Ch. 19: Duke Devlin's Haunted Casino (part 2)

Oogie Boogie chuckled, "You are a troublesome fellow, but if my instincts are correct… your friends think you're dead, just like your father."

Those words got to Duke's attention; he viciously but quietly asked, "What did you say?"

Oogie Boogie chuckles, "That's right; your father, who was also known as Shindin the Clown… is dead. And I will make you… DOUBLE-DEAD!" A Duel Axe formed onto the creature's cloth-covered arm!

Ready for a duel, Duke said, "All right… let's dance!"

Oogie Boogie's silvery and blade-like Duel Axe Executioner Duel Disk unfolded and sets itself like a buckler shield or a regular Duel Disk. Duke's violet-colored Duel Phoenix Duel Disk unfolds its wings and sets up like an extraordinary Duel Disk. They shuffled their respective decks, then shuffled each other's, and finally shuffled their respective decks once more.

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Duke: 8000 LP

Oogie Boogie: 8000 LP

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"Let's duel!"

Boogie chuckled as he draws a card, "Since I'm the Executioner and manager of this casino, I'll start things off by playing my favorite card: The Haunted Casino (spell card/field)!" But, nothing extraordinary happened… everything appears to look the same as before. Duke coldly asks Oogie, "Why is everything the same as before?" The boogey man Executioner answers, "That's because, this place is the same as my card says, as for its effects, it benefits and flaws for the both of us––

"For one thing, any card that has to do anything about gambling being activated is sent to the Graveyard and is added into the effects of this card. For example, if I were to play three Graceful Dice and three Skull Dice: the both of us during our battle phases would have to roll a die to increase our monsters' strengths and decrease our opponent's monsters'. Get the picture, you son of a clown?"

Duke growls, "I do." Boogie grins a ghostly fabric-covered grin, "Then I also play Second Coin Toss (spell card/continuous) and Second Dice Roll (spell card/continuous)." The two cards appeared one second and disappeared the next! "Next comes my Dangerous Machine Type 6 (spell card/continuous)." The bulky machine appeared and vanished into the shadows of the arena. "Then I call out Gamble Angel Bunny to the field, then ending my turn by placing one more card facedown!"

A woman with long brown hair in a scantily clad yet tasteful black casino girl outfit with white fur trimmings, fishnet leggings, red bow tie, big white bunny paw-like shoes and hands, and a pair of white bunny ears on top of her head appeared. (Gamble Angel Bunny; fairy-effect-Earth/LS: 4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1200) A facedown card forms behind the bunny girl monster.

————— (The current collected effects the Haunted Casino for both players) —————

As long as this card remains face-up on the field, you can negate the effects of card requiring the coin toss and/or dice roll once per turn and redo the coin toss/dice roll.

Roll 1 6-sided die. Once per turn, during your Standby Phase, you can roll a six-sided die. Match the following with your result:

Discard 1 card from your hand.

Discard 1 card from your opponent's hand.

Draw 1 card.

Your opponent draws 1 card.

Destroy one monster on your opponent's field.

This card is destroyed.

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Duke's turn starts, "I play a monster as well! I play Fiend Sanctuary (spell card/quick-play) to bring out a Metal Fiend Token!" A golden magical symbol appears on the field, and from it raised a shiny monster made of reflective beads. It's a Metal Fiend Token (fiend-effect-token-Dark/LS: 1/ATK: 0/DEF: 0). Oogie stares at it—and sees his own reflection in it. Duke says, "I'm no longer the target of a monster's attack— now it will attack you, through your reflection in the Metal Fiend Token!

Duke laughs, "Of course, it's just to be used for a tribute so I can summon a special friend of mine; Maximum Six!" The monster token vanished and in its place came a six-armed blue-skinned ogre with a small but long golden ponytail (Maximum Six; warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 6/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1600). "Now I roll a 6-sided die to determine his new Attack Power." He pulls out a die and rolls it… it lands on a six. Duke smirks, "With 1200 extra Attack Powers, his original attack strength can plow right into your Life Points!" (Maximum Six; ATK: 3100) "But to take up some extra precautions, I play Heavy Storm (spell card) to destroy every Spell or Trap card on the field!"

The Casino card became gone with the wind, along with Oogie Boogie's facedown card! Suddenly, the entire casino is shot away! The ogre-like warrior was charged in, smashing its six massive fists into the little Gamble Angel Bunny!

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Duke: 8000 LP

Oogie Boogie: 6100 LP

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Oogie Boogie growls and shouts, "What is it with you, huh? Very well… now, it's cheating time! But first I play Card of Sanctity (spell card), now that I have nothing to remove from play, I can use it as an irregular Pot of Greed effect and draw two cards." He ghoul sewn-in-bag-cloth laughed mischievously. Duke asked, "I missed the joke, what's so funny?" Oogie explained, "I'm going to play Deck Metamorphosis Exchange (spell card); allowing me to exchange my current set of cards for a different set."

Duke gasped in surprise, "I've heard of such a card, but I thought only great champions of the game would use these copies." Oogie explained that too, "Ever since the Blue Pangaea City tournament was on, the number of card copies has officially been ended: now there are practically over 3 million extra Blue-Eyes White Dragons roaming the world, for example!" Duke gasps again, "That must mean that it's no longer 12 copies of Deck Metamorphosis Exchange anymore; it must be 200 thousand times more than before!" Oogie smirks and nods, "Exactly. Now for a change of body––"

Oogie tore off the sack body to reveal a body of nothing but swarms of bugs! Then things got unnatural as the swarm melted into a large multicolored blob of unclear slime and reshaped into a different shape; a more humanoid shape at that. His left hand was placed over the cloth that used to cover his body of bugs, a flash of electrical-like energy made it turn to dust and wind carried it to wrap around his body. The collected dust changed into a large cloak and other baggy clothes (black tunic, black Hakama, red scarf with twin green jewels, and a dark black mask with glowing gold eyes). The right hand, which still looks like it's made of slime, hardened until it looks like it's made of metal!

