Six and thirteen minutes in the morning, it was absurd but Arata counted every single minute. The sclera of his left eye was red, his hair was a mess. The boy hadn't gotten a single moment of sleep during the whole night. A part of his curse's effect, every night Arata would feel such extreme and agonizing pain that it would drive him crazy, the first time that it happened Eve was thankfully there and used her powers to make the pain disappear. Despite that after it happened, the boy was unable to fall asleep again, the few minutes of suffering scared his brain so much that it was unable to rest even hours after it happened.
This time however, there was no Eve to stop the curse from taking full force and Arata suffered its absolute might. No matter how much he screamed and cried, the pain wouldn't fade away until sunrise. Suffocation, burning alive, being torn piece by piece, the boy felt the pain of all of these things and much more continuously for almost seven hours. At the last thirteen minutes the torture was so unbearable that Arata was ready to just grab a knife and stab himself in the heart to make it end. He was sure that he would rather commit suicide than suffering the same pain again for another night.
Arata reached out to grab the sofa with one hand and the glass table with the other, using whatever strength was left inside his body to stand up. How did he become so miserable, barely able to keep his balance, his brain was hurting so much for missing yet another night worth of sleep that it felt like somebody smashed it with a sledgehammer. Arata began to slowly climb up the stairs that leaded toward the second floor where his bedroom and the bathroom were located. Leaning against the wall with his right shoulder, the boy was barely able to even raise his legs to make the necessary steps.
Stopping for a moment to take his breath, Arata looked down. It was no good. He was starving since the curse hit him before he could make dinner last night, his body was barely able to drag itself and he was ready to pull out his own brain if that would make the agonizing headache die down. His hands moved on to start and unbutton his shirt, while his legs began to move once again, climbing up one step at a time. It was no good, he would have to just drop his clothes from yesterday on the ground and pick them back up when he gets home, hopefully with Eve beside him.
Arata took a deep breath, managing to make it to the second floor after three minutes of climbing a bunch of stairs, his body was almost completely naked, only his black socks and boxers remained on. Without his clothes on, the numerous purple scars left onto his upper torso after the curse healed his wounds were in full display. Why were they healed like that? Why couldn't they just heal like normal wounds and instead had to leave behind these strange scars?
Arata pushed the door of the bathroom open and walked inside, grabbing onto the sink to support himself. The boy looked at his reflection in the mirror; his face looked so bad that he would chuckle in pity for his image if his brain wasn't killing at the moment. He reached up toward the eyepatch that covered his right eye, why did Eve wanted him to hide it? He grabbed onto the fabric and pulled it off, only to see what exactly made a girl as emotionless as her worried.
"Well shit…" He chuckled. At that point he couldn't even get shocked or horrified. The sclera of his right eye was a very dark shade of purple, and instead of a pupil, there was a white ring inside his iris. Just great, so he would have to use the eyepatch permanently from there on.
"Fuck all of this." Arata pushed himself away from the sink and removed the rest of his clothes before moving toward the shower. Hot water rained down on his body while he closed his eyes and tried to relax for a second.
Why was his life filled with so much shit and misfortune? Losing his mother as a newborn, having to grow up alone because his father didn't care about his existence, getting himself killed by some psychopath, only to be revived with a curse that causes its wielder to suffer pain thousands time worse than death itself every single night of his miserable existence. If that wasn't enough shit, the girl that he had to looked after and protect got kidnapped by some sociopath and the police was on his tail as well!
Was there even something that people called a God, or was it just an image born by their necessary to worship something? Arata didn't believe that there were any immortal deities looking after the world, no creature would be sadistic enough to throw so much suffering at a single person. Arata reached out and stopped the water, then he turned his gaze back toward the mirror above the sink. The boy clenched his fists. What the heck was he doing consoling himself at a time like that?! What happened in the past didn't matter, he had to focus on the present, on saving Eve, on…
Retribution for his own evildoings.
Arata sighed and grabbed a towel, which he wrapped around his waist. He didn't have the damn time to feel sorry about himself, nor the need to. The past was behind him, all that could be done at that point would be for him to keep walking forward, if not for himself, at least for those who would get hurt if he gave up. His fucking father was trusting him to keep a single girl out of trouble, could Arata call himself his son if he failed such a simple task!
"No more failures." Arata told himself. He walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom to get some clear clothes.
After he put a black shirt, pants and grey socks, the boy ran back down to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. Taking a bath took around thirty-five minutes, getting to the bathroom in the first place and getting dressed afterward took around ten more minutes. It was nearly seven o'clock in the morning and school would start in eight, he had half an hour to make his breakfast and eat it before he had to leave. Arata stepped back and went over to his school bag to replace his textbooks with the ones that would be needed for today. He opened the bag and paused for a moment, lying inside of it was his Duel Disk with a deck already inside. Zayne wasn't going to just call him over to talk shit and then let him go back home, right? He would want a duel, so Arata would need to keep his Duel Disk and a deck ready for when that psycho call him. Even so…
The boy pulled out his Duel Disk and took the deck to look it over. It was his Speedroid deck, he had dueled with it the most, so Zayne would probably expect it. Arata dropped the cards and thought about his options, he had many decks ready, an Elemental HERO one, Counter Fairies were cancer but he had a deck dedicated to them as well. He liked his Rank 8 spam deck quite a bit as well, but Zayne probably has anticipated the chances for any one of these to show up. The boy tore his gaze away from the cards, looking at the living room, he suddenly remembered something. Of course!
Arata ran into the room and turned to the sofa, his jacket was still where he left it last night with the bag of food put right next to it… Yeah, he probably should have put it into the refrigerator before doing anything else, but with everything that happened last night he completely forget about it. Arata shook his head and took the jacket. He touched the cloth's pockets and there it was! The structure deck that he brought yesterday, there was absolutely no way that Zayne would expect to have to face against something like that, it was a perfect surprise for that psycho. Arata smirked and put the deck into the pocket of his pants then returned back to his other duties.
"What did you do to her?!" Kate slammed her hand on Arata's desk, earning herself the latter's attention.
The boy looked at his interrogator with tired eyes. Another class had just ended and everyone else already left the room. Knowing that the next class would be Math, Arata didn't expect anyone to come back, so Kata's full attention would be on him for the next ten or so minutes. Just fucking great.
Arata sighed. "I don't know what you are talking about." In fact, he knew that she meant why Eve didn't show at school, but he was trying to play dumb and hoped that by a chance, the girl would let him get away with it.
"What did you do to Eve!?" Kate shouted again and hit his desk, again. Arata looked down at the girl's hand unimpressed by her try to act threatening. With the strength that she was putting behind those slams he wasn't sure how more hits it would take before her wrist breaks.
"I haven't done anything to her, she got sick and can't come today." Arata put his hands on the desk and lied his head on top of them. "It seems that the weather in Japan must have been far too different from the one here for her organism. If you wanted to tell her something, you can say it to me and I'm going to pass it to her."
"I swear if you hurt her I'm going to…" Kate was going to threaten Arata when she suddenly noticed something about him that she was sure wasn't the same as yesterday. "Are you high?"
"Huh?" Kite genuinely surprised Arata with that question. He was called many insults by his classmates through the years, a killer, a psycho; all of them were lies of course, but drug addicted was a new level of low that his public image managed to achieve. "Where the heck did that come from?"
