Infernity Mirage
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XX: Chaos Zone
"Ah, so the Knight of Zero takes the field against the Lady of Dragons. It remains to be seen if this Knight can overcome the dragons she commands, although to be honest, he's giving off an aura of malice unparalleled by anything that has entered this Dome that makes me think that even the dragons would be terrified of him..."
That's me, in case you haven't noticed. Me with the aura of malice to finish this quickly and then find Youkai to beat up.
"E- Erm, Chase-san?" Kisara was facing me, sweating.
"It's not you, Kaiba-san," I was smiling... with my plans to torture the man once I got him. Kisara still looked slightly freaked.
"Duel!"
Chase: LP 4000
Kisara: LP 4000
"Draw!" I glanced at my hand. "I set two cards. Then, I play the Spell, Contract of the Void, to discard the three cards I still have and special summon Infernity General [2700/1500] to the field." I felt slightly more relieved... although, judging from her deck, I might be facing that monster at any time.
"Oh, first turn and already Chase has a beat-stick! As expected!"
"Draw!" Kisara was also burning. "I play the Spell, Advanced Ritual Art to discard Alexandrite Dragon from my deck to special summon Paladin of White Dragon [1900/1200] from my hand." A knight riding a white dragon appeared. "Now, I play Cards of Consonance to discard The White Stone of Legend to draw two cards and search a Blue Eyes White Dragon out to my hand. I tribute Paladin of White Dragon to special summon from my deck Blue Eyes White Dragon [3000/2500]!"
It was a beautiful and terrifying sight, to see that white dragon take flight.
"I play Polymerization to fuse the Blue-Eyes on my field with the two in my hand," Kisara held up both Blue-Eyes and the Spell. "Come, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
All three heads roared as the great beast of the Kaiba family [4500/3800] took the field at me. I swallowed.
"What, Kisara has summoned the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon on her first turn! What superb card-drawing skills!"
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack! Ultimate Burst Stream!" Kisara commanded.
"Continuous Trap, Shield of the Void!" I called. "When my hand is at zero, I can negate one attack!"
The shield formed around us as I announced my action. Phew... though, to be facing it this fast...
"I set a card," Kisara indicated. "Turn end."
"Draw!" I called. "I reveal Infernity Demon [1800/1200] in my hand to special summon him! Now I search for an Infernity card, like Infernity Necromancer. I summon Infernity Necromancer [0/2000], who moves to defence mode upon summon. Now, when my hand is at zero, Infernity Necromancer can special summon a monster from the grave, like the tuner monster, Infernity Avenger [0/0]."
My favourite tuner spun its guns about its fingers as it grinned. "Tuning, level four Demon and level three Necromancer to level one Avenger! The dead and the living, when they meet at zero, above the cage of eternity the demonic dragon arises! Come forth, Infernity Death Dragon!"
With a roar, my favourite dragon appeared [3000/2400].
"When my hand is at zero, Infernity Death Dragon can destroy a monster you control and inflict half the destroyed monster's attack in damage to you in exchange for not attacking," I declared. "Burn in the black flames and be satisfied. Death Fire Blast!"
"Ah!" Kisara flinched as her monster was destroyed.
Kisara: LP 4000 → LP 1750
Chase: LP 4000
"Turn end!" I called.
"Draw!" Kisara declared. "I play the Spell, Heaven's Lost Property for us to draw three cards and discard two. Since your effects all revolve around having no hand, this should disrupt it just fine."
"You think," I smirked. "I activate the trap, Infernity Inferno. I discard the card and send one Infernity monster from my deck to the grave."
Kisara still looked at me. "I activate the set Call of the Haunted to revive Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, before I activate the Spell, Card of Demise." the lone dragon split into three looming white dragons as she drew till a hand of five. "I activate the Spell, Heavy Storm!"
"Argh!" I flinched. My Infernity Barrier...!
"But then I can activate this card, Burst Stream of Destruction!" Kisara ordered. "All your monsters are destroyed.
I shielded myself as my monsters were destroyed. Now my field was empty...
