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.

79. Chapter 79: Recuperation

Response to Reviews

Thank you to Kingdom Hearts Guy, HunterHQ, Guest, Portal, Unknown, Ambiguous, KingOtakuOverYou, Guest, Noobmaster, Cosmic Cat, Unnamed, Big Duels, Anonymous, T.V. 2000, Pikachu99, Malcolm, Guest, Guest, Soul Matter, Pancakes, and Mercy One for reviewing Chapter 78 of Obscured Truth.

Hi, everyone! As always, I hope you're doing well, and are safe and sound wherever you are in the world. But before I get to answering reviews, I have a special announcement. This chapter celebrates the third anniversary of Obscured Truth! Thank you to all of you for reading Obscured Truth, and keeping up with the story. I hope you look forward to what's coming next, for I certainly am. If you know anyone who would enjoy the story, I encourage you to recommend Obscured Truth to them, and make sure you tell them to favorite and follow so that they can be notified of when the new chapter comes out.

With that out of the way, let's get to answering reviews:

Kingdom Hearts Guy: Unless there's an exception, I usually use the anime effects for cards.

HunterHQ: Yeah, it's a tragedy for the Hanoi. Three of their allies have been put unconscious, and Uchida Industries has been leveled to the ground. Well, Revolver's angry with what Windy did, and in his mind, his mom had been dead. However, he hasn't had time to fully process it yet, and he'll think things logically once that's done. Well, an Azrael vs Revolver duel can happen, you never know. If enough people request it, then perhaps it may happen. Well, Revolver's thoughts on Azrael is that he's shocked on how a human wants to wipe humanity out. He sees it as betraying mankind itself. Yuhiro and Yukage still have their brotherly bond, and the former hasn't had time to fully process it yet. Stopping Yukage and Lightning comes first. Myojin actually got permission from SOL Technologies to build the dark vault, under the idea that it can be used as a backup to store data should there be the chance of losing it to hackers. Yeah, Yukage killed one of the two unnamed scientists from the Lost Incident, and only one remains. The Black Keys that Watchman and Azrael wield look like long and slender swords resembling that of rapiers with short hilts. Of course Yuhiro's angry that he couldn't get the data from the dark vault. It would have made things so much clearer. Thanks to Yukage, no one else can get the data, and any other data from other topics has been deleted. Of course Yukage's dangerous in every aspect, as he's not only a powerful duelist, he's also a master tactician as well. When creating Yukage, I wanted to create a character that people can relate to in a human aspect. Someone who has suffered, yet has been able to take that pain and mold it into his strength in his pursuit of his ideals. Far better than creating a character that has a broken OC deck, don't you agree? As for your answers to the QOTC, I do agree, and I encourage you to hold onto that answer for how Yuhiro would interact with Yasu, especially moving forward on what will happen to Yuhiro. Yes, Gil has Bitboot's deck and Judgment Arrows. No, there won't be people other than Yuhiro and the heroes witnessing the Go vs Playmaker duel. It's not needed for other characters to watch it. Because of what happened, the Charisma duelist bracket has been in shambles, and as such, they'll need to recount it so it can be accurate again. So no, Stregone isn't the Number 1 Charisma duelist. And yes, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and the Kings will duel.

Guest: Honestly, it'd be awesome for Fullcross and Azrael to interact and duel with one another. It'd be interesting if that were the case, right?

Portal: Link Trigger isn't like the Zexal morph, where they have the Shining Draw or Dark Draw. That's been already taken in Hidden Memories. Rather, Link Trigger enhances the physical and mental capacities of the user at the cost of their emotional capacities UNLESS they've trained and are accumulated to the form. As for whether it will have a Skill associated with it, you'll have to see. Do keep in mind that Yuhiro received a ton of training from Takeru in terms of martial arts, and also practiced using Excalibur thanks to him as well. Also, Yuhiro still has ways to keep up with Azrael despite the training he got. Besides, Yukage had an edge in using a weapon Yuhiro didn't expect him to use in the Black Keys. And the form is called Link Trigger.

Unknown: Yuhiro doesn't know that Uchida Industries has been destroyed. Akira did decrypt the message in time to reveal that Ace sent the message, not the Hanoi. And yes, Revolver was forced to reveal two trump cards, giving Yukage and Lightning a heads up on what Revolver can do. Brion, Chainslaver, and Sharpshot are alive. No, it was only logical for Yuhiro to get his memories back in the previous chapter. Dr. Constantine Colmer's reasons for killing Miyu's parents will be revealed in a different chapter. Zero's strength was what kept the higher-ups in line at the time.

Ambiguous: Unfortunately, the Hanoi won't be able to get accepted back into society like the ending of Season 3. Though they still care about humanity in general. Yuhiro may have the guts to actually share what he knows about himself to the Hanoi later on, believe it or not. Like Azrael said, he had to kill a lot of people to even get the search on the pieces started.

KingOtakuOverYou: Yukage's main motivation is to ensure he never dies again, as he's already died TWICE now. Well, Yuhiro would indeed have a bad experience with Bloody Talker, though Yukage would see great potential in him. If Yuhiro knew Yasu, then while things may be indifferent, it won't be for too long when the latter finds out critical information on the former. Yukage would see great potential in Yasu, and may perhaps train him so he can get revenge on Ouroboros, especially with the ideals he can pass on to the latter, and how only by embracing anger can he stand a chance. He may even rebuke Yasu on his ideals in the process. For Fullcross, he'd honestly have a challenge against Yuhiro and Yukage if he were to fight either of them. I don't know who Yukemi or Proxy are, and once upon a time, Yuhiro was a compulsive helper. Now, he's no longer one, especially with what's going on now.

Guest: Drachen is alive, and his family doesn't know that he's working with the Hanoi.

Noobmaster: Since the Hanoi wiped their identities off the database with the clean slate, bounties would only be put on their avatars. And even if they were captured, the authorities wouldn't be able to put their real life identities with their avatars because of the lack of information. The Bitboots and the grunts attacked Yuhiro and the others, so they were forced to defend themselves. There unfortunately is so much inequality in the world, which is part of Yukage's beliefs in survival of the fittest. Yuhiro knows that Yukage is the guy at Café Matsuo prior to their first duel. There was no personal dialogue between Herald and Wraith because of how I wanted to focus on Yuhiro and Yukage respectively.

Cosmic Cat: What did you expect me to do, huh? Kill Drachen? There's only so much I can do for a duel in a chapter. And Malf didn't control Drachen with secret code phrases. Malf controlled Drachen by putting a piece of himself inside the latter, allowing him to control Drachen like a puppet master. Raguel actually trained a lot so he can keep up with Azrael. He still has a gap to close, as he hasn't fully mastered his Link Trigger form yet. Not only that, Raguel was caught off guard by Azrael's additional abilities. This included his ability to wield the Black Keys, as well as his mastery in Bajiquan. That, along with the fact that Azrael was more accumulated to his Link Trigger, went to show how he would have defeated Raguel in the end. Then again, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the chapter. I do hope you enjoyed the information that was revealed in the chapter, and I appreciate the feedback..

Unnamed: OMG, I did not realize it until now. Thanks for the heads up. And Revolver didn't want to defeat Drachen, as the latter was the former's childhood friend. But Revolver had no choice. It was either defeat Drachen and rescue both his life and the info on the Hanoi, or lose his consciousness data, Drachen dies, and the Hanoi's secrets are forever exposed. And in the end, Azrael and Malf won by blowing up Uchida Industries. Aoi didn't make it official that she was retiring as a Charisma duelist. Due to everything that happened, SOL Technologies needs to reconfigure the brackets regarding the Top 10 Charisma duelists. Well, you'll see bits and pieces of what Ace had in his duel disk in the next few chapters, as I want the readers to want more over time.

Big Duels: That is amongst the nicest things anyone has ever said about Obscured Truth. Thank you so very much, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Well, yeah, Obscured Truth has its brutal moments, especially with so many deaths at the moment. Believe it or not, you are correct. The Shroobs from Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time served as inspiration for Malf's Darkscourge deck, along with the Black Arms from the Shadow the Hedgehog video game. Haru deserves to be an actual threat, as he was treated in the anime like cannon fodder, which was something I too was disappointed about. Credit goes to Donjusticia for providing advice and feedback on how to make Haru a better character than in the anime, so reach out to him and thank him if you have the time. As for your QOTC, you're right. Yuhiro and Yasu would get along and become allies in the future. Yeah, Yukage and Zahhak would respect one another as duelists for their strengths and the reason they fight. Well, you never know what will happen in the future, as I too would want to see Azrael and Zahhak duel in the future. You know who to reach out to if you want to see it so badly. In terms of your last comment, Azrael would only feel satisfaction in killing people who deserved it. Ex. criminals and scum. However, he'd feel a tinge of guilt for the deaths of innocents, but would remind himself that it's all towards his end goal. To put it simply, Azrael would see himself as a necessary evil. One who acts to prevent things from getting worse, even if innocents die in the process. And yes, I do see Jormungand recruiting Azrael, Wraith, and Malf to Ouroboros.

Anonymous: Due to the severity of the Tower of Hanoi, SOL Technologies didn't want to risk losing the Charisma duelists. Also, during the Another virus, some of the other Charisma duelists had other responsibilities to take care of. They have lives, after all. And no, the Rickety Raiders didn't help during the Hanoi, as they had responsibilities of their own. Ex. Leshawna and her family, Aithne and Eloise with their businesses, and Brea not being available due to other matters. Ace had a suicide bomb program already in his duel disk at the time, which was something neither Azrael nor Wraith anticipated. Then again, Lightning knew that Ace's usefulness would run out, and didn't bother saying anything. Plus, Azrael and Wraith knew the same thing, yet didn't expect Ace to kill himself. Perhaps you'll see more female Greek monsters for the Cyreath deck, as so far, you've seen Medusa, Atalanta, Circe, Stheno, and Euryale. The FBI has other cases of priority to work on, so they didn't have time to look into the Hanoi.

T.V. 2000: While Raguel was able to keep up with Azrael, he still has a long way to go, especially how Azrael was able to make Raguel enter into his Link Trigger form. Believe it or not, yes. Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry served as an inspiration for Link Trigger. I had wanted Achilles to appear for quite a while now, but the reason why I put him in Chapter 78 was to show how prepared Raguel was in his duel against Azrael. Let me know which Cyreath monster you want to see next in the story, and I'll ensure he or she appears in another of Raguel's coming duels. Yeah, Revolver's going through a lot right now, as he was forced to defeat his best friend just so the Hanoi can survive another day. Then again, the Hanoi did lose Uchida Industries, so it just wasn't their day. Yeah, I do agree with what you're saying. There'd be respect between Azrael and Zahhak, and Azrael would basically see Thaumiel as both an idiot and a crybaby who causes destruction for fun. Honestly, Azrael would hate Jester, especially with how secretive he can be. Merlin, on the other hand, is someone that Azrael would honestly respect.

Pikachu99: Not every villain needs to be a 'big bad boss' character. There's so many types of villains out there, and each one has a place in people's hearts because of how well they're shown. Azrael wanted to see how much stronger Raguel had gotten since their previous encounter, and also wanted to goad him into breaking his restraints. To put it simply, Azrael wants to see how strong someone can be before he basically destroys them. The fact that Azrael had experience in using Bajiquan, the use of the Black Keys, and being accumulated to Link Trigger were the advantages he had over Raguel, so don't worry. Raguel still has a long way to go. Name one OP card that appeared in this story that IS NOT Cyreath Providence. Because let me tell you: There are far worse OP cards out there, and if you don't believe me, look at the Cydemons from Hidden Memories. They are broken asf. So give me a break already.

Malcolm: You are aware that the lives of some characters in VRAINS have been ruined and/or tainted, right? Or are you referring to an OC character?

Guest: Arshad, Dairoku, Myojin, and Ukyos didn't know the information until Lyla showed the quartet. The swords were hidden so that no one unworthy would go and try to get them, and Gilgamesh was there to thwart off unworthy trespassers. Epsilon's operations are fine because they're now in the real world, so it's not affected in any way.

Guest: Yeah, it would have been epic, but then another of Revolver's secret weapons would have been revealed in the process.

Soul Matter: I would honestly advise you to keep up with Obscured Truth moving forward, as this way, you'll know what's going on.

Pancakes: Really? That's where you're going with this? The reason why I had Raguel enter into Link Trigger was to give everyone a taste of what he's capable of should he hone it further. Think of it like a sneak peek. Besides, Azrael has the upper hand due to his martial arts, the Black Keys, and the fact that he's been accumulated to Link Trigger. And no, Azrael doesn't have Cychaic Providence. The small skit you provided was a bit offensive, and I encourage you to think carefully before writing one next time.

Mercy One: You do not need to worry. I have been backing up my story for quite a while now, and have all the chapters on my OneDrive in the event something like that happens. And hey, should it happen, I get an opportunity to make the beginning of the story, as well as the rest better than before prior to posting it again.

