Today seemed like a rather simple one in Crystal City as it had been another slow day. Barely anyone was being sent off on missions and thus Damien and the others decided to go for a swim. And as usual, Scarlet was giving the black-haired man lessons as he was starting to make decent progress.

"Wow, you're becoming a real natural at this," Scarlet said with a grin as Damien replied, "Well, you have helped a lot with that."

Cindy smiled sweetly at the sight of this as Matt said, "You might be right about those two. They seem to get along really fell. Also, notice that Scarlet hasn't hit Damien in quite some time."

This was made clear when Damien lost his balance briefly and tilted forward just enough for his head to wedge itself between the redhead's breasts. Shockingly, Scarlet did not get the least bit irritated as she simply propped his head out and said, "We need to work on that."

Damien let out a sigh when everyone gasped at the sight of Morgan entering the area in a rather revealing swimsuit. Since the woman was at least twice as old as most of the soldiers, most of the men in the area did their best not to stare as she folded her arms and sighed, "Oh well, may as well dazzle the masses with my amazing diving."

With that, the woman leapt into the air before performing a swan dive into the water. After a few seconds under the water, she rose up and shifted her hair left and right before taking a deep breath and swimming over to Damien.

Scarlet and Damien both stared as the man said, "Hey, ma'am. What's up?" the general replying, "I'll tell you what's up. You and Scarlet have been chosen for an assignment just now."

"What!?" Scarlet remarked as Morgan sighed, "Yeah, I just found out about it. There's a core in the Moldavite ruins, and from what I can recall, Scarlet here is the only high ranking soldier here who doesn't mind going to that place."

The redhead let out a sigh and replied, "I just don't see what all the fuss is about. It's not that dangerous," Matt remarking, "Are you kidding? They have actual demons there."

"Says the guy who enjoys going to the swamp," Scarlet remarked as Damien shrugged and replied, "Well, come on, let's get going," the two getting out of the pool and heading into the change rooms to dry off and get into their regular clothes.

While Morgan watched them go, she smiled in admiration for their commitment while Steven suddenly appeared and said, "If it means anything, I think you look sexy in that swimsuit," Morgan replying, "Why thank you, Steven, but you know you don't have to kiss up to me now that you're competent right?"

With that, Damien and Scarlet were soon flying through the ruins as Damien asked, "So, was Matt right when he said this place has demons?" Scarlet replying, "Oh yeah. It was hard to believe the first time someone reported it, but Morgan sent a team to check the place out and they confirmed it. Though the big reason people generally don't like going here is because one soldier lost of one of New Domino's and was killed before he could activate his jet pack."

"And yet you feel comfortable in this place?" Damien asked as Scarlet nodded and replied, "That's because I actually found out that the demons aren't quite as vicious as fiction would have you believe. The only reason that soldier was killed was because he provoked a nearby demon, but I've found out how to prevent them from paying attention to you."

"How's that?" Damien asked as Scarlet replied, "Step one is to not show fear in their presence and step two is to leave them be. It's so simple and yet, because of their outward appearances, people have trouble figuring that out."

"So I'm guessing the person showed a great deal of fear, then," Damien replied as Scarlet nodded and sighed, "I have explained this to the others, but it's a lot easier said than done, and I guess I can't blame them. Believe it or not, the first time I was here, I tried to kill every single one of the demons present. This results in my mech being totalled. I felt so lucky that I was able to escape on my jet pack in time."

"So when did you learn how peaceful they could be?" Damien asked as the redhead stated, "It was when I was flying along and a cerberus appeared before me. I figured maybe if I stayed still, it would think I was a statue or something. However, I noticed it had no malice in its eyes but rather it had a playful look, so I gave each of its heads a scratch behind the ears and went along my way. And I soon found out the other demons were just as friendly."

"That's amazing," Damien said, "I probably wouldn't be able to show fear, but I'd have definitely tried to kill one if I hadn't heard about this."

At that moment, the two noticed a chimera flying by as it stopped and landed next to them. Damien stared for a few seconds, feeling a tad nervous at the sight of the creature. However, Scarlet reassured him by having her mech place a hand against his mech's shoulder as he had it reach out its hand and pet the lion head.

All of the demon's heads smiled as it carried on its way, Damien taking a deep breath and sighing, "I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified for a few seconds," Scarlet replying, "And yet you remained calm."

With all said and done, the two carried on and passed by many demons along the way. Since neither showed any fear or resistance to them, they were perfectly fine. Even when a gorgon slithered by, Damien kept his cool as he knew she could only effect him by looking directly into his eyes. After all, he was completely protected by his mech right now.

