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.

57. World 049: Not Going Back

World 049: Not Going Back

"This is preposterous! Why are we sitting this one out?" Wagnerok moped and sulked on the walls of the castle. While Donna, Zettai and Khan got to engage with the champions new army, the owners of the legacy items were forced to hold the last defense line. "You know why. You also know that if you really want to fight, you can give me the legacy items for safekeeping." Schwarzwald reminded them and gave them all an unpleasant offer. "And let you lose that one too? Never!" Wagnerok balked at the very idea. "Yeah I am with Waggers over here. If I cant have any fun, I am going back inside. Something about this feels fishy anyway.. and also bo-ring." Chiaroscura let out a forced yawn and walked back into the castle complex.

"Hmm. You are awfully quiet yourself, Veyron. Do you not feel concerned about your former friends?" The Baron turned his wicked tongue towards the wielder of the Legacy Wand. "I know which side I am on.. I am no fool, Schwarzwald. Static was the one who opened the gates, not Echo." Veyron spat. "Oh. And yet you alone continue to wield the legacy item that was meant for two. Is that advisable?" Schwarzwald needled him further. "It is advisable to not spread ownership around. When the seven items are complete, than I will have what I want. In a way Static helped show me that I am better off alone. People used my brother to get to me and vice versa. Now I am free of those burdens.. almost" He could bury his past and anyone who dared to bring it up again. "Yes. Yes indeed. That is the truth. In the end, ties are useless. All you need... is yourself." Schwarzwald nodded. "But it does not hurt, to find a kindred soul.. once or twice."

"Even if I did need a partner, it would not be you. There is only one duelists I respect. And our time will soon come."

...

Madam Blanche took a wondrous gander at her new surroundings. "This is... a little groovier than I bargained for." She'd counted on finding Hydra inside a dank dark dungeon cell. Instead she and Vigionaire stumbled upon a scene right out of a party club. The floors were reflective, the ceilings covered with bright disco balls and colorful roomfilling lights, soft furniture and indoor pools were scattered across the wide open room, and the windows gazed out over a nightly skyline that did actually exist beyond those walls. "I am starting to think that this is not part of Scarlet Fever's design." Even Vigionair could not see the mad scientist develop such a garish taste. "You think that stuff is real?" Blanche could not help but notice the bar in the corner with an open cabinet full of liquor bottles. "We do not have the time to be distracted, miss Blanche. Perhaps this is some form of a lotus eater trap, perhaps this is one of Statics friend indulging the freedom of this world. Either way, we have to find Hydra. And if he is not on this level he must be.. Above or below." V pointed towards a spiraling staircase that went two ways.

Against their better judgment, the two checked the upstairs first. There they found a large bedroom that seemed like it would fit a queen, but nobody to sleep in it. "Oh thank god." Downstairs however they came across a place that fit Blanche's expectations more: a jailcell inside a bizarrely rocky basement. "I mean... Hydra!" And there they also saw the unfortunate duelist, his face and body still partially invisible. He was chained to the wall and seemed to be unconscious. "Hang on! V, can you get him out of there?" The blue-eyed duelist could not get the bars to budge. "Just a second." The encrypter came with his own special weapon: a simple program that emerged from his dueldisk like red fireflies. "Interesting. It seems this is all constructed from STHEREA particles, repurposed by an outside power. The World Shield I would presume. Still, it is nothing I cannot delete." His little flies started eating away at the constructed bars and chains, letting Hydra fall down to the floor. "Oof. Sorry about that." Blanche winced and picked him up. "Okay, we got him. Lets get out of here!"

"...I would love too.." Vigionair grunted. "...But?" Blanche did not like his sudden change in tone. "I failed to anticipate this. It would seem this area has been converted into a no-jump zone. We cannot teleport out, nor can we enter the subconscious realm. Not that we are particularly good at that. Our only option is to either go back the way we came, or to find Scarlet and use her program." They could also log out, but Hydra would likely not appreciate being ditched. "Well, better get going then." The sooner Blanche could leave this place, the better.

"Where are you taking targetboy?" A pity then, that they ran into the owner of this establishment as soon as they came back to the ground floor.

