Jean cracked his eyes open the moment he felt his body come to a halt. He was alone. No Phil or stork to be seen. It had happened… yes, as soon as those colored lights had surrounded them. He gave his body a quick pat down, marveling how there hardly seemed to be a scratch on his skin – a byproduct of whatever magic had slowed his fall down in at the very last second.

  “Marvelous…” Jean whispered to himself, stroking his goatee with his hand out of habit. It wasn't just the multicolored door or the strange fall that had amazed him. Those were but parts of a whole. The largest part was the room he had found himself in. It was, as the best way to describe it, simply gorgeous.

  Stone walls surrounded Jean, reaching from the ground to soar far into the air so that he could only barely see their end. Set in the stone walls were countless elegant stained-glass windows, all colored in various shades of red that sparkled under the effect of flickering lights on the other side, which caused reddish shadows to dance across the floor.

  The windows were tall, each one measuring at least twice the height of a two-story building to Jean’s best estimation, while being as narrow as two grown men standing side-by-side. In between each stained-glass window was a single candle an arm’s length in size. Unlike a normal candle, these had wicks utterly devoid of flame, and instead the wax body itself was covered from top to bottom in a merry crackling blaze of which Jean could feel slight warmth from even where he stood. The wicks were on the bottom, and the sconce that would normally hold the candle up was on the top. Were they upside down?

  Together the windows, stone walls, and the strange upside-down candles formed a solemn atmosphere, one that was enhanced by the strange black stone floor underfoot. Unlike a regular floor, which would remain flat and steady, this floor of solid rock bowed slightly, depressing lower and lower the closer it was to the center.

  Jean’s eyes flicked across the strange floor, and then he glanced up to the ceiling. Whereas the floor was bowed, or perhaps ‘dipped’ would be a better phrase, the ceiling was flat, made entirely from polished lengths of dark wood. He looked back to the floor, then to the ceiling.

  No. He’d seen this before, though without the red stained-glass windows. It wasn’t the ceiling.

  Jean’s eyes widened in surprise. The stone floor he stood on was no floor. It was the ceiling, and the wood ceiling above was no ceiling, but what the floor should have been. It was an upside-down version of a room in Pegasus’s castle.

  Jean took a step back in shock. This… he had seen many things in his travels, and magic was not entirely a stranger to his eyes. But this… was beyond anything he had seen before.

  A creaking sound broke the heavy silence in the air as a door on the other side of the hall, one which Jean had missed in his initial scan of the room, steadily opened.

  Beyond that door was a man. He seemed ordinary at first glance. He had close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair, the sort an older gentleman would possess. His eyes were hawkish, grey, and piercing, as if he could stare through Jean's very soul with naught but the briefest of glances. Above his eyes nestled a pair of thick, bushy grey eyebrows. Around his body was a classic three-piece business suit. The suit jacket and trousers were solid in color and as grey as his eyes, while the waistcoat and tie underneath were a deep, dark red. His shoes were sophisticated as well, elegant classic Oxford shoes made of brown leather.

  He seemed like an ordinary man. An elegant and reserved gentleman, perhaps in his mid-40s or early 50s. An ordinary man, if one ignored the location he had appeared in, as no ordinary man would normally be found in a strange, upside-down version of a room in Pegasus's castle.

  However, as the gentleman drew closer, Jean was able to make out several oddities. The man’s skin looked unremarkable at first, appearing merely lightly tanned, but after a blink of his eyes, Jean could almost swear something… moved. Jean blinked his eyes again. No, it was no figment of his imagination. Crawling across the gentleman’s tanned skin as if they were alive were countless tattooed Egyptian hieroglyphs, each one red in color and small enough to fit on the edge of Jean’s pinky finger.

  The parts of his red tie which poked out from where it was neatly tucked under his waistcoat showed that it was not solid red – but instead had a red backdrop on which the word ‘DIVINE’ was printed on at a diagonal angle in large, blocky white letters, repeating itself over and over again from the very top of the tie all the way to the bottom edges.

  The strangest thing of all was that the man’s chest was utterly still. There were no slight movements that indicated breathing, which would be expected to be seen from any normal human.

