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.

120. World 112: Slave to a Thousand Machines

World 112: Slave to a Thousand Machines

"Schwarzwald!" Hydra staggered backwards from the shock of seeing his own counterpart fall to pieces before his eyes.

"Scarlet..." The baron could barely believe it himself, his body hollowed out all because of him losing his duel. But the one responsible did not stand before him as his opponent.. she stood behind him as his assassin. "All you had to do was follow my orders. I would have given you everything, Schwarzwald. I would have given you the ability to live on beyond even this. But you just could not out your faith in me, could you? I suppose that could be called 'ironic'." Scarlet Fever made this happen. He did not know how, but he knew why. "Kgeh.. Faith? Since when did you care about that?" The Baron coughed. If she truly cared about him, she would have shown it long ago. "I knew this moment was coming.. I just did not expect it.. so soon." He dropped to one knee, the left side of his avatar had already disappeared. "But I would have picked them over you again, if I could. Because I can finally see that surviving is not worth it.. if you can't live as well." He turned to Hydra, prepared to say farewell to him.

"No!" But the man was already gone before he could say another word. His body turned to dust of light, and the light disappeared inside Scarlet Fever's own avatar. "How could you do that?" Charles and Dharma both lashed out at her. The former even making an attempt to duel her, only for his challenge to be rejected. They were staring at another illusion of the mad doctor again.

"How could I do that? Oh quite easily in fact. I'd introduced a mod into his avatar some time ago during one of his many visits. I simply accessed those mods to execute a force quit while he was vulnerable. I believe Static himself pulled the same trick once, it's how he could punish the ones who lost his games." Scarlet Fever gave her explanation with clinical coldness, as if Schwarzwald were nothing more than a program to be terminated. "They mean how could you just do that to someone else? Is that what you did to Scura and Khan? Is that what happened to Zettai and Donna?" Jenna started yelling at her too now, as she remembered the confusing end of her own doppelganger. "In a way yes. Donna was the first test subject, but I secretly passed the same mods to all of them as well. Once they were defeated, I collected their memories as data and absorbed them into the Continuum.. Into its own version of project Flute. So you should not mourn them, they still live on as a part of the third entity. Then again, they were never truly alive to begin with."

"What?" Charles flinched. "I thought you knew this already. Static made them, but they were always more of an alternate personality rather than an identity of their own. Whatever humanity they had, was merely an echo of the real mind inside of them. Sooner or later they would have deteriorated without Static's presence anyway." Scarlet said as she began to laugh. "You're insane. You are one of them! If they aren't alive, what does that make you?!" Charles did not understand how she could see herself as any different from people like Schwarzwald. "I am so much more now. Your memories.. and your experiences have given me enough to go on for an eternity. And I have not even reached one percent of the world's population.. Don't you see the beauty of it all? All of earth's wisdom gathered in one place, that is all I ask from you."

"It's murder." Hydra cursed. "Murder?" An offended Scarlet snapped back. "Schwarzwald was alive. For all intents and purposes he believed himself to be so. I shared his thoughts once.. I shared his desires. I can judge his soul better than you, Scarlet. He did not deserve this." He clenched his fist. "Hee. Cogito Ergo Sum. But I am affraid you're letting your emotions cloud your logic. I could not let him continue to exist regardless.. he betrayed me. At least I preserved him." The woman shrugged. "Even if you refuse to accept his awareness, you have still attacked many others who are human! You tried to attack us too! You say you only want to take our memories, but that is the same as killing us! If we forget who we are... We wont let you do that to anyone! We can stop you! Schwarzwald showed us the way!" Hydra pointed to the only other doorway in the white room. "The World Shield is right there, and now I am in control of it! We will take it away from you, we will destroy it!"

"Heehee. Good luck then, Hydra." Scarlet gave an unimpressed grin to the duelist before her illusion disappeared completely. "Uh... that did not feel good." Jenna did not like how Scarlet did not seem to resist them at all. "We cannot let her play mindgames with us. Come on." Hydra forced himself to move on. This is all he could do for the baron's sake. "What?" He quickly realized why Scarlet did not bother to stop them.

The next room had the World Shield alright, it had a lot of them... "There's like thousands!" It had more than Dharma could count, hanging from the walls and ceiling like paintings. "Which one is the real one? Hydra! Can you tell? Maybe the rest are all illusions." They all looked the same to her either way. "No. What is.. they're all giving off the same power!? They're all the shield?" Hydra himself could not pick one or the other, they were all connected. "This must be why she made so many copies, so they can amplify each others powers. Destroying one is not enough anymore, we're going to have to delete them all." He cursed again. V's deletion program could only target one item at a time and it took more than a minute to do so.

