Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia and everything that is happening in it though, so that's definitely a good thing. Oh yeah, and get ready for a huge hunk of plot in this chapter.

Location: The Courthouse of Temarocia in Divinia; the country of god and homeland of the Angelics

The loud banging of a gavel against wood echoed across the cold and foreboding marble walls and pillars of the giant courthouse, signaling the beginning of a time where no other activities were to occur within range of the cavernous main chamber. Guards quickly changed their positions, heading to the upper levels and near the front entrance of the Courthouse so they could not accidentally disturb the meeting of the most influential and wisest minds in Temarocia.

"At this time," A wizened and old voice spoke out, its soft tones amplified by the shape of the room to reach the ears of the gathered robed men and women of the assembly. "The Council of Temarocia will come to order. If you have no business on the main floor then please proceed outside immediately."

A number of shadowed figures left and they closed the heavy iron doors behind them, plunging the room into darkness. That darkness was then destroyed as five giant crystals, one red, one blue, one green, one black and one a glittering gold lit up with a powerful internal light, each one representing one of the five official countries in Temarocia.

They went from one end of the room to the other in a semi-circle in the order of the burning red, then the peaceful blue, the center being the brilliant gold, next to it the vibrant green and at the end the life-stealing pulse of black. In front of each of the crystals was a large pedestal, three of them occupied with the other two conspicuously empty.

Sitting at a very high pedestal behind the hovering gold-colored crystal obelisk was a wizened old man dressed completely in simply white robes. Hunched slightly over his curled and gnarled walking stick, he did not cast that impressive of a sight. The one thing that made him stand out compared to any other old man though were the snow white-feathered wings furled behind his back. (Head Elder of Divinia's Tribes; Galetia)

"Let all those here pledge their lives to the everlasting peace in our holy world of Temarocia. As long as we draw breath we shall do everything in our power to make sure that chaos does not befall all which we cherish." Even though there was no answer to his words, the complete silence in the room spoke volumes of how much this man was revered. Even amongst the scholarly Angelics Galetia was considered to be the most intelligent and gentle. Some even likened him to the incarnation of god on earth.

The tip of his staff reached forward and touched the smooth marble of his pedestal a couple of times. "As was the first subject of our last council, we shall begin with a discussion of what to do about the country of magic, Evangela. As it had been for the last few years there is still no elected representative from the country here to represent Mudeia or even the agricultural communities. The five Holy Guardians of the city are still in a state of war-time readiness in case one of the most dangerous threats amongst these Warlords which are assaulting them attacks. Therefore the floor is open to whoever wishes to speak on this matter."

"I shall speak." Standing atop the ebony pillar positioned in front of the black crystal stood a raven-haired man dressed in fine velvet clothing. He was the picture of intelligence and refinement, a noble amongst nobles. At his side was a hovering claymore made of black steel, the sheathed weapon floating of its own accord directly behind its master. (Top Negotiator of the High Nobles of Tenebrosa; Feijonevf Aremorda)

"The floor recognizes the Top Negotiator of the Demon Nation." Galetia stepped back a little bit, no malice in his tone despite the constant distrust between the Angelics and the Demons.

Feijonevf stepped forward at the same time that the Angelic withdrew, making sure that all eyes were turned to him as he began to speak in a voice cultured beyond words. "Tenebrosa is appalled at how easily a pinnacle of magical knowledge such as Mudeia could be subjugated by a mere child. It is common consensus amongst the ten Demon Barons that we would be willing to send in our best assassins and dispose of this 'Kyris the Hell' post-haste."

"That cannot be allowed." A new voice echoed out from a different pillar. "Mudeia has not come forward to request such a service, and to do such a thing without permission would be declaring an act of war." Bathed in the light of the blue crystal stood a man dressed in a long-tailed suit, his long white mustache and beard braided in front. (Head of Tuletian Military; Five-Virtue General Mikhail Sergeievich Gorbachev)

For a moment the brilliant ice-blue eyes of the General and the violet slotted irises of the Head Negotiator met, and it seemed as if they were about start arguing.

