World 085: The Vendetta to end all Vendettas
"What was.." He felt it. "No." Static Void felt it in his heart. They were inside. "How dare they.." They were inside his world, they broke the first barrier... How did they know? How did they figure out where his core was hidden? Who could have seen the depths of his own.. "Charles." Again. That name came back to him again. Why did he keep popping up everywhere he went? Why did Charles demand all of his hatred and bile? He was supposed to be more, he was supposed to hate more. And yet he could not see beyond this one man, this insignificant human whose face and memories he had to put up with. Because of him they were getting closer and closer to the very thing that gave him power. And yet ironically, he could do nothing to stop it. Within that world He himself would be at his weakest, all because of the virtual body he now possessed. It was all his fault. And he would make him pay. Static would hurt Charles more than Charles could hurt him.
He was getting closer too..
...
Sophaestus' defeat was followed up by a wave of noise and lightning. "You did it!" Sigment cheered Heleil on, the one who managed to defeat their first rival. "Yeah, but it's not over yet." The place where he stood cracked reality like an egg, revealing an even brighter redder void behind it. This dimension became more solid.. and terrifying, images of a burning rainforest surrounded the duelists. Yet the path still did not get any longer, and their foe did not move out of the way... They only changed their appearance. "More?" Sigment cringed. This new defender of Static's world looked like another enemy from their past... "Lunekind." A rival from Heleil's personal history.
Lunekind's LP: 8000 Heleil's LP: 8000
"That is my name, and also your shame." Lunekind had long purple hair with white streaks and wore an imperial black uniform covered in medals and a red sash. "Let me guess, there's five of you for the five of us." Heleil grunted. She was not given the chance to back out of this duel, much like Sophaestus could not dodge dueling her. "Five rhymes with five. But what do my eyes see? Something of great concern, a smile with which I just cannot agree!" Lunekind giggled. "Well whatever you really are, you've got her gimmicks down to a tee." Heleil sighed and ended her turn. Hopefully she would be able to last at least one turn against her own worst enemy. "Wish me luck guys."
-TURN 04-
"And I will start my turn with glee!" The frowning duelist activated her own pendulum to mirror her opponent's pendulum: a carnivorous spider-legged flower (Scale 8) [Zone 5]. "Predaplant Spider Orchid can devour your spell and itself as well!" The predator Orchid contaminated both pendulum light pillars to destroy itself and Heleil's Performapal Smile Sorcerer. "Tch, there goes that." Without it, she could not use the effect of All-Eyes Phantom Dragon(10/3000/2500) [Zone 3] to negate any spells and traps. Using it against the Orchid would have been a waste as well. "Yes, there goes your smile.. for a while. But I can give you something in return.." Lunekind revealed the first of such spells: Predaplast. "Predator counters which will make your monster's levels burn!" Monsters with Predator Counters on them would have their levels reduced to 1. And for each Predap-card in her hand (Predaplant Sarraceniant, Predaplant Heliamphorhynchus, Predapractise), the Predaplast spell could place one Predator counter on the opponents monsters: Clearwing Fast Dragon(1/2500/2000), Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon(1/2500/2000) and Performapal Skullcrobat Joker(1/1500/800).
"Don't tell me she is going to rhyme for every little thing." Blanche groaned. "I heard what you said! But do not fret! Some creatures are too untamed to be named like that. I summon Predaplant Pteraphentes!" The predaplants were all carnivorous plants fused with meat eating beasts. Her first(1/100/600) [Zone 2] had the traits of both a green pitcher plant and a winged dinosaur(3/300/2100) [Zone 4]. "Pteraphentes can claim control of one monster with a level lower than her own!" The Pteraplant opened its already wide mouth to start sucking in its target: Clear Wing Fast Dragon. The effect pulled Heleil's synchro monster all the way across the aisle. "As much as there is to gain! Now what was its power again? Oh that's right. Monsters summoned from the extra deck will be in for quite a fright!" Lunekind adapted quickly to her new asset by turning Clear Wing Fast Dragon's effect against Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon. The pendulum dragon(0/2000) lost its attackpoints and effects because of its own synchronic counterpart.
