World 050: A Tolerance for Agony
The members of the Exeter software department were happily dismayed to see one of their coworkers at work. "Miss Hansen! You should take it easy!" The sister of the CTO had fallen into her own coma, as far as they could see. Yet while they were in the middle of calling emergency services, Therese Hansen woke up and acted as if she'd taken a simple nap. "I can't. The people don't even know half of what is going on!" She could not satisfied with a simple recovery, because the nightmares she experienced beforehand had been 100 % real. She'd been acting like a completely different person for far too long. "Where is the investigation team? Where are the champions? What have you learned about the Shintaro family? And the heroes of Pandemonium? I need an update on everything.. please." She could not forget her own place in the company hierarchy of course, but she could not let a thing like rank get in the way now. The network was headed towards a full on collapse at this rate. "I have to tell them.. I have to thank them." And after everything that Crescent had done for her, Therese Hansen had to repay the favor.
"Okay. Okay. If you feel absolutely okay to proceed, I can tell you what we know. Though it is not much... If the champions are to be believed, than eight duelists in the network have been compromised by the Static unit. Also the playerbase has broken into the network through a a widespread distribution of entrypoints. However it would seem that champions have enlisted their help and that of the admins to mount some form of attack on a corrupted sector. The investigation team meanwhile is focusing on a previously unknown facility that seems to have a connection with both us and some of our shareholders. I cannot say more than that right now."
"I see. Thank you." Therese had hoped for more good news than that. "These compromised duelists, have you contacted their families yet?" She could only assume that Hydra, Wagner, Bionis, Scura, Zettai, Donna and Void were among them. "We have in fact, at the request of miss Dharma Bonnet who is currently residing in the pacific branch. Only some have responded to the information however.. One in particular, the mother and father of a Jenna ?, have been calling us every hour." The coworker explained with a shudder in his voice. "Jenna? That's.. Scura's family. Let me take their calls." Therese offered. "Are you certain?" He hesitated to accept. "It is the least I can do right now. For them all."
...
Chiaroscura's LP: 7100 Blanche's LP: 8000
Chiaroscura wanted to play a game inside a game. "Subterror Behemoth Fiendess gains 200 attackpoints for each level on its link materials!" The second game would involve her Subterrors of the abyss: Behemoth Ultramafus(12/3000/1400) [Zone 3] and Behemoth Fiendess(3500/LINK 4) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2]. There were also the face-down monsters, Subterror Guru [Zone 5] and Blanche's Blue-Eyes White Dragon [Zone 3], who could only participate passively. "So let me ask you again, Blanche. Which monster looks more fun? And remember, we are dueling for real! So every claw will be as sharp as it looks!" The first game involved the duelists themselves and their mental resistance. Because only one monster could take a hit for Blanche this turn. She would take the other. "Uh.. is there a third option?" She could pick either a rock monster that breathed lava, or the purple draconian Fiendess with her crystal blue claws and spiked tail. "Heh, nice try. If you wont choose. I will!" The battle phase started with Ultramafus crushing Blue-Eyes White Dragon under its foot.
"It was worth a shot. I cant help crack jokes, Scura. Its like breathing to me. But I was also serious!" Blanche countered with a card from the graveyard. "When my dragon dies, I can special summon the Keeper of The Shrine and add that dragon to.." She had never planned to take a direct hit, not while she could call upon the dragon elder from the shrine. Unfortunately, Scura would not let her own plans fall through that easily. "Seen it! I activate Subterror Fiendess to negate the effect!" With Subterror handtrap, she could flip Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus face-down. That also gave her the opportunity to cancel the Keeper's revival. "I told you to stop under-estimating me! Blanche!" The subterror duelist pushed through with a direct attack declaration. "Ah.." Blanche braced herself and shielded her face, while the Subterror Behemoth Fiendess swept its claws across her body. "Gaaaahhh!" The blow sent her flying backwards, and left large sparkling gashes in her avatar. "Ah. Yeah, that was a nice scream! I bet you never felt damage like that before!" Scura laughed her way to the end of her turn.
-TURN 05-
"Dharma!" Instinctively Charles tried to rush towards Blanche. "Back off! This is a dance for two!" But Chiaroscura dragged him back with a pulse of static energy. "Gh! At least me check to see if she is alright!" He yelled. "Oh please. Are you gonna whine about that every time your friends take a hit?" The Subterror duelist activated the World Legacy Pawns trap card again: flipping Subterror Guru(4/1600/1800) face-up to activate its Subterror searching flip effect and adding another Subterror Fiendess to her hand. Having a linked monster flip face-up made the Subterror Behemoth Fiendess used her own active ability: adding a flip monster (Subterror Behemoth Umastryx) from the deck to the hand. "You gotta let them have some fun too for once, 'Charles'."
