(Undefined Time and Location)
"To those for whom there's no beginning, no end, and no connecting. I'll open this door for you. I'll find out whether what you hold in your body is brutal desire or a blazing will. If you hold neither of those things then you don't deserve to exist. Will is what runs humanity but desire is what rules the world, everything done is because it was desirable for the person, if you ever hear someone say that they are too busy then they're lying. Nobody is too busy, it's just a matter of priorities. However, desire is easy to mani-" Some white noise then overpowered the voice for a brief moment of time, cutting out what it was about to say "I don't care so much about whether the short term goal bears fruit, Kogami can have his little Ai but all I need is for my long term goal to bloom into the beautiful oak I know it will be… Within these arms, these legs, these eyes and these cheeks, my testimony will forever endure…"
Silence reigned for what seemed like forever, occasionally broken up by sounds of someone shuffling paper around on a desk and talking to someone in the background, then the voice made its reappearance "Everyone dreams of their own utopia. It's a strange belief, Utopia. There's this rogue belief about it that everyone benefits from it, what many don't realise is what has to be sacrificed for that Utopia to take shape and how many people need to have their rights violated to maintain it. Utopia seekers are the worst people in the world, every Utopia is different since we are all individuals so it's for the best if you don't kid yourself into thinking you have other people's thoughts at heart. Utopia is an inherently selfish idea. I don't devote myself to that idea, I don't believe there is such a thing as a perfect world. Humanity and AI are deeply flawed, to seek a so called perfect world is a delusion of grandeur and dangerous for humanity as a whole. You see, perfection is a stupid concept, it weighs you down with the fear of failure. You can never fail if you know you are going to succeed. Your desire is what matters in this world, the desire to improve yourself and the desire to better others round you. If you have no desire you don't have will and thus you don't deserve to live."
"Wring out the desire…" And the voice cut out.
(Some time in the future)
"Come let us dance in this harem…" Those words belonged to a very pale skinned male as he reached out his hand to the approaching blonde girl. The pale skin being a weirdly hereditary trait in his family "Come into my hands, I promise I won't cause you any harm." The male had long purple hair with a sultry slant in his eyes, both of which were a blood red in colour making a heavy contrast against his ivory skin. His hair was tied back by a black ribbon into a ponytail that was long enough to go down to his midback "I can only be seen by you, so keep those eyes on me." He was dressed in a very aristocratic purple outfit with a white cravat held back by a broch with a purple gem in it. Eight golden buttons, four on either side of his torso alongside silver epilates adorned his outfit. He had white cuffs which were also adorned by four gold buttons.
The pair began to dance across an elaborately designed checkerboard ballroom. The male's eyes flicked down to the girl's smiling visage and he too began to grin, this was all going according to his plan, he placed a finger under her chin and manoeuvred them both to eye level. He was standing at about 6'1 if you counted the calf high black boots, the girl was probably just cracking 5'11 "Now, join me in this harem, let me give you satisfaction as the King of the night."
He smirked when the girl pressed up against his chest. Perfect~. Then suddenly he felt a pain that was so sharp and unreal. He staggered back to see a bronze hilted dagger stabbed into his chest, a large pool of blood started to stain his clothes "W-what!? What's going on!?" He screamed.
"Your complacency was your downfall, Duke Marlon!" The Duke's eyes widened when the person he assumed to be a female began to speak in a clearly male voice. Things only got worse when the cross dresser pulled off the blonde wig he had been wearing revealing jet black hair that was spiked over to his right side while the left side had been nearly shaven clean off.
"C-count Luic…Finia…!" It was hard for the Duke to get any other words out, the blood pooling out even more as he fell to his knees on the floor.
"You stole everything precious from me! Yufinia! My daughter! My land! My title!" The count was livid and proceeded to kick the Duke in the face to add injury to insult rather than the other way around. "So I disguised myself to end our reign of terror! I swore that since you took everything to me, I'd take the most precious thing anyone could have… Their life!" The black haired male turned and left the room, leaving the Duke to bleed out on his own.
Numerous actual women, all dressed in perverted harem uniforms then began to race past him, some spat on him and some made a bolt for the exit. None of them noticed the Duke crying and reaching out to them. Especially the last one to leave the room, a green haired one "Don't…! P-please…" He whimpered, it looked as if his mouth had finally shut down when she could see him attempting to form words but heard nothing coming out of it.
With nothing else left to be said, the woman left and the Duke was left by himself to die on the floor.
"You're a fucking asshole, Allen." Said a purple haired male with exactly the same voice and hairstyle as the Duke. He was nursing a rather large black eye. He was dressed in a black hooded jacket with golden trims, a navy blue t-shirt, sliver jeans held up by a black belt with a golden buckle and finally he wore grey combat boots that shot his height up from 5'11 to 6'1.
"So? What's new? You know me, Sat." Said his friend with exactly the same voice as the murderous count as well as the same hairstyle.
"You didn't have to kick me in the face! Where did it say that you could do that?" Sat, full name Sateriasis Marlon, wasn't the least bit happy. Numerous ways of murdering his asshole "friend" raced through his head.
"Right here!" Allen retorted by sticking up his middle finger and blowing a raspberry "The script dictated that I was to do whatever the Count would've done in that situation, so I imagine that he probably would've kicked that guy in the face!" Allen, full name Allen Avadonia Lucifinia, took unlimited joy in rubbing his vict-friend the wrong way. He sported an impish grin as he bounded in front of and posed ahead of Sateriasis "Anyway! I bet you enjoyed it, y'know, getting to be the debauched Duke, being around all of those girls~!"
"You have three seconds before I pound your face in." Sateriasis threatened his friend. Allen's hair was styled nearly exactly the same as if he were still in the Count persona, the only major difference being that some of the spikes were now drooped closer to his face, his emerald green eyes had noticeably sharp pupils to them. In terms of clothing he was wearing a low cut red t-shirt, a black jacket with a white hood and trims, white shorts which he always wore no matter the weather, something that made Sateriasis roll his eyes every time Allen tried to justify it. In terms of accessories he wore two golden rings on his left hand. On his right hand was a strange yellow mirror tattoo.