"You know, I have to admit, some of these demons are pretty cute," Damien said, Scarlet asking, "You think so too? You're the only other person who's ever said that. My favourite is the manticore."

"Honestly, of all the demons I've seen," the man replied, "my favourite would have to be that chimera earlier. It's like four animals in one. That's awesome."

A light smile briefly formed on his face, but once again, Scarlet was unable to see it as she replied, "I figured you'd warm up to that one."

However, their conversation came to a close when they noticed a brown mech ahead of them with the core attached to it. However, rather than leaving with said core, the owner instead had his mech petting three cerberi. The three-headed dogs panted while the owner of the mech rubbed their bellies, a male voice coming out and saying, "Oh, aren't you just the most adorable little things?"

Damien and Scarlet were unsure of what to do. On one hand, they knew they needed that core, but on the other hand, they did not wish to disturb the cerberi. But it seemed they were too late as the pilot noticed them and got up.

"Hey, little doggies, I'm gonna be busy for the next little while," the man said, "You run along home to your mama, now."

With that, the cerberi whimpered and sprinted off as Scarlet said, "Wow, you're really good with them," the man replying, "Yeah, I've been here more than enough times. Name's Randy."

The mech itself seemed to have wrist claws as its weapons. The pilot inside, Randy, was a thin man with a decent muscle tone and short green hair.

Damien nodded and said, "The cerberi are gone. Quickly," Randy shrugging and replying, "Take as long as you want. I prefer to let my opponents go first anyway. And hey, if you both wanna fight me at once, I'm fine with that too."

Both soldiers stared blankly as Scarlet said, "You're certainly more civil than most soldiers I've met," Randy shrugging and replying, "I believe in giving my opponents a fighting chance."

"Don't think we'll go easy on you just because of this," Damien remarked as both he and Scarlet pressed the red button, the sphere forming around the group as Randy replied, "Hey, I love me a challenge, so go all-out!"

Scarlet took a deep breath and said, "Well, we do have to complete this mission," Damien nodding and replying, "That's right," as it seemed Scarlet was going first.

Randy's mech seemed rather tough as it had a vitality of thirty-eight hundred. Clearly this man must have been quite tough to have been entrusted with a mech like this, so Scarlet was not going to take him lightly.

The woman ended up drawing a spell that she could not yet find a use for. As such, she summoned a monster in defence mode and ended her turn. It was not much but at least it would keep her well protected.

Randy grinned and exclaimed, "Well, alright, time to get this party started!" the man summoning a monster of his own. The monster in question was a brown dinosaur with muddy water attached to its body and resembling spikes. This was 'Hydrogeddon' and it had an attack power of sixteen hundred.

Scarlet narrowed her eyelids as she knew her monster was too weak to survive the attack. But even so, she would not let this get to her as the dinosaur ran over to her monster, revealing it to be a swarm of small brown locusts known as 'Insect Soldiers of the Sky'.

Hydrogeddon simply opened its mouth and closed it down on all of them, swallowing them whole as Scarlet and Damien both stared in horror at what happened next. As if Scarlet losing a monster was not bad enough, another Hydrogeddon took form as Randy grinned and slapped his knee.

"Now I've activated my monster's effect!" he exclaimed, "You see, when Hydrogeddon destroys a monster, I can summon another one from my hand! Sorry to do this so early, but it's business!"

Scarlet's eyes and mouth were wide open as the new dinosaur proceeded to crawl over to her mech and bite into its arm. This brought the redhead's vitality down to thirteen hundred as she winced, the woman even more frightened when Randy activated a spell called 'Sebek's Blessing'.

At that moment, a two-legged alligator holding a staff appeared before his mech and fired a beam of light at it, bringing its vitality up to fifty-four hundred, Damien asking, "What just happened?"

"That's Sebek's Blessing," Randy replied with a grin, "See, when I attack my opponent directly, this spell raises my vitality by the amount of damage I dealt."

Scarlet gulped as even Damien had to admit he was a tad frightened now. As if the two monsters were not bad enough, now this man had an insanely high amount of vitality. Sure, it was not quite on the level of Bruce's mech, but it was really close.

"I'll end my turn with this little number!" Randy exclaimed as he activated another spell, this one called 'Big Evolution Pill'. With that, the mech had its claws slice up the second Hydrogeddon as its parts sank into the ground, Scarlet and Damien expecting the worst.

