Alex: 9800 LP

Yusei: 4000 LP

Jack: 4000 LP

Crow: 2900 LP

"You cannot hope to defeat me," Alex said. "We'll see about that Alex, I set two cards face-down and end my turn," Crow responded. "The King of the Netherworld approaches. And once he arrives, I assure that all you see before you will be reduced to ash, so that an ideal world may be created," Alex promised. "Alex, what happened to you?" Luna asked. "I don't know Luna, but we just have to hope Yusei and the others can snap him out of it," Akiza responded. "You done with your turn, Crow?" Yusei asked. "Sure am, who's up next?" Crow asked. "Me. So get set Alex, because I have a few surprises in store for you, and not the kind you wrap up with a bow. Here goes," Jack said as he began his turn.

Alex: 3 SPC

Jack: 5 SPC

Yusei: 5 SPC

Crow: 4 SPC

"I place one card face-down and summon Magic Hole Golem in defense mode," Jack declared.

Level 3/DARK/Rock

ATK 0/DEF 2000

"And now I activate its special ability. Once a turn, I can halve the attack points of one of my monsters until the end phase in order to let that monster attack you directly, so I cut Mad Archfiend's attack points in half," Jack explained.

Mad Archfiend: 1800-900

"Mad Archfiend, attack Alex directly with Bone Shard Shower!" Jack ordered. His monster flew up in front of Alex before chewing up the skull in his stomach, spraying the hard at Alex, who had to cover his eyes.

Alex: 8900 LP

"Hope you don't mind me getting in on this Jack, with my Shadow Dance trap card. Due to this card's effect, since you took a direct attack, you take another 1000 points of damage Alex," Crow explained. A dark aura surrounded Alex, causing him some pain.

Alex: 7900 LP

Alex SPC: 2

"You see that Alex. You may have the power of light and darkness on your side, but we have a greater power, our bonds," Yusei said. "It's your go Yusei," Jack said. "Thanks Jack. It's my move," Yusei said as he drew a card.

Alex: 3 SPC

Yusei: 6 SPC

Jack: 6 SPC

Crow: 4 SPC

"I summon Junk Synchron in attack mode and tune it with my Max Warrior, in order to synchro summon Junk Archer!" Yusei shouted.

Level 7/EARTH/Warrior

ATK 2300/DEF 2000

"And due to his special ability, I can remove one of your monsters from the game until the end of this turn, and I choose your Abyss Dragon," Yusei said. His monster fired a bolt of energy at Alex's dragon, causing it to disappear from the field. "Alright, now he's wide open!" Jack exclaimed. "So let him have it Yusei," Crow said. "Maybe this will snap you out of it Alex. Junk Archer, attack directly!" Yusei ordered. "You fool. I play the trap Offering to the Immortals. Not only is your attack negated, but I gain 2 Ceremonial Tokens on my field," Alex explained as two stone totems appeared in front of him.

Level 1/EARTH/Rock

ATK&DEF 0

"Additionally, I can add an Earthbound Immortal from my deck to my hand," he continued as he pulled a condor-like monster from his deck. "You what?!" Yusei exclaimed. "You he mean he negated the attack, got two tokens, and an Earthbound Immortal all from one trap? How is that fair?" Crow asked. "That is what happens when you face the perfect being. I have transcended humanity and attained the ultimate power, which I will use to usher in a new world," Alex responded. "We won't let you do this Alex. I place 2 cards face-down and end my turn," Yusei said. "Which means my dragon returns to my field," Alex responded. "This can't end well," Luna said. "It's my turn. I shall show you how powerless you truly are against me," Alex said as he drew his card.

Alex: 4 SPC

Yusei: 7 SPC

Jack: 7 SPC

Crow: 6 SPC

"I sacrifice my Ceremonial tokens in order to summon my Earthbound Immortal," Alex said. A giant stone heart appeared in the sky and began absorbing the spirits of the people of New Domino City. "Alex, how could you do this?" Yusei asked himself, in disbelief he had done this. "Come forth, Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca," Alex said.

Level 10/DARK/Winged Beast

ATK&DEF 1

Suddenly, they heard the King of the Netherworld roar and turned to see he had made it halfway to the city. "And as if we didn't have enough problems," Jack said. Just then, black creatures came out of its body and flew towards them. "Looks like he's invited some friends," Crow said. "It would appear the King of the Netherworld is growing impatient. While not the end to this duel I had hoped, your loss was inevitable regardless," Alex said as the monsters swarmed his opponents. Suddenly Black Rose Dragon and Ancient Fairy Dragon appeared and began to destroy the creatures. "On this field, we can summon our monsters as well," Luna said. "You guys just worry about the duel, and leave these guys to us," Aliza said. "We're behind you guys all the way," Luna added. "Then what are we waiting for," Crow said. "Let's win this, and save our friend," Yusei added.

