Cipher (1)51: A Second Summer
"Gah. What am I even supposed to do with this thing?" She tried every trick she had been taught, from focusing her thoughts to summoning the card nonstop. But nothing worked for her. "Why are you yelling?" Shin wanted his mother to rest. He grew irritated by Rita's loudness. "I am trying to learn what this thing does! I am an agent, I should be able to wake up a Numbers power Especially if this one is supposed to be mine!" She already knew what it could do in a duel, that was not the problem. "Well maybe you don't need it yet." Shin spoke from his own experience. He did not fully get his Numbers powers either yet. "But if Claud had.. maybe he could have.." Rita was not the only one who Overhundred Number had not demonstrated its powers yet. Compared to the power of stopping time and creating impregnable forcefields, she felt insignificant. "You can not force it. That kind of attitude only leads to bad places. Believe me, I know." It was a feeling Shin understood very well.
Ariel watched the conversation between the two. "I called him, but..he did not answer." She was approached by Darcy, who put down her mobile. "They may have gotten to Trey." Neither phone nor D-pad could reach the gambling duelist. "That is probably the case.." They could only assume the worst.
"There is still one left, isn't there?" Darcy noted as she looked at Rita and Shin argue "We are missing at least one, yes." 102 and 107 were accounted for, 101 had yet to show itself. Who knew if there were any more after that. "It could come to anyone, even you." Ariel did not know what it was waiting for; besides Darcy there were plenty of others it could possess. "Oh. I wouldn't mind if it didn't, honestly. Not that I disliked having a Number, but I would not know what to do with another.. outside of helping the others." Darcy looked back to Ariel. "What about you? If it's simply not having a Number that does the trick, you could be a host now as well." Ariel had to think about that question. "I do not know." Ariel was not sure she missed the Numbers she used to have. She was not even sure if this was related to Sky's confession either. There was a void inside her, but it did not feel unpleasant. "I have gotten everything I wanted already."
"Kyah!" Their little talk was interrupted. "What? What is it?" As Rita suddenly shrieked and dropped Number 103 to the ground. "That thing is hot as hell!" Rita hissed. Indeed, her Overhundred Number looked like it was burning with energy. It was reacting to something. "Whats its problem?"
...
Cains LP: 7200 Ruby's LP: 5900
Cain summoned a new machine, a metallic dragon(2/400/1500) that looked like it was the frame of a complete Cyber Dragon. "Cyber Dragon Core, your effect adds a 'Cyber' spell or trap to my hand!" Cain scanned his deck and chose his target; the Cyber Network trap card. "You shall not stand alone!" Cain then activated the spell card, Machine Duplication. As the Core dragon had less than 500 attackpoints, two copies of Cyber Dragon Cores(2/400/1500) could be and were special summoned from the deck. "Cores of the Cyber Dragon, overlay and form my true self!" The dragon and its duplicates attached to each other and with Cains body. "He is Xyz-summoning his Number!" Azar shouted. The energy Cain was putting out was too high to be any lesser Number. "I can see that!" Ruby yelled, as she waited for the process to wrap up.
The attack from this new card came sooner than she expected. "Ehh?" A cloud of silver dust(2/0/0) scuttled towards her. "Lead Yoke!" Ruby still had her Xyz-monster(4/3800/2000) to defend her andhe Boxing barbarian tried to force the enemy away. However... "It is useless. Any conflict before me, will turn against itself." Cains voice came from the grey mist, which then parted. "Guh?!" Lead Yoke was forced to attack a new target; Ruby. "Hey!" She narrowly stepped out of the way of her own monsters punch and took a tumble to the ground. "It reflects battle damage?" Xander counted the lost lifepoints, they were the same as her monsters attackpoints. "How is this fair? She can not fight what she can not see!" Dakar could not see this new Number with his visor. "I..can not say" And even Thomas lacked the vision. The Number inside him was holding back any memories that pertained to the Second.
Ruby's LP: 2100
"It is your turn." A trap was set down, while Cain kept speaking from the unseeable mass. "Oh. It's gonna be like that huh?" Ruby took the turn. "Then this wont surprise you either!" Ruby normal summoned another boxer, a hooded and half-cybernetic fighter(4/1500/1400) in brown gear. "Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter can special summon one Boxer from the graveyard. But only Boxers can be special summoned this turn!" Ruby resummoned Glassjaw(4/2000/0) to the field. "Almost there!" She then flipped her Battlin Boxer Headgeared(4/1000/1800) face-up. And she overlayed it with the others. "Here! I Xyz-summon Number 105: Battlin' Boxer Cestus the Star!" The majestic winged warrior(5/2500/1600) of gold and blue burst out unto the field in a dazzling display of starlight.
