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.

65. World 057: Chance to Leave Purgatory

World 057: Last Chance to Leave Purgatory

"Hey!" The three groups met again inside the Shintaro castle city, where three roads converged. "Did you see any way inside the castle?" Charles asked, but they had as much luck finding their way around the place as he did. "Great. I don't get this. There must be some way forward."

"Well maybe we should. If the duel was the first test: a puzzle could be the second." Heleil suddenly proposed. "A puzzle?" Zettai grunted impatiently. "Yes. This whole area feels less like a real location, more like a game world. There's even areas we just cannot go into, some houses are empty. Its as if this is a city made for just one person. And that person is probably at the top of the castle, waiting for us to finish every trial like a boss in a videogame. You should know what I am talking about right?" Heleil might have been a champion of dueling, but she also enjoyed less involved games in her spare time. "Not all of us have had that life, champion." The ace duelist raped. "We will play their games for now, but sooner or later they will run out of places to hide and then they will face justice."

"Justice huh..." Charles shuddered. Zettai sounded like a loose cannon waiting to go off. Hopefully Echo would have more luck with her own 'quest'.

...

"So are we doing anything different? Or did it take this long the last time too?" Cherry wondered, while she and the four duelists around her wandered a colorless expanse. "Talking about it is not gonna help." Mephistar grunted. "Actually I think this is the one place where it should help, right? This place is made of thoughts, and everything we say here is another thought. One should help us find the other." The Trickstar duelist explained. The subconscious realm they were in could go on forever, but only if they treated it as an endless void. In this reality they had to make their destination come to them. "Wow, you're really smart!" Cierze let out a cry of excitement. This was not her first foray into the void, but she knew a lot less about it than Cherry seemingly did. "Not really, I'm just regurgitating what all those science boys kept telling me. I didn't care, as long as it got me back in STHEREA." She muttered. She did not expect this Harpie Lady of all monsters to take such a liking to her. But then it seemed like Cierze did not even understand the concept of strangers.

"Well Void found me pretty fast. So I figure it shouldn't be too difficult to track down Scura or Bionis." Blanche shrugged. Everything had been so bizarre today, she just went with the flow. "Maybe it would go quicker if we were flying instead of walking. We could use whatever mode of transport we want really." Instead of a speedboard, Blanche could possibly imagine herself a real dragon to fly on. Though some people would probably consider that a nightmare. "Actually I was wondering about that. I thought you learned to walk?" Cherry brazenly asked the girl in the wheelchair.

"I can walk, in here. But this way.. I can concentrate more on every memory." She sat calmly in her own chair, holding the orb of memories. "I suppose I could give my chair wings maybe though.." She mentioned off-handedly, while staring at Cierze. "But maybe Static was right, and he really did cut them off from everything else. I am looking for Khan, Vigionaire and Scura, but I see nothing out there." The trail felt cold, and the flow stagnant. "Well maybe that is that he wants us to think. If we do not see ourselves accomplishing anything, this place wont let us. We have to do something or we will run out of it!" Mephistar got fed up with waiting and started rushing past Echo.

"Hey! Wait! Don't get lost you idiot!" Cherry chased after him to try to stop him. But before either of them knew it, the empty dreams around them responded to their motion with rising instability. "What now?" Mephistar and the others shielded their face as a cloud-like matter got blown into them and swallowed them whole. Smell, color and noise washed over their senses and forced them into another world: a single dimly lit street between a row of stone houses.

"Wait. iIs this... a dream?" Echo opened her eyes when the fog retreated. "We must have.." She could still feel her legs, she could step on the ground and hear the solid sound of cobblestone. "Yeah I think so. I was just confused since this place looks like the imperial city from STHEREA. I thought we were going to see a real part of the world in here." Blanche ruffled her hair on confusion. Every other time they visited a dream, it had been based on a physical event. "Whose memory did you say you were following? Bionis? I could see him having too many thoughts about the network maybe." Of course, she could not deny that this virtual world could create plenty of experiences that were just as lifelike and terrifying as ones in real life. "I was trying to go for Scura first... but.. this is not her memory. Something got in the way. Someone... " Echo could not focus, a part of this felt wrong. "One of us? Who? Mephistar? Was it you? Or Cherry.." Blanche soon figured out what that was. "Cherry?! Where is Cherry?" They were missing one duelist. "I don't know. Didn't she come with us?" Echo panicked.

