Chapter 3: A dance with Pride
"That's right your charges are under my discretion, Akutoku no Jajjimento." Sateriasis sung into himself as he made his way to school for the day. To anyone that viewed him it was clear that he wasn't exactly in the best state. Sleep was still a major issue for the hunter with him not having a decent sleep in days. The tally was currently at roughly 10 minutes over three days.
"I will not let anyone judge me for what is my sin even if judgment is never given." Sateriasis wasn't particularly looking forward to going to school today, mainly he hated having to contend with Naoki's annoying fanboying over Playmaker and no doubt would he hear about how Playmaker nearly beat Mammon. The other issue was the strange case of Aoi, she suddenly took a great interest in him yesterday and her reaction to Naoki's comment about his father didn't do his suspicion any favours.
As he reached the gates, someone else approached at a crossroads "Good morning Marlon." Aoi said not giving a lick of emotion whatsoever.
"Good morning to you too Zaizen. What do you want?" He said somewhat groggily as he still wasn't fully awake, both of them walked in side by side.
"I just you to answer a few questions of mine." Aoi said bluntly.
"Sure. Just keep it simple, my brain's not functioning properly at the moment." Sateriasis even had trouble processing that sentence.
"Alright. Why did you want to join Duel club?"
"I didn't want to. That Naoki guy basically guilt tripped me into joining." Sateriasis made no attempt to divulge further the reason for why he joined.
"Interesting. That wasn't the answer I was expecting." Sateriasis was stunned by the sheer bluntness of Aoi's statements.
"What did you expect me to say? I turned down the chance to join it three times I wouldn't particularly call that enthusiasm incarnate."
"I expected you mention my brother." Aoi said somewhat spitefully, offending Sateriasis for being so judgmental and assuming things.
"Oh that's what you mean." Sateriasis mentally kicked himself for not recognising it sooner "You're related to Akira Zaizen, the current security manager of SOL. But to assume that he was the reason I joined is a foolish notion."
"I assume that because that's why others approach me or join the club 'Can I have the new duel disk?' 'Can I get a job at SOL when I graduate?'" She stopped walking and looked down to the ground. "I'm used to making fake friends, selfish greedy people that only use me to further themselves. It's a pointless cycle and to compound it my brother doesn't trust me."
She looked up to see Sateriasis staring at her in disbelief "Gumina…" He muttered before speaking to her "Look I'm not interested in either a) getting a new duel disk, the one I have at the minute is perfectly suffice or B) A job at SOL technologies, I simply don't want to work for that company as my father did."
"What did your father work as?" Aoi said, despite receiving information from Akira she was still unsure about what role Sateriasis' father played in SOL.
"He was legal director of the company." Sateriasis answered bluntly as he walked further into the school grounds, wanting to end this talk now. "I'd much appreciate it if you weren't to talk about him."
Aoi didn't expect Sateriasis to be so curt and was stunned at his different reactions to the usual, "O-oh, okay then."
'Aoi Zaizen, keep your nose out of other people's business. First my deck then you want to know more about my father, if I'm right then it would look like you suspect me of hiding something.' While thinking this a hint of Mammon's personality shone through momentarily in the shape of a slight feral grin. 'And you're absolutely correct, such a shame you'll never find out.'
"Hey Marlon! Zaizen!" Issue #2 cheerfully reared his head into the situation.
Sateriasis groaned and cursed God for the luck he received "Hello Naoki, to what fine pleasure do I owe your presence."
"Is that sarcasm?" Naoki said raising an eyebrow.
"Is the sky blue?" came the snarky reply.
"Funny one Marlon. Hey I was wondering if I could see your deck again! It was so cool!" Naoki's enthusiasm was a bit too much for Sateriasis to handle at this time of day, so he practically shoved the deck into Naoki's hands.
"Please keep it down." He pleaded, holding his head "I didn't sleep."
