"No one can escape the fate that is set for them, that's what destiny is. There are no mistakes. My destiny is to make sure this world becomes a paradise by allowing people to plan for their future by embracing their destiny and living without a care in the world. There is no changing destiny, otherwise it would be useless. It is all meant to be."
"You have one hell of a philosophy on that question, my dear friend .You speak it as the absolute truth"
"The idea of religion is predicated on destiny after all so it's not unnatural for me to think that way. Mother Mary knew that her son would end up dying for humanity's sins, that's what fate and destiny is. I want to be able to bring that foresight to all."
Yuri didn't foresee this happening at all, not in the slightest. When the debacle had begun he was in one of Shuzo's "lessons" and was listening to Tatsuya explain some trivial knowledge he had about tribute summoning. Not that Yuri wanted to listen to something he already knew everything about, but it was sure as hell better than listening to whatever the hell Sora was doing with the food he had been "fusing" together. Just a waft of the unholy abomination was enough to send him gagging and actively make him pay attention for once in his life.
Less than an hour later, he was standing across the field from Reiji Akaba, the teenage President and the CEO of the Leo Corporation that was trying to steal his adopted father's legacy away from him. If he had a larger vocabulary then maybe he might have been able to put his hatred and anger into words, but as of present all he could was to project the best, most intimidating aura he could, drawing on the short time he had spent at Academia.
"I've read an awful lot about you, Yuri Sakaki." Reiji said out of the blue as Yuri finalised his set up for the duel, running through all the combos he could do with various hands in his head. "More specifically, how you came to be adopted into the Sakaki family."
Yuri narrowed his eyes suspiciously, there was little chance that Reiji had brought up this topic without good reason and the elder grey haired teen continued "I don't know how, but I know that you weren't on any official records until a one Yuya Sakaki vanished from Maiami city. It's almost as if you took his place."
"What are you insinuating?" Yuri asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes. This guy. There was something off about Reiji Akaba. It was a different kind from the weird, uncanny nature of Shiki and his brigade. Reiji Akaba knew much more than he should and Yuri wanted to know how.
That name… Akaba…
It sounded familiar for some odd reason.
Reiji pushed up his glasses, smirking enigmatically "Oh, nothing. I'm just asking questions." He then threw his arm out "Now! Pick the action field and let us duel!"
The Predator Plant duelist's eyes widened "What? You're going to allow us to pick the field?"
"Why not? We are the invaders after all, the least one can do is be courteous to their enemies and not treat it like a game." Reiji replied, his comment certainly hitting home with one person in particular. Said person was also currently wilting under the sharp green gaze of Shiki as the sandy haired male hovered menacingly behind them.
'Right, so far all I've done is choose fields that have given them a complete advantage over us. I need to choose the perfect field to make sure Yuri can win!' Inspiration then struck Shuzo as he thought back to the initial incident that start this crazy last few days "I got it! Action Field, Blooming Beginnings! Activate!"
The scene around the two waiting duelists began to shift. The scene developed quickly to show an illustrious, graceful and open field full of different kinds of plants and flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, lilies, camellias that extolled the beauty of the field. However, there was a dark more macabre side to it, the side where the laugh had come from. It was filled with thorny plants with saliva dripping from the monstrous mouths they had. Venus Fly Traps, Solanum Dulca and numerous other disgustingly deadly plants filled out the foreboding side. Naturally, Yuri found himself more steeped into the predator side, whilst Reiji was stood somewhere in between them and was looking somewhat perplexed.
"It's beautiful!" Shiki shouted out like a child with a lovesick gaze overtaking him. His students sighed. Kioka in particular not pleased that the person who ran a Duel School that literally had gargoyles outside its doors, was so enthralled with stupid flowers. "Where's this field been my whole life?!"
Ignoring Shiki, Yuri felt more assured now that this particular field had been selected. Why Shuzo hadn't picked it for his duel against Hokuto would just be a testament to the principal's stupidity.
After all. This was the first field that he had used when he first appeared in Standard.
(Flashback)
He could remember the day he first properly stepped into the field, well, not so much as stepped but rather pushed into it by a smiling Yusho, who had taken it upon himself to introduce Yuri to the "family" style of dueling that "Yuya loved so much".
Needless to say, for someone who had spent the previous year of his life training without one, he was utterly confused and shocked by the Action Field that came into being around him. Meanwhile, Yuzu on the other side of the field was in total and complete joy, happily skipping about the field through the flowers littered on her side.
Yuri could remember hesitantly sticking out his hand before reeling it back in. He could recall the Professor and some of the instructors once mentioning to him that duel disk technology relied on something called "Real Solid Vision" that gave the cards the feeling of being alive, allowing one to physically interact with their own monsters. However, he had seen no such thing being used to generate this thing and thus he was unsure about how to proceed.
He looked back at Yusho, who at this stage was with Shuzo in the observation box. The man who had become his adopted father smiled softly, motioning for Yuri to continue with his hand, urging him to touch his surroundings and then going off to whisper something to Shuzo behind his hand.
Once more, Yuri moved his hand and slightly grazed the white lily next to him. As he did so, he almost recoiled back in shock, there was no possible way that it could feel that real and it was frankly mind-blowing.
Luckily (?) to stop Yuri from over thinking it further, Yuzu decided to perk up with "Aww! Is big bad Yuri scared of a little flower?"
Any doubt left in his mind vanished after that.
He was still in that particular phase of his life, so that playful insult had a much greater effect on him then than it ever would now.
But he still would never look past that day.
(Flashback end)
"I suppose it's time that we begin this match." Reiji said matter-of-factly, levelling Yuri with a slight glare.
Yuri returned the glare as his lips quirked upwards for the briefest moment "Indeed. It's time for me to show you why you have no right to invade us!"
Following the group rendition of the action duel chant, it finally came down to Yuri and Reiji as they declared "Duel!" Simultaneously.
Reiji's LP: 4000 Yuri's LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"I hope you don't mind that I shall be taking the first turn here." Reiji stated, still glaring at Yuri like he was the devil incarnate "It's only natural since I allowed you to choose the field that I would be allowed the first turn. A quid pro quo, so to speak."
"Fine by me, the cause is still not going to change the effect." Yuri replied snidely, waving Reiji off flippantly.
"I'll start off by Normal Summoning D/D Savant Kepler to my field!" Reiji's first monster of the duel was a mechanical monstrosity, a robot of contraptions and Rube Goldberg machines that clunked its way onto the field. A few small balls that were like planets orbited around it, fitting to the name it bore.
However, the design wasn't the only unusual thing about it.
And it certainly wasn't the reason why Yuri and the rest of the people watching, bar the LDS crowd, were stunned to their very core.
