World 088: Escape From IRL
A continuous skill card: a card that reactivated the Eye of Timaeus from the graveyard to fuse with one of Dark Magician Girl on the field and create Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight(8/2600/1700) [Extra Zone 1]. Only someone with a connection to Continuum could have used this. "You lied to us all along. You are a part of this!" Nakana cursed. These were the same cards used by the Karakuri drones of Shintaro estate and by Zanbatou. The samurai duelist who had so far only been silently watching the lady Shintaro; even he flinched a little at the sight of this card. "When did you acquire this card? How? How much do you know? You have to tell me!"
"Only when I am defeated, miss Shintaro. Those were the terms you set at the start of this duel." Vitruvic had taken a calculated risk. He would rather expose his corruption willingly and win the fight. Losing meant being forced to expose his secrets anyway due to Echo's power. "Can you defeat me, Alpha?" Now at least he controlled both the Magician Girl Dragon Knight and the Dark Magicians(8/2800/2300) [Zone 3], who could both attack Tycho River directly with a breath of magical flames and twin streams of black magic.
Tycho's LP: 1600
"You're damn straight I am! I made you backpedal on your promise to only use your own cards already! I can do worse!" Tycho roared. He refused to go down despite the magic energy thrown against his body. "Yes you did give me more trouble than I bargained for, that I will admit. Of course, I never saw the point in 'playing fair'. The best duelists use the best cards." Vitruvic moved towards the second main phase and activated the final effect of Unity in Strength, destroying it to add one Dark Magician from the graveyard back to his hand. The effect of that spell awakened the effect of the Dark Magicians, they drew one card from the deck. "Why would I not use them if they were given to me? Why would I not I dispose of those I have little use for?" As if to demonstrate how little he cared about his own cards, he discarded the Dark Magician again just to activate the effect of the Dark Magician Girl Dragon Knight. She could destroy one card on the field each turn, and in this case she destroyed Tycho's continuous Will of the Salamangreat spell. "Cards are just tools and nothing more. No matter what anyone else tries to say or do."
"Are you looking at me? What do you know about me? What could you know?" Olympia lashed out at the champion, much to the surprise of a stunned yet silent Echo. Vitruvic on the other hand did not look surprised. He did not seem to care at all. "I've read your files, 'Fire Princess'. The companies studied you well. You are not a spirit given life or a human born in the digital world. You are just an ADI in a new coat, a piece of software that's forced to react to actual human thoughts and behave accordingly. You're a card, a tool..., a weapon for Echo to use. Of course, that was inevitable. I can see she's even turned men and women into her weapons to make them fight for her. You expect me to answer to her? Why would I?" He placed one card down on his field and ended the turn.
-TURN 05-
"Shut up, Vitruvic." Tycho snarled as he finally drew his card. "Cards are just tools huh.. Sounds familiar." That someone would have been him just one week ago. "But she sounds familiar too. Which already makes her more human than any card I know. But then again, that's how it works." He also knew that the Fire Princess owed the basis of her personality to his own memories, which explained why her rage sounded so much like his own.. why she wanted to be here with him. "The cards are as alive as we want them to be. And even though you're one of the oldest and loudest duelists I know, you don't seem to care that much for your great Dark Magician. Which would make you less human than her. In fact, that makes you the weapon.. Vitruvic. You're a tool, in the most literal sense! You're just letting everyone handle you, whether its Exeter or Shintaro! So you might as well let Echo boss you around too! That would be an upgrade! And I will help you get there!"
"As long as I control no monsters, I can activate Salamangreat Mole from my graveyard! He is banished and five other Salamangreat cards are returned to my deck! Then I can draw two cards!" The cybermole created a whole network of tunnels in the ground: connecting with the graves of Salamangreat Balelynx, the two Sunlight Wolves, Salamangreat Rage and Salamangreat Claw. After a quick shuffle the deck released two more cards: a monster and a spell card. "Here we go!" Tycho also normal summoned his Salamangreat Raccoon(1/400/800) to toss it into the link circuit for a quick summon of Salamangreat Almiraj(0/LINK 1) {Downright} [Extra Zone 1]. Any normal monster with less than 1000 ATK could be used as its link material. . "When a Salamangreat is sent to my graveyard, Salamangreat Gazelle can summon itself from my hand. And it sends one Salamangreat from the deck to my graveyard!" The cybernetic black Gazelle(3/1500/1000) [Zone 5] selected Salamangreat Spinny, because the cybernetic rolling hedhehog(3/1000/1500) [Zone 4] could also special summon itself from the graveyard if a different Salamangreat was already present on the field.
