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.

10. World 007: A Sinful Asymmetry

World 007: A Sinful Symmetry

As the noise-making tag battles plagued the silent zones, one pair chose to merely observe. "How much longer do I have to watch this?" Even as a member of that team hated every second of it: Sundown Mephistar the chained gunslinger. "We could fight so much better than those halfbaked experiments. We could even find the item!" He cursed as he tapped his foot restlessly against the floor. "That is not your decision to make. She does not want to risk losing you." His partner silenced the tapping by slamming his own harpoon into the ground. "So then why? Why am I here if I am not allowed to do anything? And I don't mean this mess, I mean in general!" Mephistar knew he could duel, he wanted to duel and show off his new strength! "Sometimes observing is the only way to proceed. She wants us to be more than just duelists, Mephistar. Besides, they were your friends once, weren't they?" The other figure asked with a quizzical tone. "Pfah.. I was no friend of theirs." In response he could only let out a pained moan. "And now I am not chained to them anymore.."

...

"Stop!" A nauseous Bionis shouted, at the flying Zettai and the pursued monsters at the same time. "!?" Unfortunately the two were caught by two different ADIs ambushing them from behind. "Tch! Why do they always come in pairs?" The ace duelist cursed. They would never catch up with Medusa and Mozarta in time now. "Because there is a certain harmony, to the union between duelists!" But Mozarta stuck around long enough to laugh at the trapped duelists. "A pity, Zettai. If you had just brought the crown, you would not be in this mess. Then again, it wouldn't work on us anyway. Oh well, we will meet again! Don't know where! Dont know when!" The melodious mistress disappeared in between the palmtrees, singing endlessly. "Harmony? That doesn't make any sense!" Bionis grumbled. "Maybe not. But what we need is harmony, if we are to get out of this. Prepare yourself!"

...

Team Synchro's LP: 16000 Team Reptile's LP: 16000

-TURN 02-

Back at the beach, two other teams squared off. "Juan? You said my name? How did she.." And the human side had been left rattled by mere words, their artificial opponents had learned of his real name without him ever saying it.

But they were not satisfied with mere fear, they were intended to cause pain as well. "Yes.. feed us." The Alien Mother then aimed her long clawed fingers at the Sigment's T.G Star Guardian(5/100/22000) (4 A-counters). "I can devour two alien counters to special summon Alien Overlord from my hand!" The queen desired a mate, so she ate two of Star Guardian's alien cells to produce a reptilian giant(6/2200/1600) [Zone 4] with a black exoskeleton and six insect-like arms. "And the Overlord will generate more cells for me! One on each of your monsters!" Three of his arms stretched out and infected the Star Guardian (3 counters), Dawn Dragster [Extra Zone 3] (1 counter) and Recipro Dragonfly(2/300/300) (1 counter). "Then Gol'gar takes two counters to destroy one card on the field!" Not only did the Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar(5/2600/1800) [Extra Zone 2]. suck up Dawn Dragster's one counter (and Recipro Dragonfly's counter as well), it gobbled up the white racer itself with one big gulp.

"So eating dreams is what you do? Is that how you know my name?" Veyron had to know. "Eat, dissect, experiment. We can fill our stomachs in many ways..." The Reptilianne Lamia mused while the Alien Mother unleashed more terror, freed from Dawn Dragster's spell lock. "Code A Ancient Ruins! I can remove 2 A Counters from the field to special summon one Alien from my graveyard!" Her continuous reclaimed some A-Counters from Star Guardian [3 to 1 counter] and reconstituted the body of the Alien Kid [Zone 3]. "And Mysterious Triangle! I destroy one monster with an A-Counter to summon a level 4 Alien from my deck! I summon Alien Dog!" Briefly the sky turned into the darkness of the cosmos, and a triangular forcefield surrounded the Star Guardian. When the light returned, the Tech Genus had been destroyed and replaced with a blue/grey alien canine(3/1500/1000) chewing on a humans bone. "And now we will feast!" The Aliens started their battle phase, with the Alien Dog leaping out to crush the Recipro Dragonfly. The Alien Overlord, Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar and Alien Kid all attacked the synchro duo directly with tentacles, claws and lasers.

