Order Through Chaos: The Hundredth Seal

by Medigo

Decades into the 21st century, the world of dueling is still as prevalent and enjoyed as the day it began. But a new plague has risen, through mans desire and sin; The Numbers. Cards capable of changing life forever. One duelist is caught between the dangers these Numbers unleash and those that hunt them for their own gain.

37. Cipher 037: Someone to Protect

Cipher 037: Someone to Protect

After his victory Korose withdrew to a secure location; a lofty chamber hidden somewhere in Neo Avalons many buildings. "It would seem fortune smiles upon you, agent K." There he heard the voice of an accomplice of his; Andre Morbis. "As she does on me. I have been blessed twice so far." He revealed two Number cards of his own that he had managed to capture. "I see that." Korose responded with indifference. "Ah, your mind is still like an open book to me, K. You long for a challenge. A Number that merely manipulates the odds to keep its masters monsters alive, is not worth your time." Morbis moved himself to a couch and lay down there. "The rif-raff that director Graves invites are not worth our time." He let out a yawn. "I would not under-estimate any duelist, agent D." K replied simply. "It is they who over-estimate themselves, K. Just because they have Numbers they believe themselves to be special. They are mistaken." Andre chuckled to himself. "There is but one who deserves that can call himself my equal. And he is out there.."

"Guess you managed to ditch your company." Said the former Agent I as he met with Azar in a parking lot, later in the afternoon. "I'd myself rather guess how you managed to secure inconspicuous transport." Ion was there in a minivan, which at least was colored in a flat unassuming grey. "Because I wasn't dumb enough to leave all my money in a bank account the agency would keep tabs on." Ion had stashed away enough physical cash to keep himself alive.

"To answer your question. Me and Sky split up a while ago. We figured we could cover more ground that way, and we would call each other as soon as we found a lead. So far we did not find any Number users, but we did meet an Agent. He called himself Korose." Azar told Ion, who started to scratch his chin. "Hmm. Does not ring a bell." He only knew his fellow agents by their code name. "Tall, short hair, very physical." It took Azars descriptions to place the name where it belonged. "Ah. That'd be Agent K. Yeah I know him, worked with him before. Decent guy, just a drag to work with."

"Incidentally. Agent K did not appear on the D-pad radar until he dueled. And neither did you." Azars D-pad did not detect Ions pad in this place. "Well that'd be because our D-pads are basically bootlegs; they can not be spotted by legal models until they interact with them.." The agency could not track Ions D-pad right now either after all. "Then I suppose I should not duel as 'Dusk' with 'Azars' D-pad." Azar handed Ion his bag. "Ah. It is time for that, is it?" Ion traded it for one of the same shape and brand. "I did not need this precaution in the end. But I'd rather not have anyone check my luggage." In this new bag was one of his 'outfits'. The bag he had with him on the train was just filled with harmless items. "He should make an appearance now." Azar took the helmet, and a smile formed on his face. "If I did not know any better, I'd say you enjoy being someone else." Ion was not used to Azar wearing that kind of expression.

"Nonsense." Azar put the helmet on. "I need to be someone else."

The duo decided to search for duelists around Neo Avalons harbor district. "Something is nagging me, by the way." After a while Ion spoke up. "How do you manage to hide your numbers, even now?" He had never figured out how Azar could have fooled him the first time they met. "I believe that to be one of the powers Dakar had, before he fell. It ties in to the swarm; they hide themselves and their claimed Numbers. Sunlight weakens them while the darkness strengthens them." By now Azar had managed to control the cycle a little. "And it doesn't scare you, to have a power you do not fully understand?" Ion asked. "I do not have time to be scared. The swarm is like the Numbers, the more I collect, the more I learn and stronger I become." He stopped Ion. "Let me ask you something as well. How did Korose know that Sky and I had no Numbers?" As Azar understood it, Agents could normally not detect Numbers until they were used in a duel. "He probably has a sensor-type Number, like Number 16. Most Numbers are the kind that allow a human to see the world in more ways then the human one." Though which Number Korose had, Ion could not say. "I see. It does make sense to give an Agent a Number that he can detect others.."

"Hey. We have company." Ion pointed at a man walking on the docks. "Artega?" Subito was but a few yards away from them. "?" Though only now did he spot Dusk and Agent I. "You two, together?" It was a very incongruous sight.

"Greetings Subito Artega." Azar stepped forward. This chance encounter could be worthwhile. "Do not be surprised or alarmed. Agent I is no more, my friend has left that organization." He explained to Subito. "I heard you ran into N. Sorry about that." Ion added. He did partially feel responsible for that, as it was his failure that made the Quartermaster send N out in the first place. "I do not feel your side is much more innocent." Subito finally replied. "Do not let this oppurtunity go to waste now, Artega. I know what happened to your family, I know what you want to do. You need our help. With my powers and Ions knowledge and your skills, we could bring the whole Agency down."