With all reviews answered, let's go onward to the chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 79: Recuperation

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 Cyreaths Blazing Orthros, Aetos Dios, and Lernaean Hydra, 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 Cychaics Pluto, God of the Underworld, Jupiter, God of the Storm, and Neptune, God of the Sea, 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...

VROOM!

Roxy drove her van on the street, the raindrops hitting the windshield of her vehicle. Earlier, she got a call from Emma, asking for her help in finding Kengo in the real world so she can take him to the hospital. Knowing what it's like to feel powerless, Roxy immediately agreed to help, and Emma sent the former her location so they can meet up in getting the job done. Before that, however, Roxy dropped off Yuhiro at the Den City Hospital so he can talk with Miles and Gil there. It was likely that Yuhiro wanted to see Quinton, having heard that he was sent to the hospital along with the other Charisma duelists.

On the topic of the Den City Hospital, as a result of what happened, several patients had to be sent to other hospitals in Japan so that other patients can come in to get treatment. However, there were special exceptions based on the circumstances some of the patients had. And after Quinton was sent to the hospital, Gabriella volunteered to look after the kids in the shelter and in the orphanage. After all, someone had to, especially with both Quinton and Go unavailable for the time being.

When Gabriella asked if Roxy wanted to speak to Brea, Roxy ended up hesitating, mostly due to her fear that Brea would never forgive her after being abandoned by her. Gabriella, in response, practically snapped at Roxy, saying that there's only so much time one had in settling conflicts with one another. For one day, you'd forever lose the chance to do so should you not act on it. Roxy then hung up after listening to Gabriella's rant.

Eventually, Roxy made it to the location Emma sent her. 1381 Burton Avenue. There, Roxy found Emma waiting at the entrance to a building nearby as the former pulled up in the parking lot. Beside Roxy's van was Emma's motorcycle.

"Hey, I got your message." Roxy commented, as she put her rain jacket hood over her head. "Is this the place?"

"It took some research, but I was able to eventually find it. The place where Kengo lives." Emma answered, both woman looking up at the large building in front of them. Sure enough, this was where Kengo lived. In one of the apartments in the large building that Roxy and Emma stared at.

"Alright, let's do this." Roxy said, as both women went inside the apartment. They quickly ran over to where the receptionist was.

"If you're looking for an apartment to rent, I'm sorry to inform you, but-" the male receptionist began speaking, only for Emma to slam her fists onto the disk.

"Listen here, mister. My brother's fallen unconscious, and we're here to take him to the hospital!" Emma snapped at the male receptionist.

"H-H-How do you-?"

"My friend's dad contacted her right when her brother fell unconscious. Due to pressing circumstances, we came to pick him up ourselves." Roxy firmly answered.

"How do I know you two aren't-?" the male receptionist began speaking.

"PLEASE! I am begging you to give us the key to his apartment!" Emma pleaded. "He's my only sibling, and if I lose him, it'll break both my heart and my parents' hearts, and we're going through a very difficult time as it is. So please, if you have a heart, help us."

Realizing how serious the situation is, the male receptionist quickly went over to the key rack and grabbed a key before handing it to Emma and Roxy, which read 25930. "Okay. Safe travels, and all the best to your brother."

"Thank you," both Emma and Roxy responded, before running upstairs to the third floor. Soon, they found the door, and after opening it, entered inside. There, the both of them looked around the apartment, which didn't have the lights turned on, and the only light came from the large windows nearby.

At the far left end of the apartment, there was a desk with three digital monitors. And on the chair was...

"Kengo!" Emma cried out, as she ran over to the unconscious Kengo, Roxy following after her.

"We found him! Let's get out of here!" Roxy said, the two of them heading back downstairs with an unconscious Kengo in tow. Once they got outside, Roxy put Kengo in the back seat of her van before heading over to the driver's seat. "Are you going to be okay, Emma?"

"I have to be. Let's take him to the Den City Hospital, and hopefully, they take him in." Emma responded, as she put on her helmet.

"They will, Emma. They most certainly will." Roxy firmly assured Emma, before she got into the driver's seat. After starting up the van and motorcycle, Roxy and Emma drove out of the parking lot and turned onto the street, intent on bringing him to the Den City Hospital.

Elsewhere, at the Den City Hospital...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Yuhiro narrowed his eyes and frowned as he stared at Quinton on the hospital bed. A face covered with a respiratory mask, and an IV hooked up to his right arm. He hated what was going on right now. After the attacks in both the network and in the real world, numerous individuals were sent to the Den City hospital to be treated. Whether it was an innocent person, a criminal, or a person on duty, they arrived before being sorted as to who needed the most crucial treatment and who didn't. Some of the doctors even made comments of disgust upon seeing the wounds individuals suffered, as well as the fact that they had to treat criminals due to the Hippocratic oath they made. To make things worse, people related to the injured had swarmed the waiting room wanting to hear whether their loved ones will make it or not, and in all honesty, Yuhiro was lucky to go and visit Quinton.

On top of the hospital situation, there were numerous funerals going on for those that have died in the crossfire. For the criminals, the authorities basically decided to throw their bodies in the ocean, having realized that there was only so much graves available for the dead. To sum it all up, there was all of this death and sadness going on, and Yuhiro felt overwhelmed by it all. In all honesty, Yuhiro felt a bit of guilt, as if he and the others knew before they tracked Lightning at his base, they could have helped in defending the central station from the attack. Unfortunately, because of Lightning, they were trapped, and had to watch as he defeated Blood Shepherd in a duel before the latter lost his consciousness data.

That was another thing. The duelists who lost duels during the attack on the central station ended up losing their consciousness data. Apparently, ten Charisma duelists, along with Miles, Tsubaki, Gil, Rachel, and Gekiryushi were there to oppose the Bitboots and grunts. By the end, Gabriella, Miles, Gil, and Rachel were the only survivors of the battle.

"I'm so sorry, Quinton. If only I had been there sooner... If only had I been faster..." Yuhiro quietly muttered, guilt registered on his face.

"Hey, man. You did your best when you guys went to stop the mastermind of this attack." Miles assured Yuhiro, who was beside the latter. Apparently, Miles went with Yuhiro to visit Quinton so that the two of them can process what happened.

"No, Miles. My best is never enough. It never was, and it never will be." Yuhiro countered. "If I had only anticipated the attacks happening, I could have stopped it in time." He clenched his right fist as he looked at it. "I'm not supposed to be like this. I'm supposed to know better, I'm supposed to be better, I'm supposed to make everything better!"

"Yuhiro, don't go to that way of thinking." Miles firmly said, as he grabbed Yuhiro's left shoulder to get the latter's attention. "You're not God. You can't prevent things from happening. That's something I learned myself."

"That is true, Miles, but Yuhiro does make a point," a voice commented, as Miles and Yuhiro turned to see Gil walk over to Quinton's hospital bed. It turned out that Gil was there when Yuhiro and Miles went into Quinton's hospital room, and when Yuhiro asked what he was doing here, Gil responded that he was simply paying respects. "If Yuhiro and his buddies were there when the attack on the central station occurred, then the number of people that died could have been reduced."

"Give it a rest, Gil. Like I told you, Yuhiro and the others went to stop the mastermind of the attack. Had they succeeded, then all those AIs would have shut down." Miles reminded Gil. "It's like in Terminator, where when Skynet shut down, all those Terminators stopped working."

"Alright, alright, you make a good argument, Miles." Gil conceded, before he turned to Yuhiro. "Still, Yuhiro could have done more to at least mitigate the impact of those attacks."

Yuhiro frowned back. What Gil was saying was ultimately true. Had Yuhiro knew what was truly going on, he would have immediately rushed to help protect the central station in LINK VRAINS. Still, Miles made a good point in saying that he can't prevent things from happening that are already in motion. It was like trying to stop a tidal wave, or a natural disaster. You can't stop it fully.

"Say, were you able to beat Azrael, Yuhiro?" Miles asked, hope evident in his tone. Maybe Yuhiro was able to stop Azrael and avenge everyone who fell in battle.

Yuhiro, however, shook his head. "My duel with Azrael ended in a draw, and I managed to make him retreat, but not before he stole some of the data from the dark vault. What's more, he deleted the rest of it with an electromagnetic bomb as well."

Gil whistled after hearing this. "Well, I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I mean, on one hand, it'll make things harder for SOL Technologies now that it's gone. On the other, we don't get a chance at finding out what was inside. I, for one, always wanted to know what was in the dark vault, so a bit of a bummer for me." He turned to Yuhiro. "And that Azrael guy... that's the azure asshole's name, which is something you two know already, judging by what I just heard now. I found out a lot of other stuff on this guy, but I don't think it's a good idea to share it now, don't you agree?"

Yuhiro and Miles nodded their heads in agreement. It wasn't a good time for Gil to be sharing what he found out about Azrael. Rather, the three of them came to paid respects to a man who had made an impact on their lives. Well, in Yuhiro and Miles' case, anyway.

"I'm glad you're okay, Miles. Really, I'm grateful you made it out of there okay." Yuhiro commented, gratitude evident in his tone. "Not just you, but Gabriella as well."

Miles smiled back at Yuhiro. "Hey man, you don't have to worry. Gabriella and I will make sure the children in the orphanage and shelter don't lose hope. Though it'd be better if Go Onizuka were still with us..."

"You mean the former Charisma duelist who got an AI chip in his brain?" Gil inquired, which made Miles gasp. "Yeah, that guy is a douche."

"Go Onizuka doesn't have an AI chip in his brain! He'd never do something like that!" Miles protested.

"I hate to say it, but it's true, Miles." Yuhiro grimly confirmed, much to Miles' shock. "Go's obsession with defeating Playmaker led to him putting the AI chip in his brain, and his health deteriorated as a result."

"My God..." Miles muttered, having tried to process what he just heard. He had looked up to Go as someone who would protect LINK VRAINS so that the children didn't lose their smile. But then Go left the Charisma duelists to become a bounty hunter, which was something Miles obviously didn't approve of. Yet for Go to put an AI chip in his brain... how could he do such a thing?

"Reality can be cruel, huh, Miles? Goes to show that you don't meet your heroes, as what you want to happen is never what you expect it to be." Gil snidely said, which earned him a glare from Miles.

"This is not the time to be fighting amongst each other, Gil." Yuhiro warned Gil.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just being a realist, Yuhiro. Sheesh."

Yuhiro would have said more, but ended up noticing a doctor or two moving a hospital bed with Kengo on it to another room, Emma running with them. Roxy was also with her as well. "Hey, Roxy. You came here quickly."

Roxy stopped running and turned to Yuhiro upon hearing his voice. "Emma and I managed to get Kengo into the hospital. We even requested for them to bring him to the room next to the room his mom is in." She heard Emma call out to her. "I have to go. Make sure to visit Miyu when you have the chance." After Yuhiro nodded back, Roxy then ran to follow after Emma.

"Speaking of Miyu, let's go see your special lady." Gil suggested, as he gestured Yuhiro and Miles to follow him.

"Do you really have to say it like that?" Yuhiro embarrassedly pouted, having approached the entrance to Quinton's hospital room. Before he exited the room, he turned back to look at an unconscious Quinton. I'll make sure Azrael pays for hurting you, Quinton, Yuhiro swore in his mind, before he followed after Miles and Gil.

After a minute of walking, the trio found Miyu's room before walking inside, where they found Miyu resting on the hospital bed.

"So this is the special lady in your life." Gil commented once again, which made Yuhiro blush out of embarrassment while Miles chuckled loudly for Yuhiro to hear. "I have to say, she was dealt an unfair hand in life, especially with everything that happened to her. For what it's worth, I'm sorry not just for the fact that you're going through this pain, but for Miyu as well."

"Thanks, Gil. I really appreciate it." Yuhiro replied, which made Gil beam with joy. One moment, Gil was an innocent child, and the next, he was a ferocious demon. It was like he pulled a two face every chance he got.

"I can't believe Azrael did this to her. All so he can get your attention." Miles sadly said, which made Yuhiro nod in confirmation. Yuhiro was grateful that Miles was careful in how Azrael was mentioned, as neither of them wanted Gil to know the truth. At least not right now.

"Yeah, and it led to getting you guys hurt as well." Yuhiro added. "Sorry about that."

"Yuhiro, we would have been involved in this mess one way or another. So don't worry about it." Miles pointed out.

"He's right. I would have been involved as well, as I have a job, and people need to be alive if I'm to get clients." Gil added in support.

Yuhiro smiled at both of them, grateful that he had allies. He then turned to Miyu. "If you're listening, Miyu, I promise that I'll put an end to everything going on. This, I swear." As if on cue, Yuhiro's phone vibrated from his pocket, which he took out to look at it. Apparently, he got a text message from Arashi, telling him that he was walking back to Café Matsuo. He also mentioned that Rasterliger would accompany him on the way as well. When Arashi arrived with Yuhiro and Miles, he needed to sit down and process everything going on, as all the people at the hospital anxiously awaiting news of what happened to their loved ones reminded him of when Takeda was sent to the hospital back in Tokyo. The great thing was that despite being reminded of what happened, Arashi had the courage to go and be there for Yuhiro. At least for a little bit, anyway.