"Let me ask you this? Why do you continue to fight, when you know you have no chance of victory?" Alex asked. "That may be what you think, but no matter the odds, we'll persevere until we have a chance. We've never given up, and we won't start now," Yusei responded. "Very well then, allow me to teach you that you have no possibility of victory. Due to Rasca's special ability, if I skip my battle phase, I can reduce your life points to 1," Alex explained. "You must be joking. No monster could be that powerful," Jack said. "This monster is. Like I told you, you face the perfect being. You are no more than ants battling a giant," Alex responded. "What happened to you Alex? You never wanted to rule the world or tear it down and start over. You were our friend. You believed that we could change the world for the better," Crow said.

"The boy you knew is gone. He lost and I was reborn," Alex responded. "I don't believe you Alex. I know the real you is in there, and I'm going to drag you out of that shell you've thrown up around yourself no matter what it takes," Crow shouted. "We'll see about that. But first, I activate Rasca's special ability, so hit Yusei with Polestar Obey," Alex ordered. "I don't think so Alex, I play the trap Life Exchange! With this trap, the target of Rasca's effect changes to me," Crow explained. "Crow you can't!" Yusei shouted. "You're our best shot at winning Yusei, and I won't let Alex knock you out of the duel, even if I have to sacrifice myself to see to it," Crow responded.

"Sacrificing yourself to keep Yusei in the game, you must truly have faith in him," Alex responded. "Yeah, the same trust you had in me during our duel against Misty," Akiza shouted. "You have to remember Alex! You sacrificed yourself for Akiza because you had faith in her and cared about her!" Yusei shouted. "Did you think I had forgotten? No, in fact I still care for her. I care about all of you, which is why I do this, so that you can all live the life you deserve," Alex said. "Alex, even if your heart is in the right place, you have to realize what you're doing is wrong!" Yusei shouted. "It's pointless to continue this conversation. Crow, you are truly a shining example of what humanity could be, and you have my respect. Now Rasca, strike him down!" Alex ordered. Rasca unleashed a beam of purple energy on Crow, knocking him off the track. "Crow!" Yusei shouted. "He's done for," Jack added.

Crow: 1 LP

"Sorry Alex, but if I'm going down, you'd better believe I'm going down swinging. Due to Life Exchange's other effect, I can destroy a monster on your field if my life points decrease," Crow explained as he engaged the wings on his duel runner. "What?" Alex asked. "As much as I wanna smash up your Earthbound Immortal, I'm going after your Abyss Dragon," Crow said as he engaged the boosters on his duel runner and launched himself at Alex's monster.

He rammed into it at full speed and destroyed it. "Alright he destroyed it!" Yusei shouted. Just then, a black vortex opened by the temple and Alex's Shadow Dragon stepped out of it. "What?! But how?" Jack asked. "Before Crow destroyed Abyss Dragon, I activated this, the Cycle of the Light and Dark continuous trap. As long as I have it, if you destroy one of my dragons, the other revives to take its place," Alex explained. "If that's the case, I release Blackwing Armor Master to activate the Blackwing Anchor trap card," Crow explained. "That it you guys, I'm afraid you're gonna have to take it from here on out, but I know you can do it. I know you can save the world and Alex," he said. Crow, even after that, you still want to help me? Alex thought to himself. "This is gonna be a rough landing," Crow said as he dove towards the track.

"He's dropping too fast!" Jack exclaimed. Crow managed to land on the track, but lost control of his duel runner and crashed. "Crow!" Yusei shouted. "I'm afraid that if Crow can't ride, then he can't duel either. I place one card face-down and end my turn," Alex said. I may not be able to duel anymore, but my friends still can, and I know they can beat you Alex, Crow thought to himself as he lay on the track. "Your sacrifice won't have been in vain old friend. It's my turn now," Jack said.

Alex: 5 SPC

Yusei: 8 SPC

Jack: 8 SPC

"And first I summon the tuner monster Sinister Sprocket!" Jack shouted.