"Your eye is red." Kate said almost disgusted to be in his presence. "Don't tell me… you did something to Eve for a dose!"
"Enough!" Arata yelled at the girl, scaring her with the sudden change in his voice. That was why being a loner wasn't that bad for him, because everyone else had always thought the worst about him. But he was done with that! Before Kate could react, he reached out and grabbed her hand that was resting onto his desk.
"Hey!" The girl yelped and tried to pull away, but he didn't let her to do. "Let go of me or I'm going to scream, you heard me?!"
Arata didn't respond to her threats, he knew that she wouldn't do something like that and even if she did, no one was going to care about her screams anyways. He stepped away from his desk and grabbed her other arms as well, then pushed the girl against the wall. Kate gulped, feeling her body in such a close proximity to that of a boy was embarrassing, even horrifying since the one that was pushing her against the wall was Arata – the boy that everyone else knew was a creep. She wanted to make an angry face and show him that he wasn't intimidating her, but the difference in their size and the cold glare with which he was staring at her from above made her want to crawl into a hole.
"You want to know why my eye is red!? I haven't sleep in two days!" Arata yelled at her. "It's easy for you to stay away from me and call me a freak, a psycho, a drug addict behind my back, isn't it? As a girl who has always gotten everything from her daddy have you thought how a boy who had to take care of himself since the age of four lived like? Do you know what it's like to have never felt a mother's touch?"
"I…" Kate bit her lower lip, was Arata Godbell of all people reading her moral? "The police is going to get to you one day, you know that, right?"
This sentence took Arata aback. He knew that Kate wasn't saying it because she somehow figured about his participation in the illegal duels; she just didn't care about his past and only needed someone to point with a finger at. But even in her ignorance, she still said something that was true, what was the point in trying to hide from the bad things that he did? If he had turned himself in earlier and told the police about Zayne the whole kidnapping plot wouldn't have happened. He was tired of trying to run away from the past and have others get involved because of that. Instead, he should just turn around and face his own demons, accept the consequences of his actions and live or die with them.
Arata let go of Kate's arms and she immediately moved away from him and began to hastily collect her belongings, putting them into her back. She wanted to just get everything and run away before the boy got back to his senses and tried to attack her again. She didn't know what exactly made him stop, but she was too scared to think about it anyways.
"Do you want to know the truth why Eve isn't at school today?" Kate froze in her tracks. She slowly turned her head back and glanced at Arata.
The boy was facing the wall and his back was against the girl. His hands were curled into fists and pressed against the whiteboard. Kate couldn't detect any anger inside his voice, he sounded sad, maybe even pathetic in her eyes. Despite her mind telling her to ignore and run, her senses never really picked on any danger. She didn't want to believe it, but was there a chance that she feared him not because he was dangerous, but because she made up so much stories about him that she began to be the one believing in them?
"Yes." She finally responded. Maybe for the first time ever, she would listen to what Arata had to say before judging him.
Arata turned around and flashed her a small smile. They weren't friends, probably never will be, but that small moment of trust meant the world for him. He took a deep breath and thought where to start explaining. In the end, he figured out that the best place to start would be the very beginning.
"Have you watched the news lately?" He asked her. "They walked about a network of illegal dueling arenas."
"I heard about it." Kate nodded. She was disgusted by how people could be willing to throw their money and safety away to duel at such places when they could instead take part in a tournament. Was it because there the winners were rewarded with a lot of real money instead of booster packs and other stuff like that? She honestly didn't care about their excuses, taking part in such disgusting things was immoral!
"Well, the truth is…" Arata rubbed the back of his head. Admitting it was harder than he thought, a part of him said that it was a horrible idea to entrust Kate with that, but it was already too late for him to turn away. "I was taking place in those illegal duels as well. Now, I really don't know why I did it, what I wanted to prove, but I participate in them, There was another high school duelist as well, his name was Zayne. He isn't from this school, but he knows about me and…"
"What am I ever doing with my life anymore?" Arata asked himself.
He was sitting on a bench right next to the fountain in the center of the park. It was a place where a lot of kids, young couples and even old ones would come to sit down, watch the leaves of the trees tremble even so slightly against the weak breeze. The kids would usually play with a ball or race with their bikes, but that was only during the spring and the summer. Now it was autumn and people rarely came to visit this place, why would they? To watch the naked branches of the trees shake under the might of the cold northern wind?
Arata leaned his back against the bench and his thoughts returned back to his talk with Kate. He was actually afraid what she might choose to do after he told her the truth. Back then she didn't seem to be trusting him in the slightest, there were various sentiments that he noticed inside her eyes during their talks: dislike, frustration, fear, guilt, but nothing in the way she looked at him suggested that she had faith in him.
So all he could do was hope that she wasn't going to call the cops on him. But since Eve's whereabouts were still unknown, Kate probably wouldn't risk throwing the police at him.
Arata pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, school had already ended so why wasn't Zayne calling? All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. What if Zayne chickened out from the deal and was getting rid of the clues? The more Arata waited and thought about it, the more anxious he became. It wasn't just because of Eve, he was also afraid about his own life. Zóvux said that Arata was given a second life for the purpose of protecting the Guardians. So, what would happened if he failed and Eve got hurt, or even worse - died?
He didn't want to think what the consequences for such a failure would be.
Just then his phone rang and he answered without wasting a moment. Just the fact that Zayne was walking him again was enough for Arata to realize that their deal was still in power. He wouldn't call otherwise. Zayne was to prideful to turn down on his word, even if it would hurt him.
It definitely was going to hurt him once Arata got his hands on that cowardly bastard.
"You haven't given up, have you?" Zayne asked rather proudly.
"You should know me enough already. I won't give up until the very end!" Arata hissed. He wasn't afraid by Zayne himself, but by how his actions could affect others. "Where are we going to duel?"
A hallow chuckle came from the other side of the line after which Zayne replied. "I haven't mentioned anything about a duel. What makes you think that I would give you the chance to fight back, huh?"
"Because that's exactly why you did all of this." Arata pointed out. "You knew that the police is looking for us and yet you still went out of your way to kidnap an innocent girl and called me several times using her phone. If your goal was to just get rid of me, you could have just come to my house and shot me death instead of going through all this extra trouble!"
"And you weren't scared about your life despite knowing that?" Zayne pressed further the question. He was surprised to hear that someone wasn't actually scared to oppose him… "Fine then, you got me. We are going to meet at the old industrial zone, where the smokestacks are. You remember that place, right?"
"I do." Arata nodded.
The place wasn't far away from where he was living, in fact, the fastest route to get there would be if he took a bus back home. Although the place that Zayne was referring to wasn't an old industrial zone at all. The smokestacks were at the northwest end of the city with a small forest around them, people rarely went there if at all. The area wasn't taken care of since the nineteens, from history books Arata learned that after the government was changed at the start of the decade most of the factories were shut down and the buildings left to the mercy of nature. Because of that there wasn't even a roar that lead toward the place that Zayne told him, it really was the ideal spot.
"Very good, then I will expect you to show up in thirty minutes tops." Zayne said. "And you know how these things usually go, right? Come alone, no cops, and et cetera or I'm going to blow your bitch's brain out!"
