World 036: Killed By Curiosity
Less and less the medieval capitol of STHEREA resembled the safe haven it used to be. The giant tower of Static descended like a heavens harbinger of doom, planting itself in the middle of one of this major hotspot. Paradoxically it could be spotted from any point in the network, defying the usual limits placed on its visuals like draw distance and asset loading.
"Our former friends have done some remodeling." Scarlet Rose and the heroes saw it as well. Though they also found the giant forest fire left behind by one of Echo's companions, giving Echo, Cierze and the Fisherman their happy reunion with the Fire Princess, the others could not help but ponder the presence of the giant on the horizon. "What do you think they are doing in there?" Charles had to assume Static was waiting for something. Not knowing what the enemy was up too was even worse then being actively attacked by them. "I can only imagine what your other self and my other self could concoct, Charles Adami." Scarlet Rose stated as she used her special eye to zoom in on the city. A sizable pyramid-shaped dungeon appeared to have attached itself to the side of the castle. "But I can see my old lab... which used used to be invisible. Scarlet Fever seems to be more daring than I ever was. But one thing should still be true, Charles. If I were her, I would never stop working."
...
The outside of the dungeon matched the inside, an endless maze of tombs and stone walls lit with torches and filled with coffins and paintings. Undetectable portals and dead ends completed this labyrinthine setting: unless you were invited you would never make your way to the very core. Though having a Legacy Item under your control certainly helped. "Good evening, Wagnerok." The scarlet scientist greeted her new guest, giving him the quickest route towards her workplace. "Evening? I.." Though usually confident in every act he took, Wagnerok did find himself slightly disturbed as he stepped inside. "What is she doing?" It did not help that a certain Shaddoll Construct was performing her own experiments in the corner of the room: an experiment involving a lifeless body hidden under a tarp. "Just another project. It helps to split my workload. Static Void has so many ideas that need realizing." The main Scarlet Fever sat in her chair in front of a large screen, analyzing code and processing data. "Static Void? Is that what we're calling him now?" Wagnerok grunted. "I thought a little joke would help lift the mood."
"I dont need your comedy, I need your insight. It's about this whole 'splitting up' thing in the first place. How can there be another you? I mean, another you that has a mind of her own?"
"Oh. You mean, why did Rosemary break free from my programming and neutralize my other two ADIs? Figuring that out is also one of my sideprojects. However.. the fact that you came to me implies hat you already have a theory of your own." Scarlet spun her chair around and looked at the Valkyrie duelist with a finger placed under her smiling face. "Tch. It's not my theory, its yours. The other you... I saw her. I heard her talk. She said things I did not want to believe, yet I keep thinking about it.. Scarlet, what are we? Exactly?" Part of him did not want the answer. But if Static lied to them about their own nature as well... he could not keep lying to himself. "Ah I see. That is a good question. But why ask me here, and not in front of the others? If its Static you are affraid of, you should know that he can probably hear what we are saying right now anyway." The former doctor answered with her own question. "I am not affraid of anyone!" But Wagnerok could tell that she had a proper answer waiting as well. "Well, I wont state my hypothesis out loud. But if it is correct, then you should be able to see some unusual consequences soon. Ask Chiaroscura if she can help you. She will understand what you are looking for.."
"Scura? The Armor? Pfah!. When did the woman of science become a make of riddles?" Wagnerok grunted even louder. "When science became too limited to account for what this world can do.. and for what I am going to do."
...
High and low they searched, for any sign of further life, catching each other up along the way on unfortunate events like Himiko's abduction and Therese's imprisonment. However, it became increasingly riskier to travel out in the open, which was why Echo and her entourage eventually returned to Pandemonium. Where it all began for some. "I never thought I would be happy to see this place." Charles muttered. "Eh, it has a certain charm to it." Blanche grinned. "Scarlet said she added a lot of protection to the place. And she gave me an app that lets men come and go here without using that annoying maze. You want it?" She turned on her dueldisk and showed a shiny new button on top of the device's screen. "What? You let Scarlet give you a new program without checking it first? Her, the virus doctor?" Even if Charles could accept new software in his current state, he was not sure if he should. "Okay, maybe I should have given it more thought. But this version of her seems nice to me.. Plus if the other Scarlet took all the evil out of her, she must be all the good parts, right?" The two duelists both stared at the strange ADI that called itself Scarlet Rose. "I am not sure the mind works that way." Charles mumbled.
