Ichika seemed to have gained the advantage in his duel against Conner, but the tables turned against him. Conner waited until the right moment to summon, not one, but three White-Eyes Silver Dragons. Each one has 3000atk points and Conner has 850LP remaining. However, Ichika has nothing on his field to protect him and has only 600LP. This could be Ichika's last chance to turn the duel around.

"Come on, Ichika." Charlotte said as she was hoping for the best.

"He's got to win this." Houki said.

"He will." Rin said. All of them were having faith in Ichika. Ichika looked at the card he drew. It was one that might be able to help him.

"Well? Are you going to make a move?" Conner said.

"I will." Ichika said. "I activate Mecha Upgrade from my graveyard. By banishing it from my graveyard, I can summon the monster I discarded when I activated it. I summon Rocket Battler!" He summoned out the rocket as it transformed into the robot with it having 1400atk points. "I'm also summoning Stratos Warrior!" He summoned his warrior with 1400atk points as well.

"How are those two weaker monsters going to help you against my three mighty dragons?" Conner said.

"Their equal power is what's going to help me." Ichika said. "I activate Malware Software! I can only activate this spell card when I have two monsters with the same attack points."

"Oh no! I know what that spell card can do!" Conner said.

"You do, do you?" Ichika said. "Good! Watch and see what happens! By sending one of my monsters with the same attack points to the graveyard, your monsters lose all their attack points!" He returned Rocket Battler to the graveyard. When he did, a blast of electricity hit all three dragons.

"No!" Conner shouted. All three of his dragons looked dull and lifeless as they lost all their power. "All three of my mightiest dragons have lost their power!"

"He did it! Ichika found a way to beat all three of those dragons!" Cecilia cheered as all of them were glad to see that.

"It is great, but it's not quite over." Houki said. "Malware Software only allows half the damage to be dealt when those affected by that spell are destroyed. Conner will still have life points left after Ichika's attack."

"That might be, but there's no way Conner can win after this." Rin said.

"Stratos Warrior, attack one of those dragons now!" Ichika ordered. Stratos Warriro went at one of the dragons and destroyed one of them. Only half of the damage was dealt as Conner's life points dropped to 150. "That ends my turn for now, but once I eliminate one of your other two dragons, this duel is over."

"Don't be so sure." Conner said. "I will not allow you to win that easily. I swear that I will win this duel, Orimura!" Conner drew his card and it was just the card he needed. "I told you, you were out of luck! I activate Monster Reborn to bring back White-Eyes Silver Dragon!" He brought back the dragon that was destroyed and it had all it's power again.

"You've got to be kidding..." Rin said.

"He drew the one card that could give him the win right now." Laura said.

"No... No! This can't be!" Houki called.

"It is! Go, my mighty dragon! Bring me victory! Lightning Burst Blast!" Conner ordered. The dragon he just revived unleashed a powerful blast of lightning as an explosion went off. Conner and everyone else thought this duel was over. However, Conner was surprised to see that Stratos Warrior was still standing and Ichika didn't lose any of his life points.

"He's okay!" Ryu said as that was a relief to the girls.

"How did he do it? I didn't see him play anything." Charlotte said.

"That's what I want to know! How did you survive?!" Conner shouted with frustration.

"It's all thanks to this little guy." Ichika said as he held out his Kuribot card.

"Kuribot?! What?! How did that little runt help?!" Conner shouted.

"Just like his relatives, he might be small, but holds a powerful ability." Ichika said. "When Kuribot is in my graveyard, I can banish it to negate your attack." Ichika was right. When the dragon unleashed it's attack, Ichika used the ability. Kuribot jumped in and took the attack. "On top of that, your battle phase instantly ends."

"That can't be!" Conner shouted. Conner could see how that worked. 'I destroyed that little robot earlier. He waited till the right moment to use it. He planned that move perfectly.' "That can't really have happened."

"It is." Ichika said. "Kuribot saved me. Now, you are out of moves, I'm assuming. All I have to do is attack one of your weakened dragons and this duel is over."

"Oh yeah! Ichika's got him now!" Rin said.

"All he has to is attack one of those dragons with a monster that has at least 400atk points." Cecilia said. "Stratos Warrior has much more than that."

"He's going to win." Laura said.

'What a relief.' Charlotte thought. 'I was a little concerned about Ichika's little identity problem during a duel, but I guess I really had nothing to worry about.'

"Now, Conner, end your turn so that I can end this duel." Ichika said. "Then, we can work together and save both of our sisters." Conner can't accept defeat. There's too much on the line for him.

'I can't lose.' Conner thought. 'If I lose this duel, there's a chance I can lose my company and Mila. Is this really where it all ends?' Conner thought about all of it. He could see Mila being lost. 'There's got to be something I can do. Mila is counting on me.' He kept envisioning losing Mila. Conner doesn't want to lose his company, but Mila is more important to him than that. He thought of anything he could do that could prevent that, for him to win this duel. There's only one thing he can do.

"Well, Conner?" Ichika said.

"Orimura, you are a skilled duelist, but I can't afford to lose here." Conner said. Conner backed away until he was standing over the very edge of the castle.

