Volume 1 | Chapter 1: "Return"

Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying

Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit

The city of County Dame was bustling with life as the morning sun rose above it; the warm, early-May weather an indication of the summer season's approach.

This fact brightened the hearts of the students of Dexterity High School, who could not wait to begin their vacations in the coming June. The very thought brought smiles to their faces as they stepped off their buses onto the concrete sidewalk aligning their high school. The building stood four stories high near the center of the city. It was not a luxurious building, but rather a modest, concrete-built facility with a spacious front courtyard, decorated with potted plants, benches, and tiled walkways.

Amidst the numerous students hanging about in the courtyard this morning, three teens stood chatting among themselves to the left of the school's front double-doors, as they usually did with the time they had before their first period started.

"I just think it's ridiculous that Mr. Carnell expected us to have every President's name memorized in one night!" the one boy standing among the three complained, speaking of his History teacher as he slid his skateboard back and forth across the tiled walkway with his foot.

The Senior-year student's long, black hair was slicked back and tied up in a ponytail, preventing it from covering up his dark-brown eyes, while stubbly black hairs were scattered across his chin. His attire consisted of a red hoodie with cut-off sleeves over a black t-shirt, ripped jeans, and red and white converses. He stood at 5'11", and was eighteen years old.

The girl beside him now shook her head at her friend's complaint. "Oh come on, Danny. You can't give up one night to memorize a few names?" she said with an inquisitive glance, bemused by her friend's lack of enthusiasm for academic achievement.

Her brown hair was cut to her shoulders, and her black-rimmed glasses only emboldened the color of her emerald eyes. Her choice of attire was a casual gray dress, along with decorative bracelets on both her wrists, and black shoes. She was younger than them all—only seventeen years old in her Junior year, and stood at 5'8".

The teen named Danny rolled his eyes. "Look, Marina; I get and respect that you're an A-plus student and all," he said as he glanced to the brunette. "But some of us have better things to do than dedicate all our free time to memorizing the names of a buncha dead guys!"

"Because spending all your free time skateboarding, playing video games, and chugging Mountain Dew is so much better," the girl named Marina retorted. "Right."

As the two of them bickered as they usually did, the third girl between them seemed to have shied away from the conversation. Her long black hair was accentuated with blended shades of purple near the bottom, reaching a fair length down her back, and her bangs were long enough in the front to hide her misty, silver eyes. Under her black and gray hoodie, she wore a black t-shirt that barely passed over the waistline of her skinny jeans, and her feet were adorned with black and white-checkered shoes. Like Danny, she too was an eighteen-year-old Senior, and stood around 5'9".

There was no sign of life in the girl's eyes. Her head was turned in an attempt to keep her friends from noticing her averted gaze. But it wasn't long before Danny and Marina took notice of their friend's body language, prompting them to halt their argument. "What's wrong, Violet?" Marina was the first to ask.

The teen named Violet looked up to her two friends. "Are you serious?" she asked after a moment of pause, unable to restrain herself from sounding disheartened by her friend's ignorance. "You don't remember what today is?"

Marina's face quickly lit with realization as she remembered the day's date, before her own expression turned sullen as well. Danny remained oblivious, however; blinking confusedly. "Uh... anyone wanna fill me in on what I'm missing here?"

A silent tear begin to fall down Violet's face, and she jerked her head away from her friends' line of sight. Marina shot the ponytailed teen a cross glance, to which his response was an innocent shrug. She then grabbed him by his hoodie, pulling him a few feet away so that Violet was out of earshot before reminding him: "It's been two years since the day Mike disappeared, remember?"

Not a millisecond passed before Danny's eyes widened at the date's significance. He'd first met Mike Harper in the sixth grade, while he was being harassed by his longtime bully, Josiah Sullivan. It had been Mike's first day in their class, and out of nowhere, he'd decided to stand up for Danny by challenging Josiah to a match in the world-renowned, card-battling game of Duel Monsters. And not only had Mike won that duel, prompting Josiah to finally leave Danny alone, but in that moment, he'd instantly become the latter's best friend.

He would soon come to meet Violet through him afterwards, and Marina through her about a year later, during the seventh grade. And throughout the years they came to spend together as friends, he and Mike would continue to fend off Josiah and his cronies' assaults from the junior football league. But no matter how many times he'd strived to improve himself as a duelist, Danny had never been able to compare to Mike, who was always the one to keep Josiah at bay.

