Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth

by DivadX

Yuhiro Furutani, one of 8 children kidnapped 10 years ago by an unknown group, now works as Raguel, an agent in LINK VRAINS' Black Market. One day, he fights the Knights of Hanoi and encounters Playmaker, who becomes his newest assignment. Follow Yuhiro as he now must decide who he wants to become: as both a duelist and as an individual.

78. Chapter 78: Battle Scars

Response to Reviews

Thank you to HunterHQ, Anonymous, Guest, Noobmaster, Electriuser, Lord Mammon, Donkeyboy100, Pancakes, Kingdom Hearts Guy, Pikachu99, Unnamed, Guest, Cosmic Cat, Portal, Unknown, Guest, and T.V. 2000 for reviewing Chapter 77 of Obscured Truth.

Greetings, everyone! As always, I hope you're doing well wherever you are in the world. Judging from your reviews, it's clear you all enjoyed what happened in the previous chapter, and I hope you look forward to what's coming up next.

Alright, let's get to answering those reviews:

HunterHQ: In all honesty, Ace didn't necessarily redeem himself. He just basically decided that it was his time to go, and did so in a way that insulted Azrael. Ace honestly doesn't care if the heroes win or not. For as long as Azrael loses in the end, he'll be satisfied. Since the bomb was linked to his real world body, it blew up as well. It honestly took lots of courage for Yuhiro to tell his story to the people he's close with, and they still accept him because of the traits he's shown over the years. In terms of your comment on Yuhiro using Excalibur on the grunts, all of them have been mutilated. As for what will happen to Yuhiro in the future as a result of all of this….. you could say that he may give up his pursuit of justice for good. Of course Azrael earned his name of him being the angel of death, whereas Raguel practically tainted his own name due to injustice. Yes, I have taken your request into account, and have sent you a PM already to confirm this. Akira and Greg both know that the Hanoi have a sense of honour, despite their many crimes. Yeah, Watchman ended up causing suffering in order to pursue his selfish goals. I mean, due to Yukage's honour, he's willing to give Yuhiro a shot at the data in the dark vault, as well as a second chance at getting Miyu's cure. Don't worry: Krystal, Brea, and the other Rickety Raiders are safe and sound. As for your final comment, I certainly agree with your opinion. There's only so much impact an individual can make compared to an entire company, though it'd be interesting if Azrael, Malf, and Wraith got to interact with Jormungand and the Enforcers form Ouroboros, as well as whether they'd be willing to form an alliance upon hearing the information the trio can give to the company.

Anonymous: Aoi's renounced her Charisma duelist status for good. You'll see whether Yukage gets Omega Mode in the future. Since Azrael stole the Hanoi's data, that's how Ace's grunts got those outfits and Cracking Dragons and Jack Wyverns. Raguel was able to get all the data on Ace's duel disk successfully. For Gil's comment to Raguel, he's basically mocking him for putting up a righteous front after everything that's happened. In a sense, you could say he's delighted that Raguel's starting to drop it and accept reality as it is. However, Gil is also angry that traces of it still remain in Raguel, and you'll see more of that in a later chapter. Aqua gave the Marincess monsters sentience, just like Herald, Ai, and Flame did. Despite there being multiple copies, only one Cyberse monster with a different name got sentience. So only one Marincess Marbled Rock is only able to talk, etc. Only when Azrael and Lightning are stopped will the people who lost their consciousness data wake up.

Guest: I wouldn't say the masses aren't that ignorant. SOL Technologies will still allow people to access the network, though there'll be some restrictions for the time being. Due to the chaos, Frog and Pigeon are in hiding, knowing that there's practically no point in recording it. As per anime logic, SOL Technologies sent Go after Playmaker and his allies, so I must follow it. Yukage got the first two pieces from the FBI and Gamma, with the last one being in the dark vault.

Noobmaster: Azrael was the one who was willing to let Stregone and Phoenix go, provided they log out, of course. I mean, the duo were aware that some of the Ignis would be against humanity, so there was no point in them being surprised. Yes, Stregone was the only duelist who dueled better than any other duelist Azrael dueled so far. Well, the gang isn't necessarily killing the Bitboots. Their duel monsters are the ones doing the deed. Whereas Yuhiro actually used Excalibur to slice and dice those Bitboots. Emma never met Gil on the Black Market.

Electriuser: Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Considering what happened, there's bound to be lots of deaths. If anything, it may have trumped the death count from other VRAINS fanfics in terms of casualties. Malf's virus is practically a death sentence, as Athaliah and Speckles suffered under it. Ace, however, acted before it happened, so he was spared of such a fate. However, it costed his life. Yes, Raguel got his moment of anger, and cut off Ace's left forearm. As a result, he now has all of Ace's data. Expect more ruthless moments for Raguel later on in the story. Yes, Stregone vs Azrael was a very awesome duel, in my opinion. Ace chose to die on his own terms because he realized that he'll die one way or another, so he did it in a way that not only insulted Azrael, but threw a monkey wrench in his carefully laid out plans as well. Or in simple terms, Ace gave Azrael the middle finger metaphorically.

Lord Mammon: Glad to hear you're doing well. It was only fair to have Ace win his final duel before he died, and there was no way I'm going to disrespect him further. I aim to surprise, and expect more ruthless moment s from Raguel later on in the story. Playmaker and the others were obviously horrified at Raguel's actions, for it was something they weren't expecting. Plus, the sadistic satisfaction in getting his revenge is certainly a sign that Raguel's no longer choosing to hold back. At least SengokuQueen and Stregone put up a good fight despite the both of them losing in the end. Azrael spared Phoenix not only out of respect for Stregone's strength and honor, as well as gratitude for him taking care of Yuhiro when he could not, but it was for two other reasons. One, Azrael saw Phoenix's strength and bravery, and was actually impressed with what he was saw. Two, you could say that it was Azrael's way of 'apologizing' for unintentionally causing pain to Phoenix's family.

Donkeyboy100: Happy you liked the chapter! All the best to the final chapter of your story, as well as all the lessons obtained from writing it.

Pancakes: Can I say I actually laughed at the skit you sent me? It was one of, if not, the best skit you provided. It was not only funny, it also didn't offend any of the characters either. Well done! You made me picture The Devil from Cuphead and the other demons welcoming Ace to Hell.

Kingdom Hearts Guy: Glad you liked the chapter. Still, it wouldn't hurt to pay attention to the story, that's for sure.

Pikachu99: Obviously Ace deserved his moment in the sun before he died. The reason why Malf brought out Draco Master was to mentally torture SengokuQueen, which clouded her decision making. She didn't want to hurt someone that resembled Dancho's son, after all. Stregone has certainly gotten stronger since we last saw him in Chapter 55. For Raguel, Playmaker and the others aren't seeing him as a monster because they know he's better than this. Rather, they're reprimanding Raguel for what he did to Ace. After all, you have to be the better man in some scenarios. And how is Wraith OP? He is not at all.

Portal: Of course it was extreme. People are dying in the real world and in the network, after all. Your comment about Evan Greyson reminded me of that one scene from The Boys, where Homelander and Queen Maeve arrive on the plane to assure the passengers were safe. Only for the duo to basically send the people and the plane crashing down to the surface.

Unknown: Well, Burning Draw is an example of a Skill that turned into a card, so anything is possible. Yes, Malf looked into both Drachen and Dancho's memories to create the battlefields needed to mentally torture Revolver and SengokuQueen. Azrael and Lightning are similar, yes, but they have differences. A great example being that Azrael is honorable, whereas Lightning is cowardly. This situation is actually the one that forces Revolver to ally with Playmaker and the others and compromise, seeing there's no choice moving forward. The protection program only works for Bohman and Lightning, as Azrael and Wraith are a totally different story. Well, Bitboots are obviously expandable, and Lightning wouldn't care for them. Raguel meant no more innocent lives will be taken, and Ace was far from innocent. For Bohman, perhaps he can make more dice-related cards, though it'll lead him to rely more on luck than skill. He must maintain a balance, after all. Argos Incorporated was just a company mentioned in the story, that's all. Or is it...

Guest: Hey, anything can happen. It's for the future to decide.

T.V. 2000: Like I said above, I do agree with your point in that there's only so much of an impact can have, compared to an entire worldwide organization. Yup, the Gilgamesh and Waver scene from Fate/Zero served as inspiration for the conversation between Azrael and Phoenix. Keep in mind that the consciousness data of all the people that have fallen over the past three chapters will be restored once the Mirror LINK VRAINS arc is done. So Rosetta's consciousness data is fine. I am glad you liked the chapter, as it was tricky to write three awesome duels in one chapter. I also hope you enjoy the duels here as well.

With the reviews having been answered, let's go straight to the chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 78: Battle Scars

In a desolate landscape under a bloody sky, two pendants, one white-ruby and one white-sapphire, fall to the ground before transforming into Excalibur and Muramasa. Their owners, Raguel and Azrael, grab their swords before charging at one another, the blade lock resulting in a flash of light flooding the screen. When the light fades, LINK VRAINS is shown before being replaced my Mirror LINK VRAINS. The Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS logo then appears, with the words "OBSCURED TRUTH" to ominously appear underneath it in rainbow colours. Two symbols also appear underneath those words, with the first one consisting of a dark-orange demonic crest that had lion fangs on the sides, as well as Excalibur slashing it down the middle. The other symbol consisted of a dark-blue demonic crest that had two mirage blades making an X, as well as Muramasa slashing it down the middle.

Yuhiro, Yusaku, Takeru, and Arashi are sitting around a table at Café Nagi, looking at duel footage as they discuss strategies they can use to counter their enemies. At a nearby table, Roxy, Kusanagi, and Greg are chatting, a hamburger in Roxy's hand, and a hotdog in Kusanagi's hand. Rachel is shown nearby playing with Rasterliger, Salamangreat Balelynx, and Linkuriboh, until the four of them turn their heads to see Herald, Ai, and Flame chatting on the best type of entertainment in the world. All four of them go towards the three chatting Ignis and scare them with a large shout. This causes Yuhiro, Yusaku, Takeru, Arashi, Roxy, Kusanagi, and Greg to laugh at the three Ignis, who are still flustered by the prank.

Kengo Dojun looks down at the hospital bed his mother is on, gritting his teeth before making a fist with his right hand. At another hospital room, Yuhiro, Roxy, and Aoi are shown, where they look down on Miyu resting on her hospital bed. Yuhiro puts his hands on the sides of his head, a panicked and stressed look on his face as Roxy and Aoi try to calm him down, his anxiety settling in. Red, glowing cracks start to spread over his body before dimming on and off. Behind him, shadows form, one of which consists of a girl in her pre-teens wearing a white and blue Greek-styled dress, along with sandals twirling around, her shoulder-length blond hair flowing down behind her. The girl's eyes glow red as she raises her right arm in front of her and places her left hand on her chest, as if she were singing. After she disappears, a black-armored knight that had a spiked plume on his helmet, along with dark-steel plates on his arms appears in her place. Strapped to his sides were a pair of jagged, chained blades, each one having a demonic red-orange glyph pattern on them. Attached to his back was a long sword with a massive blade, as well as a set of arms that had large hands, each one having three claws. The multicolored shapes resembling eyes glowed as the knight pulls out all three blades and slashes the screen completely.

Raguel and Playmaker appear, riding parallel to one another on their duel boards, with Cyreath Hercules/Alpha Mode and Firewall Dragon following after them. Next is Soulburner and Slipstream, with Salamangreat Heatleo and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon following after the second duo. Last but not least, Blue Maiden and Numera appear, with Marincess Marbled Rock and Geomathmech Final Sigma following after the third duo.

At SOL Technologies, Akira, Hayami, Queen, and Pawn are looking at a monitor that showed Go Onizuka in the training dome, having won a duel against a virtual Playmaker. While the first two individuals frowned with concern, the second two had satisfied smiles on their faces.

In a dark abandoned room, Yukage narrows his eyes as looks at a happy memory of him and Yuhiro playing together as children by using the memory scanner. Blue, glowing cracks start to appear on his right hand, causing Yukage to take deep breaths to calm himself down. After looking at his pendant for a few moments, Yukage puts on his duel disk before he and Wraith raise their right hands to the sky and log into the network. Haru is then shown training under Azrael's tutelage in a room of a palace, having faced off against multiple upgraded Bitboots with Hydradrive Nagini, Scyllonic Hydradrive Kragun, and Medusoid Hydradrive Gorgun behind him. Nearby, Azrael and Wraith watch the match, wanting to see how much stronger Haru has become.

The screen then shifts to another room of the palace, where Bohman is sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed as he begins to meditate. His eyes open before they glow a rainbow color, the glow also spreading to his chest as the room briefly lights up before dimming down. But in the shadows, Malf's eyes glow red as he proceeds to lick his mouth, hunger on his mind.

Silhouettes of Yua Kogami and Katsuya pop up before they morph into their VRAINS personas Demeter and Percival, where the screen goes back to one room of the palace. Windy, who is wearing a cape and eyepatch, commands Stormridership Bahamut Bomber to attack Demeter, who responds by having Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty intercept the attack. In another room, Jin Kusanagi stands with Lightning as the latter snaps his fingers, causing a small squad of Armatos Legio Decurions and Centurions to appear behind him. Armatos Legio Magnus Dux, along with Tribunus Laticlavius and Legatus Legionis also appeared behind Lightning. Percival growls as Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon rises from behind him, and two copies of Phantom Knights' Spear appear in his hands.

A silhouette of Ace is shown above Uchida Industries, his right hand outstretched over the company. Drachen faces off against a squad of Bitboots with Red-Eyes Black Dragon behind him, hellbent on getting it back from Ace. The screen then flips over to show Electrolyzer trying to escape his restraints using PSY-Framegears Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta, with Jericho ominously laughing in the background.

Smoke appears in various areas of the central station in LINK VRAINS, which has been attacked by multiple Bitboots. Phoenix and Gil stand back to back, with Nephthys, the Scared Flame and Abyss Actor – Evil Heel beside the duelists as they confront one Bitboot each. SengokuQueen and Ghost Girl do the same, with Secret Six Samurai – Rihan and Altergeist Memorygant beside the duelists as they too confront one Bitboot each. Stregone is shown arriving to assist both groups, Quintet Magician and Enlightenment Paladin behind him. Nearby, Rosetta confronts Ace, Black Rose Moonlight Dragon rising from behind her before roaring at Ace, who has Dystopia the Despondent rise behind him in response.

Watching these events using the Spatial Cube is Watchman, who is in his server. A disappointed look appears on his face before he pulls out a total of six Black Keys, three in each of his hands. Watchman's eyes glow with a purple color before three copies of Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord appear behind him, which proceed to fuse into Crimson Nova Trinity the Dark Cubic Lord as the screen is covered with purple cubes.

Raguel and Azrael are then shown facing off against one another in a matrix-like battlefield. Turboblaze Dragon, along with three other monsters, appear behind Raguel before combining to form a tall, white-colored bipedal dragon with red irises and black pupils, as well as a long and slender neck. He had a long, voluminous wispy mane streaming out from the upper side of his snout and outwards from his head, with the two protrusions on his head having merged to form into a long, bright and blazing one. His four arms were slender and arm-like with a wing-like appearance and four fingers on his glowing, fiery claws. On his head was a golden piece of armor, with fiery-golden armor pieces on his feathered chest and body. Each of his feet had large grey claws, three at the front and one positioned at the back to resemble high heels. The jet-like engine tail's bands expanded outwards, with the feathers in it spiking upwards before a massive blast of fire erupts from it.

Teravolt Dragon, along with three other monsters, appear behind Azrael before combining to form a tall, purple-colored bipedal dragon with blue sclera and white pupils, as well as a small horn-like protrusion on the tip of his snout. His head sported a thundercloud-like crest tipped with yellow coloration, along with pieces of golden armor as well. At the base of his neck, his shoulders, knees, and wings was a black, stud-like feature resembling that of armor, with spikes appearing on the shoulders. His large wings consisted of a fanned shape that expanded outwards to show three spikes tipped with electricity. Strapped to his back was a halo with three spikes on it. Attached to his arms were baseball-mitt-like formations, with three-clawed hands on the undersides that glowed with electricity. His three-clawed feet also glowed with electricity as well. His tail now consisted of two electric generators with a spike at the end, which hummed before releasing electricity from it.

In a garden of Asagao flowers, Miyu sees Yuhiro on one knee, having grabbed the hilt of Excalibur to try and stand up on his feet, the sword having been planted on the ground. She run over and helps Yuhiro stand up on his feet, the both of them having grateful smiles on their faces. The both of them look upwards as the screen jumps to the bright sky and the glowing sun.

In the real world, at Ryoken's yacht...

Kyoko, Eizaburo, Aso, and Emon had their jaws dropped as they saw the live video on the monitors. The one where Ace masqueraded as 'Emon', who announced himself as the Knight of Hanoi Infearno, as well as the loyal servant of Revolver. What's more, 'Emon' stated that the Hanoi were back, and used the attacks in the real world and in the network to announce their return. To make things worse, 'Emon' even showed pictures of the Hanoi working with Ace and Athaliah months prior, where the duo assisted them in building the Tower of Hanoi. To sum it up, this was not good at all, especially with what they were already dealing with.

"Okay, I may be charismatic, but this? This is not me." Emon stated the obvious.

"Of course it's not, Emon." Eizaburo agreed, a frown on his face. "I mean, who publicly says that they're with the Hanoi? No one!"

"That may be the case, but this puts more pressure on us than ever before." Aso commented.

"Especially with what Ace did just now." Kyoko added, venom evident in her tone. The Hanoi should have dealt with Ace and Athaliah when they had the chance, but because of what Azrael did, they had no choice but to lay low and gather resources. As a result, Azrael coerced Ace and Athaliah into working for him, where one of his orders was to seize Uchida Industries. According to the information Drachen sent, Uchida Industries had a slave force ran by Chainslaver and Sharpshot, where the duo ordered the slaves to make data material and numerous weapons. While the Hanoi guessed that the weapons made there were the ones being used in the attacks, they didn't know what the data material would be used for.

Emon narrowed his eyes. "We cannot let this stand. Not when there's so much at stake on our end."

"But even if we do manage to decrypt the video and show the world that Ace did this, the Hanoi's integrity will forever be stained." Eizaburo sadly said, as he turned to face Emon. "I hate to say it, Emon, but with everything that's just happened, you may not be able to go out in the public again."

"I'm aware of that, Eizaburo. I'm aware of that." Emon sadly replied. It was most likely that search warrants on him were being formed as they speak, and with Uchida Industries being blamed, Emon lost any chance of being seen in public again. "Though I am curious on how Ace got that footage after we lost it following the Tower of Hanoi." His eyes then widened upon putting two and two together. "Unless..."

"It came from his memory." Kyoko finished. "But for that to happen, Ace would need a memory program."

"Azrael most likely had a program similar to that of Blood Shepherd's on hand to use." Aso hypothesized. "But we can't focus on the how. We need to focus on decrypting the footage."

"Not just that, but help Ryoken and Youta get Akairo back from Malf and Windy's clutches." Kyoko reminded the others present. "Though..."

All four of them sighed. Even if they were to decrypt the footage and show the truth to the public, some individuals would likely not believe them. What's more, anyone who tried to defend the Hanoi or Uchida Industries would most likely be labelled as a supporter, and arrested as a result.

"As long as we at least mitigate the impact on us, we can still save a piece of our integrity." Emon said, which got Kyoko's attention. "Plus, Ryoken wouldn't want us to give up, would he?"

Kyoko nodded back in agreement. Emon was right. Ryoken wouldn't want them to give up, not when there was so much on the line. The four of them immediately got to work, hellbent on completing their tasks.

Elsewhere, at SOL Technologies...

Akira's jaw was dropped as he saw the explosions on the screens. Hayami's eyes also widened, and all the staff members were speechless as they witnessed what was going on. Just when SOL Technologies was making progress in hacking the bombs, massive explosions occurred in the area, killing numerous troops and innocent civilians in the process. The fact that they couldn't stop all this death and destruction from happening broke Akira's heart completely. He felt powerless before, but this... this was on a far different level.

"Sir..." Hayami muttered.

"I'm fine, Hayami." Akira said back, having gotten it together. He wouldn't break down, especially when there was still a chance to prevent further death and destruction. Akira then turned to one of the staff members nearby. "Contact Greg now!"

"Yes sir," one of the staff members complied, before typing on their keyboard. Akira did not want to lose anyone else today, especially someone he considered a friend.

A screen then popped up, static and sound coming from it. Please be alive, Greg, Akira thought in his mind. Soon, a digital image of a wounded Greg popped up, as evident by the gash of blood running down from the top of his head.

"Greg, you're okay!" Akira cried out of relief.

"Of course I'm okay. I've been through worse." Greg commented. "Those explosions... do you think-?"

"Either Ace's gotten desperate, or the attack is finished, and he wanted to leave us a parting gift." Akira hypothesized, before a thought suddenly entered his mind. "What about your troops? Were any of them-?"

"Several of my troops died in the explosions." Greg lamented, which made Akira, Hayami, and the staff members present gasp. Unfortunately, this made sense, for no one was expecting the multiple explosions to go off all at once. "As a result, I've had to relocate some of my squads that are stationed in Uchida to go investigate the chaos. What's the progress on your end?"

"Slow, but steady. We're close to hacking the bombs, though." Akira assured Greg, which made the latter smile.

"Good. I'll see what I can do on my end, though with what just happened..."

"Do what you can. I'll contact the higher-ups and see if they're willing to send in some AIs to assist you."