"Hmph, if you start using synchros like that, I could almost mistake you for my rival." Sigment scoffed. "I only take what you yourself seem to like! And I have so much more planned! When a predator counter is on my field, I can special summon Predaplant Heliamphorhynchus from my hand!" Heliamphorhynchus(8/1200/2400) [Zone 2] resembled a larger and more dragonic pitcher plant pterasaur. "Then I link summon Predaplant Verte Anaconda! The link materials are two monsters from the dark!" Heliamphorhynchus and Pteraphentes got entangled by a green link circuit and grew out into a massive six-eyed nightshade serpent(500/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1].
"It's happening again. They're using monsters we are not adjusted too." Dyzanthium instantly realized how much trouble the Pendulum champion would get from this link monster. "Yes yes. Verte Anaconda allows me to turn one more monster into a creature of the dark! Even a god!" The pendulum rival pointed her long nail towards All-Eyes Phantom Dragon: corrupting its holy LIGHT attribute into the element of DARK. Simultaneously a Predaplant in the ground seeded its own results. When Sarraceniant entered the graveyard, their controller could add a new Predap-card to their hand. "I add Predaplant Pteraphentes to my hand! And then I activate Predapractise, which can add another Predap-card to my hand and special summon a Predaplant from my hand! See, I can rhyme with the same words as well!" Her spell special summoned Predaplant Spinodionaea: a green plant spinosaur(4/1800/0) with a venus flytrap on its back. At the same time the Predaplanning spell card claimed a 'Predaplanning' trap card from the deck. "
"Can you see where we are going, Heleil?" The rival placed her trap card face down. "Here is a hint, it rhymes with 'swell'! Verte Anaconda can take two thousand of my lifepoints to activate a Fusion card from my deck! I choose Predaprime Fusion, which can fuse two of my Dark monsters with one of yours!" The semi-excited Lunekind abandoned her prose alltogether to perform her twisted fusion summon. Verte Anaconda absorbed itself into the maelstrom of the Predaprime spell, and cruelly swallowed All-Eyes Phantom Dragon and Spinodionaea as well. "I fusion summon Predaplant Triphyoverutum! The materials are three monsters of the dark!"
Lunekind's LP: 6000
Three materials became the three heads of Triphyoverutum(9/3000/3000) [Extra Zone 1]. Green was its draconian liana-based body, red were its claws and the roses on its wings. "One two three! My fusion will gain power that many times!" Each monster with a Predator counter (Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon, Clear Wing Fast Dragon, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer) added their original attackpoints to this increasingly terrifying plant dragon(9500/3000). "Are you affraid yet, Heleil? Or do you hate me? Either is fine." Lunekind decided that the best way to taunt her opponent would be to open the battle phase with an attack of her own former synchro dragon. And she would attack Performapal Turntrooper(4/1200/1200) first. "I don't feel anything towards you! Towards the real or fake you! If you expect me to break down because of a single duel, then you do not know me at all." Turntrooper on the other hand could negate one attack each turn by spending one of its counters. Yet she had no choice but to spend that effect on Clearwing Fast Dragon's attack. The result of this turn would be same regardless.
"Oh but you are wrong. You always bury your true feelings behind a fake smile, but in truth you know that this hurts you. It pains you that this is as far as you can go, that this is as much of an impact as you can make on this world.. and on your world. You have perhaps the most hate out of all of them, you always see a slight that needs to be punished. You avenged Acrates.. but ironically now you yourself need to be avenged.." Lunekind's frown degraded into a twisted scowl. She did not sound like the woman she claimed to be anymore. "You must hate yourself as well, you and your weakness. Who will be the next weakling to take your place?" Triphyoverutum reared back its three heads and tore up the skies with a tripled burst of venomous lightning. The unholy thunder crashed back down on top of the powerdrained Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon. The power could simply not be contained: waves of damage crashed into Heleil and knocked her off of the main path.
