The Rise and Fall of History III: The Future Will Fade

by Medigo

A long journey through time threatens to come to an end. The lord of time has returned while the war of the worlds reaches a twisted climax at the hands of the guilds. One side must fall and be forever erased, and its days are numbered. Only one can bring salvation yet he has been banished from his home once again. The duelists must all stand together, or there will be no future.

4. Ignorance is Bliss

Nexus 003: Ignorance is Bliss

Uno's LP: 4900 Justin's LP: 6200

"The Claw of Hermos?" It was difficult to bring up the details with a memory as solid as swiss cheese. But Uno/Fortuno was no stranger to this card. "I don't know the story, maybe you can tell me later? But.. I do know how to use it!" Justin activated the spell, summoning a blue dragon. Yet this was not a monster. "Claw of Hermos lets me fuse any warrior with it, to create something completely and utterly unique!" The dragon transformed into a polymerizing vortex and sucked in the Destiny HERO Drilldark that Justin was holding in his hand. "Let's see what we are gonna make now!" A warrior type fusing with Hermos resulted in.. something neither anticipated. "Goddess Bow?" It was neither warrior nor dragon. The fusion was a purple bow(4/1500/1600) of the gods, carrying a glowing arrow. It was a powerful glow, one that bathed the hill in divine splendor. "It worked! Excellent! See, Uno! I've made my own card, just like you! Not even my dueldisk can see it or tell me what it does. By my eyes can!"

"Hermos.." There was a story to this dragon, a story of three knights, three swords and one ancient evil from the deep seas. "Exactly. You wrote a lot of stories.. Uno, the first duelist. But you kept a lot from us too. All that you wanted us to have from the age of Orichalcos was a watered down field spell and two monsters that don't even work together. Such a waste. But you made it up to us when you gave us the final code for Dom's vaults. There we learned the names of every forgotten power.. Hermos, Critias, Timaeus, Kyutora. And as you will see, we can use them well!" Justin moved the card to the spell/trap zone, and equipped Goddess Bow to Destiny HERO Dusktopia(8/3000/3000). Goddess Bow could change itself into an equipment spell. "Hermos fuses with monsters to form weapons. Critias fuses with traps to form dragons. Timaeus fuses with magicians to create dragonriders." Uno had not forgotten the three swordsmen from Atlantis. Though he never interfered with that timeline directly, or many others. The problem now was.. he could not tell what Goddess Bow's effect was.

"I banish Destiny HERO Dynatag from my graveyard, to give my other Hero 1000 attackpoints for two turns." The banished dynamite warrior exploded in his own grave. Dusktopia(4000/3000) absorbed the charged-up flames without hesitation. "But this show is not just about him. I summon another Destiny HERO, Celestial!" A less stronger hero materialized, Celestial(4/1600/1400) the close-combat fighter in black and red. "Celestial attacks Performapal Lizardraw!" Its low attack did not make it less of a danger when it decided to strike the stronger performing lizard(3/2000/600). "When Celestial attacks, he can destroys a spell.." The only reason Uno's monsters were stronger was his Performapal Dramatic Theater spell. "You got it!" So Celestial merely needed to destroy the field spell, which it did by throwing the spiked ring on its back like a razorblade. The ring tore through the sheets of the theater circus, and Lizardraw(1200/600) lost its powerboosts. The poor performer was quickly slaughtered by his attacker. Celestial inflicted 500 points of damage at that, each time his effect destroyed a spell or trap card with his effect.

Uno's LP: 4000

"I activate Performapal Changeraffe!" Activating the spell effect of her pendulum giraffe meant destroying her but also reviving the monster that was just destroyed. "Oh. You really shouldn't have." Justin met that action with a laugh and his own effect. "You see, Goddess Bow negates the first effect made during the battlephase!" The arrows on Dusktopia's bow caught fire. The first of the arrows was shot through Changeraffe, rendering her sacrifice useless and keeping Lizardraw in the extra deck. "And then the equipped monster can make two attacks instead of one!" The Dusktopic one let two more shots go. One to destroy Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000), the other to destroy Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon(7/2500/2000). For the second attack Uno used Performapal Drummerilla's effect to strengthen Phantom Dragon(3100/2000) a little. Just to minimize the damage. "Quick thinking. Actually, I probably could have left Lizardraw for Dusktopia. But if I didn't think you would let me get my second attack!" The only monsters Uno still controlled were the weak ones: Performapal Corn(3/800/800) and Ballad(3/500/1100). "I hope you're not gonna call this unfair. Not after everything you have done." Only Justin could have known what Goddess Bow would do.

