World 033: The Rich get Richer
"He is not Khan? So.. I am not Wagnerok? That's your great theory?" The converted duelists snarled at the monstrous woman of science. "Allow me to build on that, sir Wagnerok." She talked with the voice of Doctor Scarlet, and called herself Scarlet as well. "Damn it Wagner. You got her monologueing already." Madam Blanche sighed. She brought her here, and now they were gonna stay here for a long while.
"The rest already knows this, but I will recap for you.. Charles Adami. And I must say your unexpected new look has my approval." Though her eyes were closed, the Rosemary/Mozarta ADI managed to point a finger at Charles. "Gee thanks.. Keep talking." He was not about to give her the benefit of the doubt now. "Of course. It all started when I, Scarlet Fever, decided to use my own memories for her new project." The ADI tapped the side of her head. "I basically split myself across five dueling intelligences. They were to be my proxies through sound and sight and every other sense. Only then a certain individual, lets call him mister Static Void, saw fit to add me to this inner circle. All that was me became dedicated to his cause.. until someone set one part of me loose. And the, piece by piece, I put myself together again. First I was the silent Rosemary, then I became the sightless Mozarta as well. And now.." The monster opened one eye, revealing a slit-like serpents pupil. "I have Medusa's vision as well. Two pieces remain. But to make things easy for you, and since I started as a Rosemary, you may call me Scarlet Rose.
"Of course, I did not save Blanche just so she could help me round up my other halves. I did it to save her too. I helped Cierze here escape as well." She said, pointing at the joyful looking Harpie Lady. "Yeah! And it's all thanks to Valkyrion!" Cierze cried out. Him defeating Aromage Rosemary started the chain of events that nobody could have foreseen. "But where is he? I thought you said he was.." She'd been looking forward to meeting all of her own friends again. And yet, she only saw two.. and they were both unwilling to talk about Valkyrion's fate out loud. "He was.. No. No you're not.." Their silence said it all.
"Heh. Affraid so, Harpie. Valkyrion is gone. I took care of him myself." Khan admitted to the act with no hint of shame and did not care to listen to Cierze's shrieks of disbelief afterwards. "And you, what makes you think you know who I am? What are you? Scarlets leftovers! That's what!"
"Not quite, sir Khan." Scarlet Rose said. "You see the more I defeated myself, the more I remembered myself. And I wondered why that was... why there could be two of me? I not only have my memories, but I also have my thoughts and feelings. At first I thought I had accidentally recreated the circumstances that led to Sundown's own unique consciousness. But then I ran some tests on myself and came to a different conclusion. I am me, because I am Scarlet. And the Scarlet that has taken my digital body is something else... So too has something taken over the body of Bionis Khan. You may think you are him, you may even have his mind trapped inside of you. But you and him are not the same. What Static has done is less creating ones idealized inner version, and more copying the parts of the mind he likes and creating a new personality out of them. Scura, Zettai, Hydra, Bionis, Donna, Wagner and me were all affected by this 'makeover'."
"Yeah Static tried to turn me into one of them too when his first attempt did not take. That's what the whole nightmare world was about." Blanche added. "Is that why you were suddenly gone, Dyzanthium?" Heleil remembered the two being close to each other in the real world. "Yes." The stoic Dyzanthium have a concise response. "Oh come on Dyz. You can embellish a little more than that." Blanche laughed. "I mean, it was funny. First I missed her, then she missed me. We kept going online and offline at the wrong time. But eventually we bumped into each other in STHEREA. I guess its my fault for not waiting in the first place. Scarlet really did save me from a big mistake there." She knew how unlikely that sounded, but it was the truth for once. "Yet you insisted on staying online." The fusion champion sighed and shook her head. She did not feel much for her own more energetic voices today.
"Hold on. What does this mean for Acrates? Veyron? Sigment? Are they in danger? Could the thing that happened to Khan happen to them too? Has it already?" A suddenly panicking Heleil brought a whole new list of concerns to the Scarlet ADI. "As far as I know, it has not. Unfortunately I have no access to the other Scarlet's current thoughts. Still, Static did not have as much time preparing for them as he did with us. And wielders of Legacy Items take even more time to be corrupted." Scarlet Rose did not see any potential for danger in that aspect. Though the people they were with could still be a threat. "Heleil. We also told Acrates along the way, and he's out there trying to find the rest of the gang before they get attacked. You can help him if you want. Probably should have told you that before Scarlet started her big speech." Blanche glibly said. "That sounds fine to me. Dyzanthium, if I do not come back. You know what to do." Heleil nodded towards her fellow champion and warped away.
