Flames

by acumashindorballomu

A spinoff of my original Duel Masters trilogy in which things take it for a darker course, heroes put on new faces, everyone seems a villain and survival is the only thought that persists in the minds of those not strong enough to adapt to the new rules. Do you dare enter the factory?

3. End

Doctor Edward Nieg's journal entry (26th of October 2109)

…and through these darkened dense labyrinths we wander in, are we ever going to find the treasure we seek? For how long must we suffer in our search? I for one am starting to get tired. But I digress…

It's been three months since Rad's imposed his new project of cutting off the legs of all slaves. I couldn't care any less what happened to those pathetic wastes of space that once dared to call themselves duelists. But for some reason our most recent ally seemed to have cared. He went as far as to betray us for those good for nothing little… you get the idea. Fortunately he paid for that dearly.

Anyway, things are starting to get worse for us at the factory, and to be quite honest, I kind of expected it to take this course. The slaves are no longer able to escape as none can run, so most have started to commit suicide. It didn't help that a few also died due to heavy bleeding after I removed their legs. Because of this, the production of Black Fire has severely decreased and now it's more than apparent that we'll have to keep it to warm ourselves or use it to make as many machine pieces as possible.

Either way, it seems that a long and hard winter awaits us all.

---

Many teenage girls screamed ecstatically as a man in his mid-twenties walked out of his racing rocket, dressed in a red racing suit with yellow flames and boots of the same fashion. With a smirk of confidence on his face, he headed to the podium where the first place spot and the cup with money awaited him. Reporters were crowding over who would be the first to take an interview with the champion. So much craze, and all for one single man who did nothing more than fly his rocket in a race, be the quickest and win the race. Truly, mankind had some strange values. But he didn't care, as long as he was getting money and he had people idolizing him, it was all that mattered for his public image.

"And the prize of ten million dollars goes to the winner of this year's Grand Prix, Rad Flames!" a voice resounded from the large speakers, soon being followed by the loud cheers of those gathered there.

Rad climbed the podium and let the cameras capture his beauty. He was awesome and he knew it. And now this awesome fellow had to go through a routine that he adored a lot. Getting the prize, giving a short interview, signing a few autographs and then going home with his catch. His public image was one of the things that fueled his pride and made him have a double life, one whose excitement he enjoyed every second.

After roughly half an hour he was surrounded by a crowd of fan girls, signing autographs and listening to many stories about how he had impressed them or changed their lives in one way or another. If only they knew he did not give one damn about them and it was only their money he desired. But then something unexpected happened. One of the girls who came to him had rather large breasts and her body's round shapes were really luring. To make matters worse, the short white shirt she wore that exposed her breasts had some ketchup on it, possibly from eating recklessly some fast food.

Rad fixated his eyes upon the red stained chest of the girl and it all struck him. In his head the visions returned. The screams, the blood, the torn off flesh, they all seemed to resound like a sudden pleasure that he chose to forget for the time being. While a normal man would have done other things with said breasts, the only thing that Rad wished was to rush back into his rocket, take out his sword and slowly use it to penetrate that pumped out chest, feel the girl's crimson liquid pour all over his hands, hear her screeches of pain, see that terrified and submissive look in her face. And he wanted to do it now; he needed to release this urge that was growing quick inside of him.

"Sir, would you sign my shirt, please?" she asked and offered him a pen.

While a few others had noticed how he was staring at her breasts and rumors started spreading between them that he might have finally found a girlfriend, he ignored them and took the writing instrument, trying to hide his instincts as much as possible.

The pen's top touched the shirt's lower side where the stomach was located, and he could feel it go against her skin. It went up until it formed a stick, then it went to the right, making a semicircle that stopped at the half of the stick, only to move to the lower right, thus creating the letter R. He raised the pen up a bit and once again he landed it on her shirt, this time feeling as if he was stabbing her. Not caring how much he was pushing its top, he raised it up and then moved it down, forming an upside down V. Then with a little line he formed the letter A. It kind of hurt her a bit, but the girl thought he was just playing around. Finally, he raised it once again, this time his hand slightly trembling and a few drops of sweat racing down the back of his neck. And then…

Stab! The pen made tore her shirt as he raised it up to make another stick and then made a semicircle for the letter D. The girl stared at him flabbergasted as he offered her writing instrument back.

"Sir…" she murmured, shocked of the act.

But no response came, as he tucked his hands in his pockets and left, the crowd of girls starting to gossip even more. Once Rad was in his rocket, he took off and headed for the desired destination – the factory.

Atop a balcony, a male with long black hair, wearing a pair of white sneakers, a pair of blue jeans and a black T shirt with the Darkness civilization symbol was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, listening to the news on his laptop that lay on a small table next to him and enjoying a nice read of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

"And the winner of this year's Grand Prix is Rad Flames! The racing champion remains undefeated for seven years! What do you have to say about this, Mister Goldsmith?" a voice spoke from the laptop.

Smiling inwardly, the man ignored the rest of the conversation and turned his sight from the book to the vast forest that lay beneath him. Such a beautiful sight, even if the autumnal rains had filled the land beneath the trees with mud. The fresh chilling mountain air was indeed a nice change compared to the enclosed hot air that the factory offered them daily. But what he did not like was the fact that the weatherman announced the following two weeks to be very rainy and that large black cloud coming from the west did not please him at all.

Reaching his hand to the table, he grabbed a glass of wine with two ice cubes and let the wine slowly fall into his mouth and then down his throat, burning it. Once the glass was finished, he let the two ice cubes have the same fate, but he chewed on them a bit before swallowing. Then he laid his head on the chair and closed his brown eyes, trying to reflect a bit upon the past days. But lo, his moment of peace was disturbed by the sounds of steps approaching from the corridor behind him. Usually he would have panicked, but since there were only two people who had access to that level of the factory other than him, he knew exactly who it was. With a sly smile on his face, he spoke:

"Nice afternoon, isn't it, doctor Nieg?"

Out of the hall's darkness a slim figure wearing black boots, a white lab coat that had a few stains, mostly of sweat walked in. His head bore a skeletal face that had its left cheek scarred and a black patch covering an orbit which used to once host his left eye. The sun's fading rays shined into his scalp's baldness as the grey long hair he still had fell upon the back of his neck and his shoulders.

"How did you know it was me?" Edward Nieg asked as he stepped inside the balcony.

"I have my ways. Please do take a seat." Subaru kindly invited him, one of the rare instances in which he was actually nice to the good old doctor.

"No thanks, I've got a pretty busy schedule as always. A new transport with duelists is arriving in an hour and I must prepare the crafts for the surgery."

"Ah yes, the feet removal, it's always lovely to assist at such a beautiful scene."

"If gore is your definition of beauty…"

"It is not the gore that I admire, doctor. It is the very fact that those worthless kids receive what's coming to them – a punishment worthy of their crime. Also, the overall sentiment of fear that they exhibit as you walk out of your cabinet with your devices for amputation is simply orgasmic to me. I love to see them in their weakest moments, doctor, when fear takes over their mind and kills the last bits of rationality."

"Of course, someone like you would enjoy scaring others. But I was wondering…"

The old doctor paused for a moment and looked at the sky that would soon get clouded since the sun was half hidden behind the menacing cloud.

"What is it that you were wondering, doctor?" Subaru asked curiously.

"Is it really worth it to mutilate those kids? A few don't manage to survive and many lose any hope to live. You've seen that the rate of suicides has grown higher ever since Rad put into practice this new rule of his." Doctor Nieg explained with worry. "I fear that we might end up to a point where we won't have enough slaves to provide us with Black Fire to keep the lights around here. It doesn't help that December's soon coming."

"The answer is easy, doctor, we'll simply find new kids. On this overpopulated planet there have to be brats that are high school dropouts or who have failed their final dueling exam. Fear not, humans are a resource that never disappears." the black haired one assured with confidence. "As for cutting off their legs, that method is just too pleasant and effective for us to drop. It assures us that attempts of escape will be futile."

"But how long do you think this will last, Subaru? How long until…"

"It will last for as long as we want it to last, doctor!"

Subaru's voice suddenly changed to a more hissed one and anger was easily felt in it. His teeth were also beginning to sharpen, much to the doctor's fear. The last thing he wanted was for the black haired one's dark side to have something against him.

"I understand." the old man bowed politely, which calmed his interlocutor down and ceased the unwanted transformation. "Now if you would excuse me, my work awaits!"

"Sure, doctor Nieg. Good luck!" Subaru wished him and resumed reading his book.

Now that he was left all alone once more, he put both of his feet on the metallic bar and leaned his head against the chair in a relaxing position, holding the novel to his eye level. He would read until that cloud would have completely covered the sky, at which point he would pack his stuff and go downstairs to resume his job.

In about an hour he was bothered yet again by something. This time it was a ringtone that played a grim and yet sad piano song.

"Hello?" Subaru answered his phone.

"Hurry up and choose a slave. I'm coming home and I need to sacrifice someone quick!" a rather irritated Rad demanded.

"No problems. Is something the matter?" the black haired man asked with concern.

"I saw a girl back at the racing track, and she made me feel strange." the racer confessed. "All that I know is that I wanted to rip her guts out, so I had to leave quicker before I did something stupid."

"I see… don't worry, I'll prepare everything for your arrival."

With that being said, Subaru hung up. The time had come once again.

Heat was filling the air of the working room. The poor slaves, none younger than eighteen, few older than twenty which were really lucky to not get noticed in two years' time by the owners, were all working upon the factory pieces that came on conveyor belts as the Black Fire fueled everything from the wine glass shaped machine. The dim red neon lights did not help them visually, some could barely do a thing since their bodies still hurt after the recent suffered amputations, few were still clinging on the fake hope that maybe a miracle would save them from that living hell, but most were still there because they did not have the courage to free themselves from that nightmare through the only solution – suicide. Either the fear of death or the fear of the painful way they could join it discouraged them from such an act. But with the threat of a painful demise being certain due to the rulers of the factory, was there any reason not to shorten their sentence quicker?

Since the number of slaves had been reduced, so has both the production of Black Fire and machine pieces. This did not please Rad at all, who now chose to double his daily executions in order to keep up with the product, not realizing or simply not caring at this point if the number of working slaves was decreasing. The survivors had gotten used at this point with the routine of having him walk in, hearing his usual speech about how they were worthless, living through the fear of knowing that one of them would be chosen, sighing with relief when seeing that they were not the one picked, watching their comrade in suffering lose miserably, hearing his screams of pain and then returning to work once Black Fire had been produced. But maybe, just maybe, someone could defeat Rad once again, and then they could somehow escape, even without their feet. That was the dream that held them alive, but for how long? And then there was Subaru…

The sound of the door screeching turned their attention to it. The guards did not react and neither did the resting samurai dragon known as Genji Double Cross. Nobody stepped in and yet they felt a chilling breeze freeze their hearts. Somehow, something else got in the room and the young ones did not know whether they should worry or rejoice. Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed the shoulders of a gorgeous blonde girl whose long orange skirt covered the remains of what used to be her legs.

"You will be the one!" a hissed voice resounded into her ears, thing which stopped her breath for a few moments.

Turning around, she was greeted by the shining red irises of Subaru's demonic black eyes. His bloody tears soon were landing on her cheeks and his fang-filled smile made her forget of everything and concentrate only on that feeling of fear. When she woke up from her state of shock, she saw that she had been transported to the dueling tables atop the machine and she had been lifted upon a chair so that she would be able to reach her deck and table. Subaru had readied his own cards and was waiting for his opponent to do the same.