However, nothing happened as Damien blinked and asked, "What was that supposed to do exactly?" Randy replying, "Well, I can only activate this card at the cost of one dinosaur. See as long as it's on the field, I can summon any dinosaur monster I want without a sacrifice, meaning if I wanna summon a level five or even a level eight dinosaur on the turn I draw it, I can! Neat, huh!?"

Scarlet was now trembling in terror as she uttered, "Oh my god, I don't think we can beat this guy," Damien sighing, "No, I'm sure we can. I've dealt with some really tough opponents since I joined the army. Trust me, it's not over yet."

Scarlet nodded and sighed, "It's so funny hearing that from you," Damien having his mech shrug its shoulders.

With that, the black-haired man drew a sixth card as he noticed three particular monsters in his hand, another group that, much like his ninjas, was different from everything else he had. All of them were known as Gladiator Beasts and while each one was tough in its own right, Damien's main focus was on a paladin that Winston also had a copy of, namely 'Jain, Lightsworn Paladin'. With his attack power being eighteen hundred, it only stood to reason that this was the right move.

Even so, Damien still had a use for his Gladiator Beasts as he activated a spell called 'Gladiator Beast's Respite'. With that, a rhino clad in white armour named 'Hoplomus' and a centaur wearing blue armour named 'Equeste' came out of his hand as his mech used its machine guns to cover their bodies in holes, both monsters sinking into the ground.

"Oh, you made a spell sacrifice too?" Randy asked as Damien nodded and replied, "This spell allows me to draw three cards at the cost of two Gladiator Beasts."

All three cards he had drawn actually seemed more helpful than his beasts. Sure, they were not powerful monsters, but he had a feeling he could make more use of them. As such, he set two trap cards and then proceeded to summon Jain, the paladin standing tall and proud with his armour glimmering in the sunlight.

"Hey, Winston has a card just like that," Randy said with a grin as Damien said, "Yes, and if you haven't noticed, it's more than enough to defeat your monster."

With that, the paladin held his sword out and charged at Hydrogeddon, performing a vertical slash across the beast's back as it spread out its legs and collapsed, blood flying out of that very spot. The dinosaur sank into the ground as the paladin proceeded to strike Randy's mech, bringing his vitality down to forty-nine hundred.

Scarlet was a tad confused as Randy said, "Oh yeah, Jain's attack power goes up to twenty-one hundred during the damage step. Well, you sure showed me."

Damien narrowed his eyelids and said, "You know, Scarlet, this guy seems way too positive," the redhead sighing, "Yeah, he's treating this like a game. I mean, technically, Yu-Gi-Oh is, but war isn't."

Even so, the cost for having Jain out was that Damien had to discard the top two cards in his deck, but that was a small price to pay. And with that, Randy's turn came as the man drew his next card and had a big grin on his face.

"Who would have guessed I'd be so lucky!?" the man exclaimed as he summoned a black T-Rex with the flesh on its head seeming to rot. With an attack power of twenty-six hundred, this was 'Black Tyranno'.

Scarlet's eyes were wide open as the man activated yet another spell, this one called 'Jurassic World'. This was a field spell that rose the attack and defence of all dinosaurs by three hundred.

However, Damien was actually prepared for this as he revealed one of his traps to be 'World Suppression', Randy's eyes going wide as a bright light shot out of the card and destroyed his field spell. But rather than feeling upset, the green-haired man was impressed as he exclaimed, "Well, you got me again!"

Damien let out a sigh as the dinosaur charged toward Jain and opened his mouth wide, picking up the paladin and lifting up his head. With that, the knight went further into the dinosaur's mouth as he proceeded to chomp down on the warrior, blood dripping from the dinosaur's teeth. Tyranno finished the battle phase by chomping down on the arm of Damien's mech, bringing his vitality down to thirty-two hundred.

However, the man was prepared for this as he revealed his second trap, which was called 'Hero Signal'. With this, he was able to summon an elemental hero from either his deck of his hand, and he used this opportunity to bring out one particular monster, a light-blue fish-like man with a fin on his head and a trident in hand. His name was 'Ocean' and he had an attack power of fifteen hundred, though for safety reasons, Damien had the monster in defence mode.

"Wow, you're just full of surprises!" Randy exclaimed with a big grin on his face, Damien thinking, 'Why does it bother me so much that he keeps complimenting me?'

