IX
3:22 P.M.
All was quiet in Nakajima's car as he drove through town. The gaze of Himika's aide barely wavered from the road ahead as he maneuvered through traffic.
Behind him, Shirai Toshio sat slumped in the backseat. The Leo Corporation's lead programmer—Nakajima still called him that because Himika had yet to decide otherwise—was deliberately not looking at him, except for when he saw the man in the corner of his eye, and then only from the rear-view mirror.
Nakajima felt little pity for the man; Shirai had barely protested his innocence since he'd come to from fainting earlier. He seemed resigned, at the very least, to the notion that his career at LeoCorp might have reached an inauspicious end—for perhaps the least likely reason imaginable. All that kept him going was the faint hope that this might be some sort of bad dream.
They passed the You Show Duel School. As the brightly colored building blurred past him, Nakajima became aware of his personal mobile buzzing.
He frowned. "Display."
At his single command, the windshield faintly glowed, displaying a short message—only five words—that somehow managed to convey the terseness of the person who had sent it:
Turn on the news. Now.
The burly aide flicked a switch, letting the noise of the radio filter through the sound system. It took a while for him to tune to the station he was looking for—
"—live from the scene—exclusive report—another explosion less than five miles from the Leo Duel School—casualties are confirmed—"
Nakajima was too distracted by the news to be completely sure of what happened next. He only remembered slamming on the brakes so hard he was nearly rear-ended by a sedan, and feeling something crash into his seat.
It was only when that something reached under his neck that Nakajima belatedly realized he had it backwards: Shirai had lunged forward, seatbelt be damned, and actually put him in a headlock—of all the insane stunts he could possibly have pulled! The sheer audacity of the act was all that had kept him from crashing the car just now.
"I don't want trouble." Shirai did not give Nakajima the first chance to speak. "I don't want to hurt you."
Then Nakajima's brain caught up with the world around him, and instantly his free hand had reached up to Shirai's wrist to pluck it from his neck. But the lead programmer's strength was surprising—how desperate is he, wondered the aide, that he would assault me, of all people?!
"You're in no position to make threats," he managed to growl.
"I'm not trying to threaten you—I'm trying to save you." Shirai's voice was trembling. "We both know Seika caused that explosion. And if you don't listen to me—if you don't give me what I want—then that virus will cover our hands in so much blood that we will never be able to wash them clean."
Nakajima's nostrils flared. "Humoring you for no reason—what do you want?"
Shirai's grip relaxed then, but not completely; Nakajima suspected he knew he had the upper hand here.
The programmer only spoke two words. "Your phone."
"Why?"
But even as Nakajima asked the question, he suspected he knew the answer. Even from the rearview mirror, he could see Shirai eyeing his personal mobile. The same one he used to talk to one person—and one person only.
Things happened so quickly that even Masumi's eyes, still hyper-focused from the adrenaline that had been surging through her ever since their escape, had little time to take it all in.
"This is the MCPD! Step out with your hands over your heads!"
Scarcely had the bark of the bullhorn registered in her ear when no less than eight police cars—black-and-white Toyotas, sirens blaring and scarlet lights ablaze—had skidded to a halt in the street. Two cops burst from each one, weapons in hand.
And pointed right at the phone booth she and her friends had squashed themselves into.
The Fusion Duelist didn't trust herself to think, let alone speak. Even the threat of Seika tracking them down felt insignificant now; Masumi knew that if any of them so much as reached for their Duel Disk, sixteen bullets—courtesy of the Maiami City Police—would make sure they wouldn't get far.
She hung up the phone; the bullhorn was loud enough that Himika would have heard it over the line. Gesturing for the others to follow suit, Masumi began to raise her hands—
BOOM.
—right as a horribly familiar plume of blue fire erupted from the building across from where the LID stood … the same apartment, a stunned Masumi realized too late, where J.D. Crowley had once lived.
The force of the blast shattered the windows of the booth; Masumi leaped in front of Hotene to protect her from the exploding glass. Through the ruined panes, she saw passersby leaping back in shock, and several onlookers running away from the scene. The policemen had whirled around at the building, completely distracted.
"Are you okay?" Masumi hollered at Hotene. The tiny Duelist had curled herself into a ball the moment Masumi had shielded her. She was seen to faintly nod from within that ball, and inwardly she relaxed.
"We're good, too," Yaiba grunted from beneath Shen; both Synchro users had practically plastered themselves against Fuyu when the booth glass had broken. The Xyz Duelist, squashed against Shen, could do little more than raise his thumb.
"And so am I."
It felt as though a giant pit had opened up in Masumi's stomach. She'd been hoping never to hear that voice again, even though she knew the moment would inevitably come—
She bit her tongue, looked up—and felt that great pit widen further still.
Seika's beady eyes seemed to pierce her like so many needles, even from across the street. Azure flames licked the virus' black cloak as it hovered in the air, drifting down to earth from the massive hole that had been blasted through Crowley's apartment. Although Masumi knew full well both flames and cloak were nothing more than light made solid, this time, she knew enough about them both to know that these Solid Vision holograms were all too real.
But what frightened her most of all were the two limp, feebly stirring forms that were floating either side of Seika.
Agent Moss and Captain Reed looked nothing like the toughened, gung-ho Americans the LID had confronted barely five minutes ago. Both looked thoroughly beaten; Moss' left arm and Reed's right leg flopped about so obscenely that Masumi instantly knew they were broken—in how many places, she didn't even want to guess.
"I caught them sneaking around in places they ought not be." Seika used its invisible, Solid Vision grip to shake Reed and Moss about like a pair of rag dolls. "I can't help but wonder why."
No one spoke.
"Maybe I wasn't being clear." And then, without warning, two CRACKs split the stillness of the scene in quick succession; a sickened Masumi saw Reed's left leg, and Moss' right arm, dangling helplessly beside them—just like their other broken limbs.
"Tell them everything," Seika growled at them both, "before I decide to start an international incident."
Immediately, some unseen force hoisted Reed and Moss up by their shirt collars—and the Fusion user realized in horror that Seika intended to follow through on his threat. Instinctively, she covered Hotene's eyes; the little girl was too shocked at the threat to protest.
Silence followed. Masumi thought she could see Reed's lips moving, but it was impossible to hear what he might be saying.
"I don't think they caught that." Seika's purr made every hair on her neck stand up. "Why don't you raise your voice?"
There was a clicking noise and a brief burst of static from somewhere Masumi couldn't determine—and then, as if by magic, the strained voice of Captain Timothy Reed echoed through the street for all to hear.
