Weevil Underwood, former Duel Monster's regional champion, awoke to find his legs chained to the floor.

"What the hell is this?! Where am I?!"

The room was large, dark, and smelled of rusting metal, among other things. The only sound in the room was the clanking of Weevil's chains, but it sounded like there was something dangling above him as well.

"I thought you'd feel right at home Weevil… this old warehouse is infested with roaches."

The voice that echoed throughout the room was deep and distorted. It sent a chill down Weevil's spine.

"Who the devil are you?!"

"I'm likely the last person you're ever going to see…"

A tall person in a long black cloak and a crimson faceless mask emerged from the darkness.

"You can call me Abaddon."

"Who do you think you are, holding me against my will?! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"I know that you're a washed up has been. You used to be one of the best duelists in the country, but since your defeats at Duelist Kingdom and Battle City you've become a laughing stock. The same could be said of your friend Rex Raptor, but I've already met him."

Abaddon opened the door of what turned out to be a walk in freezer, when Weevil saw what was inside he screamed. Rex Raptor was standing frozen like a popsicle with the word "Loser" carved into his chest.

"They say the two of you couldn't duel to save your lives. I've already dueled Raptor here and saw that they were right, and as a consequence he suffered the same fate as the dinosaurs he loved so much. I'm curious to see if you can do any better."

Abaddon pulled out a duel disk and placed it on his arm.

"Beat me in a duel and I'll unlock your chains and you're free to go. Lose… and I'll squash you like the bug that you are."

Weevil looked up and saw that there was a large anvil dangling above him.

"And what makes you think I'll agree to this sick game?!"

"I'm not exactly giving you a choice here… and if you're thinking of calling for help, I guarantee that no one will hear you. If you're too scared… I could just drop the anvil now."

Maybe it was just the fact that he wasn't in a position to argue, but Weevil felt some anger mix in with his fear.

"If anyone should be scared it's you! My army of insects will obliterate you!"

"I look forward to proving you wrong."

"Let's duel!"

(Weevil: 4000)

(Abaddon: 4000)

"Since I'm the one in a position of power… I'll make the first move."

Abaddon didn't seem to be in any hurry to make his move, for about a minute his gloved hands just hovered over his cards as if he was trying to decide what to play first.

"Are you going to make a move or not?!"

"I thought you'd be happy if I gave you a few more moments of precious life… most people aren't in a hurry to die. But if you're so eager to enter the abyss… I think I'll just play this monster in defense mode."

"That's it? A monster in defense mode? Rex must've been more pathetic than I thought if he lost to a duelist with an opening move like that!"

Weevil looked at the cards in his hand and smiled. If he could just destroy Abaddon's face down monster then he could end the duel this turn.

"I activate the spell card Painful Choice! This lets me take five cards from my deck, and then you get to pick one of them. The card you pick goes to my hand, and the other four cards go to the graveyard."

"I'm not some rookie; I know what the card does."

"Then hurry up and pick one!"

All the cards that Weevil pulled from his deck were insect monsters. Abaddon picked the only one that wasn't an effect monster.

"Thanks for that. Now I think I'll go ahead and end this duel! I banish three of the insect monsters in my graveyard to special summon Aztekipede the Worm Warrior and Doom Dozer!"

(ATK: 1900 DEF: 400)

(ATK: 2800 DEF: 2600)

"Now I summon Insect Knight!"

(ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500)

"Next I activate the field spell Gaia Power! This increases the attack of every earth attribute monster on the field by 500, for the small price of decreasing their defense by 400)

(ATK: 2400 DEF: 0)

(ATK: 3300 DEF: 2100)

(ATK: 2400 DEF: 1100)

"Now Insect Knight, destroy his face down monster!"

Before Abaddon's monster was destroyed, it was revealed to be some kind of giant cat.

"When Leopard of Malice and Fraud is destroyed, I get to draw two cards from my deck."

"As if it will matter, you have no monsters left to protect your life points! Aztekipede, attack him directly!"

Aztekipede almost made it to his target, when suddenly…

"I activate the trap card Will of the Fallen One!"

"What?!"

Aztekipede was struck dead on the spot.

"Impossible! You didn't have any trap cards out!"

"I didn't have any on the field, but Will of the Fallen One can be activated from my hand. I can use it to negate the attack of one of your monsters, destroy it, and end the battle phase. You should know by now to never underestimate your opponent. When you disposed of Yugi Moto's Exodia cards you thought you'd eliminated the only threat to you at Duelist Kingdom, but he beat you anyway. You made the same mistake in Battle City when you dueled Joey Wheeler. Do you know what happens to people who don't learn from their mistakes?"

"Just make your move!"

"Very well."

Abaddon drew his card, and if he hadn't been wearing a mask Weevil would have seen a wicked grin spread across his face.

"I think I'll destroy your Gaia Power with a field spell of my own, I activate Nine Rings of the Inferno!"