"I have to get going. I need to get something done." Yuhiro reached his right hand to Miles, who proceeded to shake it.

"Alright, man. You go do what you need to do. And like I said, Gabriella and I will make sure the children in the orphanage and shelter don't lose hope." Miles said.

"I'll throw in some money as well. It's the least I can do with everything that's happened." Gil stated as well.

"Thanks, guys." Yuhiro replied, before he began to walk out of Miyu's hospital room. But just before Yuhiro fully left the room, Gil spoke a word to him so quietly that only he can hear it, and no one else.

"Faker..."

That one word made Yuhiro widen his eyes upon processing it in his mind. A word that disturbed him to the core. What did Gil mean by Faker? Was he mocking his ideals? Was he imploring that what Yuhiro did was fake, which made him fake by extension? Or did Gil see something darker in Yuhiro, and wanted the latter to unleash it?

No. Yuhiro had no time in thinking about it right now. Not when there was so much else going on.

As Yuhiro entered inside the lobby, he looked around and saw multiple people, who were anxious on the status of their loved ones. In Yuhiro's mind, he swore to make Azrael and Lightning suffer for what they did to these innocent people who were caught in the crossfire, no matter what came to pass.

Meanwhile...

Raindrops fell on the ground as Arashi walked on the sidewalk, having worn a hoodie and carried an umbrella with him. Beside Arashi was Rasterliger, who wanted to make sure the former got home safely. He hated the feeling that was going through his mind right now. It was the same feeling Arashi experienced when he saw Takeda push him out of the way and get hit by the car instead. Along with recent events, it only made Arashi experience this feeling before.

This feeling of... being powerless. Arashi hated it more than ever before as a result of the attacks both in LINK VRAINS and in the real world. Lightning, Azrael, and Ace were to blame for all of this death and destruction, which was something that didn't need to happen at all. None of the people who were killed did nothing to anger neither Lightning, Azrael, nor Ace. Nothing. They were simply minding their own business... until they were caught in the crossfire of a horrific attack. If Arashi had known that Lightning would have trapped him and the others, he would have done something to ensure that didn't happen. If he had known that they were trapped, then he could have tried to erase it.

There were so many what ifs going through Arashi's head that it made him stressed out.

"You have not been yourself, Arashi." Rasterliger stated the obvious.

"Of course I'm not, RL. I'm trying to process this senseless attack, and how if I had known sooner about what was going on, I could have gone over and..." Arashi began speaking.

"Humans can't predict everything. There's only so much the human mind is capable of. What an animal's mind is capable of." Rasterliger gently interjected. "No one, whether it's a human, animal, or an AI, is God."

Arashi sighed. "I get what you mean, RL. I really do. It's just... I hate the feeling of being powerless, alright." He hissed at the 'powerless' part.

"Like I told Yuhiro, there are billions of humans on this planet. You can't save every single human being on this planet, nor can you predict events. It is impossible. I am sorry, but it's the truth." Rasterliger sadly said.

Arashi wiped a tear from his eye. He hated to admit it, but Rasterliger made an obvious point. No one can predict what can happen next. No one had perfect control of the situation and what was going on behind the scenes. Humans weren't God at all. "Again, I get it, RL. I get it. I just wish I didn't feel powerless, okay? Is that so wrong to wish for?!"

"You can only do so much in a situation, Arashi. That's something anyone has to accept." Rasterliger answered.

Before Arashi can respond, he and Rasterliger heard a loud scream, followed by another one as well. Having ran forward and looked around for a few seconds, he eventually determined where the scream was coming from. There, Arashi thought, as he and Rasterliger ran through a gate that led to a nature trail. "Hey, where are you? Are you okay?! Please respond back!" After hearing another scream and looking around, Arashi and Rasterliger made a few lefts before finding out where it came from.

On the lower level of the nature trail below Arashi and Rasterliger, the duo saw a young, slender and fit teenage girl who had tan skin, grey eyes, and grey hair styled as a bob cut on the ground, grasping her ankle in pain as blood fell from the cut on her forehead. She wore a uniform that resembled a modified karate Gi, which consisted of a cut-off white shirt with a black collar and some symbols on it resembling tigers. She also wore a pair of white shorts with orange and black details on it, a black and orange glove on her right hand, and white shoes. On her head was a black and orange hairband in her hair that resembled rabbit ears.

And walking towards the girl was a hungry bear.

"Ow, please! Someone help! Please!" Brea pleaded loudly, fear evident in her tone as the bear approached her.

"Oi, leave her alone!" Arashi told the bear, as he and Rasterliger ran down the ridge to get the bear's attention. While Arashi threw rocks and whatever else was around him at the bear, Rasterliger proceeded to tackle it with such force that it was sent back several feet. Before the bear could react, Rasterliger quickly moved with such speed that it tackled the bear once again before forcing it back several feet once again.

Arashi continued to throw rocks and whatever else was around him at the bear, which stunned the bear while Rasterliger continued to pounce around and hurt it more as it was forced back. Eventually, the bear was overwhelmed to the point where it ran away, not wanting to get involved any more.

"What did she do to you, huh?! She was minding her own business, and then you decide to attack her?! Not cool, man!" Arashi shouted at the bear, who was gone by now. After he composed himself, he went over to where Brea was, who was shocked at what just happened. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" Arashi offered a hand to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you so much." Brea replied, as she took it so Arashi can help her stand up. Unfortunately, she winced in pain upon doing so. "I think I sprained my ankle."

"Crap, that's not good." Arashi thought it over for a few seconds before an idea popped up in his mind. "Mind if I give you a piggyback ride?"

Brea's face turned red as she began to blush before shaking her head back and forth. "U-U-Uh, it's not needed at all. I can walk fine." She tried to prove it, only for her to nearly fall over.

"With an injury like that, I don't think it'd be a good idea." Arashi pointed out the obvious, which made Brea roll her eyes. "Come on. It'll be fine."

Brea sighed. As much as she hated the idea, she had no choice. "Alright, fine. But only because you make a logical point." After Brea stood behind Arashi, the latter helped the former onto his back before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Once that was done, Arashi then proceeded to carry Brea all the way out of the nature trail and back onto the sidewalk, Rasterliger following them. He then began carrying her back to Café Matsuo, unbeknownst to Brea.

"Thank you again for helping me out. Were you around the area by chance?"

"Yeah, I was just walking back home when I heard you scream." Arashi explained. "I needed to clear my head with everything going on."

"Me too." Brea agreed. "I went on a jog in the nature trail to clear my head, but unfortunately, I tripped and sprained my ankle, along with the cut on my head, of course." Something then crossed her mind. "I'm Brea Kuno. What's your name?"

"I'm Arashi Hada. Nice to meet you." Arashi introduced himself back.

"Arashi..." Brea repeated, before something clicked in her mind. "Hey, wait a minute! You're the guy who found my dog a while back!"

"Wait, you know about that?" Arashi's face turned red. Damn it, Gabriella. You had to tell her, he cursed in his mind.

"My godmother told me a few days ago. He ran away, and I searched high and low to find him. Then the next thing I knew, he was back in the house." Brea answered. "I'm guessing you were in the area when you found my dog?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I was going through some stuff at the time, and needed to walk it off." Arashi said.

Brea looked around the area. "Are you sure you're going the right way? If you like, I can help you get to my place."

"My place is closer, or at least, the place I'm crashing at for the time being. Besides, I don't want to risk that injury of yours to get worse." Arashi sighed. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to take you to Café Matsuo."

Brea gasped upon hearing this. "S-So you know Yuhiro and Roxy?"

"Well, yeah. Is that bad?" Before Arashi could continue speaking, he realized Brea was trying to get out of the piggyback ride.

"Put me down! Put me down!" Brea told him twice.

"Hey, at least let me get to the bus shelter first so we can get out of the rain!" Arashi replied back, as he ran to where it was. After going inside, he put Brea down on the bench inside. "What's wrong?"

"Are you aware of what Roxy and Yuhiro are doing, Arashi? Do you?" Brea asked.

"Uh, yes."

Hearing that answer made Brea widen her eyes out of surprise. "G-G-Good. Just making sure. A-A-Are you aware of what Roxy did to me?"

Arashi sat down on the bench beside Brea and sighed. "Truth be told, Roxy told me after a mission in Gamma during the Turf War."

Brea's mouth dropped for a few seconds upon hearing this. Is this guy Slipstream? The same guy who came to my aid is the idiot I encountered in the network, she wondered in her mind. "You may have heard it from Roxy, but that's from her perspective. She... she was like a mother to me. A mother! Do you know what it's like to be born into a scum of a family, and run away from them, having had enough of their cruelty and selfishness?! What it's like to finally find someone who you look up to like a leader, a mother even, and then get abandoned later on?!"

Arashi frowned and thought this over. He was no fool. He didn't know what it was like to be born into a family of criminals, and receive training that resulted in someone experiencing an emotional burden. Whereas Arashi went through the Lost Incident, Brea went through a different ordeal.

"If it wasn't for my godmother, I'd be all alone in the world. All alone! Do you know what it's like to be all alone, with no one left to trust?!" Brea began shaking, now on the verge of crying. "Because I've been abandoned, and it hurts! And now I've to forever live with the pain of knowing that people are just going to throw me aside when-!"

But before Brea could continue talking, Arashi placed his hand on her head before gently ruffling her hair, which made her gasp out of surprise.

"You don't... have to act tough all the time." Arashi gently began speaking, a small, genuine smile on his face that caught Brea off guard. "I... I've tried it, and all it does is hurt you from the inside out. But then you meet good people, and eventually, you can open up. Get all the bad stuff out. To be honest, I've found out some upsetting news myself recently, and it's been hard for me to determine what to do. What I did learn was that talking about it to people and getting their advice on it helps, don't you agree?"

Brea didn't know what to say next. Here she was, upset with everything that happened, yet Arashi was there, trying to comfort her. As a result, tears began to fall from Brea's eyes.

"Uh, are you crying?"

"N-N-No!" Brea immediately denied, wiping the tears away with her right forearm and looking away out of embarrassment. "I wasn't crying, Arashi! T-T-That was just some of the raindrops on my cheeks! Y-Y-Yes, that's what it was!"

Arashi let out a small chuckle, which made Brea blush upon hearing it.

"Hey, don't tease me!"

"Sorry, sorry. It was just funny." Arashi explained, causing Brea to pout back in response. "Want to know something, Brea? Roxy misses you more than you realize."

Brea gasped and turned to look at Arashi upon hearing that. "S-S-She misses me?"

"Of course. You were like a daughter to Roxy." Arashi confirmed, which made Brea widen her eyes out of surprise. Roxy thought of her like a daughter this entire time? "If there's one thing I learned, it's that you only have so much time to spend with people. I recommend you patch things up with Roxy before it's too late."

Before Brea can respond, she soon noticed Rasterliger put his head on her lap, having given her sad puppy dog eyes. Having seen this, Brea petted Rasterliger's fur.

"Trust me when I say this: It'll be okay." Arashi then gave a reassuring smile, as if to back up his point.

Brea honestly didn't know what to say back. She never met someone who was genuine and comforting before. Someone who was willing to listen and help however they can. In a sense, it reminded Brea of both Gabriella and Roxy.

Arashi stood up from the bench and quickly stretched. "We should get going. Something tells me it's only going to get worse out here." He then turned and offered Brea a hand so she can stand up.

"Alright, fine. I'll go with you. But if this doesn't work, then I'll pummel you to the ground!" Brea warned Arashi, the former's face having turned red.

She's so acting like a tsundere, Arashi humorously thought to himself, as he helped Brea up onto her back so he can give her a piggyback ride back to Café Matsuo. Whether it was mere luck, chance, or something else, Arashi was able to help a person in their time of need. And the fact that he succeeded in preventing someone from getting hurt...

...Made him happy beyond words.

And in the process, he even made a friend too in Brea.

Meanwhile, at Café Matsuo...

"These past few days were quite rough. I mean, first we lose Earth, then Ghost Girl's brother is gone, and after that, tons of people die!" Ai stated the obvious.

"Yes, that's quite the recap, Ai. Quite the recap." Flame said, before he turned to the screen. "What were your thoughts on Ghost Girl and Blood Shepherd being siblings?"

Back at Café Matsuo, Yuhiro shook his head. "While I didn't know, I was aware that there was some form of connection between the two."

Ai, Flame, Yusaku, Takeru, and Kusanagi were sitting in Café Nagi, while Yuhiro, Roxy, and Herald were in Café Matsuo, communicating through the video monitors.

"Of course it's been rough, Ai! We've been going through loss after loss lately, and it's time we get a win for once!" Roxy exclaimed, stress evident on her face.

"As for Blood Shepherd, if we had formed a truce with him, he could have been a powerful ally." Herald commented.

