When Lars and Ankh returned to their hideout, they noticed that Hades and Selena were already back, waiting for them. Ankh looked to his cousin. "They done up?" he asked, and Hades nodded, shaking his head.
"Some bitch ass punks. Even that OG Max B dumbass was cryin and shittin' hisself when we pulled up." he said, and Ankh began to chuckle. "What else you get up to Cuhz?" he asked, and Hades shrugged. "Wasn't on shit, really." he said.
"I beat up a couple goons here and there, took care of them Gooney Toons, did some thinking." he said, and Ankh nodded. "You wanna switch up tomorrow and look after the Signers, or you wanna stay chillin' off that?" he asked, and his cousin hummed.
"You workin' tomorrow?" Hades asked, looking to Selena. She nodded. "Yeah I gotta head in early. Shit ass but some of us gotta get bread without killin' folk." she said, and Hades rolled his eyes. He glanced back to his cousin, his eye briefly traveling to Lars. "What about y'all?"
"The Signers didn't move much if at all today. Took lil' bro here to get painted up by Cal. Whoever ain't watchin the Signers tomorrow gotta take him back to finish. He just did them lines n' shit." he said, and Hades blinked. "No cap? He passed the test?" he asked, and Ankh nodded.
Hades looked to Lars, who still seemed a little shaken up. "Proud of you, lil' bro. You pick out a name yet?" he asked, and Lars looked to Hades, confused. He glanced to Ankh, who shook his head. "Figured you could help. Yo the dumbass who calls himself Applejack." he said, and Hades hummed. "Shit chu right." he said, chuckling.
He looked to Lars, staring at him for a minute, thinking about his personality, his past, the way he dueled and so on and so forth. "I think it'd be aight if we called him Sargent Pepper." he said, and Ankh rose a brow. He chuckled, shaking his head.
"That's pretty funny." he said, and Hades chuckled. "I think I'll take Lars and Selena tomorrow, if that's alright with you." he said, and Ankh nodded. "It's fine. Need to chill and think anyhow." he mused, reminded of the set up. He found something off about it.
Much later, in the wee hours of the night, Ankh sat on the small porch, staring off into the dark of night, deep in thought. He heard footsteps behind him, easily able to sense Hades approaching. "Can't sleep?" he asked, and Ankh sighed. "I've just been off. Notice how thin my accent be?" he asked, and Hades hummed.
"I do. S' odd." he said, and Ankh concurred. "For some reason, I'm having a harder time slipping into that mindset in comparison to when we grew up. I think I'm gettin' mad soft." he said, and Hades chuckled. "Might be a good thing. I've always been the exact same, but you be changin'. Almost had me jealous." he said.
Ankh rolled his eyes at his cousin. He was aware of it too. Truth be told, the shorter Spellcaster was slightly jealous of his cousin as well. Hades was always very outgoing and outspoken. Ankh tried to remain reserved on purpose, and he lost out on a lot of social interaction. Even his interactions with his mates feels off to him sometimes.
When the sun rose high into the sky the next day, and the quartet was ready for their day, the trio decided to leave first, leaving Ankh alone. He held no honest interest in the Signers, and was wondering if he could pass the duty of watching them off to someone else. Unfortunately for him, there was no one.
He remained outside the fancy hotel they chose to stay at, noticing that they were once again, idle. It was almost as if they didn't care to search for Axel and Pierre either, their energy unmoving and their Runners all parked together. It wasn't something that Ankh liked thinking about. If there was someone from his house missing, he'd be unable to remain still.
He chose to get closer, heading towards the entrance. He had a nagging desire to talk to them, see what was going through their heads at the moment. Perhaps he'd even be able to get a duel or two out of them. He'd rather enjoy that.
With the sun up on another bright day in New Domino, Yuuki Kodomo found herself in especially good spirits. She had her kids, which is what she called the Charmers, and, thanks to her son's clever schemes, she had Ankh's Father here as well. The two were getting along swimmingly, as Yuuki was a very happy person.
She enjoyed seeing her family working. There was a decent number of customers today, and between stocking, selling, bartering and cleaning, there was always something for them to do. She cast her glance up once in a while, wondering what Shurit was up to.
Yuuki never spoke a word of it to anybody, but she knew that the boy could pose a threat should he get better physically and mentally. She really didn't understand what was going through her son's head, but she respected his wishes out of her love for him.
