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.

12. World 009: Change From Without

World 009: Change from Without

Dyzanthium's LP: 8000 Melyria's LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

There were six shades of HEROES and six faces to the fusion champion Dyzanthium. Today she would show the sixth of both to her challenger and the last duelist of Millennium: Melyria Cister.

"I discard one Hero, Vision Hero Minimum Ray, to summon Vision Hero Faris from my hand." Her voice turned soft and floaty while a ghostly large-clawed knight(5/1600/1800) [Zone 3] materialized from red mist. Faris was his name and he wore red armor and a helmet with one glowing eye. "When Faris is summoned, one more Vision Hero is set from my deck, but as a continuous trap. I choose Vision Hero Increase." Behind the red cycloptic HERO, another crescent-horned knight appeared in armor of blue/silver and white. However this one looked more like a spirit than anything alive. "Like most Vision Heroes, Increase can exist in the backrow. And they can shift towards being a monster by sacrificing a living Hero." Dyzanthium tributed Faris to pull Increase(3/900/1100) [Zone 3] to the field. "And then their powers activate. Increase summons one level 4 Vision Hero from my deck. I choose Vision Hero Multiply Guy." The next Hero knight(3/800/700) [Zone 2] wore simpler deepblue armor with two eyes on his face plate instead of one. "Then I set a card, and Link Summon Xtra Hero Wonder Diver." Two HEROES as link materials made it possible for her to summon the blue wizard hero(1900/LINK 2) {Up/Down} with the one-horned helmet covering his eyes. "My turn, has ended."

"Vision Heroes eh! Would not have been my choice!" Wagner said with a chuckle. "Still, good thing she came with us. Crescent, how long will this take?" He inquired impatiently, Crescent was still trying to restore Acrates with the power of the World Armor. "This cannot be rushed. Just wait, and watch. Respect what she is doing for us.."

-TURN 02-

"If that is all, it will be very easy to get my armor. Yes. I activate my skill card! Parasite C! Since you control more monsters than me, I can summon one insect from my deck and raise my lifepoints!" The Millennium duelist quickly placed a tuner on her field: the rainbow-winged robotic Transcicada(3/800/1000) [Zone 3]. "But she gains life too!" Wagner loudly pointed out.

Melyria's LP: 10000 Dyzanthium's LP: 10000

Parasite "C", Skill Card
When your opponent controls more monsters than you do, you can special summon 1 level 3 or lower insect from your hand, deck or graveyard.
And if you do, both players gain 1000 LP for each monster card on the field.

"I am aware, Wagner. But my gains rise above that! When Transcicada is normal summoned, It special summons one Moult token to my field! I can use both to synchro summon the Battlewasp Halberd the Charge!" The cicada shed its mechanical body, leaving behind a hollow husk(3/0/0) [Zone 2] as a token. Both it and the token synchronized for the creation of one of her great wasp knights: Halberd the red-winged and blue-armored lancer(6/2500/800) [Extra Zone 1]. "Then I special summon Battlewasp Twinbow the Attacker!" Now that she controlled one Battlewasp, Melyria could bring out the twin-stinger crimson striped hornet(3/1000/500). "Halberd will attack and destroy your Xtra Hero! Inflicting 200 points of damage for each Battlewasp I control! Then Twinbow can attack you twice directly! Yeah, I will take back what I am owed, starting with those lifepoints!" The synchro wasp charged with the weapon that gave him his name. Both points shattered Wonder Dive's magic staff and impaled him in the chest. Two smoke-spreading explosions followed, damaging him and his master with battle and effect damage.