Subito finally stopped walking. "Answer this first, Dusk; why did you involve my brother again?" Subito had seen Shin use Number 12, he knew only one man could have given him that card. "I had to. He defeated Sky, so Sky's Number became his." That was how that worked. "Why worry? You could control the Numbers, he might be able to do the same." As Azar said this, he did think back to Shin when he actually summoned his Number. He was not sure if Shin could control it. Ion had said that not every human was the same in that aspect. "But you are not sure. And you are wrong.." Subito began to walk again. "Oh. This is not about him, is it?" For a second, Azar saw a strange glint in Artega's eyes. "This is about you. Something has shaken your confidence. Was it Agent N, your fathers fate, or something more?" Azar remembered now, Subito had quit dueling before. "No!" Subito suddenly snapped. "You are wrong. And I do not need you. Or him!" He yelled at both of them.

"Artega!" And then someone else joined in on the yelling.

"Who?" Subito and Azar looked to the city side of the street. "We were followed?" There they saw a bespectacled young man in business attire. "You get away from him!" And he had a Duel Pad. "Who.. are you?" 'Dusk' questioned the man as he came closer. "Artega. I am sorry that you have to meet me this way." But the man paid Dusk no attention and spoke directly to Subito. "I am John Smith. Of course you don't know me, but I am a big fan of you." He shook Subito's hand with both of his. "John Smith?" Ion could hardly believe anybody these days would name their kid so normally like that. . "A name means nothing. It is what we do, that matters!" John grumbled loudly. "Then what do you want to do, John?" Subito was not sure how to respond to this development. "I just had to meet you, your family is the reason I became a duelist. I wanted to talk to you, but then..." He glared at the Dusk and Ion. "These two showed up. And I just had to warn you." He activated his D-pad. "They are dangerous, I can tell. They may not sound like it, but they mean to do harm. So I will take care of them!"

"You are a funny one. But you have it all wrong, kiddo. We aren't the bad guys here." Ion did not really feel like taking this threat seriously. "..I see. You have a Number." Until Azar said that. "What? Him?" Of all Number users he had seen, this one would have to be the most unassuming. "Why did you really come here? Did you want to see if Subito still had his Numbers? If you are his fan, you probably know who he defeated and which cards he won." Both incidents were not hard to find information about. "No. It is not like that! I would never! Just for that I will take you on first. Do not even think about running away!" He declared loudly enough to even make Subito want to back away. "..John. You do not need to do this." He said, but Azar had already taken out his cards. "No. He has to. After all he came here, so he wants to duel as much as everyone else. I have to respond." He took Ions D-pad while John equipped his own. "This will be good for you, Artega. Now you will see why I duel." He set his lifepoints along with his opponent.

Azars LP: 8000 Johns LP: 8000

"Do not worry Artega. I can take him!" John drew five cards, while Dusk drew six. "That remains to be seen. You appear to be an office worker. How much have you dueled?" Azar placed a monster down and ended his turn. "My work is not related to this! My skills are not hampered by it! I summon Beastwarrior Puma!" A half human/half panther swordsman(4/1600/1000) appeared. "Puma?" Both Ion and Subito felt that this beast looked inexplicably familiar to them. On the other hand, Azar did not recognize it all. "Puma can sacrifice himself, to add the monster card: D.D. Esper Star Sparrow to my hand!" He tributed the Beastwarrior, and claimed a level 10 monster from his deck. "You did not attack me?" Azar thought he would have tried to kill his set monster first. "You would like that! But no, I know when a risk is too great or not. I will not set off your face-down monsters effect!" He continued his turn and activated the spell card: Monster Reincarnation. "I discard a card, to take one monster back!" The Esper Sparrow was sent to the graveyard by his spell, while Puma returned to life in Johns hand. "I set two cards down and end my turn!"

"So his monster lets him know about possible threats?" Azar began to unscramble whatever his Number could do, as he normal summoned the Stygian Street Patrol(4/1600/1200). "Direct attack." The hellish biker drove towards John. "I prepared for that threat!" But John took a card from his graveyard. "When I am directly attacked, I can revive the Dimensional Esper Star, Sparrow!" A portal from the cemetery opened, freeing a masked and caped hero(10/3000/1500), of a rather dark complexion. "My Visor warned me about that, John. Esper can only special summon itself in defense position." Azar did not call of his attack. The Patroller could run over Esper with ease and also inflict damage to John with its burning own effect. "And I knew you'd not give up your attack!" John flipped one of his traps. "Safe Zone! My monster can not be destroyed or targeted by card effects!" Esper Star Sparrow was protected behind a circle of light rays.