The holographic background collapsed around them, and if Weevil hadn't known better he would have thought they were falling deep beneath the surface of the Earth. When it finally stopped, Abaddon was standing in front of a massive gate. Weevil looked up and noticed that there was a message inscribed on the gate's arch.

Through me the way to the city of woe.
Through me the way to sorrow eternal.
Through me the way to the lost below. Justice moved my architect supernal.
I was constructed by divine power,
supreme wisdom, and love primordial.
Before me no created things were.
Save those eternal, and eternal I abide.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

"Once this card has been activated it cannot be removed, and as long as it's on the field all monsters that have Infernal Beast or Damned Soul in their names will gain 500 additional attack and defense points, unlike your monsters, which now loss their little bonus."

(ATK 1900 DEF: 1500)

(ATK: 2800 DEF: 2600)

"Now I special summon Nameless Shade from my hand!"

(ATK: 0 DEF: 0)

The monster that appeared on the field looked like the spectral form of a man, only it's face was completely featureless and it's eyes were hollow and black.

"When a soul is sentenced to the inferno it is stripped of everything, even its face and form. The damned aren't even allowed to repent of their wickedness."

"Is your strategy to bore me to death?"

"You really are in a hurry to die aren't you? Very well, I sacrifice my Nameless Shade to summon Infernal Beast Charon!"

(ATK: 1800 DEF: 2000)

Charon was utterly demonic in appearance. His skin was chalk white, upon his head were two horns, his eyes were a glowing crimson, and he had huge fangs. In his hand he held a mighty staff.

"If he wasn't terrifying enough, thanks to Nine Rings of the Inferno, he gains 500 extra attack and defense points."

(ATK: 2300 DEF: 2500)

"Next I activate the spell card Sin of Wrath! By discarding two cards from my hand, I can double Charon's attack power for the duration of my turn."

(ATK: 4600)

"Destroy his Doom Dozer!"

Charon charged over and impaled Weevil's Doom Dozer with his staff.

(Weevil: 2200)

"Next I'll activate Charon's special effect. You see in ancient Greece and Rome, when you died, you'd be buried with coins, which you could use to either pay Charon or bribe him. In exchange he would ferry you across the rivers of the underworld to the abode of the dead."

"Do you have a point?"

"As a matter of fact I do. Charon's special effect let's me bribe him by giving up two cards from my hand, and in return I get to special summon one monster in my graveyard."

Charon raised his staff in the air and howled, it was like nails on a chalkboard combined with the roar of a lion.

"And I can't think of anything better than one of the monsters I discarded to activate Sin of Wrath. So I special summon Infernal Beast Plutus God of Wealth in defense mode!"

(ATK: 1000 DEF: 2500)

Plutus appeared as a man, but his body was made of solid gold.

"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!"

"And since I have Nine Rings in play, he gains 500 additional attack and defense."

(ATK: 1500 DEF: 3000)

"That ends my turn. Your move, and I suggest you make it count. It might be your last."

Weevil tried to keep his cool, but at the moment the only monster he had on his side of the field was Insect Knight.

"I summon Pinch Hopper!"

(ATK: 1000 DEF: 1200)

"Next I activate the spell card Double Summon, which let's me summon another monster this turn, but first I'll activate Emergency Card Stash! Since there are no other cards in my hand, this card let's me draw six new cards!"

Weevil drew his six cards.

"Yes! I sacrifice Pinch Hopper and Insect Knight to summon Metal Armored Bug!"

(ATK: 2800 DEF: 1500)

"And since Pinch Hopper was sent to the graveyard, I can special summon another insect monster from my hand, and I choose my Insect Queen!"

(ATK: 2200 DEF: 2400)

"Insect Queen gets 200 attack points for every insect on the field."

(ATK: 2600)

"Metal Armored Bug, destroy Charon!"

(Abaddon: 3500)

"And I'll end my turn by playing this card face down, and activating the spell card Insect Barrier! This prevents any insect monsters on your side of the field from attacking."

"Just like I thought, you're nothing."

"What?!"

"It doesn't take a genius to tell what your face down card is, and I have a card in my deck that can deal with it."

"Thanks to Plutus' effect, I can draw two cards at the start of my turn instead of one. Now the effect of Nine Rings of the Inferno activates."

Suddenly the gate behind Abaddon was flung open and they were both inside. The background had been changed to a bright void. Weevil and Abaddon were surrounded by more shades than they could count, but unlike the Nameless Shade that Abaddon had summoned these ones had not been deprived of their faces."

"What the hell is this?"

"Hell is correct. During each of my standby phases I can place a circle counter on Nine Rings of the Inferno. Each one brings us one circle deeper into the abyss. This is the circle of Limbo, where those that did not sin, but did not have the required faith reside. Here their only punishment is that they will never see Paradise. Once I have nine circle tokens its true power is activated on the following turn."

"And that is?"

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, you won't last the nine turns. I special summon another Nameless Shade!"

(ATK: 0 DEF: 0)

"Now I'll sacrifice it to summon Damned Soul Sir Mordred!"