Dyzanthium's LP: 9000

"Not all is at it seems, Melyria. When my Heroes die, their will lingers." The fusion champion stayed calm, as she revealed her trap through the smoke. "Apparition?" It was a card that special summoned a Vision HERO from the deck whenever a HERO got destroyed. And the Apparition would also halve a monsters attackpoints. "I summon Vision Hero Vyon in defense mode, whose ability sends another Vision Hero from my deck to the graveyard. And my trap targets your synchro monster." First the smoke subsided to reveal a weakened Halberd(1250/800) and the summoned Vision HERO: Vyon the one-eyed cyberknight(4/1000/1200) [Zone 3] with purple spheres embedded in his dark armor. "Vyon sends Vision Hero Poisoner. But it will be too late to join the rest." The smoke had even more to surprise the field with. "When you damage me, all level 3 Vision Heroes in my graveyard will activate their effects. One by one they will return as ghosts." Visions of her warriors emerged as continuous traps: Vision HERO Minimum Ray, Increase and Multiply Guy. "There will be no further attacks."

"You talk like you know everything. But you do not!" Melyria could not destroy Vyon with Twinbow. Even if she did, she would just get stuck with a reactivated Vision HERO Poisoner as well. "You have no clue what power you are defending. You do, Crescent! But even you cannot use it as well as I did!" She could only rant and strengthen her defenses. She placed two cards face down and activated the field spell, Giant Ballpark. "I know I cannot." Crescent admitted bluntly. "But.. what you want is not what I want.. anymore. I made that clear when I defeated Ezra. Millennium is gone. You cannot even use their skill cards anymore, can you?" If she could have, Melyria would likely have used the Legacy of Millennium instead. "The armor alone would not be enough. You need the lance too. And my shield. And the chalice.. It would never end."

"I do not want to listen to you anymore, no! You cannot see your own future much less mine! Champion, it is your turn!"

-TURN 03-

"It is. Yet this does not feel like a story I am a part of. Then again, heroes do not need a reason to want to do good. I do not need a reason to defend Crescent from you." The champion nodded and activated a spell card: Vision Release. "This spell gives a body to one of my visions!" It targeted the Vision HERO Increase to summon it from the spell/trap zone. "Go ahead! Then I will activate Maxx C from my hand!" The insectoid duelist countered with another roach. "Oh great! Now she will draw a card whenever Dyzanthium special summons a monster! I loathe that bug!" Wagner flashed back to many a traumatic experience stemming from his days in the competitive scene. "Very well, I shall meet your Maxx-challenge." Dyzanthium resolved the Vision Release and special summoned the Increasing Hero [Zone 2], while Melyria drew her first card of this turn. "Increase's effect activates again and special summons a Vision Hero." Melyria succeeded in drawing another card, once a golden cycloptic knight(4/500/2000) [Zone 4] with a large shield on his left arm appeared. "Keep going, champion."

"..This is Vision Hero Gravito. It gives its own life so that two more Vision Heroes can be summoned from the spell/trap zone. And once they transition, their powers too will be revealed." Dyzanthium tributed the Gravity HERO, causing an inverse pulse to travel across the field. Multiply Guy [Zone 1] and Minimum Ray, the faceless ranger(3/1200/700) [Zone 4] in neon green and black spandex, were pulled towards the front row. "Multiply Guy adds 800 attackpoints to one of my Heroes. And Minimum Ray can destroy one of your lowlevel monsters." One, the multiplier, fired his energy at Vision Hero Vyon(1800/1200). The other targeted the Battlewasp Twinbow with a destructive eye beam. "Ah!?" Unfortunately it proved very hard to fire an optic blast with a parasite attached to one's face.

"You under-estimate me, champion. Thanks to you I drew Parasite Paranoid! And I can activate it from my hand to infect one of your monsters!" The blue worm-like parasite coiled around Vision Hero Minimum Ray and bit down into his flesh with red thorns and pincers. "Your monster becomes an insect and cannot harm my insects anymore! That part does not matter though, yeah, since I wont let you do anything else with it either! I activate the Cocoon of Ultra Evolution!" The next step in her parasitic combo involved a quickplay spell, which wrapped itself around Vision HERO Minimum Ray like a pink cocoon. "Now I can sacrifice one insect equipped with another insect, to special summon one insect from my deck!" Not just noise but movement stirred inside the ultra cocoon. First it trembled, then the shell cracked and light poured through the gaps. Finally the metamorphosis completed itself and brought about the ruler of all insects: Metamorphosed Insect Queen(7/2800/2400) [Zone 1]. She made the ground tremble with her long and serrated legs. Her blue claws and golden antennae twitched continuously while her crimson spiked wings spread wide to intimidate the Heroes.