"Scura!?" Blanche flinched and involuntarily dropped Hydra to the floor again. "Ah, sorry again.. Wait. This is your place? And how did you find us?" That revelation had to be the biggest surprise of the day. "I sensed you, duh." Scura flared up her nerves. No computer tricks could fool her World Armor. "Soooo? What do you think? Wagnerok helped me build this place, since he owed me one. I would have been more than happy to invite you for the grand opening, I think I can host about a thousand people in here.. maybe ten thousand! But you just had to go and cheat yourself in, eh? Guess I should turn some of those ADIs into bouncers next time." The girl in the black dress snickered. "No thanks, Scura. I've seen what you do with your guests." Blanche snarked. "What? You mean him? I barely touched him... so far. Scarlet tired him out first and its no fun trying out my powers on someone who is barely awake. How does someone pass out in here in the first place?! And wait... you're telling me you came all this way to save his skin? I knew something was up with that mess outside.." Chiaroscura snapped her dueldisk into action. "Too bad you're not leaving. Once the party starts, there is no stopping it! Blanche!"

"V, watch Hydra. I will take care of this." Blanche accepted the challenge. "Oh.. Yes." And the encrypter stepped back to let her have her way. "Scura. I guess this would have happened sooner or later anyway. Let's duel."

-TURN 01-

Blanche got the first turn and placed a trap card face down. "Ahahah? Starting with your favorites? Let me guess, that's Mirror Force. When you cant bust out the big dragons you take your overkill from trap cards!" Chiaroscura was not exactly impressed. "Well, guilty. But I guess if you arent gonna fall for it, I might as well bring the force to you. I activate Fang of Critias!" The white dragon duelist exclaimed and used the atlantean dragon to make a fusion monster out of a trap. "Eh?" Scura's eye twitched. Critias absorbed the Mirror Force in Blanche's hand, and transformed into a black scaled dragon(82800/1200) [Extra Zone 1] with four wings and symmetrical five-fingered claws. "Yeah it comes in dragon form too now. If you try to target my monsters for attacks or effects, he will destroy all cards on your field. FYI." Immediately afterwards Blanche normal summoned a new dragon, a yellow serpent dragon with a cosmic nebula in its chest. "Starliege Seyfert! I can sacrifice it to add a dragon to my hand with the same level as it!" Seyfert(4/1800/0) [Zone 3] collapsed into itself and drew the level 4 dragon, Keeper of the Shrine, from the deck.

-TURN 02-

"So you learned some new tricks. Guess what, so did I!" Chiaroscura's greedy fingers snatched a spell from her hand and slammed it down on the board. "I activate World Legacy Survivor! The top five cards of my deck are discarded, except for one World Legacy or Krawler card!" Through her magical deck excavation Scura found more than enough to play with. Of the five cards (World Legacy Pawns, A/D Changer, World Legacy Mindmeld, Subterror Nemesis Warrior, Ret-time Reviver Emit-ter), she held on to the first card.

"So Cherry was right. You did take a shine to the World Legacy." Blanche remarked. "Oh you chatted it up with her eh? I bet she gave you all kinds of pointers!" With a wide grin, she normal summoned the Subterror Guru(4/1600/1800) [Zone 2]. "Guru flips himself and your monster face down!" She would target the Mirror Force Dragon in spite of the consequences. "Then he will destroys your cards!" The Dragon unfolded its wings which were coated with a reflective glass scales. Though it did not escape the effect itself, it reflected energy right back at Guru anyway. "Ha! Card you mean! Let me show you a new card I made just for me: Crossed Out Nemesis!" Scura performed her own reflection, creating a pitchblack forcefield in front of Guru to repel the repelled energy.

Crossed Out Nemesis, Quickplay Spell
If one card you control would be destroyed by a card effect, you can destroy 1 face-down card your opponent controls instead.

"If that's what you want, Scura!" And Blanche, accepted the destruction of her trap with a pleased expression. "Trap card, Mirror Force Launcher. When this set card is destroyed, I can set both it and Mirror Force back on my field!"

"Saywhat?" Scura flinched. Her new spell backfired and caused her opponent to have twice as many traps on her field as before. "And Mirror Force can be activated again during the turn it is set by the Launcher." Vigionaire commented. "Yes! Thank you, I can see that part! Bah, you tricked me! You cheated!" The darkly dressed girl fumed while the white-haired duelist kept quiet. "And even if I do waste a monster on your trap, Launcher can add it back to your hand on your turn. Heh. Well that's fine. I don't have to attack this turn anyway. If I can't hurt you, what's the point?" Finally the effect of Subterror Guru resolved, causing it and Mirror Force Dragon to disappear in their own shadows. "I'll just use this chance to set up my own defenses! I special summon Subterror Behemoth Speleogeist!" Now that she no longer controlled face-up monsters, Scura could bring out the first Behemoth in her hand. Speleogeist the bone-covered demon dragon(11/3000/1400) [Zone 3] could then flip itself face-down with its second effect.

