Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this chapter. And thank you fans who are still following this fanfiction despite the years of hiatus it went through.
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"A cultist that doubles as a duelist!" Nuo exclaimed, his jaw having already dropped in surprise.
Whatever that creature was, it was still Yasei. But there's one thing that separates animals from humans: dueling. This creatures' shield activated as a duel disk. It wanted to duel.
"Okay." Nuo said to the partial image of his friend.
Nuo shuffled his deck, slid it into his duel disk with great speed and force, and then his duel disk came to life.
Nuo: 4000
Yasei: 4000
Yasei went first. He started like any duelist would, summoning a monster. Without saying a word, a long fiery red haired girl wearing an apron appeared carrying a glowing orange piping hot container. She wasn't a normal lady, she had a long serpentine tail, green spiky horns, and red wings with green ridges. She was a humanoid dragon.
Yasei added another monster to his hand-a pink skin with pink hair lady-and discarded another monster.
Dragon Cook and Lady Rose Quartz - the monsters's names - remained on the deck as Yasei watched Nuo draw his own.
"I summon Alexandrite Dragon in Attack Mode (2000/0)."
Alexandrite Dragon emerged onto the deck alongside his enemies.
"Enter battle phase!" Nuo declared.
Nuo didn't get to attack. The female on the field turned into bright red light and in her place stood a dragon with a white underbelly, red scales with a tuft of red hair, and simple green eyes.
She even had a small jewel made out of pink rose quartz on her head. "Lady Rose Quartz? Odd choice of name for a dragon." Nuo told Yasei.
Yasei didn't answer. Since his monster was stronger, Nuo went into his main phase 2.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn."
Yasei emitted a low growl as he began his next turn.
He summoned the same red haired maid with the apron from before. Like before, he added a monster to his hand before discarding another card. This time he entered his battle phase, indicated with a roar. He returned his red haired beauty back to his hand and in her place came a green dragon with small beady yellow eyes, no iris, and a lion's mane. He also discarded another copy of Lady Rose Quartz from his hand; a strong red aura surging through the Lady Rose Quartz on his field. This power-up made Nuo feel like he wouldn't have stood a chance...
'Take the bait please, Yasei.' Yasei's strong quartz monster opened its snot and spewed fire in cataclysmic volume. Nuo acted quickly. "I activate Magic Cylinder! When you attack me, I negate that monster's attack and deal you damage equal to its attack!"
The fire reciprocated off a giant question mark and was moving towards Yasei. The humanoid had a taste of his own power, and he didn't like it.
Yasei: 0
Yasei growled in defeat, much to the woman's shock.
"I suppose that was quite easy, no?" Nuo said.
"Easy? Oh no...you've now awakened Aethba!" the woman told him. It wouldn't take long before Aethba emerged right behind her, letting out a small demonic chuckle.
"So your this infamous Aethba?" Nuo acted calm. He was hugging Yasei, telling him how sorry their duel was so short. Yasei was back to a leopard, still ferocious but not in the mood to fight anymore. "Tell me, why did Yasei turn into the Duel Monster card Lady Panther?"
"This animal didn't turn into the monster...it was Lady Panther, but decided to introduce itself as a leopard. My loyal congregant has not been making people hallucinate. She has been showing them the truth: Duel monsters are not just cards, they are everywhere, searching for ways to become real beings in your world, in other words they become objects and animals."
Yasei growled in anger, while Nuo simply said with snark, "What a vivid imagination."
"Just wait. Before these duel monsters had to be accepted into your world, but soon everyone of them will become Duel Monsters once more."
Nuo just grimaced, his fists tightening in anger.
"Perhaps another duel?" he asked, showing Aethba and the woman his duel disk.
"Another duel. You have no idea what you'd be walking into. All I can say is...I never back down from a duel."
The woman, named Miyabi, grinned as she brought out hers, and said, "Just try and stop him...if you can!"
Nuo: 4000
Aethba: 4000
"I'll go first." Aethba declared. "I summon Malasyian Enlighten Predator-Serpent Night Dragon (?/2400)."
What he summoned was a typical sand snake, nothing duel monster looking. Either the creators were getting lazy or there was a secret to it.
