Testament 036: Final Duel: Defining Me

While Jacob had taken a major hit from Scathach, however his glee did not fade yet. "If you want to bring back Nero and see his sickening side again." And it was his turn now, who knew what horrors he would bring out next. "I will gave you a taste of that..." He drew another card. "I summon Sparkman (1600/1400) to the field...arent you happy now?" Jackson did not respond, so Jacob followed with a spell. "As much as I dislike these cards, I dislike your annoying tower even more, Righteous Justice!" For every hero on his side of the field, he could destroy one spell or trap card, and naturally he picked the Tartarus field spell. "Now then...I know what you are thinking. Someone like me could not possibly draw two Dark Fusions in a row, could he? Guess again..." He played a spell card, Graceful Charity. Nero drew three cards from his deck, the third of which was what he needed. "Heh." He threw away Elemental Hero Bubbleman and the Vicious Claw, since he no longer needed that spell. "Dark Fusion..." The crowd gasped again.

"I fuse this Sparkman with the Clayman in my hand, lightning and earth, to form the Electric Evil Hero: Lightning Golem(2400/1500)!" It was the dark counterpart to E-hero Thunder Giant. "And unlike its weaker kinder half, this monster does not require a discard for its destructive capabilities. So die, Scathach, just die." The demons effect activated, unleashing a stream of thunder, to incinerate the Priestess symbol, leaving Jackson wide open. "Aheh, direct attack." Then his Evil card channeled electricity into its fists, and delivered a shocking punch to Doe's gut. "Gghk." He was pushed back, and almost fell of the platform. "You may have survived one dark fusion, Jackie, but I have so many more." He cackled, and ended his turn "Draw." Doe spoke in a monotonous voice, as he placed one more monster card facedown, and a trap along with it. Since his card was facedown, he did not adopt a new personality with it. "Thats it, thats your stunning last move? You can not even give me another symbol to torture. How sad."

Jacksons LP: 1600

"Then I guess this is the end." In his turn, Infernal Gainer (1600/0) returned to the field. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. When two turns pass since this cards removal, it comes back to me." He used it before on Inferno Wing, he could use it all over again. Doe studied his opponents moves carefully, since precise timing was required to survive the next assault. "In the unlikely event that your trap can block my monsters attack once.." He sent the Evil Hero into the future once more, allowing the Golem to make two attacks. "So, lets see what you had there, eheh." The golem reactivated his ability and destroyed the facedown, it was the Symbol of the Tower, Shiva (1800/500). "Guess you had nothing special for.." He was about to enter the battle phase, when.. "Trap card!" And it was in this exact moment, that his other card was triggered. "What?" A trap called 'Destruction from One's Mind'. "This card reacts on the death of a Personality." Shiva's voice came from the grave to explain. "Sending two symbols back to life, and killing two cards on the field!" She returned Odin and Siegfried. The only card on the field was Lightning Golem, so it was destroyed. "Damn you." He was again unshielded. "Additionally, I can draw one card..."

Destruction from One's Mind, Normal Trap
This card's effect does not change the effect of a Persona monster. You can only activate this effect when a Persona monster is destroyed by an opponent's card effect. Send two Persona monster cards from your graveyard back to your deck, and destroy two face-up cards on the field. If you could only destroy one card or less, draw one card from your deck.

"Your turn." He rasped. Doe nodded and summoned to the field, the Hermits Symbol, Arahabaki(500/600). "That ugly thing again." Since the last card that had been activated was the monster effect of Infernal Gainer, (Destruction did not count due to its own effect), the claydolls stats became 2100 attack (2100/600) "I guess, a direct attack." He said with a bored tone, and fired a magical blast at the wicked duelist. "Ggh, that was a lucky shot." He spat. Now both players were nearing the last stage of their lifepoints. "You seem upset, is that because you no longer have any souls to hide behind?" He placed a trap card down as well. "Hiding, pfeh. The Elemental Heroes and Evil Heroes, they mean nothing to me. They are just pawns, while Nero is the chessboard. Its not a game I enjoy playing, but I have too." On that note, right now he needed to draw his newest card, if he were too make any progress at all. A card even stronger then Dark Fusion. "Curses, just another weakling warrior." He placed the monster he drew facedown.