Galetia coughed into his hand sharply. "General Gorbachev, correct me if I am mistaken but Negotiator Aremorda has the floor at this time."

"Perhaps he does," The thick Russian accent that didn't seem to fit the aged man it was attached to barked out. "But that is no excuse for declaring such cowardice with conviction."

The Demon narrowed his eyes dangerously, the floating of the sword at his side growing more and more erratic. "Would you care to explain to me just what part of my statement was 'cowardice'?"

"The use of Assassins may be a specialty of Tenebrosa's nobles but that is not how we deal with problems in Tuletia." The General pounded a fist into his hand for emphasis on the next few words. "A powerful show of military force will result in no bloodshed whatsoever. If we let this Kyris know that his actions will not be tolerated by the rest of Temarocia then he will back down. No one is foolish enough to challenge the top Gunmen of the Tuletian military."

"Your solution offers no more possibility than mine at this time though, Gorbachev." Feijonevf's sword stopped its wild dance and went back to a relaxed hover at his side as the Negotiator's tone calmed. "For now we will be unable to prove whose method works best until Mudeia comes forth and asks for the assistance of the other nations."

Off to his side a small rolled-up scroll appeared which he casually reached over to grasp and open. After his eyes skimmed over the words written on it, his lips quirked in a strange smile before the piece of parchment burst into flames, instantly destroyed without leaving even a single bit of ash behind. "I have just received word from my information network that says one of the seven Warlords in Evangela, Don Karot, was just defeated."

A series of surprised gasps came from the lower court as it exploded into scattered bits of conversation about this, most of the picked up words being about what kind of military force had done it.

Galetia banged the tip of his staff against the pillar at his feet sharply. "That's enough. Negotiator, would you please elaborate on how this happened? Who or what in Evangela managed to defeat one of the four counsels of the man that terrorized all of Temarocia with his evil?"

"A single man…" The Demon nearly laughed as most of the lower galleries sounded incredulous of such a thing, but caught himself. "A Grafter, who according to my sources, is more than likely the son of the most unlikely candidate..." There was a tone hidden behind his words that some of the higher senators gathered picked up.

However, he didn't expand upon the last part. "From the looks of it there is an independent force moving about Evangela defeating the Warlords alongside the heir of the Mudeian throne, Alita Meijer."

"I see…" Galetia banged his staff against his ivory pedestal. "For now we will place this topic on hold and move onto the next then."

Song of Temarocia

Chapter 29: Deal with the Devil

"Jason!" Alita dropped down to the side of the collapsed young man. "Can you hear me?" When she got no response her hands worked quickly to remove his vest so she could place her ear on his bloody chest. ("His heart isn't beating…")

Saika slowly inched towards the remains of Karot's Kingdom, finding it difficult to believe that she wasn't dreaming. "Is it really over? Did he really beat him?"

"Vous condamner Jason!" A cracking noise came from a pile of stone and wood debris as King exploded into view, disheveled and absolutely exhausted-looking. "You didn't need to bring the whole place down on my head!"

"King!" Alita shouted loudly, currently trying to forcibly get the Grafter's heart started again. "Get over here and help me! We have to resuscitate him and get him bandaged up. He's lost too much blood!"

"I'm on my way, my angel!" His disgruntled temper gone in an instant, the heart-eyed fake Frenchman skipped over towards the magician.

Saika inched closer to the fallen form of Don Karot, poking the unmoving man with a stick she had picked up on the way to him. "Is he alive?" When a low groan came from the Warlord she squeaked and dropped the stick, doing a flying-leap that got her behind King. "He's still alive!"

"It seems I am," The Warlord whispered out quietly, his eyes looking up at the night sky as he sat up. "My Priceless Body was completely beaten…amazing…"

"Crap…" King leapt to his feet and turned to face Don Karot. "Saika, help Alita bandage that suicidal fool up before he dies. I'll take care of Mr. Karot."