"Oh. Sorry about that." Naoki's eyes trailed down to the deck and landed upon a certain card that took his interest. "Wow! This card looks awesome!" The card he took out was link monster that had 2600 attack points and was a link 3 monster. "Darkstar Dragon of the Court." The Darkstar ace monster in question was similar in design to his real ace but had a more purplish colour scheme. Its three link markers were all pointing up.
"What did I just say about noise…?" Sateriasis muttered weakly.
"By any chance did you see the Mammon and Playmaker duel?" The fanboy Sateriasis loathed had come out, "The hero of VRAINS verses the villain who wanted to corrupt the entire system and Playmaker almost had him. If only Mammon wasn't so lucky…" Naoki said completely ignorant of the fact the so called villain was standing right in front of him, withholding the urge to strangle him then are there.
"No I was busying working so I didn't have the time to catch it." Sateriasis equivocated.
"No wonder you're such a killjoy if you're working all the time."
"My job requires round the clock work so I haven't the time to waste by viewing some stupid little spat." Sateriasis thought back to Gumina in her hospital bed.
Aoi who was listening closely, took interest in what exactly Sateriasis did that would've required him to stay up all that time. 'Could that be the thing he's hiding from everyone?'
"Seriously?! What could possibly require that much work? Surely it must get boring?"
Unaware of the growing suspicion from Aoi, Sateriasis swiped the deck out of Naoki's hands and stared him hard in the eyes holding DDC in between his two middle fingers on his right hand. "Listen here. I'm only going to say this once. You've learned that curiosity killed the cat, that you shouldn't stick your head into situations you know nothing about. In Layman's terms the less you know about me the better." He returned the card to the deck then his pocket "Goodbye." The hunter left the stunned Naoki behind, whilst Aoi watched thoughtfully.
"Geez, I was only trying to be friendly." Naoki sighed, folding his arms behind his head "Wonder what his issue is?"
Aoi wasn't paying attention to what Naoki was saying, instead she was focused on what she saw on Sateriasis' palm as he held up his supposed ace. 'Who are you really Sateriasis Marlon?'
Duel club was a two way deal. There was always a meeting before school properly started and one when school had ended for the day. Sateriasis was sat in the same manner as he was the previous day. The others around him were talking amongst themselves, occasionally they would try to get him involved. However he rejected every attempt made. Most of the members were there minus Aoi and Naoki.
The door opened and through it stepped Aoi "Sorry I'm late President," she said "I had something to do."
"That's fine Zaizen," Hosoda said "we're just about to start, Shima hasn't arrived either so you're not the only one."
'He'll be here no doubt, like a moth to a flame.' Sateriasis sneered mentally, no matter what he'd say Naoki would still appear.
Then much to his chagrin, Aoi decided to sit herself next to him. 'What the hell does she want out of me?' There was no way under normal circumstances he would tell anyone about his past and especially not to the step-sister of the current SOL security chief, the company who had sent their own lackey after him.
"Now," Hosoda began "I let this slip my mind last time," he looked over to where Sateriasis was sat "Marlon I hope you don't mind but we encourage the members of this club to get to know each other, would you tell us a bit about yourself?"
'Oh what joy and happiness…' He didn't even look Hosoda in the eye "I already told you my name and apart from the fact I'm sixteen there isn't much else for me to say." The disdain was evident for everyone listening, luckily some commotion outside took precedence.
"We just talked the other day! Shima! Naoki Shima!"
'Loudmouth fanboy idiot.' Sateriasis thought as he and everyone else turned to look at the door. He praised the person who had apparently forgotten Naoki's name, envious of how he wasn't able to do the same.
"Oh!" The other voice was male and had a deep voice "I didn't realize this place was duel club!" Sateriasis raised an eyebrow 'What a terrible lair.'
"Stop acting dumb!" They heard Naoki shouted as Hosoda headed to the door. "This place isn't for a loser who has no interest in Link VRAINS!"
Hosoda opened the door, and after a short conversation, the two people followed him inside. Naoki, who looked particularly annoyed and upset. The second was an incredibly uncomfortable Yusaku.