Team Synchro's LP: 10200

"Ngh! Trap card! Stun Sonic!" But at the last moment, after enduring much pain, Veyron flipped the trap set by Sigment. "Your attack is negated and I summon one level 4 or lower tuner from my deck!" The Alien Kid's blasts bounced off of a little hologram girl: F.A. Auto Navigator(1/0/0) (1 A-Counter). The tuner's own effect allowed Veyron to add a F.A. field spell (F.A. Off-Road Grand Prix) from the deck to his hand. "I am glad you picked up on my cues, Veyron. As long as we are together, they cannot get to us." Sigment boasted. He did not need to tell his partner what his traps were, because Veyron already knew which cards the champion liked to set. "And that makes you more worthy of this item than us?" The Alien Mother howled as she let the battle end to perform a sudden link summon with 2 reptile link materials. "We are strong as well! Come, Alien Shocktrooper M-Frame!" Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar and the Alien Dog melted back into the grey liquid once more, and transformed into a green-scaled and steel-plated reptilian centaur(1900/LINK 2) {downleft/downright} [Extra Zone 1]. "We do not crave praise like you, champion. We crave fear!"

"And the item is supposed to help you with that?" Veyron had no idea what good a legacy item would do them, let alone how they were planning to find it like this. "The item is what our sister wants. We do not ask why. We just do as told. Why do you want it? Because you desire the power? Or because you fear the unknown?" She left the duo with her own question as she placed a trap card down. "I do not want anything out of this. I am doing this for others, for friends."

-TURN 03-

"Friends? Do you ask them why? If not, how does that make you different from us?" The Lamia wondered. "Yes. For one thing, I trust my friends. I am not even sure you 'can' trust anything!" Either way Veyron would never trust Scarlet. "I activate Magnet Reverse! One machine that cannot be normal summoned, is summoned from my graveyard!" His first spell recalled the Dawn Dragster(7/2100/2100) [Zone 6] (1 A-Counter) back to his course. "Then, since I control a level 7 Formula Athlete, I can special summon Formula Athlete Dark Dragster!" A black car with a bloodred window blasted out of his hand, following the slipstream of the noble white Dragster. Like the Dawn racer, the Dark racer(7/2100/2000) [Zone 7] (1 A-Counter) gained 300 attackpoints for each level star it held.

"You wield such Inferior machines, you cannot even lift yourself off of the grounds. It is no wonder you seek more power! But nothing can survive our weapons, biological or not!" The Alien Mother revealed her trap card. "Each time you special summon a monster, my Alien Kid places an A-Counter on them! And my trap, Planet Pollutant Virus, will destroy all monsters imbued with our alien cells!" She could make the virus doctor proud by unleashing the polluting agent into Auto Navigator, and the two Dragsters. "You should not under-estimate manmade machines! Dawn Dragster, negate the trap!" Fortunately the synchro racer(5/1500/2000) outsped the trap, stopping it from activating at the cost of two level stars. "The only power I'd seek is power that can help others. You are different! You are.." Veyron wanted to argue with them, to tell them they did not really have a sister. But if they were really just simulations driven by the emotions of others, they would not have any minds to change.

"Dark Dragster, destroy the Alien Kid!" By giving up three of its stars, Dark Dragster could get rid of one card on the field. It(4/1200/2000) slipped behind the Alien Kid, killing it before it could place even more A-counters on monsters. He could have killed the Alien Shocktrooper instead, except then its effect would activate and special summon reptiles from the graveyard for each A-Counter on the field. Veyron wanted to avoid that at all costs. "Now, to get rid of the counters themselves! First I link summon the Shining Star GT! He takes two machines as materials!" Both Dark Dragster and Auto Navigator fit those requirements. They rushed off together beyond the extra deck horizon and returned as the mighty jet engine racer(0/LINK 2) {downleft/downright} [Extra Zone 3] in red white and blue. "You are moving fast, Veyron." Even the champion's senses had difficulty keeping up.

