Creeping From Within
Evan couldn't believe that he was going to miss having Akira Zaizen as the security manager of SOL Technology. That new Kitamura guy was really getting on his nerves since the first day. In fact, the very first impression that Evan got from the new manager was just how much of a control freak and a complete idiot he was. On one had it made sense for the higher-ups to choose someone moronic enough to not research the company's past and their connection to some past incidents, but on the other, if you need to stop hackers you would put somebody skilled as a security managed, not this pathetic excuse.
"So, could your company made the more advances coding needed for this?" Kitamura asked.
The two of them were standing in front of a holographic screen that showed a blueprint for a humanoid machine with long limbs. From what Evan could gather the thing he was looking at was a schematic for a project to make AI Duelists force. A plan that had no chance to really success, but he was still going to help develop it since his own company would get a lot of money out of it.
"Yeah, we have made several games with AI Duelists, so we got experience in that direction. I personally have installed an AI inside LINK VRAINS, so making the program work inside your servers won't be a problem either." Evan nodded and crossed his arms.
Of course, he wasn't going to let AIs with the dueling capability of Masou run around, that would be a complete disaster and Playmaker would definitely be caught. A simpler, more stupid AI would be enough to sustain his cover as SOL's ally, it would get hit a lot of money as well. They were paying him for an AI program, not for the best AI program.
"He-he-he, perfect." Kitamura rubbed his hands together. "Once my army of AI duelists gets out, hackers would stand no chance. The Knights of Hanoi, Playmaker, I will get them all arrested and then the higher-ups will give me a promotion. Do you see? It's very important to get the right people as your allies."
'Yeah, it is.' Evan thought to himself, maintaining a neutral expression during that time. 'In order for weaklings like you to get anywhere in life, they need a lot of allies to support their backs. Too bad that most of you are as stupid as they are weak, you have blind trust in your so called allies and fail to notice when a traitor infiltrates your group. By the time you realize what's going on, something would push you back, but that foundation that held you last time would have already collapsed and nobody will catch you. Due to your own stupidity you are going to collapse into a dark abyss and never climb back up.'
Maybe that was the fate of weaklings like Kitamura. They weren't allowed to notice their own shortcomings or learn from the world around them, to make sure they don't stay on the top for more than the fifteen minutes of fame that the strong ones gave them. It was almost like nature itself had forsaken those idiots to stay on the bottom for the rest of their lives and function only as a stepping stones for those who truly possess the characteristics of a winner. It reminded Evan of the words spoken by a boy many years ago:
Humans are nothing but tools, pawns for the true winners in life to use. No matter what I had to do or sacrifice I will be the only winner in the end and that's all that matters.
Evan chuckled a bit at the bitter memory, which earned him unwanted attention from the security manager. Kitamura, being the weak character he was, thought that the white haired man was making fun of him and clenched his fist in anger.
"What are you laughing at!?" He shouted at Evan, snapping the later back to the present.
The white haired businessman rubbed the spot between his eyes and took a deep breath. He got so much into those bitter memories of the past that he forgot his current location. After a moment Evan reached into the pocket inside his suit and pulled his black sunglasses, which he promptly put.
"I was just reminded a few things from the past, that's all." Evan replied and turned around to leave the room. "Don't worry about your AI duelists, I will transfer everything to SOL's private servers today. Your subordinates should be able to build my programs into your AI Duelists easily, so I'm not needed anymore."
Kitamura was left with nothing to complain about and could only watch the young man while he made his way out of the large room. On his way out, Evan noticed something with the corner of his eyes that made him smirk. No one else seemed to have noticed that, but Kitamura's project was sure to fail due to a Trojan Horse.
'Why did I remember that?' Evan thought to himself after the doors closed behind his back and he was left completely alone in the corridor.
Proxy's POV
"I'm bored."
It was just a day since my and Evan's adventure in the deeps of LINK VRAINS and I already started to miss the life threatening traps. It was much better than just lying on the sofa next to Avice staring at either the black screen of the TV of the ceiling. Was that how the real lives of online heroes looked like? Lying down, staring at the ceiling and hoping that something would force us to life our lazy asses? If yes, such a life would be too depressing for someone like me to handle it.
"Good, I'm bored as well."
"Why don't we turn on the TV then?" I suggested. Surely anything currently airing would be more entertaining than watching the black screen.
"Nah, there are no good animes on during this time of the day." Avice shook her head.
"Animes?" I raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that the same thing as watching cartoons? "I thought that we could watch something more, mature?"
"Listen, we are both below sixteen years, humans our age shouldn't care about the news network and we don't understand much about politics."
I was sure that they were other kinds of mature TV programs, like sport channels and woman channels. Soap operas as well, maybe not those, but there was a lot of other TV media to choose from. But come on, if she truly cared, she would have turned the TV on a dozen times by now. I choose to just keep my lips sealed and let Avice do as she pleased, it was her house after all. Come to think about it…
"Hey, do you remember that negotiable rent?" I asked her.
"It was the only bait we were a hundred percent sure that you would bait on." Why did this description made me feel like a stupid fish? "Why are you bringing it up now all of a sudden?"
"I'm just, not worried, but it doesn't sit well with me that…" I averted my eyes away from Avice and pressed my fingers together. It was so hard and embarrassing for me to ask her that… "We haven't negotiated it yet and sometime has already passed since I moved in. Maybe we could, um, negotiate it now if that's alright…"
"He-he, you are so sweet!" Avice leaned her head against my shoulder and grabbed a bit of my hair between her fingers, playing with it.
I turned my eyes to look down because of how embarrassed I got from having her being so close to me. At times like these I felt that Avice was playing purposely with me to get me all flushed and it wasn't fair because she was actually succeeding! Her buddy-buddy attitude and how close she tended to stay to me were… scary I guess? Ugh, even I couldn't explain it correctly!
