【39 - The Worst Outcome! Death, Destruction and Capture... is There Any Hope Left!?】


"No…"

Soldiers in camo gear joined the teens as they stood around their friend. Lisa held Diego's body closer and sobbed.

"We have to get the civilians out of here, it isn't safe" the leader commanded.

It took coaxing and effort to separate Lisa from her lost love. She wrapped herself around Simon as she cried, he stared forward with a stoic face. Heidi went to Amira who was standing stock-still, the fire duelist had tears of rage leaking out.

Amira's pale face was also furious "he's done it again. Just like before, he starts killing anyone who gets close to me. I can't do this anymore!"

"You two, come on!" another armed soldier tried herding them "we have to go."

Mr Barrow couldn't speak as they reunited, military men explained to the small crowd of civilians that a gangster had pursued them to the evacuation point. A teenaged boy was axed down. Margis's van had sped off through the dusty terrain, through the mounds of the city's waste. The soldiers slowed at his escape. They'd blown a tire and the back-window but then had no choice but to lower their guns and return. The airplane's propellers were spinning, whipping up everyone's hair and ratty, stitched clothing. A stairway ramp was pulled down and the citizens were ordered to board. They all climbed up and took their seats, when ready the plane took off and they left ground. From the window Heidi could see the dirt falling further below, then the tops of rubbish-hills, then as they went even higher she could she their scummy city. They sailed off and away, finally leaving it all behind them.

Lisa was sniffling in a back row, being comforted by Mr Barrow while he tried to quiet one of the boys. Why is she crying? What happened to Diego? Around them were other elderly civilians and a young mother cradling a baby. Outside were the huge landmarks: the powerplant, factory and entrance to the coal mines. All three of them empty. The soldiers were bossy but the passengers had no other choice but to obey them.

"Alright, listen up!" the leader had a marine buzzcut "It's going to take half-an-hour to get to the safety point across the city, there you'll be added to a registry and get all the help you need: medical, food, whatever else. There's stretchers in the tents where you'll hold up for however many days it takes for us to evacuate the lot of you, once we figure out where you're going. Just sit tight until then." He turned from the aisle, swinging back into his seat.

Heidi looked at Amira who was leaning back, hood up and eyes closed.

"…I promised you I'd help you stop Magris, and we will."

"Thanks, Heidi. I never told you this… but I'm jealous of your bravery. When I always tried to run from everything, you still wanted to be a hero even when it looked hopeless. I wish I was more like you in that way. And also… to me you feel like the sister I never had."

"I may already have three sisters, but I feel the same" Heidi clenched Amira's arm in a comforting way. Her pale eyes looked into Heidi's dark ones and they smiled. Mars and Pluto both seemed to react to each other as well, almost like the two phoenixes were sharing in their camaraderie.

At the end of a sombre flight, they landed by a series of giant canvas tents. Other evacuees and troops were busying around. After disembarking they saw a few odd shrubs and it'd been so long since they saw living greenery that they couldn't help taking notice. The leading soldier led them across the camp and they lined up by a series of tables where a woman was processing them into a list and handing out nametags with numbers. They stood tired and waited. Just as Mr Barrow was getting processed a pair of soldiers appeared at Heidi's side.

"Heidi Hirazumi, we're going to have to ask you to come with us."

She blinked at them and turned but Amira was gone. She turned to the others as they stared at her. Perhaps she should have run the moment she got off the plane, made her way around the tents and tried following the roads to the Port City. It was too late for her now.

She slackened "okay."

"No, wait-"

"It's fine." She cut off Simon. Looked at teary Lisa, then the old man and his kids. "Mr Barrow has to look after the children. You two have to look after each other. All of you just stay strong." Then with a sinking heart, she walked off between the armed men who stuck close. Leading her away, across the camp and to a smaller tent.

There was a man sitting at a fold-out table and speaking into a radio. He shut it off when they entered.

"Heidi Hirazumi, our escaped fire chosen, we've found you at last. To think you'd be here."

She shrugged and had difficulty mustering much rebellion at that point.

The man regarded her "the coal province is an excellent place to stay hidden, but certainly isn't safe for a girl on her own. Were you by yourself? Or were you with the other missing chosen, Amira Hashiru?"

Heidi felt her insides tighten but she managed to not give it away. If only they knew Amira was just a number of metres away and arrived here on the same plane.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked.

"We've sent word to our superiors and you're to be escorted on a private plane back to the security facility you escaped from two months ago. Preparations are being made as we speak. There you'll continue helping Dr Magnum with his research. The warden is especially eager to have you back."