Wagnerok had his mind set on retreating as well, for many reasons. "I do not believe you.." Most of them being disbelief and a shattered confidence. "Void will.. Static will... We will crush you!" Not even he saw himself defeating this many opponents on his own, so he would get reinforcements. He quick jumped out without saying another word, not even to Khan.
"Good riddance I say." The conqueror rolled his eyes. "And are the rest of you guys done already? None of this matters! And I don't care what your fancy research says! I am Khan! Whatever you are, you're Scarlet's case!" Bionis shouted, wanting to get back to his duel with Charles already. "Are you sure it does not matter, Khan? What if me defeating you is the key to setting the real you free? The Bionis Khan that lives inside of you, that is!" It was a lot of information to take in, but most of it felt like good news to Charles. "Yeah right! You saw what happened to Schwarzwald! Defeating him didn't do jack! Because Hydra is never coming back! It takes more than a loss to bring us down!"
Charles' LP: 3200 Khan's LP: 5200
"That may be so, but you cannot exactly afford to lose right now because you need this." Charles smirked and teased Khan by showing him the World Chalice again. "Ragh! You're the one who can't afford to lose! But you will, Void! And I wont need Schwarzwald or Wagnerok to help me either!" Bionis laughed behind his wall of undead monsters: Eldlich the Golden Lord(10/3500/2800) [Zone 1], Revendread Executor(8/3000/0) [Zone 3] and Vendread Battlelord(7/2700/0) [Zone 5]. "Some of us don't need luck, Khan." Void controlled the Decode Talker Extended(3300/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 1], the linked Datacorn(1/0/0) [Zone 3] and its acorn token (1/0/0). The latter he used as a link material for the Linkuriboh(300/LINK 1) {Down} [Zone 1]. "Since I control two cyberse, I can special summon Cyberse White Hat from my hand. And when this card is used as a link material... Well, you'll get the picture." The white coated cyber cowboy(6/1800/2400) [Zone 2] paired up with the Linkuriboh and opened a link portal. On its way towards the graveyard, White Hat pumped some bullets into the bodies of all opposing monsters (Eldlich: 2500 atk, Executor: 2000 atk, Battlelord: 1700 atk). "Link summon! Trackblack! His link materials are two effect monsters!"
"Hey its a bird!" Cierze chirped as a silver cyberse falcon(1200/LINK 2) {Upleft/Downright} [Zone 1] flew in on black wings covered in veins of glowing light. "I'd say it is more of a plane." Blanche snickered. "I guess you're both right. But its also a monster that lets me draw a card whenever one monster it points to destroys another monster! Extended Code Talker can attack twice if a monster he points too disappears during the battle phase too." Charles explained to them both. "Yeah well if you wanna be technical." Blanche shrugged.
"Ha! Too bad I remembered Decode, Void! New coat, same old tricks!" Khan smugly pointed out how none of his monsters were summoned to zones Decode could have pointed at. "Two links is better than three, actually. For this spell anyway! I activate Decode Destruction!" The Extended Code Talker treated itself as the regular one, which allowed it to benefit from Charles' Decode-support spell. "Since Decode points at two monsters, he gains 500 more attackpoints for each one! And when he destroys a monster, they will be removed from the graveyard! Also, when a Code Talker attacks, Cynet Optimization blocks any effect that would get in its way! Your Vendread wont be able to add new Vendread cards to your hand! And you cannot activate your spells in the graveyard either!" All the variables were in place, now he only had to start the fight. "Decode Talker! Destroy Vendread Battlelord!" With its looped sword, Decode(4300 atk) could carve even the strongest undead to pieces.
"Not gonna happen! I activate Vendread Daybreak!" On the other hand, with his trap Khan could destroy all cards on the field except for one ritual summoned Vendread monster. Khan targeted the Executor and, since Eldlich the Golden Lord could not be destroyed by card effects, he would have two survivors from the Daybreak's destructive effect. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Khan! I counter with Cynet Conflict!" Back on Charles' field however a counter trap waited. While its user controlled a Code Talker-monster, they could negate one effect and return the source to the deck. "Bastard!" The day never broke for the Vendreads. Instead Battlelord's bone armor broke as Decode Talker Extended battled it and erased all of its zombified body from existence.