"Oh, Sat! You would never do such a thing! You're such an innocent soul and violence is totally out of your realm!" Allen melodramatically proclaimed as if he still hadn't stopped acting yet. "Then again, if I were the Duke instead of you the girls would have been hanging off of my shoulders out of love instead of having to act. I'm that irresistible!" He was reward for rolling in his ego was a blow to the back of the head from Sateriasis "What the hell was that for?!"
Sateriasis resisted the urge to roll his eyes, mainly because of risk of aggravating the injury that Allen had given him "Because you're being a prat again. Don't you have to go and be annoying somewhere else?"
Allen feigned harm as he looked down at an imaginary watch on his wrist "Not until four. In meantime I guess I'll have to do with you."
Sateriasis scowled, but if he was being honest, he wouldn't trade Allen for anyone else in the world. He may have despised his ego with every fibre of his soul and frequently wanted to punch him every time that he opened his mouth but it was those things that made their friendship so interesting to him. Call him a masochist but he secretly enjoyed the bickering and constant belittling, you never knew what was going to happen when Allen was around.
"Now if you don't mind me, I'm going to and watch tonight's duels in Link VRAINS. You're welcome to come and watch if you want, but I get the picture that you probably wouldn't like it." Link VRAINS was the latest craze in the dueling world, a network on which people could choose to duel in virtual reality, it was the brainchild of SOL technology and more specifically Allen's father who seemed to mention it nearly every time Sateriasis had met him. Sateriasis never really understood the allure of it all, the online world was fake after all, the bonds you made online never truly carried over into the real world and in the worst case scenario it could even lead to a dangerous encounter with some of the more unsavoury people in the world.
"Who's dueling? Maybe then I'll decide." However, despite not particularly liking the system it didn't mean that he wasn't going to rid if from his life. Duel Monsters was Duel Monsters after all, no matter how it was being played.
"Well it's the number one and number two ranked Charisma Duelists…" Ah, well, there goes that plan. Charisma Duelists to Sateriasis were a bunch of vapid attention seekers whom only cared about their rank which he saw as arbitrary as usually the best of the best weren't too bothered by popularity and most of the popularity had been gained through stupid people thinking they were good.
"Wait…" One of those Allen had mentioned was familiar to the purple haired male. Allen watched on anxiously as Sateriasis worked through the depths of his repressed memory. A cold sweat dripped down his neck when he saw Sateriasis' eyes sharpen "Isn't one of those Blue Angel?"
"Umm…Yeah…?"
"That fucking airhead! Why is she so popular?! All her deck is, is effect damage! It is a helmet deck, you don't need any skill to play! Have you seen her fans as well?! And that obnoxious fucking chant!" Allen could feel the heat radiating off of Sateriasis, he knew that Sateriasis often had a propensity to get annoyed whenever Blue Angel was mentioned, he didn't really know why this was the case so he tried to code it whenever he mentioned her to him, it never mattered and it often resulted in Allen getting jabbed in the ribs as he tried to calm his friend down.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Sat, calm down!" However, that would never stop Allen, no matter how many times he went to the hospital with broken ribs, he had to take it so that they weren't liable for getting fined for vandalism and property damage. Allen was 90% sure that Sateriasis at his worst constituted at least 500,000 yen in fines. "Remember last time?!" The spiky haired male shivered, that wasn't a time he ever wanted to think about again.
Sateriasis took a deep breath, remembering what had occurred that time too "Fine, just don't mention that bitch's name again. I'm guessing the other person is Go Onizuka?"
"Got it in one! Now, I don't know about you but I personally think that Go is one of those who truly deserves his position. His style may not be the most attractive or complex."
'You got that right…' Sateriasis retorted in his head knowing it to be pointless to challenge Allen in the middle of one of his soliloquies.
"But you have to say it's entertaining! Not many people use that kind of style nowadays, we're all so focused on OTKs that no one truly values their monsters anymore, they're expendable for the grand plan." Allen sighed "Sometimes I think that people like Go and I are the only ones left who value our cards as more than just assets…" He said glumly, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout.
"Oh, wise up!" Sateriasis replied callously "Now's not the time to go moaning about styles, if you do that not only are you going to miss the start of the duels, but I'm also going to miss an appointment."
That had Allen's eyes sharpen, previous depression instantly gone "Ah, that's right. Your "mysterious benefactor" who "pays you for jobs", is there something you ain't telling me, Sat?" He put air quotes around certain words and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively towards the purple haired male.
Sateriasis wasn't about to give him the light of day on that issue, flashing his hand up as he walked away "At least I'll have more success than you in the long run, if I recall correctly your record is 1 – 329, how you got that one to go along with you I don't know." He was already gone into the background by the time Allen's brain had processed the insult which had been thrown at him.
"I love sarcasm." Sateriasis muttered as he spied Allen's reaction "It hits people in their face but with words."
(Link VRAINS, undefined location)
While Link VRAINS was generally a place of joy with the overworld of it being a place where normal duelists could have their matches while also getting to enjoy the spectacles of the Charisma Duelists battling it out on the very changing ranking ladder. The underworld of VRAINS was something else entirely with numerous shady people and perverted dealings being undertaken by the lowest echelon of society.
"Please! Take it! I don't care! Let me go!" A scared male dressed in punk clothing scuttled along the ground on all fours from his assaulter. He had offered the assaulter literally everything but the clothes on his back, yet it didn't affect the aggressor at all.
At the snap of fingers the male found himself, no longer on the ground and a good distance away from his assaulter, but now face to face with that unsettling mask which had covered the culprit's face from the ungodly moment that they had made first contact "Do you want money? I can give you that! I can give you anything you want!"
