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.

105. World 097: A Compressed Love

World 097: A Compressed Love

Charles' LP: 3200 Static Void's LP: 8000

-TURN 05-

Static Void made a promise: to kill Charles. "I am done listening to you, Static." Charles did not care. He lowered his lifepoints yet again to use the effect of Decode Talker Heatsoul(2300/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] to draw one card. Cards like these he owed to his own imagination... but they were not enough. To destroy Static he needed something even bigger, which was why he tried to focus on the blank card in his extra deck again. He'd been trying to do this entire duel. Yet time and time again he failed to come up with a clear mental image of what it could be. "Damnit." Even in a turn where nothing could hurt him, he felt constantly stressed out. His nerves were burning with stress and his thoughts filled with dread and loathing. He wanted Static gone, he wanted him to shut up and disappear. And if he could only crush him with the cards already at his disposal, then it would have be that way. "Fine then... I will use the weapons you think I owe you."

Charles' LP: 2200

First he would need a tuner, Charles re-normal summoned his Cyberse Gadget(4/1000/1500) [Zone 5] and activated its effect to special summon the memory chip droid Stack Reviver(2/200/600) [Zone 4] from the graveyard. "I can use two cyberse to link summon Cyberse Wicckid! And when I do, Stack Reviver will summon the other link material from the graveyard!" Two cyberse link materials entered the circuit: Stack Reviver and Cyberse Gadget. Three monsters came back out, the Gadget token(2/0/0) [Zone 4] created by Cyberse Gadget, the Cyberse Gadget[Zone 5] revived by the Stack Reviver and the greenhaired wizard-kid(800/LINK 2) {Down/Downleft} [Zone 3] in his black hood and shorts. "Cyberse Wicckid can add a cyberse tuner to my hand!" The Wicckid claimed the Cyberse Synchron, completing step one. Now Charles would need to summon it somehow. "I activate Cynet Optimization!" Or he could normal summon the ringed synchron(1/0/0), by using his continuous double-summon enabling spell. "Now, I synchro summon Cyberse Integrator!" Both tuner and Gadget Token combined into an energy-cube carrying drone robot(3/1000/1000) [Zone 1].

"Integrator? Are you still making more cards? Your extra deck is running low on fuel, Charles!" Static cackled. "You can spare me your bad jokes too, Static! You can't hide anymore! Cyberse Integrator can special summon one tuner cyberse from my graveyard. And when I send it to the graveyard, I can draw one card!" All of his other dragons came with their own preludes. So too did his synchro monsters. Integrator placed the Cyberse Synchron [Zone 2] back on the field, and the tuner could then use its effect to double the level of the Integrator(6/1000/1000). "Synchro summon! I tune Synchron with Integrator to create Cyberse Quantum Dragon!" Thus a perfect synchronization/integration could begin and end, with the synchronic-white Quantum Dragon(7/2500/2000) [Zone 1]. No other monsters but Quantum could be targeted while he controlled it and a link monster, which would prevent another fault in his upcoming battle phase. Though that phase still lacked a good attacker, even if Heatsoul(3300 atk) gained 500 attackpoints for each monster he pointed towards.

So came the third step. Since he controlled multiple cyberse monsters Charles could special summon Cyberse White Hat(6/1800/2400) [Zone 2] from his hand. It was soon followed... "I special summon Catche Eve L2! She takes two levels from another monster!" By a pinkhaired cyber catgirl(2/800/600) [Zone 4] wearing an eye-covering visor. She stripped two level stars away from the white-hat cyber cowboy(4/1800/2400), which equalized that monster's level with Cyberse Gadget. "Link summon! Excode Talker!" Catche Eve turned herself into a link material and Cyberse Wicckid as well, becoming the green armored Excode(2300/LINK 3) {Left/Up/Right} [Zone 3]. Its effect managed to seal two monster zones on his opponent's field: the one in front of Decode Talker Heatsoul and the one behind Static's Geomathmech Final Sigma(12/3000/0) [Extra Zone 2].

Finally he could take the completing step. "XYZ-Summon! I overlay Cyberse Gadget with Cyberse White Hat and create Exceed Firewall Dragon!" He could turn his remaining cyberse into the dark Exceed Dragon(R4/2500/2000) [Zone 2] and place it right in between his other monsters. Exceed(4000/2000) gained 500 attackpoints for each link marker on the monsters linked to it: Excode Talker in this case. Excode's second effect also gave the linked Exceed(4500/2000) an additional 500 attackpoints. "If I have to fall back on sheer attackpower, then I will! Exceed! Destroy Final Sigma!" The great Firewall XYZ Dragon fired two flames of light towards the Geomathmech, crossing them into a massive blast that slammed into the synchro and carved it up into four pieces which soon fragmented into a thousand particles. "I finally got you!" No monster existed in the extra monster zone anymore, no monster at all.

