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.

135. New World 007: Eat Your Heart Out

New World 007: Eat Your Heart Out

"Lilah? You.. you knew all along?" Charles did not expect this, nobody did. They were back inside Dharma's house now, though this too was just a projection. The orb of memories, the sixteen symbols on the ground, the arena: they were no more. All of it had been an elaborate simulation to pit the heroes against each other. And now only seven of them remained. And along with all the other revelations of the last ten minutes, the true nature of Scarlet Fever dropped down on them like an anvil. Or rather, her actions did. "I wont explain myself again. The process has to continue, for all our sakes." Lilah, Scarlet Rose; she was a woman of mixed identities and mixed appearances. But her motivations were even more inscrutable. "And you were not invited to this, Asterisk. I cannot let you ruin it now." Her cover got blown by the agent, who defeated the Scarlet Fever ADI that she controlled. But now in its place, she would finish the duel he started. "Hey?" And he did not have a say in this.

Scarlet Rose's LP: 8000 Asterisk's LP: 1800 -TURN 04-

"I summon the Witch of the Blood Rose, who I can tribute to add one Witch of the Black Rose to my hand. Then she moves one level 3 plant monster to the top of my deck and enabled a second normal summon!" Scarlet grew her first flower: the tiny pixie-sized witch(1/800/1700) [Zone 2] with a pink dress and red rose hair. The Witch vanished inside a veil of red light, and visually transformed herself into the newly normal summoned Black Rose Witch(4/1700/1200) [Zone 3] with her long purple hair and black/white dress. "When the Witch of the Black Rose is normal summoned, I can draw one card. And if it is a monster, I can special summon it!" The black witch waved her the blue crystal-tipped staff and revealed the card that the blood witch placed there: Lonefire Blossom. Immediately the explosive plant(3/500/1400) [Zone 2] appeared on the field. "I synchro summon, the Black Rose Dragon!" With the witch as the tuner and Lonefire as the nontuner: Scarlet Rose synchronized fire with darkness and spawned her mighty thorned dragon of roses(7/2400/1600) [Extra Zone 2].

"The Blood Rose, Lilah Singleton? That sounds more like a card for your other half." Asterisk knew that Scarlet Fever preferred to use her blood-sucking vampire cards. Right now it felt like he faced her moreso than the previously established Sunvine/Aromage duelist. "Do not try to analyze any of this now, Asterisk. It is too late." Rose could have used her Black Rose Dragon to destroy all cards on the field. But instead she activated the dragons lesser power; banishing one plant monster from the graveyard to drag a defending monster out into battle. "Do you think you can silence me with this? A victory does not count if you do not reach it with your own hard work." The agent protested. "No, It does not. But it will keep you from interfering further. I switch Quixkfix to attack mode!" Black Rose devoured the Lonefire Blossom and wrapped its vines around the unfortunate SPYRAL inventor(1/0/400). The effect of the synchro dragon also robbed him of his attackpoints, giving Scarlet a practically direct free hit on Asterisk's lifepoints. "Ugh!" The dragons violet flames destroyed the spyrals, short circuited their master's dueldisk and burned their master.

Asterisk's LP: 0

"Asterisk!" Dharma and Charles ran over to where Asterisk fell down. "Rgh. I am.. still here. Do not let het get away." Asterisk was more concerned with his enemy than his own damage. He could barely move right now, but he could still speak his mind. Luckily someone already took care of his request.

Donna's LP: 8000 Scarlet Rose's LP: 8000

"Donna Monday. You want to be next?" Scarlet Rose stared at the wrestling duelist who managed to send a challenge just in time. Though it seemed like Rose did not have any intention of running anyway. "Next? What is this the plan now? Because your little tournament is over, you are going to duel each and every one of us yourself? Until we all fall into line?" Donna grunted. "The goal of this simulation was not just that, Donna Monday. It was a test to see which driving force would win out in the end." Scarlet stated while she drew a new hand of cards. "Why should I believe you now? Besides, based on what Blanche told me.. that sounds like something this Creator guy would set up. Is he still behind this? Are you working for him now? Or are you working for Scarlet Fever?" Donna drew her cards as well. "I cannot say more than I already have." The red woman shook her head. "Not until I beat you down at least! Tsk, and to think I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me before!"