"I gotta be. We have a lot of ground to cover, Sigment! I activate the Formula Athlete field: Off Road Grand Prix! My athletes gain two levels during each main phase! And my athletes also gain a level each time a Formula Athlete spell activates!" Dawn Dragster(8/2100/2000) picked up its pace again, thanks to a brand new virtual course laid out around rough terrain. "And by removing the extra levels from my Athlete, Auto Navigator can resummon herself!" Dawn Dragster(7/2100/1000) surrended one star to return to its original level, and that star became the life energy for the reborn Auto Navigator(3/0/0) [Zone 6]. Having summoned that monster once more, Veyron could draw a new field spell (F.A. City Grand Prix) from his deck. "Now I activate Formula Athlete Pit Stop!" The next spell, took another 2 stars from a Formula Athlete. Dawn Dragster(6/1800/2000) abdicated two, while he regained one star once the spell resolved. The Pit Stop spell itself drew a new card for the racing duelist, but the real goal here was to raise his monsters levels to his liking. "Here we go! I tune Auto Navigator with Dawn Dragster to synchro summon Formula Athlete Motorhome!".

The two athletes synchronized their nine stars, forming the mighty future-tech cargo truck(11/3300/3000) [Zone 6]. Like the Dragsters, the synchro gained 300 attackpoints for each of its levels and gained one more level each time one of their spells or traps activated. Meanwhile the Shining Star link racer(3300 atk) gained 300 attackpoints for each level on monsters linked to it. "I activate another spell: Formula Athlete Downforce! I add two levels to my Athlete!" So when the Motorhome(14/4200/2000) accumulated three new stars alltogether, the GT racer(4200 atk) gained three attackboosts along with it. "Almost there! Motorhome can special summon a Formula Athlete from the graveyard, now that its level is above thirteen! So here Dawn Dragster comes again!" And when the stronger synchro revived the weaker but still powerful Dawn racer(9/2700/2000), Shining Star GT(7100 atk) attained an almost uncontrollable burst of power. Alas, this powerful link monster could not inflict battle damage. Damage would have to come from other sources.

"Now to complete the roster, I normal summon Top Runner, which gives all my synchro monsters 600 more attackpoints!" Not just cars could join this race, the Top Runner took the form of an olympic medal carrying running droid(4/1100/800). Its mere presence boosted the moral of Dawn Dragster(3300/2000) and Motorhome(4800/3000). "A classic huh?" Sigment chuckled. "It takes one to beat one." Veyron rubbed his mustache and, finally, activated his next field spell. The Off Road Grand Prix shattered to make room for the City Grand Prix. This spell also added 2 stars to the Formula Athletes during the battle phases, and triggered the level raising powers of Motorhome(15/5100/3000) and Dawn Dragster(10/3600/2000). "There are no more A-Counters! So Your Mighty Frame Shocktrooper cannot activate its effect! Shining Star, destroy it! My other machines, attack directly!" The following battle phase happened in the blink of an eye. A shining star blitzed past the Alien Shocktrooper and disintegrated it. Dawn Dragster, Motorhome and Top Runner all pursued to trample the Alien Mother.

Team Reptile's LP: 6200

"Hsyah. How can such primitive creatures touch.. us?" The alien registered the damage faintly: more as an annoyance than actual pain. "I think Sigment already told you why?" Veyron reminded them as he placed one trap card down. "Because you are a team?" The mother scoffed. "Yes, I wouldn't have been able to do as much as I did, if I dueled you by myself... which you two seem to be practically doing already. You aren't helping each other, because you are not meant to. I am surprised you can even acknowledge each other." A real alien would look as strange to a human as it would to a mythological being like a Lamia.