Static's LP: 6500

"You have nothing!" Static Void had been waiting for that. The destruction of Final Sigma let him add a new Mathmech card from the deck, another Mathmech Diameter, to his hand. And now he could also summon a new Mathmech from the extra deck. "I activate Mathmech Superfactorial! I special summon the materials for a Mathmech XYZ or Synchro monster from the graveyard and use them!" He would not be leaving himself defenseless, the opposite in fact. The Factorial trap resurrected the Mathmechs Diameter[Zone 2], Division(1500/500)[Zone 3] and Multiplication [Zone 4] and immediately attached them to a newly XYZ-summoned monster. "I summon Primathmech Laplacian! I can detach up to three materials to activate its three effects!" The black and gold mechKnight of Laplace(R4/2000/0) [Extra Zone 3] used up every single attachment and fired them away like shooting stars. "I can send one monster, one spell and one card in your hand to the graveyard!" The stars struck Cyberse Quantum Dragon, Cynet Optimization and the ? card in Charles' hand.

"Ugh.." Those were not the only consequences to subtract from this battle phase. By sending Multiplication and Division back to the graveyard, Laplacian(4000/0) could temporarily double its own attackpoints and also halve the attackpoints of Decode Talker Heatsoul(1400 atk). Neither it nor Excode would be able to destroy it. "All of that effort for what? Ha! Now your extra deck has nearly dried up!" Only three cards remained inside the extra deck. "What will it be? Firewall Dragon? Shootingcode Talker? Decode Talker? Not even using all of your best cards at once will help you, Charles! What can those leftovers do?" Static Void had seen them all, he owed them all. "They can surprise you, Static. You are right about one card.." Charles placed another trap, his last card, face-down on his field. Then he turned both Exceed Dragon and Excode Talker into link materials.. and special summoned the original Firewall Dragon(2500/LINK 4) {Left/Up/Down/Right} [Zone 3]. "I still have the Firewall. But then you would know that, because you are more like me than you think."

"Like you? Now you admit it? Have you lost your mind? You must have, for you to devolve Firewall Exceed!" Static howled. "You say that. But everything you've done only proves how weak you really are! You're just as much at risk as I am now that you've lost most of your strength. Once this duel is over, you will be the one who can never come back. And I cannot wait to see that happen."

-TURN 06-

"Lost my strength? I can keep doing this forever, Charles! You think I am mortal like you?! WRONG! I AM forever. I AM the end!" Static activated a new spell, Mathmech Equation. With it he could special summon one Mathmech from his graveyard with 1000 more attackpoints added to it. "And I will end this in flames!" Static Void's foot restlessly tapped on the ground as he used the spell on Geomathmech Magma(8/3500/0) [Zone 1], pouring cybernetic energy into its flame-shaped sword. "Heheheh.. I'm so close. So close to finally being rid of you!." Static Void placed the second Mathmech Diameter(4/1000/1500) [Zone 4] down on the field, using its effect to once again special summon Mathmech Multiplication[Zone 3] from his graveyard. And then he immediately tuned Magma with Diameter to create another Final Sigma synchro monster(8/3000/0), right in front of Decode Talker Heatsoul. But at the same time Charles leaped into action.

"I activate Decode Talker Heatsoul!" Charles yelled, drawing one final card with the code knight of flames... paying one more sum of lifepoints. "What? Why would you.. Do you think your main deck will save you?" One card would not make a difference now. "No. My extra deck will. When Heatsoul uses his effect and my lifepoints become lower than two thousand, I can banish him to special summon another link monster!" His hand still burned with the heat of his own soul, and that heat consumed the Decode Talker. "I summon Protocol Gardna!"

Charles LP: 1200

"Protocol?" Static Void could not believe it. Of all the cards he could have summoned, of all the cards he could have prepared for this duel... Charles chose this puny green pointed-shoulder robot(1000/LINK 2) {Left/Right} [Zone 3]. "Yes, and now that there are no cards in my extra zone, I can activate Recoded Alive from my graveyard!" Charles gave his code knights one last hurrah, special summoning the banished Transcode Talker(2300/LINK 3) {Up/Down/Left} [Zone 2] back to his field with the banished Recoding trap and forming a co-link between itself and Firewall Dragon {Left/Up/Down/Right}. "And then I activate Firewall Dragon's effect!" With the Firewall Dragon co-linked to two cards, he could send two cards from the field or graveyard back to a players hand. In theory at least. "So that's why you summoned Protocol Gardna! Too bad for you I still have Mathmech Diameter!" In reality Static Void activated the effect given to Final Sigma by Diameter, negating the Firewall Dragon's power. He knew Charles would have gotten one co-link at the very least if he negated the first two effects, so he simply waited for Firewall Dragon itself to act.

