Usur LP: 0
Matt LP: 50
Katie LP: 800
Leah LP: 250
Dan LP: 300
James LP: 1000
Finally, it was at an end.
A battered, exhausted Matt breathed an involuntary sigh of relief as the finishing claxon sounded – the noise strangely muted inside the echoless Sphere Field, which was fast disappearing around them – and did his best not to panic as he began to feel the pull of gravity once more. Slowly and gently, as though they were sinking through water rather than air, the five Deltas plus the barely-conscious Usur floated back to earth, their feet touching delicately down on the stone floor as the remnants of the Sphere Field faded away. A dozen different error messages flagged up on the computer screen behind them. Usur groaned as his tortured body touched the ground.
Matt, however, noticed none of this. Turning away from their deadly foe with the intention of thanking his teammates for their help, he suddenly found himself engulfed as Katie, Leah, Dan, and James all piled in and hugged him one after the other. Some were crying, some laughing, all were utterly exhausted yet exhilarated. None of them could believe they'd actually won.
"Morons," Skyler said irritably, never taking his eyes off of Usur. "Don't they realise it isn't over?"
"Let them have their moment," the Stranger replied. "They've earned it."
Matt had heard her, however, and knew she was right. Reluctantly, he extricated himself from his friends' arms and stepped back. The others fell silent, watching him as he turned to face the downed Professor.
What he saw surprised him.
One of Usur's sleeves had been torn to shreds in the last attack, exposing Usur's right forearm. Or rather, it would have, if not for the shiny metal bands – identical to the ones the Deltas wore – festooning his arm. There were dozens and dozens of them, each glistening in the midday sunlight. Moving his gaze to the other arm, Matt saw a similar arrangement of bands, just visible beneath the Professor's opposite sleeve, his duel disk clamped down over the top of them. All in all, the man must have been wearing over fifty of the precious bands – the ones he had once berated the Deltas for losing a couple of. But why?
The confusion only lasted a moment before the realisation struck each of them in turn. It made sense. Knowing its strength, Usur would have done everything he could think of to protect himself from Apeiros' furious influence – the more bands, the better protected he was. Yet even with all these precautions, the great monster had still found a way to overpower the bands and start taking him over. It was just too strong to be contained through such methods.
So what hope did Matt have?
"It's alright Matt," the Stranger said calmly, stepping up beside the boy. "Don't be afraid. Concentrate on removing his other Numbers, and skirt around Apeiros as best you can. I'll handle that creature."
"How?" Matt asked, conscious that she once again seemed to have known exactly what he was thinking.
"Trust me," the woman replied simply. "Go on."
Suppressing a rude remark about trust, Matt turned back to the Professor and raised his hand. He half-expected the extraction to fail as it had against Durbe, and was relieved when the tendrils of light extended from the strip of metal and entered Usur's body without incident.
Almost immediately, Matt became aware of an immense, crushing pressure pushing in on him from all sides. It felt like the very atmosphere was constricting around him, crushing him down into a tiny, airless pocket. His arm shook, sweat beaded his brow, and his breathing became laboured.
"Relax," he heard the Stranger say. "Apeiros is just trying to force you out. The bands may not be fully effective against it, but they are still like poison to the Number – they're holding it back. Keep going."
With some difficulty, Matt forced himself to push deeper into the Professor's subconscious. It was perhaps lucky that he and the Deltas had used the bands so many times before, as he was barely paying attention to what he was looking for, instead relying on instinct to guide him through the recesses of Usur's mind – all the while trying to blot out the ferocious, invasive presence that pressed in on him. Each time he found what felt like a Number, he tightened his grip around it and sent the tendrils on further, searching for more.
The Deltas, Skyler, Lithon, Kodoku, and the Stranger watched intently as Matt fought his way through the Professor's soul. They said nothing, not wanting to intrude on Matt's concentration.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Matt's wrist twitched, and the tendrils of light swiftly retracted back towards him, carrying with them three cards. The small pile was deposited in his hand, and the light tendrils retracted back into the strip of metal.
