World 026: Does it Make a Sound?
"Hey!" Blanche pulled her shoulder away, though she'd already been teleported to a new sector. "What? Where? How?" It was the city of Pandemonium, a place usually inaccessible to quickjumpers. "My sincerest apologies, Madam Blanche. But you cannot save Donna anymore, she has already been corrupted. I know you must be confused, but I had to make sure that you were safe. They should not be able to trace us here. I installed a quick jumping point here back when we visited this place during the Crown caper." She was only here because of her, this strange Mozarta/Rosemary ADI hybrid that spoke with Scarlet's voice. "Yeah but... what? What are you?" A bewildered Blanche yelled. "What am I? That is a good question. I am not quite Scarlet Fever and yet I am her and have her memories.. You could say I am Scarlets monster. When I woke up I had only the sense of smell and the written code of the world to go on. Now I can talk as well, and warn you properly. You can leave if you want, but then you will never find out the truth."
"Okay..." Blanche felt like she was getting a headache, but at the very least this ADI did not seem hostile to her. "You can start by explaining what you mean when you say that Donna is already corrupted. Was that like what happened with Asterisk? Did you.. did Scarlet do that? And is everyone like that now? If not, why didn't you bring me to them instead?" She tossed every question that came to mind. "It will take some time to explain, you may want to sit down. But what I can say is that most of your friends have now been taken, by Void. And those that are still untouched are either beyond my sight, or constantly watched by Voids allies. It is not safe out there, Madam Blanche.."
...
Faceless Man's LP: 8000 Veyrons LP: 8000 -TURN 01-
The duel between the faceless and the seventh item wielder began. "I go first. Normal summon, Time Thief Winder." The faceless man summoned the silverhaired gentleman thief and timetraveler(4/1800/1300) [Zone 2], a card not unfamiliar to anyone around. Winder's effect would add a Time Thief card from the deck to his hand: Time Thief Adjuster. "I activate Time Thief Startup and special summon another Time Thief from my hand." The monster he added got chosen by the summoning spell, and materialized as young lightbrown-haired girl(4/1200/1800) with a labcoat and a pink ribbon in her hair. Her effect would send one Time Thief from the deck, Time Thief Bezelship, to the graveyard.
"Does everyone in your organization use those cards?" Veyron inquired, since his brother's contact used this very same deck when he dueled Sigment. "It seems like they just created one avatar and copy pasted it a dozen times." Khan sneered. "If it works, it works." The faceless man shrugged and took Adjuster and Winder off the field as materials, but not to create a monster from their own ranks. "I link summon Bujinki Ahashima. The materials are two monsters with the same level." Instead the faceless thief called out a humanoid entity(1500/LINK 2) {Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] of bright golden light, further defined by white divine armor. "I see, Acrates has one of those too." Sigment knew this card could be used by any XYZ-heavy deck; Time Thieves included.
"Bujinki Ahashima special summons two monsters with the same level; one from my hand and one from my graveyard." The duelist explained while he picked the proper targets: Time Thief Winder[Zone 2] and a butterfly-like drone machine(4/1000/1000) [Zone 3] with wings that emanated blotches of green, yellow and red light. This was the Time Thief Chronocorder, and it traveled into the overlay network along with Winder. "Then Ahashima immediately starts an XYZ-summon with those level 4 monsters! I summon Time Thief Redoer!" Based on visuals alone, it would seem as if Winder had merely upgraded himself(R4/2400/2000) [Zone 3] by wearing more armor, a mantled cape and a cybernetic glove on his right hand. Though in this form the Time stealer naturally possessed new powers. "I will also special summon Time Thief Bezelship from my graveyard, by detaching one card from my XYZ-monster." The man bolstered his defenses with the resummoned spindle-shaped timeship(4/1000/2000) [Zone 2] and an unknown trap card behind it. "That ends this turn."
