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.

95. World 087: Since the Worlds Been Turning

World 087: Since the World's Been Turning

"This is a waste of time." Khan griped more and more. Nakana's group and him visited location after location in hopes of finding clues of Continuum's whereabouts. "Renner tricked you. He gave you duds." Every time they came up empty. "I don't buy it. Why would they go through all this trouble to create closed systems, if they didn't plan anything with it?" Tycho growled. They'd already proven that STHEREA's virtual reality affected this place more than any other, and he could not accept that these locations were chosen randomly. "Yeah well all the fat cats in cahoots with Continuum must be hiding somewhere. But no way Renner ever got told about it. And its not like we can interrogate anyone who actually lives here." The current site was another run of the mill city with a large industrial sector. Trying to find a specific person here would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"I sense someone." But they did have a special scout with them "My lady? What is it?" The Fire Princess turned to her, towards Miss Echo. "I sense a duelist, Olympia. I sense someone.. whose memories are part of STHEREA... and of my own past. He is close.. he is there." She pointed towards the steel mill factory up ahead. "Really? Well, let us give them a proper greeting."

It did not take long to spot them. And they chose to confront them head on. "Who goes there!" The group consisting of a leather-jacket wearing man and a dozen or so soldiers. The soldiers held guns with itchy trigger fingers while the man wore a dueldisk. "It's you. The champion." Nakana recognized the man. "Do not come any closer!" The soldiers shouted again.

"Hold your fire." Vitruvic waved them off. "You are... the heroes of Pandemonium? Yes I remember you." He stared at each one of them: Bionis Khan, 'Alpha', 'Yoro-Himiko' and Zanbatou. He did not recognize the other two right away and took them for more ordinary duelists. "Quite the coincidence that we would meet up here." He seemed more confused than alarmed, which was not the reaction they were expecting. "Hmph. Not a coincidence at all. The weirder part is that you are here and not in some rich man's jail cell?" Tycho wanted to be surprised too that the champion had apparently avoided all consequences for his previous actions, but he could not be. "I understand your apprehension, but I am here to make amends for my earlier collaborations. I was called upon by Exeter to investigate this area. We have everything under control now." He insisted. "Yeah try to fool somebody else! We did not even know about this location until Renner told us about it! How would Exeter get here first? Unless youknowwho told them about it."

"They know too much..." The champions military entourage ran out of patience and pointed their weapons at the duelists. "Discard them!" Olympia reacted immediately and started lobbing fireballs at the soldiers, firing with precision to knock the weapons out of their hands and melt them to the point of uselessness. "Gah! It's one of them! A monster!" Some soldiers immediately fled the scene, while others were kept at bay by walls of flame.

"You, you are.. the Fire Princess. That must mean you are Miss Echo." The stunned Vitruvic finally took notice of his most unique guests. "You do know me. Oh.. You.. You were there." Miss Echo now also realized why his presence triggered her orb of memories. It was easy for her to get her own experiences lost in others, but she remembered seeing him now. "You were there." Seeing him the day she broke free. "And now.. we are here." She felt uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. "It's all the same." Virtual matter took over anything that used to be solid here, just like in Echo's city. The damage Olympia's flames caused quickly regenerated. The streets were repairing themselves.. rebooting themselves.

"So this is how their desired world works, this is what you wanted that fake city to become. And you were there to guard the first one too! You were hiding the place that held her hostage!" Tycho recalled that past encounter vividly as well. "I had no idea that a being like her even existed, much less as a prisoner of STHEREA. I was only there because Exeter ordered me to be there. Just like the other champions." Vitruvic cried out, exasperated. "Just Exeter? How do we know you weren't working for an even bigger scumbag than Hansen? You were the only champion who knew about the company's secrets!.. These recreated cities are clearly intended for Continuum's benefit and not just Exeter." The way the soldiers reacted pretty much proved them guilty in his eyes anyway. "Hmph. I can see that you desperately seek answers, but I cannot give them. Now, if you could remove these flames and let us be then.."

"Vitruvic." Nakana cleared her throat. "You know more than you let on, you cannot deny that. Before you said that you were helping Exeter build a paradise. Now we would like to hear the rest of the story. And if you do not want to tell us, then you are going to duel us. Since you know about Echo than you know why what happens when you lose. But if you are as pure as you claim to be, then you have nothing to hide."