"One bond is not going to be enough! I managed to turn your friends against you, I managed to turn your cards against you! Your links will be what make you collapse, Charles!" Static moved faster and faster, special summoning Mathmech Addition(4/1000/1000) [Zone 2] by adding another 1000 attackpoints to the Final Sigma mech(4000/0). Laplacian kept him from giving the extra zone to a new synchro monster, though nothing prevented him from simply turning Laplacian into a link material. "Your own Code Talkers will break you!" Laplacian, Multiplication and Addition turned into link materials for Static Void's own bronze gunknight(2300/LINK 3) {Up/Down/Left} [Zone 2] and he placed it down right in front of Decode Talker Heatsoul. "But it wont be your cards that kill you. No.. I reserve that joy for my own creations!" Transcode Talker activated its effect and special summoned the Shootingcode(2300/LINK 3) [Zone 3] Talker back. "I Link summon Linkmail Archfiend!"

"Linkmail?" Charles shuddered. "Yes, this is my answer to your dragon, Charles!" The materials were 2+ monsters including a ritual, synchro, fusion.. or XYZ-monster. Laplacian and Shootingcode took the form of a four-armed black dragon(2800/LINK 4) {Upleft/Left/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] crossed with a cybernetic horned demon. Lines of red energy flowed through the veins of Linkmail Archfiend and through the face on its chest. "Linkmail Archfiend targets one Ritual, Fusion, XYZ or Synchro monster in my graveyard! And then all your monsters lose attackpoints equal to that card!" The archfiend howled and channeled the soul of Mathmech Final Sigma into the palm of its upper right claw. That same claw hurled the soul towards Charles' monsters like a ball of light and reduced their attackpoints by the Geomathmech's total of 3000 (Decode Heatsoul: 0 atk, Firewall Dragon: 0 atk). "End of the line! This is how you die, Charles Adami! Far from your friends, far from your home! Nobody will ever find you! You will fall alone and forgotten!... Linkmail Archfiend, attack Firewall Dragon!"

The Archfiend's breath of black flames were pulled towards Protocol Gardna. "Sorry, Static! But Protocol Gardna forces all monsters to attack it instead of monsters linked with it! And once a turn he can negate the damage done to him and me!" The Gardna shifted its body into a blockier defensive state and warded off the Archfiend's attack, cancelling its own destruction in the process. "Grah.. Haahaha! Only once! That only works once!" Static Void still controlled a powered up Mathmech Final Sigma and Transcode Talker, and he sent the latter to strike down Protocol Gardna instead. "You're getting desperate, Static!" Charles said with a smile. "That is going to make this moment all the sweeter! I activate Cynet Refresh!"

"WHAT?" Static Void's manic glee turned into outright horror. "Cynet Refresh destroys all cyberse monsters in the main zone! Then during the endphase all cyberse link monsters that were destroyed are returned to the field!" The cybernet wave refreshed every zone except for Linkmail Archfiend's, sending Firewall Dragon, Protocol Gardna, Mathmech Final Sigma and both Transcode Talkers to the graveyard. "You definitely made your own worst enemy, Static! You took everything from me, but you forgot that I also have everything I need to fight back against a cyberse duelist!" Charles did not run Cynet Refresh often, but this time he was glad he did. "You...You have nothing! You are nothing!" Static cursed. He used the effect of the destroyed Mathmech Final Sigma to add another Mathmech Superfactorial trap card to his hand. He placed it face down and ended his turn. At that time his Transcode Talker [Zone 4] returned, along with Charles' Transcode Talker [Zone 2], Firewall Dragon[Zone 3] and Protocol Gardna[Zone 4]. Since it left the field, Charles could reuse Firewall Dragon's effect to target two monsters in the graveyard. This time he targeted the Catche Eve L2 and Cyberse White Hat in his own grave, redrawing both. "I dont feel like I have nothing, Static."

"That's because it is not true! Static. Charles is not alone. Even if his friends cannot be here in person, they are here in his heart!" A small voice spoke clearly and loudly. "...Echo?" Charles gasped when he saw the girl in blue standing at the side, shifting in from the other dimension. "Charles. I did it! I got your mother and father out!" She immediately gave him the good news. "What? You did? How did you.. when did you.." Charles could hardly believe it, it sounded far too good to be true. For a second he wondered if this was an illusion created by Static just to give him hope and shatter it in the very next instant. Just like he'd done before.