"Clauds Number. Ruby, can you control it?" Subito was worried for a second that the Number would overpower her. "Don't freak out on me, Subito. Everything is A-okay!" She did not notice any adverse effects. "I know what it can do; when a Battlin Boxer battles, Cestus lets it negate the effects of his opponent and reflect all damage they would take!" This was Ruby's reason for switching out cards in her deck; Number 105 worked better in a team of Battling Boxers. "Leadyoke, attack Cain!" Ruby was about to detach 1 material from her second Xyz monster to strengthen her first. "That too conflicts with my domain, Ruby Irant." But the grey mist suddenly solidified and formed an exact replicate of Lead Yoke. "!?" Its reflection shot out diamond-sharp spikes, which pierced the Barbarians body and destroyed him for good. "You have seen enough, you will understand my power now." The entity of liquid metal reverted to Cains solid cybernetic form. Its data was submitted to Ruby's visor.
Number 2: Nanogear ShadowWar, 2/0/0 Light/Machine/Xyz
3 Level 2 monsters
Cannot be destroyed by battle except with "Number" monsters. When this card does battle, is targeted for an attack or an a cards effect: activate 1 of the corresponding effects:
● Detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate all battle damage, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the negated damage.
● Detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this card cannot be destroyed, destroy one other face-up card on the field
● Detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this card is not affected by that card effect, destroy one face-down spell/trap card or face-up monster card on the field
"Nanotechnology! He is not just a cyborg, he is a living colony of nanomachines!" Xander had read up on this kind of technology before. Each atomic particle of that silver cloud was its own robot, and they all worked together. "You are correct. Once I merged and became The Second, I escaped all mortal limits. I can not be destroyed." There was no core to Cain anymore, its words came from every nanobot at once. "No? Looks to me like you need Xyz materials to use your effects! And you used it twice already!" Ruby placed one trap card and ended her turn. "I still have all three of mine!" As long as Cestus was around, this Nanogearmachine could not deflect the damage during battle.
"Only a fool relies on one machine of war." Cain drew a card with his new silver hand, and activated it. "Overload Fusion!" It was a fusing spell card that banished the fusion materials from the graveyard. "You shall be banished, Cyber Dragons!" Cain fused the original Cyber Dragon with Cyber Dragon Zwei, Drei and Nova. In turn a fourheaded Chimeratech Overdragon(9/3200/3200) was built. "You want to end all life on my field." Cain flipped one of his traps. "Backup Generator shall counter that hatred." A machine was strapped to the mechanical hydra. Chimeratech Overdragon normally destroyed all other cards of the player that summoned it, but now that effect was negated. And BackUp generator had additional advantages. "Now my machines can not be touched by your power, Irant."
BackUp Generator, Normal Trap
Negate the activation of a monster's effect. Other effect(s) of monsters on the field can not be negated until the end of the turn.
"Ruby, you can not let it attack!" Subito yelled. Chimeratech Overdragon could attack a monster four times this turn, even if it was the same monster each time. "Because he will keep attacking until I run out of lifepoints, right?" Ruby's Overhundred Number could not negate any effects this turn, due to the Backup Generator. "How about I activate my trap instead? Phoenix Wing Wind Blast!" She flipped a card upwards. "I discard one card from my hand to return one monster on the field to the deck!" Ruby picked Nanogear itself as the target for this effect. "Your only choice is still the poorest choice!" Cain used up Nanogears final Xyz material to immunize himself to the effects of the Phoenix's wind.
"Did I? I noticed that your Xyz monster has to destroy a face-down card when it negates an effect. Now which card is face-down?" She asked as she tilted her head. "Oh that's right; Cyber Network! The trap that takes away the battle phase when it is destroyed!" Ruby grinned and The nano colony went wild and tore up Cains own set trap card.. "!" Cain was forced to use Cyber Network's effects. He had to summon as many banished light-type machines as possible, with their effects negated. And he had to pass his next battle phase. "You exploited a weakness.." Cain cursed as he special summoned the Cyber Dragons Drei(4/1800/800), Zwei(4/1500/1000) and Nova(5/2100/1600). "I would not have known about that weakness, if you had not dueled Theo first. His defeat was not for nothing." Ruby said while she made sure not to look at Theo himself. That man as he was now would not thank her for humiliating his brother.