Yusaku stood between Hosoda and Naoki up front and spoke "I'm freshman Yusaku Fujiki." He bowed, the uncomfortable nature seemed wash straight off him leaving behind a completely calm and measured temperament.
'That voice sounds familiar…' Sateriasis was confident he heard that voice somewhere before but he couldn't quite put on his finger on it.
"Ahem." Hosoda cleared his throat "Marlon?"
Sateriasis stared around him and looked to see everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to introduce himself. He stood up "Freshman Sateriasis Marlon. Nice to meet you." He promptly sat back down and returned to gazing at the roof.
He heard the conversation shift away from introductions to the new duel disk, something Yusaku already knew about since Naoki had bragged about it to him as well. That didn't shock him at all, Naoki seemed like the type of person that had to bragging order to cover his own failings.
"A card insertion-type duel disk?" Aoi's comment made him pay attention to what was going on. He saw that Yusaku's disk was an older model that had a blue, white and red colour scheme "It's the same as Playmaker's."
This caught the hunter's attention. During his conversation following the duel he had noticed when the AI spoke that Playmaker did in fact have an old-fashioned disk that shared the same colour scheme as Yusaku's.
"Could I see your deck?" Sateriasis scowled, he wondered if she did this to everyone. Yusaku obliged with Aoi and handed it over. Simply out of his inner greed he leaned over Aoi's shoulder to see the cards, his hands began to look awful clingy. However his insatiable greed quickly vanished when he saw what exactly the cards were. 'Neo the magic swordsman? Black Pendant? Reinforcements?! What the hell is this?!' It was as if it was made intentionally bad to make it look like Yusaku had no skill whatsoever as a duelist.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, obnoxious laugh. When he looked he saw that Naoki had taken Yusaku's cards and was laughing at how pathetic the cards were. Sateriasis too couldn't help but a laugh a bit, decoy deck or not 'Serves him right even if the deck is fake.'
"Oi! Marlon! Shima!" Hosoda berated the two of them "Don't laugh at duelist's deck! A deck is a duelist's soul!"
"Sorry President." Naoki apologised, handing Yusaku back his deck.
'Well colour me impressed, that's some heart you've got.' Was Sateriasis' own thoughts but what he spoke was "My apologies President."
With that said and done the meeting finally began, but there was only one thing on Sateriasis' mind 'I wonder how Allen's doing?'
(VRAINS)
"The things they set me up to do…" Allen said, surfing on top of the data wind, unlike Sateriasis who had his board supplied by Hanoi, Allen's was one of his own making using a SOL blueprint as a basis, it being a brilliant yellow in colour with black guards and accents.
"Still I can't say no to them." In his VR form Allen was known as Superbia. His getup consisted of a golden suit of knightly armour that shone brightly no matter where he was. In the middle of the suit, the marking of his vice appeared for all to see yet only two people knew of the significance of it. His spiky black hair now had occasional streaks of yellow and his eyes turned from green to purple.
Superbia waited patiently for his opponent, someone he was tasked with ending.
When he heard another D-Board land behind him, he smirked, the time had arrived.
"Hello Colt." He turned to see the SOL hunter on top of his pure white board, "Guess you weren't expecting to see me here?"
"No I was not." Came the blunt answer "So I'm guessing you're the one who sent me that message?"
"Yes, indeed Colt. I'm Superbia." That name seemed to trigger something inside of Colt that was kept hidden behind his mask. "And I'll be the one to beat you into a pulp!"
Behind his mask Colt look of grit and determination heightened, culminating in his reply. "I'd like to see you try."
"Oh it's my intention to do so."
"Speed Duel!" The two shouted simultaneously.
Colt LP: 4000 Superbia LP: 4000 Cardsx4
Turn 1
"Since I tricked you into coming here, I think the least I can do is give you the opening move." Superbia's prideful tone of voice was beginning to annoy Colt greatly "After all you're going to need all the help you can get."