Greg nodded. "Very well. Good luck."

"You too. And stay safe." Akira replied, before Greg signed off.

"Sir, bad news!" one of the staff members said, which got Akira's attention. "Ragnarök, Stregone, and Deva have fallen in battle."

"The 4th, 2nd, and 3rd Charisma duelists have been defeated?!" Hayami repeated the obvious out of shock, the staff member nodding back in confirmation. That was not good at all. The Charisma duelists were some of the strongest duelists in LINK VRAINS, yet for them to fall one by one at the hands of the enemy... it was a bad omen for what was to come.

"Wait. There's some good news. Krystal is still active! I repeat, Krystal is still active!" the same staff member reported, which made Akira and Hayami sigh out of relief.

"Take a look at this, sir!" another staff member suddenly stated, as she typed on the keyboard. Screens then popped up, which showed Playmaker, Raguel, Soulburner, Slipstream, Blue Maiden, Numera, Gil, Ghost Girl, and Krystal fighting off the Bitboots and grunts.

You guys came, Akira thought in his mind. He had faith that Playmaker and the others would come in their hour of need, and with their arrival came a greater chance in ending this madness.

"Sir, the feed from the video has been decrypted!" a third staff member reported. "What should we do?"

Akira thought it over for a few seconds. "Send the decrypted video to the FBI at once. They'll know what to do with it." In his mind, Akira knew the Hanoi wouldn't launch an attack in the real world, as all their activity occurred in the network. What's more, the Hanoi had a degree of honour.

"Of course, sir," the staff member responded, before proceeding to do so.

The odds are finally in our favour, and if we play our cards right, we can end these attacks and ensure no one else gets hurt, Akira assured himself in his mind, before he narrowed his eyes at the screen. Aoi. Everyone. Be careful...

Meanwhile, in an area of LINK VRAINS...

Revolver grit his teeth. Just now, he and Specter found out that Malf turned his childhood friend, Drachen, into his own puppet. This was evident by the hardened, purple goo on the left side of Drachen's body, along with the horn on the left side of his head. Still, Revolver was hellbent in getting Drachen back from the clutches of the Ignis. They took his father, his allies, and the Hanoi's resources. He'll make them regret tormenting the Hanoi, and he'll make both Malf and Azrael regret capturing Drachen for their own gain in the first place.

"Revolver, it's time for you to make a decision." Malf said.

"A decision? What do you mean?" Revolver asked.

"On whom you should save, and who should suffer as a result of your sins." Malf clarified. "Like I said, all actions have consequences, and you and the other Hanoi have gotten away with them for the last time."

"Then I'll have you know that no one is going to suffer, and I'll make sure of it!" Revolver replied.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter. For no one is completely free of the choices they make, especially with what they cost an individual. Such as this." Malf countered, as he pressed a button on his duel disk. Soon, the hardened purple goo on the left side of Drachen's body began to glow, which made him scream in pain. A screen then popped up on Drachen's left side, which showed a countdown clock.

"Master Revolver, that's..." Specter began speaking.

"A countdown clock." Revolver finished. "What are you planning, Malf?"

"I'm forcing you to make a choice of course." Malf answered. "When the countdown clock reaches zero, all the information my lord has on you Hanoi scum will be leaked to the world. In addition, Drachen will die in the process."

"WHAT?!" Revolver exclaimed, with Specter gasping as well.

"However, you have a chance of preventing it from happening. If you defeat Drachen in a duel, his life will be spared, and the information won't be leaked to the world. Though you should know something else." A grin appeared on Malf's face. "Anyone that loses here will lose their consciousness data as well."

Revolver narrowed his eyes. How dare Malf do this to him! "You're a bastard for putting us in this situation." However, Revolver was being given a chance to not only save Drachen's life, but ensure that the other Hanoi and their operations will still be safe. But should Revolver lose, then he'll lose his consciousness data, and end up in a state similar to those that have already fallen in battle. Then again, since when did the odds ever scare Revolver? He'll defy those odds, rescue Drachen from the clutches of the Ignis, and ensure that his allies were safe! "Alright. I'll do it."

"Not alone, you aren't." Specter assured Revolver. "For I'll-."

WHAM!

Malf's right arm turned into a giant fist as he swung it towards Specter before hitting the latter, which sent him flying off the ground before his back hit the wall behind him. As a result, Specter fell unconscious.

"Specter!" Revolver cried out of concern, before Malf pulled out a small, black crystal and threw it to the ground, which caused the data gale to erupt from it. As a result, the data gale surrounded Revolver, Malf, and a brainwashed Drachen, preventing either of them from leaving. "You wretch!"

"I won't allow anyone else to interfere in this duel, and if you were thinking of contacting your allies in the real world for help, don't bother." Malf responded. "The data gale's intensity will prevent all contact from the outside world, and any viruses you Hanoi scum plan to use in breaking the data gale to stop this duel in any way possible will be disintegrated within seconds."

Revolver frowned. Of course that was the case. If he was in Malf's shoes, he'd do the same thing. Well, technically, the Hanoi already did the same thing a few months prior, when they used the data gale.

"You have five minutes to stop the bomb and save not only your friend's life, but prevent the information my lord has on you and the others from being leaked to the world as well." Malf warned Revolver, before he turned to Drachen. "Let's begin the duel, shall we, Drachen?"

Drachen didn't react. Instead, he activated his duel disk.

"Drachen, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, then I'll save you!" Revolver promised, as he activated his duel disk.

"Duel!" Revolver and the brainwashed Drachen said at the same time.

Revolver: 4000 LP

Drachen: 4000 LP

"I'm going first. My turn." Revolver said, as he looked at the cards in his hand for a few moments. "I summon Silverrokket Dragon from my hand to my field." A silver-armored dragon with a bullet on its head, along with magenta holographic wings appeared on Revolver's field.

Silverrokket Dragon ATK: 1900 DEF: 100 LV: 4

"I also activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Quick Launch. This card lets me Special Summon a 'Rokket' monster from my deck to my field, but it can't attack, and it's destroyed during my End Phase. Come from my deck, Anesthrokket Dragon!" A green and yellow metal dragon with green holographic wings and a syringe on its head appeared on Revolver's field.

Anesthrokket Dragon ATK: 0 DEF: 2200 LV: 1

"I now activate the Continuous-Spell card, Supply Squad." Revolver continued. "Once per turn, if a monster I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can draw a card. Next, I activate the effect of Outburst Dragon from my hand. As I control a monster, I can Special Summon this card from my hand. Now emerge from my hand, Outburst Dragon!" Soon, a large silver mechanical dragon that had multiple green lines running over its body appeared on Revolver's field. It had two large, black-rectangular spines, which projected fiery wings. Traces of fire also emitted all over its body, as evident by the small sparks of fire that erupted from it. Its head consisted of two silver pieces that curved downwards, as well as a small horn at the top.

Outburst Dragon ATK: 2100 DEF: 2800 LV: 8

"In addition, when Outburst Dragon is Special Summoned by its own effect, all other monsters on my field are destroyed!" As if on cue, Outburst Dragon let out a resounding roar, which caused the flames emitting from its body to spread out all over Revolver's field and destroy Silverrokket Dragon and Anesthrokket Dragon. "And since my monster was destroyed by battle or card effect, Supply Squad's effect activates, letting me draw one card from my deck." Revolver then drew the top card of his deck and looked at it. This card was one of the new cards the Hanoi made for him in the fight against the Ignis. While it will help in the duel, it was an unfortunate loss for Revolver, as Malf will most likely report everything that happens in this duel to Lightning and Azrael.

"I Set one card face-down and end my turn, which means the effects of both Silverrokket Dragon and Anesthrokket Dragon activate. Since both of them were destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to my Graveyard, I can Special Summon a 'Rokket' monster from my deck to my field with a different name for each one." Revolver concluded, as two cards popped out of his deck. "Come from my deck, Magnarokket Dragon and Shelrokket Dragon." Soon, two new monsters appeared on Revolver's field in defense position.

The first was a blue and red metal dragon with green holographic wings and a small cannon on its head.

The second was a gold and black metal dragon with green lines running over it, green holographic wings, and a green tube on its head.

Magnarokket Dragon ATK: 1800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4

Shelrokket Dragon ATK: 1100 DEF: 2000 LV: 2

"My turn. I draw." Drachen said, as he drew the top card of his deck. Malf then looked over the cards Drachen had in his hand.

"Excellent. You have some great cards in your hand, my little puppet." Malf praised Drachen, the latter not responding due to being in a brainwashed state. "Finish your childhood friend off the same way you did with the Charisma duelists."

"I activate the Spell card, Red-Eyes Fusion, which lets me Fusion Summon one Fusion monster that lists a 'Red-Eyes' monster as a Fusion Material from my Extra Deck, by using monsters from my hand, deck, or field as Fusion Materials. In addition, the name of the Fusion monster summoned by Red-Eyes Fusion becomes 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon'. Also, I'm not allowed to Normal or Special Summon monsters the turn I activate this card."

"If that's the case, I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Rapid Trigger!" Revolver countered. "This card lets me Fusion Summon one Fusion monster from my Extra Deck, by destroying Fusion Materials listed on it from my field. The Fusion monster Fusion Summoned by this effect becomes unaffected by activated effects from any other monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. However, it can only attack Special Summoned monsters from the Extra Deck in exchange."

"Ah. So you can Fusion Summon now..." Malf muttered. He didn't expect that at all. Then again, it was a good thing this was happening, as Malf can report this information back to Azrael and Lightning once the duel was over.

"I destroy Magnarokket Dragon and Shelrokket Dragon!" Magnarokket Dragon turned into red particles, while Shelrokket Dragon turned into blue particles before they swirled into a vortex. Two tornadoes of energy shot upwards and merged to form a white and yellow whirlwind.

"The two dragons that symbolize forlorn power, combine into one, and unleash a roar of rage!" Revolver chanted. "Fusion Summon! Arise, Level 8! Borreload Furious Dragon!" A large, red and black mechanical dragon that had multiple green lines running over its body appeared on Revolver's field in the right Extra Monster Zone. It had purple holographic wings and armor on its legs, arms, and wings. It also had two red tusks on both sides of its mouth, as well as two violet horns on its head. Borreload Furious Dragon also had a gun cylinder in its chest, ready to be used.

Borreload Furious Dragon ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500 LV: 8

"And because a monster was destroyed by battle or card effect, I can draw the top card of my deck." Revolver then proceeded to draw the top card of his deck.

"I use Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact from my deck as Fusion Materials." Drachen replied, as two cards popped out of his deck, which he took and sent to his Graveyard. Soon after, two silhouettes of monsters appeared. The first was a large, black dragon with red-colored eyes. The second was a small, red-eyed dragon that had meteor-hardened skin all over his body. Red lines were also carved throughout his body, and he had a medium-sized wingspan. Both monsters then disintegrated into red and blue particles respectively before swirling into a vortex. Two tornadoes of energy shot upwards and merged to form a white and yellow whirlwind.

"Fusion Summon. Descend, Level 8. Meteor Black Comet Dragon." A volcanic dragon cloaked in blazing fire appeared on Drachen's field in the right Extra Monster Zone. Not only was his body made up of volcanic rock, he also had a dragon's head attached to his chest.

Meteor Black Comet Dragon ATK: 3500 DEF: 2000 LV: 8

"When Meteor Black Comet Dragon is Fusion Summoned, I can send one 'Red-Eyes' monster from my hand or deck to the Graveyard and inflict damage equal to half of the original attack points of that monster." Drachen continued, as a card popped out of his deck. "I send Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon from my deck to my Graveyard, which has 2400 attack points."

"That means you take 1200 points of damage!" Malf finished, as the dragon's head attached to Meteor Black Comet Dragon began gathering energy in its maw before firing it at Revolver, which pushed him back as his life points dropped.

Revolver: 4000 – 1200 = 2800 LP

"I activate the effect of Speedburst Dragon from my hand." Revolver responded. "As I took effect damage, I can Special Summon this card from my hand to my field and inflict damage equal to the damage I took just now. In addition, I gain life points equal to half of the damage I took." Soon, a large, yellow-armored mechanical dragon with no legs appeared on Revolver's field. It had two armored pieces on its sides instead of legs, and a long tail that ended with a gun clip. It also had two large hands, each having a total of three glowing nails. On its shoulders were two gun barrels, the both of them loaded with green, bullet-like lasers. The dragon had two green holographic wings attached to its back as well.

Speedburst Dragon ATK: 2400 DEF: 600 LV: 6

"Since I took 1200 points of damage, you take the same amount, and I gain 600 life points!" Speedburst Dragon fired several rounds of green blaster fire at Drachen, who didn't bother reacting as his life points dropped. Meanwhile, Revolver was surrounded in a green aura that increased his life points.

Drachen: 4000 – 1200 = 2800 LP

Revolver: 2800 + 600 = 3400 LP

"Nothing but a minor inconvenience. Continue your turn, my puppet." Malf ordered the brainwashed Drachen.

"I activate the Spell card, Inferno Fire Blast." Drachen said. "This card lets me-."

"Not so fast! I activate Borreload Furious Dragon's effect!" Revolver interjected. "Once per turn, during either of our turns, I can target one monster I control and one card you control, and destroy them! I target Speedburst Dragon on my field, and Meteor Black Comet Dragon on your field!" Speedburst Dragon turned into a yellow orb of energy that entered inside the gun cylinder inside Borreload Furious Dragon's chest. The gun cylinder then rotated as Borreload Furious Dragon opened its mouth and fired a violet beam of energy at Meteor Comet Black Dragon, turning it into particles in the process.

"Is that so?" Malf questioned. "Drachen, please play that card in your hand in response to what transpired."

"I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Miracle of Draconian Wrath." Drachen stated. "When a Dragon monster I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can take two Spell or Trap cards from my deck and Set them to my field."

"What?!" Revolver exclaimed, as Drachen took two cards that popped out of his deck and Set them to his field.

"Well done, my puppet. Resume your turn." Malf ordered.

"I activate the Spell card, Dark Factory of Mass Production. This card lets me target two Normal monsters in my Graveyard, and add them to my hand." Drachen said. "I add Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon to my hand." Two cards popped out of Drachen's Graveyard, which he took and added to his hand.

"Next, I activate the Spell card, Cards of the Red Stone. By sending one Level 7 'Red-Eyes' monster from my hand to my Graveyard, I can draw two cards, as well as send one Level 7 'Red-Eyes' monster from my deck to my Graveyard. I send the Level 7 Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon from my hand to my Graveyard, along with the Level 7 Red-Eyes Black Alternative Black Dragon from my deck to my Graveyard, and draw." Drachen took a card in his hand, as well as the card that popped out of his deck, and sent both of them to his Graveyard. Once that was done, he drew the top two cards of his deck.

"I end my turn." Drachen concluded.

"At this point, the effects of Magnarokket Dragon and Shelrokket Dragon activate." Revolver responded. "Since both of them were destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to my Graveyard, I can Special Summon a 'Rokket' monster from my deck to my field with a different name for each one." Two cards popped out of his deck, which Revolver took. "Come from my deck, Metalrokket Dragon and a second copy of Silverrokket Dragon!" Soon, two new monsters appeared on Revolver's field in defense position.

The first was a blue metal dragon with green holographic wings and a missile on its head.

The second was a second copy of Silverrokket Dragon.

Metalrokket Dragon ATK: 1700 DEF: 1400 LV: 4

Silverrokket Dragon ATK: 1900 DEF: 100 LV: 4

"My turn! I draw!" Revolver drew the top card of his deck. "I activate the Ritual Spell card, Heavy Interlock! This card lets me tribute monsters from my hand or field, or destroy 'Rokket' monsters in my hand or on my field, whose combined levels equal or exceed that of the stated Ritual monster, and then summon it from my hand. I destroy the Level 4 Metalrokket Dragon and Silverrokket Dragon on my field!"

A blue, technological circle that was surrounded with yellow lightning appeared on Revolver's field, along with Metalrokket Dragon and Silverrokket Dragon. Both monsters turned into particles that went into the center of the circle, which emitted a bright pillar of light.

"The contract has been made!" Revolver chanted. "Blistering energy within the underground hangar! Erupt out of the surface, and unleash a rampant creature that brings obliteration to those who dare approach it! Ritual Summon! Come forth, Level 8! Borreload Riot Dragon!" A large, blue mechanical dragon that had multiple green lines running over its body appeared on Revolver's field. Its wings consisted of a metallic gun barrel that had green lines running over them, with three green holographic-like blade wings protruding out of them as well. It had a total of four, electrical pieces of energy that were attached to the back of its head, with two wires emitting electricity on the sides of its head. On top of its head was a black spike that protruded backwards, along with a circular panel on its forehead.

Borreload Riot Dragon ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500 LV: 8

"Ah. So you can Ritual Summon as well..." Malf commented with interest. All of this was going according to plan.

"As a monster was destroyed by battle or card effect, I can draw the top card of my deck." Revolver continued, before he drew top card of his deck. "In addition, Borreload Riot Dragon cannot be destroyed by battle with a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, and is also unaffected by the effects of monsters that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck."

Malf grinned after hearing this. "You have two powerful monsters on your field, Revolver. With two direct attacks, you can win this duel. The question is: What will you do now? Will you attack and win the duel to protect your secrets? Or end your turn, and risk losing everything?"

Revolver grit his teeth furiously. He obviously wanted to win, but Drachen's life was on the line. What's more, the countdown on the bomb was still going, which meant Revolver only had so much time to win the duel. To put it simply, this was a lose-lose situation Revolver was in. Either his childhood friend ends up in a state similar like Dancho and Lord Kazuma, or the Hanoi's secrets and identities are leaked to the public forever. What's more, Revolver didn't want to take any risks, as Drachen's two face-down cards may be anything that can be a detriment to him. "Damn you..."

"What will you do, Revolver?" Malf reiterated, wanting to see what Revolver will do next.

"I... I end my turn. At this point, the effects of Metalrokket Dragon and Silverrokket Dragon activate. Since both of them were destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to my Graveyard, I can Special Summon a 'Rokket' monster from my deck to my field with a different name for each one." Revolver concluded with an angry sigh, as two cards popped out of his deck, which he took and added to his hand. "Come from my deck, a second copy of Magnarokket Dragon and Anesthrokket Dragon!" Soon, two new monsters appeared on Revolver's field in defense position.

The first was a second copy of Magnarokket Dragon.

The second was a second copy of Anesthrokket Dragon.

Magnarokket Dragon ATK: 1800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4

Anesthrokket Dragon ATK: 0 DEF: 2200 LV: 1

"So this is what the great Revolver is capable of now that he's suffering more than ever before? Pathetic!" Malf reprimanded Revolver, disappointment evident in the former's tone. "In our duel, Revolver, you had great resolve. Yet it's all gone now that you're facing off against someone you care about. Such as Drachen right here, and your inability to decide the most logical action will be your undoing. Show him what I mean, Drachen!"

"My turn. I draw." Drachen said, as he drew the top card of his deck. "I activate the Spell card, Pot of Greed. This card lets me draw the top two cards of my deck." He drew the top two cards of his deck. "Next, I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Forbidden Droplet. I can send any number of cards from my hand or field to my Graveyard, and choose as many effect monsters you control up to the number of cards sent to the Graveyard by this effect. Until the end of this turn, their attack points are halved, and their effects are negated. You can't activate cards or effects of the same type in response to the cards I send from my hand or field to my Graveyard."

"What?!" Revolver exclaimed out of surprise. He didn't expect to hear that at all.

"I send the Monster card Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my hand, and the face-down card Breakthrough Skill on my field to my Graveyard, and choose Borreload Riot Dragon and Borreload Furious Dragon." Once Drachen sent a card from his hand to his Graveyard, the face-down card on Drachen's left turned into particles. Soon, Borreload Riot Dragon and Borreload Furious Dragon groaned in pain as their effects were negated, and their strength was halved.

Borreload Riot Dragon ATK: 3000 / 2 = 1500

Borreload Furious Dragon ATK: 3000 / 2 = 1500

"Excellent job, my puppet. Continue your turn." Malf ordered, a grin on his face. Thanks to Rapid Trigger, Borreload Furious Dragon was unaffected by activated effects from any other monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. And thanks to Heavy Interlock, Borreload Riot Dragon could be destroyed by battle with a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, and was also unaffected by the effects of monsters that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. However, Forbidden Droplet completely bypassed both cards and drained their effects, as well as halved their attack points.

"I activate the Spell card, Silent Doom. This card lets me target one Normal monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it to my field in defense position. In addition, it can't attack. I target Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it to my field." Drachen stated, as Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared on his field in defense position.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000 LV: 7

"From there, I activate the effect of Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon in my hand. By tributing Red-Eyes Black Dragon on my field, I can Special Summon this card from my hand to my field." Drachen said, as Red-Eyes Black Dragon turned into particles. Soon, a large, black dragon with red-colored eyes appeared on Drachen's field. All over his body were volcanic lines that glowed with blazing energy. He also had large wings that were in the shape of three, large, curved blades.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000 LV: 9

"Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 300 attack points for every Dragon monster in my Graveyard. There's currently four, which means Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 1200 attack points." Drachen explained, as Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon roared as his strength increased.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK: 2400 + (300 X 4) = 3600

"I now activate the Continuous-Trap card, Metal Plus, and equip it onto Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon." Soon, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon was coated in metal. "Any Spell cards that target it are negated and destroyed."

Revolver narrowed his eyes. While he didn't know what Drachen was planning, he did have a countermeasure in place should he use his monsters to attack. The card that was a thorn in the butt for both Go Onizuka and Playmaker will help Revolver survive against Drachen.

