Introduction: I know that this story got delayed for quite a long time, but at long last I'm pleased to bring everyone the next major story in my series of GX fanfics. I actually had a lot of difficulty getting this story off the ground this past week due to my new job and me getting hit with this virus that may or may not have been a cold. Now that I'm at least back at full health though, I've finally been able to get this latest installment of the series online.

Before we go any further, I should probably mention that if you haven't read my previous GX stories, Ritual of Doom, VR Duelists and A Package Deal, you might be a little lost with what's happening in this story. We're unfortunately at a point in this series where it's a little hard to just jump in from the middle.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

Prologue

It was the dead of night as Thelonius Viper sat waiting in one of the pews near the back of an abandoned church. Sitting in the row right behind Viper sharpening a small dagger was a young woman with tan skin and long dark hair, wearing a black leather jacket over an olive-green tank top with dark-grey jeans and black boots. This young woman was Viper's right hand, an assassin for hire who went by the codename, Lamia. The two of them had been sitting in the church for at least three hours waiting to meet with a pair of Viper's old associates from his days as a soldier for a very special mission. As the two continued to wait, Viper looked at his watch and saw that they still had a few minutes before the time of the agreed upon meeting.

At last the doors to the abandoned church opened, and walking in was a large muscular man who stood at just over seven feet tall. He had dark skin and a shaved head, and a distinctive burn scar on his left cheek. He had on an olive-green tank top with a dark-green leather vest. The man's left arm was covered in more burn scars, and he had thick brown leather bands around both his wrists. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of tan jeans with black leather boots, and a handgun that hung from his waist from a black leather holster.

Viper smiled as he rose from his seat to greet to meet the muscular giant. "Barry Hudson. It's been far too long."

"It's good seeing you again after all this time, Commander," Hudson replied. His eyes widened upon noticing Viper's extremely pale complexion. "Geez! If you don't mind me saying so sir, you look like you've seen better days."

Viper merely chuckled. "Yes, I've had a few setbacks since we last worked together." He then noticed that Lamia had gotten to her feet. "You of course remember Lamia, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. That girl we took in during our mission in Indonesia, right?" Hudson recalled, as he looked Lamia over. "I've heard you've made quite the name for yourself, kid."

"It's all thanks to Commander Viper," Lamia responded.

The door to the church opened again, and walking in was a short slender man with fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and a scar down his right cheek. He had on a brown leather jacket with fingerless black gloves, a green shirt, olive-green jeans and black boots.

The short man walked up and gave Viper a salute. "Fred Patterson reporting as ordered, sir."

"Good of you to come, Patterson," Viper responded.

"Hey, when the best C.O. you've had asks for your help, there's no way you'll turn him down," Patterson responded. "If I may say so sir, you look like you've been through hell."

"I have been," Viper responded darkly. "I have been through the gates of death and hell, and now I have come back to gain my revenge on the ones responsible for my suffering. I understand that you've both become skilled duelists since we last worked together. That's good, because you'll need those skills to eliminate our target."

"And just who is it we're after?" Patterson asked.

"A young professional duelist named Jaden Yuki," Viper answered. "He is the one responsible for my agony, and I will make him pay even if I have to strangle him with my own bare hands!"

"Jaden Yuki, huh? I've heard of him," Hudson recalled. "He's supposed to be some kind of prodigy or something."

"Jaden Yuki is an abomination, and I will not rest until I have destroyed him," Viper told the two. "Though not before making him suffer though hell first."

"Whatever you have in mind sir, you can count on both of us to back you up," Patterson assured him.

"That's right. We'd both be dead if it wasn't for you," Hudson added. "We'll do everything in our power to make sure this mission succeeds."

"I knew I could count on you both," Viper responded.

"Well I'm not so sure that I can," a distorted female voice suddenly spoke.

Viper and the others looked, and standing in front of the altar at the head of the church was a ghostly humanoid entity that appeared to be a woman. Her body was pitch black except for what appeared to be stars, though most of her features were outline by glowing white lines. She had no face except for a pair of bright glowing white lights that seemed to serve as eyes. Startled, Hudson pulled out his gun and fired every single bullet in the gun's magazine into the entity. The woman merely laughed as the bullets passed harmlessly through and into the altar, shattering the decaying wood to pieces.

"Are you quite though?" the entity asked in her distorted voice.

"What… what the hell is that thing?" Hudson asked.

"You can all relax," Viper told his soldiers as he raised a gloved hand to them. "This… young woman is my benefactor. She's the reason why I'm able to stand before you all today."

"You may call me Lucia," the entity told them. "And just so you know, I'm not actually here. What you're seeing right now is an astral projection of me. In actuality, I'm miles away from this quaint little hovel you've chosen to meet in."

"What do you want, Lucia?" Viper asked.

"I only wish to voice my skepticism about this little enterprise of yours," Lucia answered as she hovered towards the group. "I have to say Viper, so far I'm rather disappointed in your performance. Your earlier attempt to destroy Jaden Yuki with a virtual copy of his mind was amusing, but ultimately pointless. If that's the best sort of plan you can offer up, I highly doubt that these new survival duels of yours will be anymore effective."

"I'll admit that using a virtual copy of Jaden Yuki to destroy him was a failure, but this plan will not be," Viper assured her. "This time I will not leave it to simple automation. With this plan, I will be able to personally oversee Jaden's demise."

"Well then. I guess we shall see soon enough if you and your soldiers are truly as effective as you claim," Lucia responded.

"If you don't mind me asking ghost girl, what the heck is your beef with Jaden Yuki?" Patterson asked. "I mean I don't care what Commander Viper's reasons for wanting him dead are, but what's your stake in this?"

"I was born for only two purposes. To destroy the one called Jaden Yuki… and to remake this worthless world," Lucia answered. "That is all you need to know. I will leave you all now to carry out your little plan. But remember Viper… I will be watching."

With that, Lucia totally vanished like a puff of smoke. Hudson and Patterson both breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was gone.

"Pay no attention to Lucia, gentlemen," Viper told the two. "Our focus right now should only be on eliminating Jaden Yuki."

"So how're we gonna do this?" Hudson asked.

"For starters, we're going to take Jaden Yuki onto our battlefield," Viper answered. "If Jaden hopes to somehow survive this, he's going to have to fight through hell."

Author's Note: I usually don't post the prologue of a story until I have the actual first chapter of it finished. So it kind of goes without saying that you can all just proceed to Chapter 1. Or if you like, you can go ahead and leave a review now.

Oh, and a quick shoutout to my friend DragonKnight15 for helping me with developing the Lucia character.