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.

68. World 060: Because the Crime is Small

World 060: Just Because the Crime is Small

"I do not understand! Why are you showing me this!" Yoro-Himiko could neither hear nor see her parents, but there was no doubt in her mind that they could see her every move and hear her every word. "Answer me!" So she shouted at the walls of her room and out the windows into the garden. The only thing stopping her from simply breaking out was the knowledge that she had no place left to go to. She'd only make it a few feet before one of their servants would try to stop them. "What have you done to Zanbatou!" The servants that all seemed to be hopelessly devoted to Shintaro now. She'd noticed within minutes that the duelist on that monitor was not the same one that had dueled along her side. They did something to him. "I knew you were always eager to control me, but this.. this is beyond the pale." If they could alter the way people behaved, why had they not done it to her as well? They knew they could not keep her inside of this place for long, they had appearances to uphold. This did not make sense...

Nor did it make sense that they were willing to show her what they were hiding. It was clear that the virtual world she saw on that monitor was not the STHEREA she left behind, and yet those people were her friends. In the end she could only imagine this as another test concocted by their twisted minds.

...

"Reborn? In what sense? How are they accomplishing that?" Many times had Charles heard talk about a project like this, but now he stared straight at the source. "I know only what I have been told, and I did not ask further. Shintaro created this virtual facility to test the stability of an artificial consciousness. Not just a consciousness like theirs.." Zanbatou started his explanation and pointed towards the Fisherman and Fire Princess as physical examples. "..but like my own." And he pointed at the remaining tubes in the lab, which were empty now but seemed big enough to hold humans. "You're telling me.. you came from one of those?" Charles Still could not quite believe it. "Yes, this current avatar you see is not the one that you met in STHEREA. That kind of avatar was just the next step after the creation of ADIs: a link between the mind and the body. They are now ready to go to the next phase, with me. I was recreated here, and have been able to exist her for more than 24 hours now. But my memories are still the same, I am still the same."

"Are they trying to become purely digital? That is insane." Heleil shook her head when the realization hit her. "Is that why... Exeter built those cities for them?" Project flute, recording the memories of every network user, all the recreated real-life territories, the subconscious layer and every closed virtual system outside of STHEREA: it all connected to this somehow. The Shintaros were working on a way to not just become immortal, they were building a world where everything would be everlasting. "It is more than insane. It is blasphemy." Zettai cursed and grabbed Zanbatou by the collar. "Do you not realize what they have done to you? They've carved our your spirit and planted it into this fake body! They're trying to imprison the soul! No.. not just that. They are trying to kill it and replace it with their own mindless subjects!" She tossed the man to the ground and growled at him. "You are not even alive anymore."

"Calm down, Zettai. We do not know the details yet." Hydra spoke up, trying to make sure none of their surrounding Karakuri observers would leap into a defensive action. "We cannot wait for the details! Do you believe they will not do the same to us if we let them?" The ace duelist did not care to calm down however, though her words struck Hydra as rather ironic. "As far as I can see, it is no worse than what Static tried to do to me. What he is still doing to you." He said, but he knew she would not listen. She could not turn her own judgment on herself. "This has nothing to do with that! They do not care for human lives, they will not care their own daughters life either! We are wasting time standing here listening to him! If they're waiting for us upstairs to face their final trial, I say we show them that we will not follow their script anymore!"

"I would agree, we will get nowhere if we linger here. But what can we do in our current state? At this point it may be better for us to retreat and discuss what we learned so far." The Fisherman suggested. He at the very least wanted to bring Olympia to safety now that they had recovered her. "No. No retreat." She had a different opinion however. "Olympia? You want to stay here?" He was surprised to hear her, even more surprised to see the look on her face. "Zettai is right. We cannot leave now. We have to show them.. we have to teach them what happens to anyone who is trying to twist life like they are trying to do." It was a look of pure hatred, and Olympia felt it for the first time since her own creation. "We have to burn it all."

...

"Guys! We're over here!" Cierze flapped her wings as she noticed the three duelists in the void heading her and Cherry Anise's way: riding in on their majestic carousel horse. "Whoa! Where did that come from? Can I ride it too?"

