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.

118. World 110: The Most Promising Line

World 110: The Most Promising Line

"No. No! No you didn't." For the first time in a long time, Scarlet Fever could not remedy the errors that disrupted her plans. "I should have seen this. I would have." The entirety of Continuum stalled because of one man. "How did you do this?!" Because of him, because of his computer virus. "Heh. I would love to tell you, I really do. But It would be better if you figured it out on your own." Because he managed to defeat one Chaos drone, all the others were paralyzed. "This will only delay me, Vigionair! I will not be stopped!" And she could not afford to waste time on him anymore. The transmission ended. "I guess I upset her." The man chuckled as he started wiping the muddy sand off his coat and started walking towards the Obelisk.

"Vigionair. Was this your plan all along? Why didn't you tell us?" Charles and the others reaped the rewards on their end as well. The many avatars of Continuum stopped advancing on them at the exact same time. "I was worried that Scarlet Fever could be monitoring our ongoing conversations, so I kept myself silent. But yes, this was a part of my plan in case we encountered the third entity. This is why I engaged It. I was lucky. Scarlet will definitely be able to remove the virus even without me telling her about the virus' details. So you have to hurry!" They would lose contact as soon as they headed inside, but they had to move on. "Right!" Charles agreed and signed off himself. "Hydra? Are you back yet?" Only one thing kept them from going into the Obelisk themselves, their invisible partner.

"I don't think he can hear us." Jenna muttered. "But if he's not coming back, he could be in trouble. Maybe he got lost?" Dharma wondered out loud. "We cannot wait for him either way. We have to go in without him. Maybe we will find him along the way." Charles grunted. In the end only one of them had to succeed, they all carried the card that could destroy the legacy items. "Let's go." He plunged his hand into the subconscious world. "You know that's kinda becoming your catchphrase now, boss. What with how often you've said it." And Dharma left him one last comment. "Heh. It's just two words. I can definitely come up with something better than that.."

...

Hydra however did have a good reason to not let himself be heard. "Baron." He could not find the item anywhere inside the Obelisk, he only found the other half of his soul. "Hydra. I was wondering when you would show up." The Black baron Schwarzwald showed up in the middle of the maze of stairwells and hallways, as if he formed its natural center. "I could ask say the same thing to you. So this is where Scarlet sent you." Hydra knew this man would not be here without a reason. "What makes you think I did not come here on my own accord? Hydra? Also you really do not have to hide yourself from me. I am the only one who knows your real face after all." Schwarzwald laughed at the void around him. No matter where Hydra hid, he could look straight at him. "You are trying to provoke me. But I have better things to do than to duel you. There are plenty of people who would love to punch you down, moreso than me."

"Heh, are you talking about Donna?" The baron cackled again. "She might have mentioned such a desire." Hydra replied stoically. "Bah! Oh come now. All I did was nudge her other self a little. It is not my fault that she was so aggressive and careless. But I am not interested in her anyway. I am interested in you, Hydra. I want to make a deal. You are right.. Scarlet Fever sent me here as a test, to see if I could help her in the new world order. Though I know that what she is really testing is whether or not I would betray her. Of course I would not abandon the side that was the clear favorite in this conflict. Except, now it looks like this counter-offensive of your friends has an actual chance of succeeding if you had the right intel. So here is what I am offering. If you can defeat me in a duel, I will give you what you need to win this. Of course I would ask that you do not put me to sleep afterwards." He left a lot of things unsaid. "..." But Hydra knew what kind of person he was talking to, and what he actually wanted and offered. "Very well. I thought we were done, but if this is what you desire.." And he also knew why he could not refuse.

Hydra's LP: 8000 Schwarzwald's LP: 8000

"Excellent. I knew you would not need much convincing." The barons grin grew wide as he saw his dueldisk light up, meaning that the invisible duelist accepted his challenge. "Talk less, Schwarzwald. Otherwise you wont have a chance." And Hydra received the first turn.

