(Cipher 179) 13: In Helders Name
Azars LP: 5300 Camilla's LP: 8000
Camilla had suspected something was amiss, but Azars revelation exceeded her imagination. "You.. abandoned your Number?" After her Mega Zaborg Monarch(8/2800/1000) allowed her access to Azars extra deck, she found out that no Number lied inside, only a grey husk of a card. No duelist on earth could let their Number decay like this. "You are the one everyone talked about?!" That was not all. Her brother was standing there, surrounded in flames of chaotic energy. This was the same power that had consumed so many Numbers last year, and her own brother was its host. "Chaos found me, Camilla, when I stayed with my friends at the city. It found me as its previous partner lied on the streets in pain, because he could not handle its power. I could, I managed to contain it, evolve it. And I used it, to fight against the Numbers." He started to explain. Unfortunately there was no calming her now. "You've become e a monster!" Fear had taken her. "You should never have returned to us!"
"Camilla.. I.." Azar had never seen his sister like this. She was terrified, affraid of him. Azar could not tell whether she said them out of her own feelings, or because Pandora was influencing her. But it hurt, it hurt that they were now put in this position. It might have been years since he felt anything like love for her, but she was still family. "I will defeat you! I will tear you out!" Now, instead, she was an enemy. "Mega Zaborgs effect continues!" Azar still had 14 other cards in his extra deck, 8 of which would be discarded. "Queen Dragun, two Hieratic Sundragon Overlords of Heliopolis, Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon, two Thunder End Dragons, Fiveheaded Dragon, Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand. Disappear!" She sent these eight to the graveyard, leaving Azar with his weaker and harder to summon Synchro and Xyz monsters like Drascension and Kachi-Kochi Dragon. And now that a monster had succesfully been tribute summoned, her continuous Return of the Monarchs spell card allowed her to add another monster with 2800 attackpoints and 1000 defense points to her hand; Caius the Mega Monarch. "I don't know what you are anymore, but you will not make my Number like yours!"
"I am still me, Camilla. More than ever. Chaos is not a devil I made a pact with. It is a being that I gave life to. It gained consciousness and a conscience." Azars turn was not yet over. He activated the spell card, White Elephants Gift. With it he could send one of his normal monsters, Labradorite Dragon(6/0/0) to the graveyard, and draw two new cards. Now the only monster he had left on his field was the Hieratic Seal of the Sundragon Overlord(8/0/0). He had special summoned that monster from his deck in defense position, when Camilla sacrificed his Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb and triggered its effect to summon normal dragons from the deck. "If anything, the Numbers are closer to what you fear. Camilla, your Number was just like mine; a dimensional parasite that was drawn to our race because of our emotions.. our desires." Azar placed one trap card down. "I could not tell you what I am, because the Numbers would know. They have taken our world, and I have to give it back to us."
"How can I believe that? Why should I?" Camilla asked her brother "You don't have to, Camilla. This is all on me." He ended his turn at last. Before hers started, Camilla's other continuous spell was activated. This turn she had also tributed two monsters, even if one was Azars. So Advance Zone allowed her to draw another card from her deck. Then during the standby phase, Majiosheldon(4/800/2000) special summoned itself back to her field, as it had been tributed two turns ago. "All on you? Is that what you.. is that why you are doing this? Because it makes you feel special!?" She let out a quick but nervous cackle. "You always wanted to be more, our family was never good enough for you! Now look at you! How does this look to !"
"I activate Tenacity of the Monarchs! By revealing a monster in her hand that has 2400/2800 attackpoints and 1000 defense points, I may claim any Monarch spell or trap card from her deck." Her Tenacious spell revealed Mega Caius The dark emperor, so she could add a continuous spell card to her hand. "I activate this card, March of the Monarchs! Now all of my tribute summoned monsters can not be destroyed or targeted by card effects!" Camilla was looking for security. Azars face-down trap already stopped worrying her. "I sacrifice Majiosheldon and Mega Zaborg!" Because she wanted to keep gaining card advantages through Advance Zone, Camilla tributed another two monsters when her Zaborg alone would have sufficed. "Caius is summoned!" Still, the mega form of the shadow devil emperor emerged from the shadows of its sacrifices. "It can not use its full power, because I didn't tribute a dark monster, but it can banish at least one of your cards! And inflict 1000 points of damage!" The golden sphere of the Hieratic Overlord was dragged down into the suffocating darkness. No light escaped it. "Hmph.." Merely standing in the path of the emperors black fog was enough to drain Azars life energy away.
