A Legacy of Souls: Terminate the Dream

by Medigo

The virtual world of dueling has survived many threats, but the worst has yet to come. New entities born from the minds of millions seek power to shape the destiny of living. Heroes will be turned against each other as it becomes impossible to trust anyone. And in the middle of it all, one duelist struggles to return to his friends to save them from the one who has stolen his life.

82. World 074: AcroAgoraphobia

World 074: AcroAgoraphobia

"You have to punish him! Schwarzwald betrayed us all! By attacking me, he weakened us as a whole!" An endless barrage of complains left Wagnerok's mouth. Yet none were answered. Static sat in his throne and observed the infuriated Generaider duelist with a bemused expression. "Why? Because you are now like the others? Separated from your human half?" The one who did respond was the one Wagnerok did not care to listen to: El Veyron GT. "What did you say to me?" So Wagnerok turned his anger towards him. "Nothing you have not said yourself to them. You always prided yourself in your purity, called yourself the last vanguard of the new order. But I believe that title has now transferred to me." The speed duelist laughed. "Argh! You don't get to talk to me like that! You joined us last! If you keep pushing me, I might just take your Wand instead!" Wagnerok threatened Veyron with the dueldisk on his arm. "Ha, that is all you can do now: dragging others down to your level. You were always a pathetic bag of air, Wagner."

"QUIET!" Static Void finally silenced the room. "Khan and Chiaroscura have been vanquished."

"..vanquished?" Wagnerok's face turned pale. "But how? How did they... how could they be gone?" The Generaider duelist did not care so much for Khan and Chiaroscura's fates, as he did about what this could mean for him. "They were defeated by their own human counterparts. In the end they failed me like I knew they would. My power can only do so much for your pathetic race." Static snapped his fingers and undid the illusion that hid the real World Chalice next to his throne. "You gave him a fake one?" Veyron asked with a questioning look on his face. "Of course. I would not repeat the same mistake twice. Losing even one item now would threaten my new world order. That is why I do not condemn Schwarzwald for what he did." Static clenched his fist. "That is why we will scar this world permanently today, before another weakness gets exploited! As soon as Scarlet is done, we will start the new great war!"

...

"Bionis? Jenna? What happened? Did you win?" When Charles and the others returned to the missile silo, they saw only one pair of duelists. They looked like the ones they were befriended with, but they could not be sure. "Yeah... we did." Jenna finally answered with a somber tone. "It was.. weird. The second we did, the other me... disappeared. No screams, no cries, she just vanished. And now I feel all weird." She reached her head which throbbed heavily. "So they retreated? Or Scarlet Rose was right... Maybe we can ask her to check you out later. Bionis. What about you?"

"What? Nothing. Nothing's wrong with me. I am glad that other guy is gone.. wherever he went!" Bionis shouted. He experienced the same disorientation, as if he just woke up. "Anyway! What about those other guys! This isn't done yet!" He did not want to focus on himself for even a second. "Oh you mean that Illuminatorguy and pals? We took some of them down and scared the rest off." Blanche revealed. "No idea where the fake Echo went though. And we checked every part of this spooky place. I have a bad feeling about this."

...

The heroes' mistake was searching for her down below. The fake Echo made good use of the many distractions around to sneak across the missile base and access the many still functioning machines. And her real power, her strings, only needed to touch the missiles once. From then on she could just restructure the functionality of the weapons from a wider range: from the inside of one of this location's many empty homes above ground. There were hundreds of weapons affected by Scarlet's code already, one for every country in the world.

But she would not get the chance to use them just yet... "!?" A vicious cyclone tore the walls around her away. "This.." The wind formed a wall around her many times stronger than these fragile houses. "...is the Harpie Lady." And here inside the eye of this makeshift hurricane she found her assailant. "I found you!" Cierze the Harpie shrieked as she flew down to her target. "Of course, your power over the wind element... it must work well in this merged reality. This is a challenge then?" 'Echo' asked her would-be assailant. "Yes! Because you are not Echo! Reveal yourself!" The Harpie Lady activated her dueldisk just to make sure her enemy knew what she would be up against. "I suppose you would not be fooled no matter what. Very well." The girl cut her own strings and tossed away the Echo-doll that formed her disguise: turning back into the statue goddess Shaddoll Construct. "You picked an unfortunate time, my work here was almost done. Then again I was wondering if I would ever get the chance to fight one of you." She activated her own dueldisk with her closed eyes and started the duel.