"We were never really going to make you pay any rent, it was just a lie to get your attention toward our offer." Avice said and pressed her body even closer to mine. "I mean, you are just fourteen, right? No offense, but there is literally not a single legal business in this town that would hire you and neither of us wants you to get with any illegal work that this city was to offer. Just live your life and make sure to not break anything, that's the only thing we want from you."
"It still doesn't sit well with me." I told her. "There are so many people starving and working their souls out just to get a roof over their heads and I get such a thing for free, it isn't fair... Why do I get so many things for free while others have to fight for them?"
"Hm, that's a fair question." Avice moved on to lie her head on my lap. This time I had to turn my eyes toward the door to avoid eye contact; watching her lying there was embarrassing! "Perhaps it was destiny? Heh, you are still young and naïve so you probably won't understand me, but Roxy, do you believe that it's fair to try and compare your life with that of others? Do you really believe that all people are truly equal?"
This time I looked at Avice despite how embarrassed I was earlier because I was genuinely interested in what she meant by that. Of course, I would say that everyone is equal and should be treated equally, but I didn't say that because it probably wasn't the kind of response that would satisfy Avice. In fact, how many times was it that common logic didn't on Avice and Evan? Instead of giving a clear answer to Avice's question I shrugged and waited for her to give me a response, taught me one more of their crazy believes.
"You are so cute when you look confused!" I winched in embarrassment once Avice's hand moved over my head and patted me. Was she treating me like a pet?
"Are you going to tell me what you believe or no?" I asked her a bit grumpy. Her teasing wasn't fun to me.
"He-he, sorry, sorry, but you are just too cute for me to keep my attention on the topic!" Avice giggled and her legs kicked the air from the other side of the sofa; seriously, she was acting as a child despite being older than me. "The truth Roxy is that people were and will always remain unequal. There was once a wise man who said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man, any existing distinction between people came from how educated they are. Unfortunately, even he wasn't able to do anything but scratch only the surface of the truth that heaven does, indeed, create people unequal to one another."
"I'm not getting any of this." I groaned and held my head. She said that those were the words of a wise man, but then he completely discarded them? How would that make any sense?
"Heh, of course you don't. But you have an able body, a completely functional mind. You probably also had a whole family right? Food, rooftop, money, a good education. That's just a few of the things that make us different from one another." I scratched the back of my head still not completely getting it. "We aren't just unequal before one another, heaven sees us as equal as well. I mean, why someone who has never done a single work in his life suddenly be lucky and win a billion from the lottery, while a man who worked himself to sickness would lose his job and home? Why were you, after losing everything you had, be lucky to find people willing to let you live with them for free while the same would never happen for more than ninety percent of the people that were in a similar situation like you?"
"Even people's luck isn't equal…" She was, in a way, right about this. I myself never expected such a mirage to happen, but it did and I got to spend my time in comfort with warm food every day and nothing to worry about.
"In the end, it's not worth trying to compare yourself with others because everyone gets a different starting point and a different route through their life." I looked down and patted Avice's head. It made me wonder how someone that's just a year older than me could have such a grey look at the world. "If you trust me even just a bit, I want you to remember this Roxy, never miss a chance to move yourself forward because of what others would say. Never stop to compare yourself to others and just kept moving forward, toward the goal that is important for you. I, Evan, even Playmaker and his goals shouldn't matter to you."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that such a thing would be possible." I couldn't do that because it wasn't the type of person that I was. Helping others and making them happier has always been more important to me than my own personal life. "Despite that, I understand what you mean and I accept your words as truth. But don't you agree then that if all of us aren't equal, it would be the responsibility for those standing at the top to make the life of those below them better?"
Avice's green eyes were staring at me and there seemed to be some sort of seriousness in them. All of that quickly disappeared when she chuckled and turned her head to the side, closing her eyes.
"You silly child. I'm going to be so heartless to break your dreams." I felt a strange weight in my chest from her words, but I accepted them nevertheless.
She was speaking harshly toward me and I didn't mind it because I knew that achieving my so called 'dream' wouldn't be a smooth call. Reality would be harsh toward me too, just like how Avice was during this little talk.
After this talk, a new silence built between us, the topic had ended so that would be natural, right? For others it might be awkward, but I was used to the quiet atmosphere and even enjoyed it from time to time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy it for long this time and not more than five minutes after I and Avice stopped talking the doorbell rang loudly. I instinctively looked at the door while Avice turned her head in my lap and muttered something too quietly for me to hear her.
"What did you say?" I turned back to the girl and she kept her eyes closed.
"I said 'go see who it is'." I sighed, of course she was going to make me go.
It was a little hard to get up though, as Avice had put her head on my lap and wasn't willing to cooperate I had to gently move her off myself. By the time I was able to do that and stand from my place on the sofa the doorbell rang two more times.
"Ok, I'm coming!" I shouted at whoever was outside; surprisingly that worked as the bell didn't rang again.
Putting a nearby pillow under Avice's head to keep it soft, I was finally able to get to the front door and answer it properly. I opened and found before me a girl that was around one head taller than me. She had long red hair with blue highlights on the back and a pair of purple eyes (of course they were two, who on Earth has three eyes?). She wore the same school uniform that I have seen on Avice and Aoi, but unlike them hers was pretty unkempt. She also seemed to be as surprised as me, because once I opened the door, her eyes visibly widened a tiny bit.
"H-hello." I greeted her first and bowed. "I-is there anything I-I can help you w-with?"
"Hey, there." She just raised her hand to acknowledge my greeting and raised herself on her tip=topes to try and look over me; strange because as I mentioned, there was a head in height difference between us that was going in her favor. "Are Evan and Avice Greyson at home?"
"W-who is asking?" I probably shouldn't try to play smart and pry in her business, she seemed a bit dangerous.
"Hayashi Vermilya." She replied. "It has been a while since I came here, but I haven't seen you before either, so mind introducing yourself?"