Did Ankh think that Shurit would forget everything because of her kindness? Ankh did that child wrong, so much so. What would prompt him to forgive Ankh? She truly wondered. She wanted them to be friends again, she always loved the stories Ankh would tell her about the young Nekroz boy.
With the day anew, Shurit found himself feeling much better. Having finally gotten something to eat, he rested much well, physically able to make it to the couch on his own. He was also joined by the dog, who had become something of a friend of his, remaining nearby most of the time.
He heard his stomach growl, and he glanced towards the kitchen. He knew that the four other residents here were hard at work, a large amount of commotion below. He wondered if he'd be able to cook using human technology and utensils, normally doing everything around a campfire with his magick.
"You hungry?" he heard, looking to the wolf, blinking at the fact that he talked. Shurit was hesitant, but he nodded. The Dark Magician was right. No matter what he did, while he was here, he'd be better off accepting their hospitality.
"I make food." he said, walking his oddly shaped body towards the kitchen. With his body feeling a lot better, Shurit chose to follow him. He watched him open the fridge, humming as he looked through it.
He glanced from the fridge to the counter, noticing one glaring problem with his attempt at cooking. He was, sadly, shorter than the counter. He sighed, shaking his head. "You help Wolfguard." he said, and Shurit nodded hesitantly.
Grabbing things that he pointed at, from food, to plates to cooking utensils and cookware, he looked to the dog, who called himself Wolfguard. "You Ankh friend?" he asked, and Shurit felt a chill go down his spine. "No." he said, decisive and confident in that answer. Wolfguard hummed, looking at the ingredients and scratching his furry chin.
"No? Make no sense to me. Ankh like you enough. Magick People like you, and Mom like you. Why you no like us?" he asked, and Shurit blinked. "I… I never said anything about all of you. Just him." he said, and Wolfguard hummed, shrugging. "Oh well. Put pan on stove and make fire." he said, beginning to instruct Shurit.
When Ankh entered the large, expensive hotel, he noticed that a few eyes shifted to him. He didn't truly are, but he made sure to remain poised, his appearance far different from everyone else around him. He inhaled, heading up to the reception desk. "How may I help you?" the gentlemen behind the desk asked, and Ankh decided to be blunt.
"There's a group that are staying on the… third or fourth floor, can't miss em. They all still here?" he asked, and the man hesitated, his eyes glancing to the phone nearby. There were a pair of security guards off to the far ends of the lobby, and Ankh could tell they weren't an issue to him.
"I'm sorry. I can't give information out on any of our current residents." he said, and Ankh nodded. He leaned forward slightly, trying to look like a friend of the man at the desk.
"Lemme put it to you like this. Either you tell me what they've been up to, or amma pull this gun out my pocket and start blasting fools." he said, smiling slightly to add to the threat. He received a shaky nod before he began to check the nearby computer. He looked about the lobby, his eyes shifting back and forth between the receptionist and the two security guards.
"They haven't done much bar order room service. One of them recently used our valet service to take their Runner out. A Mr. Philip?" he asked, and Ankh grit his teeth, shaking his head. "Thanks, bruh. Appreciate it." he said, nodding as he headed out, realizing that he'd have to likely save Philip's ass.
Sitting in Cal's house, relaxed and calm, Hades watched their friend work on Lars' small, soft back. The tattoo was elaborate, consisting of a teal colored Dark Magic Circle, runes running through it to spell out various things.
Within it where groups of gears grinding together, the gears colored a range of hues, symbolizing all of the people around Lars that led him to this decision. Gray, orange, blue and teal gears all linked together in a second circle, the center being a teal colored replica of both of the Signer marks that his parents had.
It was an elaborate piece, and many hours had passed by since they arrived. Hades found it incredibly relaxing to sit and meditate, clearing his mind and listening to the sound of only breathing and the needle. "What was your first one like?" Lars asked suddenly, and Hades looked to him.
He had the same look on his face that a few people he'd seen had. That look of killing and wondering if you could've done without doing it. That look of resignation and doubt, wondering if you made a mistake but being too deep to go back. The look was the same as when Ankh killed Avance, and he knew it.
"My first kill? Well, it wasn't that hard for me. I was always really angry growing up, mad at how weak I was, mad my father wasn't around, mad that I felt pitied and indebted to Ankh and Aunt Yuuki. One day, that anger just got to me." he explained, remembering it clearly.