"What if we never find Sundown.?" The atmosphere proved a lot less uplifting the closer you got to Echo. "What if he is... gone." The Unchained duelist remained the one friend they could not track down. "I doubt it. Scarlet.. I.. we made many improvements upon Sundown Mephistar's design. A single defeat should not have destroyed him or reset him. He still likely took some not insignificant damage while dueling the black baron, which may hamper his mobility. And this world is vast, we have yet to check every sector." Scarlet Rose said with the cold clinical tone that was expected of her. But her words still created hope. "Does that mean.. that maybe Valkyrion survived too?" Hope that the damage done so far had been less severe than what Echo witnessed. "No, Miss Echo. I fear not. I analyzed the device that Khan used, and I see no way to reverse its damage. Sadly I also lack the tools to make you another ADI." The doctor spoke with a little more regret in her tone, as she tinkered with the Scarlet Cross taken from Khan. "I.. I would not want another Valkryion. I wanted him." The girl in the wheelchair looked down dejectedly. It had been a fleeting hope after all.
"So, I am kinda behind on everything. But these monsters are like Sundown, right? How does that work? Like.. could you turn this.." Madam Blanche interjected and activated her speedboard: the speedboard that looked like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Into a talking dragon?" Its appearance shocked Echo's friends briefly, but they quickly realized they were only looking at a prop. "Ah... I did want a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. So many people love her.." The sight of the dragon cheered Echo up just a little bit. Blue-Eyes and the element of light would have made for a fine partner in her circle of elementals. "I know. What's not to love? Maybe I'll let you ride it one day, when we're not knee deep in trouble." Blanche could respect a duelist with her kind of tastes. "I would like that." The girl nodded.
"Hm yes that particular card was on my list, but I would need an ADI's source code to make a proper monster of it." Scarlet still liked to imagine her working on it, despite her lacking equipment. "And then I presume you take the memories of a certain person to it to give it a semblance of life. Because you had access to all of those as well, didn't you?" Charles stated bitterly. He felt far less appreciative of her work. "Yes. But I did not hurt anyone by doing so." The Scarlet Rose claimed. "No? Did you think I'd forgotten how Static made Sundown, the duelist you based all your work on? He did it by taking Judge Hieronymus' consciousness away! I have nothing against Echo's allies, they did not ask for this. But I cannot ignore the ethical ramifications you keep bumping into every time you do something." He did not care which Scarlet he was telling this to, they were both guilty of this act. "Charles, I took a lot of minor knowledge from thousands of people all at once: backed up knowledge. None of the original sources lost or forgot anything. In fact I believe Valkyrion's experiences were only added to theirs. His moments on this world would likely have reached the dreams of the people that created him. In a way, he still lives on."
"Does he? That's.. nice to know." The Fisherman let out a sigh of comfort. He assumed it would be the same for them, if he were ever to be 'destroyed'. "It is still not the same as having him here. We cannot let it happen again." The Fire Princess on the other hand would only be comforted if she could bring an end to the people that caused the hurt in the first place.
"Well, I might be able to create a countermeasure to Scarlet Fever's deletion tool. But for now I would urge you to stay here where you can be protected. Unlike them, we have to stay here." Rose gestured at the trio of heroes: one of which could log out whenever she wanted. And one could leave as soon as she let Charles use the Chalice on her. "I want to stay here as well." That, Crescent did not want to accept yet.
"Crescent, I wish you would let me heal you. I do not know for how much longer I can be here." Charles said. It astonished him that he'd been allowed to stay for this long to begin with. "Well if you are worried about that, boss. You can give me the Chalice... Just in case. I can promise you that I am not secretly Static in disguise." Madam Blanche offered graciously. "Actually you're right. Why didn't I think of that?" He let out a small chuckle and almost absentmindedly handed the chalice over to her. "The World Chalice now belongs to Blanche." His verbal decree finalized the trade. "Man, that was too easy. Makes me wish I really was the bad guy for a second there. The look on your face would have been great!" She laughed while Charles just groaned. "Anyway! I still agree with him, Aurora. You can always log back in after a couple of hours. But I really think you should let this cup do its thing. I mean, how long has it been now since you went back home? Days? A week?"