  The strange gentleman paused his advance ten feet away from Jean. The two men stared at each other. The air felt almost suffocating to Jean’s lungs, but it still possessed that same solemn and imposing feeling as it had when his eyes had first opened after his landing.

  Jean broke the silence first.

  “Monsieur is…?” He let the question hang in the thick air, feeling as if his words had to fight through it to be heard.

  A soft smile spread across the gentleman's face, the ordinarily calm motion managing to appear utterly out of place in his expression. The man slightly inclined his head in a nod of greeting. Even that slight gesture was elegant.

  “My apologies, it is proper for the host to introduce himself first, after all. I am known as Red Summer.”

  The man spoke in even, almost solemn tones. A sense of great age could be heard within his voice, though it lacked any sort of weakness that often came with such age.

  Jean nodded. “Jean Dubois. Pardonnez-moi, but have you seen a friend of mine? A scruffy man, bearded, with wild hair and a strange sense of humor, calls himself Phil? We appear to have been separated.”

  Red Summer shook his head with a regretful smile. “I am afraid not.”

  “I see. Merci. I shall continue my search for him.”

  Jean stepped forward and then halted. The door Red Summer had come through was now closed, its wooden surface rippling with countless strange red sigils that were obviously magical in nature.

  “I am afraid that door cannot be opened, my friend. Not yet. Nor can the door behind you.”

  Jean’s head whipped around. As Red Summer had indicated, there was another wooden door behind Jean that he had missed in his first examination of the room. It too was covered in magical red sigils, though the sigils covering that door looked much dimmer than the ones on the first door. Jean turned a careful eye back to Red Summer. His gut roiled, screaming at him that there was more at play than he originally imagined. This man… was dangerous.

  Red Summer continued to gently speak.

  “Even I cannot open either of these doors without fulfilling a certain condition. A security measure, if you will, of our sanctuary.”

  The stone floor rippled as if it had turned to liquid. Its surface bubbled, and then briefly parted as a wooden table rose from beneath it to stand between Jean and Red Summer. There were two ordinary wooden chairs on opposite sides of the table.

  Red Summer held out his palm invitingly, while his other hand pulled back the chair on his side to take a seat.

  “In this room, only one is permitted to exist. Until that condition is met, the wards of these doors shall not grant passage. So sayeth…” The gentleman’s eyes widened, a look of glee spreading across his face for the briefest of moments before his expression returned to its previous solemn gaze, “The wise Red Summer.”

  Life points flashed into existence to decorate the edges of the table in dark red font.

  Jean: 4000 Red Summer: 4000

  Darkness swirled around Jean’s shoes like fog on a calm, cold morning. Beyond that, existing only in the shadows cast by flickering candlelight, a barely perceptible croaking noise filtered into Jean’s ears. A reminder that Phil’s duel spirit was granting him the right to defend himself in this shadow game.

  “Hahhh… always leaping to a shadow game…” Jean sighed to himself. While this was the first shadow game he had been involved in since the incident at the nightclub, it hardly filled him with joy to partake in another, especially against a mysterious foe such as Red Summer, if that was even the man’s true name.

  “Very well.” A look of steely resolve filled Jean’s eyes. He sat down at the table to face Red Summer. “I call tails.”

  Red Summer did not respond. Both men glanced at a shimmering coin that appeared in the center of the table and watched as it flipped itself high up into the air. The coin arced through the air, falling onto the table without making a single sound.

  Heads.

  “I shall take the first turn.” Red Summer announced. Jean did not reply. Frankly, he was happy to see that result. His deck did like to go second, after all.

  Red Summer casually drew a card to start his turn. That action alone seemed to increase the heavy solemn feeling that weighed over the room of stone and red-stained glass.

  “I summon Masked Dragon (1400/1100) in defense position.”

  A pale dragon with a red underbelly padded onto the field. It flapped its wings experimentally while it stared at Jean with lidless eyes.

  Jean mentally nodded to himself as Red Summer placed a card face down and ended his turn. Masked Dragon. He had never seen the card played himself, but Phil had mentioned it to him once as an extremely useful monster for dragon decks. If it were to be destroyed by battle, Red Summer could summon a dragon monster with 1500 or fewer attack points from his deck. And, unlike what was normal for a ‘recruiter’ type monster, the controller of Masked Dragon would be able to summon the monster ‘recruited’ in attack or defense position, instead of in the traditional attack mode.