But near the end of his sophomore year, Mike had neglected to show up for school one day, leaving Danny, Marina, and Violet spending half that day wondering where he was. Then, without warning, the three of them had been called into their principal's office, only to be told that his bed at the orphanage he lived in had been found empty that morning.

Needless to say, the news had devastated the three friends. Though an search and investigation was launched, the only conclusion the police could draw was that he'd fled the orphanage under cover of night, motivated only with the thought of escaping the dreary conditions he'd been subjected to by the abusive nuns who ran the facility. The friends took umbrage with this explanation, however; as they had never once heard of Mike contemplating running away, even with how cruelly the nuns at the orphanage treated him and the other kids there.

After six months passed with no other information or leads, the case was eventually dropped from active status. And by the time an entire year had passed, most everybody in County Dame had given up hope of ever finding the apparent runaway, presuming him to be dead.

Now, as students from the last bus stepped onto the school's grounds, Danny and Marina could hear Violet softly crying to herself nearby; each choking sob tugging at their heartstrings as they recalled the grief they had suffered through together.

"Man..." Danny finally said in a low voice as he leaned against the school wall. "Hard to believe it's already been two years."

"Yeah," Marina muttered back. "I can't even imagine how Violet must be feeling."

Danny gave a short nod before glancing at his crying friend. Much as he and Mike had been best friends, he and Violet had both known each other long before they'd met Danny and Marina in middle school—back when they were just infants.

Mike's parents, before their untimely deaths, had been close friends with Violet's widowed father before they were even born. And though the two of them had never openly spoken about it to each other, there was no question in either Danny or Marina's mind that the two carried strong feelings for each other. So when Marina said she couldn't imagine how Violet was feeling, she was absolutely right: neither of them had suffered the same kind of depression Violet had been thrown into after Mike's disappearance.

"Well, who do we have here?"

Danny and Marina turned to where the sudden voice had come from: coming towards them was Josiah Sullivan, leading his usual pack of three other jocks from the football team. He wore a blue and silver Dexterity High School varsity jacket over a white muscle shirt, and light jeans above white and blue sneakers. He stood at 6'0", and bore a light-blue and white duel disk on his left arm. His sandy hair was cut military-style, and his icy-blue eyes were full of malicious glee. The group behind him were each dressed similarly, wearing the same blue and silver jacket, as well as backwards-facing hats of matching design.

Danny rolled his eyes at the approaching gang. "Get bent, Josiah," he shot at him with a scowl. "Don't you have some freshman to give a swirly or something?"

Josiah laughed Danny's words off, before mockingly saying, "Aw, sounds like someone's having a rough day! Why could that be, I wonder?"

He and his three followers proceeded to mimic thinking about something by cupping their chins with their hands, using their other hands to support their elbows. They stood like this for a moment before Josiah snapped his fingers in fake realization. "Oh, yeah! Today makes two years since your friend went missing, right?"

Danny only glared at the bully, while Marina seemed to shrink behind him as Josiah went on: "Some 'friend' he was, huh? Disappearing without so much as a goodbye; almost like he didn't really give a damn about any of you!"

At this remark, both Danny and Marina heard Violet sound as though she were choking on her tears; as though they were now forcing their way out of her.

Danny stood up straight, his eyes hardening as he met the bully at his full height. "I mean it, Josiah. Piss off."

"Oh..." Josiah retorted snidely. "Was that supposed to be a threat? Did you just threaten me?"

Danny readied himself to raise his fists, but he was too slow: Josiah's hand had already reached his shoulder, shoving him hard against the school's wall, pinning him there. "Looks like you forgot to bring your duel disk today," Josiah said as he pressed his hand into Danny's skinny frame. "Guess we're gonna have to settle this the ol'-fasioned hard way."

Around them, the numerous other students of Dexterity High School seemed to be avoiding looking towards the confrontation, not wanting to get near a fight with Josiah and his gang. This left Marina on her own to cower as she helplessly watched Danny, whose teeth grit as the regret of forgetting his duel disk set into him. Usually, he would've allowed Josiah to humiliate him in a duel if it meant he would leave them alone afterwards. But physically, Danny was a scrawny stick in comparison to Josiah's bulked-up build; which always spelled an afternoon of icing bruises on days where he was unable to duel. And it looked like that was exactly how his day was about to go...

"Stop!"

Danny and Marina turned with wide eyes to watch as Violet finally stepped forward. Though her eyes were still red and swollen, the sadness on her face had been replaced with a fierce glower aimed at Josiah.