-TURN 02-
"But during the standby phase, Time Thief Winder can take the top card of your deck and attach it to itself!" They were not willing to let Veyron go free just yet. The dapper time thief committed his temporal crime in the blink of an eye, turning Veyron's Iron Call spell card into an XYZ-material. Now two of the psychic's three powers were unlocked, the third still requiring a trap card to function. "I also activate my skill card! Power Limit! No matter how much you try, you will not summon anything stronger than my monsters this turn!"
Power Limiter, Skill Card
Neither player can special summon with more than 2000 ATK this turn.
During the turn is activated, you cannot activate spell or trap cards.
"Oh. Are you done? Good." Veyron was not too bothered, as he kept the cards that mattered to him. "That means I can finally take these out for a spin. I normal summon Orcust Brass Bombard!" A mechanical monstrosity owned the name of Brass Bombard: it(1/500/1900) [Zone 1] could be best described as a floating automaton with a tuba for a head and silver claws poking out of its trumpet-arms. "What the hell?" Of course his opponent reacted with surprise: none of his tools would tell him about 'the Orcust'. "Confused? Maybe this will help. I activate Machine Duplication!" At the very least one could see that this machine possessed only 500 attackpoints, which allowed the Duplicater spell to summon two more Brass Bombards(1/500/1900) [Zones 2 & 3] from the deck. "There is more than one?" Seeing three of them at once did the opposite of calming the faceless man down.
"There are many, now. These are the Orcust.. The cards given to me when I claimed the Wand of Legacy." Veyron took two of the Brass machines and performed a quick link summon. "And this is Galatea, the Orcust Automaton! She takes two effect monsters as materials, including one Orcust!" Now the machines gained a more humane quality. Galatea appeared as a partially armored pale mechanical doll(1800/LINK 2) {Downleft/Upright} [Extra Zone 2] with long purple hair and a long red ribbon around her neck. Now, the material Orcust activate their effect in the graveyard! I can banish one Brass Bombard each turn to special summon one Orcust from my hand! I choose Orcust Cymbal Skeleton!" The next instrument joined Veyron's twisted concert: a gold and silver skeleton(3/1200/1500) [Zone 4] walking on drums and covered in cymbals.
"Your cards are still subject to the rules of this game!" The faceless man protested, thinking Veyron would never be able to summon a Link 3 or 4 monster while the Power Limit lasted. "I know. That is why I will link summon another Galatea!" The Skeleton and the last Brass Bombarder dematerialized in a more noisy manner, combining percussion and brass into a twin(1800/LINK 2) {Downleft/Upright} [Zone 3] for the first Automaton{Downleft} to co-link with. "Galatea cannot be destroyed while she is linked with another monster, which means they are both invincible! Galatea can also return one banished Orcust to my deck, to add an Orcust card to my hand." Veyron unbanished the first Orcust Brass Bombard in order to add an Orcust Crescendo trap card to his hand. He activated his Iron Draw spell card as well, drawing two cards since he controlled only two machines. He could only make one more special summon after the spell resolved though. "Galatea! Destroy Bujinki Ahashima!" To make attacks with, the Orcust dolls carried a large cybernetic scythe. Not even a gods armor could withstand that.
Faceless Man's LP: 7700
"I set two cards. And I activate the effect of Cymbal Skeleton from my graveyard as well! This one will banish itself to special summon one Orcust from my graveyard." Veyron wanted to go into the next turn with as much shields as he could gather, causing him to use Cymbal Skeletons effect on the second Brass Bombard [Zone 4] in his graveyard. "Do you like what you see so far? Because that is all you're gonna get."