  “Draw.” Jean’s mind raced while he stared at the new addition to his starting hand. “So… Red Summer. May I ask if that is your real name, Monsieur? Do you always force people who accidentally drop by your so-called ‘sanctuary’ into shadow games? Does Pegasus know you’re here? He seems like a half-decent sort, unlike you.”

  The questions were both a delaying tactic and an honest attempt at gathering more information on this mysterious duelist.

  “I wonder…” Red Summer replied with a faint smile.

  Jean let out a soft ‘tch’. A tight-lipped fellow.

  “If you insist. Then, I’ll summon out a recruiter of my own, Giant Rat (1400/1450)!”

  As a large, blue-furred rat clutching a human skull in one of its paws walked out snarling onto the field to face the pale dragon, Jean considered his options. Giant Rat could certainly destroy Masked Dragon, but the issue would be what came next. What would Red Summer bring forth with the dragon’s effect? If it merely summoned a monster with 1500 attack points, there would be no problems, as Jean wanted his own recruiter to be destroyed by battle as well. But what if his opponent went for a powerful effect monster instead?

  The two monsters stared each other down while Jean racked his brain for the possibilities. What dragons existed that could fit that requirement? For a type renowned for overwhelming attack power, there weren’t many which crossed Jean’s mind, most of them being fellow recruiter monster such as Troop Dragon (700/800), which could summon another copy of itself when destroyed by battle, or situational defensive walls like Golem Dragon (200/2000), which made it so monsters could only attack it while it remained face-up on the field.

  Eventually Jean shrugged. His mind was going in circles, which would bring no benefit to him.

  “Giant Rat. Destroy the Masked Dragon.”

  The blue-furred rat tore Masked Dragon’s neck to shreds with no resistance, only taking a step backward when the effect of the fallen creature triggered.

  “Masked Dragon’s effect.” Red Summer calmly intoned. “Summoning Totem Dragon (400/200) in defense mode.”

  Replacing the pale Masked Dragon was a strange, long-necked creature with tan skin, two wings, and a round main body which was covered in scales painted in green and red. Its exposed teeth clicked and clacked with each rhythmic sway of the dragon’s head.

  It was not a monster Jean recognized, but he felt it was safe to assume it had a useful utility effect.

  "Two cards face down. That's my turn." Jean said with eyes narrowed in caution.

  Red Summer drew a card and then immediately revealed his face-down trap.

  “Trap card! Good Goblin Housekeeping! I draw cards equal to the number of housekeeping traps in my graveyard plus one, and then I will return one card from my hand to the bottom of my deck.”

  Red Summer drew another card and placed the card he had originally drawn in his draw phase on the bottom of his deck. His face took on a hint of excitement, mixed with… Jean furrowed his brows… mixed with… reverence?

  Jean’s confusion was not for long, as Red Summer revealed the card he had drawn with his trap.

  “One step closer to divinity.” The man said those words almost like a chant as the strange Totem Dragon disappeared.

  "Wha-" Jean began to speak, but fell silent halfway through his first word.

  A dragon descended from the heavens. Clad in scales of pure white and bedecked with cloudlike light-blue fire came a four-legged wingless dragon. It had six eyes, each appearing as if they were brilliant topaz gems set into the side of its face rather than proper eyes. Four horns jutted out of the dragon’s head, looking sharp enough that Jean felt his eyes were being cut by simply looking at it.

  “Divine Dragon – Excelion (1500/900)!”

  1500 attack points.

  Jean knew he should feel relief upon seeing that number. It was weak for a level five monster. But what was this sense of grim foreboding that filled his stomach to the brim?

  The monster was dangerous. That was his duelist’s instinct.

  “Attack.”

  A blast of blue fire silently soared out from the Divine Dragon’s mouth, incinerating Jean’s Giant Rat without any effort. Yet, as Jean activated his monster’s effect to summon an earth monster with 1500 or fewer attack points, another feeling of strangeness pervaded his mind. This was a shadow duel, and he had just taken damage. So, why did he not feel pain?