"She was right behind us a minute ago, she cannot be far! I will look around!" Cierze flew into the sky and looked around in every corner of the town. But nothing existed beyond the few streets and houses that this dream had made. "She is not here!" The Harpie panicked. "She must be in a world made by her own subconscious then! This is Static's way of dealing with trespassers! If we want to save Khan and the others, we will have to take on their worst nightmares." Mephistar smelled his handiwork all over this. Though he did not yet know whose past this current environment had been drawn from. "Wait! I do see something else!" Cierze let out another shriek. In the distance, beyond the emptiness, a patch of color and light survived. "Maybe that's her! I am going over there!" It could very well be the scene made for Cherry Anise.

"You think she is going to be okay out there? Isn't she made of memories or something? I mean I beat my worst nightmare already, so maybe I should go with her..Just in case. ." Blanche asked after Cierze had left the scene. There was no stopping the harpie lady before that. "If anything happens, I will be the first to sense it. Scarlet told me that, because of how I wanted them to be, they cannot be affected by a single nightmare." Echo seemed content with things the way they were, which surprised the white haired duelist. "You wanted them to be?" What kind of memories did she give them? Echo did not ay it, but it sounded like she'd only picked happy thoughts. That provided a sharp contrast with Sundown Mephistar, an intelligence born of only one memory filled with both negative and positive emotions and experiences.

"No." And currently he only felt the negative ones: fear, anger and distress. "I recognize this place. But it can't be.." He came to realize what place this dream was recreating and when he'd been there before. "Ah. This was the place. Where it.." Echo suddenly received the same very vivid memory. But neither him nor her were the originator. "Yes. It is his last memory." Echo shivered. The one that experienced this place and the one that guarded it were one and the same. "What's wrong? Why do you two look like you've...?" Blanche froze as well, when she saw the guardian walk down into the streets. "That guy? Oh...Oh!" It was the judge Hieronymus, the duelist of the Tindangle demons...

...and the true soul of Sundown Mephistar. "You." Hieronymus glared acted as if he could only see the chained duelist and nobody else. "You are the one, who took my life. Right here, in this very place!" The judge screamed, and Mephistar could not deny it. He'd seen these streets with four eyes: the judge's and the ADI that defeated him. "Yes I remember." Back then he was just am artificial intelligence dressed up as the Magical Musketeer Caspar. The Crown took control his functions and forced him to duel the judge. And while that happened, Static teleported them both to his Arena beyond to create a new monster out of the two of them. "All I remember is you now. But I was more than that Your memories are mine. And I will take them back!" The judge growled and activated his dueldisk. "It is too late for that, if you even are who you say you are. And personally, I don't think so." Sundown responded in kind and used his own dueldisk. "I had no control over what I did then. But I've evolved twice since then, and I do decide my own future now. You will not fool me!"

Mephistar's LP: 8000 Hieronymus's LP: 8000

"Uh, wait. Why do you think this is not the real guy?" Blanche spoke up. "I mean it wouldn't be the first fake Hieronymus we've seen. And I dont say want to be rude. But if I remember correctly, Static ..uhm.. was the one who knocked him out and put him in a coma. So maybe his mind was put inside this nightmare way early on." Blanche did not want to add the part about Static using Hieronymus' mind to create Sundown Mephistar, but Mephistar understood why she brought it up. "You are saying that we stumbled upon the original one, the one that I am not..." He considered it for a second, then dismissed the thoughts. "No. He would not give us that chance. He cannot be Hieronymus. This is just more smoke and mirrors from Static to catch me off guard." He clenched his fist, the anger overwhelmed him. "You said it yourself, he likes to bring people from our past back as nightmares! He did it to Therese Hansen, he tried it with you.. He wants to show us nightmares until we break and become the monsters he thinks we are. But it stops here!"

-TURN 01-

Mephistar drew his card. "It is my turn to show him terror." Mephistar normal summoned the Tour Guide from the Underworld(3/1000/600) [Zone 1] with her infamous ability to special summon level 3 fiends from the deck. "Rakea!" Mephistar chose the Unchained water Twin(3/1500/1500) [Zone 2], though now her effects were sealed as well as her limbs and head. "Aruha!" But in death her powers would run free. Mephistar destroyed his own card to special summon the Unchained fire Twin Aruha(3/1500/1500) [Zone 3] from his hand. "Disaster!" And since Rakea got destroyed, she could special summon one 'Unchained' monster from the deck. In this case that would be the ghostly blue hound Unchained Soul of Disaster(8/0/3000). "And finally, the Soul of Rage!" The Unchained Soul as the key link material initiated a link summon with the Tour Guide along for the ride. From the link circuit the now material soulhound of Rage(1800/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1] emerged and let out its hellish howl. "My Rage.." Mephistar placed two trap cards down as well and ended his turn.