"I now activate the effect of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in my hand. By tributing Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon that's equipped with Metal Plus, I can Special Summon this card from my hand to my field." Drachen announced, as Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon turned into particles. Soon, a large, black dragon that was coated in shining, metallic armour with volcanic lines appeared on Drachen's field. He also had large wings that were in the shape of three, large, curved blades.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 2800 DEF: 2400 LV: 10

"A metal version of your monster?" Revolver repeated out of surprise.

"Yes, and it will soon lead to your ruin." Malf confirmed.

"Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon gains 400 attack points for every Dragon monster in my Graveyard. There's a total of five, which means Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon gains 2000 attack points." Drachen explained, as Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon roared, which increased his strength.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 2800 + (400 X 5) = 4800

"In addition, any Spell cards that target Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon are negated, and I can discard a Spell card once per turn to negate the effect of a Spell card and destroy it."

Revolver's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Well done, my puppet. Now finish your childhood friend off!" Malf ordered.

"Battle." Drachen declared. "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon attacks Borreload Furious Dragon! At this point, I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Ego Boost. When a monster declares an attack, I can target one face-up monster on the field and increase its attack points by 1000 until the end of the Battle Phase. I target Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon." Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon roared as his strength increased.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 4800 + 1000 = 5800

The volcanic lines all over Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's armor glowed as he charged up red, hot energy in his maw before preparing to fire it at Borreload Furious Dragon.

"Not so fast! I activate the effect of Checksum Dragon in my hand!" Revolver said, as he played the card in his hand. "When you declare an attack, I can Special Summon this card from my hand to my field!" Soon, a red, two-legged dragon with green glowing panels at the tips of its red wings appeared on Revolver's field in defense position. On top of its head was a red shield.

Checksum Dragon ATK: 0 DEF: 2400 LV: 6

"Furthermore, I gain life points equal to half of this card's defense points." A green aura surrounded Revolver, which increased his life points.

Revolver: 3400 + (2400 / 2) = 4600 LP

"It doesn't change the fact that you'll not only lose your precious monster, but take massive damage as well." Malf reminded Revolver.

"Darkness Metal Flare." Drachen said, as Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon fired the red, hot energy at Borreload Furious Dragon, which caused a massive explosion that pushed Revolver so far back that he nearly touched the data gale behind him.

Revolver: 4600 – 4300 = 300 LP

Malf was honestly disappointed that he couldn't get rid of Revolver fully this turn. Still, there was always the next turn, as time was running out for Revolver, and the duel will end in his favor.

"I end my turn, which means the effect of Ego Boost ends, and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's attack points return to normal. In addition, Forbidden Droplet's effect ends, and Borreload Riot Dragon regains its effects and attack points." Drachen concluded, as a red aura surrounded Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which decreased his strength. Borreload Riot Dragon, on the other hand, roared as his strength reverted to normal.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 5800 – 1000 = 4800

Borreload Riot Dragon ATK: 1500 X 2 = 3000

"My turn! I draw!" Revolver said, as he drew the top card of his deck. Unfortunately, the card he drew was Forbidden Chalice, a card that would negate the effects of the targeted monster, as well as increase its attack points by 400 until the End Phase. However, any Spell cards that targeted Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon would be instantly negated. In addition, Revolver had multiple monsters on his field, as well as one hundred life points left. What's more, he was running out of time, and will end up losing everything should he fail to get through this duel. As Malf pointed out, his sins always had consequences, and Revolver's sins will result in him suffering one way or another. Even if I were to find a way in getting rid of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, I can't hurt Drachen, Revolver thought, as he grit his teeth. I can't hurt my childhood friend!

"W-W-Win the duel, Revolver."

Revolver and Malf gasped at the same time upon hearing Drachen's words.

"Y-Y-You need to win." Drachen continued, as he struggled to fight against Malf's control.

"Silence, puppet!" Malf fiercely ordered.

"D-D-Don't worry about me. I-I-I'll be-." Drachen said, before a fierce pain went through Drachen's body.

"You are my puppet, and you will obey my orders!" Malf told Drachen, which shut the latter up.

In all honesty, Revolver didn't expect Drachen to ask the former to defeat the latter. Months prior, Revolver didn't care about who lost their life, as long as the Ignis were destroyed. But over time, he changed. He began caring for his comrades, as well as the wellbeing of people in general. To put it simply, Revolver no longer wanted any innocent people to be caught up in the crossfire as a result of his actions.

But now... now one of the people Revolver cared about the most was asking him to put an end to the misery of being brainwashed by Malf.

"You remember what I told you about the dragon, right? The dragon represents supernatural power, wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge. No matter what happens, the dragon always perseveres. That's why I've always idolized dragons, and you do as well, right?"

That was something Drachen told Revolver when they were kids. When Revolver lost his father, and was going through a difficult time, Drachen reminded him of how dragons will always persevere, no matter the situation.

And as much as Revolver hated it right now, he had to keep going. Not just for Drachen's sake, but for Dancho's and Lord Kazuma's sakes, as well as the other Hanoi who were alive and by his side right now. He narrowed his eyes. If this is what you want, Drachen, Revolver thought, as he narrowed his eyes, then I'll grant your request. "I manifest my circuit!" A Link Portal appeared above Revolver. "The summoning conditions are three or more effect monsters. I set Borreload Riot Dragon, Outburst Dragon, Checksum Dragon, and Anesthrokket Dragon into the Link Markers!" Borreload Riot Dragon went into the left arrowhead, Outburst Dragon went into the bottom-left arrowhead, Checksum Dragon went into the right arrowhead, and Anesthrokket Dragon went into the bottom-right arrowhead, turning all four of them red.

"My new wind that pierces through the closed world!" Revolver chanted. "Link Summon! Rise! Link 4! Borreload Dragon!" A large, red and silver mechanical dragon that had multiple green lines running over its body appeared on Revolver's field in the right Extra Monster Zone. It had two large silver spines, which projected green holographic wings. Borreload Dragon also had a gun cylinder in its chest, ready to be used.

Borreload Dragon ATK: 3000 LINK-4 ↙️⬅️➡️↘️

"I activate Borreload Dragon's effect. Once per turn, during either of our turns, I can target one monster on the field and lower its attack and defense points by 500! You can't activate cards or effects in response to this effect as well! I target Magnarokket Dragon!" Borreload Dragon roared loudly as a red aura surrounded Magnarokket Dragon, decreasing its strength in the process.

Magnarokket Dragon ATK: 1800 – 500 = 1300 DEF: 1200 – 500 = 700

"Magnarokket Dragon's effect now activates!" Revolver continued. "When it's targeted by a Link monster's effect, I can-."

"Sorry, but you won't be doing anything." Malf interrupted. "Show him what I mean, Drachen."

"I activate the effect of Breakthrough Skill in my Graveyard." Drachen said. "By banishing this card from my Graveyard, I can target a face-up effect monster you control and negate its effects until the end of the turn. I target Magnarokket Dragon." Magnarokket Dragon groaned in pain as it greyed out, indicating that its strength was negated.

Malf laughed upon seeing what happened. "Your last-ditch attempt at winning the duel backfired, Revolver. So go ahead and surrender already."

"Surrender, you say? Hell no!" Revolver fiercely responded. "As long as I have a single life point left, I'm still in this duel. Battle!" He thrusted out his right hand. "Borreload Dragon attacks Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon! At this point, I activate Borreload Dragon's effect. When it attacks a monster you control, I can place that monster in a Main Monster Zone it points to and take control of it. What's more, I have to send it to my Graveyard at the End Phase of this turn."

"WHAT?!" Malf exclaimed, having been caught off guard as he put two and two together. It was at that moment where he realized something...

…One way or another, Revolver would have dealt with Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.

"Go, Strange Trigger!" A gun barrel extended out of Borreload Dragon's mouth as it fired a blue bullet at Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which caused him to fizzle for a few moments before he disappeared and reappeared on Revolver's field in one of the two Main Monster Zones Borreload Dragon pointed to.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 2800 DEF: 2400 LV: 10

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK: 2800 + (400 X 12) = 7600

I'm so sorry for what happened to you, Aka. I'm so sorry I couldn't have prevented it from happening, but know that I will avenge you, Revolver swore in his mind. "T-T-The battle still continues. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon attacks you directly!" Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon charged up red, hot energy in his maw before firing it at Drachen, which sent him flying off the ground as his life points decreased all the way to zero.

Drachen: 2800 – 7600 = 0

Revolver let out an anguished shout as he ran towards Drachen, tears in his eyes as Drachen turned into particles. As if on cue, memories appeared in Revolver's mind. From meeting Drachen for the first time, to their multiple duels against one another as kids, to playing in the park with one another, to Drachen comforting Revolver after the Lost Incident, to them meeting up in Den City after a long time, they all appeared in Revolver's mind. "AKA!"

Thanks for freeing me, Revolver. Don't worry. Even though I'm down for the time being, I'll always be with you, and you'll keep going, Drachen thought in his mind, as the particles began to form into a ball. Revolver quickly ran forward and grabbed the ball before putting it into his duel disk. He'll keep Drachen's consciousness data safe, and once this was all over, Drachen will be okay.

He fell on his knees, tears falling from his eyes as he grieved about what just happened.

"Master Revolver!" Specter cried out of concern, as he rushed over to where Revolver was.

"Well done, Revolver. You chose to hurt one individual in favor of saving the other Hanoi." Malf taunted Revolver, as the data gale dissipated. "Therefore, I'll keep my word and spare your friend's life, as well as allow you and the Hanoi to continue operating, of course. However..." He pressed a button on his duel disk, which showed Uchida Industries. "I never said anything about sparing Uchida Industries, did I?"

"DON'T!" Revolver shouted, before Malf suddenly roundhouse kicked both Revolver and Specter with such force that they were sent flying off the ground before they landed on their backs. Before either of them could react, Malf pressed another button on his duel disk, which caused the bomb to detonate inside Uchida Industries. As a result, the entire building was levelled to the ground, pieces of it falling onto the streets nearby, much to Revolver and Specter's horror. Revolver could swear he heard the sounds of people screaming in pain from the footage.

"You Hanoi scum have suffered enough for the time being. It's time for me to go." Malf commented, before something crossed his mind. "Here, Revolver. An associate of mine wishes to speak with you." He threw a small communications device to where Revolver and Specter were before disappearing from the area. As Revolver and Specter stood up, they were greeted with a digital image of Windy.

"This thing's on, right? Oh, it is! Hello, Revolver!" Windy greeted Revolver and Specter. "If you're listening to this message, you've succeeded in hurting your best friend in the whole wide world just to save your hide and the hides of your allies. Oh, and if you're going to make a snarky response to my comment, don't bother! This is a pre-recorded message!"

Revolver grit his teeth, angry at Malf, and by extension Azrael, for putting him through such a situation.

"Now I know you guys have already suffered enough as it is, but I have one more thing to say that will really make you crying like a little boy, Revolver. Call it retribution for nearly killing me." Windy smiled. "I killed your mommy. I killed your mommy! I KILLED YOUR MOMMY!"

Both Revolver and Specter gasped in pure shock and horror upon hearing Windy's announcement. That couldn't be true. That couldn't be true at all!

"Say your goodbyes to her when you can, Revolver. Once you've had time to turn grief into anger, then you'll want the opportunity to get revenge, just like me!" Windy gleefully continued. "See you soon."

Before Revolver could have the opportunity to punch the digital image of Windy, the message turned itself off and fizzled into particles. Instead, he let out a scream of sadness, shock, and anger. When did Windy kill his mother? And how did he find out where she was in the world? How? It was impossible!

He fell to the ground, and started punching it with his right arm so many times that his knuckles began to bleed.

"Master Revolver, please stop!" Specter pleaded. "We need to retreat, while we can!"

Revolver composed himself and stood up with Specter's assistance. The both of them proceeded to log out, knowing there was nothing else to do for the time being.

Elsewhere, in the real world, at SOL Technologies...

"GREG! ARE YOU THERE?! GREG!" Akira shouted loudly. Just when things were going well, the monitors picked up footage of a massive explosion, the screen showing Uchida Industries being levelled to the ground, much to his shock, along with the shock of Hayami and the staff members present.

And as a result, it led to the deaths of more people. The innocents in the area, the troops stationed at Uchida, and the hostages inside the building. All of them... dead due to a senseless attack.

Suddenly, a digital image of Greg popped up, which showed pieces of his damaged uniform, along with wounds on his body.

"Dear God..." Akira muttered. "We saw what happened. Uchida Industries..."

"Destroyed." Greg finished. "The hostages, some of my troops, the attackers, all dead."

Akira narrowed his eyes. If only we were faster, he lamented in his mind.

"It's likely that the attackers knew we'd try to disarm the bombs remotely, and decided to activate them." Greg hypothesized.

"Makes sense there." Akira agreed.

"Sir, take a look at this," a staff member stated, which got Akira's attention as another screen popped up. It showed drones being turned on the attackers and numerous vehicles running over several of them. As if all of them were being hacked.

"Greg, have your troops evacuate as many innocent people that are out there!" Akira said. "I'm not sure what's going on, but we can't let this chaos kill anymore people."

"I'll do that." Greg assured Akira, before the screen closed.

Akira let out a loud sigh, evidence of stress on his face. Despite what recently happened, the attackers were experiencing setbacks of their own, for they were now being attacked by the technology they relied on during the attack. Who exactly was responsible for hacking into the vehicles and drones to make them attack the attackers?

Well, whoever it was, Akira was thankful that they came to his aid at the darkest hour.

To sum it up, this was Akira's worst day on the job, compared to all the other bad days he experienced at SOL Technologies.

Meanwhile, in LINK VRAINS...

Windy laughed with glee as he saw the drones and vehicles practically kill all the attackers. He even saw a few innocent civilians and officers get struck down in the process, which made him laugh even harder. This was the best day Windy ever had, especially with what happened. Not only was he able to cause chaos, he even got to leave a message for Revolver, saying that he killed his mother. That will surely persuade Revolver to track him down so he can try and avenge her.

But Windy will be the one who gets revenge on Revolver and the Hanoi for what they did to him, not the other way around.

"And another one bites the dust." Windy commented, before he turned to Echo. "Say, Echo. What was my score during this mission?"

"100,000,000 points, Windy." Echo replied, which made Windy clap with joy.

"Hooray! Now that's what I like to hear!" Windy gleefully shouted. If Windy was being honest, a part of him was disappointed that he couldn't attack his origin in the real world. Then again, it was better this way, for Windy can deal with him personally once he challenges him to a duel.

WHOOSH!

Windy and Echo jumped to the side upon noticing a Black Key hurling towards them.

"What the-." Windy muttered, before he saw Watchman jump on to the building he was on and charge at him, three Black Keys in each of his hands. "WOAH!" Windy and Echo evaded each of Watchman's strikes, only for a few of them to damage Echo.

In response, Windy jumped off of Echo before firing a data storm from his hands, which was easily sliced by Watchman, much to his surprise. And before Windy can even react, he was forced to narrowly avoid two more Black Keys, where he was forced to surround himself in a data storm in response. This sent Watchman flying back before he slammed two Black Keys to the ground, which helped him hold his balance and not fly off the top of the building. Before Watchman can respond, he witnessed Windy and Echo escaping on his duel board.

Standing up on his feet, Watchman was tempted to follow after Windy and capture him, but that would only waste more time. Had he succeeded in the task, then Watchman would have obtained a consolation prize from his mission. Checking his duel disk, which showed coordinates, Watchman jumped from building to building, intent on getting to the dark vault. After realizing what was truly going on from the footage he saw back in his server, Watchman didn't want to risk the dark vault's information falling into Azrael's hands, and so arrived in the general area of the network to ensure it didn't happen. Unfortunately, Watchman was met with massive opposition in the form of both Bitboots and troops disguised as Hanoi grunts. As much as he wanted to put in his trust in Raguel for stopping him, there was no point in doing so.

Or to put it in easy terms, when you need something done, you have to do it yourself.

Nearby, Windy and Echo rode away on his duel board, having successfully escaped Watchman's attack. He had Echo press a few buttons on his duel disk, which caused it to beep for a few moments until the line connected. When it did, a screen popped up, which showed Azrael.

"What is it, Windy?" Azrael inquired.

"Sorry for the urgent notice, but there's this guy called Watchman, and he attacked me. So I had to flee for my life." Windy began explaining. "For some reason, when I fought him, I felt something familiar. It's as though I saw him before."

"Send me the footage." Azrael replied, which Windy did. After looking at it, Azrael grinned. "So you've entered onto the scene at last."

"Yup. That's the same guy we saw in the Cyberse World, Windy." Wraith confirmed.

"As I was fighting him, I sensed something off about Watchman. It was like he... changed." Windy stated.

"Have you completed your task and mowed the troops from Alpha down?"

"Of course, Wraith. Good riddance to those human scum."

"Rendezvous with Lightning and the others. I'll have Malf escort you to ensure that you don't get attacked." Azrael said.

Windy smiled. "I do appreciate that, Azrael. Yes, yes, yes. See you then." Azrael then hung up on Windy, where the latter sighed a few seconds later. Well, at least he didn't have to do anything else for the attack. The best part was that Windy got to torment Revolver with the information that he killed his mother after Malf broke him. All in all, Windy had the best time of his life.

At least so far, anyway.

Elsewhere in the network, at the dark vault...

After the door behind Raguel closed, he walked inside the dark vault. The area had several lights on the walls, as if to illuminate the dark room. There were numerous storage devices in the area, ranging from primary storage devices, to secondary devices, and more. There were even tall pieces of data infrastructure that resembled skyscrapers, even though they weren't the literal size of one.

But Raguel wasn't interested in them, as they were only a front compared to what was really inside the dark vault. Ahead of him was a small door, which he opened before walking downstairs, the area now resembling that of a small hallway. Eventually, Raguel reached a massive door that had several silver bars on the sides, along with a total of four large circles at the top, each one having a silver jewel on them. Walking closer, Raguel noticed two circular keyholes on the door. Ones that looked just like his pendant.

"Great. Just great..." Raguel muttered to himself. Unfortunately, he didn't have both pendants, which was crucial to entering inside the room.

"I'm sure you'll figure out how to enter the room." Herald said. "I mean, it's not like the door-."

WHOOSH!

To Raguel and Herald's surprise, the door suddenly opened.

"Okay. That was far easier than I thought."

"It's not supposed to be that easy, Herald." Raguel pointed out. "Azrael most likely left it open, knowing that I'd come here."

"I suppose that makes sense." Herald agreed. "Ready?"

"Yup." Raguel then walked down the massive stairs, where he eventually reached another door. Opening it, Raguel looked around the circular data room, which had several green lines on the walls. Just like before, there were several pieces of data around the entire area, as evident by the small spaces on the walls sorted out for each one. There were also a few buttons on each shelf, which one can press to access a piece of data they were looking for. All they had to do was input what it was, and the shelf would automatically sort itself out so the individual can find their needed data.

At the center of the room was a large circle that had an intricate design resembling that of the yin yang symbol. There was also a small hole, which had a pedestal containing a small circle in it just large enough to hold a sphere of data.

And Azrael and Wraith were there, waiting for Raguel to arrive. Upon seeing Azrael, Raguel noticed that he no longer wore his mask. Or at least discarded it for the time being.

"So you came..." Azrael said, happy that Raguel finally made it.

"Azrael..." Raguel muttered. "So our pendants, along with the swords are the keys that unlock the gates to the dark vault." He chuckled before looking at the ceiling. "Good plan, pop."

"Indeed. Only a son of Myojin Furutani can truly access the vault should they have both pendants and one of the two inherited swords." Azrael agreed.

"It doesn't matter to me one way or the other." Raguel responded, as he pulled out Excalibur and pointed it at Azrael. "What does matter is that I can't let you escape with the data here."

"Of course, human. We knew you'd come here for that reason, anyway." Wraith commented.

"We won't let you use that data for whatever plans you have in mind!" Herald said.

Azrael smirked. "Unlike Lightning, I have a sense of honor, which is why I'll give you a fair shot at the data, Raguel. After all..." He pulled out a total of six long and slender swords that resembled rapiers with short hilts, three in each of his hands. "...we share the same blood."

The next thing Raguel knew, Azrael threw all six rapiers at him at once, which caused the former to block each one in the process. Immediately, Azrael charged at Raguel as he unsheathed the Muramasa in his hand, leading the latter to roll out of the way before trying to strike back with Excalibur. Seeing the obvious attack, Azrael quickly teleported upwards before throwing four more rapiers at Raguel, causing him to slash each one away once again. Unfortunately, it gave an opening for Azrael, who proceeded to slash Raguel with the Muramasa. Luckily, Raguel was able to block it just in time.

Quickly jumping back, Azrael summoned several blue-mirage blades, causing Raguel to roll out of the way to avoid them. Herald also put up a few shields to ensure Raguel was safe, only for Wraith himself to fire some blue-mirage blades, which pierced each one.

Seizing the opportunity, Raguel charged forward and attempted to strike Azrael, who proceeded to block it with the Muramasa. He quickly teleported upwards once again before throwing two rapiers at Raguel, which made him jump back to avoid them. Azrael then sheathed and unsheathed the Muramasa numerous times while in the air, releasing black and blue distortion ripples that tried to envelop him. In response, Raguel rolled out of the way before charging forward and attempting to strike Azrael, who blocked the sword strike in response. As a result, Excalibur and Muramasa were locked in a sword lock.

"You've could have taken action a long time ago, when you noticed Ace, Speckles, and Malf kill the previous Overseer." Azrael said. "If you had, then you could have prevented something worse from happening, just like when you protected Den City Hospital from Alpha's troops."