"I-I'm Roxanna Petit." I introduced myself by a full name despite knowing how bad that was because…
"Petit? What kind of surname is that?" …My surname was often an object of ridicule by my schoolmates. "What are you doing her anyway? Did the Greysons choose to hire a maid now? And so young, it probably isn't easy for you, is it?"
"So you came after all, Blaze Rose." Avice suddenly leaped on my from behind and put her head on my shoulder. I looked up at the red haired girl once more and she had her arm clenched into a fist. Oh no!
"Will you please not call me by my virtual allies in front of your maid?" She practically said that through gritted teeth and that fist… It seemed so eager to hit something.
I felt a chill go down my spine, not just because of how scary Vermilya/Blaze Rose was, but also 'cause I was the only thing that stood between her and the source of her anger, Avice. The other girl pressed her whole body against my back so much that she forced me to take a step forward and get even closer to the red head.
"And you think she isn't insulted that you called her a maid?" Avice retorted back in a more quiet tone and ran a finger over my chin. Her calm demeanor along with the uncalled touching send shivers don't my back and I closed my eyes in embarrassment. From here on I could only her their voices and feel Avice's breathing… against my ear!
"Wait, she isn't your maid?" Judging by Vermilya's voice she was genuinely surprised and I felt personally offended by that. "Then who is she?"
"Don't you know her? In LINK VRAINS they call her Proxy." I winched, already able to feel how things were going to go sore from there.
"WHAT?!" Two hands grabbed me by the collar and I was immediately yanked forward.
I opened my eyes to see what was going on and just as expected, Vermilya was holding me off the ground with both arms, her purple eyes staring at me so intently that I felt they were going to shot a laser beam into my brain any second by now.
"So you lied to me when I asked if you knew these two!" I winched when Vermilya began to yell at my face.
I wanted to defend myself and say that I didn't knew them until several days after Blaze Rose asked me, but I found myself too scared to respond with anything but whimpering. It was embarrassing, but I was too worried about my well-being to care about other issues. Back in LINK VRAINS, Blaze Rose had already proven that she had a hot headed temper and this encounter could end very, very painfully for me.
"Hey, hey, it took us time to find her too." Avice intervened "You might have talked with her before we first met."
I nodded eagerly to Vermilya, it was the truth I haven't met them before my conversation with her. It wasn't my fault that it happened in that order! I was an innocent, soon to be victim! Vermilya clicked her tongue and let go of me, promptly dropping me on the ground.
"Ouch!" I yelped and reached behind to grab onto something and crawl away before Vermilya got angry at me for something else.
"Now, come on, I didn't call you here to pick fights with others." I hear Avice scold Vermilya while I was busy retreating inside the house.
"You never told me why you want me to visit you." Vermilya responded. "But more importantly, if you didn't know her before I met with her, how comes you got so confortable with others that they can now hang at your house."
"First of, Proxy, or Roxy, as that's her real name, isn't hanging at our house, she is living her."
"What?! You left her live here?!"
While the two kept talking, I managed to quickly get inside and stood back up, rubbing my rear after the harsh drop on the hard ground that I had to suffer not too long ago.
"We let you live here as well before you choose to move to the school dorms!" Avice had put one of her hands on her hips while the other was waving at Vermilya; she was really scolding the red head!
"Ok, ok!" Vermilya backed back and held her arms in front of her. "I won't protest anymore, just, let's move to another topic ok? Why did you ask me to come here anyways?"
"Because we got some trouble on our hands." Avice responded. "After Rocketeer, I mean Picaro, turned out to be part of the Knights of Hanoi I and Evan figured out that we all might become a target in the future. Picaro was already able to put you in a come with a threat for your life and was a few seconds away from doing the same with Proxy. As much as it hurts my pride to say this, looking over all of LINK VRAINS has become a bit too much for just the two of us."
"I can't believe it." Vermilya said in a calm, quiet voice. Her shoulders eased while she looked down at Avice. "Are you- Is Avice Greyson actually asking someone for help?"
I looked at the green and white haired girl as well. It was true that the Greysons were prideful and that showed many times, including during the training sessions. Hearing Avice ask someone for her was a surprise for me as well, despite how short of a time we spent together, I had already gotten to know her quite well. She didn't immediately respond to Vermilya's question and instead reached out, grabbing both of us by the arms. Before I could reach, she had pulled me in and I found myself standing right in front of the red head with Avice hugging both of us from the side while also laughing.
"Ha-ha-ha! Of course not, silly!" She laughed off Vermilya's question and the latter's anger began to resurface due to that. "That wasn't what I meant! Since Picaro knew all of us, he might start targeting you two. Because of that I wanted you two to get close friends and spend some time together. It would make it much easier for me and my brother to babysit you two if you are close to one another, won't it?"
"I'm not even surprised that this would be your proposition." Surprisingly, Vermilya was accepting the idea pretty calmly. "Having a friend or two won't hurt that much, so… I'm Hayashi Vermilya. You can call me just Vermilya."
The girl held her arm in front of me and I accepted the handshake.
"Roxanna, but friends call me just Roxy." I responded, this time strategically not mentioning my last time.
"Oh? What happened with your surname?"
"P-please don't mention it."
"Yay!" Avice threw her arms up like a child and ran inside the house. She turned around and jumped while waving at us. "Come on! Since we, girls, are all friends now let's have some fun!"
"I had a very serious discussion with her just five minutes ago and she is all buddy-buddy already." I whispered toward Vermilya. "Is that normal?"
"No." She shook her head and removed her brown shoes, putting them inside the house. "It usually takes her much less time to get all buddy-buddy."
3rd POV
Within LINK VRAINS, the networks were able to quickly recovered and get fixed after Hanoi's last attack and people were back at dueling and hanging with their friends. While most of the regular user base wasn't worried about things, the same couldn't be said about the Charisma Duelists. Ever since the last attack, Blue Angel, Blaze Rose, Rocketeer and Gloomy Ruby haven't showed up and neither did Go. The first among the Charisma Duelists didn't show up again ever since his defeat by the hands of Playmaker and that, along with the other four going missing as well set a lot of chaos and worry. In-fights weren't uncommon either with many amateurs and longtime rivals trying to replace the missing ones in the top 10.
