*Diabolic Tracer lies face-down on the ground with flies surrounding their body. Probably dead.*
Avice: Yo, get up. You got to write another chapter.
Diabolic Tracer: ...
*Avice grabs a basketball bat*: Ok then. *smashes DT's head.*
Diabolic Tracer: Ouch!
LDS' Records
"You are allowed to begin the test." The head scientist said.
Immediately several people in white lab coats nodded and began to type into the computers in front of them. While they did that, Akaba Reiji looked at the enforced window, into the next room. It was completely white with nothing else inside of it - like a cell. The only thing inside was a single blade of blue grass. One of the scientists pulled a switch and the inside of the room was lighted up, making it impossible to see anything inside the blinding light. The energy charts quickly raised into the red zone and the glow inside the cell suddenly began to distort and twist.
"I have to admit, Director Akaba, I was very skeptical when you brought that glass to be researched." The head scientist commented. "But that single blade of glass accelerated our research on dimension transportation. In just a few days, we found more than we would have within a month."
"I have seen your reports on the matter." Reiji commented. "But from what I read, you were unable to tell what exactly caused this phenomenon."
"My apologies, but this was far beyond our range of expertise." The scientist admitted. "Whatever chemical reaction played part in altering the grass' atoms to the point where it became an entity existing independently from the natural progression of time, it definitely wasn't something that exists inside this dimension."
Reiji nodded, taking that into account, he turned back to the window and looked at the distorting light. It worried it a great deal. Not waging war against his father and his army of Duelists, not jumping through dimensions, but a little piece of grass actually scared the great Reiji Akaba. It reminded him that even his knowledge wasn't that complete. There was still so much that he didn't know about yet. How many strange things existed out there that he didn't have the slightest idea about?
"We can confirm that an inter-dimensional gate has been established inside the cell!" One of the younger scientists shouted and turned back to look at the head scientist.
"Good." The head scientist nodded and gestured with his right hand, waving it down. "Turn it off. End the test."
"Right away!" The younger scientist followed the orders and everyone began to type into their computers again.
Slowly, the blinding light began to fade and the distortion disappeared along with in. Reiji paid attention to a screen on the side that measured the temperature inside the room. During the experiment, the inside had reached 387 degree Celsius, yet once the light had completely disappeared, the grass was still inside the room, unfazed by the extreme temperatures that its surroundings have reached. Just like the head scientist have told him, it has become an entity existing independently from the natural progression of time, which meant that it was unaffected by actions that happen in the 'present'.
"We will wait for the room's temperature to cool down and then send someone to retrieve the subject." The head scientist ordered and turned toward the CEO once again. "I'm sorry for that interruption sir, but is there anything else you would want to know? The new information that you were able to get us about Pendulum Summoning also helped up a lot for the card design department."
"Is that so?" Reiji raised an eyebrow. "I haven't had the chance to go there myself yet, but the new Pendulum Cards that I saw them design were definitely an improvement."
"Indeed sir." The head scientist stepped toward the door to exit the observation room and Reiji followed after him. "From what I know, those new cards you got them to scan had a more natural affinity that Sakaki Yuya's. But some of the things I heard trouble me."
"What is it?" Reiji asked. He hasn't heard about anything that could possibly be a problem; no one in the staff told him anything about that.
The door slide open and they walked into a corridor with several doors arranged on the sides. The two men began to make their way toward the elevator at the end of the corridor and the scientist continued.
"The researchers there say that those cards you brought them to use as templates appear to have been designed with a more simplified data to be easily manufactured in large numbers and used as weapons." The scientist admitted. "Since those decks don't come from this world, and are clearly meant to be used for war, I'm extremely worried about which dimension they could be origin from."
"It's good that you informed me about it." Reiji fixed his glasses. Of course, he already had his suspicions, but choose to keep them for himself as to not make the Lancers even more isolated from one another. "I'll have to talk with the card designers first, before I take any other actions. How long do you think it would take to perfect the dimension transporting technology?"
"With all the data we gathered so far, it would take us several days, not more than a week." The scientist replied. "However, installing the technology inside the Duel Disks would be troublesome because they don't have the necessary technology to generated enough energy for a dimension jump. We are brainstorming ideas about how else to make the technology easily accessible for the Lancers."
The door of the elevator opened up and Reiji walked inside of it while the scientist remained down in the research center. The CEO of Leo Corporation turned around to look at his employee and give a bit of advice.