-TURN 01-

Donna got the first turn. "Hmph I normal summon Gouki Riscorpio!" Since she controlled no monsters, the scorpion-clawed wrestler ogre(5/2300/0) [Zone 5] could summon himself without tributes. "Donna, are you going easy on her?" Juan expected a bit more from the dueltainer. "Hell no. I just got unlucky!" She growled. The cards in her hand did not match her rage. "Bah I can count the number of times I did not open with a Suprex on two hands... If X were here, I bet he'd be able to tell me. Because what's the point if you can't actually make a blow in your first turn? But he is not here, thanks to you!" Donna also placed one trap card face down. Then she ended her turn. "So don't think I am holding back, Juan. I know how serious this is. And I am not gonna play nice just because she did me a favor once. The Scarlet I wanted to repay for my pain was the other one. But she just had to get in between!"

-TURN 02-

"Everything has to start somewhere." Scarlet exclaimed as she planted the seeds of her own deck: normal summoning the Sunseed Genius Loci(1/0/0) [Zone 3]. "So you are still using those cards too? I suppose planting trees is a better hobby than planting diseases. But how many archetypes do you even have?" Jenna cried out.

Scarlet Rose ignored her outburst. "Everything has to end as well. I activate Wherefor Arf Thou which sees if there is a level one monster on my field and adds another level one monster to my hand." The spell channeled its effect through Sunseed Loci and claimed the Sunseed Shadow monster. "I can special summon this card when I control a normal plant monster." The Shadow(1/0/400) [Zone 2] appeared within the shadow of the Genius, lacking an actual seed of its own. Still it could germinate into a proper plant. "I Link summon, Sunavalon Dryas! The material is one plant monster!" Through the link circuit Sunseed Shadow fell and expanded into the shape of the great sacred tree(0/LINK 1) {Down} [Extra Zone 1]. "Its effect allows me to add one Sunvine card to my hand. I choose the Sunvine Shrine." Scarlet Rose then moved on to another link summon, using Dryas and Sunseed Loci as two plant link materials. "Sunavalon Dryas becomes Sunavalon Dryades!" The sacred tree(0/LINK 2) {Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] became larger, and spawned a second seedsack.

"Then, by discarding one card, Sunvine Shrine is activated. Each turn it brings one normal plant monster back out of the ground." Of course she dug up the Genius sunseed[Zone 1] and promptly used it to link summon another Sunavalon Dryas(0/LINk 1) {Down} [Zone 1]. Its roots linked up with the roots of the greater tree. "This one will add the Sunvine Cross Breed spell card to my hand. And now that I control a linked Link two or lower Sunavalon monster, I may banish Sunseed Shadow from my graveyard! Its effect summons one more of the same link monster from the extra deck!" The shadow targeted the greater tree in Dryades and expanded its root network further to special summon a second Sunavalon Dryades(0/LINK 2) [Zone 3]. The three Sunavalons formed a rather odd forested display. "Finally, I link summon Sunavalon Melias. Its effect brings one Sunseed Genius Loci back to the field to one zone marked by her!" The second Dryas and Dryades merged together again into a single more humanoid tree nymph(0/LINK 3) {Left/Up/Right} [Zone 3]. At the base of its body, the Sunseed Genius[Zone 2] resurfaced.

"Do any of these monsters have attackpoints? Or are you only going to defend yourself like a coward?" Abigail cursed. She could see that none of the Sunavalons could be attacked, and Dryades would summon a different Sunvine link monster if Scarlet took any form of damage. But it all seemed to be rather dependant on Donna's willingness to strike her. "Oh no. I intend to fight, Abigail Sterling. But I will need an outside power to start my offense.. I link summon Benghalances of the Samsaric Cycle! Its materials are two plant monsters or more." This time she planted Melias and Loci into the link circuit, letting them evolve into large humanoid tree knight(2500/LINK 4) Left/Up/Down/Right} [Zone 3] with a cape of green foliage, bulding veins of red sap and a spear and shield made out of its own bark. "Benghales targets one monster on the field and returns it to the hand. Then I take damage equal to its attackpoints. The target, of course, is Gouki Riscorpio!" Her great Samsaric tree took the life right out of her, draining them into its veined lance. Within the same instance, it slammed its shield into the Gouki and made it disappear.

Scarlet's LP: 5700

"Oh I get it." Donna winced. The damage Scarlet took, Dryades immediately reversed. Scarlet regained life equal to what she lost, while the Sunavalon special summoned the Sunvine Thrasher(800/LINK 1) {Down} [Zone 1]. Due to its effect it(2400 atk) gained 800 attackpoints for each link marker on the Sunavalon Dryades. "Fortunately for you, this is all I can do.. in this phase." Scarlet matter-of-factly stated before entering the battle phase..