  Jean: 3900 Red Summer: 4000

  The answer became clear moments later as a faint weight settled over his chest. It was not much, no more than a touch, but it was enough for Jean to notice and realize how unnatural it was. He shook his head. It was some sort of effect from the duel, but he knew nothing more than that.

  “Monk Fighter (1300/1000), stand by my side!” Jean shouted as a muscular man in a simple orange fighting uniform ran onto the field to stand before him.

  Red Summer’s turn ended with one card being set facedown. Jean drew a card… and his face twisted in a smile.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Monsieur, allow me to lay some groundwork. I summon Sealmaster Meisei (1100/900)! Now, I know he does not look like much, but trust me, this sage is a man of many talents! Here’s one right now, the continuous spell card, Talisman of Trap Sealing! While both this card and Meisei remain on the field, trap cards cannot be activated, and their effects are negated!”

  A man wearing the red robes of a Shinto priest appeared on the field surrounded by hundreds of mystical talismans, each on crackling with blue lightning. With a wave of his hands, the talismans soared around the wooden table to haphazardly cover its surface. Several of the talismans closest to Red Summer bulged upward slightly, as if something underneath was straining to break free, but ultimately they held strong.

  Red Summer inclined his head slightly in a gesture of respect for Jean’s move, but the Frenchman was nowhere near finished, a fact he demonstrated by revealing a monster card in his hand.

  "The apprentice calls forth his master for aid! Striking mountains to pieces, splitting oceans with his fists! By sacrificing Monk Fighter, I special summon Master Monk (1900/1000) from my hand! Then, my equip spell activates! Legendary Black Belt, which can only be equipped to Master Monk or one of his disciples!"

  A sturdy black belt wrapped itself around the waist of a rugged, bearded monk with long white hair, who wore an orange martial uniform left tattered by the aftereffects of a thousand battles, and under which rippled a body covered with countless bulging muscles.

  “Battle phase!” Jean confidently declared. “Clear the field, Master Monk!”

  Hardly had the words left Jean's mouth that the monk surged forward as fast as a flash of lightning tearing through the night sky, erasing the entire head of Red Summer’s Divine Dragon – Excelion with one well-placed blow.

  “The effect of Legendary Black Belt!” Jean snapped out. “When Master Monk destroys a monster by battle, you take damage equal to that monster’s defense.”

  Jean: 3900 Red Summer: 2700

  “Furthermore!” Jean leaned forward, intent on refusing Red Summer even a moment of reprieve. “Master Monk’s own effect allows it to strike twice in one turn! Master Monk, charge forward! Attack directly!”

  The Divine Dragon’s body had yet to finish falling to the floor as the grizzled monk surged forward to batter relentlessly against Red Summer’s body in a flurry of deadly blows. Yet, much like how the battle damage Jean had suffered failed to do anything other than press a weight against his chest, no blood flew from Red Summer’s body. Instead, the man’s chest seemed to… deform. Like a deflating balloon, though it made no sounds as it did.

  Jean: 3900 Red Summer: 800

  “Well struck, Jean Dubois.” Red Summer said through a horrible grin that stretched haphazardly across his face. “Well struck indeed. I see you have one more attack, if my eyes do not deceive.”

  “I do.” Jean sternly replied. “Sealmaster Meisei, attack directly.”

  But mere moments before the talismans launched from Meisei’s hands would have struck Red Summer directly and ended the game, a ball of brown fur threw itself between the projectiles and its master.

  Red Summer casually revealed a card in his hand, the sickening smile replaced by his former solemn attitude once more. "Kuriboh. By discarding this fiend monster, the damage from your attack is reduced to zero."

  Jean raised an eyebrow. “I see. Why did you not use that against my Master Monk’s direct attack?”

  Red Summer paused, turning his head to stare at the red-stained glass windows. Jean’s gaze followed his. Was it just him, or did the red light falling from the windows seem like a darker shade of red than before?

  “To make you understand.” The older gentleman eventually said. His head turned back. He met Jean’s gaze with a pair of hawkish eyes colored a steely grey.