"You know the deal, defeat me and you will acquire freedom." Subaru anxiously spoke, as he hoped that this fake promise would determine his opponent to put up a fight.

"I'll put an end to this evil!" she replied with determination, thus falling into his game.

Five blue rectangular shields arose on both sides and thus their match began. The others all looked up at them and hoped that this would be their long-awaited ticket to freedom.

"I cast Faerie Life!" the girl said and the top card of her deck went into her mana zone.

"Very well, then I cast Mind Reset." Subaru calmly said and the cards in his opponent's hand revealed themselves to him as Cocco Lupia, Shrine of Rebirth, Endra Pappi and Jasmine, Mist Faerie. "Heh, I discard Shrine of Rebirth and end."

"I summon Jasmine, Mist Faerie and destroy her!"

A small green haired fairy dressed in a brown dress appeared for a few moments and then it exploded, causing the top card of the blonde's deck to go into the mana zone.

"I summon Batou Shoulder, Shadow of Fiction."

By Subaru's side a blue ghost with two white candles burning upon its shoulders and with gorgon snakes coming outs of its body appeared.

"Batou Shoulder increases the cost of your spells by one for each spell in your graveyard."

The girl gulped, she had two spells in her graveyard, which meant that half of her deck would be affected. She drew and was disappointed to get a Hyperspatial Bolshack Hole, a five cost spell that she could not use, so she put it in her mana zone and said:

"I summon Cocco Lupia and Endra Pappi!"

A red bird made of fire, wearing a small crown and a belt holding a horn appeared along with a small yellow bird with red eyes and a silver knight armor covering its frail body, both flying around her.

"Cocco Lupia makes her Dragons cost 2 mana less and Endra Pappi lets her draw a card whenever an Angel Command or Dragon enters her battle zone. This will be interesting." Subaru thought and then he spoke. "I summon Shackle Armor, Fuuma Saint."

A gorgon looking devil with snakes coming out of its head, dressed in a golden armor and wielding a golden spear in its right hand and a golden shield in its left hand appeared next to its blue ghostly counterpart.

"Shackle Armor's effect increases the cost of your spells by one as well as reducing the cost of my spells by one."

Just great, exactly what the girl didn't need, more impediments to her spell casting… But she tried to hide her displeased attitude, for she knew that would bring great joy to her opponent. Instead, she hoped she would have lucky draws to help her. And fortunately for her, fate was on her side.

"I summon Bolshack NEX!" the girl revealed the card she drew and then a horned red skinned dragon with blazing claws, a grey armor and a long tail with zig-zag marks upon it appeared in the battle zone. "By its effect I search my deck and bring a second Cocco Lupia in the battle zone. Also, Endra Pappi lets me draw a card!"

"Interesting, unlike other noobs, this one is not recklessly attacking and is actually waiting to build her battle zone. Good to see some potential in this sea of weakness. However, this isn't a dueling test, she's had her chance and she's flunked, so I'll show no mercy." Subaru made up his mind, after which he showed a Darkness card to his opponent and announced. "I summon Funk, Guard of Hope."

A horned creature with long purple claws and an X scar on its chest, riding a skull motorcycle and wearing a red fur jacket materialized in the battle zone and the wheels of its vehicle fired a wave of darkness that hit the girl's birds and killed them all.

"While Funk is in the battle zone, all of your psychic creatures get -5000 power. Also, all of your non-psychic creatures get -1000 power. And as most of you should know, a creature with 0 or less is destroyed." Subaru explained, enjoying the surprised look that her eyes betrayed, despite the fake image of calm she tried to keep.

"I summon Mach Lupia."

A red bird with long black wings, one of them holding a fan, appeared above Bolshack NEX. With that move, the blonde ended her turn. Subaru placed the sixth card in his mana zone and with a smile on his face he revealed the last card in his hand and said:

"It's fun time – thanks to Shackle Armor, I cast Aquan Jr.'s Delivery for just two mana."

The top three cards of his deck revealed themselves as Jenny, the Suicide Doll, Hyperspatial Emperor Hole and Chief de Baula, Machine King of Mystic Light, the first two being Darkness, the third being Light, all going into his hand. Afterwards the other four cards in his mana zone tapped themselves as he revealed the Darkness spell and continued:

"I then cast Hyperspatial Emperor Hole which destroys Mach Lupia and puts Dias Zeta, the Temporal Suppressor in the battle zone."

In the next moment the bird blew up and then out of a hole in the ceiling a winged hybrid between a demon and a dragon descended, its dark blue skin making it almost merge with the shadows, its sharp swords threatening all its opponents.

"I summon Gaga Pikarian!" the girl said and a white baby alien piloting a small mini submarine appeared. "With its effect I draw a card. Then I summon another Gaga Pikarian and I draw another card. I'm done."

"Heh, you sure are…" Subaru maliciously grinned. "My turn, I cast Aquan Jr.'s Delivery."

The top three cards of his deck revealed themselves as Miraculous Snare, Pakurio and Ghost Touch. The middle went into his graveyard for not being Light or Darkness while the other two he took into his hand.

"Then I cast Ghost Touch to discard that card from your hand. Afterwards I cast Miraculous Snare and send a Gaga Pikarian to your shields."

A small black hand made of smoke grabbed the Seventh Tower from her hand and tossed it in her graveyard, after which a blue shield enveloped one of her Gaga Pikarians and made it disappear, giving her a sixth shield.

"Then I attack with Dias Zeta and use his Annihilating Soul Recall effect! With this effect I choose four cards from both our graveyards and return them to the bottom of our decks. For each four cards, you'll have to choose one of your creatures and send it to the bottom of your deck."

One by one, Aquan Jr.'s Delivery, Hyperspatial Emperor Hole, Mind Reset and Ghost Touch went to the bottom of Subaru's deck while Endra Pappi, Mach Lupia and two Cocco Lupias went to the bottom of his opponent's deck, after which she unwillingly chose her remaining Gaga Pikarian and Bolshack NEX, both of which suffered the same fate of going to the bottom of her deck. Now she had no creature left and she watched how the dragonic demon slashed two of her shields.

"I end my turn, and since three of your creatures left the battle zone, I now awaken Diabolos Zeta, Annihilation Awakened!" Subaru exclaimed and in the next moment the blue creature unleashed a loud roar that shook the room as a purple aura surrounded its body and made it grow in size, turning it into a horned skeletal dark purple serpentine demon with two swords in its hands and two cannons upon its shoulders. The girl's jaw dropped at the sight of the monster.

"Diabolos Zeta gives -5000 power to all of your creatures and +5000 to all of mine. Couple that with Funk's -1000 and all of your non-psychics now have -6000. So much for your Dragons coming out to save you, hehehe." the black haired one laughed.

The cards in the girl's hand were Hyperspatial Shooting Hole, Silver Shovel and Peace Lupia, none of which could help in her current situation thanks to the evil known as Diabolos Zeta. Not knowing what to do, she simply punched the table and yelled:

"Shit!"

"Yes, despair, embrace it, for it is the prelude to your actual torment. Diabolos Zeta, quadruple break her shields!" Subaru ordered and the demon swung both its swords and used them to slash off the girl's remaining four shields. "Funk, Guard of Hope, todomeda!"

The raging sounds of the motor's engines echoed in the room as the creature's wheeled vehicle drove towards the slave and knocked her out, her cards spreading all around. Clapping sounds came from the door and Subaru turned to see a proud Rad applauding him for his victory. The darkness duelist nodded and waited for the fire one to join him up there. Once the girl awoke, she found herself bound by chains, her body in an X position sitting above the hole in the machine. A few feet away from her was the one who defeated her, holding a red sword. At the machine's stairs, his red haired partner in crime sat with his arms crossed, eager to see the spectacle.

Drops of sweat quickly fell on the metallic floor. Her breath was growing heavier by each moment that passed. Subaru took his time and the more he stalled, the more he could admire her fear. The sight of him served only to terrify her even more. With each step that he slowly took, she felt that it was getting closer. And how much she wished it were all just a horrible nightmare. But that relief did not come.

"Prepare to meet Eros and Thanatos." was the only thing the black haired man whispered to his victim's ear.

All that the poor blonde could do was whimper and struggle in vain to escape the chains that imprisoned her in front of fate's cruel hand. The red blade touched her cheek without harming her and then it tenderly moved down her neck, afterwards on her chest and belly. His right hand grabbed her left breast with great desire, squeezing it hard even if it was causing her pain. His tongue joyfully danced on her neck, licking the salty drops of sweat greedily. And then the worst of her expectations came true – the blade penetrated her belly button, tearing into her intestines. Blood came out of her mouth, getting mixed with her abundant tears.

Subaru took the blade out and used it to cut her neck open, having its blood fall on her luscious breasts. He leaned to them, sucking on the left one and fondling the other. Unfortunately for her, she was still alive. Having finished his job with her chest, he kneeled in front of her and pulled her underwear off with a fake expression of sensuality on his face. Afterwards he inserted his sword into her genitalia, moving up and down continuously.

The girl was crying with the small power her vocal cords gave her. She was being torn apart in the most painful ways possible and there was nothing she could do about it. Once he felt that he had done enough with the womb, the bloodied sword came out and was inserted into his mouth. The sadist's tongue enjoyed the taste of vaginal blood that he had happily harvested out of her. Then, with one last swing, her breasts fell off.

Subaru walked up to Rad and returned the sword to its rightful owner. A small hint of jealousy was easily read on the racer's face.

"What's the matter?" Subaru asked.

"You handled her in the same way as Tsugumi." Rad replied with a rather annoyed voice that made his partner laugh.

"Haha, don't you worry, you'll get yours tonight, baby."

And with that being said, the darkness duelist descended the stairs, leaving to Rad the honor of sending the girl into the machine to create their beloved Black Fire. As much as he would have liked to sit around and watch the fire duelist pick a victim of his own, he was tired and wanted to catch some rest before his usual night patrol.

---

Doctor Edward Nieg's journal entry (30th of October 2109)

…for tough is the path of life, a path we had all been cursed to take ever since birth. The question is when will we reach its final destination?

Is it just me or even those two are starting to feel this decline? Subaru has been less interested of patrolling the corridors or scaring those pathetic excuses for duelists lately. Rather, he's spending more time all alone on that balcony whenever he's assured the weather's fine. And when it is not, he stays locked in his room, always buried beneath books or surfing the internet. As for Rad, his temper is growing slowly; he's starting to lash at anyone for the least of mistakes. His murders have become even more brutal, he making sure that every part of his victim feels pain before its mutilation.

Speaking of the devil, he's all of a sudden interested in my project of creating a perfect worker for this factory, but instead he wants it to be a 'perfect duelist'. He told me he's disappointed in the state of those slaves and facing them in duels no longer brings him entertainment due to how low their skills are, as well as they can't supply enough fuel for our precious energy source. Gee, you think? They are dropouts for a reason, you dolt! But I digress. The plan is to create the 'perfect duelist' for them two to face in order to supply the machine with enough kaijudo energies to create that Black Fire, so that he'll have only to kill the slaves and not be forced to duel them anymore.

I must confess, the thought of giving birth to a being through my own experiments, no, my own medical skills has tempted me for a long time, but my experiments in this domain have always ended in failure. But a duelist? A human being capable of channeling kaijudo energy and bringing to our world creatures from another realm? Who knows? It might just be the biggest achievement in my career.

Now one must wait for time to pass in order for the answer to come.

