Chapter Six: The Sullied Duelist
(Next Day)
"Y'know out of all the times I've passed this place, I've never once noticed this place. Are you new here?" The person asking the question was Colt and the person it was directed was Shoichi, who was currently manning the production line whilst Yusaku sat on a chair nearby eating silently.
"Just set up. Welcome." Shoichi answered "What would you like?"
"Two coffees and two regular hotdogs," Colt replied "I'm buying for a friend as well. She's recovering from an incident and sent me out."
Shoichi nodded "Certainly. I hope your friend gets better soon."
Colt relaxed and smiled slightly "Yeah. She tends to get herself into those kind of situations, I've had to bail her out on numerous occasions."
As time passed on Colt asked Shoichi a question "Hey, if you're set up here does that mean you're a fan of Charisma duelists and Link VRAINS?"
"Well of course!" Shoichi said, making sure to get the other side of the frankfurters grilled right "Playmaker is the one everyone is talking about at the moment."
Colt's face soured momentarily at the mere mention of Yusaku's avatar "Playmaker, the mysterious duelist and proclaimed hero of VRAINS who showed up all of a sudden to battle the knights of Hanoi." Yusaku's interest peaked as soon as he heard his avatar mentioned, he listened closely to what Colt had to say next "He's not one of my personal favourites but I can commend him for saving the network."
"Who are you a fan of then?"
It took Colt a while to think of answer "Even though she lost against Playmaker, Blue Angel is still my number one. I'd like to see them duel again someday, maybe that time she won't have a berserk episode." After his duel with Superbia, Colt had been told what happened to her by Akira.
"Here you go." Shoichi handed over the order and as Colt received it, he noticed something on the long haired male's arm "Say, are you a duelist too?"
For a brief second Colt was flustered but he hid it quickly "Yes I am. I dabble in it occasionally but my friend is far more invested." He laughed "She thinks she can beat Playmaker, so I wouldn't be surprised if she were to challenge him soon." He walked away hastily and shouted back "I'll be sure to return if it's any good!"
As soon as Colt had left Yusaku came up to Shoichi "So he goes into Link VRAINS and so does this alleged friend of his. He also doesn't seem to like Playmaker for some reason. What do you make of him, Yusaku?"
Yusaku stared off to where Colt disappeared "Whilst he doesn't appear to be a fan of Playmaker, he also doesn't seem to like the Knights of Hanoi either. Meaning that if he does have a role, it is likely with SOL Technologies."
About half an hour later, Colt reached the apartment block both he and Emma lived in, he knocked on the door belong to her room but didn't expect a reply "Bessho, I'm here." Not even waiting for a second he barged in to see Emma sprawled out on the couch with her hair up.
She turned and smiled "Ah, Shaytan. Nice to see you. Did you get what I wanted?"
Colt placed himself on the couch, taking his order out then handing the bag over "I'm not doing this again y'know. Consider this a special occasion." He then took one look at the hot dog and frowned "Do you have any ketchup?"
Emma stared blankly at her de facto partner "No. I don't think so."
"What a sad miserable world you must live in Bessho." Colt shook his head and bit into it anyway "If you ask me, Ketchup makes everything taste unequivocally better." Turns out Colt wasn't exactly the most well-mannered eater as pieces of meat flew out as he spoke.
'Ugh!' Emma thought repulsed, shielding her line of sight as Colt wolfed down the hot dog in roughly eight seconds flat proceeding then to throw the wrapper on the floor. In order to take her mind off of her partner's less than desirable eating habits she grabbed her laptop and began to work through a lead she'd obtained.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Colt poked his head over to see a massive amount of code on the screen.
"I'm just working on a lead I obtained from my previous work partner." Emma said, trying her best not to burst a blood vessel when think backing to what Mammon had told her in the moments after their tête-à-tête.
"Before we part our separate ways Ghost girl, I've got something I'd like you to look into." Mammon looked deadly serious and even in her weakened state Ghost girl could feel the almost murderous aura that the blue haired male emanated "Hidden deep within the SOL technologies databank there is information about two incidents that happened ten years ago. In one of those incidents, one of the victims was Playmaker himself. Surely if you consider yourself a capable 'Treasure Hunter' then there is no doubt that creating a backdoor and infiltrating it won't be an issue." He then laughed dryly "Plus, if you wish to duel Playmaker I can think of no other way but to entice him with access to said data bank"
After that her memory went blank and the next thing she knew Colt was standing over her, shaking her awake.
"He says that if I want Playmaker to come out of hiding, I'll have to bait him out." Emma said "The place he told me to search was the SOL Technologies' data bank."
Colt raised an eyebrow knowing full well that Mammon was the person in question "And you're listening to him?"
His concerns however were waved off "Not exactly. Why do you take jobs from SOL Technologies, Shaytan?"
"I don't have to answer that question." Colt stuck his nose in the nose in the air and crossed his arms.