Surprise spread across Josiah's face, though it quickly returned to its condescending smirk. "Wow, I'm surprised to see you here," he said. "I figured you'd take the day off to cry about how your 'friend' abandoned you, like you did last year."

His words shook her, but she only continued inching closer to him. "Just let him go, Josiah."

But instead, Josiah scrunched the hand pinning Danny to the school into a fist, digging his fingers into him to elicit a pained grunt from him. "I don't think so," he said, looking to the black-haired teen in his grasp. "He needs to be taught a lesson... about respecting his superiors."

Then, without warning, Josiah's knee swiftly rose to land a hard blow into Danny's gut, earning stuttered gasps from the latter as his eyes shot open with pain. Marina could only look away with a wince, before Danny was then released from Josiah's grasp, letting him fall side-first onto his skateboard as he groaned in agony.

"P-prick..." Danny managed to sputter as he glared up at his longtime bully.

Josiah's evil grin only broadened. "What was that?" he asked. "Sounds to me like you want some more!"

He raised his foot again, readying himself to stomp down on Danny's defenseless form. As he did, Violet's stride towards him picked up. "I said stop!"

Marina's eyes went wide with realization as she watched her best friend move towards the bully. "Violet, don't—!"

SLAP!

The sound reverberated across the courtyard, bringing everyone else's eyes to the confrontation as a small red mark formed across Josiah's cheek, left by Violet's still-raised hand. Both Danny and Marina were frozen as they looked with unbelieving expressions to their friend, who was glancing from Josiah to her hand with equal surprise; unable to process how she'd just done what she had.

Josiah's expression, meanwhile, was one of ultimate surprise as he looked to the girl who'd struck him. But before long, it turned to one of crossness as he began pacing towards her.

"You bitch..." he uttered as he advanced, his energy paralyzing her with every inch he drew closer; before slamming a hand against the wall beside her head, eliminating any chance of her escape.

Danny found his strength again and stood up, but was blocked off from approaching Josiah by his three goons. Marina remained rooted where she stood, powerless to do anything as she watched the bully close in on her best friend.

"I usually make it a point not to go after girls," he said, before reaching his other hand hand out to grab her wrist. "But today, I might have to make an exception for you."

Violet shut her eyes with terrified panic. She was unable to free herself from Josiah's grip, much less stop him from whatever he was about to do...

"Get the hell away from her."

Josiah's hand released Violet at the sound of the stern voice coming from the edge of the street, before he and everyone else in the courtyard turned to look where it had come from: the young man walking onto the property looked unlike anyone they had ever seen before. He stood at 5'10", wearing an open, black duster over a black shirt. His lower half was dressed in black pants held up with a brown belt, a leather holster around his waist, and black boots adorning his feet. The young man's dirty-blonde hair just reached past the bottom of his neck, and his long bangs hid his eyes from view as he walked towards them.

Josiah shot the stranger an irritated look. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?" he spat disrespectfully.

Violet, Danny, and Marina, however, each went wide-eyed as they looked to the stranger, not so oblivious to their identity as Josiah seemed to be. But his clothes, the longer hair, and the chilling aura he was giving off... how could this possibly be who they thought it was...?

The stranger finally stopped about ten feet away from them, everyone's eyes fixed confusedly on the stranger. Violet could feel her heart throbbing wildly within her chest; her eyes unable to look away from the man in black, who let out a shorthanded chuckle at Josiah's retort.

"Josiah Sullivan," he finally said as he shifted his head slightly, his hair parting to reveal piercing, oceanic eyes. "You're still as pathetic as ever, I see."

The three friends' faces lit with shock at the sight of the stranger's eyes, confirming his identity; while all the color seemed to drain from Josiah's face, as though he'd come face-to-face with a ghost.

"M-m-m-Mike...!" he stammered as he took a step backwards. "I-I th-I thought you were—?!"

"Dead?" Mike finished, his tone monotonous. "Sorry. Far from it, I'm afraid."

Josiah growled at this sardonic response. "Where the hell have you been all this time?!"

"I don't see why I owe you any explanation," Mike answered curtly.

Danny and Marina moved over to stand with Violet as they each quivered with excitement; Violet even more so among them. She could hardly believe what she was witnessing: Mike was really here—alive—standing before her eyes again.

Finally, Mike shifted his gaze to momentarily meet the gazes of his friends. "We'll all get to talk later; I promise," he assured them.