---

The stench of rotting flesh made the doctor's cabinet and lab impossible to breathe in for anyone except for the old man himself, for he had long gotten used to such smells. All around him, bloodied limbs and organs were spread on the floor, the few ones unlucky enough to survive having to lie on their beds and slowly die while watching the madman sow parts of their bodies together on the operation table. What he was trying to create, they did not have the power or care to think of anymore.

The door opened and Subaru cautiously walked in, his red irises shining in the dimly lit room. He was surprised to see the doctor not react to his arrival and instead concentrate on his project like the devoted man he was. That pleased him. Walking to him, the black haired man took a look around and admired the gore filled scenery. Out of amusement, he stuck his finger inside the opened belly of a 'patient' and got a desired moan of pain as a response. Giggling, he turned to the old man and said:

"Another hard working day, I see?"

"Be quick, I don't have time for your lengthy drivels." Edward Nieg bluntly replied, not even turning his head to greet his guest.

"Now that's rude of you." Subaru faked offense and went to the table to see the creation.

What lay there could have easily been classified more as a mannequin than a human. It lacked skin, and the muscles and meat that were covering its organs made it seem like a red creature of sorts. It still had no eyes, but the doctor was more concerned about its oral cavity, now planting teeth into its gums.

"Beautiful specimen you've got there, have you found out how you will bring it to life?" Subaru asked.

"That's not a problem. I've done this process countless times before and with success. What's more important is to help it adapt to life like a normal human." doctor Nieg explained.

"Its adaptation is not as important as being able to channel kaijudo energy. Do you have any clue as to how you will be able to give it that feat?"

"I am still working on that. Most humans are born with this feat, but managing to implement that into my creations will be my biggest challenge yet."

"One whose success you have to achieve soon for your own good. Rad's growing more and more impatient." the darkness duelist announced and then he leaned to the old man's ear to whisper. "And you know how he gets when he's irritated."

"Yes, I understand perfectly the situation. Be sure to keep him calm, because promising results are what I will bring you!" the doctor reassured.

"I do hope for your own good that it will be so."

In the next moment the mad scientist was all alone with his patients. There was no sign of his visitor to have gone out by the door or window. It was typical of him to perform mysterious disappearances, one character trait of his that Edward Nieg had gone used to see from Subaru.

Rad took a walk through the factory. There were eight years since it had become a part of his life and seven years since he had taken over. Now the machines, the guards, the workers, the slaves, all were his. He could boss them all around and toy with the teens as much as he liked. And to make matters better, he had a successful business and he was not even twenty five yet. Truly, he was an accomplished man who lived life the way he wanted.

Whenever he passed a working room, he stood there for a few moments to admire the scenery, smiling maleficently to whomever dared to raise their sight to him. After living there for so long, he had learned how the human's psyche works under factors of pressure, stress and fear. Thus he knew how to impose himself upon them all, total obedience being all that he demanded. As for those who dared rebel, he and Subaru had made countless examples in the past.

But did his aspirations grow further? Surprisingly, no. Unlike other monsters of human history, he did not want to extend his influence. That single factory with the money he produced and the kids he murdered were enough for him. Plus, it was like Subaru told him, if one wished for too much; they would lose everything they already had. It seemed that now it all satisfied him.

However, there was one little detail that remained stuck at the back of his head. When he looked at the small black flames burning in the machines, he was reminded that their production was in decline, a thing which he could not accept. Selling days were soon approaching and he couldn't afford to get lesser money than usual. He had to produce more, and for that he needed Black Fire, but for Black Fire he needed more kids. Lately the supplies of dropouts from Wally's school had lowered in numbers. Gone were the tens he received per month, now the number resuming to barely five on a good day. Such a thing was unacceptable, and it was a problem he had to deal with quickly before the decline would be felt by the others.

The loud noise of a rubber hitting metal resounded as Rad's boot opened the door to the doctor's cabinet. He walked in with an angered expression on his face, pushing aside the tables with medicine that separated him from the old man, not caring how many vials broke. Edward Nieg got up from his seat and went to greet him.

"Hey, there's no need to break those, they're precious substa…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the tip of Rad's sword's red blade reached his neck, causing him to back down and end up against a wall. Those red eyes pierced right through his soul and he knew there was nothing he could do or say to object to them.

"I don't give two shits about your precious crap! I'm here to talk business." Rad's wrathful voice calmed down a bit, still maintaining its imposing sound.

"Alright, alright, what is it you want to talk about?" a nervous Edward Nieg replied.

"You see, doctor, a business can't go on with lessened production, you should probably know that by your age." the racer alluded and the doctor nodded. "In that case, when am I going to get that perfect duelist? I am growing impatient with all this waiting!" he growled at him and made the man feel the blade slowly press against his neck's skin.

"S-s-soon… I promise it will be done in two weeks' time, I still need to adjust some details, so please don't hurt the process!" the old man begged in a nutshell.

"Tsh, it better be so, doctor." the young one affirmed and sheathed his sword. "Or else both you and your failed experiments will become our brand new Black Fire fuel."

The simple hearing of those words was enough to petrify doctor Nieg. He simply stood there and stared into nothingness as Rad left the cabinet with a malicious laughter. Now it was more than clear to him, it wasn't a matter of saving the business; it was a matter of saving his own life.

Two moans echoed simultaneously as the two males climaxed together. Subaru fell off Rad and landed next to him unto their bed, both holding each other's hand tight. Their breaths of relief united as they turned to look each other in the eye with happy smiles. Night had fallen and soon the black haired one would have to go patrol while the red haired would go to sleep. But first they would share a little more moments together.

"Boy, I never get tired of this." Rad winked and stuck his tongue out a little.

"We must live our youth for as long as we have it." Subaru philosophized and stuck his hand out to take a bottle of wine from the table. "How about we have a little toast? Tonight's a special time, of course."

"Of course, that idiot's birthday." the racer reflected as his partner poured the vine's liquid of drunkenness into two glasses. "Boy was it a pleasure to slice him open. Back then I never thought I'd be rid of that loud mouth of his!"

"Now, now, you know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead." the black haired one joked. "Then again, he was a good friend and all he wanted was for us all to be happy. In the end, he had pure intentions."

"And was an annoying sack of shit in my book ever since day one. Trust me I'm more than glad I chopped him to bits. Hopefully he's burning in hell right now."

"I guess sometimes death and time's passing don't solve all grudges. Here."

As Subaru offered a filled glass, Rad caught his hand and looked at him with tender eyes, admiring his beauty. To think that such a handsome man was able to cause so many heart attacks and even more gruesome murders… surely he was his soul mate. The other hand of the racer reached the long and dense black mane of his partner and he stroked it gently, his fingers enjoying the soft touch of his hair. Blushing a bit, he spoke:

"I know it's kind of sappy for me…"

"Mm?"

"…but I love you." Rad got up, his lips uniting with those of his partner in a short kiss.

"The feeling's the same." Subaru nodded and then both their wine glasses knocked. "A toast! In the memory of our idiotic friend and for our life together! May we live like this forevermore!"

---

Doctor Edward Nieg's journal entry (2nd of November 2109)

…ye cruel life, why hast thou bestowed upon me such heavy weights to carry on my back?

Ah yes, I felt a little poetic for once in my lifetime, hence the old English. I simply don't know what to do anymore. Rad marched in all angry and impatient on me. I barely managed to buy two more weeks, but if my experiment won't satisfy him by then, it's all over for me.

Why? After all these years when I treated his wounds and performed my cruel acts upon all those kids, is he willing to betray even me just for that Black Fire of his? Is really that materialistic? Has our friendship mattered at all to him?

Today from what I understand is the birthday of one of their chosen duelist friends, the Water one, I think. Called Edo Kanda or something, but from what I heard he was nothing more than a happy-go-lucky lad with a child's heart. What reason could they have had to kill him? Oh right, they wanted to cut most contact from the outer world, that meant their three teammates too.

This should be a sign. From the looks of it they are willing to betray even friendship for murder. That means that they only care about each other and that's it. Such damned hearts.

To think that those two took over our glorious factory, I should have known seven years ago that inexperienced youngsters will only lead us to failure. Reckless killing, greed for money, devaluing our products by selling as much as they could… it was a recipe for disaster and I was blind to it for over half a decade. But it's too late to go back now. They're too stuck in their delusion of bloody glory to listen to any reasonable advice.

As for me, I'll have to give my best in creating this 'perfect duelist'. I do have a few brief ideas that I can try. Bringing a new human to life is quite easy, even if the living bodies end up being worthless. But this one should have worth, as I have discovered a way to make its hands channel kaijudo energy, all that it needs is a little external help.

Until then, may science guide me and Subaru keep his lover under control.

---

It was a rainy November day. At the Duel Masters school the program was over and students and teachers alike were leaving the building with umbrellas or rainproof coats, while a few preferred to call rocket taxis to fly them home. Sitting all alone in his office, Principal Wally was browsing through some emails he had received from the education minister.

All of a sudden, the door creaked open. He did not pay attention as he was too absorbed in the information his computer's screen was offering. With a passive voice, he spoke:

"If it's you, Luna, leave the tests of the students on my desk and you're dismissed. I'm kind of busy here."

A hand quickly slapped his keyboard and made him jump off his chair in fear.

"Hello, Wally!" Rad greeted him and then he did not wait to be invited to take a seat.

"What are you doing here?" the suited man asked, arranging his brown hair nervously.

"Oh I was just passing by and I thought why not visit an old friend." he alluded while taking a look at the pictures on the walls featuring various Zero creatures such as Wedding, Zenith of "Celebration", Beethoven, Zenith of "Horror" and Yomi, Mankind God.

"I'm happy that you still value our friendship." Wally forced himself to smile, though in his mind he was thinking something else. "Right, you give as much of a damn about friendship as you would about the turds you flush down the toilet."

"You know, I've been paying attention to the news lately and I've seen that this Yomi person and his cult of Oracles are growing in power here."

"Yes, he has this kind of flair in the way he speaks, that's how he's managed to convince many humans to join his cult. But as you've seen in my pictures and probably have guessed, Yomi is not a human, but a creature."

"As if it were hard to notice… Let's be honest, Wally, who the hell in this day and age has long white hair, two pairs of pink wings on their head and dresses up like a priest that worships the granddaughter of that slut from a hundred years ago, I think Lady Gaga was her name?"

"If I were you, I wouldn't rush to judge Yomi by his appearance, especially when your taste in fashion is no better."

"Yeah right, at least I look way cooler than whatever the hell he's supposed to be. And don't worry, I've heard Yomi preach, and it's the usual mumbo jumbo about how worshipping their Gods and conforming to their bullshit beliefs we'll all live in peace. Been there, heard that."

"You fail to understand the true meanings behind Yomi's words, Rad. He intends to use the power of Zero to fix the damage that wars have done upon our countries. Also, the beliefs of the Oracle cult are about using power to bring harmony upon the world. While other religions of this world have only caused 'holy wars' to impose their beliefs upon others, the Oracle cult wishes to impose themselves through miracles, because in the end actions speak louder than words."

"Miracles, you say? And just what miracles did this guy do?"

"He and his Oracles preserved the power of Zero and used it to revive fallen creatures as Oraclions which are now worshipped in special cults dedicated to them."

"Hahaha, that's it?" Rad laughed. "If reviving creatures is a miracle, I should probably get myself an Inferno Sign or Babelginus, Demonic Dragon and start reanimating my creatures. Maybe that's how I'll have people worshipping me as some bullshit high priest."