"Live and learn." Cain let out a short hollow chuckle. "That creed never lets us go." He tapped both his level 4 cards. "I overlay Cyber Dragons Zwei and Drei!" Now a rank 4 monster appeared in defense mode; a pristine silver spaceship(4/0/2500) that hovered in the air. "This is the Number that allowed me to live, Number 75: Cyber ARK." Cain extended his hands towards Cyber Dragon Nova, splitting it up into a million nanobots. "Through the Ark I can regain lost powers." The nanotech swarm surrounded the Xyz dragon and devoured every part of it. Nova was converted into energy, into an Xyz-Material for Number 2. "I have grown tired of killing, and death has grown tired of me."
Number 75: Cyber Ark, 4/0/2500 Light/Machine/Xyz
2 Level 4 LIGHT monsters
Cannot be destroyed by battle except with "Number" monsters. Once per turn, you can attach 1 LIGHT monster you control to a face-up Xyz-monster on the field.
Whenever you would take damage, you can detach 1 Xyz material from this card; gain 500 Life Points instead.
"What? You are kidding me. What kind of power is this?" Cyber ARK had another effect, it could heal more than she could dish out! "The power to reject physical injuries and exhaustion, that is Number 75's gift. Together with my own power, which denies violence itself; conflict has truly become irrelevant. Who are you to fight it? You seek out confrontations, when others wish to be free from it. You can not fight this, it is meaningless." Cains revulsion came through more and more.
Yet so did Ruby's. "Who am I? I am part of a group that you exploited! I used to being a member of Tomorrow, and you changed that completely! Worse, you used us twice! First with Judith and then with your damn Chaos Force!" Just thinking back to her days under the influence of Chaos made her red with rage. "Just because you take can change people's minds, does not mean you are not causing conflict! You just silence them, you do not want to to hear their complaints!" Ruby's hand started to tremble. "Ggh! Stop it!" She steadied herself and drew her next card. "I enter the battle phase! Cestus will attack Chimeratech Overdragon and detach one material to negate the dragons effects!" Number 105 fired a shot of red lightning from its fists, which paralyzed the Overdragon(0/0). As its effect had been negated, it lost all of its attack and defense points. "Eat this!" Then the golden Boxer unfolded his wings and unleashed a rain of stardust from which impacted against the Overdragon(0/0) like comets. "You started this war and you know it!" Ruby placed a card down and ended her turn.
Cains LP: 4700
"Strange. He could have blocked that damage." Azar wondered why Cain did not use the effect of Cyber ARK at that point. Though he would soon get other thoughts to dwell on..
"It was you who opened the gate, not us." Cain replied bitterly to Ruby as he started his turn. It was this that made someone else entered the discussion. "This is against their will, Second. Against ours. This is a war." The Raider stated. He felt his 'brother' was wrong about the righteousness of their mission. "..If this is a war, it is a holy war. Our cause is just, the will of the infinite is just. Those who seek death are in the wrong!" Cain was done talking and drew his next card. "The will of the infinite." The words however stuck with Thomas. "What is it?" Azar looked towards the Raider,who acted as if that word meant more to him than one would assume at first glance. "I remember ..Urgk!" And the Number inside Thomas did not want to relinquish that information either. "The one above all.. the one who Numbers the fragmented!" He could bring up vague definitions. Thomas lacked the mind to visualize what he was thinking about.
"Fifth. That is enough!" Cain shouted. "No! There is one whom we all serve, an isolated entity that assessed our universe and declared it a threat.. Terminus!" Nevertheless a name arose in the Raiders subconscious. "The will of their universe, it is called Terminus!" That name belonged to a feeling of respect. This being was the only thing the Fifth Number obeyed. "You have gone where you shouldn't have. None of you can conceive of what you are talking of." The Seconds grew agitated and unnerved. He clearly held this Terminus in high regard as well. "You have sealed your fate. None shall leave!" He activated two spells. "Power Bond, create my machine! Cybernetic Fusion Support! Take half my life, to claim the materials from my graveyard!" By combining the powerful fusion spell with a support spell, Cain could fuse Cyber Dragon Drei and Cyber Dragon in his graveyard together into a two-headed dragon(8/5600/2200), at the cost of half his lifepoints. "I Fusion summon Cyber Twin Dragon!"