Scarlet's LP: 8000

"Yeah well, that is not all I can do in this phase!" Donna snarled back while she activated her trap card. "I activate Free Range Monsters to normal summon or set one monster from my hand!" Donna chose to set her monster, leaving its identity up in the air. "I see the tables have turned. Now you are on the defense." Scarlet sent her Sunvine swordsman to attack it anyway. Because the Gouki wrestlers sadly all shared the trait of being poor at defense. Sunvine Thrasher slashed right through the face-down Gouki with his leaf sword: Gouki Octostretch(1/0/0) [Zone 3]. "Aha. You chose wisely." The Thrasher took control of whatever it killed, meaning that Gouki Octostretch [Zone 4] became hers the minute it died. Had Donna summoned something bigger, she would have faced two direct attacks instead of one. "Well yeah my mother raised no dummy." After the Gouki's destruction Donna could also add a new Gouki card, Suprex, to her hand. Still, none of that took away from the fact that Benghales would now just simply attack her directly. And it did, thrusting against the wrestler duelist with his wooden lance. "Heh. You drew first blood."

Donna's LP: 5500

"That is not where my desires begin or end. There is no sinisterness left in these duels, miss Monday. This is essentially still a match between comrades. I do have the desire to test myself against others in my circle. And that I believe is a natural desire." Scarlet Rose moved on and used both Thrasher and Dryades as plant link materials for the third stage of the sacred tree: Sunavalon Dryanome(0/LINK 3) {Downleft/Down/Downright}. She then placed two cards down on her field and let the turn end. During that endphase she would normally lose 2000 lifepoints: a punishment of the Wherefor Arf Thou spell for not normal summoning the level 1 monster it gave her. But the Sunavalons would not allow it. Dryanome healed the damage immediately after it landed, and special summoned another quickly powered-up Sunvine Thrasher(3200/LINK 1) {Down} [Zone 1] from the extra deck to the field.

"Comrades? Circle? Can you even say the word friends? Do you even think of us like that, after all of this?" Charles asked loudly. "That was also my desire, yes. But I do not believe I have earned that bond yet. You do not believe it either, do you? I thought not."

-TURN 03-

"Hey! I appreciated everything you did for me. And if you wanted to be my friend, all you needed to do was ask! But it is a little bit late for that now, since you started lying to my other friends!" Donna now normal summoned the Gouki Suprex(4/1800/0) [Zone 3] from her hand. With the effect of the saurian wrestler she could special summon another Gouki from her hand: the same Riscorpio [Zone 4] from before. "I was lied too as well, miss Monday. From the very beginning. It is too late go back now." Scarlet reacted with the effect of Benghalances immediately, giving Donna no chance to use her monsters as materials. The doctor took 2300 points of damage again as the Samsaric one returned Riscorpio to the hand again. But Dryanome of course healed the damage, though it did not use that lifeforce to summon another Sunvine monster just yet. It did not have to.

Scarlet's LP: 8000

"Lied to? Scarlet I dont even know what you are trying to say. I dont know why you are doing all of this and you dont want to tell us! All I know is that you want to win. Maybe you have to. But if you do, I should also point out that you shouldn't have left me with even a single warrior!" Donna special summoned a lesser warrior from her hand: The stone-carrying Fire Flint Lady(1/100/100) [Zone 1]. "Because its when I control a warrior, that I can summon this gal. And she can tributed herself to summon another warrior from my hand!" Just like that, through a spark of sacrificial flames, Riscorpio [Zone 1] made his third debut in a row. "You know what comes next! I link summon Jet Ogre!" Donna shouted along with her wresters who dove into the link circuit and came out as one: as the jetpack Ogre fencer(2000/LINK 2) {Left/Down} [Extra Zone 2]. "Here we go indeed." Scarlet mumbled to herself as the effects of Suprex and Riscorpio in the graveyard activated: adding two new Gouki cards (Rematch/TwistCobra) to the hand.

"Ha! I activate Rematch! And you know what that means!" Rematches would always be coming. In this turn the spell revived Suprex [Zone 3] and Riscorpio[Zone 2] in defense mode, and Donna quickly turned the latter into a link material again. "Link summon! Thunder Ogre!" The scorpion tagteamed with the Jet Ogre to form their own greater link circuit. Like a bolt of lightning, the Gouki Thunder Ogre(2200/LINK 3) {Downleft/Up/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] slammed down into the fighting ring. "Thunder Ogre lets me normal summon a new Gouki from my hand to his marked zone! Come on out, Twistcobra!" Joining the fun was the green scaled wrestler Gouki Twistcobra(4/1600/0) [Zone 5], who would help the Thunder Gouki reach the pinnacle of their power. "It's time big guy! I link summon Gouki the Master Ogre!" Monstrous thunder and Cobra venom mixed together inside the ever present circuit, and it came to overflow with a divine majestic light. The Master of all Goukis and royal Ogre(2800/LINK 4) {Downleft/Up/Down/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] was finally here. And thanks to the effect of Twistcobra, Donna could add the final piece of their deadly combo to her hand. "I take Gouki Finisher from my deck! And I activate it along with Gouki Cage Match!"