Choosing to ignore the cantankerous Colt, Emma gave her reason "For me it is simple, the more connections I make, the more I can acquire. Plus I've just learned some very interesting information. What do you know of the two incidents ten years ago?"
Upon the mere mention of the Inferno and Hanoi projects Colt paled "No. I don't have any knowledge of Hanoi or Inferno." When he heard Emma laugh he realised the fatal mistake he made "Shit…"
But just as he dug his own grave, a lifeline was thrown in the form of his phone ringing. He snapped it to his ear "Yes…I understand…I'll be right there." He shut off the connection and smirked "Sorry Bessho, it seems I'll have to cut this short. My presence is required elsewhere. Goodbye!" Colt bolted straight out the door and didn't look back.
Akira waited patiently for Colt to arrive, he looked out across to the stardust road behind him. It was a real shame that he often missed the true beauty of the sea that was only revealed at night. But family and work came first, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
The sound of footsteps brought his attention back to reality "Zaizen I'm here." Colt panted having sprinted his way here "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"First of all, how's Emma?" Akira asked, making Colt go back to his pissed off attitude.
"She's fine." Colt grunted.
"That's good."
"Anything else?"
"Are you aware of what happened at SOL recently?" Akira questioned.
Colt leant on the wall and gazed across to the rest of the city "Yes I am. You lost your position as security manager to one of the many scoundrels SOL has. Even though you protected the network you were still demoted."
"Indeed." Akira closed his eyes, he still didn't have much of an idea why he was demoted in the first place but he had to assume that it was to do with the recent Playmaker situation and his failure to capture the hacker. "Still I got what I wanted from that situation, Aoi regained consciousness I have no regrets at all."
His contractor smirked "I heard that the replacement was your former boss, Kitamura. What's he like?"
"I believe he created a duelist army that used Ai that and he's just another one of Lucifinia's puppets." Akira said somewhat spiteful.
(Meanwhile)
In the SOL Technologies building, Kitamura happened to be a man with black hair and purple highlights along with a rather large nose wearing a business suit who was shouting down towards his workers "What are you doing?! Do you know how far behind the project is?!" He leaned forward and clutched the head of a worker "If you get any further behind, I'll cut your salary by 50%! We must protect Link VRAINS from hackers! I'll create an Ai duelist army and crush the hackers!" He closed his fist as a laughing voice entered his ears.
He turned around to see Zitor waltzing into the room looking awful pleased with himself "Ah! Mr Lucifinia! So nice to see you." Kitamura gained a very sycophantic tone.
"I trust things are going well in here." Zitor grinned "You do now I won't tolerate any form of failure," he clenched his fist "my system's survival is dependent on you as security manager keeping it safe from the undesirables. Zaizen never properly understood his role, I'm sure you do."
Kitamura rubbed his hands together "Oh yes!" However in his thoughts he was thinking something else entirely and his face showed it on full display 'You idiot Lucifinia, all you're good for is for a link to the higher ups as they seem to trust you for some reason. Soon I'll be promoted once again!'
"Heh." Zitor walked out almost as abruptly as he had had entered "I'll be watching." He called back. "Oh and by the by, you may want to wipe that nose of yours. It's looking awful brown."
(Back with Colt and Akira)
"He'll do anything to deliver a result." Akira said.
"That can be both a positive and negative thing. But judging from the way you talked about him, it seems like he is certainly in the negative column" Colt shrugged "I suppose you could say that about the majority of people who work at companies like SOL."
Not getting a reply Colt spoke once more "By the way, when I was talking to Bessho she told me that she had a "very interesting" lead."
"What?" Akira staring Colt dead in the eyes.
"About two incidents that happened ten years ago." Colt stated bluntly.
"You, don't mean?"
Colt nodded "Yes I do mean it. One of those incidents as I said before was the Inferno project, the one I was a victim of. The other one was one called the Hanoi project."
"Where'd she learn about those?"
There was momentary pause as Colt looked unsure of himself before he finally came to the decision to tell Akira "It was Mammon. She learnt it from him. He told her that the information was within the SOL Technologies and said that if she was to create a back door she'd be able to access the data in question."
"Nem. I have something to ask of you."
"Yeah? What do you require?"
"Take a look at this." Shoichi said as Yusaku entered the back room, on the screen before him was a message sent by Ghost girl that rather than being a coherent worded one it was a garbled mess of code and symbols.
"From Ghost girl?" Yusaku asked.
"She sent a message on a popular hacking forum." Shoichi explained
"You know her?"
"No, but during your speed duel against Revolver she tried to follow you two only to be stopped by Mammon, the feed became corrupted and I had to eradicate a virus to get it back. I assume she copied the source code from one of the programs I created for you to create a program I would notice." Shoichi came to the only logical conclusion plausible.
"I see."
"She's demanding to duel Playmaker. If she wins, she gets Playmaker's Ai."
