Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers!
Chapter 9: Showdown In Cald
Date: August 25th, 2022
Welcome to another chapter of this story. Last time, Swiftdrawer and Bray hung out and ate breakfast after Swiftdrawer got ready before they met up with their teammates Yu, Anna, Julia, Judai, and Shope for this adventure. The adventure took them to the universe of Magi-Nation and more specifically, a small world called the Moonlands. They met up with the elders of Vash Naroom, Evu and Orwin and also the Final Dreamers Tony, Edyn, and Strag. Vash Naroom is one of 11 realms of the world. After discussing much in Naroom's library, they are forced outside by an attack on the city by Chur, a Shadow Magi who used to be loyal to the villain Agram and turned against him after being turned good and then turned back. He helped Tony, Edyn, and Strag with something while he was good knowing that he would become a Shadow Magi again. The battle was fierce, Chur recruited countless dream creatures turned into shadow creatures and some of Agram's other former servants. Together, they gave everyone a hard time but the tide turned after Evu requested help from their own allies. Due to this, Chur was turned good again through Strag's allegiance relic and his amassed army also ended up turning back to good. Now, the Core Hyren is coming towards them while being possessed by 10 number cards.
And Agram has obtained a massive amount of void energy while in his new host body on Earth. Now witness what happens next due to all of this stuff in this chapter of Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers!. Edyn exclaims: "That's not a very helpful clue. The Book Of Elders is always like this." I reply: "Quests to save worlds are never easy. The creators of the book clearly didn't want to give away the answers for free without any strings attached. Now we know that we have to stop the issues in this world before sunset. Judging from the position of the sun, we still have most of the daylight hours to put a stop to this but barely. It'll be midday soon. Wow, science class can really be helpful sometimes." *In that unknown location where the mysterious figure has taken the SDL, Gorganan, and Freddie.* The SDL speaks up: "So when is your council or whatever you called it going to form?" "Be patient and enjoy the shows I put on. Thanks to me, the Core Hyren in the Moonlands is corrupted by 10 number cards. It'll be so much fun to watch our enemies struggle against this! That one time I didn't intervene in this conflict, Agram picked up the cards instead and was easier to defeat than he will be thanks to me!" "I like the sound of that! Now, will you let me conquer a planet or no?"
"I told you before. Your escape must be kept as close a secret as possible. We will wait several years before we truly begin our path of destruction. No one even is aware you're out of prison. The 4th time we got to today, I tried attacking as soon as I could in full force. It didn't go well and it almost cost me the final battle years later. If you want, I could put together clips of our current and future enemies suffering. And you're going to like who I'm going to invite to my little group in about a year or so. Nedib Pmurt's days of power are numbered. He is going to lose in a way no one but me will see coming. Besides, we have some new recruits that I'd like you to help me quote on quote convince." "Fine! I will keep waiting! Who are these new recruits?" "The popcorn monster who ate one of your greatest enemies' home galaxy, that man who flattened the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 universe, the heartless clowns on segways, and a former Tomapieian general who was thrown out of power." "I thought there would be more!" "Don't worry! There will be! Just keep waiting. In a few months, the Annilhation Council will be formed for about the 18,754th time. I get more impatient every time existence resets! I want to win that battle so I can reshape existence to how I want it to be! Recruiting the Batman Who Laughs yesterday was a great step towards my goal." *Back to the main story*
"Well, at least it's less cryptic this time. But we still don't know what's coming for us." Bray senses the power from the being: "They're in range for Strag's Moonsense now. The power feels much stronger than before." Strag takes her word for it and closes his eyes to concentrate: "Moonsense." A few seconds later, he opens them: "I don't see anything out there that resembles a threat to us. How strange." Then up above us, the Core Hyren appears and is corrupted. He's a skeleton creature with large wings and yellow eyes. While corrupted, he's darker and more red in appearance instead of bony gray. Instead of engaging us, he continues flying: "How could my Moonsense fail to show me the Core Hyren? Where is he going?" I reply: "Considering the direction and speed he's going, we can assume he's not going to the Weave. I'm not the brainiest individual who resides in Miitopia but if I had to guess, the hyren is headed straight for Cald." "But what would he want there? Agram is gone." Edyn says: "I don't know but we had better get there and fast." Julia beats Bray and I at responding: "We can get you there really fast! We forgot to tell you about the technology that allowed us to get here before." Evu looks relieved and concerned: "I'm glad you can but something tells me that since the whole Magi Resistance is here, Shadow Magi are attacking the other realms." Just then, messengers from various realms come to us riding Quandrals, light sand-ish colored creatures who can be trained to move through moments in time and are reliable for quick transportation. They get off the dream creatures and run to their respective leaders.
Shimmer speaks on behalf of everyone: "We would join you in capturing the hyren but Shadow Magi are in fact attacking all over the Moonlands. We have to fight and keep our people safe. We should all meet in the citadel after sunset if the quest succeeds. Good luck, Final Dreamers, Orwin, Evu, and the others." In a short time, there's just my teammates, Orwin, Evu, myself, and the Final Dreamers left. Orwin sighs: "Unfortunately, Vash Naroom is as you can see in need of rebuilding. I must stay here to help and protect the city." Evu responds with a smile: "Not without me. We will both take care of it. Do your best and try to stay safe, all of you. We'll be awaiting your return." I smile myself: "Don't worry, we should make it out okay. Of course, heading into one battle after a really intense one is not a great idea but what choice do we have? If Agram comes back, he could capture the hyren and 10 number cards. One number is powerful enough. *gestures to Regnes who is still summoned* Take Regnes as an example. I don't have powers anymore but I can still kind of feel the energy that is flowing out of him. Now then, Final Dreamers. Please hold onto one of us and send your dream creatures back to the Dream Plane if you haven't yet done so. The transportation will be instantaneous though it might be overwhelming. None of you have been teleported in an instant through space before. Before now, you've entered vortex relics that take a little time to transport people and rode on Quandrals."