"Then I move to main phase 2." Azar ended his battle phase and flipped the monster he had set. "Evilswarm Hraesvelg! Its flip effect returns a card on the field to your hand" This blackened Bird(4/1150/1850) unleashed a storm. "I may not be able to target what is within your Zone, but your trap itself lies outside that protection!" However before Azar could target Safe Zone... "Effect Veiler!" John had discarded the veiler spellcaster, who negated Hraesvelgs effect. "You saw that coming too. Interesting." This kid was well defended. "Then I shall XYZ-summon one of my Numbers." He put Hraesvelg and Stygian Street Patrol together and placed one of his many xyz monsters on top. "Number 39: Utopia!" The gold and white emperor of hopes, Utopia(4/2500/2000) was summoned once again.

"Just how many Numbers does have have by now?" Subito would not know where to begin counting.

"You say you have hunted many. I don't want to know what you would use them for. But.." John Smith took his turn. "This one, you will not get!" He summoned a tiny bolt monster with eyes and feet(1/300/200). "Kurivolt. This monster can eat one xyz material on the field, and then summon one of its brothers from my deck." The Kurivolt jumped on top of Utopia. "Eat?" It devoured the attached Evilswarm Hraesvelg, and spat out a second Kurivolt(1/300/200). "This one as well!" This second Kurivolt devoured the attached Stygian, and special summoned a third Kurivolt(1/300/200) from Johns deck. "I have three level 1 monsters. The field is ready!" He took his three bolts and turned them into a single monster. "Allow me to introduce to you, Number 83!" From a cosmic black hole, filled with bolts of lightning, his Number appeared. First as a satellite-like entity, then changing into a majestic woman(1/500/500) with long red hair, and a dress that glittered like the cosmos itself, "This is the heart of my deck; Galaxy Queen!"

"Wait. Now I remember." Ion snapped his fingers. "Puma, Sparrow, and now her. These cards are all from that action TV-show. The Galactic Rangers, that was it!" He remembered watching something like this some time ago. "Yes. That does seem familiar." Subito recalled Shin liked to watch that as well. ".." Azar would not know himself, he had never watched those shows when he was young.

"Yes. You are correct. This is the reason why I owe so much to your family. They made it possible for me to summon my favorite characters in real life." It was after all Subito's father that spearheaded the dueldisk VR development. "But one card had always been absent. The show was cancelled before she could be printed. Yet here she is; my queen." He pointed at Azar. "And with her and the rangers all by my side, I can finally pay back the people I owe!" He sent Esper Star Sparrow to attack Utopia, who no longer had xyz materials to detach and defend itself with. "Oh crud." And Ion knew of another drawback to Number 39. "When Utopia is attacked while it lacks xyz materials, it will selfdestruct!" He shouted towards Azar, just as Sparrow closed in. "What?" John saw Utopia disappear before his eyes, the monster had killed itself. And Azar had in fact been counting on this flaw to help him.

"I know, Ion. A monster within the Safe Zone, can not declare direct attacks." The dimensional Esper was pulled back within the traps barriers, he could not touch Azar now. "Argh. I did not see that coming." John cursed. He placed a spell down on his field as ended his turn. "Then it would seem your Numbers talent does not warn you about everything." 'Dusk' normal summoned Necro Gardna(3/600/1300). Then he special summoned Sangan(3/1000/600) from his hand. As banishing Stygian Street Patrol allowed him to summon any fiend with 2000 attackpoints or less. "But that is fine. I have yet to learn my Numbers limitations as well. Here is one such Number." He combined the two level 3 monsters. "Number 30: Acid Golem!" He xyz-summoned the acid-filled golem(3/3000/3000). "Just one can not stand against many, John!"

..

On the other side of town, Ariel and Shin were still tracking Joe Davisons movements. Until they lost sight of him. "Ah. Again?! Its all because these buildings all look the same." Shin had a hard enough time not getting lost. "He does not show up on the radar anymore." The D-pads map offered no clues to Ariel either. "Looks like we should have spent our time on something else." She sighed. It was unfortunate but they had to give up this pursuit. "Something else.. from what?" Luckily, or unluckily, they did not miss Joe for long. "Whaa!" He had found them instead, suddenly appearing behind them. "You two don't know your way around here much, do you?" He laughed, but then his tone changed. "Why are you following me?" Neither of them wanted to answer him. "Got the jitters eh? I understand. You are just naturally curious. But its good of you to come to me. Because.." Joe activated his D-pad. "One of you has something that I want!"

(To be Continued in Cipher 38: So Much for a Hero)

New Card used by Azar Helder
Number 30: Acid Golem

Cards used by John Smith
Beast Warrior Puma
D.D. Esper Star Sparrow
Effect Veiler
Kurivolt
Number 83: Galaxy Queen

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Monster Reincarnation

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Safe Zone