"I fuse all three blue Eyes together with Dragon's Mirror to form the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon once more!" Kisara growled as all three dragons formed into the great beast [4500/3800] once again. "Direct attack, Ultimate Burst Stream!"
Chase: LP 4000 → LP 0 (NO LOSS)
Kisara: LP 1750
"Ah, so the Lady of Dragons- wait, what? The Duel hasn't ended!"
"EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!" the crowd screamed.
"Eh!" Kisara started at the sight of the new dragon. It was red and black, a vision from hell itself to grace the Duel field. It was mine, my dragon...
"Using this card," I growled as the trap appeared from the grave. "Zero Gate of Void. I can only activate this in the grave when I have no cards on the field, my hand is at zero, and my life reaches zero. As long as Void Ogre Dragon [3000/3000] there remains on the field, I won't lose! This is my way of the Infernity! Our stand is here!"
"I... I am extremely touched! What dedication to Duel Monsters! What malice in his aura as well... is he a demon, or a saint...? The world is full of monsters...! Truly the Knight of Zero!"
"T- turn end!" Kisara was still stunned. "W- What? Not losing even if life reaches zero...!"
"My turn!" I drew. "I play the Spell, Wave-Motion Inferno! Now, when my hand is at zero, and this Infernity Queen is in the grave, once per turn I can choose a monster I control to attack directly!"
"EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH?" the crowd yelled again.
"I did this before, stop being so surprised! Go, Void Ogre Dragon!" I called. "Blast of Void!"
My faithful dragon roared as it flew past one of Duel Monsters' legends to blast Kisara directly.
Kisara: LP 1750 → LP 0
Chase: LP 0 (NO LOSS)
"Er, well, after that incredible victory of Zero at zero life points, it looks like the winner is Chase Princeton... truly, a touching Duel to be admired! Even facing down one of Duel Monsters' strongest, at zero life points, zero field and zero hand, he won! This is Chase Princeton, the Knight of Zero!"
"With nothing left to fight for, " I murmured as the holograms began to fade at last. "Through pain, difficulty and the edge of death itself, we pull ourselves together to stand firm. This is our stand."
"So, all three of us made it," Ryuusei noted as I got down. "Although, from here it's just going to get tough. Even though I had to win against Youkai-sempai..."
"Yeah," Rex agreed. "Chase, did you have to pull that whole pulling-yourself-from-death routine? You freaked out Kisara!"
"I was being serious," I answered. "No?"
"Enough," Ryuusei broke the fight. "One of us would have to fight each other."
"That's great," I honestly said. "Isn't that the point?"
"But the other would have to fight Ryokai," Rex argued. "We might die!"
"Well, we came here knowing full well we might die," I answered. "Let's just not die."
"Yeah," we all turned to see an uncharacteristically serious Youkai. "Don't die."
"So, tomorrow we will continue with the Dedication through Light and Darkness Duel Tourney," the MC was announcing. "Before that, to release the results. The first match will be the dragon master Misawa Ryokai against the Knight of Zero, Chase Princeton! The second match, the, Demon Lord Rex Atlas against Neo Domino's Meteor, the Prince of Duels Ryuusei Fudo! We all look forward to tomorrow's match!"
Night fell, and the clunk of gold preceded Rex's entrance into my room. He was quickly followed by Ryuusei and a very nervous Youkai. I picked it up by the rope. It was a heavy gold key, the top shaped like a ankh in a looped head with a cross-over and the tip tapered.
"I found it with me somewhere," Ryuusei was uncharacteristically pale, swallowing. "I left it with the lost and found, but, it... followed me."
"It can do that?" I sceptically replied as I traced the chasing of an eye. "What's this, anyway?"
I blinked as I caught sight of screams, burning shacks, and... blood, so much blood-
It fell out of my hands as I threw it against the wall. Too late, I found that I was shivering and that the gold trinket was now a cursed item. "H- How? Why?"
"The marks transfer to whoever wins," Ryuusei breathed. "So if two with the same mark battle... I defeated Youkai-sempai after he got the Key mark from Ryuuki and I got mine from Madas. This... might be the result."