Right before another minute passes, we are in Cald looking for the hyren: "Ugh! This place is more volcanic and hot than Karakaton! And that's saying something! I'm not even sure how you managed to handle walking through that land, Bray. More importantly, we have a huge area to cover. It's unlikely the hyren is here yet so the best thing to do is spread out near the part of this region that is closest to Vash Naroom." "I agree with that plan. It's the best we can do without my Moonsense being able to detect the Core Hyren at all." "I agree as well but now I shall remind all of you something important. Waiting for an enemy alone is not a wise idea. We should split into groups of 2. There are 10 of us meaning we should split into 5 groups. That way, no one will get overwhelmed if the hyren attacks them. The Core Hyren is so powerful now even I'd find it difficult to beat him even with my magic. We are still drained from the last battle so this is going to be difficult." I pull out some MP candies and HP bananas from my backpack: "That's an excellent plan as well designed as a nice artwork! Why don't we do what we can to ease that exhaustion while we still can. If we battle the hyren and Agram shows up, we'll be in big trouble especially if we do nothing about our wounds or drained energy. I have in my hands snacks that Miitopian adventurers have relied on for centuries. These bananas heal wounds, these candies restore magical energy inside of someone. I brought a bunch with me just in case. Well prepared adventures do in fact know they cannot do dangerous quests like this one on their own. It's a very across the board fact."
After eating them, we feel refreshed and split up. I end up going quite the distance away with Judai as my partner during this splitting up stuff. Judai and I by this point had deactivated our duel disks: "It's impressive how good you have gotten at going through with dangerous adventures like this, Judai." "Well, I couldn't nap all day and expect to save the world. I was put through the worst kind of suffering in the Duel Monsters Spirit World some time ago. After I graduated from Duel Academia, I started traveling the world. Paradox attacked me when I was in Europe." "That I'm well aware of but it is nice to hear again. Do you need some water? There's a lot of lava around us. One wrong step and we fall and get completely baked into the lava. Plus the heat is felt everywhere. Dr. Bonesbane wouldn't last long here. Blaze would however be fine due to their heat tolerance." "I'm good for now. Edo reminded me to have some before leaving our base of operations. He didn't want to be the only Hero duelist left in our time and world." "That's not shocking in the least. Anyway, we're making good time. These bands only have so much battery and perform less effectively in an environment like this. It would take insane effort for Dominic or someone to develop the perfect Quantum Leap bands that run on an infinite installed energy source, never break, and so on." "Daichi said the exact same thing 2 weeks ago!"
"Well then, I guess you don't need to hear the rest of the gist. Anyway, do you feel like we all forgot something important?" "No, not really. I don't really keep track of important things, I just chill and go with the flow." "Hmm.. I know what we forgot. Chur! Keep continuing to the exact position we agreed to go to. I'm going to go get Chur." Judai nods and I teleport to Vash Naroom to find Chur. I look almost everywhere in the city and don't find him: "Where could he be? I bet he still wants to beat Agram. Going with us to Cald is something I thought he wanted to do. Chances are that Agram might come there if he ever comes back." Orwin spots me: "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Cald with the others." "Funny story actually. I was and then realized that we forgot all about Chur. Do you know where he is right now? With the Cord Hyren possessed by 10 numbers, he's like super bait for Agram." "I haven't seen him since we split off to do what we need to do. I suggest you ask some of the villagers. Evu is too busy right now to help you." "Okay, I will. Thank you. Let's hope next time we see each other, this situation is over and under control again. It's puzzling how the hyrens just came back all of the sudden when the Final Hyren was up in space for months. Very strange. But we can't focus on that right now. That has to come later on. I will go now."
After talking to a few villagers and reassuring them I'm not going to hurt them, I find out that Chur just left to walk towards the Weave because nobody appreciates him. It doesn't take long to find him: "There you are, Chur! I apologize that we all forgot about you. Please come with me. We could use your aid. After all, the Core Hyren is insanely powerful now and Agram could show up to Cald at any time." "You want me to get my revenge on Chur? I'm past that." "I'm aware you are but defeating him is important. If he gets his hands on the Core Hyren because we couldn't beat him, this world and Earth aren't the only worlds that will be in trouble. With power like that, Agram could rip through time and space to go anywhere he wants. After all, he already has some void energy left over because he'd have faded away without it." "I will help you. Please let me make up for what I did. Maybe I'll ask Edyn after this is over if she could teach me how to do that tree healing ceremony." "Great! Just grab my hand or something. We'll be in Cald in an instant." He does so and I teleport us right where Judai and I are supposed to watch for the Core Hyren. Now that he's no longer a Shadow Magi, Chur's skin is decently tan and his clothing is brown in color: "Here we are. Did you make it here on your own okay, Judai?" "I almost fell a few times but I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Chur is glad to hear that: "Again, I'm so sorry. I'm so glad you're all not worn out from battle." "About that. I gave everyone some magical snacks that replenished them and had one myself. You know, I wonder what's taking the Core Hyren so long to get here. We embarked on this mission 30 or so minutes ago and yet I don't see him. Strange. Unless he flew more so towards somebody else. We would be let know by now if that were the case though."