Azars LP: 4300
"Direct attack." After that, she ordered the Mega Monarch to strike her brother. The devils monarch lashed out with its claw, tearing through the daylight and sending pure blackness at Azar. "Gah!" Camilla was not using a Number for this duel, yet the blow felt like a physical one. As if Azar was subconsciously adding the pain himself. "I set one card down and enter the endphase." She was done with her turn. Return of the Monarchs had given her yet another Megamonarch to summon on the next turn, Mega Mobius. Advance Zone allowed her to draw another card as well. She had so many cards she could not even play them all. Her entire backrow was filled. The last card in her hand, The Monarchs Erupt, would have to wait one turn before it could be set.
Azars LP: 1500
"Before you end your turn, Camilla." Azar did not allow the endphase to actualy end, not just yet. "I need you to know one thing. Whatever I felt about the family, whatever grudge I bore.. I never blamed you. Perhaps I always only blamed myself. I did things I am not proud of, at home and away from home. But this..what I am doing right now, is for the good of us all. I am the only hope humanity has right now, that you have. I will defeat you, and save you." He placed his hand on his set trap. "Save me? How will, you do that? You have nothing!" Camilla snarled at him one final time. "Like this. I activate Hope for Escape! I pay 1000 lifepoints and then draw one card for every 2000 lifepoints of difference between you and me!" The trap was flipped and the payment made. The difference was more than 6000 lifepoints, meaning he could draw thrice. "What!?" Together with the card he held on to, and the card he drew in his turn, Azar made a new hand of 5 cards. "It's over."
Azars LP: 500
"Because you control monsters, and I do not, I may special summon Tefnuit the Hieratic Dragon from my hand." The dragon(6/2100/1400) of the watergoddess surfaced from the invisible moisture in the air. "And.. I send it back to my hand, by activating A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon!" Azars spell required the withdrawal of a highlevel dragon. Tefnuit disappeared into the fog, but flapped its wings before doing so. "This spell destroys all spell and trap cards you control!" The beating of wings created cutting windforces that headed towards Camilla's continuous traps and spells. "No!" Return/Escalation and March of the Monarchs were all destroyed, along with Advance Zone. "I chain with a trap card: The Monarchs Awaken!" Her last trap on the other hand was a normal trap, whose effect was activated just before it could be destroyed. "The trap seals the effects of a tribute summoned monster, but makes it immune to all other effects this turn!" Caius was coated by an armor made from all six elements. No matter what card effect Azar pulled out of his hand, he could not touch it until her next turn. Not unless he could defeat it in battle.
"Then I will have to use brute force.. I special summon Tefnuit once again." The monsterzones on the field had not changed, so he watergod dragon could return from Azars hand. "And by tributing a Hieratic Dragon, I can special summon Nebthet from my hand." One Hieratic disappeared and another, the moonlight dragon(5/2000/1600) took its place. Naturally, since Tefnuit had been tributed, Azar used its effect to special summon a normal-type Wattail Dragon(6/0/0) from his deck, with its attack and defense points reduced to zero. "I can also special summon Lightpulsar Dragon from my hand, by banishing a dark and light-type monster from my graveyard." The dark-type Queen Dragun Djinn and light-type Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon were his choices. Their contrasting attributes mixed together to form a cosmic pure white dragon(6/2500/1500).