"You can fly." Mephistar noted dryly as he jumped out as soon as he could.. "I take it you dealt with your trouble on your own." He noted the lack of a backdrop for the Trickstar duelist, which should still have been visible if her duel had not ended yet. "Yeah you're a little late to enjoy the show, aintcha? What were you having fun at the circus too while I was here?" Cherry grumbled. "If only. We both stepped into this big mess. Like you I faced my personal demons too." The chained duelist did feel himself getting a little curious as to what her opponent could have been. "Personal demons? It was just smoke and mirrors, nothing to care about at all." She boasted and tried to play it off calmly.

"Really? You seemed pretty intense about having to beat Ezra again." Only for Cierze to stomp on that plan with her blunt honesty. "Tch! They don't need to hear about that! Besides this guy was nothing compared to the real Ezra, what with that Dream Mirror deck they were using. If Static wanted to stop me from trespassing, he should hvae tried something else than some second degree burns." In a damage race, nobody could outspeed her. "Though it sounds like you got something better, Mephistar."

"That's not important right now." Blanche quickly broke up the conversation, unsure herself what it meant that Cherry had to duel against Dream Mirror monsters while Mephistar got the more specialized opponent. "We're back together, and that is the good news." Now they could concentrate on finding their friends again, no matter how long that would take. "Yeah! We should always look on the bright side of things! Though... did we even make any progress at all? Just how big is this place?" Cierze had already lost track of the time they spent in here. "Well if it is as big as a dream can be, I'd gamble it could be near infinite." Blanche said with a deep sigh.

"It is, and it isn't." Echo said as everyone boarded the mechanical horse again. The girl in blue was beginning to understand what could and could not be done in this void. "A billion people, a billion dreams: there is always someone dreaming in one part of the world at any moment in time. But dreams do not live for more then a handful of minutes, any space that's made here disappears immediately. Most of them just do not exist...while they are asleep." She started to guide her ride through the nothing to get a sense of the world around her with her hands. "Yeah but we're only trying to find a few people, not a million." Mephistar pointed out as he tried to figure out what she gestured at. "Yes. The memories I have will only help me track down those that have been in STHEREA before. And Khan, Scura and Vigionaire.. they aren't experiencing natural dreams. They're trapped in a nightmare that will not go away, a solid mass of emptiness. I can feel it pushing back.. Static is keeping us out with our own memories." She pressed her fingers against the fog. "But we dealt with all of that now. What is even left?" The chained duelist cursed.

"Me." Echo answered. "I still have to make my move."

"You? You mean your dreams? But.. uh... how? Can you fall asleep?" Blanche had to know how that even could be true. "I can.. close myself off if I want too. I have dreams, but not like you would have them. Mine are as clear to me as the world is to you. I just have to close my eyes.. and I can see what I want. But I also see what I do not want, what he wants." This subconscious layer of reality belonged to her as well, it was the reason for her being able to walk in it. Yet Static had lived in it for a much longer period of time, he knew a lot more than she did. "But if the point of the nightmares is to change us into our 'evil' selves, why would he try it on you? I really doubt that he can pull that off." The blue-eyed duelist asserted. With Miss Echo being the very antithesis of Mister Static, there should have been no reason for one to be able to corrupt the other. "I know that, I was just affraid to keep going. What if I find out what my nightmares really are? What if I find nothing at all? What would that mean for me? ...But I cannot be selfish either. I am the one holding you back, when I should be the one pushing everyone forward. So.. I will."

Echo started to dig her fingers into the fog high up, stirring it as if it were made of water. The swirling fog turned into a whirlpool which opened a rift out of the nothingness and into another dream. "This is it, this is the nightmare he prepared for me." They all flew inwards.. gravity shifting 180 degrees around to make the ceiling the new ground. "Whoa!" The mist of the dreamers left them all in a field of flowers, one that stretched out as far as all eyes could see. "This is on earth too?" Cierze had never seen such beauty before.

"No.". Cherry Anise had, many times. "This is Paradise.. Millenniums Paradise? Why would we be here?" Compared to the world that she herself experienced, this felt like a breath of fresh air. "Why are you affraid of this place, Echo?"

"I.." The girl's voice faltered. "This is where.. I said goodbye." The memories came back to her. She clutched her chest and forced the mechanical horse to land, transforming it back into a wheelchair as if to conserve her power. "Goodbye? To who?" Mephistar immediately shot glances around the meadow. "!?" There he spotted the shadow of a man, outlined by the glowing sky above the horizon. The shadow belonged to the man hat had made Echo feel sadness for the first time in her existence. "Midsummer.." The man with the name she struggled to say. "Nightmare.."