"Orders … from Defense Secretary … " he choked out. "LeoCorp … supercomputer … declared asset … of interest … must recover … whatever cost … "
Masumi's mind was already spinning. She already knew that the American government—at its highest echelons—were intent on recovering Q; that letter they'd shown Himika from before was proof of that. But to hear that they'd been ordered to retrieve it in ways that might not even be legal?!
Her fingers were reaching for the phone in the booth. The receiver slipped out of her fumbling grip, but Masumi didn't care; she was already punching in the same number she'd used a few minutes ago—
"What do you want with Q?" Seika demanded.
"A.I. … programming … possible use … military … " Reed was struggling for breath. "We could … take apart … build back up … whatever they wanted … " He made a hacking laugh. "Change war … as we know it … "
So the Americans were hoping to reverse-engineer Q in order to develop a new mode of warfare. Masumi could only imagine the rage on Himika's face if she were here to see this confession take place; there was no way even the chairwoman of LeoCorp could have conceded that these kinds of ends justified these kinds of means.
All the crowds that surrounded them looked torn in indecision, muttering amongst themselves while gazing warily at Seika. The closest of them to Masumi looked as if they couldn't decide between listening at the bombshells the virus was already dropping … or running from the bombshells that were yet to come.
"And how did you intend on catching your very own Dueling supercomputer?" Seika's voice was dripping with intent to kill.
This time, he shook Moss by the broken leg. The CIA agent gave a strangled howl at this; his cries, too, had been amplified tenfold—and it was then that Masumi realized why this was possible.
Unbeknownst to the casual observer, the lifelike behavior of every Duel Monster that had been made into a card was a two-fold process. First, there was the three-dimensional hologram; the second step involved extrapolating the sounds such a monster could make—say, the roars of a Dragon-Type monster, the bellows of a Beast-Type, or the battlecries of a Warrior-Type. To produce these sounds, Solid Vision generators came with their own speaker grids, placed such that any noise they produced appeared to come from the Duel Monster that had just been Summoned.
Seika, it appeared, had now managed to commandeer those speakers. The significance of this development was not lost on Masumi; it told her just how thoroughly the virus had managed to compromise the Solid Vision network that linked the entire city. It could utilize the capabilities of any nearby Solid Vision generator to give itself physical form—now, it seemed, it could do much the same to give it a voice that anyone in this city—and potentially everyone—could readily hear.
"You … LID … bait … " Moss was saying. "Crowley … apartment … linked … Solid Vision. Linked … to Q. LID … finds apartment … you find them … we find you … we find Q … "
"What?!" Yaiba looked angrier than Masumi had ever seen him. The Synchro Duelist's voice was little more than a hiss; he was gripping his bamboo shinai so tightly that it was a wonder he hadn't broken the thing in two.
Even from here, Masumi could see the smile on Moss' face. "Three birds … one stone … "
"Three birds." Seika repeated the words with something that sounded like intense satisfaction. "One stone." The beady eyes flashed from under its cloak—and instantly, Masumi knew what was about to happen—
CRACK.
The Fusion user flung herself on Hotene, covering the tiny Duelist's eyes and ears while squeezing her own shut. But it was already too late to stop herself from hearing the screams of the crowds around them at the sickening noise—like thin ice on a back road, crushed underfoot with barely any effort—
CRUNCH.
Masumi felt bile in her throat when she heard the disgustingly wet noise of flesh hitting concrete, above and either side of the building behind her. She didn't even want to look, didn't want to see what it could possibly have done to Reed or Moss; she heard bits of rubble raining down from the spots where their bodies must have been flung against the walls—
Fuyu was insensate with shock. Shen looked grim. Passersby were slack-jawed, horrified at the callous act they had just witnessed. Mothers and fathers were clutching children, their faces equally pale and tear-stricken; husbands, wives, and friends were clutching each other in utter terror. Some of them had even been holding their Duel Disks like cameras, no doubt regretting capturing the shocking moments live and in color.
"He killed them … " An ashen-faced Yaiba was swaying where he stood; it looked as though he might faint. "I don't believe it … he just snapped their necks and … and killed them … "
Against all her better wishes, Masumi opened her eyes.
There was no sign of Reed or Moss—nothing to suggest either American had ever stepped foot in Maiami City. Nothing … except for two gaping holes, some ten stories above the LID in the building directly behind them … holes just big enough to have accommodated a full-grown man apiece …
"Two birds down." Seika spoke with near-animal relish. "One to go."
3:25 P.M.
Masumi's dropping the receiver in the phone booth had not been entirely accidental. The number she'd dialed—both then and now—had taken her to the LDS front desk. The receptionist, therefore, had heard every word that had been spoken—at least, until reason got the better of her and suggested her boss needed to be hearing this yesterday.
Now, as Akaba Himika listened to the final noises of the same two men that had attempted to strong-arm her into giving up Q barely an hour ago, an unfamiliar feeling had settled within her. As angry as she wanted to feel with the Americans for how they'd attempted to go behind her back—and Himika had been feeling exceptionally furious, there was no doubt about that—Seika's actions had managed to do the impossible, snuffed out that fury … and replaced it with a sudden, growing fear.
The chairwoman couldn't believe it herself—she was afraid. Afraid for her company, how Seika had used its technology for untold levels of compromise, deception, and destruction—afraid for her country, and what the Americans might do when they discovered two of their government servants had been murdered in cold blood on Japanese soil—afraid for herself, and what the public might think of her in the future, after everything that had been revealed today.
But most of all, Himika was afraid for her students—caught in the line of fire with little, if any, avenue of escape left to them.
It was indeed an unfamiliar feeling, to put the fears of others before her own; a cynical part of her wondered if she might be going soft in her old age again. But the feeling was far from altruistic, either—Himika was fully aware that the five children huddled in that shattered phone booth were more than mere students in her eyes. She had given them that distinction; she could not simply take it away from them now, of all times!
They would have to live up to her expectations, she'd told herself then—but would that matter now, if they weren't able to live through this at all?
Her phone rang suddenly, destroying the silence around her. Himika answered it with only the barest sense of awareness. "Yes?"
"It's me." Nakajima sounded like the voice of God. "I've got Shirai with me—he wants to speak with you personally."
Himika blinked stupidly. "What?" Then it came back to her: she'd just suspended Shirai Toshio for compromising personal information—an act that might well have led to the deaths of over thirty people … and very likely more.
She heard a jostling noise from the other end of the line. Then, the voice of her one-time lead programmer filtered through the speaker. It was halting, fearful … but beneath it was a veneer of sudden boldness she hadn't thought possible from the man she'd cowed into a dead faint earlier that day.