"I end my turn."
Nuo watched intensely as Aethba carried on with his turn, hoping to follow suit and bring out his own monsters.
'What in the nonexistent mother of God?!' Nuo thought loudly, seeing a bunch of dragon hybrid woman in apron's in his hand.
"How was I able to obtain such a deck like this?!" he asked.
Nuo couldn't say how, so he just randomly summoned the cutest card in his hand.
"I summon Laundry Dragonmaid in Attack Mode (500/1600)."
An adorable dragon girl with pink hair in twin pigtails, as well as an apron draped over her outfit, appeared on the field. Miyabi laughed as she said, "You're stuck with a very weak deck? I expected a lot better from you."
Nuo pulled up his new card, reading its description. "Since I summoned Laundry Dragonmaid...I send the top 3 cards from my deck to my graveyard. This better work."
Miyabi just rolled her eyes.
Nuo remembered how these cards worked when Yasei used them.
"Enter Battle Phase...I activate Laundry Dragonmaid's special ability: by returning this card to my hand, I can special summon a level 7 Dragonmaid from my hand or graveyard. I special summon Dragonmaid Ernus (2600/1600) from my graveyard."
Ernus, a dark blue dragon girl in a less girly, more refined maid uniform, wielding a fairly large sword in her hand appeared onto the deck.
"I activate my monsters effect. When it is attacked, it's ATK increases by 2350 during the damage step only."
Ernus got into her stance, more than happy to see who Aethba would summon. Ernus destroyed the snake with a pinkish jewel spew of fire.
Aethba: 3750
"I activate its effect: since it was destroyed in battle, I can add a monster with an attack or def less than or equal to the damage, so long as the monster has the name 'Malasyian' in it. I add Malaysian Enlighten Shell-Millennium Shield."
A shield of sorts, sporting the same pinkish crystal, emerged on the field.
What it really was though was a little turtle but with a strong purple aura. Though this slightly confused Nuo, Ernus was suspicious about the turtle's presence.
"At the end of my battle phase, I can return Ernus to my hand to special summon a level 2 Dragonmaid monster from my hand. I special summon Nurse Dragonmaid (500/1600)."
Another dragon girl, but yellow in color, as well as light blue hair, wearing a nurse's uniform, would soon appear. She appeared to have wielded a giant syringe.
"And since she was special summoned, I can special summon a level 4 or lower dragonmaid so I summon Kitchen Dragonmaid. Thank you Laundry Maid."
Kitchen Dragonmaid was a bigger, and stronger dragon girl, with red skin and green hair in two big buns and wielding a very large cleaver.
"And when she's summoned, I can add a "Dragonmaid" monster from my deck to my hand, but then I have to send one Dragonmaid monster from my hand to the graveyard. I add Dragonmaid Tinkhec to my hand and discard Dragonmaid Parlor. And with that I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Aethba was genuinely more impressed with the combos a newbie of the deck was making. But that didn't stop him from making a prolong speech.
"Do you know what created me in this vast world of multitude and sacred religions?"
"Hey, wisecrack, in real dueling we don't have chitchat until the duel is over, no one wants to waste any time hearing someone else speak when they have to wait until everyone's finished to move onto the next round." Nuo snapped.
Aethba grimaced as Nuo and Miyabi continued to watch him carry on with his turn.
"I summon Malasyian Enlighten Shell-Millennium Shield (0/?)
A small red shell turtle with blue scales appeared on his field.
" I now activate the spell card Malasyian Bow. Once per turn, I can change a face-up attack mode Malasyian monster to face-up defense mode. I target Malasyian Millenium Shield."
Malaysian Millennium Shield obeyed his command, quickly moving into defense mode.
"And since I changed him from attack to defense, his def increases by 3000!"
Nuo was in brief shock, but still retained his composure.
"I will now activate Malaysian Rebirth-Outbreak Shell. I special summon one Malaysian monster from my grave and its attack becomes the attack it would be from changing battle positions. So come back to the fry, my Malaysian Serpent Night Dragon."
Malaysian Serpent Night Dragon would eventually leave the field.
