A Legacy of Souls: Terminate the Dream

by Medigo

The virtual world of dueling has survived many threats, but the worst has yet to come. New entities born from the minds of millions seek power to shape the destiny of living. Heroes will be turned against each other as it becomes impossible to trust anyone. And in the middle of it all, one duelist struggles to return to his friends to save them from the one who has stolen his life.

8. Line 123: Externally Dependent

Line 123: Externally Dependent

"No!" In what was beginning to become a habit, Charles woke up on the floor of his own bedroom. "I.. It didn't work. I didn't.." The demo brought him nowhere closer to where he wanted to be, because Static had , the first opponent already proved too much for his current dueling skills. "Of course it didn't, you idiot. Static saw me coming from miles away." Even worse, his failure cost him time. The sun was up high in the sky, almost half a day had passed. "I was out for that long?! Did the duel cause that? Or did I push myself too far?" No wonder he did not feel tired anymore, his body had finally gotten the chance to catch up on days of lost sleep. He did not want to imagine what Static could have done to his friends in those ten hours. "This is the last straw. I can't keep treating this like it's something I can fix on my own" If Static guarded the online entrances, he would have to get help in the flesh. At the very least everyone else would be awake now.

That included a certain woman. "Oh. You are finally awake. I guess I can call off that doctor now." A woman in a patterned frock and coat who walked into his living room, with a long braid of blonde hair following her. "Gah!" He was not alone. "Miss Primrose? What..." The landlady, the real one this time. Charles had to pinch himself just to make sure he was not having that nightmare again.

"I know, I know: you told me not to come in unannounced, but so many things were happening all at once that I could not stand by any longer. You made me worried, mister Adami." She had the keys to his place, of course. She could access every part of this complex since she owned it. "Things?" Nevertheless, visits from her were uncommon. "I received a mail from you this morning, that you would stop paying the rent and move out as soon as possible. There was also a man here this morning, asking me if he'd seen any suspicious activity around. I almost told him about the fact that some tenants heard curious noises coming from your room. But he seemed shady, so I said nothing. I wanted to see what was going on here first. And to my surprise I find you laying there with that curious device on your head." She motioned towards the demo headset, which she had placed on his table. "I may not know you well, mister Adami, but I know that this is uncharacteristic for you. So can you tell me why this is happening?"

"I wish I could." Charles mind reeled from all this new information. "Someone is out to get me.. someone I made an enemy on STHEREA." He could barely sum up the parts he did already know about. "The dueling network? Is this another one of those online pranks?" Primrose spoke with a mix of puzzlement and mild annoyance. He could relate. "Let's just say it's not something you can help me with." Charles also knew the landlady enough to tell that she did not have an account on the network, or that she had ever even dueled. "But you do need help. That guy I met this morning could be the same guy you are talking about. And he looked rather intense." She suggested, but he doubted that. "Have you even reported this?" She continued to grumble. "I was about to head out to do just that." Charles got up. "In person? Does your phone not work anymore? Are you sure you can even walk?" Primrose asked with the tone of a person who did not want to have to pick him up again. "I will be fine if I eat something, my body will be at least. This may take a while too, but I know what I have to do."

...

As Charles raced down the stairs, he ran the options through his head again. Why did he not just ask her for help, why did her make it sound like less of a problem than it really was? Primrose could easily pass information on to random forums, though he had no idea how long it would take for that to have an effect. Going straight to the authorities would just work better, make his story more believable. Truth be told, he did not have any plan for this at all. It felt strange to have to go outside for anything other than groceries or the daily exercise. He was so used to dealing with everything online, but Static took that away from him. Even so he could use her or anyone else as an intermediary. But what if Static could just raze their online identities as well? How soon would he find out? How much power did he have? He could not risk it, he could not risk endangering others. People like the police, they could at least take a hit. But what if even they could not help him? What if Static had done more than send out fake emails? With his connections Static could easily go after the money in the bank next, or his identity records Who would he even be then?

"One problem at a time." He pushed through, out the front door. He did not have time to panic. He knew his neighborhood enough to remember the payphone at the edge of the park on the other side of the road. There was no way Static could interfere with a device like that. "Thank god I still have some spare change... Come to think of it, I could have just asked Primrose for her phone." Charles groaned inwardly. Ideas like that just did not spring up in a mind like his. "Hello, operator?" He did not even what to say once he dialed the emergency hotline, how to greet the person on the other end. At the very least he managed to keep his voice even as he explained everything as rapidly as he could. He told them about his online problems in a vague manner, but also added the part about the mysterious stalker to get them to take him seriously. He did not want to be brushed off as another crank caller. Unfortunately, before he could tell them his address...

