The sea's waves crashed against the sandy shore, a calm melody that played randomly in the broad daylight. Accompanied by the hungered chirps of seagulls that were circling in the sky while looking for prey, nature painted yet another entrancing picture at the beach of Sagakin. Perhaps those with a dreamier side would have longed to find a place in said painting, while the rest of the world would have simply called it 'beautiful' and went on their way not giving another damn about it.

By noon time Edo descended its stairs, holding a blue surfboard under his arm. He had not realized until then how much he had missed the salty air, the breeze of the sea and that beautiful sight of the waves crashing. He had been so busy entertaining adults and, later in his life, kids that he had almost forgotten the magic of such moments. As he started to feel the warm sand's touch on his sandals, he placed the surfboard down and yawned, stretching his old body. That phone call he had received earlier interrupted his breakfast and morning coffee.

"Back to this old beach again… Last time I've been here was when Suby and I went for our final surfing session before I left for Las Vegas." Edo gave a short sigh, so much time had passed. "I wonder why he wanted us to pick up this old habit now of all times."

Since it was the middle of autumn, the holiday season was over and thus nobody else came to the beach anymore. And yet, with such sunny weather, there was no feeling of desertion or desolation.

"That Suby's late. Maybe he's too caught up in one of his books." Edo tapped his foot. "Oh well, might as well have some fun on my own."

Thus he stripped down to just his blue swim trunks, picked up the surfboard and dashed into the welcoming sea with the same youthful glee he had kept throughout his entire life. The waves were a bit tall and wild, but he managed to handle them quite well. Or was it old age finally getting to his body after all the years of doing both verbal and physical comedy? Still, up there he felt as if he had become one with the sea, maybe like his favorite creatures Aqua Surfer and Aqua Naruto Surfer. It was an almost personal kind of freedom, akin to that of a bird flying. Time seemed to have frozen as he rode those waves without a care in the world. And then he noticed from afar that there was something on the sea. Maybe his buddy had finally arrived. Edo changed the course and headed back, but as he got off his surfboard and stepped on the shore, he saw that it was not the surprise he had hoped for.

The severed head of a youngster lay on the sand in a pool of blood, not too far from its decapitated body which looked like it was also torn open with its entrails hanging out. Another body in a similar state was just a few feet away, albeit with the head still on its shoulders. It looked like it had belonged to a man in his late thirties. A third one, this time a young woman, was even a bit farther than the other two, once again in a similar state, albeit the entrails had been used to tie the mouth and neck. Edo suppressed the urge to scream while he recalled the news he had seen on TV about two brutal murders that had been committed around the college area. As he began dressing up, he heard someone shout his name and looked ahead to see Subaru running down the stairs, waving at him. From the look on his face, he seemed to be as terrified.

"Suby!" Edo shouted as he reunited with his old friend and gave him a quick hug.

"I saw a strange figure carry a large bag down here and got worried," Subaru confessed.

"It must be the one who did the college killings! Hurry, we have to alert the cops!"

His friend nodded and then they both headed for the stairs in the hope that they would not become the next victims. How quickly that peaceful scene had turned into a horrific nightmare. It dawned on Edo that indeed life liked to oscillate between those two rather extreme poles. And then Subaru fell on his knees, a hand rubbing his back and his face in agony.

"Suby?"

"It's that damn backache again…" the long haired one grumbled in pain. "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment!"

Although he hated the idea of leaving his best friend behind, he knew that he would keep his promise, so Edo nodded and ran up the stairs. But as he did so, he realized that Subaru did not bring a surfboard, was wearing a strange jacket he had never seen before and…

"Wait a minute, Suby never had back problems…" Edo whispered to himself as he reached the top of the stairs.

A loud thunder resounded and everything went black.

When Edo opened his eyes, he was treated with the sight of the entire city being engulfed in flames. His first instinct was to look behind. Everything had disappeared - the stairs, the beach, his best buddy. It was all one huge wall of fire, almost as if hell itself had risen. More so, he could not hear any screams or other signs of life from the entire city. Maybe he was the only one left? He could not help but feel a strong sense of déjà vu, as if he had experienced something similar many years ago.

"He's back…" the dreaded phrase which Tsugumi had told him over the phone suddenly echoed in his head.

As much as he did not want to believe it, at that point the supposition was the only thing that seemed to match all the weirdness which had been going on. And right then his worst fears had been confirmed as he heard the echoes of a terrifyingly familiar hissed voice from the distance.

"Did you miss us playing together?"