D/D Savant Kepler, Level 1, Fiend, DARK, Pendulum, Effect (0/0) PS: 10
"Wh-what?!" Yuri etched out behind his gritted teeth with his eye wide in shock. His hands fluctuated between fists and sweating palms as he grasped his earring with hand.
"Shocked, are we?" Reiji's voice penetrated the silence with an incredible, suffocating amount of smugness coming from it as he pushed up his glasses. His mother in the background was looking just as smug as Himika raised her hand haughtily over her mouth.
"Bu-But I thought Reiji said that they wanted study Yuri's pendulum cards!" Shuzo was the next one to speak up, his voice chopping and changing in between fear, anger, and surprise. "How on earth does he have his own ones?!"
Reiji was quick to interject "Simply believing that because I said I wanted to "study" them that that would mean that I didn't have any knowledge of them or my own version of them would be a massive presumption. Yuri's duel with Strong Ishijima happened nearly two weeks ago now, we at LDS have had ample time as a result to consider how to make them a reality in a proper way. We do, in fact, want to study Yuri's cards so we can have a better understanding of them, but don't ever assume that LDS hasn't already begun its research beforehand. Hence, my monster here, D/D Savant Kepler. The first of its kind."
"That can't be! He must be cheating! Yuri-oniichan is the only one who has Pendulum Cards!" All of the kids decided to shout in unison. Their voices easily reverberating around the increasingly cramped observation room.
"Progress must march onwards." Was Himika's smug response to the children's outcry.
However, back on the field, Yuri seemed to have gotten over the shock as he dramatically threw out his hand, looking down it as if he were holding Reiji himself "It would seem… That despite your research… You've made one crucial error! Not only have you wasted your Normal Summon this turn on a zero attack point monster, but you also have no idea about where Pendulum Monsters are supposed to go! There's a reason there's a special zone where they can activate their effects, you know?!" The urge to cackle like a madman was strongly resisted by Yuri for the most part, although a few brief bursts did break through after as he placed the hand that had been previously over his earring, over his face instead.
"Oh, I am perfectly aware of that, Yuri Sakaki." Reiji replied dryly, as if it were taxing for him to even speak to Yuri "I just happen to already know how to beat you this turn and I just wanted to show you this before the bell tolled for you."
With that cryptic remark, Yuri raised an eyebrow in reply and motioned for Reiji to continued, which the CEO did gladly "I activate the effect of Kepler! Once per turn, when it has been Normal Summoned, I can add one "Dark Contract" from my deck to my hand! And I shall activate it now! Dark Contract with the Forbidden Pot!" As the card came into life, so too did the art. A very infamous green pot was sat in the centre whilst a purple liquid was spilling from it, an array of gems was laid out just before it, and in the corner of the art was a hand with a quill that was preparing to sign the titular contract. "Now, on each of my next standby phase, if this card remains on my field I will be taking 3000 points of damage."
Silence reigned once more. Yuri in particular was in the business of cleaning out the wax from his ears. Had he heard that correctly? 3000 points of damage? Was Reiji insane?! That was 75% of his life points down the drain the next turn!
"Each of his standby phases?" Yuzu parroted, touching the glass gently.
"My, I didn't know Reiji-kun was such a masochist!" Shiki whistled, once more filling up his daily quota of inappropriate reactions to situations.
"Recall how I used the term "Quid pro quo" earlier. In business, you must always give something to get something, this principle follows through to Dark Contract with the Forbidden Pot. I must sacrifice 3000 Life points but with its effect I am allowed the luxury of drawing an additional two cards from my deck this turn!" With flair, Reiji swiped at the top two cards of his deck, the two cards becoming cloaked in a purple glow not unlike the liquid in the card art "However, I am now locked into the contract's terms of only summoning D/D or D/D/D for the rest of this turn."
Still trying to get his head around why Reiji would make such a risky and dangers move, Yuri said nothing as Reiji continued his turn with blazing speed "I then activate another contract! Dark Contract with the Gate! This card allows me to add one Level 4 or lower D/D monster from my deck to my hand, although I will once more have to pay up as I will lose 1000 life points on each of my next standby phases. With it, I shall add D/D Swirl Slime to my hand!"
That made 4000. Yuri was definitely hearing it correctly. Reiji had declared that he would end him this turn despite not being able to attack, and very clearly he was going all in like a poker player that hadn't even seen the cards on table yet.
"Now I play Swirl Slime's effect!" Reiji relentless pursuit continued "I can send this card in my hand along with another D/D Monster, such as D/D Savant Thomas, to the graveyard and then Fusion summon using those two monsters as the materials!" A swirling multi-coloured vortex appeared behind Reiji, the two monsters, another Rube-Goldberg like Monster made of wood and a small insignificant looking slime creature with beady eyes, were soon collated together into a blinding light "I call upon the Netherworld to breathe life into my creation! Bring me a conquer that knows no bounds!" The light collapsed as Reiji brought his hands together "I Fusion Summon! Level 6! Be born! D/D/D Flame King Genghis!" Emerging from the vortex was a black slime like creature with a large red longsword with a golden hilt and red shield. An aura of fire coated him and oppressed the surrounding area, a few of the flowers nearby catching on fire as a result.
D/D/D Flame King Genghis, Level 6, Fiend, FIRE, Fusion, Effect (2000/1500)
Yet another bout of silence, only penetrated by Sora's shock and Yuri's ire "Fusion… Not only do you try to steal this school, you steal Pendulum and then you steal Fusion?!"
"Angry, are we?" Reiji said with a dismissive flip of his hand "For you to assume that I wouldn't come in here without a certified method to call my own would be a presumption. Personally speaking, I think presumptions are the most terrifying thing in the world. Mankind is something that is impossible to predict 100% of the time. So to have an assumption that you're in control or that your power is impressive is truly a dangerous thing."
"Don't get too annoyed, Lily, my precious butterfly." Came Shiki's voice just before Yuri could do or say something stupid. "Reiji-kun here is a master manipulator in his own right, he's trying to rile you up to throw you off."
"No one asked for your opinion, Sogami!" Himika shouted at him with a fervour she had not yet shown.
Reiji, calm and as in control as ever, ignored the spat developing between the two adults "Now! I activate yet another contract! Dark Contract with the Swamp King! With this contract I can Fusion Summon without the need for Polymerization, and with just monsters from my hand or field! Although, the price for this is simply 2000 extra life points."