"Well, we'd better start! I don't think we have a lot of time before Scarlet's plan is completed." Charles shouted. He could not be sure about this, but the fact that Scarlet could use the World Lance outside of its own Obelisk made him think that the seven Obelisks were also linking up with each other more and more. They were building up to something big, and he did not want to see it. "Hopefully the others have made it to their items as well." Charles muttered, once again reminding himself that only one out of seven obelisks would have to be shut down...

...

Hikaru's LP: 8000 Nakana's LP: 8000

At the fifth obelisk, the duel between Nakana and Hikaru was well under day. She'd taken the first turn and started her Mayakashi loop by using the shaman Mayakashi Hajun(1/600/400) to special summon the nine-tailed tuner Mayakashi Dakki(2/1000/0). The self reviving tuner synchronized time and time again to synchro summon the Mayakashi Oboro-Guruma(3/800/2100), Tsuchigumo(5/2000/1000), Tengu(7/2600/1500), Yoko(9/2900/2400) and finally Gashadokuro the giant skeleton(11/3300/2600) [Extra Zone 1]. Dakki herself [Zone 3] revived one final time in defense mode. Three traps also formed her backrow once the turn came to its end.

-TURN 02-

"You are the same as always." Hikaru commented snidely. "How could someone like you have defeated the great Shintaro with ancient tactics like these?" He growled and special summoned his own monster, Tenyi Spirit Ashuna the golden dragon wyrm(7/1600/2600) [Zone 2]. The Tenyi Spirits could always be special summoned from the hand as long as their owner controlled no effects monsters. "I activate Flawless Perfection of the Tenyi! Now any non-effect monster I control cannot be affected by your monster cards!" Hikaru's field spell illuminated the ceiling of the obelisk chamber, turning it into golden cloudy sky. "Link summon, Monk of the Tenyi!" The next Tenyi took 1 non-link Tenyi monster as his link-material, thus transforming the dragon into a dragon spirit wielding monk brawler(1000/LINK 1) {Down} [Extra Zone 2]. "Activate Ashuna! Add Tenyi Spirit.." Once in the graveyard, Tenyi spirits could be banished while an effectless monster existed on the field. In Ashuna's case that would trigger the effect of adding one Tenyi card from the deck to the hand.

"Perhaps you should not under-estimate me, mister Hikaru." Not this time. Nakana activated her own handtrap ghost girl: Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring. She could negate any one effect that searched cards from the deck this way, including Ashuna. "Rgh. I have already perfectly assessed your skills. You can do nothing by yourself!" Hikaru activated his spell card, Vessel for the Dragon Cycle. It sent one wyrm monster from the deck to the graveyard to add a Tenyi monster to his hand. "Discard Maremare and add Adhara the Tenyi Spirit!" Because the Monk did not count as an effect monster, he could special summon a new Tenyi Spirit from his hand: Vishuda the dragon wraith(7/1500/2500) [Zone 4] of crimson darkness. He also normal summoned Adhara the ghostly root dragon(1/0/0) [Zone 4]. "And just because you are their daughter, does not mean I will use a gentle touch. I link summon Shaman of the Tenyi!" The link materials now would be two wyrm monsters. Adhara and Vishuda swirled around each other and burned together into a new humanoid form: becoming the darkhaired fan-wielder Shaman(1600/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Zone 4].

"I know about that card, mister Hikaru. It can discard another card to revive one wyrm monster in the graveyard." Nakana stated. "What you know is nothing, Nakana Shintaro." The man fumed. By banishing the Tenyi Spirit Adhara, one could return one banished Tenyi monster to their hand. Hikaru used this effect to release the Ashuna spirit, and promptly discarded it again to activate the Shaman's effect. "I special summon Maremare!" The newest monster did not belong to the dragonic Tenyi clan. But the maternal Seahorse Maremare(7/2100/1400) [Zone 5] still fit right in due to her dangerous effect of creating tokens by reducing her level for each one. She(4/2100/1400) spawned three children[Zones 1,2,& 3] "Link summon! Tenyi Spirit Sahasrara!" The three tokens combined with the Monk of Tenyi led to the creation of the greatest Spirit: Sahasrara the golden-haired four-armed Tenyi(3000/LINK 4) {Up/Down/Upleft/Downleft} [Extra Zone 2].