Shaddoll Construct's LP: 8000 Cierze's LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

"We have dueled before, Shaddoll. You were disguised as Scarlet at the time, but still.." Cierze appreciated this chance even more now. "It is a bit more complicated than that. She was in control at the time, not me. Then again there hardly is a difference between us.. I want what she wants." The Shaddoll Construct placed three cards face down in the spell/trap zone. "You on the other hand have evolved far beyond the limits of our initial duel." She left her turn at that, leaving her monster zones suspiciously empty. "Maybe this is not really a rematch at all! I'll still show you how I have changed!"

-TURN 02-

"My turn! I activate Simorgh Onslaught!" Cierze revealed her new spell to discard one card and add a DARK Winged Beast (Simorgh of Darkness) and a WIND Winged Beast (Simorgh, Bird of Bringing) to her hand. "Indeed, you're already capable of using cards without explaining them." The Shaddoll nodded while her opponent played yet another spell. "Heehee! Yeah!" Cierze activated Trade In to discard her level 8 Darkness Simorgh, and to draw two new cards. "But I don't need praise from you!" Finally she normal summoned the bright-red feathered Bird of Bringing(2/1000/1000) [Zone 2] and activated its effect to add a Simorgh card to her hand. "I add this, Elborz the Sacred Lands of Simorgh, and activate it! Now I can tribute summon Simorgh, the Bird of Ancestry!" Her new field spell added 300 ATK and DEF to all winged beasts, enabled a second normal summon of a winged beast, and let her tribute summon highlevel winged beasts with one sacrifice less. The Bird of Bringing(1300/1300) left the field, and gave life to the golden four-winged bird-deity Simorgh(8/3200/3200) [Zone 3]. At the same time the Simorgh of Darkness(8/3200/3200) could be special summoned from the graveyard thanks to this succesfull Simorgh tribute summon.

"Yes, that card allows you to return two cards back to my hand. However.. What if I were to fuse my monsters?" The Shaddoll activated a quickplay spell; El Shaddoll Fusion, to fuse two Shaddoll fusion materials in her hand together; Reeshaddoll Wendi and Nephshaddoll Genius. These two Shaddolls could also activate their own effects when sent to the graveyard: the blonde-haired tamer witch Wendi special summoned one Shaddoll [Zone 2] from the deck face-down to the field and the gold/purple qliphort robot Genius negated the effects of one monster on the field. "Ah!" Of course, the Bird of Ancestry got targeted, and it was prevented from removing the Shadoll's remaining cards. "And what if the result is El Shaddoll Apkallone?" Any two Shaddolls with different elements could form the Shadow-corrupted seawitch Apkallone(6/2500/2000) [Extra Zone 1] atop her large multi-eyed blackfish. "Then both your cards effects would be negated." Apkallone's own effect negate the powers of other monsters, like the Darkness Simorgh.

"Oh, I don't recognize those cards at all. Tch, guess you did give yourself some new stuff. But I am not gonna get scared of that!" Cierze entered the battle phase with the Bird of light and dark. One bombarded Apkallone with holy feathers, the other crushed a face-down Helshaddoll Void(9/2900/2900) with waves of darkness. Only one attack found some success. "Oh, I neglected to mention this.. Apkallone cannot be destroyed in battle." The fused Shaddoll witch absorbed the holy barrage with a forcefield of water. And after the water came the flame. "Also Void, when it is flipped, can banish one monster with the same attribute as a monster I discard from my deck." The hellfire knight-doll targeted the Darkness Simorgh, while its master discarded the DARK-attribute Shaddoll Hedgehog. "Oh no!" Not only would the now pure-black flames erode Darkness Simorgh away, the discarded Shaddoll Hedgehog could add a new Shaddoll (Shaddoll Dragon) to the Construct's hand. "I am affraid your strategies are still rather easy to predict, Cierze."