"My fair lady Echo; we meet again at the break of day." He looked the same as the day he'd left this world, the same harlequin-colored gentlemans coat, the same fierce red hair and the same black and white eyeless mask. "Midsummer.. you came back. You're not still hurt, are you?" He looked better than ever in fact, considering his avatar had been damaged by Static the last time they saw him. "You are still as beautiful as you are kind. Nothing can hurt me, now that I am here with all of you.. my good friends." He spread his arms out like he wanted to give them all a big hug.

Only Cierze seemed willing to receive that hug without questions. "Wait.." Mephistar stopped her though and approached the masked duelist with his dueldisk already activated. "This is not the real Midsummer, remember? This is just the trick that Static conjured up for this place. But you should be the last one to take him up on it, Echo." There was no reason for them to play along, they could not risk losing her. "What are you saying? You are mistaken, Mephistar Sundown. I would never think to turn against the fair Echo. To make her fight, such a dream is impossible. No, I have a different reason for out meeting and a different foe." Midsummer relaxed his arms for a moment... only to create a set of cards with a snap of his fingers. "My foe being the white dragon!"

Midsummer's LP: 8000 Banche's LP: 8000

"Waitwhatme?" Blanche recoiled from the sudden activation of her own dueldisk. "Why? What are we even dueling for?" Needless to say this left her almost to confused to draw her cards, but the dueldisk insisted on it. They were having this duel. "Midsummer.. you shouldn't. If you want me, you should not hurt her." Not even Echi wanted it to happen this way.

-TURN 01-

"Echo, my desires have changed. What I want is this. So come now, my sweet. My dear Altergeist Pixiel." With a bow Midsummer introduced the duelists to his first new friend, a cybernetic one-eyed pixie(1/100/100) [Zone 1] with golden nails and glass wings attached via wires. "What do you see with your lonely eye? Ah yes.." Pixiel could tribute herself to excavate the top three cards of the deckand keep one Altergeist card. Of the three (Altergeist Multifaker, Altergeist Manifestation, Altergeist Protocol), Midsummer held on to the monster and discarded the traps. "Twas your sister, she who can be summoned once a trap comes into play. Let us hasten her arrival." Midsummer chuckled and activated his trap from the graveyard. "Manifestation banishes itself, to return the trap that was lost: Altergeist Protocol." The third card added the second back to the hand, while the first left it. Having succesfully resolved Altergeist Manifestation allowed Midsummer to special summon a defense mode Altergeist Multifaker, the multilegged cyberspace faerie(3/1200/800) [Zone 3]. "Alas, Pixiel is gone. Multifaker, please bring us a new.."

"Okay I may not know why you're doing this, but I know what you are doing.. So I activate Effect Veiler!" Madam Blanche stepped over the duelist's lines, as she discarded Effect Veiler to negate Multifaker's effects on the field. "Not that I hate the Midsummer show. But I am pretty sure I cant let you have your way." Normally Multifaker would have special summoned another Altergeist from the deck here. Not anymore. "A famous rebel you are, Madam Blanche. No text can predict where you will stand or run." He gave up on his plans for this turn and lined up his backrow with defensive trap cards: three of them. "But I have many more sights to show you, in due time."

-TURN 02-

"I'd like my sights to stay predictable and boring, thank you." Blanche said as she normal summoned the tuner Master with Eyes of Blue(3/300/1200) [Zone 2]. The white-haired and yellow-robed wizard could return one level 1 LIGHT tuner to the hand, so Blanche could reclaim her Effect Veiler. "I am sure you've seen this trick before too!" Her next move would definitely have been familiar to Midsummer: the Melody of Awakening Dragon spell discarded one card (Guardragon Promineses) to claim two dragons from the deck with 3000 or more ATK and 2500 or less DEF. She chose none other than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and its alternative counterpart. "I special summon my Alternative White Dragon!" She revealed the original Bue-Eyes White Dragon in her hand to activate the special summon effect of the Alternative Blue-Eyes(8/3000/2500) [Zone 3]. "Stop me if you heard this one before but.. he can turn his regular attack into a destruction effect." Blanche played a continuous spell first, Guardragon Shield, before she set out to blow up Altergeist Multifaker with a magical stream of white light.