Matt, suddenly freed from Apeiros' rage, gasped and fell to his knees, shaking all over. He felt cold and clammy, and his breath was even more ragged than before. Almost at once, his friends beseeched him, hugging him and asking if he was alright.
"He... the..." Matt pointed a shaking finger at Usur, struggling to form words. "He was... under that influence all this time?"
"Almost certainly not," the Stranger said, kneeling down beside him. "The amount of bands he had would have kept him from feeling almost anything, except in those rare cases where it forced its influence through, whereupon Usur would have endured the same experience you just did."
"And if- if he'd removed them...?"
The Stranger shook her head. "I doubt he would have survived long enough to tell us what it felt like. Human bodies aren't built to contain power such as that."
Matt nodded in understanding. The shaking had stopped now, and his breathing was starting to ease as the exhaustion of the day's events began to weigh down on him. Oh, what a joy it would be to sleep, to not have to worry about this anymore...
"Well Matt?" Leah asked. "Did you get the Numbers?"
Wordlessly, Matt held up the three cards for them to see. Number 98: Hellcry Xiaolong, Number 92 Hellfire Assimilator, and Number 71: Moonlight Mole.
The Stranger leaned in and examined them closely. "Good. They look fine to me," she said.
"Wait, no Hellish Hands?" James said. "Where'd that one go?"
"Here," Dan said, holding it up. "It was my card, remember? Usur nicked it during the duel, but when it was banished it came back to me."
"Oh," James said, feeling a bit silly. "Gotcha."
"Kids are such idiots," Lithon said contemptuously. "Kodoku's an exception-"
"Thanks sir!" Kodoku piped up.
"-but they're mostly utter morons. In the unlikely event that I ever have children, I hope they won't be such perpetual disappointments like you lot."
Skyler glared at him.
"Hey, who're you calling a disappointment?" James said. "In case you didn't notice, I just defeated Professor Usur of all-"
"No no, hang on," Katie interrupted. "I'm pretty sure Matt was the one who dealt the final blow."
"Yeah," James nodded, "but let's not forget it was my Chaos Number that made it possible. Without my Bakushin-chi, there wouldn't have been a final blow to deal."
"Well, you could say that about all of our cards," Dan pointed out. "My Compliance, Katie's Flarestorm Charger, Matt's... well, everything. Hell, Leah's Greed Pact card deserves a lot of credit."
"Damn right," Leah grinned.
James looked down at his duel disk with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, but-"
"Hey!"
Skyler's alarmed shout brought everyone back to attention, and they instantly turned to where Usur was lying – or rather, had been lying mere moments before. In the few seconds that both the Stranger and Skyler had looked away, the Professor had got to his feet and staggered over to his computer, where he was now frantically tapping on his keyboard.
"Oh no you don't!" the Stranger cried, leaping to her feet and bounding forwards.
She was too late. With a triumphant bark of laughter, Usur pressed enter on the keyboard.
At once, Matt felt something pulse painful deep inside him. He gasped and clutched at his chest, doubling over to press his forehead against the cold concrete as the pain intensified – it was as if an invisible something was trying to force its way out of his body. And not at all gently. His fingernails scrabbled involuntarily at his own ribs, as though desperate to claw out the source of his torment.
Vaguely, he became aware of something vast and bright above him. Sparing a glance up, he saw the Sphere Field, rematerialized above them as though it had never left, his appearance flickering between the shifting, cloudy texture and its segmented, card-like appearance. Looking around desperately at the others, he saw that they were suffering just as badly as he was. Leah, Dan, Katie, James, Skyler... they were all on the ground, their arms wrapped around themselves. Lithon and Kodoku seemed even more affected than the rest of them: they were rolling around, screaming at the top of their lungs as the agony seared through them. Even Usur's face was contorted with pain; he was only able to remain on his feet because the table in front of him, which he was clinging to for dear life.