Khan's LP: 2600
"One down." Void smirked and activated Trackblacks's effect to draw his first card. "Now, Linkuriboh can summon itself from the graveyard, if I sacrifice a level 1 monster on my field!" Decode's second attack got enabled as soon as the Datacorn traded its place with the Linkuriboh[Zone 3], as that also counted as 'leaving the field'."Decode Talker! Destroys Revendread Executor!" The second swing of the blade ended with the mutant executioner's own gruesome execution. This ritual monster too was purged before it could crawl back into its cosy grave. "Two down." Charles drew another card.
Khan's LP: 300
"I almost thought you had me there. But you couldn't finish the job, could you?!" Khan started to laugh maniacally when he realized how narrowly he avoided defeat. "And what was all that stuff about destroying the source of my mania about? I still have Eldlich! Why didn't you try to remove him huh?" Charles could not keep attacking with his remaining link monsters, and the golden Lich could not be destroyed by card effects either. "Thanks to a certain someone I now know that the trick is not to destroy your new cards. They're just a symptom. Besides your Golden Lord can only keep its powers until the end of my turn, after that its just a shiny beatstick."
"A beatstick? You're trying to make fun of my golden Lord? I wonder if you can still laugh when I let them tear you to pieces!" Khan, now fully enraged, activated his face-down quickplay spell. "Eldlixir of White Destiny! I special summon a monster from my graveyard! Revendread Savior!" None of Charles' monsters could kill the heroic Revendread Slayer(1600/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Zone 3] either. At this point Bionis did not have a lot he could revive anyway. "? People always tell me I am too serious." In the next phase, Void placed one card face-down in the spell/trap zone. Then he performed another link summon with Trackblack as the link material. "I summon Secure Gardna. Its link material is another link monster and it negates battle damage done to me once each turn." He ended the turn and, just like predicted, Eldlich(2500/2800) powered back down before the next turn could begin. Though Decode(3300 atk) also lost the powers it gained from Decode Destruction.
-TURN 05-
"Ha! You're scared of me! You've got me at deaths door and you're still a coward! Some hero you are!" Khan looked at his next card and let a nasty grin linger on his face. "You will love this then! I activate Eldlixir of Black Awakening! It summons one zombie from my deck to the field in defense mode! I summon Bayonater the Baneful Barrel!" Black liquid poured down on Khans dueldisk, and it leaked across the field. "Watch out Boss. He's gonna attack you with alliteration!" Blanche cried out as a living bayonet rifle(1/500/0) [Zone 4] emerged from the black slime. "What I am going to attack you with, is my monsters effect! Bayonater strips a thousand attackpoints from one monster, for each monster my rival controls!" The Baneful Barrel gun stared at the opposing army with a single eye growing out of its scope, and counted three monsters. Then it fired three quick bursts into the Extended Code Talker(300 atk).
"And I still have the Eldlixir in my graveyard too! I banish White Destiny to set a Golden Land trap card to my field. And I will sacrifice that trap card, to resurrect Eldlich!" There was more than one golden land trapmonster and more than one golden lord buried in a sarcophagus. Bionis used up the remaining white water to set Conquistador of the Golden Land from his deck. And the card that Revendread Anima discarded previously: the second Eldlich, used the Conquistador as the cost for its own recycling effect. Khan added it to his hand and special summoned It(10/3500/2800) to the field with improved attackpower and immunity to destruction effects. "Your Decode is all his, Eldlich. The rest will destroy your freeloaders!" The weaker Lich and Avendread Savior had their own prey: Secure Gardna and Linkuriboh. "Tch." Charles sacrificed the Kuriboh to reduce the attackpoints of the attacking Eldlich(0/2800) to zero. And the Gardna's effect prevented any of the Vendread's damage from doing anything more than destroying it. "Goodbye, Void!" The next attacker would not be so unlucky.
Though Khan would still not be that pleased. "You should know better than that, Khan! The duel is not over as long as I still have cards to play! I activate Recoded Alive!" Charles flipped a trap that could banish any LINK 3 monster, from the field or graveyard, to special summon any Code Talker from the deck. "I banish Decode Talker Extended, and summon Decode Talker!" Decode experiences a transition of color and light, shifting into its dark-blue and gold-edged armor. "The original?" Khan was momentarily taken aback, since this Code warrior(2300/LINK 3) {Up/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] did not have any of its attackpoints reduced. "As if that one has a better chance! Eldlich! Attack!" The Golden Lord's punch into the Decode Talker's chest caused tremors all over the place, and fractured the monster into pieces. "Looks like I am still in the lead, Khan."