"Sahasrara prevents you from targeting any monster that has an effect, while I control a monster without an effect. And he creates one token that is an exact duplicate of your strongest monster!" Golden light flowed down the white sash around Sahasrara, and solidified into a Tenyi Spirit Token(4/3300/0) [Zone 3] that looked like Gashadokuro the giant skeleton. "Now I have no more need for your monster, be gone!" By banishing Tenyi Vishuda, he would return one monster on the field to the deck. The darkness targeted Gashadokuro to extinguish her biggest defense. "And once a turn, when a monster without an effect declares an attack, Shaman of the Tenyi will destroy one card on the field! So the token will strike you directly, after the death of your consort!" His two Tenyi charged into the battle phase as a pair, the Skeleton token raising its golden hand above Nakana while the Shaman blew the Mayakashi Dakki away with a blast of wind from her fan. "Lady Nakana!" Zanbatou could no longer stay silent. The numbers alone pointed towards her immanent defeat.

"Zanbatou. Be calm. You know that I am never helpless." Nakana smiled at her friend, and turned towards Hikaru with a scowl. "I activate my traps! Mayakashi Mayhem and Fateful Hour! With the Fateful trap, I can resurrect one Mayakashi from my graveyard!" The witching hour fell upon the lost soul of Mayakashi Yoko [Zone 3], who returned in defense mode. "Now Yoko can destroy one monster when he is summoned from the grave. But Mayakashi Mayhem also sends the monster with the lowest attack to the graveyard when a Mayakashi synchro monster is summoned from anywhere besides the extra deck!" Currently the weakest card would be the Shaman. The fox-masked and nine-tailed monk gathered white fire between his hands and, along with the curse magic of Mayakashi Mayhem, burned both the Tenyi token and the Shaman away. "Did you really believe you would win so easily, Hikaru?"

"I do not believe. I know I will defeat you. I was made to do so. And you cannot hide from me! I activate my continuous skill card! Since you special summoned a monster with an effect, Flawless Perfection draws two cards for me!" Hikaru pulled a quickplay spell and a trap from his deck and immediately activated the former. "Heavenly Dragon Circle tributes one wyrm to special summon another from my deck with its effects negated! Ryu Okami!" He sacrificed the Shaman and summoned the wyrm monster with the highest attack: a wolf-faced dragon(8/2900/1200) [Zone 5] made of white spiritual energy. ""I may not have earned the right to succeed them yet. But they did give me the honor of wielding their greatest weapon, the continuous skill card! I activate Punishment of Cowardice! As long as this card is active, no monsters can be defend! You will not hide from me, Nakana!" The trap flipped Yoko out of its defensive state, where it could no longer protect Nakana's lifepoints. "Attack!" The Sahasrara token took control of the main offensive, breathing golden flames down into Nakana's field and sending Yoko back to his grave.

Nakana's LP: 7600 Hikaru's LP: 9450

Punishment of Cowardice, Continuous Skill Card
All monsters on the field are changed to Attack Position.
Each time your monster destroys an opponent's monster as a result of battle: Gain LP equal to half of its original ATK.

"So that is your strategy, one of all out offense. However, Mayakashi Mayhem can activate more than one effect a turn." Nakana snapped her fingers as she activated the effect of the Winged Mayakashi Tengu by banishing another zombie monster (Ash Blossom) from her graveyard. Since a level 9 synchro zombie died, the crow spirit[Zone 4] could take their place and summon itself in defense mode. "The second effect of Mayhem sets one Mayakashi spell or trap directly from my deck! Mayakashi Metamorphosis. Two effects remain, mister Hikaru. Attacking me hurt us both." Tengu's own effect would also destroy a spell or trap card on the field: Flawless Perfection of the Tenyi. "Do not presume to order me. You have not the right!" Despite her warning, he attacked the Tengu Mayakashi anyway. Ryu Okami killed the defending crow and triggered the resurrection of the demon spider Mayakashi Tsuchigumo [Zone 4] after it banished the Mayakashi Hajun. Meanwhile Hikaru regained half of the Tengu's attackpower as lifepoints.

Nakana's LP: 7300 Hikaru's LP: 10750

The third effect of Mayakashi Mayhem allowed the player to draw one card, which Nakana made use of now. The spider zombie meanwhile discarded three cards (Shiranui Swordmaster, Return of the Zombies & Shiranui Solitaire) from the top of of her deck and also three cards (Tyrant Farm, Effect Veiler, Skill Drain) from his deck. "Did he continue his attacks, to also get more of his cards in the graveyard?" Zanbatou wondered. Though Hikaru did not stop his assault here. Sahasrara declared its own attack and destroyed Tsuchigumo to force the rebirth of Oboro-Guruma the skullfaced carriage[Zone 4]. To special summon this card, Nakana banished Mayakashi Tsuchigumo itself. Mayakashi Mayhem then revealed its final effect: inflicting 800 points of cursed damage on the opponent. "Ngh.. This is all a small price to pay for perfection." He healed himself afterwards anyway.