There was no more doubt, it was him. Not wasting any more time, Edo started running as fast as his body still allowed him to, searching for a place to hide in the inferno. Soon enough he heard rushed steps stomping from behind, as if he was at a marathon and someone was trying their best to catch up. In that moment he did not want to look behind and see whoever it was, for he was sure that in his fear he would have tripped over and allowed himself to be caught. And so he kept racing in that labyrinth of flames for what seemed like an eternity, although deep inside he wanted badly to stop and catch his breath. Everything was so hot and those flames were starting to make him see everything all blurry. And then his prayers were answered, he saw a dark park which was not ignited and dashed inside. As if on cue, the gates locked themselves right after he entered.

Much to his surprise, the inside of the park seemed to be the opposite of what he had gone through. It was devoid of any color whatsoever, its air was rather cold and there was an ominous wind howling as if he were in a cave. He leaned against a brick wall to relax and searched his pockets. It was then that it dawned on him – he had forgotten his phone back home! That meant that he had to find another way to contact someone and ask for help.

The metallic gates rustled as someone was climbing them, prompting Edo to hide behind a tree. His pursuer then landed inside the park as well. It was Subaru, the one he had met at the beach who was donning that hooded black jacket. The one who now had black eyes with shining red irises and whose smile bore sharp fangs. Demon Subaru… But unlike the rest of them, he looked young, as young as they were fifty years ago.

"I know you're here," the devilish one said while looking around. "Let's play a new game - hide and seek. I'll hide."

What was the meaning of that? The last thing he wanted was to find that monster. If anything, Edo was the one who wanted to hide. He peeked to see his black haired pursuer walk a few steps and sit down in a grassy meadow, looking bored. Was it some kind of sick joke? Edo wouldn't stick to find out.

He snuck out of his hideout and went to find an exit, but much to his shock, there was none. All of the gates were locked and the surrounding metallic fences were too narrow for him to fit out. Whenever he tried climbing the bars, he would get zapped off. As much as he hated to admit it, he was trapped inside with no other option than to play along.

Thus he returned to the not-so-subtle hideout. Demon Subaru sat there on the meadow and acted as if he didn't even know Edo was approaching him. The bald man took slow steps, shaking all the while as a million fears raced through his mind. In the end he stopped in front of the black haired one and gulped, after which he spoke with a trembling voice, "F-found you?"

"My turn." A grin appeared on Demon Subaru's face, whose claws then grew as he got up.

In that instant Edo ran off and was once again pursued. In a matter of moments, he reached the very gate through which he entered only to find it still locked. He desperately pulled at the bars with no avail as he heard the sadistic hissed laughter come closer from behind. As a last resort, he took out his deck and turned to face his fears. The stack of cards glowed blue and Demon Subaru stopped upon seeing it. The challenge had been made, so he may as well have accepted it. With a sly smile of anticipation, he produced his own deck and made two dueling tables rise from the ground, thus enabling them to set their cards and begin their duel.

"I summon BloodRayne, Start Dash." The cowboy humanoid appeared by Demon Subaru's side.

"I summon Mypad, Start Dash." The blue humanoid wielding an iPad and sitting on a floating platform appeared by Edo's side.

"BloodRayne reduces her cost, so I summon Jenny, the Dismantling Doll." The white haired doll in a dark red dress and wielding a razor weapon appeared and forced the opponent to reveal his hand: Pakurio, Tune Again, All For One, Machine of D and Shuff, Eureka, out of which the first one was discarded.

"Mypad reduces his cost, so I summon Shuff, Eureka." A blue robot wearing a black top hat and a red and white suit appeared, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. "With Shuff's effect I choose the number 4. Now you can't cast spells which cost 4 and your creatures which cost 4 can't attack or block!"

"Small fish that I'll gladly take care of," the black haired one dismissed. "I summon Bochiborof, Aloof Fighter." The purple wolf plushy with long hair and red boxing gloves appeared, causing the top three cards of his deck to go into the graveyard, those being Ninjariban, Dragon Edge, Deadzone, S-Rank Zombie and Hellborof, Supreme Dragon Edge, the latter of which went back into his hand.

"I summon Aqua Super Emeral." The green liquid humanoid appeared as its owner switched a shield with a card from his hand. "I attack with Shuff and choose the number 5 this time, break his shield!" he ordered and the robot tossed a card from the deck it was shuffling which went through one of the opposing shields and tore it to pieces.