"And since I have two Malasyian monsters on my field, I activate Malasyian Balefire. This card lets me role a dice two times and whatever number it lands on is the level of the Malasyian monster I can summon."
"So I take it you need two Malasyian monsters with their attack slash defense raised to activate that card." Nuo said.
"Eh, what do you think?" a puzzled Aethba asked Nuo.
A dice was rolled on the field. The result for that rule was 5. Another dice emerged rowing on the ground, the result for that role was 2.
"I can now special summon a level 7 Malasyian monster. I special summon Malaysian Tough Goliath-Masked Beast Des Gardius (3300/2200)."
Des Gardius was a hulking, grey creature with large claws and a fox-like appearance.
"Now, Des Gardius attack his-"
"I activate Kitchen Dragonmaid's effect: By returning her to my hand I can special summon a level 8 dragon monster-the same goes for Hospitality Dragonmaid only I get a level 7 dragon monster instead."
Aethba frowned as the monsters in question emerged, both ready to take out Des Gardius.
One was a red dragon like the one from last turn and the other was a blue dragon.
Battle Dragon Crimson, and Battle Dragon Cobalt were their names. Both were more giant than the dragon maids.
"Very well. Des Gardius,attack his red dragon. Ebony Malaysian Claws!"
The Ebony Malaysian Claws would slash through Crimson, giving it some fair damage.
Nuo: 3400
"I end my turn."
Nuo briefly grimaced, before looking down at his monsters, and pondering his next move.
He drew for his turn. For the first time since he was playing this deck he drew a trap card. It was a dragonmaid card that wouldn't be very useful against a 3300 ATK point monster. Seemed there wasn't any monster in his deck with enough ATK. That's when he remembered he had an idea.
"I summon Laundry Dragonmaid in Attack Mode." Once again they were greeted by her and her maid clothes with a figure more petite than Kitchener Dragonmaid. "And since she was summoned, I send the top three cards from my deck to my graveyard." Nuo looked at the three cards, hatching an idea from one of them. "I activate from my graveyard the effect of Dragonmaid Changing. By returning a dragonmaid from my field to my hand I can add it to my hand."
With that, he had chosen a particular Dragonmaid to leave the field.
He returned his big blue dragon to his hand.
With Cobalt off the field, Nuo continued his turn.
"I activate Dragonmaid Changing. This is a fusion card. I fuse Dragonmaid Kitchener and Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storm. I summon House Dragonmaid (3000)."
House Dragonmaid appeared, donning a very conservative-like long-sleeved dress with a long skirt, as well as a riding crop of sorts in her hands.
"Strong, but not strong enough." Aethba smirked.
"Battle phase...I return Laundry Dragonmaid to my hand in order to special summon my Cobalt again." His monster roared to the field, making a bigger entrance than he needed to. "And with that, House Maid can target one monster you control and destroy it."
House Dragonmaid would then set her sights on Aethba's monsters, looking to destroy one of such.
"By destroying my monster, I can target one monster you control and inflict damage equal to its attack. I chose House Dragonmaid."
The moment the monster exploded, a strange mask entered the field and zoomed towards House Dragonmaid. However, the mask was slapped away by her tail.
"By sending Dragonmaid's Reception to the graveyard, you cannot target a dragonmaid monster this turn."
With the snake in mind, House Dragonmaid tore right through it, before it was destroyed in an instant. Then, a strange mask entered the field and zoomed towards House Dragonmaid. However, the mask was slapped away by her tail.
"By sending Dragonmaid's Reception to the graveyard, you cannot target a dragonmaid monster this turn."
Aethba was left with one monster, its defense too strong for any of his monsters to destroy it. Next turn though he could use Housemaid's effect.
"I set one card facedown and end my turn."
With Nuo's turn done, it was Aethba to try and come up with a possible move.
"I activate the spell card Malasyian The Scarce. I target one Malasyian monster in my graveyard and roll a dice. Whatever I roll is the level of the monster I can summon by adding it to the targeted monsters current level from my deck, but if I roll a six I only get a level one monster."
He targed Des Gardius and rolled a three on the dice.
' It probably meant something good,' he thought to himself.
"I summon Malaysian Power God-Obelisk The Tormentor (4000/4000)."