"I was really young, probably like… eight or something. One of the cops that stopped me and Ankh from dumpster diving and caught us stealing tried to pull his nightstick on us. We decided that this time, Ankh would take whatever we stole and run for it, and I'd stay." he said, closing his eyes and inhaling.
"Well, he beat the shit outta me. Whooped me like an unwanted stepchild or bad dog. Talked mad shit to me too. Told me I was scum, my mom made a mistake having me, all that normal scumbag shit. But you know what he said that really got to me?" he asked, inhaling as he brought the memory to the surface.
"He said that for all of my anger, all of my fight, that I didn't have enough in me for my father to care. It was an odd thing to say to me, but for some reason, it hurt." he said, shaking his head. "Don't know why, I was always mad at that freak." he mused, chuckling to himself.
"I don't know what it was, but the next thing I knew, I was beating him over the head with his nightstick while he reached for his gun. I remember clearly… I remember taking the gun and shooting him in the face. It was horrifying to me. By time I killed him, Ankh had come back and had to drag me out of there." he said.
"For me, it wasn't hard to kill, it was hard to accept. Life is a miracle, incredible, interesting. And yet, I cast it aside. I took away his miracle, made him uninteresting, something that wasn't incredible. It took me a while to accept, but back then, I was scared of myself." he said, inhaling as Cal looked to him. He'd heard this tale as well, just never so genuinely.
"That's why I am the way I am, and I'm trying to follow Ankh's lead and just be one, single mindset in here." he said, tapping his skull. "I like to have fun and crack jokes because it stops me from being angry. And when I'm angry, I'm scared of what I'll do." he said, and Hades sighed, realizing how good it felt to tell someone that.
"So why come back here?" he asked, and Hades shrugged. "Me and Ankh had a nagging desire to come back and clean the town up. We think Pierre and Axel's disappearance might have something to do with a rival gang or something, so we used it as a reason to return. I wanted to come back to apologize to the people I left behind. It's more about others to me. I don't want to see my people struggle. It reminds me too much of what I went through." he said.
Lars hummed, his back completely numb to the needle. "What about Ankh? Does he feel the same?" he asked, and Hades shrugged. "For the most part. My cousin isn't the easiest book to read, and I've known that since my first kill. He didn't seem shaken by it at all. He just wanted to get me out of there, and I respect him for it." he said, and Lars smiled.
He was envious of the duo. Despite being cousins, they were close, like brothers. The two always had each others backs, and worked as a team, something he felt he could learn a lot from. He thought to the black card that was given to him by Hades, and he truly prayed that he could use it to the best of it's abilities.
When Ankh stumbled upon Pierre, he was exactly the way he expected him to be. Backed into a corner, beaten down and injured by a group of people that he warned him about multiple time. Shaking his head, Ankh looked to the assailant's jackets.
They were another small gang he'd learned of, the Necrovalley Vagabonds, a group of drug traffickers that specialized in the Gravekeeper archetype. He didn't expect much of them, but he had a nagging desire to duel, hoping that he could barter Philip's safety in the duel.
He walked over, a confident stride that was noticed almost immediately. His face scratched and body bruised, Philip looked up and noticed Ankh approaching, not looking to concerned with his safety. "You bitches them Necro bums?" he asked, the group looking to him.
"Who the fuck is you?" one of them asked, and Ankh looked to him, not too enthused. "The enforcer of the Black Magicians. That's one of our people." he said, jabbing his chin at Philip. The leader of the small group, a larger man with gapped teeth, smiled. "Oh yeah?" he asked, and Ankh nodded.
"Yuh. And I'd like em back, breh." he said, and the man laughed. "You gonna hafta get em from us in a duel." he said, pulling his duel disk out and slapping it on his wrist. Ankh did the same, deciding that one duel would be enough to satisfy him.
"You can go first if you want. It won't matter." Ankh said, and the man laughed, looking at the five cards in his hands. "You finna regret that." he said, and Ankh knew he wouldn't. Most of these smaller gangs had terrible collections, and Ankh assumed that at the most, they'd have one card he'd never heard of.
"Amma set two cards face down and summon Gravekeeper's Assailant in defense mode." he said, summoning the 1500 defense point monster before ending his turn. Ankh looked to his hand, tilting his head slightly as he scanned the six cards.