"Oh yeah?!" The Harpie activated her quickplay spell card: Swallows Nest. The spell tributed the Darkness Simorgh to summon another winged beast with the same level from the deck: Simorgh the Lord of the Storm(8/3200/2300) [Zone 3]. "Was that also predictable?" Even so, Cierze could not destroy Apkallone. So she placed one trap card face down and ended her turn. "Less so. You will have to forgive me for under-estimating you." At that point the Construct revealed her first trap card: Resh Shadoll Incarnation. It allowed her to special summon one Shaddoll back in face-down defense position: the Reeshaddoll Wendi [Zone 2] in this case. "I don't care about that as much as all the other things! You have done too much to be forgiven!"

-TURN 03-

"Anger, that must be a new sensation for you. I am surprised Echo would let you experience it. After all, you were created from only positive experiences. Of course, even then there is no safety from negative influences." The Shaddoll mused as she normal summoned her shadow-armor corrupted Yangzing: Shaddoll Dragon(4/1900/0) [Zone 4]. "Do not let that newfound emotion dampen your skills however. There is still much I wish to see from you.." She also flip summoned her face-down Reeshaddoll Wendi(3/1500/1000). The tamer witch's flip effect could also set a Shaddoll from the deck, Naelshaddoll Ariel [Zone 3], down on the field. "Regardless.. I link summon my Earth monster, Cross Sheep, with two differently named monsters." The Shaddolls Wendi and Apkallone were the link materials: and they transformed into a grandmotherly white sheep(700/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] in a wooden rocking chair. "When Apkallone is sent to the graveyard, I can add one Shaddoll to my hand from the deck. But I must discard one card afterwards."

"Shaddoll Beast?" Cierze interrupted her with a guess. "That is correct. Your predictive powers have at least not been decreased. That is good to see." The Shaddoll did indeed use Apkallone's dying effect to draw the Shaddoll Beast from her deck. And afterwards when she discarded it, Shaddoll Beast could draw one card from the deck. "I am sure you can also foresee my next move, as this card is already known to you." The Shaddoll tugged at one finger and activated a card from her graveyard by banishing El Shaddoll Apkallone. "Shaddoll Incarnation banishes itself and another Shaddoll from my graveyard, to flip one Shaddoll on my field." The invisible strings connected to her face-down Naelshaddoll, revealing the blue-haired deepsea witch Ariel(4/1000/1800) in her corrupted form. "And when Shaddoll Ariel is flip summoned, I may revive another Shaddoll." Fire once again pursued water, as Ariel's magic restored the infernal flame of Helshaddoll Void(9/2900/2900) [Zone 5]. "Now, another link summon! That is of course.. me." Using two Shaddolls as link materials, Ariel and Dragon, the card of Shaddoll Construct(1200/LINK 2) {Left/Right} [Zone 3] could leave the extra deck.

"Does this upset you, Cierze?" The Construct noticed a slight shiver come over the Harpie Lady. "Doesn't it weird you out? To summon yourself?" Cierze made no effort to hide her discomfort. The card and the duelist looked exactly the same. "I am incapable of such emotions, I already know we are not alike. I suppose this is why you all chose to abandon your original decks in the first place. Even the Fisherman discarded his namesake." A fascinated Shaddoll theorized. "That's just not right. Don't you want to be more?" The Harpie almost began to feel sorry for her opponent. But that would be yet another emotion wasted on it. "No. I am fine the way I am." She shook her head with closed eyes. "I am Scarlet, and she is me. Nothing more, nothing less..."

"I activate Magicalize Fusion! I summon El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis and banish her fusion materials from the grave!" The fusion spell took a Shaddoll and WATER monster as the materials: Dragon and Ariel. This created the first of the elemental construct-based El Shaddolls: Anoyatyllis the statuesque goddess doll(9/2700/2000) [Zone 1] wrapped up in the ethereal energy of an Infernoid dragon's body. "Since I linked a fusion monster to the Cross-Sheep, it will special summon one level 4 or lower monster from my graveyard." The white sheep used her knitting tools to put together the body of Shaddoll Hedgehog and resurrected the shadowy spine-critter(3/800/200) [Zone 2] in defense mode. "Now, I activate my very own ability to fuse two Shaddolls without the need for a spell!" The Construct declared as she combined the Helshaddoll with the Hedgehog: a FIRE monster and a Shaddoll. "I fusion summon El Shaddoll Grysta!" The hellfire knight evolved into an armored knightdoll(7/2450/1950) [Zone 2] with long red hair and angelic wings made of red strings.