"She's right, Boss." Said the white haired girl who crawled back up and checked out the damage. "You gotta let me do this. Scura's my friend too. Besides.." She moved her hand back and forth through the glowing scars. "That barely tickled." Blanche concluded and drew her next card. She could still duel. "Rgh! There you go again, downplaying everything! Next time maybe I'll poke out one of those pretty blue eyes instead!" Chiaroscura shrieked. "The worst part is that I can believe you'd do it. But I am not gonna give you the chance. I banish the White Stone of Ancients from my graveyard to add a Blue-Eyes card back to my hand! I take Blue-Eyes White Dragon and use it to activate Mirror Force Launcher!" Blanche'd lost the Mirror Force, but not the continuous trap that could fetch it from the graveyard and deck. Discarding the Blue-Eyes would add the destructive force trap back to her hand. "No! You do not get to tell me what I cant do! And you don't get to hide either! I activate Subterror Fiendess!" Chiaroscura refused it all. Her second Fiendess flipped Subterror Guru back face down, negating and destroying the Mirror Force Launcher.
"You really want me to go all out, don't you? I guess I don't really have a good reason not to. I'm only fooling myself if I pretend I cannot hurt you." Blanche sighed. "Eh, if there are any consequences to this, I'll suck it up later." She would have to set aside pride as well and use 'that card' again. "I activate World Legacy Guardragon!" That being the continuous spell that revived level 4 or lower dragons from the graveyard. In this case she brought the Keeper of the Shrine(4/0/2100) [Zone 2] back out of retirement. "And I summon Guardragon Promineses." A gremlin-like rock dragon flew down besides the bearded Keeper. Flames of the sun wrapped around the wings and back of Promineses(1/500/200) [Zone 1]. "See I was fine with just world legacy spells. Sorta. That was kinda an arbitrary choice. But now there's a whole archetype too? And its connected to the one Hansen used?" It made sense and made no sense at the same time. "Every other item had its own archetype too." Charles noted. The Guardragons were merely the seventh to manifest. "Yeah but.. Eh, its better to show you."
"I link summon Guardragon Agarpain! The materials are two dragons!" The prominent Guardragon and Shrinekeeper blasted off into the link circuit and released a long coiling beam of energy. "The Guardragons?" Scura felt raw power above her: power that gave even her shivers. Agarpain(1500/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1] descended as a long serpent-like dragon with six horns, two claws, wings of black hair and seagreen cyber-armor. "This is one of them. Agarpain can special summon one dragon from the extra deck to a zone that's marked by two link monsters! Though I cant special summon anything but dragons while I have him on my field. Which is only a slight problem." Blanche snickered. "What? What about your lack of link monsters?!" Her enemy pointed out another issue.
"I'm on that too." Blanche snickered and activated another dragon from her graveyard. "I banish Starliege Seyfert to add one level 8 Light dragon back to my hand!" She picked Blue-Eyes White Dragon for the second time. "Then I discard it, to activate the Ruins of the Divine Dragon Lord from my graveyard! Sorry Blue." Again Blanche had to discard her White Dragon as a cost, this time to make the Ruins of the Divine Dragon Lord move to her hand. "And when a Normal monster is sent to the graveyard, Guardragon Promineses selfrevives!" That was how she would get more link materials, the Guardragons themselves did the work. "And I can use a level 4 or lower dragon as a link material for this guy! Guardragon Pisty!" By itself the Prominent dragon transformed into a smaller black dragon serpent(1000/LINK 1) {Right} [Zone 2] with one white wing and a glowing red heartcore. "And before you can say 'but its not pointing at the right spot', I will have activated Guardragon Legacy's second effect! I can move my link monsters to any other zone!" Pisty slithered over to the far left column, which meant it[Zone 1] and Agarpain were now both pointing to the second zone. "Heh! Here we go! Agarpain special summons the Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon!"