"Wouldn't it be possible to program the Dimensionizer into a card instead?" Reiji asked. "Cards are able to generate and hold a large amount of energy within them. This way we would be able to make the technology easy to carry."
"Y-you are right!" the scientist approved. "I'll talk with the card designers and we will begin work on creating a Dimensionizer immediately!"
Reiji nodded and the door of the elevator closed. The D/D/D Duelist pulled out his Duel Disk and began to look through the files that were installed on it. He pressed an icon and an empty note appeared on the screen on which he began to write.
Reiji was keeping an eye at Sakaki Yuya and the constant evolution of Pendulum Summoning as well as observing the Lancers that were currently with LDS. So far, almost everything was going according to his plan. Even though the spy of Fusion known as Sora Shiunin was able to escape and Kurosaki's ally, Yuto, suddenly disappeared, no big deviations happened from what he had expected initially.
Sakaki Yuya's Pendulum Summoning has evolved by a lot and information states that he even obtained a new Fusion Monster known as Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon.
But there were also troublesome news. Three siblings, Evan, Avice and Elizabeth Greyson have appeared in the city within the last three weeks. There was no previous entry of data about them which meant that they weren't from this Dimension, however, the data of their cards that they use showed results that were absolutely astonishing. Their Synchro, Fusion and Xyz not only had the energy readings observed with cards of Interdimensional Duelists such as Kurosaki and Shiunin, but with the Greysons' those reads were much higher. In conclusion, there was no information where they came from nor whenever they are allies or spies sent to infiltrate the Lancers.
The only significant information that Reiji was able to get about those siblings were they dueling skills. When it came to duels, they were inhuman in their abilities, able to hold up against the additional power that Action Cards gave to their opponents. The emphasis that two of them put onto winning their duels in only a few turns and their focus on maintaining field and hand presence in case their One Turn Kills don't play out as planned showed that they had actual experience that wasn't something a normal Duel School would teach.
Despite their secretive nature, the Greysons were able to give a lot of knowledge to Reiji and accelerated the preparation of his Lancer program. The new Pendulum Monsters designed by using ChronoDevils, Astral Angels and Oracle Sisters as prototypes were much more stable than the ones created from observing Sakaki Yuya's. Not just that, the new monsters also appeared more 'natural' with stronger energy readings.
Reiji paused for a moment and thought about the next note that he was about to write a little longer. But he made up his mind and write it down anyway just as the elevator stopped.
I dare not say it, but they might as well be the strongest weapon that the Lancers have against any opposite force that comes out way.
Elizabeth's POV
"What should I do?" Yuya looked up at me.
I had no idea what answer to give to this question. Yuya was going to be dueling Kachidoki Isao in just a few minutes and he wasn't the only one worried about this match. I had a lot on my chest and my head ran with horrible images of what could happen to Yuya based on what I saw that Isao pull off in his previous duel against the Synchro Duelist from LDS. Although I wasn't as soft as most people from this universe – I mean, I have seen a lot of horrible things on the TV every night – I just couldn't stand back and watch Yuya Dueling against that barbarian!
Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything else either. As bad as that Kachidoki was, this was tournament and there were rules that I wasn't allowed to break. Once he stepped onto that area, the only thing that Yuya would have to help him out would be his Entertaining Dueling. Of course I knew that he was going to win because he was the protagonist and all of that, but on just what cost would this victory come?
"Don't worry too much about it." I tried to put up a smile and put a hand on his shoulder. "Keep following your own Dueling and you will win this duel because unlike Kachidoki – who is only dueling for himself – you are doing it for everyone watching you." Ugh, this sounded so cliché that I wanted to tear off my own tongue, but no other motivate speech came to my mind at the time.
"Thanks." Yuya said, albeit softly. Damn, I could sense that my words didn't relax him all that much. Not that I could blame him about that.
"Coming up next, is our second match." I heard the announcer and patted Yuya on the shoulder again. This meant that his turn to shine has come.
"Good luck out there." I told him and stepped back. I was about to turn around and walk to the others to watch the duel with them, but I just couldn't move away while Yuya was still there. "Just remember, Yuya. Keep smiling and nothing will be able to keep you from moving forward."
Yuya nodded and put on a smile before moving out into the stadium. I couldn't tell if his smile was genuine or he was just forcing himself in order to not show us how worried he was, but there was nothing else for that I could do, so I walked back to the others and sat down next to Yuzu.