"Argh! Again with fucking Polymerization! It's not the same fucking thing! You stupid fucking idiots! How hard is it to name something fucking accurately! Retarded, pig fucking, dumbass, bird brained, fucking idiots! The stupid idiot is also losing 6000 Life points now! How retarded is he?!" Kichirou shouted, pounding the wall behind him with numerous kicks whilst handily recounting the growing damage to Reiji. Naturally of course, the kids' ears were quickly covered to prevent them from hearing the profane rant.
"So you're going to Fusion summon again? Well then! The close you come to the predator to the more likely you are to get eaten!" Yuri said with as much confidence as he could muster, but internally he deflated at his terrible comeback, what was worse was that he really didn't know what Reiji was going to do. Shiki seemed to know a lot about him but he couldn't exactly ask him and there was no guarantee that the sandy haired male would divulge that information. He would have to prepare for every eventuality at this point. He was rather lucky that he just so happened to draw the prefect hand to deal with this.
"Not exactly." Reiji replied, pushing up his glasses so the sheen would hide his eyes as he flashed a card from his hand "I recall that you said that I failed to understand how Pendulum works. On the contrary, Yuri Sakaki, it is you who doesn't know the full potential of your own method!"
Yuri snarled as Reiji said that, something dark festering within him started to make its way through as he felt his nails start to elongate "What did you say?"
"That there's far more to Pendulum than what meets the eye! And now! I shall show you why I was so confident earlier! With Scale 4 D/D/D Eulogy King Vice Requiem, I set the Pendulum Scale!" With the word "Pendulum" appearing on his duel disk, a column of blue light came into existence next to Reiji. Rising within the column was a hulking gold and black behemoth with large mechanical hands that extended out of the column that shook the ground with it, tearing the earth and destroying the flowers around it.
D/D/D Eulogy King Vice Requiem, Level 8, Fiend, DARK, Pendulum, Effect (2800/2000) PS: 4
"Wait, I thought he said that Yuri didn't understand Pendulum. He's only using one monster! Using two monsters is how Pendulum works!" Tatsuya said as the other kids and Yuzu nodded along with him.
Just about hearing this, Reiji decided to reply "That's part of the problem that Yuri Sakaki has. Having one Pendulum Monster doesn't mean that it is simply worthless, there is more to Pendulum Monsters than just the Pendulum Scale. Even one monster there is useful."
Yuri's eyes widened when he realised exactly what Reiji meant, but he couldn't get a word out before Reiji spoke up again "I activate the Pendulum effect of King Vice Requiem! With it, I can target any number of "Dark Contracts" I control and destroy them to special summon this card from the Scale to my field! I destroy Dark Contract with the Forbidden Pot!" The large mechanical arms came down and smashed the card, which exploded into pink particles and freed Reiji of the majority of the burden coming to his life points. The arms continued to drag themselves through the earth, right until King Vice Requiem was on the field and staring Yuri down. "Contracts. Such fickle things. One can easily find a loophole and break them anytime."
With the damage dealt to Reiji next turn being down to 3000, the mood in the You Show camp deflated even further.
It would only get worse as Reiji was no nowhere near finished this turn, he was going to make a statement that Yuri "Sakaki" would never forget. "I activate Dark Contract with the Swamp King's effect! I fuse my D/D Savant Kepler and D/D/D Eulogy King Vice Requiem!" The two monsters were sucked into the Swamp King card as Reiji chanted for his new monster "Warrior of legend that saved the siege at Orléans! I Fusion Summon! Level 7! D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc!" The second Fusion monster of the duel was a devilish angelic being that unfurled its wings and revealed a knightly set of white arm as the monster pulled out its own, more elegant, longsword.
D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc, Level 7, Fiend, DARK, Fusion, Effect (2800/2000)
"And now Genghis' effect activates! Since a D/D monster was summoned to my field while Genghis was on it, I can summon one D/D from my graveyard in defence mode! I resurrect D/D Savant Thomas!" Another mechanical beast, this time with a clear front that exposed some kind of face in the front. It looked almost like a lightbulb.
D/D Savant Thomas, Level 8, Fiend, DARK, Pendulum, Effect (1800/2600) PS: 6
"Finally! With the remaining one of the two cards in my hand, Scale 10 D/D Savant Newton, I set the Pendulum Scale!" Ascending next to Reiji was yet another Rube-Goldberg contraption with a large turbine at the bottom and dangling multi-coloured lights that was covered over by red and gold metal, it seemed almost gravity defying.
D/D Savant Newton, Level 7, Fiend, DARK, Pendulum, Effect (0/0) PS: 10
"However, with that I shall end my turn. It's your move, Yuri Sakaki." Reiji, having used up nearly every resource he had, finally stopped to take a breath as his three monsters stood in front of him with the Pendulum Scale set to be completed next turn. He was more than ready to inflict further pain on Yuri when it became his turn once more.
What he had seen in that file meant everything.
Reiji's cards x1
Turn 2
"I draw!" Yuri declared confidently, he wasn't going to be flustered by Reiji's inferior Pendulum cards nor was he going to get more annoyed than he already was by Reiji's petty jabs. He plucked two cards and made to show the CEO exactly why he was the founder of Pendulum and why he was going to protect his father's school "With Scale 1 Predator plant Moray Nepenthes and Scale 8 Predator Plant Flytrap, I set the Pendulum Scale!" Both monsters than began to appear in blue pillars of light. Moray Nepenthes to the left had a large one underneath it whilst Fly Trap had gained an eight below it.
"Swing pendulum of the soul! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum summon!"
"The ever beautiful Starve Venemy Dragon and Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra both in attack mode!" Starve Venemy was definitely the larger of the two monsters. It was a huge bipedal dragon that had glowing yellow eyes with saliva drooling with from its mouth. Its wings were massive and thorny, if they didn't look so vile in comparison to the rest of the natural world around them, one could even possibly call them beautiful.
Starve Venemy Dragon, Level 7, Dragon, DARK, Effect (2500/2000) PS: 1
Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra, Level 5, Plant, DARK, Effect (800/2300) PS: 4
"Oh? Not going for Starve Venom?" Reiji queried with the hint of a mocking to it as he scanned Yuri's monsters carefully.
"There's more than one way to skin a cat." Yuri shrugged nonchalantly "And now I can show you why! I activate Starve Venemy's effect! I target one monster on your field, negate its effect, make it lose 500 attack and finally you take 500 points of damage! I target D/D/D Oracle King D'Arc! Gluttony Spore!" Vines extended out of Venemy constricting the angelic demon monster sucking the life out of the monster before numerous small spores attacked Reiji, sprouting all over his skin.
