"Did you say… Hitler?"
"I did." Rod's grin had grown unsettlingly large. "That's your name. I'd recognize you anywhere."
"Recognize me?" asked Buffet. "What do you mean? I've never seen you before in my life!"
"You may not remember it, but you certainly have." Though the sounds of the battle were growing louder by the second, Buffet could still hear Rod's voice clearly.
"How the hell do you know that? Who are you?"
"I'll tell you everything you need to know," said Rod, stepping away from his daughter, "but first… You'll have to defeat me in a children's card game."
"Are you serious?" Historia asked incredulously. "You're going to duel him?"
"I have no other choice, do I?" Rod shook his head. "You won't listen to me, and Kenny is no longer useful to me. Therefore, this boy is all I have left."
"That's pretty rude of you to say…" Kenny Ackerman remarked to himself.
"So, this is really happening…" Buffet swallowed his fear and activated his Duel Disk.
"Buffet Hitler…" Darkness poured forth from behind Rod, as the Shadow Realm engulfed the two duelists as well as Kenny and Historia. "It's time to get your game on!"
"Let's do this!" Buffet drew his five cards, and looked them over carefully. His deck had never let him down, and this was no exception.
"Oh, and before I forget, I should explain to you a special rule of this Yami no Game," said Rod with a devious look on his face. "You see, whenever you lose Life Points, Eren's own life force will drain away. Once you lose the duel, he'll lose his life."
"What… No..." Buffet looked up, astonished, and for the first time he saw Eren in chains. Mikasa would have loved to see it. "You monster! How could you do that?"
"I'll do anything it takes to preserve humanity!" yelled the old man. "Now make your move!"
"Fine, I guess I have no choice…" His palms were sweaty, his knees were weak, and his arms were heavy, but Buffet pressed on. "I'll place one monster in facedown defense position!"
Thanks to the Duel Disk's holographic projection, the set monster appeared in front of him.
"Next, I'll activate a Field Magic Card known as Ghostrick Mansion!" Buffet declared.
The sprawling mansion that Buffet's Ghostrick monsters called home appeared behind him, but quickly became partially hidden by the shadows that surrounded the dueling duo.
"That ends my turn."
"Very well," said Rod, drawing a card. "I'll start by summoning Edea the Heavenly Squire from my hand! And using Edea's effect, I can bring out Eidos the Underworld Squire from my deck!"
Rod's pair of monsters took their places on the field in front of him. Neither one of them possessed a high number of Attack Points, but clearly the man was not finished.
"Now, Eidos allows me to advance summon one monster in addition to my normal summon." Rod Reiss plucked a card from his hand and held it up for all to see. "Now, I release Eidos and Edea in order to summon Erebus the Underworld Monarch!"
Buffet was gripped by an ominous feeling as Rod's powerful Monarch rose up through the dankness. The dark beast Erebus took its place on a throne of shadows that materialized behind Rod, and stared at Buffet with a bored expression as if he was not worth its time.
"When Erebus is advance summoned," continued the old man, "I'm allowed to send two Monarch cards from my deck to the Graveyard in order to shuffle one of your cards into the deck. I'll send The Prime Monarch and Pantheism of the Monarchs to the Graveyard…"
Rod deposited his two cards in his cemetery and pointed an unwavering finger at Buffet.
"Now I'll return your Ghostrick Mansion to the deck!"
"Shit…"
Buffet's Ghostrick Mansion was a key part of his strategy, and seeing it wiped off the field was not exactly fun for him. Still, he was not out of options.
"Now, Erebus the Underworld Monarch attacks your hidden monster!" screamed Rod.
Buffet cringed as his facedown Ghostrick Mummy was wiped out by the Monarch's blast, but he had another trick up his sleeve.
"I activate the effect of Ghostrick Specter from my hand!" he declared. "When one of my Ghostrick monsters is destroyed, I can summon Specter in facedown defense mode and then draw one card from my deck!"
"So be it." Rod frowned. "I end my turn."
"Then it's my draw!" Buffet shouted, pulling another card from his deck and adding it to his hand. "For starters, I'll flip my Ghostrick Specter face-up! And then I'll summon Ghostrick Jackfrost!"
A cute little snowman appeared next to Buffet's spooky specter. Both of the monsters shared a key characteristic, and Buffet was set to take advantage of it.