"You think you can challenge me? Threaten me? The world champion? I remember all of you, I remember your performance in the tournament. You could not even make it to the finals, let alone to the champions. While I am undefeated." The champion boasted. "But you have been defeated before." She quickly pointed out. "I have no recollection of that event. I have no recollection of any fraud in my past either. All my victories were earned. If it is a duel you seek, you will have it. But which one of you is brave enough to challenge me?" To this the duelists did not have an immediate answer. Nakana did not want to risk anything before finding her parents, Zanbatou would still not do anything besides follow her and they could risk Echo even less. It was also true that despite his loss to Melyria, he would make for a formidable foe.

Tycho's LP: 8000 Vitruvic's LP: 8000

"Brave? Nah.. Just stubborn." Tycho did not let any of those facts stop him. "You?" Bionis protested just few seconds too late. "Yes me. You think you can do better? Last time I checked I defeated you, which makes me the better duelist here." Tycho responded with a bit of logic that a champion would surely appreciate. "As if! Hydra carried you that whole duel!" Bionis appreciated it far less, but not much could be done to stop it now. Tycho sent the challenge and Vitruvic accepted it. "I am not doing this to see who is stronger, Bionis. I am doing this because we have to get the truth out of him. This is personal for me too. And I am going all out! So if If you're so great, Vitruvic. Prove it! Prove that you can win without the help of Exeter or Continuum or whatever!" He roared. Vitruvic responded only with laughter.

-TURN 01-

"We'll see who gets the last laugh!" Tycho took the first turn and played the first spell: Salamangreat Circle. "Plus I am sure that as the world champion, you don't need me to tell you what my cards do!" The Circle added a Salamangreat, Salamangreat Fennec, to his hand. He normal summoned that cyberse monster to his field, letting it take the form of a mechanical yellow fox(3/1600/200) [Zone 1] with a burning tail. "That makes this a lot easier. I Link summon! Salamangreat Balelynx!" A level 4 or lower Salamangreat like Fennec could then be turned into a material for his weakest yet still very important link monster: the baleful red Lynx cyberse(500/LINK 1) {Down} [Extra Zone 1]. With its helpful effect, Tycho could add the Salamangreat Sanctuary field spell to his hand. "So you did get your monsters back." Olympia cried out. "Heh, and I am glad I did. Then again even a beginner can reach the top with cards like these."

Tycho activated a continuous spell next: Will of the Salamangreat. Once a turn he could special summon one Salamangreat from his graveyard, which meant just Fennec in this case. "I link summon again!" Salamangreat Balelynx and Fennec, two FIRE effect monsters, were used as the next set of link materials for the Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf(1800/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 2]. Sending Fennec to the graveyard now for a Link 2-summon activated the fox's own effect to add a Salamangreat normal spell (Fury of Fire) from the deck to his hand. "And again, with a reincarnation link summon! I bet you do not get to see one of these often!" The Salamangreat Sanctuary spell cast its volcanic glow over the field. For as long as it remained, Tycho could use his Salamangreat link monsters as the sole material for a link monster of the same name. Tycho reincarnated the first Sunlight Wolf into the second(1800/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 2], triggering its effect to add a Salamangreat spell or trap (Salamangreat Circle) from the graveyard to his hand. "I set two cards face down, and end my turn!"

-TURN 02-

"Hmph. I see a variety of cards, yet an unimaginative setup. I know dozens of duelists who could have constructed a more secure field with the tools you have. I am not impressed, Alpha." Vitruvic yawned deliberately and activated his first card by slamming it into his dueldisk. "I activate the Magicians Souls! I can send one level six or higher spellcaster from the deck to my graveyard to then summon the Dark Magician from my graveyard!" The soul of the magician evaporated from his hand and took the soul of the Dark Magician down with it. Soon after the Dark Magician(7/2500/2100) [Zone 3] in his purple and gold warlock armor. "Dark Magician!?" Echo could not resist letting out a small gasp of excitement when she saw the classic spellcaster take form. "Ha. Are you surprised? You wanted me to prove that I could win without Exeter's help, so I am dueling without the cards they gave me. But the Dark Magician was my card to begin with. Before all the spellcounters and extra deck summons, I dominated the league with the single most famous duel monster in the world!"

"Blanche would disagree about that." Khan muttered on the sidelines. "It doesn't matter. I never thought I would see one for myself.. Scarlet said there were no ADIs like him in STHEREA." Echo still remembered how much she'd wanted to turn the Dark Magician into one of her friends... to honor the one duelist she considered her best friend: Midsummer. "And if he is here then.."