"Firstly, I activate Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards." he said, glancing to his hand as he drew two additional cards. He found them rather amusing, pulling one of them from his hand. "Next, I activate Upstart Goblin. This lets me draw one more card, but gives you one thousand lifepoints." he said, pulling another card from his deck as his opponent's lifepoints scaled to 9000.
"Hah, you really think you could deal that much damage before I can take you out!?" he called, and Ankh nodded. "Yes, I do." he said, looking to his hand. "First, I activate Contract With The Abyss. Now, by sending the level 6 Summoned Skull in my hand to the graveyard as a tribute, I can Ritual Summon." he said.
"With the Contract, I Ritual Summon Archfiend's Awakening!" He called, a black pit opening up as a blue and purple monster, very similar in appearance to Summoned Skull appearing from below.
"Next, I summon Celtic Guardian from my hand." he said, the elven warrior rising next to the monster next to it. "Then, I activate the effect of the Kagetokage in my hand, which allows me to summon it when I summon another level 4 monster." he said, a black, shadowy lizard slithering into view.
Philip watched closely, noticing only two cards in Ankh's hand. He could tel that there was something going through his mind, and he struggled to scramble to a sitting position, his attackers focused on the duel.
"Next, I'm going to overlay my level 4 Celtic Guardian and Level 4 Kagetokage and build the Overlay Network!" he called, the two creatures erupting in bright light, vanishing from view as a huge pit opened up at their feet.
"Wh-what the fuck!?" his opponent called as the two creatures vanished into the shimmering abyss. Ankh inhaled, slamming a card down onto his duel disk. "I XYZ Summon! Outer Entity Nyarla!" he called, a huge, grotesque horror appearing, taking the shape of a behemoth tree. It's branches were spindly arms and long fingers, it's bark razor sharp teeth that gave off a foul, diabolical vibe.
"Next, I activate Nyarla's effect. By removing all of it's XYZ materials, I'm able to attach one monster to it as material. And since I choose my Summoned Skull, Nyarla becomes a Dark, Fiend monster." he said, the horror shifting and contorting into a shadowy figure vaguely reminiscent to Summoned Skull.
"Now, I activate from my hand, Rank Up Magic Astral Force! This allows me to target Nyarla and evolve it, but ranking it up into a Rank 6, Dark attribute, Fiend type monster!" he called, the horror exploding in a flash of black light.
"Rank Up! XYZ Summon! Rank 6! Archfiend's Ascent!" he called, another fiendish creature, this time appearing like a black Summoned Skull, rising up from the ground, two orbs rotating around it. Ankh exhaled, frowning at his deck.
He felt off. He wasn't able to perform to the best of his abilities, and the deck he chose to duel with wasn't very consistent, much less very good. He looked to the last card in his hand, shaking his head and sighing. "I activate Future Fusion. Now, on my next standby phase, I will reveal a fusion monster from my Extra Deck and send it's materials from my deck to the graveyard." he said, inhaling as he looked to his empty hands.
"Next, my Archfiend's Ascent with attack your Assailant." he called, the black Summoned Skull raising his huge clawed hands above his head. His opponent smirked. "Not so fast! I activate my Sakuretsu Armor to body your attackin' monster!" he called, and Ankh sighed.
"I activate my Archfiend's ability. By sending one off his materials to the graveyard, I can prevent the destruction of a Summoned Skull on my field." he said, the black beast continuing it's onslaught and destroying the monster.
"Next, my Archfiend's Awakening will attack you directly." he said, the blue Summoned Skull repeating the action and striking the man, whose lifepoints dropped to 6500.
The man growled, drawing a card and looking to his hand. He smirked, chuckling to himself. "I activate the field Spell card, Necrovalley!" he shouted, the surrounding area turning into a large canyon, the sun rising off in the distance.
Ankh had expected this, as they would be afraid of him using his graveyard to bolster his field or use graveyard effects. "Next I summon my Gravekeeper's Headman!" he called, summoning a weak monster that looked like an ancient individual. He bore a golden staff and wore elaborate, gold flecked robes.
"And I use it's effect to summon my Assailant back from the graveyard!" he called, the robed assassin appearing again, Ankh able to tell what his opponent would do. "Next I activate Polymerization to fuse my two monsters together!" he called.