The assaulter tutted and placed a finger on the male's head "You think you can bribe a Seraph like that? I don't need any of your worthless human money, all I seek is to embrace everything within my wings and see my duty to stop the tears of the unfortunate from streaming down their face. Just like you, my friend." The voice was remarkably soft spoken and evidently male. He was dressed in a long silver jacket that had a dark grey collar and black trims towards the end of it along with silver gloves on his hands. Underneath he was wearing a black and blue shirt with golden buttons. He was also wearing black trousers and had on silver boots. His hair was green and slicked back with one strand falling down the middle of his mask. One of the most noticeable features of his attire was the deep blue scarf that was draped across his shoulders, almost like a cape. The other noticeable feature was the white mask he kept on his face. Etched onto it was a rather unsettling smile that was a deep crimson red. "In fact, I'll be happy to let you go right now…"
"R-really?!" The other male's voice rose with hope and his eyes shone, maybe today wouldn't be the time to write his last will and testament.
"There's only one thing I have to take first…" That hope exploded instantly and despair the likes of which he had never felt overtook. The green haired male's fingers rose again "Heaven's time…" And the punk male vanished from the scene without a trace.
The masked avatar dusted off his scarf and ran his hands through his hair "What a poor and pitiful soul he had, people like that amaze me every time they appear, they act so tough but turn to mush the second you lay a finger on them. They don't deserve a Seraph, they don't have willpower strong enough, they are nothing."
"You're being very rude there, Seraph." Came a voice within Seraph's ear which made him kneel to the ground upon the first spoken syllable "That man didn't deserve that kind of treatment, you raised his hopes for your own sick amusement."
"S-sorry, Sir!" Seraph replied, his voice cracking slightly but still remaining at the same soft level as it always was. "I-I-I…"
"Hai~Za~ki-kun. Don't worry your head, if you got what I sent you out for then you're more than welcome to enjoy a little freedom every once in a while." That statement calmed Seraph immensely as he felt the weight of the world coming off of his shoulders. He breathed out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.
"Thank you, Sir. Yes, I have retrieved it." Sitting in the palm of Seraph's hand was a black ball of data that was sparking and crackling whilst it orbited around his hand "It's a rowdy little thing, is this what desire looks like?"
"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, Haizaki-kun." The voice reprimanded and Seraph immediately understood that he was to ask no further questions "Now, I'm going to have to take my leave, leave it at the designated place and I'll collect it."
"Yes, sir!" Seraph stood up and bowed respectfully, before his raised his fingers for the third time "Man Proposes, God disposes." And with a snap he was gone.
(Meanwhile)
Two people happened to be inhabiting a private room in the darkest part of the underworld. A place known to its owner and his contractors as Akuma no su.
The owner of this room had one emerald green eye and one royal purple eye. His hair was blue in colour while being short and spiky that shot out in multiple directions at the back to form an 'X' shape. His getup consisted of a jet black outfit that had zigzagging purple lines periodically crossing each other to form multiple symbols that only bare relevance to him, he was wearing grey combat boots and pure white gloves. Finally, on his belt there were numerous devices and tools. He was holding a wine glass in his right hand as he lounged across his seat "Apologies for not having any time to clean up this place, I got held up with things IRL." The person's speech was put through a voice modulator, making sure that no one could possibly gather who he was from the sound of his voice alone.
"Not a problem, Mammon." Said another voice, one that was calm and obscenely relaxed with an air of playfulness to it. The owner of this voice was wearing primarily a white yukata with a somber purple-coloured haori. His hair was a shining silver that was neck length and styled over his left eye while his visible right eye was a bright amber in its colour. As he lounged across the red velvet couch, he brought up his showing black sandals with a red strap. He placed a long golden pipe to his lips and puffed out a billow of smoke. "I'm not one to care for such things."
Mammon laughed, swirling the red liquid in the wine glass between his fingers "Do you ever think that you're maybe too lackadaisical, Kitgama?" He threw back the liquid and made a murmur of satisfaction before throwing a glance at the relaxed features of his companion.
"No such thing as too relaxed, such a thing as too stressed though. People need to appreciate what's around them instead of right in front of them." Kitgama replied, letting the pipe hang in between his fingers "By chance, have you heard of Playmaker, my friend?"
The spiky haired male scoffed, glancing down to find his glass empty "That guy? Wasn't he called Unknown for a while or something like that?"
"That's right, he's an enigma of the system, I'll admit that not even yours truly knows that much about him. I've seen him peruse about the place every once in a while but never spoken to him." That comment made Mammon raise an eyebrow, that wasn't the kind of thing that Kitgama would readily admit too. The amber eyed male took great pride in his information collecting ability, he wasn't considered to be the ultimate source of knowledge for nothing. "But I do know one thing about him. He calls himself "The Emissary of Revenge" who will crush all that oppose him on his quest for "Justice." If you ask me that screams of someone who never grew up and is obsessed over something from their childhood."
Another glass made its way into Mammon's awaiting fingers with him throwing it back instantly after touching it "Hmm, sounds about right. But why did you bring him up? He doesn't sound like much of a bother."
Kitgama chuckled sitting up straight and moving a glowing golden card across the table between the two of them "Well, you may want to inform your contractors that he's after one group of people in particular."
"You mean?" Mammon asked and Kitgama nodded, making the former grin in anticipation. "Well, that makes it far more interesting then."
"That's right, which is I'm going to do some more digging into him. He's got this strange air about him. If I were to compare him to something, he'd be like that car crash that you know someone is horribly injured but you can't look away from it as it has this enticing pull into it." Kitgama's slitted eyes locked with Mammon's mismatched ones "The issue with this whole thing is that he's ruthless in his anonymity, every night that I've gone to check his access logs they've been wiped clean. He's practically untraceable."