(ATK: 1800 DEF: 1600)

The monster that appeared on the field was a knight dressed head to toe in black armor, and he held a huge sword.

"In case you didn't know, Sir Mordred is the one responsible for the destruction of the fellowship of the round table. When he exposed Sir Lancelot's love affair with Queen Guinevere he set a deadly chain of events in motion, which ended with him mortally wounding his illegitimate father King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. As a monster in my deck he gains 500 attack points for every monster on my opponent's side of the field. And thanks to my Nine Rings, he gets a 500 point boost."

(ATK: 3300 DEF: 2100)

"Mordred, destroy his Metal Armored Bug!"

"Not so fast! I activate the trap card DNA Surgery, turning all the monsters in play into insects, so now your knight can't attack!"

"Normally that would be case, except that Mordred is also immune to traps."

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"I never kid."

Mordred charged over and cut Weevil's bug clean in half.

(Weevil: 1700)

While Mordred was unaffected by traps, Plutus wasn't so lucky, so his Insect Queen's attack was still 2600. But Weevil couldn't use her because he didn't have any monsters he could use as a tribute so she could attack, and nothing in his hand was going to be of any help. To top it all off this masked psycho was using cards that he had never even heard of, so he had to find a way to end this quickly.

"I draw!"

Weevil couldn't have asked for a better card.

"I activate the spell card Plague Swarm! This let's me pick up five cards from the top of my deck, and if any of them are insect cards that don't require sacrifices, I get to special summon them."

Weevil picked up his cards.

"I summon Neo Bug, Armored Bee, Arsenal Bug, and Skull Mark Ladybug!"

(ATK: 1800 DEF: 1700)

(ATK: 1600 DEF: 1200)

(ATK: 2000 DEF: 2000)

(ATK: 500 DEF: 1500)

"And for every insect on the field, my queen gains 200 additional attack points!"

(ATK: 3400)

"You do realize that Mordred gains 500 attack points for every monster you have in play."

(ATK: 4800)

"Not for long, because now I'm activating Armored Bee's special effect! Once per turn I can halve the attack strength of one of your monsters!"

(ATK: 2400)

"Now I'll sacrifice my Skull-Mark Ladybug so my Insect Queen can destroy your knight!"

(Abaddon: 2500)

"And when Skull-Mark Ladybug goes to the graveyard, I gain 1000 life points."

(Weevil: 2700)

"And don't forget Insect Queen's effect. Now I can summon an Insect Monster Token!"

(ATK: 100 DEF: 100)

"All you have is your golden idol thing and on my next turn I'll destroy it and have my other monsters attack you directly! You should have known better than to challenge a duelist like me!"

Abbadon wasn't moved.

"Thanks to Plutus' effect, I get to draw two cards instead of one. Now the effect of Nine Rings of the Inferno activates. Taking us one level deeper into the abyss."

The holographic background changed to a dark terrain that was caught in a terrible storm. Weevil could see that there were people being blown around like ragdolls in the storm.

"This is the circle of lust, where all those who could not control their desires of the flesh are blown about for all eternity by this storm. Personally I don't think you'll end up in this circle, but in a matter of moments I'm sure you'll see most of the other circles on the way down."

"What are you talking about?"

"Make your peace… you're about to die. First I'll special summon my final Nameless Shade!"

(ATK: 0 DEF: 0)

"Now I'll activate the spell card Sin of Greed! This lets me draw as many cards from my deck as I wish, for the small price of 250 life points each."

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"Since when do you care about fighting fair? You cheat every chance you get."

Abaddon drew his cards one by one, paying 250 life points each time. He finally stopped when he had drawn eight cards.

(Abaddon: 500)

"Next I'll sacrifice my Nameless Shade and Plutus to summon the monster that will be your executioner, Damned Soul Attila the Hun!"

(ATK: 2800 DEF: 2500)

"Behold the self appointed Scourge of God. He was a bloodthirsty butcher that carved a path of death wherever he went. And thanks to the effect of Nine Rings of the Inferno he gains an extra 500 attack and defense points."

(ATK: 3300 DEF: 3000)

"It doesn't matter how strong he is, thanks to the effect of my DNA Surgery he becomes an insect, and since I have Insect Barrier in play it means he can't attack."

"Good thing for me he has a special effect. By discarding any number of cards from my hand, I can destroy one card on the field, and I think I'll discard my entire hand so I can destroy seven cards."

"No way!"

"Yes way…"

Attila drew his weapon violently plowed through every card on the field.

"And I still haven't attacked yet. Attila end this!"

Attila slashed Weevil across the chest.

(Weevil: 0)

"Say hello to Rex for me… in Hell."

The last thing Weevil heard was Abaddon's laughing. He screamed and tugged against his chains in vain, then…

SPLAT!

"You know… I always did like watching Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote."

He took a moment to take in the scent of Weevil's freshly spilled blood. Then he walked over and removed Weevil's deck from the duel disk.

"You won't be needing this anymore… now for this finishing touch." he said taking out a huge knife.

(To be continued)