The tournament was something fun for other duelists, but Meldrick had other matters. He's hunting down Ichika to claim the power that he holds. He has minions everywhere. With him having eyes everywhere, all he needs to do is find the fight one to strike.

"You can run, but you can't hide. Ichika, your power, the power of the hero that you hold, will soon be mine." Meldrick boasted as he is not letting Ichika out of his sights. "Obrin, which of my servants is ready to strike?"

"Valatin has been watching him and keeping a close eye on him. The one that is ready would be Arcane, sir. He's also the closest to Ichika Orimura." Obrin claimed.

"Arcane? Good. This one should be quite entertaining." Meldrick laughed as he couldn't wait for this to happen. If really any of his minions can get what he wants, he'll be most pleased.

...

Dueling City

Every duelist in dueling city is trying to get the necessary points to enter the finals. They're taking on whoever they can to get those points, but it's not like that with Ichika and Senshi. With Cecilia and Rin following him around, Ichika kept his guard up for Meldrick. Remaining with Senshi in control, they kept moving and looked around for anything.

'I wonder who our next opponent will be. Especially if they're working for Meldrick.' Ichika thought.

"Ichika, have you decided on who your next opponent will be?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah. Why not just go and take on the next duelist you'll see?" Rin asked.

"Not that easy. I doubt they want to take the likes of me on." Senshi said. "Besides, I believe the more challenging the duel is, the more points I get. I'm not looking for easy victories. There's also no challenge to help improve myself over that."

"Oh, Ichika. You are such a noble and passionate man. You aren't afraid of a challenge." Cecilia said as she acted impressed.

"Still, you need to get points. There must be someone you can duel." Rin said as they looked around for who he can duel. Suddenly, she stopped when she spotted a circus tent in the middle of a small field. "That's weird. I don't remember ever seeing that before." Cecilia and Senshi noticed it themselves and found it rather weird themselves.

"What is it?" Cecilia asked. Senshi took a look and spotted a sign over the entrance.

"Arcane's Magic. What is this?" Senshi questioned.

"I'm so glad you showed up." They all looked and saw a man standing at the entrance. He wore a red suit with him wearing a red top hat and a black mask over his eyes. "I am in need of an audience. Do come in. Please do come in, Ichika Orimura." Hearing that he knew Ichika's name caused Senshi to be alerted. "You don't want to miss the show. It's about to begin." Once he said that, it was like he slid back into the shadows like any creep would.

"Ichika, maybe we should leave. This guy gives me the creeps." Rin said.

"This does seem rather odd. Perhaps we should go." Cecilia said.

"I don't think he's going to allow us to walkaway." Senshi said as he knew where this might be going. This might be something he can't escape so easily from. "Both of you stay close, but use a good sense of caution." He took the invitation and followed Arcane inside, suspecting he knows what this is. The girls followed after him and they were all ready for whatever this was. They all stepped inside and they saw circus props around.

"What is all this?" Cecilia questioned.

"The circus might be in down, but I have a feeling this isn't a good show." Rin said.

"Arcane, where are you?!" Senshi called as he looked around for him. Suddenly, he heard something. He looked up and saw a cage come down and slammed around him.

"Ichika!" Cecilia called as she and Rin hurried to him, but it looked like he was trapped inside. That was when a set of lights came on.

"Welcome, Ichika Orimura, to Arcane's Magic Show!" Senshi looked ahead of him and spotted Arcane was in the cage with him.

"What is the meaning of this?" Senshi questioned.

"It's my grand show, of course. I was in the need of a volunteer to put on this performance for none other than my master: Meldrick." Arcane claimed.

"I knew it." Senshi said as he was already aware this was the case.

"Hey! Let him out of there this instant!" Cecilia demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Arcane said. "Now that the stage has been set, the show is about to begin. It's too late to cancel it now. The only way out now is for you to duel me, Orimura. I will let in you in on a secret. Do you see that metal box on top." Senshi looked up and spotted a box on the top side of the cage. "Inside there is the key to this cage, but it will only be released when one of us loses our duel."

"I see. Very well, Arcane. I accept your challenge." Senshi said as he wasn't going to backdown from this challenge.

"Excellent. I heard you use a tech-based deck. I'll show you the ways of magic." Arcane claimed. He held out his duel disk and activated it. Senshi did the same and was ready to go.

"Ichika, be careful in there!" Cecilia said.

"You got this! Show that magician reject who the boss is!" Rin cheered.

"I'll be fine. Now, Arcane, let's get this duel started." Senshi said.

"Let's duel!" They both said as they started the duel with 4000LP.

"Allow me to go first." Arcane said as he was going first. "I'll start this duel by summoning Witch's Prodigy to the field in attack mode!" He summoned out a witch in a black cloak that had wavy red hair and carried a wooden staff with a purple gem in it. She also had 1100atk points. "When she's summoned, her special ability activates. It allows me to add a spellcaster from my deck to my hand, and I know just the one to add. The monster that will be the instrument to your demise."

"What monster?" Senshi said as he knew this was going to be trouble.

"This one." Arcane said as he drew the card from his deck. "He is known as Evil Magician." He showed his monster and it did look like a powerful one.

"Evil Magician?" Cecilia questioned.