"Heh, he makes for quote the sales pitch." The faceless one replied, but not the one everyone was looking at. "What? Another contact?" Sigment flinched while Veyron kept his cool. This second avatar looked identical to the first except, though she spoke with a clearly female voice. "You called for help?" The penalty box registered her as another opponent, they were using the illegal battle royal mode to tagteam Veyron without giving him the required lifepoint boost. "He did not. I was sent in to bail him out. Or rather, to make sure we do not leave empty-handed. Those cards exist because of that strange wand item, don't they? That is also how you tracked us down. But if we win, we get to take it. I'd say that is a fair reward as that makes it easier for us to continue our work." The anonymous woman cackled with her distorted voice. "You know about the legacy items? Regardless, the wand belongs to us both. You'd have to defeat me too!" Sigment protested. There was no way he would let Veyron fight two opponents at once.
"That can be arranged." The woman snapped her fingers to make half a dozen more faceless figures drop in. "What are these?" They swarmed Bionis Khan, Zettai and the champions. "Mindless drones! You think you can overcome us with these!" Acrates cursed. "Probably not. But they will keep you busy while us real humans have our fun. Speaking of which. It's my turn!" The second contact turned her featureless head towards her partner, who merely answered with a grunt. Veyron said nothing either and merely kept Sigment assured with a calm nod.
-TURN 03-
"Let's see what I have to work with here." The woman shared her partner's field, she could even control the effects of his cards like the Time Thief Redoer. The XYZ-monster took the next card from Veyron's deck, Formula Athlete Whip Crosser, and turned that into an XYZ-material. "Bah, just a monster? Ah well, there are other ways to get what we want. I activate Charged Up Heraldry! I can tribute one monster to special summon two Heraldic Beasts from my deck in defense mode! But I can only summon machines or psychics after using this spell." She appeared to control a psychic archetype of a more feral kind: sacrificing a normal summoned gold-armored lion, Heraldic Beast Leo(4/2000/1000), to summon two red dragons(4/1800/900) covered in armor and spikes, Heraldic Beasts Aberconway. "Both will be used for an XYZ-summon! For Time Thief Perpetua!" As the overlayed dragons made clear, there was a female Time Thief as well. The brownhaired girl Perpetua(R4/1900/2400) [Extra Zone 1] joined Redoer's side, wearing a ruffled white shirt, long black skirt, red ribbon and one boot on her left leg.
"She can attach one card from my deck to another XYZ-monster, to Time Thief Redoer!" She explained as she picked a trap card, Time Thief Hack. "Good job. Now all three powers are unlocked. I detach two cards from Redoer!" Her partner took over with his XYZ-monsters quick effect. Redoer could detach up to three XYZ-materials and resolve an effect depending on the type of the XYZ-material. Detaching a trap for instance would send one card on the field back to the deck, and she decided to detach Time Thief Flyback. "Your Orcust cannot be destroyed in battle. But I am quite sure they can still be targeted by card effects." Redoer fired a blast at the Galatea in the extra monster zone, which would send her back in time.
"Nice attempt, but you will not get to touch even a single one of them!" Veyron quickly came to the Automatons defense, activating a trap he did get to keep. "Magnet Force! All machines on the field cannot be affected by my opponents monster effects!" The magnetism in the air intercepted the temporal blast, but could not fully disperse it. "You under-estimate our reach, Veyron GT! We do not give up so easily!" The faceless man retorted as he flipped his counter trap. "Time Thief Retrograde! This card negates your spell or trap, and attaches it to our XYZ-monster!" A wave of negative colors pulsed outwards, reverting the flow of time to force the Magnetic Force backwards and Redoer's effect forwards. But Veyron would not give up so easily either. "Then I activate Orcust Crescendo! This trap can negates your effects as long I control an Orcust!" He unveiled his own countertrap which made his twin Galateas sing a duet that reached a feverishly high pitch. The soundblast disrupted the Retrograde waves, and resulted in the cancellation of all Time Thief effects.