"The Ultimate Dragon!?" Even Vigionaire stopped to admire the wonders these dragons could create. Agarpain and Pisty combined their dark lightning at the zone between them and opened a portal to the extra deck. Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate(8/4500/3800) [Zone 2], the three headed silver Dragon that put most of V's Cipher and Galaxy dragons to shame, emerged without the need for a fusion summon. "And Alternative Ultimate Dragon can destroy one card each turn, at the cost of his own attack!" The three heads gazed at the face-down Subterrors with hate-filled eyes. Because it had been cheated out without its proper materials, only one head could unleash the blast of total devastation and wiped away Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus. "Uhm, was that your intended target?" The encrypter would have destroyed the link monster instead.
"She would have sacrificed it with Subterror Succession otherwise." Blanche replied. Face-down monsters could not be tributed by Scura's trap card. "So what? If that was your full power, I am not impressed! Blanche!"
"Hey come on, Scura. I know its hard to read cards that dont exist digitally, but you cant be thinking that Pisty doesnt have his own effect, right? Agarpain summons from the extra deck, but Pisty can special summon any dragon that died or was banished!" Right now though her Ultimate dragon occupied the marked zone, but there were ways to remove it again. "I activate Ruins of the Divine Dragon Lords! Its second effect sends one of my cards to the graveyard to create a Dragon Lord token!" Weathered columns and worn down walls of a once mighty temple rose up around the dragon duelist. She offered her mighty fusion dragon to the continuous spell, turning her into a three-headed statue dragon(1/0/0) [Zone 5]. "You turned it into a token just to clear the zone?" Chiaroscura did not know whether to laugh or fume. "Yup! Because now Pisty can special summon the Arkbrave Dragon!" Pisty started the Guardragon's summoning play this time, and broke the graveyard barrier to resurrect Arkbrave Dragon(7/2400/2000) [Zone 2] in attack position.
"Gah!" The white/gold fourwinged dragon of the ark would banish every spell or trap card on Scura's field and gain 200 attackpoints for each lost card. "You really think it will go that easy for you?" The trap of Succession would flip up one final time to sacrifice the Subterror Behemoth Umastryx in her hand. "I add Subterror Nemesis Archer to my hand!" She declared, after which the Arkbrave Dragon(2800 atk) brought devastation to Scura's backrow and absorbed the energy from Subterror Succession and World Legacy Pawns. "Scura, none of this is easy! Besides Hydra you're probably the toughest duelist I've ever met! But you did not need Static to be strong!" Blanche sighed, she could not even get rid of Scura's strongest monster after all. "Arkbrave attacks Subterror Guru!" The dragon would have to blast away the Guru as a consolation prize, which it did without too much difficulty. "Then I set a trap card and I will link summon Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres!" Blanche took two dragons as link materials: Agarpain and the Dragon Lord Token. Their combination gave rise to the golden dragon sun(0/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] and its orbiting stars. "My turn is over!"
-TURN 06-
"I don't care about your compliments! That wont trick me, and your cards wont either! I know what you're up to! That spell is not one of your fancy new miracles!" The Dragon Lord's Ruins had a third effect as well, one that negated the effects of all monsters special summoned anywhere except from the graveyard. Though it could only do that while Blanche controlled a level 7 or level 8 dragon. "But I am not going to fall for that! I am gonna make you fall! I activate Ret-time Reviver Emit-ter from my graveyard! I can let it target monsters on both our fields! And if both are switched face-down, she is special summoned. But I only care about one monster, yours!" Scura let the brownhaired ghost girl in a white dress rise up from her grave to sweep the field with a broom. She could not get the Behemoth Fiendess to budge, and one flip was not enough to bring her back to life for good. Nevertheless, she did successfully force Arkbrave Dragon to hide. "And now, I banish three monsters with different types, to special summon Archnemeses Eschatos!"
"Archnemeses?" Charles gasped, that card belonged to an entirely different breed! Chiaroscura mixed three Behemoths in the graveyard: the rock Stalagmo, the pyro Ultramafus and the seaserpent Stygokraken. Water, lava and stone melded together into a twisted and eyeless sea-dragon(11/3000/2500) [Zone 4] with sickening purple skin and transarent green wings. "Is this what Static gave you? Another kind of Nemesis?" No matter what it seemed Chiaroscura preferred overly large abominations. "I don't need his help either! This is all my mind, Charles! Heheh, and you will love this. Archnemesis Eschatos can destroy one type of monster on the field. And then he will block all summons of that type until my next turn!" The Archdragon suspended its tail above the Hieratic Seal and Guardragon Pisty, letting poisonous deadly energy seep from a sac at the tip. "Thats your problem and hers too! You both suffer from a limited imagination! You'd have won if you used anything else besides... Dragons!"