"I've heard of it, but it's just a regular monster. It doesn't really have any special abilities." Rin said.

"That might be true, but it's certainly quite a powerful monster. Either way, I'm not that finished." Arcane said as he was just getting started. "I play the spell card known as Mystic Dark Arts. This spell card allows my dark attribute spellcasters to be granted an extra 400atk points." His Witch's Prodigy had a power increase that went to 1500atk points. "With that, I'm placing one card facedown and that ends my turn."

"My turn!" Senshi said as he drew his card. "I'll begin by summoning out Infinite Stratos Blue Tears to the field!" He summoned out Blue Tears as she came out with 1600atk points. "Next, I activate her special ability! She can deal an 400points of damage for each Infinite Stratos on the field, and that's including her!" She fired her lasers and blasted Arcane with his life points dropping to 3600. "Next, since I dealt effect damage to you, I can special summon Rover Driver to the field!" He summoned out a small rover-like machine as it drove out and had 800atk points. "When Rover Driver is summoned to the field, I'm also allowed to add one monster from my hand as long as Stratos is in it's name. I'll add my new Infinite Stratos Mysterious Lady!" He took the card from his deck and added it to his hand. "Next, I'll have Blue Tears attack your Witch's Prodigy! Attack with Blue Pierce!" He had Blue Tears attack his Witch's Apprentice and she unleashed a powerful blasted that witch. She ended up destroyed and Arcane's life points dropped to 3500.

"Yes! It just started and Ichika has taken an early lead!" Rin said.

"And he still has one monster to attack with!" Cecilia said.

"Rover Driver, attack him directly!" Senshi said. His rover drove towards Arcane and smashed into him as his life points dropped to 3100.

"Not bad, Ichika, but it's all fine. Sometimes magicians make their acts look quite dangerous to add to the suspense for a great performance." Arcane said as he didn't seem worried. That had Senshi a little on guard.

'Why does he not seemed phased? He's up to something?' Senshi thought.

'You're right. We've got to be on guard.' Ichika thought. 'Something about this whole duel doesn't seem right.' They can tell something isn't right, but they just don't know what.

"I activate Restorage! I can now take one monster from my field and return it to my deck! This also allows me to draw one card!" Senshi said. He took his Rover Driver back and placed it back in his deck. After it got shuffled, he drew a new card. "I end my turn there."

"Not a bad opening act, but I think it's time for the real show to begin. I draw!" Arcane said as it seemed like he was getting serious now. "I think I'll start this turn by summoning my Malice Jester of Evil to the field!" He summoned out a black harlequin-like monster carrying a scythe and had 800atk points. "Don't forget my spell card!" His spell gave his monster more power as its attack points rose to 1200. "Next, I'm activating Ectosplatter! Fun little card this is. I can tribute one monster to deal damage by half of his attack points!" He sacrificed his jester and turned it into energy with it blasting Senshi with his life points dropping to 3400. That's what Arcane was hoping for. Suddenly, Senshi felt himself being electrocuted.

"Ichika!" Cecilia called.

"What's happening?!" Rin said as none of them expected something like that to happen.

"What's happening is that Ichika is loosing!" Arcane said. "I can now activate Malice Jester's ability, but I'm playing my trap before I do that! I play Evil's Beneficial! This trap card gives me an extra 1000LP when one of my monsters is tributed for an effect!" He reaped his reward as his life points increased to 4100. "Now, my jester's ability allows me to summon a spellcaster from my hand when he leaves the field due to an effect. Say hello to the master of the dark magic! I give you Evil Magician!" Arcane summoned out his ace monster. He summoned out a magician wearing a black cloak with red lining around it. His magician also carried a dark blue scepter with a green jewel. He also had dark markings around his eyes on his place face, but had a sinister grin. This monster also had 2300atk points. "He looks strong now, but he's about to get even stronger!" He was right as his magician grew stronger and now had 2700atk points.

"This doesn't look good!" Cecilia said.

"You're right! It doesn't for Ichika!" Arcane laughed. "Evil Magician, attack his Blue Tears! Make his lovely assistant disappear for good! Strike with Curse Magic!" He had his magician attack as it unleashed a powerful blast of dark magic. It blasted Blue Tears with her getting torn apart and Senshi's life points dropped some more to 2300. When that happened, he ended up getting electrocuted again.

"Ichika!" The girls called.

"What is the meaning of this? Why am I being electrocuted?" Senshi said as he didn't like this. He looked down at the ground and noticed something was off. He cleared some of the dirt and saw he was standing on metal. "What is this?!"

"Aw... You discovered one of my little secrets of a magician." Arcane taunted. "Whenever you lose life points, you're going to feel quite a shock."

"But you didn't get shocked when you took damage." Rin said as she could see the foul play.

"How convenient." Cecilia said as she saw it too.

"I can't help it that your friend was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time." Arcane taunted.

"Ichika, get out of there!" Cecilia said.

"I'm afraid it's too late for him to walk out of this now, unless he can win." Arcane said. "I need a volunteer for this performance, one that could be the last one Ichika will be a part of!" Ichika and Senshi have walked right into the trap of this twisted magician. Now that he has them trapped, Arcane plans to make his grand finale where they disappear forever.

To Be Continued...