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.

107. World 099: Master of Chaos Theory

World 099: Master of Chaos Theory

"Zettai!" Abigail cried out her name, for she was no more. Continuum defeated her, erased her. And there was nothing they could do to help her. Her memories did not become one with her again. Even though she knew they were not the same soul, it still felt like she'd lost a part of herself. And it horrified those around her as well. "This looks just like.. what happened to Donna..." Only Hydra had seen a grisly outcome like this before, and it puzzled him as much now as it did then. But the common element in both cases stood not to far away: Scarlet Fever.

"What? Scarlet! What the hell did you do!" On the other side of the scene, Wagnerok reacted with outrage. He could care less about Zettai, he wanted to know why the fever duelist betrayed them for Continuum. "Claim the last of the missing items, of course. Your desperate attempts to locate one of the seven were also most amusing, Wagnerok. But I can assure you that you will not find any within the debris anymore." On top of her head was the Crown of Legacy, the real Crown. "What? What do you mean? You replaced the items? When! When did you do that?! Was mine fake all along?" The former wielder of the Legacy shield howled. "My, you have so many questions, Wagnerok. Try to share some with the rest of the class." Scarlet Fever said while waving at the other duelists within visible range. "Hello one and all! Now that the success of my creation has been assured we can proceed to the next stage. Allow me to properly introduce my grand opus to everyone here and to the duelists watching from home. As I am sure they are." The confident doctor marched up to the continuum entity. "This is my gift to Continuum. A body with which it can duel and spread its power. I wanted to give it a name, but having a name is not the point anymore."

"How horrible.." Everyone looked on with despair and terror. "This is inhuman." Some like the Fisherman could not even bear to watch as another life got extinguished before his eyes. "Damn you!" He lashed out against Scarlet Fever, only to have his duel challenge ignored. "An illusion? No!" Scarlet Fever had not been here in the first place, the World Lance only made them think so. And while he found himself distracted, the entity set its sights on a loftier target. Red lights pierced through the head of Continuum and stared right at Echo like an array of eyes. "No! If you want her! You will have to go through me first!" Cierze however could still intercept the attacker, activating her dueldisk take it on first. "Ah.. Cierze! No. It should have been me!" The Fisherman grunted. "It's alright, Fisher! I was just faster. Its good as long as either of us protects miss Echo! I've seen what it can do now, I should be able to come up with some countermoves!"

"No. Not you too.. I already lost..." Everything that took place before put Echo back into a paralyzed state of dismay. But seeing her own friends in danger, reawakened the terror within her... stronger than ever. "Scarlet! Tell it to stop! Now!" Her first instinct told her to take control of the one who created this monster in the first place.

"I am sorry. I cannot do that." The doctor's voice still sounded as clear as ever, likely due to her wielding the World Wand to channel her words. "Continuum is not under my control. It simply acts according to its own desires.. although I would not call them 'desires'." Scarlet chuckled as Continuum took the first turn of this duel. "I also cannot tell you how to stop it. I designed it so that it would have no failsafes or other such flaws." Scarlet answered before Echo could ask the next question. "But why? Why did you make it?" The girl yelled. She was not the only who would want to ask the doctor what the hell went through her mind. "Ah that.. That I can give away. I was going to do so anyway. Now Vigionaire, I assume you are recording this. And Scarlet Rose, I presume you are listening in as well? I hope you are, you both can learn something from what I am about to say."

Continuum's LP: 8000 Cierze's LP: 8000

-TURN 01

"Now. As you may have already surmised. I based the model of this Continuum avatar on Prospero's own unique template. Using the power of the World Armor allowed me to shape a body that could hold far more energy and data that any mere programmed ADI." The entity drew four cards and its continuous skill card. Then it promptly activated the spell Instant Fusion again, paying a 1000 lifepoints to special summon the Kaminari Attack(5/1900/1400) [Extra Zone 1] fusion monster from its extra deck. And it then used Kaminari Attack and a banished Thunder Dragonmatrix to summon the Thunder Dragon Titan(3/3200/3200) once more. The effect of the banished Thunder Dragonmatrix then allowed it to add another Thunder Dragonmatrix from the deck to the hand. Finally it summoned a Thunderclap Monk(4/1900/200) [Zone 2] to the field and ended the turn. "But of course it does not only have the tactics of Prospero downloaded into its database. Continuum takes the intelligence and experience of all duelists.. which now includes Zettai, Veyron, Khan, Scura and Donna as well."