These were the ingredients for her killer combo, the Master Ogre could attack all monsters on the field. Thanks to the spell of the Finishing combo, it would gain 1000 attackpoints for each of its link markers and the ability to pierce through defense. And just in case it did not take, the continuous Gouki Cage Match spell would prepare for another round of tough fights with its counters. "And Master Ogre negates the effects of one monster on the field, If I send one of its linked Goukis back to my hand! That's gonna be your Dryanome, of course! Because if you gotta take care of a problem, you start with the roots!" The great Master sent Gouki Suprex away again. Unfortunately the warrior found its force to be even greater than anticipated, due to an overlooked trap card. "Miss Monday, I already activated Sunavalon Force. My Sunavalon monsters cannot be targeted by that effect anymore." She'd flipped the trap as soon as Master Ogre appeared in fact.

Sunavalon Force, Continuous Trap
If there are no "Sunavalon" monsters on the field, destroy this card. Your opponent cannot target "Sunavalon" Link Monsters you control with card effects.
If an opponent's monster is destroyed by battle, after damage calculation: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the Link Rating of the monster on the field with the highest Link Rating (your choice, if tied) x 100.

"Eh? Well I am still picking one target!" Donna redirected the negation towards Sunvine Thrasher: the lesser link monster(800 atk) did not gain any defenses from Sunavalon Force, and now it would not gain any attackpoints either. "And you can only use Dryanome's effect two more times this turn, right? One of these attacks will go through!" Of course Donna knew what Scarlet really counted on: Dryanome's other effect. Each turn she could negate one attack with the sacred tree, by moving one attacked linked monster to another main monster zone. But she figured that out of all monsters, the doctor would want to save Benghalances the most. "I attack Sunvine Thrasher!" Instead she made the mind controlled Gouki Octostretch the first victim of Master Ogre's piercing kick attack. "Hm. Alright." The damage Scarlet took during the damage step got healed instantly by Dryanome, quickly restoring the loss of 6800 lifepoints. And this time she did summon another Sunvine monster from her extra deck: the woodshield knight Sunvine Gardna(600/LINK 1) {Down} [Zone 2]. "Huh? Summoning more wood for the fire? Heh, be my guest."

Scarlet's LP: 8000

"Because I am gonna bring more firepower! While we're still in the damage step, since I killed Gouki Octostretch I can add one Gouki from the deck to my hand! I pick Gouki Iron Claw! I can discard this monster to give my battling Gouki 500 attackpoints, and make it immune to all other effects for the rest of the turn!" With even more power inside its body, Master Ogre(7300 atk) could not be stopped even by Dryanome. "Oh?" Scarlet looked suitably impressed for once. "In that case I activate my other set card, Frozen Rose. I tribute my plant monster to make a card trade during the next endphase." She resorted to freezing her own tree knight and breaking Benghalances into pieces. "Getting a case of hot feet eh?" Now it made sense to Donna why Scarlet chose to summon the Gardna. Killing it would force the battle phase to end prematurely. "You win this round then! But Master Ogre has two attacks left!" The Gouki wrapped himself up inside his cape and performed a spinning dive into the body of Sunvine Thrasher. 6500 points of battle damage were cancelled out by Dryanome's healing energies. But it did not summon another Sunvine monster this time either.

Scarlet's LP: 8000

Finally the Master battled the last vulnerable opponent: Sunvine Gardna. He grabbed hold of his smashing javelin and split the shieldbearing Sunvine in half. "I would say you won this round instead, miss Monday." Gardna could halve all damage it took, which it would have to do since Dryanome could no longer shield it from harm. "Heh. Thank you. Oh and I have one more trick. When my monster destroys yours, I can activate this spell... Bownty! I add one monster from the graveyard back to my hand!" Sunvine Gardna's death brought new life into the same card she killed before it: Gouki Octostretch. She could not summonr or activate Bownty's target this turn though.