"Why not. We are all monsters? We can live together in our realm." The Lamia said with a childlike smile. She did not exactly act like the actual Lamia from legends, that much was certain. "We even created new forms of life because of our unity. The same life you stole from us: Synchro monsters." Now that it was her turn she could special summon Reptilianne Scylla: the serpentine redhead woman with the lower body of a many-mouthed hound(4/1800/1200) [Zone 9]. "I shall gladly suck the life out of them. So I bring forth me, Reptilianne Lamia!" The tiny snake girl could summon her card form but had to reduce a monster's attackpower to zero to do so. "But my Formula Athletes cannot be targeted by card effects!" Veyron pointed towards his field spell and its other effect. "We know." And she thanked him by activating her own field spell card, Reptilianne Conspiracy, which transformed the Athletes into reptilian racers. In this state they enjoyed no protection and could not prevent Reptilianne Lamia(2/0/0) [Zone 10] from stepping forward and stripping the powers of Shining Star GT(0 atk) away.

The Reptilianne Conspiracy, Quickplay spell
All monsters on the field are treated as Reptile-Type and their name becomes "Reptilianne Agent" until the end of the turn.
If you control a "Reptilianne" monster, this card's activation and effect cannot be negated.

"Now together we become a serpent who will never die! And as I disappear, two more of your monsters will lose their energy!" Any Reptilianne Lamia turned into a synchro material would set the attackpoints of two more monsters to zero too. "While we kill those without energy as Reptilianne Hydra!" The Lamia tuned with Scylla to synchro summon a five-headed red-scaled snake woman(6/2100/1500) [Extra Zone 4]. It drained Motorhome(0/3000) and Dawn Dragster(0/2000) of all their speed and power. Even if Veyron added more levels to them, the effect of the Reptilianne would force the attackpoints to stay at zero. "Reptilianne Hydra destroys each of the zeroed out monsters to draw one card for me!" The dueling Lamia hissed. "Even if he's a Reptilianne now, Shining Star GT still has an effect!" Fortunately, Veyrons link monster had also accumulated Athlete counters (2 counters) each time a F.A spell activated. And it could use one each turn to block a monster's effect and destroy it! "The Hydra dies!" Again the shining race flashed past the enemies with amazing speed and decapitated all the Hydra's heads at once.

"You're scared now, arent you? Not scared enough!" The Lamia reverted back to her childlike form, while a large rift in space and time opened up behind her. "What is that!?" A large green snake(12/0/0) [Zone 8] emerged from another dimension, with the symbol of infinity on its forehead. "The Divine Serpent Geh!?" It cost half of a players lifepoints to be summoned in response to a monster's destruction. For that price, Lamia now controlled a Serpent that would always be as strong as the strongest monster on the field and could not be targeted by card effects. "You did not even ask your teammate if it was alright to pay that much life?" Veyron only saw more reasons to strengthen his earlier theory.

Team Reptile's LP: 3100

"We do not need to. There is enough nourishment for two!" The Reptilianne also activated the spell of Reptilianne Spawn: spawning two Reptilianne tokens (1/0/0) [Zones 9 & 10] by banishing a Reptilianne (Scylla) from the graveyard. "Now you are ripe. I link summon my sibling, Reptilianne Echidna!" The two tokens, two reptiles, could be used as link materials for the longest snake sister yet. The Echidna(200/LINK 2) {Left/Downright} [Extra Zone 4] was a pale-skinned and silverhaired woman fused to the body of a scaled purple serpent with large dragonwings growing from her back. "And I am still hungry! Echidna can drain your monsters power as well!" Immediately Lamia targeted the last victim, Top Runner(0/800). "Heehehehe, for each of your monsters with zero attackpoints, Echidna will draw one reptile from my deck!" Rapidly the snake girl added four reptiles to her hand: Reptilianne Vaskii, Reptilianne Lamia, Gentlemander and Ipiria. "Vaskii, here is your meal! I tribute two monsters with zero energy to special summon her!" The first of her many reptiles appeared early, the four-armed snake goddess(8/2600/0) [Zone 9] with long red hair. She swallowed and sacrificed Dawn Dragster and Motorhome with her wide unhinged jaw.