Duke asked, "What just happened?" The former Oogie Boogie said, "Now I'm no longer Oogie Boogie, I'm now Alchemist Augustus Bogart." Duke freaked out, "An alchemy deck?" Augustus nods, "Exactly, but with a sister card of Deck Metamorphosis Exchange called Deck Transmutation Mergence (spell card) I can fuse all of my decks into a deck like no other, and ignoring all card limitation rules at the same time with another spell card called Diplomatic Deck Immunity (spell card)." He combined about 6 other decks with his alchemy deck. "Now with one final card, Multiple Game Restart (spell card), both of us gain a total of 8 starting hands worth of cards (40) without the discarding rule and 8 times 8000 Life Point gained into our Life Points."

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Duke: 72000 LP

Augustus: 70100 LP

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Duke asked, "Why are you being extra generous to me and what cards did you combine with your alchemy deck?" The alchemist answered, "My new deck is now composed of my Gambling Deck (dice roll in the background (1)), my Alchemy Deck (bubbles and foam in the background (2)), my Cyber Deck (circuitry flashing in the background (3)), my Legality and Monetary Deck (dollars raining from the sky in the background (4)), my Demonic Destruction Deck (Summoned Skull screeching in the background (5)), my Crazy Adventurer's Deck (Exodia growling behind cowardly archeologists running away in the background (6)), my Halloween Deck (a jack-o-lantern glowing in the background (7)), and my Medic Deck (a hospitalized patient screaming in the background (8))."

Duke said, "My friend, Yugi Muto, told me that every Duelist may have a reason behind every deck he or she creates. Tell me this; were you not only an ordinary gambler?"

Augustus nods, "My past occupations included science, technology, the law, archeology, and medicine; of course, I always enjoyed the worlds of gambling, alchemy, magic and mysticism, and horror. I've decided to convert to my true nature and transmute them into my new life. Of course, during my travels… I've met your father; he was cursed with aging so he had to hide underneath clown makeup to conceal the truth from everyone who didn't know. I've tried to help him, but it was too late. I've had no choice but to join Marcus Pangaea so he'll stop you and your 11 friends."

Duke said, "You still have a choice to make, you can't just give in like that!" Augustus sighed, "That doesn't matter now, I must duel. I play the Seal of Balancéa (combo fusion/continuous), by discarding the Seal of Orichalcos (spell/continuous) and the Seal of Destiniop (spell/continuous)." The blue Magic Circle surrounded Duke and Augustus. Duelists that were in the casino gather around the zone to watch the horrifying Duel between Duke and the mysterious Augustus. The top of Augustus's right metallic hand shined with a copy of the blue Seal as Duke's right cheek shined with one as well. Augustus says, "My Balancéa ability shall be to move any card from his Graveyard to his out of play pile and vice versa." Duke states, "And mine shall be to normal summon monsters determined by the roll of a 6-sided die."

Augustus continued, "Now back to where I was; I play the Haunted Casino again." The whole casino rebuilt itself like new again. "Next up is Ancient City (spell/field)." The casino's ceiling opens to reveal the sky and the ground rises to show the two combatants the wonderful view and a huge ancient stone city rises around the area. Duke states, "It is apparent that you have all the cards required to summon an Ancient Dragon, yes?" Augustus nods, "I do. And of course, in case you had other decks with you, some of my four cards would affect you too. I play Double Spell (spell card) to discard a spell card from my hand to play a spell card from your Graveyard; Fiend Sanctuary." A Metal Fiend Token appeared on Augustus' side of the field and curled into a defensive position.

Duke realized, "You're using it to bring out your Ancient Giant?" Augustus brings out the big lugging blocky stone giant by sacrificing the Metal Fiend Token (Ancient Giant; rock-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 2200/DEF: 1100). Augustus shows off the Ancient Key (spell/continuous), a circular artifact with a triangular crystal center and a golden key part on one end. The Key flies into the lock of the door of the Ancient City. The jewel on the Key flashed and from that light came forth two jaggedly rock golems called Stone Giant Tokens (Stone Giant Token; rock-token-Earth/LS: 3/ATK: 400/DEF: 2000). Augustus placed a few more non-monster cards on the field. Including Ancient Tome (spell/continuous), a large and leather gold-bound manuscript with a golden dragon indented on the cover, rose out of a secret panel rising out of the Ancient City (effect: You can switch the cards in your hand with the cards on the top of your deck as long as this card's face-up on your side of the field. Discard 1 card at your standby phase, if you cannot, destroy this card).

Even Temple of the Kings (spell card/continuous; effect: As long as this card remains face-up on the Field, you may activate Trap Cards during the turn that you set them. While this card is on the Field, you may send this card and a Mystical Beast of Serket from the Field to the Graveyard to Special Summon one Monster from your Hand, Deck, or Fusion Deck to the Field), Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill (spell/continuous; effect: All cards that go to your Graveyard are removed from Play), Mirage of Nightmare (spell/continuous), Dark Room of Nightmare (spell/continuous), etc. are activated.

(A/N: I was thinking of putting in Alchemist's Choice (spell/continuous; effect: This card can only be activated if Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill is on your side of the field. You may choose which cards go into your Graveyard or out of play pile, you can also move cards from your out of play pile to your Graveyard anytime and vice versa regardless of situation), but I remembered the Seal of Balancéa.)

Even a few traps such as Labyrinth of Nightmare (trap/continuous; effect: During the end phase of each turn, change the battle position of all face-up monsters on the turn player's side of the field), Gravity Bind (trap/continuous; As long as this card is face-up on the field, all face-up monsters of Level 4 or higher can't attack. Battle positions can still be change.), etc.

(A/N: Now he can play trap cards as soon as he sets them, change battle positions of monsters, draw until he's got up to only four cards in his hand during Duke's standby phases (and discard the same number if the effect has been used), place 300 additional points of damage to Duke's Life Points from a card effect, etc.)