The Tormentor had a slight East Asian motif to his appearance, and he also wield a large mallet in his hands.
He had a strong visage of a large blue behemoth with two mighty fists but eerie small red eyes. Nuo couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"The Malaysian archtypes have Egyptian Gods?"
"I thought they had this East Asian shtick going on, but this is crazy!" he exclaimed.
"My Malasyian Obelisk will attack your Cobalt!"
The Obelisk obliged, slamming the large mallet right into Cobalt. This move nearly destroyed the dragon, to Nuo's chagrin.
Nuo: 2000
"I end my turn."
It was up to Nuo now to see where to go from there.
He drew a card he was familiar with. A fusion card.
"I activate Dragon's Mirror. I fuse five dragon monsters with different types from my graveyard, all the dragonmaid's I fused, you destroyed, and Kitchener sent. I summon Five-headed Dragon (5000/5000)."
With the Five-Headed Dragon now on the field, this allowed Aethba to almost flinch at its presence. "The Five-Headed Dragon?!" he asked.
"That's right. And once again, I summon Laundry Dragonmaid. No effect. I activate Dragonmaid Downtime. By returning Laundry to my hand, I can add my Dragonmaid Lorpar to my hand. And since I added a Dragonmaid to my hand, Housemaid can target and destroy your Millennium Shield."
Housemaid would attack the Shield with her riding crop, and the turtle-esque creature found itself disintegrating into pixels as it was defeated.
"Now time to enter battle phase...Five-Headed Dragon, attack his Obelisk!"
The dragon obeyed his command, and slashed right into the Obelisk, damaging him quite greatly.
Nuo was getting ready to finish this duel with a direct attack with House Dragonmaid. This plan felt very good if he could go through with it, but Aethba had other plans.
"Congratulations. When my Obelisk is destroyed by battle, we both take damage equal to the original ATK of the monster that destroyed it."
"Five thousand points of damage! That will end both of us."
Aethba smirked. "So be it. It's been fun playing with you, human."
"What?! A draw?! But how?!" Nuo asked, sporting a very shocked expression.
"Everyone thinks their life can be prolonged as long as they want it to be, but eventually it ends. Now, let me tell you a story about how I-a being from the future, a once smart polar bear-became the last of my kind before becoming a god."
"Wait...you're from the future?" Nuo asked, blinking in confusion.
"Yes. Although it seemed as if the polar bears would become extinct only thirty years your time, a few managed to be saved...I wasn't one of them. Instead, I was able to evolve from my large decease body and transition into a create that could catch geese with my hands. It wasn't enough, so I found a way to share visions of my real body to you humans helping me become stronger. I rose from a spirit to a god, the god of Glimpsing."
"I hope you don't think it's very (italic) white (end) of me to say this, but Duel Monsters is just a card game that wasn't even my first choice of game I wanted to play. So your trying to spread this glimpsing throughout the world only so you can get more followers on your side that will raise your power? You sound like a tool."
Aethba smirked as he said, "A tool? How trivial."
Now that their duel ended in a draw, Nuo wasn't sure if he should just leave to rest or make Aethba leave.
'I've come so far, only to have things end like this! All of this for nothing!' he thought to himself.
Aethba turned around to walk away.
"Enjoy today because soon my cult will grow and humans will become the next endangered race."
Upon hearing this, Miyabi's jaw began to lower in shock. "Us humans?" she asked.
"Turns out your in a league of her followers with only two people: Bull and Shit. Bull is ahead because he knows when the time to flaunt his power is while your behind him being a sniveling coward."
"But what of Shit?" Miyabi asked.
Nuo rolled his eyes. Although he wasn't misogynistic to even think of a bad word for girls, this person was a moron.
Miyabi simply chattered her teeth in genuine fear, before she said, "I feel like I'm a living scapegoat for that...freak."
Nuo almost tried saying something assuring and nice for a change, but Yasei was purring against him begging for attention.
He smiled as he petted Yasei, before he finally told her, "I think...I think so. Do you think it could be possible if you'd tag along?"
This caused Miyabi to be quite surprised by his choice of words. Her bewildered expression soon turned into a smile as she nodded.