That didn't last long. The Stranger – seemingly the only one on the rooftop who was unaffected by this strange phenomenon – never broke her stride as she sprinted towards Usur and slammed her shoulder into him, sending him flying several feet away, where he collapsed in a moaning heap on the ground. Not sparing him a second glance, the Stranger turned to the computer and began tapping keys, desperately trying to halt the process. The computer beeped as it denied her attempts, and she tried again.
But there was nothing she could do. Once started, the ultimate extraction could not be stopped.
The pain reached a fever pitch, and Matt screamed so loudly that he thought his throat might be ripped open. As the agony obliterated all awareness of his surroundings - and Matt wondered obliquely if he was about to die – a long, jagged gash opened on his chest, shining with a piercingly-bright yellow light. His back arched, and he let out another scream. It felt for all the world as if someone had just cleaved open his chest with a steak knife. Around him, everyone but the Stranger was receiving the same treatment.
With the sound of rushing wind, sixteen cards flew out of the opening – out of Matt's own body – and up towards the Sphere Field still suspended in the sky above them. More cards followed it, streaming from the bodies of the others on the rooftop. Ten from Katie, fourteen from Leah, ten from Dan, three from James, eight from Skyler, one each from Lithon and Kodoku, and one from Usur himself. Together, the cluster of sixty-four Numbers flew up through the wall of the Sphere Field, where they hung as though suspended in liquid.
And more were joining them. As the pain faded and the blazing gash in each person's chest winked out of existence like a candle, leaving them whole once more, the victims became aware of more cards swarming in from all directions, from every corner of the city. It was like a swarm of insects, all clustering together inside the Sphere Field. One card, they noticed, flew straight to the apex of the Sphere Field, whereas another that was already in there was pulled right to the bottom. Besides these two, the other Numbers floated about freely, gently bumping off of the walls and each other like bubbles.
The last arrival, however, was not a card. The shell-shocked onlookers, still reeling from what they'd just experienced, couldn't help but stare as a large metal box, about two feet across, soared up towards the Sphere Field just as the Numbers had done.
The Deltas and Skyler recognised it instantly. It was the safe from Skyler's apartment, still trailing pieces of plaster where it had been ripped from the wall. As it came into contact with the wall of the Sphere Field, it let out a single crystal-clear note and instantly disintegrated, the dust of the once-sturdy metal structure being blown away by the wind. Its contents, two final cards, entered the Sphere Field to join their brethren.
And at last, all was still once more.
The Deltas looked at each other, their collective shock mirrored in each other's faces. Skyler was staring at the Sphere Field, his tortured eyes wide and horrified. Lithon and Kodoku lay on their backs, their own eyes wide but unseeing, their bodies twitching slightly.
"Usur, you fool..." the Stranger breathed, her eyes flicking from the Sphere Field to the downed man. "What have you done?"
"Exactly what I was meant to..." With a herculean effort, Usur forced himself into a hunched standing position, holding on to the rooftop wall for support. "The Numbers of the world – all one-hundred of them – are now mine."
"But... but we won!" Leah cried, staggering to her feet as well. "We beat you!"
Usur snorted. "You think I care about that duel? The purpose of our confrontation was simply to show you my superiority. I failed in that regard – you have all grown stronger than I realised – but that changes nothing about my goals. This Sphere Field is a prototype, so I didn't want to use this extraction capability without running proper tests. But you forced my hand!" He looked upwards, his satisfied smirk turning almost demonic in the light of the Sphere Field. "I'd say that, despite the lack of testing, this is a resounding success. All one-hundred Numbers are now gathered above us, ready for me to-"
"But what about Miden and Apeiros?" Matt interrupted. "If they're in there together, won't that end the world?"
Usur pointed upwards impatiently. "That's them," he said. "Miden is the card frozen at the top of the Sphere Field, whereas Apeiros is at the bottom. As long as they stay separated in this manner, there is no danger."
"So basically... we failed," James said angrily, massaging his chest. "That whole duel was pointless!"