"The military's under a full inquiry now! You can't detain me without a reason!"

"Assault on government personnel, causing damage to public property, resisting and then escaping arrest," he ticked off his fingers "pick your reason."

"Bite me."

"Don't make this difficult. Just be a good girl and co-operate."

She sighed and her fight left her. There was nothing she could do. She would be returning to that prison-base later that very day. Heidi wouldn't be able to fulfill her promise to Amira. She only hoped the other girl could stop Magris on her own and would then make her own way to the pirate trade route to unite with the other chosen.

Amira was crafty and observant, unfortunately Heidi wasn't. The hooded girl had slinked off at the first sign of stares. Slowed her breathing as she ducked beside the table, took note of everyone's attention before darting to a tent. Shifting to a casual posture as a soldier with a clipboard went by, then she kept low and ran behind camo vehicles with dirt-track tires. When she slinked and peered around, Heidi was already being escorted away between two soldiers. Amira looked at the surrounding bushland, scanned the sky until she saw an electrical tower. Those criss-crossing bars of steel had been close to the old highway that led to the Port City. It would be a long walk and she was sure to get hungry, but following the closed-off roads via the bush seemed to be her safest option. With this in mind, Amira turned and left the others behind, making her escape.

Later when it was midday Amira was alone, walking behind the tree-line. She'd forced Diego and Heidi from her mind, and was instead thinking several days ahead about what she might need to do for her survival. Having the others take out Magris for her had probably been too much for her to hope. Though they'd already proven themselves by taking out one lieutenant, hadn't they? Amira wondered if perhaps she should've tried convincing them to leave with her. She heard a car and snapped to, jumping behind one of the trees and hiding. Dammit, I was too wrapped up in my head to react sooner! The sun was overhead and it wasn't dark enough for her to try turning invisible. As much as she prayed for the car to drive past, it stopped on the road behind her.

She heard a door slide open and Amira clenched her fists, heart pounding as she turned to take a look. With one foot up on the road-guard, the long sleeves of his straight-jacket blowing in the breeze, the Mad Duelist leered down at her. He had pins sticking out his bald head, tongue out and dripping.

"I know you! And here I thought I'd have to get to the next city before I could kill again. Are you alone, little girl?"

More importantly, Amira noticed that he seemed to be alone. No Magris. She raised her deck and it shone purple.

His tongue retracted "that's right, the chosen darkness duelist? Not much of a talker, are you? Have it your way, kettou da!"

He withdrew his leg and Amira climbed up the slope, she met the cracked street and walked opposite the man who'd beat Heidi. Hopefully she'd fare better and not end up this maniac's latest victim. At the eruption of a second purple glow their tables appeared and they stepped up, beginning their game.

He set rainbow mana and Amira played on her first turn "Marrow Ooze, the Twister!" As the rubbery being twisted itself up she already had her first move planned. Use him to clear a panel and die, then come back as graveyard-evolution bait for another swing. The Mad Duelist giggled and added more rainbow mana, entering play tapped. Amira charged then "ike! Break a shield." Marrow Ooze sneered and spun itself, swinging a stretchy arm through glass before shriveling up and dying.

"Shield trigger, Aqua Skydiver! I charge then return the favour, ike!" A gold warrior landed then lunged, sweeping its arm-blade through a panel.

Amira caught the card as it popped up "I graveyard-evolution Death March, Reaper Puppeteer! Attack Aqua Skydiver, he gets -4000 power and dies. Ike!" The blue-hooded swordsmen evolved from a ghostly Marrow Ooze, landing in a crouch then springing out and cutting through Skydiver. His creature popped off the table and went back to his hand, Amira's brows furrowed.

"Hehe… I summon Tajimal, Vizier of Aqua!" His small eyes were skittish in their sockets. The watery quadruped in gold armor stepped out. A blocker on 4000.

"I summon Zamaru, Treasure of Darkness!" Amira pointed and a multi-coloured chest popped open, shadowy limbs allowing it to rise up and take flight. "It's on 4000 while all my mana cards are darkness. Death March attacks!"

"Tajimal blocks!"

"-4000 power, it still dies!" The puppet master's sword-strikes were a blur, Tajimal landed in a stumble before liquifying.

"I cast Sundrop Armor!" The lunatic's spell shone yellow, soft ripples spread and he rebuilt his fifth shield.

"Then he's replaced Aqua Skydiver…" Amira murmured. "I play Vorg, Ogre Puppet!" The purple toy swung its electric mace around fiendishly. "Zamaru, break that shield! You randomly discard."