"Bah. Your monsters may be untouchable, but you are not. Power is what matters in the end either way... I activate Bezelship's effect!" The faceless duelist could tribute the timeship to attach one card from the opponents graveyard to Redoer. A stolen Orcust Crescendo card brought him back up to four XYZ-materials. "Then I activate two spells: Time Thief Hack and Stoic Challenge! One gives my Time Thief 300 attackpoints for each of his materials! The other gives him 600 attackpoints for each material! And the damage he inflicts to monsters will be doubled!" With both the field and equip spell, Time Thief Redoer(6000/1900) more than doubled his own attackpoints. "Time Thief Hack also lets my monster attack you directly, but why would I do that when I can just attack your special dolls?!"
"Veyron!" Sigment saw the lethal attack headed straight for his friend. "It's alright, Sigment! My deck is not the only thing that got a tune-up!" Veyron showed him as soon as the XYZ-monster fired his temporal energy at one Galatea. "Skill card! Maximum Volume! With this I will destroy your Stoic Challenger card!" The Brass Bombards were all tuners, and the one in the graveyard turned its fanfare into a discordant force strong enough to shatter the equipped Stoic Challenge card. "When Stoic Challenge leaves the field, the equipped monster is destroyed as well!"
Maximum Volume, Skill Card
Banish 1 Tuner-monster from your graveyard, target 1 spell or trap card on the field and destroy it.
"You'd like that. But I have a skill too, Veyron! I activate Power Authority! My monster wont be destroyed, and it will get to keep its power too!" The faceless woman cursed as she ordered an attack.. against Veyron instead. "!" Thanks to Time Thief Hack, Redoer could just slip passed the Galatea defense line and shoot the speed duelist in the back.
Veyron's LP: 2000
Power Authority, Skill Card
Target the face-up monster with the highest ATK on the field:
until the end of the turn, that monster cannot be destroyed by card effect(s) and its original ATK becomes its current ATK.
"Close, but not close enough." Veyron shrugged the hit off. Nothing they could dish out would hurt him now. "Look at him, acting all high and mighty. What are you trying to prove, Veyron?" The faceless man sneered his invisible sneer. "Are you still insisting on taking us both at once? For what? Revenge? Your brother was the one who approached us!" The faceless woman spoke with scorn as she placed her last trap card face down on the field. "I do not believe that, that it went that way! Even if It did, now you're dragging others into your dark world as well. I will not let anyone else become indebted to you. And I will duel as many of you as I have to. Now end your turn!"
-TURN 04-
"Oh I already did. But that does not mean we are done, Veyron! During the standby phase, Time Thief Perpetua activates her second effect! She can special summon one Time Thief from our graveyard!" The female thief pointed her own gloved hand at the ground and fired a blue beam into the grave to awaken a certain mechanical butterfly [Zone 4]. "Also, you did not get to see Time Thief Chronocorder's effect yet! It can be tributed to reflect the next instance of battle damage! No matter how strong your next attack is, you will not survive it!" The recording drone exploded, but left a barrier of red/green and yellow light behind that protected the two faceless duelists.
"You under-estimate him." Zettai replied with a confident grin. "What? You already.." Much to their horror, it seemed like Zettai had already taken care of her drone-opponent in record time. And from the look of things, the remaining drones were also losing lifepoints at a rapid rate. "Veyron. I can still help you." Zettai ignored them however and turned to the speed duelist who could still be a potential ally. She would not want to lose him or the Legacy Item to this criminal enterprise.
"Dead certain." But for the speed duelist, this was too personal. He did not want to get anyone else involved, and he did not see a need to. "The materials are two effect monsters! Including an Orcust: the second Galatea and Orcust Brass Bombard!" He managed to keep all his monsters alive, well beyond the time limit set by their previous skill. They could finally reach the third link. "I link summon Longirsu! The Orcust Orchestrator!" The smiling doll and trumpeteer transformed into a man with a somewhat familiar name. "Longirsu?" He(2500/LINK 3) {Upleft/Up/Downright} [Zone 3] appeared in a regal black and gold suit, wielding a shield and a spiral lance. Waving purple hair framed his stern face, as he marked the zone of Perpetua. "Longirsu can return two banished monsters to my deck, to destroy one linked monster!"
