Episode 27. - Explosive Battle Atop Summit!

The duo practically burst into the room. The tournament was already well underway. In fact it was already down to the semifinals, and even they were almost done. Libra sighed. One less chance to practice, and more importantly, they had not been able to watch any of the serious duels that they would have needed to. Yodaz, quickly found the tournament sponsor, and she followed along close behind him.

"Sorry we're late, but am I in time for the final exhibition match still?" he asked the middle-aged woman. She shook her head, but she did not seem upset. The eyebrow yet again displayed Yodaz's confusion, but she proceeded to explain good naturedly to him.

"We were not sure you would make it, and so I arranged for one of the high ranking British duelists to take your place in the duel against the winner. It should be an interesting match," she smiled. Yodaz sighed slightly. Not how he had hoped the situation would turn out, but he assumed it was also likely that the winning deck of such a tournament would be similar to his.

That same British duelist now emerged from the washroom. He had gone in to wash his face due to having been perspiring in the sweltering midday heat. The air conditioning unit of the building had suffered a breakdown earlier, and was only now operational again, slightly cooling the room. He would be able to be comfortable now, but many of the duelists and spectators were still fanning themselves and trying to keep cool.

Libra retreated to near the air conditioning output vent, and Yodaz soon followed as he noticed what the final match was. Some fire-light combination against a darkness deck. He still was a little skeptical about decks that were not built with many obvious advantages, but for now, his primary reason was that he did not feel like standing amongst that crowd, in this heat.

The final duel took quite awhile. They could not even see the duelists anymore, due to the crowd around them. Kaijudo, however, filtered through easily. The clashes were not clear, due to their low awareness of the cards being played, and the lower levels of Kaijudo in use, but it was clearly present on both sides. When the duel finally ended, it was with a massive blast of that Kaijudo, making it obvious to Yodaz and Libra that the girl with the fire and light cards had won.

"Our winner, Harriet Torren!"
The crowd backed up a little to allow the officials to adjudge the match as completely valid. The girl with the long blonde hair tossed it a bit, and it billowed down around her shoulders. Her manner of dress and general look easily gave the impression that she was a total airhead.

"And now, for her exhibition match, Harriet will play our guest Blade Burton from the British Duel Masters circuit. Blade is ranked in the top ten, and this is sure to be an exciting match. Will the duelists please take their positions?"

Yodaz pushed himself up from leaning on the wall now. The room was cool enough that he was willing to try to get into that crowd, at least close enough to sense any Kaijudo clash that occurred. Libra was actually slightly ahead of him by the time they reached the crowd, and was in no way averse to elbowing her way through the taller people around her. Yodaz followed the 'path' she cleared until she stopped, and he stopped just behind her. They were not close enough to see the cards, but they could see the duelists. Both very blond and very blue eyed.

On one side sat the ditzy looking Harriet Torren. On the other, with more of a classic 'good looks' theme going for him, was Blade Burton. His hair was short and quite spiky, a strong contrast to the cascading locks of the beauty opposite him. When Harriet greeted him, however, her confident, honeyed melodic voice conveyed instantly that she was no flake.

"As you are the guest, I expect you will be going first. Good luck to us both. Bad luck always makes for such unsatisfying duels, don't you think?"

Blade smiled warmly at her and nodded, completing the shuffling of his deck. She deployed her shield cards, as he did his, and the duel began. He began by charging light mana. Glory Snow. Harriet smiled. Yodaz's avatar instantly jumped to attention, noting the card.

"This one has a high rank in Britain and wastes deck space like that? What is the world coming to? There is no way anyone would play that unless their deck was..."

"Purely of the Light Civilization?" Harriet guessed, "I see. You do realize that your card has implied a lot about your deck. I place Mana Nexus in my mana zone, and end turn."

It had not been obvious to Yodaz before, that there was any nature mana in her deck. He had been paying attention to her creature set, and there had been no nature amongst them. Now he wondered what other surprises she might have. Even at this point, it was a little presumptuous of her to assume that her opponent used a mono Light deck.

Blade cleared that question right up on his next turn. He charged more light mana. Alcadeias, Lord of Spirits, and summoned Sarius, Vizier of Suppression.

Yodaz sighed. His interest level had been rapidly diminished. Not for his previous reasons of not thinking the decks were worth it, but it was unlikely that either would hold the key to defeating his own deck. Libra seemed instantly enthralled, however. He wondered why. Harriet drew her card and charged fire mana, but summoned nothing.

