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.

134. New World 006: Infection in Paradise

New World 126: An Infection in Paradise

"Okay I am starting to get worried." Donna and the others had not heard from Neo or Jenna in a while, and this concerned them greatly. Some of them at least. "Well it is not as if they could have gone far. And they are going to have to duel each other, but it does not have to be their turn yet. We can hold our duel while we wait." Scarlet Fever appeared to be more focused on solving the problem at hand. With Dharma defeating Hydra, they were almost at the end of this first round. "Like I can concentrate on that when this is hanging over our heads!" Donna roared. "I suppose you are right. Still, I think we should stay here until we have at least settled our part in this. Someone else can log off to check in on them. Asterisk.. would you be willing to check up on them?" She turned to the agent for help, and he seemed surprisingly willing to do as she requested.

"Of course, I..." But the agent ran into a certain distraction before he could leave. "That wont be necessary." Himself.

"Asterisk!?" Everyone gasped. A second Agent Asterisk quickjumped into the arena along with a smirking Jenna. "What, who are you? Jenna, why are you.." Charles stammered. "It must be an illusion." The first Asterisk concluded. "Heh. That is your defense? I expected better from my own imposter." The second Asterisk laughed. "You are the imposter here. But for what purpose, I do not know. Nevertheless you will not fool anyone here. I was with them the whole time." The first remained composed, moreso than anyone else looking at this bizarre scene. "Ugh.. what is going on? What is this?" Charles could not even tell a difference between either of their looks or voices. "A classic trope I believe. But as much as I am a fan of such twists and turns, I think I am going to have to cut it short." The second Asterisk raised his dueldisk. "I have an easy solution to our problem." The dueldisk emitted a light burst which flashed across the arena. "!"

"What the.. how did you do that? And what did you do?" When Blanche opened her eyes again, both Hydra and the first Asterisk were gone. "They weren't real, Blanche! Neither was Neo! It was all fake! Everything! This whole place too!" Jenna shouted. "Fake? What?"

"Allow me to explain, now that I have the attention of everyone here." Asterisk began. "This is a virtual construct. You were led to believe that the two worlds separated, when in fact they are still very much connected. Not only that, but Continuums power is still active across the globe. Billions of minds are still 'shut down' as we speak. I managed to avoid the effects of that power as I was not conscious when it happened. I only woke up moments after.." He scanned the arena to see everyone's expressions. Some were aghast, some were stoic. "How do you know about all of this, about Continuum?" Others like Abigail were skeptical. "Vigionair left me notes in case I ever returned. And I know how to operate his devices well enough. But when I showed up at the site I found out that everyone had been imprisoned inside this closed system located between the seven obelisks. And I could not break inside. Not until Jenna helped me.. She discovered the flaws in the system and got attacked by Neo. When she defeated him, she weakened the structure of it all."

"Yeah well, I didn't plan on that. And now I wish I'd figured it out sooner." Jenna sighed. "What? Why?" Juan did not like the sound of that. "Because they were using us! They set up this fake tournament so we could take each other out! They didn't want to give us the power of STHEREA. They just wanted us to lose one by one so we could fall back under their control completely! I mean look at him! He doesn't even care!" She shouted and pointed at Bionis Khan. "Ah? It can't be!" Juan winced. Bionis'd been staring dead ahead like a mindless drone all this time. "I did this to him?!" The same happened with Wagner, Cherry, Nakana and Zanbatou.. and would have happened to Dharma and Jenna had they lost their own duels. "It's not your fault, it is theirs! Neo just wanted to shut me up, so they could get away with it!" Jenna knew all along that the losers were too happy, and now they weren't even pretending to be awake anymore.

"But who is they? Who did this?" Charles cursed as he realized even the phone call with his family must have been faked. "That is what I would also like to know. But one of us should have the answer. Shouldn't they, Scarlet?"

Asterisk's LP: 8000 Scarlet's LP: 8000

"Me? You blame me for this?" Scarlet Fever recoiled when the agent challenged her out of nowhere. "Yes, because I know you are the same as Neo and the others were. My scanners detected twelve lifesigns within this closed system. The rest were ADIs disguised as real duelists.. and the only one with the technology to make such perfect copies.. Is you. My program just now dissolved the fake Hydra and Asterisk. I can only assume that you did disappear because you are directly being controlled by the real Scarlet. Yes, Vigionair left me extensive notes on her situation. I always knew you were trouble, Scarlet. But Static made you that much worse." He gave her a glare filled with disgust. "Heh. Well that is a complicated story you crafted for yourself, 'Asterisk'. But I see no reason to trust you specifically. Throwing a copy of yourself under the bus could just be your way to trick us again." She talked back with a confident smirk. "You can try to talk, but this duel is still happening Scarlet." Asterisk started drawing his cards. "Then I hope you can duel half as well as the real Asterisk." She did the same.