"I planted a trigger!" her opponent swished his long sleeve before it shattered. He dropped the purple card he was holding.

"Thought so,"

"Terror Pit!"

"Didn't think it was that one…" Amira admitted as Death March was dragged back into her graveyard.

The Mad Duelist cackled, his insanity put Amira's ex to shame. He drew and summoned "Bluum Erkis, Flare Guardian!" A purple battleship on 8500 arose as the biggest creature in play. It levitated above the empty road. Amira grimaced, already knowing its effect. Her opponent swished at her "Your move!"

"I generate Demonic Protector and cross it to my Treasure of Darkness!" it was encased in sinister bone armor. "Now I get to draw if it dies. Zamaru, break a shield, ike! Another discard!" The pandora's box swerved forth and hurled a volley of lightning, shield pieces ripped into the man's clothes and he squealed before laughing again. "Vorg, break a shield!" Amira continued and an electric mace crunched down on another panel.

The Mad Duelist was left with two shields, he added more rainbow mana "I summon Marinomancer and draw three! Since every other type of card in my deck is some mix of light and dark." The babyish cyber lord appeared and tossed lightning between its palms. "Bluum Erkis double-breaks your shields!" A purple plasma laser charged up before firing into two panels. Amira cried out and stumbled back. A glowing trigger whizzed over to the Mad Duelist's battle-zone "…and I use your Terror Pit to destroy your own Zamaru."

Her box slipped away, the bone armor stretching back into a human shape. Amira drew an extra card before starting "I evolve Vorg into Killer the Kill, Demon Dragon King!" The madman raised his head curiously at a creature he'd never seen before. "Bluum Erkis is insta-killed, I use my last mana to cross him with Demonic Protector!" The jagged creature with the giant purple eyeball on its chest clawed through the battleship like it was plastic. The old tar of the road was splitting beneath its feet. "My dragon's on 12,000 and a triple-breaker, I take out your last shields! Ike!" With a vicious snarl it ripped through the final shields and her opponent was sent tumbling into a roll. He kneeled up and sneered at her with bloody teeth. Amira ended "your turn."

The stooping man slinked back to his table and snarled "I use another Terror Pit on Killer the Kill! Marinomancer breaks a shield!"

Amira hated to see a good creature go. Her bone armour shrank down to its usual size and the cyber lord fired lightning through her fourth shield. At least she'd taken out all his shields. She had one left and some time to finish him off with another evolution. Being alone with a murderous psychopath was her worst nightmare, but she held her anxiety at bay. She would take care of this guy, then commandeer that van and leave. It seemed familiar…

"I summon Sealed Devil Samijal and Sealed Devil Beelzebub!" Her lumpy purple blocker and mutant fly landed in play "turn end."

He drew and had a full hand, he added his ninth mana "I summon another two Tajimal, Vizier of Aquas and Melnia, the Aqua Shadow!" A miniature army of rainbow creatures swarmed his field. At that moment the horizon lit up and they heard the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

Amira stopped mid-draw and her eyes widened.

"What?" the mad duelist turned around "oh yes, that."

Hundreds of thousands of lives lost before her eyes. Over a million people injured by the catastrophe currently unfolding. It wasn't even possible to process the amount of death and pain resulting from this instant. Her whole body turned to ice as Pluto absorbed the wave of death energy.

Amira's mouth fell open and she uttered a "…how?"

"I'm never one to let a victim escape," the Mad Duelist explained as the mushroom cloud bloomed into the upper atmosphere. "But letting one get away in exchange for many, many others is a worthy trade."

Amira looked back at the dark-silver van and realized why its dents were so familiar to her "You let Heidi escape so you could go back, give Urobach the canister we took from the nuclear bomb." She shook her head "but everyone's going to know it wasn't the military!"

"I suppose the General just hates losing…" the Mad Duelist shrugged, then he erupted into cackles, leaning all the way back into an arch and cackling skyward.

I'm still dueling, I have to focus on surviving. Nothing I can do about that. Amira drew "you're going to pay for what you did to those countless people! Mark my words, you will! I graveyard-evolve another Death March, Reaper Puppeteer! I evolve Beelzebub into DarthRayne, Dream Knight! I send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard then return a creature to my hand, I choose Supernova Pluto Deathbringer!" Amira revealed her phoenix just as a purple energy-cloak swallowed her whole. "Death March, todomeda!"

"Tajimal blocks!"

"DarthRayne todomeda!"