Augustus then said, "I now play all triplicates of the following spell cards: Iron Lamp, Copper Scales, Lead Compass, Tin Magic Panel, Mercury Hourglass, and Silver Key to summon triplicates of the following Alchemic Beasts; Alchemic Beast Iron Salamander (type: dragon-effect-Fire/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500), Alchemic Beast Lead Lion (type: beast-effect-Earth/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500), Alchemic Beast Copper Ouroboros (type: reptile-effect-Light/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500), Alchemic Beast Tin Hawk (type: winged beast-effect-Wind/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500), Alchemic Beast Mercury Remora (type: fish-effect-Water/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500), and Alchemic Beast Silver Moon-face (type: rock-effect-Dark/LS: 3/ATK: 500/DEF: 500)!" The monsters that fit their card names emerged from the large brown boiler-like machine.

As Augustus' turn ends (leaving a total of seven cards in hand), foggy ghosts wrapped around his monsters switching them all into defense mode and at the same time the Ancient Key turns in the lock.

Duke takes his turn, ("Okay, must focus, his Haunted Casino has returned and his Ancient Dragon is coming faster than Mr. Muto's did in Joey's duel in the Grand Prix years ago, plus those Alchemic Beasts can attack me directly.")

Duke rolls a die and gets a five, and then he shouts to Augustus, "I'll continue things by playing Giant Germ (fiend-effect-Dark/LS: 2/ATK: 1000/DEF: 100) in attack mode, along with Dark Bat (winged beast-Wind/LS: 3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 100), Dokuroyaiba (fiend-Fire/LS: 3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 400), Enchanting Mermaid (fish-Water/LS: 3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 900), Giant Soldier of Stone (rock-Earth/LS: 3/ATK: 1300/DEF: 2000)." A gigantic orb-shaped germ monster appeared, along with a big purple bat, a skull with blade-like boomerang wings and a snake wrapped around the skull, a mermaid with blue skin and orange hair and pink scales, and a gigantic rock monster with twin stone swords on the shoulders. "Since they're lower than Level 4, they don't have to worry about Gravity Bind! Giant Germ, Infectious Wrap!" The Germ zoomed in on one of the Alchemic Beasts!

Augustus interjects, "Of course, I take up some precautions. Go, Elemental Absorber (trap/continuous)!" A black disk-shaped device with five black cones (4 on top and 1 underneath) appeared before Duke's opponent, "Shadow Shroud", and a shroud of darkness blocked the Germ as Augustus puts away a Summoned Skull from his hand. Duke asked, "What's going on here?" Augustus explained, "Elemental Absorber is continuous trap card that forces me to remove 1 monster card from my hand from play and if the removed monster is the same element as my opponent's monster, they are unable to attack. In other words; a powerful device that absorbs the elemental energy of a monster and the spirit of that monster creates a powerful shield to protect me from almost any attack."

Duke decides to go all out, "I don't care how come my deck became so thick or how long this duel takes, I'm taking you down!" Dark Bat flew in to attack, Augustus puts away an Air Eater, creating a green triangle with a horizontal line in the middle, which turns into a tornado-like barrier, and blocks the attack. Dokuroyaiba turns into flames and flies in to the attack, Augustus puts away a Charcoal Inpachi, creating a red triangle, which turns into an inferno-like barrier, and blocks the attack. Enchanting Mermaid blew a kiss and a tidal wave came charging in at Augustus, Augustus puts away a Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness, creating a blue triangle, which turns into a tsunami-like barrier, and cancels the attack. Giant Soldier of Stone stomped in to attack, Augustus puts away a Sengenjin, creating a brown triangle with a horizontal line in the middle, which turns the ground into a heavily rocky terrain, and intercepts the attack.

Augustus thinks to himself, ("Duke just got new cards from out of nowhere, it's just as I figured; while he was unconscious in the Forbidden Forest, one of his Inner Soul Duelist Powers known as Card Creation increased the number of cards in his deck massively. It is one of the most terrifying Inner Soul Duelist Powers ever known; with hard enough concentration he could even make a custom-made card with this power.")

Duke notices a card in his hand and plays it, "Dark Snake Syndrome (spell/continuous) inflicts you with 200 points and doubling from there at each of my following Standby Phases." A black snake of energy swam from the card's picture and into the left arm of Duke's opponent. "Then I end my turn by placing one card facedown."

Augustus' turn starts; he starts by switching all of his monsters back to Attack Mode, "Okay, it's time for the first onslaught. Attack, my Alchemic Beasts!" The 18 Alchemic Beasts on Augustus' side of the field pelted Duke with fire and spikes of the metals each of them are made up of.

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Duke: 66000 LP

Augustus: 70100 LP

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Duke staggers to get back up, even though the attack was supposedly illusionary (and/or just a hologram), the attacks that hit him felt absolutely real. Augustus says, "Now I play Ancient Gate (spell) to awaken my Ancient Dragon!" The Ancient Key turned once more at the lock, the Ancient Tome opened, the two Stone Giant Tokens and Ancient Giant got absorbed into the Ancient Tome's pages like they were nothing, and the Ancient Key and Tome vanished into the lock within the Ancient City…

The door opened, within the darkness was a pair of big glowing red eyes… from that very darkness emerged large golden dragon with enormous wings and light lavender hair; the Ancient Dragon (dragon-effect-Darkness/LS: 8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2100)! Augustus looked at his latest creature and called out, "Time to break my own Gravity Bind with my little spell, Mystical Space Typhoon (spell/quick-play)!" A whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and destroyed his Gravity Bind, "Now all high level monsters can attack, including my Ancient Dragon! Your move."

Duke gets up, "Don't forget, you're still infected by my Dark Snake Syndrome!" Augustus cringed in pain on his left shoulder, "I know, young man."

—————

Duke: 66000 LP

Augustus: 69900 LP

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Duke draws a card, "If I remember correctly, the Ancient Dragon can destroy all defense positioned monsters after destroying just one and as long as that Ancient City remains on the field that Dragon is also able to come back to life at the end of the battle phase of the current turn. All I need is a Light monster with enough power to attack you. Yet my hand is too thick to search through properly, so I play Monster Recovery #2 (spell/quick-play) to return all my monster cards and my hand to my deck and gain a new hand which is the same as the resulting number of a roll of a 6-sided die, and special summon from my deck up to 5 normal monsters, level 4 or lower, but the less monsters, 2 high levels they monsters I special summon can be allowed by this card's effect."