Arata clenched his fist, listening to that no good insulting Eve was causing him to get mad for some reason. "I know that."
Arata ended the call and stood up from his spot. He had a place and a time limit, so he had to hurry up. The boy looked back at the park once more and then walked off toward the nearest bus stop, if he went to the location with a bus, then it wouldn't take him more than fifteen minutes. During the entire walk, Arata was touching the pocket of his pants, there wasn't a way for the deck to fall off, but just feeling the outline of the cards was enough to at least somewhat calm him down.
The most important thing that he had to worry about at the moment was if he would learn how to properly use the new deck without any time to train, or look up online tips. It definitely wasn't a smart idea to go there using cards he had no experience with, he could go to his house and switch decks, but something at the back of his head was telling him not to. He had to use the CodESPer in that duel for some reason.
These strange thoughts about the cards circulated through Arata's head until the bus stopped on the station one street away from his house. After he got dropped, the boy carefully tore off the top of the box and pulled out the cards from inside. He stared at the top card which was CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel. As a cool headed duelist, Arata never gave any sort of special attention to his cards, they were always just means to an end. Was he starting to lose his mind, if he began to care about a piece of cardboard? Maybe all of the stress that he went through in the past few days was finally catching up to him and because of that he became so much more emotional?
Arata shook his head, these thoughts were just stupid; he had to forget them! The boy put his cards into the pocket of his jacket and headed for the isolated old streets where his meeting with Zayne would take place. As he passed some old buildings, Arata noticed something from the corner of his eyes, someone with a black hoodie that hide their face was waving at him. He glanced around to make sure no one else was watching and walked over to the hooded person.
"You are Arata Godbell, right?" The hooded guy asked and raised his own phone to show a picture of Arata talking with Eve. "The boss's waiting for you inside."
Arata turned his eyes toward the rusty door that the hooded man pointed at and reached out for the handle. Turning it around, he heard a click and the door opened, letting him get inside. Arata threw the hooded person a questionable look, but he went too far to turn back at that moment. He pushed the door open and walked inside.
The warehouse he was lead into was rather empty with nothing but dirt and pieces of broken glass covering the floor, its windows were all broken as well. The building's awful state was something ordinary for abandoned areas that often become the domain for vandals and drunk teens to gather. But now there same buildings were being used for even eviler and more illegal activities, such as the one he was trying to in interfere with.
Standing at the center of the medium-sized warehouse was Zayne himself. This time he was wearing a blue jacket and pants with a yellow tie underneath and a white dress shirt – Arata quickly realized that this had to be his school uniform. Placed on a chair a few feet back from Zayne was Eve. The girl's arms and legs were tied to the chair and a makeshift gag was put around her mouth to keep her from speaking while two guys with the same uniforms as Zayne were standing beside her, guarding her.
"Heh, you certainly didn't waste any time to show up." Zayne crossed his arms and walked forward.
"I would say that it's still not too late for you to give up on this madness and let us part away on neutral terms, but I know that nothing can convince you, right?" Arata knew that his opponent's mind was fixated on the desire for victory. That was much different from Arata himself who was still unsure if the things he did were anything good.
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to enjoy beating you with my new deck!" Zayne raised his left arm, showing his Duel Disk and the deck that was already inserted inside of it.
Arata took note of that sentence, so both of them were going to be dueling against a deck previously unused by their opponent. Now, if it turned out that Zayne was as experienced with the new cards, as he was, then the duel would be more than fair, but the boy had the feeling that fate wouldn't bless him with such luck. Instead of replying with anything specific, Arata pulled out his own Duel Disk from the schoolbag and put it on, then inserted his deck inside. The device reacted and automatically shuffled his cards, after which the Extra Deck slot opened allowing the boy to put the rest of the cards he had inside of it.
"Take this." Zayne said and threw a black bracelet toward Arata. The one-eyed duelist grabbed the strange item and eyed it before turning his eye toward the kidnapper.
"What's this?" Arata asked.
"I call it a solid bracelet." Zayne said. Well, it definitely was solid no question there... "If you keep it at a close proximity to your Duel Disk, it's going to overrun the Solid Vision safety mode. It's going to be the same as when we dueled in the cell!"
"Real damage…" Arata looked down at the bracelet. He was used to dueling like that, but he wasn't sure if he could pull it in front of Eve; what would she think of him? He didn't want her to hate him, but he didn't want any harm to come to her either, so he very little of a choice. "Fine then!" He put the bracelet on his left hand.
"Good, good." Zayne chuckled. "Now, let me tell you what you are going to win or lose in this duel. If you win, I'm going to kill you, but if you lose, I'm going to kill your girlfriend instead." He turned around and gestured toward the tied girl. "In this duel you will have to choose what is more important for you bastard! You can either show how pathetic you truly are and let the bitch die, or you might try to act like a hero and lose your life for it!"
Arata narrowed his eyes, he figured out that Zayne might turn this into a duel of life or death, but what the latter didn't take into account was that Arata would be more than willing to give up his own life to save someone else's. There wasn't a choice, he was going to win the duel!
"Let's just get over with this." Arata sighed.
"Yes, let's see what you are made from!" Zayne laughed and drew his opening five cards.
『Zayne LP: 8000, Hand: 5 (VS) Arata LP: 8000, Hand: 5』
"I'm going to take the first turn!" Zayne called out. "I Normal Summon Fabled Raven (Lv.2, ATK: 1300)!" A figure with black wings and wearing black robes appeared on Zayne's field with a grin.
Arata raised an eyebrow, did that mean that his opponent was playing a Fabled deck? From what he had seen, those cards weren't exactly a strong archetype, so why choose then over other, more powerful decks?
"Next, I discard Fabled Lurrie to activate Raven's effect! For every card that I discarded my monster will gain four hundred more attack and a level!" Arata narrowed his eyes, manipulating the levels of a Tuner was indeed a very useful effect, but that wasn't everything, was it? "Next, Fabled Lurrie's effect lets me Special Summon it if it's discarded! Now I'm going to tune my Level One Fabled Lurrie to my Level Three Fabled Raven!" A beam of light fell behind Zayne and his new monster materialized. "Synchro Summon, Level Four, The Fabled Kudabbi (Lv.4, ATK 2200)!"
Arata awaited for Zayne to continue with his move knowing that the duelist wasn't done. Kudabbi had a powerful effect that made it indestructible by battle or card effects, but it could only come in use if the player had zero cards in their hands. Additionally, if they had three or more cards, the monster would destroy itself, so Zayne had to get rid of his hand in order to even keep the Synchro monster in the game.
"Next, I activate the effect of The Fabled Nozoochee (Lv.2, ATK: 1200) from my hand! I discard Fabled Krus to Special Summon Nozoochee and Fabled Oltro (Lv.2, ATK: 800)!" Zero cards in hand, just like what Arata expected. "The effect of Fabled Krus activates when its discarded. I revive Fabled Lurrie (Lv.1, DEF: 400)! Next, I tune my Level Two The Fabled Nozoochee and Level One Fabled Lurrie to the Level Two Fabled Oltro! Synchro Summon, Level Five, Fabled Ragin (Lv.5, ATK 2300)!"