Heleil's LP: 0
"Heleil!" Madam Blanche could only shout, as it was already too late for the pendulum champion. "Guh... Sigment. I think you're up next." Heleil gasped out her last few breaths, before the nightmare realm put her to sleep as well. "Give them... hell for me." She nevertheless fainted with a smile on her face. "Blanche. It is not too late to save them. We just cannot afford any more mistakes." Dyzanthium said while barely managing to keep her own anger under control. For that reason it was probably for the best that Heleil had selected someone else as her successor. She let Sigment take over, while she moved the resting Heleil right next to Acrates.
Sigment's LP: 8000 -TURN 05-
"Leave it to me. Heleil.." Sigment stepped into the ring, inheriting Heleil's remaining cards and field. "And what do you hate, Sigment? You can tell me, I already know." Lunekind let out a low-pitched laugh as her opponent started drawing his cards. "Hate? If you wanted to inspire me to hate you, you should have transformed yourself into Vitruvic.. And even then I did not hold that grudge for long. What I do dislike is someone who wastes my time, Lunekind. But hey, if you already know me that well. You wont need the play-by-play." Sigment would not waste Heleil's efforts either. To start, he activated the continuous spell: Synchro Chase. Then he activated a monster from his hand; Junk Connector. It discarded itself and a tuner (Jet Synchron) to add another Synchron monster (Junk Synchron) from the hand. "I summon Synchron Carrier and Junk Synchron!" A orange and yellow crane robot(2/0/1000) [Zone 1] started off his turn, and had the effect of allowing a second normal summon of a Synchron monster. So Sigment normal summoned his favorite tuner Junk Synchron(3/1300/500) [Zone 2], who could then special summon a level 2 monster from the graveyard. The lucky card became Jet Synchron [Zone 3]. "Synchro summon, Jet Warrior!"
"All I see is a champion of liars. Did you abandon the Tech Genus cards again? You're confusing your decks as much as your own desires! But it matters not what your synchro monsters say, Triphyovertum will strike it dead either way!" Even though Sigment managed to synchronize Jet Synchron with Performapal Turntrooper to create his transforming jetfighter robot, he would not get any further than that. The Synchro Chase spell prevented other cards from reacting to the effects of synchro monsters. But those synchro monsters would have to be on the field first and Predaplant Triphyoverutum could negate one extra deck summon each turn. One of the Predaplant's three heads slammed its jaws around the Jet synchro monster's head and munched it into pieces. "One deck defined you as a true champion. One deck defined you as a false champion. Which one do you want to be?"
"You put a lot more thought into that question than I have, Lunekind. I am just using the tools that I figured would get me through this fight the quickest!" Sigment retaliated with a rapid-fire sequence of special summons. Jet Synchron the Jet-engine tuner(1/500/0) [Zone 5] special summoned itself from the graveyard by discarding one card from Sigment's hand. That discarded card, Scrap-Iron Statue, could also special summon one Junk monster from the graveyard: Sigment chose the Junk Converter himself: a cable-tailed robot(2/400/200) [Zone 3] made of scrapped parts and various connectors. Lastly, when a monster returned from the graveyard to the field: the Satellite Synchron(2/700/100) [Zone 1] could be special summoned from his hand. This Satellite-winged robot(4/700/100) could raise its level to 4 whenever a Warrior synchro existed in the graveyard. "Link summon! Crystron Halqifibrax!" He took Jet Synchron and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer as a tuner and non-tuner materials to create the glassfiber robot Crystron Halqifibrax(1500/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2].
"You just want to avoid thought alltogether. But you cannot escape your mind forever! Your cards that came from Exeter have permanently marked you with corruption!" Lunekind struck back with the effect of Clear Wing Fast Dragon, negating the power of the Crystron(0 atk) before it could special summon any new tuners from the deck. "I did not come here to clear my conscience today. But if it's a confession you want, then sure.. I admit that I only got as far as I did by letting the right and wrong people use me. But why blame the cards instead of the duelist is what I would ask. Synchro monsters have been punished enough." At least with these links he could summon more than one synchro monster to his field. "Synchro summon! Stardust Charge Warrior!" Junk Synchron synchronized with Junk Converter to summon the future cybertech Librarian(5/2400/1800) [Zone 3]. In addition, since Junk Converter got used as a synchro material, Sigment could special summon one tuner monster from their graveyard. He chose Junk Synchron once more(3/400/200) [Zone 1].
