Chapter 29—The New Duelmaster

Thanks for the reviews! Don't forget to leave one at the bottom!


"Lucy," Kimora said when we arrived at the war room.

A woman standing next to Gabe turned to look at us. She looked Mexican-American, had very tan skin, and a bit shorter than Ray. Her clothes looked ragged and her hair was held back by some vines. Her brown hair looked raggedly cut, like she used a knife.

"Ah, you must be the new acolytes the other Masters have been talking about," she said.

"Yeah, that's us," John said. "I'm John, and these are Emma and Jacob."

She walked up to us and shook our hands. "You can just call me 'Lucy'," she said. "Everyone else does."

"Okay," we said.

"So, you're Jacob DiCarten?" she asked, walking up to me.

"Yep," I replied.

"The masters have told me about your story," she said. "I'm sorry about your mother."

I took a shuddering breath. "It's okay," I told her.

"About that," Emma said. "We destroyed the Burn Belly, but the enemy was there as well."

"Seriously?" Lucy asked us. "Why?"

"We don't know," I told them. "We destroyed their creatures and left, though, before anything else could be done."

"Good," Allie told us. "I'm sorry you had to fight your mother, Jake, but it has to be done."

I nodded and a thought occurred to me. "When they trained me, they taught me how to use weapons in case my creature is destroyed. The next time we face them, we may have to use those weapons. I won't be able to protect everyone, and mana shields won't be enough to protect all of us. What I'm saying is, I believe that acolytes should begin training in using weapons."

"No!" Jameson shouted the same time everyone else thought about it.

"Why not?" I asked Jameson. "It will be the best way for people to protect themselves in future duels against the enemy duelists."

"It goes against our rules!" he shouted.

"Seriously, Jameson?" Allie said. "I'm pretty sure Ray, Gabe and I pretty much made sure rules could change. We ended the rule about touching creatures. I'm pretty sure we can end some other rules."

"I believe that we should try this rule with us and a few chosen acolytes," Gabe suggested. "Think of it as a trial period. If things don't work out, we stop. If it does work, we begin integrating it into our training."

Jameson scowled, but agreed to it. "Fine, we can do that much," he said.

"Who will volunteer to do this, though?" Lucy asked, turning to us.

"We volunteer for this test," John and Emma said.

"What about you, Jacob?" Allie said.

"I was the one who suggested the original idea, so of course I'm in!" I said.

"Where will we find enough weapons, though?" Kimora asked.

"Good question," Gabe said.

"Toji could make the weapons for us," Ray said.

"He's too busy making improvements to gauntlets," Jameson told us.

"The warehouse," I said suddenly.

"What?" John demanded.

"The warehouse my mom's group is based out of," I said. "It has a huge armory full of weapons. I could sneak in there, grab weapons, and sneak out through the Veil. If we time it right, they'd probably never know we were there."

"Absolutely not!" Allie told me. "If you get caught, they'll never let you go. If Rob or Miles catches you, you will die."

"They won't, though," said a voice behind us as someone stepped through the Veil. I turned and saw Michael, one of the people in mom's group.

"Don't move," I growled, drawing my knives.

"Whoa, I'm not here to fight," he said, raising his hands. "Ever since you showed your true colors and left, I've been thinking things over. If the Veil were to be destroyed, nothing we could do would protect us. The only thing that would help us would be to not destroy the Veil in the first place. After I left the warehouse I created a hole in the Veil and traveled here.

"He tells the truth," Jameson said. He did something with Panopter and the recording of Michael's story popped up along with some lines of code proving his truth.

"So…this is the Temple…" Michael said.

"Yeah," I replied. "It's good to see you again, this time on the good side," I added, shaking his hand.

"Thanks, man," he replied. We shook hands and turned to the Masters to see what they meant.

"We believe that you want to change sides," Ray told him. "Before you can be fully trusted, though, you must start at the lowest level of acolyte. We will begin training you tomorrow."

"What did you mean when you said they wouldn't catch me?" I asked him.

"They don't know I've left them," he said. "You can go there disguised as me and take the weapons. I can tell you everything you need to know via com device."

"This sounds so cool," Emma said. "It's like a spy movie or something like that."

"Yeah," John agreed.

"I still think this shouldn't be done," Jameson said. "This puts everything on the shoulders of one acolyte, whose mother is our enemy."

"Do you seriously doubt me?" I demanded. "After everything I've done? I betrayed my mother for Kaijudo! I had to leave home because of this!"