Arata was taken aback by that monster. Why Zayne would summoned it, whenRagin's effect makes the player draw until they hold two cards in their hand? That way, he would negate the protection effect of Kudabbi! This move made Arata realize that Zayne wasn't going for the standard Fabled plays, he had something else in mind!
"When it's Synchro Summoned Ragin's effect activates, allowing me to draw until I hold two cards in my hand!" Zayne took two cards from his hand and smirked. "Heh, you are a death meat, I set a card and end my turn!"
"How long have you been using this deck?" Arata asked calmly. Leaving only one card in his hand would made Zayne's Kudabbi vulnerable to destruction so…
"I know what you are thinking." Zayne put a hand on his hips and pointed at Arata. "No need to worry, I know exactly how to use this deck. You are going to see all of that very soon!"
Arata narrowed his eyes and looked down. If Zayne didn't need his monster's protective effect, did he set that card for the purpose? The one-eyed duelist glanced at the card in his hands, if he could bait a response from Zayne's set card and then destroy his Kudabbi, it wouldn't be a bad deal. His current hand didn't seem to be having the necessary materials to summon a monster from the Extra Deck, so he would have to trust in his Main Deck monsters for the time being.
"My turn, draw!" Arata pulled the top card of his deck.
『Turn 2 [Arata] LP: 8000, Hand: 6』
"Damn it." Arata cursed looking at the card that he drew - Brain Hazard. "I Normal Summon CodESPer-NPC Swift Engineer!" A monster in a black coat with huge purple goggles and spiky blue hair jumped onto the field holding a spanner that was two time its own size.
CodESPer-NPC Swift Engineer [LV: 3/Dark/Psychic/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 1000]
Effect: Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can target 1 Special Summoned monster your opponent controls in face-up Attack Position; banish both that monster and this card from the field, but return them during your next Standby Phase.
"Huh?" Zayne titled his head a bit. So it turned out that Arata had learned a few new tricks since their last duel as well. "What do you expect to do with this useless monster?"
"You are going to see soon enough." Arata muttered and took another card from his hand. "But before that, I have still something to do. Since Swift Engineer was successfully Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon CodESPer-Ally Jolt Jester from my hand!" A monster whose body was made from yellow energy with sharp mechanical attachments in place of its arms and legs appeared on the field. Its face was hidden by a white and blue clown mask and large black bells flew behind it while it laughed maniacally.
CodESPer-AllyJolt Jester [LV: 5/Dark/Psychic/Effect/ATK: 2300/DEF: 800]
Effect: When a Psychic-Type monster is Normal Summoned to your field: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: You can pay 1000 LP; Special Summon that monster to your field in Defense Position, but it can't change its Battle Position until the end of your next turn.
"And that one is just creepy." Zayne gulped at the sight of Arata's second monster.
"Now I'm going to show you just how useless my Engineer really is." Arata said and gestured toward his monsters. "I activate Engineer's effect to banish both itself and Fabled Ragin until my next turn!"
"Fool!" Zayne shouted back. "I didn't call it useless because of its stats, but because of the effect itself! I discard Effect Veiler from my hand to negate your Engineer's effect! Now it can no longer disappeared from my sight!"
"That was to be expected." Arata sighed. Winning against Zayne wouldn't be as easy as it was the last time, now, would it? "Jolt Jester attack Kudabbi!"
"Since I don't have any cards in my hand, your attack won't destroy my monster." Zayne pointed out and a spark of electricity shot from his bracelet, forcing him to wince in pain.
『Zayne LP: 8000 – 100 → 7900』
"Heh, how was that? You thought of yourself as so great and powerful, but all you managed to do was a hundred points of damage!" Arata narrowed his eyes, he knew that Zayne was trying to anger him and force him into making mistakes, but he couldn't let that bastard play with his mind so easily, not when a human's life was on the line!
"I set a card and end my turn!" Arata finished. The Brain Hazard card he set was pretty useless, but he hoped that it would be enough to scare Zayne a bit and stop him from attacking…
"You are so useless!" Zayne laughed and put a card on top of his deck. "I'm going to destroy you!"
『Turn 3 [Zayne] LP: 7900, Hand: 1』
"Heh, that's going to work out." Zayne muttered and pressed a button on his Duel Disk. "I activate my set card, Call of the Haunted! With its effect I'm going to Special Summon Fabled Raven (Lv.2, ATK: 1300) from my Graveyard! Then I activate its effect and discard The Fabled Cerburrel to raise its level by one! Next, by its own effect, The Fabled Cerburrel (Lv.2, ATK: 1000) will come back to play!"
"Two tuners? You are going to Double-Synchro Summon again?" Arata asked. He never knew that Zayne could handle Synchro spamming decks so well and it worried him when he thought what sorts of powerful monsters could be waiting inside that psycho's Extra Deck.
"Exactly!" Zayne nodded and gestured toward his four monsters. "I'm going to tune the Level Five Fabled Ragin to the Level Three Fabled Raven, and the Level Four The Fabled Kudabbi to the Level Two The Fabled Cerburrel!" Two beams of light shot behind Zayne as his monsters descended down onto the field. "Come forth, Light End Dragon (Lv.8, ATK: 2600) and Goyo Predator (Lv.6, ATK: 2400)!"
"That's the sort of company that I never asked for." Arata muttered, looking at the two powerful monsters that were standing before him.
"Oh, don't worry. My monsters won't have to tolerate you standing in their sight for much longer." Zayne nodded at his own words. "Come on, Light End Dragon obliterate Swift Engineer!"
"I won't be so sure, my Engineer has other plans!" Arata stated and his monster threw its spanner into the air, opening a black vortex which sucked both itself and Light End Dragon inside. "Swift Engineer just sent both of our monsters to the banished zone until my next turn!"
"I was hoping that you would do that!" Zayne chuckled and pumped his fist forward. "Goyo Predator is now going to destroy your Jolt Jester!"
The Synchro warrior threw its weapons at the psychic monster, stabbing it into the chest. The jester threw its head back and groaned in pain as its body dispersed and Arata winched in pain.
『Arata LP: 8000 – 100 → 7900』
"Now, Goyo's effect will revive CodESPer-Ally Jolt Jester (Lv.5, ATK: 2300) to my field!" Zayne said and as if waiting to be mentioned, Arata's monster appeared on the opponent's side. "Of course, a monster summoned by this effect can deal only half the damage, but that should be enough to make it hurt! Jolt Jester attack that weakling directly!"
The monster charged forward and swung its claws at Arata, slashing at his chest. The boy yelled out as the force of the attack threw him onto the ground and his shirt was already destroyed by the attack with a small trail of blood running down his stomach.
『Arata LP: 7900 – 1150 → 6750』
"I'm going to end my turn here!" Zayne said and looked on at Arata. "Tell me, was it worth it? You used Engineer's effect on Light End instead of Goyo Predator despite knowing my monsters' abilities. If you removed Goyo Predator instead, the damage would have been one thousand and three hundred, true, but were fifty points worth more than your monster's loyalty?"
"Don't talk like you know anything about loyalty." Arata said while he slowly raised back onto his feet. It wasn't a joke, the damage was real, too real. If he took too strong of a hit, that might be the end of him! "My turn, draw!"