-TURN 01-

"My skills may have rusted a little, but not as you would like." Asterisk came in swiftly. "Meanwhile, let's see if your color still matches your cards! I declare that the top card of your deck is now a monster... and if I am right, I can special summon Spyral Super Agent!" He gambled on the fact that most decks contained more monsters than traps or spells, but one could never be sure with Scarlet Fever. "Well if it isn't Diabolos. So your deck matches." The effect scan revealed a monster, the strongest one in her deck. This correct guess then allowed Asterisk to summon his top operative: the SPYRAL superspy(4/1900/1200) [Zone 5].

"Well his cards seem to fit at least. And man, I missed that big dope." Blanche grinned as she saw the Agent's pompadour bounce in the wind. "I appreciate the trust in me and him, miss Blanche. But we wont field this mission alone. He needs his quartermaster." Asterisk activated his One For One spell to discard one card (SPYRAL Mission Rescue) and special summon another level 1 monster from his deck to the field: the teen genius inventor Quikfix(1/500/400) [Zone 2] out in defense mode. "Quikfix, I choose the Utility Wire!" Each summon of the fixer would give Asterisk one SPYRAL Gear card from the deck: one of several inventions. He chose to add a trap card. "Now I also have a normal summon to spend on a lovely lady. I summon Spygal Misty and she will declare that a monster card is on the top of the deck as well!" The male agent invited the redheaded female spy(4/1500/1000) [Zone 3] in her white coat. She could scan the top card of the deck after her summon, and revealed the same Darkest Diabolos. Afterwards Misty would draw one card. "Ha. Thank you darling." Asterisk happily accepted the card.

"Not a fan of that sweet-talk, Asterisk. Stick to dueling the lady who is actually real or not." Donna grunted. He at least sounded as frisky as the real Asterisk did. "But is she real? Is he real?" Crescent tried to make sense of the whole thing. "I dont know! Why replace some of us and not all of us anyway? That freaky thing had us all braindrained, so why put some of us back? And why us, but not Hydra?" Donna could understand why Neo and Asterisk were given imposters due to their real-life conditions. But Hydra had been wide awake this whole time. "Maybe its because Hydra lost to the Creator. Maybe they did not need him anymore. They just need us to lose... to lose as we are now." None of them lost a duel since the worlds came together, until this tournament forced them against each other. "Tch, what a dirt trick either way!"

"Yes indeed, Donna. But we may still be able to save them all. So I cannot go easy on anyone here. I link summon Spyral Double Helix! The link materials are two Spyrals!" Both Quikfix and the Super Agent connected and removed themselves from the field in order to bring in the sleeper/main agent duo: SPYRAL Double Helix(1900/LINK 2) {Left/Down} [Extra Zone 2]. "I will say it once more. The top card of your deck is a monster!" The link spy gained his own bonus from correctly guessing the opponent's next card. He could special summon one SPYRAL monster from the deck. "Hello again Luna. M gives her regards!" And so the agents called for the assistance of their commander: a woman(8/1200/2800) [Zone 2] in a blue-buttoned grey coat with spiraling blonde hair. "Spyral Master Plan! She will send my spies on a mission each turn! The first one involves recapturing!" The spymaster added one SPYRAL Mission card to the duelist's hand: Recapture. Asterisk placed his two trap cards down on the field and ended his turn.

-TURN 02-

"Your theories are sound, Asterisk. But I believe you are shielding your own complicity with the truth. I can't have that." Scarlet Fever started the turn with the spell card Trade In. It discarded the level 8 Darkest Diabolos card and drew two new cards. "Starting with the darkest one. I activate the field spell, Lair of Darkness! As I am sure you know, this card allows me to tribute one of your Dark monsters for my own card effects. And the Lair turns all your monsters into darklings regardless of their original colors." Scarlet painted the floor grey with rot, and shadows seeped through the cracks. The SPYRAL brigade faced corruption of the foulest kind. "I am well aware! And you should be familiar with my tools in turn! I activate Spyral Gear Utility Wire! And set that card back on top of your deck!" Asterisk was in no mood to play with her usual sacrifice tactics. The superspy tossed his cyber-wire around the field spell and came within seconds of removing it. "Ah you are fast. But you could stand to be faster. I activate Enemy Controller. This quickplay spell sacrifices one monster to take control of one monster for one turn."