'What? You must be kidding!' Ai jumped out doing everything short of begging 'Playmaker, you won't do something that dangerous. Right?'
"I accept." Yusaku shocked the Ignis "It says what she is offering in return. The backdoor to SOL Technologies' data bank."
'What?!' Ai nearly jumped out of the disk 'There's really a backdoor?'
"That's what it says."
'It's a lie.' Ai said defiantly.
"No. Her hacking skills are first class. She sent a portion of the data, and it looks real."
Yusaku paused for thought before replying "Reply to Ghost girl that I'll duel her."
"Okay."
Still lying on her sofa but having now transitioned to her back, Emma held her phone in her hand waiting for Playmaker to respond 'Who are you in this city, Playmaker.' When the screen light up, she smirked "He answered."
She stood up "Into the VRAINS!"
"She's here." Shoichi said.
"Ghost girl?"
"Yeah. It's definitely her."
'You're really going to duel her?' Ai was still uncomfortable with the whole situation.
"She might have set up a trap again…" Shoichi said concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fully aware of that. However," Yusaku began by using what could only be considered as his mantra of sorts "1: In her message, I sense Ghost girl's determination, despite her weaknesses. 2: There must be secret information about Hanoi in SOL Technologies' data bank 3: I'll learn the truth about what happened ten years ago." The door closed and Yusaku after loading his deck was ready to dive into VRAINS.
(VRAINS)
Jumping into Link VRAINS, Playmaker was caught completely off guard when he saw that the person standing right before him was not Ghost girl who was lying passed out on the ground behind the ever insane looking Mammon "Welcome Playmaker, my best guess would be this wasn't what you weren't expecting to see when she sent you that message."
Playmaker watched on as Mammon turned and kicked Ghost girl's body hard "Just so you know she is out for the count and will not be returning to us for a very long time.
Ai jumped out of Playmaker's disk 'Wait! Does that mean all the stuff about her getting a backdoor entrance to the databank, was all a lie?!'
"Of course not." A digital golden card formed above Mammon's index finger "I have the data ready here. It's the backdoor to SOL Technologies' databank. If the information I received is true then it should contain information about the incident you were involved in ten years ago." The card vanished as he continued "Truth be told I don't have to be here right now."
"Then why are you?" Playmaker asked
The hunter laughed "I'll give you three reasons for me doing this. One is that I was to give you the chance to win the backdoor to the databank, if you can beat me in a duel then I'll consider you more than worthy of going in there. The second reason is that simply I want to test myself against you again, I feel that our last match ended a bit abruptly. That and if you want that miserable person to return to the world of the living then you'll have to earn that off me as well. Finally, the third reason is my original goal is still the same." He took a quick look back at Ghost girl "That's her purpose, she's the bait."
There was a silence as Playmaker thought with his eyes closed, the wind blew adding even more to the ever building tension "So… That's what's going on," he opened his eyes and glared fiercely at his opposite number "Fine then, I'll do you to win the databank as Ghost girl first promised. Then the truth behind what happened ten years ago will finally be revealed!"
With one last look at his target, Mammon jumped off the roof and landed on his D-Board as it sped to meet him. Playmaker too made the leap. Soon the two of them were ready for their second match.
"Speed Duel!" Both of them declared at the same time.
Mammon's LP: 4000 Playmaker's LP: 4000 Cards x4
Turn 1
"I hope you don't mind but I'll be taking the first turn," Mammon started, seeing the hand before him he couldn't help but take advantage of the situation "To being I'll be activating the effect of Corruption Yamato from my hand. By sending this card in my hand to the graveyard I can summon one monster from my deck which whose level is one lower and has fewer attack points." Yamato was a darkened version of a card from a much hated olden deck that maintained its 1800 attack points.
Ai blinked 'Eh? What's the point of sending a monster that for intents and purposes is a better monster for one that is clearly weaker in every possible way?'
Mammon glared back, making the Ignis cower "If you would be so kind as to wait you'd see the point behind this. I use this effect to summon Corruption Trojan from my deck!" Corruption Trojan was a small black worm like creature with white streaks on it that slinked and slithered its way onto the field beside Mammon in defence mode.
Corruption Trojan, Level 3, DARK, Fiend, Effect (0/1000)
"I activate Trojan's effect. Once per turn I can pay 500 life points and I summon one Corruption token in defence mode to my field."
Mammon's LP: 4000 – 3500
A smaller version of Trojan slimed out of Trojan's body in a very repulsive manner "Now, appear before me! The corrupted circuit that destroys all! The summoning conditions are exactly two dark monsters! I set Corruption Trojan and the Trojan token in the link markers." The link square appeared in the air as Mammon continued with a feral grin. The token hit the bottom marker while Trojan hit the top marker "Appear now! Link 2! Corruption Ziegal!"