Hydra's LP: 8000 Schwarzwald's LP: 8000

He normal summoned the golden gate-carrying Gateway Dragon(4/1600/1400) [Zone 4]. It used its effect to special summon the Soldier Dragons(2/700/800) [Zone 3] from Hydra's hand in defense mode. "I know what you can do, and you know what I can do. All that remains is to test our preparedness." The next monster took a level 4 DARK Dragon as the link material: Gateway Dragon turned into the blue trigger-winged Striker Dragon(1000/LINK 1) {Left} [Extra Zone 1]. Its first effect added the field spell Boot Sector Launch to the players hand. He activated both that card and the continuous Supply Squad spell. "Boot Sector Launch summons Shelrokket and Anesthrokket Dragon!" Thanks to the field spell, Hydra could load his monster zones with two Rokket Dragon bullets: the shotgun shell armored Shelrokket Dragon(2/1400/2300) [Zone 2] and the pyrotechnic red Rokket Tracer(4/1600/1000) [Zone 1]. As always, Rokket Dragons gained 300 Attack and Defense points within the revolving Boot Sector.

"So far so familiar." Schwarzwald yawned. "I have grown accustomed to the familiar, Schwarzwald. And also tired of change.." Hydra activated Rokket Tracer's effect on itself: destroying his face-up monster to special summon a new Rokket, the machinegun bullet Autorokket Dragon(4/1900/1300), from the deck. Thanks to Supply Squad he could also draw another card now. "Some might say I have finally gotten comfortable with the life I have." Hydra then activated the second effect of Striker Dragon, destroying one monster to add a Rokket monster from the graveyard to his hand. This time he blew up Autorokket Dragon and retrieved the Rokket Tracer from his graveyard. "I know I was once like you, restless and unwilling to settle with anything or anyone. But now we could not be more different."

"And you call me a talker. I will spare you the 'you and I' speech, because I agree that we are better apart then together. In fact I was a little surprised you did not walk away when you first saw me." The black baron chuckled. "I cannot do that either, Baron. Because you have no loyalty to anyone. Leaving you alone is asking for trouble." Finally Hydra placed one trap card down and turned two of his dragons (Striker Dragon, Shelrokket Dragon) into link materials for the cannon-armed Dillingerous Dragon(1600/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1]. Then during the endphase, the Autorokket Dragon in the graveyard would special summon a new Rokket from the deck in defense mode: the needled-headed Anesthrokket Dragon(1/300/2500) [Zone 1].

-TURN 02-

"Why should I be loyal? Everyone around me has let me down. Millennium, Static, the heroes and the champions. I offered Tycho a figleaf, but he disappointed me as well. In the end you can only rely on yourself.. is what I keep finding out. Your comfort is your weakness. Your trust in the familiar. But I know how to exploit that better than anyone! I activate Dirge of the Lost Dragon" Schwarzwald revealed his own continuous spell. "The Lost Dragon?" That spell chose one name, and would halve a player's lifepoints each time a card with that name activated its effect. "Yes. Its name will be Soldier Dragons: the core of your very first strategy!" Normally Hydra would have been spamming the Soldier Dragons ability to summon level 2 dragons from the field each time the opponent activated an effect. If he did that now, he could wind up with only a 1000 lifepoints. "Heh. No chain? Even here you're sticking to the safest route. Well I do not mind at all." Now he could freely activate spells like Pot of Desires, banishing ten cards from the top of his deck to draw two more cards, and Red-Eyes Insight, discarding one Red-Eyes monster (Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon) from his deck to add another Red-Eyes spell or trap card (Red-Eyes Spirits) to his hand.

"Let me show you some neat tricks I picked up while you were gone. You already know this little thing." The baron used his normal summon on the red-eyed dragon egg Black Stone of Legend(1/0/0) [Zone 2]. "And it will become a big thing once I sacrifice it." The egg cracked open to special summon any level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from the deck. In this case however it turned into a metal warrior(4/1800/1600) [Zone 2] of a black dragon. "Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight?" Hydra did know of that card, but he did not recall ever using it. "Heh, Wagnerok had that exact same reaction. Knowing my face, you probably dont look as stupid as he did though.. In any case, Gearfried can destroy one spell card if I equip another card to him. Like Black Metal Dragon, who can equip itself to a Red-Eyes monster." The Iron Knight turned the tiny black dragon into a sharp black sword, and unleashed its edge upon the face-down trap: Link Turret. "The turret huh? Were you actually planning to extra link lock me? What an honor, Hydra."