"I Fusion Summon Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist!" he called a lean man in white robes with white hair appearing. "He gains attack and defense equal to the original combined levels of his materials times 100, meaning he gains 700 attack and defense!" his opponent called.
"Next, I attack that blue Summoned Skull you have!" he called, his monster lifting it's staff before sending a beam of energy crashing into the fiend, Ankh's lifepoints dropping by 700 points. When the energy faded, the monster was still standing, albeit angry looking.
"Wh- what happened?" his opponent asked, and Ankh cast a glance to Philip, who was carefully moving about the field, trying to get away from his attackers. "My Archfiend can not be destroyed in battle or by the effects of monsters that aren't Ritual monsters. And if you would've attacked my other Archfiend, I would have simply activated his effect to prevent his destruction." he said, his opponent cursing as he ended his turn.
"I draw." he said, pulling one card from his deck, humming. "now that it is my Standby Phase, I can activate the effect of my Future Fusion to send another Summoned skull and Kagetokage from my deck to the graveyard by showing you this." he said, holding up a Fusion Monster that looked like Summoned skull, but purple.
"Now, I activate Graceful charity from my hand to draw three cards and discard two." he said, pulling three cards from his deck, staring at them for but a second before sending two of them to the graveyard. He had one final card in his hand, but he knew he had to be patient, as he couldn't activate it. "I end my turn." he said.
His opponent began to laugh, his pair of lackeys laughing with him. "That's it? You talked so big for someone who can't even summon a monster bigger than my Supernaturalist." he said, pulling the top card from his deck. "Since I can't destroy your monsters, I'll just whittle down your lifepoints!" he called.
This was what Ankh was waiting for. His opponent wasn't very smart, and he could allow himself to use a weaker deck for practice, because his opponent would do things like this. Forgetting that he had a plump, full hand of cards and a facedown card. He'd grow confident in the fact that he'd shut down Ankh's graveyard and his hand was only a single card, and simply try to wail on him, reducing his lifepoints turn by turn. Ankh expected it, and he counted on it.
"I'm gonna attack that blue piece of trash again!" he called, another 700 lifepoints vanishing as the Archfiend was blasted again. The monster looked back to Ankh, as if trying to speak to him, something Ankh noticed. "I know. I'm out of it right now." he said, the demon rolling it's eyes at him.
"My move." he said, drawing a second card. "And now that it's my second Standby Phase, I can Fusion Summon the monster I showed you." he said, rolling his shoulder as his field started to come together. "I Fusion Summon Archfiend's Manifestation!" he called, a third Summoned skull, purple with an engorged right claw, rising onto the field.
"While he is on the field, all of my Summoned skulls gain 500 attack points, meaning that you'll need another monster to whittle my life away as quickly." he said, looking at the two cards in his hand.
Next, I summon Plaguespreader Zombie in attack mode." he said, the small, level two tuner looking right at home next to the large Fiends. He looked to the last card, rather agitated that he couldn't get the most use out of anything in his deck.
His idea was to summon all five incarnations of Summoned skull, including the original, but as long as Necrovalley shut down his graveyard and his large monster protected both itself and the field spell, Ankh was left no choice but to use the card in his hand.
"I activate Share the Pain. By tributing my Zombie, I can force you to tribute one monster on your field." he said, his opponent gritting his teeth as his monster simply began to vanish. He had nothing else to offer as tribute, and Ankh shook his head.
"I commend you. You essentially crippled my deck by preventing me from using my graveyard, and by making your monster rather large. However, you got cocky. You didn't activate anything, summon another monster, or even pay attention to the kid you were beating the shit out of." he said.
The three men turned back, noticing that Philip was gone and had retreated to behind Ankh. The half breed frowned and sighed, grumbling to himself. "Now all three of my Archfiends are going to attack you directly. And remember, they protect each other like brothers." he said, his foe moving his hand away from his duel disk.
His lifepoints shot down to zero, the field fading away as Ankh removed his Duel Disk. The men immediately erupted with rage, drawing guns and training them on Ankh.
The Spellcaster looked to his 'friend', who seemed rather shaken up. "I'm going to take care of you. Relax and wait by my Duel Runner." he said, sounding oddly paternal, his former facade of being a vile thug completely shed.
Philip ran for his life, looking back as he saw Ankh begin to laugh at the armed criminals in front of him. He made it to the Runner, hiding behind it and closing his eyes as gunshots and screams began to ring out.