"Water and Fire. I wish Olympia and the Fisherman were here to see this." Cierze muttered. "Not to worry, I record all my duels for posterity. Now then, you already know the effect of the Hedgehog." Construct use that to add another Helshaddoll Void to her hand. "But Helshaddoll's second effect I had yet to use. Since it entered the graveyard through an effect, I can discard cards from the top of my deck for each attribute on the field." There were four attributes currently, leading to four cards (Qadshaddoll Keios, Armageddon Knight, Shaddoll Core, Shaddoll Fusion) falling into the graveyard. "Ah, how fortuitous. I discarded Qadshaddoll Keios. When it is sent to the grave, I may discard one Shaddoll from my hand to add its level times one hundred as attackpower to all my monsters." She trusted her to do the math on her own. Either way 900 attackpoints were added to her current line up(Grysta: 3350 atk, Anoyatyllis: 3800 atk, Construct: 2100 atk, Cross-Sheep: 1600 atk) thanks to the discarded Void Shaddoll. "Now, what say we add your color to the mix as well?"

"What?" Cierze flinched as her opponent revealed one more trap: Shaddoll Schism. "Yes, this continuous trap can banish a Shaddoll's materials from the graveyard. And whatever I fusion summon with it, a monster of that same element is put to death." The Schism removed Shaddoll Wendi and Shaddoll Dragon from the graveyard, and combined them into the Shadow of the wind. "I fusion summon El Shaddoll Wendigo! And send Simorgh of the Storms to the graveyard!" The young greenhaired tamer girl Wendigo(6/200/2800) [Zone 4] appeared, corrupted by the strings of the shadows along with her corrupted purple dolphin. Her element's contagion could not be contained and spread out across the field. "Hey! The only one who gets to paint my wings black is me! Since you activated a trap card, the Lord of Storms can send one of your cards back to your deck too! I pick Grysta!" If the Lord had to die, he would expand his own tempest to take one of the Shaddolls down with it.

"Interesting. You could have used that effect far sooner. But you defied your fight or flight nature and preserved it. Though I wonder if that was the right call." Back when the Shaddoll Core trap went to the graveyard, the Construct could activate its effect to retrieve one Shaddoll card from her graveyard. That would be El Shaddoll Fusion. "Two elements remain, the earth! I fusion summon El Shaddoll Construct!" The quickplay spell took a LIGHT monster (Shaddoll Construct) and a Shaddoll (Grysta) to fuse them into the holiest element. This fusion resembled a taller older version of the link monster doll: the true mechanical goddess of the Nephilim(8/2800/2500) [Extra Zone 1]. "When this card is fusion summoned, I can send one Shaddoll from the deck to my graveyard. I choose Shaddoll Falco, who can also set one Shaddoll from my graveyard face-down. Finally, when Grysta has gone to the graveyard, I can reclaim one Shaddoll card from my graveyard!" Within the same breath, the original Shaddoll Fusion re-entered the doll's hand, while Helshaddoll Void reset itself on the field. "Now, Anoyatyllis! Destroy Simorgh of Ancestry!" A blast of cursed water left the hands of the aquatic Shaddoll and drowned the golden bird on the spot.

Cierze's LP: 7400

"Gah!" The water almost swept Cierze away as well, but she managed to soar above the wave. "But now I can add Lord of the Storm back to my hand." Losing a Simorgh in battle triggered that monster's effect in the graveyard at least. "And I can also special summon Cataclysmic Cryonic Coldo from my hand!" Losing a WIND monster triggered the effect of a monster in her hand. A white-bearded and green-armored wind god(8/2600/200) emerged in defense mode. "Coldo can send one spell or trap back to the deck too!" The cryonic god pushed his hand forward and blasted Shaddoll Schism away with its effect. "Clinging to small blessings? Such a human response." In response, Cross-Sheep slammed its body into the defending monster to crush it. El Shaddoll Construct followed with a direct attack afterwards. "Oof!" Strings of light dragged Cierze out of the sky and tossed her against a random house.

