World 061: Symptoms of Sympathy
Midsummer's LP: 8000 Banche's LP: 8000
"Altergeist Memorygant?" Madam Blanche had seen a lot of freaky cards from Midsummer Nightmare already, but this one took the cake. Memorygant(2800/LINK 4) {Left/Downleft/Right/Downright} [Zone 5] looked like a cybernetic reaper, with wings made of bloodred blades, a thin and purple devil-like body and two bat-wings framing either side of her grinning face. The large scythe in her hands would hav to be the most intimidating feature though. "Indeed. The ghost at the end of the story, the final challenge. You have not seen this before, have you? Are we amazed, Madam Blanche?" Midsummer inquired as he entered the battle phase.
"We are more amazed that you are the real deal, Midsummer. Did Static give you those cards too? Or just your new mission? When did he get to you?" While Echo and Blanche were stunned, Mephistar and Cherry Anise were enraged that the masked duelist had come back only to betray them.. again. "I know to what you refer, but he did not 'get to me'. I came to him willingly, as soon as I heard the tales and found one of those delightful access-points. He alone could repair my injuries, and he asked for this in return." He dusted off his sleeve, despite there being no dust on it. "Now I do believe all should be fair in this duel, to not leave the Ark in doubt. So I shall enlighten you all. Memorygant cannot be destroyed while there are monsters in the grave waiting to be banished. And when I declare my attack, he can destroy one card on the field to gain their current power." Right now the Memorygant formed a co-link with Altergeist Hextia(4300/LINK 2) {Down/Right} [Zone 4], and that cyberspellcaster gained the attackpoints of any monster it pointed at.
"Unleash your power, my Altergeists!" Blanche's Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon(9/2500/3000) [Zone 5] would most certainly die, even with Guardragon Shield active. Her continuous spell deflected the first blow from Hextia, sending a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the deck to the graveyard to negate the dragons destruction. In turn, almost as if it were the punishment for failure, Memorygant cut down Hextia with its scythe and absorbed all of that card's current attackpoints into herself(7100 atk). Another swing from the blade managed to destroy the Silver Dragon permanently. "Okay, I guess you did not lie about your card at least." Blanche muttered. "I do not lie, I would not. Yet It is clear that my performance has yet to reach you." Midsummer now activated his Redeemable Jar trap card. He could banish one trap (Altergeist Emulatelf) from his graveyard to retake another (Altergeist Protocol). Then he placed three trap cards down behind his Altergeist monster. "Though the same can be said for you as well, Madam Blanche. I wish to see this power that Static craves."
-TURN 04-
"Heh. Well I mustn't disappoint my fans." Blanche said in a tone she often used to mock her dear mom, Blanche could hardly ignore them anyway, her hand and grave were full of Guardragons. "Let's go! First I activate World Legacy Guardragon! So I can special summon one lowlevel dragon from my graveyard! Guardragon Justicia!" The first one formed from a pool created by the Legacy continuous spell. The pool transformed further into a small legless dragon(2/0/2100) [Zone 2] made almost entirely out of water. Only the edges of its wings, horns and scales were solid and golden. "Also I summon this guy, Samsara Dragon!" A purple scorpion-tailed dragonling(1/0/0) flew down as well. Red orbs lined its segmented body, blue orbs formed a bead arouns its neck, and a green crystal was embedded on its forehead. "And two dragons together can link summon Guardragon Agarpain!" Fire and water danced together in the sky, and a great power emerged from the extra deck in the shape of the dark-maned serpent dragon Agarpain(1500/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1].
"Agarpain... as in the virtue of charity, Agape. Truly a splendid name." Midsummer exclaimed, tilting his head to admire the creature. "That's where name comes from? Well, I am gonna get even more charitable with them! When a normal monster is sent to my graveyard, I can special summon Guardragon Garmides from my hand!" The Guardragons commanded the earth element as well, forming a flightless horned dragon(3/1600/1000) [Zone 3] covered in crystals and gold/darkblue armor. "Also that condition conveniently applies to Guardragon Promineses! And he can special summon himself from my graveyard!" The element of fire reacted to Justicia's disappearance as well and brought forth the devilish fire-winged Promineses(1/500/200) [Zone 1]. "I will use Promineses to link summon Guardragon Elpy!" Her next link summon took just one lowlevel dragon and created the white dragonserpent Elpy(1000/LINK 1) {Left} [Zone 2] with its single black wing. "And Garmides to summon Guardragon Pisty!" A single lowlevel dragon would also be satisfactory for the link summon of Elpy's counterpart: black dragonserpent with the white wing(1000/LINK 1) {Right} [Zone 1].