"The Core Hyren flew fast over us, I also do not understand. What if he has a weakness none of us know about relating to Cald? The former dream creature hunter proved that not even Shadow Magi know dream creatures like he does." "That's right. And that means, he could know the secret weaknesses of any hyren. There is one more theory though. The 10 number cards that possess him are fundamentally spirits living inside easily flammable trading cards. But that doesn't make sense. Number cards in the past have been extracted out of their holders' bodies most of the time. And I certainly don't see glowing cards on the Core Hyren." "What else is there to know about these numbers?" "A long story going back to the creation of an entire universe. We don't have time for that right now. *my stomach starts hurting and farting doesn't do much to calm it down* Damn it. I have to use the bathroom really really badly. I must go to the theme park of my creation Twisted Land. I will be back as soon as I can but the time travel function in these bands isn't working 100% just yet and it might be a while. If you have to leave this area, please leave behind a note explaining where you went and why. *pulls out a pen and sheet of paper* Take this in case it's needed, Chur. Ow! I can barely focus on anything with how much my stomach hurts!" They both understand and I teleport to the bathroom least likely to have many guests using it right now. And that'd be the 2nd bathroom I built in Sector Infinity. It's right by multiple attractions with the same exact boring old layout. Sure enough, there's no one even in there.
After spending 15 minutes in there, I flush, wash my hands, and teleport right back to Cald. Judai and Chur are relieved to see me. Chur explains: "We still haven't seen or heard anything about the Core Hyren. Judai and I have been learning about each other's not so great actions. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made terrible mistakes." "Well, that's a pain. The Moonlands compared to Earth is really small so what's taking so long? Our theories are pretty solid but until they can be backed up by evidence, they just remain plausible theories. At least now I feel lighter and will be able to move and fight faster." Before we could complain more(I'm getting bored), Bray telepathically contacts us: "Listen everyone. Strag and I just spotted the Core Hyren. He's moving much slower than he was before. In fact, he is poised to attack the Cald Hyren given his direction. He and I shall follow. Come quickly." "Since when could you communicate telepathically?" "Didn't I use this ability when we were still stopping Gorganan?" "You might have but it's been so long and we've been through so much. We're coming, Judai, myself, and Chur, who I went back to get because we all forgot about him by accident." I teleport the 3 of us to where Bray and Strag went to watch out for the hyren. Just up ahead are the 2 of them running after the hyren.
We take off at a run too. It's a bad idea but worse is a hyren destroying other hyrens and possibly the entire Moonlands with them." As I run, I can feel my cloak and cape moving around quite a bit. Good thing I tucked part of the cloak into my boots, the only visible part of my armor. It's too bad the cloak got pretty torn up from the battle we just had. I always have to get it mended once a mission is complete even though it's made of a pretty sturdy cloth. My mask has a few holes in it but nothing too bad. I can always close them up with various materials and paint wherever necessary: "I hate running around lava! At least in Minecraftia, you can get armor that's enchanted with fire resistance but not here! We should be okay as long as we don't call on any dream creatures. They are in general much heavier than the average person. Furok is probably among the heaviest considering all his fur and overall size. One of these days, I'm going to get a new sword which will allow me to never really have to use the paintbrush sword sheath as a sword disguise anymore." Suddenly, the Core Hyren accelerates and attacks the Cald Hyren. In response, Bray teleports all of us with a spell because it's even faster to cast than it is to get a Quantum Leap band to know where its user wants to go. The spell gets all of us in between the hyrens. Bray speaks: "Guardian Hyren of Cald, I am Great Sage Bray. Let us help you. Even your might alone is far from enough to stop the Core Hyren. He's been possessed."
The Cald Hyren reluctantly accepts the help after some more talking. Due to this, we are able to go all out when striking against the possessed hyren. The Cald Hyren herself is a volcano creature with eyes basically. Her attacks are fierce but do no damage. This leads me to a startling realization: "Hey everyone! Did you see what just happened? Crap! Not only does this show how powerful the Core Hyren is but it also reminds me how badly we need numbers to win. Bray, Julia, Anna! We need you to summon your numbers as I summon my own!" Bray replies: "I shall do so with great urgency. It'll be intriguing to see how this all plays out." Julia adds: "This is going to be so much fun!" Anna further adds: "I'll show em what my trains can really do!" In a minute, the 4 of us summon as many numbers as we can: "Duel disk go! I draw! I design the Pendulum scale with these 2 monsters! And from there, it is set up perfectly to drag out more comrades from the toolbox called my hand! I summon these monsters and with them, I will cut to the chase and summon the lead terror of my deck, Regnes! Now then, go Chaos Xyz Evolution! We use multiple Rush Duel rules in life or death situations. Observe! I draw 5 cards! And now I summon another 3 monsters and with them, I bring forth an old friend I haven't used in a while! A warrior of fire, fighter of cruelty, bringer of hope! And now it's time to go once again! I can summon 2 more numbers if I play this right! Xyz summon!"
With our numbers out, it's game on. As my number comrades attack the Core Hyren, I do so myself: "We won't let you get any further, rouge numbers! You must come home with us as soon as possible. Triple Darkeye Slash!" The Core Hyren reacts strongly to all the attacks: "Waste. What a waste. Must destroy everything in my way! Must destroy! Aaaaa! Core Crumble!" This new attack to us involves the creation of rock formations not unlike the ones in the Core except, they're made in the sky and are intentionally falling down over and around us. Yu yells: "We got this! Libra! Sonic Wave!" Green energy waves come out of Libra and as they do, they break up the rocks and he exclaims: "Boom! Boom! Boom!" "Be careful with those! You could get us all turned into charred unpleasant to eat stacks of meat and crap! I will help." I leap into the air and slash at as many rocks as I can manage, making sure to jump whenever I touch the ground again. The rock around the Cald Hyren is actually stable, allowing me to get a bit crazy with what I'm doing. When the dust clears, there are just small rocks now and a very angry Core Hyren. The Cald Hyren sends flames and lava at him but to no avail: "You fellow hyren can't stop me either! I will destroy! Must destroy!"