"Hey!" He got distracted by someone shouting. "You think you can hide from me!?" Shouting at him apparently. Charles would have just ignored him. "You cannot get away from this, Ezra!" But that name petrified him and made him drop the phone. "How do you.."

He got a good look of the man, a tall adolescent male with curled brown hair and a leather vest... and a dueldisk around his wrist. "You're.. the one who talked to miss Primrose this morning?! You were from STHEREA?" Charles did not recognize the tense man, but he certainly recognized the device. It had been ages since he'd seen one of those out in the streets though. "Primrose? Was that her name, I didn't even ask. But It looks like I found the right place after all, since I made you scared enough to run to the cops! You almost made me buy it too. You made me think that there was no way a monster like you could live in such a homely place. But I guess that blandness is why you took refuge in your make-believe world! That fun is over, Ezra!"

"What? Why would you think I am Ezra? I am not him! I am Charles Adami.. I mean I'm Void!" Charles protested. "Void? Of all the identities you could pretend to be, you pick his? Pathetic! Without your lance your lies are as sad as the rest of you!" The man attached the dueldisk to his arm, signaling his readiness to confront Charles. "I am not lying to you! I don't even know you are! This is ridiculous!" Charles cried out. A man like Ezra could have a thousand enemies in the real world. "If you have to guess, that is even more reason for me to despise you! You may have been invincible in your world. But this is reality! You don't even have a dueldisk here, do you?" But this one would give neither his in-game name nor his real name. He would only give him one object: a dueldisk of his own. "?!" Void caught the dueldisk. "You just want to get revenge with a duel?" It was almost incredible how much preparation this man put into this revenge-fueled quest, coming all the way here just for this when he looked like a man who could just beat him up physically. "How will that fix anything?"

"It will make me feel better for starters. Knowing who you really are without your nightmares and brainwashes zealots. You can refuse me. But that will just prove me right, Ezra. And I will bring you in either way, since there is no way I will lose." His mind could not be changed, not once he drew the cards from his deck. "Fine. I will not run anymore, whoever you are." Charles grunted. It was not as if he could do anything more directly against a man of his size and stature. "Since it's gonna take a while for the cops to show up, I guess. I might as well let you figure out who I am this way." Maybe it would help Charles understand him as well, he could not help his own curiosity.

Tense Man's LP: 8000 Charles' LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

"Yes. My way! But the only one who needs to learn something is you!" His turn came first. The tense man let the dueldisk create a hologram of a fire-attribute knight(3/1300/200) [Zone 3] covered in steampunk iron armor from head to toe. "Sublimation Knight?" Though the image quality failed to match the realistic values of STHEREA, Charles could tell which card had been normal summoned. Though he knew of no duelists who used such a card. "I know what you're thinking, heheh. This deck wont be the one you faced during our last duel! I could only afford a structure deck up here, but it will be enough to burn you to the ground! When this card is summoned, I can equip one Fire-type or Gemini-type warrior from my deck to it! And Sublimation Knight gains 500 attackpoints!" Steam emanating from the warrior's blade turned it into a jet of flames as it equipped an Evocator Eveque monster card to itself(1800/200). "Then I activate this continuous spell card, Gearbreed, and set a trap card! That's it for my turn!"

-TURN 02-

"A new deck.. Huh, I am limited to starter and structure packs as well. But my deck is not so different." He claimed as he adapted to the weight of the physical dueldisk. "I special summon Linkslayer!" He would reciprocate with one of the more well known Cyberse monsters: the cybernetic lynx warrior(5/2000/0) [Zone 1]. "You're even using Void's cards? You planned your ruse from the start, didn't you? Too bad it wont work on me! Anyone can get those cards!" The mystery man flipped his trap card. "Rocket Hand! I destroy your monster by reducing my monsters attackpoints to zero!" A mechanical fist equipped itself to the Sublimation Knight, who(0/200) then proceeded to launch it like a missile and blew the hologram of Linkslayer to fragments. At any other time, Charles could have had time to admire this decent animation for a generic trap card. But this time he focused on the flow of clues. "You know both me and Ezra. You have seen me duel before. No, you have dueled me before." There were enough signs to start making guesses. Though really he could only narrow it down to one name. "Alpha?"