All they could do was give him a nod of understanding, before Mike brought his attention back to his old rival. "I have to admit, I never thought you'd let yourself sink so low, Josiah," he spoke coldly. "Putting your hands on a girl like that."

Josiah scoffed at him. "I could always put my hands on you, if you'd prefer."

Mike smirked. "Figures that you'd rather resort to fighting this out," he retorted. "Since you never could hold a candle to me in duel."

Low murmurs of "Ooooohhhh," were heard across the population of spectating students, prompting Josiah's frown to turn into a scowl. "Well, how about we change that?" he said as he raised his duel disk arm up. "I'll finally give you the ass-kicking you deserve right now!"

Mike remained silent for a moment, before swiftly reaching to his side, pulling from the holster on his hip what looked like a large revolver, causing everyone else to take an alarmed step back at the sight of the apparent firearm. But what followed this was something none of them were expecting to witness:

He held the barrel of the gun to his left arm, where a metal strap protruded and wrapped around his wrist. The muzzle expanded and slid backwards, revealing a deck of Duel Monsters cards inside. At the same time, a small piece of metal emerged from the top of the barrel, which then split itself and expanded to create five monster, spell, and trap card zones.

"It's been a long time since I've put you in your place," Mike mused as he drew five cards from his deck slot. "Guess it's about time I fixed that."

Upon realizing what the revolver-shaped device really was, Josiah's expression returned to its cocky grin before he stepped onto the tiled walkway to face Mike. "Come and try!" he shot back.

His duel disk activated, allowing him to draw five cards of his own before and Mike simultaneously cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

- DUEL -

[Mike - LP: 4000] VS [Josiah - LP: 4000]

"Since you only just got back," Josiah said with false civility, "I think I'll let you take the first move!"

"Your funeral," Mike returned as he drew his first card. "I'll start by summoning my Constellar Algiedi!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1600]

"Constellar Algiedi...?" Danny repeated with confusion. "I've never seen that card before."

"Me neither," Marina admitted. "Looks like his deck's gone through some changes."

"Yeah," Violet agreed. "But I have to wonder if that's not all that's changed about him..."

Danny and Marina both turned to their friend with surprise. They had always figured that if Mike ever did return, Violet would have been over-the-top ecstatic to see him again. But the expression on her face right now was more alarmed than anything else, as if his sudden return and partaking in this duel seemed more like a problem to her.

Meanwhile, Mike continued: "Now, I'll activate Algiedi's effect! When it's summoned, I can special summon another level 4 Constellar monster from my hand! So I'll call on Constellar Pollux!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1700]

"Next, I'll activate a continuous spell card: Constellar Star Chart, which'll come in handy for me later," Mike went on. "In the meantime, I'll now overlay my level 4 Constellar Algiedi and level 4 Constellar Pollux!"

His two named monsters morphed into orbs of bright light, which were then absorbed into a dark, spatial portal that burst with energy as a new creature emerged from within it. "Xyz summon!" Mike cried out. "Crush all who stand in your way, Constellar Praesepe!" [RK: 4/OUs: 2/ATK: 2400]

Everyone's jaws dropped as they marveled at the sight of this new monster. Even Josiah looked somewhat taken aback, but he quickly recovered his game face before saying, "So you've got yourself some new cards! Is that supposed to scare me?"

"Maybe not yet," was Mike's reply. "For now, my Constellar Star Chart's effect activates, allowing me to draw one card whenever I successfully Xyz summon a Constellar monster!"

Josiah watched as he added another card to his hand, before saying, "I'll finish up by setting two cards face-down. Now let's see what you've got."

"With pleasure!" Josiah returned smugly. "I draw!"

He scanned his hand for a moment before curling his lips into a sinister smile. "Like you, I'm also gonna start with a continuous spell card that's gonna help me out later: my Six Samurai United!"

"Aw, come on!" Danny rolled his eyes. "He had to draw that this early in the duel?!"

"Now whenever a Six Samurai monster is summoned to my field, this card gains a Bushido counter!" Josiah explained as he took another card from his hand. "And speaking of summoning, I activate the effect of my Elder of the Six Samurai in my hand! While you control monsters and I don't, I can special summon him to my field in DEF mode!" [LV: 3/DEF: 0] [Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 0→1]

"And then I'll call on my Kagemusha of the Six Samurai tuner monster!" [LV: 2/ATK: 400] [Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 1→2]

"And with these two monsters on the field, I'll now tune my level 2 Kagemusha to my level 3 Elder!" he exclaimed as the tuner monster became two rings of emerald energy, which enveloped the other monster that became three balls of bright light; all of which was then enveloped by a pillar of bright light.