Duke returns his canceled out monsters and really thick hand to his main deck slot, he rolls a six and gets a new hand of six. "My facedown spell card activated earlier when I played Monster Recovery #2, Refreshing Rejuvenation Inhale (spell/quick-play); it grants me 500 extra Life Points for every card I've just returned to my deck… and I count 36, making it a Life Point boost of 18,000."

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Duke: 84000 LP

Augustus: 69900 LP

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As Duke puts cards in his more-fitting hand, Augustus sighs, "It's like a Clash of the Titans; me, an adventuring alchemist who turned to the Dark Side, against you, a little boy who's already growing up to be a man. But the clash shall continue; Maximize Life (trap card), this card activates when you gain extra Life Points, first you gain another 18,000 but I gain a number equal but multiplied by the resulting number on a 6-sided die roll of Life Points." He rolls a three on one of his own dice, making it a 54,000 raise.

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Duke: 102000 LP

Augustus: 123900 LP

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Duke frowns, "A clash of the titans alright; I'm up against an Executioner Duelist who specializes in gambling, alchemy, medicine, technology, spirituality, law, currency, magic, adventures, and archeology. You're up against the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters. Of course, here's a few new monsters coming at you; Swamp Battle-guard (warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500), Lava Battle-guard (warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 1550/DEF: 1800), and Glacier Battle-guard (warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 1650/DEF: 1650)!" Three powerful-looking beast-man warriors with large horns on their heads wielding large wooden clubs appeared; one's green, one's red, and one's blue! "Next is Battle-guard Family Reunion (spell card) which lets me special summon two other Battle-guards from my hand, and here they are: Cloud Battle-guard and Flower Battle-guard." Two more Battle-guards appeared next to the three: a yellow one (Cloud Battle-guard; warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 1950/DEF: 1400) and a pink one (Flower Battle-guard; warrior-effect-Earth/LS: 5/ATK: 1450/DEF: 1900) (this one's just a bit more feminine than the others)).

"Now for Delta Summoning (spell card), this allows me to search my deck for triplicates of the current monsters on my side of the field; and thankfully I do!" Two more of each of the five Battle-guards appeared on Duke's side of the field! "But that ends my turn automatically, Go ahead."

Augustus draws, "I guess I'll get rid of my Elemental Absorber with Emergency Provisions (spell/quick-play), along with my other unwanted cards." Just like that Elemental Absorber, Mirage of Nightmare, Dark Room of Nightmare, Labyrinth of Nightmare, and about three other facedown cards turned into small tin cans, bag of chips, and other M.R.E.'s. before being eaten by a black snake coming from his left arm.

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Duke: 102000 LP

Augustus: 170900 LP

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Augustus says, "I also play Black Process Nigredo (spell card), since I'm out of cards in my hand, an Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill on the field along with plenty of Alchemic Beast monsters on the field; I can remove them from play and draw 2 cards for each one." His metal monsters melted down and burned away into the Kettle, he draws 36 cards for a new hand. "Now I place one card facedown and play White Process Albredo (spell card) to get me to Special Summon Alchemic Beast Gold Homunculus (rock-effect-Light/LS: 6/ATK: X/DEF: X)!" A massive golem made up of gold emerged from the fires of the kettle (ATK/DEF: 10800)!

Duke realized, "Oh man, its strength comes from every card removed from play times 300!" Augustus shouts to one of his monsters, "Ancient Dragon, destroy the Glacier Battle-guard on the far left! Phantom Dragon Fire!" Luckily, Duke's monsters weren't in defense mode. But as soon as the fire struck the Glacier Battle-guard, the other Battle-guards blocked for him (Glacier Battle-guard; ATK: 7650)! As a result, all 15 of them crushed the Dragon!

—————

Duke: 102000 LP

Augustus: 166050 LP

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Augustus sighed, "I guessed as much; your Glacier, Cloud, and Flower Battle-guards each grants both Swamp and Lava Battle-guards 500 additional Attack Points as well as vice versa." (Swamp Battle-guard (x 3); ATK: 7800) (Lava Battle-guard (x 3); ATK: 7550) (Glacier Battle-guard (x 3); ATK: 7650) (Swamp Battle-guard (x 3); ATK: 7800) Duke nods, "That's right, but that's not all you've caused; Calvary Crushing Charge (spell/quick-play) works only if I have warrior-type (and spellcaster-type) monsters on the field, and in return I can destroy all cards on your side of the field and deal you 1000 points worth of damage for each of the suggested cards working for me. But in return, if I have any spellcasters on my side of the field, I draw up to as many cards I destroyed by this card effect or less." The nine Battle-guards charged and crushed everything and even clobbered Augustus!

—————

Duke: 102000 LP

Augustus: 157050 LP

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A vision of Joey silhouettes the Swamp Battle-guard, following with Tristan around the Lava Battle-guard, Duke sees himself silhouetting the Glacier Battle-guard, Mai silhouetting the Cloud Battle-guard, and Serenity on the Flower Battle-guard! "My friends, they must still be alive!"

Augustus gets back up, "They all are." His mask cracks off, revealing a piece of his face… to Duke's surprise——

The Executioner pulled away the hood and revealed some long blonde hair and he even pulled off his facemask to reveal… a face just like Duke Devlin's! Duke exclaims, "What the? I'm getting confused here!" Augustus answers, "The entire time I was an Executioner, Marcus Pangaea put a curse on me, a curse to make me into the ghoul you saw earlier. When that didn't work, I've gained my semi-true form; 'semi' as in THIS!" He tore off his right arm's sleeve to reveal that his arm's all machinery! "He kept what was left of my humanity while I kept some in return, as long as I'm under his power, I can't disobey him, and now he commands me to duel you!

"Now back to the duel; I play Spell Reproduction (spell) to bring back my Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill by discarding Spirit Message "I" and Spirit Message "N"." he did so. "Then I play Trap Reproduction (spell) to discard 2 traps, Cemetery Bomb and Destiny Board, so I'll get a trap I've lost in the Graveyard." Again, he does so. He says to Duke, "Aside from my Kettle, you're in a world of chaos, Duke Devlin. Take your turn and crush me immediately."