"But I am done ruining things for you yet. Gearfried can also destroy its own equipment to special summon one Red-Eyes monster from my graveyard! And you already know what happens when Black Metal Dragon is sent from the field to the graveyard." Dipping the black metal sword into the ground provided two dragons for the price of one. Gearfried's effect revived the RedEyes Darkness Metal Dragon(10/2800/2400) [Zone 3], while Black Metal Dragon's effect added a the original Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the Baron's waiting hands. "And here we go, the culmination of my new warrior and dragon union.. I activate Polymerization and fusion summon Red-Eyes Slash Dragon!" The fusion materials were Red-Eyes Black Dragon and one warrior monster: the red-eyed Iron Knight. Their fusion created a Red-eyed black dragon(7/2800/2400) [Extra Zone 2] covered in spiked iron armor with sharp blades at the sides of its claws and red orbs on every limb joint. Soon after, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon used its own ability to special summon the original Red-Eyes Black Dragon(7/2400/2000) [Zone 2] back to the field.

"Slash Dragon? Not the Dragoon? I heard that had become your favorite fusion." Hydra said with a hidden sneer. "Oh it still is. But to bring it out I would need to forego all my other summons. Plus its more fun to use it when it has bigger targets to burn. You've only given me small fries. So my meal will have to be quick." Schwarzwald shook his head and waved his left hand dismissively. "Slash Dragon equips one warrior to itself and gains 200 attackpoints for each equipped card. And if you try to target my cards with an effect, he will negate that effect by breaking the equipment." This turn around the Gearfried Knight would feel what it was like to be a weapon, as it turned into an added layer of iron around Red-Eyes Slash Dragon(3000/2400). "Attack, my Red-Eyed miscreants!" The Dragon of darkness and metal stomped down on the defending Anesthrokket Dragon, while the classic Red-Eyes melted the lone Soldier Dragons dragon with its infernal breath. Last but not least, Slash Dragon carved up the Dillingerous Dragon one part at a time.. slashing off its arms and legs and finally its head.

Hydra's LP: 6600

Hydra placed two trap cards down on the field. Then, at the end of the turn, the Anesthrokket Dragon in the graveyard activated its effect to special summon Magnarokket Dragon(4/2100/1400) [Zone 2] from the main deck. "Oh right. When a Rokket Dragon is summoned, Dillingerous Dragon also appears. Too bad I dont have any monsters that did not attack this turn, eh?" Schwarzwald saw the gunarm dragon [Zone 1] coming. It could only revive itself once, so Schwarzwald would not have to care about it for long. "I end my turn!"

"Schwarzwald!" At that exact moment, Charles' group rushed into white room.. coming in from one of the many hallways. "Jenna? Dharma? Charles? You found us?" Hydra seemed more surprised than Schwarzwald did. But then he realized how they tracked the two down; Schwarzwald willed it. "Hydra? You're here too?" Jenna cried out.

"He has. Because I offered him a deal he could not refuse. My help in exchange for him becoming my opponent in this duel." The black baron explained to his new audience. "What!? But that's.." Dharma flinched when she realized what the consequences would be. If Hydra were to lose, he would become trapped inside Schwarzwald's mind again. "Hydra! Why would you do that? We dont need his help! And you didn't have to be the one to duel him!" The blue-eyed duelist yelled. Thanks to Scarlet Rose's program, it did not have to be the original duelist himself who could bring their Static-doppelganger back into their mind.

"We do need him. He still has what he took from Wagnerok." Hydra looked his reflection right in the eyes. "Heheh. Bingo. He is right, I have the World Shield. And you wont find your way to it while I am in control of it, trust me. The tower will keep rejecting you no matter which hallway you take, no matter which state you're in. This space is mine to command. But if Hydra wins, I will give it to him. That alone will disrupt her plans far better than anything you can do, doesn't it? Besides, you misunderstand me. Unlike Wagnerok, I have no intention of becoming one again with Hydra. All this talk about becoming one again.. that was never an option for us. Even if we fused willingly, I would not be myself anymore. Maybe Zettai or Wagnerok could have been okay with that. Not me. But if I succesfully defend the shield, Scarlet can grant me the same treatment that Nakana's parents underwent. Only I will retain all of my memories and emotions and become a completely independent entity. If you win however, I will just have accept the half-life that I possess now and join you in your war against Continuum. I really do not care which side wins, as long as I win with them."

"So that's it. Hydra, do you trust him? He could just as easily be lying about us needing him. And there is no guarantee he will give us what we need." The baron did not strike Charles as the most honest type, and he himself did not like to let everything depend on a wager. "Of course I do not trust him. But I know he will do whatever he can to survive if he loses.. And I have the best shot at defeating myself, that is how I see it. Yes, he could be bluffing. But you have to discover that for yourself." Charles and the others could investigate the obelisk for themselves in the mean time. "Alright. We will do that." Charles nodded. "Great more endless hallways." Jenna groaned. She felt tired already, despite being an intangible duelist made of thought. She and Charles left the two dragon duelists alone.. with the third dragon duelist.