"Synchro summon!" Josiah cried out as his new monster emerged from the pillar. "Emerge from the shadows of myth, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En!" [LV: 5/ATK: 2500]

"Next, I'll use my Six Samurai United's effect!" Josiah went on. "With two Bushido counters on it, I can send it to the graveyard to draw two more cards!"

He drew his two cards, and smirked at one of the ones he'd drawn. "Since I control at least one other Six Samurai on my field, I can special summon my Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1800]

"Now I'll launch my onslaught on your Constellar Praesepe!" Josiah said as he pointed to Mike's monster. "Shi En attacks!"

The armored warrior made a lightning-swift dash towards Mike's monster, prompting Mike to raise a hand as he countered, "I activate Constellar Praesepe's effect! By detaching one of his overlay units—" [OUs: 2→1] "—I can increase the ATK power of a Constellar monster that's battling, like himself, by 1000 points!" [ATK: 2400→3400]

Everyone watched as Josiah's Legendary Six Samurai Synchro got pushed back with a punch from Praesepe. Josiah, however, remained calm as he retorted, "You can't destroy my Shi En so easily! With his effect, he can have my Kizan take the fall for him instead!"

"But you'll still take the damage!" Mike reminded him as Kizan rushed forward to defend Shi En, intercepting Praesepe's second blow before exploding with a pained groan. [Josiah - LP: 4000→3100]

Josiah growled. "I'll set two cards of my own face down, and leave it at that," he concluded.

[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400→2400]

"Back to me, then," Mike said as he drew his next card, looking from it to the heavily-armored monster on Josiah's side of the field. "I'll start by activating another continuous spell, Constellar Belt! So long as I control this card, my LIGHT-attribute monsters are unable to have their effects negated!"

"Think again!" Josiah said as he pointed to his lone warrior. "My Shi En's effect can negate and destroy any spell or trap card you activate once per turn!"

Shi En dashed over to Mike's side field once again with his katana in hand, slicing through the spell Mike had played in the blink of an eye.

But as Mike watched the warrior return to Josiah's side of the field, his expression remained undaunted. "I enter my battle phase; and use my Praesepe's effect to detach its last overlay unit, and gain 1000 ATK!" [ATK: 2400→3400]

"Now attack his Shi En!" Mike declared, prompting his monster to charge towards Josiah's Shi En.

But as it did so, Josiah's hand raised over his set card as he said, "I reveal my trap card, Mirror Force! So say goodbye to your Constellar Praesepe!"

The golden creature hit an invisible barrier between itself and Josiah's Shi En, the impact causing its fist to begin cracking all the way down its arm, eventually shattering the monster entirely.

On the sidelines, Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyebrows all rose. "What was Mike thinking?" Marina questioned. "He walked right into Josiah's trap."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Danny spoke up, gaining both Marina's and Violet's attention. "Something's telling there's more to his strategy than this."

But Josiah clearly didn't see it this way, as he couldn't help but laugh at how Mike had sprung his trap. "Man, you're not nearly as good as you used to be!" he taunted. "You seem to have gotten careless over the last couple years!"

"Careless, you say?"

Josiah's brow furrowed at Mike's response, before the latter explained: "You should know, I was expecting you to counter with some sort of trap. But I attacked anyway because even if you did, it wouldn't have mattered.

"But talk is cheap," Mike continued as he flipped his own set card. "So now, I'll reveal my Xyz Reborn trap! This card revives any Xyz monster in my graveyard, and then attaches itself to that monster as an overlay unit!

"So be reborn!" Mike cried out as the ground before him burst open, his gold-clad creature returning to his side, "Constellar Praesepe!" [RK: 4/OUs: 01/ATK: 2400]

"Now let's try this again!" Mike declared. "Praesepe, detach your last overlay unit to gain 1000 ATK, and finish his Shi En off! [ATK: 2400→3400]

Praesepe crossed over to Josiah's field, where it punched Josiah's warrior into the ground, crushing him into the asphalt before erupting in a destructive explosion. [Josiah - LP: 3100→2200]

Josiah fumed at this. So far, he hadn't managed to land a single blow to Mike's life points, while the latter seemed to have a way around everything he'd thrown at him so far.

Doesn't help that he knows my whole deck while I'm left to guess at what he's got up his sleeve... Josiah figured to himself.