Reiji's LP: 4000 – 3500
D'Arc's ATK: 2800 – 2300
"Next I'm activating Continuous Spell card Seed Canon Salvo!" Reiji's eyes light up in recognition. That was one of the cards Yuri had used against Strong Ishijima. Yuri smirked as he noticed this "I see this card looks rather familiar to you, but I'll be generous and allow you to hear the effect of this card again. I activate this card by sending one Level 4 or lower Predator Plant monster from my deck to my graveyard, like Predator Plant Lilylizard." The canon loaded up with the seeds from the deconstructed Lilylizard "Then the following can implemented in successive steps, for the start, you lose 300 life points." The canon fired and struck Reiji hard in the arm, had it been any faster it is likely that it would've caused Reiji's sleeve to tear. The flowers behind Yuri and just in front of Reiji had been windswept by the speed.
Reiji's LP: 3500 – 3200
Yuri snapped his fingers with the intention to punctuate what he was about to say "Since the damage was successfully dealt the next effect comes into play! All of your monsters lose 600 attack points!"
Genghis' ATK: 2000 – 1400
D'Arc's ATK: 2300 – 1700
Yuri then turned to the audience with an over the top flourish. He had a smug look on his face that Yuzu knew all too well, it was that kind of face he pulled whenever he thought he was the smartest person in the whole world "Now, you may be asking yourselves "Why is Yuri doing this?" The answer is very simple! You see, Reiji Akaba seems like a very smart person, one doesn't create cards that previously didn't exist from just viewing them, and being the head of the company he must have at least some degree of nous to his abilities. One could even say that he could've manipulated the entire situation at the warehouse just so he could invade us, but that's just a theory. Regardless! He has telegraphed his plan for the duel from the start and I shall exploit it to the fullest!"
"Oh? Please do tell me what my plan is." Reiji fired back, keeping his tone even and calm "If you know better than I do then it would only be right for you to explain it."
"If you so desire!" Yuri flashed a slight wild grin at Reiji in an effort to unnerve the other "I would like everyone to turn their attention to the amount of damage that would be done to Reiji Akaba by his Dark Contracts. If you recall, the total would be 3000 Life Points and as of present he has 3200 Life Points!"
Out of the You Show crowd, it was Tatsuya who had gathered it first "I see! Yuri-oniichan is trying to lower Reiji's Life points so that when it becomes Reiji's turn again the effect of the Dark Contracts will defeat him without Yuri-oniichan ever having to lift a finger!"
Too wrapped up in his own little world to hear Tatsuya, Yuri continued talk down to Reiji like a nagging teacher "Doing the maths in my head that would mean you only need to lose 200 more Life Points in order to be killed by the noose you tied around your own neck! But then I had another thought. A thought about your monsters. Very clearly, Thomas has no effect that is important since you deemed it fodder for a Fusion summon. Genghis' effect is very much obvious, we've seen it in action after all. That would leave me with just one question, what is D'Arc's effect? Eh? Want to tell?" The darkness that had festered during Yuri's earlier anger took hold for just a split second. Nothing longer. However, it was more than enough for the temperature in the room to drop a few digits in degrees.
"Well, I suppose under the conditions of full disclosure I should tell you in good faith." Reiji started off "However, I don't really think I shall, considering you haven't followed that process either." Something akin to a knife stabbed in between Yuri's shoulder blades with Reiji's words, his back tensing unnaturally "Although, I'm sure that you're already fully aware of my plan as you said so yourself. I don't really need to tell you D'Arc's effect, do I?"
"My guess that is that it probably has an effect that will either negate the damage or have you profit off of it, am I correct or am I correct?" Yuri replied, not letting whatever that previous feeling was get to him in any noticeable way.
Reiji readjusted his glasses "Widening the sample size to get a right answer? You're crafty, Yuri Sakaki. But I don't think I shall give you the answer regardless of what you said, I already gave you that piece of information. How about you attack D'Arc since you seem so set on weakening it?"
Yuri wanted to growl but he had to play it cool for the time being, only when he was assured of his victory would he allow of all of his feelings to be released "Suit yourself! Battle! Starve Venemy attack D/D/D Oracle King D'Arc!" Vines and roots erupted from the ground, destroying the flowers in the field, probably having slowly been slinking their way over to Reiji's monsters from the moment that Starve Venemy had used its effect. They captured D'Arc and strangled the angelic demon until the monster shattered into numerous pieces, the vines then extended and struck Reiji viciously.
Himika, for some odd reason, felt a kind of phantom pain as she witnessed her son undergo the attack. The LDS trio could also feel the same pain, although it came from the oppressive malefic aura that seemed to emanate from the monster and Yuri for whatever reason.
Reiji's LP: 3200 – 2400
"And with that, I shall end my turn!" Yuri took a bow, his job done and the school safe he saw no reason for discretion. After all, Reiji had likely ended his turn under the assumption that D'Arc was going to be on the field for his standby phase to mitigate the damage, with it gone then he would have nothing to worry about and could just sit and drink it all in.
Genghis' ATK: 1500 – 2000
The kids cheered in sync "Time to lose!"
How dare he?
How dare he think that he had the ability to beat him?
Keh, this wasn't even the strongest he could get.
This was only the beginning.
He could only get even more powerful.
His Father would be so proud of him for defending his school.
Reiji Akaba was nothing!
Nothing!
Turn 3
"Foolish. How utterly foolish of you." Reiji said before he took his draw, levelling Yuri with the most toxic glare that he could muster "For you to think that I would come here with simply one way to survive would be a foolish assumption. An assumption that Yusho Sakaki would never make, for he is much superior to you."
Another bout of silence loomed, the kids holding their breath, Sora stopping his obsessive binge eating, Gongenzaka and Yuzu holding their breath collectively, the LDS trio looking somewhat dumbfounded whilst Himika had the same kind of haughtiness that she had walked in with, the Enchanted Underworld grouping just as dumbfounded even Shiki seemed to be a bit perplexed with the whole situation.
Yuri wasn't any of these things.
Yuri was positively irate.
His blood boiling in his veins as that stabbing sensation returned a hundred fold.
It may have been just for an instant. A split second in the greater scheme of things. Something that may never happen again.
But Reiji would forever swear that Yuri's eyes had flashed fully purple for that instant. No pupils. No signs of humanity. Just pure purple.
"What did you say?" Even his voice was starting to show signs of inhumanity. Reiji wasn't troubled though, it would seem that he had simply found his topic that triggered Yuri beyond logical thought. The grey haired CEO turned his gaze over to where a certain sandy haired male was standing, he really had to thank him for those lessons all those years ago.
(Flashback)
"Umm, Mother, what's going on?" If Reiji remembered correctly he was only about 13 at that time. He wasn't dressed much differently from how he was in the present day, he didn't have is scarf and his blue sweater was darker with three diamonds going across the middle, his ears had also yet to be pierced but they all would come in the following years.