-TURN 02-

"Your Rage? What about mine? You of all people do not get to say who I am. You who took everything from me. Even that card you use, your Soul, wants to devour my cards. But you will not get a single one! You cannot lie to me, because you cannot lie to yourself!" The Judge placed one monster [Zone 5] face down. "I am Hieronymus! The judge of the Tindalos! I can special summon Tindangle Jhrelth face-down on my field by discarding one card from my hand! And that effect also sends one Tindangle from my deck to the graveyard! I choose Tindangle Intruder!" A triangular pyramid of green energy with demonic eyes on every point briefly flashed on the field, before it [Zone 1] turned into a set card. Unfortunately for Mephistar face-down cards could not be absorbed by the Unchained Souls. "Well if he is not Hieronymus, he still pronounced that card like it just rolls of the tongue." Madam Blanche remarked.

"The card I discarded was the Terrifying Toddler of Torment. Not a card to be under-estimated despite its name, because it can special summon itself back to the field if it leaves my hand." A vampiric shadow [Zone 2] leapt out of the ground and its darkness expanded to next column. "When a monster is special summoned in a face-down position, Tindangle Intruder can set itself as well!" The next Tindangle [Zone 3] slithered out of the graveyard without showing its monstrous face. "Then I activate Stairs of Mail! This continuous spell discards one Tindangle to flip one of my monsters face-up! I discard Tindangle Protector and flip Toddler of Torment!" The toddler-aged vampire(3/0/2000) in black robes sprung up from the shadows and activated his flip effect. He could send one fiend-type monster from the deck to the graveyard, which included all Tindangles. "I send Tindangle Dholes! Who can special summon one Tindangle from my graveyard when it heads to the graveyard!" A fourth face-down card joined the unseen Tindangle swarm: Tindangle Protector [Zone 4] summoned in face-down defense position. "I set a trap, and end my turn!"

-TURN 03-

"He did not attack." Echo found that interesting. Part of this defensive strategy likely happened because of Mephistar's monsters, but part of it felt like hesitation.

Mephistar clearly did not suffer this problem. "I do not care what you are: a figment of some deepseated guilt or a trap placed by the man who believes he is my creator! And I will destroy anyone who is in my way!" He activated his own continuous spell, Wailing of the Unchained Souls, and flipped his first trap card. "Abominable Chamber of the Unchained! I special summon one Unchained monster from my graveyard!" He used it to revive the Unchained Soul of Disaster(8/0/3000) who, unlike the link monsters, could target any face-up monster with its own effect. "When you get down to it, you are just another chain I have to break. I will take your Torment and use it to link summon another Soul of Rage!" The Disaster's effect turned the helpless vampire toddler into a link material and absorbed him into the claws of the second Unchained Rage phantom(1800/LINK 2) {Up/Down] [Zone 2]. "Then I link summon Unchained Abomination!" He combined both Rage Souls into a fourway link summon; creating the blackhaired hellhound(3000/LINK 4) {Downleft/UpDown/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] of many horns. "Since I link summoned a monster, Wailing of the Unchained Souls will.."

"Destroy my monster? I know. I know what your cards do. And you know mine. You even knew which card to target.." Seeing the wailing souls coming after his fifth face-down monster, Hieronymus retaliated with a quickplay spell. "I activate the Book of Taiyou and flip Tindangle Protector into face-up attack position!" Now the tindalos demons would reveal their hideous selves one by one: starting with the baby-faced and winged hive mutant Tindangle Protector(3/800/1600). "When Tindangle Protector is flipped face-up, I can flip three other Tindangle monsters into face-up defense position and add one Tindangle card to my hand for each flip! If you really wanted to see them, here they are!" The Protector reflipped the cube-segmented serpent Tindangle Intruder(6/2200/0), the pyramid prison Tindangle Jhrelth(3/0/1800) and the winged flesh mutant Tindangle Angel(4/500/1800). Intruder also allowed a player to add a Tindangle card to their hand when it got flipped up, so Hieronymus could claim a total of four cards(Tindangle Returner, Base Gardna, Trinity and another Jhrelth).

