After eliminating Alex’s Elemental Hero deck, Greed Verace was about to declare his victory since Alex no longer had a deck to play with, but as he did, Alex put a second deck into his duel disk. With his Elemental Heroes gone, the representation of his foundation of morals and values, he was expected to break down mentally, but gave the comment that he still has one last means of support. Greed Verace looms over him in an ominous way and gets ready for the second duel in their match.
They both draw five cards and Greed Verace says, “Since I lost the last duel, I’ll go first.” After drawing his first card, he thinks to himself, (A second deck that acts as a support, even when his very foundation is destroyed? What could it be? Well, whatever it is, I’ll just have my monsters devour them and watch him wriggle with pain like the worm he is…) He then says, “I place Mirage Dragon in attack mode!”
In a cloud of smoke, the ghostly Mirage Dragon appears (1500 ATK). “Wait,” Alex says. “That’s a card from Verace’s deck… Isn’t your deck different?”
“Indeed, but my host had some nice cards in his deck, so I figured I should take advantage of them. After all, it’s not like he’ll be needing them anymore. I don’t intend to let him back on the scene anytime soon…” Alex scowls at Greed Verace, but the fox just smiles and says, “I place this card face-down and end my turn.”
Alex draws his card and says, “I place this monster in defense mode and these two cards face-down before ending my turn.”
Three cards appear in front of him, and Verace draws for his turn. “Well, no point in just sitting here and wondering what you have up your sleeve. Mirage Dragon, attack his face-down with steam strike!”
The Mirage Dragon fires a stream of steam, but once it hits Alex’s face-down, a giant turtle shell with what looks like gem spikes coming from its back appears, and the attack is stopped. “What the hhhh-eck is that!?” Greed Verace said, obviously confused.
Alex chuckles and says, “This deck… is of the all-powerful Gem Beasts! You just attacked Emerald Turtle, who has a defense value of 2000, which lowers your Life Points by 500, bringing your total from 8000 to 7500.”
“Wait,” Greed Verace says with a confused look. “How does this deck support you? Do gemstones empower you or something?”
“Heh,” Alex says with a smirk. “These cards… The Gem Beasts who appear in my deck all represent one of my friends, of whom I share an unbreakable bond with. They are more precious to me than any gemstone. And yes, there is even one for your host in there, Greed...”
Greed is taken aback by this, and growls a bit before saying, “I end my turn…”
Alex draws and says, “Well what do you know? I play Topaz Tiger in attack mode.”
The field in front of him glows, and a large Topaz appears before creating a bright flash, but once that clears the monster is visible, Greed Verace is stunned upon seeing the white tiger appear, standing upright unlike the card’s art, and looking very familiar. “Th-that monster… Verace!?”
“Yes… The gem beasts don’t necessarily reflect the species of the friend it represents, but you can still tell who is what. And since I’m the one declaring an attack, Topaz Tiger gains 400 attack power, raising his attack power from 1600 to 2000! Of course, I can’t just let him fight with his bare paws, so I equip him with a Steel Axe of Luck, raising his attack power by 500. Now go Topaz Tiger, attack his Mirage Dragon!”
The axe appears in the tiger’s hands, and leaps to take a swipe at the Mirage Dragon, but Greed Verace interrupts and yells, “I activate my face-down card: Mirror Force! All your monsters are destroyed!” And with that, the axe strikes the invisible shield and the energy it releases causes an explosion engulfing Alex’s side of the field. “You fool, by making your cards a representation of your friends, you’ve made them just as vulnerable to be killed as any other monster!”
Alex smiles and says, “You’re wrong, Greed. Take a closer look at the field.”
“Huh?” Greed Verace said as he waits for the smoke to clear. “WHAT!?” he yells as he saw that two gemstones were in Alex’s magic and trap zone.
“You see, gem beasts can never truly die. A true testimate to the unbreakable bond I share with my friends… For you see, when destroyed for any reason, gem beasts crystallize and go into my magic and trap zone.” Alex said with a fist to his chest.
“Be that as it may, you’re still wide open. I’ll play Sand Moth in attack mode and have both my monsters attack your life points directly!”
“Oh, no…” Alex says as a sandstorm appears, marking the appearance of the Sand Moth (1000 ATK). The Sand Moth fires a stream of sand at him to drop his Life points from 8000 to 7000, and the Mirage Dragon attacks with a stream of steam, but Alex interrupts and says, “I activate the trap card: Last Resort! With this, I automatically take an Ancient City – Rainbow Ruin from my deck and place it into play.” He pulls out his deck, searches for the card, and then places it into the field area on his duel disk before shuffling his deck and placing it back into his deck slot. After doing so, the ground shakes and a Roman Coliseum-like structure rises with tall towers in the background, and a gargantuan rainbow above the arena. “With this and two gem beasts in my spell and trap zone, I can halve the damage one of your monsters does to me, so your monster’s 1500 attack only does 750 to me, so instead of having 5500 Life Points, I have 6250!”
“What a fruity field…” Greed Verace said in a mocking fashion. “Well, I guess this means I’ll end my turn.”