"There's nothing wrong with just sticking to what you know. There's a dragon for every occasion too." Blanche at this point activated the effect of the Hieratic Seal. It tributed a dragon, itself, to send one card back to a players hand. "You're too late! And that wont stop me! I can special summon Eschatos as long as my graveyard is filled with Subterrors! With Scura's useless garbage!" Returning the Archnemeses would only postpone the inevitable. "Useless? You don't know what you are saying.." Instead Blanche bounced her own Divine Dragon Ruins. "What?" Then, as it had been tributed, the Hieratic Seal of Heavenly Spheres could special summon one dragon from the deck with 0 attack and defense points. "The only one useless here is you, Chiaroscura! If you are tired of pretending to be her, than so am I! I special summon Blue-Eyes Solid Dragon in defense mode!" She selected yet another Blue-Eyes variant, this one(8/2500/2000) [Zone 4] came in thick solid armor but still had the same basic shape of the white dragon. "When it is summoned, I can negate one monsters effects!" Seven-colored lightwaves came from the Solid Dragon's wings to ensnare the Archnemeses inside a prism of powerlessness.
"Useless? Me? I am the next step in her evolution! I should have listened to them before, because now I see I dont need to be Jenna anymore! I dont need her memories, her life!" Chiaroscura normal summoned the Subterror Archnemesis Archer and unloaded on Blanche. "I dont need her family, I can come up with my own!" Eschatos swept its tail across the field and cut Blue-Eyes Solid Dragon in half. "I dont need her body, I can experience way better pleasures the way I am now!" The Archer fired a face-down slaying arrow at the face-down Arkbrave Dragon. Her effect let her send the dragon back to the deck without entering the damage steps. "And I don't need her world! It's too tiny and dull! There are no monsters, no angels, no demons, no gods! It's all just the same boring order, the same old rules! But here, anything goes!" Finally, Subterror Behemoth Fiendess struck with the same claws that had scarred Madam Blanche. They carved through Guardragon Pisty like a hot knife through flesh, sending searing shockwaves beyond the destruction to damage the dragon duelist herself.
Blanche's LP: 2000
"Maybe you dont. But we do." Blanche groaned. She did not receive any more injuries, but the pain kept her company for a pretty long while. Now that her dragon died, she could special summon the Keeper of the Shrine[Zone 3] to her field in defense mode. "Bah. That thing again? Who cares. Who cares about what any of you have to say? You passed up the chance to become like me. Now you're all going to die.. All you can do is choose how much you suffer before then." Chiaroscura ended her turn with a sneer. "...Yeah, well dying is kinda a part of living, Scura." Blanche said with a sudden coldness in her voice. "What? Only if you're lame! If we stay in here, we can be young forever!"
-TURN 07-
"Even if you're young, thats no guarantee. Take it from me." The white haired duelist sighed as she drew her card. "Dharma.. you mean." The way she looked right now reminded him of how she looked in her dream, when she saw that boy in the hospital bed. "Yeah. Him. His name was Forester. He... used to be my 'rival' in the junior dueling league. Though really it was more of a contest between our parents to see who could make the most money out of us. They were already rich, but they just wanted more.. They controlled his life so much that he only saw me as his friend, he could not form bonds with anyone else. And eventually, I dont know why or how, he just got sick.. Sick enough to die. I didn't even get to learn the name of the disease. Life is just strange sometimes you know.." Blanche said as she breathed in deeply. "Dharma, I..am sorry." Charles hadn't planned to bring back those memories. "Hey, it's alright. When he went, he left me everything he had. And that let me buy my independence! Thanks to that I could help you, and her, and everyone else. Pain comes with the territory. And you cannot run away from it or dull it by dishing it out yourself."
"Tch. Was that the point of your sobstory? Your pain is nothing! And you cannot make me feel it either! You barely nicked me so far while you're already down by three quarters! What can you even do?"