"The queen. Is that how you saw yourself? And you want to rule once more?" Dyzanthium did not have a card that could take her down, not safely at least. "I could ask you the same thing, champion! Do you miss being a hero in the eyes of the world? You can be once more!" Melyria hissed as she hovered upwards to land on the back of her giant queen insect. "What I want is sometimes difficult to know, I have wanted a lot. But one thing is clear to me, all of me. I no longer want gifts from people like you. I summon Vision Hero Witch Raider!" So instead of a fusion, Dyzanthium went with the classic tribute summon. The Vision Heroes Multiply Guy and Increase went back to the grave as sacrifices for a longhaired blonde witch(8/2700/1900) [Zone 1] with a white coat and a crooked red hat. "Witch Raider will destroy all spells or traps you control!" In her hands she held a magically powered cannon, and with one blast she blew up Melyria's Battlewasp Nest trap card and her Giant Ballpark. "Then she and Vyon will attack your Battlewasps!" The Witch released another shot to atomize Halberd the Charge while Vyon punched out Twinbow.

Melyria's LP: 7750

"You could not do it, could you? You could not destroy the queen! Just like you cannot, can not, destroy me!" Melyria could only laugh at the damage, which she did not even feel. "If I had still been a champion, maybe you could have. You would have had your fancy champion's skill cards to fuse a strong warrior for you. But you are just like me, without followers, without protectors! We could have helped each other, I could have helped your ailing mind. But you refuse to embrace it! You refuse to embrace your destiny!" In fact the champion did not seem to have a skill card at all. "My destiny is clear, it does not lie in this world. But right now, I am alright with being support for the fates of others." Dyzanthium countered as she ended her turn. "I could support them better! And I will, yes! During your endphase, the queen creates one Insect monster token! And while another insect is on my field, none of my insects can be targeted or destroyed by your card effects!" Using the large eggsack in her abdomen, the queen spawned an egg that cracked open into a six-legged grub[Zone 2].

-TURN 04-

"Now you see that all have to bow to me, hmm. Since I control an insect, Pin the Bullseye Battlewasp can summon itself from my hand, yeah. This one will sting a little, but its effect inflicts 200 points of damage to you, Dyzanthium!" The tiny yellow bee(1/100/100) could barely seen due to its size, only its large head and red stinger made an impression with a small prick. "..."

Dyzanthium's LP: 8800

"That was just the first thorn, hm. Now comes the swarm! I link summon Insect Shinobi Hagakuremino!" Both Battlewasps, being monsters with different names, were adequate link materials for her green leaf mantis ninja(1000/LINK 2) {Upleft/Down} [Extra Zone 1]. Now she also had space again for her nestlings. "I summon Battlewasp Arbalest the Rapidfire, who can special summon one lowlevel Insect from my graveyard! I choose Transcicada!" In one straight sequence of events, her hive got repopulated. The normal summoned crossbow hornet Arbalest(4/1800/800) [Zone 4] revived the illuminating Transcicada (3/800/1000) [Zone 3], which in turn created another Moulting token(3/0/0) [Zone 2]. "And I activate Revival Swarm, to special summon a Battlewasp back to my field!" The last free zone went to the resurrected Halberd the Charge (6/2500/800) [Zone 1], albeit not for long. "Transcicada will tune with the Moulting token and Halberd, to synchro summon Battlewasp Ballista the Armageddon!" All three insects swarmed together..