"And then I special Salamangreat Beat Bison!" With three or more Salamangreats in his graveyard, Tycho could special summon the gold and red-horned cyber bison(8/2800/1000) [Zone 1] in defense mode. Its effect would let him return Salamangreat link monsters to the deck to negate the effects of that many cards on the field. Tycho did not count on getting there however.. "Hmph." Because Vitruvic could just discard a card from his hand to have the Magician Girl Dragon Knight destroy Beat Bison. "Yeah it's a quick effect I know. But so is Almiraj's effect!" If he could tribute the fire-horned cyber rabbit, he could make Beat Bison immune to destructive card effects for the rest of the turn. "Pointless. I activate Chaos Scepter Magic! One card is banished face down while I control my level eight spellcaster!" White and black magic danced at the tip of the Dark Magician Girl's sword, and with a quick swing she sent the blast towards the Beat Bison. The chaotic black hole pulled the bison into a completely different dimension while Almiraj uselessly left the field. And for the fourth time this duel, the Dark Magicians drew a new card (Keeper of the Dragon Magic) from the deck..
"You're as stubborn as they get. Good thing I haven't shown you my best moves yet, Vitruvic! I XYZ-Summon, Salamangreat Miragestallio!" Tycho opened a less common gate into the extra deck: an overlay network. The Salamangreats Spinny and Gazelle became XYZ-materials for a mechanical black stallion(R3/2000/900) [Extra Zone 4] with a mane of flames. "What the? They have XYZ-monsters too now?" Bionis had a hard time accepting that.. Especially when it seemed to have rather powerful abilities. Miragestallio could special summon any Salamangreat monster from the deck at the cost of negating Tycho's non-FIRE monster effects for the rest of the turn. That drawback might as well not have existed for a duelist like him. "I summon Salamangreat Falco!" The mirage stallion chose to summon the black steel flame-wing falcon(4/1200/1600) [Zone 4]. "Now here comes the best part! If I use Mirage Stallio as a link material for a Salamangreat monster, I can return one card on the field to the deck! It's what I used to break a continuous skill before.. But this time I have someone and not something in mind...
"I Link summon! Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf!" The first fire cyberlion (1800/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 2] burst out of the extra deck all over again, and immediately burned away his enemies with the help of Miragestallio. They targeted the Dark Magicians, forcing the fusion spellcaster into the extra deck before it could split back up into the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl. Tycho could also get another Salamangreat spell from his graveyard, when Falco got sent to the graveyard. The Falcon chose the only available spell: Will of the Salamangreat. "Remember this? Well it's back and so is Heat Leo!" The continuous spell targeted the last link monster still burning in the ground: the Heat Lion(2300/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Zone 4]. "So you are repeating yourself." Vitruvic stated condescendingly. "Am I? I mean I could just do the same old Heatlion routine. But why don't I make it special?" Tycho suddenly took Heat Leo and Sunlight Wolf off the field, using the latter as just a 1-link material. "After all, it's high time that my cards got their own Link 4! I link summon Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix!"
"Phoenix?" Olympia and Echo gasped out loud. The flames around Tycho became so intense they shifted from red to violet and blue. He turned the cyber flame beasts into a cybernetic flame knight(2800/LINK 4) {Left/Up/Down/Right} [Extra Zone 2] in sharp deep-red armor. The blue flames extended from Pyro Phoenix' back like wings, and various feather-like crests adorned its limb plates and helmet. "Heh. Consider this a tribute from a kindred spirit, Olympia!" Tycho immediately performed another Salamangreat Sanctuary enfused reincarnation: using Pyro Phoenix as a link material for its second incarnation(2800/LINK 4) [Extra Zone 2]. "When I perform a reincarnation link summon of a Salamangreat, I can set Salamangreat Roar back down on my field. That's the sweetener. Pyro Phoenix will deliver the just desserts! When I summon Pyro Phoenix with himself as the material, all cards on my enemy's field are destroyed!" The phoenixian's aura turned into an all-consuming wrathful inferno. "Take this, Vitruvic!" With the fire, Pyro Phoenix destroyed the Dark Magician Girl Dragon Knight. With its own fist, the Salamangreat punched the champion of champions square in the jaw.