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Duke: 102000 LP

Augustus: 156650 LP

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Duke attacks with his Battle-guards! Suddenly the ground exploded beneath Duke!

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Duke: 39475 LP

Augustus: 43600 LP

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Duke got out of his daze and asked, "What happened?" Augustus answers, "You've landed on a Land Mine Field trap card, destroys all monsters and deals half their combined Attack strength worth of damage to their owners Life Points, only works if they attack you know." Duke's turn ended.

Augustus starts his turn, "I now play my Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill once again." The large brown boiler-like machine reappeared! But then he stopped for a second and thought of something, but then resumed play "I activate The Lost Paradise (spell/field), which allows us to draw two extra cards once per turn; kind of like a field spell version of the Pot of Greed for both of us." A white glow sweeps up the dark forest and then fades, leaving a blasted wasteland all around everyone.

Augustus continues his turn as he adds two additional cards into his hand; "I place three traps on the field and play Infinite Cards (spell/continuous) and Recycle (spell/continuous). Next I sacrifice my three continuous spell cards to summon my newest creature——"

Duke groaned out, "You can't summon a creature like that; you need monsters to sacrifice, unless there's a special reason why." Augustus explains, as his three spells crystallized in solid sheets of ice, "That's right, they now bring forth a monster of unstoppable values: Descending Thunder Emperor Hamon!" the iced up spell cards crack apart into shards, which are swept up towards the sky on a rush of wind. The three streams of ice impact on the ground nearby. Shards of ice rise up from the ground, and then shatter as Hamon rises from them. It resembles one of the Egyptian Gods -- a skeletal, spiny version of the Winged Dragon of Ra. And its attack points are 4000. (Descending Thunder Emperor Hamon; thunder-effect-Light/LS: 10/ATK: 4000/DEF: 4000)

The gigantic creature amazed Duke but he asks, "What else does it do?" Augustus explained, "When this legendary demon card destroys a monster as a result of battle, my opponent receives 1000 damage to his or her Life Points. When this card is in the defense position, my opponent cannot select other monster as an attack target. When this card is destroyed while it is in defense mode, all effect damage becomes zero. But take your turn already." Then the pain increased on his left arm!

—————

Duke: 39475 LP

Augustus: 42800 LP

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Duke lost all of his cards in hand, but thanks to The Lost Paradise field spell card's benefits to both players, he can draw two additional cards once per turn. Duke draws, "Chest of Greed (spell) is also one of Joey's cards, but it involves dice-rolling, so I roll one die to determine the first number and the second die to multiply the second number." First dice came up as six as the second came up as two; he draws 12 cards. Then uses Lost Paradise's effect, now he's got 14.

Duke rolls a die to determine how many monsters he's allowed to normally summon this turn and got five. He shouts, "Now I summon Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest!" A small brown-furred demon with three golden cat-like eyes and green limbs with silvery claws and a small set of sharp teeth (Sangan; fiend-effect-Dark/LS: 3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 600) and a lovely purple-haired witch in black robes (Witch of the Black Forest; spellcaster-effect-Dark/LS: 4/ATK: 1100/DEF: 1200) appeared.

Duke continues, "In my hand is a monster that requires two Dark monsters on the field to be sacrificed in a tribute payment to be special summoned; Darkness Immortal Swordsman." The two monsters bursted into balls of darkness and merged together, forming a swordsman in fancy black and gold armor shrouded in shadows around it. This swordsman looks almost like Duke (even in that different-colored armor like his Great Spirit card) except with dark-violet hair, plus he's wielding a reflective violet blade with egg-sized black gems on the hilt. (Darkness Immortal Swordsman; warrior-effect-Dark/LS: 10/ATK?/DEF?)

Duke explains why the stats are questionable: "The Attack and Defense of this monster are questionable because he gains the Attack and Defense of the Dark monsters used to sacrifice to special summon him." (Darkness Immortal Swordsman; ATK: 2100/DEF: 1800) "Next I bring out a monster with 1500 attack points or less from my deck, thanks to Sangan, and a monster with 15 defense points or less, thanks to Witch of the Black Forest, from my deck and add them to my hand."

Duke says, "The monsters I've chosen are Melchid the Four-Faced Beast and Grand Tiki Elder!" A green ghost in purple robes with a collection of various mask and long arms decorated with bracelets (Grand Tiki Elder; fiend-Dark/LS: 4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 800) and a red and gold demon creature with four horned masks in each direction (Melchid the Four-Faced Beast; fiend-Dark/LS: 4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200). "Then here comes their ultimate form, special summoned to the field by sacrificing one other monster plus one of either of them or both of them: Des Guardius!"

The monster card showed up and claw marks showed up on the face of the card, before the red dinosaur-bodied monster with white skeletal armor crawled onto the field and got up on its feet. Its silvery claws gleamed like deadly blades and it raises its three blue facemasks to stare into the face of the legendary demon card on Augustus' side of the field. (Des Guardius; fiend-effect-Dark/LS: 8/ATK: 3300/DEF: 2500)

Duke grins, "I play Dimension Dice (spell/continuous) Dice Dungeon (spell/field); to combine this card game with a dice game and also discard all of my Graceful Dice (spell/quick-play) and Skull Dice (trap) cards into the Graveyard to bring out the Combo Fusion cards known as Angel Dice (combo fusion/continuous) and Devil Dice (combo fusion/continuous)." A sky-blue die (Angel Dice) and a blood-red die (Devil Dice) appear beside Duke. Duke mentions, "There's also Dark Necrofear, by sending Melchid, Tiki Elder, and Sangan out of play, their spirits call upon this monster of mine!" Three purple-colored lights snaked out of the Graveyard and merged into one monster; a blue vampire-like demon in silvery armor holding an almost-complete mannequin (Dark Necrofear; fiend-effect-Dark/LS: 8/ATK: 2200/DEF: 2800).