"Can you accomplish such a thing, Mr. King?" Picking up a shard from what had been his originally invincible armor, the Warlord closed his eyes and in a flash of light the single shard transformed into a sword of gold. "Despite how powerful I'm sure Jason-kun's attack seemed, physically I am unharmed. My Priceless Body guarded me until the end of its life. Now step aside while I finish my fight with him."

After a few moments King shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled out of the way. "Both of you get away from him right now."

"What are you talking about?" Alita screamed in confusion and surprise. "You're going to let him die? He can't fight anymore, King! It's not possible with his body, no matter how much willpower he has!"

"Angel, if you're truly a member of the Freaks Gang then you'll move." The fake Frenchman lit up a cigarette and dropped into a crouch, looking extremely displeased. "Jason wanted this fight to be a fight to the end. If you don't respect that wish of his then I hope you're ready to fight the guy next if he survives."

"…" Arms trembling, Alita didn't move. "I won't accept this. He beat you, Don Karot. Accept that loss and walk away with your health and your life!"

"I'm afraid I can't let it go that easily, my dear." The Warlord, dressed in only his golden boxers, was a very strange sight indeed. And yet somehow, despite his lack of clothing, he managed to keep his dignity about him. "I will respect Jason-kun's wish and keep fighting until one of us is completely defeated."

"Then you won, he can't possibly…" Alita stopped in mid-sentence and her eyes widened in terror as she saw a familiar form approaching through the remains of the Warlord's stronghold. ("Not now, please. Not now…")

"It seems that we have quite the little party going on over here." The sound of a pair of boots crunching through shattered glass and stone could be heard. "It appears that your so-called invincible defense and your stronghold have been destroyed, Don Karot."

The Warlord's arms dropped to his sides, and he slowly turned to face the shadowed figure that was approaching. "Have you come to gloat, brat? If so, then at least wait until I've finished my battle."

Stepping into the meager light created by the still-molten hunks of gold melted to certain parts of the ground and debris, Kyris the Hell ran a hand through a lock of his crimson hair and smiled happily. "Unfortunately no, that's not quite why I'm here. Actually I'm here because I'm bored and you just happen to be on the verge of killing the most entertaining thing in this country."

He was wearing a suit of light crimson armor around his chest region and had his fencing saber hanging in its sheath at his hip, but otherwise didn't seem like he had come to fight. "You see, the man you are standing over is of some interest to me. Therefore, I cannot allow him to die after having put so much effort into beating you."

"So you would try to kill me instead?" The War Merchant aimed his sword at the young Warlord's chest.

"I'm sure Jason would have no problems with being saved…" Kyris stopped as he heard a loud gasp for air behind Don Karot. "Oh, he's still conscious?"

Alita paled as Jason started to stand up. "Please…you won…" When she realized he wasn't listening to her at all it seemed as if she was on the verge of pushing him back to the ground. "Your body is on the verge of breaking, Jason! Please stop fighting!"

"So…you're…Kyris…" The Grafter gasped out, halfway into a standing position before his knees popped out of joint and he fell onto his stomach. "Don't…interfere…in…my…fight…"

"And that's how it is." Don Karot added, turning to face the fallen Jason with a serious expression on his face. "Now then, Jason-kun, let us bring this battle to its final closing!"

King and Saika had gone silent, though in King's case it seemed that the moment Jason truly lost consciousness he was going to leap in and flatten the Warlord's skull in with a kick.

"I see…" Kyris smiled out. "It's nice to see you're such a man of honor, Jason…"

Every muscle in Alita's body told her to leap in and save Jason while she still could. ("He's not thinking clearly, he's delirious and shouldn't still be conscious anyway. I need to stop this, I have to save him…") No matter what reasons she could think up though, her body wouldn't move. ("Why? Why aren't I moving to stop this?")

"However…" Kyris added in, hand falling to the hilt of his saber. "Treibenden Spatz."