Even with this slight improvement, Scarlet was really starting to worry now as her turn started up, the redhead slowly drawing a card. In only two turns, Randy had already proven himself insanely powerful and while Damien had managed to destroy two of his cards, this did not change the fact that their opponent already had what was likely one of his most powerful monsters out.

But when the woman drew her next card, Damien had his mech pat hers on the shoulder as he said, "Be calm, Scarlet. I have a relatively good hand right now. Just keep it together for a little while longer, okay?"

Scarlet nodded and gulped, uttering, "Okay, I trust you," the redhead feeling so useless. However, the card she had just drawn could very well help her and as such, she placed it face-down in her spell zone.

"Oh, just a little tip," Randy said with a smirk, "If the only monsters you two have out are ones in defence mode, my Black Tyranno can attack you directly," Scarlet's eyes widening as she uttered, "That means I have to summon a monster in attack mode."

Damien took a deep breath and said, "Scarlet, I'm sure whatever you have can help you. You taught me to think logically in situations like these, go with tactics over power. Now prove to me that such a strategy can actually work."

The redhead's eyes went wide as she nodded her head and replied, "You're right," a serious look taking over as she summoned a pasty-white woman with long red hair and hands like bird talons. With wings attached to her arms, this was 'Harpie Lady' and she had an attack power of thirteen hundred.

Randy was rather curious about this as Scarlet proceeded to activate a spell called 'Elegant Egotist'. Since she had one Harpie on the field already, this spell allowed her to summon a second one from her hand or her deck and she just happened to have a second one in her hand. Thus the monster was summoned in defence mode.

Randy nodded and said, "Higher numbers or not, this doesn't change the fact that both of your monsters are weak," Scarlet thinking, 'True, but if my trap works like it should, that won't matter.'

With that, the redhead's turn came to a close as Randy drew his next card, a monster to be exact, and summoned it without hesitation. The monster in question was a large dark-pink dinosaur that resembled a hippo with a horn on its snout. This was 'Kabazauls' and he had an attack power of seventeen hundred.

But just as his monsters were about to attack, Scarlet took a deep breath and flipped over her trap, revealing it to be 'The Paths of Destiny'. A large coin appeared in each mech's hand as Scarlet breathed heavily, thinking, 'I'm sorry, Damien. This is a very risky move, but it's the only way.'

"Oh, shiny!" Randy exclaimed as Scarlet explained, "It's a result of my trap's effect. We each flip a coin and if it lands on heads, the owner of the coin gains two thousand vitality. Though whoever gets tails loses that same number."

Damien stared at her but said nothing. Sure, this was a risky move, but if she had not played this, she would have guaranteed herself a loss without question.

With that, both mechs flipped their coins as Scarlet closed her eyes. Once the coin hit the ground, she slowly opened them as a light smile formed on her face. As it just so happened, the coin landed on heads. As such, her vitality went up to thirty-three hundred. And to make things even better, Randy had gotten tails as his vitality was reduced to twenty-nine hundred.

"Dang!" the man exclaimed, "That's definitely gonna hold me back a bit!" Scarlet breathing a sigh of relief as Damien had his mech gives hers thumbs up.

Even so, Scarlet would have to brace herself as Black Tyranno charged toward her Harpie in attack mode, the woman unable to defend herself as the dinosaur bit into the upper half of her body. With that, he proceeded to thrust his head up as she flew slightly above his head and ultimately fell into his open mouth, soon meeting the same fate as Jain.

To add insult to injury, the dinosaur proceeded to bite into the shoulder of Scarlet's mech as her vitality went down to twenty-one hundred. And soon enough, the second Harpie was done for when Kabazauls held her in his arms and bit her head off, soon opening his mouth wide and tossing the rest of her into it like a person tossing trash into a garbage pale.

And with that, Randy's turn ended as Scarlet thought, 'Alright, Damien, I've kept him busy. Please don't make my efforts be in vain.'

When Damien drew his next card, it seemed they finally had the advantage they needed as he had drawn 'Polymerization'. To make things better, he had another elemental hero in his hand by the name of 'Lady Heat'. He also remembered that he could fuse monsters on the field.

With that in mind, the man activated the spell as a young woman dressed in white and red spandex with orange hair spiked up in four directions appeared. A swirling vortex formed as a bright light shone, both heroes merging together to form a man covered head-to-toe in a blue outfit with various spots covered in white armour. With a long cape wrapped around his neck, his name was 'Elemental Hero Absolute Zero' and he had an attack power of twenty-five hundred.

Randy grinned and said, "You just keep on surprising me, though that monster's not quite strong enough to beat my Black Tyranno."