As he turns his attention to her, I say: "What if we tried trapping the Core Hyren? Yu could have Libra use Sonic Buster in a good place while we do what we can to ground him. His large wings are tough but if we just destabilized them a little bit, we could make a big devastating impact that will allow us to safely extract all 10 numbers." Tony is concerned: "But that would involve hurting him! I don't want to hurt him!" "None of us do. As satisfying as it is to take down an enemy, I can't help but feel bad every so often for having harmed them. If this problem could be solved peacefully, I would be all for negotiation or whatever. Sadly, the numbers controlling the Core Hyren aren't about to just let up such a strong host easily. Do you understand?" "Okay.. But what if it doesn't work?" Strag replies: "We'll have to defeat the hyren completely. That'd force him to return to the Core dreamstone which would break the hold those numbers have on him." "Precisely. Or at least that's what'll happen in theory. Speaking of, we still have no idea why he slowed down sometime after flying above us in Vash Naroom." Bray responds: "Oh don't worry about that. While you made the Core Hyren make those rocks, I tapped into his mind. It seems the numbers wanted to enjoy the journey here so succeeding would be that much sweeter to them." "Good to know. And I think we need to get him to stop attacking the Cald Hyren so much. She's getting tired. This'll piss him off more. Risky Spin Slash!"
I use my weakest muscle burning attack for the first time in months. It gets him and he turns to attack us. All of us attack at the same time. I focus on dodging attacks and attacking his left wing: "You will not win so easily, number cards! Your rampage is a risk to all universes! With your combined power, even the virus from the Supernoobs universe would have lots of trouble beating you with its own host!" "I can't stand any of you! Must destroy you! Core Crumble!" That attack is easy to make harmless now so it's like things are starting to get a little dull. *Meanwhile on Earth* "At last, my time to return to the Moonlands to conquer it and get my revenge is here! Those fools really thought they stopped me once and for all! I will show them what the most powerful Shadow Magi can really do! When I conquer the Moonlands, the Final Dreamers will be history, a distant memory that people try to cling onto for dear life. Once their heroes are crushed, there will be nothing stopping me from becoming the ruler of all of the Moonlands!" Agram is possessing a dark skinned black haired and brown eyed construction worker wearing a blue uniform. Some people say hi to him, he just glares and mentally complains about how annoying the Earth is to him: "I hate this planet! It's too big and confusing! I could never want to conquer a world like this unless Tony returned here! Without my shadow army, there's no point in trying to conquer this world. Those Final Dreamers have some things that belong to me. I'd like to get them back by force. I just hope that some of my Shadow Magi haven't foolishly betrayed me."
After a few minutes, he reaches where he wanted to go: "I have finally found it. The vortex relic to return to the Moonlands with! They thought they could trap me forever but I'm too powerful for these relics!" He reaches out to touch the relic and it sends him right to where he wants to be at this moment in time, Cald. The raging battle is of course overheard by him: "Oh so it seems I'm not the only one who wants to destroy enemies around here. The Final Dreamers are here. I can sense it! And I also know what's going on thanks to mine and Tony's connection with the Book Of Elders! The Core Hyren is possessed?! That means the Final Hyren is gone!" Agram laughs with glee and malice evident in his tone and expression. *Back to Swiftdrawer's POV* "Fine! If that won't work then I'll send all of you sizzling into the lava! I won't let anyone stop me from destroying. Destroying!" With a new goal in mind, the hyren pushes all of us back with immense force. I almost fall into the lava: "That was too close! I won't lose so easily. Regnes, it's time for you to evolve further! I use a certain set of cards to bring out your most powerful form! And now it's time to use a trick I adapted from a counterpart of mine I play as in a video game." I get back up and quietly swing my sword around at the air, this causes my muscles to have more blood pumped into them. My heart rate remains pretty high in the midst of this battle. It increases a bit due to that technique but I couldn't care less about that right now. Thanks to all this, I resume using jumps from rocks as I did earlier to attack the Core Hyren's left wing to do it more. Every rock I jump on is broken afterward but what can we do?
This fight is requiring our best and beyond: "*huff huff* My slashes aren't doing a whole lot! But with enough time and other attacks, they will do something! I just gotta keep going and not give up! That's all, no big deal." Actually, it was a big deal. I'm not used to doing stuff like this so it was pretty hard on my muscles. But even as they started to hurt and burn more, I persisted until I really reached my limit. The Core Hyren is being attacked by too many opponents to focus much attention or effort on the majority of us, myself included. However, time was running out for my muscles before they refused to attack with the sword anymore and couldn't do much: "Ugh! The hyren may be staying in mostly one place but damn it! I have to breathe harder every second just so my muscles don't run out yet! We didn't completely think this through at all. This is not working, I need to better use the rest of my strength before I lose access to it due to my exhaustion. *stops jumping* Extremely Risky Spin Slash! Try this on, possessed Core Hyren! Your victory isn't assured just yet! Haaaaaaaaaa!" In seconds, my attack is formed and hits the hyren. Before I collapse completely from exhaustion in pain, I see a small bone get loose in his skeleton.
That's the last thing I remembered until someone decided to splash water on me. I wake up to see everyone in bad spots and spot the culprit for waking me up, Yu: "Yu! Are we losing badly?" "Yep. Libra's almost out of stamina. I can only do a few more Sonic Waves. After that, I'd need to risk it and relaunch Libra!" "Shit. What do we do? I could contact a bunch of our friends and allies but literally everyone is busy with some mission today!" "That's the worst!" "I know! If only we could get the aid of the other Magi right now. That would be such a relief and a nice save. I'm still exhausted from before I collapsed but there is something that I could still try. Playing a guitar is still fine for me to do even though I'm so beat. Time to get to the hyren through the power of metal." I put my sword where it goes and take my time getting my guitar out. I play fast and intense riffs as close as I can to the Core Hyren while screaming in an easy to understand voice: "Hyren, let yourself be free of the spirits who control you! Don't let them act out their desires through you any longer. You are your own individual. Time to show the power of your mind and your bones. Why would you let them have control in the first place? You just want to protect what you care about. Isn't that enough to break free? You have the will to regain control, you just have to find it. I reach out with all I have left to use my muscles for in the hope you can break out and be yourself again."