"That was a different scenario. Those troops were going to kill innocent people!" Raguel rebutted.

"Yet you had the power to stop it at the time!" Azrael countered, as he pushed Raguel back with the Muramasa. "You're just like Akira Zaizen. Spineless, and bound by a code of ethics!" That comment led Raguel to charge forward, intent on striking Azrael down with Excalibur. However, Azrael quickly teleported above Raguel behind him before proceeding to throw four more Black Keys. Unfortunately, while Raguel managed to evade two of the Black Keys, the other two managed to nick him on his right shoulder and his left forearm. Landing on the ground, Azrael proceeded to charge towards Raguel before hitting him in the face with his knee, which caused the latter to be sent sliding back to the other side of the room.

"Raguel, are you okay?" Herald asked out of concern, as Raguel slowly stood up on his feet. He felt his body mending itself from the wounds he received just now. The bruise on Raguel's face was now gone, along with the cuts on his right shoulder and left forearm thanks to his Link Trigger.

"A little bruised up, but yeah." Raguel assured Herald.

"Moral support? Good call. Yeah, good call, Herald." Wraith sarcastically taunted Herald, which made the latter narrow his eyes in fury.

"All of this mess is on you for not stopping Ace in time, Raguel. Though I do commend you for getting rid of him." Azrael told Raguel.

"He blew himself up." Raguel reminded Azrael.

"And yet that didn't stop you from cutting his left forearm off before stealing the data on his duel disk. Once again, well done." Azrael mockingly praised Raguel.

"SHUT UP!" Wind surrounded Excalibur as Raguel used the burst of wind to propel himself towards Azrael in high speed, which Azrael was able to easily block with the Muramasa before rolling to the side. He slid back and quickly sheathed and unsheathed the Muramasa numerous times, releasing black and blue distortion ripples that tried to envelop Raguel. Thanks to Herald putting up shields at the last second, however, Raguel was able to barely avoid them.

Wraith fired some blue-mirage blades from his sides, which Raguel was easily able to avoid. Herald, in turn, put up shields that served as obstacles as Raguel charged forward towards Azrael and brought down Excalibur. In response, Azrael blocked it once again with the Muramasa.

"Think of everything that happened so far like a mess, little hybrid brother." Azrael began speaking. "Unless one takes action, it'll only get worse overtime. And it's because of your inability to take action that caused it to become worse, thus leading to countless deaths!"

"I said shut up!" Raguel shouted with such ferocity that he pushed Azrael back several feet and broke the blade lock. "I'm not a monster that resorts to such drastic means when things don't go my way! You're a monster because of all the people who got hurt due to your actions!"

"Not just those people, but those who indirectly got hurt as a result of them!" Herald finished.

In response, Azrael just laughed. "I'll admit it was never my intention to ruin the lives of those who were affected by my actions, such as Phoenix, but the people I chose to hurt deserved it!" He threw a Black Key at Raguel, who barely managed to knock it aside with Excalibur. "If you keep thinking the way you're doing now, you'll only make things worse because of your choice not to get rid of loose ends!"

Numerous blue-mirage blades appeared on Azrael's sides before he fired all of them at Raguel, who immediately was forced to roll to his left before trying to block them. Sadly, a few of them nicked him on his arms, two cuts on each. The good news was that Raguel's Link Trigger was able to repair the wounds in time.

A dark-blue aura surrounding his body, Azrael quickly charged towards Raguel and grabbed him with such speed that the latter couldn't react before he was thrown to the wall within seconds. Getting up onto his feet, Raguel tried to make a counterattack, but Azrael charged forward and punched Raguel twice before kicking him to the wall. Raguel once again tried to make a counterattack, only for Azrael to simply grab his hand and throw him to the other side.

"You've had all this power, yet you still refuse to use it." Azrael scolded Raguel. "In addition, you have those sentient duel monsters of yours, which you only used to protect that worthless hospital. Does it not make you feel invincible and in control, knowing that you have such powerful allies to assist you in your time of need? To the point where no one can hurt you?"

"Shut up." Raguel quietly said, as he slowly stood up on his feet.

"If you were more like me, then you could have protected your friends, your family, and the girl you love above all else! You had the strength within you, yet you refused to use it!" Azrael reprimanded Raguel. "Or will you prove me wrong? Let go of your restraints, and face me like a man!"

Raguel narrowed his eyes as he thought things over. He knew what Azrael was talking about. It was his Link Trigger, but Raguel was only able to activate it when he was going through events of stress, and it was not by choice due to the negative emotions flowing through him. Going into Link Trigger cost him the duel against Infearno, as his emotional state was blocked.

But if Raguel could just let go of his restraints and choose to activate Link Trigger, then maybe he might have a chance at defeating Azrael.

"Raguel..." Herald muttered, before Raguel stabbed the ground with Excalibur. "What are you-?"

Making two fists, Raguel proceeded to smash the sides of his head several times, much to Herald's shock, while Azrael and Wraith simply watched. Upon doing so several times, Raguel let out a small shout, which caused a bright light to emanate out of him. When it dissipated, it revealed a red-humanoid creature that had clawed, reptilian-like toe and finger nails. His chest had spiky edges on the sides, and there were also red-glowing cracks on his chest, as well as a pair of curled up semi-chiropteran wings attached to his back. A bright red aura surrounded Raguel as he glared at Azrael.

"You asked for this, Azrael!" Raguel warned Azrael, as he picked up Excalibur.

"Finally, you did it!" Azrael replied with glee, as he activated his Link Trigger and transformed into his demonic form. "Let's go!" The two of them charged towards one another before proceeding to try and strike one another with their swords. Both Azrael and Raguel evaded each other's sword strikes, and any blade locks that happened force the two of them to opposite sides of the room.

Azrael fired several blue-mirage blades from his sides, as well as threw a total of six Black Keys at Raguel. In response, Raguel knocked away the Black Keys with Excalibur before quickly rolling away from the blades. He immediately fired a burst of wind from Excalibur, which forced Azrael back as he charged forward, intent on landing a blow. However, Azrael blocked it once again with the Muramasa before trying to hit Raguel with his martial arts moves, which Raguel was able to block. He made a mental note to thank Soulburner for the martial arts lessons once he got back to the real world.

Azrael once again pushed Raguel back before quickly unsheathing and sheathing the Muramasa, which caused several black and blue distortion ripples to head straight towards Raguel. However, to Azrael's surprise, Raguel raised his right arm in front of him, which caused Avalon to appear in front of him. As a result, it absorbed all the black and blue distortion ripples, which bought Raguel enough time to charge forward and slash Azrael vertically with such force that it sent him flying before his back hit the wall.

As he got up on his feet, Azrael laughed. Soon, the massive cut on his body began to knit itself back together, the Link Trigger healing the wound in the process. "Well done, Raguel. This is what I wanted to see. You, at Link Trigger, just like me."

"Are you satisfied yet?" Raguel taunted back. "Come on, wimp. Let's go!"

"Raguel..." Herald muttered out of concern. All those other times Raguel entered into Link Trigger, he didn't turn into a demonic being like this. Was this the end result of the Link Trigger? To turn into something that was monstrous?

"You don't need to be concerned about Raguel, Herald." Wraith said. "Raguel's chosen to drop his restraints, that's all." The way Wraith said it sounded like he was proud of what happened, and that disgusted Herald to the core. The worse part? Herald had a feeling that his voice wouldn't be able to reach Raguel, so there was no point in trying to talk Raguel down into stopping.

Azrael then reverted back into his human form, much to Raguel's surprise. "You've grown stronger since our last match, Raguel. However, the fact that you've entered into your demonic form willingly for the first time will drain your energy. Eventually, I'll win."

"Don't get so cocky, bastard." Raguel warned Azrael, as he prepared to charge at the latter, Excalibur in his hands.

"I'm not making an assumption. It's a certainty because I've been accumulated to that demonic form far longer than you have." Azrael rebutted, before he sheathed the Muramasa. He then activated his duel disk. "I'm still willing to give you a fair chance. Defeat me, and you'll not only get the data from the dark vault, I'll throw in the cure for Miyu as a bonus. What do you say?"

Raguel seethed as he forced himself to change back into his human form. He activated his duel disk, seeing that Azrael made a point. If Raguel and Azrael continued fighting like this, the former will eventually lose his strength as a result of not being accumulated to his demonic form. Besides, it gave Raguel an opportunity to show Azrael just how much stronger he became since their previous duel. "I accept."

"Raguel, are you there?" Herald cautiously inquired.

"Yeah, I'm there. Is there a problem?" Raguel replied back, sounding like the same person Herald knew. However, something was different. It was as though something dark had been awakened within Raguel, and Herald couldn't put his finger on it.

Herald shook his head back in response. "Uh, no. It's just that I've never seen you like that before. That's all."

"Sorry about that. I just had enough with everything going on, that's all." Raguel explained himself.

"I hear you. But do not let your emotions control you." Herald cautioned.

"I was in control of my emotions, not the other way around." Raguel snapped back, before turning to Azrael. "Prepare yourself, Azrael! I'm ending this madness once and for all!"

"So you say. Show me your motivation." Azrael responded.

"Let's duel!" Raguel and Azrael shouted in unison.

Azrael: 4000 LP

Raguel: 4000 LP

"This time, I will go first, and put you under my heel once again." Azrael decided. "My turn! I activate the Field Spell card, Cychaic Amphitheatre! While this card is on my field, my 'Cychaic' monsters gain 500 attack and defense points. What's more, they're unaffected by your monster effects."

Raguel narrowed his eyes. That was going to be a little annoying, as his monsters have effects that affect the monsters of his opponents. Still, that wasn't going to stop him.

"Since there are no monsters in my Main Monster Zones, I can Special Summon Cychaic Slave from my hand to my field." A man who wore tattered clothing on his body appeared on Azrael's field. Strapped to his back was a large wine jar, which he struggled to carry.

Cychaic Slave ATK: 400 DEF: 400 LV: 1

Cychaic Slave ATK: 400 + 500 = 900 DEF: 400 + 500 = 900

"Appear, the circuit of absolute power!" Azrael declared, as a Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are one 'Cychaic' monster. I set Cychaic Slave into the Link Markers!" Slave went into the top arrowhead, turning it red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 1! Cychaic Vulcan!" A dark-skinned man wearing a bronze-toga with a metal strap over his right shoulder appeared on Azrael's field in the right Extra Monster Zone. The man's head consisted of red lines over his head and no pupils in his eyes, along with him sporting a blazing beard and a strand of blazing hair on top of his head. He had a grey and brown cloth around his waist with black buttons, which was hoisted up by a huge, grey belt. On his feet and arms were bronze shin guards. In his right hand, he carried a small smouldering hammer, which was connected to the chain his left hand grabbed onto.

Cychaic Vulcan ATK: 1000 LINK-1 ⬆️

Cychaic Vulcan ATK: 1000 + 500 = 1500

"As Slave was used to Link Summon a 'Cychaic' Link monster, I can Special Summon him right back to my field." Vulcan threw a chain into the Graveyard portal before dragging Slave right back to Azrael's field in defense position, who groaned in pain in response.

Cychaic Slave ATK: 400 DEF: 400 LV: 1

Cychaic Slave ATK: 400 + 500 = 900 DEF: 400 + 500 = 900

"Appear, for a second time! The circuit of absolute power!" Azrael said, as a second Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two 'Cychaic' monsters. I set the Link 1 Cychaic Vulcan, and Slave into the Link Markers!" Vulcan went into the top arrowhead, while Slave went into the bottom-right arrowhead, turning both of them red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2! Cychaic Milonia!" A tan-skinned woman with grey, braided hair that had pink spikes at the ends appeared on Azrael's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. Golden chains were dangling from the armored anklets on her legs, around her forearms, and a few pieces on the golden armor she was wearing on her upper chest. There were also a few pieces of golden chains dangling on the sides of her leg armor as well. On top of her head was a tiara that had small golden spikes protruding upwards. In her hands, she carried a massive spear.

Cychaic Milonia ATK: 2000 LINK-2 ⬆️↘️

Cychaic Milonia ATK: 2000 + 500 = 2500

"I summon Cychaic Duo Vulture from my hand to my field." Azrael stated. Soon, a large, two-headed bird with brown and black skin, along with two tails, appeared on Azrael's field. Sprouting from its conjoined neck was a pair of small, sharp feathers that resembled spikes. Each of its heads had a large beak and blue eyes.

Cychaic Duo Vulture ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400 LV: 4

Cychaic Duo Vulture ATK: 1200 + 500 = 1700 DEF: 1400 + 500 = 1900

"Next, I activate Amphitheatre's second effect. By destroying a 'Cychaic' card on my field or in my hand, I can Special Summon one 'Cychaic Dancer' token to my field. I destroy Duo Vulture on my field." After Duo Vulture turned into particles, a woman with blond hair and wearing a revealing red and white dress with long poofy sleeves, a transparent front and a leotard appeared on Azrael's field.

Cychaic Dancer ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 4

Cychaic Dancer ATK: 1000 + 500 = 1500 DEF: 1000 + 500 = 1500

"Duo Vulture's effect now activates! As it was destroyed by a card effect, I can Special Summon two 'Cychaic Vulture' tokens to my field in defense position." Azrael continued, as two birds with brown and black skin appeared on his field in defense position. Sprouting from each of their necks were a pair of small, sharp feathers that resembled spikes. Each of the birds had a large beak and blue eyes.

Cychaic Vulture ATK: 600 DEF: 700 LV: 2

Cychaic Vulture ATK: 600 DEF: 700 LV: 2

Cychaic Vulture ATK: 600 + 500 = 1100 DEF: 700 + 500 = 1200

Cychaic Vulture ATK: 600 + 500 = 1100 DEF: 700 + 500 = 1200

"Appear, for a third time! The circuit of absolute power!" A third Link Portal appeared on Azrael's field. "The summoning conditions are two 'Cychaic' monsters. I set the two Cychaic Vulture tokens into the Link Markers!" One Vulture token went into the top arrowhead, while the other went into the bottom arrowhead, turning both of them red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2! Cychaic Leonidas!" A male warrior wearing a golden spartan helmet and a long red cape appeared on Azrael's field in the Main Monster Zone Milonia pointed to. He wore golden shin guards on his forearms and lower legs, along with golden boots. Red lines were artistically drawn all over his body. In his right hand, he carried a spear, while a golden large shield was strapped on his left forearm.

Cychaic Leonidas ATK: 2000 LINK-2 ⬆️⬇️

Cychaic Leonidas ATK: 2000 + 500 = 2500

"I don't like where this is going, Herald." Raguel commented.

"Neither do I, Raguel. Neither do I." Herald agreed.

"I hope you're ready for this, Raguel. For I now activate the Link Spell card, Cychaic Blades!" Azrael announced. Within moments, it immediately appeared in the Spell & Trap card zone Leonidas' Link Marker pointed to and glowed.

Cychaic Blades ⬅️⬆️➡️

"Appear, for a fourth time! The circuit of absolute power!" A fourth Link Portal appeared above Azrael. "The summoning conditions are two or more 'Cychaic' monsters. I set the Link 2 Cychaic Leonidas, and the Dancer token into the Link Markers!" Leonidas went into the top and bottom-left arrowheads, while the Dancer token went into the bottom-right arrowhead, turning all three of them red.

"Ruthless emperor of Rome! Revel in the blood of your enemies, and drive them into eternal despair!" Azrael chanted. "Link Summon! Come forth! Link 3! Cychaic Lucius Tiberius!" A young, male adult wearing silver armour, along with a black military jacket that had gold highlights over his shoulders appeared on Azrael's field at the Main Monster Zone Blades pointed to. He had short, dark red hair and purple eyes, which glowed as he let out a psychotic growl. In his right hand, he carried a silver sword that had a red hilt, as well as crimson lines on the sides.

Cychaic Lucius Tiberius ATK: 2500 LINK-3 ↙️⬆️↘️

Cychaic Lucius Tiberius ATK: 2500 + 500 = 3000

"I Set one card face-down and end my turn." Azrael grinned. "Now, Raguel. Let's see if your motivation's improved since our last duel."

"Otherwise, the result will be the same. You and Herald on the ground, groveling at our feet." Wraith added, a grin also on his face.

"Oh, don't worry, Azrael and Wraith. You'll see my improved motivation soon." Raguel replied. "My turn! I draw!" He drew the top card of his deck. "As you control a monster and I don't, I can Special Summon Cyreath Satyr from my hand to my field." A creature with the upper body of a man and the horns and legs of a goat appeared on Raguel's field. The creature had bronze pieces of armor on its head, arms, and legs, as well as long claws on its hands.

Cyreath Satyr ATK: 2300 DEF: 1400 LV: 5

"Next, since you control a Link monster, I can Special Summon Cyreath Lava Hound from my hand to my field. However, if it's summoned using this effect, it can only attack Link monsters." An overweight, volcanic creature with small wings appeared on Raguel's field.

Cyreath Lava Hound ATK: 2200 DEF: 1700 LV: 6

"Appear, the circuit showing the highest mountain!" Raguel said, as a Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two 'Cyreath' monsters. I set Cyreath Satyr, and Lava Hound into the Link Markers!" Satyr went into the bottom arrowhead, while Lava Hound went into the bottom-right arrowhead, turning both of them red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2! Cyreath Van Gogh!" A young girl with blue eyes and an orange bob cut that had a long strand of hair flowing out of it appeared on Raguel's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. She wore a black cardigan over her white shirt, as well as a pair of blue overalls. Her orange high heels each had a golden sunflower emblem on the front of them. Attached to the back of her head was a golden disk that resembled a sunflower. In her hands, she carried a massive staff that resembled a sunflower.

Cyreath Van Gogh ATK: 1000 LINK-2 ⬇️↘️

"Lava Hound's second effect! As it left the field, I can Special Summon two 'Cyreath Lava Pup' tokens to my field!" Raguel continued, as two smaller pups resembling Lava Hound emerged into existence on Raguel's field in the two Main Monster Zones Van Gogh pointed to in defense position.

Cyreath Lava Pup Token ATK: 800 DEF: 800 LV: 3

Cyreath Lava Pup Token ATK: 800 DEF: 800 LV: 3

"When a monster is Normal or Special Summoned to a Main Monster Zone Van Gogh points to, I can add a 'Cyreath' Tuner monster from my deck to my hand." A card popped out of Raguel's deck, which he took and added to his hand. "I summon Cyreath Periphas from my hand to my field." A young man who had red eyes and spiky, ash-coloured hair appeared on Raguel's field. He wore a customized version of black Greek robes, as well as long, fingerless gloves on his arms. Wrapped around his neck was a piece of red cloth, which resembled that of a scarf.

Cyreath Periphas ATK: 1400 DEF: 1100 LV: 4

"I activate Periphas' effect. Once per turn, I can target one 'Cyreath' monster on my field, and change its level from one to eight until the end of this turn. I target one of the Lava Pup tokens, and change its level to four!" One of the Lava Pup tokens was surrounded in an ash-colored aura, which changed its level in the process.

Cyreath Lava Pup LV: 3 + 1 = 4

"I tune the Level 4 Cyreath Periphas with the Level 4 Lava Pup token!" Raguel declared, as a bolt of golden lightning struck him and the world greyed out, causing both of his two monsters to disintegrate into particles. Two rings, one grey, and one orange, appeared before turning blue and merging. Eight rings, stacked in a tower, appeared, a screen displaying "4 + 4" in front of them. The screen changed to "8" as light surged through the rings.

"Divine bird of the gods of Olympus! Heed my call, and bring the omens of victory and perseverance! " Raguel chanted. "Synchro Summon! Come before us, Level 8! Cyreath Aetos Dios!" A giant, yellow-skinned eagle with golden armor covering its entire body, as well as razor-sharp talons appeared on Raguel's field in one of the two Main Monster Zones Van Gogh pointed to. It had a golden helmet on top of its head, which had a lightning bolt on both of its sides. It also had four strands of grey hair that resembled lightning bolts on both sides of its neck.

Cyreath Aetos Dios ATK: 2800 DEF: 2200 LV: 8

"With Synchro Summoning, you have completed your repertoire." Azrael mused. "But whether it will help you show me your motivation or not will be determined with what happens next."

"Appear, for a second time! The circuit showing the highest mountain!" A Link Portal appeared above Raguel. "The summoning conditions are one 'Cyreath' monster. I set the Cyreath Lava Pup token into the Link Markers!" The remaining Lava Pup token went into the bottom-left arrowhead, turning it red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 1! Cyreath Skull Wing!" A small skull with wings appeared on Raguel's field in the Main Monster Zone Van Gogh pointed to.

Cyreath Skull Wing ATK: 300 LINK-1 ↙️

"Appear, for a third time! The circuit showing the highest mountain!" Raguel declared once again, as a third Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two or more 'Cyreath' monsters. I set the Link 1 Cyreath Skull Wing, and the Link 2 Van Gogh into the Link Markers!" Skull Wing went into the left arrowhead, while Van Gogh went into the bottom and bottom-right arrowheads, turning all three of them red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 3! Cyreath Achilles!" A man with spiky green hair, except for a single bang that hung over the left side of his face, appeared on Raguel's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. He wore silver armor on his body, with the chest piece featuring a bird. Wrapped loosely around his body was an orange cloak, which flowed behind him for a few moments. In his hands, he carried a lance that had a small, metal blade at the end of it.

Cyreath Achilles ATK: 2400 LINK-3 ⬅️⬇️↘️

"I've got this, Raguel. Leave this wretch to me!" Achilles reassured Raguel.