The younger Reiji looked at the scene in front of him with curiosity and apprehension. His mother had called him into the room just moments prior. It was natural and logical to assume that it was simply more of a briefing on his training for being the one to take over the company since his father's…
He quickly shook that thought out of his head as soon as his eyes took in the person who was standing next to his Mother. The man was remarkably handsome with almost flawless porcelain skin and sharp green eyes, sandy hair that fell out from the sides of the fedora, his outfit was relatively simple consisting of a black fur hooded jacket with another red jacket underneath, there was a white dress shirt with a skinny black tie and black trousers that were rolled up to his knees, finally he was also wearing a pair of red trainers. "Following Leo's… Departure… And us taking in Reira, I decided that it was finally time for you to meet with him… To learn what he has to tell us…" His mother sounded very unsure of herself, her feet shuffling her body away from the man's side.
Said man walked forward and bent down to Reiji's level "Hello there, little butterfly." His voice was jovial and soft yet Reiji couldn't help but think that something was wrong. His mother's tension signified as much. "My name is Shiki Sogami, I'm going to be your tutor for a bit. Nothing special, just a few things round the edges since I've heard that you're already quite strong for your age." Shiki had moved closer to Reiji during the course of his sentence, he was now invading Reiji's personal space and his head was hovering just over Reiji's shoulder.
Strangely enough, Reiji had expected that he'd feel some sort of breath across his neck, be it hot or cold. But he had felt nothing.
He didn't have much time to think about that though, his mother was speaking again "Sogami here is going to train you for a bit. As much as I am loathed to admit it, I don't have the same level of expertise in this particular subject that he does and I couldn't find anyone else who was willing to undertake the job as well."
"But what is this about?" Reiji found himself asking before he could stop, Shiki's body shifted closer again as Reiji squirmed in the growing presence of this stranger.
"Mental games, butterfly." Shiki spoke, flashing a predatory grin up at the grey haired teen as he leaned in to whisper the next part in Reiji's ear "The most important part of duelling, next having good cards, is being able to unsettle your opponent into making mistakes with their own cards. Just like what I've done with you now." The sandy haired male stood back up and smiled again, a lot less predatory than before "Hearts are a lot like brains, if you can cast enough doubt in their heart their mind is sure to collapse. You cause doubt in their mind, their heart will start to sway. Sorry about creeping you out though! It's just to set the tone!"
The man was laughing, but Reiji wasn't. The young teen didn't know how much of what had just happened was real or part of the "tone" that Shiki was trying to set. The man had set his mother on edge from the moment that Reiji had seen them together, and presently as he stared at Shiki's expression there was something that he knew wasn't quite right.
But he had to take every opportunity that fell at his feet. Regardless of who this man really was he was going to be a valuable piece in the future. His father was plotting something, Reiji had seen as much during that "accident", realistically he was going to need as many people on his side as he could to further his plans to confront his father.
And who really knows? Shiki Sogami might teach him a thing or two.
(Flashback end)
"Ah, did I hit a nerve? My apologies then, I didn't mean to insult you." A lie that was pretty much obvious to literally everyone "I just simply admire Yusho Sakaki that much. He had a tenacity and determination that inspired me greatly, so much so, that I'm nearly offended that someone like you is related to someone like him."
Yuri bit back on his tongue, letting Reiji continue unimpeded "I'm sorry to have to say something like that, truly I am, and it's simply my appreciation for a man that unfortunately is no longer presently with us. Yusho Sakaki was a man that didn't let anything faze him during any situation, he was almost like a man that could lead an army. Yet, he never forgot that his true mission was to make people smile. I'm sure you can corroborate on that fact, can't you?" Yuri slowly nodded his head, biting back even harsher on his lip to prevent the string of profanities that he wanted to shout down at Reiji. "Which is why it's strange to me that someone like you turned out to be his charge. Someone who would much rather laugh at their victims as if you were playing a sick hunting game instead of actively pursuing Yusho's philosophy."
"Shut up…" Yuri mumbled, the biting back on his lip was now starting to hurt him. Warm, metallic blood began to flow down his tongue as he zeroed in one particular comment that Reiji made. He had made a similar comment just before the duel had started as well. This one seemed different though, whereas the first comment had seemed more like Reiji thinking aloud and recounting some fact from the top of his head, this one sounded like he knew what he was talking about and knew perfectly well what the answer was.
Come to think of it further, he had said something similar right at the very beginning about invaders having to be "courteous" at the very least when invading other people's land. You Show in this particular case. The cogs in Yuri's brain had been turning wildly to come up with any possible scenario that could lead to Reiji making these comments, a vast number of them were coming to mind and being dismissed as fantasy just as quickly.
In the end he came down to two scenarios that were likely. One, the one he sincerely hoped would be the case, was that Reiji was simply playing up this angle for dramatic effect and to try and throw him off of his game even more than he had done so already.
He desperately hoped the second was false.
The second theory that Reiji knew everything about Academia and Yuri.
That thought terrified him above all else.
"Hmm? Ah, yes, it would seem that I'm rambling." Reiji apologised as he fixed his glasses back into place "Where was I…? That's correct, I was about to show you why you had been so foolish as to believe that I only had one way out of my Dark Contracts! A mistake Yusho would have never made!"
"Huh, Reiji-kun seems to really being going in on the whole Yusho angle, doesn't he? Almost makes you wonder…" Shiki mused to no one, however, his students in particular, looked up at him in reverence as if they were expecting him to finish the thought he had just had. Looking over slightly revealed the other kids looking at him expectedly like he was some omniscient messiah. Flustered, his face flushed and he hid quickly behind his fedora "Nothing! Nothing! Just pay attention to the duel and leave me alone to think!"
Reiji flipped around the last card in his hand as the dark power behind the dark contract finally started to make its claim to his soul. "Loopholes are just one way to get out of a bad contract, of course another way is to have someone else rewrite it in your favour. Just as my new monster shall! I activate the effect of my D/D/D Burning Emperor Nero from my hand!"
A sea of flames erupted, the area around Reiji burning and cremating as ridiculously hot blue flames licked them relentlessly. Seeing such beautiful flowers wilt was almost painful to Yuri and he was positively sure that Shiki, if not presently trying to pretend that he didn't exist, would be dying from lack of water.
From the flames, the monster emerged, it was a humanoid monster much in the style of Flame King Genghis size wise. Three quarters of its body seemed to be covered in some kind of white goo that looked and smelled like burning candle wax. The top half of its body was covered in a black goo, a substance that seemed an awful lot like tar, a small blue flame seemed to be lit on a small wick at the top of the substance. In contrast to the previous humanoid monsters, Nero didn't carry any offensive weapon, instead it was carrying an old age fiddle with it and had softly been playing music with comparative calm to the situation around it.