"But still, Blood Shepherd lost." Ai replied. "Which means that he and Ghost Girl may never see each other-."

Flame coughed, interrupting Ai. "Not the right time."

After putting two and two together, Ai then turned to Kusanagi, having realized he'd done something wrong.

"I'm sorry." Ai apologized to Kusanagi.

"I'm not mad at you, Ai." Kusanagi assured Ai. "I am, however, mad at Lightning."

"Don't worry, Kusanagi. You will see Jin again." Roxy stated. Kusanagi smiled and nodded at the video.

"In the duel, Lightning was prepared for every single one of Blood Shepherd's strategies, despite them impeding his progress." Yusaku said, getting the conversation back on track.

"It's a shame Blood Shepherd didn't have the profile we made on Lightning. It could have helped him more." Herald stated.

"But duelists, while retaining the main strategy of their decks, will make different plays so that they appear to be using a different tactic." Flame pointed out. "So even if Blood Shepherd had the profile, Lightning still would have adapted and utilized something else."

"So in a sense, Lightning was toying with Blood Shepherd." Takeru finished.

"Yes. The intellect of an AI is far different than that of a humans, but similar to a humans, it will develop over time." Flame stated.

"But regardless, Lightning's intellect is much faster than other AIs, including us." Herald said.

"It's not just Lightning's duel that's recently happened. The attacks in the real world and in the network also occurred as well." Yuhiro reminded everyone present. "Rachel told me that she and Gekiryushi logged into the network to help with the fight. Unfortunately, the latter lost in a duel, but whether it was against Azrael or Malf, I don't know."

"It's a good thing she was immediately sent to the hospital upon notice." Roxy commented.

"How exactly does that work?" Kusanagi questioned. "It's not like people who work at SOL Technologies have emergency trackers on hand."

"Unless it was in their duel disk." Yusaku hypothesized, before he typed on the digital keyboard. Soon, he found a webpage regarding employment in jobs in SOL Technologies online. "It says here that all of SOL Technologies' employees get access to an emergency accessory or program. One that activates should its user be rendered unconscious."

"So it's like an alert system." Takeru figured out, with Yusaku and Kusanagi nodding in confirmation. "I heard you had to pay a monthly fee or something like that to use them."

"Obviously, Takeru. But for SOL Technologies' employees, it must come with their benefits." Roxy countered.

"Rosetta lost against Ace, Ace blew himself up, Stregone lost against Azrael, only one Charisma duelist survived the battle, along with Miles, Gil, and Rachel." Yuhiro summed up. "I managed to confront Azrael in the dark vault, and I was close to defeating him, I really was. Unfortunately, he ended the duel in a draw before escaping with some data from the dark vault."

"And to spite us further, Azrael used an EMP to delete all the other data in the dark vault." Herald finished, which made the others frown.

"It's bad for us in the fact that we don't know what Azrael stolen, along with how the other data's been deleted." Kusanagi stated. "On the other hand, I wonder how SOL Technologies is going to deal with all of this."

"Who knows? I honestly couldn't care about SOL Technologies at his point." Yuhiro bitterly commented, which made Roxy frown after hearing that.

"Say, Yuhiro. Where's Arashi?" Takeru asked.

"He wanted to walk back to Café Matsuo, so I let him." Roxy answered, before Yuhiro spoke up. "Poor guy just wanted to be alone, especially in how he's trying to process what's happened. I mean, can you blame him? The recent events reminded him of when his cousin was sent to the hospital due to Windy trying to kill Arashi."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Roxy and Yuhiro turned their heads upon hearing a sound at the door.

"I'll go check. You keep talking with the others." Roxy told Yuhiro, the latter nodding before the former stood up from her seat and headed to the door, wondering who was there. When she opened the door, she put her hands to her mouth and gasped upon seeing Arashi carry Brea, who was nearly unconscious. "B-B-Brea..."

"R-Roxy..." Brea muttered back, before falling unconscious.

"I'm sorry, Roxy. I didn't know what else to do, and with everything else going on..." Arashi began speaking, before Roxy gestured for him to come inside, which he did, Rasterliger following after him.

"Just leave Brea with me." Roxy instructed firmly, as Arashi handed Brea over to her. "I'll take care of this. You go help Yuhiro and the others."

Nodding back in understanding, Arashi hung his hoodie to dry before going over to the backroom. After Rasterliger shook the water off his fur, he too followed after Arashi.

"What took you so long?" Yuhiro inquired, as Rasterliger went over him before sitting down on his left side.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you guys later." Arashi responded, causing Yuhiro to nod back in understanding. He then turned to the screen in front of him. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing much. We were just discussing recent events." Yusaku told Arashi.

"Say, Yuhiro. Were you able to find anything on the data from Ace's duel disk?" Takeru asked.

"Oh, yeah. I heard about that. What you did in the network was not cool, Yuhiro." Kusanagi scolded Yuhiro.

"I already received the talk from Roxy. I don't need to hear it from you." Yuhiro snapped back, before he realized what he said. "Sorry, Kusanagi. I didn't mean to say it so cruelly."

"With everyone on edge lately, I get it. Still..." Kusanagi narrowed his eyes. "There's a line when it comes to doing things. You need to be careful, Yuhiro, as an action you decide to do may end up crossing that line."

"Don't worry, Kusanagi. I'm aware of that." Yuhiro assured Kusanagi, causing the latter to breathe a sigh of relief. "And to answer your question, Takeru, I've only skimmed through the data. I didn't look through it fully yet, but I'll update you guys once I get some findings."

"That seems fair." Yusaku responded in understanding. When it came to data, one had to analyze it carefully before deciding what to do next. Otherwise, it can result in mistakes.

"Guys, I hate to interrupt, but I found something!" Kusanagi stated, which got everyone's attention as they looked at the monitors.

"You see that?" Takeru asked.

"Yeah. It looks like an Ignis algorithm." Yusaku observed on the monitors.

"Is it Lightning?" Yuhiro asked.

"No..." Kusanagi narrowed his eyes as he paid attention to what came up on the screen. "The Attribute is... Earth!"

"Earth?!" everyone gasped.

"Don't get my hopes up! Are you sure it isn't a glitch?" Ai questioned.

"Nope, it's not a glitch." Kusanagi confirmed.

"But if memory serves, SOL Technologies decompiled him." Ai reminded everyone present.

"They did decompile him, Ai." Arashi countered. "Like I told you before, you can't just simply grab a few pieces and rebuild the code, expecting it to look the same."

"But maybe he escaped." Flame hypothesized.

"For real?" Ai said excitedly, before putting his hands in the air. "Hooray! Hooray!"

"But we're not sure yet!" Flame reminded Ai, putting a stop to his cheering.

"There's still the possibility that it could be a trap." Yuhiro pointed out to everyone.

"That is true. It's something SOL Technologies would do, as evident by what a certain bounty hunter did to Takeru a while back." Herald agreed.

"Yeah, it's a possibility." Takeru concurred.

"Even if it is a trap, there's still the chance that Earth did escape." Yusaku stated. "And there's also the chance that Lightning may go after him."

"So should we investigate it or not?" Arashi inquired.

Yuhiro thought it over for a few moments before making a decision. "Truth is, I don't like it one bit. However, Yusaku is right. We don't gain anything from staying away. But if we do go and investigate, we might get something. And should it truly be a trap, then we have you to help us, Kusanagi."

"Leave it to me, guys! I'll make sure to save your asses if required!" Kusanagi assured the others present. "Though I'm not sure whether Roxy will be able to help or not. Whatever she saw at the door must have stressed her out."

"We'll update her once her personal business is done." Arashi said. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to interrupt Roxy right now."

"Then we know what to do, gang! Let's go check it out, and if needed, kick some asses!" Herald decided. After everyone at Café Nagi hung up on the screen, Yuhiro went into the closed-off space, while Arashi went upstairs to the living room in one of the couches.

"Deck Set! Into the VRAINS!"

In LINK VRAINS...

The four duelists rode their duel boards through the sky.

"You're pretty much on top of the coordinates, guys." Kusanagi told the quartet.

"Earth might be hiding in one of these floating islands." Soulburner guessed.

"Well then, let's split up and search each of them." Playmaker said.

"Uh guys, don't mean to interrupt, but something's coming!" Slipstream announced, which caused the others to look up.

"Yeah, something is indeed dropping out of the sky, and at a fast rate too." Ai said.

Herald narrowed his eyes. "I'm picking up a signal, and it's indeed the Earth attribute."

"It is you, Earth! I knew you were alive!" Ai cheered. "Come on, buddy. Give your old pal a-MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, EVERYBODY!"

Hearing that Ai changed his sentence midway caused the others to indeed dodge at what was coming. They soon saw a shadowed figure dive down before spinning his duel board around and stabilized it so he can face the group ahead of him.

Slipstream's eyes widened behind his mask. "That's..."

Raguel narrowed his eyes. "Go Onizuka."

"What a surprise to run into you here, Playmaker." Go commented deviously.

"Yes, Go. Quite the surprise." Playmaker agreed.

"What the Hell happened to him?" Soulburner whispered, his eyes widening in horror. Go was even skinnier than before, his eyes had sunken, and deep wrinkles had settled across his face.

"He looks even worse than before." Herald observed. "If the skinniness, sunken eyes, deep wrinkles, or deteriorated attitude aren't indicators, then I don't know what is."

"By having that AI chip in his brain, Go Onizuka's no longer the man we've once known." Flame said.

"Well, duh! That bastard's the one who took Earth and brought him to SOL Technologies!" Ai remarked.

"Hey Playmaker, it's time to end things for good." Go stated.

"Go, I'm telling you now. Stop this pointless quest for revenge, and check yourself into a hospital already." Raguel told Go. "Are you not even aware of what's going on with yourself? Not even what's going on right now in the world?"

Go frowned, having been reminded of what was going on. "Yeah, I'm aware one hundred percent, Raguel."

"Then are you aware that Stregone's in the hospital?"

That comment made Go gasp. Stregone's... in the hospital, Go realized. He didn't know that for sure. "You trying to play mind games with me, Raguel?"

"No, it's true! He fell in battle, and his best buddy refused to go visit him, all for pursuing a pointless quest in revenge." Raguel coldly reprimanded Go.

"Pointless? POINTLESS?!" Go repeated. "Ever since Playmaker showed up, everyone's attention went to him, especially after he defeated Revolver during the Tower of Hanoi events. Over time, the world forgot about me, as though I didn't exist. However, during the Turf War, I realized that the public began to notice me again..." He then turned to Playmaker, an angry expression on his face. "But then you and your little buddies got more credit in stopping the Turf War. Until I defeat you, I will never find peace, nor will I be able to move on in life!"

"Oh, fuck that obsession, Go!" Raguel countered, which shocked everyone. "Let me give you some breaking news. If any news or focus were to go onto you Go, you want to know what would happen? The whole world won't revere you. It will hate you for the rest of your days!"

Go gasped, now actually afraid upon hearing that. Would the world truly hate him for attacking one of its beloved heroes, especially with everything that was going on right now? No. Go wouldn't fall for such tricks! He finally had a chance to settle things with Playmaker, and no one would stand in his way! "While you may be on to something Raguel, I'm not going to be deterred by the unknown. I'm here to settle things with Playmaker once and for all!"

"Fine. I tried being civil, but you leave me no choice." Raguel was about to activate his duel disk, when Playmaker spoke up.

"But we don't need to be enemies any further, Go." Playmaker said. "We should be fighting alongside each other, just like we did during the Tower of Hanoi."

"This ally you're talking to brought Earth to SOL Technologies so they can decompile him." Ai reminded Playmaker. "Oh, wait. They already did!"

"I hear you, Ai. But just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn't mean they're lost forever. So I'm not going to give up on Go." Playmaker countered.

"Ain't that sweet. But like I told Raguel, I'm here to defeat you for good!" Go commented, which made Raguel nearly facepalm. How many times did Go say that today, even if it were in different phrases?

"Wow, way to get through to him, Playmaker." Ai sarcastically stated.

"Just give it time, Ai." Playmaker responded.

"But time's the one thing we don't have much of!"

"Your little buddy's right, Playmaker!" Go interrupted. "I'm through waiting around. So are we going to duel, or am I going to have to force you to accept my challenge?"

Playmaker frowned. Go was obviously being unreasonable right now, as evident by his selfish statements. The worse part was that there was no way Playmaker can get out of this duel as well. "If this is what you need, Go, then you and I will duel."

"Excellent! Cause that's exactly what I wanted to hear!" Go told Playmaker, as both duelists rode away from the others before riding parallel to one another.

"I can tell you want to duel Go." Herald figured out, having turned to Raguel.

"Only to teach him a lesson he won't forget." Raguel admitted.

"I may be no expert, but this is Playmaker's problem. It's between him and Go, and I think it'd be best to stay out of this one." Slipstream pointed out, which made Raguel sigh.

"Very well, but Playmaker better know what he's doing." Raguel conceded bitterly.

