At first thought, Phil imagined it was the air screaming from the speed of their descent. Quickly that was revealed not to be the case – the screaming was coming from his own mouth, and from the mouths of Lumina and Jean. This was not the first time he’d plummeted through the air from a great height. He’d gone skydiving once before, and while intense, it was nowhere as terrifying as this.
The difference? No parachute this time. Just him, two friends, and a crazy stork. Said stork continued to cackle like a madman through its own much more controlled descent, slowed by the spreading of its wings to be more of a glide than a fall.
However, as the seconds turned into minutes, Phil’s panic gradually changed to excitement as the ground continued to remain out of sight. It was a strange feeling in the middle of a sea of strangeness, one so great Phil could only spread his arms out wide and laugh as the wind whipped through his wild mane of hair to remove any semblance of order on the top of his head.
“YO! STORK DUDE!” Phil shouted out to be heard over the noise. Kounotori tilted his long neck down to stare at Phil with a pair of unblinking eyes, a clear yet unspoken question held in his gaze.
Phil spread his arms wider to slow his descent as much as he could, enough so that he could drift a bit closer to the stork, though Kounotori was still several feet above him. It was enough so that he no longer had to yell.
“Where are we?”
That was the issue at hand. Every inch of scenery past the door they’d fallen through was completely new to Phil, up to and including the multi-colored door itself.
Kounotori grinned in a way that was not very stork-like, his beak somehow moving like how a human’s face would. But before he could answer, the ground appeared in a flash, accompanied by several colored lights which surrounded Phil, Jean, and Kounotori. It happened so fast that Phil couldn’t even brace himself.
Yet, there was no pain. For all the speed and force, the moment his body ‘thumped’ against the ground, it felt like he’d just flopped into a rather comfortable bed. Phil jumped up, brushing a hand against his limbs to confirm the absence of any broken bones, cuts, or even bruises.
There were none.
There was still no answer from Kounotori. The reason was quickly revealed as Phil frantically glanced around. The stork was no longer there, nor was Jean.
“Jean! Lumina!” Phil shouted. His cry was soon answered by Lumina emerging from behind a large wooden beam.
“Present…” Lumina groaned. Her legs wobbled. She ducked her head back behind the wooden beam, and soon a variety of sickly puking noises replaced her words. Phil jogged over to stand next to her and rubbed her back in a soothing motion with his hands. It took all Phil had to keep a straight face upon noticing her vomit was actually puddles of extremely bright liquid light.
Lumina, but no Jean. For a moment a surge of worry flew through Phil's mind, but it was soon quashed by the rationalization that Jean was a big boy who could wipe his own ass, and a pretty competent duelist at that. His brother would be fine until they could find each other again.
Allowing Lumina a moment to compose herself, Phil took the chance to look around. Their surroundings appeared to be made of dark oak wood, with a good number of thick wooden beams that broke up the large room into several smaller sections. However, none of the beams completely cut off any of these sections. There was still plenty of room to duck under or climb over them. Each of the seconds dipped low like great wooden valleys, their sides climbing back up almost ten to fifteen feet at a moderately steep angle until the edge reached the edge of another wooden valley.
Phil furrowed his brows and looked upward. It was no longer clear where they had fallen from, as the space above was not some empty void like it had been before – instead there was a proper ceiling, albeit a strange-looking one that appeared to be decorated with shining marble flagstones like a floor would.
“Ugh… every day I am more and more thankful Lyla convinced me to cut my hair short a few millennia ago.” Lumina groaned, staggering to a standing position after wiping one last string of retina-searing vomit from her mouth.
“Vomit in hair sucks.” Phil absentmindedly agreed, giving her one last soothing pat on the back as he did. There was something about this room he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. But what was it? The upside-down candlesticks on the walls? Those were odd, especially how the wax sides of the candles burned while the wick remained untouched by flame. Then there was the…
Phil’s eyes widened. He rushed forward, ducking under a particularly massive oak beam to stand next to a chandelier.