"So we're supposed to fight for control of those cursed trinkets?" Rex snorted.
"No," Youkai groaned, scribbling quickly on a paper. "Barring some mistakes, here's the line-up of marks, if you haven't been keeping track."
Ryokai: Eye, Puzzle, Scales?
Rex: Rod, Ring, Necklace, Eye
Ryuusei: Puzzle, Key (complete), Scales
Chase: Ring, Necklace, Rod.
"The line up is you against Ryokai," Youkai pointed to me. "And those two against each other. Either way, without the Key, six items will be at stake in the finals. Win or lose, tomorrow the victor would get all seven Items."
"He can have it," I groaned. "I never want to see that cursed thing again."
"Well, you can't let Ryokai have it!" Youkai argued. "One of the four of you would get all! I'd rather have it be one of you!"
"But why...?" A wish, my mind supplied. A wish for power...
Ryuusei glumly took the key, gingerly weighing it. "Does anyone know? Kaido was saying something about this being the Key of a Thousand Years and part of a door."
"Duel Mythology covers the Millennium Items," Youkai argued. "I think this is the Millennium Key, said to be able to open the hearts of any mind on top of control people and start a Dark Game. Some also say that these things are cursed, but they were supposed to be buried somewhere in Egypt..."
"We'll bring this to Shimotsuki," Ryuusei decided.
"It's the middle of the night," I pointed out.
"That's not going to stop Shimotsuki," Ryuusei pointed out. "The Arcadia Movement's open for this sort of reason."
"What... happened?" Youkai hissed as he walked in. the foyer of the craggy building was dimly lit, the plants usually on one side strewn about, and cracks and craters abounded along with scorch marks.
"An attack," Ryuusei grimly answered as we proceeded in amongst this maze-like place, up a fast elevator to follow the wreckage to a single palatial office... Shimotsuki's office.
"So, you crash into my building, injure my servant, and hurt my people just to talk?" Shimotsuki's voice spoke loudly in the harshly lit office. She was seated with her side to the door we were at, another familiar smiling being seated opposite her. Beside her, Nakamura laid prostrate, wrapped up in bandages and keeping an eye on Ryokai at the same time.
"Don't say it like that,princess," Ryokai chuckled. "Right now, Fudo Ryuusei has obtained the Millennium Key. If you would hand over the key when it comes I promise to support Psychic Duellists, even make you an ally of the Misawa Group when I take over."
"If I remember, the current heir is Misawa Nowaki," Shimotsuki neutrally answered. "Although... this has gone far beyond Yakuza politics, hasn't it? Misawa Ryokai, for you to go after such dangerous power..."
"You of all people know how much that power is worth, Shimotsuki Setsuka," Ryokai spat back in answer. "Power is what drives the core of the existence of the Arcadia Movement, after all. Even after all your efforts, Psychic Duellists face equality only in Neo Domino, and hardly anywhere else. How was the liquidation in Peru, by the way?"
"Bommer San is handling that," Shimotsuki rebutted. "Either way, the world is not yours, and you deign to give fifty percent to someone else. Economically or lawfully, anyone would question the validity of that contract. Fifty percent of the world is not suitable since it's simply redrawing the same boundaries as before. This type of trade isn't the solution, it just buys more time. I get that you want the power, this power of light and darkness, and with it open the doors to the worlds between worlds. What I don't get is why."
"Well, you know how the Japanese post-war economic miracle came about, right?" Ryokai smirked. "From supplying the war effort in Korea, a profit of billions was made yet Japan stayed well out of the war and even enjoyed military protection. Nowadays the wars are focused more west. Even so, the surprising thing about humanity is that, in the face of a common threat, they would combine forces and support those countries closest to the war front. In that case, if a dimensional door opens in here, the Far East, would not a new war start with the presence of this threat?"
"...you want to start a war between worlds for the sake of creating a common enemy to band together human society, on top of reinforcing the national economy through a global war effort," Surprisingly, Shimotsuki's tone was gone as she spoke the ridiculous idea into being. I was about to yelp when Ryuusei shook his head. Not our moment yet.