"There you go." For just a mere second, 'Alpha's' scowl turned to a smile. "You should at least know who defeated you. But I am not Alpha anymore, thanks to you! I'm just Tycho Rivers now, the man who escaped from the nightmare hell you created for me!" He even started laughing. "That was not me! Ezra sent me to the same nightmare that you saw! What will it take for you to realize that!? And what do you even want from me? Even if I was Ezra, I cannot bring you back!" Void started to get frustrated. He normal summoned the AntiAlian: a four-armed cybernetic alien(4/1900/600) [Zone 1] and made it attack. AntiAlian used its elastic arm cannon to shoot a hole through the weakened Sublimation Knight. Though without the power of the legacy items or even the physics of STHEREA, the damage could not even make Tycho wince.

Tycho's LP: 6100

"This is not about STHEREA anymore, or Exeter. They already made themselves fall to pieces. This is about us. I activate Sublimation Knight's effect! Since you destroyed it, I can special summon all the Gemini monsters that were equipped to it, and give them their effects! I summon Evocator Eveque in defense!" Normally gemini monsters could only use their powers after they were normal summoned again once they hit the field. "And when it is summoned, Evocator Eveque can special summon one fire warrior or gemini monster from my graveyard!" But the mace-wielding knight(4/1500/1000) [Zone 3] with crimson armor and a flame-shaped face-covering helmet bypassed that limit thanks to Sublimation Knight. The same Knight(1300/200) [Zone 2] the Evocator revived back to the field in defense mode. This turn it equipped Phoenix Gearfried from the deck to itself. "You cannot extinguish my flame, Ezra! Or should I start calling you Charles now?"

"I am still Void to you, Alpha." Void grumbled and activated the effect of AntiAlian. "When AntiAlian battles, I can normal summon one cyberse monster from my hand. I choose Capacitor Stalker!" The alien disappeared from the field as a sacrifice, so that a cybernetic scorpion(5/2000/1000) [Zone 1] could be tribute summoned. "I attack Sublimation Knight!" The Stalker released a shot of poison light from its capacitor-tipped scorpion tail, and erased the reborn Knight who could only use its equipment revival power once each turn. "Heh. You must be at the end of your rope if you're using weaklings like them, Ezra." Tycho looked more satisfied with each passing second. "I am desperate, because someone stole my identity. And I did not count on meeting anyone who knew me so soon. Why can't you tell who I am already? How did you even find me?" Charles asked as he placed one trap card down. He had to reluctantly pass the turn back to Alpha after that.

-TURN 03-

"Because you messed up, you let your own memories slip into my nightmare!. I saw you, I saw this town, I saw your home. I had no idea what any of it meant, only that I needed to find you once I woke up, so I burned the images in my mind. The image of the boats crossing your channel in the distance and the skyscrapers beyond that. And then when I heard that STHEREA had gone offline, I knew you would have be somewhere in that part of the real world." Tycho pointed at the water, the park and the city on the horizon. "I cannot explain why, I just knew you were only a day away, I knew how to get here. I was drawn by an unseen force. Maybe STHEREA created a bond of some sorts. Too bad for you, Charles. But I will be the one to bring you to justice! Maybe then the world will take me seriously and listen to my story!"

"Now, Gearbreed lets me draw one equip spell from my deck if I skip my drawphase! I add Supervise! Then I activate Gearbreed's other effect: sending one Fire-warrior from my graveyard back to the deck! To draw again!" The continuous spell could only target the Sublimation Knight in the graveyard. But the card he drew because of his continuous spell made Tycho smile again. "I equip Supervise to Evocator Chevalier!" This even more flame armored Chevalier(4/1900/900) [Zone 4] came from the same Gemini warrior legion as Eveque, though he wielded a sword instead. And soon he also wielded the flaming aura of Supervise: the equip spell that unleashed a Gemini monster's effects. "Evocator Chevalier can send one equipped card away, to destroy one card you control!" Tycho made his warrior gather all fire within the sword, and hurled the burning weapon at Capacitor Stalker. "But when Capacitor Stalker is destroyed, both players take 800 points of damage!" Charles would at least get something out of his card's destruction, even if the exploding scorpion's damage reached him as well.