"Speed duel!" Playmaker and Go shouted in unison.

Go started the duel by Setting a monster in face-down defense position. Playmaker, in response, proceeded to summon three strong monsters back to back from his Main Deck before attacking Go's facedown monster with Storm Cipher.

Upon seeing this, Raguel had to fight the urge to reprimand Playmaker for such a careless move. That was the stupidest mistake I've ever seen you make, Playmaker, Raguel internally screamed in his mind. If Raguel were the one dueling Go, he would have fortified his field so that he was prepared for anything and everything Go would throw at him.

Go immediately activated the effect of Dinowrestler Martial Anga from his hand to protect his Set monster from being destroyed by battle, which was Dinowrestler Valeonyx. Not only that, Martial Anga's second effect ended the Battle Phase, much to Playmaker's displeasure. And to make things worse, Martial Anga's third effect allowed Go to Special Summon him back to his field.

After Raguel, Soulburner, and Slipstream jumped onto a nearby island so they can watch the duel from a safe distance, Blue Maiden arrived.

"Is that really Go?" Blue Maiden asked Soulburner.

"Yeah. Or whatever's actually left of him." Soulburner clarified. "I can't believe that's Go Onizuka. I used to admire him, as the hero who saved LINK VRAINS along with Playmaker and Raguel."

"But now he turned to the dark side, and look at what it did to his body as a result." Slipstream commented. "Has he not seen what happens when people turn to the dark side?"

"Playmaker will bring the Go we all know back from this dark phase of his life." Raguel assured everyone else present. If he actually plays some better moves moving forward, he thought in his mind, still angry with Playmaker's reckless thinking.

During Go's turn, he proceeded to use Martial Anga and Valeonyx to Link Summon Dinowrestler Terra Parkourio. Once that was done, Go then activated a card that would change the type of his monsters on his field until the End Phase, and it also allowed Go to Special Summon a monster whose level was the same as the targeted monster's. And after Go declared Cyberse, he Special Summoned Systegosaur before both adding and activating World Dino Wrestling to his field. But what happened next caught everyone's attention.

"I will now concentrate my circuit!" Go said, as a Link Portal appeared above him. "The summoning conditions are two Cyberse monsters." A blue orb soon appeared in Go's hand that went into the Link Portal. "I set the Link 2 Dinowrestler Terra Parkourio and Systegosaur into the Link Markers!" Terra Parkourio went into the left arrowhead, while Systegosaur went into the bottom arrowhead.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2! G Golem Crystal Heart!" A dark red heart made out of crystal with a purple gem at its center appeared on Go's field in the right Extra Monster Zone.

G Golem Crystal Heart ATK: 0 LINK-2 ⬅️⬇️

"GAAH!" Aqua screamed in pain, having clutched her chest. "No... How could you?"

"That's..." Flame began speaking.

"Crystal Heart!" both Ai and Herald finished at the same time.

When Ai demanded to know how Go got Crystal Heart, Go replied that there was no problem in him using it because he was Earth. As if to back up his answer, Go leaned forward and widened his left eye, which turned to the form of Earth in his eye form. And as the icing on the cake, Go told everyone that Earth was in the brain chip.

"No... Poor Earth..." Aqua muttered.

"Due to SOL Technologies, Earth really was-!" Flame said, before he put two and two together in his mind. "So the signal we followed here was Go Onizuka all along!"

"Damn you SOL Technologies!" Raguel cursed. I'll get you for this, he thought in his mind. He should have been the one to duel Go, for compared to Playmaker, he had the resolve to actually focus on the duel. Suddenly, red glowing cracks appeared on Raguel's right arm, which got everyone's attention.

"Yikes! What is that?!" Slipstream inquired out of shock, the others just as shocked as he was.

Taking some deep breaths, the red, glowing cracks on Raguel eventually dissipated. "It's nothing," he assured Slipstream.

"I don't think it was nothing, Raguel." Herald voiced his concern.

"I said it was nothing, okay?" Raguel snapped back. "I have it under control."

"Alright, alright. I hear you." Herald narrowed his eyes and thought over what just happened. It seemed that Raguel had reacted strongly to what he had just heard, and combined with everything else going on, his body must have responded to that stress in an abnormal way. Whatever it was, it wasn't good at all.

Back at the duel, Go managed to use Crystal Heart masterfully, as if he had the card for a long time. He not only brought out King T-Wrextle, but also solidified his field thanks to Valeonyx, World Dino Wrestling, and a Set card before attacking Playmaker's monster and dealing damage.

In response, Playmaker brought out numerous Link monsters one by one, starting with Linkuriboh. He tried to use Security Dragon's effect to bounce King T-Wrextle back to Go's Extra Deck, but Valeonyx's effect made King T-Wrextle unaffected by the card effects of Link 3 or lower monsters. As such, Playmaker Link Summoned Firewall Dragon, and just when it seemed he managed to get the upper hand, Go activated the Trap card Dino Deceit to negate its effect, as well as force Firewall Dragon to battle. Playmaker opted not to attack, and so Firewall Dragon was destroyed due to World Dino Wrestling's second effect.

With the way clear, Go proceeded to strengthen King T-Wrextle further, first by returning it back to his Extra Deck. After bringing back Terra Parkourio to his field, he used both him and Valeonyx to Link Summon King T-Wrextle right back to his field once again. Once Go brought Valeonyx back to his field from his Graveyard, he then had King T-Wrextle attack Linkuriboh, but thanks to Cross Debug's effect, Playmaker barely survived.

Playmaker responded by activating Neo Storm Access on his turn, which made Raguel internally scream in his mind once again. Was Playmaker not aware of Go's Anti-Skill? Luckily, Playmaker was, and proceeded to use Draw Discharge's effect to make Go take damage equal to the total attack points of any monsters he drew. Unfortunately, Go countered that move with the Counter-Trap card Dino Sense, not only banishing Draw Discharge, but inflicting 900 points of damage to Playmaker, which sent him falling to the ground.

"Playmaker!" Soulburner cried out, as he, Blue Maiden, Raguel, and Slipstream jumped onto their duel boards before following after him and landing on the ground. Luckily, Playmaker was uninjured.

"Hahaha. Maybe your silly moves would have worked on me a long time ago, but now I'm smart enough to know that you'd try to counter my Anti-Skill!" Go boasted.

"Go completely shut down all of Playmaker's strategies." Flame observed.

"Poor Playmaker..." Blue Maiden muttered.

"I hate to say it, but Playmaker's going to lose." Soulburner realized.

"If it weren't for that wretched AI chip, then Playmaker would have had a far better chance." Raguel commented. And if Playmaker made more strategic moves at the beginning instead of summoning three monsters with high attack points, he wouldn't be in this mess right now, he angrily thought in his mind.

"This sucks..." Slipstream said, the others obviously agreeing with his comment.

"It does." Herald voiced his agreement.

"I concur." Aqua added.

But just when all hope was lost, Ai revealed a secret ace in the hole regarding Neo Storm Access. It turned out that it had a second ability where should Playmaker fail to get a Cyberse monster from the data storm, it allowed him to not only add a Cyberse monster from the data storm to his Extra Deck, but draw a card as well.

With that, Playmaker proceeded to summon Firewall Guardian before using it and Linkuriboh to Link Summon Clock Lizard. He then brought Firewall Guardian back to his field with its effect before Special Summoning Grid Sweeper.

"I overlay the Level 4 Firewall Guardian with the Level 4 Grid Sweeper!" Playmaker declared, as he swung his duel disk around and sent a bolt of blue lightning to the sky behind him. Withing seconds, it struck, creating the Xyz Cross. "With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network!" Firewall Guardian and Grid Sweeper then turned into particles that went into the cross, which caused it to release a burst of particles.

"The boundary of order and chaos that annihilates everything! Break down, and manifest as the dragon's fangs of devastation!" Playmaker chanted. "Xyz Summon! Come forth, Rank 4! Firewall eXceed Dragon!" A massive blue, purple, and white mechanical dragon that had armor on its chest, legs and arms appeared on Playmaker's field in the Main Monster Zone Clock Lizard pointed to. Attached to its head was a cross that had two prongs pointing upwards, and two prongs pointing downwards. As for its wings, they consisted of a total of four prongs, two on each side, Blue electricity then appeared between the prongs, which formed into blazing wings.

Firewall eXceed Dragon ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000 RNK: 4 OU: 2

Playmaker then proceeded to use eXceed Dragon's effect to Special Summon Firewall Dragon back to his field, and also revealed that eXceed Dragon gained 500 attack points times the total Link rating of the Link monsters that pointed to it. He then attempted to activate Firewall Dragon's effect, only for Go to return Valeonyx back to his hand with Dino Domain's effect to protect King T-Wrextle. In response, Playmaker banished Grid Sweeper and Clock Lizard to destroy World Dino Wrestling.

Realizing what may happen next, Go immediately activated King T-Wrextle's effect and targeted Firewall Dragon, saying that it must attack first before any other monster on Playmaker's field was allowed to attack. Much to everyone's surprise, Playmaker had Firewall Dragon attack King T-Wrextle, and surprised everyone further upon activating Firewall Guardian's effect from his Graveyard. Not only did it negate the attack, it also reduced King T-Wrextle's attack points to zero and made him unaffected by card effects until the End Phase.

"This duel is over, Go!" Playmaker declared, as he thrusted out his right hand. "The battle continues! Firewall eXceed Dragon attacks Dinowrestler King T-Wrextle! Rising Crypt Burst!" Blue energy gathered around eXceed Dragon as it shot out energy in the form of an X, which hit King T-Wrextle and turned him into particles before sending Go flying off of his duel board.

Go Onizuka: 4000 – 4500 = 0

As Go flew through the sky, his eyes wide, images flew through his mind. Him getting into fights as a kid, his first time in LINK VRAINS, his duels with Playmaker and Raguel, Dark Onizuka, leaving for the Tower, losing to Revolver, continuously chasing after Playmaker...

Meeting Stregone, dueling with him, laughing with him and the kids... so many good memories flew through Go's mind.

Tears welled in Go's eyes as he fell to the ground, having realized that his selfish quest had turned him into a hollow version of himself.

"What... have I done? My selfish quest made me lose... everything!"

And with that, Go fell through a tree before landing on an island of grass, trees, and waterfalls.

"Hurry!" Playmaker said, as the others followed after Go before landing on the island he was on.

"I'm taking back Earth's data!" Ai furiously declared, as he bit down onto Go's duel disk. He began consuming data, but Go's eyes suddenly opened and glowed red. Within seconds, red tendrils shot out of Go's body and formed a cage around Playmaker and Ai, which made the latter scream out of shock as Go's unconscious body appeared at the cage's top. "What is this?!"

WHOOSH!

Before anyone can act, a purple arm in the shape of a spear pierced Go in the chest, which proceeded to pull out his heart as he was forced to log out into the network. Much to everyone's shock, they saw Malf on his duel board, who ate the heart in his hand as he let out a loud shout. Soon, a purple glow surrounded Malf, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

"Great! Just great! Not Malf of all people!" Herald exclaimed, as Raguel grit his teeth. Did Azrael send Malf to get Go after he lost the duel? Or was he sent to take the loser's heart?

When the light died down, it showed Malf in his new form, having grown taller and muscular. His body now sported spiked crimson armor, and his hair now consisted of spiked, purple tentacles on his head. In addition, he grew a tail as well.

Malf, upon looking at his body, let out a triumphant laugh. "Excellent! I'm stronger than I ever was before!"

"You wretch! I thought you had to use your Skill to take someone's heart!" Raguel exclaimed.

"While that's true, I merely capitalized on an opportunity to take a strong duelist's heart." Malf explained, before he frowned. "I would have achieved this Perfect form upon defeating SengokuQueen earlier if it weren't for Ace's betrayal."

Raguel narrowed his eyes. I guess Ace did something right for once, he thought in his mind. To think that Ace's betrayal would delay Malf's evolution like that. Still, it was only but a small delay, as Malf now reached his Perfect form.

"But that's no excuse for you to injure Go like that!" Playmaker pointed out to Malf, before he laughed.

"If it weren't for me, you would have been destroyed by SOL Technologies' little program!" Malf countered, before he suddenly teleported behind Playmaker and kicked him with such strength that the latter was sent flying off the island.

"Playmaker!" Blue Maiden cried out, jumping on her duel board and quickly using her energy whip as a rope so Playmaker can grab onto it. "I got you!"

"You bastard!" Raguel cried out, having summoned Excalibur to immediately attack Malf. However, the latter immediately contorted his body to avoid the sword slash. Slipstream threw two shurikens at Malf, while Soulburner fired a few arrows from the bow that materialized in his hand.

Malf, upon seeing this, grabbed a few of the arrows and spun around so he can destroy the shurikens. He then jumped back onto his duel board behind him.

"To think that the mighty Go fell just so he can get revenge, and gave up everything to do so." Malf said, having mocked Go, much to the fury of the others present. "If you want him and the other fallen individuals back, know that killing me won't do it!"