Augustus starts his turn, "Remember the three trap cards and Descending Thunder Emperor Hamon, Heir Devlin? There's another demon monster in my hand that's just as powerful: God Flame Emperor Uria. I start my turn by switching my friend Hamon to defense mode, to protect me from Dark Snake Syndrome's effect as long as this monster is on the field in defense mode, and summon Uria!" The three traps begin to burn with fire and the fire took to the skies and opens up an opening of lava down beneath Augustus' feet! A red serpentine dragon rose from the lava enveloped within the flaming pillar of fire, as the flames died out… the monster screeches with its wide jaws and mandibles at Duke! It too resembles the Egyptian God Card, Slifer the Sky Dragon, but has one mouth and is a lot more wicked looking! (God Flame Emperor Uria; pyro-effect-Fire/LS: 10/ATK: 0/DEF: 0)

Augustus explained the stats of his newest monster, "Something like Slifer the Sky Dragon, this monster's stats are determined on the number of cards I have; his strength and power is determined by my trap cards, he has 1000 attack and defense powers for each card in my Graveyard," (Uria; ATK/DEF: 10000) "If you even do destroy him, I'll simply revive him by discarding a trap card from my hand, making him even stronger, and for his final effect: whenever you set your first, and only your first, Spell or Trap card during your turn, it's automatically destroyed. Uria, attack Des Guardius! Hyper Blaze!"

Duke interrupts, "Before attacking, Uria's stats have to be divided by the effect of Devil Dice!" The red die rolls and lands on a four (Uria; ATK: 2500), "And the monster you're attacking gets its stats multiplied by Angel Dice." But he got a one (Des Guardius; ATK: 3300). But as backup, the spell cards', Dice Dungeon and Dimension Dice, effects kicked in, Augustus was totally aware of this. He reluctantly rolls and gets a five (Uria; ATK: 1250), and then Duke rolls and gets a six (Des Guardius; ATK: 6600).

Duke shouts, "Des Guardius, counterattack; Savage Predatory Claw!" Des Guardius cut Uria down to size and the fire demon's remnants bursted into flame! A golden aura shielded Augustus from the attack, thanks to Hamon being in defense mode.

Augustus discards a trap card from his hand, the flaming remnants rise into the sky forming a stronger Uria, going for a second chance to destroy Des Guardius! But Devil Dice lands on one for Uria (ATK: 11000) and Angel lands on one for Des Guardius (ATK: 3300)! Dungeon Dice rolling effects read two for Uria (ATK: 12000) and five for Des Guardius (ATK: 1650)!

The dragon breathed demonic fire down onto Duke's Des Guardius, destroying it and dealing some great damage to poor Duke!

—————

Duke: 29125 LP

Augustus: 42800 LP

—————

Duke said, "I think I now know how my deck got so thick with cards that I never put in; another Inner Soul Duelist Power of mine that created cards to remind me of my friends and have their memory help me through this duel! Here comes the Mask of Remnant (spell)!" Left behind from Des Guardius was its three blue masks and from those masks arose a red demonic mask with sharp teeth-like marks, the Mask of Remnant, and it attached itself to the fire dragon demon's face, right between the eyes. The dragon flew over to Duke's side of the field and roared with strength, but not as great as before! (Uria; ATK/DEF: 3000)

A massive dark energy surged into Duke's body, Duke notices that it was Augustus' plan to fuel Duke with rage and power to be driven to madness! But luckily Duke resisted, "That mind-washing trick was not good enough Augustus! My move!"

Duke draws three cards, making it five, "I must destroy Hamon somehow, and then the effect damage will be massive on my next turn. I play Graceful Charity (spell), drawing three cards and discarding two." Two of those cards were traps, making Uria even stronger than before (ATK: 5000)! "Then I play Stop Defense (spell), to switch Hamon to attack mode and end my turn."

Augustus draws three cards and shouts out, "I play three Fiend Sanctuary quick-play spell cards, crating three Metal Fiend Tokens!" The three bead-like monsters appeared before Augustus. "I sacrifice them to summon Phantom Demon Emperor Ravel." Kagemaru announces he won't forgive Judai for subjecting the Legendary Demons to such indignities. He sacrifices the three tokens to summon the final Legendary Demon. Lightning crashes through the sky, and then a blue column of light descends from the clouds, tearing up the earth where it hits. A massive blue and grey humanoid monster resembling a twisted, demonic version of Obelisk the Tormentor, rises up from the ground. (Phantom Demon Emperor Ravel; fiend-effect-Dark/LS: 10/ATK: 4000/DEF: 4000)

Duke was aghast, "Three Legendary Demons? You've got to be kidding me!" Augustus said, "Hamon, crush Duke Devlin's Dark Necrofear! Thunderbolt Surge!" Lightning surges from Hamon's body and electrifies Duke's Dark Necrofear to vaporization, and some of that lightning struck Duke hard as well.

—————

Duke: 26325 LP

Augustus: 42800 LP

—————

Duke thinks carefully, ("Damn it! This guy's good with these demons, if he forces me use them to try to get me to discovering my dark side; I won't be able to save the world! And Dark Necrofear is already ready to capture one of the monsters to place it under my control, but I don't know which one it should be.") Then he figured, "Phantom Demon Emperor Ravel, come to me now!" The blue creature goes to Duke's side of the field.

Augustus smirks, "I play Forbidden Human Transmutation (spell), this alchemy card allows me to draw as many cards as I want and place a number of Forbidden Human Transmutant Tokens in any zone on the field, even your own. The downfall is the owner of the specified monster zones pays the price, of 1000 Life Points for each one. And just to be fair, I place 13 down on your side of the field as I draw 13 cards!"

Duke watches as some of his left leg and right arm explode in blood, he screams in massive agony as this passes! He struggles to open his eyes, just to see 13 very familiar people amongst his monsters, only more mutant and unnaturally biologically unstable; Téa, Mai, Serenity, Ishizu, Melody, Rebecca, Vivian, Lilly, Yugi, Pegasus, Joey, Tristan, and Bakura! But one thing's for sure, it's not them; it's the Forbidden Human Transmutant Tokens (aqua-token-Dark/LS: 4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 2000) Augustus gave him.