"Chairwoman … I only ask that I am allowed to speak my piece. After that … you may do with me as you will."
Don't think I haven't ruled it out, the more cynical part of Himika thought. "Speak it, then," she said, as imperiously as she could under the circumstances.
"I know Seika's just appeared again." Shirai was talking much faster now. "I don't know how many people it's already killed—but we have to stop it now, before it makes last night look like a walk in the park. I can help you, but I'll need yours as well to make it happen."
Himika considered this. "Go on."
"OPEN FIRE!"
"No!" But Masumi's strangled yell was in vain—no sooner had the rubble from the impacts of Reed's and Moss' bodies settled on the ground that sixteen men and women of the Maiami City Police Department had swiveled their gun sights from the LID onto the virus responsible—
It's a hologram it's just light made solid bullets won't do a thing to Seika all you're doing is wasting your time
Dozens more protests—one for each bullet the MCPD was currently firing at Seika—flew through her head with each gunshot that split the air in two. She knew even before the bullets stopped flying that none of them had hit their marks, that they hadn't even caused a ripple in Seika's holographic body—
—and sure enough, the virus didn't even sound the slightest bit affected. "What made you think that would work?" Seika asked disdainfully. The police lowered their weapons, looking utterly lost as to what to do next.
The speaker grid from which its mechanical snarl issued made it seem as though it was coming from every direction, like the herald of some all-powerful demon. "I could have stopped them," Seika went on, "but that would have been a bigger waste of my time—and there are many things I'd rather do than deal with pests."
The huge curve of spikes and metal that floated at its back now began to spark with energy. "Still," it hissed, "while I may think on a higher level than the rest of you lower life forms … that doesn't mean I can't indulge every once in a while."
Masumi saw only too late the blossoms of sapphire-colored flames blooming over Seika—before they suddenly shrank into dimensionless points and launched—right for the nearest police car.
The detonation that followed nearly sent the Fusion user flying, even from ten feet away, engulfing the half-black, half-white Toyota in the time it took to draw breath. And Seika wasn't done. Once—twice—thrice—again and again, one hell-flower after another burst into life above the virus' holographic body, before shrinking just as quickly and flinging themselves in every direction.
The explosions seemed to bloom and wither away before Masumi's eyes, like trees whose lifespans were mere seconds. It was impossible to say when they all stopped, nor did it matter; by the time the last explosion had faded away, eight police cars had become eight piles of twisted scrap—and scarcely had Masumi's eyes taken this in when those eight piles of twisted scrap now began to float into the air, borne by the Solid Vision grip of Seika.
Then she saw the policemen under them—some of them having to drag their comrades away, whether from injuries or worse—and felt that hopelessness inside her chest drop into her bowels like a lead weight—
For a moment, as the Fusion Duelist felt her body turn leaden, heard the breath expire in her lungs, time seemed to freeze before her. The piles of scrap with which Seika intended to literally crush its opponents continued to hover aloft—but did not come down. What few onlookers still remained—the rest having sensibly fled the scene—were still as wide-eyed and -mouthed as when Reed and Moss had met their end, hardly even blinking. Even the vivid blue fire that encircled Seika and its prey like some microcosm of hell seemed to have frozen; each individual tongue of flame stabbing upwards into the sky like so many transient blades—
Reason chose that moment to finally catch up with Masumi—fire couldn't simply freeze like that … unless …
Then something even more unbelievable reached her ears: the telltale sound of a single Duel Disk—then two, three, and finally five—switching itself on.
Masumi didn't even need to look down at her wrist to know that one of those Duel Disks had been her own; beside her, there were murmurs of surprise from Yaiba and the others. But they had all been shut down, she knew—she'd done so herself! Why, then, had they suddenly activated without her pressing a single button?!
And more importantly, how had Seika found them even without tracking those Disks in the first place?!
Leo Duel School
"All right," said Himika, giving her fingers a quick break after spending what felt like the longest few minutes of her life behind her keyboard. "That's that done—all five of their Duel Disks have been remotely activated."
It certainly wasn't the phrase she'd have used when Shirai Toshio had explained what sort of help he'd needed from her. In all the time she'd spent as the chief executive of LeoCorp, she'd never have dreamed that she would need to hack into her own equipment; nor, she thought, that someone she'd just recently suspended would be teaching her how to do it. It seemed, however, that these past few days were rapidly becoming days of many firsts indeed.
"It's a start," Shirai said over her phone. "The protocols built within the RSV generators we installed throughout the city should recognize those activated Duel Disks, and prime themselves for an incoming Duel. It won't completely stop Seika's powers over Solid Vision—but it will force the virus to adhere to those protocols and confine it to the immediate vicinity."
"Which buys us all some time," finished Himika. "Nakajima—order the control room to isolate all Solid Vision generators that are currently involved with an active Duel site, then shut down the rest. That should only leave two locations where Seika can manifest: its current location, and LDS itself."
"So that virus has nowhere else to go," Nakajima said over the phone, understanding. "I'll inform them straightaway, Himika-san."
"What about the LID?" Shirai wanted to know. "We shut those generators down, Seika won't let them escape, either!"
"This isn't about escaping." Himika was already dialing a number. "I want to own this virus, Shirai. To do that, I need access into the supercomputer it's controlling. To do that, I need your assistance to keep me from getting lost—and I need the LID to keep the majority of Seika's efforts focused on them instead of us. And to do that … "
She did not finish her sentence. Nor did she need to; the silence from both her top aide and her former top programmer told her they understood enough of their role in her plan … and that, much like her, they knew each party's success would depend upon the other.
Masumi stared at her navy Duel Disk as if it had just gained sentience. Its burnt-orange blade continued to sizzle in the air, the noise lost in the roaring blue flames that continued to belch out of Crowley's apartment. The crumpled police cars that Seika had intended to use as crushing weapons continued to hover in the air, suspended by Solid Vision; their occupants had long since retreated to safer ground, or were serving to evacuate the few passersby left who felt brave enough to watch the ongoing scene.
Behind her, Yaiba and the rest of the LID were examining their own Duel Disks; she didn't need to look round at them all to gauge their own confusion.
"What's going on here?" Yaiba was fiddling with the settings menu on his screen, as if that might answer his question. "Did Seika hack our Duel Disks?"
"No. I did."
Compared to the shock of watching Seika burst out of Crowley's apartment, murder two Americans, and almost literally crush an entire platoon of policemen—all in that order—hearing Himika's voice from her Duel Disk yet again felt, for Masumi, almost minor in comparison. Even her blasé admission to switching on their Duel Disks didn't feel all that earth-shattering to Masumi anymore.