Only after all of that did the Wailing Souls claim their victim, Tindangle Angel. "Tch." Her death came too late. The flipped Tindangle Angel could special summon one Tindangle monster from the graveyard. And since Tindangle Jhrleth's flip effect could send the very powerful Tindangle Hound to the graveyard, Hieronymus managed to bring that beast [Zone 3] to the field in face-down position. "But at least you killed it outside of the battle phase... Did you know he had that card set down?" Blanche noted Mephistar's impeccable aim: Tindangle Angel's effect would have forced a battle phase to end if it took place during one. "I had a feeling. Tindangle Angel is always.. the first card he sets." Mephistar shook his head. He did not want to rely on that man's memories.

"When a card is destroyed by an effect, Unchained Abomination can destroy another card!" The Abomination's right claw cut into the air and created razorsharp winds that sliced the face-down Tindangle Hound into ribbons. "And he can do the same when a monster is destroyed as a result of battle!" The battle phase came next and the Unchained Twin Aruha led with a lash of her chains. The chain wrapped around Tindangle Intruder and crushed it with a burning vice grip. The death of the Intruder allowed Unchained Abomination to destroy Tindangle Jhrelth with a swipe from his other claw. "And your last monster will die as well! I attack Tindangle Protector!" The abominable beast advanced on the defenseless Tindangle and flattened its entire body with a blast of dark energy. "And during the endphase, Abomination destroys one card too!" At the end of the turn, the Abominations roar shattered the Stairs of Mail. Hieronymus might have refreshed his hand, but Mephistar had made sure that nothing existed on his field anymore.

Hieronymus' LP: 5800

-TURN 04-

"You can take as much as you want, but it will not fill the void. You are nothing, Sundown Mephistar.." Hieronymus began his turn with the spell Allure of Darkness. He drew two cards and banished one of his DARK monsters (Tindangle Base Gardna) from the hand. After that he placed one other monster [Zone 1] face-down. Mephistar could almost predict which one that would be. Though the next move looked even more familiar, as the judge discarded a card (Nagels Protection) from his hand to send another Tindangle Dholes from the deck to the graveyard and to special summon Tindangle Jhrelth [Zone 5] face-down again. "It's all the same." Echo whispered, as the sent Dholes activated its effect to reset Tindangle Protector [Zone 4] back up on the field. And the Tindangle Intruder in the graveyard responded to that summon just like it did last turn and revived itself [Zone 3] in another set position. "No. It will not be the same. Because this time I have nothing that can stop my attack. The attack that I deserve. I activate my spell, The Book of Never-Ending!"

The Book of Never-Ending, Normal Spell
Add 1 "Book of" Spell card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.

"I claim Book of Taiyou from my deck, so that I can flip my monsters back into a face-up position! Tindangle Protector!" Once again, Hieronymus flooded the main phase with flip effects. The flipped Protector revealed the now face-up Tindangles Intruder and Jhrleth and added even more Tindangle cards from the deck (Tindangle Angel, Base Gardna, Delauney, Trinity, Intruder) to the hand. "Damn it." And things could get worser third flipped monster turned out to be Tindangle Trinity(4/0/1500): a three-faced chimera of red/yellow and purple flesh. Trinity's flip effect would special summon one more Tindangle from the deck: Tindangle Base Gardna the twelve-sided polyhedron(5/0/2300) [Zone 2]. And it summoned this card right in front of Unchained Abomination. "When a monster is linked to an opponents link monster! Base Gardna can tribute itself to summon one other Tindangle from my deck in defense or attack position!" This time the Tindangle Dholes got chosen to be on the field, and it manifested as a worm(5/1000/1000) [Zone 2] made or triangular blue cubes. Eyes covered the fleshy inside of the cubes, and another larger eye rested in its monstrous threeway split jaws.