Uno's LP: 1600

"My turn!" Uno ignored him and activated a spell. "Pot of Riches!" The Pot would return three pendulum monsters (Performapal Whimwitch, Changeraffe, Lizardraw) from his graveyard or extra deck back to the main deck, to draw two cards. One of them, was another unknown dragon. "I made more than one?" On some level Uno's cards must have felt his frustration. It was at the least not a fluke that this card came into existence only now. "..I set the scale; Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon!" Another form of Odd-Eyes born from his own mind, a green dragon (scale 8) in mint-silver armor. "If you're going to strike with the unknown, the unknown will strike back! Justin!" In between Drummerilla (scale 2) and the Mirage Dragon, Uno pendulum summoned both Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon and Odd-Eyes Pendulum dragon from the extra deck. "Lets see which monster you will protect!" Dusktopia's effect could only be used on one monster each turn. Uno let the Phantom Dragon bombard Destiny HERO Celestial with a ghostly blaze.

"Hmm." Dusktopia did not answer the attack and watched Celestial get destroyed. Goddess Bow did however negate the effect of Performapal Drummerilla, as it attempted to add more attackpoints to the dragon. Seeing as how there was one Odd-Eyes card in Uno's pendulum zones; Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon inflicted 1200 points of effect damage to Justin as well. "I knew what you were up to. But don't take that as a courtesy. Still, I appreciate you getting more talkative." Justin basically let the destruction of Celestial happen. Its graveyard effect was too beneficial to pass up. "Talking.." Perhaps it was a good idea to exchange words after all. Justin clearly knew more about what was going on than Uno or Lavender did. "Hm? What're you looking at?" Justin did notice that Uno was, involuntarily, looking to his left to see if he could spot Lavender.. now that his mind drifted towards her. "Justin. Tell me, what are is your guild trying to do here? Why did you start using the templars, and how?" He'd have to divert both their thoughts to each other.

Justins's LP: 4500

"It wasn't my idea. Those orders came from the top, around the same time the Templars started helping us. Helpings us extend our control over this country. I hear we're going global pretty soon. Once we turn off the border shields." Justin was all too happy to lay out their horrifying plan. "But why? Why do these people have to suffer?" Even for the sake of domination, there was no need to turn everyone into cards. "The final solution, is what they call it. It's for their own good.." The fusion duelist drew his card, as his turn began. "But maybe I shouldn't give everything away. Let's see if you make it through this turn first!" He placed the only card in his hand face-down. "Now that I have no cards in my hand, Destiny HERO Celestial can refill it!" Justin banished the celestial one to use its grave-effect. The duelist drew two cards. "Heh" One of them was discarded. "I activate Destiny HERO Dark Angel to summon one Destiny HERO from the graveyard!" Unlike a usual revival however, Dark Angel summoned cards to the opponents side of the field. The pale-skinned blonde angel opted to resurrect himself(1/0/0) in front of Uno, in defense position.

"Unless you have any tricks left, this will be a clean victory. I activate Over Destiny!" The second drawn card was revealed; a normal spell that special summoned any Destiny Hero from the deck. However that hero's level had to be half of a Destiny Hero monster in the graveyard. "Over Destiny targets Destiny HERO Dystopia. So now I can special summon another Destiny HERO Drilldark!" A beam of light transported the drilling mine warrior(4/1600/1200) in from the deck. "Drilldark can inflict damage through any defense, Uno. So.. who do you think I should attack?" Justin moved his finger across the board, there were five targets. Only one mattered. "Drilldark! Destroy Dark Angel!" The driller launched himself forwards, pushing his right-arm drill into the body of the grim angel. "Drummerilla!" It wouldn't do any good to empower his monster either, Drilldark was after defense points. "What was that good for?" Justin had to block the effect with Goddess Bow anyway. And now the piercing attack would cost Uno 1600 lifepoints the second Dark Angel perished.

"Performapal Inflater Tapir." It cost him nothing. "What?" For once, Uno caught his opponent by surprise. He discarded the Balloon tapir from his hand, to nullify all battle damage. "You showed me how your card works. It can only stop the first effect I use each battle phase! It has to!" That was the reason for Drummerilla's seemingly pointless drum solo. "Ha! I was hoping you wouldn't go down so quickly. Not that it matters, there's no way out for you!" Justin had Dusktopia use its doubly-loaded bow to attack both dragons again, if only to cause more damage. "During my next standby phase I can banish Dark Angel and another Destiny HERO from my graveyard, to place a spell we already used on top of both our decks!" Justin allowed his turn to end. "I figured. So you are going to take back Claw of Hermos and create another fusion? Or Polymerization to fuse another Dystopia hero?" Neither option was very healthy for Uno's steadily decreasing lifepoints. Dystopia's effect could kill him outright. "Yes. Your next turn will be your last. So make it count, Uno!"