"Computer? Hahahaha!" Mammon laughed whilst he finished off his second glass "Finally decided to join the real world, did ya?!"
Kitgama scowled, pulling out a purple fan with flower patters adorning it from his yukata and using it to hide the unbefitting scowl from his associate "You've been drinking too much, Mammon. Even I can use a computer in this digital world."
"Did it burst into flames?! Keheheh!" Mammon cackled madly, much to his associate's disdain "And by the by, it's all virtual as you should know, I can't get drunk here."
"I wouldn't bet against you to find a way." Kitgama sneered as Mammon calmed down and took the card into his hand "That's what I have on Playmaker so far, I suggest that you inform your contractors as soon as possible to make sure you don't get into any tricky situation."
Mammon grinned wildly as his pupils diluted "I will do so. I didn't realise you cared so much about me and the rest of us."
The silver haired male rolled his eyes and scowled again "Don't get the wrong idea, I don't very much care what happens to you or them." He closed the fan and pointed it at Mammon's face "This is purely a business related thing, you're good business and this place is nice. Consider this as a token of my thanks for letting me in here."
"I see, I'll be going to see them now." Mammon stood up, the glass which coated the floor making it seem like something rather violent had occurred crunched under his feet with each step he took.
"Oh and by the by, do be careful about SOL Technologies. They're really heightening the security of the network, apparently they're going to be doing a system wide search soon and they won't take too kindly to people like you turning up." Mammon didn't bother listening to his acquaintance as he soon dissolved into cerulean pixels leaving Kitgama as the only one in the server.
Said male smirked, taking puff from the pipe "An enigma wrapped in a mystery, a person for which there is no explanation. I love it…~"
After leaving the server Mammon appeared on one of the rooftops in the main suburban area of the network. If there was one thing that he never understood it was why SOL and the people in charge of the design made the place look so stereotypically bland or flashy. He could swear that whoever had put the Eiffel tower must have been on something that day and the superiors hadn't caught them until it was too late.
Luckily for him though, SOL did indeed do the smart thing and decided to make multiple servers that people could log into if they didn't like the main server. Personally speaking, Mammon preferred his own server of course considering that very few people actually knew it existed. Those being Kitgama, the person whom had gifted him the server and one more person that the spiky haired male was heavily indebted too.
That last person was the reason he still had a livelihood to this day and he'd be damned if he wouldn't help that person in their quest! No one was going to stop him, even if his body was burned to ashes! Even if he was thrown back into that hellish place and subject to those eldritch devices which were dropped into his chamber every time he lost!
"You there!" Came a voice behind him making him break off his reveries and turn to face his unceremonious intruder.
"Yes, what do you want?" Even through the modulation one could easily tell the disdain and hatred that the voice possessed.
"You're Mammon aren't you?" The individual asked his own question completely ignoring Mammon's one.
"Depends. Who am I talking to?" The individual in question was clad in a blue uniform that had his collar flipped up and pressed against his neck. His uniform consisted of a pair of black trousers, a royal blue jacket that its collar upturned and what appeared to be a symbol of sorts. Furthermore he was wearing brown combat boots and concealed his face via a mask. His hair was a stark white and incredibly messy with some of it even drooping over the mask whilst the rest was a mess on the top of his head.
"I gather you're a bounty hunter yourself?" Mammon nodded, not really too interested in the situation, he had far better things to be doing and if this was all that was going to happen then he supposed it was time to fulfil that obligation "You may well be surprised to know that I'm one myself, I work for SOL Technologies you see, and they're very interested in you."
"I guess my reputation proceeds me if they are interested in me. May I ask who exactly you are?"
"My name is Colt." He said with a tone flat enough to be considered 2D.
"To answer your starting question, I am indeed the person you are looking for but now I want the answer to my question what do you want?"
"You see SOL have tasked me to hunt down and defeat any troublemakers in the system and your name was at the head of the list." Colt revealed the cobalt blue disk that was attached to his arm.
"You've come to challenge me then in layman's terms." Colt nodded at Mammon's analogy. "Well then! So be it!" He revealed his own disk.
"Duel!" The two hunters shouted beginning the Master Duel.
Colt's LP: 4000 Mammon's LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"I'll be going first if you don't mind!" Mammon said as five holographic cards appeared floating in the air before him, 2 monsters, 2 spells and a trap.
"I begin by activating the continuous spell Network Corruption!" The card art depicted a string of binary text which was beginning to turn into a bunch of indecipherable gibberish, in the shadows, two monsters could be seen supposedly the ones causing the corruption. One of them was a grinning imp while the other was a devilish dragon.
"Network Corruption grants me the ability to once per turn add one of my level four or lower 'corruption' monsters to my hand and all I have to do to sustain this ability is pay five hundred life points on my standby phases!" He searched through the cards available to him, finally settling on one after a while.
"I add to my hand the level 2 monster Corruption Gear! Now since neither of us control a monster I can summon this monster from my hand! Come on out level 5 Greedy Corruption Demon!"
Greedy Corruption Demon was a maniacal hell spawn for lack of a better term. It had blood red wings, horns and pointed tail that contrasted with his black scaly skin. Razor sharp teeth were visible when the creature opened its mouth. Its eyes had an unnatural yellow glow to them, usually striking fear into Mammon's opponent.
Greedy Corruption Demon, Level 5, Fiend, Effect, DARK (2500/1300)
"Now there is a great cost to this bonus, since I summoned him this way one thousand of his attack points are rendered effectively null and void." A black mist formed over the top of the demon and drained the thousand points away.
Greedy Corruption Demon's ATK: 2500 - 1500
"What was the point in summoning him if he's just going to be weakened?" Colt was unable to comprehend Mammon's line of reasoning for weakening his own monster, while the blue haired duelist in question merely tutted at his opposite number.
"You'll find out right now! Left unchecked corruption can ravage a system, destroying countless hours of work and decades of progress! Using his effect from my hand I summon my Corruption Gear to the field!"