But then Static reacted. "You!? How could you... how did you break into my nightmare? How did you find them?" He did not sound like this formed a part of his plan. "Because I am stronger than you now, Static.. They found your core.. your empty heart. They captured it, and now you are no longer everything you used to be. That is why I could break into your nightmares. That is why I could sense where you hid his family. But they are safe now. I sent their minds back to where they should be, and you will never be able to hurt them again." She did not sound like a delusion, she was the real deal. "Ohohoho.. Oh how wrong you are, Echo. As always! My hatred for them is everlasting! I will find them again, and I will hurt them again as soon as I am done with their precious son! And you are wrong about him too! He has nothing, nothing that can hurt me! He could not even save his own mother and father without your help! And you cannot help him now! His friends are with him inside his heart? You make me laugh! His heart is full of hatred! For me! That is how he will be remembered! You've only come here to see him die!"

"No. I have come here to see him win. He has more than friendship now, he has me. There is nothing wrong with getting help from someone else if they want to do it for you. It feels good for them both... That is what friends are for. Who do you have, Static? Where are your friends.. your allies? Why has nobody come to see your last stand? You are all alone too. You've driven anyone who can help you away. Nobody can do everything by themselves." Echo glared at Mister Static with an expression he'd never seen her use before.. he could not tell what emotion she meant to convey. "I do not need them! I do not need anyone! What about you, Echo? Where are your allies? Something has changed about you.. something around you."

-TURN 07-

"Static! I am right here! Even if nobody else can be here, I will still be her friend! I will still be Blanche's friend.. Scura's friend, even Khans friend.. everyone! You can threaten them, you can threaten my family! But nothing will change that fact!" Charles cut him off and drew his next card. "Echo. Thank you.. for saving my parents.. and for everything else. I don't know if I could have cleared my head without you." He special summoned both Cyberse White Hat[Zone 1] and Catche Eve L2 [Zone 5] from his hand, reducing the level of the White Hat cyberse to bring her out. "Without you. I would not have been able to find this card.." The last card in his extra deck finally gave off light.. energy.. life. "Static! You took it up to link four! I will go one step further! I take at least three monsters as the link materials! I take Catche Eve L2, Cyberse White Hat, Firewall Dragon and Protocol Gardna!" Charles tossed all four of his monsters into a five-pointed link circuit, turning Firewall Dragon into a singular link material but also into the basis for a new cyberse. "I summon Firewall Dragon Darkfluid!"

"Darkfluid? You created a link five firewall?" Static staggered at the sight before him, the dragon of protection(3000/LINK 5) {Left/Downleft/Up/Right/Downright} [Zone 1] encased itself in new black armor plates, turned its energy rings from blue to green, and gained a large black halo behind its back with five marker-like drones. "I created more than that! I created the culmination of everything I've gone through so far! I went up against ritual monsters, fusion monsters, synchro and XYZ-monsters.. and their duelists. Then I made my own, and now I have their successor! Firewall Dragon Darkfluid gains one counter for each of those monsters in my graveyard! And he gains two thousand and five hundred attackpoints for each counter! He is not alone either!" The spirits of Cyberse Magician and Firewall Exceed Dragon, of the Clock and Quantum Dragon; they all emerged behind the great dragon(13500 atk) to multiply its attackpower several times over. In addition to that Darkfluid gained 500 attackpoints just for being in a co-link with Transcode Talker {Up/Down/Right}.

"Over ten thousand?" Even Echo looked amazed at what her card ended up becoming. "All of that for a bigger number? You're just making the same mistake over and over, Charles!" Static on the other hand refused to bow down to this miracle of creation. "Laplacian!" He activated Mathmech Superfactorial, special summoning the Mathmechs Multiplication, Diameter and Division to his field at once to use them as XYZ-materials for the second Primathmech Laplacian(R4/2000/0) [Zone 4] XYZ-summon. "Get rid of it! Get rid of him! Get him out of my sight!" Static detached Division and Multiplication both from the Laplacian, threatening to send Firewall Dragon Darkfluid right back into the extra deck.