"That's unfortunate." Before Asterisk could fully remove the Lair of Darkness, Enemy Controller sacrificed his own lady Master Plan to gain control of the SPYGAL Misty. The game controller plugged its cable into her back and dragged Misty[Zone 5] back to Scarlet's side of the field instead. "She fits my side of the field far more, don't you agree?" Scarlet immediately summoned another redhaired monster: the impish demon Tour Guide From the Underworld(3/1000/600) [Zone 4]. "The Tour Guide summons Sangan!" Her effect required no introduction. The Guide special summoned her level 3 fiend from the deck: the three-eyed critter Sangan(3/1000/600) [Zone 3]. The two of them then went on another trip towards the graveyard, passing the link circuit along the way. "If I use two level 3 fiends as the materials, I can link summon Cherubini the Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss!" What came out barely resembled the most common interpretations of angels. Instead of a holy messenger: Cherubini appeared as a four-headed black-winged demon(500/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2]. Its four heads consisted of a bull, a hawk, a lion and a human. "A redhaired fallen angel. It fits you as well, Scarlet."

"I appreciate the flattery, but I see myself differently now. I am a redeemed angel. You should not judge a book by the cover. No matter how dark it is." She let out a little laugh while she added a Dark Honest monster to her hand. Sending Sangan to the hand before let her claim any monster with 1500 or less ATK from her deck, but it could not be summoned or activated his turn. "Let me reveal Cherubini's effect now. Each turn it sends one level three demon to my graveyard, and gains its attackpoints!" Scarlet sent her lady of torment, the demoness Lilith. This sent the Ebon Angel into an intoxicated state, as it(2500 atk) drank Lilith's demonic energy. "Then I activate Monster Reborn and bring the Lady Lilith back to me!" Through the most classic form of resurrection the horned demon lady(4/2000/0) [Zone 1] rose up from the hell Cherubini sent her too.

"You know in hindsight it feels kinda on the nose to use a card named Lilith when your real name is.. you know.. Lilah. What' s next? I am gonna start using Jenis of the Lightsworn?" Jenna snarked. "Oh I doubt her name not Lilah. Not anymore." The agent added his own sly comment to the discussion. "You are both very amusing, but you should not be swayed by your harrowing experiences, Jenna. There is so much we do not know." Scarlet Fever revealed her skill card at this point: Forbidden Surgical Operation. The skill resrrected one member of the former dark circuit with its stats surgically altered: Sangan(3/600/1000) [Zone 2].

Forbidden Surgical Operation, Skill Card
Special summon 1 DARK monster from your graveyard, that was sent there this turn. Switch that monsters ATK and DEF until the end of the turn.

"I will also special summon Luna the Spirit of Darkness by banishing one dark monster from my graveyard." The other pair of the dark circuit would not rejoin the living. Luna(4/1600/1400) [Zone 3] banished the Tour Guide to give herself a body with raven like hair, purple skin wrapped in shadows and a bloodred cloak. "Of course your spies have dabbled with the darkness as well, Asterisk. Misty will serve me fine this way, as a link material for Wee Witch Apprentice!" To link summon her witchy link monster, Scarlet would have to send two DARK monsters to the graveyard: Sangan and SPYGAL Misty. The demonic element transformed the former female agent into a redheaded witch apprentice(1400/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Zone 3] in blue robes. "Now all my monsters of the dark will gain five hundred attack and defense points." Wee Witch cast her powerful novice spell upon herself(1900 atk) and her teammates: Luna(2100/1700), Lilith(2500/500) and Cherubini(3000 atk). "There we are now. Asterisk, let our battle begin. Luna attacks Spyral Double Helix!"

"I am affraid our plans are altered, miss Scarlet! I activate One By One! When this card is activated I can special summon one level one monster from my graveyard by sacrificing one monster on my field!" Asterisk deftly recalled his endangered link monster, sending Double Helix to the graveyard to special summon SYRAL Quikfix[Zone 4] in defense mode instead. "Of course, Quik will add another Spyral Gear card to my hand." Asterisk gave his opponent a grin while he claimed the equip spell SPYRAL Gear Big Red. "Then I activate my trap card, Spyral Mission Recapture! When one of my spyrals appears through a summon, they can capture one enemy! I believe I will take control of the Ebon Angel!" Quik Fix performed double duty as he pointed the other SPYRAL agent towards Cherubini to mark it as the target. "Ah, so that was your hail mary. But once again you are ever so slow." Scarlet had nothing to fear, Lilith could simply sacrifice a DARK monster to set one of three trap cards (Grinning Grave Virus, Full Force Virus, Epidemic Eradicator Virus) from her deck to the field. Cherubini fell back into hell before it could be captured by the spies.