Continuum's LP: 7000

"You mean to tell us that what happened to Donna was intentional?" Hydra shouted as he flashed back to that less than pretty encounter from a few days ago. "How long have you been planning this? How did you fool Static?" Donna selfdestructed even before anyone knew about Continuum's existence! "Ah yes, that is another good question. The answer came to me, with your help.. Hydra. Thanks to me studying your mental make-up and comparing it to my partner Schwarzwald, I could isolate the element of Static that rested within us all. As soon as I did, it became easy to override its influence on me. I had to do it gradually, build up my immunity slowly or else he would have caught on. Granted, it would not have been possible to trick him at all... had it not been for my previous experiments with mindreading and memory recording. I know how such abilities work now, I know how to extract or to scramble the output of the mind and 'clean up' any memories of insurrection. My whole lab does. As long as I was inside, I was safe from him. And now that he is gone, there is nobody that can stop me.. Us."

-TURN 02-

"We will see about that!" Cierze exclaimed as she drew her first card. "I summon Star Staring Starling! This monster gains a level depending on the zone it's in!" A tiny bird(4/1000/1500) [Zone 5] with gold/purple wings and a feathers colored like the night sky. While perched on the rightmost zone, the Starling(7/1000/1500) could raise its level three times by eating three star berries. "And interesting choice, Cierze. But even the unconventional will be absorbed." Scarlet stated while Continuum reactivated the continuous Vector Breakdown skill card. "Not if I sacrifice her first!" Cierze responded with her quickplay spell, Swallows Nest. "I can use my winged beast to special summon another winged beast from my deck with the same level!" The tiny bird flew the coop, dodging the electric hand of the entity to transform into a larger golden bird(7/2700/2000) [Zone 5] with long red zigzag feathers. "I summon the Mist Valley Apex Avian, who can negate and destroy one card when its effect activates! Even a skill card has to activate to be useful!"

"I see. So that is why you wanted the Starling to be level seven. You've learned to find weaknesses rather well, Cierze. Though I hope you were not expecting that to actually work." Scarlet let out a little laugh as Continuum could simply negate the effect of his monster by activating Thunderclap Monk's effect. That monster clapped its hands together and sacrificed himself to turn into a pure bolt of lightning that could negate the effect of Apex Avian and destroy it. "But isn't my skill marvelous? It took some time to finetune it. What you saw before with Teraxatron was merely a prototype." Even though it was not the Vector skill that got rid of Apex Avian, the winged beast still got reduced to a token(1/2700/0) [Zone 5].

"This is what you wanted to accomplish with that skill? The end of all color and elements? This does not sound like you, Scarlet." Crescent remarked. "Yeah, what are we supposed to call you now? Doctor White Fever?" Cherry added her own more quippy note. "Only Continuum can make these continuous skills to begin with. We should have known you two were aligned. But when? How did it even approach you?" Vigionaire questioned the mad doctor.

"Sorry, but I wont be giving that away. Not until our plans are complete at least. I should mention that our new alliance has also made me immune to your powers, Echo." Scarlet Fever asserted. "Immune? But then why did you answer me before?" The girl cried out. "Oh. Sometimes I can't stop myself even if I have no real reason to tell anyone anything. "For instance, I haven't even gotten to the part yet where I explain how I forged the legacy item copies, which was no small feat either. What helped was that Static ordered me to make them for his friends to use, he wanted a whole army who could control artificial intelligences or reshape the fabric of time and space. But thanks to my mental training, he had no idea that I've been secretly replacing them one by one, hiding them among the copies. The first one I managed to snag was the World Chalice itself." She conjured up the Chalice, showing it off in its pristine state. "Sure I could not use them directly, not until Static Void ceased to exist. But it is a good thing that I held on to them, wouldn't you say?"

