Chapter 8: The Seal of Orichalcos.

"HEY DRAKE!! WAKE UP!"

Wha? Who? Where? There was banging on his bedroom door.

"DRAKE!!"

"Yuma shut up!"

What time was it… blast. He had only managed to get a couple of hours sleep after all, but what was Yuma doing waking him up so early. Wasn't he the kind of person to sleep in? Drake was so tired. The duel with Kite and then a Number user had been more draining than he thought, or maybe it was his talk with Akari last night.

"Come-on Drake get up!"

"Urgh…"

Drake got up and opened the door in his pyjamas.

"What?!"

Yuma looked so full of energy it made Drake sick. There had better be good coffee in this world.

"Come on Drake you need to get up so I can get started duelling!"

"Huh?" Was Drake missing something here.

"Kari said its alright for me to continue in the WDC, but she said you had to chaperone me, you agreed last night."

Ugh. He had promised to look after Yuma last night, but he didn't know that meant he had become a full time babysitter.

"I'm ready to Jet! So hurry up, I want to qualify as soon as possible."

"Slow down. You do know getting enough heart light is only the first part of this qualifying round right?"

"Huh?"

"Get some breakfast and coffee ready for me while I change. Then I will explain."

---

After getting change the two of them sat round the dining table. Yuma's grandmother was outside doing yard work and Akari was holed up inside her room and Astral was presumably enjoying some quite time inside the Golden key.

How lucky he was.

After washing his breakfast down with some life restoring coffee Drake began to explain the subtilties of the preliminary round.

"Do you know why the round lasts ten days?" Drake asked Yuma.

"Err… No?"

"The objective of the round isn't just to gather enough Heart Light, but to keep it."

"But after you have enough to qualify you don't need to duel beyond one duel each day, right?"

"True, but have you read the bit in the rules about Heart Charging?"

Yuma's blank look was answer enough.

"I'll try to keep it simple. Each time you win a duel you gain one heart light, once you have ten you have a full Pink Heart and have qualified for the round so long as you can keep it. But with ten days you have plenty of time for duels, why? Because it is possible to gather even more heart light, this is called the Heart Charge. Each heart light you gain after filling your Heart Key will transform a layer to its next stage. From pink to yellow, from yellow to green, from green to blue and if you light up all ten layers to a full blue heart it will transform into a Golden Heart. The max level the key can achieve according to the rules."

"But if you only need a full pink heart to advance, then why do you want to get the higher forms?" Yuma asked.

"Nobody knows what kind of benefit you gain by reaching a higher Heart Key level. You can't find that information anywhere. But there will definitely be some kind of benefit in the later rounds, it's the only logical explanation, which is why people will want to get as much heart light as they can before the next round. But its not as easy to achieve as you think."

"Why?"

"Because when you reach each new level a penalty is applied."

"What kind of penalty?"

"The amount of heart light you can lose in a duel is increased. After you reach a full pink heart any loses from then on will reduce your heart light by two instead of one, even if you fall back to a previous level this penalty will remain. After achieving a full yellow heart you will lose three lights each time, at green you will lose four."

"Does the amount you win also increase?" Yuma asked.

"No, one win still gets you only one light. Only the best of the best will be able to gather a Golden Heart, and the both of us should try our best to get it. However we don't want to do it too soon or we will become targets that others will try to tear down."

"Oh…"

That look of disappointment. What could he say to that?

"Fine, don't let it get you down and let's get going shall we."

"Alright! We're gonna Jet!"

This was going to be a long day…

---

So Drake followed Yuma around like he had promised his sister. He met Yuma's friends and watch as he duelled. He won some and lost some, Even Drake managed to get a few duels in during the day. Naturally he won all his matches.

There were no problems during this time, no Numbers turn up, no Seals disrupted the peace. Just ordinary duels.

Yuma's friends Bronk and Caswell were in awe of Drakes Blue-Eyes while the girls thought it was a bit scary. By the end of the day Drake's Heart Key had reached the second layer of the yellow heart, and Yuma was at the ninth layer of the pink heart, just one light short from the qualifying level.