But then an idea sparked in his head: That's it... there's ONE card I have that can turn things back in my favor, he realized, prompting him to look to his deck, his gleeful smirk returning. You better brace yourself for what's coming next, Mike...!

He brought his attention back to the duel as his opponent wrapped up: "I'll end my turn by setting two more cards face-down. Your move, Josiah."

"All right, then!" Josiah exclaimed as he drew, brimming with renewed energy.

"I'll start by revealing my Double-Edged Sword Technique trap!" he started as his other set card flipped. "With it, I can revive two Six Samurai monsters that are sleeping in my graveyard! So my Shi En and Kagemusha both come back!"

Sure enough, both Shi en and Kagemusha burst from their graves before Josiah, their lives restored as they stared Mike's Praesepe down with vengeful glares. [LV: 5/ATK: 2500] [LV: 2/ATK: 400]

"And now, since I control at least one Six Samurai monster," Josiah continued, "I can special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai directly from my hand!" [LV: 5/ATK: 2100]

"Next, I'll tune my level 2 Kagemusha to my level 5 Grandmaster!" Josiah said as the creatures came together as emerald rings and white spheres, creating another pillar of light. "Synchro summon! Wreak your havoc, Driven Daredevil!" [LV: 7/ATK: 2400]

"Oh, that ain't good," Danny muttered as he eyed this Synchro warrior with loathing. "Josiah only brings that guy out when he wants to punish his opponents. Even Mike's had difficulty getting over him in the past."

"Here's hoping this new deck of his has a way," Marina concurred.

Meanwhile, Josiah pointed towards Mike's Praesepe as he declared: "Now, I'll have my Shi En take his vengeance against your Constellar Praesepe!"

As Shi En took up his sword and dashed towards Praesepe, Mike flipped another set card: "I reveal my Impenetrable Attack trap! This card will keep my Praesepe from being destroyed in battle!"

"Idiot!" Josiah shot back. "Don't you remember that my Shi En can negate one of your spell or trap cards once per turn?!"

Sparks dashed through Mike's trap card before it faded away, while Shi En continued to slash through Praesepe like a knife through butter, earning a mechanical groan from the creature before it exploded in a large cloud of dust. [Mike - LP: 4000→3900]

"Actually, I did remember," Mike retorted as he then triggered his other set card. "That's why I played it, so you couldn't counter this: my Constellar Meteor!

"This trap sends any monster that battled a Constellar monster and survived back to the deck!" he explained. "Or, in the case of your Shi En, it'll return to your extra deck!"

Shi En faded away with a confused groan, leaving Josiah to ball his free hand into a fist. "I'll teach you to show me up...!" he uttered furiously. "Driven Daredevil, attack Mike directly!"

The war-torn warrior took up his swords and launched himself at Mike, but as he did Josiah added, "And to make sure this hurts good, I'll boost his ATK power with my Ego Boost quick-play spell, giving him another 1000 ATK during my battle phase!" [ATK: 2400→3400]

Mike had only enough time for his eyes to widen at this sudden development, before Josiah's Daredevil drove both of his long blades swiftly through his chest. He staggered backwards, wincing slightly as his life points dwindled before the warrior returned to his respective field. [Mike - LP: 3900→500]

"Mike!" Violet finally cried out to him.

Mike glanced to her as he regained his footing, giving her a short nod to let her know he was okay. She reciprocated with a nod of her own, before Mike rose back to full height again, watching as Josiah snickered at his move's success.

"Well, look how the tables have turned!" he called out to him. "There was nothing you could've done to stop my Driven Daredevil!"

But for all his bravado, Josiah's taunts elicited no reaction from Mike. He just stood there, unmoving as he stared coldly into his opponent's eyes; as though he were gazing straight into his mind, examining all his inner workings to find a weakness he could exploit.

"It's like he has ice in his blood," Marina muttered as she shifted uncomfortably. "Kind of creepy..."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I've never seen him so calm after taking a blow like that."

Meanwhile, Josiah's smirk was turning into an annoyed frown due to Mike's lack of reaction. "What's that look for, huh?" he shot at him. "Can't stand that I finally managed to cut away at your life points?"

Mike remained silent.

Josiah's brow began to knit with even more frustration, before his lips curled back into their usual malicious smile. "Oh, I know..." he said. "I'll bet you're finally starting to realize that I'm just that much better than you now, right? Even after disappearing for two years, and coming back with an all-new deck, you've only become more pitiful than you were the day that you left!"

"Are you done? I'm sick of listening to you run your mouth."