"Then his protege soon follows. I activate A Bond Between Teacher and Student! When I control the Dark Magician, I can special summon the Dark Magician Girl and set one of their support spells down on the field!" The teacher took the spell and used it to power a portal into the deck. The blonde apprentice(6/2000/1300) [Zone 2] in light-blue armor joined the Dark Magician's side, while the Bonding spell placed the Dark Burning Magic spell face-down. "Now I activate Dark Burning Magic. This spell destroys all my opponents cards when the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are both on the field at once!" Such powerful black magic could not be contained. The two spellcasters crossed their wands and unleashed an electric black hole upon the field.

"Maybe that was a good combo in your time, Vitruvic! But now I have this, Salamangreat Balelynx!" Tycho banished the red lynx from his graveyard to keep all of his Salamangreat cards from being destroyed. This protection did not extend towards his face-down cards. Yet Tycho could activate Salamangreat Circle instead to add the Salamangreat Raccoon card to his hand. And he could also activate his other set card. "Heh, you destroyed Salamangreat Recureance, which means I can add one Salamangreat spell or trap to my hand too!" The shattered recursion spell added a counter trap, Salamangreat Roar. Vitruvic did not pay that card much attention as the monster in Tycho's hand.

"I knew you would.. Just like I know what you are going to do if I dare to attack your monster.." The turn still owed Vitruvic a normal summon and he spent it on the Magicians Rod: the actual rod(3/1600/0) [Zone 4] of the dark magician floating under its own power. "When the Magician's Rod is summoned, I can add one Dark Magician support spell from the deck to my hand." The levitating rod zapped the spell zone behind it to materialize the spell soon to be activated. "Secrets of Dark Magic! I can fusion summon one spellcaster in this exact moment: I choose The Dark Magicians!" He meant that both material-wise and results-wise: because the quickplay fusion spell combined the Dark Magician with the Magicians Rod to summon a fusion spellcaster that looked like the magician and apprentice as a pair(8/2800/2300) [Extra Zone 1], united by the power of the magic circle behind them. "When a spell or trap is activated while I control the Dark Magicians, I can draw one card! And if it it is a spell or trap, I can set it and activate it this turn! So I activate Soul Servant! This allows me to set one card on the top of my deck!"

"What? You 're basically deciding your own future here?" Tycho cursed. The Soul Servant spell placed a trap on top of the deck: Magicians' Combination. Immediately afterwards the Dark Magicians drew that same card and left it down on the field for Vitruvic to activate. "Dark Magicians! Attack Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf!" A battle phase that began with the magic of the apprentice. "Rgh, I know what you're trying to do! But I am going to do it anyway! Salamangreat Raccoon!" Normally Tycho could simply discard the Raccoon and make Sunlight Wolf immune to battle destruction. "Because you cannot avoid it! I activate Magicians Combination! When an effect is activated, I can tribute the Dark Magician or Magician Girl to negate that effect and summon the other from the graveyard!" With a smile the Dark Magician Girl jumped into a magical red cylinder and disappeared, the Dark Magician himself[Zone 7] re-emerged from the other cylinder and shut down Raccoon's effect with a quick spell blasted from his wand. Afterwards the fused Magicians obliterated Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf

Tycho's LP: 7000

"Bah! I can still special summon Salamangreat Fennec, since my link 2 monster was destroyed!" Tycho hurriedly put a new defense on his field, only to have the defending Fennec fox[Zone 2] blasted out of existence by the Dark Magician's own attack. "So you can. But it is easy to survive when you focus only on defense. You should show what you can do when you want to attack me, Alpha."

-TURN 03-

"You do not get to call me that. Do you even know why that name exists? I chose it on a whim, to imitate types like you. I thought that if I could get myself noticed, that I could make it to the champions league, than nobody would be able to ignore me! But I guess I should have just focused on you specifically all along, because of everything you already know!" Tycho made an attempt to reactivate the Will of the Salamangreat to special summon Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf back from the dead. "A nice story, but nobody would care even if they did hear it." Vitruvic coldly extinguished his furious spell with another activation of Magicians Combination: sending the Dark Magician to the graveyard to special summon the Dark Magician Girl(2300/1700) [Zone 2] back in defense mode. Naturally Tycho would not get to try this effect again. "People only want to hear the good news, the stories of hopes, wishes and dreams. They forget everything else. I believe the lady over there would agree."