"I overlay my level one Specter and my level one Jackfrost!" Buffet raised a hand into the air as his monsters disappeared in two flashes of light. "Using these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network and Xyz summon Ghostrick Dullahan!"
Buffet's two weaker monsters combined their strength and formed the headless horseman known as Dullahan. Its 1200 Attack Points would not be able to stand up to Rod's Monarch's 2800 on their own, but Buffet had a plan in place to take it down.
"I activate Dullahan's effect!" shouted Buffet. "By detaching one of its Overlay Units, I can cut your monster's Attack Points in half!"
"What did you say?" Rod asked, but it was already too late. Erebus had lost 1400 Attack Points, but even in its weakened state, it was still stronger than Buffet's Dullahan.
"Great job, Dullahan," said Buffet with a grin. "You did everything I needed. Now I'll use Dullahan to build the Overlay Network once again!"
"Are you kidding me?" Historia was growing unbearably bored as the duel wore on.
"I Xyz summon the strongest monster in my deck, Ghostrick Angel of Mischief!"
Dullahan and its one remaining Overlay Unit dematerialized before taking the form of a new monster, one that Buffet treasured with all his heart. This was a card that he had gotten from Sasha, the girl who had always loved Yugioh. He would not lose with her by his side.
"Ghostrick Angel of Mischief's effect activates! Once per turn, I can detach an Overlay Unit to add a Ghostrick Magic or Trap Card from my deck to my hand!"
Buffet's Ghostrick Specter went to the Graveyard, and in return he was allowed to acquire a card that would surely come in handy later on.
"Now, Ghostrick Angel of Mischief! Attack his Underworld Monarch!"
Rod was blown back by the force of Buffet's attack, but he held his ground as Historia looked on with a bored expression on her face. Kenny nodded his head in the background.
"Not bad," noted Rod as his Life Points fell to 3400. "But you won't win against a duelist like me with a strategy like that. You haven't seen anything yet.
"Bite me, old man." Buffet set a card in his Duel Disk. "I'll throw down a facedown. Your move."
"Boku no turn! Doro!" shouted Rod as he drew his card. His face immediately lit up with a sinister grin as he stared at the new addition to his hand.
"Since you control a monster that was summoned from the Extra Deck and I don't, I can special summon Cipher Twin Raptor from my hand!"
Rod's new monster took the field, and its 1600 Attack Points were not more than Angel of Mischief could take on by itself. But he wasn't anywhere close to finished.
"Next, I'll activate the effect of The Prime Monarch from my Graveyard. By banishing another Monarch card, I can special summon it as a monster with 1000 Attack Points."
Buffet could tell that Rod was planning something big, but it was difficult to know what.
"Now, by discarding one card from my hand, I can activate Cipher Twin Raptor's effect! I can summon another Cipher monster from my deck, like my Cipher Etranger!"
Rod had now accumulated three monsters with which to do whatever he pleased. Things were looking grim for the young hero named Buffet Hitler.
"The moment has come, Historia!" said Rod with the largest grin that Buffet had ever seen. "I'm about to bring forth the embodiment of everything I have ever wished for! I now release all three of my monsters!"
Rod brought forth the card that he had drawn on that turn, and held it in his hand as he closed his eyes and began to chant in a language Buffet had never heard before.
"Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and grant me victory in this fight. Then fill the deserts with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win. Appear in this shadow game as I call your name...WINGED DRAGON OF RA!"
An immense light expanded from the card in Rod's hand and pierced through the darkness of the Shadow Realm that surrounded them. Taking a quick glance behind him, Buffet could see Jean and Hange watching him, both of them having several noticeable injuries.
When he turned back, he saw the incredible monster that Rod had summoned.
The Winged Dragon of Ra, one of the three Egyptian Gods that Buffet had heard so much about, had been called to the field to stand in his way. He could only watch as Rod drained away all but one of his own Life Points, in order to increase Ra's Attack Points to 5999.
"Winged Dragon of Ra, attack Ghostrick Angel of Mischief!" shouted Rod triumphantly. His monster launched an enormous fireball toward Buffet, who braced himself but was nonetheless thrown back by the force of Ra's blast. Smoke enveloped the battlefield as Rod laughed with triumphant glee and Historia nearly fell asleep.
"It's over, Buffet. You have only one Life Point, and you have no monsters that can defend you from The Winged Dragon of Ra! Now, surrender and join me!"