Blade drew his card, and considered his options, then placed another light card into his mana pool, though a bit hesitantly this time. La Veil, Seeker of Catastrophe. "End turn."

Harriet nodded, the glint in her eyes revealing that she was aware that something was up. She drew her card and charged light mana of her own, finally, then summoned a bigger blocker to her side of the field than Blade had. A Senatine Jade Tree. She ended her turn, and the Kaijudo now began to simmer. The battlefield seemed to be high on a mountain this time. Yodaz tried quickly to discern whose Kaijudo was providing most of the imagery, but they now seemed equal in their determination. Blade drew his card.

"Full Defensor to mana. I summon Magris, Vizier of Magnetism..."
The electrical Initiate appeared next to Sarius, and the crackling energy that glowed around Blade in his mind signified the drawing of the card by Magris' effect. He declared the end of his turn, and Harriet drew her card.

"Bombersaur to mana. I summon Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer. End turn."
Now, her creatures outdid the power of Blade's own in both circumstances, but the light duelist seemed unfazed by this. In fact, he smiled at her, and drew his card. He now charged another Glory Snow to mana, increasing the shining light that made up his portion of the battlefield, and proceeded to instantly and totally turn the balance of power to his side.

"I summon Aeris, Flight Elemental."
The effect was not at all subtle. The Angel Command made its appearance as they were all wont to do. With extreme illumination to back it up. Now it floated just a bit away from Harriet's mountain peak, staring down her Jade Tree and Soulshine Enforcer. She breathed an awed sigh, but quickly snapped out of it a moment later when Blade announced the end of his turn.

"Um... right..." she drew her card, and with a strong reluctance, sent her second Bombersaur to her mana zone. Yodaz could barely pick up on some reassuring thought from her avatar, and smirked. A Bombersaur for an avatar...

"I cast Searing Wave!"

The mountain suddenly shot lava out of vents at the sides, in her mind, and the scorching molten rock engulfed Blade's forces, melting down both the Vizier of Magnetism and Vizier of Suppression. The Flight Elemental weathered the attack, and with a shining blast, vaporized the hot rock that now dripped off itself. The defense shield that had powered Harriet's attack now shut down, and she put the card into the graveyard, then ended her turn.

Blade breathed slowly. His Kaijudo advantage was quickly fading, and he would now have to pick up the slack from his lost creatures. Her lost shield was not much help to him unless he could mount an offensive, and she had just taken his offensive force away. He drew his card and sent another Full Defensor to his mana zone.
"I summon Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian. End turn."

Harriet drew her card. "I see. You think if you have the larger creature, it'll make me nervous? Or was that your only option? We'll play it your way. Slow and deliberate. Tornado Flame!"

The swirl of superheated gases engulfed the Sonic Guardian, melting its systems and causing it to crash into the mountainside and explode. Harriet smiled. Blade frowned at her as she ended her turn. His Kaijudo spiked powerfully, causing her to gasp and tremble as he charged more mana.

"Miele, Vizier of Lightning, on your Jade Tree! Aeris, destroy it... ikei!"
The Flight Elemental's rings spun, stabilizing it as it lashed out at the unfortunate Jade Tree with its bladed wings, cleaving it easily in two, and watching as the parts tumbled down into the clouds around the mountain summit. Blade put enough Kaijudo behind his visualization to shake Harriet up a bit, so when he ended his turn, it took her a few moments before she drew her card.

"I summon Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer, and by its power..." she drew a Crisis Boulder card from the top of her deck now and placed it into her mana zone, "Charge enough power to summon an Engineer Kipo also. End turn."

Blade drew his card and used a Solar Ray on her Soulshine Enforcer. Another slash of Aeris' bladed wings, and the second of her original creatures had been torn to ribbons and was now falling through the puffy clouds. Blade ended his turn as the tide of battle began to clearly turn in his direction. Harriet drew her card.

"Ah, good. You're here..." she murmured, mostly to herself, "I was afraid I would have to get through this without you... I summon Bombersaur. End turn."
The roar of the rock beast as it crawled out of the mountainside was quite a rumbling sound, and Blade seemed slightly shook up himself, though his creature was clearly much stronger. He no longer had enough cards in his hand to hold her off as well as he would like, and he knew that his chances of drawing anything particularly game shifting were not too large either.

He drew his card, and instantly played it. Full Defensor. Then ended turn. Harriet smiled.
"You are going to be an interesting opponent. I suppose I can't really be proud of how a duel turns out unless I have to face something particularly dangerous along the way. On the other hand, I would greatly prefer not to have to face any Alcadeias... Oh well. I draw!"