"True. The only one you have to blame for this is you. But if your cards could talk, they would say how much they hate you." Lunekind activated her trap card: PredaPlanning. Because she knew Sigment would unleash one of his trademark field sweepers otherwise. "Let them show their corruption! Each monster gains a predator counter and their levels are reduced to one!" Thornes vines surged through the ground and viciously impaled Halqifibrax, Hyper Librarian(1/2400/1800) and Junk Synchron(1/1300/500) with the predatory counters. All of their attackpoints were added to Triphyoverutum(9200/3000) as well. "Man, maybe it was not a good idea to mix and match rivals." Blanche shuddered. With tactics like these, synchro specialists could not get an edge in at all.
"Yes I seem to have bad luck when it comes to counters in general. But right now, this actually does help a little!" Sigment entered a third summonig rush; connecting Hyper Librarian with Junk Synchron to start a tuning at the lowest possible level. Together they formed Formula Synchron the racecar synchro tuner(2/400/1500) [Zone 3], another card that would let Sigment draw one card from the deck. Synchro Chase could now also use its effect to revive one monster used as a synchro material for a Synchron/Warrior/Stardust monster. Just like that, Sigment succeeded in reviving Hyper Librarian(5/2400/1300) [Zone 4] without a predator counter. Lastly, when a monster returned from the graveyard to the field: the Satellite Synchron(2/700/100) [Zone 1] could be special summoned from his hand. This Satellite-winged robot(4/700/100) could raise its level to 4 whenever a Warrior synchro existed in the graveyard. "But really, I half expected my nemesis to Be Vitruvic with his damned spellcounters. So much so that I used Echo's skill to this... Counter Crush Saga!"
Counter Crush Saga, Skill Card
Remove all counters from the field.
"My predator counters?" Lunekind had to watch as Sigment's new power got rid of every last counter, returning every monster's level to its original amount. "Yes. You might say I let Echo mark me this time. I understand why Heleil chose to not go along with it. But I I felt she was the right kind of person!" Without her, he would not have been able to launch his next surprise attack. "I activate the spell, Synchro Transcend! Since you control a synchro monster, I can special summon one with a higher level!" He targeted Clearwing Fast Dragon so that he could transcend to the eight level and cheat out his own Stardust Dragon(8/2500/2000) [Zone 5]. "So you have made your choice." Lunekind realized the inevitable had been prepared for. "On how to defeat you? Yes I have.. I synchro summon Shooting Star Dragon Tech Genus Expansion!" The materials were one synchro tuner and one synchro non-tuner: Formula Synchron and Stardust Dragon. They merged their light and matter to construct the cybernetically enhanced white space dragon(10/3000/2500) [Zone 3].
"Hyper Librarian can draw one card whenever a monster is synchro summoned!" Sigment announced his first draw, holding a new monster (?) in his hand. "Synchro summon! Stardust Charge Warrior!" He tuned that monster with Hyper Librarian to create create a half-warrior/half-white dragon(6/2000/1300) [Extra Zone 1]. The Warrior's own effect allowed Sigment to draw one card. "And Synchro summon! Satellite Warrior!" Stardust Charge at least synchronized with the Charge Warrior and ascended into the form of a gold-plated battle android(10/2500/2000) [Zone 5] with satellite panels on its back. "Satellite Warrior destroys one card on my opponents field for each synchro monster in my graveyard! And it gains a thousand attackpoints for each destroyed card!" The Warrior absorbed the light of the stars and unleashed it as a series of continuous blasts. Clearwing Fast Dragon, Predaplant Triphyoverutum and Sophaestus' Perform Puppet spell were erased from the face of the earth. "Lunekind, we've spent enough time here!" Sigment placed a trap card down and entered the battle phase. "Satellite Warrior, Stardust! Direct attack!" The warrior's sunlight beams and the dragons comet-like fire breath finally took care of the second champion rival.