"Rad, please don't mock the Oracles! They are trying their best to finally bring harmony in our dueling society! Once we've been rid of the scummy weaklings and the strong duelists have reached their peaks, this entire world will be unified in total peace under the leadership of Yomi!" Wally affirmed, but his interlocutor could do nothing besides laugh even more in his face.

"Come on, Wally, cults, religion, Oracles? Do you even listen to yourself? Wake up and smell the bullshit, history's repeating itself! Subaru's shown me how many times these cult leaders get corrupted by power and end up manipulating those inside their cult to achieve their own goals. Do you really think that gay pride parade loser isn't planning to brainwash you all into obeying him?"

"That's enough!" the principal hit his desk with a fist in a fit of rage and got up, staring angrily at the racer. "I will not allow you to insult the greatness of Yomi anymore! Our utopia will arise soon and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it! Now get out before I call the guards to escort you!"

In the very next moment Rad pulled the sword out of his sheath and used it to stab the security alert button. Then he turned the blade to Wally, who gulped and backed away, ending up against the glass wall.

"You seem to be forgetting who the boss here is, Wally." the fire duelist affirmed and placed his sword's tip upon the chest in which the brown haired man's heart raced. "I could slice you to shreds with just a few swings and not be caught even in a million years."

Wally looked better at him and saw nothing but anger into those pools of red that lied in his orbits. If Rad Flames were ever a hero, that time was long gone, because now he fitted the best profile of a villain.

"What do you want from me?" the brown haired principal mumbled.

"Oh I think you know very well." the red haired racer whispered maliciously.

"If it's students, I can't send any to you this week!" Wally confessed, his body beginning to tremble.

"And why the hell not?!" Rad growled, the sword tearing through the brown suit.

"It's as surprising to me as it is to you, but somehow this year most of my students have become more serious with their studies and now they excel in their domains quite a lot. I don't know what happened with them, but there are very few in my school who have no interest whatsoever in learning the secrets of this game. In a way it pleases me to see that they are finally maturing."

"I don't give a fuck what pleases you! All I want is material for my factory, and I want to know when I'm going to get it! Or would you like to become said material?"

"No, no, listen, Rad, I think I know how we can work this out."

"Oh, you do? Be sure to cook something good if you value your pathetic life."

"Sure, just put that sword away."

With skepticism, Rad sheathed his sword and allowed Wally to sit at his desk once again. Now he stood behind his chair and watched what the principal was typing on his computer. Upon the screen a calendar appeared and Wally said:

"During the last week of December and the first week of January we are having winter holidays. When the school starts again, I'll do an evaluation of the students and send the weakest to you if you wish."

"Do you think I have that much time? Make it the last week before the holidays!" Rad demanded and Wally sighed, nodding in compliance.

"Alright, I will give them a test in the middle of December and those with the lowest results will be sent to your factory. Are you pleased now?"

"Very pleased, actually. Just know this, Wally, if I don't get a good amount of students, I'll come back once again, and next time I don't think I'll control myself anymore."

As Rad walked out of the office, Wally rubbed his temples. His day had been tiresome enough with all those projects he had to send to the minister of education and the last thing he needed was a visit from that crazy nut. On one hand, his goals had been accomplished at last and his school and city had been mostly purified from the weak duelists that were putting their game to shame. But on the other hand, his life was now threatened. What could he do about it? If he even dared bringing up the fact that their deal was over, he would most likely be chopped to pieces. The only solution was to sacrifice some of the weaker students, even if they were up to his standards. How much it pained him to do this, but he had no other choice. He had made a bet with the devil and now that devil was striking him hard for such a mistake.

Rad's rocket landed on a hill and its pilot got out, with his hands in his pants' pockets and the humid air's breeze blowing against him and messing his hair even more, he took a look at the city. So many memories, childhood, early teens, friends, family, all those had been left behind in pursuit for his true pleasures. Now in those eight years that city had become even shinier than before and he could notice that they were working on erecting a new temple that would be the tallest building in that metropolis, overshadowing the mall. No doubt, it was the Oracle cult of that Yomi guy. Things had changed and yet he had not once bothered to look for his close ones. He had murdered his fellow chosen duelists and he had also cut contact with his parents. Speaking of which, were they even alive? A small smile appeared on Rad's face, for he knew that his mother would mostly likely cry many streams of tears if she were to meet him again, while his father would scold him for not talking to them anymore and making them worry. But having in mind that he had always appeared on TV with his Grand Prix races, most likely they had shunned him or were dead. Spitting on the ground, he got back in his rocket and flew off, as rain once again began to fall from the sky.

---

Doctor Edward Nieg's journal entry (7th of November 2109)

…is there no limit to how much one can endure? Oh death, why are you and your relief so far from my reach?

It feels like these days I'm losing my mind more and more. I barely get any sleep, and when I do, he's always there, with his sword ready to slash me awake and make me resume my work out of fear. These past five days have been living hell and it will certainly keep on going.

The perfect duelist, it's doing fine so far, but there are still too many details to work upon. Sure, the body is technically ready, but I still have to decide whether it should have a gender at all. Also, before I give life to it, I need to be sure that the organs I sowed in place will be able to assure life. This one has to be different from the others, who all died in less than a day. Yes, this one must and will have a normal human's lifespan! This is why I am so obsessed with details, I cannot fail this time!

Theoretically, the kaijudo energy channeling won't be a problem, as I have devised a machine through which I can transfer some of mine into its hands until it catches on. The problem is… that it requires the perfect hands for such a mission, and my materials are weakling dropouts. I will have to hope for the best on this one. What shall make me sure that the channeling will work for this subject will be when I program this machine of mine to artificially use said energy, as if it were alive. If it will be able to bring even the smallest of creatures from the other realm into ours, then this step will be done and its lifespan will be my only worry.

But to be quite honest, I am starting to crave for the old days. Back then we thought that we would live this sort of life forever… I have been keeping this e-journal of mine ever since I was hired at this factory fifty years ago. It is both a history of this place's events and my personal testimony to my achievements in life. So much time has passed, so many faces came and went, yesterday's friends became today's memory.

How I long for the sixties and seventies, when this place was nothing more than a normal factory where people produced mechanical pieces and sold them in a clean and official business. The workers, the guards, the medics, we were all a family that worked together for our common survival. But that was until that fateful year of 2079 when that cursed demon came in our lives and turned us in either victims or executioners. And now here I am, the last one of my generation who is still standing against time's cruelty. Now I realize, those two are nothing more than Dorballom's pawns. Subaru is that goat's chosen duelist and Rad had been corrupted by madness to serve their goals. I wonder, are they even aware of that? Even if they are, they probably don't care, as long as they live their twisted life.

Curse that demon, because of him this place had been turned into a slaughter house. Even I, who have sworn the oath of Hippocrates, have been reduced to nothing more than a mad butcher. Yes, I confess, I too have fallen into this madness. Seeing so many slaughters for so long snapped something in me and had me wish to do some of my own. All of my previous pages are testimonies of how far I have went with my experiments, and now as I look back at all of them, I wonder if it was all worth it. In the very end, no matter how many we kill, death will also come for us one day. But if Dorballom thinks that I'll keep on playing his game, he's got another thing coming!

Yes, this is my factory, I am one of its first workers and I will not it fall into the hands of two butt buddies who worship a goat! Even if I will rejoin my true friends in nonexistence or whatever afterlife there might be, I'll be sure that before I go, this place will not remain in their hands. This is the second oath that I will make in my life!

---

Doctor Edward Nieg's journal entry (16th of November 2109)

I don't believe it, another glorious experiment has failed! Why? Why did it have to fail? It was my hardest effort upon which I put all of my knowledge. It didn't have to fail! Not after the sacrifices that I made…

I had realized soon after testing many hands that those weaklings simply can't channel proper amounts of kaijudo energy, so I picked the only option I had left. I had amputated my left hand and attached it to the perfect duelist. It had my own hand, it shouldn't have failed! But it still did… A few hours ago, after sticking skin upon its body, I went for the last part – the animation process. You know the deal, the good old zapping its heart until it starts beating. And it worked, it was alive! Blood was flowing through all those vessels I carefully placed in the exact places, it was breathing through those lungs… you get the general idea. But then its left hand erupted with so much kaijudo energy that went out of control and before I knew it, the entire body exploded. All of my hard work went goodbye in a few seconds. It was then when I remembered that we humans are born with this energy channeling through our hands, but when we are little it is in small amounts and we have time to learn how to tame it until adulthood. Here? I gave my own matured hand to something that had just been born. Such a terrible and elementary mistake, maybe I am going senile.

In the end, what am I going to show Rad today when he comes in my laboratory? If he sees another failed experiment, it's curtains for me, and I don't want to go like this. If I want to survive, I'll have to cook up a good plan. It's come down to this, either I go or they go. The nightmare has to end and I think I've got an idea on how to combat them.

If fate wishes that I don't survive today, this shall be my final entry. Whoever reads this, know that everything which I have typed here is true. The factory exists and the atrocious things committed inside need to be stopped, not only for the good of mankind, but for the triumph of human morality over our inner animal.

This is Doctor Edward Nieg, signing out. If there is a God out there, may he be with you, for he has abandoned me a long time ago…

---

Letting out a sigh, the old man pressed the 'send' button and mailed his lengthy Microsoft Word document, after which he closed the laptop. He then turned to the mirror to see a life-struck figure upon which the wrinkles of age changed a once young and filled with life face. The eye patch and scar on the left side of his face had truly made him unrecognizable from the young ambitious medicine student he once was. He raised his left hand, which was now a metallic prosthesis, and rubbed his cheek to feel its coldness.

The door slammed open and Rad's voice resounded in the cabinet:

"Time's up, doctor!"

It was then that it hit Edward Nieg, the time had come. No more reflections, no more planning, he had to act now, or else everything would have been in vain.

Rad stepped in with his sword ready to perform the punishing act in case he would have been greeted with failure. Pulling away the curtains, he only saw a massive amount of dying mutilated bodies that belonged to the student failures. Upon the operation table, the few remains of what should have been the perfect duelist.

"Why that fucking son of a bitch…" Rad spat and he started pushing around tables and closets, breaking apart many vials and syringes. "Where are you?! Come out, you good for nothing geezer!" his shouts filled the entire lab.

But little did he know that the good old doctor had a little emergency escape pod lying under the bathroom's sink which he used to get out to the corridor. Now he was running around, trying desperately to find the one room in which he could perform his plan, and when all would be said and done, the factory would no longer be the same.

"Nieg!" the racer's voice shrieked in the halls as he walked out of the room.

"Sir!" two tall muscular masked guards dressed fully in black ran to him.

"Go find Edward Nieg and bring him to me immediately!"

"Understood, boss!"

With two quick salutes, they ran to the southwestern side of the factory while Rad went in the opposite way. The fire duelist pulled out his phone, typed a number and spoke:

"It's the doctor. Find him and hold him until I get there."

"He failed, right?" Subaru's concerned voice spoke from the other side of the line.

"Miserably, and you know what that means." Rad alluded.

"Such a pity, he was a good doctor."

"Was."

As Edward Nieg had been aware, most of the factory's personnel were searching for him. In order to induce them in error, he avoided that one room he sought for some time, instead opting to visit places such as the cafeteria, the storages and so on where he left misleading clues of his presence like dropping a syringe, spilling a bottle of medicine or tearing a piece of his lab suit.