"Now I overlay Wattail Dragon and Light Pulsar Dragon, and Xyz-summon Hieratic Dragon King of Atum." One of the only rank 6 monsters he had left was brought out from his extra deck. The golden dragon(6/2400/2100) with wings colored like the night. Azar detached a material from his Xyz-monster. "Atum can summon any dragon from my deck. I choose Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon." Azar took the metallized version of the ultimate Redeyes dragon and placed it on his D-pad. "But that monster will have its stats taken away. And Atum can not attack after it uses its effect!" The metal dragon(10/0/0) materalized in a severely weakened form. Even if it had kept its original attackpoints, it would only suicide against Caius. "I know, Camilla, this is just the second step.." Azar activated the effect of his Darkness dragon. "This RedEyes can special summon one dragon from my hand or graveyard. I summon Blue-Eyes!" The red-eyed dragon gave life back to its stronger blue-eyed counterpart(8/3000/2500). "And in my extra deck is Gaia Dragon the Thunder Charger. It can Xyz-summon itself by using a rank 5 or 6 Xyz monster and its attached cards as new materials! I will use Atum!" The night sky Dragon King folded its wings to hide its body and transformed. Once the wings opened, a new monster appeared; a red lancer knight(7/2600/2100) riding an armored wyvern.
"You still can't win with those cards!" Camilla insisted. "Yes. But I have one card left.. one step." Azar had not yet normal summoned. "I summon Rider of the Storm Winds." Another whitehaired dragon rider(1/500/200) made his entrance, filling Azars last monster zone. "It is a tuner monster." Azar took the Rider and another. "I tune it with RedEyes Darkness Metal Dragon and synchro summon Star Eater!" The 11 level stars of the tuner and the metallic dragon collided high in the sky, creating a second brilliant sun. "Star..Eater?" Camilla did not think Azar could summon a level 11 synchro monster so easily, she did not think any duelist could. A dragon(11/3200/2800) made of solar flames burst out of the sun and roared at Caius the Mega Monarch. "I told you, this is it. Camilla, be free!" Star Eaters wings snapped outwards, bringing the brilliance of the sun to Camilla's emperor of darkness. Caius was burned to nothingness.
Camilla's LP: 7600
"No. I do not want to fall. I do not want to be like you!" She cried out her last words out resistance. "I.." Azar almost hesitated. "I know." Then Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Nebthet and Gaia Dragon launched a combined direct assault on her remaining lifepoints. "Uhn.." Camilla dropped to one knee. "What.. happens now?" It was a strange sensation that struck her, one of weakness yet liberation. The full effects of her loss had not hit her yet. "Now.." Azar was holding back. "I can take her Number.. Except, then she will become like.. persecuted by everyone. Ruby could handle that.. but her." He was waiting, and not just on her. He had to make a decision..
Camilla's LP: 0
"?" He was too late to do so. Minutes passed before his eyes in the blink of an eye. "I was right, all this time I was right." There were seven more people now in front of his home and surrounding him. The Seven, led by a distraught Ariel, were here. "I do not understand. Dakar, you said.." They could all see Azar for what he really was. "I know what I saw." The duelist he had assumed cured, was not just infected by Chaos, but acting as Chaos. "It is a good thing we got here in time. Are you alright miss?" Ion had crept down besides Camilla to support her. She was too nerve-struck to talk. "You atatcked your own sister? Dude!" Claud and Rita were disgusted by Azars actions. Azar ignored them though. "Time, hmph." He stared at the one who had trapped him. Subito, he was present for this encounter and succesfully froze time around the two had used that time to create another barrier around Chaos, and Ion pinned the forcefield down with additional light arrows. "Chaos... Azar. How many people did you try to infect? We found Trey, brought him back. We know you took Ruby, and we want to know where she is."
"Do you want to know? Or do you want to know what I did to her?"
"No. No more from you about truths and lies. You deceived us! You will not speak another lie!" Ariel shouted defiantly, and reached for her D-pad. "Then I wont, Ariel. I have come to the same realization as you. Nothing I say will help you, only actions can." Azar noticed the others around him motioned for their D-pads. A seven-on-one duel against him in the physical world would be disastrous. But they did not know that. "I would consider this; I am not as I was during our previous encounter. This body is mine, you can not destroy this power you hate without destroying Azar as well. And.." Azar extended his hand, holding a card inside, which he quickly burned to a crisp. "His Number!" Rita shrieked as the card shriveled up to nothing. "He severed Azar from the Number?" Things were worse than they had thought. "Now you may to do to what you desire, I cannot fight you. Yet remember, Azar is still your friend." He said, taking a deep breath. And then he passed out. "What? What happened to him?" Camilla gasped as Azar collapsed down against the pavement.