"And now, since I tributed one monster on my side of the battlefield, Darkest Diabolos will special summon itself from my graveyard." Things did not look a lot better when the dark dragon lord(8/3500/2500) [Zone 4] of the lair re-emerged with deadly shadowflames already burning between its teeth. "Now where were we? Ah yes. The end of your operation." Luna turned its attack on SPYRAL Quikfix instead, impaling the inventor on the spikes of her living crimson cloak. "Still, I commend you for being quick on your feet. Though as have seen with Neo, that is hardly a quality of proper consciousness."

"Are you still trying to accuse me of being an ADI?" The agent asked with one raised eyebrow. "I believe you should be able to read me better than that." Asterisk activated a third trap, from his graveyard. "I banish Spyral Mission Rescue, to revive Spyral Super Agent in defense mode! And since a Spyral effect summoned him, I can destroy one of your spell or trap cards!" He placed his superspy in front of the Wee Witch as she readied up her own attack. SPYRAL fired off one shot with his gun and shattered the trap Lilith set: Epidemic Eradicator Virus. The Apprentice took revenge quickly by blasting the superspy back into the ground. "A read is pretty difficult to make when so little is known. Do you trust Vigionaire's data that much, Asterisk?" Lilith continued the battle with two direct attacks. The black flame breath of the Diabolos Lord and the sharp tail of the Lament Lady Lilith assaulted the agent duelist from both sides. "I do , Scarlet. And I will not have you cast doubt on his wisdom! Not after you've stolen it from him!"

Asterisk's LP: 1800

-TURN 03-

"And now it is time to break free! I activate Spyral Gear Big Red, a fancy car for a fancy master." The equip spell of the superspies would bring one of them back to life, the Master Planner[Zone 4] appeared in the big red car in this case. "She will add another Spyral Mission to my hand! Spyral Mission Assault! And this turn her operatives will go all out!" Asterisk revealed the last card in his hand: SPYRAL Sleeper. "I summon my sleeper agent by banishing three Spyral cards from my graveyard!" The last warrior in the SPYRAL's service made his grand entrance: the muscle-bound white-haired SPYRAL Sleeper(8/2800/1200) [Zone 2]. He banished Double Helix along with the SPYRAL Utility Wire trap and SPYRAL Super Agent. Then he activated the Assault Mission continuous spell. "Sleeper can destroy three cards on the field! One of which must be mine! I choose my lady MasterPlan and your ladies Apprentice Witch and Luna!" Card effects could not target Darkest Diabolos, so he would bring down more vulnerable fiends.

"I see." Scarlet Fever however beat him to half of the punch, as Lilith sacrificed Luna to set another one of three trap. Of the three choices: Grave Grinning Virus, Full Force Virus, Deck Devastation Virus), Scarlet set the latter. Nevertheless the assault landed on one opposing target: Wee Witch Apprentice. Without it, Diabolos(3000/2000) and Lilith(2000/0) lost their extra powers of darkness. "Spyral Mission Assault lets me draw one card whenever a monster is destroyed by one of my Spyrals! And when Master Plan leaves the field, I can add one Spyral monster and the Spyral resort to my hand!" Sleeper's effect finally ended with the departure of his own master, but it netted the spy duelist two new cards instead. One of them, the field spell of Spyral Resort, could add a SPYRAL monster to the hand as well. Asterisk claimed one Super SPYRAL Agent and one SPYRAL Gear Drone. "Yes you can. But when my Wee Witch dies, I can also add one Darkness monster to my hand." Scarlet Fever mused while she reclaimed her demon Sangan.

"Well what is in your hand is not very important to me. I am much more interested in what is about what is yet to be drawn. I normal summon Spyral Gear Drone! Now let's see the top three cards of your deck!" The four propeller scouting drone(1/100/100) [Zone 1] revealed three cards on the top of his opponents deck (Malice the Lady of Torment, Terraforming, Ballista Squad) and rearranged them in any order. "Well there we have Lilith's cousin." Asterisk inverted the order of cards, with a trap at the top now. "Now I do believe the card on top of your deck is a trap card this time. Which means I can special summon my Spyral Agent one more time!" He called out his second superspy(4/1900/1200) [Zone 2] in attack mode. "My drone has plenty of other uses too. If I sacrifice it, it will increase my spyral's attackpower." As the drone flew away, never to come back down again, it scanned the three cards on Scarlet's field. For each of those cards, The Superspy(3400/1200) gained 500 attackpoints.