While he was pushing eighty years of age, his hearing was still pretty well, just as his sight. As such, he was able to listen to the running steps and deduce when his pursuers had reached the places where he had planted his fake clues. Like he suspected, they followed the fake trail and went in the opposite direction to his, assuring that he would not be bothered.

And now there he was, in front of that large door upon which the words 'WARNING – UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT' were written in red upon black. How many times he had passed by that place, how many times had he participated to the horrors that were going on inside, but there was always a chilling sensation that he felt whenever he would even think of that room, almost as if the devil himself was in charge of it.

"All or nothing!" the man whispered as he pushed it open.

The windowless room that was dimly lit by the red neon lights greeted him with the smell of blood mixed with that of machine pieces. Sitting against a wall, the large wingless red dragon with a blonde mane and samurai gear upon his body opened his eyes and set them upon the intruder. Before Genji Double Cross could do something about it, a humanoid like creature the same size as him, made of liquid, lashed at him and the two had a small struggle until the dragon was knocked unconscious by Truename Academian and fainted on the floor. The creature then disappeared along with the blue aura from the doctor's right hand. With that final disturbance out of his way, he could concentrate on his mission at last.

There, in the very center of the room, lying imposingly was the giant wine glass shaped contraption under which all conveyor belts ended. That cursed machine in which so many had been sacrificed, all just to create that Black Fire in a way that resembled a gory ritual perfectly. The very root of young Rad's insanity, for the doctor recalled the very day he had seen the racer sacrifice his first victim to that device, and he had witnessed how that fear of his turned into dominance and bloodlust.

"Well, it's time to get to work." Edward Nieg affirmed and he pulled out of his lab coat a few computer programing devices which he attached to it.

Figuring out how to break the machine's system's codes was a hard task, but with the help of a few hacking tips he had gotten from the internet, he would try his best. Unfortunately for him, time was running out, as those that pursued him had already reached the half of his faux trail. Around midnight they would have realized that they were on a wild goose chase and thus would turn their attention to the only unexplored place left, the very one he wanted them to stray away from.

The minutes that went by seemed like hours, especially for someone whose expertise wasn't in computers, but the task had to be done. Reprogramming was a pain, but the bigger pain was installing new security codes. All that he needed was just the time. Fortunately for him, it seemed that fate was on his side, as a rat fell out of the air vent above his cabinet. When the guards had found the opening to the vent, they assumed he had used it for his escape and a new search was started there.

"It's done." the doctor concluded and disconnected his devices off of the large contraption. "For once, a successful experiment…" he proudly spoke with a hint of sadness in his voice.

The melody of the quick raindrops coming from outside was there to congratulate him on his work. And yet for some reason the air was getting unusually chilly in the room. A faint smile appeared on the old man's face and he turned to see what it was.

"Murderer!" the body of a girl with her belly dissected wide open shouted, she grabbing his arm with her cold hand and looking at him with vengeful eyes.

"My very first victim…" he reflected.

"Sadist!" the body of a short young teen with a tail attached unto the end of his spine and animal skin sown upon his own pulled his pants.

"My first experiment…" the doctor noticed.

"Tormentor!" a tall boy with his entire skin peeled off of him growled and grabbed him by his lab coat.

"My first punished one…" the old man remarked.

"Failure!" an artificially sown human grabbed his head and forced him to look into his Frankenstein-like face.

"Heh, my first human…" Edward Nieg spoke melancholically.

"Interesting." Subaru said as he walked out of the shadows. "There are no signs of guilt, shame, nor fear."

"When you are capable of serious introspection, such tricks are nothing more than pitiful attempts to your eyes."

"Now this is something new."

With a simple snap of his fingers, Subaru called off the ghostly illusions, the demonic man going face to face with the doctor, who dusted himself and spoke:

"Keep your Halloween games for those weak enough to buy into them. I am not your fool."

"You're brave, doctor, I like that." Subaru said while his hand played in his long black mane, the shining red irises of his black demonic eyes being fixated on the traitorous medic. "And here I expected you to be running away from your impending punishment."

"I've been running away my entire life. It is time I faced my demons." doctor Nieg affirmed with a conformed voice.

"Since you want to play with cards on the table, tell me, doctor, is there anything that can scare you anymore?"

"When I see the faces of my victims cursing me in my sleep and now recently Rad and his sword threatening my very existence? No, young one, I have gone beyond the borders of human fear."

"Why? Out of them all, why you, doctor Nieg? You were our most valuable friend and ally. It shouldn't have come to this."

"Save your compassion for your ass buddy, Subaru. He's the only one you truly care for anyway. And to answer your question, time changes us all; regardless of how much we like to delude ourselves that we are still the same. In the end, I simply evolved naturally apart from you two and your sick goals."

"You don't know how sorry I am to hear this."

"Don't show me your pity. It's the last thing I want from you after what you two have done to me."

After all these years in which Subaru successfully instilled paralyzing fear into all of his victims, exploiting their innermost phobias and struggles, he had finally met his match. Doctor Edward Nieg looked like he had nothing to lose anymore and did not fear fate's cruel hands. Since he was no longer attached to anything in this world and seemed like he was ready for the big journey, he was truly out of Subaru's reach. As such, he was defying him in this position.

"There you are!" Rad spoke from the entrance.

"Well, well, look who's joined the party." the doctor greeted him with open arms.

"You motherfucker have a lot to answer." the red haired one spoke while approaching slowly like a predator, the blade in his hand thirsty for blood.

"And answer I shall, if you allow me."

Much like Subaru, Rad was surprised that the old man showed no sign of intimidation whatsoever. He stopped by his partner's side and said:

"Well, let's hear your explanation, and it better be a good one."

With the aura of a researcher, Doctor Edward Nieg started walking in circles, holding a speech that would have been more suited in an academic environment.

"As you know very well, this factory has been basing its work on the production of Black Fire. The way this otherworldly resource has been produced was through the sacrifice of still living mutilated human bodies, mixed with Darkness and Fire kaijudo energies. However, in the past months I had been doing some independent research on my own. I secretly took a bit of Black Fire in a small container and analyzed its components in my lab. From the looks of it, our world's air cannot keep it burning for long, hence the need to perform this daily ritual of yours. It was last week that I discovered the best way to conserve it. I have created a perfect environment and after twenty four hours I had seen that in such an environment these darkened flames burn with the same power."

Such a discovery shocked both Subaru and Rad. While the demonic one stared at the doctor in disbelief, the racer's eyes were being fixed on the floor, as he whispered:

"I've run this place for seven years. I've seen friends of mine pass these doors and massacred by my very own hands. And now here you come to tell me…" his voice then rose to a shout. "…that it was all for nothing?! That everything could've been avoided from the very beginning? Are you fucking kidding me, doctor?!"

"You are wrong, Rad, I have recently discovered this new method! But now it's pointless to dwell in the past, now we must think of the future. There will be no need to murder any more kids! We can just replicate this Black Fire and get back on our feet. If back then our business was the most flourishing, imagine how it can be when we conquer all the black markets. Once the news about our resource is spread, everyone will want to work with us. Our resource will be infinite and we can charge for it as much as we want. Just think of it all, boys."

"Do you realize what shit you've just spewed out of your mouth?" came the cold reply from the fire duelist. "We're doing this entire world a favor by getting rid of those worthless excuses of human beings that have the nerve to call themselves duelists. After so much killing, do you think we can just forget it all and start from scratch? Besides, how the fuck do you expect me to market our place when there are few people who know about what we've been doing and whom so far I've managed to keep their mouths shut? If we do become the top of the industry market, how long do you think it will take until they decide to spill the beans and ruin our supposedly clean business?"

"What's wrong with you, Rad? I have proposed to you the best way to save our business without casualties and you're willing to refuse it just because you're aroused by bloodshed?!" a frustrated Edward Nieg shot back.

"Yes. In case you didn't get the memo, I'm an insane fuck." Rad bluntly replied. "Subaru's also insane, and you were once the same. And it seems the regaining of your sanity is what shall cost you your miserable life."

"Before you decide to do anything to me, know that I've completely reprogrammed your dear machine which you've used to slaughter many with. It can no longer absorb kaijudo energies and I have implanted in it the airless environment it needs to sustain Black Fire. Here, take a look at the flames you've created a few hours ago."

And so, the doctor stepped aside, and to the amazement of both Rad and Subaru, the Black Fire did not lose its power, there were no small black flames, instead it was burning as strong and majestic as when the slave had been sacrificed for its creation eight hours ago.

"This can't be… what he said actually worked…" a stunned Subaru uttered.

"And know that you cannot program it back to how it once was. The new codes I've set are unbreakable even by the smartest of hackers." the doctor crossed his hands as he enjoyed with satisfaction the shocked looks on their faces. "Face it, this nightmare is over. The factory will turn to a new page in its history."

"You bastard!" Rad punched the old man, who fell on his back. "Do you realize what you've just done?!"

"Offered you a new alternative, that's what I've done." Edward Nieg got up and wiped the blood falling from his nose. "Now are you strong enough to change yourselves as well?" he asked while pulling out his own deck. "Or in the end, will we have to resort to this yet again?"

"You should know the answer by now…" the red haired male replied and took out his deck as well.

The two decks shined brightly and two pairs of dueling tables arose from the floor. Both walked to them, set their cards and began their match.

"I summon Aqua Teacher!" the doctor said and a humanoid made of liquid dressed like a professor and holding a book in its left hand appeared by his side.

"I summon Kodamanma, Gil Gil Puppet!" Rad said and a white doll with sharp claws, no eyes and a large mouth with sharp teeth and a snake tongue appeared. "With its effect I return one of my shields to my hand. Strike Back – Fire, I discard Roadster, Double Blast and put Dual Shock Dragon in the battle zone!"

A red armored dragon with golden wings and two swords in its hands appeared, causing one of Rad's shields to go to his graveyard, the card being Genji Double Cross, Blastdragon.

"I summon Aqua Vehicle!" Edward Nieg said and a green submarine made of water appeared. "Aqua Vehicle has no effects; it's a vanilla creature, so Aqua Teacher lets me draw a card for summoning it."

"I summon Bronze-Arm Tribe!" the racer said and a green humanoid horse wielding a large fork and a shield appeared, causing the top card of his deck to go to the mana zone. "Dual Shock Dragon, double break his shields!"

"I block with Aqua Teacher!"

The mighty dragon flew towards the doctor, but the liquid professor stood in its way and received the slashes from its swords instead.

"Kodamanma, break his shield!" came another order from Rad and the white doll successfully took down one of the doctor's shields.

"Shield trigger, I cast Spiral Gate, send Dual Shock Dragon back to his hand!" the doctor showed the Water spell he had gained from his shields and watched how a whirlpool surrounded the dragon and made it disappear, its card going into Rad's hand. "My turn, I summon Aqua Evoluter and attack with Aqua Vehicle, break his shield!"

A blue liquid humanoid with a purple cape appeared in the battle zone and the green submarine went towards its opponent's side, breaking one of his shields as well.

"Strike Back – Nature, I discard Faerie Gift and put Ochappi, Pure Hearted Faerie in the battle zone!" Rad said and an orange haired fairy dressed in white and wielding a staff materialized in the battle zone. "With its effect I send Faerie Gift from my graveyard to my mana zone."

"I end my turn." the doctor announced.

"It's fun time, I summon Magnum, Fast Attack Puppet!" the racer announced and a doll dressed in a cowboy suit consisting of brown boots with red flames, blue jeans, a blue shirt covered by a brown vest, a brown cape and a hat with red flames covering its head appeared and loaded both its guns, eager for battle. "Magnum is a speed attacker and whenever we put a creature in the battle zone without paying its cost, it will be destroyed. Go, Magnum, destroy Aqua Vehicle!"

