Further up in the tower, Drake and Alice were still running up stairs, much to Alice's dismay. "Would it have killed Dusk Leviathan to install an elevator..?! It's not like he kept his wings!" Alice said.

"Calm down, we're probably not that far away from them by now." Drake said.

"Easy for you to say...What kind of workout do you do to run so much?" Alice asked.

"Running from my father's crap." Drake joked, before they arrived at another large, but empty room. "Oh, come on..."

"Don't tell me we have to play hide and seek..." Alice started, before feeling the floor slightly shake, before noting the door to the next staircase slowly closing. "Ah, crap, that's probably not good." She said, as the two started rushing towards it, but the door was slowly getting closer and closer to shutting.

"Crap, we're not going to make it..!" Drake realized...before being rather forcibly shoved by Alice, with enough force to make him end up through the door before it shut, as Drake just immediately got back up and grabbed at the door. "Alice..?!" He asked.

"...If we both can't make it, then you've gotta be the one who goes forward, Drake. That's your best friend up there." Alice told him. "Now go on, I already know you can do it." She said, as Drake hesitated, but slowly nodded.

"Right..." Drake said, turning around and running up the staircase, as Alice sighed...before seeing a pillar of light emerge from the center of the room.

"What the..?" Alice asked, before seeing the person involved, as they pulled down their dark blue cloak...revealing a rather old man, not too un-similar to the Guru.

"Oh, great. I was expecting your boyfriend to get stuck here. I suppose I'll have to deal with you first." The elder said.

"Yeah, my arranged boyfriend, but wouldn't say no in a regular circumstance, has some better business to attend to than some boomer." Alice said. "So what, gonna show me those Grandmasters you're so proud of?" She asked.

"Of course not. Dusk Leviathan is in his new vessel's hands. However, I do not need the Grandmasters to destroy a wordy little brat." The elder then said.

"Keep talkin', boomer. It'll just make this more satisfying. Got a name, or is the dementia finally setting in?" Alice then asked, putting her Neo-Fight glove on.

"Run your mouth all you like, brat. The name's Alder, and you'd best remember it." Alder said, putting his own glove on.

"Wow. Just like 'Elder'. Try not to have a heart attack before I beat you and get out of this room." Alice taunted.

Heading up the stairs, Drake found another empty room, but without a mechanism for the door this time, but two corrupt fighters dressed up in black cloaks were standing in Drake's way.

"Aha! We knew you'd come sooner or later..." The one on the left one says. "The intuition of Rodney is never wrong!" They declared.

"...No, don't tell me." Drake started, pointing at the one on the right.

"That's right! By surrendering our souls, Rodney and Todney have gained new-!" Todney started, before a very agitated Ray was audible, even from several floors below.

"GOD DAMN IT!"

"...Right, well, since you clearly intend to stand in our way, like you did at the Tag fight with those annoying kids, this is the farthest you'll go!" Todney declared, putting on a Neo-Fight glove. "Hope you can handle a two on one! Or don't, I don't care! Our new decks are unstoppable!"

"Any deck is stoppable." Drake said, putting his own glove on...before hearing a window shatter, as a midnight black dragon flew into the room. "What the-? Wait, you're..!" He started...as Maxon jumped down from the dragon and landed. "Maxon Stark..." Drake said.

"I'd tell you how I know where you all were, but I'm sure you'd get pissed at whoever told me." Maxon said, looking over at the two. "Still, it's not very fair to gang up on others." He added.

"Like we care about fairness?! We're literally pawns of a god now! Fairness can shove it! But if you wanna get knocked flat like the Azure Crimson guy here, be my guest!" Rodney said, putting his glove on, as Maxon did the same.

"Fine, we'll make it a tag fight." Maxon said, looking over at Drake. "I assume you don't have a problem with that?" He asked.

"No arguments here." Drake said, as the four fighters walked around and positioned themself, Maxon in front of Rodney, and Drake in front of Todney, as the four fighters all took out their starting vanguards, and tossed them onto the field facedown.

"If it's all the same with you, I think Rod should have the first move." Todney declared, Drake narrowing his eyes.

"Fine." Drake relented, Maxon nodding in agreement. "Let's just get this over with." He said, before all four fighters called out.

"Stand up, Vanguard!" Rodney and Todney called.

"Stealth Dragon, Magatsu Wind!" Rodney declared.

"Stealth Dragon, Adoba Spike!" Todney declared.

"Stand up, My, Vanguard!" Drake called. "Dragonslayer Mercenary!"

"Stand up, The, Vanguard!" Maxon also called. "Phantasm, Noma!"

"R-Ray..? Are you alright? Why'd you scream?" Gaea asked, concerned.

"Gaea, you innocent cinnamon roll...I felt it. Deep in the deepest cores of my heart. Someone in this building brought up Todney, a name that I absolutely refuse to get over. Because it is the dumbest thing I ever heard." Ray answered. "Now c'mon, let's keep going, I'm sure Drake and what's-her-face are stuck by some other fighters." He started, before noting Marisa and Kyros catching up. "Even better, those two didn't get bodied by the ones downstairs." He said.

"...Hello to you too, Ray." Marisa said.

Wait a minute...The opponent in front of me is using Nubatama...and Drake's opponent is using Murakumo. Don't tell me they intended to get him alone so they could... Maxon started, before his eyes slightly widened in realization.