"The world Chalice? The one that Hikaru stole? Was that when it happened? When we raided Shintaro's place? What about my shield, when did you replace it?" Wagnerok started yelling again. "Oh she did not need to replace that one. She got it from me." And the black baron answered calmly. "WHAT? That's who you lost it too? Is that why you attacked me? Have you been working with her from the beginning?" The former shieldwielder growled even louder. "I only look out for myself, Wagnerok. Didn't I tell you that I was looking for leverage? I never lost it in a duel, I simply handed it over to her. My generosity bought me my identity. I will be spared Zettai and Veyron's fate.. and the future fate of our winged friend here. You on the other hand, should probably start running. Allthough I doubt there will be any safe place left on this world with Continuum calling the shots."

"Future fate? What about right now?! I am the one calling the shots!" Cierze activated her Simorgh Onslaught spell: discarding one winged beast (Simorgh Bird of Beginning) to add two Simorgh monsters with different elements (Simorgh of Darkness, Simorgh the Bird of Bringing) to her hand. Then she activated her Simorgh Repulsion spell: discarding another winged beast (Simorgh, Bird of Bringing) to destroy all spell and trap cards on the field. "What are you doing? A skill card is not a spell card!?" The Fisherman did not understand why she would waste two spells like that. Continuous skill cards did not even occupy the spell/trap zone, which made her confusion seem even more unlikely. "I just needed to get the right cards in the graveyard, mister Fisher!" No spells and traps on the field did mean another thing however, the Simorgh Birds of Beginning and Bringing could special summon themselves back to the field. The Bird of Beginning(1/0/1600) [Zone 1] of course immediately transformed into a Null token(1/0/0) [Zone 1]. The same would have happened to the Bird of Bringing(2/1000/1000) [Zone 2]

...had it not been for Cierze's new skill card. "I activate Supersonic Summon! And link summon Simorgh the Bird of Sovereignty!" She would only need one winged beast to complete this link circuit. Cierze coud mix the Bird of Bringing with her two null tokens to create the four-winged green godbird(2400/LINK 3) {Downleft/Down/Downright} [Extra Zone 2]. "Your cards wont work against Simorgh! Not your skill, nor your Dragon Titan!"

Super-Sonic Summon, Skill Card
Fusion, Synchro, XYZ or Link-summon one Fusion, Synchro, XYZ or Link Monster using monster(s) you control as material.
That monster cannot be destroyed by card effect(s) during the turn it is summoned.

"Amazing. You reconstructed your skill card again. That would imply you are no longer dependent on the inputs of others. Very impressive, Cierze. Out of all your creations, I believe this one to be the most successful." Scarlet's laughter echoed. "Successful?' The Fisherman took offense to that. "Why yes. Valkyrion might have developed more, had Static not forced me to dispose of him. But Olympia clearly displayed the flaws in my earlier designs. Continuum told me all about what happened to her. She could not handle the negative emotions, could she? I warned you about that when we started this, miss Echo." The doctor flashed a cruel smile at the girl in blue. "There is nothing wrong with us!" The Fisherman insisted. "Well, you certainly seem stable enough. But I am also certain that Echo knows what I am talking about." She continued to glare at the girl in blue, who continued to say nothing in return. "I am affraid your friends not dueling mere ADIs anymore"

"We are not mere ADIs either, Scarlet! We are stronger than them, stronger than you! Stronger than anything you made! During the endphase, Simorgh can special summon one winged beast with a level lower than the number of free spell and trap zones on the field!" Considering the complete lack of spells or traps, Cierze could go as high as level 10 if she wanted to. But the only card she cared about was the level 7 Mist Valley Apex Avian. She prepared three copies of the negator avian(7/2700/0) [Zone 4] just in case. "I'll use her power again!" Vector Breakdown responded to the special summon, and Apex Avian retaliated. "Aha!" It returned to Cierze's hand... and it destroyed the permanent skill card. "I did it! I did it Echo! Look at me!" She turned to the girl with a big and bright smile, flapping her wings with excitement. "Of course! I knew you would!" Echo clapped her hands, while everyone around her breathed a sigh of relief.