The puppet loaded its guns and a rain of bullets made the submarine explode.

"Then, Ochappi, Bronze-Arm Tribe and Kodamanma, break his shields!" came another order and the creatures obeyed it, attacking the opponent and reducing the number of his shields from four to one.

"Shield trigger activate, I summon Aqua Surfer!" doctor Edward Nieg said and the blue surfer appeared in the battle zone, hitting the white doll with its surfboard. "With its effect I send Kodamanma back to your hand!"

Unfortunately for him, after Aqua Surfer got rid of the white puppet, the cowboy one shot it to death with its bullets.

"Of course, it was a shield trigger creature, I didn't pay for its cost." the grey haired man sighed. "My turn, since Aqua Evoluter makes all of my evolution creatures cost one manaless, I evolve him into Crystal Super Paladin!"

The caped liquid humanoid then morphed into a blue crystal centaur with four arms, wielding two swords and two shields.

"Go, Crystal Super Paladin, destroy Magnum!" the doctor ordered and his creature galloped towards the cowboy puppet and slashed it into pieces with its swords.

"Nice match, doctor, but I think it's time you became a bad memory. I summon Pulsar, Trans Suction!" Rad said and a red haired humanoid with a vacuum in its stomach appeared. "With its effect I discard my hand and draw two cards." he said and tossed into his graveyard the cards of Kodamanma, Gil Gil Puppet and Dual Shock Dragon in exchange of two new ones from his deck."Then I summon Taiga, the Warrior Savage!" he continued and a humanoid dressed in a tiger armor and with a gun for a right arm also materialized. "Bronze-Arm Tribe, break his final shield!"

The horse swung its fork and used it to penetrate the old man's final shield. Unfortunately for him, he had no shield trigger to rescue him.

"Any famous final words?" Rad asked, his hand ready to tap Taiga's card and give the final attack.

"Just this…"

Before the racer could react, Edward Nieg tossed one of his cards upon his opponent's hand, giving him a small cut and stopping him from giving the finishing blow. Then he ran up the stairs of the machine.

"Rad, are you alright?!" Subaru ran to his lover.

"Don't worry about it, it's just a cut." Rad replied and pulled out his sword, heading after the doctor.

Having reached the device's top, the misunderstood scientist stood at the edge of its hole, staring at the Black Fire burning beneath. It seemed that in the end he could not reach to them, but at that point it didn't matter to him anymore. He had lived a long life, enriched with every beauty of the human experience, as well as every ugly part. He had known happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain. But most importantly, after devoting himself to science and having suffered the disappointment of many failed experiments, at least his very final one has both been a success and its impact had changed the course of the factory in which he had spent three quarters of his life. In that aspect, he was an accomplished man.

"There's no escape for you anymore!" Rad awoke him from his thoughts once he got up, his sword ready to taste the old man's flesh.

"You know, I have done many mistakes in my life. My biggest one was without a doubt conforming to your way of thinking." Edward Nieg explained with a smile, his arms stretching in a cross position. "In the end, I was just another one of your victims…"

And so he fell into the pit, his arms greeting the devouring Black Fire with an embrace of death, his tired eyes finally closing for his craved eternal rest.

A month had passed since that fateful day. Back at the city, Wally was sitting on a chair along with other important people from the city such as the mayor, the chief of police, the prefect and so on. They were all gathered there in the new temple to hear Yomi, the leader of the Oracle cult, preach.

"And as such, once they all conform to our new doctrine, our utopia will be finally installed upon this world." Yomi firmly declared, receiving many 'amen' responses.

But Wally did not pay attention on that day's sermon. His mind was somewhere else, clouded by his worries. His school's students had all scored 80% or above at his recent test, and he was sure he would include many hard questions too. But no, this time there was no sign of lack of knowledge, they were all good at what they were doing. And his heart hurt him a lot; he couldn't possibly have allowed having those with lower scores be sentenced to death, especially when their results were still good. Then a possibility hit him hard, making him realize what a mistake he made. He was too pessimistic, he did not help the failures learn, he did not support their will to learn, he did not see that even they had potential and could have made use of it if they were simply guided. So many duelists he could have helped, and instead he just treated them as pieces of meat that deserved to be mercilessly. Truly, he was a shame to his position as a principal of the most famous Duel Masters School, for the example he had set was in no way a good one.

"Is something the matter?" Yomi's calm benevolent voice asked.

Wally woke up from his thoughts. The sermon was over and everyone had left the temple but the two of them.

"Yomi-sama, forgive me, I have done a terrible mistake!" the brown haired man wept.

"Do tell me what happened." the concerned cult leader demanded and sat next to him.

"For many years I have known of a terrible evil existing in our planet, and I did nothing to stop it. Rather, I had helped it. I don't know what to do anymore!"

"What sort of evil do you speak of?"

"See for yourself."

Wally leaned and pulled up his suitcase, opened it and got out his laptop. On the portable computer's screen they saw the opened document which contained Doctor Edward Nieg's journal. A few hours had passed and at last Yomi had finished reading it.

"Now do you see what I was up against? Rad forced me to have my mouth shut and keep providing him with student failures. This is why my students are all perfect now, because those who were not had become that madman's 'materials' as he calls them." the guilt filled Wally confessed and fell on his knees crying. "Forgive me, Yomi-sama, I was too much of a coward to stand up against them! But now I cannot give him my students anymore, I don't know what to do."

"Worry not, Wally. It is good that you have brought this matter to me. In a week we shall organize a little expedition to this factory which you shall lead. If we have to, we will close that place by force!"

"I understand, Yomi-sama. If this is be a way for me to wash some of my sins, I will gladly lead this expedition."

"Good." the man with long white hair smiled to him. "I suggest you go home to rest and then prepare yourself for the battle that is about to come. And fear not, for the power of the Zero is with the Oracles, so we shall not fail!"

To Wally, Yomi's kind words were the only comfort he needed. Under his leadership he felt safe and knew that he would have the power to defeat this evil that had haunted him for too long.

One more week had passed and on Christmas Eve snow had begun falling upon the forest surrounding the factory. Inside the building, things had indeed changed. The Black Fire was burning stronger than ever and thus the production had vastly increased. The normal workers had doubled their efforts, seeing how well all the machines moved; while the slaves could barely keep up, as between them a little flu epidemic had struck. Since there was no more need for it, they had no longer been sacrificed to the terrible device and now roughly a hundred of them had remained. It was the only light of hope that they still had, despite their lack of feet, despite the awful conditions in which they were enslaved, they still held on to it, so that maybe one day they could breathe the air of freedom once more.

Upstairs, in their bedroom, Rad was lying on the bed covered by a towel after a comforting shower, trying to think of the future of his factory while Subaru desperately tried to invoke Dorballom, Lord of Demons. Sitting on his knees, the black haired man had both his hands with purple auras upon the Darkness card and with tears coming from his brown eyes, he cried out:

"I beg of you, Lord Dorballom, answer me!"

But like all the other tens of times he attempted the past weeks, it ended in failure. The demon did not appear to him and he was just standing there, talking to a card.

"Why have you forsaken us, master? What have we ever done to deserve such a thing?" Subaru desperately asked. "Were we not worthy enough? Have we not followed your orders as you wished us to? Give us a sign, dammit!"

"Fuck that goat, Subaru, he's abandoned us and we don't need him anymore." Rad awoke him to the harsh truth.

"He couldn't have, we were his chosen ones to carry his mission…" the darkness duelist rationalized.

"And yet he won't talk to us anymore. I say we stop caring. He's not worth our time. We've got a factory to rule over and we don't need his advice anymore." the fire duelist suggested and with a small sob, his partner nodded. "Good."

"I honestly don't know what we should do anymore, Rad. The business is going great, but without any necessary murders, it just doesn't have the same magic anymore."

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out eventually. Until then, how about you come here and keep me warm?"

Now that was an invitation which Subaru could not refuse. He responded to Rad's patting on the bed by taking off his own shirt and joining him in the covers, where lied his only remaining happiness.

A few hours later, they were both asleep in each other's arms, one of the few peaceful moments that their life offered. But alas, it wouldn't be long lived, as the sounds of sirens awoke them both. It was night and the snowfall had stopped. Rad put on a red bathrobe with yellow flames, designed in the style of his suit, and he headed to their room's balcony. To his surprise, he saw many rockets parked outside and a large army of humans dressed in robes, each wielding a staff, all gathered in front of the factory. No doubt, they were Oracles.

"What's the meaning of this?!" he shouted from the fourth floor, gaining their attention.

"Rad Flames, you are under arrest for the crimes of human traffic, illegal business and murder to name a few!" Yomi's authoritative voice echoed. "Surrender now and there will be no more unnecessary casualties in this place!"

Rad took a better look at them all, an army of fanatics thinking they were holding some great power, and they were obviously led by a corrupt madman who wanted to change the world after his own pleasure. And between them all was Wally, whose fear was still read in his eyes, no matter how well he hid it behind the numeric strength of his team. But in the end Rad realized something, compared to Yomi, he at least had the guts to be honest with himself and who he really was, but this one, like any respectable cult leader, was masking his egomaniac madness under a mask of purity and perfection. How pitiful…

"So let me get this straight, you guys came all the way here to arrest me?"

"Yes, that is correct, and we will not ask a second time for your surrender." Yomi stood his ground.

What followed next was a hysterical laughter coming from Rad. Never before had he been amused so much. Did those deluded cultists not know who he was? If Wally had informed them of the reputation he had in his factory, they would have thought twice before coming to face him.

"You all made your biggest mistake coming here. I dare you motherfuckers to come inside and take me alive!" was his last response before he rushed back in the factory.

Outside, the army of Oracles had all aligned themselves, waiting for their master's orders.

"Men, unfortunately it has come down to this. We shall march in and arrest them all. Be sure to keep them all alive so we can interrogate them better. If for self-defense, you may take their lives. By the dawn of Christmas morning, this factory shall be ours! All hail the Zero!"

The Oracles raised their staffs in agreement and with a war shout they all marched inside, leaving many footsteps upon the snow covered ground. The door was not hard to break open and soon they were making their way through the narrow hall. But as they approached the elevator at its end, they were greeted by a large army consisting of muscular men, all dressed in black and with their heads covered by black masks. Through the speakers came Rad's voice:

"Yomi and co, I bring you the regular workers and guards of my factory. Have fun with them!"

They all reached their hands in unison and pulled off their disguises, revealing themselves to be humanoids with spiky hair, wearing sunglasses and each having one of their limbs turned into a deadly weapon.

"It's the Outrages!" an Oracle gasped.

And how right he was… While the Oracle cult was formed with the intention of global peace under its doctrines, the Outrages were a rebellious group that appeared as a back clash to the cult, rejecting their values in favor of rebellious freedom, even if that meant chaos and anarchy as consequences. Thus, the two groups were at opposite spectrums, and from the looks of it, the Outrages had been working for Rad all this time.

"My men, there is a change in plans, as this factory has been a hideout for these rebels; we shall take them down tonight! Spare no Outrage scum!" Yomi's voice suddenly changed to that of a ruthless tyrant.

What followed next was a huge clash between the two sides.

With the unwanted visitors being kept out of the way for some time, Rad focused on his other priority. Obviously, Wally had to pay for his betrayal, but first he had to get rid of those that they had come to rescue. In no way would he allow anyone to live and tell the tale outside.