"Is that what you want to do now, hurt me? Hurt everyone? I gotta say you can find a better hobby." Blanche said, wondering how serious Scura was about the things she brought up. "Oh that's just one aspect of it. I have a load of other fantasies I can make reality if I want too. Have you seen this place? Have you seen what Scarlet can do? Eh Hydra, you tell them how it was here! Eh? Ah he's not gonna talk is he?" Scura looked at the still paralyzed duelist and scoffed. "Well either way, Cherry got out before I could get creative. You, you are not gonna get off that easy!"

"Anyway less talking, more dueling! I activate A/D Changer, and switch my monster back face-up!" World Legacy Survivor had left plenty of good cards deep in the ground as well. By banishing the red and blue-flag waving AD Changer, Scura could switch a monster to attack position again. In Speleogeist's case, that also activated his earth shaking flip effect. "When Speleogeist goes face-up, one other monster is switched to attack mode too! Not yours of course, but mine!" The rumbling of the Behemoth roused the hidden Subterror Guru(0/1800). He lost his attackpoints, but not his effect to add Subterror cards to a players hand. "I add Subterror Succession to my hand! Oh and before I forget, since my Subterror Behemoth flipped face-up, I can make Subterror Nemesis Warrior crawl out of his grave as well." A large black blade pierced the already loosened earth, his owner being the redhaired cave warrior(4/1800/1200) [Zone 4]. "And with two Earth-type monsters, I get Link summon Missus Radiant!" Subterror Nemesis Warrior and Subterror Guru flew up into the link circuit. Within an instant they transformed into a hairy yet majestic doglike beast(1400/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] with a unicorn's horn and plenty of jewelry-like rings and pearl necklaces.

"I guess at least your element didn't change much." Blanche noted. Missus Radiant added 500 attack and defense points to all EARTH monsters (Missus: 1900 Atk, Speleogeist: 3500/1900) while taking 400 points away from all WIND monsters. "I was almost worried that you'd replaced your entire deck with Melyria's creepy crawlers."

"Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to pretend I am someone else? I have her power, but I am still me.. Blanche. In fact isn't it funny how guys like Wagnerok try so hard to prove themselves when they are the ones not satisfied with their own cards? With their own past? Meanwhile I finally get to be as free as I always wanted to be, and people tell me I should go back to being that weakling who could not even break out of her own shell? No, this is me now. And you can deal or die! I activate World Legacy Mindmeld! I can banish it from my graveyard to set one Krawler monster from my deck to a linked zone!" Scura pulled the card out so fast that Vigionaire and Blanche could barely seeit. "Deus X Krawler? A Krawler?" The encrypter still managed to capture footage of it and read its name as he reviewed the images. "Hey, I didn't say I was gonna ignore all of her monsters. This one is just too good to pass up." She placed the monster [zone 4] down along with a trio of trap cards. "Now, your turn! Make it quick, Blanche!"

-TURN 03-

"You were changing. Jenna was changing... But Static just made you a new personality and called it a shortchut. He didn't give you freedom, he gave you a prison called Scura." Despite what she claimed, Blanche knew she was not talking to Scura. But unless she defeated this current version of her, she would never see the original again. Blanche activated her Fusion Deployment spell card. "But like you said, less talking more dueling! Fusion Deployment can special summon one monster from my deck if its a material of one of my fusion monsters!" She selected the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, with its three Blue-Eyes White Dragon fusion materials. The spell formed the easiest path towards an instant Blue-Eyes White Dragon(8/3000/2500) [Zone 3]. "I also flip Mirror Force Dragon back face-up! And then I attack Missus Radiant!" Her dragons struck from two fronts. The Mirror Force Dragon released its white flames upon the Radiant beast and killed it. That left Speleogeist(3000/1400) on equal terms with Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Both monsters killed each other in a crossfire of dark and white beams.

Chiaroscura's LP: 7100

"Tss. You got the first hit, and I barely even got to enjoy it." The subterror duelist felt a little shiver run up her spine. "But if you want to smash your dragon into mine, I can dig that. Looks like we both get something out of this" As soon as the Missus Radiant died, Scura could add one EARTH type monster from the graveyard to her hand again. She did not think it surprised anyone that she chose to reclaim Subterror Guru. "That, and I activate my trap card! SetUpperCut! When you destroy one of my monsters, I can set one monster with even less attack, or the same amount, from my deck to the field!" She dusted off one of her lesser used Behemoths, Ultramafus, and set it [Zone 3] face-down. "I suppose we do." At the same time Blanche activated the Keeper of the Shrine from her hand, since one of her dragons still got destroyed. "The Keeper summons himself, and adds the normal dragon that got destroyed back to my hand!" A red-scaled dragon warlock(4/0/2100) [Zone 3] with a long beard dropped down on the field, and held the spirit of Blue-Eyes White Dragon in his hands.

