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.

131. New World 003: Demonstrable Truth

New World 123: A Demonstrable Truth

One barrier went down, fifteen remained. Fifteen duels remained. As a whole it did not matter who dueled who, as long as every one of the sixteen picked an opponent and faced them inside the arena one by one. Not everyone based their choice on some inherent idealistic clash however. Aurora and Wagner decided to duel each other just to not waste any more time. "Well that was quick." And little time got wasted; Crescent overpowered him in two turns. "Then again I knew you would win." The Wagner of olden days would have fumed and raged about missing his chance to make it to the top. But now he could accept that she was clearly the better duelist. "I know you did your best. It was close, Wagner." Crescent would not have minded a loss here either, she picked him because of that feeling. Neither of them wanted to win.

The same could not be said for Bionis Khan. "So what side are you on?" He felt a need to prove himself. But moreover he felt a need to catalogue where everyone's feelings lied. That way he could prepare for his own confrontation. "What are you asking me for?" Not everyone had an answer ready, like Jenna. "Are you telling me you haven't even decided yet?" Bionis growled impatiently. "Hey I dont really have a horse in this race. I was just gonna wait and see where everyone else falls. I mean I always picked last at dodgeball, I might as well be last here too." Jenna knew she could not dodge this responsibility, but she would not pursue it either. "You cannot afford to not make a choice here, Jenna. This is about the future of all mankind!"

"And what is your choice, Khan?" Charles interrupted. "Tsk. Like you dont know that already. I am on Cherry's side here!" Bionis loudly admitted. "But I am not interested in what you have to say about that. You already had your turn this round! And I do not want to duel anyone who thinks the same way as me either! But if someone does not have any opinions at all, that is bad also!"

"But if they have the opposite opinion, that would still be worse.. yes?" Said another duelist who had yet to engage with anyone. "Juan? You?" Bionis turned around to see Veyron the speed duelist glare right at him. "You disagree with me?" The ritual duelist asked with clenched teeth. "You could say that, William. I have seen the very worst this world has to offer, I have seen what it brings out in people. I understand your temptation, but.." Juan started to give an answer.. "I dont care for your speeches, Juan! Do you want to duel me or not?" ...only for Bionis to cut him off by activating his dueldisk. "The thought did cross my mind. I still owe you. And you seem ready to fight just about anyone. So it might as well be me, for old time's sake." Veyron activated his own dueldisk in response. "Heh. Nothing personal eh? Well, you will do just fine for my first round!"

"Geez. I could have done it myself too you know." Jenna griped as Bionis walked away from her, having lost all interest in her. "Eh, you might still get your chance." Charles shrugged. He did not say it out loud, but he was rooting for Veyron in this instance.

Veyron's LP: 8000 Bionis Khan's LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

"Duel!" The two duelists drew their cards, and the first turn went to Juan. "Looks like the gods of speed favor me! I activate Formula Athlete Hyper Stadium!" Juan would make sure to get the most out of his virtual duel, by creating an entire holographic stadium. The two duelists were placed on top of a floating platform, covered in spotlights and surrounded by a futuristic neon and metal arena.

"Hmph. Don't you mean Ultra Athlete Hyper Stadium?" Bionis gave off an unimpressed reaction and pointed out the actual name on the field spell card. "Yes and no. This card is treated as a Formula Athlete card regardless! Plus it can add one Athlete to my hand, whether they're Ultra or Formula!" Juan added the F.A. Auto Navigator to his hand and normal summoned the hologram navigation girl(1/0/0) [Zone 2] to his field. "Besides, its just the stage for our intro, perhaps you will be more receptive to an actual Formula card!" Since Navigator could add any F.A. field spell from the deck to his hand: this one being the City Grand Prix. "And when I have a field spell in my hand, Hyper Stadium takes a thousand lifepoints to normal summon one more Athlete this turn!" The spotlights split up, with one shining a light down on a newly summoned F.A. Whip Crosser(4/1200/1000) [Zone 3].

Juan's LP: 7000

Finally, Juan activated the F.A. City Grand Prix. His field spell carved a path of light throughout the city duelscape, and added two levels to all Formula Athletes like the Navigator(3/0/0). Activating an F.A. spell or trap would also make Whip Crosser(7/2100/1000) raise its level by one. "Watch closely everyone! I am planning to give you all in the crowd the full experience!" Juan activated his final spell; F.A Pit Stop. It took two stars away from another Formula Athlete, Auto Navigator(1/0/0), to draw one card. It would have drawn more if any other Pit stop spells were in the graveyard, but that was not the case. Whip Crosser(8/2400/1000) did gain another level star at least, which made both racers ready for the final rush. "Synchro summon! Formula Athlete Motorhome!" The rush of tuning. Whip Crosser synchronized with Auto Navigator and created the heavy duty truck carrier Motorhome(11/3300/3000) [Extra Zone 1]. Like all other F.A. monsters it gained 300 attackpoints for each of its levels. "I set two cards to end my turn! Now, show me what you have got for me.. Bionis!"