While all of that transpired however, people seemed to have forgotten about the treat of the Knights of Hanoi, which made their work that much easier. Leaping from a nearby building, Picaro stab his new claw onto a column of a bridge and carefully climbed down, landing inside the cover of the shadows. The former Charisma Duelist opened his palm and a holographic map with three red dots appeared before him. One of the items or people that were highlighted remained unmoving while the other two appeared to be moving closer to it from the south. Picaro nodded to himself and closed the hologram.
"About time you show up." Picaro said and turned around to face the other two teammates.
First there was Nulline, a female avatar wearing a white cloak similar to that of the other Knights of Hanoi, but way more revealing that them. The woman's figure was memorable as well with a large bust, huge ass and a curvaceous figure, it would be hard for any male to easily forget her appearance. Her hair was aqua blue hair with a pink line through the middle, the back side was arranged into a huge ponytail which wasn't kept together but instead had some sort of large ring float around her hair and keep it in shape. The female wore a small version of the Hanoi mask with orange lines that covered only her eyes and her lips had pink lipstick on them. Her outfit was arranged in a way that left her shoulders and arms completely exposed with the exception of one white fingerless glove on her left hand. The front part of the outfit ended above her belly with a extremely short skirt covering her private parts, while the backside floated behind like a cloak. Lastly, she wore a pair of white and black high boots.
The second user was known as Heliac, not much stood out about his avatar, expect his size, which was that of a 12-13 years old. He also wore the standard Hanoi mask without any lines on it and instead it had a single golden star around the circular right eye. The small Knight of Hanoi held a console of some sort and clicked its buttons, writing something on a holographic screen that only he could see.
"What a surprise, MetalX hasn't shown up yet." Nulline crossed her arms.
"He isn't going to be on this mission." Picaro replied and kneeled down, touching the ground with his claw. "He has started a new job that would be… beneficial for the Knights' and our own goals."
"Are you keeping the details so scanty for a reason?" Nulline asked with a knowing smirk on her face.
"It's not something we should talk about in a place like this." Picaro responded. "Maybe once we get somewhere more… private."
The girl walked over to the demonic knight and wrapped her arms around his chest. She pressed herself against him, making sure that he could feel her large bust against his back. The girl then leaned forward and whispered to his black knight helmet, knowing that he could still hear her.
"Maybe we could do other things when we get somewhere more private."
Picaro had to admit that such an offer was something that would make most men howl like wolves, but it didn't faze him all that much. As a Charisma Duelist he had many fangirls and many of them were 'gifted' as well, so the view of a sexy figure wasn't something rare of him. Plus that, he was very handsome in real life as well, so he didn't have to worry about neither his virtual nor his real love life.
"We got business first." The demonic knight responded with a deep voice. "This spot here should be as good as any, take a step back."
Nulline complied with the request and took a step back, giving Picaro some space. The demonic knight concentrated for a moment and raised his claws, then, with a single swing, he slammed it onto the ground and create a huge hole. The destroyed data fell down and disappeared into the sewers of LINK VRAINS. Why this multi-server program would have the need of sewers was beyond any of them, but it surely made things a lot easier to set up.
"Let's go." Picaro told the other two and jumped down.
"Ewww! Could I possibly skip that one out?" Nulline asked. "Sewers are disgusting."
"Heliac!" Picaro shouted from below.
The small Knight of Hanoi didn't seem to respond at first. Only after a few moments he began to walk toward the hole and stopped right next to it, taking a quickly glance inside. After making sure what was waiting below, the little Hanoi reached out and pushed Nulline from behind hard enough for her to lose balance and fall into the hole while screaming.
"Thanks Heliac!" Picaro shouted from below once more.
The little Knight of Hanoi nodded in response to his teammate's gratitude and jumped down as well, landing on the hard ground that was put on both sides of the data that was flowing through the huge corridors. Picaro opened the palm of his claw again opening a new map with a green triangle marked in the distance. He turned back to check on his team, Heliac was messing with his console like usual while Nulline was trying to stay as far away from the data as possible.
"You know that this is just data, right? It can't dirty you clothes like the water of real sewers." Picaro pointed out.
"But it still smells awful!" Nulline retorted.
Good thing that Picaro's helmet was completely covering his face because if not, the female Knight would probably have gotten insulted at the kind of face that he was making from underneath. Actually, screw it, for saying something that stupid she deserved to be offended!
"Hey, Nulline?"
"Yes darling~?"
"Are you mentally retarded?"
"…"
"Actually, you don't need to answer this one, I got it."
No response came back from Nulline who crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks while looking away from the demonic knight. After that, the trio began to move.
"So, can I pose a question?"
Picaro just nodded for confirmations that Nulline could ask. The group was walking through the sewers for fifteen minutes and they target still wasn't anywhere near. They were also reaching a split roar where the demonic knight was planning to have them stop for a quick break. They couldn't allow themselves to spent too much time on this mission, LINK VRAINS wasn't in chaos and that meant that SOL would have enough time and resources to find them if they stood on one spot for too long.
"Ok, then why were we sent as a scout party?" Nulline asked. "We would later have to set up the devices, so why don't we do all of it now and save all the extra work?"
"As beneficial as such action could be for us, there is also a large possibility that SOL would track the signal of the devices if we set them up now." Picaro answered. "If that happens and they remove them, it would take us extra time and resources to create new ones, so in the long run it would be much safer if we just scout the area and make sure everything is clear now. When VRAINS gets throw into chaos, SOL will have their hands too full to notice us working."
"Now that you explained it this way, it really sounds like a better idea." Nulline nodded in confirmation. "That is very nice thinking on your part, boss."
"It wasn't my idea, I'm just following orders like you are. If it was up to me, I wouldn't be wasting my time with any of this."