My attempt to get through doesn't work and only earns me a need to dodge a purple and black death ball of energy. After that, I plop down on the ground: "Hot! Hot! Hot! Should have known the rocks have some of the lava's heat energy. Fuck. I can't do anything else. I might as well think up any possible solution while I'm stuck here with muscles that can hardly move anymore after going through so much." I sit for several minutes but nothing comes to mind. The Core Hyren appears to be uninterested in sending me to an infernal grave right now. Yay? Anyway, I hesitantly give up on my brainstorming and wish there was something I could actually do to try to turn the battle in our favor. Not even my vocal cords are very willing to move an inch now. A cruel laugh is heard all throughout Cald as a human from Earth walks over to where the fight is raging on. Tony sees him: "How are you here? Nevermind. Get back! This place is not safe for you at all! Stay away! Let us take care of this for you." Wow Tony, you didn't connect the dots, did you? Just like before. The man replies while grinning: "Oh is that so? I prefer seeing this place as only unsafe for you! The Moonlands will be mine! And I'll start with the Core Hyren possessed by number cards!" "Wait, are you Agram? Nooooo! Guys! Agram is here! And he knows about the Core Hyren being possessed by those number cards!" Edyn gasps: "This is bad! So bad!" "You have no idea how right you are! Now that I have acquired all the void energy that was banished from the Moonlands, I am more powerful than ever!" Chur replies: "That won't be enough to win right away!"
Agram chuckles: "It's a good thing I dont want this body anymore!" He fazes out of the man and continues laughing as his spirit appears fully. He has pale white skin, medium long purple hair, a scarlet leather robe, soulless white eyes, and a cape. Before Bray could handle him herself with a sealing spell, he flies into the Core Hyren, attempting to take control. Strag exclaims: "If Agram is successful, he will be virtually unstoppable!" Tony replies: "Well I guess it's time to give the Core Hyren all that we have! Furok! Color Blast and Energy Blast!" "Freep! Shell Scatter and Rolldozer!" "Ugger! Root Reach and Horn Blast!" "Libra! Please help us! Sonic Blast!" "Miitopian Sage Secret: Chilling Blast Technique!" "Gravity powers, go! Come on battleball, you can do this!" "Tower Of Flame!" "I cast Wind Slice!" "Neos Wiseman, lead the attack with the numbers following behind!" "Now then, numbers I possess and have in play. I cannot attack so I urge you to use all you got to beat the Core Hyren! Agram is wrestling for control with the numbers possessing him right now!" "Roll over our enemies!" The attacks all hit the Core Hyren but even with Chur and the Cald Hyren pitching in, they are not able to defeat him. Bray stands still in a battle pose: "Get ready for a battle more difficult than the one with Tomura Shigaraki and the ones with Yappa Yappa. I shall create a barrier around us to buy us a little time." The Core Hyren in the meantime was attacking himself as the 2 sides inside battled for dominance. After the failure of the attacks, the battle inside ends in Agram's victory.
He laughs again: "I win and now I control the most powerful hyren currently! Gorath is nothing compared to him! And the numbers are still inside, pathetically wasting their time trying to get rid of me! I'm the most powerful person to ever live in the Moonlands! I'm going to destroy all of you! None of you stand a chance against me now!" I sweat: "This is bad! Really really bad! Once I can move my hands again, I'm going to send out an emergency message to BRAINS immediately. We need help! I don't think you could beat him with your full power, Bray! Damn it! This is the worst possible obstacle on this planet." Agram's voice booms out for miles: "Are you done clinging onto false hope of help coming soon? Good because it's time for all of you to be destroyed! And don't think I forgot about you, Cald Hyren! You will be mine soon enough but I can wait to claim you! Final Finish!" Bray's barrier lasts a little against that attack. Long enough for me to regain limited movement in my hands and arms. Also long enough for me to send the call for help. Why did today have to be the day we're all on dangerous and important missions that compromise our safety and well as well cost our lives too? When that is done, I start scooting back as far away from "Coregram" as possible.
After Bray's barrier shatters, she forms a serious expression: "I shall start fighting harder in exchange for the loss of stamina and magical energy at a rate they cannot naturally keep up with in terms of regeneration! Your victory if you manage to attain it is going to have to wait! I wasn't even warming up with that barrier." "And I wasn't even trying with my last attack! My main goal is to destroy the Final Dreamers first. After that, you're all headed to your dooms too! I cast Cloning Spell!" Now, there's one Coregram for every one of us except for the Final Dreamers and their dream creatures. Bray counters immediately: "I've used 30% of my magical reserves today. Thanks to the MP Candy, I still have 90% left. Your clones won't touch us just yet. I can tell they only have small portions of your power each. Miitopian Great Defensive Barrier! This barrier was first used during the lifetime of the 5th Great Sage to stop a malicious empire from taking over. I shall show you how it has evolved since then!" A huge and reinforced barrier appears around all of us. The clones get to banging on it right away. Agram just watches: "What a feeble barrier. Even my weak clones could break it. And they will soon. You're all doomed! I'm going to enjoy having each and every one of you destroyed one by one!" The barrier starts to crack. I have to eat an HP banana now while I still have the chance. I open my backpack slowly to avoid more muscle pain and burning. From there, I pull out an HP banana and eat it.