Mammon's new monster busted out of the link square, resulting in a lanky black demon appearing, it had yellow eyes with no pupils in them. On its wrists were two black metal cuffs with rusty spikes on them. It had purple veins coursing through its body, they came together at the back to form a symbol of some sorts. It looked to be an amalgamation between the mark Sateriasis bared on his hand and one of the many adorning his avatar's appearance.
Corruption Ziegal, Link 2, DARK, Effect, (1600) Link Markers: Bottom and Top.
"Ziegal's first effect! When this card is first summoned you take 200 points of damage for each card in your hand." He turned to face Playmaker with the feral grin still plastered on his face "In Layman's terms, that'll be 800 points of damage." The veins on Ziegal's body began to pulsate rapidly and two balls of dark energy appeared in its hands, they were released, striking Playmaker hard, sending him careening backwards.
Playmaker's LP: 4000 – 3200
"Now it's time for Ziegal's other effect! Once per turn I can special summon one level four monster from my hand to a zone where this card's link markers points to. I summon Paladin of Corruption!" The half shining half corrupted knight gave a quick slash as it came to the field.
Paladin of Corruption Level 4, Fiend, DARK, Effect (1600/1200)
"I believe you remember his effect. By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard I can deal you damage equal to half of his attack points." The sword charged up and launched its beam, hitting Playmaker square in the chest.
Playmaker's LP: 3200 – 2400
The hunter laughed manically "I place one card facedown and end my turn. What do you think Playmaker?! It is only the first turn yet I've managed to get rid of nearly half your life points! Not so full of yourself now, are you?!"
For the moment Playmaker remained silent and stoic, instead Ai was the one to speak, rolling his eye while doing so 'He's the one saying that we're full of ourselves? Last I checked we were not the ones who were bragging after the first turn!'
Playmaker glared down "But you decided to wind him up when I beat Revolver."
'Ah! But I only bragged because we won! It is much more respectful that way.' Ai responded with a rather week justification.
Meanwhile with Mammon, he was trying his best to ignore this conversation, mentally sweat dropping 'Is that thing really as big a threat as Revolver says it is?'
Mammon's cards x1
Turn 2
"My turn, I draw!" Playmaker looked at the drawn card then his hand carefully before choosing his opening move "To begin with since I control no monsters, I can special summon Linkslayer from my hand!" Linkslayer was a yellow, darkish red brown armoured man with the appearance like that of a lion. It was also wearing a red cape, with orange glowing eyes fixed into the lion like helmet, and also wore gauntlets that had glowing blue energy in the shape of a blade
Linkslayer, Level 5, EARTH, Cyberse, Effect(2000/600)
'See that! In one move Playmaker has already summoned a monster more powerful than anyone you control!' Ai wound Mammon up even more.
"Careful," Playmaker reprimanded him "If you antagonise him even more he might do something insane. So I suggest you keep your mouth shut."
"Now I summon Draconet!" Draconet was a blueish white dragon like monster that had its 'wings' spread out as well as several blue lines streaking across its body.
Draconet, Level 3, DARK, Cyberse, Effect (1400/1200)
"Draconet's effect now activates! When this card is normal summoned I can special summon one level 2 or lower normal monster from my hand or deck. I choose Bitron from my deck!" The monster coming out of the portal behind Playmaker was a small white robot that hovered above the ground and had two digital blue eyes
Bitron, Level 2, EARTH, Cyberse (200/2000)
"Appear before me! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are one normal monster!" Racing into the link square appearing before him, Playmaker continued on "I set Bitron in the link markers!" Bitron hit the bottom marker "Circuit combine! Appear, Link 1! Link Spider!"
Slowly pulling itself together Link Spider turned out to be robotic black arachnid that like Draconet had blue markings all over its body.
Link Spider, Link 1, EARTH, Effect, Cyberse (1000) Link Markers: Bottom
"Link Spider's effect! Once per turn I can summon one level four or lower normal monster directly from my hand to my field! I select Digitron!" A monster that looked like a more advanced version of Bitron appeared, filling up all of Playmaker's monster zones.
Mammon took note of this "Well, Playmaker it looks like you've dug yourself into this formation. I look forward to seeing what you can do."
Playmaker took no heed of Mammon "Appear for the second time, the circuit that leads to the future! I set Digitron, Link Spider and Bitron in the link markers!" Link spider sped to the top while Bitron went to the bottom left and Digitron hit the bottom right. "Circuit combine! Appear Link 3! Decode Talker!"
Digital data started pulling themselves together as they materialized into a warrior with blue armour and purple outlines along with a sword. The warrior let out a battle cry as it broke the Link Gate.
Decode Talker, Link 3, DARK, Cyberse (2300) Link Markers: Top, Bottom Left and Bottom Right.