"Heh, this rematch already has a different feel to it." Blanche remarked from the sidelines. "Does it? I missed their last duel, was Bionis even more cranky than he is now?." Donna wondered out loud. "A little. Maybe that's just how he looks. But Juan's at least enjoying himself." The last time the two clashed, the speed duelist started meekly. This time around he brought out his ace synchro immediately. Of course, Bionis would also not be trying the same tricks.

-TURN 02-

"Heh. You're scared you're gonna lose again eh? Well, I don't blame you!" Bionis started with his own hand booster: Pot of Extravagance. The spell banished six cards from his extra deck face-down, in order to draw two more cards. "But now its my turn! I activate Impcantation Thanatosis." One of those two cards was a continuous spell. "Here's my trick. I am gonna turn one Imp into two!" The spell shuffled his Impcantation Candoll back into the deck and special summoned two different ones from his deck. Bringing the white candle demons(4/0/0) [Zones 2 & 3] into the field activated their effect to add a ritual spell from the deck to the hand, though he could only use one such effect a turn. "I add Impcantation Inception! Try saying that ten times fast! It takes practice!" Bionis chuckled to himself. "Hmph, tough crowd." Nobody else laughed with him. "Guess I am not the favorite here. That's something else that changed. Anyway.. I activate Impcantation Bookstone too!" The living book imp(5/0/0) [Zone 4] could also special summon one Impcantation from his deck, by summoning itself from the hand. That Imp, the mandrake Talismandra(6/0/0) [Zone 5], added one ritual monster from the deck to the hand. He chose the Impcantation Chalislime. "Now.. when I ritual summon a monster with only Impcantations as tributes, Thanatosis will destroy one card on the field.

"But no effect can target my Formula Athlete while I control the City Grand Prix!" Juan declared. "Yeah well, I am not going after your monster yet!" Impcantation Inception took two Imps as sacrifices: Candoll and Talismandra. Their eight stars and wax bodies melted down inside a golden chalice. Once the ritual was completed, that chalice turned red and gained an impish face, while a green slime(7/2500/1800) [Zone 3] oozed out of its cup. Thanatosis then found the card to destroy: City Grand Prix itself. "Aha. But when one of my formula field spells is destroyed, I can add a new Formula Athlete spell or trap card to my hand!" Juan used it to get another Pit Stop spell. "Ha. For your sake I hope the cards you've already got on your field are a little better! Because Impcantation Chalislime can discard one card to destroy a monster on the field! Let's see what that looks like, because I cant remember the last time I used that effect.. if I did at all!" Bionis discarded the Impcantation Originator Crealtar and unleashed a spray of green acid against F.A. Motorhome to reduce it into a slagpile.

"Oh you want to know what my traps are huh? Well I've got a good one. Now that you are the only one controlling a monster, I can activate Overheat!" With a smile Juan activated the trap of F.A. Overheat; special summoning one F.A. monster from his hand with three more levels than usual. "I summon Hang On Mech! Who banishes all cards sent to the graveyard when it has seven or more levels!" The purple hoverbike(7/2100/1800) appeared in defense mode. A little too late to stop the most dangerous cards from entering the graveyard, but in time to save his life anyway. "Ha! I was almost worried that this would be too easy, Juan! If I beat you in one turn, people would accuse me of cheating!

"Is that the reason you look so happy?" Juan asked him. "As if! I am happy because I am still going to take the lead! And you will never catch up!" Bionis sacrificed the second Candoll, causing it to be banished. "I activate the second effect of Impception, I mean Inception. It returns to my hand and tributes one Impcantation to special summon another!" The last of the four ritual imps made its way to the field: the feathered Impcantation Pencilplume(3/0/0). Its effect added one ritual monster from the graveyard, Impcantation Crealtar, back to the hand. "The Impcantation Originator discards one card to revive two Impcantations from my graveyard, but they will be shuffled into the extra deck during the endphase!" Bionis explained before he discarded his Vendread Slayer to revive Talismandra and Candoll. With their combined stars, they would not make it to the endphase anyway. "Come on out! Crealtar!" As they were both tributed by Impcantation Inception, so that Bionis could ritual summon the hooded warlock imp Crealtar(10/3000/3000) [Zone 2] with his purple cape, red eyes and golden gauntlets.