"Time is short, so I must be brief: my people are working on a way to contain Seika," Himika explained. "Perhaps if we're lucky, we can learn a little bit more as to what makes that virus tick. Keep Seika busy for as long as you can—the longer you're able, the better chance of success we can get."
Yaiba swallowed. " … If you're suggesting what I think you are, Headmistress," he said hesitantly, "then I'd just like to make a friendly reminder that we lost last time! Badly, at that!"
It was Masumi's turn to gulp. The prospect of going up against Seika's enigmatic Infernoids for the second time in two days was already bringing back painful memories of their Duel. Already she could feel the choking sensation around her neck—the heat from the collapsing, burning restaurant that had been their battleground.
"Except now, there's a difference." Himika was beginning to sound impatient—never a good sign. "This time, there's five of you. I hope that's enou—"
The line seemed to fritz all of a sudden—before promptly going dead a moment later. Confounded, Masumi glanced once at her Duel Disk, wondering if the call had dropped for some strange reason.
Then—"If I had nerves, that woman would be working my last one right about now."
Seika's quasi-mechanical growl sounded much closer to them—and an instant later, Masumi realized why: she'd looked up from her Duel Disk to notice Seika barely ten meters away from the wrecked phone booth where they still huddled. Its tattered black cloak, holographic as it was, looked eerily real as it fluttered about in the nonexistent wind—and its beady eyes looked even more so against the impossibly dark void from which they peered.
"So." Those eyes blinked once, and the eight cars it had smashed now fell to the pavement behind it. "So … your headmistress believes she can contain me." The virus let loose a cybernetic snort—a burst of static from the RSV generators around them. "That she can protect you like she wants to protect her company … her city … her skin."
The spiked metal curve on its back began to drift downwards again; a wary Masumi felt her legs take a step back. "But Himika Akaba is not as infallible as she would like to believe," hissed Seika. "Tonight, I am going to show her just how powerless she really is against the inevitable.
"And I will start," it said, "with the five of you."
Seika's Duel Disk snarled to life with a hellish noise, its scarlet blade arcing along the length of metal that had settled, apparently unsupported, in front of its cloaked body.
"Those generators and their protocols may yet restrict me from using my powers to the extent they deserve," said Seika, floating a few inches higher above the road now. "Nevertheless, I find a certain … pleasure in beating people at their own game." It cocked its head upwards some, glancing just behind the LID. "Just ask those Americans."
Masumi cursed the virus under her breath at the implication. "Battle Royale rules, then," she said heavily, knowing there was no other way out of this situation for any of them. As much as her survival instincts were telling her to flee—as much as she believed Akaba Himika was capable of solving this problem for herself, despite what Masumi might think of her now—it was a risk she could not find within herself to take.
"Oh, no," sneered Seika. "No, no, no—I heard you talking with your headmistress before I severed the connection. There are indeed five of you, as she said—but let's make this one a little more interesting."
Before Masumi could look properly astonished, her screen had lit up with a message bubble that distracted her completely: TAG DUEL MODE ONLINE. The computerized voice that announced it barely a moment later did nothing to quell her surprise.
"Tag Duel?!" Yaiba looked, if anything, even more shocked. "That's only meant for two-on-two matches! There's no way it could work with five of us and one of Seika!"
"No … there's a way."
Rokkaku Fuyu spoke so quietly that Masumi thought she might have imagined the words at first. But even as the words sunk in, amplifying her shock yet again, she knew from Yaiba that he and Shijima Hokuto had participated in Tag Duels alongside each other plenty of times, and had competed as a team in past tournaments to devastating effect. It seemed only natural, then, that he'd have something to share about such a complex form of Dueling.
"I've only seen it applied a few times before," the Xyz Duelist rasped. "It's an obscure rule—and even then I've never seen it work with so many people. But a single Duelist can choose to be their own team, to fight a whole team of them working together. It's different from a Battle Royale: in Tag Duels, both teams share a field, a Graveyard—and even the same pool of Life Points. What's more, whoever doesn't go first won't have to skip their Draw Phase or Battle Phase on their first turn, either."
Masumi blinked. On any other day, she would have called such a matchup one of the most imbalanced she'd ever heard of. But the notion that Seika—of all things—had suggested it to them made her more than a little skeptical. Was the virus that confident in its abilities?
" … What's the catch?" she asked warily.
"The catch," Seika rumbled from across them, "is that I take every other turn."
The Fusion user did a double take. Every other turn?!
"You want to fight me as a team?" Seika asked. "I'm giving you the chance right now. Or do you still think you'd be fighting an imbalanced Duel with five of you and one of me?" It narrowed its eyes, and added coldly, "Because I can change that, too."
And no sooner had it said this, indeed, that four more holograms of Seika—each as black-robed, blue-eyed, and menacing as the original—shimmered into view with hardly a whisper of noise.
Masumi shook her head, far too quickly. "No—no," she said hurriedly. "One of you was enough," she said under her breath.
But Seika had heard. "Very well," it said simply, and its four doppelgängers faded from view with even less noise than they'd appeared. "Tag Duel rules, five against one; I take every other turn. And I wouldn't recommend calling for outside help on this one," it added with a sneer. "Those Duel Disks of yours have been helpful enough already."
Masumi bit her lip as she realized what Seika was saying. She knew that the software patch Himika had installed into their Duel Disks had been meant as a way for them to have quick access to Q—even to the point of it assisting them in a Duel. Unfortunately, however, it sounded as though Seika had had the same idea; the damnable virus had sealed the supercomputer away from any attempt to reach it. Q was worse than useless to them now.
She could only hope that Himika would come through for them and possibly change that. For now, it was time to make a strategy—and already, another symbolic, unrefined rock was beginning to take shape in her brain.
"Fuyu," she muttered in an undertone, so that Seika couldn't hear, "take the first turn. Don't worry about saving your strength right now—the bigger monster you can throw at Seika, the better. Shen, you'll go after him. Do the same thing you did to beat me in our Duel last month, if you can."
Both boys nodded at her; Shen and Fuyu were too busy eyeing Seika warily to do or say anything more.
"Hotene, Yaiba—you and I can focus on Seika itself. If we're lucky, Fuyu and Shen can give us the path we need to get there."
"Right." The Synchro Duelist clenched the fist that bore his bamboo shinai, placing it over his shoulder to give himself a free hand. The little girl beside him gave a thumbs-up, still not taking her eyes off the virus.