Uno's LP: 600

"Only one more turn huh." In a way, Uno was happy to know that his time in this duel was almost up. But he could not lose, he could not. "Alice, Eric, Everyone.. they are all counting on me." He was placing all their lives on the scale. All would be decided by his next draw and he was not sure if he could find the card to overpower Dusktopia. "And.." It was then, as he thought of the many faces he did not want to fail, that a power awakened. "Huh? The.." Not a power inside him, just one very close. "The doll!" He cried out."Doll?" Justin flinched. "I.." Martel's puppet was still hidden inside his coat and now it felt like it was burning a hole into his skin. "It's got to be the pendulum. But why is it reacting now?" Uno looked around, before settling his eyes on his deck. "Maybe.." Carefully he moved the card on top and flipped it over. "It's trying to help?" He wasn't looking at a Performapal, Magician or Odd-Eyes monster. Whatever this was, it was not his. On the other hand, if the source was this strange pendulum crystal, it could have been much worse. Uno half expected a Shaddoll. Instead.. "I summon, Aleister the Invoker!" It was a normal man, a summoner(4/1000/1800) in white robes. "The..Invoker?"

"Yes! Aleister the Invoker! He possesses the power of invocation!" Uno explained it as if every detail was already familiar to him . A memory after all, perhaps. "I normal summoned him and now he adds the spell of Invocation to my hand!" Not only did the crystal create a monster for him, it also created a spell card. "This is my fusion spell, Justin! Invocation fuses Aleister on the field with one a monster of any element to summon the Invoked! If the materials are on the field, they are banished!" Invocation selected Performapal Corn, a light-type monster. "I summon Mechaba the Invoked!" Aleister and Corn disappeared into magic circle; a summoning portal for the Invoked. Now that He was granted access, Mechaba the armored divine king(9/2500/2100) arrived. He rode in on a mechanical carriage-beast made of white metal. "What? How!? The vaults didn't have anything like this! What does it do?" Justin tried to get his disk to scan the monster, but the machines could only tell him that it was a fused monster.

"Not even Dom knew all the stories, Justin. But I hope you're not gonna call this unfair." Considering what Goddess Bow did to him, Uno felt no guilt about building up his own surprises. "I will tell you one thing though. Invocation and Aleister aren't done yet." The duelist withdrew Invocation from his graveyard. "I can return this spell to my deck, to free Aleister from the banished zone!" Invocation shuffled into the deck, Aleister ended up in Uno's hand; it all skipped back to square one. "And Aleister can be discarded during either players turn, to give an Invoked monster one thousand attackpoints!" To wrap the main phase up, Uno pendulum summoned Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Odd-Eyes Phantom dragon back from the extra deck. "Showdown time! Invoked Mechaba attacks Destiny HERO Dusktopia!" The divine rider took to the sky and charged towards the golden warrior. "Drummerilla!" The ape beat its chest to start its effect. "Rgh! Goddess Bow!" Dusktopia used its divine arrows to cancel Drummerilla's power. "And Dusktopia!" The fusion hero's own effect would deal with Aleister and Mechaba.

"Oh. I wouldn't have done that!" Uno flicked his fingers. "What's that supposed to.. Gah!?" Justins words were cut down by a sharp blast of lightning. Mechaba summoned thunder to charge his sword, and he swept it across the field to cut Dusktopia clean in half. "Hey! What did you do?" Dusktopia was gone, reduced to golden feathers and stardust. "Invoked Mechaba can negate a card's effect and banish the card, if I throw away the same type of card from my hand. I discarded Aleister to get rid of Destiny HERO Dusktopia!" Now all of Uno's band converged on the last hero: Drilldark. "You tricked me!" Aleister was a feint, Uno did not need its second effect at all. "One way or another, you would have lost here Justin." Mechaba's carriage-beast stopped right in front of Justin and crushed Destiny HERO Drilldark with its claws. "Odd-Eyes and Odd-Eyes, direct attack!" Mechaba might have turned the tides, but Uno would let his own monsters finish the fight. The two dragons combined their flame streams. "Ugh.." Though Justin took the blast remarkably well. "...?" Though Uno won, it seemed like his attacks lacked punch. Could he not turn his holograms into something stronger.. with this new pendulum?