"We haven't failed," the Stranger said firmly. "Usur, you may have all the Numbers locked away, but you yourself are weakened and broken. You can do nothing with these Numbers if you can't reach your computer. And there are far more of us than there are of you. Stop being a sore loser. You've lost – accept it."
The smirk on Usur's face stretched as he gave the woman a wicked grin. "Lost, have I? Well, we'll just have to see what my business partners hand to say about that." Glancing over the Stranger's shoulder, he raised his voice and called out, "What say you, Team Gamma?!"
Wheeling around, the Stranger turned to look. The Professor was staring at a patch of concrete in the middle of the roof, exactly halfway between himself and the Deltas, right beneath the Sphere Field. And now she saw why. A swirling portal of stars and darkness had opened up right on that spot, and a swarm of light particles were streaming out of it. The ten onlookers stared with a mixture of awe and fear as the lights swirled around each other for a moment, before clustering together and reforming into the shape of four humans. Or rather, four people, for these figures were certainly not human.
They were the four guards that had been outside the building before, which the Deltas had duelled to stall for time. That much was certain – they had the same builds, and wore the same masks. Now, however, they had disrobed, revealing the true nature of their bodies. One was the duellist Dan new as Alit – a thin yet muscular man with crimson red skin, and some sort of brown waistcoat and beige belt that seemed to be melded to his skin. Another Leah recognised as Mizael – with bright golden skin, flowing blonde hair, and a long bronze sarong. The other two, however, were new to all but Usur and Lithon. The Deltas assumed that the larger of the two – who now seemed even more imposing, with brown skin stretched over his humongous body, a high collar, armoured gloves, and a belt with the letter G on it – was Gilag, who had duelled James and Katie. Which left the last one to be Durbe – an unimpressive yet strangely imposing figure, with wisteria-coloured skin, silver-lined blue shoulder pads, and a thick metal gauntlet on his left arm. All of them looked distinctly worse for wear after their duels, but that in no way diminished their imposing presence. Each and every one of them were staring up at the Sphere Field.
The Stranger's eyes widened. "The Barian Lords!" she hissed furiously, readying herself to fight.
Skyler, Katie, James and Matt, however, were staring for a very different reason.
"What the hell are they?" Skyler growled, raising his duel disk.
"That's... really Gilag?" Katie breathed, shocked. "What happened to him? What happened to them all?"
Dan frowned. "So they're all like that..." he muttered nervously.
"You saw him too?" Leah asked.
"Yeah. And I caught a glimpse of Mizael as we were running towards you, just before the others scooped him up and teleported away."
"This is very bad..." Matt muttered, and the others looked at him. "We could barely beat these guys back when we had our Numbers and Chaos Numbers. That's the only reason we won. Without them, we don't have a hope in hell."
"Speak for yourselves," Skyler growled. "Whatever these freaks of nature are, I'll tear them apart with my bear hands."
The Barian Lords, however, seemed not to share the same sentiments. Indeed, they didn't appear to have eyes for the Deltas, Skyler, Lithon and Kodoku at all. Having got their fill of the Sphere Field, the four looked down at Usur and the Stranger, their eyes boring into the pair of them.
"You've done well, Professor," Durbe said quietly.
"Yeah," Alit nodded. "Underhanded and dishonourable tactics though."
"Watch your tongue, Alit!" Usur snapped. "And thank you very much, Durbe. As you can all see, I've fulfilled my end of the bargain."
Mizael nodded slowly. "Indeed..."
"Bargain?" the Stranger asked. It was, perhaps, one of the first times the Deltas had heard her confused. "What bargain might that be?"
Durbe turned his imperious gaze on the woman. "Caretaker..." he said. "I knew I recognised your voice. So you truly decided to betray us after all."
"Betray you?" she said, outraged. "After finding out what you did, and what you're intending to do... of course I betrayed you! Who would stand by people that would do such horrific things, even under the guise of 'protecting the innocent'?"
"That's exactly what we're doing!" Gilag snapped. "This is a war, you stupid woman! We do whatever we have to do to protect our world!"