Nulline nodded and slowed down again, getting behind the other knights. Heliac stopped writing codes through the console and walked over to Picaro, pulling his claw to get the leader's attention.
"So you felt it too?" The demonic knight looked down at his companion.
"Enemy." Heliac nodded to confirm. "Nearby."
"So, somebody follow us after all, huh?" Nulline asked. "Maybe next time you guys could dig a hole instead of blowing up the ground. Nothing to do now, you two continue, I will stay back to take care of whoever was stupid enough to follow us here."
"Ahead of us the path will split in two." Picaro told her. "Make sure to remain in the one that leads straight forward, ok?"
"Got it." Nulline winked. "Take care of yourselves, boys!"
The remaining Knights nodded and ran off, leaving the girl behind. She put her arms on her waist and began to wait. Lucky she, a duel at a time like that would be much better than looking for a good stop to install the seed. After a bit, she could hear footsteps coming near and someone came into the view.
The new duelist didn't have a face, instead his head was grey with a large red 'P' on the front. He wore a long red cloak that hang from his back as well as a red one piece body suit with orange and yellow flames. The duelist stopped in front of Nulline, the avatar didn't have eyes so it was hard to tell, but he was probably staring at her.
"So you stood here to wait for me?" the duelist tilted his head to the side. "I'm touched."
"Private Unit, you are among the top ten Charisma Duelists, with your number being nine." Nulline crossed her arms. "Shouldn't you be with your buddies instead of stalking girls in sewers?"
"I'm a little surprised that you know who I'm." Private Unit admitted. "I came here because I was paid by SOL Technology to do so."
"So they are desperate enough to start hiring Charisma Duelists as security units?" Nulline asked, but she wasn't surprised if the company would go that far just to keep the Knights as far away from the servers as possible.
"That's none of your business." Private Unit raised his left arm, a small Duel Disk visible. "But it's my business to know what the likes of you do in the sewers. I mean, Hanoi are rats alright, but this is a bit too low even for your organization."
"That's just gold coming from you." Nulline raised her own Duel Disk as well.
The two duelists stared at each other while the flowing data began to turns into waves. Two D-Boards flew through the sewers and passed the spot where the Knight of Hanoi and the Charisma Duelist were standing. Both of them immediately jumped and landed on their respective board with Nulline being on the front. The Knight of Hanoi turned around to face her opponent.
"Speed Duel!" they both shouted.
『Nulline LP: 4000 Hand: 4 (VS) Private Unit LP: 4000 Hand: 4』
"Ladies first." Nulline shook her finger to Private Unit and four cards appeared in front of her. "Let's see now, I still start by playing the field spell, Aroma Garden!"
Due to his lack of an actual face, Private Unit's look remained blank, but for his opponent to activate the Field Spell first, that meant there was some sort of effect that the Knight of Hanoi wanted to resolve quickly.
"Next, I'm going to Summon Aromage Jasmine (Lv.2, ATK: 100)!" A little girl with long white hair and pink eyes appeared on the field wearing white and pink robes while holding a wooden wand covered in flowers. "Next, I activate the effect of Aroma Garden, once per turn, while I control an Aroma monster I can gain five hundred life points!"
Aromage Jasmine turned around and casted a spell around Nulline, flowers fell around her body, increasing her Life Points.
『Nulline LP: 4000 + 500 → 4500』
"Gaining Life Points, huh?" Private Unit called out. "That's good, because you are going to need them!"
"My card's effects aren't done yet, darling." Nulline said in a sing-song voice. "First off, when I gain Life Points while Aromage Jasmine is on my field, I can draw a card!"
A circle of yellow energy appeared around Nulline's Duel Disk and she pulled a new card out of it, adding it to the ones that were already in her hand.
"And due to Aroma Garden's additional effect, if I gain Life Points, all of my monsters are going to gain five hundred points in attack and defense!" Aromage Jasmine raised her wand one more and casted a shining yellow aura around herself.
Aromage Jasmine, ATK: 100 + 500 → 600, DEF: 1900 + 500 → 2400
"Then, I activate Jasmine's additional effect! Once per turn, while my Life Points are higher than yours, I can Summon a plant monster for a second time during this turn." The girl pressed one of the cards before her and it appeared on the field. "I Summon, Evil Thorn (Lv.1, ATK: 100)."
"What's that? A six hundred and a one hundred attack point monsters? Are those your best moves?" Private Unit asked.
"I'm not done." Nulline turned around and gestured toward her monsters. "I activate Evil Thorn's effect and release it to inflict three hundred damage to you!"
The plant suddenly exploded and fired thorns at Private Unit, several of which stabbed him in the shoulder and knee. The Charisma Duelist groaned from the pain and reached to pull the sharp objects out of his body.
『Private Unit LP: 4000 - 300 → 3700』
"When Evil Thorn's effect resolves, two copies of it can be Special Summoned, but at the cost of being unable to use their effects." Two more thorns appeared before Nulline all in Attack Position. "How did you find this move, hmm?"
"Increasing your own Life Points, while slowly cutting through mine, you got skills I will give you that." Private Unit muttered. "But you made a huge mistake by leaving those two Evil Thorns in attack mode."
"Who said that my turn was done?" Nulline asked. "Appear, circuit that heals all pain!"
A circuit opened in front of Nulline while she was surfing on her D-Board and the roots of her monsters flew into the arrows.
"Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two Plant monsters! I set my two Evil Thorn in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Aromaseraphy Jasmine (ATK: 1800, Link-2)!"
A monster that resembled a lot her original Jasmine flew out of the circuit and stopped in front of the other monster. The only differences between the previous and the new Jasmine were the crown and the fairy wings that the new one had.
"A Link Monster…" Private Unit muttered. He wasn't surprised to see one, but so early in the duel…
"Due to Aroma Garden's additional effect, all of my monsters are going to gain five hundred points in attack and defense even if they are summoned after the effect started!" Nulline pointed out as her new monster began stronger as well.