Yuck, it's still not very good! At least it does its job. I instantly feel a lot better and easily stand back up before putting away my guitar, zipping up my backpack, and pulling out my sword: "I'm battle ready too now. This is going to be a ride far more intense and dangerous than Son Of Beast at Kings Island and the entirety of Action Park were. Even if I'm outmatched, I'm going to fight on. Our opponent may be much stronger than any of us expected him to be but that still doesn't change my convictions. I'm a warrior, a wielder of swords who has earned the right to be respected by many others. I'm also an artist who pushes on even when the world wants me to disappear and stay quiet before dying with an unfulfilled life. Agram! Your immense power isn't enough to deter me. If I don't fight, someone will definitely die in my place. If I fight, I might die but at least I would have slowed you down and possibly saved many lives through my sacrifice. In my world, I'm too scared and defenseless to dare try this. But in this body, I have the strength to beat the toughest people from my world." The barrier breaks apart. The real battle has begun and it's going to hurt a lot.
I wait for a clone to come at me before engaging with a few sword blocks: "What a pain. Exerting myself and risking my life is such a dangerous, sometimes reckless, and annoying thing to do. I could be just chilling at home not putting in effort into anything important and live out my life in obscurity till everything completely falls apart around me. Exerting myself? Sounds like too much and something I don't always feel like doing. But at the same time, it's so fulfilling and empowering to try doing the hard shit that makes me focus my attention on it and even push myself physically and or mentally to a breaking point and beyond! Yay me. I get my own personal Agram clone to clash with. It must be my lucky day. Enough jokes, I'm going to kick your ass as much as I can. If that means I die here, then I will have done my best serving what I believe in!" The Agram clone laughs: "Nice speech but it won't save you from your doom! I cast Dark Spell!" A cloud of energy comes hurling toward me.
I crack my knuckles and declare: "That's not good enough. It is illogical to underestimate me. My strength could be much higher but the computational power of my brain is very different. That energy is accelerating and is in comparison to your original's power, absolutely nothing! I don't need the power of the Swartz or even a pissed off Princess Vespa whose hair was just hit to stop this spell. Extremely Risky Spin Slash! Haaaaaaaaa!" My attack easily breaks up the spell and knocks the clone back with a lot of resistance to its force. He gets up without any hint of pain: "That was fun. If that's all you have, you are going to be destroyed right now! I look forward to your destruction. The Moonlands will get one step closer to becoming mine for the taking and you will be gone and unable to prevent the success of my plans! Void Core Crumble!" Core Crumble is used again except it also has void energy inside to amplify it. Dodging it is mostly easy until the big chunk falls down, accelerating right over my whole head.
If this attack hits, not only will I become Swiftdrawer, the headless corpse but my body will receive heavy and severe damage that could give most people nightmares and trauma: "I won't let you kill me just like that! Haaaaa! I just want to live in peace with every creature getting along and accepting of each other's differences. Is it so hard for there to be anything besides things that are considered normal? Seriously, would it kill some people to just let it go and let people be themselves? I'm getting sidetracked but not for much longer. Defeat is in my vocabulary but so is determination! I wonder what would happen if I used Defusion on a Agram clone like yourself. Looks like I won't even get half of a chance." "How dare you insult me?! You will pay for your defiance and unwillingness to give up! After I conquer the Moonlands, your head will be served on a platter and there's nothing you can do to prevent that! Korg and Zed better not have betrayed me again!" He fires spells while I dodge and attack him. The Agram clone keeps going on but I just ignore him, I'm not interested in debating/arguing with him any longer.
This is awesome and dangerous but also repetitive and boring. That clone could do this all day without getting the least bit bored while I'm here getting bored: "This is so repetitive. It's the same moves over and over with only some variations. Ugh. Dominic may be well known for his naps but I could use one myself, I'm so bored. I'd love to get to going to IndyFurCon already but I can't without finally going to sleep in a bed and waking up in my world in my other body! I'm seriously sick of this. Bug off, Agram clone! Try this again! Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" My attack doesn't harm him even just a little: "You call that your ultimate move? No wonder you're doomed! And that cloak of yours could use some fixing! Join me and you could have that and not be destroyed!" "I'm not falling for that. I refuse to be anybody's flunky! It's irritating enough to have to work in something that isn't related to digital arts and have to follow all these pesky little things but that's even worse! I will bow to no king unless they've somehow earned my approval and respect. But even then, it won't be a sign of loyal following. It will be a sign of comradery. I will stand for no pledge of allegiance. I won't let others dictate how I live my life. And that includes you!"
"I have no choice but to destroy you now then. Suit yourself. You will regret this very day you crossed me, trust me! Once the Final Dreamers are destroyed, there will be nothing left of you here, you will be just a memory! Final Finish!" "Me beat by that? Unlikely. Extremely Risky Spin Slash! Ha!" Our attacks clash and disrupt some nearby rocks. Due to this, lava escapes from underneath and almost gets me after our attacks end up dispersing as energy in the end. Thankfully, it doesn't. Unthankfully, it doesn't get the Agram clone either: "Lava is nothing compared to my power. With my control over the Core Hyren, my victory is guaranteed. A mortal like you will never understand power or live to understand what I have planned for the Moonlands besides conquering it." "Mortal? Smortal. I don't have to understand power fully to know it is cruel in the hands of the greedy. And understanding isn't even necessary for me to accept people different from me. Let's try this again on more stable ground. Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" "You think that's going to work against me? I already know what it does. Think again! I cast Reflection Spell!" Without trying, the clone causes my own attack to head towards me instead of him: "If you're so confident you're going to destroy me, why aren't you doing that instead of taking your time with this battle? In any event, I have prepared for this exact scenario. When you grow up with Yugioh, you learn a lot about reflected attacks and stuff like that. Watch this!"