"D/D/D Burning Emperor Nero's effect! Whenever I should take damage from an effect during my standby phase, I can summon this card from my hand to the field and then negate that damage! Nero!" Nero took the hint, slowly playing the fiddle with the grace of an Emperor that wouldn't be disturbed by anything that was happening around them. The dark hold that had creeped in on Reiji's heart was gently lulled away as Nero came to the finish of the melody, putting its arms by its side and finally taking a battle position.
D/D/D Burning Emperor Nero, Level 7, Fiend, DARK, Pendulum, Effect (2400/1000) PS: 3
"And now, without any delay, I activate the effect of my Dark Contract with the Gate! I use it to add D/D Orthros to my hand!" The card ejected from Reiji's deck and he swiftly put on the other end of his duel disk to Newton, the rainbow coloured word "Pendulum" appearing across his duel disk finally.
Orthros was a bipedal two headed dog in metal armour that barked, clawed, and snapped at the air as it ascended to Reiji's side. In the observation room, Teru let out an inaudible small indigent huff at the sight of the monster.
D/D Orthros, Level 4, Fiend, DARK, Effect, Pendulum, (600/1800) PS: 4
"With the Scale 3 D/D Orthros and Scale 10 D/D Savant Newton I now have the ability to summon monsters from levels 4 through to 9!" Reiji's declaration set the entire You Show camp at unease, Yuzu was unable to shake the prevailing feeling that something terrible was going to happen as Reiji made a grand sweep of the area with his arms like he was the commander of an army.
Suddenly, the grey haired CEO erupted into ferocious laughter, throwing his head back and covering it with his hand "Ahahahahahahahah! Sorry! It's very unsightly of me, it's just that I've realised something that you may have failed to notice so far! A way to extend Pendulum summoning to greater and greater heights!" Yuri felt his fingernails ding into his skin from his clenched fist as something dark and macabre inside his very soul started to get very offended.
Everyone looked at each other, even the LDS group were perplexed by what Reiji had just said "Yuri Sakaki, I think it's high time you realised the fact of the situation here! Not so much about the duel but about the future of Pendulum Summoning! Rarely is it that the inventor will be the one that brings it to prominence, instead it is the one that evolved the product into its new form! Thomas Edison didn't invent the light bulb, twenty two people before him did! He won out because he evolved it, just like I will evolve Pendulum Summoning it something else! For Pendulum Monsters can be summoned from the Extra deck too!"
"WHAT?!" The kids, and Shuzo, exclaimed in ear splitting screeches "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE AND HOW DOES YURI NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!?"
"Grand power that shakes my very soul! Arise within me and give birth to a new light that rends the darkness! Pendulum Summon! Come before me, my monsters!" The portal in the sky above Reiji opened and a massive wave of dark purple energy flowed out of it, revealing "Level 8 D/D/D Eulogy King Vice Requiem and D/D Cerberus!"
The hulking form of King Vice Requiem came to the field once more, doing more this time to destroy the beautiful landscape of the field around it with its massive arms. Next to it came a monster that looked very similar to Orthros, except like the Cerberus of legend it had three heads and had much darker fur. It too was feral, chewing up the ground and flowers around it like a poorly trained house dog might do to anything it could law its teeth into.
D/D Cerberus, Level 4, Fiend, DARK, Effect, Pendulum, (1800/600) PS: 6
'Why? Why can he Pendulum Summon on his first try?! How is that even possible?!' Yuri raged internally. This was becoming worse and worse by the second, he had honestly thought he had seen through Reiji's plan when he had decided to target King D'Arc since he knew that that monster had to be the crux of everything since Reiji refused to play a Spell or Trap card that would've mitigated the damage. He just wasn't banking on him having another card in hand that could do the same as King D'Arc!
And then Reiji had gone and pulled this out of his bag of tricks, this would need to be carefully monitored to prevent it from getting out of hand. Yuri readied himself for what would inevitably happen next. He saw the Action Card that was lying not that far away from him, the card would be his insurance policy.
"Cerberus' effect! Whenever this card is Pendulum or Normal Summoned while I control a D/D monster other than this card, I can target one Continuous Spell from my graveyard to my hand!" Reiji then smirked as Cerberus tore further into the ground "And I think you remember what the only Continuous Spell in my graveyard currently is, Dark Contract with the Forbidden Pot!" Rising up from the destroyed earth, the card reappeared as if it was mocking Yuri directly. "Then I shall activate its effect! Allowing me to draw two cards from my deck at the cost of being locked into only D/D or D/D/D for the rest of the turn!" Those additional cards only further added insult to injury for Yuri, who was already slowly making his way to the Action Card as to not arouse Reiji's suspicions.
Luckily for him, Reiji was still mulling something for the future over in his head, if he could properly perfect these prototypes and then defeat the creator at his own game, mastering said game in the process, then it was going to be very easy for him to succeed in his future endeavours. It may even drag more people towards him for those coming fights. Inaudibly to anyone else, he let out a small laugh before he began his next move "I do suppose you're aware that there exist other summoning methods than Fusion, aren't you?" He asked, it was mainly directed at Yuri but the others couldn't help but think that it was a general declaration.
Regardless of intent, Yuri nodded, standing in front of the Action card, which was luckily covered by the blades of grass that either weren't destroyed or set on fire.
"Usually, due to the lessons one needs to properly understand the other summoning methods, many people will settle to specialise in one. Like how you choose to specialise in Fusion; or how Shiki decided to make XYZ his own domain. However! Let me show you that that assumption is a fatal miscalculation! For now, I overlay my level 8 D/D Savant Thomas and my Level 8 D/D/D Eulogy King Vice Requiem, to build the Overlay Network!"
As the two monsters reverted into their dark energy forms, everyone who wasn't already aware of Reiji's talent now realised the gravity of the situation at hand. Whilst it may have seemed at first that Reiji Akaba was just a powerful Fusion duelist, it was so very clear now that he was so much more than that as the Overlay portal in front of him. "When two suns climb the sky, the grounds of a new world shall open up! Xyz Summon! Come forth! Rank 8! D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga!"
D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga was the biggest monster so far, nearly breaking the area it was in through its size. It was the prototypical evil looking emperor that sat languidly on its throne as it chuckled darkly when it was summoned. Two purple orbs floated around it.