"How did it go?" She asked me.
"How you would expect it to go." I admitted. "What would you tell him? We both saw the degree of violence that Kachidoki dueled in the last round and he obviously won't be gentler against Yuya."
Yuzu nodded and her eyes turned back to Yuya. "He was trying not to show it to us, but I saw that Yuya was worried, maybe even scared about this match."
"Of course, he won't tell anyone about his thoughts because he doesn't want to worry anyone." I put a hand on my head. Seriously, I hated that side of Yuya! He always put others and their feelings above his and tried to never show us how worried, sad or scared he was. "But it's not fair that he is trying to carry the burden all alone. We are his friends for God sake, why can't he be honest with himself around us at least?"
Yuzu didn't reply, but I saw that her eyes lowered a little as well. She probably wondered about the same thing as well, or maybe she was just worried because the match has started and an Action Field already materialized on the area where Yuya was going to face his opponent. I turned to look at it, but my hands unconsciously clenched into fists. I wasn't going to pray for Yuya to win because I knew that it was going to happen either way, but I would hope with all of my heart that he wouldn't do anything that will be regretted later down the line.
3rd POV
"Battle." On a screen, Reiji watched the ongoing duel. Kachidoki was able to reduce Yuya's Life Points to just 100 in just two turns, however things had suddenly changed… "I attack Supreme Victory Star Idaten with Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Revolt of the Lightning. Disobey!"
One attack from the Xyz Monster. That's all it took to send the Ryozanpaku School's participant flying backward with a loud scream of pain. The security cameras shadowed it all, everyone in the stadium was equally shocked by the brutal finale brought by no other but Sakaki Yuya himself. Of course, Reiji already expected that the Xyz Dragon must have been in the performer's deck since it wasn't in Yuto's deck that they were able to recover after the duel in the park.
The CEO of Leo Corporation stared at the screen with an indifferent look on his face, but deep inside he found the scene to be deeply fascinating. Not because of the brutal Duel Style that Sakaki Yuya showcased, but because he had moved the evolution of Pendulum forward once again. From Pendulum Summoning going directly into a Xyz Summon. It made him wonder, just how much more Sakaki was going to be able to grow as a Duelist before it comes time for Standard to join the Dimension War.
"Sakaki Yuya has Yuto's card." Shun muttered to himself and turned around to leave.
"Hey, what's going here?" Reiji turned away from the screen and looked back to see Ventus and Levant standing in front of Shun. The ninja duelist looked past the angry Xyz survivor and turned toward the CEO. "We got some troubling news!"
"What is it?" Reiji leaned back into his chair ready to listen to what they had to tell him.
"It's really bad, we-" Ventus began, when Levant suddenly stepped in front of him.
"After some unknown Duelist tried to invade the stadium we began to search for anyone else who could be hiding." Levant explained and pulled something out of his pocket. "We found this lying on the ground at one of the entrances."
Reiji looked at the item that Levant showed him and his eyes widened. It was a card. Its color was yellow like that of a Normal Monster, but it had no stats or name, just the picture of a young man with a hood holding his hands in front of his face in pure terror. However, that was the worst of it. That card… was torn in two.
"Academia…" Shun quickly joined in, taking the card torn card from Levant's hand. "They have sent more than one agent after all."
"There was a strong Xyz Summoning followed by a Fusion Summoning in the area, so it's possible." Levant nodded. "We also checked the cameras, but they were destroyed a little before the duel started."
"Nah!" Ventus shook his head. "Fusion Duelists won't be able to escape without alerting my ninja senses."
"Whoever did this, they have dangerous technology on their hands and I don't want to risk having them run around the city." Reiji said and turned toward the younger pair of Duelists. "Levant, Ventus. Take Koharu with you and look around."
"Yes, sir!" Both Duelists saluted and then Ventus threw a smoke bomb on the ground, disappearing from the room.
"Damn it!" Levant cursed and ran off toward the exit. "I hate when he does that."
"As for you, Kurosaki." Reiji continued, his eyes staring at the Xyz Duelist, who returned it with an equally cold glare on his own. "No matter what the reason are, I can't let you take actions that would impede the progress of the tournament."
Kusanagi tch-ed and looked away.
"Don't forget why I'm holding this tournament and what I'll be using it for." Reiji reminded him.