(Hanoi)
Watching the screen in front of them Revolver was flanked on the left by another person watching the ongoing duel was a woman with red somewhat spiky hair that had orange highlights in it, she had grey eyes with the right obscured by a large grey eyepiece. She wore a female version of the standard outfit that had purple stripes on it. "The pieces are in line perfectly." The woman, Baira said "Project Another is all but complete, however I must ask what was the point of getting Mammon to duel Playmaker, Revolver?"
Revolver smirked, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the duel "He said to me earlier that he wanted a second chance to take down Playmaker. At first I was indeed hesitant to allow him to do so. But he offered his plan, which he thought would lead to a positive result no matter what. After hearing him I decided to grant his request."
"Alright then. I trust your judgment."
(Back to the duel)
"Decode Talker's effect! This card gains 500 attack points for each monster linked to it, currently Linkslayer is the only monster it points to! Power Integration!" Decode lifted up his sword as he was surrounded by a dark purple aura.
Decode's ATK: 2300 – 2800
"I set one card facedown." Playmaker accounted for the lack of a main phase 2 "Battle! Decode Talker attacks Corruption Ziegal! Decode end!"
Decode revved up its attack and sped towards Ziegal, it looked as if contact was about to be made, however that was just simply not the case "I don't think I'm going to allow that. I activate the Continuous Trap Spellbinding Corruption Circle!"
This card depicted a one of Mammon's link monsters becoming ensnared by a bright circle that had multiple symbols, rendering any and all attacks from that monster mute. "This card can only be activated when a Link monster I control is attacked, the attacking monster not only has its effect nullified but its attack points drop to zero until this card leaves the field!"
'What! What! What!' Ai said, jumping out and flapping his arms wildly. Meanwhile a blinding light began to encircle Decode not taking very long to completely halt the monsters attack, binding its arms to its side."
Decode's ATK: 2800 – 0
Mammon's insane laugh pierced through the air again "Oh, what a crying shame! One of your best monsters has been reduced to being totally and utterly useless!"
Playmaker growled slightly then he made his next move "If Decode can't attack then Linkslayer will! I attack Ziegal again!"
Linkslayer charged forward, this time the strike was successful in landing a blow on Ziegal, tearing through the demon's body and dealing the first blow to Mammon.
Mammon's LP: 3500 – 3100
"Ziegal's last effect now triggers. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I summon back one of the monsters used to link summon this card. I revive Corruption Trojan!" The sullied worm crawled out again, this time looking a lot worse for wear.
'He has two monsters on his field, next turn if he manages to summon a monster, he'll have the conditions to summon his ace card.' Playmaker time afterwards weighing over the pros and cons "I end my turn."
Playmaker's cards x1
Turn 3
"My turn, draw! I summon Corruption Ritual Imp!" The mischievous green imp stock its head out of the portal before deciding to rather lethargically crawl its entire body out, snickering all the while.
Corruption Ritual Imp, Level 4, DARK, Fiend, Effect (1000/1000)
"Time for me to put you in your place, Playmaker!" The link gate came into being just below Mammon's board "Appear before me! The corrupted circuit that destroys all! The summoning conditions are two or more Corruption monsters! I set Corruption Ritual Imp, Paladin of Corruption and Corruption Trojan in the link markers! Circuit combine! Descend the embodiment of my soul! Essence of Greed - Corruption Dragon!"
There was a deafening screech as Corruption Dragon flexed its wings causing a huge gust of wind to consume the two duelists, just as they came out of the bottleneck of buildings and into the open.
Essence of Greed - Corruption Dragon Link 3, Dragon, DARK,(2400) Markers: Top, Bottom Left, Bottom Right.
"I activate the last card in my hand, the spell Reworking Corruption!" The card showed on it an open grave that had a black liquid seeping out of it, underneath a nearby grave was a deceased version of Paladin of Corruption the liquid seemed to be beginning to encroach on that grave as well. "This card allows me to summon one monster from my graveyard that has been used for a link summon this turn, however its effect is negated. I select Paladin of Corruption to resurrect to the field!"
Paladin was set in the middle monster zone, looking even more decayed than previously "Corruption Dragon's effect. It gains attack points equal to the level of the monsters that are linked to it x200! Currently linked to this card is the level four Paladin of Corruption, that's 800 points in Layman's terms."
Corruption Dragon's ATK: 2400 – 3200
Mammon closed his eyes "You see that Playmaker, my monster now has more than enough power to take out your life points in one single blow. Why don't you just give up? Surely you can see that your situation is hopeless."
Playmaker clenched as fist and glared at Mammon "You're wrong, I can't give up and simply won't, I'll give you three reasons why. One! So long as my points are above zero I can never be considered truly beaten. Two! You are currently the only one in the possession of the backdoor to the SOL Technologies' databank, in there are the answer I've been seeking since I began this journey. Three! If I was to give up, it would mean I will have abandoned everything I've been fighting for up until now. That I simply can't allow!"
Mammon opened one of his eyes "Is that so? You wish to know what happened ten years ago, don't you? That's your ultimate goal, the reason why you target the Knights of Hanoi, because of the naming of the incident you were involved in."