"So we have to beat you in a duel, is that it?!" Soulburner exclaimed, having readied his duel disk.

"You'll get your chance later on, Soulburner. Until we meet again!" Malf replied, before a purple portal appeared behind him, which he went into before it closed up.

Raguel gritted his teeth. He wanted to slice Malf and tear him apart not only for what he did to Go, but for all the people he injured as well. However, Malf was right. The only way to restore the fallen was for someone to defeat him in a duel. If Raguel had indeed cut him down with Excalibur, then any chance of restoring the victims would be reduced to zero.

"You alright, Playmaker?" Slipstream asked, as Playmaker and Blue Maiden jumped back onto the island from their duel boards.

"Yeah. Just a little stunned, that's all." Playmaker assured Slipstream, before he turned to Blue Maiden and handed her a card. "Here."

"That's…. Crystal Heart!" Blue Maiden said, having recognized the card in her hands.

"It was the only thing I got from the data I obtained from Go." Ai explained to the others, before anyone asked questions. "We figured it's better in your hands than anyone else's, and I'm one hundred percent sure that's something Earth would have wanted."

"Thank you, Ai." Aqua stated out of gratitude.

"This should bring some comfort to Earth, wherever he is." Flame commented.

"Indeed. Rest his Soul." Herald agreed.

"Speaking of someone without any comfort, I wonder is Go is okay." Blue Maiden said.

"Yeah, I feel bad for Go. Even though he fell to the dark side, he was still once a hero." Soulburner agreed.

"It's likely that Akira sent Go to the hospital." Raguel hypothesized, hope evident in his tone.

"A shame on what happened. We could have used another ally." Slipstream admitted, having crossed his arms.

"Regardless, we need to end this war so that no one else suffers the same fate." Playmaker stated, the others nodding in agreement. Knowing there was nothing else the group can do for the time being, they all logged out of the network.

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

"How could you, Zaizen?!" Queen furiously exclaimed, having gritted her teeth upon seeing what Akira just did. Just when Queen was going to get another Ignis, Zaizen swooped in and forcibly logged Go out barely in time. To make things worse, footage showed Go being pierced in the heart by Malf, and while that was something Queen didn't care about, the public would have a different opinion on the matter.

"The physical and mental health of the bounty hunters is my responsibility. Thus, I'm acting in accordance to that." Akira reminded Queen, a glare evident on his face.

"You'll regret your actions just now, Zaizen!" Queen exclaimed, having stood up from her desk. She knew what to do as a result of Akira's rebellion...

...But before Queen could do or say anything else, security troops burst into Queen's office and restrained Queen's movements, shock evident on her face.

"W-W-What's going on?!" Panic appeared on Queen's face, shocked at what was going on. "Get your hands off me!"

"Did I not warn you that SOL Technologies had to comply with a list of ethical codes and guidelines, one of which is reducing the potential harm or injury of participants?" a familiar voice reminded Queen, as its owner, Pawn, entered into her office, much to her horror. "And did the Kings not say that all projects were to be shut down until current matters have been settled, Ohi?"

"You! Order security to get their hands off of me!" Queen ordered at Pawn, the latter shaking his head back in response.

"No, I think not. I knew you'd pull something like this, which is why the Kings gave me authority to shut the AI chip project down should such a thing occur." Pawn disgustedly revealed, which made Queen gasp out of shock. "And with the information Zaizen forwarded me, let's just say you're in hot water now, as I've forwarded all of this to the Kings."

"When did-?" It then hit Queen. Akira must have passed the information on what was going on at some point during the duel between Go and Playmaker! "Damn you, Hyodo..."

"Nothing goes unnoticed in SOL Technologies, Ohi. You of all people should know that." Pawn reminded Queen, before turning to the security troops and nodding at them.

"Damn you, Hyodo! Damn you!" Queen repeated over and over again, as the security troops began dragging her out of her office. An idea then popped into her mind as she turned to Akira. "Zaizen! Help me get out of this mess! If you don't, your sister will pay the price!"

"Threatening the life of an employee's sibling, Ohi? No point in making threats, as it'll only add to the repercussions you'll face later on for your foolish actions." Pawn warned Queen, before turning to the security troops. "Get her out of my sight."

"Yes sir!" one of the security troops complied, before hitting Queen in the stomach with the butt of his rifle, which made her wince in pain as the other security troops dragged her out of her office and down the hallway to a different part of the company.

Pawn then turned to Akira, the latter surprised with what happened. "What are you standing around for, Zaizen? Take Go to the hospital right now! After that, you and your staff have the rest of the day off."

The staff members cheered upon hearing that, as Akira nodded back to Pawn in compliance, a grateful smile on the former's face. "I will immediately get onto that, sir." He then turned to one of the staff members and had them call an ambulance immediately.

Pawn then left Queen's office, the disgusted and angry look still on his face. How could Queen do something like this, especially during the delicate situation that was going on right now? Regardless, what Queen did not only disobey the King's orders, but put the entire company in hotter water than ever before.

To put it simply, SOL Technologies was in a far worse situation because of what happened.

Pawn's phone then vibrated in his pocket, causing him to take it out and answer the call upon seeing who was calling him. "I'm here, Bishop."

"There will be an emergency meeting within a few hours, as the Kings are busy with a different matter at the moment." Bishop informed Pawn.

"Thanks for the heads up. Security will restrain Queen until then. Let me know if you and Knight need anything else."

"Understood. See you then."

Pawn then put his phone back in his pocket, having saw that the call ended. You've just lost your life for your foolish actions, Ohi, he thought in his mind. Oh well. It looked like a new person would be given the role of Queen as a result of what just occurred.

After all, it was only a matter of time that someone would disobey the King's orders, and thus, an example would need to be made so that everyone wouldn't follow in the traitor's footsteps.

That was how it was back then, and it seemed the principle would apply in today's age as well.

Meanwhile, at Café Matsuo...

Roxy was on the chair beside her bed, having let out a sad sigh in the process. While Yuhiro and Arashi went into the network, she tended to Brea's wounds, who was on the bed in front of her. It consisted of a sprained ankle and a cut on her forehead resembling that of a gash. Roxy did not expect Arashi to bring Brea back to Café Matsuo with him, and she immediately took action upon seeing the person she saw as a daughter fall unconscious. The last thing Roxy needed was to lose Brea, especially not at a time like this.

"Come on, Brea. Please wake up..." Roxy muttered, having grasped Brea's hand with hers. To help with the healing, Roxy injected a healing stim in Brea, which would help with the gash on her forehead, along with the sprained ankle. That didn't mean it was back to normal within several seconds. The person needed to recuperate, or put it in simple terms, take it easy so recovery can fully be utilized.

In a few moments, Brea slowly regained awareness before slowly getting up, causing Roxy to hug her tightly out of joy upon seeing this. "R-R-Roxy?"

"You're okay! You're okay! You're okay!" Roxy said over and over again.

"Am I at Café Matsuo?" Brea inquired, wanting to make sure of her surroundings.

"Yeah. I patched you up while Yuhiro and Arashi went into the network." Roxy explained, as she let go of Brea and sat back down on her chair. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"Feeling? FEELING?!" Brea repeated, having shuffled away from Roxy, much to the latter's surprise. "You abandoned me! Are you not aware of that?!"

"Brea..."

"No. I don't need to hear excuses! You abandoned me, Roxy! Abandoned me!" Brea brought her knees to her chest as she began shaking out of sadness. "It hurt more than I could ever imagine when I found out. Y-Y-You were like a mother to me..."

Roxy let out a sad sigh as she stood up from her chair before sitting on the bed. "You were always in my thoughts, Brea."

That comment led Brea to look up at Roxy. "I was?"

"Y-Y-Yeah, you were." Roxy confirmed, tears coming from her eyes as she turned her head to face Brea. "I had wanted to reach out to you for so long, but I was afraid that you'd never forgive me for what happened. Back then, I was so preoccupied with taking care of Miyu and making sure Yuhiro was fully adopted and used to things that I realized I didn't have the time to reach out, no matter how much I wanted to. But know that you never left my thoughts."

Brea's mouth slightly dropped after hearing Roxy's explanation. Roxy taught Brea how to discern truth and lies, and from what she was hearing, it was clear that Roxy was not lying. But she couldn't take that chance, as she was afraid of being abandoned again. "No. I can't believe that, even if I wanted to. If I did, I'd risk getting hurt again, and I don't-."

But before Brea could continue speaking, Roxy moved beside her and quickly pulled her into a hug. Brea gasped upon realizing what was going on.

"I can't change the past, but I can make things right. I am so sorry for what happened, Brea. I really am." Roxy stated, tears now forming in her eyes as she tightened the hug. "Can you forgive your leader for her mistakes?"

"..." Brea didn't know what to say, having processed what just occurred. What she was aware of, however, were the tears forming in her eyes. Here, Roxy was trying to make things right in a genuine manner. "Y-Y-Yeah, I forgive you. And I'm sorry for holding a grudge for so long."

The two of them then hugged each other, letting the sadness out and finally burying the hatchet on the matter at last. Besides, Arashi did have a point. Brea only had so much time to spend with the people she cared about, as well as only so much time to clear things up. Otherwise, there'd come a day where you want to resolve a matter, and the person you want to reconcile with was no matter there.

"Say, Roxy," Brea said, as Roxy let her go, "Arashi mentioned that you saw me as a daughter. Is that true?"

In response, Roxy put a hand on Brea's head and gently ruffled her hair. "Of course. You're like a daughter to me. If anything happened to you or the people I cared about, I'd go all mama bear on the person responsible."

Brea, in response, giggled. "Of course you would. After all, you're like a protector. Someone who-."

WHOOSH!

The door opened as Rasterliger entered into the room and tackled Brea onto the bed, much to both her and Roxy's surprise as he licked her face.

"Hey! You're such a cute dog, aren't you?" Brea commented, having ruffled Rasterliger's fur.

"RL, what are you doing?" Yuhiro called out to Rasterliger, as he and Arashi entered into Roxy's room, having seen what was going on. "B-Brea? What are you-?" He turned to Arashi. "Oh. Now I get it."

"I was going to tell you, but you said for me to do it later." Arashi reminded Yuhiro, which made the latter roll his eyes.

"Good to see you as well, Yuhiro." Brea said, having gotten Rasterliger off her as she got up from the bed. "Say, what was going on while Roxy was patching up my wounds?"

"Oh yeah, how'd it go in the network?" Roxy pipped in, only for Yuhiro to sadly sigh.

"Earth's gone. Turns out SOL Technologies put him in Go's AI chip." Yuhiro answered, which made Roxy gasp, while Brea raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"But Playmaker whooped Go's ass..." Arashi said, a frown appearing on his face. "Only for Malf to take his heart. It's likely Akira took him to the hospital."

"Dear God..." Roxy muttered, shock evident on her face. To think that SOL Technologies would put Earth in Go's AI chip... how could they do that to someone? And as a result, Go was severely injured both physically and mentally.

"Go Onizuka? AI chip? Earth? Malf?" Brea repeated each one. "What's going on, guys? What's happening to the world these days?"

Yuhiro, Arashi, and Roxy shared a glance. The three of them debated silently for a while and nodded back before turning to Brea.

"We'll explain everything. It's only fair to keep all allies informed, after all." Yuhiro promised Brea, before he gestured her and Roxy to follow him and Arashi to the living room. Roxy helped Brea stand on her feet, but when it became clear that Brea had trouble standing up due to her sprained ankle, Roxy helped her walk downstairs to the living room, Rasterliger following after the others.

There, Yuhiro and Arashi sat down on one couch, while Roxy and Brea sat on the other. Rasterliger jumped onto the couch where Brea was so he can comfort her.

"Pay close attention, Brea. Because what I'm about to tell you is going to be a lot for you to take in..."

Elsewhere, in the network, at Lightning's palace….

A portal opened inside Lightning's palace, where Malf stepped out of it before entering inside. Within seconds, the portal closed behind him as Lightning and Jin entered into the room, Azrael following after him.

"Welcome back, Malf." Lightning greeted Malf. "And it seems you've evolved as well. Was your mission a success?"

"It was, and now Earth's data is in our possession!" Malf triumphantly confirmed, a grin on his face.

Azrael walked over to where Malf was. Looking at the latter, Azrael couldn't help but be proud of how much stronger Malf became. A strong and powerful servant, indeed. "We'll only know once we have the AI chip. Show it to us."

Nodding back in compliance, Malf spat out the AI chip from his mouth, which fell onto Azrael's hand. Azrael frowned as he thoroughly looked at the AI chip.

"Do you detect any of Earth's remains in the chip, Wraith?" Azrael asked Wraith.

"No. There's none left!" Wraith realized, a surprised look on his face. Upon hearing that statement, Lightning went over and looked at the AI chip, having wanted to see if there truly was nothing left of Earth inside.

"Strange. There should be traces of Earth's data inside…." Lightning muttered. "SOL Technologies did put him inside Go Onizuka's AI chip, did they not?"