Corruption Gear was an old rusted cog that appeared to have suffered from heavy metal fatigue and corrosion as bits of it could be seen falling off.
Corruption Gear Level 2, Fiend, DARK, Effect(0/1000)
"Corruption Gear can be summoned to my side of the field so long as another corruption monster is present and said monster has attack below 2000." Mammon explained trying his hardest not to burst out laughing so as not to look insane.
"That's why you summoned your demon first, you used his weakness to your advantage. Not bad if I do say so myself." Colt was becoming more and more interested in his target by the second.
"Why thank you! But I'm not done just yet! I use my normal summon for the turn to summon forth Paladin of Corruption!"
This monster was a knight in shining armour…If you discount the half of the body that was covered by a black oozing sludge, it also had a tattered red cape that swung over the right side of its body. The sword it wielded was tarnished, looking like it too had fallen victim to corrosion.
Paladin of Corruption, Level 4, Fiend, DARK, Effect (1600/1200)
Mammon ginned wildly causing Colt to become slightly concerned "Now! Appear the corrupted circuit that destroys all!" Mammon continued as he appeared in the link square "Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are three 'Corruption' monsters! I set Paladin of Corruption, Greedy Corruption Demon and Corruption Gear into the link markers!" The three monsters transformed into black electricity jolts.
"Link summon! Link 3! Essence of Greed - Corruption Dragon!"
The utterance of the name had Colt's eyes widening in realisation 'No way! He's one of us?! That can't be right! That's simply not possible! Why is he working with them of all people?!'
Mammon's ace was massive, it could easily be seen a mile away which it was by a frog avatar and a pigeon one that clutched the frog tightly in its talons.
"I don't think anything else is happening." The pigeon spoke "Playmaker's done with that knight and those two were the only ones online."
"Don't worry about it! I'm certain our big break is just around the corner!" The frog said with a certain fire about him.
"As if! I mean we're not just going to go round this corner and see the most terrifying dragon known to man!"
Cue Sod's law as the two passed the last building on the block and came into view of Corruption Dragon.
"Oh my GOD!" The pigeon screamed, startled by Mammon's dragon, so badly taken back that he nearly lost his grip upon his frog companion.
Corruption Dragon was covered with black and blue scaly armour that stood on two clawed feet, it had four wings on its back, the top two were blue and bigger than the lower set of black ones, its head was covered with four horns two on its forehead and the remaining two was placed underneath its chin. The eyes were over a sliver colour that like GCD had an unnatural glow to them. It had a tail that split into two at the end with each ending have detailed golden tip.
Essence of Greed - Corruption Dragon, Link 3, Dragon, Dark, Effect(2400) Markers: Top, Bottom Left, Bottom Right.
"Isn't she just wonderful?" Mammon said looking up in twisted glee at his dragon.
'This guy's mental…' Colt thought growing ever more disturbed by Mammon.
"Unfortunately since this is the first turn, I can't attack and have no other choice than to delay the inevitable, I place one card facedown and pass it off to you my fellow hunter."
Turn 2
"I have to finish this before it gets any worse…" Colt muttered under his breath as he brought his hand over to draw. "I draw!"
"To start with a play my Enigma Code spell card!" The card art was that of an infamous code used during the times of a dire war "Now unlike your card, this is a one for one, with it I can add any monster in my deck that has 2000 or lower attack points."
"Basically inferior in layman's terms." Mammon commented uninterested
"I now summon Codecracker Signal Operator!" The monster that appeared was a military man that had an earpiece in his ear and was carrying on him a radio that was spurting out static that was periodically interrupted by a stream of numbers.
Codecracker Signal Operator, level 4, Warrior, EARTH, Effect (1600/400)
"By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard I can activate Signal Operator's ability!" The monster leaned in closer to the radio and began to tune it "Signal Operator can call up another Codecracker in my hand to the field of battle!"
"Please welcome Codecracker Drone!"
A small black circular drone began to fly across Colt's field.
Codecracker Drone, Level 1, Machine, EARTH, Effect (0/200)
"What could that thing do except pester me?" Mammon said miffed at the constant droning of the turboprops as it began to fly over him.
"Don't jump the gun. I activate his effect!" The drone then shot a beam of code at Mammon's disk "I get to send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard and for every monster sent there you take 500 points of damage!"
The top three cards of the blue haired hunter's deck was shown, it consisted of two monsters and one trap card.
"You have two monsters, so that means you'll be taking 1000 points of damage!" The drone opened up its Bombay doors and let loose a small yet powerful payload that obliterated the area surrounding where Mammon stood.
'That should've knocked him out of commission…' But as the smoke cleared the opposite was clear and all Colt was able to do was gasp.
"You really thought that'd be enough to beat me?" Mammon said with the twisted look still not leaving his face. Despite the fact that he was now precariously perched on the edge of the roof top, having been blown back by the force.
Mammon's LP: 4000 – 3000
'Damnit!' Colt thought, he then looked down at his hand to see if there was any way he could get rid of Corruption Dragon.
"I place two cards facedown and end my turn." Colt said unable to think his way out of the situation just yet.
Turn 3
"Then the pleasure is all mine!" Mammon said as he smirked when he realized what he had just drawn.
"Your spell card's effect activates here!" Colt shouted "You lose 500 life points!"
Mammon's LP: 3000 – 2500
"I play Corrupted Twin Twister!" This card depicted art very similar to the original twin twister but in the background Corruption Dragon's eyes could be seen and a dark claw was emerging, that made contact with the second twister turning some of it black.
"Much like the original Twin Twister to activate this card I first must send one card from my hand to the graveyard but here's where the differences start. First I destroy one spell card on my field!" Network Corruption burst into particles as Mammon continued to explain this cards effect "Then one of your facedowns is destroyed…I think the left will be my target!"
Colt's trap flipped face up and was shattered almost instantly.