"Non ritual Impcantations gain 2000 attackpoints but lose their effects!" Flames of power burned within the Originator's hands; power that seeped into Pencilplume(2000/0) and Bookstone(2000/0). "Attack!" It all led to an impish onslaught. Bookstone swallowed the defending Hang on Mech inside its pages. Then Crealtar, Chalislime and Pencilplume unleashed their flames, slime and feathers upon Juan to whittle down his lifepoints. "Sorry, Juan. But I am going to win this! Luck cant help you when you're already halfdead!" Khan placed two trap cards down on his field and ended the turn.

Juan's LP: 500

-TURN 03-

"Well, even if I a person can't really be lucky, I think luck still exists for some. Because otherwise I would not be standing here with you all. Also I would not be drawing this card.." The drawphase gave him F.A. Sonic Meister; a monster which culd make this whole turn a lot smoother. "First though, I will be banishing Overheat! If I do that when there's only monsters on your field.. I can activate one Formula Athlete field spell from my graveyard!" He reactivated the F.A. City Grand Prix, and went on to upgrade the future racer circuit would upgrade from bike to racecar. The formula 1 Sonic Meister(6/1800/1000) [Zone 3] made its entrance via a normal summon and boosted its levels on the city roads. "Time to make another Pit Stop!" Juan's quickplay spell came next, reducing Sonic Meister's level by 2 to draw one card plus one for the Pit Stop already in the graveyard. The Meister(5/1500/1000) raised its level back up afterwards. "And time to check the Nav again!" Auto Navigator(1/0/0) [Zone 2] took the extra level away from Sonic Meister, which allowed it to selfrevive.. and to add a new F.A. field spell (Circuit Grand Prix) to the hand.

"But I think... I can get away with something new too. Though it's not really new, more like a leftover from my other self." Juan looked at one of the cards he drew, a card Veyron would have used to help his Orcusts. "I activate... Machine Duplication! I special summon two more Auto Navigators!" 500 attackpoints or less and a machine: the Navigation tuner fit the requirements for the duplicator spell perfectly. Two more of the navigation holograms (1/0/0) [Zones 4 & 5] showed up in defense mode. "I cant use their effects again. But I can do this! I link summon Hraesvelgr the Desperate Doom Eagle!" He used the three Navigators for a threeway link circuit. "Now, lets rev it up!" He clarified before he activated a different effect instead.

"Doom what now?" Cherry flinched. The card that appeared barely resembled a machine and did not at all seem to match the aesthetics of the formula racers. Hraesvelgr took the form of a mechanical blue eagle(4800/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] with orange talons and wings like swords. "And what did it do to get such high attackpoints?" The Trickstar duelist wondered out loud. "Oh that is easy. The Doom Eagle doubles his original attackpoints if there are no monsters in my opponents graveyard! See, I planned ahead!" Thanks to Hang on Mech, he did not have to worry about anything in Bionis' graveyard at all. Anyway. Let's rev things up!" The speed duelist banished one of the Pit Stop spells from the graveyard, which allowed him to activate it and revive F.A. Motorhome(11/3300/3000) [Zone 1] from the graveyard. "I also activate Formula Athlete Locker Room! I can add one Athlete monster in the graveyard to my hand and gain 500 lifepoints! Then I shuffle Athlete monster cards from my hand into the deck to draw the same number of cards!"

Juan's LP: 1000

For this battle he would not be needing the Navigators anymore, so he sent one of them back into the proverbial locker room and drew one new card. Finally he activated F.A Circuit Grand Prix, replacing the City Grand Prix with the field spell that would only add two levels to the Formula Athletes when they entered the battle phase. Of course by the time he did so, both Motorhome(13/3900/3000) and Sonic Meister(7/2100/1000) had acquired a tidy sum of stars from all the spells and traps activated before now. "Motorhome attacks first!"

"I've got bad news for you, Juan! I'll be taking that Motorhome!" Bionis took it all away in the blink of an eye. "I activate Vendread Reorigin! I take one of your monsters that has a level and tribute it to make a token for myself!" The once beautiful motor machine turned into a pale glowing-eyed zombie(13/0/0) [Zone 1]: a Vendread Token with the same level as the sacrificed machine. "Oh. That changes my plans a bit. And I had this big grand finale in mind too." Veyron sighed and instead made the Sonic Meister take the first attack of the battle phase, letting it run over the still empowered Impcantation Talismandra. "Circuit Grand Prix draws one card when my Formula Athlete monster destroys another monster! But there's more! When my Athlete inflicts battle damage, I can activate the trap Formula Athlete Man of the Match and special summon two Formula Athletes from the graveyard in defense mode!"