And flooded the skies with the buzz of war: Ballista the crimson battleship of a wasp(10/3000/800) broke free from the extra deck and pointed all its stingers and lanced talons at the Vision Heroes. "Yeah, this ends now! Ballista takes five hundred points away, for each insect I can banish from my graveyard!" Melyria unleashed her indiscriminate quintuple power drain after she removed the Battlewasps Twinbow, Pin, Halberd from the grave along with Transcicada and Parasite Paranoid. The Witch Raider(200/0) lost nearly everything, while Vyon(0/0) became as helpless as a maggot. "Insect Queen! Kill these weaklings!" The wasp duelist laughed hysterically as her queen began the slaughter. Her jaws opened wide and released a blast to incinerate the Witch Raider. "When My Queen battles a monster, she can attack another monster by tributing one insect I control!" Nothing could stop the queens hunger, as Arbalest soon realized. The Metamorph queen gobbled the Battlewasp up to recharge her energy for the second attack. "No traps this time. Nothing to save you. So disappear from my court, champion!"

Dyzanthium's LP: 6200

"No traps. That is no illusion. But I knew your queen could attack multiple monsters in one turn. So why did I leave you the option when I could have used Polymerization?" Dyzanthium asked, while all four Vision HEROES in her graveyard activated their effects due to the damage she took. Multiply Guy, Minimum Ray, Increase and Poisoner all showed up on the field as continuous traps. "Because I wanted you to believe I was helpless. One voice is always telling me to lie, a voice that does not mix with others. But now, both it and my honest voice are in agreement.." And she chose that moment to reveal the Elemental Hero Honest Neos in her hand.

"Aha! Now her monster gains 2500 attackpoints!" Wagner bellowed as the angelwinged Neospacian hero descended behind Vision Hero Vyon(2500) to give him his blessing, just before the Insect Queen killed it anyway. Only now the damage no longer added up to a lethal dosage.

Dyzanthium's LP: 5900

"What!? That was not a Vision Hero!? You tricked me! If I still had my Armor, I would never have.. Rgah!" In her rage, Melyria did not even bother to credit her remaining attackers. The Insect Shinobi and Armageddon Battlewasp just obeyed her silent commands to pepper the champion of fusions with aerial strikes and wind blades. "You knew, didn't you Crescent? You saw her true colors!" Melyria resigned herself to another failed turn. She activated the Revival Swarm spell from her graveyard, banishing it to make Battlewasp Ballista the Armageddon indestructible until her next turn. And she also placed one trap card face down.

Dyzanthium's LP: 1900

-TURN 05-

"I cannot read minds, Melyria. Or else I would have strayed from you far sooner. Even now people find ways to lie, even now you are lying. This is not about returning to the glory of Millennium or about the Creator, this is about revenge. Now I see why you changed. The longer you were separated from the Armor, the more you suffered from withdrawal. You used it so much it became like a drug.. Even now you are the same color as you were back then, a sickening color." Crescent could not even describe what she saw, it hurt to look at. "So you think I was corrupted? All the more reason to take that Item back, yeah!? Or else the same will happen to you! Just like this! I activate my Corrosive Scales!" The synchro Battlewasp gave everyone new cause for concern as it flew up high and started spreading poisonous spores from its wings. "This continuous trap targets my insect, and makes it so that your monsters must attack it! And as long as the trap exists, poisonous Scale counters will pile on! And your monsters will lose 100 attackpoints for each counter!"

"The Creator? Is that the voice you hear? I should not judge or compare: I know the ones talking to me are not really there. But yours could be, and I would not trust someone who does not show themselves." The fusion champion told her before moving on. "I activate Vision Release to retake one Vision Hero from my graveyard." Her thoughts turned to the graveyard, where the Vision Release spell waited to be banished to return Vision HERO Gravito to the field. Dyzanthium quickly summoned the monster [Zone 3]. "Yes, yes." Both the spell and the summon triggered the Corrosive Scales (2 counters), and began the hail of powersapping spores upon poor Gravito(300/1800). "...Poisoner's effect activates." In turn Dyzanthium sacrificed the HERO to move just one Vision from its trap state to a monster state. The Poisoner(3/700/500) [Zone 2] was the shooter of the Vision force, fully decked out in lightpurple cyber armor with one red eye on its backwards curved helmet. "Poisoner halves your monsters attack when he transitions. And this effect does not target." Her card fired a shot from his armcannon, weakening Ballista(1500/2000).