"By the way, V. How is it going out there anyway?" Blanche took her attention off the duel for a bit, considering she was hearing less and less noise outside. "The diversion is holding, as are our forcefields. But I still do not have a read on Statics location. If they have not found out about our presence yet, then they will soon enough." His estimates were less than hope-inspiring.

"Guess I should hurry things up then. Keeper of the Shrine counts as two tributes for a dragon monster!" Blanche whisked the Keeper away from the field, transforming him into the very Blue-Eyes(8/3000/2500) [Zone 3] that he'd recycled before. "Then I activate White Elephants Gift! I can sacrifice my normal monster to draw two cards!" The classic Blue-Eyes's tenure was shortlived. She phased into the graveyard through white light and left two cards behind. "I... Wait. It happened again?" The sight of which made Blanche stammer. "What happened again?" Vigionair raised a curious eyebrow. But then he saw the cards she received: Guardragon Promineses and World Legacy Survivor. "The Legacy?"

"The what now? The Legacy? Very funny, Blanche." Scura dismissed their ravings as more jokes, until Blanche revealed the spell to her as well through its activation. "What? That's my card!" She protested. World Legacy Survivor did the same thing for Blanche as it had done for her: first excavating five cards from the top of the deck (White Stone of the Ancients, Ring of Destruction, World Legacy Guardragon, Arkbrave Dragon, Ruins of the Divine Dragon Lord), then adding the World Legacy card to Blanche's hand. "Not anymore. I guess the more generic support goes to everyone who finds a legacy item." Blanche took World Legacy Guardragon and discarded the remaining four cards. "But you dont have the Legacy Item! You gave it to Void!" Scura cried out again. "Hey, I dont make the rules. I am as confused as you are. But this happened to me in my dreamworld as well." The dragon duelist shrugged. "Maybe it has to do something with the fact that I didn't really lose the Legacy Item. I just handed it off to Void."

"Blanche! V!" At that point, Charles and Scarlet Fever found their way into the clubhouse. "What? More of you? I should have known you would be here, since you two have gotten so close to each other" Scura snapped. "That has nothing to do with this, Scura. We simply infiltrated this place together, and when they did not show up sooner, we decided to come after them." Or rather, Charles had decided. If he'd let Scarlet Rose choose their plan, they would have retreated by now. "I see what delayed you now." He tried his best to ignore the setting of the duel, and focused on the duelists themselves.

"Hey but we found Hydra." Blanche muttered back. "Indeed. However, if Scura has located us. Then it is only a matter of time before the others show up here. Continuing our stay here would be most foolish." Scarlet Rose spoke rather cold-heartedly, but she was right. "Well, I am rather tied up at the moment. But if you have to go, take Hydra with you at least." Blanche figured that Charles would want to stay with her at any rate. "That can be arranged. Vigionaire, what will you do?" Scarlet Rose inquired as she easily picked up the unconscious Hydra. "I do not have much of a choice here. If I leave, their cover will be blown even more." It was his scrambling software that kept them hidden even in the middle of this duel. "I see. Fortunately I kept a spare backdoor program for emergencies. Just remember that I can only keep this open for 20 minutes." Scarlet tossed a glowing orb at the floor. "So I hope to see you on the other side, and only you." The orb transformed into a rectangular gateway that she disappeared into along with Hydra. "Heh. Likewise." Vigionaire made a mental note to study that program later.

"Are you all done talking like I am not in the room? Pfeh, you come in here like you own the place. But I am the host here, and I'm gonna make your stay very enjoyable.. for me!" Chiaroscura yelled and activated a continuous trap. "Thanks to World Legacy Pawns I can flip one of my monsters each turn! So I flip Deus X Krawler!" The monster that spun around first appeared as a golden shield(9/2000/3000) with a red core at the center. But then many of the shields folds opened to reveal eight insect legs, a golden centipede tail, and a hundred black nerves. "I would have done this earlier, but you didn't even use a good effect monster until now!" As the endphase began, Blanche could activate the White Stone of Ancients that got sent to the graveyard that turn and special summon a Blue-Eyes monster from her deck in defense mode. "Until now?" Blanche cautiously special summoned the elegant shimmering Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon(8/2500/2500) [Zone 2] from her deck. However the dragon's many powers were immediately drained away by the Krawler's nerve tendrils. "Yeah! As long as I control a flipped Deus X, your monsters on the field cannot use their effects!"