Scarlet's LP: 4350

"What she could summon however were the Goukis prepared for her by the cage spell. Before the battle phase, Cage Match gave itself three counters. And each time her Gouki warriors came out victorious in a battle with another monster: the cage would lose one counter... until. "Time to break Gouki Cage Match! Now I can special summon three Goukis from my deck!" Donna tributed the spell, and sent three new battlers into the ring in defense mode: Gouki Twistcobra the green serpent(3/1600/0) [Zone 3], Gouki Bearhug the bearskin-caped slasher(6/2400/0) [Zone 4] and Gouki Diver the cross chopping leaper(2/600/0) [Zone 5]. "I end my turn! That's right, no more link summons for now." She did not like being on the defense, but she felt better with three Master Ogre-linked defenders, instead of one offensive linked Ogre. "You have become more cautious." Scarlet said with a complimentary tone. At this point Frozen Rose resolved and drew two cards for the plant duelist. Afterwards she discarded one card: Red Rose Dragon. "We have all changed in various ways, haven't we?"

"That.. we have." Scarlet Rose sighed. There was another card she could activate now. "...During my opponents endphase, I may send Sunvine Shrine to the graveyard to set one trap card back on my field." This trap was already in her graveyard thanks to that same Shrine: she reset the trap card Humid Winds. "Scarlet? Are you.. alright? What happened to you?" It might have seemed obvious to some, but Crescent could literally tell that Lilah Singleton did not speak with her usual tone of voice. But she did not sound emotionlessly cold like the ADI from before either.

-TURN 04-

"The aroma. That is how it all started." Scarlet Rose seemed to ignore her as well at first. She flipped her trap card face-up and used both of its effects. "When my lifepoints are lower than my opponents, I gain five hundred of them. And I can pay a thousand lifepoints to add one Aromage monster from the deck to my hand." She activated both effects, the latter of which added the Aromage Marjoram and left it in her hand. "Aromage, Sunvine, Rose Dragon... I cannot seem to decide which one I would rather be. That is strange isn't it?"

Scarlet's LP: 3850

"I do not what I feel like anymore. But whatever I do feel, whatever it is that I am right now. I do not want to lose it..." She summoned a tiny black-scaled dragon(4/1200/1000) [Zone 2] with a collar and wings of white rose petals. "So I summon the White Rose Dragon. And with her effect, I may revive one Rose Dragon from my graveyard... Red Rose Dragon!" A more scarlet-tinted dragon(3/1000/1800) [Zone 3] blossomed on her field, this one carrying bloodred roses and black feathers. Red Rose Dragon was also a tuner. "When a tuner is summoned, I can also special summon Dark Rose Fairy from my hand." The third monster would not be a plant either: but a tiny fairy(2/800/0) [Zone 4] with curled green hair and a black rose-style dress. "She is going for Black Rose Dragon again?" Charles winced. "Was Asterisk right after all?" If these cards were a symbol of Fever's influence on her, that would mean she'd been corrupted long ago. But it was also possible that this corruption started vey recently. "Lilah! When you dueled Scarlet Fever! Did you win, or did you lose?"

"Win or lose? I do not believe it mattered, Charles Adami. If I lost, I should have been absorbed back into her mind. If she lost, her memories should have become mine. But neither happened... because neither could happen. We did not become one, we could never be one. Because I am not the real Scarlet after all."

"What did you say?" Donna gasped. "That I was never real. That is the truth she told me. I am not Lilah Singleton. I only believed myself to be. I am just an ADI, I am Aromage Rosemary with extra parts." Scarlet Rose traced her fingers across the surgical scars on her cheek. "There are is more than one of us after all. Scarlet split herself into many pieces. Who is to say which one is the real Lilah Singleton?" She asked the crowd. "You are! We saw you transform into her! Also I am pretty sure I should have helped free whatever personality you were still missing when the other me beat up Scarlet Fever! Did she tell you this? Why in gods name would you let her talk this nonsense into you!" Donna yelled at her. As far as she knew, the only fake Lilah was the one Static created. "Because I do not know anything for certain anymore. I do not know whether I am or am not the result of an unintentional evolution within her creation. But I do know that she used me from the very beginning. She allowed my freedom so she could sabotage us all from the inside. And yet I have no choice but to continue, even as I can feel her poisoning me. I have to finish.. what we started."

(To Be Continued in New World 008: Discontinued)

New Cards used by Scarlet Rose
Witch of the Black Rose
Witch of the Blood Rose
White Rose Dragon
Red Rose Dragon

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Benghalances of the Samsaric Cycle

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Wherefor Arf Thou?

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Sunavalon Force
Humid Winds

New Cards used by Donna Monday
Gouki Iron Claw

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Bownty

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Free Range Monsters