"Second Tajimal blocks!" Both his blockers were reduced to puddles and bouncing chunks of gold. "Now I summon two Aqua Skydivers!" Two gold fighters landed into the fray. "Since Melnia is unblockable it goes for your last shield, ike!" The purple-hooded being flew and swung its arm, Amira turned and felt glass bounce against her back. The Mad Duelist had one foot up on his table as he leaned over "I got two blockers and four creatures that can attack you next turn!" he cackled with his tongue out. Amira stared between his Aqua Skydivers, Marinomancer and the unblockable Melnia. If she didn't draw evolution bait now she was done for. Her vision went blurry and hand shook, pulse beating behind her ears.

Amira drew "I graveyard-evolve Dorgedos, the Reaper Drake! I evolve it again with Death March and Sealed Devil Samijal into Supernova Pluto Deathbringer! Galaxy Vortex evolution!" As their surroundings darkened a pillar of blackness burst upward. It molded and transformed until Pluto unveiled himself once more. His four skeletal arms raised and head tossed back as if savoring the enormous tribute of death nearby. Amira also felt bombarded by the overwhelming energy, cold and electric, like an invisible tsunami. She opened eyes that were glowing entirely purple.

"With two evolutions beneath it my phoenix can meteorburn five times. I attack now and use it on one of your Skydivers."

"I block!" the man looked frenzied and bug-eyed, he looked down and tried picking at the table with dirty nails but the card wouldn't turn. One Skydiver sagged and fell as hazy death closed around it like a giant's grip. "Why isn't my other blocker turning!?" he had his foot back on the table and tugged with all his might under those straight-jacket sleeves. Pluto loomed overhead in preparation for its attack.

"When Dorgedos enters play one of your blockers is forbidden from blocking for the duration of the turn."

"I… I… still accomplished what I set out to do!" the madman suddenly shrieked at the sky. "I have killed more people than any human being in history! Hahaha-!"

"Todomeda, my deathbringer."

A shredding pillar of darkness flowed from Pluto's beak, consuming her opponent in a fluttering onslaught. His body was reduced to a finely-cut bloody heap. With a howl morphing into a victorious screech, the phoenix retracted and all the shadows shrunk back to normal. The surroundings brightened to midday and Amira fell to her knees while panting. The cold mist of her breaths faded and her eyes stopped glowing.

She looked up at the distant nuclear explosion and then stared at the empty van. Do I drive off or do I go back for the others?

Some time earlier, Heidi was prepared to leave the northern coast of Augus entirely. She sat compliant in a sleek plane, staring out the window seat. Two officers were on board, keeping an eye on her at all times. She was in handcuffs and resolved to the sad fact she was going to become a prisoner lab-rat once more. The plane fired up and they took off, ascending and arcing around so she could see the city once more. Her ears popped and she tried working her jaw to relieve them. Heidi's glum expression became curious when she caught sight of a man standing at the edge of a building. He raised his head and it was General Urobach catching sight of her in the distance. His figure ignited in black flames.

"Oh shit-!" Heidi screamed as blackness burst to life behind her.

The agents undid the belts they put on for take-off but the scarred General spun and kicked one man in the stomach, taking hold of his ears and kneeing his face. Lights out. Bullets sprayed through the plane and air hissed out. A chop to the neck made the second soldier fall.

"What's going on back there?" the pilot shouted from the cockpit.

"Help me!" Heidi screamed at him.

She wiggled back in her seat and raised cuffed wrists. Urobach's gloved hand shot out and closed around her neck. Black void flames swallowed them both and then Heidi was squeezed through space and thrown. She rolled along the roof of a sky-scraper, having returned to the coal province after all. Urobach walked to the edge to overlook the poverty and took a deep breath.

"Ah, yes… this will be the perfect spot. Not too close and not too far, but just right…"

"What's just right?" Heidi got up on her knees, arms still annoyingly cuffed "What are you talking about?"

"The Mad Duelist returned with the missing piece of the Atomic Bomb – the canister you swiped. We rebuilt it and it's set to go off in just under a minute. Just my luck that I caught sight of you there, almost like this is a second chance to please my Gods…"

"N-no…!" Back then Heidi had been terrified, focused only on running to save her own life. She'd let that maniac run loose and now he'd done such a thing.

"If we were a couple of kilometres closer you'd die by instant vaporizing. If we were a couple of kilometres further you might survive the burning. But this is the perfect distance… you will melt slowly along with the surrounding city, third degree burns while your clothes catch fire." He had his hand over his eyes peering out where the bomb was going to go off. He turned to her and smiled at the bruise still on her cheek, the place he'd clobbered her after she spat on him. "I mean, you could always jump but I don't think even you're brave enough to do that. Farewell, chosen." His amber eyes were bright, his smile blazed under black fire that danced around his uniform. Urobach was sucked away from her and vanished.