"I suppose these two are also virtuous somehow? Even the clearly evil one?" Cherry Anise snarked. "They are.. Elpis of the Hope and Pistis of the Faith. Virtue is not bound by appearance, Cherry Anise." Midsummer replied as he tapped the black and white side of his mask. "Tcheh. If you like duality that much, you should have become a chaos duelist!"
"Well anyway, that's about all of them. Their links don't go any higher, I checked. But that's okay because their markers are the point here... Pun not intended." Blanche turned to her continuous spells and their secondary effects. "Guardragon Shield can increase my monsters attack by 100 for each link marker on the field." The effect, which counted a total link rating of 8, targeted Agarpain(2300 atk). "Then, World Legacy Guardragon can move one of my dragons to another main zone, like this." She shoved Elpy[Zone 3] one space to the left, causing it, Pisty and Agarpain to all point towards the same empty zone. "I cannot summon anything but dragons now. But when Elpy, Pisty or Agarpain point to a zone marked by another link monster, I can special summon one dragon from my deck, graveyard or extra deck respectively! So where to start? I think we'll go big first!" Pisty started the grand guardragon rodeo with the resurrection of Blue-Eyes Alternative(8/3000/2500) [Zone 2], who immediately set forth on destroying Altergeist Memorygant with its destructive effect beam.
"I am affraid you will find my defenses a little more rigid than the knights of old. Such is the force of magic." The unphased yet amused Midsummer revealed the first of his new traps: Altergeist Camouflage. If he could successfully equip it to Altergeist Memorygant, it would be able to dodge all attacks and all effects. "Yeah you always have a secret up your sleeve. But you are not the only one with secrets! Do you remember Icarus attack, Midsummer?" But Blanche still had a trap to spring on the master of traps. "I do! But.. you cant use that, can you?" Cierze had more of a reaction to her question however, while Midsummer patiently waited. "Not that one. But I guess the creator ran out of creativity on the sixth day, because this is basically it for dragons! I activate Guardragon Cataclysm! I can tribute one dragon to destroy two of your cards!" Blanche blew up the Alternative Blue-Eyes in the middle of its own assault, and cracked the earth beneath her feet to send a glowing fissure straight at Altergeist Camouflage and one of Midsummer's other traps.
"I see it was not meant to be, not against such power." Midsummer sighed as the Cataclysm claimed his Altergeist Protocol trap as well. And with the Camouflage destroyed before it could be properly equipped, Alternative White Dragon's dying last breath managed to blast a hole through Memorygant. "However, what is the reaper if not eternal?" He quickly undid the destruction by banishing Altergeist Silquitous from his graveyard, allowing Memorygant to heal its own gaping wound. "Not much of a reaper if it can only reverse death once!" Madam Blanche knew that effect would not go off twice in one turn, and now the thrice-marked zone had been cleared out as well. "Time to go into ultra mode! Agarpain summons Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon!" So it would be the Link 2 Guardragon's turn, and it managed to get help from the three-headed fused form(10/4500/3000) [Zone 2] of the Alternate Blue-Eyes. "He can also give up his own attack to destroy one of your monsters!" The middle head charged up its beam and unleashed it upon the slayer Altergeist. "Death can be prevented through other ways." This destruction too was averted. Midsummer activated Altergeist Camouflage from the graveyard, which protected his Altergeist for this one instance.
"Midsummer, are you still... thinking abut saving them?" Miss Echo realized why the masked duelist kept using that word: death. He wore his mask for the same reason. "Them? You mean.. my family." Because he still mourned the people he'd lost in his life. "Y-yes. Are you doing all of this, because Static promised that he could make you forget about them?" It was another emotion that Echo would never truly understand and did not wish to understand. But while she would try to replace it with joy, Static might seek to bury it under anger. "Forget? I would sooner die than purposefully deprive myself of their memories. No, I do not assist him because of such promises, I would not ask for your help in that field either, lady Echo. It was my error that made me see a false hope whenever I looked at you, my error and not yours. What I want has become something different entirely. If it means the end of our friendship, I will simply mourn that as well. But now it is my turn to help you."