"Think again, bitch." Rod's eyes widened as the smoke cleared and Buffet stood his ground, with two facedown monsters in front of him.
"What? How could you survive?" Rod was flabbergasted.
"I activated my Trap Card, Ghostrick Break," explained Buffet. "When one of my Ghostricks is destroyed, I can use Ghostrick Break to summon two more from my Graveyard, facedown."
"Curse you, Buffet Hitler!" screamed Rod. "Do you really insist on fighting, even when there is no hope left? The only thing that protects humanity is the power of the Reiss bloodline! Are you denying me the ability to save the humans within these walls?"
"You could say that." Buffet brushed his hair out of his face, and looked around at the comrades who had gathered. Eren was still chained above him, but he was giving Buffet every ounce of strength he could muster. Historia was clearly bored out of her mind, but she was on his side as well. That much he knew, at least.
Turning around again, Buffet could see that the rest of his friends had joined him. Along with Jean and Hange, Levi and Armin had appeared, and the four of them all nodded and shouted encouraging words to him. But there was one face that Buffet had not expected to see.
Standing at the end of the line, next to the profusely sweating Armin, was the girl who inspired him so much, Sasha. He stared into her eyes, and she looked back at him with the goofy smile that he had grown to love. She gave him a thumbs up before fading away.
"Listen up, Rod!" shouted Buffet as a red aura surrounded him. "You asked me if I was denying you, and that's exactly right. I'm denying your dream of keeping humanity locked away in a cage! I'm denying everything that you've been trying to do up until now! I don't care if humans have survived for 100 years in captivity because of you and your family, because a life like that means nothing to any person worth a damn! Sasha… She knew what it meant to live, and now I'm going to carry on her wishes by stopping you! It's my draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!"
Buffet didn't even need to look at the card to know exactly what it was.
"I release both of my facedown monsters!" he screamed as loud as he could. "I advance summon Danny Anime!"
"What, Danny Anime?! It's not possible! Nobody's ever been able to summon him!"
"Nobody except me," Buffet said smugly. "This is the embodiment of humanity's wishes, and the very proof of our evolution! Danny Anime, destroy The Winged Dragon of Ra!"
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Rod's scream faded into nothingness as his Egyptian God was wiped out by the overwhelming power of Danny Anime.
"It's over, Rod," said Buffet as the old man's Life Points reached zero. "I've won."
"Not yet!" Rod reached into his deck and pulled out a card that was bathed in darkness.
"I summon Killer Keem-"
Historia grabbed the card out of Rod's hand before throwing him to the ground.
"For fuck's sake…"
Armin gave a sigh of relief and called up stairs to Connie.
"You all can come down now." called Armin.
"Was this all a trick just to make me believe your lies!" screamed Historia as she ripped up the card he had tried to play before she stopped him. She then took the serum and slammed it against the ground. She ran her way up to Eren and started to untie him, the squad all dashed over to Eren as well. Rod Reiss crawled his way over to the broken titan serum. He got to the area and started to lick the ground.
"Uri….Frieda….Wait for me….I'm coming." murmured Rod as he lapped up the serum. In a flash he turned into a titan, a titan even bigger than stupid little Bertholdt. Jean and Levi tugged on Eren's restraints even harder now. They got him free just before a giant rock landed on their previous location.
Kenny looked upon the scene that was happening below him.
"Are you fucking kidding me Rod! You turned into a Titan you motherfucker!" he screamed at the giant mindless titan.
"Kenny!" he looked over to see Traute and the rest of his squad flying towards him.
"Wait! Don't come any closer!" screamed Kenny but it was too late, his squad was crushed by boulders. Then he barely dodged a boulder that was coming straight for him. He looked down at Levi's squad and started to fly towards them.
Connie ran down the stairs with Petra in his arms with Marlowe and Hitch close behind to see the scene that had unfolded. They quickly ran towards the squad but before they got there Connie tripped and fell. Petra went flying out of his arms and as she hit the ground a large rock was falling in her direction. She screamed as the rock fell towards her but right before it hit her Kenny flew down and knocked her out of the way, taking the boulder for himself. She slid towards the staircase that lead up to the squad's location. Connie picked her up and the four ran up to the squad, when they got there Eren was looking at a strange vial, Levi looked over to him.