Although Yuma had duelled more than Drake, he had lost several times. Meanwhile Drake had never lost and had an eleven-win streak. It was a fun day, but the day was then over and Drake and Yuma split from the group to make their way back to the house.

At one point they decided to cut through an alleyway as a shortcut. That was where they were ambushed, the way was blocked by a middle aged man in a business suit.

Drake was instantly on guard, no way such a well dress man should be hiding in a dirty alley like this. It was just too out of place, something was wrong. The man wore a Heat Key around his neck and a duel disk on his arm. His key had reached the fourth layer of the yellow heart, even high than Drakes own.

"Apologies boys, but I fear the way ahead is closed. Unless you can defeat me that is."

Yuma and Drake looked at each other, they could just turn around and take the long way around, but neither of them was the type to run from a challenge.

"Unless you are scared of course. Perhaps you wish to fight me together?" The man taunted them.

Yuma stepped forward, ready to accept the challenge, but he was held back by Drakes hand on his shoulder. Drake had a bad feeling, something was wrong here besides the obvious.

"Let me Yuma."

"But-"

"No buts, remember you promised your sister to listen to me."

"…Fine."

"Just watch, this won't take long."

Duel disks set. Duel Gazers activate.

"Duel!"

[Turn 1 Chapman LP:4000 Hand:5, Drake LP:4000 Hand:5]

"I draw, a pity you decided to face me alone. It would have saved my time to defeat you together."

"That's some big talk there, I hope your deck can back up your boasting."

"Ha, my deck holds the greatest power in this world, a power like no other you have ever seen. Behold! I activate the all-powerful <The Seal of Orichalcos>!

"Yuma get back!!"

Drake tried to warn Yuma as the glowing green ring expanded out from the duellist, as it touched Yuma it hit him like a solid blow, knocking him flying several meters back on his butt. To Drakes relief other than some bruising he seemed to be fine. The power of the Seal had even alerted Astral with the Golden Key, who appeared next to Yuma in concern.

"Drake what happened?" he asked.

"It's the Seal of Orichalcos!"

On the ground the seal had fully formed, drawing its particular unicursal hexagram star within the circle of runes. A similar seal appeared on the duellists forehead as his eyes took on a menacing red glow.

"Oh? Have you heard of this card before? ha then you must know that you have no hope of victory. I will take not just your heart light, but your soul itself and then your friend's, and you will become an offering to the return of the Great Beast."

Astral could feel the power coming off of the Seal. Drake had not lied; this power was truly comparable to that of the Numbers.

"In your dreams, now make your move!"

"Fine, first I summon <Marauding Captain> to the field, when this card is normal summoned I can special summon a level 4 or lower monster in my hand to the field. And I choose my <Comrade Swordsman of Landstar>. Thanks to my Seal I now possess two rows to which I can summon my monsters, so I summon my captain to the front rank and my swordsman to the rear in attack mode."

[Marauding Captain – Warrior Lv3 ATK:1200/DEF:400, Comrade Swordsman of Landstar – Warrior Lv3 ATK:500/DEF:1200]

The two warriors appear together on the field, one in front of the other. Next the mark of the Orichalcos appeared on their heads, twisting their features into expressions of anger. Their eyes glowing red.

"Thanks to the power of the Seal, all my monster gain 500 ATK and my swordmans special ability then gives all my Warrior type monster a 400 ATK boost. So both my monster gain 900ATK!"

[Marauding Captain - ATK:1200 > 2100, Comrade Swordsman of Landstar - ATK:500 > 1400]

"Next I play the spell <Double Summon> this allows me to normal summon another monster this turn, so I summon <Marmiting Captain> to the front line and as a warrior it also gains 900 ATK.

[Marmiting Captain – Warrior Lv3 ATK:1200>2100/DEF:400]

"My new captain also has a special ability, I shuffle one card from my hand into my deck, then I draw one card. If it's a monster card I can special summon it. Draw! I special summon a second Marauding Captain to the front line."

Four monsters, three of them with over 2000 ATK. And with two Marauding Captains on the field their special abilities created the famous Marauding lock!

"Thanks to Marauding Captain second ability you can't attack any other warriors I control, so because I now control two of them you can't declare an attack on any of my monsters! But I am not done."