Yes, a chandelier. One that was attached to the floor. One that was standing up on thin chain links, as if it was still on a ceiling like it should be.
“We’re upside down…” Lumina muttered once she caught up with him. Phil was forced to agree. Their current floor ordinarily would have been the ceiling, and vice versa.
“Magic.” Phil spat out in irritation. “I bet those colored lights split us up. The other two disappeared right after.”
Lumina put a hand up to her chin in thought. Then she nodded. “Wards? Some sort of anti-intruder setup? It detects a group and separates it so the mage behind it can confront the various members one by one. Divide and conquer. It must not be set up to sense duel spirits. Or the mage expects me to follow the rules like most would.”
Phil flung his hands out in a gesture of defeat. "Sure. With how much of a soft magic system we're working with in this world, why not? I think I'm more curious about why those wards are up. Is this still Pegasus’s castle? This hall kind of looks like the grand dining room or whatever Pegasus called it.”
There was even a table stuck to the ceiling – or rather, the floor that was the ceiling from Phil’s point of view. A long, grand dining table, similar to what the semi-finalists had shared a meal around the previous night.
"We're in upside-down town," Phil smirked, shaking his head now that the surprise of the sudden drop was beginning to fade. "Lumina, remind me to wring Kounotori's neck if we see him again. Can't just drop a guy in some mirror dimension without buying him dinner first."
The more Phil looked around, the more certain he became that this truly was an upside-down or reverse version of Pegasus’s castle, but without all the people. As he and Lumina wandered in the direction of the great hall, Phil could see that clearly. No guards, none of his friends, not even Pegasus himself were present. Even in the great hall, which was the room with the duel table in the real version of the castle, there was nobody. Not a single soul, other than himself and Lumina.
Phil came to a stop next to the dueling table. Unlike all of the other details in this upside-down castle, this dueling table (which looked exactly like the one in the real castle) was not suspended in the air above Phil, but was actually located in the middle of one of the many valleys in front of him (of which he now understood to be a part of an arched ceiling).
Phil tapped a drumbeat with his fingers against the table. Everything else he’d seen so far was reversed, other than this one detail. It had to be important. The table looked completely the same as it had in the normal version of Pegasus’s castle. Why? And the door on the opposite side of the room. It was closed.
“Phil…” A voice of warning came from Lumina, causing him to glance her way in curiosity to see a figure with a long black robe covering its body entering the room, closing the door behind it, the wood of which rippled with a strange grey hue before falling still once more. The figure was humanoid in shape and rather slim in stature, which could be seen from how the robe clung tightly to the figure's limbs.
Phil's eyes tightened. They had yet to share a single word, but his experience in matters such as this was already causing alarm bells to ring. Asshole located. Now, the question remained – was this a normal asshole or a murderous asshole? Phil’s hand casually drifted into his pocket to brush against his P.A.C.M.A.N. deck out of habit.
“Yo.” Phil cautiously spoke as the robed figure continued to approach. There was no response, other than for the figure to sweep back the hood of their cloak to reveal the head of a bald man with extremely pale skin, so pale it almost seemed translucent. There was not a speck of hair on the man’s head. Not even any eyebrows, or a beard or mustache.
The man continued to approach, only slowing once he drew close to the opposite side of the dueling table that Phil was at. Then the man made several sniffing sounds like a hound drinking in the scent of prey.
"Yes…" The man's voice rang out amidst the quiet surroundings, rusty with disuse but sounding no less threatening for that, "You will do nicely.”
The man sat at the table. Phil's eyes immediately noticed the change in the surroundings. The shadows thickened. The remaining echoes of the man's voice became slightly muted. Eyes watched from the shadows. Cautiously, Phil pulled back the chair in front of him to sit. A shadow game was starting. The purpose of the table was now as clear as day.
“Do nicely for what?” He asked.