Then there was a prolonged silence, the only thing heard was the sound of the data winds. The two duelists were glaring absolute daggers at each other. But it was broken by a solitary word "Battle." Mammon declared with contempt at Playmaker "Corruption Dragon will attack Decode Talker and end your journey of revenge! Farewell, Playmaker!"
Ai at this point had completely lost his shit and it didn't help that Playmaker was staying silent as the attack neared 'Hey! Are you going to do anything?! If you haven't noticed we only have 2400 life points, his monster has 3200! If you want me to do the maths that'll leave us with no points left! So do something!'
As the attack hit Decode, a huge plume of smoke emerged from the contact "Akutoku no Jajjimento." Mammon was certain of victory, he had cleansed himself from the sin of his previous failure and could go back having restored his record. However, "How?! That's Impossible! You shouldn't have survived that!"
The thing that had triggered this reaction was the discovery that was Playmaker still standing alive and well with life points to spare, but Decode talker was nowhere to be seen. Another monster was standing there instead "I activated my Trap Cynet Recoded Change!" This card showed Decode in the foreground coated in a blue light while in the background stood Encode lifting up its sword. "This card allows me to tribute one 'Code Talker' monster that I control and change it with another one in my extra deck. Just before your attack went through I activated this card. Using it I was allowed to summon Encode Talker from my extra deck. However I will now take damage equal to half the original attack points of the tributed monster, the battle phase will also now end!"
Playmaker's LP: 2400 – 1350
Encode Talker, Link 3, LIGHT, Cyberse (2300) Link Markers: Top, Bottom and Bottom Right.
Mammon looked irate, his eyes began to twitch furiously "Playmaker, you really have don't have a clue! SOL Technologies is the enemy you should be seeking! By attacking the Knights of Hanoi you distract the world from the real enemy, who you've effectively helped up until now! I ask you like I did before, why are you doing this?!"
It was Playmaker's turn to look irate, "People like you will never understand the pain and suffering the lost incident caused me. All of us were forced in to life or death situations. Dueling was a method of survival to us. Despite being saved, it left me with deep scars, I tried my best to fit in and repress the incident. But no matter what I did, I couldn't outrun the past. When I learned that the lost incident had the alias of the Hanoi project, it was then I made the fateful decision. To become the emissary of revenge! To crush anyone or anything connected to Hanoi!"
It looked like both of them were angry enough to burst a blood vessel and that if they weren't on separate boards, something very ugly would occur. Out of the two it was Mammon who appeared to calm down first "I'm guessing that's part of a speech you gave to Revolver, I'll tell you one thing. I understand far more than you believe. It is your turn now, let's see if you can beat me this turn."
Mammon's cards x0
Turn 4
"I'll make sure of it!" Playmaker slashed the top card of his deck. Not even taking time to formulate a strategy he launched into it "I place one card facedown. Battle! Linkslayer will attack Corruption Dragon!"
The sheer insanity of the move was enough to make Mammon take a step towards the back of his board "What are you doing? Corruption Dragon has 3200 attack points, your Linkslayer has 2000 attack points. You'll only deal yourself damage!"
Linkslayer attempted to cleave into Corruption, only for the massive dragon to swat the cyberse monster back with its tail "Encode Talker's effect! Once per turn, before damage calculation, if a monster linked to this card battles a monster that has higher attack than it, that monster is unable to be destroyed by battle and I take no battle damage."
Mammon for a moment look scared but then he settled back into his usual look "Ah, so what? Even if that is true, Corruption Dragon can't be destroyed by any of your monsters this turn. You may as well pack it in."
"Do you really think so?" Playmaker said.
"Shut up! You've got nothing!" Despite his best efforts, Mammon's voice shook.
"Encode's other effect! After damage calculation, I can have this card or one monster this card points to gain attack equal to your monster's attack points! I select Encode to receive Corruption Dragon's attack points!"
Encode's ATK: 2300 – 5600
"Go, Encode Talker! Destroy Corruption Dragon! Final Encode!" Encode tore fiercely into Corruption Dragon, like a mythological knight slaying the evil dragon, the resulting blast from the destruction, knocked Mammon far behind Playmaker.
Mammon's LP: 3100 – 700
"Corruption Dragon's final effect!" Mammon shouted, trying to hide his desperation "At the end of the turn this card was destroyed I can summon one Corruption link monster from my graveyard. Resurrect Corruption Ziegal!"
'Ah! He's gotten away from us! I thought for sure we'd beaten him, now he's revived another one of his monsters! Will this ever end?' Ai grovelled, earning an icy glare from Playmaker.
Encode's ATK: 5600 – 2300
Playmaker's cards x1
Back at Hanoi, another person teleported into the main room, he was a man of roughly 32 or so. He had short spiky blue hair, like Baira he wore an eyepiece that seemed to be a section from the standard Hanoi mask. His getup was the usual white uniform but it had brown trims. "Faust, glad you could join us." Revolver said as Faust took position beside him.