"Think again, Veyron!" The faceless woman hissed and reactivated Time Thief Redoer's power. "It will be gone before you know it!" The XYZ-monster detached the Orcust Crescendo trap card and returned Longirsu to the extra deck with startling ease. "Bah! You are still nothing without a partner to help you, or us to cheat for you." She taunted him for good measure. "Is that what you all think? I suppose I only managed to beat my brother by myself. And even that was tough for me. If Zettai or Sigment were helping me, you would not standing there now either. But I did not always need you. And I certainly do not need it now. I am a duelist still, and taught myself a lot of things.. like how to stay two steps ahead of your opponent." He laughed to himself. "The only think I will thank you for, is letting me have my trap back! I activate Orcust Crescendo from the graveyard to add an Orcust monster from the deck to my hand! Orcust Harp Horror! And I'll normal summon it!"
"A third Orcust?" The final main instrument joined Veyron's concert: a mechanical harp-winged dragon(4/1700/1500) [Zone 1] made of gold and silver. "What I also learned is that if you at first don't succeed! You can always try again! Come out, Longirsu!" The second Galatea vanished from the field along with the Harp dragon and gave the spiral lancer Longirsu(2500/LINK 3) [Extra Zone 2] his second chance on the field. "But on that zone, it's not linked with anything!" The faceless man pointed out the lack of monsters being pointed at. "I am not going for that effect anymore. They demand something even bigger... Orcust Harp Horror activates and special summons an Orcust from my deck!" Like the other instruments, the Harp could be banished from the graveyard. Its soothing strings segued into the frantic drums of another Orcust Cymbal Skeleton(3/1200/1500) [Zone 1] But both tunes only served as a prelude. "And I will use two effect monsters, Orcust included, to link summon Orcustrion!" Soon a massive storm of organ music erupted across the field.
"So this is how strong the seventh item gets." Bionis Khan distracted himself from his own duel to stare greedily at the Orcust(3000/LINK 4) {Downleft/Up/Down/Upright} [Extra Zone 2] that rose from smoke and light. Entire archways and church windows were built to support this massive three-sided organ of pipes and horns, and at the front it displayed a robotic body with long golden claws. "Orcustrion can reduce the attackpoints of all your linked monsters to zero!" There were none currently, but Veyron fixed that by activating Cymbal Skeleton from his graveyard. "Tch!" The skeletons effect special summoned Orcust Longirsu back to the field, making him point right at Time Thief Perpetua. "Is this what you wanted to see?" Orcustrion had to return three banished Orcust to the deck to call upon its powers; Brass Bombard, Cymbal Skeleton and Harp Horror. As a result, Perpetua(0/2400) became as weak as she could be.
"Why did you summon her in attack mode anyway?" The faceless man started accusing her now. "No. I still have your Chronocorder! He cannot attack her!" The woman swore. "Not right away, no." Except she overlooked one aspect of the Chronocorder's effect. It could only reflect the 'next' instance of battle damage. "I activate World Legacy Succession! I special summon my monster to a marked zone!" Therefor it would be safe to strike with a monster that had less attackpoints than he had lifepoints. Galatea returned from the graveyard underneath Orcustrion. "Here, this is their combined power. Have it all!" The automaton swung her scythe while she kept her eyes closed, and severed Perpetua's head from the rest of her body. "It will be much more than you can give me." The damage got bounced back by Chronocorder, and the speed duelist did not even flinch.