Khan's LP: 7900

The trap resolved first, immediately after Khan's lifepoints were deducted. Both Hang on Mech(6/1800/1800) [Zone 2] and Motorhome(11/3000/3000) [Zone 1] dropped back to line up the defense. Both trap and field spell added their own level stars to the Sonic Athlete(9/2700/1000) "Wait why did you.." Then once the damage step wound down, Juan drew a new trap card. "So I can activate this quickplay spell card, Star! Power! Now my link monster gets two hundred attackpoints for each level on the monsters linked to him!" Twenty stars in total flew out of the machines Motorhome and Sonic Meister, and they poured back into the Desperate Doom Eagle(4400 atk). "Hraesvelgr can also send one monster in the graveyard to the deck each turn!" Once Juan tossed the Talisman Impcantation card away, his Doom Eagle(6800 atk) could restore its own power increase. And all of that power crashed down as a violent tornado which tore Impcantation Crealtar to shreds.

Bionis' LP: 4100

"Also Sonic Meister can make two attacks in one turn, since its level is higher than seven!" The third attack headed towards Impcantation Pencilplume. Without Crealtar's attackboosting effect, it(0/0) would be an easy target. Its destruction did not shield Bionis' lifepoints at all and covered him in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Bionis' LP: 1400

"Alright, kgh.. That was pretty good. But you could have done about the same damage and kept that spell in reserve, right? Did you just want to show off?" Bionis grumbled as he swept the smoke away. "I had a feeling I wouldn't get to use it if I waited. And what can I say? I am dramatic at heart. That combo took down several top players in the past, and it is nice to know I can do it without the help of others." Juan let out a content sigh and moved to the second main phase. With his field spell no longer leveling up his athletes, Motorhome(9/2700/3000), Hang On Mech(4/1200/1800) and Sonic Meister(7/2100/1000) slowed down again. "Are you still on about that though? Is that why you want to win? I am pretty sure you've already proved yourself as a good guy." Bionis countered. "To you and everyone here, yes. But to the world at large, I do not believe so." Juan placed one trap card down. "Victor has not helped my image either." He looked into the crowd, specifically Donna. Both his inner demon and his brother made their live troublesome for a while too.

-TURN 04-

"Oh Donna knows what really happened. And who cares what the others think anyway. The people at large I mean. One thing I have learned by now is that some people will keep thinking stupid stuff no matter what. You dont need to try and convince them otherwise. I am just glad.. that I got out of that world before I did something I would regret." Bionis smiled and his kindness was immediately rewarded. "Aha! I activate PrePreparation of Rites!" This single spell would add both a ritual spell and its supported ritual monster to his hand. "Come, Revendread Origin and Revendread Slayer!" For this turn Bionis would fall back to a classic combo as well. The Revendread Origin spell sacrificed Impcantation Chalislime to ritual summon his infamous Revendread Slayer(6/2400/0) [Zone 1]. "Oh? Going retro now, Bionis?" Blanche shouted. It did not look like the Slayer could do much damage by itself. "You'll see where this is going!" He yelled back.

"What I need to do next is... link summon Avendread Savior! It takes two zombie monsters!" He opened the link circuit with the help of Revendread Slayer and the Vendread token, creating a smaller and darker clad version(1600/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} of the Slayer mutant. "Heh. Turns out I banished all but one copy of this guy when I used my Pot spell. Guess I can be lucky too! But more importantly, when a ritual summoned Revendread Slayer leaves the field I can send one Revendread monster to my graveyard and I can also add one Vendread ritual spell to my hand! Revendread Anima also adds one Vendread card in the graveyard back to my hand!" With a quick tug, the ritual duelist snagged the Vendread Reorigin trap from the corpse littered ground. Meanwhile the Slayer sent the Vendread Battlelord monster to the grave, while it added a Revendread Evolution spell card to his hand. "Revendread Evolution sends one Vendread monster from my deck to the graveyard as a sacrifice, and ritual summons a Vendread from my graveyard!" His plan was to send another Battlelord to the grave to revive the first, and then use that monsters effect to seal all trap or spell cards for the rest of the turn.