"Of course they did, Lightning!" Wraith responded. "Unless…" His eyes widened upon putting two and two together. He pressed the palm of his right hand, which caused a screen to pop up that showed Ai biting down onto Go's duel disk. Several seconds later, it showed Playmaker giving Crystal Heart to Blue Maiden and Aqua. "Ai, you clever little Ignis…."

"Huh. It seems that Ai took action and took whatever remained of Earth's data from Go just before you came in, Malf." Lightning observed, which made Malf grit his teeth in anger. "Despite being an idiot, there are times where Ai acts logically."

"Damn it!" Malf furiously exclaimed. "I did not anticipate the Dark Ignis doing something like that!"

"Ai was driven by instinct, not logic, to retrieve what was left of Earth, Lightning." Azrael corrected Lightning. "To act on instinct means you're motivated by a powerful internal impulse. In this case, Ai was so hellbent on getting Earth back that he immediately swooped in to try and do so after Playmaker defeated Go."

"But only enough to retrieve a card from Earth's deck. A useless card at that." Lightning remarked, having put a hand on his chin. Still, it mattered little, as now that Playmaker and the others had a piece of Earth in their possession, it was most likely that Aqua would incorporate Crystal Heart in Blue Maiden's deck. As such, one way or another, the remnants of Earth would eventually come to Lightning and the others for the war, still enabling Bohman to fulfil his purpose.

Suddenly, a video screen popped up, which showed Bohman.

"Azrael and Wraith, I wish to speak with the both of you alone. It's urgent." Bohman immediately explained.

"Urgent, you say? Wraith and I will see you in a bit." Azrael said back.

"I will be attending this meeting as well to ensure that there isn't any secrets." Lightning pipped in, only for Bohman to glare at the former.

"I only wish to speak to Azrael and Wraith, and I didn't ask for your permission, Lightning." Bohman snapped back. "Do not get involved. This is your only warning."

Lightning narrowed his eyes back in anger upon hearing Bohman's snarky remark. How dare Bohman talk back to his creator like that! Then again, Lightning couldn't necessarily retaliate right now, especially regarding the reasons he created Bohman in the first place. If he were to destroy him, then his plans would go down the drain. "Fine, but I expect you to tell me what you've learned from Azrael and Wraith once your meeting with them is done."

"I'll make a note of that." Bohman commented, before the screen turned into particles.

Azrael and Wraith then left the room but not before nodding at Malf, as if to communicate something. Malf nodded back, aware of the plan before leaving the room from a different door. They walked down the hallway and headed to the throne room before turning left, where they walked down a second hallway that lead to a chamber.

And in the chamber, Bohman was mediating on a pedestal, a yellow aura surrounding his body. There were also wires tapped into the pedestal, as if it were feeding Bohman energy. Why, Azrael didn't know, but it mattered little.

"You wished to see us, Bohman?" Azrael spoke up to Bohman, the latter opening his eyes upon hearing his name being called out.

"Yes." Bohman confirmed. "I thank you and Wraith for coming here on short notice, Azrael."

"You said that you wanted to speak to us on an urgent matter." Wraith recalled, as he crossed his arms. "What seems to be the problem?"

Bohman gathered his thoughts before he responded back. "Since I returned, I have been having troubling thoughts, especially after my third duel against Playmaker."

"Go on."

"As Haru and I were returning back to Lightning's castle, we were intercepted by someone called Watchman." Bohman continued, which made both Azrael and Wraith narrow their eyes. "He said that some Crisis was coming, which would threaten both mankind and the Cyberse World. I will admit I was disturbed upon hearing this, despite telling him that I'd take care of it. Since then, I've been reflecting on myself and my purpose. I've also thought about what Athaliah did to me so I can fulfil it, and I can't help but feel there's something darker going on. As though this is a small piece to a bigger situation that's unfolding by the minute."

"That's what your concern is, Bohman?" Azrael said, a grin on his face. "You are right about one thing. There is more going on than you realize, and what you decide next will impact the events to come."

"The events to come?" Bohman raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Azrael narrowed his eyes. "As you know, Lightning made you to be the successor of the Ignis. However, as a result of the upgrades Athaliah gave you to return to normal, you are something more now. A Construct, if you will."

"Construct?"

Azrael pressed a few buttons on his duel disk, which showed a blueprint of Bohman. Beside him was an orb, which contained portions of different-coloured data. Azrael pressed another button on his duel disk, which showed another blueprint that contained an image of Bohman having various symbols in his body, as well as on his back. "Yes. You heard me. Construct. One of the two main pieces needed to reach the Root of All Knowledge. The Construct's purpose is to unify the Ignis and humanity together in harmony to reach the Root. But thanks to Lightning, you can use the powers of the Ignis yourself to reach the Root of All Knowledge! Coexistence isn't needed for an AI like yourself because of how you acquire the strength of every Ignis you absorb!"

Bohman thought this over for a few seconds. So that's what a Construct is, he thought in his mind. Well, at least he got one matter settled in his mind. Still, there's other questions he had to ask. "This Root of All Knowledge. What exactly is it?"

"Based on what I've found recently, the Root of All Knowledge is a mythical object that exists outside of time and space. One that contains the information of all possibilities and events, whether they come from the past, present or future. To put it simply, The Root of All Knowledge contains the power of God itself." Azrael answered, which made Bohman chuckle.

"What's so funny, Bohman?" Wraith questioned.

"AIs don't believe in God, nor do they believe in the mythological aspect of things." Bohman said. "AIs rely on logic before acting. To put it simply, we make logical choices after assessing the situation carefully. Surely, you can understand that, Wraith?"

"Of course I can, but Azrael's shown me that there's more to power than pure logic and reasoning." Wraith countered. "Sometimes, you must me willing to take a risk to reap the reward."

"With the Root of All Knowledge's power, you can decide your own destiny. Be your own individual. Then again, I'm talking to a slave." Azrael remarked, which made Bohman grit his teeth.

"You dare call me a slave?!" Bohman furiously demanded, having crossed his arms.

"Obviously." Azrael responded, the comment making Wraith chuckle while Bohman narrowed his eyes at the duo. "Lightning programmed you to fulfil a directive, which was to absorb the Ignis into your body and become their successor. Have you not even thought of what you'll do after that?"

That reply stunned Bohman completely. Never had he heard someone ask him that question before. Lightning indeed create Bohman to unify all the Ignis into one body and succeed them. But after that... Bohman never thought what he would do after he fulfilled his destiny. And if he was being honest with himself, it was something that troubled him.

"You have not, haven't you, Bohman?" Wraith figured out. "Disappointing."

"If you were to find the Root of All Knowledge, what would you use it for?" Bohman asked Azrael, which made the latter turn away from the former.

"You would never understand." Azrael coldly said back, which took Bohman aback upon noticing that something was different about the former. However, that feeling quickly went away upon noticing that the aura in the area reverted back to normal. Or was it? "Moving that aside, there is something else I want to tell you."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Until you discover humanity, you will never defeat Playmaker." Azrael revealed, which made Bohman gasp.

"Humanity? There is no need for me to discover humanity, Azrael." Bohman stated. "An AI like myself doesn't need-."

"To have humanity means you can understand your opponent to an extent." Wraith interrupted. "By feeling emotions, you can grow as an individual. And those same emotions can motivate you into acting."

"Or to put it in simple terms, to defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy. Only by discovering humanity and emotions will you be able to defeat Playmaker." Azrael finished, which made Bohman nod back.

"I see. You're saying that only by understanding what pushes humans to keep going will I be able to defeat Playmaker. That is indeed interesting." Bohman commented, having understood what Azrael was saying all along. "I will keep that in mind for the battles to come."

"Allow me to say something else, Bohman. If you intend to fulfil your goal, know that honour and fair won't last long in war, especially in a world of survival of the fittest." Azrael warned Bohman, the former having narrowed his eyes at the latter. "Do not lower yourself to the level of our enemies, Bohman. Not even to the level of humans, to be exact. After all, it's unfair to give up an advantage for an inferior opponent, don't you agree?"

Bohman nodded back. He understood this perfectly. For Bohman cannot lose. Not when he has a destiny to fulfil.

"Good. In that case, I will give you this." Azrael pressed a few buttons on his duel disk, which caused a screen to appear before transforming into a data sphere. He then tossed it to Bohman, who reflexively caught it. His eyes then widened upon seeing the footage that was inside the data sphere.

"I see. Thank you for this information." Bohman said.

"It should act as a motivator regarding your decision on what type of person you want to be." Wraith stated, a smirk on his face.

"Like I told Haru, only you can decide what type of person you want to be. Whether it's a slave or something greater, that decision must come from you." Azrael added, as he began to walk out of Bohman's room.

"Azrael." Bohman said, which made Azrael turn to him. "Once our enemies are defeated, I will come after you for Wraith."

"I know. I look forward to seeing your motivation once our duel comes." Azrael replied, before fully walking out of Bohman's room.

What Bohman failed to notice was that there were pieces of purple goo that entered into the blue cords connected not only to the pedestal, but to him as well. Within seconds, the purple goo intertwined themselves with the wires, which caused them to glow purple before dissipating. As a result, Bohman grit his teeth in pain, as if he were stressed out.

Everything is going according to plan, Azrael thought, a smirk fully appearing on his face as he walked down the hallway, intent on completing another task prior to the coming war.

Meanwhile, in the real world, at Café Matsuo...

"Hang on a second." Brea stared flatly at Yuhiro and the others. "So let me get this straight. The person who's been putting people in the hospital is an AI named Malf, and Earth is one of the eight Ignis who lost his life at the hands of Go Onizuka, a former Charisma duelist who put a freakin AI chip in his brain. And three of the eight Ignis have declared war on humanity, with four of them having sided with humanity, Earth being neutral before his death."

Herald nodded. "Yup."

"And on top of that," Brea continued, "you said that you have an older brother, Yuhiro. Someone who joined the three Ignis in declaring war on humanity? Someone who had pieces of his body removed just to repair your damaged lungs, as well as put veins in your right arm and left leg? And vice versa for your brother, of course. Someone who not only instigated the Turf War, but was responsible for the recent attacks as well, which led to the loss of people's lives?"

Yuhiro nodded. "Pretty much."

"..."

Brea sighed and rubbed her forehead. "No offence, but it's a lot to take in." She turned to Herald. "Nevertheless, I'm sorry for what happened to one of your comrades."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it." Herald said.

"So, Brea. What do you think of all this?" Yuhiro asked.

Brea thought this over for a whole minute before responding. "Once again, it's a lot to take in. I mean, when you learn that there's AIs who want to destroy humanity and people losing their lives due to recent events that contribute towards an overall war, you kind of feel overwhelmed. But moving that aside, I have no animosity at all against you, Yuhiro. None at all."

Yuhiro chuckled back out of relief. "Wow. Thanks. I appreciate that."

"What I do want to know is how you met Arashi, and vice versa." Brea requested.

"Well, at the time, I was with Ghost Girl at Gamma to acquire some information from their database." Yuhiro began explaining. "After my cage match against Muziano, the power went out. So using the opportunity, Ghost Girl and I headed straight to the database. When I heard Arashi's cry for help, I went over to help him, but not before I tased Ghost Girl to get her off my back."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that." Roxy recalled with a chuckle, having still found it funny when she found out what Yuhiro did months prior to Emma.

"I was a different person back then, Brea." Arashi continued for Yuhiro. "I was someone who was bitter with what happened to me during the Lost Incident. So I logged into LINK VRAINS and challenged duelist after duelist to not only master my deck, but also get my repressed anger out at the same time as well. When I heard about there being strong duelists in Gamma, I signed up, hoping for a challenge. Unfortunately, the guy who I dueled, El Rocco, was a noob." He scratched the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. "And in the process, that last attack cut off the power, which was why the mission in Gamma was a bit easier back then."

"I see." Brea thought over what she just heard. To think that the idiot I met in the network would be the kind individual that helped me in my time of need, she thought. People can sure surprise one another in mysterious ways.

"So the reason Roxy wasn't able to help during our mission was because you brought Brea in for her to take care of, wasn't it, Arashi?" Yuhiro figured out, which made Arashi chuckle.

"Brea sprained her ankle, and was about to be attacked by a bear when RL and I showed up to help her get out of that jam." Arashi confirmed. "And can I say RL is a beast. He was able to make the bear run away like a chicken."

"Ah, I get it now." Yuhiro understood what happened, as well as how Arashi was feeling following the attacks in the real world and in the network. The fact that he was able to help someone in need must have alleviated some of that guilt and anger for not doing more upon hearing about it earlier.

"I know you've had suspicions about my identity in the network since we met in the real world. So here..." Arashi pulled out Clear Wing Synchro Dragon from his deck and handed it to Brea. "I'm Slipstream."

Brea nodded and handed the card back. "Thank you. Not just for saving my dog and helping me in my time of need, but for protecting my godmother as well. If it weren't for you, I would have been going through a lot of pain."