"Me?" Echo shuddered. The more he said, the more he started to bother her. "I am the one you're dueling! That's what you said to me, Vitruvic!" Tycho normal summoned the Salamangreat Mole, a cyborg mole(1/0/0) [Zone 3] with burning claws. "Fury of Fire will settle this! I special summon two fire monsters from my graveyard!" The Fury of Fire resurrected Salamangreat Fowl [Zone 2] and Salamangreat Raccoon(1/400/800) [Zone 3]. "So you may, but any spell will activate the effect of the Dark Magicians." Once again Vitruvic drew a card. This time however it turned out to be a monster card, which he could not do anything with yet. "Looks like you cannot stop me this time! Link summon! Salamangreat Heat Leo!" Tycho could only summon one monster from the extra deck after he used this card, so he would make these materials count if he could. Raccoon, Fowl and Mole connected the threeway link circuit and called out the burning Salamangreat Lion(2300/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 2].

And a successful summon of the heatlion always preceded one spell or trap returning to the deck. "Now get rid of your Magician Combination!" Tycho shuffled the continuous trap deep down where he hoped to never see it again. "Time to attack.. reincarnate link summon Heatleo! And equip him with Salamangreat Claw! Now my monster can attack once for each of its link markers, inflicts piercing damage and cannot be destroyed!" Once more a link monster used itself as a link material within the Salamangreat Sanctuary. The newly summoned Heatleo(2300/LINK3) [Extra Zone 2)'s claws were enhanced with a cybernetic gauntlet, and its final powers unlocked. The Lion could target one other Salamangreat in the graveyard and place its attackpoints on top of another monster. Tycho naturally chose to target the weakest Salamangreat, Mole, and gave its 0 attackpoints to the soon-to-be-attacked Magician fusion(0/2300). "Reincarnation..." All the while Nakana watched and smiled feintly at this different interpretation of rebirth summoning. It felt like an art that never reached its full potential.

"Impressive. However, now that you have targeted my spellcaster.. I can special summon Palladium Oracle Mana from my hand!" Vitruvic countered with an incarnation from the past. Mana(6/2000/1700) was the ancestor of the Dark Magician Girl, an Egyptian sorceress with golden ornaments on her black dress and in her black hair. "Mana prevents any effects from destroying my level seven or higher spellcasters!" The Oracle cast her shield of protection over the fused magician. "Good for you! But we've passed the part for fancy tricks, Vitruvic! Now it's just gonna be a straight up slugfest! Heat Leo! Attack the Dark Magicians!" No magic acts could save Vitruvic's spellcaster this time, the Heatlion sent its claws after the real Dark Magicians. Except instead of dying the fusion monster seemingly split up into two separate monsters: another Dark Magician(7/2500/2000) [Zone 3] and his apprentice(6/2300/1700) [Zone 2]. "When the Dark Magicians are destroyed, I can special summon the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl from my graveyard or deck!" He chose to summon them in attack position and from the deck.

Vitruvic's LP: 5700

"Now there's three of them.." Echo counted two Dark Magician Girls and Mana on the field. And since all Dark Magician Girls gained 300 ATK for each Dark Magician in the graveyard, there were few that Tycho could take on. "There will be two less after this!" He attacked anyway. "Heat Leo attacks Mana!" He killed the Oracle fist, breaking her protection barrier at the same time. Unfortunately when Mana died, her master could special summon another Dark Magician Girl[6/2300/1700) from the deck to the field. "Just how many times am I going to have to see that damn witch smile at me?" The final attack of Heat leo and its Salamangreat Claw headed towards the defending Dark Magician Girl, piercing through her defense points to add another 600 points of damage to Vitruvic.

Vitruvic's LP: 4800

"Was that all you wanted to show me?" Vitruvic asked once the battle phase came to a close. "Not even close!" Tycho placed two trap cards down on his field before he relinquished his turn. "Well it does not matter either way." The champion declared while his eyes drifted over to the duelists behind Tycho. "I have had my fun with you all.." He noticed Echo in particular, staring at him with a curious expression. He tried to ignore it..

-TURN 04-

"But now it is time to end this." Vitruvic led with his newly drawn quickplay spell. "Dark Magic Expanded! Since there are at least three Dark Magician monsters on the field and in the grave, I can negate all three effects of this.." One of the effects he would have talked about included making all of his other spells and traps unstoppable for the the rest of the turn. "Say whatever you want, but I am not done with you yet!" But Tycho never let him get to that part or that effect, as he activated the Salamangreat Roar counter trap. While he controlled his Salamangreat monster, he could shut down one effect each turn and destroy the card that got activated. "You did not even start anything. None of you did. In fact you have only made things worse for yourself." Vitruvic got what he wanted anyway, a chance to activate his other spells. "I banish Soul Servant from my graveyard. Then I draw one card for each unique Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl or Palladium Oracle monster I used this duel!"