Aromaseraphy Jasmine, ATK: 1800 + 500 → 2300
"But I'm not done!" Nulline continued. "I release Aromage Jasmine to activate Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect! Once per turn, by Tributing a monster that my Link Monster pointed at, a new Plant monsters can be called straight from my deck! I Special Summon Lonefire Blossom (Lv.3, DEF: 1400), then I release it by its own effect to Special Summon Aromage Bergamot (Lv.6, ATK: 2400)! Also, due to Aroma Garden's effect, she gains a boost as well!"
Aromage Bergamot, ATK: 2400 + 500 → 2900, DEF: 1800 + 500 → 2300
"I will set down a card and end my turn." Nulline finished. "Also, just so you know, while my Life Points are higher than yours, neither Aromaseraphy Jasmine, nor any of the monsters she points toward can be destroyed by battle."
"So you are using a more defensive type of a strategy, huh?" Private Unit asked. "But the way you play your moves and the appearance of your monsters remind me too much of Blue Angel. In fact, your whole strategy and deck seems to be both the complete opposite and the exact same thing as hers!"
"Don't even insult me by comparing me to that fake!" Nulline suddenly yelled back at her opponent. "I'm nothing like that stealer, that… That attention whore!"
"So you don't like her huh?" Private Unit asked again. "Well, that's not my problem, so I draw!"
『Turn 2 [Private Unit] LP: 3700 Hand: 5』
"First off, since you control a monster and I don't, I can Special Summon Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit (Lv.6, ATK: 2100)!" A glowing white and yellow dragon flew over Private Unit's head. "Next, I release it to Special Summon Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet (Lv.5, ATK: 2000)!"
"Huh? Why would you tribute your dragon for a weaker one?" Nulline asked. She was unable to figure out her opponent's strategy.
"When Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit is Tributed, I can Special Summon Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord (Lv.8, DEF: 0) directly from my deck!" A gigantic golden sphere appeared behind Private Unit and due to its size being too big for the small enclosed space, its sides were tearing down the walls of the sewer. "Finally, by making its original attack one thousand, Hieratic Dragon of Eset (Lv.5, ATK: 1900 → 1000) can be Normal Summoned without a tribute!"
"Well, that's something." Nulline smirked. "You got three high level dragons, but neither of them is strong enough to battle with either of my Aroma monsters."
"That's because I'm not done yet!" Private Unit clenched his fist and raised it up. "Appear, circuit of the dragon!"
A red dragon spirit came out of Private Unit's first and flew in front of him, transforming into the circuit.
"Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two Dragon monsters! I set Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet and Hieratic Dragon of Eset in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Hieratic Seal of the Celestial Spheres (ATK: 0, Link-2)!"
"More sphere monsters? Is Ra among them as well?" Nulline joked. Too bad, Private Unit wasn't amused by her attempt for humor. "Ok, just continue you turn then."
"I'm going to activate Seal of the Celestial Spheres' effect!" Private Unit grabbed a card before him and crushed it with his palm. "I release Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb from my hand to target Aromage Bergamot and turn it to your hand."
The spheres released a wave of heat that hit the Aromage monster and forced it to retread back into its card.
"Hmm, Aromaseraphy Jasmine can only protect my monsters from battles, so targeting them with card effects would still work. Good thinking." Nulline praised her opponent.
"Don't praise me, this will be your end!" Private Unit called out. "The effect of Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb activates. When it's Tributed I can summon a second Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord (Lv.8, DEF: 0) from my deck!"
"Two more spheres? A new Link Summon?" Nulline wondered. It could be anything from link one to four, but her field was good enough to withstand whatever her opponent threw.
"Not exactly." Private Unit raised his arm forward and a galaxy portal appeared over his head. "Summoning Conditions are two Level Eight monsters! I overlay my two Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord!"
"A Xyz Summon?!"
"Come forth! Rank Eight! Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis (RANK.8, ATK: 3000)!"
As the two spheres turned into overlay units and flew into the portal, a beam of light shot down and a new sphere came out of it. The monster transformed into a dragon made from burning red skin with golden armor covered on its chest, legs, arms and wings. The beast raised its head and roared at Nulline; the intense energy that it released was enough to make the data raise into huge waves.
"That's an interesting monster." A screen appeared in Nulline's palm showing the Xyz Monster's effects for her to read them. "You can release a card in your hand to destroy a card I control, hmm? Then I better act now, Continuous Trap open - Dried Winds!"
"Too bad, your continuous Trap can't stop my monster's effect from activating!" Private Unit pointed out.
"I'm not going to negate it!" Nulline called back at her opponent. "Instead I will activate my skill, Aroma Medicine!"
"A skill at a time like this…" Private Unit muttered to himself and kept looking at his opponent, wondering what she was going to do.
"I discard the Aromage Bergamot that you returned in my hand to look at the top six cards in my deck. Afterward, I'm going to send Aromage Rosemary from the reveal cards to the Graveyard in order to increase my Life Points by her attack!"
The Aromage appeared above Nulline and casted a spell to make flowers drop on top of the duelist while her Life Points going a huge boost as well.
『Nulline LP: 4500 + 1800 → 6300』
"At this time the effects of Aromaseraphy Jasmine and Dried Winds activate!" Nulline continued. "If I gain Life Points while Aromaseraphy Jasmine is on the field, I can add a Plant monster to my; I add my second Aromage Rosemary to the hand. Next, when I gain Life Points while Dried Winds is on the field, I can destroy a monster that you control! I choose Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis of course!"
A strong wind came out of Nulline's trap and hit the dragon, forcing it to drop into the data below them and drown under it. Private Unit winched at the sight of his best monster getting destroyed like this before he could use it, but the duel wasn't over yet.
"I activate my own Skill, Hieratic Rebirth!" The faceless duelist's body began to glow and the spirit of a dragon appeared around his left wrist. "When I have two or more Hieratic monsters with the same level in the Graveyard, I can banish one of them to Special Summon the other I will banish the level eight Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord to Special Summon Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord (Lv.8, DEF: 0)!"