"Fine then, I start off by activating the effect of Codecracker Decryptor. By sending this card in my hand to the graveyard I get to look at the top three cards of your deck and for every monster card I get to draw the equivalent amount. Now let's see what you have." A stream of code infiltrated into Superbia's disk and showed Colt the next three cards, 2 monsters and 1 trap.
"Well, well, well, you have two monsters coming to you in the near future and in my present that's an extra two cards coming my way." Colt drew twice much to Superbia's annoyance "Hey! How dare you look at my deck without my blessing?!"
Colt ignored this and continued "Next when I control no monsters on my field I can special summon this card from hand. Come on out Codecracker Vigilante!" Codecracker Vigilante was a man in a faded, tattered brown cloak that in his right hand was carrying a gun.
Codecracker Vigilante Level 3, Warrior, EARTH (500/500)
"Now appear the encrypted circuit that lights the way! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is one Codecracker effect monster with 1000 or less attack points! I set Codecracker Vigilante in the link markers." Vigilante headed towards the bottom of the link square "Circuit combine! Appear, Link 1! Codecracker Receiver!"
Breaking out of the square was a military man holding a set of headphones to his ears that was connected to a radio.
Codecracker Receiver Link 1, Warrior, EARTH (1000) Link Markers: Down
"I activate Receiver's effect it allows me to summon one level four or lower monster from my hand to the zone it is linked to. I summon Codecracker Signal Operator!" The other radio man appeared behind.
Codecracker Signal Operator, level 4, Warrior, EARTH (1600/400)
"Signal Operator's effect! By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard I get to summon one more Codecracker from my hand. Codecracker Drone come on out!" The small drone began hovering next to the SOL hunter.
Codecracker Drone Level 1, Machine, EARTH (0/200)
Superbia was beginning to become a bit worn out by all of Colt's special summoning "Come on!" He moped "I want a turn!"
"And you shall get it whenever I'm done. Drone's effect activates! I get to send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard and for every monster that hits the graveyard you lose 500 life points." Colt smirked "And I know due to my recon that you have two monsters so in layman's terms that means you'll be taking 1000 points of damage."
"What!" Superbia was then blasted by the bombs.
Superbia LP: 4000 – 3000
"I end my turn." Colt said, pleased at the current pace off the duel 'You better be watching because I'll prove my worth to you Zaizen, Mammon may have bested me but I will not let this pretender beat me!'
Sure enough Akira was watching. It mightn't have been what he was looking for but it gave him a chance to evaluate Colt's usefulness, he'd already taken precautions in case Colt failed 'Colt, this is your chance, whether you take it is up to you.'
However Akira wasn't the only official in SOL technologies watching the duel. Sat in another section of the building, the head of development was watching on thoughtfully. He was a man in his early thirties that had black hair which was long enough to cover his right eye while the other side was spiked up. He had cold blue eyes that pierced the soul of anyone he looked at. He was sharply dressed in a black suit and tie over the top of a white button-up shirt, on his right wrist was a standard model green disk, finally he wore black shoes.
This man was called Zitor Lucifinia 'Tread lightly Colt, my son is no pushover.'
Turn 2
"Finally!" Superbia sighed "My turn! I draw! To begin with I'll activate my Kurati Harvest spell card!" The card art showed a gleaming field that was being gleaned clean by golden tools "When this card is activate I can draw two cards, now I summon my Kurati Hunter!" Kurati Hunter was as its name suggests a hunter but it had a golden bow and was plated in golden amour.
Kurati Hunter Level 4, Warrior, LIGHT (1800/200)
"When Kurati Hunter is summoned to my field I can add another copy of it to my hand and then summon it!" The second copy of the monster ran beside the other one.
"I activate their effects, once per turn they can deal you damage equal to the number of cards in your hand x200!" Both copies drew their bows "Currently you only have the one in your hand but I think 400 is still a good number." The two hunters released their arrows striking Colt hard.