She did so with a flourish, and smiled again at what she got.
"Bombersaur number two, come on down! End turn."

"It's a good thing that you don't have that kind of drawing luck with Coriles..." Libra muttered to Yodaz, "Oh, wait... there was that one time..."

He shushed her as Blade drew his card.
"All right. Let's see if I can give you something 'dangerous' that is not the Lord of Spirits. How about... Miele, evolving into Sieg Balicula, the Intense!"

She literally applauded him, both on his card, and on the imagery that accompanied his announcement. Miele's change of form was stunning and brilliant..
"That will do. Oh, that will most definitely do it, love. Ha. And to think I was beginning to relax again. My poor heart can't take much more of this... do you end?"

He nodded, and she drew her card.
"I certainly can't handle an Alcadeias appearance now. I wouldn't know what to do with a blocker that large. Aeris blocking is bad enough. So I summon Engineer Kipo, and play Crisis Boulder!"

Her mind pictured a boulder rolling out of a mechanism on the side of her mountain now, and being shot toward Blade's forces at full speed. Blade chose to have both Sieg and Aeris evade the projectile, and it crashed into his defensive line, exploding and decimating part of his resources. He sent the Glory Snow card to his graveyard.

"Hm... choices..." Harriet mused. Blade laughed. Yodaz watched more carefully now. With no outright way to destroy either of those creatures, it was odd that she could still be so confident. She was either very strong, or had some odd way of handling this lurking in her deck somewhere.

"Bombersaur, attack his shields! Ikei!"
Blade allowed this, and there was no triggering effect. Harriet ended her turn, sighing at her opponent's good decision. She had in no way pressured him. He was willing to lose one shield if it would let him summon the next turn. The extra card was also more than welcome.

"Now why did she do that?" Yodaz sighed, "That could have been anything. Holy Awe even."

"That's exactly why..." Libra said, "Isn't this how one deals with a light duelist in the late game? One shield at a time? Oh, he's about to play..."

Blade drew his card and charged mana now, but he did not look quite happy. It seemed that Harriet's gamble had paid off. Blade cast Screaming Sunburst to tap her other two Fire creatures.
"Aeris, destroy the Bombersaur. Ikei! Sieg, attack her Engineer. Ikei!"

The battles were quickly over, each of Blade's creatures having a very clear power advantage, but not without serious damage to the mana constructs of both sides. Three mana cards lost each.

"Hmmm," Blade remarked, "I was sure you were going to spring something better on yourself."

Her avatar answered him. The last remaining of her Bombersaurs.
"A calculated risk. Some people specialize in such things..."

In that moment, in those words, Yodaz understood a new dimension to what he was looking for in an opponent. He too, often took calculated risks, but none of them involved attacking. Could it be that this aggressive style adopted by those he had recently been seeking, was based on that rather than just shield breaking? He resolved to himself to pay more careful attention to how they set up their forces during an offensive.

Harriet drew her card, and sent her Meteosaur to her mana zone. She knew what she had done. Even by losing the creatures she had set her opponent back slightly more than she had set herself back. Blade knew this also, and when he drew his card, he did not even play it to mana. Harriet drew again, and this time, found a use for what she got...
"Mana Crisis. To send your Alcadeias from your mana zone to the grave. I suppose I should take no chances at all. End turn."

Blade gave her a wry smile as his Kaijudo raged against hers. Now, it was buckling a little, however. He shuddered a bit. A moment later, it was obvious why. He drew another card, but now, placed his second Alcadeias into his mana zone. She had managed to stop him short. He ended his turn without further action. His Kaijudo had stabilized again at a lower level, but it was still enough to certainly be a match for hers, though hers now pulsed with a strange pride.

"Yes!" Harriet celebrated, "Got him! Haha! All that work just to stop him, but at least it worked. Magmarex to mana. End turn."

Blade drew his next card, and charged mana yet again. A Soulshine Enforcer.
"I summon Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian. End turn."

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" she laughed, drawing as always, "You keep trying to get a leg up on me, and I'm doing my best to keep you down. I wonder how long we can keep this going... I summon Meteosaur, to torch your Sonic Guardian! And end my turn."

Blade's mind calculated quickly. His Kaijudo was still clashing strongly with hers, and there was no end in sight. This could go on for a long time, but he still had the advantage in terms of power. It was just a waiting game until he could get a card to crush her with, but her own power was not faltering, even though she could not move any faster herself. He charged mana with the card he drew, and ended his turn, not trying to do anything else. He needed more mana if he was going to defeat her now, and she knew it.