"So you revived one of those again? It has no attack or defense values and it's a Normal Monster, that's just a waste!" Nulline pointed out.
Of course, her opponent might be wanting to use is as a last wall of defense, but that wasn't going to work well for him. She could just use the effect of her Field Spell to gain Life Points during the next turn and then destroy it with Dried Winds' first effect.
"My skill isn't done yet." Private Unit pointed out. "After I Special Summon a monster this way, another monster with the same Level can be summoned from my hand or Deck at the cost of dropping its attack and defense to zero. Of course, I'm going to summon my third Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord (Lv.8, DEF: 0)."
"Tch, two Level Eight again." Why wasn't she surprised by that revelation?
"Summoning Conditions are two Level Eight Normal Monsters! I overlay my two Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord!" The galaxy portal opened over Private Unit once more and his two Hieratic Seal flew inside. "Xyz Summon! Rank Eight! Thunder End Dragon (RANK: 8, ATK: 3000)!"
'A different Xyz Monster.' Nulline thought to herself while staring at the beast, which had electricity fly from its arms and neck.
"Thunder End Dragon's effect activates!" Private Unit threw his fist forward, while the dragon absorbed one of its Overlay Units. "By using a Xyz Material, my dragon can destroy all other monsters on the field!"
The large dragon roared and released a wave of electricity that hit everything around the two duelists. Nulline had to grab onto her D-Board as it began to shake from the tremendous power while both Aromaseraphy Jasmine and Hieratic Seal of the Celestial Spheres suffered the full power of the blast and were instantly destroyed, Just like she told Private Unit, the Aromaseraphy could protect from battle, but not from effects.
"Aroma Garden's final effect now activates. When an Aroma monster I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I gain a thousand Life Points!" Again, flowers flew over Nulline's body giving her another boost.
『Nulline LP: 6300 + 1000 → 7300』
"Increasing your Life Points more and more, are you actually scared?" Private Unit asked his opponent.
He knew that it was just her deck's strategy, but there seemed to be a reason why the girl choose to use that specific deck out of the large array available at LINK VRAINS. It was almost like she had chosen this specific deck for a single specific opponent…
"I know what you are thinking." Nulline muttered, causing Private Unit to focus back on her. His lack of a real face made it hard to tell, but he was surprised to hear that. "I know exactly who you are thinking I want to defeat with this deck and you are correct. The one that stole my childhood and turned it into her virtual persona, I will destroy the so called Blue Angel!"
"I don't know what Blue Angel has done for you to hate her so much, but I don't care about it either." Private Unit shook his head. "All I care about is my payment and for that, I must put you don't, so no hard feelings, ok? Attack her directly, Thunder End Dragon!"
"No hard feelings, huh?" Nulline looked back as a charge of electricity was fired toward her. "Too bad Dried Winds' effect activates! As my Life Points are with three thousand or more points higher than yours, I can make our Life Points equal to destroy monsters whose attack is less than the Life Points I paid!"
Nulline gripped her chest in pain, while the trap began to reduce her Life Points. It wasn't a small amount either, she would lose over three thousand points, but it made her feel so alive! Despite her deck being focused around gaining Life Points, she enjoyed far more to lose them, the feeling of electricity running through her system every time she takes damage, it was good, so good…
『Nulline LP: 7300 → 3700』
"I just pain three thousand and six hundred points." Nulline whispered. "That's more than Thunder End Dragon's attack value, so your monster is getting destroyed!"
A wave of wind came out from Nulline's trap and hit the monster. Private Unit's dragon roared as it began to lose balance and then collapsed into the data, drowning just like his last Xyz monster. The Charisma Duelist looked blankly at the flow of data and then turned his head away, whispering 'Turn end.'
"You were unable to reduce my Life Points even by one point." Nulline's D-Board raised so that she was standing above Private Unit. The Knight of Hanoi raised her arm toward the Charisma Duelist and clenched it into a fist. "You are all just a bunch of pathetic weaklings trying to play out as famous! Purging all of you would be us making the internet a favor!"
"My Life Points and three thousand and seven hundred." Private Unit pointed out. "Even if I don't have any cards on my field, do you think that you could reduce them to zero during this turn?"
"Just watch me, babe!" Nulline replied and turned her back to him. The Knight of Hanoi speeded forward and put a hand over her Duel Disk. "Let's finish this, draw!"
『Turn 3 [Nulline] LP: 3700 Hand: 3』
"Perfect! I activate Miracle Fertilizer!" Nulline pressed one of the cards before her and it appeared on her field. "This spell, at the cost of my Normal Summon for the turn, allows me to revive Aromage Bergamot (Lv.6, ATK: 2400) from my Graveyard!"
"This monster again…"
"Now I activate the effect of Aroma Garden! Once per turn, while I control an Aroma monster I can gain five hundred life points!" Nulline's monster turned back toward her and flowers flew over her body, increasing her Life Points once more.
『Nulline LP: 3700 + 500 → 4200』
"As I gained Life Points, the effect of my field spell powers up all of my monsters by five hundred points!"
Aromage Bergamot, ATK: 2400 + 500 → 2900, DEF: 1800 + 500 → 2300
"In addition to that, the effect of Aromage Bergamot increases her own attack power by a thousand until the end of your turn." Nulline's monster pointed its staff at Private Unit's head.
Aromage Bergamot, ATK: 2900 + 1000 → 3900
"Bye, bye." The Knight waved back at her opponent. "Aromage Bergamot finish this duel with a direct attack!"
The monster unleashed a cyclone of red flowers that caught Private Unit's and his D-Board, throwing both of them into the data.
『Private Unit LP: 3700 → 0 Hand: 1』
『Winner: Nulline』
"That was easy." Nulline said to herself. "Not to get rid of hi-"
The Knight of Hanoi stopped mid-sentence. She was about to say that it was time to get rid of the Charisma Duelist and ensure that there were no witnesses to report Hanoi's actions, but what she saw made her realize that there were more dangerous things in the servers of LINK VRAINS. It was an image she was never going to forget.