Colt's LP: 4000 – 3600
"Now appear the circuit of pride that guides me! Arrowheads confirmed, the summoning conditions are two 'Kurati' effect monsters with less than 2000 attack points. I set my two Kurati Hunters in the link markers." One of the hunters flew to the bottom while the other one went to the bottom left "Circuit combine! Appear, Link 2! Kurati Warrior of Light!" This monster was a knight in shining golden armour that stood head and shoulders above any other monster on the field. It wielded a large two pronged golden sword and had a black cape.
Kurati Warrior of Light, Link 2, Warrior, LIGHT (2100)
"I activate Warrior's effect! Once per turn when I have more cards in my hand I can hit you for damage by the difference of 400 per card!" KWL's Sword began to charge with electricity. "That means 1200 points of hurt is coming your direction!"
'So that's his plan. He keeps his hand full so he can deal burn damage through the deficit he builds up. Interesting…' Colt thought before he felt the brunt of the damage.
Colt's LP: 3600 – 2400
Superbia's grin began to rival Mammon's in size "Battle! I attack Codecracker Receiver! Prideful punishment!" KWL cleaved its huge sword cleanly through the body of Receiver slicing it almost symmetrically in two.
"I activate the effect of Codecracker Battle Operator! By sending this card in my hand to the graveyard I take no battle damage." The incoming blow was repulsed by a monster similar to Mammon's Corruption Distributor.
Superbia groaned, he turned to look Colt in the face "Aww. You're no fun, it would have been interesting to see you pick yourself up from the power of my monster."
"I'm not about to let you win y'know, my survival as an individual is on the line and I will not go back to living like I once did. That hell hole ripped everything away from me, the fire held in my heart to find those responsible will never be extinguished!" Colt replied with fire in his voice.
"Nice speech," Superbia scoffed "however it doesn't account for anything! Warrior's other effect activates when it successfully destroys a monster I get to draw one card, and with that I'll end my turn."
Superbia's Cards x5
Turn 3
"My turn! I draw! When I control two or more Codecracker monsters on my field I can summon Codecracker Researcher!" Researcher was a middle aged man in a white lab coat that was holding a tablet in his right hand.
Codecracker Researcher, Level 3, Warrior, EARTH (500/1200)
"When Researcher is summoned I can add one spell or trap card to my hand. That card will be the Enigma Code spell card which I now activate to add one Codecracker monster with less than 2000 attack points to my hand."
"So what, none of those monsters have attack points that will match mine." Superbia said with a sneer.
In the SOL building his father seemed to have the same sentiment 'I don't understand why Zaizen hired you in the first place Colt, you're useless and I look forward to seeing what becomes of you when you lose this duel.'
"Mr Lucifinia." His secretary spoke out to him making him take his eyes of the duel.
"Yes? What is it?" He had a firm, authoritative tone.
"The higher ups have requested an audience with you." Zitor smirked 'About time.' He thought.
"Thank you for telling me, I'll go now." He stood up and took one last look at the duel before leaving 'Finish him Allen.'
"Prepare yourself!" Colt exclaimed "Appear the encrypted circuit that lights the way! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are 2+ Codecracker effect monsters! I set Codecracker Signal Operator, Drone and Researcher in the link markers!" All three monsters headed to the bottom of the link square "Circuit combine! Be born, Link 3! Essence of Wrath - Codecracker Retributioner!"
Breaking out of the link square was a monster on par with Superbia's monster in size. Retributioner was dressed in a plain darkish suit but looks can be deceiving as was the case as beneath this attire it wore a black assassin's outfit that held multiple guns mainly revolvers and it had knifes too.
Essence of Wrath - Codecracker Retributioner, Link 3, Warrior, DARK (2600) Link Markers: Bottom, Bottom Left and Bottom Right.
"This is my resolve to fight! I activate Retributioner's effect! Once per turn by sending one card in my hand to the graveyard such as the one I received from Enigma Code I can summon back one monster from my graveyard so long as it points to one of the linked zones however its effects are negated and it can't attack."
Superbia seemed too stunned to even reply 'Neither of them told me about this!'