Harriet drew her card and merely charged the Tornado Flame to mana. Blade drew his, and charged his Sundrop Armor to his own mana also.
"La Byle, Seeker of the Winds, come forth!" he announced. He was quite into it now, and was not at all concerned with how odd declaring 'come forth' in a card game made him sound. This creature alone was a wall of defense against her no matter what happened now. Once again, his Kaijudo shone most brightly, and he ended his turn on a decidedly upbeat note. His energy rose against hers, forcing Harriet to quickly draw her card to return the balance.

"I cast Mana Nexus, to place my Magmarex into my shield zone. End turn..."

Blade drew his card, and summoned Kulus. Sieg's power infused the new arrival also. The wall of Light was now present. With no way to remove the evolved Initiate, Harriet would be facing tough times unless she had more tricks than any of them knew. She drew, and cast a strange spell.

"Mulch Charger, on my Engineer, to send him, and the spell card, to my mana zone. End turn."

The entire crowd simultaneously made a sound of puzzlement, but somehow, that action seemed to solidify her resolve. She was strong against Blade's Kaijudo again. He drew his card and charged more mana, unsure of what was going on. Harriet smiled, drew, and her smile became an ear-to-ear grin.
"Took long enough. I evolve Meteosaur into Valkrowzer, Ultra Rock Beast!"

Blade was startled. He had never seen nor heard of this particular creature before...

The roar was immense. The creature was immense. Now, perched atop the summit of nearly the entire mountain, was a creature so large and powerful that Blade was sure it could swallow nearly any of his creatures without effort. However, Harriet was one for more careful weighing of her options, and so, even with a creature equal in power to his Flight Elemental on her side, she now ended her turn. Libra scoffed at her decision. Yodaz snickered.

"What? You think she should have attacked?"
Libra nodded. She had been anxious for the attacking to begin for some time now, however, and could not understand why, when she finally had the power to at least try to bust through that wall, that Harriet did not do so. Blade drew his card and played it. Toel, Vizier of Hope. They could both feel the downward crash of Harriet's energy, and Libra let out a long sigh.

"Told you she should have attacked. Now how will she get out of this?"

"La Byle, break her shield. Ikei!" --Harriet triggered a Mana Nexus, and turned a second Mana Nexus into her shield, one which Blade's Soulshine Enforcer promptly broke also, triggering it to generate a Tornado Flame as yet another shield. Unafraid, Blade's Sieg Balicula descended upon a different shield and smashed the generator with a slash. The boulder that shot out crashed into Blade's supply lines, but he calmly placed the Glory Snow card in mana with no fuss, untapped his creatures as Toel hummed its melody, and ended his turn. Harriet drew her card, and ended her own turn also. Libra nearly had a fit.

"What is she doing? It can't get worse now by attacking! Valkrowzer will either go down with Aeris, or double break!"
Blade drew his card, and played Kolon, the Oracle. The flash of light stunned the Ultra Rock Beast long enough for Aeris to go in for the kill. The battle was explosive and earthshaking, but when it was over, they were both smoldering and no longer moving. La Byle moved in now, triggering the appearance of a Magmarex, which wasted no time in decimating Kolon. Kulus and Sieg did the honors on the next two shields, and Blade ended his turn, untapping his forces by Toel's song.

Harriet drew her card, summoning Engineer Kipo and playing a Lightning Charger to tap La Byle.
"Bombersaur, attack La Byle... ikei..."

"Kulus, intercept the attack." Blade placed the Soulshine Enforcer into his graveyard, and watched as Magmarex and her Kulus shattered his defenses. She ended her turn, and watched despondently, her Kaijudo fading, as her opponent drew his card.

"It was a good duel. You had me scared for awhile, and you did things I did not expect you could do," Blade noted, nodding, "For that, I will give you as good a finish as I can manage..."

He placed his Vizier of Rainclouds into his mana zone.
"I summon Sarius, Vizier of Suppression, and evolve it into Kisar Basiku, the Outrageous! Kisar, break the final shield! Ikei!" --he easily accepted the loss of his Toel due to the searing whirlwind of the trigger spell-- "Sieg Balicula! Todomeda!"

Harriet gasped and buckled under the strain that the final attack put on her mind, but Blade let up on her just moments later, mercifully decreasing the psychic pressure of his assault. Harriet gave him a weak smile of gratitude. It was over.