Charles' LP: 2100
"Rgh! Shut up, Charles! Don't let a few thousand points go to your head!" Khan fumed. The duel had long since passed the point of enjoyment for him. He just wanted Charles dead. "Code Talker! Code Talker! Its always Code talkers with you! Even when you can make your own cards! But you're not the only one like that anymore!" A wicked idea entered Khans head, as he performed a link summon between Revendread Anima and the Baneful Barrel. "Look at what I got! My Deathcode Talker! Hahaha!" As a result, a zombified twisted mirror image(3300/LINK 3) {Up/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] of the original Decode appeared before Charles. Its armor was rusted and grey, its sword chipped, and ravenous red eyes peered through the cracks on its helmet. "You created your own link monster?" Heleil had never dreamed of such a card. "I am the conqueror! Whatever I destroy, I add to my collection of trophies! You're next, Charles. This wont end until you lie in the ground as well!."
DesCode Talker, DARK/Zombie 2300/LINK 3
2+ Effect Monsters
Gains 500 ATK for each monster it points to. Zombie monsters this card points too cannot be targeted by card effects or destroyed.
"And then what?" Echo decided to speak up suddenly. "What was that!?" Khan did not appreciate the feedback and screamed at her. "You're so full of feelings that are not making you happy. Full of anger, for Charles, for Exeter, for everyone around you. Doesn't it get tiring? You destroyed Valkyrion, did that do anything for you? What about Charles, what will you do if you beat him? You will just go on to the next person to hate, maybe someone you do not even personally know." In spite of everything she felt pity for the man, because he lacked something that any soul should possess: peace. "You think I want to quit? You think this has an ending? This will never stop, because humans will never stop! There will always be another dirty secret or treasure to drag into the light! Treasures like that Chalice that Exeter kept for themselves! I know what you want, Echo. You want to make people happy. But you're only doing that by brainwashing them with either your powers or by turning their memories against them! You're just going backwards!" At the end of his turn, he could banish the Golden Land Conquistador to set yet another Scarlet Sanguine Eldlixir trap down on the field. "And I will always move forward!"
-TURN 06-
"Hatred and revenge are not a way forward, Khan." Void claimed as his turn began. "Echo is right. You've forgotten why you started hating people in the first place, why you became Bionis Khan. All you have left is the image of that hatred. I think it is time I reminded you. I banish Recoded Alive from my graveyard to special summon my banished Code Talker!" Because there were no monsters in his extra zone, Void could bring the color inverted Cyberknight(2300 atk) [Zone 1] to his field out of the next dimension. "I activate Hypernova Burst! I can banish two monsters from my hand or field that cannot be normal summoned! Then I draw two cards!"
Cards that could only be special summoned came in maindeck variations too, like the Striping Partner cyberse in his hand, or they were as obvious as the Decode link monster on his field. "You're taking quite the risk, Charles Adami." The Fisherman pointed out, since Charles had to banish his best monster face-down this time. Though he also admitted that Charles did not have a lot of alternate options either. "I am getting used to making a lot of gambles, Fisher. And this one.. allows me to use Monster Reborn!"
"Say What!?" Khan winced. Of all possible choices, Charles used the omnipresent reviver spell to bring one of his monsters back to life: Bayonater the Baneful Barrel [Zone 3]. "Weakening my monsters? Is that what you think is gonna happen here?!" He retaliated quickly with the Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine. "Think again! I special summon Doomking Balerdroch!" The trap called out a new zombie from the deck: the skull-covered demon serpent Balerdroch(8/2800/2000). Each time a zombie activated its effect, Balerdroch could negate it or banish a monster on the field. The Baneful Barrel would not get off its power no matter what.
Just like Charles figured he would. "Oh. Thank you, Khan That's just what I needed... I'll take that one too, thank you." He activated the spell Mind Control, and gained control of Balerdroch for one turn. "WHAT? You can't.." Khan felt like the whole world turned upside down. "I just did though." Charles turned both monsters against Khans legion. Bayonater the Baneful Barrel targeted Descode Talker and stripped 1000 of its attackpoints away for each monster Khan controlled. Then Balerdroch used its own power to banish one of the Eldlich Lords that were linked with Descode Talker, so the latter(0 atk) abandoned yet another powerboost. And with Khans miniscule lifepoint amount, even a monster as puny as Bayonater could decide the duel. "You bastard. You.. Why!?" For the duelist filled with loathing, there could be no more humiliating loss. But Charles felt it sounded rather poetic. "I thought you wanted to give the weak a chance to win: Khan?"