『Turn 4 [Arata] LP: 6750, Hand: 4』
"During this turn's Standby Phase, Swift Engineer is going to return along with your monster." Both Arata's psychic monster and Zayne's dragon came out of the black vortex. "Next, I will activate Allure of Darkness! With this card's effect I draw two cards and banish a DARK monster from my hand!"
Arata looked at his new cards and added them to the ones that were already in his hand. Most of them like Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light and Telekinetic Power Well were useless at the moment. He had Serene Psychic Witch, but the best he could do with her would be a Grade 3 monster, but the only such card that he had was a supportive monster, so useless again, but he could make it work.
"I Normal Summon Serene Psychic Witch (Lv.3, ATK: 1400)!" A pink haired woman wearing clothes of the same color appeared on the field with two blasters in her hands. "Battle now, I attack Jolt Jester with Serene!"
"Huh?" Zayne couldn't help but wonder what Arata was up to when the two monsters clashed and Jolt Jester blasted the witch to pieces. Of course, due to Goyo Predator, the damage was halved, but still…
『Arata LP: 6750 – 450 → 6300』
"When Serene is destroyed, I can banish a psychic monster with two thousand or less attack from my deck." Arata explained and took a specific card from his deck. "Then, during the next Standby Phase, if Serene is still in my graveyard that monster will be special summoned."
"So you used self-destruction in order to gather your combo-pieces? A rather pathetic attempt, honestly!" Zayne laughed it off. "Are you done now?"
"When a monster I control is destroyed by battle, the effect of CodESPer-Beast Steeldefender can be special summoned directly from my banished zone." A giant six legged boar appeared on the field with a roar. The creature had six purple eyes glowing at the front of its head; its body was black with giant spikes made from cement covering its head, back and front legs.
CodESPer-Beast Steeldefender [LV: 6/Dark/Psychic/ATK: 1400/DEF: 2200]
Effect: When a monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, while this card is banished: You can Special Summon this card. When a monster on the field is destroyed by a card effect, while this card is in your Graveyard: You can return this card to the Deck, then target 1 "CodESPer" card among your banished cards; add it to the hand.
"A mediocre wall, is that all?" Zayne asked. He was starting to get impatient.
"Now, I will banish Swift Engineer and your Goyo Guardian!" Arata continued with his move. "Afterward, I'm going to set a card and finish my turn!"
"About time." Zayne crossed his arms. "Either you had gotten much weaker since the last time, or I have grown far too strong for you to handle. Don't you feel pathetic that your first lost will be in front of someone who believes in you?"
Arata dropped his head. He knew what was on the line, that Eve's life was in his hand and that if he failed there she wouldn't forgive him. Actually, forget about her, he wouldn't be able to live with himself after such a failure.
"You don't have any words, do you?" Zayne sighed. Arata's eyes glanced at the duelist before him, why did his tone sounded like he was let down by Arata's reaction? "You are disappointing me! My turn, draw."
『Turn 5 [Zayne] LP: 7900, Hand: 1』
"During this standby phase, the effect of Serene activates, come Esper Girl (Lv.2, DEF: 300)!" The little girl jumped on the field with a wink. "Next, Esper Girl's effect banishes the top card of my deck face-down."
"Ok, enough playing around!" Zayne put the card that he drew into his Duel Disk, activating it. "I play Magic Planter to destroy my Call of the Haunted and draw two new cards! I will next activate Pot of Desires to banish the top ten cards of my deck and draw yet two more cards!"
'A new hand.' Arata thought. Zayne just got himself a hand with three cards, which would mean many new combos.
"I Normal Summon Fabled Kushano (Lv.3, ATK: 1100) and activate Monster Reborn to revive The Fabled Kudabbi (Lv.4, ATK 2200)!" Those were four monsters ready to take down Arata's field. Not good. "Then I activate Synchro Blast Wave to destroy CodESPer-Beast Steeldefender, as I obvious meet the conditions to play that spell!"
Arata's monster took a step back and its body began to break into pieces until it exploded, leaving only Esper Girl to control him from the Zayne's attacks.
"Let's end this quickly, ok?" Zayne asked. "Go, Fabled Kushano, attack Esper Girl!"
"I activate my Continuous Trap, Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light!" Five swords made out of light fell from the sky in front of Esper Girl. "I pay a thousand life points to negate your attack!"
"Then you are going to take the penalty!" Zayne pointed at his bracelet. Arata looked down at his own and suddenly a wave of electricity hit his body, zapping it harshly.
『Arata LP: 6300 – 1000 → 5300』
"Now, my other three monsters are going to attack as well!" The three Synchros and charged at the little girl and she caved back in fear.
"I use my trap's effect to negate all of those attacks!" Arata countered and electricity ran through his body again. This time it was so strong that he couldn't do anything but scream in agony.
『Arata LP: 5300 – 1000 → 4300 – 1000 → 3300 – 1000 → 2300』
Arata looked down and fell on his knees into the dirt. Every fiber of his being hurt so much, his muscles turned tense from the electricity. His will to finish that duel was the only thing that kept his conscious. Short gasps of escaped from Arata's throat as he looked up at Zayne, who was standing between him and Eve as an unmoving wall. He wanted to defeat that man like how he did all these previous times, but why was he unable to do so? Was there a part of him which was scared of dying for a second time?
"Something has gotten extremely wrong with you during the past few days, hasn't it?" Zayne spoke up. "Your viciousness, it's missing. That suppressed anger and hatred that drove you during all of our previous duels, it's not there anymore. It must have been that bitch's doing, right? She made you weaker!"
Arata gritted his teeth and reached down to press his hand against his chest. It wasn't that Eve changed it, but he didn't want to show his true side in front of her. He didn't want to scare her away. Nothing made him more afraid than the only person that he had in his life disappear.
"I'm going to tune the level four Fabled Kudabbi to the level three Fabled Kushano." Zayne raised his hands and a light fell behind him, transforming into a new monster. "I Synchro Summon, Ancient Sacred Wyvern (Lv.7, ATK: 2100)."
Arata's eyebrows rose while he looked up at the monster that Zayne Summoned. He knew what ability it hand and taking into account the difference in their life points it scared him how powerful the dragon could get.
"I bet you are familiar with this one." Zayne gesture toward his new Synchro. "Ancient Sacred Wyvern gains attack equal to the difference in our life points while mines are higher than yours."
Ancient Sacred Wyvern, ATK: 2100 + 5600 → 7700
"What are you going to do against that?" Zayne asked and gestured toward his dragon. "Are you going to waste your Engineer's banishing ability onto it? I wouldn't be surprised that you would do that given how dull your dueling senses have gotten."
"I'm not done yet!" Arata shouted and stood back up. "My dueling senses haven't gotten dull yet and I'm going to show you just how wrong you are about me! My turn, draw!"
『Turn 6 [Arata] LP: 2300, Hand: 2』
"During this Standby Phase, the effect of Engineer activates!" Arata threw his left arm to the side as both his monster and Zayne's Goyo Predator reappeared onto the field. "Now, using Esper Girl and CodESPer-NPC Swift Engineer as materials, I'm going to Transcendent Summon!"