Nakana's LP: 6300 Hikaru's LP: 11100

Oboro-Guruma could not be destroyed the turn it got special summoned from the graveyard. But that did not deter Hikaru who sent MareMare to blast at it with a spray of bubbles. "Tch. What is the price for perfection? What did you pay, mister Hikaru? What is your story?"

Nakana's LP: 5000

"More than what you paid for it! While you were born into it, and you were going to throw it all away! All you had to do was obey the ones who gave you life!" His anger would persist into the next turn, which started after he placed one trap card face down. "I believe that even if one owes their life to someone, does not mean they should devote their life to them. Not when they ask more than anyone can do on their own. And regardless, your devotion is wasted.. mister Hikaru. You are not even working for my father and mother anymore. Everything you are doing, and everything they are doing, is all to prop up some lifeless entity! No matter who it enslaves to its will, I will fight against them and the world it seeks to create!"

-TURN 03-

"I summon Shiranui Squire! When she appears, she special summons a Spectralsword monster from my deck!" Nakana ignited her second undead clan, starting with the redhaired squire(4/1500/0) [Zone 2] who could then bring out her haunted samurai blade Shiranui Spectralsword Shade(3/800/0) [Zone 3]. Now she could also activate Shiranui Swordmaster from her graveyard. The elderly samurai grandmaster(2/600/0) [Zone 3] in white robes revived himself if two Shiranui monsters were already on the field. "The Shiranui? You've modified your deck?" This came as a surprise to Abigail. "This is what helped give me the edge over my own family, miss Abigail. They were a more formidable foe than your counterpart." Against Zettai her own Mayakashi had been enough. But with the Mayakashi loop depleted, she would have to take a different path again. "I was merely caught off guard. In the end we both seem to favor the element of flame." Abigail wondered if Tycho got to influence her too in the end. "Believe what you must."

"Tsk. I activate Sahasrara's effect!" Hikaru had no intentions of keeping himself quiet while all of this went on. He created another token with his link-monsters effect, copying the Shiranui Squire into a defending and effectless token(4/1500/0) [Zone 5] so that he could turn Flawless Perfection's on again. "That is your right. This is mine. Since you activated your monsters effect this turn, I can activate Triple Tactics Talent!" Nakana's retaliation could come in three forms thanks to her tactical spell. Of its three effects, she picked the one that allowed her to draw two cards. "Another spell of privilege. Another gift you did not earn." He could only mutter in protest.

"I decided now what I can or cannot have, mister Hikaru. I synchro summon Shiranui Squiresaga!" Ghostly flames consumed the Spectralsword Shade and synchronized it with the Squire in a seven-star ceremony. This created the evolved form of the squire with her sword unsheathed, Squiresaga(7/2100/0) [Extra Zone 1]. "She banishes one monster in the graveyard, and if that monster has the element of fire.. one spell or trap card is destroyed!" Squiresaga absorbed the Spectralsword Shade into the blade, and unleashed its spirit across the field. "Tsk." Flawless Perfection burned away, leaving his monsters unprotected once more. He did however get two draw two more cards off of the field spell's effect, before the spell broke apart. "That was just the beginning. Now, I link summon Shiranui Skillsaga Supremacy! The materials are two or more undead!" Oboro-Guruma, Shiranui Swordmaster and the Squiresaga opened the link circuit with three fiery sacrifices: thus creating the darkhaired fire priestess(2300/LINK 3) {Left/Up/Down} [Extra Zone 1] in red and purple robes. Swordmaster would also be banished if it died again, but its banishment did add 600 attackpoints to one monster like Skillsaga(2900 atk).

"And.. I activate Dragons Mirror!" Her third set card turned out to be a necromantic fusion spell: it banished a dragon fusion monster's materials from the graveyard face-down to instantly bring it out from the extra deck. "I fuse Shiranui Squiresaga and Shiranui Solitaire in my graveyard! And then I fusion summon Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon!" Any two undead would be enough fusion matter for the soulstealing bone-covered Nethersoul Dragon(8/3000/0) [Zone 1]. "When Shiranui Solitaire is banished, I can return one banished Shiranui monster to my field!" Flames of the Shiranui clan kept burning long after they were gone. And in this instance she reignited the spark of Shiranui Spectralsword Shade[Zone 4].