"Keh, it's time to get serious – I summon Uroborof, Dragon Edge and equip him with Go To Hell, Annihilator Blade!" Another wolf plushy with boxing gloves appeared, but this one had short hair and was wielding a dark blue bone scythe. "With Go To Hell's effect I revive Ninjariban, Dragon Edge which brings out Demon Wolf, Soul Eating Moonlight Castle!" The blue ninja plushy appeared and brought the wolf shaped castle along. "Demon Wolf makes gives slayer to all of my creatures, so I attack Shuff with Jenny!"

"Aqua Super Emeral, block the attack!" Edo ordered and the green Liquid People stood in the way of the Death Puppet, both of them meeting their end by her razor.

"I end my turn and destroy 4 of my creatures to Dragsolution Go To Hell into Deathshiraz, Devil Corrupt King!" One by one, the short haired wolf cut down the cowboy, the ninja and the long haired wolf, after which he stabbed himself with the scythe and let it float in the air to unleash the demonic dragon with a serpent head from inside. "When Deathshiraz is Dragsolutioned, I destroy one of your creatures!" The creature gave a ghostly moan and picked up the scythe to cut down the suited robot as well.

Edo gulped nervously. Now both of their battle zones had been reset, his opponent having a giant finisher while he was left for nothing. Thankfully, the next card he drew gave him a bit of hope and he quickly placed it on the table, saying, "I expand All For One, Machine of D!"

"Ho, I see you got a D2 Field too." Demon Subaru licked his lips as he saw the entire place turn into a blue laboratory in which two interconnected glass containers and a giant spanner were the center of attention. "Interesting, very interesting! My turn, I summon Vader, Dark Armor." A knight donning a grayed brown armor with a skull helmet and a large shield appeared. "I end my turn and use Vader's effect, I send the top card of my deck to the graveyard and if it's a creature I draw a card." The top card was Duenyan Emperor, enabling him to draw.

Edo's hand then glowed blue as he drew his next card and a smile of relief came to him. He quickly charged mana and spoke, "I summon VV-8, Forbidden Machine! With its effect I check the top 5 cards of my deck, take 2 to my hand and put the rest on VV-8 as seals."

Demon Subaru raised an eyebrow at that peculiarity as a white robot with motorcycle features appeared in one of the glass containers, three cards glowing upon it as seals.

"I've heard about this seal mechanism before, you'll summon Commands that share a civilization with the sealed creature to unseal it," the hissed fiend remarked, although his usually talkative opponent stared at him silently. "Very well, let's see what else you can do!"

"I end my turn and use All For One's effect, I destroy one of my creatures and replace it with a non-evolution Water creature which costs up to 2 more! I destroy Mypad and replace it with Shuff, Eureka." The spanner crushed the iPad wielding humanoid and made another suited robot with a deck of cards in its hands appear from the other glass container. "Shuff is a Water Command, so I take off a seal from VV-8! Then with Shuff's effect I choose 7."

"Incapacitate my Deathshiraz, will you? But I've got other tricks up my sleeve – Dragsolution! Demon Wolf flips to Minagorosseo, Wolf Demon Dragon!" The wolf shaped castle grew limbs and got up, howling. "I summon Hellborof, Supreme Dragon Edge, mill the top 2 cards of my deck and bring out Welcome Hell, Supreme Devil King Palace!" The horned and winged purple wolf plush appeared wielding the same bone scythe, howled to cause Death Hands, Misfortune Emperor and Black Psycho, Revenge to fall into his owner's graveyard, and used the weapon to cut a hole into the sky and make a dark winged palace descend from it. "Welcome Hell's effect, I evolve Hellborof into Black Psycho, Revenge and discard those two cards from your hand!" The wolf plush then evolved into a dark purple demon wearing buffoon clothes and wielding a sword and a shield, causing the opponent to discard Wild Speed, D2W and Giga Speed, D2W2. "I end my turn and use Vader's effect once more." BloodRayne, Start Dash fell into the graveyard and Demon Subaru drew.

"It's alright, don't worry, you've got this under control," Edo encouraged himself in his mind and then he spoke. "I cast Tune Again and with its effect I can return a card in the battle zone to its owner's hand. I return a seal from VV-8. Then I attack with Shuff, choose 7 once again and break another shield!"

"Vader, block the attack!" The knight stood in front of the robot and engaged it in battle, both disappearing in an explosion. "Now my move, I summon Magnum, Allshot Doll," A blue puppet dressed as a cowboy appeared proudly showing off its guns. "Minagorosseo, break his shield!" Demon Subaru ordered and the wolf shaped castle rushed into one of Edo's shields, shattering it. "Black Psycho, double break his shields!" Another order came and the demon slashed away two more shields with the sword.