"Midsummer.. I really thought you'd learned by now what friends are for. You just don't get the definition of 'helping peope'." Blanche sighed again. Perhaps Static had gotten through to him without Midsummer realizing it. "I guess in this case there's no better help than a good dragonblast to the head! I activate Master of Blue-Eyes from my graveyard! I can tribute on effect monster, shuffle the master into the deck, and revive one other Blue-Eyes monster! So we're going back from in time!" The Master used the Ultimate Alternate dragon as the tribute, and reduced the three-headed shimmering dragon to the one-headed ethereal Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon [Zone 4]. "The second zone is all yours, Guardragon Elpy!" The final link Guardragon would choose a dragon to be summoned from the deck, and that would be the one element they had yet to materialize. "He summons Guardragon Andrake! This guy will get double his attackpoints if he's summoned from the deck!" Andrake the green wind dragon(4/2000/600) [Zone 2] had wings of green/white feathers and two eyeless heads. Half of its body was also covered in black oil-like flames, but right now Andrake(4000/600) drew power from its purer half.
"But that is not enough power." Mephistar pointed out. "Yeah hold on to your horses, I wasn't done yet. I can still activate Samsara Dragon from the grave to revive and tribute summon Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon!" The Samsara Dragon banished itself in order to send a highlevel dragon back to my hand. After that it could tribute two monsters, Guardragons Elpy and Pisty, to normal summon that Alternative White Dragon(8/3000/2500) [Zone 1] from the hand. The Blue-Eyes could reactivate her destruction effect since she'd left the field in between both blasts. "Your Altergeist is out of lives!" She targeted Memorygant. This time it would not find a way to survive, the beam tore away its head and sent the body falling down to pieces. "Ah! He's wide open!" Mephistar pumped his fist excitedly. "Maybe... You never know with this guy! But we'll try! Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, give Midsummer the good old Burst Stream of Destruction!" The synchro dragons white beam managed to hit Midsummer dead on, though he managed to keep standing.
Midsummer's LP: 5500
"Hmm. This could be a problem." As long as Midsummer controlled no Altergeist monsters, he would not be able to summon Altergeist Kunquery as a defense. He had other shields he could put up however. "But I need to feel more." Even so, he allowed Blanche one more direct attack. "Yeah? Well Andrake is happy to oblige!" It came from the two-headed Guardragon, who sent a whirlwind of golden energy down towards the masked duelist. He staggered backwards a bit, but held on to just a few more lifepoints. "...Ah, I have seen enough."
Midsummer's LP: 1500
Only after that attack did he reveal the trap card: Personal Spoofing. "Ack." Blanche figured out what that would lead to soon enough. The activation of the trap allowed Midsummer to special summon Altergeist Multifaker(3/800/1200) [Zone 3] from his hand in defense mode. Immediately afterwards Multifaker special summoned another defending Altergeist Pixiel(1/100/100) [Zone 4] from the deck. "Huh, would not have been my choice." Blanche figured this was good enough for now and sent Guardragon Agarpain after the Multifaker, destroying the cyberspellcaster with its lightning bolt breath. "That was my turn too I guess. What did you guys think?" . Blanche would have to think of adding more link monsters to better make uses of the Guardragons, though that would mean ditching more Blue-Eyes cards. "Heh, I am just thinking what would have happened if we'd gotten to those cards first." Cherry Anise mumbled, reminding herself that looking for the Ark and its cards had been the last thing she did for Millennium's sake. "Maybe we could have gotten a Trickstar Agarpain instead?"
-TURN 05-
"No, you would not have. The cards chose their own form, and the guardragons existed before they were found. Perhaps it was meant to be that you and Hydra, the two most eminent dragon duelists, located them. They would certainly not thrive in a deck such as my own. Alas, I must separate them regardless of their wishes." Right at the start of his main phase, Midsummer Nightmare performed a singular link summon, using Altergeist Pixiel as the required level 1 link material. "I summon Relinquished Anima!" A bizarrely shaped illusionist monster(1/0/0) {up} [Zone 2] materialized in front of the Guardragon. Claws and wings grew out of its bone-covered green flesh, as well as a stalked golden eye. "A Relinquished?" Blanche would never have suspected Midsummer of carrying one of those around. "Indeed, and we will ask a great sacrifice of Guardragon Agarpain! He will become ours, his power becomes Anima's!" The Relinquished monster targeted the card it was linked with, sucking Agarpain in through a black hole mouth and fusing the dragons body into Anima(1500's) wings.