"Conner, what are you doing?!" Ichika said.

"It's just as I said. I can't afford to lose." Conner said.

"Conner, stop messing around. That's dangerous." Houki said.

"I'm not playing games." Conner said. "You have a choice to make, Orimura. You could attack me now and win the duel, but the shockwave might cause me to fall off the edge. From this height, it would end very bad for me."

"Conner, you can't be serious." Ryu said.

"You would really go that far just to win?" Rin said.

"I would go that far for Mila." Conner said. "Peggrin's holding her captive, but I'm going to be the one to rescue her. That's assuming you're even a real duelist, Orimura."

"A real duelist? You think a real duelist would be willing to risk the well-being of their opponent just to win?" Ichika said.

"I think a real duelist is someone willing to go the extra mile to win, no holding back." Conner said.

"Conner, this isn't funny!" Cecilia said.

"Ichika wants to save Mila, as well as his own sister, just as much as you do." Rin said. "This is just crazy and unnecessary."

"That might be, but I'm going to be the one to save Mila. Believe me, I don't like doing this myself, but I must for Mila. I'll do whatever I have to, to save her." Conner said. "It's your choice, Orimura." Conner isn't messing around. He believes that if he can't save Mila, no one can. That's why he's willing to do what he must in order to win. "Attack me if you have the guts!"

'What am I going to do?' Ichika thought. 'Conner won't listen to reason, but I can't risk harming him.' The real Ichika isn't willing to launch his attack, but the spirit is.

'I fear that there might be no choice, Ichika.' The spirit claimed. 'We must save Chifuyu and stop Peggrin.'

'No. There must be another way.' Ichika thought as he just couldn't do it.

"There isn't." The spirit said as he really believes there is no other choice.

"Well?" Conner said.

"Conner, I've never backed down before and I won't start now! Attack!" The spirit maintained control as he ordered it. Stratos Warrior went on the attack.

"No! That's not like, Ichika!" Charlotte said. She had to do something fast as she hurried to Ichika. "No, Ichika! You can't! This isn't right! Call it off before it's too late! Ichika!"

'She's right!' Ichika thought. He needed to stop this before it was too late, but that would mean he would have to lose everything. Ichika regained control of his body as he switched back with the spirit. "Stop!" He shouted as he dropped to the ground. Stratos Warrior stopped the attack before it made contact.

"Couldn't do it, could you?" Conner said. Ichika knew what was going to know what happens now. It's all over. "White-Eyes Silver Dragon, attack!" His dragon that could attack unleashed the attack with Stratos Warrior destroyed. Ichika lost all his remaining life points and lost the duel. He lost more than that. He's lost five of the stars, entrance into the castle, and his own sister.

"Ichika!" His friends called as they all hurried to him.

"It's going to be okay." Charlotte said as she dropped down and held him by the shoulders.

"I almost couldn't stop it. He was actually willing to do it." Ichika said. "I can't believe he was willing to go that far to win!"

"Who are you talking about?" Cecilia asked.

"Have you gone nuts?" Laura said.

"Not quite. It has something to do with our artifacts, but it's complicated." Ryu said. Charlotte didn't fully understand, but she had an idea as to what Ichika and Ryu were talking about from when she and Ichika talked earlier.

"I'm so sorry. I just couldn't watch. It just didn't seem like you, the real you." Charlotte said. 'There's one thing I know about Ichika is that he's a kind person. What he was about to do just didn't seem like him. I had to do something.' Charlotte thought she did the right thing, but Ichika is the one paying the price for it.

"I knew he couldn't do it." Conner said as he stepped away from the edge and took his stars. "A real duelist would go through with the duel to the end. I knew Ichika didn't had the guts."

"He spared you!" Charlotte shouted as she turned to him. "He showed you mercy and compassion even when you didn't deserve it, but you were the one that forced him to do it! How could you say such things?! How could you even consider such a thing?!"

"I told you that I couldn't afford to lose." Conner said.

"Conner, you truly don't understand anything." Charlotte said. "Ichika's not as weak as you think. His heart is what makes him strong. Not like you. You clearly don't know what it means to be human. Even when Ichika lost, he has us. What about you, Conner? What do you have?"

"Everything I need!" Conner shouted. "I don't need people like you. I don't need anyone getting in my way and interfering with matters that has nothing to do with them. I have everything I really need, and I'll keep it that way once I defeat Peggrin." Conner left it at that as he walked away. He's a lone wolf who thinks he doesn't really need any friends. As he took his prize, he left Ichika in misery.

"The brat actually lost." Bane said as he saw the duel. "What a wimp." He just left it at that and went back in the castle.

...

Conner

Now that Conner kept his end of the deal, and got the five stars, he went directly in the castle. Even though he won, he wasn't satisfied with his victory.

'Peggrin, you're trying to take everything from me.' Conner thought. 'You even took my chance to redeem myself, to really earn my victory against Orimura. I'm going to make you pay.' As Conner enters the castle to settle things with Peggrin, what will Ichika do now? Is all really lost for him?