"It's time to make a choice, make sure it's the right one." said Levi. Petra's eyes expanded as well as Eren's as they remembered those same words from the forest. Eren dashed over and bit into the vial.
A few minutes later the group emerged from a hardened titan shell, Levi looked over and saw Kenny, Levi brought Petra with him and sat her down next to himself
"I swiped this from Rod's bag." said the dying Kenny. He revealed the titan serum.
"Apparently...taking one can...turn you into a titan." explained Kenny.
"Maybe I'll become a stupid one...I dunno...but at least...it could...keep me alive…" suggested Kenny.
"You would probably have a better chance if you were...less messed up. So why don't you?" said Levi.
"Yeah...I wonder why...Gotta make sure I do it right...or I might turn out like him...Some half-baked dumbass." said Kenny.
"There is no way you would have done this… why did you save her?" asked Levi looking over at Petra.
"Yea...I...Don't wanna die...and I wanted power….But...now I see…" Kenny looked down at the ground.
"Now I think I get why...He did something like that." said Kenny like he was remembering someone.
"Huh?" questioned Levi.
"Everyone I saw...was the same...Alcohol...Family...The King...Children...Power…...Dreams…" Kenny looked at something behind Levi, but no one payed attention, Kenny looked up at Levi.
"...Women...Or even pretending to be God…They all had something they were drunk on...It was what kept them moving...They were all slaves to something...even he was…" Kenny started to cough up blood, he did not a lot of time left, Levi crouched down to his level.
"W-What...about you...being a Hero?" said Kenny as he continued to cough up blood.
"Kenny...tell me everything you know. Why didn't the previous King want humanity to survive." asked Levi.
"I don't know...but...that's why we Ackermans went against the king…"
"I was told that I was an Ackerman too...is that true? You...who were you to my mother?" asked Levi.
"Hah...just her...big brother…" said Kenny as he coughed up more blood.
"Then why...did you leave me back then?" asked Levi.
"I...was unfit...to be a parent…" Kenny looked over at Petra. "I hope...I've repaid that debt." stated Kenny. Kenny then picked up the serum and pushed it against Levi's chest.
"Kenny…" said Levi as he looked away from Kenny.
"Oh...by the way...that woman behind you...she's not dead." Kenny said on his final breath.
Levi took hold of the serum and then quickly dashed out of the way without even looking behind him. He heard two bullets whiz by his ears and hit the pillar Kenny was leaning up against. A piece of debris from the pillar whizzed by Petra's face. A red gash appeared on Petra's face and blood started to trickle out from the wound. Levi looked over to see Traute Carven, Kenny's second in command, laying on the ground. Levi walked over and took the guns away from her hands. He looked at her legs, one of them was bright red while the other was bent in the wrong direction. Levi dashed forwards and put his blade to her throat.
"You wanna try that again?" asked Levi coldly, Traute looked up into Levi's eyes, there was blood pouring down her face.
"I would if I had the chance to." growled Traute back, Levi put a bit of force to her throat, a small thin line of red appeared under his blade, Traute coughed up so blood.
"Stop it Levi!" yelled Petra from the broken pillar. Levi turned around to see Petra with a serious expression.
"Why Should I?" replied Levi.
"Well I-" Petra sighed, she looked away from Levi. "You must still think this way…" trailed of Petra.
"What do you-" started Levi.
"You hate pointless deaths, right Levi?" asked Petra, even though she already knew the answer. Levi looked away from both of them, shocked at what she said. "Cause this seems pretty pointless to me." continued Petra. Levi looked at Petra and then at Traute, he had made up his mind. He lowered his blade from her neck. He looked over at his squad.
"Patch her up, we take her prisoner." Levi said. Petra's face lit up as Armin and Connie carefully picked her up and walked upstairs towards the wagon sitting outside the chapel. The rest of the squad slowly walked out of the Chapel. Levi walked over to Petra and picked her up. He took one last look at Kenny, peacefully sat up against the pillar. He gripped the Titan Serum in his pocket and then looked at Petra in his arms.
"You've repaid your debt to me Kenny, now rest in peace." he said to Kenny's corpse.
He then turned around and walked up the stairs. He saw the squad was all ready to head out.
"Thank you." murmured Petra as Levi walked to the wagon. He smiled to himself as he got onto the wagon.
Levi was finally starting to see the Petra he knew before the Female Titan ruined their lives.