Kurosaki sighed and turned his back, waving for Reiji's guard to let him pass. Although the Xyz Duelist wasn't fond of letting his friend's card in the hands of that Sakaki Yuya, he currently had no other allies to help him in the fight against Fusion, so he couldn't let his rash actions to deteriorate his relationships with Standard.
"Pardon the abruptness, but we have a change of schedule." Reiji looked at the big screen again. "Regarding the upcoming third match, due to absence of LDS' Shijima Hokuto, Kirigakure Cooking School's Motoka Michio wins by default!"
"Absence?" Reiji repeated the word that stuck him. A student of LDS wouldn't turn down his duty as a duelist like that, nevertheless at a big tournament like this.
"President!" An elder employee called out. "About three hours ago, we detected a powerful summoning energy within Miami City."
"What method was it?" Reiji asked. He could feel what the answer was going to be, but he needed to be sure.
"Fusion." The employee confirmed. "We've found the cameras that detected the energy as well. Please look at this."
The recording showed, just as Reiji expected, Shijima Hokuto backing against the wall while a hooded Duelist stepped forward. A bright flash of light covered the area for just a moment and the unknown assailant pulled a card out of the shield-shaped Duel Disk.
Reiji kept looking at the screen. Once the hooded figure turned around and ran away, he told them to return to that moment and zoom to see the hooded figure's face. It was a familiar face. After that, Reiji said nothing more. They were just one step away from entering war now. And as bitter as it was, he would be the one to make that step and challenge his father for the fate of the dimensions.
"Finally!" Levant groaned and leaned against a wall.
Getting away from Ventus and Koharu wasn't an easy task. The first was really starting to buy the idea of being partners and barely gave him any space, worry too much that 'An Academia agent or a Fragment could jump out of nowhere at any time', while Koharu was just the distrustful type that one had to handle with a lot of care, or else she was going to get suspicious and probably follow him all the way out here.
"You can come out." Levant said and stretched out his arms. "No one followed me, I made sure of that."
"Since you are always going with a ninja by your side, I couldn't be one hundred percent sure." Hikaru stepped out of the shadows and looked around. "Plus, I did encounter him once while on a scouting mission in this dimension and the masked bastard wasn't half bad with a deck."
"Every Tracer is a good Duelist." Levant retorted. "The worst problem that you could get when dueling against Ventus is that he uses two decks, so you could never be one hundred percent prepared for what's going to happen."
"Just way until I get my rematch." Hikaru smirked before pulling a card from his deck. "According to our superiors, the Battle Royale will start tomorrow. Since you are a part of Reiji's Lancers he will most likely send you along with the rest to fight the Academia forces, so make sure to put this card somewhere safe." Saying that, Hikaru threw the card over to Levant, who caught it with ease. "Once you are done, Academia will open a gate toward that spot to send their Special Forces."
"So you are working with Armityle Purple, huh?" Levant looked over the card and put it into his empty Deck holster. "But while I'm out there risking my skin, what are you going to be doing?"
"I and Makioka will try to eliminate as many unneeded bugs as possible." Hikaru smirked. "The doctor also wants a blood sample of one of those fools you told us about, but unfortunately Haou is going to be the one doing the hunting on that mission."
"If you ever get the chance to contact him, tell him to be careful." Levant raised his head up and looked at the sky. "The Greyson is strong, filled with Darkness. Even Haou's Gentle Darkness would have trouble controlling that force of nature."
Somewhere far off, a Duelist wearing a red jacket with cat ears sticking from the hood was standing on top of a building, looking down at the lights of the night city. In none of his previous incarnations did he felt such sentiment about cities, but after losing his last form, this new one has begun to absorb his soul. His reason to keep fighting, the names that they called him before, his identity; all of those things were starting to get obscure to him.
He could feel it. After losing most of his essence, he was forced to live like a parasite, feed off the darkness of other Duelists, make them his puppets, but after that defeat, he found himself being the one whose darkness was being used to feed someone else.
Nightshroud removed the black dragon mask from his face and looked at it. How weird it felt to be able to look at the last part of himself from inside another body. His golden eyes stared into the blue eyes of the mask and his thumb rubbed against its edge.
"I don't have enough strength to maintain control for long." Nightshroud said to someone. Yet, he was alone on the rooftop. "Whatever happens tomorrow, it will all be up to you, understand?"
Yes. Of course he understood. The black mask turned into mist and absorbed itself into Nightshroud's wrists, returning inside the host's body. The duelist sighed and closed his eyes. Once he opened again, they were no longer going to be yellow…
T.M.Y.K.