"It's an economically sound idea," Ryokai cheerfully answered. "I've flown into war efforts, I know full well the deaths that will be caused, however the future of humanity is at stake here. With this, our country, not to mention Neo Domino, would truly be the number one. As Psychic Duellists are the only people in the world who have any idea how to handle such a threat, wouldn't you say that Psychic Duellists would become quite a hot commodity? An overnight change as Psychic Duellists become valued rather than shunned."
"... interesting," she concluded. "However, you have no guarantee. My own Psychic Duellist has that Item you want. It would depend on the result of tomorrow. If you have six items, of course I would side with the side that wins. If not, then there is no point in crippling myself. You defeated Lea, I see."
"You're scarily observant as usual," Ryokai laughed. "Of course. I have no more use for a puppet. She was finished the moment she stepped into this building."
"So you used your subordinate as a human shield," Shimotsuki murmured. "I won't see you out."
"You can use the Shadow Magic too," Ryokai chuckled. "You could have wrested yourself a place if you were serious, Shimotsuki Setsuka. Yet, you chose not to fight." Shadow magic? Huh?
"Some battles are not meant to be fought by me," Shimotsuki answered as Ryokai got up. "And, we all have different ways of fighting. Good night, Misawa Ryokai. Tomorrow you face Regulus."
"Same to you, Polaris," Ryokai saluted before walking out of her office, missing us.
It was a while before we were sure that he had left and entered.
"How much did you hear?" was her first question.
"Everything starting from you demanding a reason," Ryuusei answered before either of us. "I saw Raiho telling us to be quiet."
"Excellent," Shimotsuki murmured. "What course of action do you recommend, Regulus?"
"Personally, I think we should refuse," Ryuusei answered tonelessly. "Although, neutrally, we should not be too quick to take sides yet. Morally, it is a repugnant plan. On every other front... it is a plan with sound background."
"Missy...?" Nakamura stirred as she headed for the desk.
Shimotsuki remained silent as she pulled out what looked like a bulletproof briefcase. "Put it here."
Gingerly, Ryuusei handed over the key, which was transferred in and the case closed, locked, and then Shimotsuki took it over to be handcuffed to Nakamura. "No matter what I say, do not let go of that case until after a fixed conclusion is reached," was her order.
"Y- Yes, Missy."
"What are you doing, Shimotsuki?" Youkai demanded.
"All of you," Shimotsuki glared at Rex, Ryuusei and me. "You know what he's intending, right? To start a war between worlds for the sake of profit is an insane plan with sound background. Misawa Ryokai is no doubt in a position to gain if such a thing occurs, that is how people like him is. The worst is that, he is correct. A war between Duel spirits and humans would benefit much of humanity, but Neo Domino would become a martyr for that."
"Sick," Rex hissed. "What can we do?"
Her eyes hardened. "As the Arcadia Movement, I will do what I can to stop his arrangements. About Dedication through Light and Darkness, I leave it to you now."
"Oi!" Rex argued. "That's-!"
"I wouldn't do it if I had a choice!" I saw the true face of Shimotsuki Setsuka as the temperature plummeted.
"I have a responsibility to the Arcadia Movement and Psychic Duellists," she then spoke again, her voice calmer. "Many of the members you saw are my responsibility, successful cases, but we're not perfect. I cannot alienate normal society, nor can I afford for Psychic Duellists to be without a place to come to. Even if I involve the police, no one would believe such a half-baked plan. Misawa Ryokai intends to succeed, such is his twisted ambition. I cannot ignore what is smart over what is right, or quibble about what's correct for the rest over Psychic Duellists. Most of the Movement also don't think much of our society despite our efforts. That's why, to keep this Movement together, for those without the luxury of a family, I have to leave the outcome to outsiders when I'd rather not."
Ice formed over the windows as she glared at us all, the indomitable queen of Arcadia yet a girl helpless to do anything. "For the best outcome, one way or another, one of you must win."
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