“It matters not.” The same rusty voice replied, oozing a sense of clear disinterest. “Sheep need not know the reason for their slaughter. So sayeth the wise Red Summer."
“Yeah mate…” Phil sighed as he shuffled his deck, “You know how many people have said shit like that to me? Seems like I’m still here and they’re not. And what’s with the door? Does it open when I beat you?”
As he spoke, Phil continued to observe the man’s movements. Nothing about them was smooth like a normal human’s would. His hands seemed stiff as he shuffled his deck. His expression was slack, but more than it would be if the man only had simple disinterest toward the situation at hand. The man’s eyes did not blink, his eyes were lifeless, and if Phil was seeing this correctly… none of his upper body seemed to move in that slight way that tended to happen when a person would breathe.
Curious. He had one hell of a poker face. The man was obviously a mage to some extent, being able to create a shadow game. Not every duelist could do that. There was obviously more to him. He almost seemed like a dead man. Perhaps a less elegant version of the Shadow Rider who had been brought back to life several years ago? Or was this closer to what Dimitri had suffered, a dead body being possessed by a malevolent spirit? The mere thought sent a surge of anger through Phil’s thoughts that was soon suppressed. He’d rather it be nothing at all at that point. Just some strange man who rarely blinked. A strange man with a poker face to make a Las Vegas pro jealous.
The life point counter flashed into existence in the center of the table, affording Phil a look at the names displayed on it.
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 4000
Yeah, he didn’t recognize that one at all. That, plus the whole ‘upside-down’ thing was enough to make Phil certain he had stumbled into something far removed from what he knew as the main plot of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters.
Then there was the other name. Red Summer. A name so odd that it screamed significance from that alone. That name brought to Phil’s mind the words Kounotori Tori had screamed out when the door first opened.
“DEATH TO THE PINK WINTER!”
Phil hadn’t chalked it up to anything more than an insane stork’s ranting. At least not until ‘Red Summer’ was brought up. A color plus a season. Pink Winter. Red Summer. A naming scheme? Did this mean there were two other ‘color plus season’ names out there? What was the significance? Kalim seemed to highly respect whoever Red Summer was. Kalim was also trying to kill Phil, steal his soul, or take his teeth or something. Whatever it was, he'd been in so many shadow games by now that they all started to blur together. Did that mean Red Summer was also an asshole? Pink Winter sounded like an asshole, to be the kind of person that a talking stork threw himself through a magic door to kill.
Shit. Even thinking about it sounded ridiculous. Ridiculous, but either way Phil was still in a reverse-Pegasus’s-castle in a shadow game against a weird bald man. It was at least enough information for a few thoughts on the subject to form in Phil’s head. A start, nothing more but nothing less.
A secret organization. The whole shebang simply screamed it. Naming scheme for the important members? Check. Secret base? Check. Magic out the ass? Check. Unknown goal? Check. Apparent dislike for intruders? Check. Now, the question remained – was Kalim of some importance, or was he nothing but a guard doggie?
Similar to the regular world, a holographic coin presented itself on the table before the two duelists.
“Heads.” Phil reflexively called.
The coin flickered like a fading light and then spun into the air.
Tails.
"I shall take the first turn," Kalim spoke with an emotionless voice. It sounded familiar… but where had Phil heard someone speak like that before? Phil waved his hand carelessly to signify his consent to the turn order. His deck honestly did do better going first, but going second would get him a nice preview of what Kalim was playing before Phil made any big moves. A cautious start.
Kalim drew a card, launching right into the rest of his turn without any threatening words or flashy plays.
“I summon Maharaghi (1200/1700). Its effect allows me, during my next draw phase, to look at the top card of my deck and place that card either back on the top or on the bottom of my deck.”
“Spirits…” Phil stared at the strange golden idol emerging onto the field with a pensive expression. “You know, I once got my ass beat trying to make those work back at the academy. Pro tip? They suck as a pure deck. Their best bet is as individual tech cards in other decks.”