"Finally since the card I sent to the graveyard was a monster card I get to destroy one of your monsters! This drone's annoyed me long enough!" The drone was ripped from the air and sent crashing back down to earth.
"Battle! Corruption Dragon! Attack Codecracker Signal Operator! Judgment of Corruption!" Corruption Dragon let loose a stream of black electrical jolts that smashed hard into Colt's monster obliterating it in the process.
Colt's LP: 4000 – 3200
"Corruption Dragon's effect! When it destroys a monster it allows me to summon it to one of the zones my link monster points to," Out of a purple vortex Signal Operator appeared but this time it was drenched in sludge and had the occasional spasm. "Corruption Dragon gains attack points equal to the levels of the monsters linked it x200!"
Corruption Dragon's ATK: 2400 – 3200
"Do you want to know the best part Colt?" Mammon asked with a sly look on his face "I can use your own monster to attack you!"
"What!" Colt shouted.
"Signal Operator bend to my corrupted will! Attack your master directly!" The force and sheer ferocity of the strike launched Colt skidding across the roof on his back.
Colt's LP: 3200 – 1600
"Can you still stand? I'd be deeply disheartened if we were unable to finish this match." Mammon said in mock sadness with Colt still laden to the ground.
When Colt didn't respond Mammon took matters into his own hands "Akutoku no Jajjimento! I activate the last card in my hand, the spell Degradation of Corruption!" The card showed purer versions of Corruption Dragon and multiple other monsters slowly decaying into a vat of black acid.
"This card deals you damage 600 points of damage for each monster in my field!" The card glowed a bright blue as it began to collate energy "This should shock you back into action!" The resulting strike fiercely electrocuted Colt's body as an ear splitting scream could be heard.
Colt's LP: 1600 – 400
Colt began to stagger back onto equal footing with his clothes still smoking from the previous assault.
"Colt! We're taking you out of there." Came a voice in Colt's hidden earpiece "You've sustained too much damage and we can't afford to lose you."
The white haired hunter who was just barely conscious was far too weak to resist the will of his employers, he nodded having suffered what can only be considered abject defeat. He didn't want to leave. Not when he had just found another one like him after ten long years on his crusade to find the one who had tortured the seven of them.
He shakily reached out his hand to the surprised Mammon.
However, before he could get anywhere, he began to glow a bright blue before vanishing right in front of the now stunned Mammon. Handing the Corruption duelist the victory but not the one he desired.
"Damnit!" Mammon yelled pulling at his hair, snarling menacingly like a rabid animal for a while as his anger got the best of him "How dare he! How dare SOL! Who the hell do you think you are?! Criminals! Reprobates! Wretches! I haven't forgotten what you've done! One day! Mark my words! One day! You'll pay! You'll pay for it all!"
The rabid frenzy he had worked himself into began to die down. He realised just how off the rails he had gotten in such a short period of time. It frightened him. "What the hell was that?" He moved his hands across his face and then took the glove on his right hand off, staring at his palm and at the intricately crafted tattoo on his hand. That thing had first appeared ten years ago and has plagued his existence ever since "Is this your doing?" He quickly remembered the possibility of still being watched by SOL and shoved the glove back on.
He said nothing else as he vanished from the awaiting eye of the Security Manager of SOL Technologies, he was a fair skinned young man of twenty-six with blue and teal hair and pink eyes. He wore a suit which consisted of a blue coat with a darker one underneath, a white shirt, and a black tie. He also sported blue trousers and black shoes. He muttered quietly as he saw Mammon depart "Who are you really…?"
(Next day)
Sateriasis' apartment was his safe haven from the rest of the world. For a brief moment of respite Sateriasis was allowed to forget his troubles and just focus on the life he should have been living instead of the one that he did. It's not every day that you come across an orphaned 16 year old who is an online mercenary and a budding actor in real life, sometimes he wished that he was one of those faceless grey blobs that would blend into the background and live an unassuming life.
However, this was the life that Providence had given him, since that fateful day that he first woke up in that dark room this was the path his life was destined for. That didn't mean though that he wasn't going to live a life in the meantime.
His room was the prime example of this. Despite being rather small in size, it showed that he was more than what those people wanted him to be. His walls were adorned with numerous posters of one singular person, it was that of an 18 year old male with an incredibly handsome, beautiful face. He had spiky messy blond hair with his bangs covering the top right side of his face. His eyes were light blue. And he was wearing silver earrings on both ears. In terms of attire he wore a long sleeve black shirt that had circles in the front and black bordering the top and bottom which he wore with a pink jacket with short sleeves. He wore blue jeans and also had a necklace around his neck and bracelets on his left arm. In large bold letters it said 'STARGAZER' underneath the person.
No. It wasn't stalker like to have so many posters of someone on your wall. Sateriasis wasn't a creep, he was just a simple fan. Stargazer wasn't like many traditional celebrities nowadays that earned their fame through Link VRAINS. Instead he was focused on the musical side, a traditional idol who sang to lift the sadness of others and to see the real world adulation of his fans. No one knew too much about where he came from or who he was beyond his persona, but many were satisfied by his existence. Sateriasis included. Although he would never brazenly admit that.
Next was something he had grown fond of alongside Allen. When the spiky haired male first pulled him into the acting profession he had wanted to deck him then and there and hide his body at the bottom of a river before dumping toxic waste in it so no one would ever dare go and find it. However, for some reason the producers of anything he went to fell in love with his performance. He didn't know why. Fate works in mysterious ways and this was certainly one of them. He hadn't even read the script half the time and mainly adlibbed it, how he got where he was, was astounding.
The roles he also ended up playing tended to be evil ones, something he considered painfully ironic. Especially when half of the time Allen ends up as the hero and gets to kick the shit out of him during the big climax. Honestly, he found himself enjoying it more and more every passing day, the acting, not the pain.