"He has a point," Scarlet uttered, "You used a fire monster to make that fusion happen, right? Why didn't you summon Nova Master instead?"

"Because he'll go down at the same time as Black Tyranno," Damien replied, "Besides, Absolute Zero has a much better effect, and I have the perfect monster to activate it."

With that, the man summoned a young boy in a brown cloak riding an alligator named 'The Little Swordsman of Aile'. Absolute Zero flexed his muscles as his attack power rose to three thousand, Scarlet nodding in understanding.

"You gave yourself a very good start," Damien stated, "But you were not prepared for this."

With that, Absolute Zero threw his fist forward as a gust of icy wind flew toward Black Tyranno. The dinosaur's eyes widened as his body was soon encased in ice, the wind hitting Randy's mech and bringing his vitality down to twenty-five hundred. Absolute Zero finished off the dinosaur by sending a hard kick into his midsection, his body shattering into tiny fragments.

The only downside was that his swordsman was too weak to defeat Kabazauls, but Damien was okay with that. After all, he had plenty of vitality to spare and the results had made it all worth it.

When Randy's turn came, the man slowly drew his next card and sighed, "Well, seems you two have beaten me. But I'm not giving up. I'll keep fighting to the bitter end."

With that, the green-haired man summoned a monster in defence mode and had Kabazauls devour The Little Swordsman of Aile. He then rammed his elbow into Damien's mech and brought his vitality down to twenty-three hundred and ended his turn.

Scarlet took a deep breath as she drew her next card, noticing it was her 'Cyber Harpie Lady'. With that in mind, she was just happy to actually be of use as she summoned her monster, the woman taking form and striking Kabazauls hard with her whip. The dinosaur fell hard on his back and sank into the ground, the whip then striking Randy's mech and bringing its vitality down to twenty-four hundred.

"Well, there's not much I can do now, is there?" Randy asked, still keeping up his positive attitude as he drew his next card and simply placed it in defence mode. It really seemed like he had nothing left now that his Black Tyranno was gone.

With that in mind, Damien drew his next card and summoned the one Gladiator Beast he had kept in his hand. This one was a black horse wearing orange armour named 'Darius' and he had an attack power of seventeen hundred. And Damien wasted no time having him attack one of the defending monsters, revealing it to be a rhino-like dinosaur with a blade on its snout named 'Mad Sword Beast'.

The horse sent a hard punch into the dinosaur's cheek, taking it out as Absolute Zero took down the other defending monster, a red triceratops named 'Sabersaurus', the same way he had defeated Tyranno. With that, he took a deep breath and asked, "Feel like you can finish this, Scarlet?"

"I'm not sure, but I can at least set him up for the finishing blow," the redhead replied a Randy looked back and forth between the two and drew his next card. He had actually drawn a monster that could very well have won the duel for him, but he chose not to use it and grinned, saying, "Well, I got nothing. Guess I'm screwed."

The man let out a big laugh as Damien sighed, "I told you, he's too positive," Randy all the while thinking, 'Sorry, Glen. It's just that these two deserve to win this battle.'

With that, Scarlet drew her next card and smiled saying, "Thanks, Damien. I wouldn't have gotten this chance if it weren't for you," the black-haired man shaking his head and replying, "Oh no, you've helped me out a lot more than you think you have."

Scarlet nodded and summoned a 'Whiptail Crow', the bird flying toward Randy's mech and striking it hard with his tail. This brought the man's vitality down to seven hundred and fifty. And with one more strike from Cyber Harpie Lady, the man was finished as he propelled himself out of his seat and took off on his jet pack, a big grin on his face.

"YOU GUYS ARE SOMETHING ELSE!" he exclaimed as a few demons had witnessed the duel nearby. And although the cerberi did like Randy, the fact that he was okay with his loss put their minds at ease.

And with that, Damien and Scarlet flew back toward Crystal City as Scarlet said, "You know, you're an amazing ally to have, Damien. Just think, I had to teach you all this stuff and now you're pulling off incredible strategies."

"Well, if you hadn't taught me the basics, I probably wouldn't have thought too much about that sort of thing," Damien replied with a shrug, "Besides, if you hadn't kept him busy, I wouldn't have been able to summon Absolute Zero, so thanks for that."

With that, Scarlet blushed lightly as Damien had a light smile on, the man saying, "By the way, in case you're wondering, I'm actually smiling right now," Scarlet's eyes going wide. And needless to say, the day had been successful.