"Help me! Help! Please!" Private Unit yelled and begged for help as a giant arm of data grabbed his head and pulled him down, silencing his screams.
"P-Picaro, are you there?" Nulline asked her Duel Disk.
"Yes, I and Heliac found the perfect spot." The leader's voice came from the other side of the line. "Why are you calling, did something happen?"
Nulline gulped, unsure if she should tell him about what she just saw, or not. The image of the Charisma Duelist getting dragged into the deeps of the data by that giant arm wasn't going to leave her mind any time soon; that much was for sure.
"I-It's nothing." In the end, she choose to lie. "I'm done as well, so I'm going to log out. A piece of advice, you should do the same."
"Alright then, we will talk later."
The line went dead and Nulline closed it. The Hanoi Duelist quickly reached to press the button on her Duel Disk and her body turned into pixels, disappearing from the virtual world.
Unbeknown to her, a single purple eye was watching her from within the data during all that time and once the Hanoi disappeared from its area, the strange beast dived back into its home that lied deep within the sewers.
Skills:
Aroma Medicine: The user targets 1 monster they control and discards an "Aroma" monster to reveal the top cards of her deck equal to the level of the discarded monster. Then the user sends 1 "Aroma" monster from the reveal cards to the GY to gain LP equal to its ATK and increase the targeted monster's ATK by the same amount. The other cards are shuffle back into the deck.
Hieratic Rebirth: While there are two or more "Hieratic" monsters with the same Level in the user's GY, the user can target two of them. The user banishes one of the target's and if they do, Special Summon the second with its effects negated, then the user can Special Summon 1 Dragon with the same Level from their Deck, but its ATK and DEF become 0.
A/N: Lol, I got no idea why I'm such a sucker to have either Evan or Avice talk about external problems and make them seem eviler with every time they are in the center of focus, but I love doing it!
I was planning to have a bit of Yusaku in this chapter as well, but at the end I choose to leave him for the next chapter. I'm think to have a Go duel as well. Since next chapter would take place somewhere during the time of episodes 14-15, we will go to the raid of SOL Technology right after and boy, do I have plans for some amazing duels there. Be sure to look forward to them!
Also, a few words about the new characters that we saw in this chapter. Obviously, Private Unit was a one chapter thing, so he won't show up again, but the new Knights of Hanoi are actually going to plan a major role in later arcs of the story. Also, if the VRAINS anime doesn't reveal the other Lost Children I plan to have Nulline be the one after which the Water Ignis was based off, but what do you guys think? Would you like if I did that? I don't want to connect Blue Angel to the incident because I don't think it would benefit her character. I prefer to believe that she became an amazing duelist on her own accord rather than due to the incident which as far as we saw seemed to have turned most of its victims into unstoppable Dueling machines...
Thanks to ringtaillemur0 and Dragon Of The Ecplising Moon for favoriting this story!
Next, I will respond to the reviews and they are a few more than usual this time around.
ThePLOThand: I will respond to both of your reviews here. First off, I apologize that it took me so long to start updating Tracers again, I will try to give both stories the same amount of time from here on and yes, I plan to try and utilize Soulburner in this story. I'm not sure if I will be able to do so, but I'm not going to remove him.
Well, honestly, Evan doesn't have any deep ideals, for him all that matters is his own victory and nothing else. Although he have matured quite a bit since his Tracer self, victory at all cost is still something he believes into, although he is trying to forget his former self as seen in this chapter. Because of that I'm not sure how interest a crash with the forementioned characters would be. Don't worry that isn't shameless at all, I want to write amazing duels as well, but I'm not sure if I'm able to do it properly, so yeah... That was that...
ScalchopWarrior: More like Beta Saber as in Beta Saber, but the original was a monster that unfortunatelly didn't get more than one appearance so I don't blame for forgetting about it.
Also the part "was expecting those two cards to have at least 3 different effects on them for combos" got my attention because, it mentions something I don't like about how the ChronoGear archetype. When making Evan's deck I want the effects to be simple, not more than 2 effects per card and I want the effects to be able to cover as many differen situations as possible while keeping them simple for easy combos. My idea with Evan's deck was always to make it a bit more realistic than the decks of other OCs from other stories and have him try to overcome different situations using the same cards.
Back to Beta Saber, I felt that some people might be missing the dragons from Arc-Twins so I actually have plans to give the others an appearance as well in the future. If we remove the part about liking Salamangreats and Soulburner, everything else you said about his deck is exactly my point. Even worse, than generic Cyberse, Soulburner's deck has almost no swarming capability and it relies on a very specific combo between two cards to bring out Heatleo.
Ok, I will fight you '5 v 1', just let me find five guys to beat you while I watch ;)
Starman 003: And hey there another fan of Arc-Twins here! About the age thing, I did state that Elizabeth was last year at school so that makes her 18-19 years old and while Evan's age isn't mentioned, he is PHYSICALY 19 years old. Yeah that might sound like an unlikely age for someone who owns a company, but don't forget that Kaiba and Reiji were the heads of companies while they were kids, so there is that.
As for how he got Beta Saber, well... he was a completely new deck after all and this version of the monster isn't anything special, unlike its original counterpart, so Evan got it during the 3 years gap.
stardusthero: Heh, I actually smiled a lot at this, but there won't be a Yusaku x Roxy ship in this story, sorry guys. If anything I'm going to do a Yusaku x Aoi ship and I already have a plan for a mini-arc about it set a bit after the Tower of Hanoi Arc where Evan, Avice and Roxy will have to take on the impossible mission as Cupid's Sevenths Squadron. Also, there was a plan for a Roxy ship, but I gave up on doing it because some of you boys and girls might find yourself uncomfortable with it... #Roxywillprobablyremainalone
That's all I got to say in this chapter. See ya next time!
Diabolic Tracer out!