Nero's LP: 1250

While the game was going on, Carter, Ned and Ananka walked across the hallways inside the arena, to get to the dueling stage. Venice stayed behind to keep a close eye on Rose, even though they knew she would not recover until the game had ended, and that was not even certain. "Here too, all the TV's and all lines are dead. Its like the entire network has been hacked." Ned tried several of the arena payphones, but those all failed him too. "And this may be unrelated, but why are all the shops and restaurants closed? Even the bathrooms!" All that running made William a bit hungry. "We can worry about that later. We have to see how Jackson is doing." Ananka said. "Are you sure he can handle it, does he have one of those items too?" Ned asked her. "No, he has something else.." The Seeress sighed.

Back at the duel Arahabaki Doe seemed to pause before he drew. "It sounds odd to me. You know that this body hosts a dozen spirits, and we all have learned to work together. So why can't you coexist with your other self? You supress him, you control his every move." He drew, and placed a monster in facedown defense mode, then Arahabaki attacked a second time, crushing the defending E-hero Ocean (1500/1200). "That is because that soul was weak, he needed me to get this far, hell he needed me from the start, to enter this place. Eheh, I am a better Nero then he will ever be."

It was 'his' turn again, and the next card he drew, he liked. At the same time, Infernal Gainer returned to the field, two more turns had passed. "Hey Jackson, I am about to show you my favorite card. You want to know why its my favorite?" His smirk made Doe curious, yet worried. "This spell represents my nature well, to merge one soul with another, submitting it to my will. I may not like Elemental Heroes, and even Evil Heroes can do better. But Fusion is the best part of this game, especially..Super Fusion!" He shouted, as he activated the spell, a storm blew over the dueling field. "By discarding a card from my hand, I can fuse anything on the field!" He threw away Necro Guardna, and targeted both Arahabaki and Hell Gainer. "You want to merge with me, thats an illegal play!" The symbol protested. "In my hands, Super Fusion can fuse all, ignoring any conditions of the fusion monster itself!" Jackson tried to look towards the judge, but he did not respond at all. "Tsch, this is not good...or.."

The Super spell Dark Fused Arahabaki (2400/600) with the Evil Hero(1600/0). Yet in that instant.. "What?" ... all went dark, for both him and his demon. "What is happening.." Jacob was more surprised then Jackson. Doe figured it out all to soon. "Thanks, Jacob.' Arahabaki's voice called out to the dark Nero. "In this state, combined with your malicious monster, I can see into your mind. I can find..the true Nero." Jacob flinched. "No, you can not!" And suddenly the darkness was replaced, by images. The crowd could not see what was going on, only two souls were allowed to witness the fusion from inside the mental plane. It was strange to the audience, to see such a fierce clash result in complete silence. Nero and Doe stopped talking. It was only a fraction of time lost to them, but it lasted a thousand times longer inside.

Inside it was different, they were not in England no more."What is this place?" Arahabaki stood inside an ordinary home, in the living room on the first floor. It rained outside, but inside it felt nice and warm. "Is this, your..his house?" The doll asked the other spirit present. Jacob was there as well, floating above the movements of the past "Digging through our experiences wont help you, Symbol. You wont find him, I will not allow it." He grumbled, he was clearly incapable of pushing the Persona out at this point. "I am not asking you to guide me, Jacob. Even if Nero can not be found in the memories of old, we can still learn." Right now the Persona was disconnected from Jacksons body, but once he was freed, his knowledge would automatically rejoin with Doe. "Fine then, if you wish to know this much.." Just then a man walked into the house, an older man, whose face was blurred by a strange fog. "Meet our father, Jasper Sullivan." The doll was quite surprised, even though his face did not allow such facial expressions.