"How unappetizing. Tin toys cannot satisfy us, can they sister?" The Reptilianne Vaskii could also destroy monsters on the field after her summoning, if they had zero attackpoints. With a disinterested look on her face, Lamia ordered the death and devouring of F.A Shining Star. "Brr." Veyron could not help but shiver as Vaskii swallowed another prey that seemed far too big for her. "Don't worry, scared little man.. Now it's your turn. Attack!" Then the Echidna struck, her meager attackpower being enough to crush the Top Runner robot. The Divine Serpent Geh subsequently spat a blast of holy flames straight at Veyron. "Guah!" The speed duelist felt both heat and raw force, and the ground around him cracked. "Veyron!" Sigment barely had time to scream before the Reptilianne Vaskii sank her teeth in his shoulder. "What!?" She took more than his lifepoints, she drained his blood! The wound did not heal, not even once the battle phase concluded. "Their attacks are becoming more real?!"

Team Synchro's LP: 4800

"It's.. only as real as we allow it to be." Veyron said while his avatar smoldered. "I don't know how much they told you, and I only understand so much of it myself. But STHEREA can influence our minds more than a normal virtual world would." He looked worse than he felt. "Yes, I recall Ezra mentioning that once or twice.. So it's as real as we make it?.." Sigment focused on his injury. He at least managed to stop the bleeding and reduce it to a digital scar more fitting for an avatar. "Ah I see. The more affraid we become of them, the stronger they get. But they are still just nightmares, nothing of flesh and blood." He clenched his hand to get some feeling back in it. "I think its about time to call off the show before our crowd gets to out of hand. Good thing.. That it's now my turn!"

-TURN 05-

"I nomal summon the tuner Tech Genus Screw Serpent, who can special summon one lowlevel Tech Genus from my graveyard!" As usual he brought out his cards in pairs: the winged snake-cyborg(4/1300/500) [Zone 1] resurrected the synchro insect Recipro Dragonfly(2/300/300) [Zone 2]. "Then, since all the monsters I control are Tech Genus, I can special summon Tech Genus Drill Fish from my hand! And I also activate Monster Reborn special summon Hyper Librarian from my graveyard!" Following that came the combo of a cybernetic drill-horned red shark(1/100/800) [Zone 3] and a synchro librarian [Zone 4].. "And I will tune Screw Serpent with Drill Fish to summon another Star Guardian!" The next move led to a combo of effects instead. Creating a second Star Guardian(5/100/2200) [Extra Zone 1] triggered Hyper Librarian's drawing power, and ignited Star Guardian's own power to add one T.G. monster from the graveyard to the hand. "Star Guardian lets me summon one Tech genus from my hand each turn too!" As Sigment drew his card he also reclaimed T.G. Drill Fish to summon it in attack position. "And now we're all set for the finale! You wont stop me this time!"

"Delta Accel Synchro summon! Tech Genus Halberd Cannon!" The Star Guardian as the synchro tuner, and Recipro Dragonfly and Hyper Librarian as the nontuners: those were the ingredients for his delta maneuver. Twelve stars coursed across a triangular circuit and opened a path to the depths of the extra deck: to the peak of genetics and technology combined. Halberd Cannon, the building-sized, orange/silver coated and fully mechanical lancer(12/4000/4000) [Extra Zone 1] blasted to the surface. "You finally did it!" Veyron let out a cheer of excitement. The champion's former ace monster looked even more glorious in STHEREA definition. "And I did not even need my skill or link monsters to do it!" The champion felt pretty pleased with himself too. "But I gotta save something for later rounds! Now then, my Tech Genus! Attack!"