“It brings back memories.” Lumina sighed. “That dorm room we shared was pretty small, wasn’t it? I scared the living daylights out of you by blowing up an orange with magic!”
Kalim refused to be drawn into Phil’s casual banter, merely placing three cards face-down and activating the continuous spell card, Spring of Rebirth, which would increase Kalim’s life points by 500 each time a monster would return from the field to the hand. That effect quickly activated, as the secondary effect of Maharaghi triggered to return itself to Kalim’s hand in the end phase of the turn it was summoned.
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 4500
Phil began his turn with a little more flair that contrasted with the tinge of seriousness in his eyes brought forth by the presence of a shadow game. His opponent seemingly had no interest in saying any unnecessary words. Fine.
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“Let’s see…" He muttered while he thought. A spirit deck with three unknown face-downs and no monsters on the field. The last part was pretty classic for spirit decks, unless they were using one of the few cards that allowed the duelist to sidestep their little 'return to hand in the end phase' drawback. Well, first things first – figure out the face-downs, because those were the only remotely threatening part of Kalim's deck so far.
“I’ll summon Swarm of Locusts (1000/500) in attack mode.” Phil said after a moment of thought. Most would have begun by setting it instead, but with a clear field and his hand still mostly full, Phil preferred to send in a probing strike of his own to get the lay of the land.
Like the duel against Pegasus the night before, a thick swarm of dirt-brown locusts filled the air between Phil and Kalim, the buzzing from their wings reaching a fever pitch as Phil directed their attack with a simple pointed finger.
"In response, I activate the continuous trap card, Ultimate Offering." Kalim said, and Phil's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates while the man continued to speak in a monotone voice. "During your battle phase or my main phase, I can pay 500 life points to normal summon or set a monster. I will do that, sacrificing 500 points to summon Susa Soldier (2000/1600)."
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 4000
Each word was delivered without even the most minute of changes to the pitch of his voice. Phil stared at the white-haired armored warrior now on the field, one who wielded a sword covered with yellow tendrils of electricity. Boasting 2000 attack points, its other effects were, as Phil knew from casually playing spirits himself on occasion, not worth considering. For the honor of possessing 2000 attack points, the battle damage it inflicted would be halved. That was all.
Not great.
Still, it was enough to prevent Phil from redeclaring his attack with Swarm of Locusts, instead moving to his second main phase to use his Locust’s effect to switch itself to face-down defense position, place two cards face-down, and end his turn.
During that same end phase, Susa Soldier's effect triggered as expected to return itself to Kalim's hand. However, the moment it activated (also triggering Spring of Rebirth), the strange bald man revealed the second of his face-downs.
“Continuous trap card, Spirit’s Invitation, activates. Each time a spirit monster returns to my hand, I will select one monster on your field to return to the hand.”
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 4500
The choice was obvious. Phil picked up his face-down Swarm of Locusts with barely a second look. With two out of the three face-downs revealed, Kalim’s strategy was clear. Spirit control, focused around using the spirit’s inherent drawbacks to the man’s advantage through gaining life points and ensuring Phil’s monsters couldn’t stick to the field. A decent strategy, one that would likely KO almost any regular duelist in this world.
Once Swarm of Locusts returned to Phil’s hand, one last trap activated - Kalim’s third face-down Solemn Wishes. This continuous trap was pretty simple. Each time Kalim drew a card, he would gain 500 life points.
“Maharaghi’s latent effect activates.” Kalim lifelessly intoned once his turn began, taking the top card off his deck to stare at unblinkingly. After a moment of examination, the man placed that card on the bottom of his deck and moved to draw a card to finish his draw phase.
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 5000
Phil felt a grin spread to his face unbidden. This duel… it being a shadow game was a true shame. He couldn't give a deck as funny as this spirit deck the true flair it deserved as an opponent, instead being forced to crush it as quickly as possible so that his soul would remain safely within wherever it was stored inside of his body.