"Youkoso paradiso, amoru no rakuen. Amor tte ai no koto sa tokimeku suteki, daro? Furuete iru nara dakishimete ageru. Sou sa shinpai shinai de. Kawaii chou ni nari habatakou!"
Sateriasis woke to the sound of his ringing phone. "Sweet death take me now…!" Sateriasis wasn't a morning person at all, he hated having to get up this early. Especially after having had the night in VRAINS he had.
That's right, Sateriasis Marlon was known in Link VRAINS as the owner of Akuma no su and the feared bounty hunter Mammon. And he was very pissed off that Colt had ran away from defeat like that, SOL Technologies would have to pay for depriving him of his contract and payment. Despite being a bounty hunter the purple haired male wasn't exactly an open market, for some reason unbeknownst to the darker side of Link VRAINS he only ever under took work from organisation known as the Knights of Hanoi. They wouldn't understand his reasoning for that even if he explained it in painful detail.
Cantankerously he rolled out of bed and pulled the phone to his ear "What do you want?!" He really didn't care who was on the other end of the line, he was too tired to act as something he wasn't.
"Is that really the tone you want to take on with your contractor, Sateriasis?" Said individual was now instantly regretting that decision.
"Apologies, I'm only just up you see and well… I… Uh…." Sateriasis for once in his life had been robbed of his words, usually there was always some snarky remark or smart ass comment hidden within him but now that skill had seemingly faded from him.
The person on the other end of the line chuckled softly. His voice a deep baritone. "Ah, water under the bridge. I'm only calling you now to notify you that the payment for your next mission has already been made. I'll send Spectre to hand it to you later."
Sateriasis breathed a sigh of relief "Thank the lord… Thank you… I don't know what I'd do without you, Ryoken."
The voice, now revealed to be someone called Ryoken, chuckled again "It is I that wouldn't know what do without you, your skills are indispensable to the mission the Knights of Hanoi seek to complete."
"I see…" The long haired male muttered before he then gazed upon the time from his laptop's monitor "Shit!" He cursed loudly "Sorry, I have to go!" He didn't even wait for the reply before shutting the connection down.
"Why can't these things start later?! Preferably two in the afternoon!" In a flurry he shoved the uniform on to his new school. Den Academy. He'd prefer not to tell anyone what had happened at his previous school
(Den Academy)
When Sateriasis had arrived, promptly 20 minutes late as was very usual, he hadn't previously been nicknamed the "Time Lord" by others for no reason, he been told by the receptionist to go and see the student council President in order to find his class and get settled in. He was expecting the prototypical nerdish honour student character. Certainly not who was standing before him now.
The student council President had shortish snow white hair that was styled in such a way that the majority often fell on his right shoulder while the left side was drooping and upon closer inspection one could see that it was waterlogged. He had dull yellow eyes that store blankly into the background, almost as if he wasn't on the same planet as the rest of humanity. His school uniform was generally the same as the rest but for some odd reason the tie was wrapped around his neck instead of his collar. A pair of red swimming goggles which acted as a headband adorned his head. Before he spoke he yawned "Um, apologies for the appearance but I guess it can't be helped."
'Oh sure, not like you could fix half your issues in five minutes!' Sateriasis may not have been one for caring about his appearance, that had always been his father's thing, but he knew that he couldn't go around looking like this.
"Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you. Even if you are 20 minutes overdue." Sateriasis growled, not wanting him to bring that up again "I'm Nosakura Acedia, the Student Council President as you should have been told by now, I know that you'll have your doubts about me."
'No shit, Sherlock.' Sateriasis rolled his eyes, barely able to internalise his sarcasm.
Nosakura's eyes then turned deadly "But I'm going to get this out here. I don't care what you think of me, your opinion on me is invalid, I am who I am and no one person in this world is going to change who I am. I am me and that's all there is too it." He paused as he turned around "Follow me, I have to get this out of the way before I can get back to what I really want to do."
Sateriasis followed with a frown on his face, 'What a lovely person, straight up telling me that he'd rather be somewhere else now. At least he's honest enough to admit that…'
"So what's your name? Just in case I have to speak to you again for whatever reason." Nosakura drawled lazily, yawning once more "Y'know, duties and all that nonsense…"
"Sateriasis Marlon." The purpled haired male replied, his distaste for the President growing by the second.
"Eww, that's long and hard to pronounce, did your parents hate you?" Nosakura was totally oblivious to the growing rage of the person he had just insulted; either that or he was being deliberately provocative.
"At least they taught me how to dress." Sateriasis enjoyed seeing the white haired male scowl. He didn't know why but he felt an immediate dislike from the moment he had laid eyes on Nosakura, that had only gotten worse from the moment he had opened his mouth. One could call it hate at first sight.
Nosakura stopped on dime and shoved his face in front of Sateriasis, scanning up and down his body "You're a weakling, I can see it. Let me tell you something, Satyriasis, I don't appreciate being in the same breathing space as someone who abandoned their fangs long ago. Only the bad people in this world will survive."
The purple haired male deliberately ignored the intentional mispronunciation of his name in favour of repeating what Nosakura had done to him moments prior. "When did we get to the point of discussing philosophies? But since we're on the topic, why the hell not? I have this belief that people who attack the most and frequently use the same insults over and over again are the ones who believe that about themselves. In Layman's terms, you call me a weakling? You probably think that about yourself." Sateriasis really had to thank Allen for all the practice when it came to arguments, having a naturally stubborn friend who would never admit he was wrong had allowed him to pick up a few tricks of the trade.
The white haired male turned away again, clicking his tongue in annoyance "Tch, you're a troublesome one I can already tell. Don't get the wrong idea about me, Satyriasis, I'm the Student Council President for a reason. I may dress like I just got out of bed a few moments ago but a wolf in sheep's clothing is a dangerous thing." He then muttered something quietly under his breath "Jesus Christ, it's fucking him all over again."