Alita understood, in that one moment, why her body had refused to move. It was a reminder of more than any reason as to why a fifteen year old boy was the lone cause of terror across her mother's kingdom.

Don Karot's forward motion was stopped. He smiled, lines of blood running down the sides of his cheeks. "Step aside, Kyris. I have a man's duel to finish."

King and Saika both were wide-eyed in amazement, as they weren't completely sure what the Warlord had been talking about…until their brains caught up to what was happening.

At one point or another Kyris had moved in front of Don Karot, and had run his saber through the slit in the other man's ribs. "Apparently you are under the impression that I'm still the sniveling little boy which was afraid of my father. Well that's the thing, Karot…"

He blinked once, and when his eyes opened again the red orbs were glowing brightly. "You and those other old fools aren't even in my league anymore. Yet you expect me to sit back and wait for you, though you do not have my respect? For that, I seem to have no choice but to do away with you."

"…" Don Karot tilted his head to one side to look at the fallen Jason. "I apologize Jason-kun; it seems that I cannot end this battle with you."

Kyris slowly brought his left palm up to aim directly at the bronze-skinned man. "Höllenwelle!" A roaring blast of blood-red fire erupted from his palm and spread out in front of him like the beam of a spotlight. After a few seconds the flames faded to reveal that Don Karot was gone, and everything that had been hit by the fire had been razed beyond recognition.

Saika twitched a couple of times and fell down onto her butt, unsure whether to cry out in fear or amazement. "He…he just destroyed…Don Karot…"

King growled and stood up, tossing his cigarette into the fan of ash that had been burnt into the ground past Kyris. "I'm going to drop these Iron Cotton shoes of mine on your head for doing that. You would dare to ruin a man's duel because of your own childish whims?"

"Yes I would." Kyris smirked superiorly. "What are you going to do about it? Will you try to beat me? If you couldn't even beat my top servant, King, then what makes you think anything done by you will take me down?" He sheathed his saber slowly, showing that he wasn't afraid of the man. "Did I not just do your fair rainbow-haired friend a favor by purging that piece of greedy filth from this planet?"

"That's not the point." King said calmly, hands in his pockets.

"Then what is?" Kyris retorted.

"It looks like…" Jason muttered out as he pushed himself up on his elbows. "Today's going to be a busy day."

"What was…" The young Warlord turned to ask what Jason was talking about. Then his eyes snapped wide right before he saw stars as the normal Jason used what little strength he had left to headbutt the young Walord in the nose.

Crashing to the ground, Jason panted in pain and popped one of his knees back into joint with a sickening crack. "Because of you the promise I was going to uphold to Saika can't be fulfilled. Kyris the Hell, get ready to lose."

"Coming from a guy that probably doesn't have enough blood in his body to fill a flash I find that extremely hard to take seriously." Kyris stood up, not too badly harmed from the cheap shot. "Apparently I'm going to have to teach you a couple of lessons in manners, Jason."

"Anytime, dirt…" The Grafter collapsed face-first to the ground, twitching with a huge lump on his forehead. "Ow…"

Rubbing some blood from his knuckles, the young Warlord sighed in disappointment. "It seems I'm going to have to give you some better motivation to fight me, Jason." He turned to Alita casually. "Come along, Princess, I'm taking you with me."

"What did you just say?" King launched to his feet and snapped his leg up to drive his heel into the Warlord's head. "Charger a…"

"Spatzbankett." The air around Kyris twisted and exploded in the form of a hundred darts of air, though the cause of it was unknown. Each of those darts struck King at nearly the same time and sent him back the way he had come. "Now then, Princess, the choice is that you either come with me as a hostage or that I kill either King or Saika. I'm trying to determine which one of them is weakest though, so it's kind of a toss-up."

"Eh?" Saika skidded backwards until she found a pile of debris to hide behind. "I'm not a fighter really! Don't get me involved!"