"Did you think I would not protect myself? When you attack me, I can summon Gentlemander from my hand to save my sister!" The Lamia said with a violent hiss. If she could activate Gentlemander's summon effect, she could turn the pink axolotl into the attack target instead. "I knew you would, Lamia! But you should have given yourself even more protection! Because Halberd Cannon can negate one summon each turn!" Sigment fired back, turning his synchro's lance weapon into a cannon. "So we wont be seeing Gentlemander!" The cannon's shot blasted the pink reptile out of Lamia's hand. "!?" Her link monster remained unguarded. "Lamia, now I see what I am dealing with. But this is the end of our show. Halberd Cannon, finish them!" The cannon fire continued and blasted the Reptiliannes away.

Team Reptile's LP: 0

"That was too fast. What does this mean?" The Alien Mother finally took notice of their setbacks, when it was too late to do anything about it. "Why could we not finish our.. meal?" She and the Lamia slumped down, as their bodies were being absorbed by the network again. But they were paid a visit before their deletion. "!?" By the Scarlet avatar of sight: Medusa. "What this meanss is that you were not complete. You wanted fear but you lacked ssssomething that made fear necessary.. Sssurvival instinct. You would not have left yourselvessss so open if you really wanted to live." The snake witch scolded her reptilian siblings even as they disappeared for good. "Tsk, they did not take as well as the Harpie. I ssupose they were just more failed prototypesss in the end."

"Hey! Why did you come back? To torment your own creations?" Veyron did not believe what he was hearing. "To see this experiment until its end. Scarlet... we... theorized the ssseventh item would be drawn to harmony: two mindsss who think alike and duel alike. But it appearss it does not respond to halflives like uss. Only to humanss." She said, spitting her words. "What is that supposed to mean!?" The speed duelist yelled. "Do you ssstill not hear it? Be quiet for a sssecond!"

"Huh? Veyron, I can.." Only when both Sigment and Veyron stayed quiet, did they notice... how distorted the sound around them had become. "What is.. this?" By just taking one step, Veyron could feel an intense pressure on his ears. It was as if he was suddenly ten thousand feet above the clouds. "That V-person said the seventh item was made from sound, didn't he? Is this it?" Sigment could not physically hear anything, but there seemed to be an aura of sound imperceptible to the human ear. "It isss. And you have lured it in with your harmony!" Medusa seemed all too pleased despite not being able to enjoy the rewards herself. Or could she? "Lured? Then you were using us as bait? No... it does not.." An epiphany struck Sigment. "Everything here is what me make of it. Everything we sense." His ears were not real, his limits could be broken. "Veyron! Focus! It wants to be heard, and we can do it!" He could attune his hearing to tones that he would never be able to hear in real life, if he just imagined it to be so.

"Yes! We have to!" Veyron understood it now. If anyone could pinpoint the location of the item, it would be them. "Ours." Nobody could win this item on their own, it would simply ignore the solitary. But together: with both of them stretching out their hands. "!" Together they were drawn to where the extrasensory noise rang loudest. There they gave shape to the seventh. The pressure and vibrations focused between their hands and solidified into a solid object. "It's.." Each duelist held on to one end of a large staff, each duelist heard its name echo inside their mind clearly. "World Legacy World Wand. The last item.."

(To Be Continued in World 008: One Step Between Grace and Damnation)

New Cards used by Sigment
T.G. Drill Fish

-
T.G. Halberd Cannon

-
Monster Reborn

-
Sonic Stun

New Cards used by Veyron
Top Runner

-
Magnet Reverse

New Cards used by Alien Mother
Alien Ammonite
Alien Kid
Alien Overlord
Alien Dog

-
Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar
Alien Shocktrooper M-Frame

-
A Cell Recombiner Device
Code A Ancient Ruins
Mysterious Triangle

-
Planet Pollutant Virus

New Cards used by Reptilianne Lamia
Reptilianne Medusa
Reptilianne Lamia
Reptilianne Vaskii
Divine Serpent Geh
Gentlemander

-
Reptilianne Hydra
Reptilianne Echidna

-
Reptilianne Spawn