  “Understand?” Jean echoed.

  “That you have no chance at winning. I have allowed you to reduce my life points to under 1000 points. I will not take any more damage for the rest of this duel. So sayeth the wise Red Summer.”

  At the end of that pronouncement, the words 'So sayeth the wise Red Summer' echoed around the stone hall as if they were being repeated by a thousand pious voices, each one building on top of the other to create a loud yet solemn clamor that could reach to the heavens themselves. And then, as abruptly as it had started, the echoes stopped. A shiver ran down Jean’s spine, but it was quickly dispelled by the fighting spirit still roaring away in his chest.

  Jean ended his turn. Red Summer wordlessly drew a card, his eyes flicking across its text.

  “Standby phase. The effect of my Totem Dragon activates. Because I have no monsters on the field and all of the monsters in my graveyard are dragons, I can special summon it from the graveyard, though it will be banished next time it leaves the field. It will not remain on the field for long.”

  Red Summer’s eyes flashed with malice, before that too was dispelled by his solemn voice.

  “One step closer to divinity. I sacrifice Totem Dragon to tribute summon Divine Dragon – Excelion (1500/900)!”

  Like the one before, this divine dragon was covered in the same pure white scales and blue fur that flowed like fire. Only, there was something about its presence that felt more majestic than the first Excelion. Something that felt more… divine.

  "When my Divine Dragon – Excelion is normal summoned, I can choose an extra effect that it will gain for each Excelion in my graveyard, though I cannot choose multiples of the same effect. My choice is… power! Divine Dragon – Excelion, heed my call! Gain the strength of the fallen! Increase your power by 1000 attack points!”

  Divine Dragon – Excelion (1500/900 -> 2500/900).

  Red Summer did not even need to utter the command. The mighty dragon spat out a blast of blue fire that soared silently through the air right toward Sealmaster Meisei.

  But Jean merely flipped over one of his two face-down cards.

  “As this card is just about to become useless, allow me to remove it in response to your attack declaration. Activating the quick-play spell card, Emergency Provisions! By sending Talisman of Trap Sealing to the graveyard, my life points are increased by 1000 points.”

  A tub of biscuits rushed to bolster Jean’s life point counter even as the battle damage from Excelion’s fire was calculated. It was not the best he could have hoped for, but the Talisman would have self-destructed following Meisei’s death regardless.

  Jean: 3500 Red Summer: 800

  The blue flickering flames consumed the Shinto monk, who, to his credit, did not utter a scream of pain as his skin was reduced to a puddle of melted goo.

  Red Summer placed one card facedown.

  Jean narrowed his eyes as his turn began. The Talisman of Trap Sealing was out of the way, so that meant any traps Red Summer had at his fingertips were back online. On top of that was the Divine Dragon, boosted to a formidable 2500 attack points. Then there was that gentleman’s declaration.

  “I will not take any more damage in this duel.”

  Arrogant bastard, but he had the power to back it up. Jean snorted. Phil would have a field day with this fellow.

  “Draw. Activating my spell card, Kaminote Blow! Any monster that battles with Monk Fighter this turn will be destroyed at the end of the damage step!”

  A hand signal from Jean was enough for Master Monk to leap into battle against the dragon which far outmatched his own attack strength. The grey-haired monk charged, dodging blast after blast of blue fire that streamed out of Excelion’s mouth, until finally his punch connected.

  The dragon fell to the ground with a roar.

  Master Monk remained standing. Still breathing, still standing. Standing and staring at Red Summer with a glare of defiance.

  For a second it was not clear why. Red Summer tilted his head slightly, a gleam of curiosity in his eyes. Then the smoke cleared, revealing a trap card that Jean had activated at the very last moment.

  “Lone Wolf. It’s what I used to be back in the day.” Jean explained with a knowing grin. “While Master Monk is alone on the field, I can activate this continuous trap card, which will protect my monster from destruction by battle, along with allowing it to completely ignore all of your monster effects. Combined with my Kaminote blow, this means your dragon falls while my monk stands supreme. Atop the corpse of the ‘divine’, as you so call it.”

  “Yet you still take the damage.” Red Summer calmly pointed out.