“Standby phase, I will pay 500 life points so that Spirit’s Invitation remains on my field. I summon Yata-Garasu (200/100) in attack mode. Following, I pay 1000 life points to summon Susa Soldier (2000/1600) and Maharaghi (1200/1700), both in attack mode."
Phil: 4000 Kalim: 4500
Whatever Kalim said next was drowned out by Phil’s laser-focused gaze on a purple-feathered crow on the field, standing innocently next to the white-haired warrior and a strange golden idol adorned with various blue jewels.
Yata-Garasu.
A simple card, but a terrifying one at that. Each time it inflicted battle damage to Phil’s life points, Phil would have to skip his next draw phase. That’s right. It would slowly eat away at his resources 200 points at a time. Usually it was paired with a larger monster capable of destroying cards on the field to further put the pressure of the lock on, but a Yata-Garasu with a clear avenue of attack was a problem in of itself.
“D.3.S., oh buddy oh pal,” Phil whispered to his spirit companion through the sliver of fear working its way up his spine, “When I ice this guy, make sure to spit out his deck. I want the birdie.”
Phil had no time to wait for a croaking response, as the battle phase was on him before he could hardly react.
"Nah, no bird on my watch." Phil spat out. "Here's the trap card, Ring of Destruction. My target is your Yata-Garasu. It dies and both of us eat effect damage equal to its attack. Tacked on top of that will be a second trap, Karma Cut! By discarding Sinister Serpent, I can banish your Susa Soldier from the game."
In an instant, Kalim's field was reduced to one monster as a ring of grenades formed around the little purple bird's neck and detonated, while the formidable armored warrior was sucked through a randomly occurring dimensional portal to never be seen again. Only Maharaghi’s attack came through, dealing a solid 1200 points of damage to Phil’s life.
Phil spat out a thin string of blood as Kalim’s turn ended, more annoyed than hurt. Maharaghi returned to his hand, causing the white-winged figure lounging over a mysterious blue spring to shower the shadow duelist with a spray of rejuvenating water.
Phil: 2600 Kalim: 4800
"Looks to me that if you run out of spirits, your whole field goes dead."
Kalim did not respond. His dead eyes continued to fix Phil with an empty stare, unblinking and unmoving.
“Draw. You know the drill. Standby phase, Sinister Serpent returns to my hand. Main phase. Come on out, Swarm of Locusts (1000/500).”
Like before, Phil moved swiftly into his battle phase. The thick cloud of ravenous locusts moved into an attacking formation, but the effect of Ultimate Offering was not far behind. Kalim paid 500 life points in response to Phil’s attack…
And Phil responded with a gleeful smile.
“Nah mate, I’ll have to veto that! I activate the quick-play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Ultimate Offering! Because it’s a continuous trap card, my act of destroying it will prevent your summon outright!”
It was one of the rare occasions where Mystical Space Typhoon could actually negate a spell/trap effect, as continuous spells/traps all shared the drawback of needing to stay on the field for their effects to resolve. By Phil's act of destroying Ultimate Offering, its effect could no longer be resolved.
"And you still have to pay the cost." Phil smirked, though his barb was unable to break Kalim’s poker face.
Phil: 2600 Kalim: 4300
Now that he had breathing room away from the Spirit’s Invitation/Ultimate Offering combo, Phil moved to his main phase, set Swarm of Locusts back in face-down defense position, and placed two more cards face-down.
The effect of Maharaghi resolved once Kalim’s turn began. This time the man kept the card he looked at through its effect on top of his deck. He drew a card, paid the cost for his continuous trap card, and healed his life points by 500 points due to Solemn Wishes.
Phil: 2600 Kalim: 4300
"Pot of Greed." Kalim lifelessly intoned. He drew two cards and gained another 500 life points. It was a curious technicality of Solemn Wishes. Even though a card like Pot of Greed drew twice, since it was done through a single card activation, the healing power of the continuous trap card would only trigger once.