A thought occurred to Masumi then. "Everyone, try to do as much as you can when you take your turn. The more time we're able to chew up, the more time we can give LeoCorp to suppress Seika from their end. But don't be blatant about it," she warned them. "Seika already knows we're trying to stall it—so don't give it the time to find a way past us or them."
"So we get to show off, then?" A wry grin twisted Yaiba's face. "Going out in a blaze of glory, are we?"
Masumi raised her Duel Disk to her chest. "We're not going anywhere—and neither are you, Seika!" she shouted at the virus as four other Duelists mirrored her actions in kind.
"That's the idea." The virus' synthetic voice purred with cruel intent. "Field Spell, activate: Flood of Purgatory!"
The few spectators left to witness the showdown fled at that moment, scrambling to put a considerable distance between themselves the blue flames that continued to roil and roar from J.D. Crowley's apartment. For these flames were now beginning to spread out in every direction as if they had suddenly become alive, consuming everything that they touched. Trees and cars, buildings and pavement—even the air itself seemed helpless before the all-devouring fire.
It seemed like only a matter of seconds had passed before that all-devouring fire now encircled the LID and their opponent. Though the LID knew much of this fire was only Solid Vision, and that much of their surroundings, therefore, would be unharmed when the Duel was done, they knew all too well what the master who controlled that fire was also capable of doing with its power.
For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the inferno that raged around them—now little more than a backdrop for what might be the most important fight of their lives.
But only for a moment.
"DUEL!"
Deep within LeoCorp, a screen the size of an entire wall shimmered to life. Six card-like rectangles—five each that bore the likeness of an LDS student, while the sixth remained blank and unknown—appeared in a fanlike shape. Dueling telemetry spread out in every direction from each image, and its presence was noted by a number of technicians within the room.
" … have a Tag Duel initiated … sector AC-22 … "
" … confirming for … six participants … five against one … "
Life Point counters—4000 for each side—appeared on the top and bottom of the screen; a number of lines spread out from the latter of these to connect the five Duelists who would be fighting as a team.
" … green to Duel, Himika-san," one of the technicians now spoke into her headset. "Understood. Good luck."
As the line disconnected, the woman could not resist a shiver as she stared at the screen—the only link between the chamber she occupied and the Duel she was monitoring. Like everyone else who was here, she knew the stakes for which this battle was taking place. It wasn't just LDS who had to come through victorious here—it was the entirety of the Leo Corporation, from the lowest errand runner to the highest exec. If one of them lost, so would the other.
So it was with no small amount of emotion—if not of volume—that this technician whispered four words to herself. Four words—no more—that she had little doubt everyone else in the room with her were silently thinking with her:
"Go kick some ass."
It was a sentiment each member of the LID shared—and intended to carry out—as they drew their five cards.
"I'll go first." Fuyu's voice, though raspy as ever, was even now becoming more confident as he took a swift glance at his opening hand—then placing the card in its center on his lavender blade. "I'll start by Normal Summoning Satellarknight Unuk in Attack Position!"
Before him, a dark-skinned humanoid, surrounded by a golden hoop and covered head to tail in white-gold armor, shimmered onto the field (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 1000). It was a monster that Masumi knew from experience to be one of the stronger monsters in Fuyu's Main Deck—so it reassured her to know that he intended on taking her earlier suggestion to heart.
She also knew from experience, though, that the Xyz Duelist wouldn't stop there.
"Once per turn, if Unuk is Summoned," Fuyu said, "I can send another tellarknight monster from my Deck to the Graveyard! Then," he added as he did so, before then taking a second card out of his hand and swiping that on his Duel Disk, "I activate the Quick-Play Spell: Starcrossed Satellarknights!"
Unuk began to glow with a radiance that seemed almost divine. "Once per turn, I can target a tellarknight monster I control—and then, by shuffling that monster back into my Deck, I can Special Summon a different tellarknight monster from my Deck! So I'll target my Unuk and Special Summon Satellarknight Altair in Attack Position!"
The light that consumed Unuk now flared and faded—but in its place stood a wholly different monster; this one, a winged humanoid, slightly smaller than its predecessor—though still enclosed within another thin ring of gold—and covered in sky-blue silk beneath its gleaming armor (Level 4: ATK 1700/DEF 1300).
"Once per turn, if Altair is Summoned," explained Fuyu, "I can target another tellarknight monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it in Defense Position! So I'll revive the same monster I sent to my Graveyard with Unuk's effect—Satellarknight Vega!"
He ejected a card from his jet-black Duel Disk. Moments later, a second armored, hooped humanoid took shape to Altair's left; this one wore glistening robes of light purple, and sashes of gold that seemed to shimmer like metal made liquid as it settled onto the field in a kneeling position (Level 4: ATK 1200/DEF 1600).
Masumi had to do her best to restrain a grin at this point—somehow, she knew what Fuyu might be planning to do. The fact that she'd lost to almost exactly the same strategy from him just a month ago might have been the only reason the Fusion user hadn't yet failed to keep her joy under control.
"Once per turn, if Vega is Summoned," Fuyu went on, "I can Special Summon another tellarknight monster from my hand! I choose to Summon my Satellarknight Deneb in Attack Position!"
Even as Masumi felt the urge to smile become that much more tempting, a third monster began to take shape before her eyes. This one seemed to shine the brightest of the trio; the golden armor and swan-white skin of Deneb (Level 4: ATK 1500/DEF 1000) reflected the blazing blue flames around it in a light show that dazzled the eyes.
By now, Fuyu was well in his element. "Once per turn, if Deneb is Summoned," he declared, "I can add another tellarknight monster from my Deck to my hand!" He did so, slipping the card that had been spat out an inch from his Deck into his waiting fingers.
"And now," he said, "using my Level 4 Vega, Deneb, and Altair—"
All three monsters crouched where they stood. Masumi felt her fists clench in triumph. Yes! He's going to do it!
"—I construct the Overlay Network!"
Even before Fuyu's scream had left his mouth, a galaxy of light had erupted above him. At the same time, golden energy had blazed beneath the armor of his three monsters, enveloping them all and expanding around them, before it was sucked into the hoops that orbited them all. Now these, too, began to glow with that energy, and rose into the air as if hurled by a gymnast, sucked into the mass of stars above—
"Shining knight of the summer sky," Fuyu chanted, "whose blade was forged in the blazing wrath of the stars, cut down your foes with blinding light!"
"Xyz Summon! Come forth before us! Rank 4! Stellarknight Deltatheros!"
The swirling galaxy flared, and seemed to explode before Masumi's eyes, so bright was the radiance that emerged from its black center.
