"What is that?" Charlotte asked.

"I have no idea." Houki said. The duel seemed like it was going well for Ichika, but something happened. A dark barrier came around the field. Ichika and Peggrin are trapped inside now and the girls can't see a thing on what's happening to them.

"Hey!" They all looked to the side to see Laura and Rin showed up with them carrying Mila and Ryu.

"There you are. Where have you been?" Cecilia asked.

"What happened to Ryu?" Charlotte asked.

"Long story." Rin said as they put both of them down.

"We must not worry about that now. What is that?" Laura asked as she and Rin spotted the barrier.

"Ichika was winning the duel against Peggrin when that thing showed up." Houki said. "They're both trapped inside."

"Ichika's in there?" Rin said as she was worried on what might be happening to him.

"What are we doing here? These two should be fine here. We should get down there and help Ichika." Laura said. The others agreed and hurried down there as fast as they could.

...

The Duel

Ichika was winning the duel against Peggrin. He had Infinite Stratos Byakushiki and Rafale-Revive with 2500 and 1800atk points. He also had 1300LP. All Peggrin had was 800LP. However, things are changing since Peggrin changed the field around.

"What is this?" Ichika said.

"Another part of my power. You forced my hand to do this, Ichika." Peggrin said. "Remember the last time we dueled? This is the same power, but it holds a different effect. I'm sure you can tell." He was right. Ichika felt different than from before. He could feel his energy slipping with each passing moment. "You don't look so well. I guess it's this field. You haven't gained enough strength to handle the dark powers that our mystical items can generate."

'He's right. I feel myself getting weaker with each second.' Ichika thought. He already started breathing heavily.

"This will change the game around, raising the stakes. I've been practicing with these powers for a long time. I won't be affected as much like you. Now, on with our duel. I believe it's my turn now." Peggrin said as he drew his next card.

'Ichika, switch with me while you can. I can hold out longer than you can.' The spirit thought. Ichika went with it as they switched places. The spirit was doing better than Ichika in this place. 'I have to end the duel quickly. This place drains energy of those in here. Ichika won't last long. The longer this duel goes on, the more risk there is. Even Peggrin and I will lose our energy eventually.'

"I say it's time we put an end to this with a monster you can't beat." Peggrin said. "I activate Dark Luminate!"

"Dark Luminate?" The spirit said.

"Yes. For every light, darkness isn't far behind." Peggrin said. "Since I have at least five Luminesce monsters in my graveyard, I can now summon my most cunning and dangerous warrior. I now summon Dark Luminesce Commodus!" A dark ray shot down from above. It allowed a new warrior to descend down. He wore white armor like the rest, but parts of it were black as well.

"How can light be dark?" The spirit said.

"Just because something comes from light doesn't mean that it's good." Peggrin said. "This warrior is full of surprises." He was right as it had no attack points.

"No attack points?" The spirit said.

"For now. I think I'll give you a demonstration as to what he can do." Peggrin said. He snapped his fingers and that was when Commodus glowed. It fired a beam that hit Rafale-Revive and was pulling her in.

"What is this?!" The spirit said. She was pulled closer and closer until she was absorbed inside him and his power increased to 1800. "What have you done?!"

"It's Commodus' ability. Your monster has now become a part of him. He can only equip with one monster at a time, but all of their powers becomes his." Peggrin said. "I'll turn your own monster's power against you. You can't win now." Just when it seemed like victory was his, Peggrin pulled this out. What are they going to do now?

...

Outside

Outside the duel, the girls made it to the bridge. They made it to the barrier, but they still couldn't see a thing on what was going on in there.

"Just what is this thing?" Rin said.

"Whatever it is, Ichika is trapped inside and might need help." Cecilia said.

"Yeah. We need to get in there." Houki ran straight for the barrier, but she got shocked and was knocked back.

"Are you okay?" Cecilia asked as she helped her up.

"I think so, but what happened?" Houki said. Charlotte checked it out as she reached for the barrier, but her hand got shocked from getting near it.

"Whatever this thing is, it's trying to keep us out." Charlotte said. "That means Ichika is on his own in there." None of them liked it, but there doesn't seem to be a way for them to get inside.

...