Vitruvic's LP: 2000
"Heh. That looked like it hurt." Tycho laughed as he saw his opponent get knocked down to the floor. Of course he did not stay down. "You're beginning to annoy me, Alpha." Vitruvic glowered and rubbed his sore chin. "I'm only just beginning? I am pretty sure we have reached the end of our little game here, Vitruv!" The pleased fire duelist placed one card face down in the spell/trap zone. Not even the mention of his old avatar name could dampen his mood. "Yes we have.."
-TURN 06-
Vitruvic drew his next card, a spell. "I summon the Keeper of Dragon Magic!" A new knight came to town, a silverhaired spearman(4/1800/0) [Zone 2] wearing blue dragon armor. "The Keeper can resurrect one fusion material of my fusion monster in face-down defense mode!" Vitruvic revealed the Dark Magician Dragon Knight to set one [Zone 4] of its two components: the Dark Magician [Zone 3]. "What's your real trick here?" Tycho could have stopped that monster's effect with his counter trap. Though he suspected that most of what happened so far was just smoke and mirrors. "No tricks, just a victory a champion deserves. I activate Successor Soul, I can tribute one effect monster to send one effect monster you control to the graveyard!" Vitruvic seemed to make a more serious strike when he revealed his quickplay spell card and sacrificed the Keeper of Dragon Magic. "I knew it!" Tycho reacted immediately and negated the spell of souls with Salamangreat Roar. "You wont sneak past me, champion!"
"Heh. You are mistaken, I have already surpassed you. I activate the Secret Archive once more to have the Eye of Timaeus will fuse with the Dark Magician!" The continuous skill used the same spell from before. This time however the atlantian dragon Timaeus turned into a spellcaster monster as it and the Dark Magician on the field transformed into Dark Magician the Dragon Knight(8/3000/2500) [Extra Zone 2]. "While I control the Dragon Knight, my spells are immune to your card effects! But more important is this factor, this fusion monster is treated as 'the Dark Magician'." Vitruvic slammed his final spell down. "I activate Dark Magic Twin Burst! Once that spell is used, the Dark Magician shall gain the attackpoints of all Dark Magician Girls on the field or in the graveyard!" Said twins would the Magician Girls and their teacher: Dark Magician the Dragon Knight(9000 atk) gained attackpoints from all three Dark Magician Girls in the graveyard. "Dark Magician Dragon Knight! Attack Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix!"
"So this is the great victory you imagined eh? Well, I am very happy to take that from you." Tycho put on his biggest smile yet as his own final trick came into play. "I activate Salamangreat Transcendence! And link summon Pyro Phoenix!" One could perform a reincarnation link summon with other cards besides Salamangreat Sanctuary. The quickplay spell of transcendence turned the second incarnation into a link material for the final Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix(2800/LINK 4) [Extra Zone 2], triggering its effect again to destroy all cards on Vitruvic's side of the field. "What did you..." The Dark Magician left the stage through one final blazing performance. "I think I just made your star disappear, Vitruvic! And your glory goes with it!" Nothing in Vitruvic's graveyard could save him. Nothing on the field or in his hand existed. The champion of champions had no more ground to stand on. "The question is, how do you want your defeat? Painfully boring or extra humiliating?"
-TURN 07-
"If this is how it is meant to be, than I will give you no satisfaction. I will not kneel before you, or tell you what I do not know." Instead of surrendering in what had clearly become an unwinnable duel, Vitruvic ended his turn and left the winning move in Tycho's hands. "We'll see how right you are in just a few seconds! But if you think I wont enjoy this, then you must be blind! People like you think you're on top of the world. I am happy just seeing you get knocked down. Hehehe.. Pyro Phoenix, direct attack!" The Salamangreat let loose with even fiercer blazing punch, while Tycho savored every second between his declaration and the moment of impact along with the cascade of dropping lifepoints that followed.