The news of the Oracles coming to rescue them had reached the enslaved teens unintentionally when they heard Rad's speech. As such, they agreed to resume their work and not do anything suspicious while waiting for their saviors to come and liberate them from that nightmare. Little did they know that their final light of hope would quickly be shut.

The door slammed open and a grim looking Rad stepped in. They all pretended not to notice him and instead resumed manufacturing the machine pieces. But this time it was different, the head of the factory did not hold any speeches. Instead, he walked to his beloved device which for so many years had helped him produce his desired Black Fire. And now he stared there at those dark flames which would be burning for eternity, always with the same power. As much as he hated to admit it, Edward Nieg had triumphed from the grave.

Rad recalled the first moment he had created that unholy resource, and with a smile on his face, he reached his hand and rubbed the machine with a tenderness that he only showed in bed. Giggling at the happy memories, he muttered:

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

And suddenly, his smile disappeared as he pulled out his sword and turned to the teens. With a swing from the red blade and a scream from one of the girls, his first victim had fallen. But he did not waste time slicing his body open, instead he lashed at another one with the intention of striking one killing blow. It was then that they all realized his true intentions and jumped off their chairs, legless as they were, and crawled with their elbows to the door. Unfortunately for them, Rad had anticipated this move and he locked the door just after he walked in. Now he had all the time in the world to execute them all.

One by one, they all fell in pools of blood on the floor. The sword either stabbed their backs, chests, necks or heads, and by the time the first one had reached the door, there was barely half of teens left. He tried both pulling and pushing the door, but to no avail.

"It's locked!" he let out a desperate shout.

That caused the survivors to scatter around the room, looking for the smallest hint of an exit, but it was futile. They were trapped in the lion's cage and the cat was hungry. Broken bones, brains, eyes, intestines, lungs, hearts, all splattered on the ground as Rad mercilessly slaughtered his victims, no different than a rabid predator. Their cries of help echoed in the room, but nobody on the outside heard them.

Subaru used his own key and unlocked the door, but what greeted him inside were mutilated body parts and the stench of death. And there, near a conveyor belt, Rad pulled off a girl's head from his sword, the last of his victims. The red haired man let his bathrobe fall off him, revealing his naked body which was stained with the blood of all his victims. He admired his sword with pride, the psychotic smile stretched to the edge of his face. Tears fell down his cheeks, washing a bit of the crimson liquid. He raised his left hand which was dipped with the river of life and used it to rub his face, all while coughing a sound that was at the border between laughter and crying.

"Rad…" Subaru whispered, unsure if he should feel happy or sorry for him.

At the first floor, it seemed that both the Outrages and the Oracles had been equal in forces, as the two sides managed to kill each other. There seemed to have been no survivor from those who had fought in the battle, but out of a closet, both Yomi and Wally emerged.

"It was a great idea you thought of this hideout, Yomi-sama."

"Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, but our cult needs me. Wally, listen, I am going back to our rockets to call for reinforcements. In the meantime, I need you to find your surviving students, if any, and rescue them. Don't look back at our fallen comrades and don't let their memory cloud your mind, they have died for peace and it is your duty to honor their memory by helping accomplish our mission!"

"I understand, Yomi-sama. You can count on me!"

With a formal salute, Wally and Yomi parted ways, the cult leader heading for the exit while the principal entered the elevator. Fortunately for the brown haired man, doctor Nieg's journal helped him a lot, for it gave him the indications to the exact place of the slaves' work room. It was located at the fourth floor, near the center of the factory building. All he had to do was to sneak in without being noticed and get out whatever survivor he found. It would not be an easy task, having in mind that Rad and Subaru must have had their guards up and were ready for anything, but he had to try.

There he was, wandering through the corridors, enduring the closed air, heat and stench of blood and rotting flesh. Wally imagined how his students must have felt the first time they had set foot there. Surely, not the most delightful experience. And he tried to convince himself many times that it was what they deserved, that he was doing society a favor by cleansing it of such lazy scum, but now as he was in their shoes, he realized that nobody deserved such a punishment, no matter how big their sins towards mankind were.

All of a sudden, a chilling breeze filled the hallway, the sudden change on temperature taking him by surprise. The neon lights began to flicker, some even ceasing from shining, darkening the corridor somewhat. The more he walked, the more he noticed that the windows of certain rooms were broken, that the walls had red stains, and that stench persisted more and more. No doubt, he was getting closer.

When he was just a few feet from his desired destination, he saw that a figure stood there, with its back turned against him. Whoever it was had long black hair and was wearing a pair of white sneakers, a pair of blue jeans and a black T shirt. Upon seeing the details better, Wally guessed who it was, and most likely it meant trouble. But why was he standing there? Was he waiting for him? One thing was certain: he had to get his answers. Wally made a few careful steps to the one whose back was turned to him, but suddenly he felt pairs of hands grabbing his feet. When he looked down, he had the shock of seeing the bodies of many of his former students, all with glowing white eyes that lacked irises, all crawling on the ground, all with smiles on their faces.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the principal exclaimed in fear.

"Welcome to your judgment day, Wally." Subaru turned to him, revealing his fanged mouth and demonic eyes that bled tears. "Trust me; your students had missed you."

"Argh, no, you can't do this!" Wally struggled, trying to free his feet from their grips. "I have to rescue them, I have to!"

"Rescue whom? Sorry to break it to you, but they're all dead, Rad just dealt with them all."

"What? Impossible, there were still too many!"

"Indeed they were, but Rad went out of his way to make sure that none of them would survive and be rescued."

"Why? Are you really that cruel that you don't care for the fates of a few poor children at all?!"

"Don't you dare request we have sympathy for those failures when you yourself didn't have any when you gave them into our hands! The deed's been done, Wally, and there's no turning back."

"No, Edward Nieg was right, this nightmare has to end!"

Suddenly Wally's hand erupted with a powerful white aura that symbolized kajudo energy belonging to the Zero. Said aura pushed away all of the zombie illusions and thus he was free. Then he took out his deck and went to Subaru.

"Ah yes, the eternal solution to our conflicts, a duel… Fine, I shall grant you one!" the demonic man replied and pulled out his deck as well.

Two tables arose from the floor and both set their cards on them, starting their match.

"I cast Faerie Life." Wally said and the top card of his deck went into his mana zone.

"I cast Aquan Jr.'s Delivery." Subaru said and revealed the top three cards of his deck which were Falconer, Lightfang Ninja, Hyperspatial Revive Hole and Mil Armor, Mecha King Vizier, all of which went into his hand.

"I cast Prelude of Horror! With its effect the next Zero creature I summon costs 5 mana less, so I now summon Pearljam, Faerie Left God!"

A green haired fairy wearing a mask to cover her face and dressed in a large pink kimono, who was wielding a sword, appeared in the battle zone, giving off a scary woman's laugh. By her effect, Wally sent the top card of his deck to the mana zone.

"I summon Cebu Aquman Jr." Subaru said and a little white baby alien with an X covering its only eye and a mouth filled with sharp teeth appeared in the battle zone, causing the top three cards of his deck to reveal themselves as Berlin, Bell Gravekeeper, Divine Punishment of Heaven and Olzekia, General of Decapitation, all of which went into his hand.

"I summon Massive Attack, Battle Attacking Right God! With its effect I draw a card. Then I link Pearljam with Massive Attack and activate the effects of both! I get another card in my mana zone and draw yet another card."

A blue Cyclops robot with two golden horns on its head and who was wielding a staff appeared and united with the green haired fairy.

"Pearljam Massive Attack, triple break his shields!" Wally ordered and the linked Gods attacked with their sword and staff and took down three of his opponent's shields.

"Shield trigger activate, I cast two Ghost Touch!" Subaru said and watched how Wally discarded Kraft Kwerk, Twin Heaven Right God and Hyperspatial Faerie Hole. "My turn, I summon Jenny, the Suicide Doll and destroy her!"

A red eyed white haired doll dressed in a dark red dress appeared in the battle zone and stabbed herself with her large razor weapon, exploding and causing Wally to discard his last card which was Devo, Twin Horse Left God.

"Then I cast Miraculous Snare and send Pearljam Massive Attack to your shields!" Subaru continued and he watched how the fairy side of the linked Gods disappeared, the blue robot remaining. "I end."

"My turn, I summon Justice, Lord of Spirits Left God!" Wally said and a white lion headed angel appeared in the battle zone while he looked at the top five cards of his deck, out of which he selected one and let the others fall into his graveyard. "I cast Shrine of Rebirth for free and send Faerie Life and Hyperspatial Faerie Hole from my graveyard into my mana zone. Then I link Justice with Massive Attack and draw a card. Go, Justice Massive Attack, break his final shields!"

"Ninja Strike 4, I summon Falconer, Lightfang Ninja and block your attack!"

A white plane like creature flew into the battle zone and took the full blow of Wally's Gods' attack, being destroyed. Thus Subaru had managed to protect his last two shields.

"My turn, I summon Phal Pierro, Apocalyptic Guardian and destroy him! With its effect I return Miraculous Snare to my hand. Then I cast Miraculous Snare, send Justice Massive Attack to your shields!" Subaru said and he watched how the blue robot side disappeared and his opponent gained a seventh shield. "Gravity Zero, I summon Bloody Shadow, Mystic Light Death Knight for free since I cast a spell! I end."

Wally drew his next card, but much to Subaru's surprise, he did not charge mana with it or use it. Instead, he tapped his remaining God in the battle zone and ordered:

"Justice, double break his shields! Attack Chance: Zero creature, I cast Triple Zero, Secret Hell!"

He then revealed the card in his hand which was a cost 7 Zero spell depicting his glorious leader Yomi surrounded by three birds, a yellow, a blue and a green one.

"With Triple Zero's effect I add the top card of my deck to my shields. Then, since I have a Zero creature with cost 6 or more, I draw a card and put the top card of my deck to my mana zone! Go, Justice, break his final shields!"

"Block it, Bloody Shadow!"

The lion angel created a blue energy sphere in its hands and casted it upon its owner's opponent, but then the ghostly knight stood in its way and got destroyed while defending the shields. And now Subaru's turn came again. He drew a card, charged mana and said:

"I summon Jenny, the Suicide Doll and destroy her!"

The suicidal puppet returned once again and did her self-sacrifice routine, this time Wally discarding New Order, Demonic Eye Right God.

"Then I cast Hyperspatial Revive Hole and return Falconer, Lightfang Ninja from my graveyard to my hand. Afterwards I put Black Ganveet, Temporal Soldier in the battle zone and destroy Justice!" Subaru resumed and a horned demon dressed in a golden armor and wielding two blue scythe swords descended from a hole in the ceiling into the battle zone, riding its skeletal horse.

Black Ganveet made his horse gallop towards the lion angel and with two swings from his swords the creature was history. Wally gulped. Now he really was in trouble. If at the end of his turn he had no cards in his hand, Black Ganveet would awaken into Darkness Ganveet and that would mean the end of him. But if he kept cards in his hand, Subaru would most likely discard them on his next turn. He needed a miracle to escape such a situation.

Alas, that miracle came when he drew his next card. His smile of relief brought worry to Subaru.

"You won't keep me in a stalemate forever, you know." the principal confidently spoke.

"What do you mean?" his opponent curiously asked.

"I summon Cyber N World!"

Subaru gasped upon seeing that creature. To Darkness decks that focused on discarding and milling, Cyber N World was ruining both strategies perfectly, recycling both players' graveyards back into their decks, shuffling their hands in their decks as well and giving them five brand new cards in their hand. That meant one thing, the threat of Black Ganveet no longer existed.