"Now, let me show you the original beast from hell! Tindangle Acute Cerberus!" Tindangle Dholes, Protector and Trinity were removed from the field and turned into three materials for the three headed hellhound(0/LINK 3) {Up/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2]. "Acute Cerberus starts with 3000 attackpoints if Base Gardna and at least two other Tindangle monsters are in the graveyard! Then he gains 500 attackpoints for each monster he points towards!" Currently more than enough Tindangles rested in the graveyard and two living Tindangles(Intruder, Jhrelth) were linked with the purple/blue-fleshed mutant Cerberus(4000 atk). "Since Tindangle Trinity is used as a link material, I can also add the trap Gergonne's End to my hand. And I can end one spell or trap card to my graveyard." The Judge claimed his first trap and chose to send another continuous spell: Euler's Circuit. "You are not getting away. I can activate Euler's Circuit and Nagels Protection from my graveyard! They discard one Tindangle from my hand to add a second copy of themselves to my field!"

"Oh no." Echo whimpered. The field went from bad to worse. Hieronymus claimed his two new continuous spells by discarding Tindangle Angel and Tindangle Intruder. The Euler's Circuit formed a magical five-point star symbol of light on the street that would protect three or more Tindangles from attacks. Nagel's Protection on the other hand cast a triangular star-symbol that made all Tindangles in the main zones indestructible. "Why do you pity him? It is I who suffered! Not him! You can sense that I am real, can't you?" Hieronymus cursed out loud at the girl. "I.. I don't know. I don't want him to get hurt either. I didn't want you two to fight." Echo could not stand to watch this any longer. "Hmph. This is not a fight, this is justice. And it is about to be delivered! I special summon Tindangle Returner from my hand! I can tribute a Tindangle and add the attackpoints of that tribute to another!" The Intruder became the lucky sacrifice, and its body melted together with Acute Cerberus(6200 atk). Tindangle Returner, a mutant golem(8/0/3000) [Zone 3] with a triangle on its back replaced the Intruder.

Tindangle Returner, 8/0/3000 Dark/Fiend/Effect
You can target 1 face-up monster you control; Tribute 1 other monster, then Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do that, the targeted monster gains ATK equal to the ATK of the Tributed monster and it cannot be targeted by your opponents card effects, until the end of this turn.
If this card is in your GY: You can target 1 of your banished monsters; add this card to your hand, and if you do, return that target to the GY. You can only use each effect of "Tindangle Returner" once per turn.

"Admit it. This is how it should end! Let me win, and your memories will be absorbed into me. I will be whole again, and you will finally have a purpose!" The judge started his battle phase. "Purpose?" Mephistar wanted to say something back, but his resistance had been going down with every word the judge uttered. "Yes. Your purpose is, and always has been, to be nothing more than a test to see how far a soul can be stretched thin. Static created you, Scarlet remolded you. But in the end you are still a lie. You are a reflection that fooled itself into thinking he could walk on his own. But you do not deserve to. You know their work must be completely and utterly destroyed..." The Tindangle Cerberus declared its attack on the one target that drew all of their hatred: Unchained Abomination. "...and that includes you."

...

"Eureka! I have done it!" Scarlet Fever waltzed into the arena beyond with a gleefully proud expression on her face. "Have done what?" Immediately Wagnerok planted himself in her way with his arms crossed and his frown wide. "Oh nothing I would want to bother your infantile mind with. I believe Static would find this more valuable news." Scarlet would have simple gone around him, if she knew where Static Void had hidden himself. "No can do, Fever. The leader is up there focusing on Charles and his adventures. Anything you need to say can go through me." He chuckled loudly. "Well, you seem to be enjoying your position." Scarlet figured Wagnerok had gained Void's favor simply by managing to hold on to his legacy item whereas Schwarzwald and Scura lost theirs. "But I suppose this suits our purposes fine, as I had not yet conducted a test with the new sample." The vampire woman opened her hand and summoned a bat made of blood. "What is that supposed to be then huh? What Sample?" Wagnerok did not get why everything she created came down to weird stuff like this.

"The method to spread madness. I have isolated the powers that made you and me who we are now, and replicated it. All we need now is a subject to try it out on. The lucky one in a million." Scarlet walked over to the very edge of the arena ring and gazed down at the crowd of roaming duelists. "Luckily I know where to find the one and the million.."

(To Be Continued in World 058: The Shadow That Wanted More)

New Cards used by Mephistar
Tour Guide from the Underworld

-
Wailing of the Unchained Souls

New Cards used by Judge Hieronymus
Tindangle Jhrelth
Tindangle Dholes
Tindangle Returner

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Stairs of Mail
Book of Taiyou
Allure of Darkness