Colt continued on without caution "I summon back my Drone." The whirring of the turboprops could be heard once again "Now for the effect of the monster I sent to the graveyard, Codecracker Encryptor when it hits the graveyard due to a card effect I can summon it back the field." Encryptor was in a similar vain to Researcher however this time it hunched over the tablet working on code.
Codecracker Encryptor, Level 1, Warrior, EARTH (0/0)
"Retributioner's other effect. Twice per turn I can destroy a card that is linked to this monster and deal you 500 points of damage for each one!" Retributioner revealed two of the hidden revolvers beneath its suit, the Codecrackers were transformed into bullets and loosed at Superbia striking the Kurati duelist form his board.
Superbia's LP: 3000 – 2000
Superbia on his way down clung onto to a nearby rooftop for dear life before eventually being able to regain himself on the board albeit far more cautions than before.
"Battle! Retributioner attack Kurati Warrior of Light! Wrath shot!" Another bullet, this one a crimson red was shot, hitting KWL square in the head and piercing its amour.
Superbia's LP: 2000 – 1500
"The final effect of Retributioner! When it destroys a monster you are dealt damage equal to half of the destroyed monsters attack! In Layman's terms that's half of 2100!"
Superbia's LP: 1500 – 450
"Your turn…" Colt smirked "If you can take it that is."
Turn 4
"Oh don't get so high and mighty just because you managed to destroy one of my monsters, I have an endless repertoire of powerful cards that will crush you!" Superbia drew with the determination to end this duel this turn "You may have caught me off guard with that card of yours but I'll still win in the end."
"And what makes you think that?" Colt stated matter-of-factly.
"Simple really. I activate Kurati Rebirth! This card allows me to resurrect one 'Kurati' link monster from my graveyard but its attack points drop to zero and its effect is negated. Re-emerge Kurati Warrior of Light!"
"That's it?" Colt sneered, unimpressed
Superbia scowled "Of course not! Since I control Link monster I can special summon Kurati Servant through his effect to my field." Servant appeared almost kow-towing beside the weakened KWL.
Kurati Servant Level 2, Warrior, LIGHT (0/600)
"The end is near Colt! Appear the circuit of pride that guides me! Arrowheads confirmed, the summoning conditions are at least two Kurati monsters! When a link monster is used in summoning another link monster its links count as material! I set Kurati Servant and Kurati Warrior of Light in the Link markers! Circuit combine! Appear, Link 3! Essence of Pride - Kurati Shining Dragon!"
Breaking out of the link square came a dragon covered with golden armour that flew above the data stream with its radiant white wings plated with golden amour on the edges. Unlike Corruption Dragon its head wasn't covered with horns. The eyes were of a red colour that. It had a long thrashing tail that split into two at the end with each ending have detailed silver tip.
Essence of Pride - Kurati Shining Dragon, Link 3, Dragon, LIGHT (2400) Link Markers: Top, Bottom, Left
Colt's suspicions were confirmed in that moment "Do the words 'Inferno Project' mean anything to you?"
"No. Why? Should they?" Superbia's words contradicted his facial expression. "Anyway. I don't have time to talk about this! Shining Dragon's effect when he's first summoned he gains five hundred attack points for each card I hold but it reverts at the end phase. Currently I hold four so that's 2000 points!"
There was a visible bulking of power as Shining Dragon absorbed the energy.
Shining Dragon's ATK: 2400 – 4400
"Battle! Shining Dragon vanquish Retributioner! Shining Ray!" Shining Dragon unleashed all its might at Retributioner, with the purest intention to obliterate the Codecracker ace monster. The opposing monster briefly fought back but was destroyed, tossing Colt into the air.
Colt's LP: 2400 – 600
"See that! That's my true power!" Superbia said with a pronounced smirk.
However that was wiped off his face instantly at the sound of Colt's laughter "Why thank you for doing that. You see when Retributioner is destroyed in battle it makes the opposing monster repent for what it has done. In Layman's terms the monster that destroys this card is itself destroyed and you take damage equal to its attack points."
A red beam shot of a vortex behind Colt and struck the back of Shining Dragon "Thanks for this Superbia. It certainly gave me a test but I'm afraid this ends here and now!" The beam tore a hole through Superbia's beast dealing the finishing blow.