“Maharaghi (1200/1700). Battle phase.”
Phil clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Mate, I don’t know what you’re thinking. You aren’t getting another attack off. My continuous trap card activates, Wall of Revealing Light. By paying life points in multiples of 1000, monsters you control with attack less than or equal to the amount paid cannot attack. I’ll sink in a good 2000.”
Just as the bejeweled golden idol reared back to attack, a large wall of crackling white light slammed down onto the field between it and Phil, leaving not an inch available for the monster to strike through.
Phil: 600 Kalim: 4800
“Second main.” Kalim switched gears without hesitating. “I equip the Mirror of Yata to Maharaghi.”
Phil nodded lightly. Mirror of Yata was a card he knew of. It was one of the handful of spirit-exclusive equip spells that served to negate the main drawback of the archetype. While the Mirror of Yata stayed equipped to Maharaghi, it wouldn't return to Kalim's hand in the end phase, and if the monster were to be destroyed by battle, the mirror would break instead.
The presence of the mirror indicated Kalim abandoning his Spirit’s Invitation strategy. But for what? Waiting for a way to destroy Wall of Revealing Light? Or was this Kalim attempting to set up for a tribute summon? The latter made more sense to Phil. Drop something with more than 2000 attack, and Kalim could go on the offensive again. Without cards like Mirror of Yata allowing spirits to stick around, accruing tribute fodder in spirit decks without using non-archetypal cards was a bit difficult. Otherwise, he’d be better off continuously bouncing Phil’s monsters back to his hand via Spirit’s Invitation.
Phil drew a card once Kalim signaled the end of his turn. Yes, the equip spell keeping Maharaghi around was a decent play, if not for one key factor. Swarm of Locusts was still very much alive. And without being constantly returned to Phil’s hand through Spirit’s Invitation? Well…
“That was a mistake.” Phil casually spoke. He flipped over his set Swarm of Locusts. “Swarm’s effect triggers to blow up your Spirit’s Invitation.” Mirror of Yata would have been another decent target, but the continuous trap was more of a latent threat than it was.
“I can’t deal with your Maharaghi yet, so I’ll reset Swarm of Locusts, set another monster in face-down defense position, and pass my turn.”
Kalim began his turn, using the effect from summoning the golden idol earlier to once more look at the top card of his deck. This card was placed on the bottom of his deck. He drew a card.
Phil: 600 Kalim: 5300
“Summon, Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600/1000).”
A powerful warrior clad in armor of red and gold walked confidently onto the field, causing Phil's eyes to grow as wide as dinner plates.
"Whooo! Talk about a heart attack on two legs! Don't worry about explaining the spell counter bit, because in response to the summon, I activate my quick-play spell, Book of Moon! It's gonna flip your Breaker into face-down defense position.”
It was just in the nick of time. As soon as Breaker’s sword began to glow with a powerful purple light, a giant blue book covered in mystical symbols spun through the air. Its cover opened to show countless pages full of hieroglyphs which floated freely across the paper like they were alive. Several hieroglyphs lifted themselves from the pages, forcing the armored warrior into a defensive position that canceled out its growing strength.
Ordinarily, Book of Moon was a good card, but in this instance its power was even higher due to the way spell counters worked. If the monster was flipped face-down, it lost its spell counters, meaning it would also lose out on the 300 extra attack points per counter and said counter could not be removed to destroy a spell/trap card on the field, reducing the spellcaster monster to nothing more than a 1600 attack point creature, albeit one that was now in face-down defense position.
“I end my turn.”
“Draw!” Phil looked at his cards and grinned. “Flip summoning Swarm of Locusts (1000/500)! Kill the Solemn Wishes! Flip summoning Medusa Worm (500/600)! Its effect triggers, allowing me to destroy one monster on your field! Maharaghi bites the dust! Then I’ll throw down a face-down, use the secondary effects of both my monsters to flip them back down, and pass turn!”