Vitruvic's LP: 0
"Echo. You know what you have to do!" Tycho yelled. Echo would not get a better time to use her voice than now. "Y-yes. Mister Vitruvic. Please tell us everything you know about Continuum." She gave the command like always, expecting it to be followed to the letter. "?" But the beaten champion refused to answer, his lips stayed sealed. "What? No no no! You don't get to do this you bastard! Echo, ask him again!" Tycho ordered this time. "I... ah.. Vitruvic. Please tell us everything you know about Continuum and Shintaro." She gave it another go with a slightly rephrased question. It still did little more than making him squirm. "What is this, some kind of extra protection from the hivemind? Keep doing it!" Tycho's grew more and more frustrated while everyone else just stared with bewilderment. Why did Vitruvic not say anything? "I think.. I am hurting him." Echo could tell that he clearly wanted to open his mouth if not for an unknown outside force. "That's what he deserves! Remember what they did to Olympia? To us? Don't let them get away with it again!"
"To me? What... did they do to me?" The Fire Princess flinched and started to shiver. "It,s.." With almost no warning, Olympia attacked Vitruvic with a thrown fireball and blasted the dueldisk off of his arm. "Gah!" He finally reacted with more than just slight twitches and grabbed his singed arm. "Olympia? What's wrong?" Echo cared more about her friend though. The Fire Princess had never reacted this intensely to anything before. "It's.. it's that thing!" But she had a reason beyond sudden anger. She pointed towards the burning cards, which included the continuous skill card. "Continuum.. held him back with that card. I felt it.. They tried the same with.. with... what was I..."
"Continuum is the one that binds us all.."
"?" Olympia went silent when Vitruvic sat down on the floor and started talking. "Exeter, Shintaro, the faceless organization, and more names that I do not even know. We are all connected with Continuum and its vision of paradise." He did not try to stop himself and spoke as clearly as he could. "So.. you were working for them all along? Not Exeter? What about the other champions? Who is this 'we' you are talking about?" Even though Tycho was not the one in control, the champion felt compelled to answer his questions as well. "The champions never knew about this. They only learned about places like these when we were sent out to protect their assets from Millennium. But I already knew about their plans in advance, I'd been informed by Evert Hansen himself." The champion revealed. Though dropping that name did not exactly shock Tycho or the others. "..I should have known he had something to do with this." The duelist grunted. They would have gone after the CTO themselves if he had not still been in a coma. "So what is paradise then?"
"Paradise, is the endresult of the integration of this world with the next. Units of land were specifically recreated within the network to prepare them for the inevitable: as Continuum had planned for Static to proceed with the gathering of the seven legacy items. Within that world we would become immortal thanks to our enhanced digital bodies merging with our physical selves.. I am the very proof of that." The champion still answered readily, but every answer led to more questions. "But then why... why was I there? Static said he'd trapped me there, but... then why did it feel like that place was made for me? Can you tell me?" Every answer made all of this feel more personal to Echo. "I only know that the cities stored in STHEREA themselves were the first recreations.. they were tests developed with Hansen's and the Creator's supervision. Once the creator was out of the way, this technology could be spread and improved to other networks. Yet these tests, once made, could not be unmade. So Hansen buried them deep in the system, hoping they would never be found. But they were."
"Yes, we heard that part already. The Creator wanted to help people life a comfortable life if they could get one in the real world. But then Hansen discarded him." Nakana spoke up. "Echo, I think that city may have been made for you at first... but they needed it for something else. Just like my parents needed the Shintaro castle domain. They are all the same, and I want to know why." It was her turn to interrogate the champion. "Why are there so few actual target sites? Renner's list mentioned only a few dozen locations including this one. What makes them important?" They could have prepared the whole world this way, as far as she could tell. "That I do not know entirely either. They call it continuous integration and said nothing else. I was sent here to monitor the effects and viability of this sector." Vitruvic gave his disappointing answer. "You did not think to ask? You did not wonder about the state of the world in the future?" An indignant Nakana scolded him. "I did not. I only cared about my own future.. my everlasting future."
"My lady please. This man cannot help you. We should return to the estate, my lady." Zanbatou spoke up for once, pleading with the daughter of his masters. "No. Not yet. Zanbatou. We are close, I can feel it. You are with me still, aren't you?" Nakana asked him and he gave her a respectful bow. "I cannot leave your side, milady." He swore with a strict tone. "...Yes." He still did not sound like the man she used to know. "Vitruvic, I have one last question. Do you know where my parents are? Where they are going to be?" She could not let it end like this, and she did not have to. "I do. There are various bunkers installed across the world where those deemed most important to Continuum wait out Static's rage. I was told to head to one of them once my investigation was complete."