—————

Duke: 13325 LP

Augustus: 42800 LP

—————

Duke gulps, "They're not human!" Then he began to lose his memory of each of them, one by one. Augustus frowns, "I play Mystic Box (spell) to switch my control of Ravel to yours by destroying one of your Tokens. Then my turn ends there." Massive question mark-covered black boxes enclosed over Ravel and the monster token that looks like an inhuman Pegasus, swords rained from the sky and skewered Ravel's box, but the box revealed that the one who's skewered is the Pegasus transmutant token, while Ravel is unharmed, but on Duke's side of the field. Augustus sternly says, "You gain 500 Life Points for each of those tokens you've just lost." Black energy snakes are beginning to bite into Augustus's left arm!

—————

Duke: 13825 LP

Augustus: 39600 LP

—————

Duke asks, "What's happening to me? Who am I?" Then a rock hits him from the back of his head, Duke turns to see a 15-year-old blond with a braided ponytail with a red jacket that drapes down to his ankles, in the audience. (A/N: It's Edward Elric, the Full-Metal Alchemist) He asks Duke, "You need to know that Augustus is one of my enemies too, but just as some alchemy can turn lead into gold; it can also turn a pure heart into an evil one. You can reverse that process as well, take it from an expert."

Duke's memories return to him, he asks Edward, "What else is there that I need to know, young man?" Edward answers, "Well, you're risking a lot of Phoenix Feathers for a few. Plus the Basic Law of Equivalence in alchemy requires that in gaining something, you must give up something in return. Look at what I gave up––" He removes a white glove on his right hand, revealing a gray mechanical one. "I've almost lost everything when my mother died, my little brother and I tried to bring her back, but we just trespassed on God's territory, and as punishment: I've lost my leg and my brother's body!"

Augustus sighs, "Edward Elric, Full-Metal Alchemist Duelist, do you wish to enter the duel too?" Edward said, "Devlin has a lot more to lose if he loses, I won't let him be consumed." A gigantic suit of steel armor walked in (Alphonse Elric), "Me too." A young blonde girl about Edward's age with a red bandanna came in (Winry Rockbell), "Me too, Ed."

Augustus says, "Fine, be his partners to support him." Edward stepped in, having his jacket fly off by on its own, revealing a whole mechanical arm and his left leg is mechanical too. Alphonse walked onto the field his armor's shadow turned into the shadow of a little boy. Winry's body became wrapped in mechanic's tools carried in loops, etc.

—————

Duke: 13825 LP

Edward: 8000 LP

Alphonse: 8000 LP

Winry: 8000 LP

Augustus: 39600 LP

—————

Duke groans, "Thanks for your support." Giant dice and a ghostly hand suddenly replaced Duke's lost limbs. Duke, not surprised, said, "Now let's see what these devils can really do! Demon Fire Sword Slash!" Hamon blasted Thunder Surge (ATK: 4000) at Uria; Uria performed its Hyper Blaze (ATK: 5000); Ravel picked up the Vivian-like monster token and absorbed it (ATK: 6000) and through a glowing shockwave from a single stroke of his claws; and the Darkness Immortal Swordsman (ATK: 2100) absorbed the energy of those attacks into his blade and struck Augustus down!

—————

Duke: 13825 LP

Edward: 8000 LP

Alphonse: 8000 LP

Winry: 8000 LP

Augustus: 22500 LP

—————

Edward's turn starts, "My move! I draw once, and draw two cards thanks to your Lost Paradise… and now I play Alchemic Kettle Chaos Distill to allow me to play my own Alchemic monsters." The brown boiler-like machine appears behind Ed, he smirks, "Then, I play my own alchemic beasts: Iron Lamp to make Alchemic Beast Iron Salamander, Copper Scales to make Alchemic Beast Copper Ouroboros, Lead Compass to make Alchemic Beast Lead Lion, Tin Magic Panel to make Tin Hawk, Mercury Hourglass to make Alchemic Beast Mercury Remora, and Silver Key to make Alchemic Beast Silver Moon-face." The alchemic monsters appeared before Ed! "As for my Balancéa effect, I can convert any card's type into another; for example I can turn a monster into a trap or spell card, and vice versa."

Edward then says, "Then I use Black Process Nigredo (spell) to eliminate each of the Alchemic Beast monsters I have for 12 new cards." They disappeared and Ed draws 12 new cards from his deck. He grins and speaks, "I summon another set of the monsters I've had before." Six new monsters appeared, they attacked Augustus directly, "and I set one card facedown and end my turn."

—————

Duke: 13825 LP

Edward: 8000 LP

Alphonse: 8000 LP

Winry: 8000 LP

Augustus: 19500 LP

—————

Al starts his turn, "I may be an alchemist like my brother, but I use a variety that only varies in physical strength; my Balancéa ability is to increase the Attack and Defense of all warriors, rock, machines, and monsters of Earth that me and my partners control by 1000 points. So to help you understand, I play Dream Aura Armor (spell/continuous)."

—————

Alphonse: 4000 LP

—————

Al's hulking ancient armor body slimmed down into a more humanoid level and became incased in green and gold body armor (similar to Aura Armor in every shape and appearance, except for color, of course). Al said, "Now I am a Player Token with my Life Points cut in half, the other half goes to both my Attack and Defense points and divide that same number by a 500 and I get my monster level (warrior-token-Light/LS: 8/ATK: 4000/DEF: 4000). Now I must ask you to please stop torturing Duke like this and take his advice to joining those saving the world." Then he punches Augustus, hard!

—————

Augustus: 13500 LP

—————

Winry starts her turn, "Since Al was so nice, I'll play Magnet Circle LV2 (spell) to specially summon a machine monster of two Level Stars from my and I choose Ancient Gear (machine-effect-Earth/LS: 2/ATK: 100/DEF: 100)." A monster that looks like a complicated cogwheel mechanism with robot arms appears, then another one appears, Winry explains, "When my cute little Ancient Gear is placed to the field successfully in any way, I can specially summon another from my hand."