Cierze's LP: 4600

"I really wish I could take you with me right now to see your mind at work, Cierze." The doll placed two cards down on her field and let the turn come to an end. "You just want to take me apart, don't you? Just like those weird people at the company!" Cierze yelled once she recovered from the attacks and drew her next card. "Is that not understandable? You are a special form of life. You wanted this, you asked to be special." The Shaddoll retorted. "I did not ask for all of this! How would I know? I had no idea what you were trying to do!" The Harpie Lady shrieked in response. "Finding your place in this world was not my goal. You were always more Echo's child than mine. But you should not be affraid. I will not let you suffer the same end as Valkyrion. Your essence has to be preserved."

-TURN 04-

"Valkyrion?" All of the sudden, Cierze's pupils narrowed. "Why would you say that name?" Her left talon twitched as she drew the next card from her deck. "Hm? Why would I not? He was a part of our combined project. And I see now that it was a mistake to delete him prematurely." The Shaddoll stated with an inscruitably compassionate tone. "No. No he was not deleted. You're lying!" The Harpie Lady on the other hand reacted as if she'd been offended. "Lying? What do you believe happened to him then?" This made the Scarlet ADI express moderately curious. "He was just absorbed! He's asleep, part of everyone's dreams! But he can come back! He will come back!" Cierze screamed, becoming more and more desperate. "Interesting. You're experiencing a severe form of denial. Is this a natural coping mechanism? Or was it forced upon you? Either way, it will not do to reject reality. Even we cannot bring Valkyrion back in his final state. The Scarlet Cross program has left no traces of his actual personality core."

"You're a liar, why should I trust you now?! Echo will make you tell the truth anyway, once I beat you!" Cierze normal summoned her next monster: a tiny green bird(1/300/300) [Zone 1] with a horned crown and golden necklaces around its body. "Simorgh, the Bird of Beginning! She lets me normal summon another Simorgh this turn!" Cierze used this effect along with the effect of the Elborz field: reducing the level of Simorgh the Lord of Storm by 2, so she could normal summon the Stormlord(6/3200/2300) [Zone 2] simply by sacrificing the Bird of Beginning. "Simorgh of Darkness also reappears!" Just like the last turn, the tribute summoned WIND Simorgh revived the fallen DARK Simorgh(8/3200/2300) [Zone 4]. "And then I activate my trap: Simorgh Sky Battle!" Both Simorghs took off into the sky upon the activation of Cierze's ultimate trap. "When I control two winged beasts with different elements and original levels of seven or higher, I can sacrifice both to send all other cards on the field back to the hand! Then I take 500 points of damage for each returned card! But you take the same damage afterwards!"

"Ah!" The Doll in turn reactivated her face-down El Shaddoll Fusion to merge an EARTH monster (Cross-Sheep) and a Shaddoll (Anoyatyllis) to fusion summon the earthen element. "I summon El Shaddoll Shekhinaga!" They became the gigantic doll goddess(10/2600/3000) [Zone 2], wrapped up in qliphort armor. With fewer cards on the field, Sky Battle would return less cards to the hand/extra deck, and cause less damage. "Ugh. Curse it.." Cierze reclaimed her one field spell, her opponent had to retake five cards (El Shaddoll Shekhinaga, Construct, Wendigo, Helshaddoll Void and her face-down trap card). In the end the raging black and green stormwinds inflicted 2500 points of damage to both players. "That was close enough, Cierze. You may not realize it, but you are damaged. Echo cannot fix you. I can."