"Gilag is correct," Durbe nodded. "Do you truly value planet Earth over your friends and family in the Barian World?"
"I could say the reverse about you," the Stranger countered. "Do you believe that the citizens of the Barian World are more important than the citizens of Earth?"
"To me? Most definitely," Durbe nodded.
The woman's eyebrows narrowed. "You sicken me, Durbe. First you perform such unspeakable acts on the Astralian child to create the Numbers, then you-"
"What?!" Leah gasped.
"You're kidding..." Matt breathed. "Then, it was them..."
Durbe turned slowly to face the Deltas. "Correct," he said calmly. "It was us that created the Numbers. It was us that sent them to your world. And it was us that tasked Professor Usur with gathering them up once more."
Leah looked up at the Sphere Field. "No way..." It was too much for her to take on at once.
"Wait, I don't get it," James said. "Why create the Numbers, scatter them, and then ask Usur to hoover them up again? Why not just keep them?"
"You really are a fool," Gilag grumbled, shaking his head.
"Numbers are initially blank," Mizael said impatiently. "They need contact with a person to feed off of their desires and take form. We wouldn't use the people of our own world – you've seen for yourself the damage that free-roaming Numbers can do-
"And besides, we would never subject our citizens to the Number's influence," Durbe added. "That's where this world comes in. It is the perfect breeding ground for Numbers which we of the Barian World can then weaponise against the Astral World!"
"What?" Skyler said, lowering his duel disk, but keeping a wary eye on the four strange people. "But I thought we were in the Barian World. I thought this world was the Barian World."
"And who was it that told you that, Skyler?" Usur said smugly. "Here's a hint: he's standing in roughly the same spot I am now."
Skyler's face fell.
Alit let out a bark of laughter. "Even after all this time, you're still falling for the Professor's lies," he chuckled. "That's right. This isn't the Barian World. This is a version of planet Earth existing in a parallel universe to the one you called the 'Kasen World'."
"This world, as you've seen, is almost identical to the Kasen World," Usur continued. "That's because it's a parallel version, residing in its own dimension – a dimension with no Barian World or Astral World."
"A comrade of ours, Vector, discovered it a while back," Durbe said, picking up the story. "He had his own plans for it, but left for Earth – the other Earth – not long ago, and left us with the means to find it. Thus, we decided to make use of it. Using one of the prisoners of war we'd captured from the Astral World, we forged another set of one-hundred Numbers, and sent them to this world. Here, they could feed off of the local humans and take form as proper Numbers. At the same time, we contacted Usur, whom we collectively decided would be the perfect individual for retrieving the Numbers once they had all taken form. With these Numbers..." he pointed to the Sphere Field above his head, "... we can utterly annihilate both Astral and the Astral World. Astral has collected only a few of his own Numbers – neither he nor the Astral World can withstand our might once we combine it with the power of one-hundred new Numbers."
"But then..." Matt had hardly heard the last few sentences; the weight of the earlier remarks was still sinking in. "But then our world... it's-"
"Nothing!" Mizael finished. "Precisely. You're beginning to understand your place, humans. Your world is nothing but a giant petri dish, which we used to breed the Barians' ultimate secret weapons! With them, we will put an end to this war; the Astral World will be annihilated, and the Barian World will be saved from destruction!"
Fun Fact #129: So there you have it. No-one has any Numbers now - Usur nicked the lot, the sore loser. Also the Deltas' world isn't the Barian World after all, but a parallel Earth which the Barians used to breed a fresh batch of Numbers. Exactly as Mizael said - a giant petri dish.
Fun Fact #130: Due to space constraints, Usur's big thing has been pushed back to the next Chapter (we'll also tell you about his 'bargain' with the Barians then, which ties into the big thing).
Fun Fact #131: Excuse me, Mizael? Hello. Yeah, one of those "ultimate weapons" you were talking about is Skrapi Drake, and another is Blast Android. I think you need a new definition of the world "ultimate".