Duke sweat-drops, "Cute? Little? They're machines and they're almost bigger than humans." Ed replies, "Winry's a machine junkie, but please respect her because she is the one who makes and repairs my mechanical parts." Duke gulps, "Okay."

Winry continues, "Now I sacrifice both of them to summon my magnificent Ancient Gear Golem!" The two machines fell to pieces and combined to form into a massive grey mechanical soldier with cogwheel parts, a red glowing eye, and a Roman-like helmet (Ancient Gear Golem; machine-effect-Earth/LS: 8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 3000). Winry says, "My Balancéa ability is to increase the Attack and Defense of all machines by their level multiplied by 100 points and to pay up 500 Life Points to repair or bring back machines from my Graveyard. Attack now, Antique Gear Golem! Ultimate Pound!" (Antique Gear Golem; ATK: 4800) The mechanical giant pounded his fist into Augustus!

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Augustus: 8700 LP

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Augustus' turn starts, "I play summon Cyber End Dragon by Power Bond (spell)!" Three silvery serpentine robotic dragons (Cyber Dragon; machine-effect-Light/LS: 5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1600) appear and fuse into a gigantic robotic dragon with three heads and a pair of wings (Cyber End Dragon; machine-fusion-effect-Light/LS: 10/ATK: 4000/DEF: 2800), and then the robotic monster glowed with power (ATK: 8000)! "Eternal Evolution Burst!" The three heads' mouths glowed with yellow energy and a lot has turned to white for Duke!

—————

Duke: 9050 LP

Edward: 8000 LP

Alphonse: 4000 LP

Winry: 8000 LP

Augustus: 61200 LP

—————

Augustus groans, "I snuck in some Limiter Removal (spell/quick-play) to double my magnificent machine's doubled power, Micro-morph (spell/equip) to double it some more (since it works like Mega-morph but in reverse (if your Life Points are higher than your opponent's)), and Rush Recklessly (spell/quick-play) to increase damage to your Life Points; plus three Sebek's Blessing (spell/quick-play) cards to add up more Life Points to me. I didn't expect your Darkness Immortal Swordsman to actually live up to his name." Augustus was correct; Duke's swordsman monster was still standing. "It also seems to me that you had a Hyper Refresh (spell/quick-play) in your hand to double your Life Points before your whole team lost and Nutrient Z to gain 4000 additional Life Points during the attack."

Duke sighs, "At least that's not the only thing Hyper Refresh and Nutrient Z did for me. Look––" his lost limbs are regenerated in place! "But since I cannot sacrifice these Forbidden Human Transmutant Tokens to summon a monster… I can, however, use them to bring out my Great Spirit Card."

Augustus' Cyber End Dragon, before being destroyed due to his Limiter Removal's negative effect, got absorbed by some black alter (Alter of Sacrifice; trap).

—————

Augustus: 89600

—————

Augustus' turn ends, giving him rather nasty black energy snakebite!

—————

Augustus: 83200

—————

Duke groans, "I need a serious card to remove his ability to gain all those Life Points." As he begins to draw, Meijin the Gambler's voice replied, "You've got a serious card; me." Duke smiles and draws from his deck… it's his Great Spirit Card: Meijin the Gambler! Duke declares, "I sacrifice Darkness Immortal Swordsman to summon Meijin the Gambler!" The Darkness Immortal Swordsman disappeared with, the Duke Devlin look-alike in more flexible scarlet version of Orgoth the Relentless' armor taking its place. (Meijin the Gambler; paladin-Divine/LS: 5/ATK: 0/DEF: 0) The soul of the Darkness Immortal Swordsman powered him up. (ATK: 2100/DEF: 1800) Duke then rolled a die to increase his strength even more, and it lands on six. "Since he would normally get 500 points for his stats, if the monster sacrificed to summon him had no Attack Points to start, they would multiply by this die roll. But since the sacrificed monster had 2100, his stats is 2600 in Attack Strength and 2300 in Defense Strength multiplied by 6." (Meijin the Gambler; ATK: 15600/DEF: 13800)

Ed, Al, and Winry cheered for Duke! Duke snickers, "Normally a Graceful Dice spell card would last for one turn and only increase the stats of all of my monsters by a few hundreds of points, but with Meijin on the field, we can multiply all of our Attack strength as long as our monsters remain in the duel!" He rolls a blue die and got another six. (Meijin; ATK: 93600) (Hamon; ATK: 24000) (Uria; ATK: 30000) (Ravel; 24000) (Forbidden Human Transmutant Token; ATK: 12000) (Alchemic Beast(s, all varieties); ATK: 3000) (Player Token; ATK: 30000) (Ancient Gear Golem; ATK: 28800)

Augustus paled, "OH MAN!" Duke smirks, "Meijin the Gambler, attack! Fire and Ice Dice Roll!" Meijin shot dice from his knuckles, one of fire and another of ice, and both of them knocked down a Cyber End Dragon from out of nowhere! Augustus explains, "Call of the Haunted (trap/continuous) brought back my fallen machine to protect my Life Points."

—————

Augustus: 0 (defeated)

—————

Duke sighs, "Not enough, now return to the man that you once were!" Duke's opponent exploded into dust and reappeared as a young man with blonde hair, but no mechanical arm, then Duke's deck increased by a few new cards. The Elric Bros. had a small power boost, and Winry's suit of mechanic's tools remained on her. Duke's new armor from his duel with the War Bear has restored itself.

Augustus sighs, "Congratulations, Duke. You've won, but as your father grown to accept his death, so shall I. Protect your friends and save those you love that remain in this world." Then Augustus was gone.

Duke sat out there, as the forest no longer became foreboding, watching the sunrise. Duke wonders, "Is it possible to defeat someone as powerful as him?" Edward Elric came up to him, "You've got a strong pair of legs, use them, and walk forward to your friends."

Duke remembers, "The Monster Spirit Stars!" He concentrates as he holds Meijin close to his heart… he saw his star moving across the sky and heading east, so he moves on, with the Elric Bros. and Winry following, in agreement to save the world.

To be continued…

(A/N: Who amongst the separated Duelists would you like to see next?")