"Forgive me for being late." Faust bowed.
"No problem."
For the first time, Faust looked at the screen and immediately he gained an expression of concern "What on earth does Sateriasis think he's doing?!"
Faust began to move away "Stop!" Revolver said causing him to go as stiff as a statue, Baira placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly "Listen to me, Aso. I know how you feel about both of them, but you've got allow this to happen. Sateriasis wanted this and I'm certain he wouldn't have left anything to chance."
Turn 5
'This ends this turn. This turn I'll send Playmaker to hell!' Mammon regained his frenzied look as he started "My turn! I draw! I activate Ziegal's effect! First, you're dealt damage equal to the amount of cards in your hand! While it may seem like a drop in the water, 200 points is still a decent amount!"
Playmaker's LP: 1150 – 950
"Appear! The corrupted circuit that destroys all!" Once more the link gate appeared for Mammon "Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are two or more Corruption monsters with less than 2000 attack points! I set the link 2 Corruption Ziegal and Paladin of Corruption in the link markers! Circuit combine! Witness the final monster you'll ever see! Link 3! Corruption Grimdead!"
Corruption Grimdead, Link 3, Fiend, Effect, DARK (2000) Link Markers: Middle Left, Bottom Left, Top Left
"My final stand begins now! I activate one of Grimdead's effects! When I have no cards in my hand, I can select one monster that is in my graveyard and summon that monster to a zone this card points to! Be born once again Paladin of Corruption!"
'That card again? He's used that card three times. And he said last time you had an affinity for Cyberse Wizard.' Ai pointed out the dramatic irony of Mammon's actions.
"Grimdead gains attack equivalent to half the attack points of the monsters pointing to this card. At this moment, only Paladin is linked to it. That's an increase of 800 points!"
Grimdead's ATK: 2000 – 2800
'That's still not enough! Even if Playmaker didn't use Encode's effect, you wouldn't be able to deal enough damage to erase our life points!' Ai was dancing at this point, certain of victory.
"Don't gloat just yet! I activate the effect of the destroyed Spellbinding Corruption Circle. By banishing this card from my graveyard I can add one Corruption monster from my graveyard to my hand. I'll take Trojan!"
'That's his plan!' Playmaker was struck with a sudden moment of realisation.
Mammon laughed, placing his hand over his face "I see you've realised your predicament. However applying that knowledge will prove to be the test. I play Paladin's effect! By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard I deal you damage equal to half his attack points!"
Playmaker's LP: 950 – 150
"Battle! Grimdead will attack Encode Talker! Reaping knell!" Grimdead vanished from Mammon's field in a veil of shadows, before reappearing directly behind Encode preparing to strike.
'Ha! He's gone mad! We'll just activate Encode's eff-' Ai went to say only to be cut off.
"During the turn I use Spellbinding's effect from the grave, my opponent cannot activate monster effects for the rest of the turn!"
'But that means… Encode's protection effect is sealed off!'
"My point exactly! This is the true end of you Playmaker!"
"Are you sure about that?" With those five words, Mammon's face fell "As far as I'm concerned there is still one card left on my field, which can change the outcome of this duel! I play the Trap Recoded Survival!" This card depicted a barrier of other Cyberse monsters protecting the two main Code Talkers in the centre "When a Code Talker I control is attacked I can tribute one Cyberse monster on my field, negate the attack and end the battle phase!"
Just as Encode was about to be ripped in two, Linkslayer jumped in the way of Grimdead's blade.
While Playmaker looked perfectly calm and Ai was busy working on one liners to say, Mammon looked practically crushed, he fell to his knees and grasped his head 'Not again… Please god no, I can't lose, they'll come for me if I lose.' He started to subconsciously speak out loud "I'll win… I'll win… I'm sorry, I'll win next time for sure!" His eyes then widened as he fell on his front, still muttering to himself.
The three of the watchers in Hanoi's base, all wore faces of horror "That's it!" Faust declared breaking off "I won't stand here and let him suffer alone, I'm going to collect him!"
Before anyone could stop him, Faust dissolved into cerulean pixels.
Mammon's cards x0
Turn 6
Initially Playmaker was hesitant to even begin his turn, only starting after some prodding from Ai did he even begin, his draw phase didn't matter "Battle. Encode attacks Paladin of Corruption. Final Encode!"
The attack struck, robbing Mammon of his last life points and handing Playmaker the victory.
Mammon's LP: 700 – 0
Playmaker: Win!
The resulting aftermath of Encode's attack had caused Mammon to completely fall from the board into the abyss below.
It looked as if he was going to hit the ground, but then there was the sudden flash of another D-board coming into the picture, this one belonged to Faust who'd arrived just in time to catch Mammon on the way down, the impact kicked him back into sufficient consciousness just along enough to speak "Faust. I'm sorry." He passed out again after that.