Only Juan felt a little too protective of his cards to allow that. "Hraesvelgr!" And his Doom Eagle(2400 atk) could send monsters from the graveyard back to the deck during this turn too, though it would not bring the number of monsters in the graveyard back to zero. "Oh, not a fan of Battlelord eh? That face-down card must be your only safeguard." With the ritual target missing, Revendread Origin fizzled out. "Have it your way. Slayer will slay you instead! I activate Vendread Revolution! I discard one card, revive one Vendread monster, and add one ritual spell back to my hand!" Unfortunately Revendread Evolution could only be activated once a turn, which led to Bionis retrieving the Origin ritual spell instead. The Revolution trap did bring Slayer(6/2400/0) back to life, but it did not have enough levels to satisfy a ritual for the Battlelord. "Heh. Your Sonic Meister cannot be destroyed in battle, right? Which means.. "

"Two attacks will be enough to bury your lifepoints! Avendread Savior attacks! When it does, I send one zombie from my deck to the graveyard to reduce its targets attackpoints for each level on that zombie! And that attack reduction will last for the entire turn!" Bionis rushed headlong into battle, and made his savior mutant discard the level 8 Revendread Executor. This effect caused would make the Sonic Meister lose 16 times 200 attackpoints. Savior's attack would not kill it, but it would leave it weak enough for the Slayer to finish it and Juan off at the same time. "You know I would not even mind losing here. Because what you said just now made me realize... You have changed after all."

"Changed? Me?" Khan paused briefly. "Yes. When I first saw you rave up there, I was worried that you'd fallen back into your old habit. But I think it's all an act. You just want to make people think you're gonna use this network for the same old stuff you've done before. But I believe you more when you say you're tired of it all. You don't want to go back there. Just like I dont want to go back to the world my brother and I grew up in. That's why we are tempted by what this Creator is offering.. But I think, we both also know that STHEREA is too dangerous to be." Juan said, finally finishing the speech he wanted to give since the start. "Heh. Maybe. This orb of memories thing would help me uncover a lot of dirty secrets. But the more I think about, the less I know if I could handle it all. I just want this to end... Still want to win this duel though!" Bionis grinned.

"Well we are both very competitive. Still I feel like we can spice this humble end up just a little! I activate Formula Athlete Dead Heat!" The activation of Dead Heat itself raised the levels of every Athlete machine, including Sonic Meister(10/3000/1000). However, the continuous traps own effect would activate during the damage step. "You remember this thing, don't you? This is how our last duel ended too! But for those who weren't there, I will explain it one more time! Dead Heat makes us both toss a dice. And if I roll higher than he does, my monster gains four levels! Plus one for activating the effect itself. But if he rolls higher, my monster is destroyed!" If he did get the better result, Sonic Meister would shoot up by 5 levels and 1500 attackpoints at once: cancelling out whatever Avendread Savior took away. "You're really unbelievable. This why you didn't save your spell, because you want to see which one of us wins the gamble this time?" Bionis created a virtual dice in his hand, and so did Juan. "I could think of no better way to end this."

The two duelists rolled their die. "Heh, maybe luck should decide!" Bionis landed on a three... And Juan landed on a four.. "Well.. that settles that, doesn't it?" Avendread Savior finished its attack against the weakened but also powered up Sonic Meister(15/2900/1000), getting only itself killed as it smashed into the racing machine.

Bionis' LP: 0

"Fortune finally smiled upon you." Attacking with the Slayer would be pointless now, his turn was as good as done. "Hey! You remembered my catchphrase! Sort of." Juan laughed out loud. "Ha. You know what. I am happy we did this. But I've gotten what I came for." Bionis would not wait for the next turn to come, he placed his hand on the dueldisk and surrendered. "I am out. Best of luck to you, Juan!" Another duel came to a peaceful conclusion.

Bionis' LP: 0

And far in the shadows of the arena, two figures processed the outcome. "I told you this would happen." One voice said. "I would not be so quick to judge yet, more duels will come." Another more dismissive voice replied. "They will all be the same. They are friends, they wont turn on each other." The first one replied. "They are not all friends, my dear. You will see. Some bonds of hatred cannot be broken. It will only be a matter of time, before their emotions throw everything in disarray again.."

(To Be Continued in New World 124: Infinite Loop of False Positives)

New Cards used by Juan 'El Veyron GT'
Hraesvelgr the Desperate Doom Eagle

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U.A. Hyper Stadium
U.A. Locker Room

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U.A. Man of the Match

New Cards used by William 'Bionis Khan'
Vendread Revolution