“Okay, I draw then,” Alex said as he draws a card. He thinks to himself, (Just one more gem beast needs to get destroyed… If I can get 3 continuous spell cards on my side, I can special summon the most powerful monster in this deck! Even his Avarice doesn’t have the power to match it…) He takes a deep breath and says, “Okay, I play Amethyst Cat in attack mode!” And at his command, an amethyst appears in front of him before it flashes and a large, pink cat (almost like a lioness) with a big amethyst crest on its chest appears (1200 ATK). Alex continues, “And I think I’ll have her attack… YOU!”
“What!?” Greed Verace said before the cat jumps over his monsters and pounces on him, knocking him on his back. He screams, “This feels so wrong in SO many ways!” before the monster takes a swipe with its claws and jumps back to Alex’s side of the field.
Alex says, “It results in only dealing half her attack power to you, in this case meaning 600 LP of damage, so your total only goes from 7500 to 6900, but it’s still chipping away… Anyways, I’ll be ending my turn.”
Greed Verace growls at him and says, “Fine, I draw.” He looks at his hand for a moment before saying, “I activate the magic card: Heavy Storm! This destroys all your and all my magic and trap cards on the field!”
“Oh no,” Alex said as a large cyclone of wind and debris appears and destroys his two crystallized gem beasts, his field card, and his face-down card, revealed to have been a Trap Jammer.
“You’re finished! Without Rainbow Ruin, you can’t halve damage done to you. And therefore, I’ll first play the Hamburger Recipe ritual card and offer the Victory Dragon from my hand in order to summon Hungry Burger from my deck in attack mode. I’ll then have Mirage Dragon attack and destroy your Amethyst Cat, and afterwards, I’ll have my Sand Moth and Hungry Burger attack you directly. All in all, your Life Points will take a 3300 hit, so go now, my monsters!”
After the Hungry Burger appears (2000 ATK), the monsters once again unleash their attacks. Mirage Dragon attacks with its steam stream to destroy Amethyst Cat and make it go into Alex’s magic and trap zone, Sand Moth fires a stream of sand at him, and Hungry Burger bites his arm, causing Alex’s Life Points to drop from 6250 to 3950. “Heavy Storm… Hey, that card was in my E-Hero deck!”
“Yes…” Greed Verace says with a sinister smile. “When I took your deck, I added some of the cards from it that I found beneficial into my deck. It might not seem fair to you, but considering where you’re going to be once this duel is over, it’s not going to make a difference… Anyways, I shall now end my turn…”
Alex draws and thinks, (Gem Prayer... He’s likely going to summon Avarice or Serket with his three monsters, and although it’ll cost me Amethyst Cat, it’ll instantly kill his monster!) He finally makes his move and says, “Alright, I place this one card face-down and end my turn!”
Greed Verace wastes no time and says, “Then I draw, and I place this card face-down before I sacrifice Sand Moth, Mirage Dragon, and Hungry Burger in order to summon… AVARICE!”
“Hold it!” Alex yells as he points at Avarice. “I activate the trap card: Gem Prayer! By sending my Amethyst Cat to the graveyard, I instantly destroy your Avarice!”
And with that, Avarice is destroyed. Greed Verace leans forward and growls with his fist clinched, but then stands upright with his arms folded and chuckles a bit. “In that case my dear brother, my face-down activates: Dragonforce! Whenever you destroy a monster level 8 or higher, I can summon a dragon in my graveyard at double its original attack points. And the one I choose is… Victory Dragon!”
“Oh no…” Alex says as the golden dragon arises with twice the normal attack points (4800 ATK).
“Now, the catch is at the end of the turn my monster gets removed from the game.” Greed Verace explains. “But there’s not going to be an end to my turn, because you’re wide open and will lose all your Life Points.” He unfolds his arms and points at Alex before continuing, “And thanks to Victory Dragon’s effect, you will instantly lose the match without me having to win a second time! Now, devour him my all-powerful Victory Dragon!”
As the dragon slowly steps forward, Alex yells, “Hold it!”
“WHAT!?” Greed Verace yells in amazement. “What can he do? He doesn’t have any monsters or any face-downs. He’s completely… Wait…” Verace’s gaze shifts to Alex’s duel disk, where he has his hand laying on top of it. “No… It can’t be!”
“Yes…” Alex said. “I surrender this duel in the match. As per the Duel Monster rules, I’m allowed to surrender any duel in the match at any time, and so I give you this win. And because Victory Dragon didn’t defeat me, we still have one last match to play…”
Greed Verace growls and pulls out his deck to shuffle his cards back into it. “Fine, but don’t think this changes anything. All you’ve done is delay your demise for one last duel… Though I must admit, I didn’t think you’d last this long dueling here in the Shadow Realm.”
“Considering who your host is, I’m quite surprised you of all people wouldn’t realize that I have a strong soul. As long as I keep strong in my faith in myself and my friends, who continue support me despite not physically being here, I can take the mental strain easily. My power is unity, and I’ll crush you with it!”
Greed Verace looms over Alex again as he says, “We shall see my dear brother, we shall see…”