Justin's LP: 0

"Sir Justin!" The pilot of Justins helicopter finally left his seat. "Stand down." The duelist stopped the pilot with a quick nod. "So, Uno. I guess you were just too good. Tch. We take all your old stories, so you just invent new ones." Despite his loss, Justin seemed to take it with a remarkable stride. "They aren't my stories." Uno retorted. Aleister was not new either. If only he could recall its origin. "Don't end it with a line like that. Feh." Justin coughed. He was not smiling anymore. "?!" The Templar started buzzing and moving again. "Justin!" It was coming for the fusion duelist. "Damn. Looks like I'm no longer on her good side. I should be mad, I wanted to keep going. But maybe this is how it should be. Maybe you are the hero after all, Uno. You wanted to know how we started using the templars, didn't you? I know that you give yours the personalities drawn from your world's duelists. Well.. we do the same." One templar flashed a ray of energy to blind Uno... "No!" and to transform Justin. His body was gone, just a card remained.

"You.. you people are crazy!" Uno yelled, at the templar and at the pilot. "Anyone who loses must fall. We can only follow orders to postpone our own fate." The pilot mournfully explained. "How can you continue like that? Whose orders are you following? Do you want to change the whole world?" This insane tale was starting to sound familiar. Phoebe and Martel both talked about this; a grand plan to unite both worlds. But how.. "Uno! Behind you!" Uno turned around. "Lavender?" She was warning him about something again. About someone.

Gary's LP: 1600

"You?" Gary showed up on the streets, with a dueldisk active and a monster on the field: Mad Archfiend(4/1800/0). "Why..Oh!" Uno realized what was going on, Gary joined the duel.. in fact he never left. Neither did Uno. His monsters were still on the field too, and his lifepoints did not reset. "It's the battle royale system, Uno!" Lavender cried out again. "Argh. Of course." That's why the templar did not interfere, so it could maintain the battle royale network. Gary had brought a second one with him, not by choice presumably. "Gary. I dont know what you think you are doing, but.." It did not look like gary was here to assist Uno. "I.. I can't. I'm... I tried to run, but they caught me. I didn't want to.. they told me how much they needed you.. I could.. I have do this." Gary entered the battle phase. "I'm so sorry." Mad Archfiend threw his fist into Performapal Ballad and destroyed it. "This can't.." Mad Archfiend was another piercing attacker. Uno's lifepoints flew away. "Gah!" And without his lifepoints, his body could not keep up. The damage of the last two duels took their toll alltogether.. Uno was starting to slip into the darkness.

Uno's LP: 0

"Why.." The back of his head crashed against the pavement. Three people looked down at him; Gary.. "What is going to happen to him now?" The pilot... "Your guess is as good as mine. I was only told not to card him." And Lavender. "Uno.." He used the last of his strength to reach out to her. "Run.. get away.." The pilot followed the movement of Uno's arm and narrowed his eyes. "Who.. are you pointing at?" These words hit him like a wall of water. "Who?" His eyes widened, for an instant. Then they closed, and the nightmares claimed him.

"No. Not again. Not now." He was back where he started, back in the desert of grass.. the battlefield of dragons. One could almost mistake this for reality, and what happened before the dream. But this could not be true, it wasn't true. He was merely unconscious. So why did he see this? This was not a random creation of his mind. "What do you want from me?" Something or someone was pulling him here.. More than one. There was still the faint cry coming from the tree. But it was buried in light and sound. Uno could not recall why he ever enjoyed the light, the energy it was radiating. He feared coming closer, despite the answers the tree might hide. "Not you." There was another voice, pure and distant. It came from the arid region of this world, where the grass stopped and the sand hills grew. It called him, it needed him. "You." Though it seemed so far away, Uno only needed to desire it.. and the gap disappeared. There was resistance, forces pulled him back and pushed him away. But he broke through. "You!" And there, suddenly, he stood on solid ground. On a raised platform in front of a temple. There he saw her.

"I did it." It was June, the psychic woman.. one of December's friends. "You did it. You found me.. and I found you." She sounded relieved... "We have to talk... son of Tempus."

(To be Continued in Nexus 004: A Small World after All)

New Cards used by Uno Nisell
Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon
Aleister the Invoker

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Invoked Mechaba

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Invocation

New Cards used by Justin
Destiny HERO Celestial
Destiny HERO Dark Angel

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Goddess Bow

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Over Destiny