Faust followed Playmaker to the rooftop he had landed on and confronted him "I take it you're a Knight of Hanoi then?" Playmaker said.
"Yes." Faust answered, the golden card that held the backdoor then appeared "Take it. Mammon promised it to you, we always fulfil our end of the deal." He threw the card, then vanished taking Mammon with him.
Playmaker took a look at the data he'd received 'Could this really be it? Are all the answer to my past really stored in that database.'
Without a second thought, he logged out leaving VRAINS bare of people.
(The next day)
Even by his own Standards, Sateriasis looked dishevelled beyond belief, his hair was all over the place while his school uniform had its top buttons undone and the tie had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Of course exactly what he needed was to be sat in the Duel club and Naoki to be talking to him, "You don't look so good Marlon. Are you alright?"
"I assure you, I'm perfectly fine. I just stayed up late last night, that's all there is to it." Sateriasis groaned, trying all the while to fix his hair back to normal.
"Oh." Naoki said, then looked at his disk "Hey, I've got something to show you."
If Sateriasis was drinking, he'd probably have spat it out "What is it?" He tried his best to sound even vaguely interested, but his disdain still seeped its way through.
Naoki shoved his disk in Sateriasis' face, on the screen he could what looked to be a VRAINS avatar of sorts. The avatar was covered in armour and just looked like someone was compensating for something. "I finally decided to make a VRAINS account, with people like Playmaker fighting Hanoi, I thought that I shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing."
"This is your avatar then?" Sateriasis asked, despite already knowing the answer in his head.
"Yeah! What do you think of it? I'm thinking of calling myself Lonely Brave!" Naoki sounded quite proud of himself, a personality trait Sateriasis was all too familiar with. He knew exactly how to handle this.
"Well, I don't know if I'm in a position to comment as I don't own a VRAINS account. However, if I am to offer one opinion it would be…" He intentionally took a dramatic pause to raise Naoki's expectations, a trick he'd pulled multiple times with Allen.
The pause to Naoki was unbearable as Sateriasis dragged it out even longer "Come on! Out with it already!"
"It looks like total shit." Naoki's face dropped and he looked absolutely mortified, something Sateriasis couldn't help but laugh at internally.
Seeing that Naoki was at a total loss for words, Sateriasis took this opportunity to flee while he still could, almost immediately after he left he came into contact with his lead suspect.
Yusaku appeared to be asking about Aoi's whereabouts seeing that she hadn't come into school the past few days for some unknown reason, carefully he approached Yusaku from behind. "Hey, you're Yusaku Fujiki right?"
Yusaku turned around to face Sateriasis with his usual blank expression "I'm sorry do I know you?"
Now, Sateriasis would've been offended but given that the two had barely interacted he considered it reasonable. "I'm Sateriasis Marlon, I go to the duel club as well."
"Oh, that's right." Yusaku remembered "What do you want?"
"Nothing really, I just wanted to properly introduce myself." Sateriasis smiled, but Yusaku felt something off about him, the aura he radiated seemed to be one of intense cruelty and sadism yet underneath all that exterior there laid a sense of melancholy and crippling loneliness. Truly it was one of the most confusing auras Yusaku had ever sensed.
(SOL Technologies)
"Playmaker now has the backdoor to our databank, what do you plan on doing Lucifinia?" Bishop was the only one of the three chess pieces present. He had requested a private meeting with Zitor.
The head of development laughed "Why, I plan on annihilating him of course! Absolutely no one is getting that data and even if I have to step in myself Playmaker's last stand will be inside the bank!"
"Good. But remember this before you go, if Playmaker gets his hands on that data our plans will be sunk. I'm authorising you to use any means necessary to prevent that from happening." The room then returned to normal as Zitor took a look at his deck.
He landed on specific card, his ace monster. It was a Link 4 monster but it had 0 attack points. "Are you ready Sendong? Because I think it's about time for us to make our move."
AN: I want to say a couple things here. One is that in about two weeks time, I'll be doing my GCSE exams. They'll be going on until sometime in June so I'll have to stop writing for a bit to focus on them.
Now that I've got that out, let's move on:
Don't be disappointed. The card/virus Mammon implanted on Ghost Girl still hasn't been activated yet. He has his reasons for it.
The next chapter as you can probably figure out will be a duel between Zitor and Playmaker in the databank. You wouldn't believe how much I am looking forward to writing that.
By the by, I'm still thinking about the OC thing. I'll make the final judgment next chapter.
I have just the QOTC to ask: What do you think Zitor's deck will be like? I'm interested on seeing what you think before I decide to reveal it.
See you in roughly two months time!
Side note: I've got a story to recommend. It's called "Yugioh VRAINS: The link between fates". It is by GreedyMattymo, who I'm somewhat good friends with. I suggest you read it.