"Nice try! When you activate a monster's effect, I can banish Cynet Refresh from my graveyard! My cyberse will be unaffected by monster effects for the rest of the turn!" Charles fired back. "Too late! Diameter negates it!" Static Void yelled as he tried to shut down the trap. "Yes.. and Firewall Darkfluid negates Diameter's effect!" Only for the Darkfluid dragon(11000 atk) to absorb the silver mathmech's negation into its own body, sacrificing the spirit of Cyberse Magician in the process. "What did you? It can negate monster effects?" Static tried to sneak another effect through, using the detached Mathmech Multiplication's effect to double the attackpower of Linkmail Archfiend. "Yes! As many times as it has counters!" Charles responded by using up the second counter, taking the spirit of Cyberse Quantum Dragon away from his Link 5 Dragon(8500 atk). "Now I normal summon Cliant!" He gave Darkfluid(9000 atk) and Transcode(3300 atk) a newer source of power, the black cyber ant(3/2000/2000) with its ATK/DEF boosting effect. "It's over, Static!"

"No. No it will never be over!" Static Void defiantly claimed right up until Transcode Talker declared its attack and blasted Linkmail Archfiend in the chest with its large gun. "Linkmail Archfiend cannot be destroyed! I can banish a synchro or XYZ-monster from my graveyard to keep it alive!" He desperately took Primathmech Alembartian out to save the cyber-demon, not even realizing the obvious. "I see you become more like yourself, when you feel the most danger!" Static did not have enough lifepoints left to withstand another attack. Such a simple mathematical certainty Charles would not have missed. "You are a sad creature, Static." Now that he knew his family had been removed from this terrifying world, all of the hatred that came out of his own fear evaporated like mist. The only remaining feelings towards Static were those of disgust.. and pity.

Static's LP: 6000

"Charles. Do it. For everyone's sake. Bring an end to the hatred." Echo did not seem to share this feeling, and implored the cyberse duelist to end it now.. to end it once and for all. "You. You can't! Even if you could, you would not want to! You need hatred! You need me! Where would the world be without me?" Static finally came to understand his own position as well, and still he could only face his opponent with a condescending sneer. "Without you? I will be in a better place! The world does not need you! You are not anger, you are just a parasite that feeds on it! You do not have to exist! You cannot be allowed to exist! Static, this time.. it really is the end! Darkfluid! Attack!" The great cyberse engaged its final offense, gathering light of synchronic white and cosmic black energy within its halo and firing three beams through the marker-drones. The black and white beams struck Linkmail Archfiend and whether it died or not did not matter. Either way, Static Void dropped down to his last lifepoints.. and went even deeper than that.

Static's LP: 0

"!" Static stumbled backwards. "Not like this. You were supposed to hate me.. you were.." He clutched his chest, only to discover that the degradation of his body started at his right hand. His fingers disappeared one by one.. and it would not stop there. Soon, the avatar known as Void would be gone forever. "I won. This is not according to the rules! I won! I did everything he wanted! This world is mine!" He fell to his knees as he lost the strength to stand. "Scarlet! Schwarzwald! Veyron! Where are you! You will fix this! I demand it!" His left hand stretched out into the subconscious void, which also began to lose shape and color.. The memories of Charles that created this street were stripped away. "Don't bother, Static. They wont help you. It's like Echo said, you are all alone." Charles found himself enjoying his writhing, though not as much as he expected. He also came to realize that when he talked about being betrayed before, he'd not been talking about Echo at all.. "They abandoned you. Scarlet Fever and the others.." He sighed. Static became delusional in his desperation.. Nobody would be saving him.

Except, perhaps... Her. "Echo? What are you doing?" The girl in blue walked right up to Static.

"You know. I tried to accept you Static. Because.. that is who I am." She spoke softly, and sat down right next to him. "But you would never be able to accept me. Because that is who you are. That is what Continuum told me too.. that we are a paradox. That I am. I want to love everything, but I cannot." She shook her head. Everything that happened as of late made joy feel like a distant echo. "Th... then I win after all. I may not have gotten him.. But I got you! Didn't I?" In spite of everything up to and including his half deleted body, Static Void still managed to laugh at her. "Maybe. But I got to you too, Static. Because now I can see into your memories too.." Echo's tone suddenly changed as she held up the orb of memories. "!?" Static's face turned pale. "Yes. You may not accept me, but you respect me. You finally found a bit of positivity towards another.. which proves that we are not what you say we are. Which proves.." She waited until the last part of Static vanished and the nightmare finally ended. "...that we are not forever."

(To Be Continued in World 098: The Fugue State)

New Cards used by Charles Adami
Catche Eve L2

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Cyberse Integrator
Protocol Gardna
Firewall Dragon Darkfluid

New Cards used by Static Void
Primathmech Laplacian
Linkmail Archfiend

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Mathmech Equation

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Mathmech Superfactorial