"One Guard remains." He let out an eerie laugh and revealed a spell card: Dwimmered Path. "Now, I shall add one dearly departed spellcaster to my hand again: my own Altergeist Multifaker." There'd be no stopping the terror of the Altergeists now. Once Midsummer reclaimed the Multifaker, he could activate his continuous traps to special summon her all over again. Personal Spoofing returned the Altergeist Kunquery in his hand to add an Altergeist Marionetter from the deck to the hand. He subsequently normal summoned the Marionetter(4/1600/1700) [Zone 1], but only after Multifaker had special summoned herself(3/800/1200) [Zone 3] from the hand and another Altergeist Meluseek(1/500/300) [Zone 2] from the deck. "And death will not hold you either, Memorygant. Do not listen to what they tell you, they are deceivers." The Marionetter then sacrificed the Multifaker Altergeist, so she could special summon Memorygant(2800/LINK 4) [Zone 4] from the graveyard. Geez, and people say my deck is annoying." Cherry griped. It was as if Blanche's last turn had not happened at all.
"Now, Madam Blanche, we have come to the end. Your dragons and my ghosts. The last one will be, Altergeist Kidolga." He took Marionetter and another Altergeist Pookuery in his hand as link materials for the final Altergeist link monster. The three-headed crest centaur Kidolga(1000/LINK 2) {Left/Down} [Zone 3] stomped down unto the road with her four arms and four legs, two of which wielding polearm weapons. "When an Altergeist with another name hurts my opponent, Kidolga can revive one of your lost souls! And Altergeist Meluseek may bypass the enemy's frontlines to launch a direct attack that will send one card you control to the grave! Thus, our battle begins!" Meluseek swam up into the air and released a spectral blast that screamed passed the dragons and struck Blanche in the arm. "Gah!" Chills went up her arm, and crossed over into her field. Because of the inflicted damage, Meluseek managed to send Guardragon Shield to the graveyard. And Kidolga managed to link the original Blue-Eyes White Dragon(8/3000/2500) [Zone 2] to herself by reviving the card.
Blanche's LP: 7500
"Oh no." Blanche shuddered, this could not be good news. "It is as I foretold, the end cometh. Altergeist Memorygant, partake of her blue-eyed might!" Midsummer forced the Altergeist Reaper to sacrifice the White Dragon's, and to drain 3000 attackpoints into her(5800 atk) scythe. "And slay the others who share her majesty!" The reaper flew across the battlefield and raised her deadly weapon up high, bringing it down with such force that Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon vanished with the sound of thunder and destruction. Afterwards she rested the scythe on her shoulder and smiled at the deaths she had caused so far.
Blanche's LP: 4200
And things could only get worse. "When Memorygant slays one of the living, she can claim another life in an instant! And her attack capability will return to her!" Unholy energy came together in Memorygant's free hand, and the reaper hurled the lethal orb of destruction towards Guardragon Andrake, shattering the wind dragon's body into a green dust and black ashes. Still not satisfied, the Altergeist grabbed her weapon with both hands again and swung it horizontally to cut Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon in half. "Gwck!" Blanche could barely stand after the blow reached her lifepoints, and little of it remained now. "Dangit. Now I really remember how annoying you could be."
Blanche's LP: 1400
"Perhaps I am. Regardless, thus endeth the performance." Midsummer bowed gracefully before his doomed opponent and silently ordered the final direct attack with a lowered head. The Relinquished Anima drew power from its absorbed Guardragon and vomited it out towards Blanche in a direct attack. "Whoa!" The impact sent her flying across the field of flowers, but the terrain also provided her with a soft landing. Though Midsummer made sure to keep her avatar intact with that final blow, the outcome of the duel had been decided in his favor nonetheless. "And the Legacy Items are mine."
Blanche's LP: 0
While Echo and Cierze rushed over to Blanche to make sure she was still in one piece, Mephistar and Cherry Anise kept Midsummer Nightmare in their sights. "And what are you going to do with it?" The latter wished to know. "What will Void do with them, is the question you should be asking yourselves. A wonderful new world awaits us." Right now he did not technically have the Ark or the Armor in his possession, so he had no choice but to go back to Static to make arrangements. "I have no further quarrel with any of you, so our encounter ends here." Midsummer started to turn around as the sun finally began to set against this dreamed up horizon. "I would suggest you do not chase me, you may find it more beneficial for you and your comrades to wait out this dream a little longer. But for now, my friends.. and miss Echo. I say thee farewell."