Heidi knelt there with eyes wide, breathing out her mouth. Quickly she scrambled, pulling a card out her pocket and rushing to the building's edge. She lay the card upright and sat herself cross-legged before it. Heidi did her best to calm herself while she focused on Supernova Mars Disaster.

Help… you hear me, you big stupid phoenix! I need your help! Amira's link let her use subtle manipulation of darkness to make her invisible! Now we need to do subtle manipulation of fire to survive a nuclear attack! Doubt arose and she fought it back. Radiation burning is still heat, right? It's still energy, it's still fire. If we don't work together now we're going to die. Help, Mars!

Heidi sunk into a deeper state just as she heard the explosion go off. Blinding orange shone from behind. A cloak of red energy encased her, Heidi felt a warrior's battle-hunger rush in and saw Mar's burning glare in her mind's eye.

She raised her head as the heat and radiation rolled over her. Concrete hissed smoke and split. Buildings began to melt as if they were wax. The screams of a million people filled her head as everyone in the area started to die.

The young girl ducked down, eyes scrunched shut. She didn't open them until all the shockwaves and rumblings were gone. Enormous pieces of building spun through the air and crashed into streets, like the casual tossing of pebbles. Their velocity was unreal. Tumbling as they flew and tore into the metropolis. Heidi stood up and turned over her cuffed arms. The red glow around her was different this time, instead of fire it looked like radiation. She felt hot and yet instead of it being painful it felt good. With each movement she buzzed like a glow-lantern. This energy around her was fighting off the deadly radiation that was swallowing everything. Heidi looked around until she saw stairs, the hatch around them had blown off. Buildings were still falling and leaning away from ground zero, which was an empty crater of rising ash. Heidi raced off to make her way to the ground.

Walking the streets was surreal. All the pedestrians had been reduced to blackened chars, faces melted to reveal their skulls beneath. Countless casualties. She saw a car flipped over, the rubber of its tires was a bubbling pool of black. Most of the car itself had melted. A hydrant had liquified in the unbelievable heat, all its water instantly evaporated. All the concrete was sizzling and gushing steam. Now the city truly was an apocalyptic wasteland, but seeing that its apocalypse had just occurred it currently looked a lot like hell. No windows remained intact, everything that could melt had done so. Heidi was the only living thing, walking around like a red-glowing spectre, a ghost that didn't belong.

She kept walking and it only got worse, because soon she found people who were still alive. Screaming and crying, trying to dig others out from under rubble or holding out stumps of missing limbs. Heidi's tears evaporated in Mars's protective red coating. She continued along, there were simply too many people to help. These people could take hours or even days to finally die. She continued her one-woman walk out the city, hearing the screams and wails of thousands of people. She walked for hours, and this time when she finally left the coal province there was no way to ever get back. The city would be thoroughly irradiated and inhabited nevermore.

Mars's red glow gradually faded and when Heidi reached the outskirts once more she trekked around to the highway exits. Only the police department from the next city seemed to use it. Her hands were still cuffed and she needed a way to free them. She kept her eyes out for any stray piece of metal that might do the job. Then she heard an explosion that reminded her of dueling. Heidi's ears pricked and then she ran toward it. She ran and jumped over a roadblock, across the potholes and cracks, she kept running until she saw wreckage from a car accident. Two vans that'd collided and sat motionless without drivers. Off the road was a clearing in the bushland and Heidi glimsped a towering creature. She ran down, stumbled but rolled back onto her feet. Heidi skidded down until the orange-haired lieutenant looked back with a monochrome eye. He was dueling the other chosen.

"Amira!"

"Heidi?"

Magris scoffed "...just in time to see her die."


AN: Shuriken has reviewed all of my Fire Arc, and despite some issues tells me that he enjoyed it! He's currently reviewed two chapters of this arc as of this moment, and I remain quite sure that he'll enjoy Darkness Arc more. It's a much more cohesive and well-planned installment. I also have Azure to thank, who is looking forward to the inevitable decisions my characters will make at the closing of this arc. That would include... Amira! Has she driven back for Heidi and the others or will she dip? Can she step up to the role of being a chosen or would she rather find a new slum to simply chill and vibe? Has Heidi walking through the closest thing to a literal hell finally brought an end to her heroic ambitions? See the epic conclusion coming soon!