And then something clicked. "Your fathers last name, is different from yours." To which the villain just smirked. "I never said that 'Jacobus' was our actual last name, see it as more of a middle name." Arahabaki looked again. "His head is..covered.. so you can still control your memories to some extent. Why do you want me to see this much?" It asked. But the question was ignored as a small boy ran up to the man, it was soon clear that this was a younger Nero. "His..father..was an employee at the archeology research department." The man carried a small box with him, a strange goldencolored chest. "He always brought home with him, trinkets and toys, for Nero to play with. Most of these things were harmless, but then one day..." Inside the box, were puzzle pieces, golden puzzle pieces. "A puzzle?" The claydoll did not expect that. "Yes, they were found inside an Egyptian tomb. One that had been ransacked by grave robbers several months earlier. All that was left was this box and a few pieces."

The flashback continued, a woman-figure entered the scene, apparently making a fuss about the gratuitous gift. "They guessed the thieves were either to careless with what they collected or in a hurry to escape with the real valuable goods. The Old man found them interesting regardless, and gave up a weeks pay to get his hands on these. Which he then showed to 'the son'. But thats where the bad stuff began." Just then there was a scream, as the images shifted into the next day, without warning. "!" On the ground lay the same man, and besides him was the stunned shocked female, also with a blurred face. "Mother." Nero was there as well, the young Nero. Their yells were incoherent and unreadable, garbles and gestures. The woman ran to the phones, and when she was gone, the boy looked up. "Mom does not know..but...I did this." He looked straight at Jacob and Arahabaki. "Yes, we...I did. Eheh. It was our first penalty." Flashes of the heinous act shot before his eyes, the fate of a fathers poor unfortunate soul.

Then all went dark once more. "So that happened. There was an evil presence hidden inside those pieces, and you were it?" The entity shook his head. "I call it a power, Symbol, a skill. The skill to control the minds of men and women, a shadowpower. 'Nero' was too weak to accept this power, so I did it for him. The Father was an accident, but after that I learned to control it." Visions of other victims slided by. "Pulse, Edgar and Rose, they were all test subjects, and each time, I grew stronger and stronger." He clenched his fist. "I am the true Nero now, the other one is no longer needed." It fit together again, the bizarre history of the duelist Nero. "So Nero was the trespasser all along. But it was not his fault, it was yours. You did that to the judge." Jacob was surprised to hear that Doe knew about that, but he refused to comment. "And what about his mother..." The reason for his inability to reach his parents was less mystifying now as well. "Wait." However the Persona stared behind his host, and saw something new.

"What are those?" He spotted two wooden doors, floating in the middle of a black void beyond the flashback zone. They were sealed shut by chains. "That is not for you, to know." He denied him the information, though he could figure it out for himself. "And you have stayed inside me for far too long, its over, Symbol!" His forehead began to glow with the Eye of Wadjet and he used the energy to dispel the shadows completely. The two minds were forced back into the real world, and Nero snapped out his secondlasting trance. Doe blinked, and realized Arahabaki had found something, and his enemy knew it too.

"Eheh, that was fun, Jackie. But you will never know what happened, because I intend to keep your Hermit." He placed his hand on the disk. "Now where were we? Oh yes..." Super Fusion had finished its job in the real world meanwhile. Evil and Earth joined... "Behold what you and me have given rise to: Evil Hero Dark Gaia." It was a twisted amalgam of his spirit and Doe's Persona. "This feels great, enslaving another soul, eheh." Doe cringed. "Let me tell you: Dark Gaia (3700/600) gains the attack and defense of its materials." Arahabaki's 2100 attackpoints were combined with Infernal Gainers 1600. "Secondly, he flips all monsters to attack mode, when it strikes, negating their flip effects. Whatever you had facedown, it cant stand up to this much attack force. So, you're dead." He entered the battle phase. "All of you." Dark Gaia attacked, Jackson gulped. "Your end at the hands of your own cards, thats delicous isn't it!" His facedown was flipped face-up, and was killed in a heartbeat. "I win, I am the champion!"

(To be continued in Testament 037: The Final Duel: The Champion)

New Cards used by Jacob Nero
Evil Hero Lightning Golem
Evil Hero Dark Gaia

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Super Fusion

New Cards used by Jackson Doe
Destruction from One's Mind