"You aren't going?" Hydra asked Dharma. "One of us has to keep an eye on you. Well.. you know what I mean." She replied. "Heh. I do. Well, I will try to make this entertaining. My last few duels were rather routine... That almost cost me everything when I dueled Continuum. I could not understand it. But you, Schwarzwald. You are different. I know what you want.. and what you do not want."

-TURN 03-

"I re-activate Boot Sector Launch!" Hydra's field spell could also load the monster zones with Rokket Dragons from the graveyard until Hydra's monsters equaled his opponent in number. In this instance he special summoned AnesthRokket Dragon[Zone 4] and Autorokket Dragon[Zone 5] back to his field. "And when I special summon a Dark Dragon, I can also special summon Noctivision Dragon from my hand!" The nightvision dragon stalker(7/0/2800) [Zone 3] appeared in between the Rokket dragons as their shadow and set up the path towards the extra deck. "Link summon! Borreload Dragon!" Noctivsion, Anesthrokket Dragon and the Dillingerous Dragon split off into four material vortices and opened the link circuit for his demonic red dragon of the revolver: Borrelsword Dragon(3000/LINK 4) {Left/Downleft/Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1]. And once used as a link material, Noctivision Dragon could draw one card from the deck.

"I would have gone with Borreload myself. But I guess you're not trying to avoid my dragon's effect. Or.. maybe I have a Red-Eyes Retro Dragon in my hand? You never know with me" Schwarzwald gestured at his fusion dragon. Red-Eyes Slash Dragon would revive any equipped monster if it died to any opponent's card. "If you're trying to play mindgames with me, you should quit while you have some dignity left.. Baron." Hydra would be the last person to fall for his own tricks. "Heh. Tough crowd. That said, I do thank you that Link 4 monster. Now I can activate Saryuja's Shackles!" The baron triggered his own trap card in response to the link summon. Saryuja's Shackles drew cards equal to the link rating of that link monster, and then shuffled two cards back into the deck. "Wait you're using that card too now?" Dharma'd used that against Hydra back when they dueled inside hyperspace.

"Ironic, isn't it? He created me to act as your rival. Instead I became his." The barons laughter echoed louder and louder. "I suppose that would be amusing. But if its a Borreload you really want, you can have it... Since I control a Rokket Dragon, I can special summon Absorouter Dragon from my hand!" His newest winged dragon(7/1200/2800) appeared to be entirely robotic, with glowing green eyes and blue metallic plates across its body. "And then I take my two Rokket Dragons and XYZ-summon Borreload Excharge Dragon!"

"Excharge? An XYZ-summon?" Schwarzwald seemed to be entirely caught off guard by the appearance of the XYZ-portal. Autorokket Dragon and Magnarokket Dragon would perfectly fit the rank 4 mold, which shaped a green energy-powered yet black Borreload Dragon(R4/3000/2500) [Zone 1] with bloodred horns and claws. Its wings now looked like massive engines with blades of green flame shooting out in the opposite direction for form a cross pattern. "Oh wait did I say one Borreload? I meant multiple!" Hydra normal summoned his tuner dragon next: Rokket Synchron(1/0/0) [Zone 5]. "A synchro monster too?" The baron gasped again. The effect of Rokket Synchron returned Noctivision Dragon [Zone 4] to the field, at which point Hydra could tune them both together into the white devil dragon Borreload Savage Dragon(8/3000/2500) [Zone 2]. "Not that just, Schwarzwald." Hydra activated his quickplay spell next. "This is Rapid Trigger! It destroys two monsters to fuse them together. And if I take two dark-attribute dragons, they become Borreload Furious Dragon!" Now a fusing maelstrom entered the duel, tearing Borrelsword Dragon and Absorouter Dragon apart to create the furious purple Borreload fusion Dragon(8/3000/2500) [Extra Zone 1]. "All three of them are on the field!"

"Impressive. I can see how you managed to crush Donna Monday." Schwarzwald laughed nervously. He noticed how Borreload Savage Dragon's effect turned one link monster from the graveyard, Dillingerous Dragon, into its(3800/2500) equipment. "They certainly helped. Borreload Savage gains half the attack of the equipped link monster and two Borrel counters for its two link markers! Once a turn it can negate an effect by using up one of those counters! Borreload Furious can also destroy one card on each side of the field each turn. Also one of its fusion materials, Absorouter Dragon, adds a Rokket Dragon from the deck to my hand when I send it from the field to the graveyard." Hydra used the effect to claim the Rokket Recharger Dragon.