"Thanks for having my back, Achilles." Raguel replied, before he redirected his attention back to the duel. For once, he wasn't as annoyed as before with Herald for creating more sentient Cyberse creatures. After all, it meant more allies on his side. "The effects of Van Gogh and Skull Wing now activate. First, since Van Gogh was used for the Link Summon of a 'Cyreath' Link monster, I can add one 'Cyreath' card from my deck to my hand, as well as gain 500 life points. I add Cyreath Excaliburst from my deck to my hand." A card popped out of Raguel's deck, which he took and added to his hand. Once that was done, a small sun appeared above Raguel, which showered him with light as his life points increased.

Raguel: 4000 + 500 = 4500 LP

"Second, when Skull Wing is used as Link Material, you take 300 points of damage." A silhouette of Skull Wing appeared and went through Azrael, who didn't react as his life points dropped.

Azrael: 4000 – 300 = 3700 LP

BEEP!

Soon, a digital-like program enveloped the area before it showed a memory to Raguel and Azrael. A memory where a young Yuhiro protecting an injured cat from a group of bullies, with a young Yukage fighting the group to protect them. Within seconds, Raguel grabbed the sides of his head and winced as the image in his head began to 'knit' itself together.

"Raguel, what's wrong?" Herald asked out of concern.

Raguel, in response, snapped out of it. "Nothing. I'm fine." He redirected his attention back to the duel and said, "I activate the Spell card, Cyreath Excaliburst!" The card showed Raguel pointing Excalibur at a group of Coolant, Flow, Burn, and Grand Hydradrives before firing a burst of wind from it, which sent them flying off the ground and into the air. "This card lets me target one 'Cyreath' Link monster on my field, and send cards on your field to your Graveyard equal to its Link Rating."

"Is that so?" Azrael boringly replied.

"That's right!" Excalibur formed in Raguel's hands before he pointed the sword at Azrael's field. "I target Achilles, which is a Link 3 monster. That means I can send Cychaic Lucius Tiberius, Blades, and Amphitheatre from your field to your Graveyard! O Wind! Enrage!" Raguel then fired a burst of wind from Excalibur, which went straight towards Azrael's cards.

Azrael, upon seeing this, frowned. "It's interesting you've found a way to get rid of my cards without destroying them. But you're sorely mistaken if you think something like that will hinder me, and I'll show you what I mean by that." He gestured to his face-down card. "Continuous-Trap, activate! Cychaic Vulcanalia! While this card is on my field, my 'Cychaic' cards are unaffected by your Spell and Trap effects." A fiery shield surrounded Blades, Lucius Tiberius, and Amphitheatre, which dissipated the wind completely, much to Raguel and Herald's dismay.

"Darn it. We were close..." Herald commented.

"I know, but this duel's only getting started, Herald. We'll have plenty of more chances to strike back." Raguel assured Herald, the latter giving a thumbs up in response.

"In addition, I activate Vulcanalia's second effect. Once per turn, I can destroy one 'Cychaic' card in my hand or on my field to activate one of two effects." Azrael continued. "I destroy Milonia on my field to activate the first effect, which lets me gain 400 life points." Milonia turned into fiery particles that surrounded Azrael, which increased his life points.

Azrael: 3700 + 400 = 4100 LP

"Milonia's effect! As she was destroyed by battle or card effect, I can target one 'Cychaic' Link monster I control, and banish cards from the top of your deck up to that monster's Link rating. In addition, you take 500 points of damage for each card banished by this effect."

"What?!" Raguel exclaimed, with Herald widening his eyes as well upon hearing this.

"Bet you weren't expecting that, were you?" Wraith taunted the duo.

"I target Lucius Tiberius, which is a Link 3 monster. That means I can banish the top three cards of your deck, and inflict 1500 points of damage." Azrael summed up, as a silhouette of Milonia appeared before she threw the spear in her hands at Raguel, which sliced the top three cards of his deck before it pierced him in the shoulder. It dissipated into particles as Raguel's life points dropped.

Raguel: 4500 – (500 X 3) = 3000 LP

BEEP!

Within seconds, a digital-like program enveloped the area before it showed another memory to Raguel and Azrael. This time, it showed a young Yuhiro and Yukage paying attention to Myojin as he proceeded to give a pendant to each of the boys. Whereas Yukage obtained the blue pendant, Yuhiro obtained the blue pendant, both boys awestruck with what they had. Soon, Raguel grabbed the sides of his head as he felt the image in his mind knitting itself together.

"What have you done, Azrael?! Wraith?!" Herald exclaimed furiously. "Are you torturing Raguel during the duel?"

"I'm simply helping Raguel recover his memories back, Ignis. Memories that have been shattered by the Lost Incident!" Azrael firmly snapped back, before he turned to Raguel, who composed himself together. "So what will you do now, Raguel?"

"Keep on going, that's what!" Raguel answered, much to Herald's relief. "Starting with this! I activate the Spell card, Cyreath Grand Treasure!" The card showed Jason, Hercules/Alpha Mode, and Castor and Pollux entering into a section of a cave, where the quartet spotted a ton of golden coins and treasures in the area. "Normally, when this card is activated, I can draw two cards and shuffle two 'Cyreath' cards from my hand into my deck in exchange. However, if I control a Link 3 or higher 'Cyreath' Link monster, I can draw three cards instead before sending one 'Cyreath' card from my deck to my Graveyard. I send Cyreath Primordial Aura from my deck to my Graveyard." Raguel drew the top three cards of his deck before a card popped out of it, which he took and sent to his Graveyard.

"I activate the Equip Spell card, Spear of Triam, and equip it onto Achilles!" The card showed a spear surrounded in pure electricity. It had a total of three prongs that glowed different colours. The left one glowed red, the middle one glowed yellow, and the right one glowed blue. Immediately, the lance Achilles carried disappeared before it was replaced with the Spear of Triam. "Battle! Cyreath Aetos Dios attacks you directly!"

"Directly?" Azrael and Wraith repeated at the same time.

"Aetos Dios can attack you directly while a 'Cyreath' Link monster points to it, but any battle damage it inflicts is halved as a result." Raguel explained. "Supersonic Skystrike!" Aetos Dios flew high into the air before plummeting at full speed towards Azrael, which caused an explosion that pushed him back several feet upon impact.

Azrael: 4100 – (2800 / 2) = 2700 LP

BEEP!

Soon, a digital-like program enveloped the area before it showed another memory to Raguel and Azrael. This time, it showed a young Yuhiro and Yukage playing mock combat against one another, as evident by the toy swords they had. One resembled Excalibur, while the other resembled Muramasa. Myojin and Lyla were sitting nearby on chairs and enjoying the outdoors, as well as keeping an eye on the boys. Once again, Raguel was forced to grab the sides of his head as another image popped up in his head, which immediately 'knit' itself together.

What the hell is going on? What is Azrael doing to me, Raguel thought in his mind, before he snapped out of his confusion. He had a duel to take care of, not dwell on what just happened. "Spear of Triam's effect now activates! If you take damage by battle or card effect, the equipped monster gains attack points equal to the damage you took. As you took 1400 points of damage, Achilles gains 1400 attack points!" Achilles spun the Spear of Triam in his arms as his strength increased.

Cyreath Achilles ATK: 2400 + 1400 = 3800

"I Set two cards face-down and end my turn." Raguel concluded.

"Huh? Why didn't you attack with Achilles?" Herald asked Raguel, a surprised look on the former's face.

"Take a look at this." Raguel replied, which led Herald to look at Raguel's duel disk, the screen showing Lucius Tiberius's information. Upon seeing it, Herald's eyes widened out of surprise.

"Good call treading carefully, Raguel. Especially with such a card that's overkill, in my opinion."

"Herald, the humans live in an unequal world due to numerous factors, such as poverty and war. It's therefore crucial to utilize whatever means necessary to survive." Wraith callously pointed out, much to Herald's irritation.

"At the cost of being selfish, compared to being selfless!" Herald furiously countered.

"That matters little. For only the strong will survive the coming conflict, while the weak... will die." Azrael interrupted, in a tone that practically shut the conversation down.

"Hang on a minute, Azrael. Each time either of us took damage, a program showed me something. It was your memories, wasn't it?" Raguel figured out, which caused Azrael to grin.

"Yes, it was." Azrael confirmed. "Blood Shepherd had a strong memory program, but it can only search through current memories that the person remembers. Wraith broke it apart before making further adjustments."

"But to test the program, you needed a test subject." Raguel commented. "Unless..."

"I volunteered to test the newly improved memory program out myself." Azrael immediately replied with confidence. "It helped me regain all my suppressed memories as a result. I therefore put the program in this area just before you came here. As I told Herald, I'm simply giving back what the Lost Incident has taken away from you."

Raguel frowned. That was true. He always wanted to get his memories back, especially with how the Lost Incident shattered his memories to the point where he couldn't tell what was true and what was false. Raguel assumed that Azrael was his childhood friend, only for him to learn that the latter was actually related to him by blood, adoption, and foster care. What other memories were truths and lies? "At what cost? To shake up my resolve? Or is this your way of acting all big brotherly?"

"Both, to be honest. I mean, you and I play a big role in the grand scheme of things, especially when our pendants and swords are involved. So you deserve to have your memories restored." Azrael sighed. "Our mom used to be an archaeologist, employed by Albinor Inc., who was run by our parents' best friend Ukyos Albinor. During the search, she found relics resembling that of pendants. However, they contained a mythical energy source that was not of this world."

"Mythical energy source?" Raguel repeated out of curiosity. Surely, the pendants he and Azrael had didn't come from aliens, did they? That was too farfetched.

"Yes. After our mom found the pendants, she brought them back to Albinor Inc., who was in a partnership with SOL Technologies at the time. But the pendants weren't the only things she found." Azrael continued. "She also found Excalibur and Muramasa, ancient swords that were thought to have been lost in time, never to be found again. And thanks to the combined efforts of SOL Technologies and Albinor Inc., they were restored to their glory."

"But what about the energy that comes from the swords? Does it have the same energy the pendants have?" Herald immediately questioned.

"No, Herald. We investigated the same question you two have deeply, and have found out that data material was infused into Excalibur and Muramasa. Thus creating the first weapons imbued with the network's energy, aside from the sword you and Azrael's dad wielded." Wraith answered, much to Raguel and Herald's surprise.

"So these weapons are... advancements of warfare? Are you and I the same thing?!" Raguel exclaimed, which made Azrael laugh.

"Advancements of warfare? If more weapons like Excalibur and Muramasa were made, then yes. Good thing it stopped a long time ago, though." Azrael replied. "As for you and me, we aren't advancements of humanity. Recall that Project: Cross Breed's purpose was to take two or more human beings who have been dealt a critical blow by the world, and use their functioning parts to create a miracle through any means necessary. The fact that you and I have different-sided organs, as well as our unique conditions made us the perfect candidates for the project. Thus, you and I are simply two human beings who have been reborn into something better because of the parts we 'donated' to one another."

Raguel grit his teeth in anger and disgust as the images from Project: Cross Breed flew through his mind one by one. He did not want to be reminded of how he was abandoned at birth by parents who didn't want him. How pieces of Azrael went into Raguel just to repair the latter's damaged lungs, as well as fill in the missing veins in his right arm and left leg. Whereas pieces of Raguel went into Azrael to repair his damaged liver, as well as fill in the missing veins in the latter's left arm and right leg. Despite Myojin and Lyla's good intentions, they ended up turning both Raguel and Azrael into monsters.

"I've told you enough for now, but if you show me some of your motivation, I'll be more than willing to tell you how I found the pieces for the Project: VIII data. I'll even share something very important to you as well. My turn! I draw!" Azrael drew the top card of his deck. "I activate Lucius Tiberius's effect. Once per turn, I can destroy one 'Cychaic' card in my hand or on my field to add one 'Cychaic' card from my deck to my hand. In addition, I can activate one of three effects depending on the card I added with this effect."

Raguel narrowed his eyes. Judging from what he currently saw on Azrael's field, it was likely that Azrael would add either a Monster or a Spell card with Lucius Tiberius's effect.

"I destroy Vulcanalia on my field, and add the Monster card Cychaic Caladrius from my deck to my hand!" As if on cue, Vulcanalia turned into particles, and a card popped out of Azrael's deck soon after, which he took and added to his hand. "As a monster card was added to my hand, Lucius Tiberius's attack points are doubled until the end of my next turn. And when Vulcanalia is destroyed by a card effect, all 'Cychaic' monsters on my field gain 400 attack points, while all monsters you control lose 400 attack points."

"Is that so? Then how about this?" Raguel gestured to his face-down card. "Continuous-Trap, activate! Cyreath Dominion!" The card showed a rainbow veil surrounding Achilles, Atalanta, Jason, Medusa, Circe, and Hercules/Alpha Mode, with Cyreath Zeus, Lord of the Storm, Cyreath Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, and Cyreath Hades, Lord of the Underworld firing energy from above to create the veil. "While this card is on my field, my 'Cyreath' monsters are unaffected by your card effects." Within seconds, a rainbow aura surrounded Raguel's field before it dissipated.

Soon, a fiery aura surrounded Lucius Tiberius, Achilles, and Aetos Dios. Whereas Lucius Tiberius's strength increased, the fiery auras surrounding Achilles and Aetos Dios dissipated, much to their relief.

Cychaic Lucius Tiberius ATK: (3000 X 2) + 400 = 6400

"Fine. I summon Cychaic Caladrius from my hand to my field." Azrael replied, as a bird that had silver pieces of armour on its head and wings appeared on Azrael's field.

Cychaic Caladrius ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 2

Cychaic Caladrius ATK: 500 + 500 = 1000 DEF: 500 + 500 = 1000

"Next, I activate Amphitheatre's second effect. By destroying a 'Cychaic' card on my field or in my hand, I can Special Summon one 'Cychaic Dancer' token to my field. I destroy Caladrius on my field." After Caladrius turned into particles, another Dancer token appeared on Azrael's field.

Cychaic Dancer ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 4

Cychaic Dancer ATK: 1000 + 500 = 1500 DEF: 1000 + 500 = 1500

"Aw, great. Here comes the monster version of Double Spell..." Herald complained, with Raguel narrowing his eyes as well.

"As Caladrius was destroyed by a card effect, I can send one 'Cychaic' Spell or Trap card from my deck to my Graveyard to activate that card's effect." Azrael said, ignoring Herald's remark. "I send the Spell card, Cychaic Reinforcements from my deck to my Graveyard and activate it." A card popped out of his deck, which he took and sent to his Graveyard. "If I control a 'Cychaic' monster, I can Special Summon two 'Cychaic' monsters with different names from my deck. However, I can't Special Summon any monsters from my deck for the rest of this turn, except 'Cychaic' monsters." Two cards popped out of his deck, which he took and added to his hand. "Be born, Cychaic Crocodile and Venator." Soon, two monsters appeared on Azrael's field.

The first was a dark-green skinned crocodile with yellow eyes.

The second was a roman soldier with dark skin who wore silver armour, shin pads, and vambraces. While the silver armour had a lion emblem on the left portion of the chest, wolf emblems were on the vambraces, and eagle emblems were on the shin pads. Covering the top of his head was a red hood that had the lion emblem stitched to it. Strapped to his left side was a sword, while a bow and a quiver of arrows was strapped to his back.

Cychaic Crocodile ATK: 800 DEF: 800 LV: 3

Cychaic Venator ATK: 1800 DEF: 900 LV: 4

Cychaic Crocodile ATK: 800 + 500 = 1300 DEF: 800 + 500 = 1300

Cychaic Venator ATK: 1800 + 500 = 2300 DEF: 900 + 500 = 1400

"The effects of Crocodile and Venator now activate. First, when Crocodile is Normal or Special Summoned, I can add one 'Cychaic' card from my deck to my hand. I add Cychaic Pollice Verso from my deck to my hand." A card popped out of Azrael's deck, which he took and added to his hand. "Second, when Venator is Normal or Special Summoned, I can Special Summon one 'Cychaic' monster from my deck or Graveyard to my field. Be reborn from my Graveyard, Duo Vulture!" At Azrael's command, Duo Vulture reappeared on his field.

Cychaic Duo Vulture ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400 LV: 4

Cychaic Duo Vulture ATK: 1200 + 500 = 1700 DEF: 1400 + 500 = 1900

"Yikes! This guy managed to swarm his field once again!" Herald panicked, before he turned to Raguel. "Be on your guard, Raguel. This does not look good."

"I'm aware of that, Herald. Though I do appreciate the concern." Raguel responded.

"If Duo Vulture would be used to Link Summon a Link monster, it can be treated as two materials once per duel." Azrael informed Raguel, much to the latter's surprise. "Appear, the circuit of absolute power!" A Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two or more 'Cychaic' monsters. I set Cychaic Crocodile, and Duo Vulture, which is treated as two Link materials, into the Link Markers!" Crocodile went into the top arrowhead, while Duo Vulture went into the bottom-left and bottom arrowheads respectively, turning them red.

"Wielder of the holy lance! Conquer your enemies and revel in your growing power!" Azrael chanted. "Link Summon! Come forth! Link 3! Cychaic Lucius Longinus!" A large, muscular man wearing silver armor with gold trim appeared on Azrael's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. His helm bore wings and a crimson plume, which was attached to the back. He had short hair, along with a long, braided tail trailing down the back. In his right hand, he carried a red lance, while he carried a massive shield in his left arm.

Cychaic Lucius Longinus ATK: 2500 LINK-3 ↙️⬆️⬇️

Cychaic Lucius Longinus ATK: 2500 + 500 = 3000

"But I'm not done here, Raguel. I overlay the Level 4 Cychaic Venator with the Level 4 Cychaic Dancer token!" Azrael's hand glowed dark blue as a galaxy portal appeared behind him. "With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network!" Venator and the Dancer token turned into dark blue streams of energy that entered the portal, where a pillar of light soon erupted from its center.

"Ruler of the Seas! Emerge from the deep, and drown my enemies in your raging torrents!" Azrael chanted. "Xyz Summon! Rise, Rank 4! Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea!" A muscular man with very long white hair that went to his lower back, as well as a very long beard that went to his lower waist appeared on Azrael's field in the Main Monster Zone Lucius Longinus pointed to. He had algae-like shoulder pads on his shoulders, each one having three spikes on it. On his arms were golden chains covered in algae, along with golden forearm guards with a few spikes on the side. Instead of legs, the bottom portion of his body consisted of tentacles resembling that of a kraken. In his hands, he carried a trident club.

Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500 RNK: 4 OU: 2

Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea ATK: 3000 + 500 = 3500 DEF: 2500 + 500 = 3000

"This guy can Xyz Summon too?!" Herald exclaimed.

"He did allude to that summoning method in our previous duel." Raguel reminded Herald.

"I originally planned to use this monster against you, Raguel, but you weren't worthy of him at the time. Now let's see how you'll fare against a Cychaic God." Azrael told Raguel. "I activate Neptune's effect. Once per turn, I can detach one Overlay Unit to not only destroy a 'Cychaic' card in my hand or on my field, but also banish a card on your field as well. However, if a 'Cychaic' Link monster is destroyed by this effect, I can banish one card in your hand, field, and/or Graveyard up to that monster's Link rating instead. The best part is that you can't activate cards or effects in response to this card's activation."

"What?!" Raguel gasped after hearing this. This did not sound good at all.

"I destroy Lucius Longinus on my field, which is a Link 3 monster. That means I can banish up to three cards. As such, I banish Dominion, your facedown card, and Achilles on your field! Oceanic Constriction!" Azrael decided, as one of the Overlay Units went into Neptune's trident club.

Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea OU: 2 – 1 = 1

Soon, the tentacles on Neptune's body spread towards Lucius Longinus, Dominion, Raguel's face-down card, and Achilles before wrapping themselves around all four cards, proceeding to turn each one into particles...

…But to Azrael's surprise, Achilles broke free of the hold, which caused the tentacle trying to wrap around him to turn into particles instead.

"Yeah, sorry. That's not going to work on me." Achilles cheekily commented.

"What? How's Achilles still on your field?!" Wraith demanded, before he facepalmed upon putting two and two together. "Oh wait, don't tell me..."

"It's because of Achilles' effect, which isn't an activated one." Herald replied.

"If Achilles would leave the field by battle or card effect, I can simply banish a 'Cyreath' monster from my Graveyard instead." Raguel finished. "As such, I banished Satyr. The best part is that I can use this effect up to the number of 'Cyreath' Link monsters used for Achilles' Link Summon."

"Thus meaning you can protect Achilles up to a total of two times per turn." Azrael finished. "That means little to me. For when Lucius Longinus is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can Set one 'Cychaic' Spell or Trap card from my deck to my field. I Set Cychaic Record from my deck to my field." A card popped out of Azrael's deck, which he took before Setting it to his field.

"Battle!" Azrael thrusted out his right hand. "Cychaic Lucius Tiberius attacks Cyreath Aetos Dios! At this point, Cychaic Blades' effect activates! When a 'Cychaic' monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck battles, you can't activate cards or effects until the end of the damage step."

Raguel grit his teeth. He knew too well what Blades did, and it was far more troublesome than both Judgment Arrows and Punishment Arrows. But if Raguel didn't do something soon, then the duel would be over within seconds.

"Do something or we're done for, Raguel!" Herald worriedly stated the obvious.

"I know that." Raguel responded, before he turned back to Azrael. "I may not be able to activate cards or effects, but not every effect is an activated one. For while Spear of Triam is on my field, you can only attack the equipped monster, and no other monsters."