As the Fusion user's eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that something else, too, had emerged with it: ten feet tall, and covered head-to-toe in white-blue armor (Rank 4: ATK 2500/DEF 2100). In one hand, Deltatheros clutched the scintillating hoops of Vega, Deneb, and Altair, now flattened into a shield that shone with golden brilliance; in the other was a sword of many edges, both straight and curved alike. This the Xyz Monster brandished at Seika, point first—and the intent to destroy was evident in Deltatheros' steely gaze.
Masumi didn't bother to hide her grin anymore. Knowing Fuyu had it in him to bring out an Xyz Monster—his ace monster, no less—on the very first turn of this Duel was a sign of just how seriously he was taking it … just how much he wanted to pay Seika back with interest for the injuries he and his father had suffered the day before.
And he still had cards in his hand as well, she realized—if he wanted to, Fuyu didn't have to stop there.
Sure enough: "Next, I activate the Equip Spell: Stellarknight Factor, and equip it to my Deltatheros!" Fuyu shouted, slapping another card onto his blade. "This lets my monster gain another 500 ATK and DEF—and on top of that, it can't be affected by any of your card effects, Seika!"
By now, Deltatheros was glowing so brightly as to become a second sun; the gauge that showed its strength increasing to an awesome 3000/2600 was almost impossible to look at for too long because of the light. But Masumi didn't care—as far as she was concerned, Fuyu had exceeded all her expectations just by Summoning such a strong monster.
"I Set one card, and end my turn," finished Fuyu, as a giant face-down card materialized before him, before fading away just as quickly. "You're lucky I took the first turn, Seika," he now called out to the virus opposite him. "I'm going to make sure you pay for what you did to me and my father!"
Masumi could hear the anger in Fuyu's raspy voice. She could see it in the scars that lined his face, and she knew instinctively that the Xyz user wanted to use Deltatheros to follow through on his threat. It was a far cry from the small, scared, shivering boy she'd met a month ago—Seika's crimes had changed more than just his face; that much was now clear.
"Ah … your father," Seika was saying just then. "The owner of that planetarium, I assume? I understand it has its own Solid Vision generator as well." A pause. "Do you think he knew what might happen if something were able to exploit it? To utilize its wondrous technology in ways no human could even begin to conceive?"
"We're human enough to know what you're implying, Seika!" Yaiba shot back. "And we're human enough to know that we'd never use Solid Vision to kill innocent people or wage war!"
"You are human enough," Seika said coolly, "to think that murder and war are all I am trying to accomplish here." Its blue eyes flashed dangerously. "And that makes you—all of you—blind to the bigger picture."
Huh?! Before Masumi could feel appropriately confused by this statement, Seika had acted. Its cloak seemed to flutter more violently for a moment; one moment after that, a card had materialized in its Solid Vision grip.
"My turn!" growled the virus. "During my Standby Phase, I can activate the effect of my Field Spell, Flood of Purgatory, and Special Summon an Infernoid Token to my field!" Scarcely had his words finished echoing in their ears when a familiar vacuum-tube shape emerged onto his field (Level 1: ATK 0/DEF 0), its metallic surface glinting a dull gray against the light of Deltatheros and the fires that surrounded both monsters.
"You are already aware of how my Infernoid monsters may be Summoned, yes?" Seika queried. "And that my Flood of Purgatory may alter their Summoning procedures to banish monsters from my field as well?"
Masumi didn't trust herself to speak—or even to nod. She suspected Seika was planning something devious, otherwise it wouldn't have raised the question in the first place.
"I take your silence to mean you actually learned something from your previous Duel," Seika snorted. "Very well, then. I banish the Token on my field to Summon this in Attack Position! Descend! Infernoid Astaroth!"
As the Token vanished from existence with scarcely a sound, the blue flames that continued to rage around the LID flared suddenly, as if disturbed by a gust of wind. Moments later, the source of that disturbance now emerged from the flames with a horrible, grating shriek: a hulking hybrid of machine and winged demon, clad in brown armor and crackling with blue energy that surged from the four tubes built into its legs (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 0).
"I activate my Astaroth's effect!" rumbled the virus. "Once per turn, I can target 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field, and destroy it!"
Masumi's eyes whirled on Fuyu. The Xyz Duelist had suddenly lost a lot of his unexpected aggression; he, too, must have realized precisely which card Seika intended to destroy.
True to their suspicions: "I target your Stellarknight Factor!" Seika's cloak billowed as Astaroth threw its head back, promptly expelling a blast of blue fire from its fanged mouth. Before anyone could blink, that fire had hit Deltatheros right in the chest—not enough to destroy the monster itself, but merely weaken it to its original 2500/2100. Fuyu was seen to grimace as he slipped the destroyed Factor into his Graveyard.
But Masumi knew all hadn't been lost just yet. "It's still not enough," Fuyu managed to hiss at Seika. "That monster of yours is too weak to destroy mine by itself!"
"Then we are in agreement," Seika purred. "I now banish my Astaroth to Summon another Infernoid monster—this time in Defense Position! Descend! Infernoid Beelzebul!"
It was Astaroth's turn to whirl and shimmer away from view, dispelling the flames of Seika's Field Spell briefly enough to reveal a second monster of metal and evil intent. This one was smaller than its precursor, but no less terrifying for it—Masumi could only describe it as a car-sized, many-limbed dragon of black metal carrying two vacuum tubes on its back; these glowed with enough bone-white light that they could easily be mistaken for the compound eyes of some monstrous insect (Level 2: ATK 0/DEF 2000).
"I now activate my Beelzebul's effect," the virus hissed at them. "Once per turn, I can target 1 face-up card on the field, and return it to the hand! And there is only one other face-up card on the field … isn't there?"
Damn it! Masumi, having realized what was about to happen, swiped the air with a fist as the iridescent wings of Beelzebul began to flap, faster and faster until they were little more than a multicolored blur. Gusts of wind now screamed outwards, rushing straight for Fuyu's monster—and though they did not destroy it, the blowback from the gale pushed the radiant warrior closer and closer to the wall of flames that encircled them—
Then Deltatheros crossed the threshold, and those flames blazed—for only a moment—a bright, poisonous blue. There was only a shadow, then a few shreds—and when the fires finally died down, there was no sign whatsoever of the Xyz Monster. Beelzebul's hideous mouth seemed to twitch in a smirk once the deed had been done.
Fuyu had seen every second of this, and had now regressed to his old, forlorn self as he scooped up Deltatheros' card—Overlay Units and all. "B-because I Special Summoned it from the Extra Deck," he was barely heard to stammer, "m-my Deltatheros will return there instead."