"Right, King it is then." Kyris didn't really care, and killing a girl was rather unpleasant business anyway. "So, my ex-servant, are you ready to give up your life?" He drew his sword out of its sheath…

The fake Frenchman's leg came crashing down and forced it right back into place before it could leave. "Yo, Kyris," He had a series of veins bulging out of his neck and forehead, a cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth, and his 'scary' face on. "You've got some nerve trying to use me as a method to extort my delicate little flower." His face got dangerously close to the Warlord's. "Voulez-vous que vous j'aie montré ce qu'arrive quand je fais ressortir mes techniques ultimes, eh?"

"I have no idea what you just said," Kyris returned the look, making the scene seem rather comical instead of tense. "But I know I don't like how you said it. So how about I…"

"No." Alita declared loudly, standing up. "King…"

("As I expected,") Kyris thought coldly. ("Alita Meijer hasn't changed at all. Now be a good boy and stand down, you weird bowl-hair.")

The blond-haired girl sneered coldly. "Make sure to get at least two groin shots in on him, please?"

"Je vise à plaire, mon ange!" The fake Frenchman shoved his hands into his pockets. "Let's get this started, shall we Kyris?"

"It seems…" Kyris turned partially to look at Alita. "That the little Princess who originally didn't want anyone to die has grown up a bit in the company of these nutcases."

"My dream is to see you fall." Alita picked up her staff, getting ready to assist King as much as she could. "Until that time comes I will not take the title of Princess, not until I've done something for the good of the people!"

"Then be a martyr, I suppose. I wanted to avoid killing you but it seems that if you are going to act like Jason I have no choice." Kyris snapped his left palm up to aim at her. "Höllenwelle!" Another roaring fan-shaped blast of red fire erupted from his hand, with the blond-haired magician in the exact center of its path.

"Alita!" King shouted, turning on one heel and grabbing his right shin with his right hand. ("I've got no choice but to use that attack!") "L'ode en France…"

"Shadow Sword Style; Gates of the Underworld!" The wave of red fire was intercepted by a similar-shaped blast of black energy, the two colliding and nullifying each other instantly.

Kyris lifted an eyebrow inquisitively, a similar expression on King's face as well.

"I apologize humbly for being late, Alita." Flair sheathed his katana and stood alongside the profusely sweating girl. "You weren't scared, were you?"

"M…me? Scared?" She started laughing haughtily, her knees shaking visibly at the same time. "I wasn't scared at all! I…I…" Her fear changed to anger as she hit him over the head with her staff. "Where were you?"

"I apologize." The samurai said again, rubbing the top of his head gingerly. "So Kyris the Hell is here huh?" He turned to look at the Warlord. "Good evening to you, Lord of the Hell Plague. Would you possibly consider leaving for now? We've had a very long day."

"Unfortunately I cannot do that." Kyris grabbed the handle of his saber. "If I do, then my primary source of enjoyment may get away."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Jason asked curiously, sitting atop a pile of rubble in the molten glow of his Curse-Eater Graft. "If you just wanted to fight then how about we duel instead? I'm way too freaking hungry to fight another Warlord right now."

"You could heal yourself from those wounds?" King, Alita, and Saika all shouted at him in anger. "We were worried about you for nothing?"

"Huh?" The Grafter shook his head back and forth. "That's not it, I forgot I could heal myself by switching Grafts. It's pretty handy…"

Alita slapped her forehead with a hand and fell backwards into Flair. "I can't believe I forgot that…"

"Aren't you a bit low on blood though?" King motioned to the huge puddle of blood on the ground where Jason had been lying.

"That's not a problem either." Jason broke into a fit of laughter. "When I was dying I realized that Curse-Eater was a big lava snail."

"…A lava snail?" Saika and King tilted their heads to the side at the same time, huge question marks above them.

"A type of mollusk that's fluids are made entirely of molten rock…" Alita slapped her forehead and looked around at their surroundings. "Of course! You transfused the molten gold into your system!"