The Duel

"It's your move now." Peggrin said. The spirit thought something strange was going on, but he didn't know what to do.

'If he can take my monsters' power, why did he take Rafale-Revive? Byakushiki is much stronger.' The spirit thought. 'He must want me to attack. I can't afford to walk into his trap, but I have to do something.' "It's my turn!" He drew his next card and readied himself for anything. "Byakushiki, attack with Ignition Boost!" Byakushiki drew his sword out and went for the attack. He slammed his sword against Commodus, but something strange happened. The damage was reflected back at Ichika as his life points dropped to 600. "What happened?"

"Pretty careless to attack like that." Peggrin said as Commodus' attack points dropped back to zero. "When you attack Commodus, the monster he is equipped with is the one that is destroyed and you take all the damage." The spirit was getting irritated with all of Peggrin's tricks. Now, even more time was wasted.

'Let me take over. We've got to keep switching. It's our only advantage over him.' Ichika said.

'No. It's too dangerous. You're safer if I stay in control.' The spirit thought.

'We must.' Ichika said as he took over, but he was barely holding himself together.

"Is that really wise of you to continue your little mind switching?" Peggrin asked.

"Just make your move." Ichika said.

"Very well." Peggrin said as he drew his next card. "I activate Commodus' ability once more to take your Byakushiki!" Commodus used his power again on Byakushiki. Byakushiki was absorbed and was trapped inside Commodus with his attack points rising to 2500. "You're lucky. The downside to having a monster as powerful as him is that he can't attack you directly. So, I end my turn."

'Ichika, let me take over. He's trying to stall us until you run out of energy.' The spirit said.

"No... I can do this." Ichika said as he drew his next card. "I activate Mecha Upgrade. By sending a machine to the graveyard, I can draw two cards. I'll discard Rocket Battler." He discarded his card and drew two more cards. "I place one monster facedown and one other card facedown."

'Good, Ichika. Switch with me now.' The spirit thought, but something was wrong. Ichika couldn't stand anymore as he collapsed to the ground. 'Ichika!' Ichika's energy ran out as he couldn't hold on anymore.

'That's one down.' Peggrin thought.

'Ichika! Ichika!' The spirit was trying to get him to awake. Nothing happened. 'I can't feel his energy. No! He can't be gone!'

...

The Outside

Charlotte felt a cold shiver running down her spine. It was as if she could feel something bad has happened.

"Ichika..." Charlotte said.

"You felt it too, right?" Houki said. "That bad feeling?"

"I think we all did." Rin said as none of them were liking this at all.

"You're right. I can feel it. Something's wrong with Ichika." Charlotte said as all of them were getting scared. None of them liked the idea of what happened to Ichika, but Charlotte was staying strong. "No! We have to keep believing in him! He'll be okay."

"But I can just tell that something happened to him." Cecilia said.

"That doesn't mean he's done for. Ichika is still fighting. That means we have to keep believing in him." Charlotte said. All of them thought about what she said and they all agreed.

"She's right." Laura said.

"Ichika isn't beaten yet. We've got to keep hope alive." Houki said. All of them were hoping for the best. They still believe in Ichika.

...

The Duel

"That takes care of one." Peggrin said. "You better switch places again to keep the duel going." He was speaking to the spirit. The spirit responded as he took over the body and stood back up.

"Peggrin, you are going to pay for what you've done!" The spirit claimed.

"I doubt you can stop me now." Peggrin said as he drew his next card. "Perfect. This guarantees my victory. I activate Luminescent Sacrifice. Thanks to this continuous spell, I have to keep sending one card in my hand to the graveyard during each of my turns. When I do, all Luminesce monsters gain 500 attack and defense points for each one in my graveyard. So, I'll discard Luminesce Blight for Commodus to gain power." He discarded a card and Commodus' attack points rose to 5500.

"Over five-thousand attack points?!" The spirit said.

"Yes because I have six Luminesce warriors in my graveyard." Peggrin said. "Luminesce Blight also returns to my hand. My victory is guaranteed now. Commodus, attack his facedown monster! Darkened Victory!" Commodus summoned a sword into his hand. When he did, he unleashed a powerful dark blast. The spirit's monster was Stratos Warrior and he was destroyed very easily. "It's almost over."