Veyron's LP: 200
"You must be thinking 'we are still safe because he does not have the attackpoints he needs to finish us off'. But if you are, then you really did not watch the duels that you got so much money from. Because there is always one spell I can call upon to get me over the finish line, even when it is not handed to me on a silver platter!" Veyron revealed the final spell from his hand: the always dependable Limiter Removal. "No!" It took less time for the quickplay spell to double his machines' attackpoints, then it took the faceless man to utter a cry of horror. "Yes. Longirsu! Destroy Redoer!" By now enough time had passed for the other Time Thief(2400/1900) to lose his various powerboosts. It would have been destroyed by Longirsu(5000 atk) even without his dramatic power-up. "Did you enjoy that?"
Faceless' LP: 5100
"Wait! Don't attack us! If you let us go, we will give you whatever you want!" The faceless man did not seem to be above groveling, not in the face of certain defeat. "Yes, yes! We can help your brother! Get the charges against him dropped!" The woman joined on the pleading, realizing that they had no other way out. "Do not let them tempt you, Veyron. These people would sell their own soul if they could." Heleil found their display despicable. "You do not have to say it." And so did Veyron. "I do not want anything from them. I just want you gone from my life, and from this world!" Orcustrion declared its direct attack, releasing the dark energy, venting steam and black light from the pipes that rained down upon the faceless duo. "Veyron! You and your brother will pay dearly for this! Graaahhh!"
Faceless' LP: 0
"Where. Where did they go?" When the dust settled, the faceless ones were gone, but Veyron did not cause them to disappear. "They should not have been able to log out." Sigment had no clue either, his penalty box showed no signs of disturbance. "Tch, if they got away, they will just keep doing their heinous deeds. We should have made sure they were eliminated." Dyzanthium concluded rather darkly. "Well, perhaps they will think twice now before they make more attempts to access the network. Perhaps this will allow us to focus on other matters again." Acrates nodded to himself. "You mean like we should have from the very beginning?" Heleil muttered. "Maybe this time that fancy wand can track down the people we lost, or the people we are supposed to take down!"
"Before you do that, you should be made aware of a few concerning facts." Spoke the jovial black baron, who quickjumped into the scene with several admins and Void himself. "The cavalry is late as usual..." Khan chuckled. "Concerning facts? Like what?!" Heleil yelled. "That Miss Echo and her allies were spotted, and one of the judges witnessed her power first-hand. Her voice alone brainwashed him. We have his haunting testimony on record." Schwarzwald revealed. "What? Then what are we supposed to do?" The Pendulum champion did not want to give up before they even got to a fight. "Plans are being formed. You just have to wait."
While the baron and the champions discussed matters, Void approached the victorious speed duelist. "..So you have acquired a new power." He was very much impressed. "I did. But what did it get me? Nothing. Those people still slipped away." Veyron cursed. He'd wanted to resolve at least one loose end, but now things were more in question than ever. "If they come back, we will deal with them. You can fight them now, you can fight them for as long as you have to. Because we are with you." The cyberse duelist smirked and placed his hand on Veyron's shoulder. "I know. You have my gratitude, Void."
"Don't mention it." The wielder of the lance said, even as that item obscured the very presence of the faceless duelists inside the penalty box. There were so many wonderful things you could do with a tool of illusions... You could even split yourself off to hold a second hidden conversation. "Now then." The second Void gave the two boxed duelists a big smile. "What can you and your organization do for me?"
(To Be Continued in Line 128)
New Cards used by Veyron GT
MAXIMUM VOLUME
-
Orcust Brass Bombard
Orcust Cymbal Skeleton
Orcust Harp Horror
-
Galatea the Orcust Automaton
Longirsu the Orcust Orchestrator
Orcustrion
-
Machine Duplication
World Legacy Succession
-
Orcust Crescendo
New cards used by the Faceless
POWER LIMITER
POWER AUTHORITY
-
Time Thief Adjuster
Time Thief Chronocorder
Heraldic Beast Leo
Heraldic Beast Aberconway
-
Bujinki Ahashima
Time Thief Perpetua
-
Time Thief Startup
Charged Up Heraldry
Stoic Challenge
-
Time Thief Retrograde