They walked on in silence after that for a while, Sateriasis took his mind of that confrontation by recounting what had happened the night prior. He knew that he had won that duel fair and square and that SOL had pulled a dirty trick on him by disconnecting Colt before he could deal the finishing blow. Maybe he'd get Allen to have a word with his dad about what had went down, Allen's dad had always been at loggerheads with the Security Department which was run by Akira Zaizen and so the red eyed bounty hunter was pretty certain that he wouldn't mind divulging some of the more shady methods employed.
His reverie was interrupted by a lazy drawl from Nosakura "So~ what do you like to do in your free time?"
"Excuse me?" Sateriasis replied, not ready for small talk after what had transpired between them.
"Y'know hobby, shit you do when you get bored. It's not a hard question." Nosakura replied with a roll of his eyes, intensifying Sateriasis' growing hatred of the President.
Nevertheless he responded "I act in a small group." His eyes started to soften slightly "We're not well known but we love what we do. Usually we preform stories of deception, tragedy and betrayal. I'm often the bad guy." He then gestured to the black eye which wasn't showing any sign of going away any time soon "Hence this."
Nosakura made a concurrent noise, slouching as he walked away. "What about you then?" Sateriasis asked.
The yellow eyed teen flipped around, his face dumbfounded as if Sateriasis was supposed to be some kind of mind reader. He pulled at the goggles on his forehead "I'm a swimmer, dipshit. Is there something in your eyes? You best get to know my name, I'll be on top of the world soon." His eyes appeared to turn a brilliant gold as he spoke.
'Wonderful, another ego the size of Japan. I thought Allen was bad enough.' Sateriasis pinched the bridge of his nose, not quite ready to have to listen to another ego trip after hearing three from Allen yesterday.
When Sateriasis was about to respond the two of them heard a loud crash emanate from one of the doors. As he looked at the name across it which read "Duel Club" he noticed Nosakura acquainting his face with the palm of his hand "Don't bother with those lot." He heard the President mutter "They're a waste of your time, I try my best to make sure that I never make contact with any one of them within a ten foot radius. They're a bunch of sad no lifers that would rather gossip about how cool Link VRAINS is than actually study or better themselves in the real world."
"Have you ever duelled?" Sateriasis asked innocently, he could gather from the tone and overtly hateful selection of words that Nosakura likely didn't think very highly of duelling or Link VRAINS in general.
True to form Nosakura scoffed "I used to, however, I've since outgrown such a childish game. I learned that what goes on in the land of make believe is of no relevance to your actual breathing life. In Layman's terms it's a fucking waste of time."
'Huh, a swimmer's body and a sailor's mouth…' Sateriasis inwardly laughed. He already hated this guy to his core but he couldn't deny he was getting some form of sick amusement in seeing the numerous faces he could pull, the rouge idea of playing with how angry he could make the other was running through his mind.
But he couldn't let that desire run wild because Nosakura had stopped by, and was presently knocking on a door. When he didn't receive a reply, he forced it open anyway "You. In. Now." Words couldn't describe how much he wanted to turn that bastard's face into a bloody pull, but Sateriasis figured that would probably land in him in hot water with the Principal and that wasn't something he desired on his first day.
The teacher by this point had noticed the arrival of both the President and the new student, he smiled "Ah! Acedia-kun, it's pleasure to see you, who's that with you. A new student per chance?"
'No, I'm here because I thought I'd do it for the hell of it…' Sateriasis pinched the bridge of his nose, whilst Nosakura appeared to flip a switch with his posture straightening up.
"Indeed, I've just been telling him about how revered this academy is as an institute of learning and went over a bit of how the school is laid out." Nosakura replied, his voice different from the sneering asshole that Sateriasis had met. That sounded like the voice of someone whom was actually supposed to be in this role.
"Excellent, now, would you like to come to front, young man?" Sateriasis did as he was told and descended the stairs to the front of the class. Watching Nosakura smirk and then leave when all eyes were off of him.
The purple haired male store round the class for a bit, all of them looking varying shades of disinterested, one of them even had the audacity to fall asleep. Regardless, he spoke clearly and loudly "Greetings. My name is Sateriasis Marlon, I may only be a recent transfer to this school but I hope that I can fit in with you quickly."
He looked at the teacher who smiled back at him "Thank you, Marlon-kun, you can take a seat now." Sateriasis spied an empty seat and took it, just happening to choose the same row as the sleeping individual he had noticed moments earlier.
And having used all of his willpower to have stayed wake for this long, he promptly lay his head on the desk and was out cold for the remainder of the lesson.
(Undiscernible location)
"Oh wow, this is strange. Why is one of them working with the Knights of Hanoi and why is the other with SOL? So strange." The voice paused for a minute as they collected their thoughts "Regardless, it doesn't matter what organisation they're a part of, they'll be drawn together." Whomever the voice belonged to their feet could be heard moving heavily across the ground and metal reverberated around the place like the feet were caught in shackles "It so happens that they both have those cards, just like the others. I wonder what it would be like to have them all in one place? I know all their secrets after all. The manifestation of one's soul, cruel, cruel Fortuna. I'll enjoy watching this sordid game play out."
"Rota fatum, volvit!"
A/N: And here it is, my attempt at reviving this story from the pits of hell that I cast into. Something I have to say is that the story will be much different this time round. With the last chapter of the original story I made it clear that I despised season 2 of Vrains and personally, I wasn't that much a fan of season 1 to begin with. The reason I wrote the story was because I was interested by the concepts and plot line so to see that go to shit made me rethink this whole story. As a result this story is going to be heavily AU after a while.
The duel in this chapter only has very minor differences compared to the original one but I decided that the first chapter would be used to focus more individual characters rather than jump straight into the plot.
I've got nothing else to say so except to leave a review if you wish and tell me what I can do to improve upon it.
See you, whenever the next chapter is out. Sometime in June I guess.