Josiah's eyes lit up with fury at Mike's retort, before the latter continued: "I never even had any intention of interacting with you when I came here today, much less duel you. So either shut the hell up with the incessant monologuing and make a move, or just end your turn."

Not only was Josiah's expression taken aback at Mike's words, but so were the expressions of the other watching students. Violet was especially shaken; she had known Mike for all his life up until his disappearance two years prior, and she'd always known him to be kind and courteous to everyone he interacted with; even when Josiah was at his worst. So hearing him speak so callously now practically broke her heart.

Eventually, Josiah managed to regain his composure after Mike's verbal onslaught as he looked to him spitefully. "I'll finish up with one more card face-down," he spat acidly. "That's all for me." [Driven Daredevil - ATK: 3400→2400]

"About time," Mike said as he drew once more. "I'll start by revealing my last set card, Call Of the Haunted! With it, I can bring any monster that's sleeping in my graveyard back to the field in ATK mode! So I'll revive my Pollux!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1700]

"Then, I'll summon my Constellar Kaus to join him!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1800]

"And with his effect," Mike explained, "I can either increase or decrease the levels of any Constellar monster by 1 up to twice per turn! So I'll use this effect to bring both his and Pollux's levels up by 1!" [Constellar Kaus - LV: 4→5] [Constellar Pollux - LV: 4→5]

"With those set, I'll now overlay them to build the overlay network one more time!" Mike said as another spatial portal opened, absorbing both monsters before a new warrior emerged from its depths. "Xyz summon! Raise your blade, Constellar Pleiades!" [RK: 5/OUs: 2/ATK: 2500]

Josiah's teeth grit at the sight of this monster. From the looks of things, Mike seemed to have already formulated a way to overthrow his Driven Daredevil; and there was no doubt in his mind that this Pleiades was a key player in Mike's strategy to do so.

Luckily for him, he had just the card to keep Mike's warrior at bay: "I reveal my continuous trap, Shadow Spell!"

At the trap's activation, a numbers of black chains suddenly broke through the concrete beneath Mike's Pleiades, each one wrapping around the star-studded warrior from every angle, binding the warrior to the ground.

"Not only does this card keep your monster from attacking," Josiah explained, "but it also drains him of 700 ATK points!" [Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 2500→1800]

"Now your last hope for victory is sealed away," Josiah chastised as his most sadistic smirk yet appeared on his face. "And just weak enough so that, when my Driven Daredevil attacks next turn, it'll finish off the last of your life points! This duel's over, Mike!"

Concern took over the expressions of Violet, Danny, and Marina as they looked to their friend, believing that, for the first time, Josiah might've finally managed to outplay Mike. But as their eyes set on him, they came to find that, much like he'd been throughout most of the duel, he was still unnervingly calm in the face of this adversity.

He then raised a pointed finger to the only remaining card on his field as he said, "I activate the effect of my Constellar Star Chart: with my Pleiades's successful summoning, I'm allowed to draw one more card."

Violet, Danny, Marina, Josiah, and the other spectating students held their breaths as Mike drew his final card of the duel. And the moment he saw what he'd drawn, he smiled.

"I activate my Pleiades's effect," he said. "By detaching one of his overlay units—" [OUs: 2→1] "—he can send any card on the field back to its owner's hand; like your Shadow Spell!"

"He can what?!" Josiah cried out with panic as Mike's warrior managed to swing his large sword to his front, striking at the shackles that bound him with a force so strong, they shattered instantaneously before dissipating from existence. [Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 1800→2500]

"And then, I'll activate the equip spell, Megamorph, and equip it to my Pleiades!" Mike carried on. "So since my life points are lower than yours, his original ATK strength is doubled!" [Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 2500→5000]

Josiah's face paled as it sank into him who would emerge victorious from this duel, while Mike made his final declaration: "Guess you were right about this duel being over, Josiah! Constellar Pleiades, destroy his Driven Daredevil!"

Once again, Constellar Pleiades took up his large sword and charged at the opposing warrior, who charged in to meet Pleiades' strike head-on, their blades clanging loudly against each other. But eventually, Josiah's warrior was the one to be pushed back, before being impaled in the chest by Pleiades's blade with an outcry of pain before shattering into nothingness. [Josiah - LP: 2200→0]

- DUEL OVER -

[Winner: Mike]

The moment slowly sank into the spectators as the two duelists' duel disks deactivated, with Mike's Pleiades fading away from the field, and Josiah sinking to his knees in defeat. Within seconds, his group of lackeys all ran up to circle around him.