"Not while I can still fight." The spirit said.

"But how can you do that when I can read your mind like a book again. The boy is gone and you're all alone." Peggrin said. It seemed like it really was over. The spirit didn't see how he can win now. He looked down at his deck. He didn't know if he could keep going, but he also looked at his charm. He remembered the times it seemed hopeless, but it wasn't.

"No. I'm not alone." The spirit said. "Ichika is still with me, as are all of his friends." He claimed as he could feel them all like they were standing with him. "It's my turn now! I draw!" He kept going as he drew the next card.

"That card won't help you." Peggrin said.

"There is one card that can." The spirit said as he looked at his field at one face-down. "The last card that Ichika left for me."

"But you don't know what it is." Peggrin said. "If you can't play it, it might backfire. I'll know what it is, know how to counter it, and it really will be over."

"There's only one way to find out, but I believe Ichika left me the one card that can help." The spirit said. "I reveal my face-down!" It all comes down to this one card. He revealed what it is as it rose up. It ended up being a spell card. "It's Second Release State! That is just what I need! I can only use it when Byakushiki is on the field!"

"Byakushiki?! He's trapped inside Commodus!" Peggrin said.

"It doesn't matter. He's on the field." The spirit said. Peggrin didn't like this one bit. "By sending him to the graveyard, I can summon a more powerful version of him!"

"No!" Peggrin said. Byakushiki was free from Commodus as Commodus power dropped to 3000. When he was, his armor began to change to a stronger form.

"I summon Infinite Stratos Byakushiki MK2!" The spirit said as he summoned out his new monster with it having 2900atk points. "You're troubles are just beginning! I activate his special ability! All of your monsters defense points are now subtracted from his attack points!" Byakushiki's arm turned into a blaster and blasted Commodus as his power dropped all the way to zero.

"No! He's powerless! there's nothing I can do to stop it!" Peggrin said.

"The time has come for you to pay for what you've done! Byakushiki, attack with White Knight Demise!" The spirit ordered. Byakushiki pulled out an energy sword. He flew straight at Commodus and gave it a powerful slash that completely annihilated it. Peggrin took the full force of the attack as he lost all of his life points. "It's over."

"No..." Peggrin said as he dropped to his knees in defeat. His insanity has ended.

...

Outside

The girls were still hoping for the best. They saw that the barrier began to fade away. When they saw that, they hoped for the best. They were all happy when they saw that Ichika was standing; the real Ichika for the spirit and he switched back.

"Ichika!" The girls called as they were all happy to see him again.

"Hey, girls." Ichika said.

"you're safe!" Cecilia said as she made the first move and hugged him.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Rin said as she and Houki pulled her right off.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Charlotte asked.

"Better than okay. I won! I managed to beat Peggrin!" Ichika said. That was the best news all of them heard. They believed and he ended up being the winner.

"Hey! Up here!" All of them looked up and they saw that Ryu was awake and was acting like himself.

"Ryu!" Rin said.

"Is everything okay?" Ryu asked.

"That's what I want to ask you. Are you back to normal?" Rin said.

"Back to normal?" Ryu said as he didn't understand.

"What are you talking about?" Houki asked.

"It was that creepy pendent of his." Rin said.

"Indeed. He was acting very strange because of it." Laura said.

"His pendent?!" Ichika said as he knew what that meant. "Where is it now?"

"I got rid of it." Rin said. "It looks like Ryu is back to normal."

"That's good to hear." Ichika said with relief.

"This isn't over. Peggrin still has to release those he captured." Charlotte said.

"Yeah." Ichika said. He turned to Peggrin, but he saw that Peggrin was already gone. "Where'd he go?!"

"That weasel! He's trying to give us the slip!" Houki said. "Ryu, stay with Mila! We're going to find Peggrin!" Ryu agreed to that. The rest of them ran off to find Peggrin and make him return the souls he captured. As for Ryu, he turned to Mila.

'If Peggrin returns Mila's soul, she won't be of any use to me.' Ryu thought. The truth was that the pendent found a way back to him and the evil within took over again. 'Still, there might be a way for me to get a mystical item.' Ichika might have won the duel, but it looks like they aren't out of the woods yet.