulled out a near meaningless card. Without even glancing, he turned to his favorite monster. “And i play the Ultimate: Deus Ex Machina.”

 

Deus Ex Machina appeared.

 

No light shows, no grand descent. Paine looked off, a little disconcerted as his top monster appeared like any other. It felt a little bland, like a performer becoming bored of the same old show it was forced to do every other night.

 

“Deus Ex Machina!” Paine called to his monster. “Attack the Cup creature.”

 

Deus Ex Machina hit the Cup Creature with its metallic hand. The Cup Creature exploded digitally, and Leblanc lost seven hundred life points.

 

“Erm...” This was feeling a little wrong. “I end my turn.”

 

Something was weird here. Shouldn't he feel like he was winning.

 

“Do you know the point of destiny, Mr. Fifty Nine?” Oh god, not this again!

 

“What?” he said, like an angry father trying to amuse their child.

 

“It determines us. It tests us. It proves we are who we are and why we are for those reasons. But most importantly, it changes us. It adds new events to our lives and forces us to deal with them. Doing so tests and determines us further, our ability to adapt. And to understand new things. So that new things can become old, and further new things can be created.”

 

“So?” He watched as Leblanc drew his next card.

 

“So, here we are presented with two points,” the aristocrat lectured. “One, that if we deny our destiny, we are introduced with nothing new, and two. If we do not allow new things, then the old things just keep becoming older, with no change at all.”

 

Leblanc placed a card down on his duel disk, and two monsters started to appear. Paine couldn't see them. His head started to dance with paine again. It had reduced significant;y over the past few minutes, but now it was back and at full force. A hawk screeching. A wood pecker tapping. A chicken scratching. Why was he thinking about birds?

 

“And as we all know, to become old, with nothing new, is to stagnate and die.”

 

The urge to swear was overwhelming.

 

“I have just played Strength, who exerts my control over the material world. It allows me to summon my Kaa: the Emperor 2500ATK, who plans patiently and knowns when to act. He sits waiting, watching all play out his parts. Strength also controls without conscious thought, allowing me to summon the Empress 2300ATK: with imagination so strong it manifests itself to the world.”

 

“What? That can't be fair.”

 

“Can it not?” Leblanc responded with a laugh. “But why, Paine, it is because your Deus Ex Machina destroyed my Cup Creature and destroying all monsters on my side of the field in a turn that allows me to use this. Now i shall activate their special effects. Emperor can special summon one fire or earth creature to the field, and i choose the Card Court Knight (1900ATK). Empress can summon one water or wind type monster to the field, and i choose the Hermit (1400ATK).”

 

 

 

The four monsters stared down at him. The hermit, standing on rocky ground. Holding a latern up despite the lack of darkness. He stood in front of the others, as if to guide them. The knight stood there impressive, and it reminded Paine of a Jack of spades, holding a stubby short sword, black robes dangling majestically from his girth.

 

And then the Emperor, sitting behind them all, alongside his queen, his Empress. Holding his long, round specter firmly in his grasp, he looked a wise and fair ruler, yet Paine could not help be see an inner evil in the creature.

 

He was done for.

 

“Shall i give you one more chance?” Leblanc asked. “Allow yourself a real Deus Ex Machina? I end my turn. May you win your match by the end of your next one.”

 

Maybe not.

 

Drawing his next card, he scowled at the uselessness of it. Curtain Drop. Freakin' Curtain Drop. Tossing it on the floor, he pointed to his God Machine, feeling his world go blurry.

 

“Deus Ex Machina! Attack the Empress.” It was the strongest he could kill, and it was gone in a flash, the woman barely even opened her eyes as she longed back on her plush red chair, her specter drooping from her hands.

 

A further two hundred life points were lost. Paine felt an urge spread through his body. To leave. To disconnect himself from this whole qualification match and sprint away. He so desperately wanted to. He wouldn't have to accept defeat that way. He'd be free to keep his flawless victory. He'd have to stop being friends with Dorou and Priestess, deny everything they ever said afterwards, but it would be worth it.

 

“I end my turn.”

 

His voice had spoken on its own again. He wanted to cry.

 

“Activating the effect of my Kaa,” LeBlanc said from a distant place. “Emperor's Mercy. It increases the life points of both player's by a thousand.”

 

Paine looked up with a gasp, tears now streaming from his eyes. When had he fallen? His knees were touching the floor. He saw his machine, his precious all powerful monster dropping to the floor, breaking apart like every bolt and cog had decided to give up all at once. It collapsed around him, nothing a stray bolt touching him, but wondering his heart with every clank. He just hoped the parts would hide him.

 

“I guess she was right.”

 

And that was the final straw. He dropped his head into his hands. He couldn't take it. To be played with throughout the whole duel. To be allowed to choose his opponent's cards. For his opponent to end on the same amount of life points they started on, despite losing some. To lose Deus Ex Machina. To have enough monsters on the field to kill him in one strike were he at full strength.

 

“I'm afraid you have failed the qualification test, Mr. Fifty Nine.”

 

To be told, and to truly know, that she was right all along.

 

He didn't even notice the Emperor's rod plunging into him, ending the duel. Ending everything.