"A fusion too? I see... That is the card that defeated Shuriken..." Hikaru scoffed. "Shuriken? The man who tried to collect her before. What happened to him?" Abigail found herself asking. "What happens to anyone who fails Shintaro. He was taken from his position and given a lesser role, with an entirely new life and history." Hikaru said with a cruel smirk on his face. "New life?" Zettai worried that this meant exactly what she thought it meant. "It is what he deserved. I will not let myself fall for the same trick, Nakana Shintaro

"It wont be just this one 'trick', mister Hikaru. You are going to have to listen to me whether you want to or not!" Nakana moved on to the next effect: that of Shiranui Spectralsword Shade. By tributing it, she could special summon two monsters: one banished Shiranui and one other banished zombie. The shadow released the Graceful Mayakashi Yoko [Zone 4] and the Joyous Blossom ghost girl(3/0/1800) [Zone 5]. Special summoning a synchro zombie from that other dimension would also reactivate Mayakashi Mayhem. "I set another Mayakashi card from my graveyard, Mayakashi Winter! And the monsters I summoned will become materials for Shiranui Sunsaga!" The story of the Shiranui took on a new hero. With Ash Blossom being a tuner herself, she could synchronize with Squiresaga and form the white-horse rising samurai knight Shiranui Sunsaga(10/3500/0) [Zone 1]. "He returns dead or banished zombie synchro monsters to my extra deck, and destroys the same number of cards on the field!" Three spirits left the world of the dead; Squiresaga, Oboro-Gurama and Tsuchigumo. Their brief hauntings of the field caused Ryu Okami, Sahasrara and one of its tokens to be stricken with pure deadly terror.

"Hmph. If I am to lose anything, I will be the one to say so! I activate the Waterfall of Dragonsouls! It sends all wyrm monsters I control to the graveyard, and draw the same number of cards plus one!" At once Hikaru removed all of his monsters besides the two tokens, who could not exist in the graveyard. MareMare, Sahasrara and Ryu Okami allowed him to draw four cards, while Sunsaga destroyed the two Tenyi tokens instead. "If you insist. Nethersoul Dragon! Skillsaga! Sunsaga! Attack mister Hikaru!" Nakana payed him back the damage he gave her, and sank Sunsaga's blade deep into the body of Hikaru, Skillsaga Supremacy and the Nethersoul Dragon would let their rotting spectral flames go wild against the vulnerable duelist, burning the edges of his black suit. He nearly lost everything to her.

Hikaru's LP: 1800

"Why would you go through this much pain for them, mister Hikaru? What did they do for you? Tell me." Nakana returned one of her banished zombies (Mayakashi Hajun) to the main deck again, in order to activate Return of the Zombies from her graveyard. She could add that trap card to her hand, after which she placed it face down afterwards. "Do you really want to know? Even though everything is your fault! The answer is already clear as day! But you will not listen! If only you did not exist, Nakana!"

"That is far enough!" Zanbatou shouted. "What? Are you going to defend her now?" The Tenyi duelist grunted. "No. I have every confidence in her ability to defeat you. But I refuse to let you slander her any longer. You seek to blame her for elements that were out of her control. You cannot get what you desire by taking it out on her. The family sheltered her from everything, including you. And you were sheltered from us, because you were intended to act as their spy. We could not have helped you. You do not want our help either, because you refuse to let any of us understand you. You refuse to let us know what lies at the heart of your hatred. You have to let it out.. before it consumes you."

"Heh. Now you care. Before this I was just another coworker, wasn't I? If you think you can shift the blame back to them, you can forget that delusion right now. They did everything they could for me. They used Continuum's power to give me this life.. this role in their organization. In return.. I only had to erase my memories from the life that came before." He said as a sudden serene smile appeared on his face. "Your memories? You mean.. you dont remember your own family?" Abigail could not believe it. "They are my family now. And yes, that is what I paid for perfection! I gave them my entire existence. I let them shape me into the man you see today! And I am far from the only one! I gave so much to be a part of their future! They could have given me even more, they could have turned me into their heir. You were so disappointing to them, Nakana! You were a failure, and they gave you so many chances! I was the son they could never have.. Who cares about the nobody I was in a past life! Continuum can make me greater than any real kin! That is why.."

"...you will not even remember the name Shintaro once I win, Nakana. You do not deserve to."

(To Be Continued in World 113: Prisoner without a Prison)

New Cards used by Nakana Shintaro
Shiranui Swordmaster
Shiranui Solitaire

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Dragons Mirror

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Mayakashi Mayhem
Return of the Zombies

New Cards used by Hikaru
Punishment of Cowardice

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Ryu Okami

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Heavenly Dragon Circle