  Jean’s eyes flicked over to his life point counter.

  Jean: 2900 Red Summer: 800

  The weight on Jean’s chest intensified. No longer could he fully ignore it.

  “I do. And Master Monk can still attack twice per turn.” Jean said through the tightness in his chest.

  Red Summer accepted the fact with a nod, but as the monk’s mighty fist soared toward his body for a second time, he revealed a trap card.

  “Good Goblin Housekeeping. As there is already one copy in my graveyard, this time I can draw two cards while placing only one card on the bottom of my deck.”

  Two more cards shot into Red Summer’s hand, with one of them being immediately placed underneath his deck.

  “Then, to halt your attack! In a separate chain, Trap card, activate! Zoma the Spirit! This continuous trap card will special summon itself as a zombie monster in defense position! Chaining to that, Mystical Space Typhoon! Oh storm of mine, destroy the Legendary Black Belt equip spell!”

  Zoma the Spirit (1800/500).

  A spirit similar in looks to a skeletal dragon loomed overhead, its bony wings barely able to keep the beast afloat as it clicked its fanged jaw experimentally. Meanwhile, the black belt around Master Monk's waist was torn to shreds by the turbulent winds summoned by Red Summer's typhoon.

  Jean frowned. A trap monster… he had seen a few of those before, but this one was new to him. He internally shook his head. No matter. Though he could still call back his strike, he did not want to see what would happen if a third Divine Dragon – Excelion was summoned to the field. Allowing his enemy free tribute fodder would be much too dangerous for his taste. Better to stay on the offensive while he could.

  “Change of plan. Master Monk, destroy Zoma the Spirit!”

  The zombie was pulverized in one blow. A smirk flashed across Red Summer’s face. The man smoothed the front of his suit with his hand as he began to speak.

  “An accursed, foul spirit as it may be, Zoma was once a dragon himself. Even as a zombie, no dragon goes down without a curse of its own. Zoma! Reveal your power! When it is destroyed by battle, my enemy will take damage to your life points equal to the monster that destroyed it!”

  A spectral face that looked extremely similar to Zoma’s skull tore through the air to scream like a banshee at Jean.

  Jean: 1000 Red Summer: 800

  Jean made to speak, but his breath died in his lungs as the weight on his chest bore down on him to such an amount that he could feel his own ribs creak in protest. All of the air was driven out of his lungs. His heart strained to beat. His stomach cried out in protest. His vision flickered.

  The room went dark all around him. At first Jean imagined it was just his vision flickering again, but as he mastered his breathing, the darkness remained. A glance around the room revealed that every single candle had gone out at once. The only light remaining was what filtered through the tall, red-stained glass windows, light that was dyed a deeper and darker red hue than it ever had been before. The air in the room was suffocating, so thick in his mouth that Jean felt he could almost bite into it.

  “You will die here, in the presence of the divine.” Red Summer’s solemn, gentlemanly tones filled the room with the echoes of a thousand voices. His voice was devoid of hatred and malice, instead sounding almost as if he… pitied Jean. “So sayeth the wise Red Summer. So it is said, so it shall be done.”

  The weight on Jean’s chest forced him into a fit of wracking coughs that ended with several flecks of blood flying from his lips to land on the surface of the wooden table.

  “Set… one card… pass.” He choked out.

  Red Summer calmly drew a card and activated a spell.

  “Monster Reborn!”

  “Not a chance!” Jean roared through the crushing pressure, spitting blood while he revealed the card he had just set moments ago. “Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell! By discarding my Dimension Fusion spell card, your spell is negated!”

  Jean doubled over. The weight was unbearable. But he gritted his teeth all the same, dragging his head back up even though it felt like a thousand rocks were piled on top of his skull.

  “Not only that,” Jean gasped, “But that spell will be sealed for you for the rest of the duel. You cannot use Monster Reborn going forward. I hope… that did not mess up your plans, Monsieur.”

  Red Summer inclined his head slightly in a gesture of respect as both duelists watched a glowing yellow seal covered in mystical symbols form around a blue Ankh to safely defuse the powerful spell card.