"Bingo." The Grafter leapt off the pile of debris and motioned to the healthy golden glow coming from his skin. "It's kind of weird, being able to drink stuff that should burn my stomach from the inside-out, but also pretty handy." He pounded his chest with a hand. "I'm in tip-top shape again!"

A loud rumbling came from his stomach and he covered it with one hand, sighing. "Except I'm starving! Alita, let's stop for lunch."

"It's EVENING!" The blond-haired girl retorted loudly. "Plus we aren't even moving! How can we stop?"

"That's besides the point." Jason nodded sagely at his own logic…which only he seemed too understand. "I say we should stop for lunch, and since I'm the leader of the Freaks Gang because I'm the strongest fighter…" His knees bent sharply and he was suddenly crouching as King cracked him in the skull with a heel. "…I'm making it an order."

"Ummm….hello?" Kyris called out, waving at Jason. "I thought we might actually fight sometime before the sun rose…"

"You're not the strongest!" King grabbed Jason by the front of his tunic and got face to face with him. "You had to go all out to beat Don Karot, and you think that you're a match for me? You're a hundred years too early to talk like that, or have you forgotten how many times I've had to save you from a group of common thugs?"

"HEY!" The young Warlord shouted at them both.

"That was before I became a Grafter! Now I'm way too powerful for you to even think about beating me!" Jason banged his forehead into King's and the two started to push against each other. "Or do you think that you can match me in a fight?"

"Pay attention when people are trying to kill you!" Kyris slammed his sheathed saber over the Grafter's head with a crack. "Or would you like me to take my anger out on Alita?"

"That won't be necessary." Jason turned to face the Warlord with a sneer on his face. "I'll duel you, since I'm way too hungry for a fight right now. How does that sound?"

"That sounds just fine." Kyris's Carrier appeared around his arm and he slid a dueling deck home into it.

"Our argument isn't done yet!" King brought his leg up…

"King, let's get out of here!" Alita yelled at the fake Frenchman, who turned and skipped over to her with hearts in his eyes. "Jason, are you going to be okay?"

"I should be fine." The Grafter glanced over at Flair. "Hey Accessory, where'd you come from?"

"I came from the Region Transit." The samurai turned to look at Alita. "We're in luck, there is a train leaving in two hours. We can get there in about twenty minutes if we hurry."

"We can't just leave Jason!" The magician protested.

"Don't worry about me!" Jason gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll be just fine. Hurry up and make a run for whatever that thing is. How do you find it?"

"Should you really bother asking her that?" Kyris questioned, a sneer on his face. "You'll have to beat me in a duel, and if what I've seen of your dueling deck up to this point is any indication then that won't be happening."

"That won't be a problem." Jason held up a deck of cards and inserted it into his Carrier, which appeared around his arm. "I'll have to use my sure-fire deck against you, but I will win because of it."

"What?" King roared. "That one deck?"

"Of course." The Grafter smiled. "It's got the best odds of winning. Go on ahead Alita, take Saika and King to whatever this train thing is. I'll catch up to you guys later."

"…I understand!" Alita nodded to Flair. "Let's go, show me the way please. Come on King! Saika!"

Kyris watched the four of them leave with a disappointed look on his face. "You challenged me to a duel so that they could get away?"

"That's part of it." Jason drew his opening hand. "Plus I wanted to try and disable you so you couldn't chase us. We're not quite ready to overthrow you yet, after all."

Jason- 8000

Kyris- 8000

"Indeed…" Kyris copied his opponent's movements. "Then it's time to duel, wouldn't you say?"

To be continued…

Kyris: It seems that you've been the cause for many of my more recent problems, now haven't you Jason? Thanks to you Alita believes that she can somehow defeat me.

Jason: She will defeat you! She'll defeat you because she's a member of the Freak Gang and you're making a mess of her life!

Kyris: Those words may move the hearts of your other opponents, but against me it is futile. Duel!

Next Chapter: Red and Five-Point Clash