"What? Is that card even fair?" Naturally Olympia and the others were rather shocked to see the champion draw a new hand of three cards all at once: one for the apprentice, one for the teacher and one for the oracle. "Everything so far has been fair, and everything will continue to be... down to the last lifepoint! I activate the spell: Eye of Timaeus! It fuses with one Dark Magician I control!" The champions cards took a turn for the legendary as the atlantian azure dragon Timaeus flew out of his hand. "Timaeus?" Echo felt the pangs of nostalgia once more. Though Timaeus had never been more than a myth of the real world, it still carried a strong pulse in the memories of duelists due to its role in the old shows. Just like then, Timaeus could fuse spell with spellcaster. The Dark Magician jumped on top of the scar-eyed dragon to fusion summon Amulet Dragon(8/2900/2500) [Extra Zone 1]. "When Amulet Dragon is summoned, all spells are banished from the graveyard! And it gains one hundred attackpoints for each of them!" Magical text made out of golden light appeared all over the Amulet Dragon(3600/2500) who banished up to 7 spells (Salamangreat Circle & Recureance, Fury of Fire, Bond Between Teacher and Student, Dark Magic Burning, Secrets of Dark Magic, Dark Magic Expanded)

"What? Is that card even fair?" Naturally Olympia and the others were rather shocked to see the champion draw a new hand of three cards all at once: one for the apprentice, one for the teacher and one for the oracle. "Everything so far has been fair, and everything will continue to be... down to the last lifepoint! Fusing is after a the first technique to ever be invented, and I mastered it long before fools like Dyzanthium showed up! I activate the spells Strength in Unity and Eye of Timaeus! The latter fuses with one Dark Magician I control!" The champions cards took a turn for the legendary as the atlantian azure dragon Timaeus flew out of his hand.

"Timaeus?" Echo felt the pangs of nostalgia once more. Though Timaeus had never been more than a myth of the real world, it still carried a strong pulse in the memories of duelists due to its role in the old shows. Just like then, Timaeus could fuse spell with spellcaster. The Dark Magician jumped on top of the scar-eyed dragon to fusion summon Amulet Dragon(8/2900/2500) [Extra Zone 1]. "When Amulet Dragon is summoned, all spells are banished from the graveyard! And it gains one hundred attackpoints for each of them!" Magical text made out of golden light appeared all over the Amulet Dragon(3600/2500) who banished up to 7 spells (Salamangreat Circle & Recureance, Fury of Fire, Bond Between Teacher and Student, Dark Magic Burning, Secrets of Dark Magic, Dark Magic Expanded). But more importantly, Strength in Unity allowed the user to banish one card on the field if they took the Dark Magician (or Blue-Eyes White Dragon) as a fusion material. Not even the Salamangreat Claw could protect against that type of removal.

"I told you, I was not done!" So if he had to lose his card, he would take down as much as he could with it. "Salamangreat Rage!" He accessed the traps full destructive abilities due to his control of a reincarnated Salamangreat: destroying cards equal to the link rating of Heat Leo. "I destroy all your monsters!" The heat twisters vented towards the two Dark Magician Girls(2600/1700) and the Amulet Dragon. It would be a blaze of death and glory. "What did you.. think of.. that?" Yet when the heat dissipated, two monsters remained on the field.. The Dark Magicians[Zone 3] and a dark magician girl(8/2600/2300) [Extra Zone 1] who now wore silver armor and rode Timaeus as if she'd become a dragonrider. "When Amulet Dragon is destroyed, it special summons one spellcaster from the graveyard." Echo stated softly, explaining where the first fusion monster came from. "But then how.." The other, Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight, required the Eye of Timaeus and Dark Magician Girl as fusion materials and seemed to have come from nowhere because to anyone with that knowledge. This was not true..

The Secret Archive of Spells, Continuous Skill Card
Once per turn, during your main phase, you can activate the effect of 1 spell card in your graveyard.
Your opponent's cards are unaffected by that effect.

"A continuous skill... just like.." Tycho's eyes widened. "Just like them."

(To Be Continued in World 088: Escape From IRL)

New Cards used by Tycho Rivers
Salamangreat Fennec
Salamangreat Mole

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Fury of Fire
Salamangreat Claw

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Salamangreat Roar

New Cards used by Vitruvic
THE SECRET ARCHIVE OF SPELLS

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Magician Souls
Dark Magician Girl
Dark Magician
Magician's Rod
Palladium Oracle Mana

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The Dark Magicians

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Bond Between Teacher and Student
Dark Burning Magic
Secrets of Dark Magic
Soul Servant

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Dark Magician Combination