-TURN 04-

"But only on the field.." Charles muttered. At the start of the next turn, the Arkbrave Dragon in the graveyard could also use its effects to revive one other dragon from the graveyard. "... I special summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon in attack mode!" Blanche hid herself behind the destructive white dragon [Zone 3] again.

"Yes. You guys really have a talent for stating the obvious. But that's just like you, right? Simply put as many big monsters on the field as possible? I never really appreciated how much we were alike, Madam Blanche. But something about your dragons always rubbed me the wrong way. They're too pretty, too pristine. Monsters should be ugly. They should not look as good the duelists using them!" Scura normal summoned the Subterror Guru(4/1600/1800) [Zone 5] again. "Guru flips himself and Deus X Krawler facedown!" Subterror Guru could target Scura's monsters as well with its effects. "You undid the negation?" Though this oddly robbed it off the chance to set Mirror Force Dragon while that cards effects were negated by Deus X Krawler. "Didn't need it anymore!"

Now that all the monsters on her side of the field were hidden from sight, and the last setting triggered the Subterror Behemoths in her hand. "I special summon Behemoth Stygokraken!" The first followed Guru's flip and appeared swimming in mid-air: the red-tusk and blue-hide plesiosaur Stygokraken(5/1400/2600) [Zone 2]. Like all other Behemoths it could change its own position to set itself face-down. "And when I flip that one, I can also special summon Behemoth Dragossuary!" Scura dumped the last card in her hand on the field as well: the charcoal-scaled red zombie dragon Dragossuary(6/2400/1600) [Zone 1]. "Then I activate Subterror Succession! With this I can trade one flip monster for a lower leveled monster with the same attribute in my deck!" Still acting rather strangely, Scura went with Deus X Krawler as her choice, and placed a brand new Subterror Fiendess in her hands instead. "And now I am done setting my mines, its time to start shaking up your field! I flip summon Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus!"

"Dang." Blanche winced. The volcanic rock beast Ultramafus(12/3000/1400) was he largest and most powerful Behemoth in the subterror caves. When it moved face-up, all other creatures would cower and set themselves face-down. "Ha! Cant reflect what does not target!" Dragossuary, Deep of Bue Eyes, Blue-Eyes White Dragon and even Mirror Force Dragon disappeared in the shadows. Meanwhile in a separate chain, Subterror Nemesis Warrior [Zone 4] placed himself back on the field after the succesful flip summon of the Behemoth. "Anyway, Nemesis Warrior will use its effect this time." Scura said before sending the Subterror Behemoth Stalagmo to her graveyard. The Warrior did that so that he could special summon that discarded Behemoth by using himself and the face-down Dragossuary as pseudo-sacrifices. As their combined levels exceeded the level of the Stalagmight rock behemoth, it(10/2800/2100) [Zone 4] could break out of the graveyard soil. "I love it when a plan comes together. I reactivate World Legacy Pawns to flip Stygokraken! I can destroy one set card for each Subterror Behemoth on my field!"

"Double dang." In a fell swoop, Blanche lost three of cards. The Kraken widened its tusks like pincers and crushed Mirror Force, Mirror Force Dragon and Deep of Blue-Eyes in between. "Is that all you have to say, Blanche?" Scura cursed. "You're still holding back, arent you? You don't want to hurt me and you think you don't have to! You've always under-estimated me! Both of you! You can can laugh all you want. But you will wish you'd used those Legacy cards against me, Blanche! You will wish you'd taken me seriously when I am done with you... Because I do not hold back." Scura clapped her hands together. "Come on out, Subterror Behemoth Fiendess!" She took two flip monsters to create the queen of the Subterror realm: Subterror Behemoth Fiendess. "Now you gotta ask yourself, Blanche! What attack do you think will be more fun? Hahahah!"

(To Be Continued in World 050: A Tolerance for Agony)

New Cards used by Madam Blanche
Starliege Seyfert

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Mirror Force Dragon

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Fusion Deployment
World Legacy Survivor

New Cards used by Chiaroscura
Deus X Krawler
Subterror Behemoth Stygokraken

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Missus Radiant

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World Legacy Survivor
Crossed Out Nemesis

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World Legacy MindMeld
SetUpperCut