  “I shall allow it.” Red Summer said. “Perchance, do you have a second counter trap card? For I activate Pot of Greed!”

  Jean’s eyes widened by a fraction. Red Summer had revealed the very same card he had just drawn. Monster Reborn had been a decoy! A very costly decoy, but one all the same! If the man’s luck held… then Pot of Greed could very well be several times more impactful than Monster Reborn.

  Red Summer drew two more cards. The gentleman’s eyes gleamed.

  “Troop Dragon (700/800) in defense position. One card facedown. Turn end.”

  A chance! Jean mentally screamed out the words. He drew a card. He knew Troop Dragon would summon another copy of itself when it was destroyed, meaning with Master Monk alone, he could destroy two out of the likely three copies Red Summer had at his fingertips. Meaning, if one more monster could be summoned, Jean could completely deny his opponent the tribute material his best monsters so desperately needed.

  And as for the facedown… he had no way to deal with it at this time. Jean could only hope in his heart that it had no game-changing effects.

  “Come to my aid, Chu-Ske the Mouse Fighter (1200/0)!” Jean roared out. A mouse that bore a striking resemblance to Jackie Chan hopped onto the field, flexing its muscles as it stood next to Master Monk.

  “Battle phase! Master Monk, destroy Troop Dragon!”

  The first Troop Dragon, a pair of armored lizards wielding a sword and spear each, was destroyed. A second one immediately marched onto the field, which was annihilated by Master Monk’s follow-up strike, and the third was beaten to death under Chu-Ske’s furry fists of fury. Red Summer’s field was left devoid of monsters.

  “End turn.” Jean said through gritted teeth.

  Red Summer’s hand drew an arc into the air as he elegantly drew a card.

  “You did well in removing my Troop Dragons.” He complimented. Such was the pressure on Jean’s chest that he could not waste the energy to reply.

  “However,” Red Summer continued, “You failed to destroy my facedown card. Reveal yourself, Call of the Haunted! This continuous trap card shall resurrect Masked Dragon (1400/1100).”

  A pale-skinned dragon with a blood-red underbelly swooped onto the field, but it did not remain there for long. Red Summer's mouth opened. "I sacrifice Masked Dragon for a tribute summon.”

  Once again, Red Summer's words echoed across the hall as if accompanied by a solemn choir of voices chanting in unison.

  “One step closer to divinity.”

  Darkness consumed the room. No more did red light fall from the stained-glass windows. There was only darkness, darkness so thick that Jean could not even see his own hands. A voice broke through the darkness, one that was both solemn and wise.

  “Divine Dragon – Excelion (1500/900).”

  Light pierced through the darkness. At first, it was naught but a harsh glow emanating from the Divine Dragon's pure white scales. Then, as if the dragon itself were permitting it to happen, deep red light shone through the stained-glass windows, appearing as if the windows themselves were bleeding. The air was filled with a sense of divinity, yet… at the same time it felt… wrong. Jean couldn’t place how it felt wrong. It just was.

  Red Summer’s solemn voice spoke once more. The man’s face was illuminated by the light from the Divine Dragon’s scales. His face was no longer gentlemanly, but filled with fanatical reverence.

  "Two Divine Dragons reside in my graveyard. Divine Dragon Excelion may lay claim to two effects. The first is as before, increasing its strength by 1000 attack points. The second shall seal your doom. When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, it may attack once again in a row."

  Jean had pressed the attack too hard during his turn. He’d overextended. Phil would have scolded him for this. Still... to think even after sealing Red Summer's Monster Reborn, that he would still have more gas left in the tank…

  How would Phil put it? “Kinda fucking ridiculous, don’t cha’ think?” Yeah. His brother would definitely say something like that. Probably with a few more choice curses perfectly tailored to the situation at hand.

  He closed his eyes and then opened them resolutely. This was a shadow game. He knew what would come next. There was nothing he could do other than to face his end like a man. Eyes forward, back straight. Don’t give your enemy the pleasure of seeing your fear.

  Any more thoughts on the matter were swept away as Jean’s field was baptized in a sea of silent blue fire.