Esper Girl transformed into an orange arrow of electricity and flew inside Swift Engineer's body. The CodESPer's body began to grow and change, transforming into a much larger monster than the original one. The new creature had long purple limbs with detonators tied to its wrists and waist. Black armor covered the monster's chest and legs while a pyramid shaped grey helmet covered its head with several cables coming out of its neck and going into the detonators.
"Come out, CodEPSer-Ally Detonator!" Arata cried out as his monster raised in front of the duelist and took two of the detonators into its hands.
CodESPer-AllyDetonator [GG: 5/Dark/Psychic/Transcendent/Effect/ATK: 2100/DEF: 0]
2 Psychic-Typemonsters
Effect: If this card attacks a face-up Special Summoned monster, destroy the monster with this card's effect without applying damage calculation. When a monster is destroyed by this effect, you can activate one of the following effects:
You can use 3 of this card's Grade Gauges: This card can immediately declare a second attack.
You can use 4 of this card's Grade Gauges: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK of the monster destroyed by this effect.
"When Esper Girl leaves the field I can return the card that I banished for her effect to my hand." The card popped out of Arata's Duel Disk and he took it before continuing. "Detonator is now going to attack Light End Dragon and then its effect activates! Since Detonator battles a special summoned monster, Light End Dragon is destroyed without damage calculation!"
Zayne's monster fired a beam of light toward the psychic, but Detonator avoided the attack by jumping high into the air before throwing two detonators onto the dragon's head, blowing it up. Zayne gritted his teeth, even though it wasn't his prime playmaker, Light End Dragon was an important part of his monster line-up so for Arata to take it down so easily…
"Next I activate Detonator's secondary effect! I use four of his Grade Gauges to inflict damage to you equal to Light End's attack power!" Arata raised his Duel Disk and four of the five orbs on Detonator's card became darker in color to show that they were used up. The monster took another detonator and threw it at Zayne, causing an explosion that threw the duelist back.
『Zayne LP: 7900 – 2600 → 5300』
"D-damn it!" Zayne coughed and help his side in pain. He looked up at Arata, the one-eyed duelist whom he was beating into a pulp was now standing above him like a giant. "What's this feeling?"
Zayne looked down at his hand – it was shaking. He couldn't believe it, but his body was actually scared from Arata, even though that was supposed to be his victory at last, so why was he reacting like that? Could it be that he was afraid of unleashing something horrible? No, Arata was just a bastard that had to learn his place, if he couldn't do that, then Zayne would take his life.
Arata looked down at the cards in his hand for a moment before taking two of them. He was able to put a crack in Zayne's line-up, but if his memory about the duelist that he was facing once again served, Zayne wouldn't allow himself be beaten easily. "I'm setting two cards, turn end. Because you lost Life Points, the attack of your wyvern will be reduced as well."
Ancient Sacred Wyvern, ATK: 7700 + 2600 → 5100
"I'm going to destroy you for this." Zayne grunted and raised back onto his feet. "I'm going to destroy you and then force you to watch as I kill the girl!"
Arata glared at his opponent after these words. "No, you already made a mistake that will cost you everything." He clenched his fist and pushed it against his chest. "You put these conditions believing that I would rather save my own life than Eve's so winning this duel would be easier for you, but that was where you were wrong. A life filled with mistakes like mine isn't worth more than Eve's!"
Eve's stare softened, she couldn't understand why Arata would do something like that. She looked down and clenched her fists, although she shouldn't use her powers in public, she didn't want Arata to get hurt anymore. She made a choice, even if it would cost her cover, she would follow the promised to protect Godbell's son!
"You bastard!" Zayne yelled and put his hand on top of his deck. "My turn, draw!"
『Turn 7 [Zayne] LP: 5300, Hand: 1』
"Battle! Ancient Sacred Wyvern, destroy him monster and end this duel!" Eve and Arata simultaneously looked up as the white dragon opened its mouth and fired a beam of light, obliterating Detonator.
The explosion that followed after the two monsters crashed sent a powerful shockwave through the whole building, Zayne and his henchmen had to cover their faces with their hands and try hard to not get throw off by the power of the attack while all that Eve could do was to close her eyes and hope that the chair they tied her to could withstand such power. After the light died down, they could see that pieces of the ceiling and walls had fallen down as debris while Arata's whole field was covered by thick smoke.
"It's over bastard." Zayne chuckled. "You lose this duel!"
No reply came back, but the cloud of smoke began to lift from Arata's field. The one-eyed duelist was down onto his knees and breathing heavy with parts of his jacket and pants torn by the power of the attack. He looked absolutely beaten, but there was also something else that Zayne noticed about his opponent.
『Arata LP: 1300』
"H-how are you still standing?" Zayne slumped down onto his knees. He threw so much into this, so watch his rival, his sworn enemy, fall into despair, but that stubborn Godbell just wouldn't stay down! He took a lot of damage, his chances to win were nearly zero, yet he was still standing!
"Right before your attack connected, I activated the trap that I set last turn - Psychic Rejuvenation." Arata pointed out as the trap card appeared beside him. "This card increases my life points by a thousand for each psychic on my field and your dragon loses attack when the difference between our life points gets smaller, so I effectively reduced three thousand points of damage to just one thousand."
"D-damn you!" Zayne slammed his fist against the ground. "I still got two powerful monsters left to attack you and there is no longer a monster that could stop them!"
"Unfortunately for you, that won't be an option." Arata sighed and stood back up. "I now activate my second trap, Transcended Barrier! This card can only activate when a transcended monster I control gets destroyed by battle, it then ends the current battle phase and lets me draw a card!"
Transcended Barrier (Trap) Normal
Activate only when a Transcendent monster that you control is destroyed by battle. End the Battle Phase, the draw 1 card.
"I can no longer attack…" Zayne clenched his fist and looked at the last card in his hand. "Fine then." He looked up at Arata and then set his card. "I'm done, come at me."
"My turn, draw!"
『Turn 8 [Arata] LP: 1300, Hand: 3』
'It's here!'
Arata looked at the card that he drew and closed his eyes, drawing an imaginary chain of cards that combo of which would grand him victory. Staring with the card in his hand, going through Esper Girl and then…! Yes, everything had come into place!
"This is the end!" Arata declared and played the card that he drew. "I summon CodESPer-Player Accel Driver!" A young boy with short purple hair appeared on the field wielding a sword made from electricity. Its body was covered in heavy purple armor with four silver dots in the center of its chest and a large gauntlet with shield on the left arm.
CodESPer-Player Accel Driver [LV: 4/Dark/Psychic/ATK: 1500/DEF: 800]
Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower monster from your hand or Graveyard in Defense Position. You can banish this card from your Graveyard to target 1 Transcendent Monster you control; that target gains 4 Grade Gauges.
"I activate Accel Driver's effect! I revive the level two Esper Girl from my graveyard!" Arata's monster swung its blade and slammed it into the ground, opening a vortex through which Esper Girl came back and sat down next to the boy. "Now, I use these two monsters to Transcend Summon!"
Esper Girl transformed into energy once again and was absorbed by Accel Driver, forming two energy rings around his body. "At the line between duty and madness…" Arata changed as Driver grew in size and its heavy armor was replaced by a more slender one with six purple orbs. "A legend covered in shadows shall be born." The shield disappeared from its arm and the sword transformed into a doubled bladed weapon made from the same purple energy. "Transcendent Summon! The esper that reigns supreme over the digital reality! CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel!" The boy's face was overtaken by dark flames after which two purple eyes and a maniacal smile formed.
CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel [GG: 6/Dark/Psychic/Transcendent/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 1800]
"CodESPer-Player Accel Driver" + 1 monster
Effect: You don't need to pay LP to activate the effects of Psychic-Type monsters or cards that have "Psychic-Type" written in their card text..
· Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can use 2 of this card's Grade Gauges to target 1 monster in any Graveyard(s); return it to the hand.
· You can use 3 of this card's Grade Gauges; Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Psychic-Type monster from your Deck or Banished Zone.
· Once per turn, during either player's turn, when your opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card that targets a monster that you control: You can use 4 of this card's Grade Gauges and banish 1 face-up Psychic-Type monster on your field; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card, then you can Set it to your field.
· You can use 6 of this card's Grade Gauges and target 1 face-up Psychic-monster you control: Banish that monster and all monsters your opponent controls whose original DEF is lower that, or equal to the target's ATK on the field.
"Now I activate Lunatic Accel's effect!" Arata threw his left hand forward and then clenched it into a fist. "I pay all fix of his Grade Gauges to banish my monster and all monsters you control with below two thousand and five hundred defense!"
"W-what!?" All six of the orbs on the Transcendent monster's body disappeared as a vortex appeared in the middle of the field and began to suck the monsters on both fields into itself. Zayne's creatures all roared and cried as they were overtaken by the darkness while Lunatic Accel laughed maniacally until its body disappeared along with all others.
"Now, I activate my trap, Brain Hazard!" The trap card that Arata drew on his very first turn flipped face-up. "When this card is activated I can special summon one of my removed from play Psychic-type monsters and I think you know which one I will choose! Raise once again, CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel!"
"That monster again…" Zayne narrowed his eyes. "It's too weak to defeat me!"
"When a Transcendent Monster is Special Summoned from the Graveyard or banished zone its Grade Gauges is zero." Arata pointed out. "But Lunatic Accel won't remain powerless for long! I banish CodESPer-Player Accel Driver from my grave to give Lunatic Accel four Grade Gauges! Now I pay three of them to activate its second effect and Special Summon a level two monster from my deck! Come out, CodESPer-NPC Star Priest!"
Three of the four glowing orbs on Lunatic Accel's body faded as the monster swung its weapon opening a blue portal through which jumped a monk wearing a white cloak with yellow lines. The new psychic monster swung the wand made of junk which it held into its left arm and sat down next to Lunatic Accel.
CodESPer-NPC Star Priest [LV: 2/Dark/Psychic/ATK: 100/DEF: 1900]
Effect: While this card is in Defense Position, it can be treated as a Level 3 monster. If your Psychic-Type monster would be destroyed by battle, you can banish this card from your GY instead.
"While Star Priest is in defense position, he can be treated as a level three monster." Arata said and pulled another card out of his Extra Deck. "Now again, I use Star Priest to Transcendent Summon! Come, out CodESPer-Set Storm Wings!" Star Priest raised its wand and the staff began to glow as the monk turned into energy and flew inside of it.
The wand then transformed into a large black backpack with several yellow lines running across its surface. The device then formed four wings on the back in an X-wing pattern, with a jet engine mounted to the end of each wing.
CodESPer-Set Storm Wings [GG: 3/Dark/Psychic/Transcendent/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 700]
1 Level 3 Effect Monster
Effect: Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 monster on the field; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it in Attack Position. While equipped by this effect, that target gains 800 ATK and 700 DEF. When the equipped monster attacks, you can destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on your opponent's side of the field.
You can use 3 of this card's Grade Gauges: Target 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field; destroy that target and if a Spell/Trap Card is sent to the Graveyard when this effects resolves, inflict 800 damage to your opponent. This card cannot attack during the turn this effect is activated.
"Now I activate Storm Wings' effect!" Arata gestured toward his 'monster'. "Once per turn, I can equip them to any monster on the field! I choose Lunatic Accel!" The backpack opened up and connected to Lunatic Accel's back after which it closed sideways, locking firmly around the monster's chest. "Due to Storm Wings' effect, Lunatic Accel gains a boost."
CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel, ATK: 2500 + 800 → 3300, DEF: 1800 + 700 → 2500
"Finally, I equip Psychic Sword to Lunatic Accel, raising its attack power by two thousand!" Accel reached out with its free arm and the handle of a sword appeared in wrist. Green flames burst out of the weapon and shaped into a blade after which Arata's ace crossed its two swords in front of its chest.
CodESPer-Ally Lunatic Accel, ATK: 3300 + 2000 → 5300
"F-fifty three hundred…" A dark realization hit Zayne, while his partners in crime watched from the side with shock written across their faces.
Eve realized it as well. Accel's attack power was 5300 and Zayne's Life Points were exactly 5300. At first that could seem as a rather meaningless coincidence, but in a fight where the duelists would suffer real damage, every single point mattered. There was no coincidence in this, it wasn't just a lucky chance. It was by design.
Arata closed his eyes and focused. He was waiting for that familiar sound to echo, one that set panic in everyone else in the room - police sirens.
He has many things, a lot of them were bad, but he wasn't an idiot. The moment Arata got that call last night, he knew that Zayne would play dirty, it was the only way to ensure victory even after he kidnapped Eve. It seemed that both of them were raised to neglect life, but unlike Arata who grew up not caring about himself, Zayne grew up neglecting the lives of everyone that was around him. The only life that he wouldn't sacrifice for his gain, and the one that he would try to preserve at all cost would be his own.
Leaving a witness who could tell the police about what happened in this abandoned building would be equal to going to the police station and surrendering yourself in. In other words, he never planned on letting either Arata or Eve alive after his twisted revenge was complete.
"Police…" As expected, Zayne panicked at the sound of sirens. It was getting closer and closer with each passing moment. "You called the police!? But my cousin works there, he should have warned me if that happened…"
"You aren't the only one with connections." Arata hissed back and pointed at Zayne. "You lost! Both this duel and that twisted game you made me play! Finish him off, Accel! Lunatic Slash!"
Lunatic Accel leaped into the air and swung his swords, bringing the blades down onto Zayne's chest. The duelist screamed, blood splashing out of his wounds, while the impact of the attack threw his body on the ground.
Arata sighed in relief and fell down on his knees. His entire body was tense from the pain that he suffered though that short duel and his head felt dizzy from the electricity that ran through him.
"Stop struggling!"
Unfortunately for him, his struggles were far from over. As Arata raised his head, he noticed Zayne's henchmen trying to drag Eve out of there; probably to use her as hostage before the police. He reached out and pressed a button on his Duel Disk, removing it from his wrist. Arata's arm unconsciously gripped the Duel Disk and he raised his arm to throw it at the bastards with the last of his strength when,
"Mhmmh!" Eve tried to mumble something, her skin glowing brightly as a pair of mechanical wings came out of her back and smacked her kidnappers in the face, knocking them on the ground. Arata's eyes widened and his mouth hang open at the sight. He wanted to say something, but he was all out of words, seeing Eve transform into a more humanoid form of Number 39: Utopia, wings, swords and everything else included.