"That's fine. I'll still deal damage." Azrael responded. "Floras Florent!" Lucius Tiberius charged forward at Achilles, the sword in his hands having now been surrounded by blood-red flames. Lucius Tiberius then swung the sword at Achilles, who proceeded to block it with the Spear of Triam.

"If Achilles would leave the field by battle or card effect, I can banish a 'Cyreath' card in my Graveyard instead." Raguel said. "I banish Skull Wing from my Graveyard. Andreias Amarantos!" Soon, Achilles was surrounded in an aura that protected him from the attack. However, a massive explosion occurred within seconds, and when it dissipated, it showed Raguel still standing.

"So you somehow survived..." Azrael muttered.

"That's right." Raguel confirmed. "Like I told you earlier, not every effect is an activated one. If I would take damage, I can banish Primordial Aura from my Graveyard instead. In addition, I take no further battle or effect damage for the rest of this turn."

Azrael smirked. "I expected nothing less from you, Raguel. For if the duel ended here, it'd be disappointing. I Set one card face-down and end my turn."

"My turn! I draw!" Raguel furiously said, as he drew the top card of his deck. He did not like where this was going. Azrael Set Record with Lucius Longinus's effect, and if memory served, the moment Raguel activated a card, Azrael can both negate and destroy it with Record's effect. In addition, since Azrael controlled a 'Cychaic' Link monster, he can destroy one 'Cychaic' card on his field before destroying a card on Raguel's field. The worse part was that Raguel couldn't activate cards or effects in response to both of Record's effects, thus resulting in the destruction of a total of three cards on the field.

There was, however, some good news. With Vulcanalia gone, that meant Raguel can target Azrael's cards with Spell and Trap effects. What's more, he can also target Azrael's Spell and Trap cards with monster effects.

As such, Raguel had to tread very carefully if he was to land another hit on Azrael. "I summon Cyreath Myrmekes from my hand to my field." A giant, ant-like creature the size of a dog with light-brown skin tunneled its way onto Raguel's field.

Cyreath Myrmekes ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3

"That's the card you used in your duels against Infearno and Haru, right?" Azrael correctly guessed.

"That's right!" Raguel confirmed. "When Myrmekes is Normal Summoned, I can target one card on your field and banish it! I target Blades!"

Azrael, upon hearing this, smirked. "Despite Myrmekes' appearance, it is a strong card, Raguel. Though its effect is something I will not allow." He gestured to his field. "Continuous-Trap, activate! Cychaic Pollice Verso! Once per turn, while this card is on the field, if you activate a card effect, it's instantly negated. What's more, if I control a 'Cychaic' monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, you cannot activate cards or effects in response to each of Pollice Verso's effects. As such, I negate Myrmekes' effect." Soon, a hand appeared before it turned into a fist, rotated, and pointed its thumb down at Myrmekes. Within seconds, a bolt of lightning was fired out of the thumb, which hit Myrmekes as it screamed in pain before greying out, much to Raguel's dismay. "So, Raguel. What will you do now?"

"Keep going no matter the odds, that's what!" Raguel reiterated. "Appear, the circuit showing the highest mountain!" A Link Portal appeared above Raguel. "The summoning conditions are one 'Cyreath' monster. I set Cyreath Myrmekes into the Link Markers!" Myrmekes went into the bottom arrowhead, turning it red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 1! Cyreath Headhunter!" A female ninja wearing a purple and black robe appeared on Raguel's field in the Main Monster Zone Achilles pointed to. Her face was covered in darkness, except for the eyes, which were black with a yellow-orange sclera.

Cyreath Headhunter ATK: 1000 LINK-1 ⬇️

"As Myrmekes was used as Link Material for the Link Summon of a 'Cyreath' Link monster, I can Special Summon one 'Cyreath Myrmekes Critter' token to my field." Raguel continued, as a smaller version of Myrmekes appeared on his field.

Cyreath Myrmekes Critter Token ATK: 200 DEF: 200 LV: 2

"Appear, for a second time! The circuit showing the highest mountain!" A second Link Portal appeared above Raguel. "The summoning conditions are two 'Cyreath' monsters. I set the Link 1 Cyreath Headhunter, and the Myrmekes token into the Link Markers!" Headhunter went into the top arrowhead, while the Myrmekes token went into the bottom arrowhead.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2! Cyreath Jason!" A handsome blond-haired man with emerald colored eyes leapt onto Raguel's field in the Main Monster Zone Achilles pointed to, resulting in both monsters being co-linked with one another. He had pieces of golden armour attached to his arms, shoulders, and upper body, as well as on his shins. Strapped around his waist was a medium-sized green waist cape, with a golden belt as well.

Cyreath Jason ATK: 1500 LINK-2 ⬆️⬇️

"When Jason is Link Summoned, I can-." Raguel began speaking.

"Going for that strategy again? Pointless." Azrael callously remarked, before gesturing to his face-down card. "Counter-Trap, activate! Cychaic Record! When you activate a card effect, I can not only negate that effect, but also destroy it as well! What's more, you can't activate cards or effects in response to both of this card's effects!"

Raguel narrowed his eyes. It was only a matter of time until Azrael activated Record. The good news was that he was now in the clear to activate his card effects. Soon, a massive stone tablet appeared before firing a blast of dark-blue energy at Jason, which turned him into particles.

"I also activate Record's second effect from my Graveyard. As I control a 'Cychaic' Link monster the turn it was activated, I can destroy one 'Cychaic' card on my field and one card on your field. And like before, you can't activate any cards or effects in response to both of Record's effects. I destroy Lucius Tiberius on my field, and Aetos Dios on your field!" Within a moment or two, the massive stone tablet reappeared before firing a blast of dark-blue energy at Lucius Tiberius on Azrael's field, and Aetos Dios on Raguel's field before turning both of them into particles.

"Lucius Tiberius' second effect activates! As he was destroyed by battle or card effect, your life points are halved!" Azrael told Raguel, a humorous smirk appearing on the former's face.

"This is going to hurt a lot, isn't it?" Herald commented.

"Yeah..." Raguel agreed, a grimace on his face. At least he didn't trigger Lucius Tiberius' effect on their turn, as otherwise, he would have had to pay a very hefty price.

"Go, Bloody Reprisal!" Azrael shouted, as a ghostly version of Lucius Tiberius appeared on his field before charging straight towards Raguel and slashing him with his sword, which resulted in Raguel falling down on one knee out of pain. Within seconds, his life points dropped.

Raguel: 3000 / 2 = 1500 LP

BEEP!

Soon, a digital-like program enveloped the area before it showed another memory to Raguel and Azrael. This time, it showed a young Yuhiro and Yukage with Myojin and Lyla going on a picnic together, the four of them enjoying their time with one another. And just like before Raguel was forced to clutch the sides of his head as images popped up in his head before 'knitting' themselves together. He really hated what was going on.

"Look at you, Raguel. You're pathetic, just like always." Azrael scolded Raguel, disappointment evident in the former's tone. "Is this all the motivation you have left, little hybrid brother?"

"No. It isn't. I still got plenty of motivation to show you!" Raguel replied, as he slowly got up on his feet, having gotten his bearings back together in the process. "And I'll show you what I mean, starting with this! I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Cyreath Providence! When this card is activated-."

"Pitiful. I use Pollice Verso's effect once again to negate Providence." Azrael revealed to Raguel, which caused the latter to gasp out of surprise upon hearing this information. Soon, a hand appeared before it turned into a fist, rotated, and pointed its thumb down at Providence. Within seconds, a bolt of lightning was fired out of the thumb, which hit Providence and negated its effects.

"Hey! I thought Pollice Verso's effect can only be used once per turn!" Herald protested.

"Yes, but that was only for negating a monster effect." Wraith cheekily said back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Pollice Verso's effect can be used once per turn for each type of card, Ignis." Azrael clarified to Herald. "Or to put it in simple terms, I can negate one monster, spell, and trap effect on your field per turn once they're activated."

"You!" Raguel hissed, having grit his teeth upon hearing this information. In all honesty, Raguel wasn't expecting that at all. But he had to keep going, and such a roadblock won't stop him from winning this duel. "Battle! Cyreath Achilles attacks Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea! At this point, I activate Achilles' second effect! When he battles a monster you control that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, it loses 300 attack points for every 'Cyreath' monster in my Graveyard. There's a total of five 'Cyreath' monsters in my Graveyard at the moment, which means Jupiter loses 1500 attack points! Akhilleus Kosmos!" Soon, a round, silver shield appeared before Achilles grabbed it and aimed it at Neptune. Within seconds, a burst of flash fired from the shield, which hit Neptune as his strength decreased.

Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea ATK: 3500 – (300 X 5) = 2000

"Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe!" Achilles charged towards Neptune in a burst of speed faster than the average human, where the latter attempted to strike at him with his trident club. However, Achilles easily dodged the attack before slashing Jupiter numerous times with the Spear of Triam so fast that multiple flashing cuts appeared on his body. Once Achilles was done, the flashing cuts cackled with electricity, which caused an explosion to envelop the field as Jupiter turned into particles. As a result, Azrael was pushed back several feet.

Azrael: 2700 – 1800 = 900 LP

BEEP!

Soon, a digital-like program enveloped the area before it showed another memory to Raguel and Azrael. This time, it showed a starry night... and a haunted scene of horror. A house burning down, monsters attacking Myojin and Lyla, having found their prey. Lyla telling Yuhiro and Yukage to run so they can save themselves. For a fifth time, Raguel was forced to clutch the sides of his head as the images in his head began knitting themselves together. That's the night where Azrael and I lost everything, Raguel recalled in his mind. But something's not right this time around.

Raguel snapped out of the trance and got his bearings back before thrusting out to the duel field. "Thanks to Spear of Triam's effect, Achilles gains attack points equal to the damage you just too. Since you took 1800 points of damage, Achilles gains 1800 attack points!" Raguel reminded Azrael, as Achilles spun the Spear of Triam in his arms, his strength increasing in the process.

Cyreath Achilles ATK: 3800 + 1800 = 5600

"That may be the case, Raguel, but you activated Neptune's second effect." Azrael countered. "When he's destroyed by battle or card effect, I can Special Summon two 'Cychaic' monsters with different names from my deck and/or Graveyard in defense position. Be born from my deck, Cychaic Cinnamon Bird, and Crocodile from my Graveyard." Soon, two monsters appeared on Azrael's field in defense position.

The first was a large bird with brownish-orange skin. The bird had a large beak, and a long tail that had orange spices at its tips.

The second was Crocodile.

Cychaic Cinnamon Bird ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 3

Cychaic Crocodile ATK: 800 DEF: 800 LV: 3

Cychaic Cinnamon Bird ATK: 1000 + 500 = 1500 DEF: 1000 + 500 = 1500

Cychaic Crocodile ATK: 800 + 500 = 1300 DEF: 800 + 500 = 1300

"Crocodile's effect! Just like before, when it's Normal or Special Summoned, I can add one 'Cychaic' card from my deck to my hand. I add Cychaic Reborn from my deck to my hand." A card popped out of Azrael's deck, which he took and added to his hand.

"In that case, I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Cyreath Dispel." Raguel countered. "Once per turn, I can target one Spell or Trap card you control and destroy it. Say goodbye to Cychaic Pollice Verso." A purple blast fired out of Dispel, which hit Pollice Verso before destroying it.

"I see what you did there. You waited until after the Battle Phase was over before you used Dispel to destroy Pollice Verso. While that was clever, it'll cost you." Azrael commented. "As Pollice Verso was destroyed by a card effect, I can negate the effects of one card on your field. I negate Achilles' effects." Soon, a hand appeared before it turned into a fist, rotated, and pointed its thumb down at Achilles. As a result, a bolt of lightning was fired out of the thumb, which hit him as he screamed in pain, his effects having been negated.

"I end my turn here." Raguel concluded. In his mind, he knew that Azrael was most likely going to Link Summon Teravolt Dragon, which meant any Spell and Trap cards Raguel had on his field would be negated. Still, the fact that Pollice Verso was gone meant that Raguel can activate the effects of his cards without worry. "Why did you show me the memory where our parents died, huh? Was it to mock me?"

"A bit, yes. But only to remind you of your beginnings." Azrael responded. "You've shown me some good motivation, so I'll keep my word and explain how I found the Project: VIII pieces in the first place."

"Yeah, that's something we want to know!" Herald shot back. "How the Hell did you know where to even start looking in the first place?!"

Azrael smiled. "I'll be honest, it took a long time to determine where to start looking. I mean, dear old dad destroyed the data and made sure that it could never happen again, right? Wrong! You and I both know that it was split into three parts, which was something dad didn't expect."

Raguel frowned. He hated to admit it, but Azrael had a point there. Data can never be destroyed no matter how it was done. It can always be recovered if one dug deep enough to find what they were looking for.

"I had to kill a lot of people to even get some information so I can got the search. But one day, I got lucky when I killed a man who worked with Dr. Kogami and the others during the Lost Incident. A scientist, if you will. On his laptop, he contained files regarding Project: VIII, and its locations. I also found out who was responsible for splitting the data in the first place."

"So you're saying that someone split the data on purpose?!" Raguel exclaimed out of shock, with Herald's eyes widening as well. Who would do such a thing?

"Indeed." Wraith confirmed. "And after some searching, we figured out who was responsible."

"SOL Technologies' first CEO Dairoku Saionji, also known as the Dragon King, was the one who split the Project: VIII data into three parts." Azrael finished, which made Raguel and Herald gasp.

Zero was the one who split the data in the first place? Why would he do such a thing? Did he not care about the likelihood that someone would find the data and replicate the project? Not even the likelihood that other lives would be ruined in the process?

"Why would he-?" Raguel began speaking.

"Maybe that's something you can ask him should you meet him in person." Azrael callously commented. "But nevertheless, after killing that scientist and looking at his laptop, I found out where the data pieces was located. The FBI, Gamma Branch, and the dark vault itself. I will admit in saying that the Dragon King was quite clever in where he hid the pieces."

"So you hacked into the FBI to get their Project: VIII piece, right?" Herald correctly guessed, causing Azrael and Wraith to nod in confirmation. In Raguel's mind, he was grateful that Greg had a backup of the data to give to him. Otherwise, Raguel wouldn't have been able to fully determine who was involved in Project: VIII, as well as the procedures used.

"The Project: VIII piece the FBI had contained all the names of those involved. Gamma's piece contained all the procedures and findings, and the dark vault's piece contained all the archaeological information on the swords and pendants, along with two other things."

"The Root of All Knowledge..." Raguel muttered.

"Yes. The Root of All Knowledge." Azrael affirmed. "Its possible locations and points of entry, as well as blue prints for the network, and by extension, the Metaverse in tracking it down. Only when you have all three pieces will you be able to fully complete Project: VIII."

Raguel thought this over. That comment about the Metaverse made sense, for the network was a big place. When Raguel went to get Excalibur, he traveled to a different server, where he saw different lifeforms in the area. It went to show how there were different areas of the network that weren't discovered. Though Raguel did want to know one thing from Azrael. "Why are you after the Root of All Knowledge?"

Azrael, in response, shook his head. "Even if I told you my reason, I doubt you'd ever understand. But to sum up everything, I hacked into the FBI's systems and obtained the Project: VIII piece they had. Some time later, I paid Ghost Girl to bring me the data from Gamma, with no small part thanks to you of course for assisting me unintentionally. And after that, it took getting your pendant and having the Muramasa to get inside the dark vault to get the final piece."

"I never had any intention of helping you get the Project: VIII piece from Gamma." Raguel snarled, aware of what happened months ago, where he and Ghost Girl infiltrated Gamma to get the information on their servers. If Ghost Girl knew that she unknowingly helped a monster, she'd be upset with herself for not seeing the truth sooner.

"I know. Your sense of honor would prevent you from working with people who are dishonorable." Azrael replied. "Regardless, there's still something you should know. Something I think you have the right to know. It's about the person who went about Miyu and her parents."

"There's no need to tell me, Azrael. I already know this information." Raguel said, a smirk evident on his face as everyone else in the room gasped. "The one who went after Miyu and tried to kill her was Dr. Constantine Colmer, the same doctor who operated on us when we were babies."

"WHAT?!" Herald exclaimed out of pure shock. "You knew the truth this whole time and didn't tell Roxy?!"

"It's called double checking, Herald. The last thing I need is to ruin an innocent life." Raguel snapped back in a tone that practically shut Herald up, much to the latter's fear.

Azrael clapped after hearing what Raguel said. "So you did your homework, and now know who ruined Miyu Sugisaki's life. My question to you, however, is this: Now that you know who's responsible, what will you do? Will you hunt down Dr. Colmer and end his miserable life?"

"Raguel, please tell me there's a good piece of you still inside. A piece of you that wouldn't murder someone out of cold blood." Herald practically pleaded, now scared on what would come out of Raguel's mouth next. Because if this kept up, then the best friend Herald knew was going to die, and be replaced by a ruthless killer.

"I'll make that decision when the time comes. For now, priorities come first, and you and Lightning need to be stopped for good." Raguel said, much to Herald's relief, and Azrael and Wraith's disappointment.

"Have you not learned anything just now, Raguel? Have you?!" Wraith demanded.

"The longer you let a threat linger around, the more time it has to become a greater one that has long-term consequences for everyone! If you haven't realized the truth by now, then you're nothing more than a naïve child!" Azrael scolded Raguel, before he pressed a few buttons on his duel disk. Soon, a light-blue wave went over the entire area before turning into particles, which formed into a ball that orbited around Azrael's hand. "Allow me to up the ante a bit more. If you defeat me, I'll give you the memory program in my possession. What say you?"

"I accept. Just make your move." Raguel replied.

"Very well. My turn! I draw!" Azrael drew the top card of his deck before he let out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"I underestimated your motivation in our duel. You showed me a bit more of it compared to our previous duel, if not barely. You even showed some motivation in our sword match as well." Azrael admitted, which made Raguel narrow his eyes in anger in response. "Still, this is where the duel ends. I activate the Spell card, Cychaic Reborn. This card lets me target one 'Cychaic' monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon it to my field. Be reborn, Milonia." At Azrael's command, Milonia reappeared on his field.

Cychaic Milonia ATK: 2000 LINK-2 ⬆️↘️

Cychaic Milonia ATK: 2000 + 500 = 2500

"Appear, the circuit of absolute power!" A Link Portal appeared above Azrael. "The summoning conditions are two or more effect monsters. I set the Link 2 Cychaic Milonia, Cinnamon Bird, and Crocodile into the Link Markers!" Milonia went into the top-left and top-right arrowheads, Cinnamon Bird went into the bottom-left arrowhead, and Crocodile went into the bottom-right arrowhead.

"The Embodiment of Ideals is given to mankind!" Azrael chanted. "Link Summon! Appear! Link 4! Teravolt Dragon!" A black, bipedal dragon with red sclera, white irises, and black pupils, as well as a small horn-like protrusion on the tip of his snout appeared on Azrael's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. His head sported a thundercloud-like crest tipped with light-blue coloration, which went backwards. At the base of his neck, his shoulders, knees, and wings was a black, stud-like feature, which resembled armor padding. His wings consisted of a fanned, shape that had a spike on each of the top edges. Attached to Teravolt Dragon's arms were baseball-mitt-like formations, with three-clawed hands on the undersides. On his feet were three claws, along with a small spike at the back. He also had an electric generator-like tail, which had a black inner portion and bands on the tip of the outside portion.

Teravolt Dragon ATK: 3000 LINK-4 ↙️↖️↗️↘️

"Remember me, human?" Teravolt Dragon taunted Raguel and Herald.

"Great! Just freakin great! He brought out Teravolt Dragon!" Herald commented loudly.

"The effects of Teravolt Dragon and Cinnamon Bird now activate. First, when Teravolt Dragon is Link Summoned, the effects of all Spell and Trap cards on your field are negated." Azrael explained. "Electric Veil!" Teravolt Dragon's electric generator-like tail began to charge up before unleashed waves of electrical energy at the Spear of Triam, which negated its effects. "And with Spear of Triam's effects negated, Achilles loses his attack boost." A red aura surrounded Achilles, which made him grit his teeth as his strength reverted to normal.

Cyreath Achilles ATK: 5600 – 3200 = 2400

"Second, as Cinnamon Bird was used to Link Summon, the Link Summoned monster gains 1000 attack points!" Teravolt Dragon roared as his strength increased.

Teravolt Dragon ATK: 3000 + 1000 = 4000

"It's time to end this. Battle!" Azrael declared. "Teravolt Dragon attacks Cyreath Achilles! Devastation Bolt!" Teravolt Dragon surrounded himself in blue electricity that formed a sphere before charging straight towards Achilles.

"This duel isn't over yet, Azrael. I activate the effect of Cyreath Guardian from my hand." Raguel interjected. "By sending this card from my hand to the Graveyard, not only can I prevent my monster from being destroyed by battle or card effects this turn, any battle damage I take is halved as well." A giant, vertically wide octagonal shield composed of solid onyx that had the face of Zeus appeared in front of Achilles, which protected him from the attack. However, bits of electricity jumped off of the shield and hit Raguel, which decreased his life points.

Raguel: 1500 – (1600 / 2) = 700 LP

"Hmm." Azrael gathered his thoughts for a moment before speaking. "You survived Teravolt Dragon's attack. No one has ever done that before. Still, it won't change the end result. I Set two cards face-down and end my turn. This will be your final chance to show me what motivation you have left, Raguel. Do not disappoint me."

"Such a thing isn't decided until all the cards have been played. You of all people should know that." Raguel rebutted, before he put a hand on his deck.