Tycho's LP: 5300 Charles' LP: 7200

"See if I care!" Tycho shouted. "When Supervise left my field, Its second effect triggered to summon one normal monster from my graveyard!" A quick flash of magical fire covered the entrance of the tall red and white knight: Phoenix Gearfried(9/3000/2200) [Zone 1]. A large shield covered his left hand and a curved silver blade empowered his right. Supervise could even revive gemini monsters, albeit with their effects sealed. "Heh! I also summon The Immortal Phoenix Gearfried! This card I can call from my hand if I banish one equip card from my graveyard!" The fires of Supervise finally died out, as they were absorbed by a flame-haired holy white knight: the immortal Gearfried(9/3000/2200) [Zone 1] with flames bursting from his head. "AND NOW! This one I can link summon with two differently named link materials: the Ferocious Flame Swordsman! All warrior monsters on my field gain 500 attackpoints!" The pair of Evocators jumped into a burning link circuit: releasing the upgraded dual wielding Flame Swordsman(1800/LINK 2) {Left/Downleft}. Both the regular(3300/2200) and the immortal phoenix Gearfried(3500/2200) charged up overwhelming auras of heat and power. "Do you even have link monsters left, Ezra? I doubt it! I don't have to find out either way! Phoenix Gearfried, attack him directly!"

"Alpha.. Tycho. I can see that you're still hanging on to your anger no matter what. But you have to calm down, there are bigger things at stake here. All you are doing is destroying yourself!" Charles let out a sigh. In a way Tycho truly did cause his own downfall here. "I activate Overworked! This trap destroys all monsters with more attackpoints than they should have!" Seeing as how the Ferocious Swordman's effect made all three of Tycho's warriors vulnerable to the overheating trap. "WHAT!?" A wave of scalding smoke reduced Phoenix Gearfried, Immortal Gearfried and the Flame Swordsman to a digital ashes in the wind. "Don't get symbolic with me! When Ferocious Flame Swordsman dies, he will special summon one Non-link warrior from my graveyard!" The swirl of ash picked up into a fiery whirlwind. "Tch." Before Charles could say its name, Immortal Phoenix Gearfried(3000/2200) had been reborn. "Die already!" It picked up where its brethren left off and swung his curved sword around to attack Charles and his lifepoints.

Charles' LP: 4200

"This is not helpung either of us, Tycho. Look, think about this for a second. If I were Ezra, would I be doing any of this? Would I know the things I know? Would I invite the cops to my own home?" Charles came close to telling Tycho to ask him things only 'Void' would know, except he did not actually know much that 'Alpha' would also know about or that Ezra did not. "You hid yourself behind mirages all the time, how can anyone know who you really are? Why else would I see your house then?" Tycho snapped as he placed a trap card face-down and ended the turn. "Because I was in a nightmare he created too! So, I don't know, maybe your mind overlapped with mine for a brief moment! I am not an expert on any of this!" Charles shook his head. Tycho could be his ally, if he acted a little less stubborn. "Hmph, the way you complain does remind me a little of Void. But that proves nothing. In fact.. I cannot even be sure Void even existed! Someone like you could easily create a second identity to prance around with!" But the furious duelist only doubled down on his own paranoia. "Void and Ezra are the same?.. argh! You are driving me up the wall here!"

-TURN 04-

"I guess you really only do listen to violence! Then I wont waste time on words anymore!" Charles started by summoning Lady Debug the goldenred ladybug robot(4/1700/1400) [Zone 1]. She used her effect to add a level 3 cyberse to Charles' hand: Cyberse Converter. And the datascreen converter drone(2/1000/1000) [Zone 2] could special summon itself to the field, since Charles controlled only cyberse monsters. "But you are at least right about one thing, I do need more link monsters!" With a tired grin, Charles activated Monster Reborn. "So I will be taking yours! I revive Ferocious Flame Swordsman!" He could special summon any monster from the graveyard, including his. "Why would you.." Tycho's Flame Swordsman(1800 atk) [Zone 4] would do little for a field full of cyberse, but a lot... for an extra deck. "To link summon my Decode Talker! Decode Talker Extended!" The markers of the link 2 warrior combined with the Cyberse Converter and opened the circuit to Link 3: creating the color-inverted swordsman Decode(2300/LINK 3) [Up/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1].