"I..I don't know." Crescent had been Crescent ever since the tagteam tournament ended, she could not even remember the last thing she did in the real world. "But if I go, I want to know one thing first. I know I cannot save Himiko.. and I do not know where Therese is either. But I have to see if there is a way to save Wagner." The girl turned to Scarlet and Echo. "You said that the real Hydra and the real Bionis were trapped inside Schwarzwald and Khan. But now they are free like you.. free yet still a part of STHEREA. How can we be sure? Where are the real Hydra and Bionis now?"
"I think Charles and Blanche here would know the answer better than me. They have been to that world and escaped it as well." Scarlet pointed at the cyberse duelist, who figured out what she meant. "The dream world?" Blanche chimed in. For once she knew more than the doctor did. "Yes. If they are not conscious again in the real world, which our champion friends should have verified by now, then they must still be drifting in the subconscious layer of STHEREA." The Scarlet ADI explained.
"But if you got out, so can they, right?" Crescent asked further. "Maybe, but it took me forever. And that was only after I literally dueled my own demons and all that jazz." Blanche did not want to go through that again. "I've been meaning to ask about that actually." Charles said softly. "Oh yeah.. you saw some of that too, didn't you? Maybe I can tell you about it some other time, boss." Blanche sighed. She did not notice that Echo stared at her with a subtly sympathetic and knowing look.
"We have to do this." Crescent spoke up again. Therese could theoretically also be saved this way, since she'd directly been sent to the nightmare by Static. Just the thought of that possibility filled Crescent with more joy than anything else she'd done in days. "We will." Charles swore. Blanche's expression told him that she agreed as well. "It may feel a bit strange though. I don't know how deep we have to go down." So far Charles had only traveled on the periphery of that subconscious realm. Though he could at least control how to leave and enter that edge. "I think only me and Echo can break that barrier. But as long as we stay together, we should be fine on the inside." Charles extended a hand, assuming that Crescent would want to do this right away. "You have my gratitude... That is how you say that, right?" Crescent thanked him in her own way and took his hand. "That is fine. And I want to save them as much as everyone else... Echo, Scarlet. We will hopefully be back soon." Blanche, Crescent and him would scour the dreams of duelists. He trusted them to hold down this fort in the mean time.
And with a simple thought, the trio crossed over. "This is.. " Crescent wanted to describe the way she felt here. It was as if she had closed her eyes and started walking in a void pictured in her own head. "Try not to get distracted. This place tends to create what we think about. We just need to focus on Bionis and Hydra." Charles advised her. To start with, he imagined the canyon. The place where the two duelists had been separated from their alter egoes. "Ah." Crescent could not believe what she saw. Through Charles' will alone the whole world flipped upside down: the great ravine swallowed the city of Pandemonium. "They started here. But they must have drifted off afterwards, maybe they weren't even aware of it. So try to think, what do we know about them?" Outside of dueling, he did not know much about Bionis, and even less about Hydra. But that would be a start, so he envisioned all their past duels in his mind and..
...got distracted. "Uhm, boss. I think we got problems." Blanche cleared her throat of whatever it was that people breathed in here. "Bad company-type problems."
"What? Gah!?" Charles had been too focused on finding friends to expect his enemies. "Scura? Wagner?" Two duelists wandered the bottom of the ravine: two friends of Static. "Not Wagner, Wagnerok." Crescent shuddered. "I am not ready for this." She did not want him to see her again. "It should be alright, Crescent. They cannot.." By all rights they should have been invisible. Yet for some reason, Scura seemed to be on high alert. Her nerves were glowing, because the World Armor had been activated. "We are not ready. We have to leave!" Crescent knew what power would come next: a pulse of virtual reality that shocked all three of them.