D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga, Rank 8, Fiend, DARK, Effect, XYZ, (3500/3000)
While the others were still contemplating picking up their jaws up from the centre of the Earth, Reiji saw the opportunity to twist the knife he had stabbed in Yuri's back "By the by, whenever Kali Yuga is summoned, for the rest of the turn all effects on the field will be negated. Including any effects that would want to be activated, including any Action cards!"
The last part made Yuri stagger back and glare down at the last card in his hand in desperation, Polymerization was useless in this situation. He had been planning to use it on his next turn, if Reiji did indeed survive his turn, but he didn't know he would use a monster that powerful in a duel like this!
"Yuri Sakaki! I said that I would beat you into submission! With these monsters, it is time for you to accept your defeat!"
(Meanwhile)
All he needed to do was stay calm.
He needed to think rationally.
One wrong move in this situation and his world might just start to shit on him even more.
His skin was on fire and his sweaty clothes clung tightly to his ever paling skin. Jesus Christ, he hated being out in the sun for any prolonged period of time. His body was already weird enough with everything else it did to him, literally the last thing he needed was to be sweating buckets in an already comprising position.
Honest to God, he was thinking of stripping there and now and damning the consequences as something that was fated to happen.
But he had to maintain some form of public decency, even if it killed him. He wasn't brought up in a barn after all.
All he really wanted to do was find a place to cool off and maybe make a start on sorting out his other problem.
The path he had took send him wandering around the whole city, taking him to places that he didn't even know existed, near Duel Schools that he had nearly forgotten due to their inadequacy, and near one in particular that seemed to be having some kind of commotion going on inside if those three hooligans standing outside meant anything.
In the end, his long winded journey had done nothing more than put him back to where he had started off from. Right in the middle of the city and right under the blazing hot sun.
It was the futility, at first, which had made him angry. His already short temper flaring up as he suffered for absolutely no gain.
However, his blood had started to boil when he came across the scene he was staring at now. He knew that he would be punished for doing something like this, hell, he got punished for his mere fucking existence. But this was a time where he couldn't let it slide.
He had stumbled upon the scene whilst the event was in progress. A tall teal haired teenager with a tattered blue trench coat and red scarf around his neck was duelling with a brown haired man that looked absolutely terrified by the situation. On the teal haired teen's field there was a moderately large armoured falcon with three orbs of energy circulating out it, meanwhile the man had an imposing looking monster on his field. Dredging it up from his memory, he could guess that the man's monster was likely The Last Warrior from Another Planet.
The man looked absolutely petrified and the teen, although he couldn't see it fully, was absolutely rage filled and wasn't going to listen to reason hell or high water. "You Fusion Freaks are all over the place! I knew you were in every dimension, you're like a disease! Now tell now where you took Ruri! We know she's here!"
Whoa, whoa, whoa, the fuck? First this guy looks like he just crawled out of a war zone, then he attacks some random man who was probably minding his own business, and now he was talking about different dimensions? And some fucking girl called Ruri was the cause of this? "Gimme a break..." He groaned quietly, hopefully keeping his presence still unknown.
However, the next scene made his skin erupt in pain as every if every burn and cut he had ever got decided to make their appearance. It wasn't like any of the other times they had decided to act up all at once, this time round his entire body felt like he had just travelled to the sun and back.
He felt positively filthy.
"Please! I know nothing! Please… Just spare me! Mercy!" The man had dropped to his knees with his head kissing the earth as if he were kow-towing. In the end it did nothing, the teen attacked and the man was defeated as the armoured falcon descended upon his Fusion monster with the utmost intent to injure the poor man, which it succeeded in doing so by sending him crashing into one of the corrugated iron sheets that were being at the end of the alley for no real reason.
As everything settled down, the falcon vanishing from the field, the teen had stormed forward with the kind of intent he knew all too well. His shitty "brother" had helped to clue him into figuring out what a person's intent was through subtle channels, maybe the one thing that that shit for brains was actually useful for.
The teen held the man, who was still whimpering like a kicked puppy, and placed his duel disk at the man's throat. His finger was hovering over some button that almost certainly wasn't on his own duel disk.
When a bright purple light emerged, his natural revulsion to any form of light had him turning away and shielding his non-covered eye. He wasn't about to go blind anytime soon. One eye was enough, thank you very much!
Returning his gaze to the area of effect, he certainly didn't expect the situation he was now looking at.
A card.
The man had become a piece of cardboard, essentially.
It made him want to scream out in unholy rage right then and there, he could feel them popping up now and that was the signal for action.
Now, he had never considered himself a good man under any circumstances. Screw the whole idea that saving one girl made him a good person, all he did was his duty to prevent that particular toxic fucker from reaching his objective for now.
But there was a saying that he had lived his life by.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
And cleanliness had multiple implications.
Filth was simply not allowed to wander on these streets. It had to be deleted.
He moved to confront the teen.
(Back at You Show)
"Battle! Kali Yuga attacks Starve Venemy! Twin Break Shot!" Black, crackling lightning converged on the horns on Kali Yuga's head, the lightning shot out with a velocity and speed that neither Yuri nor even Reiji had accounted for. The blast ripped through Starve Venemy instantly, tearing it to shreds with no discernible effort. The resulting blast knocked Yuri back far, sending him right to the very edge of the field and back into the second metal wall in consecutive weeks.
"YURI!" Everyone shouted from the You Show camp, including Yuzu who seemed to have been kicked back into life by the sight of her second childhood friend careening once more into a metal wall. She could almost feel the hatred for Reiji Akaba grow cell by cell at this point as she stared at Yuri's now beaten body. That dark influence on her soul that had taken hold during their tag duel with Teru and Kioka came back in full force, and that voice which had spoken up in the final moments of her duel with Daiki decided to come back too as it whispered "That's it… Let it grow… You can't reap what you don't sow… Let it consume you. Reiji Akaba hurt him. Never forget that."
Yuri's LP: 4000 – 3000
'Did I lose control of my emotions?' Reiji thought, shocked by the power of Kali Yuga's attack but more shocked by his own apparent lack of self-control.
'Why does everyone I teach send their opponents into a fucking wall?' Shiki sighed as Yuri began to stagger back to his feet.
The field before Yuri was decimated, every sign of life had been utterly cremated and destroyed by Kali Yuga's. None of the wondrous flowers and plants that had given him such joy when he was younger existed anymore. Reiji's side too was in tatters, Nero's fire and Kali Yuga's lightning had torched his field as he stood at the epicentre of it all fixing his glasses back into place and acting like nothing had happened "D/D/D Flame King Genghis attacks Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra!"