"Another Decode? What is that going to do against my monster?" Tycho saw no reason to be worried. Decode(2800 atk) only gained 500 attackpoints from each linked monster and right now it only pointed towards Lady Debug. "On its own nothing. But neither can I. It's kinda funny; the cards I draw each turn keep trying to tell me a story..." So Charles activated his equip spell; United We Stand. "A coincidence, but a happy one! Now my monster gains 800 attackpoints for each monster I control!" The spell targeted Decode Talker(4400 atk), making it the superior card on the field. "And I could attack you now.. But it wouldn't be enough and I do not want to. So, here is where I end my turn." Charles had said what he wanted to say, done what he wanted to do. "Wh-what?" And Tycho could not make heads or tails of it. "Why didn't you? Were you affraid of my trap?" The Immortal Phoenix Gearfried was not utterly helpless.. "No." But Charles did not hold back because of fear. "I did not attack because I am not your enemy."

-TURN 05-

"This is another trick. You cannot.. You will regret that!" Tycho could not strike back either, even if he picked off the weaker cards like Lady Debug first. He needed more power, always more power. "You will!" And his new deck obliged, letting him draw another equip spell. "I activate Magnum Shield! Even my defense will become my offense! No matter how long it takes, I will bring you down!" Gearfried's shield turned deep red and gained various golden spikes to impale enemies with. The equipped warrior(5200/2200) gained attackpoints equal to his defense points. "Then maybe you should!" Charles countered. "Now what? You want to be punished? To be captured!?" Though his rage remained unchanged, his confidence was starting to waver. Why was this man making this so easy? "I do, if it will get me closer to people who actually can find out who I really am!" This was not reverse psychology either, if his arrest became public, sooner or later his friends would find out what really happened to him. "You asked for it then, Charles! Gearfried, att.."

"Hello?"

A sharp, clear yet tempered voice pierced the fierce battle between duelists. "Are you two having a duel, in front of the property, making violent noises in the middle of this bright and sunny afternoon?" She stood just a few feet away across the lawn, with her bright eyes and narrow smile. "Because if the answer is yes, that would not make me very happy." And in an instant, Tycho's boiling blood turned ice cold. "You again?" He wanted to tell this woman to leave them alone, that she should not mind their business. But he couldn't. "Yes me again. This is still close enough to my property that I feel obliged to intervene." Despite her cheery disposition, and the fact that she could not have been much older than him, he lost all will to continue the duel. "Miss Primrose. You heard us? I am sorry, I did not mean to cause a disturbance." Charles did not want to keep going either, and he simply surrendered the fight by placing his hand on his dueldisk.

Charles' LP: 0

"No, I know you wouldn't, mister Adami. But this man dragged you into it, didn't he? Maybe this time you can tell me if you have anything to do with my tenant? And does this business have to be settled this way?" The woman let a little exasperation slip through her lips. "You.. you don't understand. This guy is.. wanted criminal!" Tycho protested. "What? That does not make any sense!?" Primrose rejected that statement on the spot. "This is about what he discussed before, miss Primrose. I am affraid its more serious than you thought. I may need your help after all." He almost had nobody else to turn to. "I don't know how much time I have left before..." Before things got even worse...

"Is that them?" Charles saw a black car roll into the streets. But it did not look like an ordinary police car, and no sirens were blaring. "Did you think the local cops would want to deal with someone like you? You could have gotten away if you had just attacked me. You should have.." Tycho felt vindicated, but confused at the same time. The men that stepped out of the car looked more like men in black-types than regular police offers either way, not the kind of people you would see take a case like the one Charles had described over the phone. Either way, he had to go with this. "I already told you. I am not running. I am innocent." Charles sighed and looked towards Primrose as well. "Miss Primrose, it looks like I will be gone for a while. If you see a girl with white hair come by, or if you hear from my parents, tell them about happened to me. And tell them that I made this choice."

"Why? What is going on?"

"I wish there was more time to say." Charles had a lot to fear, but this was the fastest path towards the truth. So he waited for the men to approach him. To approach them. "Charles Adami? Tycho Rivers? Please come with us, we have some questions to ask you."

(To Be Continued in Line 124)

Cards used by Charles Adami
AntiAlian
Capacitor Stalker

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Monster Reborn
United We Stand

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Overworked

New Cards used by Doctor Scarlet Fever
Sublimation Knight
Evocator Eveque
Evocator Chevalier
Phoenix Gearfried
Immortal Phoenix Gearfried

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Ferocious Flame Swordsman

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Gearbreed
Supervise
Magnum Shield

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Rocket Hand