"Aha! I told you I could do it!" Scura's sharp voice entered their ears while their bodies re-entered the real world. "Indeed. It would seem I owe you." She and her fellow item-wielder: Wagnerok spoke to each other, oblivious at first of what they caught. "Yeaheheh. Now remember, I want my playhouse to have three floors! Lots of stages on the first floor, a nice suite on... Hey wait a sec? Those aren't.." And what they caught was not what they set out to catch. "Its him! The real Void!" Wagnerok instantly activated his Word Shield. He carved out the very ground underneath their feet and trap them underground. "!" Fortunately Blanche did not need much of an instruction manual to use the World Chalice. She held it out in front of her and poured out a flood of cleansing water. Any changes Wagner made to the landscape were undone, and the terrain around the trio remained stable. "Yeah and it looks like they still have the Chalice. Pity." Scura let out a moan. As long as Blanche kept that chalice close, she could not paralyze her or Charles.
"So you really are Scura?" Blanche could not help but be flabbergasted by her friends appearance. In contrast the bare-chested Wagnerok looked exactly like what she imagined a reborn Wagner would look like.
"Hey Blanche! Surprised? Jealous? Help me narrow it down, heheh!" Chiaroscura still did not get tired of everyone's reactions to her new style. "What did you do to us?" Charles on the other hand bothered her with technical questions, which she had much less interest in answering. "Hey I did not plan to find you three, the armor sensed someone who used its power before, that was you eh Crescent? I simply used a good old burst of armor energy to pull your avatars into this world. It worked on Cherry too!" But she did anyway, since it let her brag. "Cherry? You found her?" At least Charles got his answers about her, even if they were not the answers he'd been hoping to hear. "Yeah but she got away, which is a pity since I could use a musician for my club. Dont think she'll be coming back either. I left a nice scar on her. Not the 'I am badass now' kind of scar, but the 'will never duel again' kind of scar."
"Scura, be quiet." Wagnerok growled. "Aurora. What were you doing in those dreams? Were you hoping to find someone? Therese perhaps? Or Hydra? Tell me!" He demanded as he stepped towards her. "If you want to ask someone, you can ask me instead, Wagnerok! It seems clear to me that you were looking for the same thing!" Charles positioned himself in front of Crescent, knowing that she could not defend herself. "This is between her and me, Charles! She does not need you to protect her! I can do that far better!"
"What?" Crescent flinched. She was not prepared for words like those. "You heard me, Aurora. I forgive you. I forgive you for your weakness.. and the shield does too. Just come back to me, and I will take care of you. I will not let anyone hurt you." The words came out in a compassionate yet also domineering way. "Eugh, you've really gotten worse at this." Blanche wretched. "Do not listen to him, Crescent. He just wants to control you! I doubt he even cares about you!" She also placed herself in between the weather girl and the increasingly irate shield wielder. "Blanche I.." Crescent wanted to thank her, but she feared the ways in which Wagnerok would react. And he took the worst one. "You two. You will not get between us!" Wagnerok slammed his world shield into the ground and caused the floor to shift around. "No!" Blanche and Charles were pulled away and Wagnerok used this momentary confusion to lunge towards Crescent Aurora. "Last chance!"
"Gah!" At the last second Wagnerok got smacked back by a mechanical claw. "Ahahaha! What was that?" Chiaroscura looked up at the source of the attack: Topologic Bomber Dragon. "For real!"
"Hydra?" Crescent gasped. No other duelist they knew had a card like that. "Schwarzwald!?" Wagnerok crawled back up. "Where are you!? How dare you strike me?"
"I thought you knew how this worked by now, Wagnerok." The owner of the cyberse dragon spoke, using his classic disembodied voice to get the attention of the whole room. "Oh that's Hydra alright." Madam Blanche laughed. She would ask him how he found them, but she remembered Hydra being a professional in the art of dramatic last-minute appearances. "It is. I suppose I should thank you. Because your thoughts were on me, I felt drawn to this particular.. mirage. I cannot say I fully understand why this is happening, but I understand who my friends are." Bomber Dragon was there to let his enemies know whose side its master was on: not Wagner's or Scura's. "Well, even if I cant look you in the eyes I am glad to have this version of you back, Hydra. No offense, but you were being a real dick as the black baron." The white dragon duelist said with a big grin on her face. "I was aware." Hydra replied morosely. "Wha?"