Cierze's LP: 1600 Shaddoll Construct's LP: 5000

"No. Never again. Echo loves me! You don't! You are not her!" Cierze immediately reactivated the Sacred Land Elborz. "We do not need you! You don't have anything that I want! Now, I revive the Bird of Bringing!" As long as her opponent controlled no spells or traps anymore, the lowerleveled Simorghs like Bringing(2/1300/1300) [Zone 2] could special summon themselves from the graveyard. Though they were summoned in defense and would be banished if they left the field afterwards. "Now that I control a winged beast, I can let my field spell normal summon Simorgh, the Bird of Calamity!" A predatorial silver-crowned bird(3/1800/500) [Zone 3] flew down from her hand with wings of darkgreen and white feathers. The bird of Calamity's effect allowed Cierze to send one Simorgh in the deck (Simorgh, Bird of Protection) to the graveyard. "And I link summon Greatfly!" Two WIND monsters as link materials were enough to release the blade-armed fly giant(1400/LINK 2) [Extra Zone 2] from her extra deck. Now all WIND monsters would gain an additional 500 ATK and DEF, including Greatfly(1900 atk) itself.

"This is.." The Shaddoll came to realize where all these moves were leading her. "This is how it ends, yeah!" With a single motion Cierze special summoned three monsters from her graveyard with their own powers: the Bird of Calamity(2300/1000) [Zone 2], the Bird of Beginning(800/800) [Zone 3] and the Bird of Protection(4/2200/1800) [Zone 4] with its golden neck and purple feathers. "Because I summon Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty!" If at least one of the link materials could be a winged beast, one could link summon the most royal of the Simorgh. The Bird of Sovereignty was a green feathered deity(3200/LINK 3) {Downleft/Down/Downright} [Zone 3] with four wings, a golden ring on its back and armor plates of the same flawless metal. It carried many abilities, but right now Cierze only cared about its attackpower. "Bird of Sovereignty! Greatfly! Make it so that she can never lie again! Silence her for good!" Both of her monsters had enough points to spell the end for Shaddoll Construct. "No.." The last sensation that Scarlet Fever's embodied sense of touch felt, was that of being cut down by blades of wind.

Shaddoll Construct's LP: 0

...

That was also the first sensation that Scarlet Rose experienced in days. "Ugh!" The ADI-duelist staggered backwards and held onto a table to keep herself from falling down. "Scarlet?" Midsummer Nightmare observed her reaction with a mixture of concern and curiosity. For a moment her current aromage-based appearance flickered out of existence and got replaced by that of a normal redhaired woman in a white labcoat. "I'm fine." She quickly forced herself back up and back into her previous look. "That was... the data and memories of Shaddoll Construct flooded into me. I was temporarily overwhelmed, nothing more." She said with a heavy breath. Being able to feel the cold draft in the air and the rough texture of the floor was all a bit sudden to her. "I see. Then you are now complete. But you would prefer to maintain the identity you have already built up." The masked man chuckled as he realized he'd almost seen her true face just now. "Well your secret is safe with me. I know not your reasons for creating the mask, but I understand the pleasure of wearing one.."

"I suppose I should thank you for that. But what this means for me is not important right now. The fact that the Construct has been defeated tells us that the imposter Echo has also been taken care of. And that would suit your plans just fine, wouldn't it?" The redhaired duelist remarked. "Then you believe me?" Midsummer inquired. "I do. Whether the others will, that remains to be seen. Trust does not come up easily for people like us. But they will have no choice. She is the missing ingredient. To save the world, we will need Miss Echo's power."

(To Be Continued in World 075: The Incognito Generation)

New Cards used by Cierze
Cataclysmic Cryonic Coldo
Simorgh, Bird of Beginning
Simorgh, Bird of Protection
Simorgh, Bird of Calamity

-
Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty
Greatfly

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Simorgh Onslaught
Trade In
Swallows' Nest

-
Simorgh Sky Attack

New Cards used by Shaddoll Construct
Reeshaddoll Wendi
Nephshaddoll Genius
Helshadoll Void
Shaddoll Hedgehog
Shaddoll Dragon
Shaddoll Beast
Naelshaddoll Ariel
Qadshaddoll Keios
Shaddoll Falco

-
El Shaddoll Apkallone
Cross-Sheep
Shaddoll Construct
El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis
El Shaddoll Grysta
El Shaddoll Wendigo
El Shaddoll Shekhinaga
El Shaddoll Construct

-
El Shaddoll Fusion
Magicalize Fusion

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Resh Shaddoll Incarnation
Shaddoll Core
Shaddoll Schism