"Yo, Josiah!" everyone heard them crying out. "Are you all right—?!"

"Get AWAY from me!" Josiah roared, silencing his group of lackeys and prompting them to back away from their leader as he managed to bring himself back to his feet, shooting daggers at Mike with his eyes as he did so.

"How..." he uttered, brokenly. "How the hell could I lose to you again...?"

"Because you don't know what it means to fight for something; or someone," was Mike's answer as he stared back at Josiah coldly. "You've only ever dueled to bully and break anyone vulnerable enough for your own sick amusement.

"And anyone who duels only to make others suffer..." His tone turned deadly serious. "Doesn't deserve to call themselves a duelist."

Josiah remained silent for a moment as he and Mike exchanged long, hard stares. Then, without another word, he turned and began making his way down the tiled walkway, passing his fellow Dexterity High students and Mike before reaching the sidewalk, and continuing to walk away from the school, even as his lackeys hollered after him as he disappeared into the city.

Mike kept his eyes fixed on Josiah's departure as his three friends made their way over to him slowly, with Danny being the first to give a low whistle. "Man, I don't know where you've been all this time," he finally said to his old friend, "but you gotta tell me where you learned to duel like that! That was awesome!"

Mike's eyes flickered towards his friends for only a moment, before he then turned and started walking the same direction that Josiah had gone, back towards the city as the three friends' eyes widened with confusion.

"Hey, Mike?!" Danny called after him. "Where are ya goin'?!"

"He's seriously not just leaving, is he...?" Marina wondered.

But Violet couldn't let that happen: "Mike, wait!" she cried out, running after him and catching him by his arm, bringing him to a halt.

He remained still for a moment, feeling her hand trembling as it gripped him. And he couldn't blame her: he had only just come back into her life, and now it looked like he was about to leave again.

"Violet," he softly but sternly said as he pulled away from her. "Bring the others to the usual spot after school. I'll meet you there."

Without another word, he continued pacing towards the city, leaving Violet to then notice a disturbing detail she hadn't before: the back of his black duster looked to be completely tattered with what looked like bullet holes.

Mike... Violet wondered with horror as she brought a hand over her mouth, what happened to you...?

- Flashback: Two Years Ago -

The desert winds howled as it scattered sand through the air, making it difficult for the young man to see as he dredged through the desert, fighting against the gusts.

He was dressed in a black, long-sleeved shirt with sleeves rolled past his forearms, along with faded jeans held up with a belt; a deck case attached to it behind him. His black sneakers felt as though they were melting on his feet from absorbing the heat of the sun and the sand.

The young man's dirty-blonde hair was cut fairly short, but still had some body to it. His eyes were oceanic, but had never looked as weary as they did in that moment. His body was exhausted, and his throat was parched and dry. Every step he took felt like another day to his tired mind.

Mike had been walking like this for the last three days since he'd woken in his bed at the orphanage that early morning. Without warning, the X-shaped scar on his arm that he'd had since he was a child had awoken him with a sharp, stinging sensation; possessing him as if with a will of its own that commanded him to break out of his orphanage, and sneak out of the city to trek towards an unknown destination in the desert.

Now, he began to feel the scar's sting again—more intensely than before, causing him to grasp at it. The pain hadn't been this bad since he'd started his wayward journey, making him wonder if he'd somehow wandered off the path it wanted him to follow.

As the thought crossed his mind, his eyes suddenly spotted a distinct shape in the distance: it looked to be a man, standing motionless in the sandy wind—as though he were awaiting Mike's arrival.

Perhaps this was who he was being drawn towards. "Hey...!" he hoarsely cried out, pushing himself to try and reach the man faster; his body aching with every agonizing step he took as the scar's sting continued to climb in severity.

But it was no use: his vision was beginning to blur worse, and the last of his strength was beginning to fade. "Help me... please...!" he choked out desperately, his voice barely cutting through the escalating winds.

He only managed to drag himself another few feet closer to the figure, but it was too late: the stinging from his X-shaped scar suddenly soared to another new height, causing every pain sensor in his body to feel as though they'd caught fire. It was only a matter of moments before he finally reached his limit, his body shutting down on him before he collapsed in the sand. From there, the last thing he saw was the figure approaching him, the only features he could make out being dark boots and a long coat before he fell out of consciousness.

- Flashback End -

Be sure to catch up with the latest "Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death" developments by reading the original story on my profile! And as always, thank you for reading, and stay awesome.