"I play the spell <Card of Sanctity> now we both draw until we are holding six cards!"

Blast! Drake thought. No wonder this card got a nerf in the TCG it really was overpowered. He drew one card while his opponent filled his empty hand back to a full 6.

"I activate the continuous spell <The A. Forces> this spell gives each of my Warrior type monsters a 200 ATK boost for each Warrior or Spellcaster on the field. So each of my monster gains another 800 ATK."

[x2 Marauding Captain - ATK:2100 > 2900, Comrade Swordsman of Landstar - ATK:1400 > 2200, Marmiting Captain - ATK:2100 > 2900]

"Oh no, Drake!!"

"This is bad Yuma, Drakes opponent has not only blocked his ability to attack, but has called forth a swarm of monster and boosted them to a level comparable to Drakes Blue-Eyes. Each new monster will only further strengthen the others even more. He was even able to restore his depleted hand, this is trouble."

"Do you feel despair now? Are you consumed by fear? I Chapman will send you to the darkest abyss for the glory of the Great Beast. I set two cards face down and end my turn."

[Turn 2 Drake LP:4000 Hand:6, Chapman LP:4000 Hand:3]

"Fear? Despair? With just you? Dream on, I draw!"

Drake could feel Critias stirring, the presence of the Seal was provoking it, forcing it from its sleep. Drake couldn't allow it! Critias was still too weak, if it awoke now he might sustain permanent injuries. Drake projected his voice to the depth of his mind.

"Sleep Critias, I can deal with this, sleep. Trust me."

Critias seemed to hear him, its struggles turning into back to an uneasy slumber. Drake needed to finish this duel fast. For his sake as well as Critias.

"I play-"

"Hold it! I active my face down trap <Aqua Chorus> this continuous trap card gives a 500 ATK/DEF boost to monsters on the field when there are other monsters on the field with the same name. So both my Marauding Captains gain another 500 ATK."

x2 [Marauding Captain - ATK:2900 > 3400]

"That won't stop me, I play <Mystical Space Typhoon> to destroy your remaining facedown card."

Storm winds swept across the field to destroy Chapmans card, revealing it as <Solemn Judgment>. Chapman was surprised Drake hadn't tried to destroy the Seal. But he didn't know that Drake knew full well the powers of the Seal and that it couldn't be destroyed by card effects.

Now that the variable was taken care of it was time for the counter attack.

"Next I play my spell <Graceful Charity> this allows me to draw three cards so long as I then discard two."

"With this effect I discard my <The White Stone of Legend> then my white stones effect activates, allowing me to add a <Blue-Eyes White Dragon> to my hand."

"Next I activate my spell <Foolish Burial> this allows me to send a monster from my deck to the Graveyard. And I choose a second White Stone of Legend, which allows me to add a second Blue-Eyes to my hand."

Astral and Yuma were mesmerised. They had never seen Drake so focused as he made play after play. He was on fire!

"From my hand I active <Polymerization> fuse the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my hand to fusion summon, the almighty <Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon>!"

[Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon – Lv12 ATK:4500/DEF:3800]

His great beast filled the alley with its mighty form.

"Wow, look at that attack Astral. That's the strongest monster on the field, now Drake can turn this duel around!"

"Not yet Yuma, remember that because of Chapmans two Marauding Captain, Drakes monster cannot declare an attack on any of the monster on the field."

"But if he can't attack then what can Drake do?"

"I do not know, but watch. I am sure he has a method."

Indeed he did. It was time to introduce the world to his newest beast.

"I play the quick spell <De-Fusion>! This card splits my dragon back into the three monsters used to summon it, come forth my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons."

x3 [Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Lv8 ATK:3000/DEF:2500]

They also could benefit from the power boost of his opponents Aqua Chorus, but it didn't matter. Drake had a different plan.

"Why? Blue-Eyes is weaker than Chapmans captains." Yuma complained.

"But now he has three level 8 monsters on the field, is he…"

"With these three monsters, I now build the Overlay Network. Come forth dragon born of the distant stars, take to the field and unleash your earth shattering power. I XYZ summon, Rank 8 <Blue-Eyes Starlight Dragon>!!!"