  Jean: 0 Red Summer: 800

  A terrible weight crashed down on Jean's chest. Jean fell backward off his chair to slam against the ground. He gasped for breath, but he couldn't breathe. He could hear… no, he could feel his ribs cracking and breaking one by one. A sharp pain traveled up his chest. It became even harder to breathe. His heart strained to beat.

  Jean coughed wetly. There was something… there was liquid filling his lungs.

  Jean tried to roll over, to use gravity to help pour the liquid out of his lungs, but his body wouldn’t listen. There was nothing but that horrible weight growing heavier and heavier on his chest. His vision flickered, darkening even though he could see in the corner of his eyes that the candles were burning once more. He could hear footsteps, but his head lacked the strength to look at them. His body couldn't move anymore. All he could do was lie limply on the ground, staring up at the shadows above.

  Warm fluid that tasted like bitter iron flowed up his throat to leak out of his mouth. Spots covered his eyes. More and more by the second.

  A sharp ‘crack’ followed by an extreme pain traveled up his spine.

  He couldn’t feel his legs.

  Jean gasped for air, but more of that iron-tasting liquid filled his lungs instead. It was blood, his hazy mind belatedly realized. His lungs were filling with blood. His broken ribs must have pierced his lungs somewhere. A man spoke, but to Jean, those words were too muffled to understand. It was as if he were underwater, and the speaker was above the surface. Nothing but heavily distorted sound could be heard. His heart shuddered.

  Jean’s right hand scrabbled against his pants pocket. If this was the end…

  His hand grasped a slip of glossy paper from a pocket that had at one time only contained a wrinkled pack of smokes. He pulled it out of his pocket and, with the last vestiges of strength left in his body, he held the picture in his hand up to his face.

  The picture was of a beach. It had been taken by Phil on their little group trip before leaving for the island. Featured front and center were two people – Jean, shirtless, wearing a pair of eye-wateringly bright floral swim trunks, and grinning as if he’d won a million dollars in the lottery. In truth, Jean was of the opinion that a million dollars paled in comparison to how thankful he was for Tilla's love. A little bit of black lipstick was smeared on the side of his cheek. Next to him, held tight in Jean’s arms and laughing all the while was Tilla, the culprit behind the lipstick marks, wearing a sensible one-piece swimsuit.

  What a wonderful trip it had been. The sun had been so warm, the food so delicious, and the company was something he wouldn’t give up for the world.

  “Merci-“ Jean struggled to say even that word. He couldn’t get out the rest. But as his vision flickered one last time to never return, he finished the words in his head.

  Merci, Tilla, for loving a guy like me.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Red Summer stepped around the table to approach the fallen man with a casual gait. His fanatical grin was gone, replaced by his usual solemn and gentlemanly gaze. He came to a halt just before the tip of his Oxford shoes would have brushed against the pool of blood, viscera, and crushed organs leaking out from the remains of the man’s ruined chest.

  He leaned down, pressing one hand against his tie while the other teased the picture from the man’s grasp. The picture tugged out smoothly. Dead men never really had much in the way of grip strength. Not until rigor mortis set in, at least. And the man at his feet was most certainly dead. He neatly tucked the picture into a pocket sewn onto the inside of his suit jacket, not even sparing the barest of glances toward the contents of the picture. His trophy could be savored later.

  A single practiced gesture was more than enough to smooth out the edges of his suit jacket.

  “Hm…”

  Red Summer’s calm face distorted into an arrogant sneer.

  “Yes. We were introduced, but I am afraid I do not remember your name, intruder.” He bowed. The gesture was short and not very sincere. “Well, then, thank you for the duel, oh nameless duelist. I must go now. I have business to attend to. We will not meet again.”

  The door at the end of the hall clicked open. Red Summer spun around to face it and calmly walked over. There was no one on the other side, nothing at all other than a glass mirror. The mirror did not reflect the solemn scene of the stone hall. Instead, it showed a picture of trees, flying birds, and spring sunshine. Red Summer’s face did not flicker in surprise. This was an expected sight.

  He nodded one last time to the dead man behind him and stepped through the mirror. Its surface rippled like a stone being tossed into a lake. The great stone room fell silent, other than the quiet creak of the door on the other end of the hall opening.

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