"This." Blanche played the Divine Dragon Ruins again, and activated the cards second effect. "I create a token.." She could also offer spells, like World Legacy Guardragon, to craft her dragon lord statues(1/0/0) [Zone 2]. "And then, to play the oldest trick in the book. I will tribute my two monsters to normal summon my dragon! Deep-Eyes!" The Shrine Keeper and Dragon Lord token left the field. "What? Deep-Eyes!?" Scura could never have expected that Blanche would bring that card out with a tribute summon: Deep-Eyes White Dragon(10/0/0) [Zone 3]. Her draconian body was thin and shimmered with white starlight, her neck was long and her head extended with multiple crests. And seven white-feathered wings were attached to a silver halo that grew out of her back. "Deep-Eyes gains the attackpoints of one dragon in my graveyard!" Blanche had no better choice than the Ultimate Alternative Blue-Eyes, whose spirit entered the pure white dragon(4500/0) to aid it in this final battle. "Neat, Blanche. But that wont kill me."
"You have no idea, Scura." Blanche flipped her trap card. "I activate Tyrant Wing and equip it on my dragon! Now she gains four hundred attackpoints and can attack two monsters in one turn!" The light of the Tyrant dragon coated all seven wings of the Deep dragon(4900/0) with an all powerful glow. "Then I banish Blue Eyes Abyss Dragon from my graveyard! That adds another thousand attackpoints to all dragons with a level of eight or more!" Yet another blue-eyed dragon came back from the land of the dead to empower the last living white dragon(5900/0). "Amazing." Vigionair and Charles realized that Blanche now possessed enough power to settle everything in one battle phase. "I also accept, spectacular!" She pointed her finger at Archnemesis Eschatos. "Deep-Eyes! Attack with Burst Nova of Destruction!" And it all ended for the Archdragon. Light from the sun filtered through the White Dragon's halo and exploded into a screaming beam of stellar power. The atoms of Eschatos were scattered across the galaxies.
Chiaroscura's LP: 4200
"You.. cannot be serious." Chiaroscura realized what would cost her the duel now: her Subterror Nemesis Archer was still in attack position. "I am. That's how things can go sometimes. Though I worked for this, trust me." Blanche directed the White Dragon's second attack towards the Archer. "No! That is not fair! You got to separate yourself from your parents! You got to choose your family! Why should I return to mine? Why are you making me do this!?" The girl had nothing left to defender herself with, except bile and hatred. "I am not. Scura is. I'll let her choose where she wants to go, because its like you said.. She is part of my family now. My friend. And I know her enough to predict that she wants nothing to do with this group of people. So.. goodbye, Chiaroscura." Deep-Eyes unleashed the second halo burst and eliminated the Subterror Nemesis with a shrieking flash of light. The force of the damage sent shattered every glass in the room and knocked all the sofas against the wall. "Gyaaaahahahaahh!" Shards of agony traveled up Scura's body and paralyzed her with pain the entire time...until finally, all monsters disappeared.
Chiaroscura's LP: 0
"...Now look what you have done." Chiaroscura slumped down to the floor, her head sinking into her dress. "You've let her out, havent you? That weak pathetic version of me.. Poor little Jenna. You are just gonna make me torment her too!" She shrieked and tried to lash out at Blanche with her arm. "Ah.." However she seemed to have over-estimated her reach and did not even come close to touching her. "I think your hurting days are over, Chiaoroscura." Blanche let out a sigh and picked up the thing that fell out of her lap the moment the duel ended: the World Legacy World Armor. "What? Oh..of course..." The girl realized why she suddenly felt so weak herself. She lost her power as well because of this defeat. "Ahahaha.. I guess I am just as bad as Schwarzenecker. I never even got a chance to do what I wanted to do." Torture would not be as fun without the item. Though she had her own pain to worry about now too. "He wont be happy." She said softly. There could only be one answer.
"...Is it weird that I feel sorry for her?" Blanche turned towards Charles and Vigionair. "I don't know? Maybe? We dont have time to think about it. Lets just use Scarlet's door and get out now that we have the Item." Charles hurriedly suggested. They could worry about finding the real Scura later. For once things seemed to be going alright for them...
Except then the world itself turned against them. "The legacy is MINE!" The voice of Static preceded the twisting of time and space. The walls and ceiling of Scura's funhouse were pulled away like curtains and revealed that Void had brought with him: madness. "I am not playing anymore, kids. I was this close to completing the game! HIS game! And you want to take that away from me as well? No! You've had your fun. Now it's my turn!"
(To Be Continued in World 051: Shedding the Moral Coil)
New Cards used by Madam Blanche
Guardragon Promineses
Blue-Eyes Solid Dragon
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Guardragon Agarpain
Guardragon Pisty
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Ruins of the Divine Dragon Lord
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Tyrant Wing
New Cards used by Chiaroscura
Ret-time Reviver Emit-ter
Archnemesis Eschatos