Superbia's LP: 450 – 0
Colt: Win!
Akira watched, satisfied of the result he let himself relax for a moment 'Good work Colt, I don't have to rely on her now and I can be sure of your loyalty.'
Meanwhile Zitor was walking through the corridors on his way back from the meeting, peaking into the security room his eyes locked with Akira's 'Zaizen, I give you two days maximum until you're axed, It's inevitable.' He smirked before returning to his own office.
Akira too gave his view on Zitor 'Lucifinia, I know you orchestrated this whole fiasco but the question is why?'
His question was answered when he switched the screen to another feed, to see Blue Angel and Playmaker, there was just a 'small' problem and that being that Blue Angel was in a berserk state with a purple aura around her "Aoi!" He found himself shouting uncontrollably.
"Quick!" He exclaimed to the workers beneath him "Stop this duel! Cut the circuits! Anything! Hurry!"
"Yes sir!" They responded
"C'mon! I'll take full responsibility! Hurry!"
"It's no good. There's a system error!"
Akira banged his fist on the desk, his face contorting into one of moderate rage 'I told her not to disobey me! Doesn't she know I do this to protect her?!'
Over in Den Academy Sateriasis who started watching before Akira was having a little too much fun for comfort. He only turned onto it upon hearing Naoki's outburst of excitement but he didn't regret doing it one bit.
It was when Blue Angel drew on her second turn that things got interesting. She seemingly started to lose it, she stood dazed for a few seconds after the draw. Sateriasis thought back to what Specter and Revolver had said to him the other day then the answer become clear to him. 'Other methods eh? I couldn't agree more.'
Playmaker appeared to notice this momentary daze as well, he rushed to end it quickly, recovering Link Bumper from his graveyard before then plunging into the data storm and emerging with a new Link monster 'Hope you got lucky Playmaker. Her time is short.'
He then used Salvagent Driver in combination with Link Bumper to summon his new monster called Encode Talker. Afterwards he summoned Defect Compiler, launching an attack on Blue Angel's Trickstar Lilybell using a quick-play spell Frontline Disturbance to help in the assault.
Blue Angel interrupted the attack by activating her skill 'Trickstar Fraud' forcing Playmaker to draw until he had three cards. 'That's a desperation move there, she's worried about losing if Playmaker's plan goes through.' However if Blue Angel's plan came to fruition Playmaker would be defeated.
Just when she thought it was over, Playmaker triggered Defect Compiler's effect negating the damage and placing a counter on the card.
Shit completely hit the fan when Blue Angel in an act of desperation suddenly went berserk after activating the effect of the last card in her hand 'Dark Angel', the card Sateriasis assumed was planted 'Hanoi's Angel…Has a nice ring to it.'
"Ahhh!" Naoki exclaimed, catching everyone's attention "I'm sorry." He apologized sitting back down. 'What happened to you, Blue Angel?'
Dark Angel's effect sacrificed Lilybell and switched Compiler's attack to her ace Link Monster, Trickstar Holly Angel who gained 800 attack points from Lilybell.
Playmaker was able to nullify any damage he would've received via Encode's effect. He activated Encode's other effect, that after damage calculation either Encode or another monster that is linked to it would gain attack points equal to the attack of Blue Angel's monster. Encode was the monster he selected raising its attack by 3000 the total of Holly Angel. Next he removed the counter from Compiler lifting Encode's attack to 6100.
Finally he ordered Encode to attack Holly Angel 'Still not enough Playmaker.' However Playmaker removed the disturbance counter from Encode decreasing the attack of Holly Angel by the defence points of all monsters on her field, Lycoris being the only one reduced Holly Angel's attack to 1800.
By this point, Blue Angel was on her knees, Encode closing in second by second 'You were a worthwhile experiment Blue Angel, the best part of this is now I can figure out who you really are.' At that point Encode connected, tearing through Holly Angel, defeating Blue Angel in an OTK.