"That I have. Alas if Multifaker is to die by your dragons light, I would have them die together. Behold the trap, Altergeist Protocol. I shall sacrifice my Altergeist to negate and destroy your monster and her power." The continuous trap flipped face-up. "Figured you would. But I can negate my dragon's destruction with the Guardragon Shield. It sends a normal monster from the deck to my graveyard instead!" Blanche discarded the Guardragon Justicia and guarded her Alternative Dragon behind a barrier of golden waves. "I see a magic behind it can fascinates the eye far more than your dragons ever could." Midsummer voiced his curiosity, and Blanche could not blame him. "Well these cards did not exist a few days ago." She'd gotten a little more studying done on how to use the Guardragons since her duel with Scura, and they were intesting to say the least. Though she wondered how much someone like him could acknowledge their existence.

Those were questions for after the battle. "I synchro summon Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon!" To get a new attack-capable dragon, she had to tune the Master with Eyes of Blue with Blue-Eyes Alternative. Nine stars of light came together into the pure white-scaled yet black-clawed Blue-Eyes(8/2500/3000) [Extra Zone 1]. "He negates any effect that activates in the graveyard, and you have a lot of those. So go get him girl!" The synchro dragon stood up on its hindlegs and fired a transparent beam of flames towards Midsummer Nightmare. "Thus the dragon strikes, but not as swift as it would please you. I special summon Altergeist Kunquery from my hand, so that your attack and your monsters effect may be sealed." The next cyberghost took after the mythical centaurs: Kunquery the robotic unicorn-woman(5/0/2400) [Zone 2] came down in defense mode and paralyzed the Spirit Dragon with its horn's lightray. "Well that one is as annoying as I remember." Her synchro monsters effect would be negated as long as Kunquery lives, and she could do little about that right now. "Well, I set this card... and end my turn I guess."

"Hey I've been wondering. How do we even know that this man is supposed to be Midsummer?" Mephistar remarked. The same thought would be on anyone's mind if they saw nothing of the man but a mask. "Well he sounds about as lofty as the real one. Who else could he be?" Cherry on the other hand focused more on the voice and heard no difference between this duelist and the real one. "For all we know he doesnt even have a face under there, since's he just a figment." She'd never seen his true face anyway. "He does.. he should." But Miss Echo had. And yet she still could not tell if the one in front of them sprung from the real mind of Midsummer Nightmare or not.

-TURN 03-

"What could it mean indeed? Would it even matter in this world of dreams? Perhaps, perhaps not. It all depends on whether or not we can make our dreams a reality." Midsummer let out a creepy sort of ackle and activated the spell of Magic Planter. It sent one continuous trap (Altergeist Protocol) to the graveyard to draw two more cards for the Altergeist duelist. "Dreams of riding, dreams of drowning and dying..." His masked face glanced briefly at the Harpie Lady. "...or maybe even dreams of flying." Then he normal summoned the Altergeist Silquitous: the cyberspace winged siren(2/800/1500) [Zone 3]. "Silquitous returns one Altergeist to me. Then you will have to call back your own monster, Madam Blanche." Silquitous' monitor face looked at the Spirit Dragon with a devilish red grin and covered it with a ghoulish red aura, the same aura that forced Altergeist Kunquery back into Midsummer's hand.

"Yeah I've seen that too." Blanche had multiple ways of blocking this effect, but she did not have to use Effect Veiler just yet. "I summon Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!" Instead she fell back on another classic Blue-Eyes maneuver: the Spirit Dragon tributed herself to summon a new white dragon synchro from the extra deck. And the Azure-Eyeddragon(9/2500/3000) [Extra Zone 1] would block any and all effects that tried to destroy Blanche's dragons. "That is more than just a drop of silver. Yet its shine does interest me not. There will always be a blemish." Midsummer went on and on, and so did his monsters. Without warning a new Altergeist appeared: a purple cyberpixie(1/300/100) [Zone 1] with six wing-like claws on its back, but it immediately disappeared along with Altergeist Silquitous to open a link circuit. "I may use the Altergeist Pookuery as a link material from my hand. And so Altergeist Hextia, with her two Altergeist link materials, will be born!" Hextia the accursed horned Altergeist(1500/LINK 2) {Down/Right} [Extra Zone 2] slithered out of the extra deck with her six arms and creepy smile.