Such was the power of P.A.C.M.A.N. This deck possessed no brilliant plays, no lightning-fast moves to leave spectators clutching their seats in awe. All it did was one thing. Out. Resource. Drag the opponent into an absurdly filthy grind game and out-resource them to death via a thousand cuts. Out-resource them by chaining their arms with floodgates like Gravity Bind, Level Limit – Area B, and Wall of Revealing Light, tearing them to pieces with the swarm monsters, and protecting the castle with counter traps and spot removal for threats such as Breaker the Magical Warrior.
“Draw.”
This time Kalim’s life point counter did not change. The man stared at his field for nearly a solid minute. Phil didn’t fault him. Mirror of Yata couldn’t protect against destruction via effects, so it had been of no help when Medusa Worm had destroyed Maharaghi. Meaning, Kalim was now down to one monster left on the field. One monster that couldn’t even attack.
“Turn end.”
The man almost seemed like a computer stuck on a loading screen, unable to fully process what lay before him. Or perhaps he could, and there was simply nothing he could do in the face of Phil’s field.
Phil drew a card. “Flipping Swarm of Locusts. Its effect will destroy Spring of Rebirth. Flipping Medusa Worm. The worm kills off Breaker using its effect. Normal summon Des Lacooda (500/600). Battle phase.”
Wordlessly, Phil directed his three monsters to attack. From the left a cloud of locusts sounded like a roomful of chainsaws as it slammed into Kalim's head. From the right rushed a giant purple worm covered in spikey teeth to graze Kalim's shoulder. From the center, a mummified camel groaned in effort as it lashed out with a hoof to catch Kalim in the chest, leaving the man's robes torn from the impact.
Phil: 600 Kalim: 3300
The second main phase was next. All three of Phil's monsters flipped themselves face down. His turn ended.
Finally, a hint of frustration broke through Kalim's poker face for the briefest of moments. It was enough for Phil to both notice and savor.
“Shouldn’t have dragged me into a shadow game.” Phil sat back, shrugging. “We coulda’ talked this one out. But no, you had to try and be a badass.”
“Draw. Pass.” Kalim said through gritted teeth. A vein pulsed under the pale skin on his forehead.
Phil drew a card to start his turn. He flipped over Des Lacooda, using its effect to draw another card, following it by flipping over Swarm of Locusts and Medusa Worm to attack mode.
“You know the drill. All three will attack directly.”
A barrage of weak yet still well-placed strikes tore more gouges in Kalim’s skin, splattering the man’s chair with a thin hue of scarlet.
Phil: 600 Kalim: 1300
Phil clicked his tongue in satisfaction. “That’s more like it. I reset my monsters to face-down defense position, put down a facedown, and pass my turn.”
Kalim wordlessly drew a card. Like before, when frustration had leaked through his poker face, his expression betrayed a mere moment of excitement.
“Monster Reborn! Breaker the Magical Warrior returns to my field.”
Phil nodded. “It doesn’t get the spell counter, though. Needs to be normal summoned for that.”
But Phil's voiced concern was quickly answered. As soon as the red-and-gold armored warrior appeared on the field, it disappeared in a pillar of fire as a great bird took its place. The bird's plumage was an assortment of colors, full of bright reds, cool greens, and pulsing blues that all combined to form the image of a noble phoenix.
“By sacrificing Breaker, I tribute summon Fenghuang (2100/1800).”
Phil let out an incredulous laugh. “Dawg, isn’t that from a card pack in the Zexal era?”
His taunt went unanswered. Kalim continued to speak in an emotionless tone.
“When Fenghuang is summoned, all set spell and trap cards you control will be destroyed.”
Phil hummed in thought. Then he flipped over his sole facedown. “Sure. Woe, Compulsory Evacuation Device be upon you. Your Fenghuang gets returned to your hand.”