'The angel's wings have been clipped.' Sateriasis grinned as he switched off the duel and stood up.
"Excuse me." He interrupted "I received a message from the hospital about a relative. Could I go?" The teacher nodded.
Being wheeled out on an operating bed, Aoi lay unconscious while Yusaku waited in the corridor, Akira soon ran into the picture "Aoi!" He tried to get to the bed "Hang on, Aoi!" But was pushed away by a nurse "Please stay back! We're taking her to the exam room!"
"I'm her brother!"
"No one is allowed in the exam room!" The nurse replied sternly before walking off with the other staff.
Akira grunted before turning around to face Yusaku "You're the one who called me?"
"Yes I found her unconscious on the roof." Yusaku replied monotone.
"Thank you. Umm…I don't know if I should ask this but are you and Aoi…" Akira asked awkwardly.
"We're just classmates."
"I see. Things are fine now. Go home."
"Okay." Yusaku turned to leave.
"Wait a second." Akira called out, "What's your name?"
"Fujiki, Yusaku Fujiki." Yusaku replied.
Unbeknownst to the two them, listening in on the conversation Sateriasis stood. 'Aoi Zaizen is Blue Angel, if I'm correct that program prevents the victim from logging out of VRAINS, in addition only a person who knew of her identity would've have been aware of what was happening so that means that Yusaku knows of her online persona, even though he was at the club meeting this morning he vanished from class and the Blue Angel duel didn't happen until I assume he left, Aoi was also missing from the class so that m-'
All of a sudden everything clicked in Sateriasis head, it mightn't be 100% confirmed but the evidence certainly pointed to one explanation 'Yusaku Fujiki, although I am not certain that you're Playmaker the evidence is beginning to mount. The similar disk, you knowing of Aoi's predicament, the poorly constructed deck used to make people second guess your ability. Looks like I have something to report to Revolver. '
He felt a hand touch his shoulder, scared momentarily that washed away when he saw the yellow mirror on the person's hand. "May I ask what you're doing here Sat?" Allen said coolly.
"I could ask you the same question Allen." He said staring Allen in the face.
"Fair point."
"So, how did your little match go?" Sateriasis took immediate notice of Allen's sheepish reaction and lack of response. "I assume you lost then." He said raising an eyebrow, getting a weak nod in reply "Why am I not surprised?"
"Hey! I resent that!" Allen shouted like a petulant child "I almost had him. You should've seen!"
Sateriasis deadpanned "That's code for I failed massively, isn't it?"
"Yeah…" Allen weakly admitted then going almost as pale as Sateriasis "And my father was watching the duel and I know he's going to crucify me for losing."
Sateriasis didn't respond seeing that Allen hadn't finished talking "That's not even the worst part of the whole thing…" He ran a hand through his hair "Sat there's something about that Colt guy."
Sateriasis raised an eyebrow, skeptical that there was anything more to Colt than the loyal lapdog of SOL he envisioned "What would that be exactly?"
Even though it seemed impossible Allen got even paler, emphasizing his tattoo he spoke with a quiver "He mentioned the Inferno Project and the way he talked about it makes me believe, that he was involved just as you and I were."
At first Sateriasis seemed too shocked to reply, his eyes were wide and sweat began to drip "I know that was my first reaction too." Allen said before Sateriasis collected himself to answer.
"Well, even if he was involved that means nothing, if he stands in my way then I have no concerns in overwhelming him and dealing the final defeat. Gumina's fate rests within my hands, I will not allow anyone to interfere or get in my way."
A/N: Yeah so this wasn't what I said it would be. What I originally planned and wrote just didn't sit right with me, so I rewrote the chapter but I'll do have the remnants of the other one meaning that it could possibly be a future chapter with some tweaking.
Moving on...In this chapter I decided to debut another character and I also showed off Allen's deck in his duel with Colt. I'd like to know what you think of the duel in this chapter as I tried to flesh it out a bit more, I'm still pretty green on writing them.
With that said and done. I hope to see you in the next chapter!