"You just wont learn, yeah!?" However both of Poisoner's effects added to the Corrosive trap (4 counters) and made Vision HERO Poisoner(500/300) taste his own medicine. "No. I learned enough.. I activate Vision Fusion to fuse MinimumRay, MultiplyGuy and Increase!" The spell of Vision Fusion could take continuous traps as fusion materials as well, and for this fusion monster one would need three HERO monsters. "FUSION SUMMON! VISION HERO TRINITY!" Three became one: one giant warrior in bright red armor. Round red crystals, big shoulder pauldrons and four blade-wings distinguished this Hero from its counterparts. And Trinity's(8/5000/2000) [Extra Zone 2] attackpower certainly helped. "That much power? What about my trap?" Corrosive Scales (6 counters) should have been draining at least some of the fusion monsters attackpoints. "Trinity's attack, until this turn ends, is always double its original value of 2500. No other effect can change that!" Dyzanthium moved to the battle phase, as the Trinity warrior fired a beam from his one eye. "And it can attack three monsters in the same turn!" The blast got directed towards Ballista because of Corrosive Scales' effect. "Hgh!"

Melyria's LP: 4250

And Ballista survived, because of Revival Swarm's lingering effect. "You should not have turned your Battlewasp into the perfect target, Melyria. Trinity cannot attack directly." Dyzanthium went on to explain as the hero released a second beam. The damage hurt Ballista's master more than Ballista itself. "Stop! You cannot do this! If you do, I will lose everything!" A defeat would also result in her losing the gifts of the World Armor, like her ability to stay online for as long as possible. She would be ejected from the network immediately. "That was always the risk you invited, Melyria Cister." Dyzanthium had no sympathy or pity for her, she started this fight after all. "But you need me! Nobody understands the armor better than me! Nobody can hear the voice of the creator better than me!" Melyria cried out in desperation.

Melyria's LP: 750

And her despair turned to resignation, when even that claim turned its back on her. "You did it!" When she heard Wagner cheer in jubilation and heard Crescent breathe out a sigh of relief. "You already taught me everything I needed to know, Melyria." When she saw the World Armor disappeared from Crescent's body once she no longer required its power. "Whoa!" When Acrates the champion appeared at last. His avatar fully reconstituted. "Impossible." The mortified Melyria shook her head slowly. Her last hope evaporated before her eyes.

"Amazing!" The XYZ-champion patted himself down, even the cracks in his golden armor were healed. "Dyzanthium! Sorry I missed your duel there, but I am here now!" As if Ezra had never beaten him. "I see that now. I am glad. But this duel has come to an end." The Vision duelist looked at her defeated opponent. "Melyria, I do not know where you will wake up. But I hope you find help there." She ordered her final attack. "Trinity." The third beam impacted with Ballista the Armageddon, overwhelming the last few lifepoints of Melyria and her with it.

Melyria's LP: 0

"No. Now I will forget.. what it was like.. to be.." The queen of Millennium faded like dust in the wind. "Farewell, Cister." Crescent closed her eyes and wished her a better fortune as well. Melyria had done a lot for her, she could not deny that. But so had her real friends. "And thank you, Dyzanthium."