But that was no improvement to a serious blow, Masumi knew. Deltatheros might have escaped destruction—but its three Overlay Units had not; they'd been sent to the Graveyard the moment their parent monster had left the field. Worse still, Deltatheros' final effect could only trigger when it was sent to the Graveyard, too—meaning the Xyz Duelist had essentially Summoned his ace monster for nothing.
She swore under her breath again. Seika had used a mere two cards to counter Fuyu's entire turn, with an efficiency she'd never believed possible—even from a supercomputer under the sway of a virus—and give itself a defensive wall in the process, she added to herself, staring down the 2000 DEF Beelzebul with hatred.
This is going to be tricky.
"I now activate the Continuous Spell: Sublimation of Purgatory," cried Seika just then, "and activate its effect! Once per turn, I can discard 1 card, and add another Purgatory Spell or Trap Card from my Deck to my hand!"
As it did so, three more cards appeared out of thin air before the virus, car-sized and face-down. "I Set three cards, and end my turn."
Masumi bit her lip. Seika's trying to build up its back row again. At least we have a way to slow him down, she thought, with a furtive look at Shen. And depending on how he's able to bring it out, we might even be able to eliminate any threat his Spells and Traps could pose to us.
"It is my turn, then," said the Synchro user evenly. He took a long, slow breath—perhaps to steady himself for the turn ahead, Masumi wondered, or to control his own animosity for how Seika had murdered his sifu?—and placed a tanned hand on his Duel Disk. "Draw."
That hand now flashed outward with all the speed of a whip—instantly, like so many other times before it, Masumi felt a prickling up her spine at the insane speed and reflexes that Shen possessed.
"First," Shen spoke, enunciating each syllable with his crisp Chinese accent, "I will activate the Continuous Spell Card: Leyline of Dracomet. Then," he added, placing the card he'd just drawn into his snow-white Duel Disk, "I will Normal Summon the Tuner monster Jiaotu, Dracomet of Darkness in Attack Position."
The air shimmered and darkened around him just then, turning a grayish indigo color that rapidly thickened into a dense fog—and just as quickly solidified into a burly, translucent dragon that plodded silently onto the field, directly in front of its Summoner (Level 2: ATK 0/DEF 2000).
"Since I control no other monsters, I may activate the effect of my Jiaotu," the Synchro user went on. "Once per turn, I may send 2 Dracomet cards from my hand to the Graveyard so as to Special Summon 2 Dracomet monsters from my Deck—one with 0 ATK, and another with 0 DEF—although they will be banished during the End Phase."
He plucked a pair of cards from his hand, slipping them into his Graveyard. "I will therefore send my Bixi, Dracomet of Water and my Bi'an, Dracomet of Earth—so that I may Special Summon Pulao, Dracomet of Wind and Taotie, Dracomet of Evil, both in Attack Position!"
Two more cards were extracted from his Deck, and placed upon his Duel Disk's burnt-orange blade. Meanwhile, to either side of Shen's Jiaotu, two more see-through dragons had materialized onto the field: one, a green-skinned, serpentine beast with massive horns (Level 1: ATK 0/DEF 1800); the other, a muscular brute of a monster, with blood-red tattoos on its gray skin and vicious white fangs in its mouth (Level 5: ATK 2200/DEF 0).
Masumi took note of Shen's three monsters now, and felt hope rise in her again as she saw their Levels. He's got it!
Apparently, Seika knew what was about to happen as well. "Double Continuous Trap, activate!" the virus cried out. "Awakening Purgatory and Rising Purgatory!"
But Masumi, from her previous Duel against Seika, knew those two cards well enough to know that they wouldn't do the entity any good now. Their effects could only be activated during the Standby Phase—and Shen was already well into his Main Phase as this point. It's just stalling for time.
"Shen!" Fuyu's rasp was almost unheard in the noise created by Seika's Field. "It's started a Chain! Keep it going—activate my face-down while you still can!"
The Synchro user blinked owlishly—in itself a remarkable sight from the normally stoic boy. So did Masumi; she'd forgotten Fuyu still had a Set card to his name!
"It's a Tag Duel," the Xyz Duelist went on. "Everyone on a team can share a field and Graveyard, but only the turn player of that team can activate or attack with whatever cards are already there. That's you—so do it, quick!"
That seemed to bring Shen back to reality. He checked his Duel Disk, tilted his head quizzically at whatever he was seeing on the screen—and threw out his hand a moment later. "I will activate the Continuous Trap: Celestial Aura!"
Fuyu's Set card flickered to life—and was it Masumi's imagination, or was the Xyz Duelist smirking?!
"Once per turn, during my—our—Main Phase, or our opponent's Battle Phase," Fuyu spoke, "I can Special Summon a tellarknight monster from my hand! So I'll Special Summon Satellarknight Sham in Attack Position!"
He slapped the monster in question on his blade with enough force that Masumi saw him wince a moment later. But that moment was all she had to see the brief moment of vulnerability from Fuyu; soon after, another humanoid figure had taken its place to the right of Shen's three Dracomets: a winged archer of roughly Fuyu's age and height, with a golden arrow already nocked upon its bow (Level 4: ATK 1400/DEF 1800).
"Once per turn, when Sham is Summoned," Fuyu went on, "its effect can inflict 1000 damage to my opponent! That's what you get," he cried out at Seika, as Masumi pumped a fist in joy, "for messing with my family!"
On the last word, Sham let fly with his arrow; the missile streaked through the air, straight and true—before burying itself dead center through Seika's cloaked chest. The virus let out a mechanical noise somewhere between grating gears and hissing steam; it took Masumi a moment to realize that this must be Seika's version of pain.
She didn't care how odd it was that Seika, a Solid Vision entity, could feel pain in the first place—especially from something that was also Solid Vision as well. All that the Fusion Duelist cared about right now was the result of it all: that Seika—for the first time, as its Life Points now tumbled to 3000—could feel something resembling the same pain it had caused them last night … a taste of its own medicine.
How does it feel, you bastard?!
"I have yet to conclude my turn," Shen spoke out just then. "My Leyline of Dracomet gains effects according to the number of Dracomet monsters in my Graveyard that each possess different Attributes. If there are two such monsters in my Graveyard, then all Dracomet monsters I control will gain 500 ATK."
Pulao and Taotie stood up a little straighter now. Their poses had become more aggressive, and with good reason; both their point gauges had risen to 500 and 2700, respectively. Taotie in particular looked absolutely ferocious as wisps of dark fire began to spill from its nostrils and jaws.