"He is out like a light." Ion checked the body. He could feel his breath and pulse. "Knocked himself out, or passed out from exhaustion, who knows.." It was almost of too much benefit to Azar, to be a mere coincidence. "If his Number is gone, then Chaos has taken him and corrupted him almost entirely. There is only one who can undo the damage now." Dakar walked up to his body. "You can't mean.." Rita yelled. "I can. I defeated Azar. We destroyed Chaos. It still came back both times. We need to take give him to Kapha's people, they can cure Azar and help revive his Number." He picked Azar up and placed him against the gate walls. "Wait. You are taking him?" Camilla's voice came back to her as soon as she saw this strange man touch her brother. "I don't know what is going on. But that is.." A feeling had come up inside her, one that she did not know she had kept with her. "He is still a Helder."
"Do not worry. We will try everything in our power to help him. He was a friend of ours once too.." Dakar placed his hand on Azar, and he warped him away. "I will stay here, just in case." Ion stepped aside, as the others got ready to leave as well. He figured someone would have to tell Azars parents just what had taken place here. "Suit yourself." Rita did not care. To her it was obvious that Ion just had a soft spot for the girl. "We will call you if anything happens." With that said, the five others disappeared as well. "What..are they gonna do to him?" Camilla asked Ion. He just sighed. "Fix him. Wish i could tell you more than that.."
..
The Seven, sans Ion, arrived elsewhere to do what they normally did with their special cases, taking them to a meeting point where they could be picked up Kapha's agents. And Azar was about as special as he could be. This practice that had always worked, as the people always came back cured. "The least you can do is let us come with you! I mean, I am an agent for gods sake, I worked with these guys before! I know some of them by name and face! We all do!" It just did not sit well with Rita, and the others, that they were never allowed to see the curing process or know the people in charge of that facility. Kapha had told them from the beginning that it was better if both departments did not overlap. "I could probably even guess where it is." Kapha never showed his face and he always sent masked grunts. They would probably arrive soon by helicopter to pick Azar up. It wasn't good enough for Rita anymore, she vented her frustrations through the phone. After a while her anger reached the point where her words became incoherent, so she handed the phone off to Xander. "What Rita is trying to say is that we can not maintain this arrangement. If Chaos can knock out one network, what is to stop him from doing the same to others? We would be blind, we need..."
"What? Okay. I understand. Yes, that will do. We will meet with him then."
"What? What is it, did you get through?" Claud began to cheer at this good-sounding news. "I may have. Kapha said he would send an intermediary, someone who can speak directly for him." It was the next best option after a direct connection with the head of the agency. "He also said that three of us should go with Azar, to make sure he does not break free." The duelist looked at each other. "I will go, and you two can come with me as well." Subito told Rita and Claud. He figured two agents would be best suited for this new facility they were headed for. "Ariel, Dakar, Xander, you need to locate Ruby and..." The others would have to stop her, as they feared she could further spread Chaos. And they would need to move quickly. "We will." Ariel nodded and teleported away with her brother and Xander.
Moments later, the helicopter did arrive. Soldiers stormed out of it and took Azar to strap him down inside. "Are you the three chosen?" One soldier asked. "Yes. Are you the contact person?" Subito asked. The soldier shook his head. "No. I am." Another voice spoke up over the spinning blades, coming from inside the vehicle. Not an unfamiliar voice..
"It's... You?"
(To be Continued in Cipher 14: Being Hated is Better Than Being Loved)
New Cards used by Azar Helder
Light Pulsar Dragon
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A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon
Cards used by Camilla Helder
Caius the Mega Monarch
Mobius the Mega Monarch
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Tenacity of the Monarchs
March of the Monarchs
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The Monarchs Awaken