Lunekind's LP: 0
"That took a lot out of you, didn't it? But you finally got your greatest and final hit..." Like Sophaestus before her, the predapant duelist transformed into a new foe while th the illusory burning jungle. shattered much like the previous dimension. At least this new rival would not inherit any of cards used by Lunekind. "Well we will take good care of you now." Said rival became another blonde-haired woman with blue-tipped silver hair. Her outfit looked like a combination of an opera gown with a dinner jacket and bowtie on top of it. "Hello, Sigment. It has been too long." Her voice sounded deep and hollow, lacking any and all emotional inflection. "Not long enough if you ask me." Sigment declined to greet her back and simply waited for the new stage to settle in. "Let's get this over with. The sooner we take care of you, the sooner Heleil and Acrates can come back to us!"
"Merwin? Huh, I kinda expected Blade Achilles." Madam Blanche knew a thing or two about the champions and their many rivals. She did recognize this one, but Sigment had a lot of rivals and some were technically stronger than Merwin like Achilles the infamous Burning Soul speed duelist. "This is not about who can defeat who. This is about who garners the most hate." Dyzanthium knew a few more things, like which rival Sigment absolutely hated as a person, or as a duelist. "Sigment at least respects duelists like Achilles as a fellow master of the synchro arts. She is their antithesis."
-TURN 06-
"We activate Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress." The Meklords were her legion, and her field spell their domain. It chose the form for their showdown: taking the remaining duelists to the depths of a metallic hive with a powerful generator at the center. The dimension itself also got coated in rusted iron and continuously uttered mechanical noises. "Unit one: Meklord Army Deployer Obbligato." One of the hive gates opened and deployed the first deployed soldier. Obbligato was a white humanoid robot(4/1200/1800) [Zone 5] with three round orbs for a torso and each of those orbs had a glowing red eye and various cables attached. "We can destroy this card to summon two other Meklord Army monsters from my deck in defense mode." Obbligato in turn selfdestructed to deploy two different Meklord soldiers by opening the hexagon gates on its limbs: those were the blue silver humanoid drone Meklord Army of Wisel(4/2000/0) [Zone 5] and the twin cannon bronze drone Meklord Army of Granel(4/1600/1200) [Zone 4]. "Granel can halve the attack of one monster on the field."
"Hah. New cards, same old Merwin." Sigment muttered to himself. "But your tricks never worked against me before, and they wont now! Shooting Star Dragon negates any monster effect that targets my monsters by banishing one tuner from my graveyard!" Sigment happily banished Junk Synchron from the grave to cancel out the Meklord of Granel's power and destroy it at the same time. He finally felt in his element with this proper opponent. "You have evolved, but not through natural progression. You reached that dead end when you accepted Exeter's mutations instead. The fact that you are using this deck against us now proves that you have failed to recapture your old self. But it does not have to be that way."
Merwin continued her turn methodically and coldly. "We normal summon Meklord Nucleus Infinity Core. Which adds one Meklord card from the deck to our hand." A white orb(1/0/0) [Zone 4] appeared in front of her with three green infinity cores powering it. The Nucleus orb folded open like a flower to reveal a fourth red core inside. TIts red light struck the deck and pulled out a spell card: Meklord Assembly. "We activate the Assembly to add another Meklord card to our hand: Meklord Astro Eradicator. Then we can discard one card to destroy one card we control.. We choose the Infinity Core, who can special summon one Meklord from our deck when it is destroyed. But only one monster can attack this turn afterwards." For the third time one of her machines violently detonated. Only in this instance the result would be more than a soldier, she would special summon an emperor. "Meklord Emperor Granel." She would special summon the evolved form of the bronze zoldier: the great one-eyed Meklord Granel Infinity(1/4000/0) [Zone 4]. Its attackpoints would always be equal to half the lifepoints of its controller, and each turn it could absorb one synchro monster to add their attackpower to its own.
"Yes I know what you are offering, the same you are offering to my friends. You want to make me young again, to make me unspoiled again. But that will not be me, will it? So you can forget about it." Sigment did not have to fear their corruption as long as he did not throw away Echo's skill card. He did not have to worry about Granel either, as Shooting Star Dragon could still negate targeting effects as long as he had tuners to banish. Then again, Granel did not form the basis of her endgame. "Now that there are three Meklords, we can special summon Meklord Astro Dragon Triskelion." What they needed would come from the graveyard. Merwin banished the Meklords Obbligato, Granel Army and Infinity Core and used their parts for the construction of a three-headed meklord-based dragon(10/3000/0) [Zone 3]. "It's always three heads with these guys." Blanche grumbled. However,by itself Triskelion would not have been a significant threat to Sigment. It took a different card to lead Sigment towards his own destruction.. as a burst of golden light exploded Shooting Star Dragon from the inside out.