This new form pulled her arms, tearing apart the bindings and then removed the hag that was stopping her from talking. The girl looked at the boy and then walked toward him. Arata gulped, he had the feeling that he saw something which he shouldn't have, but his body was too tired to move a muscle and his mind was occupied by so many questions that the thought of running away, or asking how Eve suddenly transformed into a monster girl was buried deep below all the other thoughts.
"It's over." There was a strange warm feeling within Arata's chest after hearing those words. Two arms wrapped around his back and Eve's body pressed against his, hugging him. "You saved me, thanks."
Saved her? From the lock of it, Eve would have been able to save herself by using that strange power of hers. But there were much more important things for him to think about at the moment, much more severe problems that he had to find a solution for.
Usually in movies when the girl gets kidnapped and the boy saves her they get to life happily, but this wasn't going to be that kind of ending. The police sirens were getting louder with each passing moment and Arata already knew that the only way he would walk out of this buildings would be with handcuffs. That was how he wanted it to be; how he deserved it. Even if his current actions were heroic, if he saved a life, it still didn't make up for the fact that he participated in illegal duels. It was his actions that caused Zayne to appear in his life, it was his actions that put Eve in harm's way.
After only a few seconds, Arata broke the hug and looked the girl in the eyes; those emotionless cold pearls of hers. That could as well be the last time that he would get to see them, see her face. He didn't want that moment to end, but it had to.
"Can you turn back into your regular appearance?" Arata asked her.
"I do." Eve nodded for confirmation. She understood why Arata asked her that, the police was coming and if they saw her in full armor with swords would make things ten times more complicated.
She closed her eyes and focused. Her body began to glow again, dispersing the armor, replacing it with her usual clothes. Once that was done, she opened her eyes and took a second look at herself before raising a thumb-up.
Arata smiled. He closed his eyes and raised his arms, soon the front door was broken down and police officers swarmed in, guns loaded. They pushed him down on the ground, holding him while putting on his handcuffs. What happened afterward, felt like a blur to him.
Eve was trying to talk to the police officers that he wasn't involved in her kidnapping; he couldn't make out what exactly she was saying, but it didn't matter either way. Even though he wasn't involved in Zayne's crimes, there were a lot of other ones on his back. This would be his way to atone for them, his way of getting rid of all the quilt and what-ifs.
He and everyone who helped Zayne were going to be put behind bars right away while Zayne himself was going to first be placed in hospital to recover from his injuries. The only worry on his mind as the policemen escorted him out of the building was Eve and how would she deal with everything now that he was gone. But as he was pushed into the police car, and took one last glimpse of the girl that caused his entire life to turn such a sudden turn, his lips raised into a slight smile at the sight of Kate. The girl was talking to Eve, he couldn't make out what she was saying, but at least he now knew that even with him gone, there was still someone who would take care of Eve in his place. She would have a friend to rely on, one that wouldn't get her dragged in their own dark past, like how he did.
"… He kidnapped Eve." Kate's eyes slowly widened as she processed what Arata had just told her.
"What!?" And as he expected, she reacted shocked, pushing him away. "Eve was kidnapped? Why!?"
"It's all my fault." Arata dropped his head. "Because I was the one who dethroned Zayne, he began to think of me as his rival and would do anything to defeat me in a duel. Despite that I never thought that his obsession with me would cause him to get people that are close to me involved as well." It was his fault, he should have seen something like this happening; if he had stepped down and stopped participating in those illegal duels earlier, maybe he wouldn't have gotten that much attention from that psychopath.
Kate gritted her teeth and threw her hand, slapping the boy across the face with all the strength in her body. The blow knocked Arata off balance for a moment before he looked back at her, a hand over his swollen cheek.
"All of this is your fault." Kate hissed at him, pushing the boy backward. "I knew that you was nothing more that scum since I first lied my eyes on you. You are nothing more than a lowly criminal! What if that boy does something to Eve because of you?!"
"That's what I want you to help me prevent!" Arata pleaded.
"Then go to the police! Turn yourself in and tell them where Zayne is so they can save Eve!" Kate slammed her fist against his chest. "If you cared even a bit about anyone other than yourself, you would have done that already!"
"It's not that simple!" Arata shouted, making Kate flinch at his sudden change of attitude.
Kate stepped back in surprise and fear which was clearly written all over her face. Arata's change of attitude and his loud voice made her scared of the boy. A sight that didn't go unnoticed by the other party in the room.
As soon as he said that Arata caught himself and went silent, lowering his head in shame. Things were much more complicated than what Kate knew, Zayne had connection in the police that would alert him if Arata showed at the station to turn himself in. But a part of what she said was right. This entire situation happened due to his own selfish actions. Even when he first joined those illegal matches, he knew how dangerous it would be for him and anyone who got close to him, but he didn't care about the risks because he never thought that someone could get involved with him. He had to protect Eve, not just from her own demons, but from his as well. He didn't take any actions to prevent an outcome like this from happening and now he was paying the price for his selfishness.
"Then explain it." Kate spoke up, her voice soft, almost whispering.
"Zayne warned me that if I went to the police or called them, I'll never see Eve again." Arata replied. "If I take a single wrong step, he could do something to Eve. This is a risk that I just can't take."
"So, what? You're going to just play along with his game?" Kate narrowed her eyes.
"No, of course not." Arata shook his head. Even if he played along, Zayne most likely wasn't going to keep his end of the bargain. "But this is something that I can't do on my own. Even though I don't have the right to say this, I need your help, Kate. You're the only person I can trust right now."
Kate took a careful look at the boy. Was she really going to fall for that and trust him? But what other choice did she have? Even though she and Eve have known each other for just about a day, she had to do something to help her 'friend'. Otherwise, what better would she be than Arata?
"What do you expect me to do?" Kate asked. She didn't say that she would help, only thing that she wanted was to know if Arata had any plans on how to save Eve.
"Zayne will tell me the location where I must meet him later today." Arata told her. "Even though he has people following me, you could still alert the police and inform them about the kidnapping. I'll give you the address as soon as I can, and I'll try to buy you as much time as possible. The only thing I ask of you is to go to the police and tell them where Zayne and I are."
Kate glared at Arata but eventually nodded. "Just know, I'm doing this only for Eve. If you allow something to happen to her, I'll make the rest of your days a living hell, understood?"
"You shouldn't worry about that." Arata stepped toward the windows of his classroom and looked outside. He had a cursed placed on him that caused agonizing pain to his body every night, the only person in his life was kidnapped by his worst enemy. How could Kate top the hell that he was living in?
Take took a lot longer than it should have. Truth be told, 90% of the chapter was actually written somewhere during September, but then I entered a writer block with this story, which is why it took me half a year to write the final scenes of Arata's arrest and his talk with Kite. Again, I absolutely don't know how this chapter turned out, hopefully you liked it and hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes. I tried to make this chapter a bit more... emotional (?) to show how Arata feels about himself and about those around him. I mean, lately he took a lot of hits, getting killed, getting the one person that he cared about kidnapped because of his illegal activities, getting arrested for said illegal activities right after saving his girl. His life is just misery at this point.
Thanks to Zaconator and Zackis for favoriting this story and thanks to guicontiero for both the favorite and the follow!
That's all. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!
Diabolic Tracer out!