"Borreload Excharge Dragon is new though. I had not gotten the chance to use until now. It cannot be targeted by card effects except its own. And each turn it can revive one Borrel monster for one turn by taking 600 attackpoints away from another monster!" The black dragon fired a bullet blast into itself(2400 atk) so it would not trigger Slash Dragon's own effect. After that it turned towards the graveyard and set its sights on rebuiding its blade-headed ally: Borrelsword Dragon[Zone 4]. "The revived monster is banished during the endphase, and I cannot attack directly or special summon any monsters this turn...So I will get what I can by destroying your monsters first! The battle begins here!" Borrelsword attacked first, relocating half of Red-Eyes Slash Dragon(1500 atk)'s attackpoints towards itself(4500 atk). As this effect did not target, the fused Red-Eyes did not get a chance to respond before Borrelsword came within range and cut the black dragon's head clean off. "Tsk." Schwarzwald took his first hit of battle damage, though his dying monster could still special summon the Iron Knight Gearfried to his field in defense mode.

Schwarzwald's LP: 5000

"Borrelsword can also switch one monster to defense mode to give itself a double attack this turn!" The blade dragon's targets were now defenseless. It forced the Darkness Metal Dragon to cower before it. Both it and the Iron Red-Eyes Knight were picked off by rapid fire blasts from Borreload Savage and Excharge Dragon, since the Rapid Trigger-summoned Furious Dragon could only attack monsters summoned from the extra deck. Finally, Borrelsword lifted its bladed tail up into the air to make another swing at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The last black dragon got carved into pieces.

Schwarzwald's LP: 2900

"Ah. But then, what do you make of this?" Schwarzwald made another attempt to strengthen his defenses, by activating Red-Eyes Spirits to special summon Red-Eyes Slash Dragon back to the field in attack mode. "Why would you try that, Schwarzwald?" Borreload Savage Dragon simply used up its Borrel counter to negate the trap and prevent the return of Slash Dragon. "Maybe you were trying to save your other trap. But since Borrelsword is going to die anyway. I would rather see it destroyed than banished. Borreload Furious Dragon activates his effect!" One trap on Schwarzwald's field would be one too many, and urrently there were two. Thus the dragon of fury picked its targets and destroyed them both inside a blaze of black flames: Borrelsword Dragon and the face-down Booby Game trap. "?!" Hydra immediately came to regret that move.

"You were not trying to save your trap at all! You wanted me to target it!" Destroying that trap would reset two other normal traps back to the field: Saryuja's Shackles and Red-Eyes Spirits. "Man I cannot believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book, Hydra." Dharma sighed.

"Yes, he might have seen it coming with your help. But you cannot do anything at all, not for him. I am not sure why you even bothered to stick around." Schwarzwald looked more and more annoyed with her presence. "Well I know what you two were trying to arrange and all, but I still had to check up on my old pal here. That's what friends do!" Blanche didn't think that would need explaining. "Friends? Since when is he your friend, Madam Blanche. Just because he split himself of from me, does not suddenly make him someone else. He is still the man who attacked you twice, who destroyed Imperius and betrayed you to join Millennium. And he is still hiding from you. You've already taken that step.. little miss Bonnet. But has he? Clearly not." Even when Hydra was not invisible, he used a faceless avatar to interact with those around him. He'd never shown his true face. "Well if he does not want to, he does not have to!" Blanche argued back. It took her a while to do the same after all.

"My name is Fredrick Muller."

He did it anyway, shifting out of his avatar alltogether. "Whoa?!" Dharma took a step back as a man suddenly appeared in front of her, wearing simple grey clothes and sporting a thin beard and dark crewcut. "Was it what you expected? Dharma?" He smiled at the white-haired madam with the same voice as the invisible duelist, though she figured out his identity on his own. "Hydra? Fredrick? Wow.. you dont look like what I expected. Then again.." Seeing the two together, she could see now that Schwarzwald really did not look anything like his real self. "But this is me. He was right, no more secrets. Now I can really fight like a duelist."

(To Be Continued in World 111: Don't Mind Me)

New Cards used by Hydra
Absorouter Dragon

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Borreload eXcharge Dragon

New Cards used by Baron Schwarzwald
Red-Eyes Slash Dragon

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Dirge of the Lost Dragon

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Saryuja's Shackles
Booby Game