I create a stronger Extremely Risky Spin Slash rotating in the same direction as the one that was reflected towards me. Due to this, the one that got reflected is absorbed into the other one which is now headed straight for the Agram clone. It again does nothing to the clone but makes him angrier: "How could a mortal who was never destined for greatness by legends or the Book Of Elders last so long against me?" "Because I refuse to give in. If I have to do something, I may wait as long as possible to do it but when I do it, I go all in as best as I can even if it drives me up the wall. Something you will never understand is fighting so hard for individuals you love and care about. I fight for my comrades, my friends, my family, my life, my absolutely wonderful boyfriend, and more. I don't want others to suffer anymore just because some individuals want their own lives to be as easy and comfortable as possible no matter the cost. Your overconfidence and anger has fucked up your decision making. Double Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" I unleash my attack twice in a row, giving the Agram clone a reason to try harder to defeat me: "With all the void energy I have, I can easily replicate the powers of my shadow creatures for my own purposes. Your doom is near as I begin to finally destroy you once and for all! Revenge and conquest will be mine and no one will stop me!"
"You talk a big game and have lots to back it up. However, the future is not created by just one individual. It is created by many. And for that reason, you cannot expect everything to go your way. Your way requires oppression and more. I will never approve of your way. Come hit me with your best shot and see what happens!" "I'm going to make you regret those words!" The clone charges up a huge ball of energy which he immediately sends towards me. For once, I'm fully prepared. I press a button on my duel disk to reveal a nasty surprise I secretly laid down: "I reveal my facedown card. It's called Magical Cylinder. I can now redirect that attack right back at you! Have fun. I'm just going to watch and see what you do because you still haven't beaten me yet!" The attack is sent back by the trap card and clone Agram falls into lava after the blast is finished. The area around all of us is growing more unstable by the second. If we don't do something about that or get away, we're all done for! But I can't worry about that yet. The Agram clone emerges out of the lava unscathed: "A mortal can never defeat me! You must remember that if you have any hope of surviving by joining me!" "You're still using that. Sorry but it's not working! Why don't you try actually putting in more effort to, you know, destroy me?!" "Fine then! You have forced me to use my greatest attack ever! I will definitely enjoy watching you be destroyed now that you've forced me to use it! How is this possible? Hyren Crush!"
The Agram clone uses his Core Hyren body to charge up a powerful but condensed attack extremely fast. Once it's done, he moves it manually and aims it diagonally towards my head. After that, he releases it: "Your mask is going to be what goes first! And then I will see the face of the foolish mortal I'm destroying as he runs out of time to live!" I still have about half of my strength left to go before my muscles really start burning again for a 3rd time today: "He?! Who ever said I'm a he? Gender roles are constricting and artificial guidelines used to control people. Haters of trans people don't realize that it is they who are imposing gender on others. Being gender inclusive means accepting that not everyone fits into the small tight boxes called male because they have these genitals and chromosomes and female because they have these genitals and chromosomes. It's not about policing other people's identities, it's letting people be basically whatever gender they like. If you or one of your Shadow Magi think that's somehow child abuse, you can rightly fuck off and keep fucking off until you get off your ass and realize that it's not child abuse! I'm a they, asshole! Moving on, I won't die so easily like this. Not without giving it my all to prevent my complete destruction at least!"
Edyn sees my predicament and yells: "I cast Slow Creep!" This slows down Agram clone's attack for a little bit: "Thanks, Edyn! You just guaranteed my success with this attack consisting of my remaining strength. I'm going to need my muscles looked at after this battle is over because it can't be healthy to have them get exhausted and burn several times in one day even with HP bananas. Now then, I must focus and concentrate as hard as I can. Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" I put every ounce of energy and strength I can into the attack, the Slow Creep spell wears off so that attack is accelerating at me now. Just a little more. Come on! I can do this. I won't lose without as much of a fight as I can give. Gentleness my ass right now. And as always, freedom my ass. Yes, I am ready to release it: "Take this! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I release the attack and watch as time seems to slow to a snail's pace as our moves grind against each other, sending some energy up into the sky or as energy waves. My strength in my muscles is depleted. I can barely move at all once again. The Agram clone freaks out upon seeing my attack winning: "Nooooo! I'm losing to a mortal! This cannot be! You will not get rid of me like this. I won't allow it!" He puts more effort into his attack but its advantage is lost once again within seconds. Our fight has exposed a lot of lava and my attack is taking much of it in. This means our attacks are equal again so they keep on grinding, on and on. And actually, sike! I'm not out of energy, not yet at least.
I smirk: "Our attacks are equal for the 2nd time and have so much left. *slowly stands up, having been knocking down after releasing my attack* I have one final surprise for you. I haven't used all of my energy and strength yet. I left just enough to let myself replenish another time." I pulled out an HP banana I stashed in my pocket earlier while no one was looking: "Hehe. You do have the advantage seeing as to how my attack is losing ground again but I still have one HP banana left from the number I brought with me to this world today. These things have made so much possible. They allow me to push far past my limits by bringing my body back within my limits over and over. I cannot use my true strongest attack but I can intensify my ongoing one. These things taste terrible to me but I'll bare it." I almost throw up as I make myself stomach yet another HP banana but when I finish swallowing it, I smirk again: "Support items, gear, and teamwork are fundamental to adventures and battles this dangerous. I just proved it with the others! Now, I will reinforce my own attack with a copy of it that is a lot stronger! Extremely Risky Spin Slash!" I go as far as I can with great focus, effort, and urgent haste. That allows me to charge it up and then release it quite fast.