"Shield trigger activate, I cast Tune Again and send Magnum back to your hand! And now my turn, I summon Cyber N World and unseal VV-8, Forbidden Machine!" A tall black and white robot with large hands appeared and took off the last seal, causing the glass container to open itself and make the white cyclops robot with motorcycle wheels on its hands and feet emerge. "When VV-8 is unsealed, I get an extra turn! Now Cyber N World's effect, we both shuffle our hands and graveyards back into our decks and draw 5 cards. Now VV-8, suicide with Minagorosseo!" The cyclops robot vroomed its engines and lashed at the wolf castle, both of them going out in an explosion. "I end this turn and with All For One's effect I destroy Cyber N World and replace it with a new VV-8!" The spanner crashed the black and white robot and made another motorcycle robot appear in the glass container. "I look at the top 5 cards, take 2 in my hand and set the rest as new seals. And now for my extra turn, I summon Giga Speed, D2W2!" A white robotic tank with two heads and a drill in its front appeared and shrieked. "Giga Speed is a Water Command, so I take off a seal from VV-8. Giga Speed's effect, I send a card in the battle zone to its owner's hand, so I return a seal to my hand. Then since I have a D2 Field in the battle zone, I can also send a creature to its owner's hand, so I return your Deathshiraz!" The tank shrieked and fired a blue beam from its drill which made the scythe wielding demonic serpent dragon disappear. "And now I activate All For One's Denjara Switch!" Edo flipped the D2 Field card upside down. "When I summon a creature and trigger its effects, by this Denjara Switch I can trigger those effects one more time!"

"What the…?" Demon Subaru whispered and took a step back.

"Giga Speed's effect, I return the final seal to my hand and unseal VV-8, Forbidden Machine!" The glass container once more opened and the cyclops robot walked out and vroomed its engines. "Now I'll get another extra turn! As for Giga Speed's other effect, I send Black Psycho back to your hand!" The tank fired another blue beam from its drill and made the sword and shield wielding demon vanish as well. "How do you like that, impostor? With my extra turn looping strategy, you'll never be able to do what you want!"

"Keh, cheap tricks I'll soon deal with." The hooded one crossed his arms.

"We'll see about that. VV-8, triple break his shields!" Edo ordered and the white robot jumped and used its wheel hands to hack away three shields.

"Shield trigger activate, I summon Death Hands, Misfortune Emperor and destroy VV-8!" The horned creature with a grey armor and red cape appeared and slashed the robot in two with its scythe.

"You may have taken down my trump card, but it's not over yet! I start my extra turn, summon Aqua Super Emeral and swap one of my shields. Then I also summon Shuff, Eureka and choose the number 5. Giga Speed, break his final shields!"

"Ninja Strike 4, I summon Falconer, Lightfang Ninja and block the attack!" A small plane like creature appeared and stood in the way of the tank's attack, getting destroyed in the process. "Your extra turn spree ends here," Demon Subaru growled. "I summon BloodRayne, Start Dash and evolve him into Black Psycho, Revenge!" The cowboy humanoid appeared and quickly turned into the sword and shield wielding buffoon demon which caused the opponent to discard Falconer, Lightfang Ninja and Streaming Shaper. "Black Psycho, attack Giga Speed and S-Rank Invasion "Zombie", I evolve him into Deadzone, S-Rank Zombie which gives -9000 to Aqua Super Emeral!" The demon quickly evolved into a dark purple motorcycle robot with red eyes, sharp teeth and a wheel claw which it used to crush the green liquid humanoid and the white robotic tank. "Then Death Hands, break the shield he set up!"

That move took Edo by surprise. He actually expected his opponent to be afraid of the shield trigger he had set up. But lo, he straightforward went right into it.

"Shield trigger, I summon The Clock, Ragnarok and end your turn here!" He revealed the card and made a spiky blue haired humanoid with clock arms on its chest appear. "My turn, I summon VV-8, Forbidden Machine, draw 2 cards and put 3 seals on it. Shuff, attack Death Hands and I choose 6!" The suited robot tossed a 6 of Clubs on the purple robot, incapacitating it, then it tossed a 4 of Swords on the smaller creature and destroyed it. "Turn end."

"Just how long do you think you can stall?"

"As long as I must to put an end to your evil!"