Genghis charged forward and swung its sword clean through Drosophyllum Hydra, usually that would've been all, but for some reason Genghis struck further. Genghis' lunged forward and struck again, this time at Yuri who had only just managed to evade the blow, calling upon his acrobatic skill, at the cost of landing awkwardly on his ankle.
'Again?!' Reiji was dumbfounded now, he was certainly in control of that attack, there were no over spilling emotions. Were his monsters…? No. They couldn't be…
Right?
Yuri's LP: 3000 – 1800
Yuri heaved a breath, his body felt like a ton of bricks. He had only recently recovered from his accident at the hands of Teru and Kioka, but even regardless of that fact he wasn't going to think hitting a metal cage was a positive in any possible way. There were numerous emotions swirling around him, pain, anger, fear.
But the one that hurt him the most was sadness.
He had failed at the end of the day. He had gotten over confident and underestimated Reiji. What was he thinking throwing that shitty ass turn of his?! If Yusho was here right now he would be so very disappointed in Yuri. He would say "Don't worry about it, Yuri! Remember, son, whenever you want to cry, laugh instead!" But deep down he would be disgusted with Yuri "I brought you into the family and this is how you repay me? You lose my life's work? What a disappointment. Yuya wouldn't have made that mistake."
Yuri hung his head low, covering it with his arms like he was a turtle trying to go back into its shell.
Yeah, Yuya wouldn't have made that mistake.
He was the intended son after all.
"Battle! Nero atta-." Reiji was about to announce his final move, the move that would let him develop the weapon that would defeat his father once and for all.
However, Nakajima's face popped up in front of him and stopped him dead in his tracks "Mr President! It's Professor Marco!" Marco? That was that Fusion Professor, wasn't it? What was wrong with him? He looked over at his mother and she seemed to be disturbed by something. That girl, Masumi, was questioning her about something. Did she hear too? "He's been attacked by a duelist using XYZ summoning, the same kind that we've been sensing over the past few days!"
"Wha-." Reiji cut himself off before he could let anything slip, quickly he allowed his stoic visage to replace the shocked one that had slipped through the cracks. An LDS Professor attacked by a duelist with a powerful XYZ summon, no doubt it was related to the ones that he had been tracking for the past few days, and no doubt was it that it was likely related to that person that Shiki had come across on his travels.
He looked over to the defeated Predator Plant duelist as Nakajima's face vanished "We'll finish this another time, Yuri Sakaki." The field around them vanished as the real world setting came into being with a noticeable Yuri sized dent in the cage.
Result: DRAW!
He needed to leave as soon as possible.
Men were men at the end of the day, and he needed all he could get.
Lancers don't create themselves.
(Fusion Dimension)
All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.
Yuya fiddled with the pages of the book he was reading. That grey haired asshole had given it to him as a "gift". Evidently, it was just a means of preoccupying the dual haired solider since Yali was such an asshole that there was no way he was ever going to give Yuya an actual gift. More so give him something that didn't fit with Yali's depressing life view, which he knew meant that this book was purposefully given to him with that thought in mind because Yali was a manipulative bastard. The long haired male had even taken the time to highlight the particular part Yuya had just read, like he was supposed to care about what some depressive fuck had to say.
The only reason Yuya had touched the infernal thing was because the Professor had neglected to do anything that needed his assistance in the past few days. Since he had been sent out to capture that girl, her name eluded him, and her subsequent disappearance, he been little more than a decorative doll. He wasn't even allowed to see his latest successful conquest! The whole situation was getting out of hand and a small part of him wanted to march straight to the Professor and demand some sort of assignment.
He was about to do just that when a voice in his head spoke up. A small, timid voice. One he thought he had vanquished long ago 'S-stop! D-d-don't you remember what happened when we went last?!'
It was that voice again.
That snivelling, cowardly, useless, voice that belonged to his younger immature self. Why was it acting up now of all times?! To make matters worse, a searing pain was now building up in his chest and forced him to grasp the afflicted area with all his might. It felt like lava was actively bubbling underneath his skin and wanted to melt it.
'Of course I do!' His voice. His real voice shouted down to the other one, seemingly lessening the pain in his chest as he did so. Enraptured by this discovery, he started to bombard his weaker self 'What? Are you scared that we might get hurt? If we then that means we simply do better next time! Academia has no place for losers! How you win doesn't matter at all so long as you do!' The pain receded further, which gave him the final incentive to carry on 'And where were we with your philosophy? At the bottom of the food chain! We were worthless! But look at us now! The embodiment of strength! And I will not allow you to ruin this for us, you pest!'
Yuya's hand was presently resting on the doorknob of his room's front door and his ear was now pressed firm against it. His room wasn't too far away from Yali and Reisuke's one, having taken it shortly after meeting them for that first time. Yali and Reisuke did in fact have separate rooms, but with how much time the two of them spent in each other's rooms, it was simpler to just consider it as one place. He couldn't let them know he was leaving, even if it was to see the Professor. The two of them had took ownership of him for whatever reason, and frankly he was sick of it.
From what he could hear, the intermittent voices mentioning something about a "Requiem" and stray sounds from piano keys, Yali and Reisuke were too busy in their own world to be actively paying attention.
Giddily, he leapt out.
He was going to get a new assignment.
And who knows?
He might see his dear Yuzu this time.
A/N: Okay, so I have a bit of explaining to do as to why this chapter is coming out now as opposed to when I said it was. I have a few reasons. 1: My sister, who I rarely see, came over for the week before Christmas and basically took up all of my time by dragging me out to do things. 2: On Christmas day I had a bit if a panic when my Computer didn't start up correctly and I thought I had lost all my files for like 3 days. 3: I've been really busy sorting out my University application forms and the like. 4: I underestimated Reiji and Yuri's duel and actively struggled for a while with figuring it out. Finally, 5: I went through a bit of a rough spell for the last wo weeks and this story was the last thing on my mind.
But now that's all done and I can get to talking about this chapter. For a start I hope you enjoyed the Reiji and Yuri duel, it was something that too up the vast majority of my time writing this chapter, it does end in the same way but due to the existence of a certain character it doesn't necessarily have the same context or effect. Also, I hope you were pleased to see Yuya again after his semi-absence from the story as I focused for Yuri. Yuya is now going to play a more major role as I can officially confirm that the canon path has well and truly died.
Onto the review:
blaznight01: Those were my thoughts too. Reiji as a character is very much goal orientated and is shown to be able to throw away pieces when need be, so it never really fit him to be concerned with the Synchro dimension's issues, maybe the XYZ one since his dad fucked that one up. The Lancers will also all be coming from different places. As you can see as well, Reiji was also a lot more confrontational to Yuri.
Alright, that's it for now.
See you when I see you, some time next month perhaps.