Level 1/DARK/Machine

ATK 400/DEF 0

"And now I tune Sinister Sprocket with Magic Hole Golem and Mad Archfiend in order to summon the Red Dragon Archfiend!" Jack shouted as he summoned his ace monster.

Level 8/DARK/Dragon

ATK 3000/DEF 2000

"And now I activate Sinister Sprocket's special ability, which will allow me to destroy your Cycle of the Light and Dark trap card," Jack explained. "Alright, with his trap card destroyed, Alex can't revive his dragons!" Yusei exclaimed. "I activate Fake Trap. When you activate a spell, trap, or monster effect that would destroy a trap in my control, this card is destroyed instead," Alex explained. "No way!" Jack shouted. "Oh man, it's like no matter what move we make, Alex is always two steps ahead of us," Yusei said. "Then let's see how he responds to this, the trap Half Straight. This lets me cut Red Dragon Archfiend's attack points in half until my next standby phase in order to allow him to attack you directly since he's weaker than your strongest monster," Jack explained.

RDA: 3000-1500 ATK

"Now attack Alex directly with Scorching Crimson Fire!" he ordered. "I play the trap card Alchemy Cycle. This trap card reduces the attack of all monsters I control to 0 for one turn, but in exchange, if a monster affected by this card is destroyed in battle, I draw a card," Alex explained.

Shadow Dragon: 3000-0 ATK

"Oh no, with his dragon's attack points at 0, that means that Red Dragon Archfiend has to attack it," Yusei said. "Exactly, and once he does, his dragon will be banished," Alex said. "I play the trap card Scrubbed Raid. Jack, you can end the Battle Phase by sending one of the cards on your field to the graveyard," Yusei said. "But will he? Jack, you once walked the same path I do. You know that the bonds we form hold no merit, and that at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to rely on," Alex said. "Don't listen to him Jack, he's just trying to get into your head," Yusei shouted. "You speak as though I lie, when in fact I tell nothing but truths. Humans are selfish by nature. We ally ourselves with others for our own benefit, but when it comes down to it, the only person you can rely on is yourself," Alex responded. "Red Dragon Archfiend, attack his monster!" Jack shouted.

Alex: 6400 LP

Alex SPC: 4

"And now Shadow Dragon's effect activates, so Red Dragon Archfiend is banished, and you take damage equal to half his original attack points," Alex said.

Jack: 2500 LP

Alex SPC: 7

"Why Jack? We had him," Yusei said. "And now due to Cycle's effect, Abyss Dragon rises from the graveyard, triggering his special ability. And with it, I can send Red Dragon Archfiend to the graveyard to gain life points equal to half of his attack points," Alex explained.

Alex: 7900 LP

"I place three face-downs and end my turn," Jack said. "So Jack, you realize I was right and that the only person you can rely on is yourself," Alex said. "You couldn't be more wrong Alex," Jack responded. "What?" Alex asked. "Back then I thought the only way I could succeed was to turn my back on my friends, but I realize I was wrong, and so are you Alex," Jack responded. "Jack," Yusei said as he realized that the Jack he knew years ago had returned. "You say that the only people we can rely on is ourselves, but that's not true. All the people I've met and become friends with taught me that, including you Alex. And that's why I'm going to fight with everything I have in order to protect my friends, and I'll save you from yourself, just like someone I care for did for me," Jack said. "This one's for you Carly," he said to himself. "It's my move Alex, I draw!" Yusei shouted.

Alex: 5 SPC

Yusei: 9 SPC

Jack: 8 SPC

"And I activate Junk Archer's special ability, meaning your dragon is removed from the game," Yusei said. "I think not. I play the trap Ring of Destruction, in order to destroy my dragon and deal us both damage equal to its attack points," Alex explained as a metal collar attacked itself to his dragon's neck before exploding. "I play my trap Desperate Guard. Since I control no monsters, I can pay half my life points to make the damage from Ring of Destruction become 0," Jack explained.

Jack: 1250 LP

"You may have protected Yusei, but due to the effect of my trap card, Shadow Dragon rises from the grave," Alex said. "I set a card face-down and end my turn," Yusei said dejectedly. "You fools. You struggle, you fight, and for what? The vain hope that you can defeat me? I have outplayed you at every step of this duel and shall continue to do so," Alex said.

Hey everyone. I decided to change my upload schedule to Tuesdays and Fridays. There's two more chapters left in this story, and I can't begin to tell you all how thankful I am for your continued support. I hope you all enjoy what's left, and continue to support me in the future. Have a great day and stay safe.