Armityle Purple: The fourth rank of Academia made for only the special units that answer to the highest authority, the Professor. Their usual uniform is a purple one. Unlike other units, the Armityle Purple are allowed to wear clothes other than their uniforms, even while inside Academia. Not much is known about Armityle Purple, except that only the best of the best are recruited into that unit, and even goes as far as to recruit duelists from other dimensions, such as Synchro and Xyz.
Because of the extreme skill set required to become a part of this special force, there hasn't been a time throughout the entire history of Academia, when the Armityle Purple had as much as ten members.
Avice: Did you miss me? Well, it hasn't been so long since we last meet, but did you?
Chapter 37: Battle Royale On!
Summary: The third round of the Miami Championship begins and everyone is surprised to learn that it'll be a city wide Battle Royale. Searching for Pendulum Cards, Avice stumbled upon a girl that looks almost the same as Yuzu that challenges her to a duel. At the same time, several unknown characters begin to appear all over the city.
Chapter 38: Supreme Demon Awakens!
Summary: The Battle Royale becomes more dangerous with a dangerous group known as the Obelisk Force starting to attack the other duelists. However, when Evan stumbles upon a few of them, suddenly a strong pain pierces his chest and a dark aura surrounds him, while Avice experiences some changes herself.
Chapter 39: Copy of White
Summary: As the second day of the Battle Royale starts, the remaining duelists choose to separate and look for other survivors. While looking through the ice area, Yuya and Gongenzaka end up in a duel against Hikaru and a girl called Makioka respectively. Meanwhile, Avice and Elizabeth came across a girl that looks just like Avice herself.
Chapter 40: Stages of Rebellion.
Summary: The Battle Royale is at its end and most of the Obelisk Forces have been driven out, despite the heavy loses, the Standard Duelists keep pushing the enemy away. During that time, while Ventus is helping Koharu in searching for Fusion remnants, the two of them come across the strongest duelist that participated in the invasion of the Xyz Dimension – at the same time, Evan and Avice both begin a duel against Yuya's counterparts, Yuri and Yugo respectively.
Chapter 41: Those With Fate in Darkness
Summary: Elizabeth found herself being chased by a Fusion Duelist called the Supreme King. But she comes across Evan who quickly steps in and a duel between the two wielders of Darkness begins. As ChronoDevils and Evil Heroes crash against one another, something suddenly changes about Evan…
Chapter 42: Tune of Daybreak!
Summary: Following the huge amount of destruction caused by Academia's invasion, the Miami Champion is canceled and Reiji announces to the public the creation of an elite squad of Duelists called "Lancers". However, the tension within the newly formed team only increases. While Levant and Reiji try to bring the group together, believing that only through dueling he would be able to make everyone understand the necessity of the Lancers, Evan challenges Shun to a duel.
A/N: Well, that definitely was a very small chapter, wasn't it? But fear not, for in the next chapter the Battle Royale will begin! I honestly got a lot of ideas and I hope that I will be able to post the next chapter before the end of the week that's after the next one. In other words, I hope to post the next chapter before 28th of October, but I can't promise anything. Because of how long the next few chapters are going to be, I need extra time to write them.
On a side note, I'm a little disappointed that no one seemed to notice what Evan did last chapter. Or maybe you did but choose to keep it to yourself, but, oh well, now we knew exactly what happens when you lost to Evan from here on.
Big thanks to Zaphkiel Eterna for being the first one to follow AND favorite in a long time! It probably won't be an exaggeration if I say that this was what motivated me to try and get this chapter out before the end of the week.
Now to respond to the reviews!
FearMeHorror: Thanks! I'm happy to hear that the slow pace of the story hasn't annoyed you. I hope that I will be able to at least keep the current quality of my story as well (that's if I can't improve it). Your words meant a lot to me, thanks.
ScalchopWarrior: I already covered up your review in a PM, so I won't bother copying it here. Thanks for the input.
That's all for now. Probably for the next two weeks as well... Thanks for reading, I hope you have a good day, night, and if you feel like it, you could drop a review.
Avice: "Drop a review right now and you can win... Well, we don't have anything to offer really, so you win... Thin air?"
Diabolic Tracer: "On a not-so-side-note, we reached f*cking 100 reviews! Whoohoo!"
Diabolic Tracer & Avice out!