"Raguel, if you don't draw the right card, it's over for us." Herald warned him.

Raguel grimaced. This was true. Should he not draw the right card, then Azrael would defeat him once again. Come on, deck, Raguel thought. Give me the card I need to win this duel. I'm not asking for me. I'm asking for those who've lost their lives due to this horrific attack. Help me avenge them! "My turn! I draw!" He drew the top card of his deck, and upon looking at it, he grinned. "I summon Cyreath Miner from my hand to my field." A small, male individual wearing mining gear and carrying mining equipment appeared on Raguel's field.

Cyreath Miner ATK: 0 DEF: 2000 LV: 3

"I activate Miner's effect. Once per turn, I can target one card in my Graveyard and shuffle it into my deck. By doing so, I can draw the top card of my deck. I shuffle Guardian into my deck, and draw!" A card popped out of Raguel's deck, which he took and shuffled into his deck. Once that was done, he drew the top card of his deck. "Appear, the circuit showing the highest mountain!" A Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are one 'Cyreath' monster. I set Miner into the Link Markers!" Miner went into the bottom arrowhead, turning it red.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 1! Cyreath Crimson Soul!" A small, humanoid spirit with fire on its orange skin appeared on Raguel's field in one of the two Main Monster Zones Achilles pointed to. It wore a crown that had a red, blue, and yellow jewel on it. Wrapped around its neck was a small cape that flowed behind it.

Cyreath Crimson Soul ATK: 1000 LINK-1 ⬇️

"When Miner is used to Link Summon, I can add one card from my Graveyard to my hand." Raguel added. "I add Cyreath Excaliburst from my Graveyard to my hand." A card popped out of his deck, which he took and added to his hand. "I activate the Spell card, Cyreath Excaliburst. Just like before-."

"Going for that again? I don't think so." Azrael gestured to his face-down card. "Trap card, activate! Cychaic Entrapment! I can target one card on your field, and negate its effects until the end of this turn. I negate Excaliburst!" At Azrael's command, Excaliburst greyed out in seconds before turning into particles.

"Appear, the circuit showing the highest mountain!" Raguel said, as a second Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two or more effect monsters. I set the Link 3 Cyreath Achilles, and the Link 1 Crimson Soul into the Link Markers!" Achilles went into the top, left, and right arrowheads, while Crimson Soul went into the bottom arrowhead, turning all four of them red.

"The Embodiment of Truth is given to mankind!" Raguel chanted. "Link Summon! Appear! Link 4! Turboblaze Dragon!" A white-color bipedal dragon with blue irises and black pupils, as well as a long and slender neck roared as he appeared on Raguel's field in the left Extra Monster Zone. He had a long, voluminous wispy mane streaming out from the upper side of his snout and outwards from his head, with two protrusions resembling ears on the top of the mane. His arms were slender and arm-like with a wing-like appearance and four fingers on his claws. He had a feathered chest, with long feather-like protrusions jutting out of his thighs. On his feet were large grey claws, three at the front and one positioned at the back to resemble high heels. He also had a jet engine-like tail, with two large bands similar to the front and ribbon like extensions.

Turboblaze Dragon ATK: 3000 LINK-4 ⬅️⬆️⬇️➡️

Turboblaze Dragon roared loudly at Teravolt Dragon, the latter doing the same in response.

"I won't let you hurt the humans!" Turboblaze Dragon shouted.

"Go ahead and try." Teravolt Dragon said back.

"When Crimson Soul is used for the Link Summon of a Link monster, not only does the Link Summoned monster gain 1000 attack points, it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn as well!" Raguel explained, as a fiery aura surrounded Turboblaze Dragon, which powered him up.

Turboblaze Dragon ATK: 3000 + 1000 = 4000

Azrael then stiffened upon hearing those words. "Don't tell me..."

"With Turboblaze Dragon's effect being taken into account..." Wraith began speaking.

"It's over for the both of you." Raguel finished. "Battle! Turboblaze Dragon attacks Teravolt Dragon! Desolation Flare!" Turboblaze Dragon's jet engine-like tail glowed with power before he flew up into the air and charged up an orb of orange fire.

"I don't think so! I activate the Trap card, Cychaic Formation!" Azrael replied back, as he gestured to his field. The card showed Lucius Longinus and numerous roman soldiers forming several defensive formations in response to a group of enemies attacking them. "By destroying a 'Cychaic' card on my field or in my hand, all monsters on my field can't be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn, and any battle damage I take is reduced to zero. I destroy Blades!" As if on cue, Blades turned into particles that surrounded Teravolt Dragon.

After gathering enough energy, Turboblaze Dragon launched the orb of fire at Teravolt Dragon, who raised his arms in front of him to prevent the orb from touching his body.

"Your last attempt at defeating me, while brave against all odds, was futile in the end." Azrael commented.

"Who said that was my last attempt?" Raguel responded back, which made Azrael raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I anticipated you doing such a thing, which is why I have this! I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Cyreath Excalibur!" The card showed Raguel raising Excalibur high into the air against Paradox Hydradrive Atlas, pieces of the land willingly offering their energy to the blade in the form of yellow particles that went into it. The energy combined to form into a giant beam of light, which Raguel was ready to swing down at Paradox Hydradrive Atlas. "This card lets me target one 'Cyreath' monster on my field or in my Graveyard, and inflict damage to you equal to its attack points!"

Azrael gasped out of shock. "What?!"

"I target Aetos Dios, who has 2800 attack points. That means you take 2800 points of damage!" Soon, yellow particles appeared before merging into Excalibur, which began forming into a giant beam of light.

Azrael grit his teeth. "If this duel is going to end, then I'll end it on my own terms. I activate the effect of Formation in my Graveyard. By banishing it from my Graveyard, any damage I would have taken is also inflicted to you!"

"What?!" Raguel and Herald exclaimed at the same time.

"We were so close!" Herald cursed.

"Your motivation is strong, Raguel, but I will not allow you to walk away the winner of this duel." Azrael commented.

"Better for this outcome to occur than for you to win the duel, Azrael!" Raguel rebutted, as he raised Excalibur above his head. "EXCALIBUR!" He then brought the giant beam of light down towards Azrael, which caused a massive explosion that sent the both of them flying off the ground before they landed on their backs. Their life points decreased to zero by the time their backs hit the ground.

Raguel: 700 – 2800 = 0

Azrael: 900 – 2800 = 0

WHOOSH!

Before Raguel and Azrael could get up on their feet, several Black Keys flew out of nowhere to where the latter was. Within seconds, the Black Keys were connected through electricity that formed into a barrier of energy. One that prevented Azrael from escaping. Watchman then appeared from the shadows.

"Watchman!" Raguel cried out of relief, as Watchman helped him get up.

"Are you okay?" Watchman asked, with Raguel nodding in confirmation.

Azrael, upon seeing Watchman, laughed as he stood up on his feet. He could use the Muramasa to escape the trap, but he saw an opportunity now that Watchman arrived. "Oh, this is perfect. So you've finally shown your face after all this time, you pitiful pacifist. How does it feel, knowing that your followers have fallen in battle?"

"Followers?" Raguel repeated, before it hit him. "What happened to Demeter and Percival, Watchman?" Watchman grimly sighed in response, having been reminded of Demeter and Percival's fall at the hands of Lightning and Windy.

"I'll tell you what happened, Raguel. Percival and Demeter attacked Lightning's base, hoping to stop him for good. Windy defeated Demeter in a duel before acquiring her consciousness data, and Lightning did the same after defeating Percival." Azrael answered, before turning to Watchman. "All this happened because of your inability to tell Raguel and the others about the plan. To put it simply, their losses are on your head."

Raguel narrowed his eyes. He wasn't aware until now that Demeter and Percival went after Lightning to try and stop him before things went out of hand. The only question was whether Watchman was aware of their plan and approved it, or if the duo deliberately disobeyed orders for the attack.

"Want to know something else, old man? If you were at full strength from the beginning like you are now, then you could have cleaved Revolver with your unique abilities the moment he showed up in the Cyberse World. It's what your kind does, right? Kill for a living?" Wraith said. "But no. You chose to warn us of the threat, and left the Ignis to fend for themselves."

"What's Wraith talking about, Watchman?" Raguel questioned. "And what does he mean by your kind?"

"Now is not the time for me to tell you, Raguel." Watchman simply said back.

"I'm surprised Watchman never told you what was happening behind the scenes, Raguel." Azrael interjected. "Whether it was out of concern for you or his own pride, I don't care at all. In fact..." He pointed at Watchman. "In those years after the attack on the Cyberse World, you had plenty of chances to kill the Hanoi and stop them, but you held back. Sealed your own powers away even so you didn't have to make the decision on whether to cross the line or not."

"You sealed your own powers away?!" Raguel and Herald repeated at the same time.

"I thought you said you lost them!" Herald reminded Watchman, the latter not bothering to respond back.

"Do you see the truth now, Herald? Raguel? Allies are supposed to share information with one another, not withhold it, and Watchman's no ally, no matter what he claims." Wraith said.

"You could never understand my reasons, Ignis..." Watchman hissed.

"Your reasons mean nothing, old man, especially in how you withheld information from Raguel and his idiot friends." Azrael harshly told Watchman, before he pulled out a small cannister that had a button at the top, as well as three blue glowing lines on the inside. Upon seeing it, both Raguel and Watchman gasped. "See you next time." After pressing the button, Azrael quickly unsheathed the Muramasa and sliced the air in two, which created a portal large enough to travel through. He and Wraith then quickly went into the portal before it closed up.

"We need to get out of here now!" Raguel decided, with Watchman doing the same as the both of them logged out of the network within seconds. Upon doing so, an electromagnetic pulse spread throughout the entire dark vault, which deleted all the data inside before shutting it down for good.

In the real world, at Café Matsuo...

"Reckless and stupid, Yuhiro! That was reckless and stupid!"

Those words were said by Roxy, who was reprimanding Yuhiro for slicing Ace's forearm off and stealing his duel disk. With the chaos having quelled down both in the network and the real world, everyone decided to log out, seeing that there was nothing else to do for the time being. After logging out, Yusaku and Takeru told the others that they needed to recuperate and get their energy back, with Kusanagi volunteering to look over everything that happened to see if there was something he missed. Roxy said that she'll catch up in a bit after talking with Yuhiro. As such, Arashi volunteered to work with Kusanagi until Roxy was finished chatting with Yuhiro. It was a good idea, for Arashi didn't want to listen to their conversation, and was afraid of Roxy's infamous wrath.

"What you did was not only reckless and stupid, but it nearly crossed the line as well!" Roxy reprimanded Yuhiro, as she paced back and forth in the living room.

"Ace was going to die at Azrael's hands, anyway. I was merely capitalizing on an opportunity, and I took it." Yuhiro pointed out. "Now I have Ace's data in my possession."

"But at what cost, Yuhiro? At what cost?!" Roxy replied, concern evident in her tone as she turned to face Yuhiro.

"What I did was no different than killing people's avatars when we worked in the Black Market." Yuhiro said, which made Roxy facepalm herself.

"It's different, Yuhiro. It's freakin different because you didn't kill the person who had an account in the network!" Roxy furiously emphasized. She was disappointed in Yuhiro for his actions, and she wanted him to know that it can result in someone crossing the line.

"That's not the only thing that happened, Roxy. Apparently, Yuhiro turned into a demon during his sword fight against Azrael by using his Link Trigger." Herald stated, which made Yuhiro glare at the former while Roxy gasped.

"Whose side are you on, Herald?" Yuhiro inquired.

"I'm only providing information on what happened, Yuhiro." Herald replied, as he crossed his arms. "It's crucial that everyone be updated on what occurred in the dark vault."

That comment made Yuhiro sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, Herald made a point. Everyone had to know what happened in the dark vault, and Yuhiro was going to tell the others another day, only for Herald to bring up a critical event in how Yuhiro turned into a demon with his Link Trigger.

"A demon? Is this true?" Roxy asked, causing Yuhiro to nod in confirmation. "This is what I'm afraid about, Yuhiro. If you keep doing these actions, you'll eventually cross the line, and become a monster. One that's no better than-."

"I don't want to be a monster." Yuhiro sadly muttered, which made Roxy stop talking as he looked up to her. "I really don't want to turn into someone I'm not. It's just..." He sadly sighed again, which led Roxy to sit beside him on the couch.

"With everything that's happened, we're all stressed, which can compromise our thinking. I get it." Roxy began speaking, making sure Yuhiro paid attention. "But it's no excuse on the actions chosen because they have consequences that we must go through, whether we want to or not. If you're not careful, you'll end up doing something you'll regret, and several people will be affected as a result. So I'm begging you. Please, please be careful in all the actions you choose to do. I don't want to lose you."

Yuhiro thought this over for a few moments as he tried to process what he just heard. He didn't want to become a monster, but ever since he learned the truth about himself, he felt himself falling down a slippery slope. Cutting Ace's left forearm off and stealing his duel disk was an indicator of such a thing. And Roxy was right. If Yuhiro wasn't careful, he'd end up doing something he'll regret, and more than one person will end up suffering the consequences of that action as a result. "Fine. I'll do my best in being careful, but then again, my best is never enough these days, especially with what's happened." He stood up on his feet before heading to the stairs, only for something to cross his mind. "Roxy, there's something you should know, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner because I wanted to be absolutely certain."

Roxy stood up on her feet and walked towards Yuhiro. "What is it?"

"I found out who killed Miyu's parents and tried to go after her." Yuhiro answered. "It was Dr. Constantine Colmer, the one who operated on Yukage and I when we were babies."

"Oh my God. After all this time, we finally find out who was responsible…" Roxy muttered, several things going through her head at once. Relief that the answer was finally found, and anger at the person who was responsible, amongst other things.

"What are we going to do about him, Roxy?" Yuhiro inquired. "With everything that's going on…."

"We'll take care of the issue once your brother and Lightning are stopped." Roxy assured Yuhiro, having put her hands on his shoulders. "Go get some rest and think about what I said to you. It should help."

"Alright, sure. Thanks, Roxy. For telling me the information you said just now." Yuhiro gave a small smile before he turned around and walked upstairs to his room, tired of today's events, and wanting to recuperate.

Roxy knew that Yuhiro was stressed out, and this was evident on his face. Ever since Yukage entered the scene, Yuhiro was no longer himself. He became more ruthless, and was on the brink of becoming a monster. That was why Roxy was scared. She did not want to lose her son, the kind boy she adopted all those years ago.

And if things continued the way they were...

…Then everyone will indeed suffer in the events to come.

Meanwhile, at SOL Technologies...

Queen walked down the hallway, a frown on the face. This was not good for SOL Technologies, especially with what happened. Numerous people have died in the real world and in the network, property had been destroyed, technology had been hacked into, and businesses were crippled... it was just pure chaos. Luckily, Akira was able to work with the authorities in mitigating the chaos and quell it to the point where it can be brought under control. If it weren't for Akira's efforts, then SOL Technologies would have been in a far worse position than it already was right now. As such, Queen made a mental note to thank Akira for his efforts.

The worse part of all this was that a data center administrator told Queen that all the data in the dark vault had been deleted. Just like that. When Queen asked if anything was stolen, the data center administrator replied that something was indeed stolen. However, she didn't know what was stolen, and promised that she and her employees would work to find the answer soon. This was something Queen had feared the moment the attacks began. With some of the data stolen and the rest deleted, the Kings were most likely going to be furious as a result.

Queen eventually reached the holographic room, where she saw a total of four individuals. The first two were Pawn and Rook.

The first was a tall, heavily built man with bright blue eyes, black spiked hair and pale skin. He was fully clad in silver and gold knight's armor, and had a six-pointed golden star on his forehead.

The second was a very tall and slender man with deep-sapphire colored eyes resembling that of a cat. He had light flaxen hair that curled around his head in graceful ripples. In addition, he wore a very regal uniform that was composed of several parts. First were the white, cloak-like garments that had blue patterns on it, similar to that of royalty. Second was the high collar on his uniform, which was rippled around the edges. Last but not least, hanging around his neck was a flowing, wispy tie that had a single jewel on it.

"About time you showed up." Pawn commented towards Queen.

"Be quiet, Hyodo." Queen snarled back.

"Now, now, let's be civil here you two. The last thing we need is to fight against one another," the slender man pointed out.

"You're one to talk. Political matters for you must be Hell right now, don't you think, Bishop?" Queen inquired with a snark, addressing the slender man by his title, and not his name.

Bishop, in response, narrowed his eyes back at Queen and frowned. "I'm afraid they are. With numerous losses in multiple forms, it's going to be tricky to maintain policies and stability in every form and manner."

"Don't worry about it, Bishop. That's why I'm in charge of legal matters after all," the tall, heavily built man assured Bishop.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Knight." Bishop responded, having addressed his comrade by his title, and not his name.

"Along with those matters, I'll most likely be in charge of assuring our business partners that SOL Technologies will make a quick recovery, as well as hopefully convince them of resuming business with us." Pawn added, before he turned back to Queen. "I do wonder what you'll be doing to help with damage control and all that jazz."

"The Kings will give their orders in how each and every one of us is to help with settling things down." Queen stated the obvious.

"Indeed. We'll know more once the Kings arrive." Rook agreed with Queen.

Suddenly, the room changed into a digital landscape, where Lycaon, Perseo, and Jeromy appeared one by one.

"Kings," all the higher-ups said, as they gave a little bow in front of the trio.

"Thank you all for coming." Jeromy replied. "This is a turbulent time, and all of us must act if we are to maintain SOL Technologies' integrity."

"Yes. It is certainly crucial in all aspects." Bishop agreed.

"Though we'll need a damage report if one is to begin the reparation efforts." Lycaon remarked, before turning to Queen. "And if memory serves, you're in charge of making sure the correct employees are aligned and assigned to specific endeavors and tasks, am I not correct Ohi?"

"Yes, sir." Queen confirmed.

"Then report on what happened." Perseo ordered.

After gathering her thoughts, Queen spoke. "Unfortunately, sirs, I have nothing but bad news. As a result of the attacks in the network and in the real world, there were numerous casualties. Hundreds of people have died, there's damage to several properties, pieces of technology have been hacked before getting destroyed, and businesses have been crippled."

"There's also the matter of Uchida Industries being levelled to the ground, with hostages and several other people dying as a result. Thus adding to the deaths already mentioned." Pawn added, which made the Kings frown, while Rook, Bishop, and Knight gasped. Queen had no reaction to this, however.

"That is troubling to hear." Jeromy commented.

"Of course it's troubling, Jeromy. I mean, if the loss of life and damage to those things Queen mentioned aren't disturbing, then I don't know what is." Lycaon said with a giggle, which earned him a glare from Perseo.

"Which can lead to long-term consequences for all of us should it get out of hand even further!" Perseo hissed, before turning back to Queen. "What were the attackers after in the network, Queen?"

"From the footage Zaizen gathered, they were after the data in the dark vault." Queen answered.

"If they were indeed going after the dark vault, then it's nothing but a futile goal. For no one can go in there." Rook mentioned, the others nodding in agreement.

"But it doesn't matter because someone managed to get inside, Miyama Garasu." Queen revealed, having addressed Rook by his actual name. Within seconds, the other higher-ups gasped, while the Kings narrowed their eyes.

"Impossible! Such a thing cannot be done, Ohi!" Bishop exclaimed.

"Do you know what happened in the dark vault, Ohi?" Perseo questioned.

"While I don't know specifically what went down, a data center administrator informed me that not only was data stolen, the rest was deleted as well." Queen sadly responded.

"What?!" Perseo exclaimed.

"Settle down, Perseo." Jeromy told him, before he turned to Queen. "Do you know what data was stolen, Ohi?"

"I do not, sirs. My team, however, is working to find that answer, and I promise to get back to you on that matter." Queen promised.

"I beg your pardon, your excellencies, but the data from the dark vault aside, SOL Technologies will most likely be under fire for what happened. I therefore recommend we focus on that for the time being." Knight interjected.

"Well duh, that's been already emphasized, Kishi Nobegane." Lycaon snidely stated, addressing Knight by his actual name.

"Knight makes a strong point, your excellencies. As such, I propose that all projects be halted until the current matter has been settled." Bishop advised, which made Queen gasp as she turned to him.

"What are you doing, Kaido Shikyo?" Queen furiously inquired, having addressed Bishop by his name.

"Keeping the company's best interests in heart, Ohi." Bishop shot back, which made Pawn laugh.

"Wow. Just wow, Ohi. Focusing on projects directed towards profit at a time like this? Just wow." Pawn stated, before turning to Rook. "Mind backing us up here, Miyama?"

"Kaido, Kishi, and Hyodo are correct, Ohi. If SOL Technologies shuts down for good, then all projects become obsolete." Rook commented. "Surely, you as a businesswoman understand that, yes?"

Queen narrowed her eyes before taking a deep breath and composing herself. All of them were right. The current matter that SOL Technologies was facing took priority compared to the other projects, especially the AI chip project. "I do."

"With everyone on the same page, the sooner we start addressing this delicate matter, the sooner we can get operations back to normal." Jeromy stated, before turning to Pawn. "Hyodo, I want you to liaise with our current business partners. Acquire resources from them, and assure each one that SOL Technologies' will alleviate this emergency."

"Yes, your excellencies." Pawn complied with a little bow.

"Miyama, you will log into the network, and see if you can salvage anything from the attack. Bring whatever you find back to us." Perseo instructed.

"It shall be done." Rook complied, having also given a little bow.