Cains LP: 2350
"If that thing attacks." Power Bond had doubled the Twin Dragons attackpoints, and this fusion monster could attack twice in one turn. "She will.." Subito knew by now that Ruby did not like being helped in a duel, but he did not know if she could anticipate Cains next move. Cyber Twin Dragon fired a burst of white flames towards the Comet Boxer. "Not so fast!" Ruby of course detached one material from Cestus and had her Number swat the attack back with its wings. "The Ark shall heal me during my attacks!" While you shall disappear!" In turn Cain detached one material from Cyber Ark to let that Number absorb the energy and turn it into healing energy instead.. "Again!" Cyber Twin Dragon released its second shot. "Damn it." Which Ruby again had to negate with Cestus' effect. Even if Cain would gain back 500 of his lifepoints, she could not let Cyber Twin Dragon hit hers. "I'm out." And now Number 105 was finally out of Xyz materials. Ruby did managed to reclaim Battlin Boxer Switchhitter from her graveyard, as she had sent the detached Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw to the grave again. But that would mean little now that Nanogear Warshadow could finish the task. "This.. is your End!" Cains body split apart and surrounded Battlin Boxer Cestus the Star.
Cains LP: 3350
"Wanna bet on that?" A big smile appeared on Ruby's face. "I banish Battlin' Boxer Rib Gardna from my graveyard! Its effect takes my Battlin Boxer away from the field for one turn!" Right as the grey cloud homed in on Number 105, the Boxer disappeared in a flash. "You should have checked which card I discarded with Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Cain!" A direct attack from a monster with zero attackpoints was not going to do any harm to her. "You dare to insinuate that I made a mistake?!" Cain placed one spell card down. "I am flawless, nothing touches me!" Cyber Ark then absorbed Cyber Twin Dragon and turned it into an Xyz material for itself. "Number 75, negate the damage from Power Bond!" The damage Power Bond normally inflicted during the endphase, which would have been equal to Cyber Twin Dragons normal attackpoints in this case, were nullified by ARK. "You will never win! You can not!"
Cains LP: 3850
"Why? Because I am 'mortal'? Funny, you sound more desperate now than you did before." Ruby felt more confident with herself. Her body was no longer shaking either. The tables were turning, the enemy had shown a weakness. "You are rushing this. Even with all your power, you are not invincible. I guess you finally realized you can be just as mortal as us." Ruby normal summoned a Fencing Fire Ferret(4/1700/600) to her side, one of the few old cards she kept in her deck. "I activate the spell card; Circle of the Fire Kings! I destroy one fire monster and replace it with another from my graveyard!" The ferret was blown to pieces. From its ashes the fire barbarian Battlin' Boxer Lead Yoke(4/2200/2000) was reborn. And the flames did not disappear just yet. "When Fencing Fire Ferret is destroyed, I can destroy one monster and inflict 500 points of damage to the owner of that card!" The flames shifted into the shape of the Fire Ferret and it slashed through the Cyber ARK with its burning tail. "You.." Both halves melted away before they rained down.
Cains LP: 3350
"Lord Cain!" The unrest in the army outside grew again, and pummeled it with even more firepower from their duel monsters. "Ngh. This barrier is not going to stay around for much longer, Ruby!" Xander shouted. She had to end it quickly! "I hear ya! Yes sir; one down, one to go!" Another battle phase began. "Cestus attacks Nanogear Warshadow!" The star boxer slammed its fists together. "Ruby! It still has materials!" Subito yelled. But it was too late to call off the attack.. "Ruby!"
Cains LP: 3350
(To be Continued in Cipher (1)52: Operation Scorched Earth)
New Cards used by Ruby Irant
Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter
Number 105: Battlin' Boxer Cestus the Star
Battlin' Boxer Rib Gardna
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Circle of the Fire Kings
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Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
New Cards used by Cain
Cyber Dragon Core
Number 2: Nanogear ShadowWar
Number 75: Cyber Ark
Cyber Twin Dragon
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Overload Fusion
Cybernetic Fusion Support
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BackUp Generator