Sigment's LP: 5000
"What was that?" Dyzanthium flinched. "Ugh... her trap card." Sigment coughed. It took him only a few seconds to learn what went wrong, what had gone wrong ever since she discarded a certain card with Meklord Assembly. "Yes, we banished Meklord Astro Eradicator from the graveyard. When an Astro Meklord is on the field, we can destroy one synchro monster and inflict damage equal to its attackpoints. Your chances of survival have gone down to zero, no matter what you do." Meklord Army of Wisel targeted Triskelion so that it could pierce through defense points, rendering Crystron Halqifibrax's ability useless as well. "Triskelion can attack three times in a turn. And for one of those attacks, it equips one synchro monster in your extra deck to itself!" Because the Astro Meklord managed to find Sigment's best synchro before he could ever summon it: Shooting Quasar Dragon. "Damn it!" The dragon absorbed it through its mechanical viper tail, and redirected all 4000 of the QuasarDragon's attackpoints into its(7000/0) first blast.
"Trap card, Magic Cylinder!" And the blast promptly barreled back towards Merwin. "Excuse me?" Even she could not maintain her clinical expression with such a drastic upset. The Magic Cylinder trap forced all the damage from Triskelion's attack to damage her lifepoints instead, wrapping her up in a sea of smoke.
Merwin's LP: 1000
"Surprised? Well, I got another surprise in me! The Desert Locusts!" Sigment also activated the effect of Crystron Halqifibrax at this point to summon a synchro tuner from his extra deck. He chose the yellow locust swarm(6/1500/2400) [Extra Zone 2]. "When its synchro summoned, Desert Locusts can discard one card from the turn player's hand!" The plague of locusts ate up one card, Meklord Emperor Wisel, in Merwin's hand. "Sigment?" These were all cards Sigment had never used before, Dyzanthium would have known otherwise. "I figured out their game. They make us go all out on our turn and leave us wide open afterwards. So before I entered, I made some last-second deck modifications. I was hoping I could break the cycle, but I guess I got too greedy again. Still, this should make it easier for you to blast through Merwin and save your best cards for your own rival! I have a feeling I know who it's going to be. So I wish you good luck, both of you." Now Sigment could at least go out with a bit of hope. "..." But go out he would. Merwin waved the smoke away and ordered Triskelion to use its second piercing attack against Desert Locusts. The blast wiped the insects out along with their master.
Sigment's LP: 0
"I.." Sigment faded from consciousness rapidly, too fast for him to get another word out. "Ugh.." No matter how many times it happened, Blanche could not get used to seeing it happen. It was just her and Dyzanthium now. "She is mine." And the latter had already resolved to step in. "I get it." Madam Blanche would normally have tried to argue against it, but she'd never seen Dyzanthium this upset. This was a battle she wanted to win, and needed to win.
(To Be Continued in World 086: Ransom for Personality)
Cards used by Lunekind
Predaplant Pteraphentes
Predaplant Heliamphorhynchus
Predaplant Spinodionaea
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Predaplant Verte Anaconda
Predaplant Triphyoverutum
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Predaplast
Predapractise
Predaprime Fusion
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Predaplanning
New Cards used by Sigment
COUNTER CRUSH SAGA
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Junk Converter
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Shooting Star Dragon T.G. Expansion
Desert Locusts
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Synchro Chase
Synchro Transcend
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Magic Cylinder
Cards used by Merwin
Meklord Army Deployer Obbligato
Meklord Army of Granel
Meklord Army of Skiel
Meklord Nucleus Infinity Core
Meklord Emperor Granel
Meklord Astro Dragon Triskelion
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Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress
Meklord Assembly
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Meklord Astro Eradicator