"Then why should it be you? Why are you winning? What are you doing it for? What do you even want, Void? What are your dreams? Your hopes? What are you going to do with the items? Nothing! Right?!" Stripped of his weapons, he could only vent his rage through words and swears. "Dreams huh? Dreams are the reason that allowed me to be here, Khan. But maybe you're right, maybe I do focus too much on the present instead of the future. Before I met any of you, I never really made longterm plans.. I did not really have any aspirations. An now all I can think about is stopping Static." Charles confessed. "Ha! See! You're a nobody who is trying to make himself feel important by making an enemy out of someone as powerful as Static! As if that makes you better than me! You're just like what you said I was!"
"No. I am not. I don't do this because of who I hate. I do this because of who I care about." Charles gave a quick glance to Blanche. She did not let on if she noticed. "And that even includes someone as stubborn as you, Khan." The cyberse duelist raised his hand and closed it into a fist. "Bayonater! Attack!" The living bayonet demon rushed across the gorge and impaled the once mighty Descode with its blade. A single stab splattered its remains and code all over, and it scattered Khans lifepoints along with it.
Khan's LP: 0
"He did it!" Blanche let out a cheer of triumph. "Indeed. And now Echo can control him in any she wishes." A cheer that Heleil quickly undercut with a startling fact for the white haired duelist. "Pardon?"
Khan the conquered kneeled down before miss Echo and Charles Adami but kept his jaws clenched. He would not give either the pleasures that came with victory: he would neither beg nor rage. Charles remained silent as well. For he did not know what actions Echo would take. "We have to seize this chance, miss Echo." The Fisherman did weigh in on the matter, as his lady seemed undecided and unsure. "Remember. He is the one who destroyed Valkyrion. I do not like to think of it that way, but can we let him go? I do not want it to happen again." Fisher spoke not out of anger, but fear and concern. Even so, he would let her make the choice. "Whatever I do.. it cannot bring Valkyrion back, can it?" Echo asked and looked at those around her. Only one could answer the girl: Scarlet Rose shook her head solemnly. "Then there is no point in hurting him back. That is not the way." She finally gave Khan all of her due attention and made sure that he could hear her. "But I do not want this version of you as a friend...
"That is why you will stay alone and not speak to anyone or duel anyone else, for as long as possible. And that cross you have, you will leave it here."
Though Khan clearly did not agree with the command, he had no choice but to obey. He tossed Scarlet Fever's cross device to the ground and tapped his dueldisk to quickjump away to places where he could not bother anyone. "Was that not too harsh? Is he doomed to walk this network forever?" Dyzanthium felt rather horrified to see the power of Echo in action. "Echo's power should not last for long, at least that is what I have observed." Scarlet Rose replied as she strolled over to Khans former spot and picked up the Scarlet Cross. She would enjoy picking that apart later. "I suppose that does fit with the statement made by Judge Wallace. Nevertheless, you must understand why this ability of yours concerns people."
"I know, miss Dyzanthium. And I promised to never use it against anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. That is what I told Vigionair and miss Aurora as well." Echo revealed. "Whoa! So you know where they are? They didn't join Statics whole Brotherhood of evil duelists?" Blanche wished someone had told her that earlier. "No. They were able to avoid it. But we lost sight of them before. We have to find them soon, and my other friends too. I can sense that the Fire Princess is in trouble. And we still do not know where Mephistar is either."
"And we will find them." Charles swore. Thanks to his new trick, he and Echo both could move people through the subconscious layer without fear of being intercepted by the World Ark. "We? Are you still in this with us? This may not be the time to ask, but I would like to know how you can be here in the first place." Heleil asked the duelist formerly known as Void. "I had help, from some scrupulous scientists. I don't know how long I can stay but while I am here... I will make sure everyone is saved from Static's 'evil'"
...
In the virtual forest, one man lay sprawled out over the grass and ground, too damaged to speak or act. He could barely see the world around him with his tired eyes, but he could see them. "Mister S. It is me, Hikaru. We have found the subject." One individual appeared with an army of mechanical wooden soldiers under his command; hundred of them surrounded the unfortunate duelist. "Yes, we will begin the transportation now." The leader terminated his call and kneeled down to look his target in the eye. "You will be coming with us now, Sundown Mephistar."
(To Be Continued in World 034: Unverifiable)
New cards used by Charles Adami
TrackBlack
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Hypernova Burst
New Cards used by Khan the Conqueror
Bayonater the Baneful Barrel
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Descode Talker
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Eldlixir of Black Awakening
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Vendread Daybreak