"We should thank you instead. Now we are complete again! We should tell Heleil and Sigment!" Acrates shouted, he could not wait to see everyone online again. He'd been separated from them in the real world for weeks now. "In due time. Is everything alright with you, miss Aurora?" Naturally Dyzanthium wanted to thank the girl as well. Restoring Acrates did not look easy on her. "Yes. It still is, but.." Crescent placed a hand on her chest, as if to calm an erratic heartbeat. "I did not think I would see Melyria so soon, so much in pain. The armor feels so very different from the shield. It wraps itself around you like a vice." She had dismissed the item, but she could still feel it running through nerves that did not actually exist in this reality. "It is intoxicating, suffocating. I do not think it is the right item for me. So I will have to.. let someone else own it after all." She was ready to part with at least one item.

"But what about the shield?" Wagner still asked. "No. That one belongs with me, Wagner. Please. Do not ask me about that again." But only one. She imagined Vigionair could lock the Armor away like the rest. But the shield still had a destiny in store for her. And she knew it would not be the same as Melyria's.

...

"I was told that there would be six items. I see only two." The Investigator expressed his displeasure right away, once his tour of the arena came to an end. The last stop was the lowest floor, where the World Lance and World Crown were stored behind mobile containment units. "Yes, well. Three of them are being used by our duelist friends to sort the current problem out. And one is currently occupying dimensions too extravagant for containment purposes." The encrypter spent a lot of time trying to reason with the man. "We only gave you a temporary lease on them, the items are not their property. And since Exeter will likely not survive the current investigation, this software should fall under governmental control very soon." But the investigator had facts on his side too, facts Vigionair could not deny. "I see the benefits there. But this is not software we are talking about, and STHEREA transcends borders. No single country should be able to claim these Items. If you ask me.." V himself could only see one solution. "We should find a way to destroy them. At least these two. They can only cause more harm..." A solution he did not want to share with many.

"Perhaps. But then we could do the same with this location. And with the other items, and with anything else that exists here but was not created by the company. I believe we will find more resistance in those areas. Especially, when it comes to the subject of miss Echo. These are all decisions bigger than even our chief can make.." The agent sighed. "Miss Echo? How much do you and your people already know about her?"

"Hey?" Vigionair would sadly find that his answers were greatly delayed, clouded by a thick wall of dark mist. "Mister V? What is the meaning of this?" The Investigator could be heard shouting before the fog swallowed him as well. "I am not.." Neither of them could see or hear each other anymore. In fact Vigionair could not see any part of the surrounding area. And this all felt too familiar. "We're under attack! Who is there!?" This fog could not be real, or else his machines would have picked it up. He saw an optical illusion designed to distract him. "Scarlet?" But the only tool that could create such impenetrable illusions was the World Lance. And the doctor should not have been able to make a copy of that item. Still, who else would attack the arena like this? "Well. Whoever it is, they are not prepared enough!"

Illusions such as these affected the mind directly, Vigionair could not trust his own outer senses. But if he closed his eyes and tapped the side of his visor, he could let a special filter software take over. "Voila!" He now saw the world through the 'eyes' of his programs, he saw the raw data underneath the hood of virtual reality. In fact, he had used this filter many times before to analyze what his surroundings were made off. And the unique thing about this arena, including the basement, was the fact that none of it could be parsed as if it simply did not exist. But that made it easier to see what did exist: like an uninvited avatar just a few feet away. "Hey! Stop what you are doing!" Instinctively, Vigionair activated his dueldisk to keep the intruder from leaving. And as he did so.. the fog around him lifted. V could switch off his filter again to see his challenger in his human form "Wh-wh-what?"

"I am sorry, V." And it was him... Agent Asterisk. "I need to take them."

(To Be Continued in World 010: Functions of a Manchurian Candidate)

New Cards used by Dyzanthium
Vision HERO Faris
Vision HERO Increase
Vision HERO Multiply Guy
Vision HERO Minimum Ray
Vision HERO Gravito
Vision HERO Witch Raider
Vision HERO Poisoner

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Vision HERO Trinity

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Vision Release
Vision Fusion

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Apparition

New Cards used by Melyria Cister
Transcicada
Parasite Paranoid
Metamorphosed Insect Queen

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Cocoon of Ultra Evolution

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Corrosive Scales