-TURN 03-

Scarlet Fever however did not look to concerned. "Oh that is quite alright. Any failure provides us with more learning material. Your contributions for instance have helped me realize that we need to upgrade the skill into one that is not automated. Either way, we no longer have need it." The entity activated a spell card, Chaos Space. "Chaos?" The spell banished one LIGHT or DARK monster from the hand to add a monster with the opposite element to the hand that could not be normal summoned. It banished Thunder Dragonmatrix and claimed a Chaos Creator card. "Yes, this new design incorporates both light and dark energy. The original model was outdated in that regard.." She predicted that the next move would involve the graveyard. Chaos Space could be banished to return one banished special-summon only LIGHT or DARK monster like Kaminari Attack to the deck, to draw an extra new card. "Ah. Excellent. This way we, we do not need the skill to break your cards down." She saw Continuum draw the monster Thunder Dragonhawk, which it could subsequently discard to reclaim one of the banished Thunder Dragonmatrices back and also to trigger the Titan's own effect to destroy Simorgh.

"No way!" Since the effect of the fused dragon did not target, Simorgh could not dodge the lightning that rained down indiscriminately and blasted the link sovereign to pieces. "And now, the Chaos Creator." Scarlet once again correctly assessed Continuum's actions. It could special summon the chaotic counterpart(8/2300/3000) [Zone 2] of the Creator monster, with its knightlike purple armor and mechanical blue wings, by banishing one DARK (Thunder Dragonroar) and one LIGHT monster (Thunder Dragonmatrix) from the graveyard. "The Chaos Creator can special summon one of three banished monsters, while returning the other two to the deck." Light and dark energy floated above the Creator's hands. It crushed the orbs of light to resurrect a being of darkness: the lion-headed Thunder Dragonroar(6/2400/0) [Zone 3]. "And just like that, our duel is over. You were too focused on removing one single card, that you neglected every other threat. How very human of you to develop tunnelvision, Cierze."

"What? No. Nononono! It cannot end like that! I didn't.. I didn't get to do anything yet!" The Harpie Lady cried out. "I am affraid it is ending like this. But if it makes you feel any better in your final moments, Cierze. You losing here did not make things worse for your friends. The situation would have stayed equally disadvantageous." Scarlet Fever made another snapping sound with her fingers... and let that sound transform into a cacophony of noise. "Oh no." The noise came from the top of the obelisk, shooting stars crashed down just like the first Continuum... "Impossible!" They were just like the first Continuum, chaotic entities of pure thunder and shadows.. There were dozens of them. "You made more?" Cierze's eyes went wide, just like pretty much everyone else's. "Continuum is not limited to one body. Even if you could destroy this current container, it would continue to exist.. pardon the pun. And they all have one function, to absorb all information and matter.. and to restructure the minds into something new."

"You will be reborn as well, Cierze." Scarlet Fever announced the attack. Thunder Dragonroar, Chaos Creator and Thunder Dragon Titan struck from three angles. "No. Lady Echo.. help me. Please.. Kyaaaah!" Thunder electrified her, chaos disintegrated her wings, and lightning shot through her heart.

"NO!" Echo watched it all happen with a look of utter despair and terror. Another closest friend vanished piece by piece, and there was not a thing she could do about. "Stop it!" Continuum did not listen. It could not listen. It took everything from the ADI: her innocence, her vitality, her joys and fears. In the end nothing remained, Echo could not sense a single thought of the Harpie Lady's spirit. And because of the constant threat of her 'youngest' sibling, she could not even find the time to mourn her friend. "Ehy.. why does it have to keep happening?"

Cierze's LP: 0

The entities advanced on the remaining duelists. "Damn it." Cherry's own fear for the better of her and she immediately tried to bail by fleeing into the subconscious realm. "Hey!" However one of the Continuum followed her right away. It could see her. "You should not try to run, Cherry Anise. This dimension is a second home to beings like Continuum." Scarlet Fever could see her. "Your only option is to fight." She could see everyone that the entities surrounded. "But since they all have the same skills and skillsets as the one you've seen already, I wonder how well that will go. So, does anyone else feel up to the challenge, anyone in Exeter HQ perhaps? Why don't you come out, Charles Adami? or you, Madam Blanche? You have both helped destroy one entity, why not try your luck with another?"

...