Agram clone isn't worried: "Try all you want, you're just delaying your destruction! Conquering you will be a small pleasure before I conquer what I most want to conquer! I'm going to prove to you that I'm far superior and much stronger than a mortal like you here and now!" He exerts more energy and power to boost his own attack just as my boost to my attack as it was, arrives and combines with it. But still, I have quite a lot of energy and strength left because my focus ended up breaking. I walk fast to be very close to my amplified fire tornado and put lots of effort into growing its force. In seconds, it begins overwhelming the Agram clone's attack and I just keep pushing: "Haaaaaa! This isn't over! Not yet. Not yet!" A mysterious pink energy of unknown origin surrounds me and boosts my strength by a little bit. Eventually, the Agram clone laughs again as our attacks keep clashing: "There's no way you can defeat my attack now! Just look, your attack is dwindling!" "Oh yeah? I'm not giving up! Ha!" At this point, I get so focused on boosting my attack that I ignore quite literally everything else, even my own fatigue. "Just a little more and I can win this clash! Agram clone, you will not break my spirit with that frightening attack of yours!" I don't hear his response because like I said, I'm so incredibly focused. That's generally called being in the zone but I'm so focused it's like the zone could no longer fit to include me and my concentration: "I won't lose yet! Nope nope nope! Haaaa! I'm going to-" Words stop coming out of my mouth as I just collapse in the midst of continue to charge my attack.
The Agram clone uses magic to force me upright: "I'm going to destroy you now. You have entertained me long enough but this game is over. You will die now." My attack is fizzled out by his in a near instant. I weakly reach out with my right hand: "M-my.." He grins sadistically: "You're so pathetic you can't even form words anymore! Now it's time for you to disappear forever! Not even the Final Dreamers could save you now! Nor could the Final Hyren!" As the attack is about to completely consume me, I hear Orwin's voice shout: "Shirdor! Flying Vortex!" Following that, I think I heard the Arderial Hyren say to me: "Don't worry, young adventurer. You are going to be okay." That was before my vision went black. A few minutes later and I wake up to see Evu watching over me: "Good. You're awake. Here, have this. It will restore your energy. You were lucky you were only out for a few minutes and one of your friends was able to teleport us here." I take the cup of liquid she's offering. We're back in Vash Naroom: "But the battle! I was almost killed by one of Agram's clones! What about the others? Are they okay?!" "Slow down and relax. The battle is still going on but we of the Magi Resistance are helping you out now. Orwin and the Arderial Hyren saved you just in time. It's not going well but it's going better than it was when you were almost killed outright. Your mask and cloak are on the other side of the room."
I drink the liquid: "Bleh! This is nasty! It's worse than orange cough medicine! Yuck! But I'll take it. I must go back there right away. They need my help!" "You aren't going anywhere until you've had some rest! I won't let you rush back into battle after being so exhausted and hurt!" "I've been ill twice this year on my world. I know when to rest and when to not. I would listen to your insistence but Bray can fully restore me easily. I just need a short opening of time for her to do it. Or I could go to Twisted Land, the theme park I created. Wait, no I can't. Everyone there is so busy with important tasks, the park is actually closed today!" She tries to talk me out of it but she knows she can't stop me. I grab my cloak and mask before teleporting back to Cald after putting them on. The battle is still crazy as fuck and it's looking really bad even with the help from the other hyrens. Bray. Where are you? After looking a bit, I find her, engaged in a stalemate with one of the Agram clones. They don't see me so I use the element of surprise.
Thank goodness Evu didn't bother to take off my armor, backpack, or weapons. Or else, I wouldn't have gotten there when I did, a critical part in Bray's battle with the clone. I pull my sword back out which thanks to one of Dominic's other random devices actually was put back where I normally put it the moment I collapsed. With the sword, I sneak up behind the Agram clone. I have no magic within me so he doesn't notice me at all. That and he and Bray are locked in that stalemate, the most intense one I've seen in a long time. From behind the clone, I preform the most quiet uppercut on part of his right wing. Due to this, he growls furious: "Who dares sneak up and attack me like that?" Before I could even form an answer, that distraction was just enough to give Bray the win in the battle. The clone is knocked far back and even knocked unconscious for a little bit. She wraps her arms tightly around me in a hug: "You're okay! Thank goodness! Thank you for that distraction!" "You're welcome and of course I'm okay, it's all thanks to Evu, Orwin, Shirdor, the Arderial Hyren, and whoever teleported Evu and I back to Naroom." "That would be me. I shall always protect those I care about. You have a look that says you have something you want to ask."
"Haha. Of course you read my face like a book. I couldn't hide when I have something on my mind from you, even if I tried extremely hard to! Yeah, I have a favor to ask. Could you cast that spell that fully heals and restores someone's strength and energy? I couldn't bare to rest in Naroom when this all is still happening!" "Well, you helped me knock that clone out for a good bit. He won't be up for another minute. I shall not do this to repay you, I shall do this because we're friends and we need to stop Agram with the others. Here we go. Super Restoration!" Just like that, my body feels like all I did was take an easy walk to a park somewhere and back: "Thank you so much! From fighting that other clone, I can tell it's better to face them with someone else. Could I help you defeat this clone? Until I snuck in, you were evenly matched!" "Yes, I do require assistance with this. Get ready. He's going to wake up any second now." *In an alternate timeline where Gorganan never fucked up time or became Gorganan* "So Dominic, when is the deciding conflict of fate coming?" "Relative to our counterparts from the 21st century's time, just a few more years. Adam, are you ready for our first real adventure in over 900 years yet? We can't rely on BRAINS to handle every time related problem after all. They simply don't have enough members to cover it all. The mission is to lock Gofast into his universe without fighting him. He could mess up a lot if he's allowed to keep moving from universe to universe." "Yes I am ready. Are the others ready? It took so long to get used to these bodies you created for us." "Yes, they are ready."
Outro: Thanks for reading this insane chapter! Like holy shit, I wasn't expecting to write such a damn good fight between Swiftdrawer and a clone of Agram! I had no plans to have Agram possess the already possessed Core Hyren originally but it's like the perfect thing to happen in terms of conflict and stuff! Hope you like the little snippets of what else is going on here and there in this story too. Oh boy, more counterpart stuff! Insert a confused yay here for yourself if you find that confusing. Anyway, that's it! Till next time!