"I like that attitude…" Demon Subaru confessed as he bore his fangs in a smile of pleasure. "Quite a lot, actually! I summon Savage, Forbidden U." A faceless grey armored and caped humanoid appeared and put the top card of his deck into the graveyard, that being Inferno Sign, after which he returned Falconer, Lightfang Ninja to his hand. "Then I summon BloodRayne, Start Dash and Time Tripper, Shadow of Stagnation. I end my turn and destroy all of my creatures to flip Welcome Hell to Deathgoros, Supreme Devil Corrupt King!" The winged palace fired two beams upon the surprised cowboy, fat ghost, caped humanoid and purple robot, destroying them, after which it cracked open to reveal a horned demonic serpent dragon wielding a bone scythe. "When Deathgoros is Dragsolutioned, I destroy 2 of your creatures!" The creature growled and slashed both The Clock and Shuff with its scythe.

"No matter how many creatures you destroy, it's all futile in the end - I summon Wild Speed, D2W!" A white motorcycle with a head and a drill in the front appeared. "It's a Water Command so I take off a seal from VV-8! Then with its effect, I check the top 2 cards of my deck and put a non-evolution creature that costs 6 or less into the battle zone. And since I have a D2 Field in the battle zone, Wild Speed gives the Sonic Command race to all of my creatures! I bring out The Clock, Ragnarok, take off another seal and end my turn."

"So now you're making your creatures walking seal breakers. Such skills are quite useful, I dare say. I summon another Savage, Forbidden U." Another faceless humanoid appeared and this time it milled Honenbe, Skeletal Guardian while its owner returned Black Psycho, Revenge to his hand. "Then I evolve Savage into Black Psycho and discard 2 cards from your hand!" The humanoid turned into the purple buffoon demon once more and caused the opponent to lose Onikamas, Strange Flow and Pakurio. "I attack with Black Psycho and S-Rank Invasion "Zombie", I evolve him into Deadzone, S-Rank Zombie from the graveyard which gives -9000 to Wild Speed!" The demon quickly turned into the purple motorcycle robot once more which roared and grabbed the white motorcycle with its wheel claw, crushing it. "Deadzone, break his final shield!"

Edo took cover as the robot punched his shield into smithereens. He froze in shock when he saw that it had nothing to save him at that point.

"I attack with Deathgoros which revives Death Hands and by whose effect I'll destroy The Clock too!" The horned grey armored creature wielding a scythe arose once again from the dead and this time it slashed the muscular spiky haired humanoid with clock arms on its chest. "Deathgoros, todomeda!" The direct attack order came and the serpent dragon used its own scythe to throw Edo straight into the brick wall near them.

And thus their game was over. Demon Subaru quickly went to the other table and searched the opponent's deck. His smile grew when he saw Bluenika, Dragon Soul Fortress between them, the first piece of All Over The World. Edo slowly opened his eyes and groaned in pain. When his blurry sight got clearer, the last thing he saw was the familiar sight of his surfboard right before it got violently shoved down his throat, tearing his skull in half.

Then the colorless park disappeared, revealing that all this time they had never left the beach and the only dead body there was that of Edo's. Bochiborof, who had been watching the whole scene from a sheet while eating popcorn, applauded his master's performance with glee and asked, "Sire, are we going to leave this body to be found as well?"

"No, I don't want the other chosen duelists to grow more alerted of my presence."

Demon Subaru pulled out a large black bag from his jacket and hid the corpse inside. Afterwards he used his claws to slash the surfboard into many pieces which he then threw far into the sea. That was the end of Edo Kanda. Pleased with the show, Bochiborof packed his own stuff and the two headed back to the city. But once they reached the stairs, Demon Subaru suddenly collapsed on his knees and gasped for air.

"Milord, he is dead now, you can drop the act," the wolf plushy reasoned, but he got no response from his master whose limbs started to shake. "Demon Subaru-sama, are you alright?"

"I'm fine…" he growled and forced himself up. "Let's go."

"You don't look so good, maybe you should sit down and rest."

The demonic teen ignored his servant's pleas and started climbing the stairs, lost in thought. That whole murder had taken up all of his powers, regardless of how much he had fed off of his victim's fear. Many years ago, when he was possessing the bodies of other humans, he would have been able to pull off such illusions with ease. But now this strange new body he had gotten was surprisingly weak and could not contain his powers. He needed to find some answers, and deep inside he started to fear that maybe his body would have failed him before he managed to achieve his goals.