He sighed and watched with frustration how that black robotic creature with white armor reset everything he had worked so hard to maintain.

"Then I cast Prelude of Horror and summon Massive Attack, Battle Attacking Right God for just one mana, after which I draw a card!" Wally thus concluded his turn.

"You cheap bastard, you'll pay for this!" Subaru threatened. "I summon Big Day Out, Evil Demon! With its effect I destroy Cyber N World and tap Massive Attack!"

A four armed bull demon that had a skull instead of legs appeared in the battle zone and roared, after which it swung its blue sword and used it to slash the black robot.

"Then I attack Massive Attack with Black Ganveet!" Subaru continued.

"Trying to reset Ganveet? Sorry, can't allow that – Ninja Strike 4, I summon Falconer, Lightfang Ninja and block Black Ganveet!" Wally said and another plane appeared and stood in the way of the demonic cavalry.

"Heh, since you blocked my creature's attack - Ninja Strike 7, I summon Hanzou, Menacing Phantom!" the black haired man showed his own ninja and a demonic purple frog appeared and with its mace tongue it took down the other robot as well. "I give -6000 power to Massive Attack, destroying him!"

"So he has more tricks up his sleeve… I'll have to finish this quick before I regret dragging this duel too long." the brown haired man thought and then he spoke. "I cast Faerie Gift and with its effect I summon Justice, Lord of Spirits Left God for just four mana!"

The white angelic lion reappeared and allowed its owner to look at the top five cards of his deck and select a spell to cast for free yet again.

"Then I cast Prelude of Horror and I summon Daft Punk, Lord of Demons Right God for two mana! With Daft Punk's effect I revive Massive Attack and draw another card!" Wally said and a purple horned bird demon appeared by his side, followed by the blue Cyclops robot, the angel and the demon uniting. "God Link – Justice Daft Punk! And since I linked those two Gods, they don't suffer of summoning sickness, so I attack with Justice Daft Punk, break his final shields!"

"Argh!" Subaru growled as the shield shards hit him and he remained defenseless.

After so many years of dueling weaklings, the black haired man had forgotten what it was like to have a real challenge. And now there he was, cornered by his opponent. He had underestimated Wally and with a single card the game had been turned against him. But was it the end? No, he wouldn't give up that easily, that was simply not the way Darkness worked. His hand erupted with a large purple aura as he drew his next card and quickly placed it upon his table, shouting:

"Black Ganveet, evolve into Ballom, Lord of Demons!"

The golden armored demon got surrounded by a similar aura and it morphed into a blue winged and blue skinned goat demon, wearing an armor made of white bone and a pair of red pants, its feet crossed in a meditation position.

"When Ballom is put in the battle zone, all non-Darkness creatures are destroyed!" Subaru announced and he watched how his goat demon fired a wave of darkness which killed his Cebu Aquman Jr. along with Wally's Massive Attack and the Daft Punk which he unlinked. "Now go, Ballom, attack Justice!"

The blue goat demon waved its hands, creating a purple energy sphere which it cast upon the white angel and made it explode. With that, Subaru ended his turn. He was one mana short from summoning Dorballom, so he had to wait until next turn, and then he would have won the game. In his battle zone he had both Ballom and Big Day Out, which were Demon Commands that he could evolve into his desired finisher.

"Please, Yomi-sama, I pray that the power of Zero help us!" Wally thought and then he spoke to his opponent. "My turn, I summon Yomi, Mankind God! With his effect I draw three cards!"

"What?!" a surprised Subaru reacted.

The leader of the Oracles materialized in the battle zone, the long white hair and pink wings from his head flapping in the air, his red, orange, black and white robes making his stature imposing.

"Your prayers have been answered, Wally." Yomi said with a benevolent voice as his duelist drew three cards.

"Thank you…" the principal replied with gratefulness, after which he turned to his opponent. "I cast Faerie Gift and then I summon Pearljam, Faerie Left God for three mana! God Link, Pearljam Yomi!"

The fairy wearing a pink kimono returned once again and this time she united with the Oracle leader. That meant that they lacked summoning sickness and could attack, and since Subaru had no more Falconer, Lightfang Ninja in his hand to protect himself, it was game over for him.

"Impossible… this can't be the end…" the demonic man uttered.

"Good bye, old friend." Wally sighed and then he tapped his card. "Pearljam Yomi, todomeda!"

What followed next was an explosion which caught Rad's attention. The fire duelist quickly put his bathrobe back on and he walked out of the room to be greeted by the image of his wounded lover while Wally was running away back to the elevator.

"Oh no, Subaru!" he shouted and shook the darkness duelist. "Come on, wake up, please!"

"Rad…" he barely opened his eyes, which were reverted to their normal human form, those brown pools in an ocean of white. "Don't worry… it will all be fine…"

"Don't speak, I'll take you to the cabinet!" the racer spoke in a nutshell and was about to help his partner get up.

"No, don't bother… Remember what I promised you on that day…" Subaru said while grabbing his hand tight. "No matter what… we'll be together… for eternity…"

And thus, he closed his eyes. Rad stared at him for a few moments as certain emotions that he had rid himself of began making their way into his supposedly cruel heart. Yes, he felt it once again, the pain, the sadness, the longing, they all returned and reminded him that at the end of the day, he too was human.

The corridor was suddenly filled with Rad's screams of inner pain and before Wally knew it, he heard quick footsteps rushing in his direction. He knew what that meant and thus he himself hurried. He had to get out of the factory quick, for Yomi told him that he had brought reinforcements and they had all decided the best way to end this nightmare was by setting the entire building on fire so that it would burn along with the grim memories of mankind's inner animal.

"Come back here, you fucking asshole!" Rad's shrieks reached Wally's ears. "I'll tear you up bit by bit!"

They only served to instill even more fear into the principal, who hastened his steps. It was a chore to remember all the twists and turns to take in order to reach the elevator, but he had to think fast, or else he was done for.

It was then that the temperature rose extremely high in the upper levels. The sounds of materials crunching only meant one thing, that the Oracles had already started their plan. Rad stared with disbelief at the flames that began to slowly devour the chambers, starting from upstairs and slowly descending upon the other levels as well. But they did not have the intimidating effect that Wally had hoped, instead they made his pursuer even more determined to hunt down both the principal and his Oracle allies.

Fortunately for the zero duelist, he had reached the elevator and pressed its button to have its doors open. But just then the red sword went past him, cutting his left cheek and stabbing the button, thus stopping the elevator's doors halfway. Not waiting for an explanation, he quickly got inside, managing to fit perfectly through the opening. Then he pressed the button that would lead him to the first floor and to his luck it descended just as Rad reached him.

"You're not getting away that easily…" Rad growled as he pulled his sword out of the elevator's button.

The racer went to the stairs that were parallel to the elevator and made a quick jump, he managing to land at the first floor on his feet. Then he went to said elevator and when it reached the same floor, he stabbed the door many times with the sword. But little did he know that Wally had anticipated this and he switched the command for the second floor, got out and pressed the button for the first floor, after which he had gone down the stairs just after he saw Rad land there.

Having successfully snuck behind the psychopath, the principal was now heading to freedom. The heat of the flames covering the factory was starting to get to him and he unbuttoned his jacket and rubbed the sweat off his forehead. On his path he stumbled upon the sea of Outrage and Oracle dead bodies. So many souls had died for another pointless battle in the name of greed and violence. He only hoped that with the disappearance of that cursed place, that evil would be finally vanquished into history's dark bowels.

An earthquake shook him back to his senses and he resumed his pursuit of freedom, making his way through the pile of bodies, on a path that he thought many of his former students would have wished to take. Very soon, the entire first floor of the factory became a huge sauna, as upstairs the contraptions, conveyor belts, produced machine pieces and so on were being mercilessly devoured by the wild burning flames. Soon said flames were seen from the ceiling, but Wally was just two right turns away from the door that led him to freedom.

Just then, he felt a stab on his back which threw him forward and had him land on his belly. Spitting blood, he forced himself up, pulled out the sword and dropped it, resuming his path and not looking back at all. In a few moments Rad reclaimed his weapon and then he followed his prey, ready to finish him when he least expected it.

"Oh Wally, you should've learned by now that besides me, nobody gets out alive!" the former hero laughed.

There it was, the exit so revered by many. Wally was just a few steps of it, and outside he saw Yomi and a dozen of other Oracles waiting for him with blankets and medicines. But little did he know that a few feet behind him, Rad and his sword were preparing the finishing blow.

Just then, a pile of burning rubble fell from the ceiling upon the racer, who screamed in agony. His noises scared the brown haired man, who quickly jumped out of the raging inferno and landed on the snow, seconds before the entire ceiling collapsed upon the first floor's corridors, thus blocking anyone else's chance of escaping. The medical staff rushed to attend Wally's wounds while Yomi looked at the cursed factory which was now meeting its fate by the very thing it produced. It was all over at long last.

Days later, after the New Year's celebration, a now healed Wally and Yomi were both visiting the ruins of what used to be the factory. While the flames had devoured all the bodies and a part of the production, the machines had somehow survived, as well as most working rooms. Besides a good part of the external walls which could not resist to the flamethrowers, the rest of the building held its ground pretty well, like a bug that would not die no matter how much it were crushed underfoot.

"So what are we going to do now?" Wally asked.

"Once this winter passes, I will have my men come here and we will have this place sanctified and turned into a brand new Oracle temple. Gone are the days in which demons and their unholy fires dwelled in this place!" Yomi declared and then he turned around. "Are you coming?"

"Go without me, Yomi-sama. I would like to stay a little more and remember…"

"Alright, peace be with you, Wally."

Once he heard his master's rocket take off, the principal sighed and took a small tour of the factory. He had been through so many, and it all amounted to that – more death to stop the cycle of death. Fate truly had an ironic take.

The elevator no longer worked, so he went up the stairs, which while squeaking whenever he took a step, they were still in pretty good shape. As he climbed them, he remembered his career as a teacher, all those courses he held explaining the mysteries of this game, the reforms he applied at the school, and then the beginning of his downfall when he decided to strike a pact with those devils. Closing his eyes, he swore he would never repeat such a mistake once more.

Upon arriving to the fourth floor, he wandered through the corridor, reminiscing the duel and chase that he had on that night. Deep inside, it hurt him having to do that to those who were once his friends, but in the end he had no other choice. All he could hope was that their bloodthirsty souls had at last found their peace, along with those of the poor students he had condemned to that living hell.

And in the end he arrived at in front of it. The famous door upon which the words 'WARNING – UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT' were written in red upon black. But how exactly did the room in which those teens worked their last days look like? And how did that nightmarish contraption which once produced those dreaded dark flames look like? Stretching his arm forward, he was about to open the door and find out the answers to those questions.

All of a sudden, two arms grabbed him in a tight grip. His heart raced faster as he felt a cheek uniting with his own and he saw blood racing down both skins.

"But how… ?" he whispered in utter shock.

"Evil is eternal." the devilish Subaru affirmed and then he revealed his fangs to him.

Wally's screams echoed throughout the corridor. Inside the working room, Rad paced alone and took off the bandages from his back and arms. His burns had almost healed. Taking a look at the imposing wine glass shaped contraption, he was happy that it had both survived and kept the last sample of Black Fire inside it as well. With a sadistic smile on his face, he declared:

"The Fire will keep burning in the Darkness."

THE END