And then came the graveyard effects that Blanche had tried to prevent. "Now, I take back my dear Pookuery and my trap Altergeist Protocol." Silquitous reacted to its own demise by returning another Altergeist trap to a players hand, while Pookuery reacted to a Altergeist link summon by returning itself to the hand. Fortunately Pookuery could only use both of her effects once a turn. "And sadly we must sat goodbye again." Unfortunately Midsummer forced Blanche to go along with his latest farewell, as he activated the Card Destruction spell to destroy both their hands. "Hey!" Blanche lost her Effect Veiler and Blue-Eyes White Dragon for two new cards, Midsummer parted with four cards (Altergeist Kunquery, Pookuery, Protocol, Haunted Rock) at once to make his quadruple draw. "And what do we see? More Guardragons! Truly a veritable feast awaits us!" He exclaimed with his arms raised to the sky. "You seem a bit too interested in these cards." Blanche muttered. "Who did you want to duel again?"

"Heheh. My secret is slowly becoming undone. I must confess: the one who called me here was not the mistress of echoes but you, the lady of the white. For you have something that I desire. And I will have it." Midsummer flipped a continuous trap that became a monster: Altergeist Emulatelf the neon-gold cyber-elf((4/1400/1800) [zone 4]. "But first I will have a new pleasure, my Primebanshee! Her materials are two more Altergeists!" The alternate field took on a decidedly serpentine tone as Hextia and Emulatelf dematerialized and linked together into the three-headed and snake-bodied banshee(2100/LINK 3) {Down/Right/Downright} [Extra Zone 2]. And with Hextia going to the graveyard, Midsummer activate her effect to draw a second Altergeist Multifaker from his deck. "And then a pleasure which was denied before! I activate Redeemable Jar, a trap. Which means I may summon my lovely Multifaker." This time he would get the show he wanted. Though he did not activate Redeemable Jar's effects yet, merely flipping it face-up was enough to satisfy the Multifaker in his hand. Midsummer summoned her to the field, and let her effect special summon the Altergeist Marionetter(4/1600/1700) [Zone 5] from the deck.

"Wait, slow down a second. You're after the Guardragons? Why? Static already stole the World Ark from me. Why would he want my cards too?" Blanche could now at least assume that this nightmare Midsummer had been sent directly by Static Void, but she did not understand why he saw her as more of a threat. "Or is this about the World Armor?" It could not have been that either, since she'd secretly passed off ownership of that item to Dyzanthium some time ago. "You misunderstand me, the cards are merely proof of the power you used to defeat Chiaroscura. She did not see the error, and neither did Static." Midsummer continued his explanation while his Altergeists continued their manipulations. Altergeist Primebanshee sacrificed one Altergeist (Multifaker) to special summon another, Meluseek the mermaid(1/500/300), from the deck. Altergeist Marionetter could then sacrifice Meluseek to special summon an Altergeist from the graveyard: Hextia the accursed(3100 atk) [Zone 4]. "They did not realize that the ark was still yours by right, Madam Blanche."

"Mine?" She flinched. "Yes, you were the one who won the trial of the sixth legacy item. Nobody can deny you its power until they can claim the same victory over you. That is the last key Static requires." Midsummer activated the effect of Altergeist Meluseek in the graveyard as well, which allowed him to move an Altergeist from his graveyard (Altergeist Kunquery) back to his hand. "That is why it is me, Midsummer Nightmare, that has found you."

"But a dream cannot take that kind of power!" Mephistar roared. "Indeed. They cannot. But despite my title I am neither dream nor nightmare, Sundown Mephistar. You may find it beggars your belief, but I am very much real. This was no chance encounter." Midsummer declared and led into his final link summon: joining Altergeist Primebanshee and Altergeist Marionetter to summon a link 4 Altergeist. "Now, let me give the World Ark a show to remember, so that it does forget the name of is future master. I, Midsummer Nightmare, summon Altergeist Memorygant!"

(To Be Continued in World 061: Symptoms of Sympathy)

New Cards used by Midsummer Nightmare
Altergeist Pixiel
Altergeist Pookuery

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Altergeist Memorygant

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Magic Planter
Card Destruction

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Altergeist Protocol
Redeemable Jar

New Cards used by Madam Blanche
Guardragon Justicia

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Guardragon Shield