"I see. Then take us to them, Vitruvic. It's time we saw each other.. face to face."
...
"I am starting to get second thoughts about this plan. It's going too well." Hydra mentioned as the remaining duelists within the tower made it to the upper levels without a hint of trouble. "It is. But we've come too far to go back now." Charles could not deny feeling the same way, he'd been wary ever since this mission started. But since he heard nothing from Scarlet Rose or Therese, he had to assume everything was going well on their side too. More importantly, he did not want to turn back now. He wanted to show Static what he could do to pay him back for all the damage he caused.
"I just wish we had Echo here with us." Vherry Anise mumbled. The few stragglers they did run into were all still under the effect of her voice and could not attack them, but her command would not last indefinitely. "Whatever it is that Nakana is doing. We have to trust that it is important. The sooner we can resolve our business here, the sooner we can help them." The Fisherman would have liked to believe that they could resolve the crisis of the world just by removing STHEREA from the equation. And he had faith that Blanche and the champions could complete their task.. But taking care of Static and Continuum would likely take more effort..
That's why they had to reach the top. "We're here." And they did, just as easily as they reached every other floor beneath it. "It's even more eerie than I remember." Crescent whispered as the familiar arena setting appeared before her. The grey and purple clouds filling the sky above the ring added an ominous mood to this already unfriendly environment. An even bigger chilling effect came from the legacy items themselves: the seven original objects were placed around the battlefield in a wide circle.. "The items are here? But I thought.." Crescent even saw the World Shield, which she knew Wagnerok had been using himself. "These are the real items, they must remain here to maintain this merged world. The items you've seen out in the field were likely duplicates that can tap into the power of the original. Which would explain why Scarlet Fever had so many of them." Vigionair concluded. It would also explain why Khan's chalice evaporated the day before. "Though hopefully this means that Static cannot use the items full power right now. Last time we were here, Static pulled the rug out from under us literally, and I care not for repeating that joyride." V shuddered.
"But Static used the lance just an hour ago.. he must have come by here? Where is he now? Why is no one guarding the items?" Charles did not like this one bit. Even if the items could not be touched, he could not see Static ever leaving them exposed like this.
"Static is not here." "We were left behind to protect his legacy." Two voices rang out. "Ah!" They were Zettai.. and Veyron. "So the old team came back together, eh?. But where is Static? Why is he not here? For that matter where are all your other supposed comrades?" Hydra felt rather disappointed to just see the two of them. "Static did not desire to tell us. He always has plans. But if he is not here, then you will not be able to disrupt the harmony of the seven items. As for the others, they would only get in our way. They are not as strong as us. Static entrusted us with the guardianship of this tower after all." Veyron chuckled. "Hmph. Is that so? I am pretty sure one of you can't even duel right now." Hydra threw a smirk back at Zettai. "Tch. I have seen what Veyron can do. He's more powerful than all of you combined." Zettai sneered. "If that is true, then why has he never challenged anyone just to prove his power?" The invisible duelist retorted.
"Because proving my power is a pointless act of pride. I know what I am already. I am more than Veyron now. I have cast aside all my petty wants and desires and accepted the role of the Legacy." The speed duelist said, placing emphasis on the one word that made Crescent look up with a mystified look. He enjoyed that reaction. "But if you must challenge me, I cannot stop you. But who will it be to test me first?" Veyron activated his dueldisk. "You, Crescent? Or you, Hydra? I am ready for anything."
"Even for me?" And one other woman activated her own dueldisk to rise to his challenge, someone who showed up right that second. "You?" Veyron let out a cry of surprise when he saw her.. Abigail Starling. "Yes me. Your real partner.."
(To Be Continued in World 089: God's Scapegoat)
New Cards used by Tycho Rivers
Salamangreat Gazelle
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Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix
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Salamangreat Transcendence
New Cards used by Vitruvic
Keeper of Dragon Magic
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Dark Magician the Dragon Knight
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Chaos Scepter Blast
Successor Soul
Dark Magic Twin Burst