"You're listing reasons for us to doubt you," Jameson said calmly.

I snarled and rushed at him. I moved faster than normal and pinned him against Panopter, my knives at his throat. "Never doubt me," I hissed at him. "I did all of those things because I believe in the things you're doing."

"Jacob!" Michael yelled, pulling me off of Jameson with strength greater than I knew he had.

"How were you able to get me off him?" I asked him.

"You're not the only one who can access extra abilities," he told me.

"What are you talking about?" Jameson demanded.

"People like us, we have extra abilities," Michael told them. "Once we have enough experience, we can use our mana to increase our strength and speed."

"Why haven't you told us this before?" Jameson yelled at me.

"You never asked," I snapped. A vein in his forehead was standing out, so I knew I was pushing him very far.

"Everyone, calm down," Allie said, walking between us. "Jacob, respect Master Jameson. Master Jameson, calm down."

I sneered at Jameson but slid my knives back in their sheaths.

"I believe that Jacob's plan is the best we have," Ray said. "It gives us the highest chance of gaining the most weapons. It is very reckless, which is why we will be waiting on the other side of the Veil for him. If he does not return after five minutes, we will go in after him."

"It's actually a really good idea, compared to Ray's past plans," Gabe commented.

"Th-Hey!" Ray said. Gabe just chuckled.

"When can we do this?" Lucy asked us.

"I can call in saying I have to take half a day off, so you'll have to do it after school," Michael told me.

"I'll have to go to the Temple first so that we can set it up, but it sounds good," I replied.

"Looks like it's settled," Gabe said while Jameson frowned deeply.

"You are welcome to leave now," Ray told us. "Make sure to be ready for the journey tomorrow, though."

We nodded and left the Temple while Michael stayed behind.

"I think you just made an enemy out of Master Jameson," Emma told me.

I shrugged. "I could take him," I said.

"You shouldn't want to," John told me. "He is very dangerous, and you don't go against the Masters."

I nodded. "I'll try, but it's also Jameson. That guy…he presses my buttons," I replied.

"We know," Emma said.

We dropped the conversation and walked over to a nearby diner for dinner.

"What is it with you guys and diners?" I heard a voice say as we walked by a person sitting at the counter. We turned at saw Rob sitting there, holding a cup of coffee.

"Not now, Rob," I told him as we found a booth to sit at. He just shrugged and continued drinking his coffee.

"What would you three like to drink?" the waitress asked as she walked up to us.

"Iced tea," John said.

"Coke," Emma added.

"Root beer," I finished. She nodded and wrote it all down before walking away.

"How do you think we did today on the chem. test today?" Emma asked us.

"We probably did great," John said cheerfully.

"Yeah, of course you did well," Emma said. "You two always get good grades. I always struggle with this stuff."

"You always do great," John told her. "You just need to calm down during tests and believe in yourself."

She nodded as the waitress came back with our drinks. They were all served in glass bottles, still very cold.

"Have you decided what you would like to eat?" she asked us.

"Burger," Emma said.

"Make that two," I said.

"Actually, make it three," John added. She nodded and wrote it down again before walking away to the kitchen.

"I'll pay for lunch today," I told the others, making sure I had enough money.

"Okay," Emma said. We chatted for about fifteen more minutes before the waitress walked up to us with our burgers and fries, which came with the burgers.

"Thank you," we told her. She nodded and walked away to help other customers.

"So, are you guys ready for school tomorrow?" I asked them.

"Heck yeah!" Emma said. "It's the last day of school! Why wouldn't we be?"

"Good question," I replied.

"I could think of a reason for you to miss school," Rob said, slipping into the booth behind me.

"Rob, shut up," I hissed.

He just chuckled and continued. "Without school, you'll have all day to think about how you have nobody. Your father's dead, you betrayed your own mother, and you have nobody else."

"He has his friends," John said, "so unless you want to get very hurt, I suggest you leave. Now."

Rob just laughed again and walked out after leaving a bill on the counter.

"Don't worry about him," Emma told me. "You have us. Eat your burger."

I took a deep breath and sighed before finishing my burger and fries.

"Would like anything else to eat?" the waitress asked us a few minutes later.

"No, thanks," we replied. She handed us the bill and I gave her the right amount of money before leaving.

The next day, school felt like it dragged on forever. We emptied our lockers into bags at the end of the day and went to our houses before going to the Temple to begin the first part of the break-in.