"Uh, Asterisk. You do know she has a.." Charles tried to warn Asterisk before he got any ideas about attacking Diabolos. "I know what you are going to say, Charles Adami. But I will be fine. This is between her and me. Should I fail, so be it. But I have a good feeling about this turn." Asterisk discarded the new card in his hand. "Quikfix can special summon himself when I control a Spyral Agent!" The genius inventor would join the spyrals on this mission as well, climbing back to the field and adding the SPYRAL Gear Fully-Armed equipspell to Asterisks hand. He equipped it to the Sleeper Agent, givinh him(3800/1200) a 1000 more attackpoints. "And since I special summon a Spyral monster. Your card is now my card!" The Mission from the last turn helped a little too: The Recapture trap targeted Lilith and took control of her[Zone 2] for this one turn. "This will be our final hurrah! Spyral Sleeper! Attack Darkest Diabolos!" The only lessons the Dark lord would learn involved straight up close combat. The brawny spy launched into the fray and wound up a great punch with its Gear-powerboost.

"You should have listened to Charles, agent Asterisk." Scarlet Fever put on a forced smile as she activated her handtrap. "I can discard Dark Honest from my hand when my monster of the dark fights another. The monster that battles it will lose all of its attackpoints." It was the fallen counterpart to the original Honest: a darkhaired angel in black robes. Its unholy blessing would curse the Sleeper with ultimate weakness instead. "Asterisk!" Charles cried out. It looked like Asterisk would fall to his own reckless charge. "No need to be worried, Charles Adami. You should know I always have an ace up my sleeve.. or in this case, a skill card." Asterisk snapped his fingers and produced his near-literal ace: Stealth Check. It scanned the Ballista Squad trap card on top of Scarlet Fever's deck and doubled the original attackpower of the attacking Sleeper Agent(5600/1200). "It is my turn, so my card has priority! Even if you activate Dark Honest now, the skill will resolve last!" The sleeper, stronger than before, punched straight through Scarlet's Darkest dragon.

Scarlet's LP: 5400

Stealth Check, Skill Card
Excavate the top card of your opponent's Deck, and if it is a monster that can be Normal Summoned/Set, special summon it to their side of the field.
Otherwise, banish the excavated card and the ATK of 1 monster you control becomes double its original ATK until the end of the turn.

"Ah?" Fever had no snappy comebacks for this upset. Since Asterisk always rotated his skill cards, she could never predict which one he would be using in any single duel. "I believe I can call this checkmate, Scarlet." Lilith and the Spyral Agents would finish what the Sleeper started. In the end Asterisk had more cards than she could cope with. "Any last words? Or do we have to see your true nature before you will explain yourself!" The two monsters finished their direct attacks, delivering a a combined 5400 points of battle damage to perfectly end the duel. Asterisk fully expected her to reveal her controller to be the actual Scarlet Fever or to just disappear.

Scarlet Fever's LP: 0 Scarlet Rose's LP: 8000

"Lilah?" As soon as he defeated her, she instead reverted to the modified Rosemary ADI that Lilah Singleton used. "It was you?" It explained why she did not register as a lifesign, since her body still consisted of digital matter. On the other hand, it raised even more questions.

"I am sorry you had to find it out this way." She sighed. Her appearance was not the only thing to change. The arena itself began to flicker in and out of existence. Parts of Dharma's house popped back into existence like badly loaded textures. They were not quite free yet, but the virtual construct did lose many of its deceptive layers. "Hey!" Wagner, Nakana, Zanbatou and Cherry were removed from the scene as well. "What did you do!" Crescent shouted. "They are in a safe place. Do not worry about them." Lilah claimed. "Why should.. why should I trust you? You were behind this?!" Crescent could not believe it, nobody could. "Not me, not alone. I was sent here to oversee the entire process within this world. You were not meant to glimpse behind the curtain. I cannot salvage this situation anymore." She started drawing cards as if she continued the duel in Scarlet Fever's place. "And for that, I apologize.."

(To Be Continued in New World 007: Eat Your Heart Out)

New Cards used by Agent Asterisk
SPYRAL Master Plan

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SPYRAL Mission - Assault

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One By One

New Cards used by Cherry Anise
Dark Honest

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Cherubini - Ebon Angel of the Burning Abyss

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Trade In
Enemy Controller