"Now," Shen rumbled, "I will now Tune my Level 2 Jiaotu with my Level 1 Pulao, and my Level 5 Taotie!"
All right! Masumi could already see the culmination of Shen's strategy in her mind. She knew what he was getting ready to Summon—she knew how devastating its effect could be to this field. Perhaps it wouldn't be as physically strong as it might be under normal circumstances—but even a normal Tag Duel was far from a normal circumstance. And even after Shen's monster was Summoned, there would still be one other monster on their field—Fuyu's Satellarknight Sham.
The Fusion Duelist felt a sudden feeling of trepidation bubble inside her as she did some mental arithmetic; slowly but surely, that rock inside her head was beginning to look more and more like the polished gemstone of a properly executed plan. With the effect damage Sham had already inflicted to Seika, Sham's own ATK strength, the other effects of Leyline Shen would soon have at his disposal, and the strength of the monster he was about to Summon …
I don't believe it! Masumi thought. We can win this turn—and there won't be a damned thing Seika can do about it!
It was hard to resist breaking out into an even bigger smile than before as she watched all three of Shen's Dracomet monsters begin to glow with a bright green light—and Shen himself bend his knees and clap his palms together as if in prayer.
Only a few moments after that, Taotie suddenly disintegrated into thin air—only to just as quickly reform into five beads of white light, then Pulao into a sixth. Jiaotu, still radiating energy, soared into the air along with them, swirling quicker and quicker around them both until it looked like nothing more than a ring of green light:
"Shining phantom of light," chanted Shen. "Unleash your true power, and give birth to a radiance that consumes all in its path!"
Then, suddenly, that ring now split along its middle, creating a pair of identical green halos around the six points of light. Lightning flashed, striking the center of the Dueling field—and it was at that moment that Shen leapt into the air, his superhuman physique launching him higher than any trampoline in Gravity Sixteen could hope to achieve:
"Synchro Summon!"
Masumi could barely see the Synchro Duelist amidst all the lightning and fire that raged above her. But even as she gazed in awe at the scene, there was something else—something far bigger, and growing bigger still—that was swirling in the air beyond: the silhouette of a house-sized dragon that she had only seen twice before in her life—
"Descend from the stars!" Shen roared. "Level 8! Gongfu, Dracomet of Brightness!"
The Synchro Monster broke through the fiery firmament with a tremendous roar (Level 8: ATK 2300/DEF 2600). Wisps of cerulean flames still clung to Gongfu's golden scales and flowing brown mane, as if in a futile effort to save Seika and its Field from the devastation it was about to wreak.
Masumi watched the dragon's descent with her heart in her mouth—but something wasn't right: for some reason, Gongfu was twisting and turning in its flight—and barely slowing down in the slightest. At first, the Fusion user wondered if the monster was trying too hard to shake off the flames that still lapped at its translucent body. But the longer she watched, the more she was sure those tongues of fire seemed to be growing—
Shen's ace monster roared again—and this time, Masumi was sure something was very wrong. The noise it made was not one of triumph … but of excruciating pain. Was it some hidden effect of Seika's field—one that the virus had deliberately withheld from the LID, until the last possible moment—?
CRASH.
Masumi felt her legs give way, and her body tumble head over heels onto the asphalt as Gongfu plowed right through the street. The earth rattled, sending the rest of the LID off balance save for Shen, who had landed in a three-point stance right where he'd jumped, though the tremors his monster's impact had caused made that landing more awkward for him than it might have otherwise. The Synchro user wobbled briefly as he got to his feet, looking almost stricken at the sight of his dragon—a remarkable sight for someone so stoic, Masumi thought.
Gongfu's crash-landing had created a massive crater in the road—though a faint sizzle at the edges of the hole, and the lack of any water or sewer mains that far down, told the Fusion user this was merely an illusion of Solid Vision. Indeed, even as she stared wild-eyed at the scene below, the road seemed to be reforming itself—no, Masumi hastily corrected herself, the hole was being filled back up with earth and more blue fire, like the speeded-up progress of a healing scar. Gongfu continued to twist and writhe against the crushing rocks and burning flames, but to no avail—it was being buried alive before the LID's very eyes—
" … What the heck is going on here?!" Hotene, her eyes bugged to the size and roundness of her wide-open mouth, had recovered enough to voice the same question dominating the minds of each and every member of the LID.
"Trap, activated: Pitfall of Purgatory."
Everyone spun in the direction of Seika.
Even through the black cloak and blacker shadows that concealed whatever digitized face it wore beneath, Seika was clearly smirking at the horrified faces of its opponents. It felt as ice-cold as the fires around it felt boiling hot—and Masumi could not decide which scared her more.
"Whenever my opponent would Special Summon at least one monster with 2000 or more ATK," the virus sneered, "I can negate the effects of one of those Summoned monsters—and then destroy it!"
Masumi felt as though her heart had sunk right into the crater Gongfu had left behind. Negate … and destroy?!
"I don't believe this … " Yaiba looked lost.
"No … " Fuyu was shaking his head in disbelief, as if that would prove his eyes wrong.
As if to emphasize the LID's shock, the Synchro Monster uttered one last shriek of helpless pain before soil and fire swallowed it up completely—suffocating the dragon, and silencing it permanently. Chunks of the shattered asphalt resurfaced in the road, as if regurgitated by the moving earth, leaving behind no trace whatsoever of Shen's ace monster, save for a web of cracks in the street.
"Are you really the best Duelists that the Leo Duel School has to offer?" Seika scoffed. "I was anticipating more of a challenge from you, after last night—but this?!" It made another electronic snort. "I couldn't laugh at your efforts even if I had the subroutines to do so. That was just pitiful." It emphasized the last word with deadly finality.
Masumi couldn't help but think the virus had a point. With a mere handful of cards, Seika had wholly annihilated her best strategy. The LID's most likely hope at clearing a path to victory had rested with Shen and his monster.
They'd failed—and that failure, the Fusion Duelist knew, might have just killed them all …
A/N: It's come to my attention that some of the translations for the original Japanese cards on the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yugipedia wikis have changed since the last time I used them. I'll do my best to look through my stories when I have a free moment, and update them accordingly so as to prevent the possibility of any confusion.
Anyhow—I'm very surprised I was able to release this so soon. I credit a free weekend—and a house to myself for most of said weekend—for being able to finish this up in anything resembling a timely fashion.
I'll do my best to keep that timely fashion going for the next chapter. Most of it will be the continuing Duel, which has been planned out in its entirety—although I have enough on my plate at present that I don't want to make any promises that may end up broken.
Until then, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K