Back at Exeter HQ the taunts were received loud and clear. "That's the last straw! If we she wants us, she can have us! We have to back them up!" Charles prepared the quickjump coordinates without a second thought. "Charles. It would be suicide! You stand as much of a chance against Continuum as anyone else. That is to say none at all." Scarlet Rose summarily shot his plans down, much to his chagrin. "Then what do you think we should do? Nothing? You're her! You're Scarlet too! You have to know something that we can use against it!" He shouted out of desperation. "Nothing we have can be used against the entity.." She started to say. "Nothing? I don't believe that! There is always a chance! Don't tell me you're too affraid to act against her!?" Only for him to curse her out halfway..."There is Charles. But it is not a chance you can reach for." ... before she could mention some actual positives. "What? You mean you do have a plan?" He calmed down a little after that, though he still did not understand anything of what she said. "I do, and it can only work if you do not interfere. However. I am unfortunately not the only one with plans."

"What does that... mean?" Charles looked up. A dozen or so blinking and beeping lights appeared on the holographic projection, flying closer to the tower. "The united air force! It looks like our time is up." Therese'd been affraid of this. "Already?" The day was not over yet according to the deadlines the nations sent them, though at this point Charles was glad that they were seemingly this impatient. "Both Exeter and Renner's Research department are aware of what we are doing, and the updates we give them are submitted to the federal investigation team. I guess.. they no longer thought we could contain the crisis. And seeing all of this, I am inclined to believe them. I would advise against heading out to that area now, mister Adami."

"As would I. But.. at least now we have a diversion." Scarlet Rose smiled. "Okay, but can you at least tell us what your plan is? It's not like your crazy sister over there can hear us, right?" Blanche asked. The more they knew, the less chance they had of messing it up themselves. On the other hand Scarlet Fever kept insisting she could read minds. "If that were a possibility, the plan is already a failure. She may be able to anticipate my plans, she may have even used my program to help her convert the tower into this obelisk. But I have no reason to suspect a direct compromise. Nevertheless, we must be discreet. All I can say is that I traced the source of Scarlet Fever's communications. And that I sent the information to someone who can now reach her.. She would see you coming, Charles. But.. she would not see him coming." Scarlet tapped a button on her dueldisk. "Are you in position?"

...

"I am." Said the inside agent, now that he was finally close enough to see his target. "Mephistar?" The target saw him too, phasing in from one of the walls of her own laboratory. This time she was real, the mad doctor hid herself within the Obelisk itself. "The one and only!" He was real too. And by the time she'd recovered from her shock though, Mephistar already got her dragged into a duel challenge.

"So that is how it is." It took her little time to figure out what exactly happened too. "You used the subconscious realm to pass through the Obelisk. Though as far as I can recall, you did not have that ability until now." It took even less time for her to start smirking again. "Heh. Your better half saw to that. She gave me a quick patch to make me more like Charles and Tycho. I bet you forgot all about me, didn't you?" Back when Echo left the Exeter office, all of her closest friends followed her.. except for the chained duelist. He came here, having accepted Scarlet Rose's modifications and mission proposal. Still, Mephistar imagined that it would have been a hell of a lot harder to sneak up on her, if she had not been distracted by the incoming jets right now. "I admit, I let my guard down. You timed your attack rather well.. But now that you have me, what do you intend to do?"

Scarlet Fever's LP: 8000 Mephistar's LP: 8000

"Easy. Scarlet Rose told me that she did not believe you when you said you had no control over Continuum. At the very least you would have prepared a failsafe to use against these things.. the Crown maybe, or something else. Either way, if I beat you.. almost all the legacy items will become ours. That I consider a bonus." Mephistar drew his first five cards. "But I can also drag you back to Echo if you refuse to play nice. Maybe you did refresh your avatar when you joined up with the new big bad, but a loss will put you right back down to normal! That is, if those airforce boys don't blow your plans up first." Either way she would be forced to cooperate and share her secrets about the entity. "Oh I am not worried about Continuum. It will handle any military intervention just fine. Nor am I concerned about you. I made you, Mephistar. I can always unmake you." Scarlet Fever drew her five cards as well. "I made myself, Fever. But I am glad that Rose picked me for this job. Now I can finally thank you.. for everything that you have done."

(To Be Continued in World 100: Mad Minute)

New Cards used by Cierze
Star Staring Starling
Mist Valley Apex Avian

-
Swallows Nest

New Cards used by Continuum
Thunderclap Monk
Thunder Dragonroar
Chaos Creator

-
Chaos Space