"I was aware of everything Schwarzwald did, Madam Blanche. It felt like I was experiencing a dream as another man entirely, a dream that was far too real. Seeing you here and now means that I was right, it really happened. But when Echo defeated him I was freed from those chains and left to wander other strange dreams.. Here I felt myself drawn towards you. So here I am now... You will have to take my word for it." Hydra could not exactly show himself even if he wanted too. "I believe you Hydra. But this is not the same form as the one you used to have, is it?" Charles remembered how his actual proxy had been destroyed when he dueled against the World Chalice and CTO of Exeter. "No. It is not. But I feel it is fitting that I would have this form in my own subconscious. Schwarzwald was the first fake face I put on to get closer to people, but he and I are now too different to be reunited. He wants to separate all bonds between people.. I want to savce them. And that includes the people still trapped inside their own real nightmares."
"Save them? Ha! Next you will be telling me you've been talking to Bionis behind the curtain!" Wagnerok howled. "I see now why Scarlet told me to come here. But she was wrong! All I hear is the weak mirage of that failure of a baron! Scura, you hold the others at bay! He is mine!" He charged forward and slammed his shield against the Bomber Dragon to push it back. "You will not save anything, Hydra! Because you will face me first! And I, Wagnerok, will send you back to the shadows from which you came!" The duelist pulled out a large sword to go along with his shield and placed his cards on it as if it were a dueldisk. "If I am a mirage, what does that make you?" Hydra inquired dryly as he dismissed the dragon to prepare for a true duel.
Hydra's LP: 8000 Wagnerok's LP: 8000
-TURN 01-
"Not the fool Wagner. Not anymore. He was a pawn, I am a king." Wagnerok received the first turn and used it to place three traps down on his field and only that. "My eyes are open and I see everything: all the realms and all the possibilities!"
-TURN 02-
"Is that so? Then I suppose you have also shed anything that would tie you to the fool known as Wagner." Hydra remarked and let his opponent make the move he obviously wanted to make. "Of course! A king and a wielder of legacy deserves not an army, but a universe! I activate Generaider Boss Fight! I can activate Generaider Boss Stage from my deck! And my opponent will draw one card!" Wagnerok's trap created a pulse of light for every dimension, traveling across the floor and across the sky. "Boss Stage?" Hydra gasped. The light converged and formed the shape of a large tree. One small circle lied at the root, seven circles spun around in the middle, and a solar sphere glowed at the top. "The world tree?" Crescent knew what this symbolized, because Wagner always talked about it. "Yes! These are the nine realms of the world tree!" At this point Wagner activated his middle trap too: Appropriate. When the opponent drew a card outside their draw phase, this continuous trap would draw two cards for its controller.
"So you have decided to go from one interpretation of mythology to another closer to home. But what is this card's power, Wagnerok?" The invisible duelist inquired as he drew the card given to him by Generaider Boss Fight. "You're seeing it right now, Hydra! When my opponent adds a card to their hand, Boss Stage will summon one Generaider from my deck! I choose the Light Elf Boss from the world of Alfheim: Frodi of the Swords, in attack mode!" The topmost circle of the middle ring lit up with a divine green radiance: and a majestic angel descended. Frodi(9/2500/2000) [Zone 3] had flowing and long blonde hair, wore white feather-rimmed armor that covered his face, and wielded a great golden sword. "Then, when a Generaider is summoned to my field during my enemy's turn, I can fill my field with Generaider tokens!" The tree of light released smaller beams down towards the ground and created a set of mechanical silver fairies(4/1500/1500) [Zones 2,3,4 & 5]. Their limbs and torso were made of floating crescent shapes and rings and a spiked halo crowned their heads. "See this, Crescent? This is my light. There is one god for each realm, and at least one for each element! And unlike you, my elements will not fail their legacy!"
(To Be Continued in World 037: The Dragon with Nine Lives)
New Cards used by Wagnerok
Frodi, Generaider Boss of Swords
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Generaider Boss Stage
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Generaider Boss Fight
