Be Silent

As you have been playing, you have noticed a certain tendency of Harmony's tactics that should continue if you let her act unhindered. So you say nothing and let her plot, hoping against hope you are giving her enough rope to hang herself with.

"If Dustborne Rider attacks and it hits," she finally says, "You're done. But it must have some kind of ability so in that case..."

Two of her cards crumble to sand and in front of her appears a small, girlish looking boy (or boyish looking girl, you can't tell) in shimmering white robes and carrying a wooden staff with a large pearl on top.

"Pearl Page can protect Dustborne Rider by activating--"

Harmony stops her explanation as a large cracking noise rings out and you start to smile. Her tendency to play overly safe has just come back to bite her.

The top of the Greater Century Egg flips open, the cracks making it look like a hungry mouth as the black yolk shoots out to engulf the Pearl Page.

He silently screams as his clothes are dissolved (making it clear he's a girlish boy) but his skin is unharmed and then the yolk pulls him into the egg, the top half slamming closed and sealing up again.

Harmony watches this in horror and you notice that everyone's attention has been drawn by the event as well.

"The Greater Century Egg," you say, "is just an egg but it can do something incredible when two things happen."

The egg begins to shake, growing even larger.

"The first is that the other player must have fifteen or more cards left than you do."

The egg is now double its original size, a massive but indistinct figure growing visible within the translucent shell as that shell begins to crack in multiple areas.

"The second is that the other player must summon a monster on the same turn that the egg is summoned, which turns that new monster into a sacrifice to it and adding to its attack power."

A purple glow, pulsing like a heartbeat, radiates outward from the center of the Greater Century Egg and the cracks widen until the shell shatters and disintegrates the yolk burning up from the **** of the unleashed energy as well.

"As well as letting it be born," you conclude, "As the Final Wyvern!"

The Final Wyvern hovers over you, its massive, black-scaled body blotting out the moonlight as its gigantic, bat-like leathery wings lightly flap to hold it in place. Its glittering green, slitted eyes stare down at Harmony and the Dustborne Rider as it bares its needle-like fangs at them.

Harmony stares back up at the monster in the sky. Since the Final Wyvern is technically a combination of the Greater Century Egg and Pearl Page, its attack power is currently seven, making it one more than Dustborne Rider. In addition, since she had started declaring the activation of her monster's special ability before yours had been given a chance to go off, the magic of the match's ritual interpreted that to mean she had ended her summoning phase and she could no longer power up her monster to defend itself or counter attack.

Yet instead of annoyance at the idea she was about to lose a monster and a single card like most people would expect, her expression is one of pale-faced awe as she, just as you do, sense the ability that is going to be unleashed now that it becomes your turn... which it does.

"And when it is summoned, once per game," you say as motes of light begin to appear around you, "Final Wyvern can call upon the power of the destroyed to add them to its own. Meaning the energy of every card I've discarded over the course of the match is used for it!"

"The five for the Wyvern are still on the field... so thirty-four cards and THEN add the Wyvern's five and the Pearl Page's two..." you hear Amelia mutter behind you before she gawks, "FORTY-ONE ATTACK POINTS?!"

Zizana is looking up as well but, oddly enough, she looks to be smiling despite what is about to happen to her charge.

The motes of light, thirty-seven of them, fly upwards as the Final Wyvern opens its mouth impossibly wide, sucking them in as crackles of purple lightning travel along its body. A bulge of purple-tinted white energy begins growing there and a wave of adrenaline-fueled giddiness washes over you as you point at the Dustborne Rider and find yourself shouting, "Final Wyvern! HAKAI DESTROYER!"

The energy in the Wyvern's mouth reaches its peak and, for a brief moment, everything is still and silent. In that silence, you swear you hear Viki mumble something behind you.

"'Destruction' Destroyer? Really?"

Then all you can hear is the gigantic boom of the Final Wyvern unleashing its blast down at the field. The Dustborne Rider is obliterated in an instant and after a second or two, you begin to hear Harmony's scream over the roar of the attack. You wince in sympathy as you certainly know what it feels like to lose the energy that twenty cards represent all at once. Not to mention you are pretty sure the attack power that is going over the limit of her cards is probably taking a toll as well.

As bad as you feel for causing her that amount of pain, which was never your intention, you also feel a rush of relief when the attack fades, revealing a dazed Harmony sitting on the ground... her tracksuit having vanished (perhaps dissolved from the magic attack or a transformation done as part of the ritual given the terms involved) and leaving her in a surprisingly revealing red silk bra and panties. The former is even more surprisingly see-through and the latter also having a see-through patch over her lower lips, leaving her openly on display. She clenches and clenches the hand that once held her deck, which was now empty.

The Final Wyvern lets out a roar of victory as it fades away and you raise the single card you have left.

One card to none. You win.

You look over at Harmony, wondering what happens next. Do you have to claim your "prize" now or do you have some kind of mystically enforced booty call you can make at a later date?