“…”
Another minute passed where Kalim did nothing but stare at Phil with a pair of unblinking eyes.
“Pass turn.”
Phil drew a card, feeling the living shadows draw closer. They smelled blood.
“As the scholars say, fuck around and find out. I flip summon Des Lacooda. It draws me a card. Flipping Swarm of Locusts and Medusa Worm face-up to no effect. Normal summon Swarm of Scarabs (500/1000).”
Phil looked at his opponent. Kalim stared back at him with an even look. The field was bustling with activity between the living cloud of brown locusts in the air, the crowd of scarabs on the ground so numerous it looked like the field was covered in a moving brown carpet, a wiggling purple worm adorned with countless threatening spikes, and a mummified camel which stood sedately in the middle of it all, carefully adjusting its hooves so as to not crush any of its little scarab buddies underfoot.
"Drop 'em, boys. D.3.S., buddy, spit him out if he’s possessed and still alive, please. Otherwise he’s all yours.”
Phil: 600 Kalim: 0
As a giant green mouth covered in warts lunged from the shadows to snatch Kalim from his seat with a croak of thanks for the meal, Phil stood and stretched, wiping a thin line of blood from his nose as he did. First there was silence, and then a chorus of panicked screams tore out from the darkness. He glanced around, waiting a few seconds before it was clear D.3.S. Frog had found an answer.
“Don’t wanna get iced, don’t start a shadow game without the other guy’s consent. Or at least specify the bet beforehand like Pegasus did.” Phil muttered to himself, shaking his head in irritation. “Jeez, and playing spirits to boot.” Another croak came from the shadows, followed by a stack of 40 cards covered in a small amount of drool flying out to land in Phil’s upturned palm. He quickly shuffled through the deck. Phil’s hands slipped out a few cards from within the stack, while the rest were neatly placed on the edge of the table.
“Neat. Lumina, remember this word of wisdom from Phil the Greek Philosopher. The only people who play pure spirits are memelords, Shinobird enjoyers, or morons. I think our departed acquaintance was one of the latter.”
Soon, Phil shrugged and added on to his words. “I guess I can give him one point. This deck probably would have wiped just about any fodder duelist off the map without much trouble. At least considering the good cards I just stole. It’s kinda kneecapped now.”
Lumina paused between sips of her ever-present thermos of tea. “Pity you couldn’t figure out his goals.”
“No,” Phil sighed. He moved away from the table to start the trek toward the nearest door. “But considering the instant leap toward a shadow game against a random intruder, I have a feeling this ‘Red Summer’ guy is bad news.”
Indeed, it was troubling to think about. Shadow games were never good news. Even more so when the opponent was so eager to jump into one without an explanation or a clearly stated wager.
“Pegasus did the same.” Lumina pointed out.
Phil nodded to acknowledge the point. “True. But he is bad news during his little villain arc. And when he realized I wasn’t his enemy, he chilled out fast. Part of me wonders if this upside-down world has something to do with how bad his hackles were raised… and he did mention a mage problem. I thought he was talking about Yugi, but what if it’s something else?”
Lumina offered her thermos to Phil, who accepted it with a shrug of ‘eh, why not’.
“What’s on the menu today?”
“Peach. The girls back at the office sent me a few bags of it yesterday.”
Phil took a test sniff, shrugged again, and quaffed a gulp before handing the thermos back to her. He gave a sigh of appreciation.
“Peachy.”
“I know, right!”
The door in the back of the room creaked open of its own accord. Phil gave it a steady stare. The more time he spent here, the more of a bad feeling he could feel creeping up his spine.
“Let’s hurry and find Jean.” Phil decided, jogging over to the door. The only sound accompanying Phil’s shoes hitting the steep wooden floor was the faint ‘creak creak’ of Lumina screwing the cap of her thermos back on before easily catching up with his pace.
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