"Midsummer!" Echo cried out one last time, but the masked duelist had already made himself disappear into thin air. "Where did he go?" Mephistar ran towards his former spot, ignoring what he said entirely. "We cannot let him get away with it!" He said, but it appeared he had no say in that matter. Even before Midsummer disappeared, Mephistar had failed to lock him down into a challenge with his dueldisk. It was as if he'd never been here in the first place. "But he has.." Blanche groaned. She did not mind the loss as much as she did not understanding why the duel happened in the first place. "I have no idea what he thinks is gonna happen, and its too late to stop him now. But.. there may be something to his last words." She picked up one of the many flowers around her and plucked its petals. "For instance, why is this place not fading away yet?" To her it seemed that just maybe, they were getting closer to the heart of the nightmare after all.
...
"I still do not know if this is the best plan to go with." An apprehensive Hydra referred to him and the seven other duelists ascending the castle tower. Charging in head first just did not fit his style. "Staying put would have been even worse." Charles did not see what other options remained. The longer they stayed down in that basement, the more he could feel his body grow cold with an inexplicable dread. "We probably would have, had the others not failed to damage the area.. We were lucky that we got away with it." Hydra muttered under his breath so that the ones leading them, Zettai and Olympia, could not hear him. Those two found a common ground in their hatred of Shintaro and tried to break down the lab and its equipment. But they could not even tear off a single panel or destroy a simple wire, the virtual constructs were tougher than the real-life equivalents could ever be. "Luck has nothing to do with it. Shintaro is allowing it to happen." Back then the Karakuri units did not act, and they did not stop them now either. Charles knew this could only be so if Shintaro had made certain that their actions were inconsequential.
Further up the stairs, Crescent Aurora and Tycho Rivers were flanking Zanbatou from above and below. While the Salamangreat duelist tried to make sure the samurai duelist would not pull any funny moves.. ""Zanbatou.. where is your body now? Are you close to Himiko?" ..Crescent felt like striking up a conversation with this strange new version of him. "No, I am resting in a separate facility and she is back in the Shintaro estate. And it makes no difference even if I was 'closer' and able to leave this place. I would not go against my orders to help her." Evidently, his new way of existing did not take away his sharp insight. He saw right through Crescent's unstated plea. "That is not true. You helped her before, Zanbatou. And I think they made you forget.." She in turn had already reasoned out that Shintaro could pick and choose what memories they would let these virtual recreations keep. "That is absurd. What proof is there? I have always been loyal." Not that Zanbatou could ever envision his masters doing this. "Proof? What about.. what about the first time that Himiko got away? How did she do it, if you had not helped her?"
"Let it go. This guy is just an AI with a stolen personality or whatever. You're not talking to a human." Tycho snapped, as he got tired of their conversation. He felt the same way as Zettai did on this matter. "I do not believe that. Zanbatou is.. you are.. less than you were before. But you are still alive. There has to be a way to help you remember." Crescent insisted. Though his face was already betraying a hint of doubt because of what she'd said before. Unfortunately the doubt did not last.
Because they were finally at the top. "What the.." And at the end they found nothing like what one expect to see at the top of a castle, no imperial throne hall, no secluded battleground or secret monitoring room. It was just a wide empty space of a bright blue sky and white clouds that covered the roof of the tower. One could almost think they'd gone up so many steps they were in the stratosphere. "What is.. what is that?" But they were not the only ones this high up, as Heleil and the others soon found out. There was no sun or moon, only an elliptic black orb. Horizontal and vertical lines covered the orb, some of which flickered with a faint white light. "I do not know." Not even Zanbatou could explain what they were seeing, or why Shintaro would want them to see it. Nobody could explain this. "It must be.." Except maybe for Charles. Because he had a strange feeling that he'd seen this thing before somehow, somewhere.
"You are correct, mister Adami." Mister Shintaro's voice reached the duelists again, and a dozen Karakuri soldiers abruptly emerged from the clouds. One of them had cast a virtual screen with Shintaro's face on it. "This is the Third Entity."
(To Be Continued in World 062: Continuum)
New Cards used by Midsummer Nightmare
Relinquished Anima
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Dwimmered Path
New Cards used by Madam Blanche
Samsara Dragon
Guardragon Garmides
Guardragon Andrake
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Guardragon Elpy
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Guardragon Cataclysm