"Kaido and Kishi. You will work together in settling all political and legal matters with the government and authorities. Ensure that stability is maintained across the political, economic, legal, and regulatory environments." Lycaon ordered. "Ohi will have Akira assist you in this matter."

"We understand perfectly." Bishop and Knight complied at the same time, the both of them giving a little bow.

"Your excellencies? What do you mean by that?" Queen inquired, confused.

"You will ensure that all business areas are aligned and assigned in quelling the situation. And until the matter is resolved, all projects are to be halted." Jeromy charged, as he turned to Queen. "Make sure this message is sent to every area of SOL Technologies."

"Of course, sirs. I will do the tasks you assigned me." Queen complied, having given a little bow.

"Seeing how delicate and disastrous the situation is right now, it's urgent that everyone is in line towards correcting it, don't you agree?" Lycaon commented with a laugh.

"Lycaon's snide humor aside, he is right, Jeromy." Perseo agreed, causing Jeromy to nod in agreement as well.

"Yes, he is." Jeromy concurred, before turning back to the higher-ups. "There will be severe consequences for anyone who does not comply with these orders. Should any of you do this, we will tear you to pieces."

All the higher-ups gasped upon hearing the sentence the Kings' announced to them. This not only applied to the higher-ups, it applied to everyone at SOL Technologies. It went to show that the situation was so serious that the Kings had resorted to a death threat to ensure that everyone stayed in line.

With the meeting over, the higher-ups bowed one last time in front of the three Kings before they disappeared into particles. Soon after, Pawn, Bishop, Rook, and Knight turned into particles, which showed that they were in separate rooms at the time. As a result, Queen was left alone in the room, who still had terror on her face. Quickly composing herself, she left the room, the terror now turning into fury... and ambition. As a businesswoman, Queen took risks, and she obtained great results every single time. That was evident by the risk she took involving Go Onizuka, for she sent him out without recuperation, and obtained Earth's data as a result.

If Queen succeeded in acquiring another Ignis, then the Kings will certainly overlook her disobedience, and she'll earn their favor once again.

As the CEO of SOL Technologies, that's something Queen will see to the end, no matter who stood in her way. Be it Akira, Go, Pawn, the higher-ups, or anyone else...

…She will succeed.

Green, wispy pieces of data are shown floating through the network as a bright light briefly covers the screen, multiple cards popping up one by one.

Yusaku is first shown walking to school before he morphs into his VRAINS Persona Playmaker. Takeru is also shown doing the same thing before he morphs into his VRAINS Persona Soulburner. Last but not least, Yuhiro and Arashi are shown doing the same thing before they morph into the VRAINS Personas Raguel and Slipstream. Ai, Flame, Aqua, and Herald pop up on the screen one by one afterwards.

A split screen then pops up, showing Aoi walking down the street on one side, while Emma scratches the back of her head on the other side, as if she were stressed out. The both of them then morph into their VRAINS Personas Blue Maiden and Ghost Girl. A second split screen pops up afterwards, showing Rachel on her tablet on one side, while Gekiryushi practices her swordsmanship on the other side with concentration. The both of them then morph into their VRAINS Personas Numera and SengokuQueen.

Soon after, a third split screen appears, showing a skinny Go Onizuka clutching his head in pain with his left hand, while Kengo Dojun puts a hand on his chin, as if thinking something over. The screen then cracks, showing a virtual network where Go closes his eyes and spreads out his hands with a smile, while Blood Shepherd aims his right hand at the screen. A fourth split screen appears, showing Akairo completing some schoolwork, while Brion is in his apartment, looking at a picture in his locket with narrowed eyes, which showed his family. The screen then cracks, showing Drachen with Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword in his hand, while Electrolyzer has PSY-Framegears Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta attached to his body.

The main tower LINK VRAINS is shown before the screen cracks in two, which reveals the main tower in Mirror LINK VRAINS. Lightning's faction is shown in the light, but then the screen is enveloped in darkness before depicting Azrael flaring out the Muramasa with Malf and Wraith on his sides.

Revolver, Specter, and Infearno are then shown on the screen, with Revolver on the left, Infearno in the center, and Specter on the right.

The screen changes to show multiple people at Green Park. First is Kusanagi and Roxy beside one another, with Akira speaking to Emma and Gekiryushi nearby. Next is Arashi crossing his arms, with Takeru is looking out at another area while Yusaku simply looks ahead of him, Aoi sitting down on the stairs nearby. Yuhiro is seen looking ahead of him with a stressed expression on his face, a silhouette of Miyu trying to comfort him. Rachel runs up to where Yuhiro is before standing next to him, with Naoki trying to wave his hand to the humans nearby. Herald is shown with Ai, Flame, and Aqua nearby the humans. Last but not least, Ryoken, Youta, and Emon are shown conversing in another area of Green Park.

The screen then shows a grey landscape, where Cyberse Clock Dragon, Salamangreat Heatleo, Cyreath Hercules/Alpha Mode, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, Borreload Savage Dragon, and Cyberse Quantum Dragon fly by one by one before disappearing. Last but not least, a network background appears, with a strand of rainbow data flowing around it before Raguel, Playmaker, Soulburner, and Slipstream appear, along with Ai, Flame, and Herald. All four humans draw a card from the top of their decks before a bright light covers the screen.

Card Gallery

Raguel:

Cyreath Periphas (LV: 4/Cyberse/Tuner/Wind/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1100)

Effect: You can target 1 'Cyreath' monster you control and declare a Level from 1 to 8; that monster's Level becomes the declared level until the End Phase. If this card is in your GY and you control no 'Cyreath' monsters: You can Special Summon this card from your GY to your field, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of 'Cyreath Periphas' once per turn.

Cyreath Grand Treasure (Normal Spell card)

Effect: When this card is activated: Draw 2 cards, then shuffle 2 cards in your hand into your deck. If you control a 'Cyreath' Link monster, you can draw 3 cards from the top of your deck, then send 1 'Cyreath' card from your deck to your GY. You can only activate 1 'Cyreath Grand Treasure' per turn.

Cyreath Excaliburst (Normal Spell card)

Effect: Target 1 'Cyreath' Link monster you control; send cards your opponent controls to their GY equal to that monster's Link rating. You can only activate 1 'Cyreath Excaliburst' per turn.

Cyreath Excalibur (Quick-Play Spell card)

Effect: Target 1 'Cyreath' monster on your field or in your GY; inflict damage to your opponent equal to its ATK. You can only activate 1 'Cyreath Excalibur' per turn.

Spear of Triam (Equip Spell card)

Effect: Equip only to a 'Cyreath' Link monster you control. If your opponent takes damage by battle or card effect: Increase the equipped monster's ATK equal to the damage your opponent took. While this card is on your field, your opponent cannot target monsters you control for attacks or effects, except the equipped monster.

Cyreath Dominion (Continuous-Trap card)

Effect: While this card is on your field, 'Cyreath' monsters you control are unaffected by your opponent's card effects. If you control a 'Cyreath' monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck and this card is in your GY, except the turn it was sent there: You can banish this card from your GY; all 'Cyreath' cards you control are unaffected by your opponent's card effects until the end of your next turn. You can only use each effect of 'Cyreath Dominion' once per turn.

Cyreath Crimson Soul (LR: 1/Cyberse/Fire/ATK: 1000/⬇️)

Effect: 1 'Cyreath' monster. If this card is sent to the GY as Link Material for the Link Summon of a Cyberse Link monster: You can activate this effect; the Link Monster that used this card as Link Material gains 1000 ATK, also, it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects until the End Phase. Once, if this card is in your GY and you control a 'Cyreath' monster: You can Special Summon this card from your GY to your field.

Cyreath Van Gogh (LR: 2/Cyberse/Earth/ATK: 1000/⬇️↘️)

Effect: 2 'Cyreath' monsters. When a 'Cyreath' monster is Special Summoned to a Main Monster Zone this card points to: You can add 1 'Cyreath' Tuner monster from your deck to your hand. If this card is used as Link Material for the Link Summon of a 'Cyreath' Link Monster: Draw 1 card from the top of your deck; also, gain 500 LP. You can only use each effect of 'Cyreath Van Gogh' once per turn.

Cyreath Achilles (LR: 3/Cyberse/Earth/ATK: 2400/⬅️⬇️↘️)

Effect: 2 or more 'Cyreath' monsters. If this card battles a monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, that monster loses 300 ATK for each 'Cyreath' monster in your GY until the end of the damage step. If this card would leave the field by battle or card effect: You can negate it. This effect can be used up to the number of 'Cyreath' Link Monsters used for this card's Link Summon.

Cyreath Aetos Dios (LV: 8/Cyberse/Wind/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2200)

Effect: 1 'Cyreath' Tuner monster + 1 or more non-Tuner 'Cyreath' monsters. This card can attack your opponent directly while a 'Cyreath' Link monster point to it, but any battle damage it inflicts is halved. When a 'Cyreath' monster you control inflicts battle damage, except this card: Place 1 'Pierce counter on a card on your opponent's field, or if a 'Cyreath' Link monster inflicts battle damage, place 'Pierce counters your opponent controls equal to that monster's Link rating. At the End Phase of the turn you activated this effect: You can remove all 'Pierce' counters from your opponent's cards on their field; send cards your opponent controls to their GY for each 'Pierce' counter removed by this effect. You can only use each effect of 'Cyreath Aetos Dios' once per turn.

Azrael:

Cychaic Formation (Normal Trap card)

Effect: When this card is activated: You can destroy 1 'Cychaic' card in your hand or on your field; this turn, all monsters on your field cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, also, any battle damage you would take this turn is reduced to zero. If this card is in your GY: You can banish this card from your GY; any damage you would take this turn is also inflicted to your opponent. You can only use each effect of 'Cychaic Formation' once per turn.

Cychaic Milonia (LR: 2/Cyberse/Earth/ATK: 2000/⬇️↘️)

Effect: 2 'Cychaic' monsters. You can destroy 1 'Cychaic' card in your hand or on your field; inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can target 1 'Cychaic' Link monster you control; banish cards from the top of your opponent's deck equal to its Link Rating, and if you do, inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each card banished by this effect. You can only use each effect of 'Cychaic Milonia' once per turn.

Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea (RNK: 4/Cyberse/Water/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500)

Effect: 2 Level 4 'Cychaic' monsters. You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; destroy 1 'Cychaic' card in your hand or on your field, and if you do, banish 1 card your opponent controls. If a 'Cychaic' Link monster you control was destroyed by this effect: You can banish cards from your opponent's hand, field, or GY equal to that monster's Link rating. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon 2 'Cychaic' monsters from your deck and/or GY with different names to your field in defense position. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to each of this card's effects. You can only use each effect of 'Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea' once per turn.

QOTC

If Yuhiro and Yukage interacted with OC's from other Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS fanfics, how do you think it would go down? In other words, what do you think would happen?

Chapter Preview

Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth. Chapter 79: Recuperation. Thanks to the combined effort of the FBI and SOL Technologies, as well as Yuhiro and his allies, the attacks in the real world by Ace's troops and the network have been stopped. Having resumed the search for Lightning's whereabouts in the network, Yuhiro and the others find traces of Earth, only for the group to be intercepted by Go Onizuka upon investigation. Meanwhile, Bohman summons Azrael and Wraith to his chambers, wanting to know more about Azrael's origins and goals, as well as about Project: VIII itself...

Author's Notes

And with that, another chapter is complete! That being said, I do hope you enjoyed the numerous parts and duels throughout the chapter. Considering how there's a lot going on, a quick recap is needed, don't you agree?

First up is the real world scenes, mainly, the Hanoi and SOL Technologies. Upon seeing the footage Ace showed in the previous chapter as 'Emon', the Hanoi are actually pissed off. While they immediately get to work in ensuring that some of their integrity can be saved, they realize one truth: It will forever be stained, and Emon won't be able to go out in public ever again as a result of Uchida Industries being framed for several things. I.e, taking hostages, launching the attack on the world, etc. And I will confirm something with all of you: The footage Ace showed was based off of his memory, where Azrael used his memory program to retrieve it.

As for SOL Technologies, it's basically Akira's reaction to everything that's going on. The poor man is stressed, and on the verge of breaking down. However, he's able to keep it together as he coordinates with the FBI in quelling the chaos down in the real world. This is even after the multiple explosions Ace set off in the previous chapter, along with the losses of Ragnarok, Deva, and Stregone. The best part being that the footage Ace showed has been decrypted, which Akira had his staff send to the authorities.

Now onto the first duel, which was Revolver vs a brainwashed Drachen. Here, Malf provides Revolver an opportunity to save Drachen's life, as well as prevent information on the Hanoi from being leaked to the world should he win. However, if Revolver loses, then Drachen dies, and the information on the Hanoi will be leaked to the public. And Revolver has to contend with a ticking time bomb too as well. For the duel, I wanted to show Revolver's hesitation in attacking, as he has strong monsters on his field such as Borreload Furious Dragon and Borreload Riot Dragon, yet refuses to attack because he doesn't want to harm Drachen, his childhood friend. On the topic of Borreload Furious Dragon and Borreload Riot Dragon, I had Revolver use both monsters because he's being forced to protect himself. Drachen, in turn, brings out Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon after failing to defeat Revolver with the One-Turn-Kill strategy that he used against most of the other Charisma duelists. Just when Revolver is at the verge of losing, Drachen encourages him to finish him off so he can be freed of being under Malf's control. Revolver, on the verge of tears, complies with Drachen's request, and uses Borreload Dragon's effect to take control of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and defeat Drachen with it.

Despite the fact that Revolver saved Drachen's life, as well as critical information on the Hanoi, Malf responds by blowing up Uchida Industries to the ground, thus destroying its operations for good. And to add insult to injury, Malf leaves Windy's message for Revolver and Specter to listen to, where Windy freely confesses that he killed Yua Kogami. Now she isn't dead, folks. Rather, she lost her consciousness data. But in Revolver's mind, the Ignis took away his mother, so he's more angry than he has ever been before. To sum it up, the Hanoi suffered major losses, and Revolver was forced to duel one of the people he cares about the most. All of this will certainly motivate Revolver into reaching out and forming an alliance with Playmaker and the others.

Now onto the Raguel vs Azrael duel. Both the sword fight and the actual duel itself. For the sword duel, I want to comment on a few things. First, Azrael has other weapons he can utilize other than the Muramasa, which are the Black Keys. How did he get them, you may ask? Well, that will be answered later on in the story. That gave Azrael a slight advantage in the sword duel, as he can throw the Black Keys in multiple directions and use them to distract the opponent before cutting them down. But Raguel's training in using Excalibur allowed him to fight back efficiently against Azrael. However, Azrael responded by utilizing martial arts moves, where he focused on explosive, short-range attacks to damage Raguel. I'll just say it now: Azrael utilized the Bajiquan martial art during the sword fight, and all Inquisitors use the martial art along with their other abilities as well. Upon being backed into a corner, Raguel, at Azrael's urging, decides to unleash his Link Trigger and undergo his Link Trigger form. Now for those of you who are confused, I had Raguel transform into his Link Trigger form just so that he can have a small taste of the power at his disposal. But even though Raguel had a small taste at the form, and was able to briefly contend with Azrael with it, Raguel's disadvantage is that he didn't have time to be accumulated fully to the form. Think of it like in Dragon Ball Z, where a character achieves a new form. If they're not able to train and use it correctly, they'll suffer massive drawbacks. An example being Goku during the Tournament of Power, where every time he used Ultra Instinct Sign, he lost stamina once it ran out. But when he used it several times, Goku was able to get more used to the form to the point where he was able to evolve it into Autonomous Ultra Instinct.

This is where Azrael decides that they should let their cards decide the factor, as in his words, the sword fight will end in his victory because of how Raguel didn't train in his Link Trigger form yet. On the topic of the second duel, Raguel actually did very well. He had cards to counter Azrael's strategies in the form of several cards. First, he Synchro Summoned Cyreath Aetos Dios, which allowed him to attack Azrael directly with it. Next, Raguel had cards that helped keep his field safe and secure, which were in the form of Spear of Triam and Cyreath Dominion. For those of you who are wondering, the Spear of Triam is from the movie Wrath of the Titans, which is Greek mythology. Last but not least, Raguel had a new Link monster in Cyreath Achilles, whose appearance is based off of him from Fate/Apocrypha.

On Azrael's side, he had a new Link monster, and even Xyz Summoned Cychaic Neptune, God of the Sea. Combined with Cychaic Blades and his other cards, Azrael was able to counter Raguel's strategies.

During the duel, each time either Raguel or Azrael took damage, the memory program Azrael installed would activate, showing Raguel a memory that Azrael had. As a result, it led to Raguel's memories being 'knitted' together. Azrael did this because he wanted to give Raguel back what the Lost Incident took from him, which was shattering his memories. This leads to Azrael revealing some crucial stuff to Raguel, which I'll cover in detail.

First up is the origin of their pendants, along with Excalibur and Muramasa. Azrael tells Raguel that their mother Lyla was an archaeologist, who uncovered the both of them during her work. She then brought it over to Ukyos, Myojin, and Arshad, where they proceeded to restore Excalibur and Muramasa to their former glory. What's more, they infused both swords with data material, which is how they gained their abilities. As for the pendants, Myojin and Lyla held onto them, where they gave it to Raguel and Azrael later on as kids.

Later on in the duel, Azrael talks about how he got the three pieces in the first place, as well as located them. As you guys wanted to know this for so long, it was only fitting for Azrael to talk about it this chapter. Basically, it took a while for Azrael to even get some information so he can got the search. But one day, he killed one of the scientists from the Lost Incident, where he got information on the piece's locations. What's more, Azrael revealed that Zero was responsible for splitting the data into three pieces in the first place. Zero's reasons for doing so will be revealed in a later chapter.

What's more, Azrael says that he knows who killed Miyu's parents and went after her. Raguel, however, reveals that he already knows who did it. Dr. Constantine Colmer, the same doctor who operated on Raguel and Azrael when they were babies, was responsible for the deed. I can confirm that Dr. Colmer will appear in Season 3, where more information will be revealed later on.

With the duel ending in a draw, Watchman then appears and traps Azrael in a barrier. Instead of simply breaking out, Azrael uses this time to basically mock Watchman for his inability to tell Raguel and the others about what was happening behind the scenes, as well as saying that if Watchman was at full power, he could have put a stop to all this a long time ago. Azrael even says that Watchman sealed his own powers away, which catches both Raguel and Herald off guard, as they realized that Watchman lied to them. Before leaving, Azrael throwed an EMP onto the ground as he escaped. This forced Raguel and Watchman to log out, knowing that they didn't have time to stop the timer. I'll say this now: Thanks to Azrael, the data in the dark vault had been deleted completely. I originally planned for Azrael to blow it up, but that'd be overkill.

Back in the real world, Roxy practically scolds Yuhiro for his actions, especially the fact that he sliced Ace's arm off. When Yuhiro tries to justify his actions, Roxy lays down the law by saying that actions have consequences, and it nearly made Yuhiro cross the line as a result. Now I'm just going to say it so that you can get it through your head: Roxy is angry with Yuhiro, and is hellbent on getting her message across to him. She reminds Yuhiro that every action will always have a consequence, no matter if it's good or bad. Roxy also tells Yuhiro that people will have to live with the consequences of their actions in life, meaning that he can't take back his choice, and will have to live with it for the rest of his life. No reassurance. No gentle compassion. Just straight up hard facts of life. Simple as that. Before the discussion ends, Yuhiro tells Roxy that he found out who killed Miyu's parents, the both of them deciding to deal with this later once Yukage and Lightning are stopped.

Finally is the scene at SOL Technologies, where the higher-ups meet with the Kings. Basically, it's them gathering together and discussing next steps in light of the attacks in the network and in the real world. And yes, Bishop and Knight officially appear in person in this chapter. Bishop's appearance is based off of that of Siebold from Pokemon XY, while Knight's appearance is based off of Wikstrom from Pokemon XY. Bishop's name is Kaido Shikyo, while Knight's name is Kishi Nobegane, and Rook's name is Miyama Garasu. The Kings then arrive, and Queen tells them of what happened as a result of the attacks. Hearing this, the Kings then assign the higher-ups to different assignments, with the overall objective being to address the delicate matter and restore SOL Technologies' operations. The Kings, under the advice of the higher-ups except for Queen, also announce that all projects will be halted until the situation has been dealt with. To ensure this message gets across, the Kings basically threaten death to anyone who doesn't comply with their orders, or outright disobeys them.

With the meeting done, Queen leaves the room, hellbent on getting the Kings' favor, even if it means going behind their back.

So with everything summed up, I want to thank all of you for reading Chapter 78 of Obscured Truth. As always, please let me know your thoughts about the chapters below in your reviews. Also, constructive criticism is appreciated, as your tips and advice helps make the story better. In addition, don't forget to favorite and follow the story. That way, you will get a notification once the next chapter is released.

What did you like the most about this chapter? The duels? The new and awesome information revealed in this chapter regarding Yuhiro and Yukage? The meeting at SOL Technologies? The Hanoi getting their just desserts? Or was it something else?

Before I go folks, I just want to point something out. Next chapter will be a dialogue-based chapter for a few reasons. First, anime events occur, and I see no point in putting in another duel when one is already going on. And for those of you who are concerned, I'll only be putting in the main highlights of the Playmaker vs Go Onizuka duel. Nothing more, nothing less. Second, there's important dialogue pieces I want to put in as the heroes are recovering. Third, I want to ensure that things are set up after next chapter.

There's also something else. We are almost at the third year anniversary of Obscured Truth, everybody! Hooray!

That's all for now, folks. See you next time!