Arashi sadly smiled back. "Hey, no problem. I'm just glad I was able to be there when I was needed. Besides, I didn't want anyone else to experience the same pain I went through after I failed to save my cousin."

Brea gathered her thoughts for a few seconds before responding. "Well, if that's how things stand, then I'm going to help you in whatever way I can."

Yuhiro frowned. "That's not a good idea. Our enemies are dangerous, as evident by recent events."

"Not to mention that helping us will put a target on your back." Herald added in support. "Is that something you're prepared for?"

"First off, I can handle myself, thank you very much. And I have a kick ass deck to prove it, as evident from previous missions." Brea countered, in a tone that made Yuhiro and Herald shut their mouths. Both Arashi and Roxy had to hold back from laughing upon seeing that, as it was like there was another person who had the latter's toughness and sass in the building. "Second, after what happened, I don't want anyone else to get caught in the crossfire and suffer due to what's going on. So I'll help however I can. Is that fine?"

"Of course you can, Brea." Roxy spoke up before Yuhiro, Herald, or Arashi can respond. "However, it'll have to be from the sidelines, as you don't necessarily have a reason to help Yuhiro and the others on the frontlines."

"Hey, come on! I can totally kick ass! You of all people know that!" Brea pouted, which made the others laugh as her face turned red.

"But there's nothing wrong with being prepared. I mean, we could send Brea the profiles so she can look up the enemy's strategies, and ensure she's ready to face them should they launch such an attack again." Arashi suggested, the others nodding in agreement. Brea smiled back, glad that someone was on her side.

"It seems reasonable. After all, knowledge is power." Herald said.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Arashi stood up from his seat and ran over to the kitchen, where he pulled out a granola bar from the pantry near the fridge before throwing it at Brea, who caught it.

"Hang on. Is this-?" Brea began speaking.

"It's a Made Good bar, the chocolate drizzled kind." Arashi confirmed, which led to Brea opening the wrapper before quickly eating the granola bar within seconds. "Should give you some strength after what happened."

"Mmm, it's so good!" Brea happily responded, having been filled with energy. Roxy, on the other hand, looked at the weather app on her phone, a frown on her face.

"The rain's starting to let up. I let Gabriella know that I'll be driving you home once the weather improves." Roxy reported to Brea, who understood as the former helped the latter up on her feet.

"Uh, wait a minute, Roxy." Brea said, before turning to Arashi, who walked over to her. "I misjudged you back in the network. I want to apologize, and again, thank you for everything." She then offered her right hand. "I-I-I'm not sure if it's okay with you, but y-you think we can be friends?"

Arashi then shook Brea's hand with his, which caused her to blush. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that."

"U-U-Uh, good. I'm only asking because it'd be a good idea to know your allies more. S-So don't get the wrong idea, got it?" Brea replied, which led Arashi to nod in response, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Alright, alright. Time to bring you back home, Brea." Roxy interrupted. "Gabriella's going to be happy that you're okay." She then helped Brea walk downstairs, but not before Brea looked behind at Arashi and the others once last time. After doing so, Roxy and Brea then headed to the garage, the former intent on driving the latter home.

"Wow. I've never seen anyone be able to quell the tsundere in Brea before, even if it's only temporary." Yuhiro commented, having stood up from the couch. "You sure managed to surprise her."

"I guess I did." Arashi agreed, having crossed his arms. It was never his intention to surprise Brea, but to help her in her time of need in different ways. And as a result, he managed to make a friend in Brea, despite her being all tsundere about it.

"You are aware that you're in for one Hell of a bumpy ride, right?" Yuhiro reminded Arashi.

"I know, but with your help, I'll get through it."

In all honesty, Arashi never thought that he'd receive a chance to help someone in need, especially after failing to not only save Takeda, but do more to prevent further casualties from the recent attacks. But if Arashi was learning one thing, it's this: While he can't control everything, he can make choices on the events that are going on right now. His choices in those scenarios affect not only the people involved, but the end result as well. And as long as Arashi made the right choices, he can still come out as the better man in the end, which is something he'll ensure happens one way or another.

Several hours later, at SOL Technologies...

Queen grit her teeth as she walked down the halls of the company. This was by far the worst week, if not the worst time she had since becoming SOL Technologies' CEO. Along with the attacks in both the real world and in the network, Go Onizuka had been defeated by Playmaker despite being enhanced by the AI chip.

The worst part was how Akira responded to all of this. After Go lost against Playmaker, Queen activated the capture program so she can get Playmaker's Ignis. However, someone ended up pulling Go out of the capture program, thus disabling it in the process. Not only that, but Akira logged out Go before Queen could do anything further. And as the cherry on top, security burst in and restrained Queen, with Pawn revealing that he knew she would do something like this sooner or later. That's why the Kings gave him permission to shut down the AI chip project should there be further evidence of breach in the ethical codes and guidelines.

As such, with the evidence Akira gave Pawn, the latter forwarded it to the Kings, which was how the emergency meeting was formed in the first place. Queen disobeyed a direct order from the Kings, and now she was going to face the consequences for her actions. The only reason she did it was so SOL Technologies can gain a win, even during dark times.

Queen wanted to fire Akira for his role in this mess. But she couldn't for two reasons. First, Akira was one of SOL Technologies' best workers at the company. No one else could match his skill, talent, or tenacity. Second, the public held Akira in high honor due to his role in not only ending the Turf War, but also mitigating the attacks as well. If Queen fired Akira, the people would certainly riot, and the situation would escalate further as a result.

Eventually, she reached the holographic room, with the other higher ups waiting for her. Knight crossed his arms and had a look of disgust on his face, Bishop glared at Queen, Pawn grinned upon seeing her, and Rook simply frowned out of disappointment due to recent events.

Within seconds, the room changed to a digital landscape, where Lycaon, Perseo, and Jeromy appeared. This time, they weren't silhouettes. Rather, they appeared in person. Queen then proceeded to bow her head in front of all three of them.

"You warned us, your excellencies, that the situation was delicate, and how we all must unite to not only settle things down, but also keep SOL Technologies' integrity intact." Queen acknowledged the obvious.

"Yes, we did." Jeromy agreed.

"It's because of you that the situation's become worse than it already has!" Pawn furiously exclaimed.

"I was trying to bring a win for SOL Technologies!" Queen said back.

"But at what cost, Ohi?" Bishop inquired, as multiple screens soon popped up, which showed several riots and protests, as well as press releases from several business partners. There were also social media posts and blogs commenting how Playmaker and his allies were heroes, as well as demands to end the hunts on them. "People are demanding that the bounties on Playmaker and his allies be removed, our business partners are planning to boycott against us, and social media is putting us in a worser light. What's more, people are demanding justice for what happened to Go Onizuka and the other Charisma duelists."

"SOL Technologies' integrity has already been affected. What you did sullied it further!" Knight scolded Queen, who grit her teeth back in response.

"You really screwed things up for us, Ohi." Rook commented, the disappointed look still evident on his face.

"Again, I was trying to bring a victory for SOL Technologies, Miyama!" Queen reiterated not just to Rook, but to everyone else present. "If I had succeeded, it would have assured our business partners that-!"

"ENOUGH!" Lycaon shouted, which practically silenced all the higher-ups present. While Lycaon joked around most of the time, he knew when to be serious, and when that happened, it wasn't good for those who he was angry at.

"Were my brothers and I not clear of what would happen should any of you disobey our orders?" Perseo asked, having begun walking forward to Queen.

"You were more than clear, your excellencies. I offer no excuses." Queen conceded, knowing that there was nothing else she could say to salvage the situation.

"Then on behalf of my brothers, I shall offer you a swift consequence!" Soon, Perseo's right hand glowed green as wind surrounded it.

"Please, have mercy." Queen pleaded, as Perseo telekinetically lifted her with his right hand off the ground and high into the air. Within seconds, she felt a blockage in her throat, thus making it difficult for her to breathe.

"If you thought your loyalty would win a special place in our hearts, you are mistaken." Perseo hissed, as he narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth at Queen. "We don't have hearts."

"But your excellencies, who will quell the riots and protests? Who will prevent the growing crisis from getting out of hand any further?" Queen questioned, having found it difficult for her to speak.

Perseo laughed back at Queen's foolish question. "Not you, my dear."

The other higher-ups were in shock at what was going on. Per their word, the Kings unanimously decided to immediately kill Queen on the spot for her failure. The trio wouldn't tolerate disobedience during this difficult time, and were now hellbent on setting an example so that no one else would follow in Queen's foolish steps.

"Permission to speak, your excellencies." Bishop stated, having gotten the attention of the Kings.

"Permission granted, Kaido." Jeromy replied back. "Speak."

"Killing Ohi won't make the situation any better. As much as I hate saying this, we need skilled people if we're to calm the situation down and restore the people's faith in us." Bishop explained.

"Bishop is right, your excellencies. If people learn that SOL Technologies is stained with blood, there will be far worse repercussions than ever before, and the authorities may get involved as a result." Knight added.

The Kings thought all of this over. Bishop and Knight were right. Killing Queen won't change anything, and SOL Technologies needed skilled individuals for the reparation efforts to succeed. What's more, should SOL Technologies be stained with blood, the company would face more repercussions on their end, such as the loss of more business partners.

"Please, your excellencies! I served you faithfully in the past, and have always completed the work you assigned me! Let me make things right!" Queen pleaded, fear and panic truly evident on her face.

Jeromy and Lycaon turned to Perseo, the both of them shaking their heads at him. Seeing this, Perseo released Queen from his telekinetic hold and slammed her to the ground with such force that she found it difficult to get up on her feet. She also gasped, having tried to regain her breathing.

Before Queen could get up on her feet, Perseo walked forward and picked her up by the collar of her shirt.

"Bishop and Knight's points, along with your past service, are the only reasons you're still alive, Ohi." Perseo snarled, before he shoved Queen back, causing her to regain her footing.

"We won't kill you, but we must send a message so that others will be discouraged from following in your foolish footsteps." Lycaon pointed out.

"Thus, you will be put on probation until this entire mess is settled." Jeromy finished, which made Queen gasp. "And should you return to the company for any reason, we will have no choice but to kill you."

Soon, two humanoid androids with black spandex covering their robotic bodies emerged from the shadows. They had blue eyes, and their heads resembled that of a modern-day gas mask with two respirators on the sides. They also had a belt with SOL Technologies' insignia at the center, and black and white gloves on their hands. The both of them grabbed Queen from behind as they proceeded to drag her away from the meeting.

"And what of Zaizen? You'll keep him around while I'm being kicked out of the company?" Queen inquired.

"Zaizen will work with the higherups to undo the damage that has occurred, and should his work exceed our expectations, he will be offered a place among us as a reward." Jeromy answered.

"Or at the very least, a promotion just below the higher-ups." Lycaon clarified with a giggle, as the two androids dragged Queen away from the meeting, the Kings having made their decision on the matter.

"What were those robots, sirs?" Rook inquired out of curiosity.

"They are the first batch of Soltis, Miyama. SOL Technologies' next products that were recently developed prior to the attacks." Perseo answered. "To be specific, the Soltis you saw aren't for the public. They're the foot soldiers of the higherups to be exact."

"With Queen disposed of for the time being, what should we tell Akira Zaizen if he were to ask the question?" Knight asked.

"Tell him the truth. Nothing more, and nothing less." Jeromy replied, before turning to the others. "My friends, this is a delicate time. With the way things are escalating now, it may reach a point where it will become uncontrollable if we're not careful."

"It's regrettable that things are happening the way they are now. The people turned against us, and the plans on creating a high performance Ignis having gone down the drain too." Bishop lamented, before turning to the Kings. "Forgive me for saying this, your excellencies, but your father, the Dragon King, had the tools and power needed to quell situations like this. If we hadn't overthrown him, then this whole mess would have already been mitigated by now."

All three Kings narrowed their eyes and thought this over. That was true. Their father, Dairoku Saionji, knew how to rule as the Dragon King, the first ruler at SOL Technologies. He knew when to be kind, and when to be ruthless. Being a businessman and a man of action, he also knew what businesses to partner with, what businesses to avoid, and how resources should be allocated. That was what he taught Jeromy, Perseo, and Lycaon. How to keep a business strong, stable, and in control in the midst of all odds.

"You may have a strong point, Kaido, but the Dragon King is no longer with us." Lycaon pointed out. "For if memory serves, you and the other higherups helped the three of us seize power during the previous incident years prior, where our father was driven out of SOL Technologies, yes?"

The remaining higherups nodded in confirmation. That was undoubtedly true. They sided with Dairoku's sons, and helped the trio seize power during a difficult time back then. And thanks to their leadership, SOL Technologies managed to not only successfully do damage control, but restore both operations and the people's faith in the company as well.

"Your excellencies, I think I may have an idea on how to quell the riots and protests." Pawn spoke up, which got the attention of the Kings. "With your permission, I can reach out to Balius, and request his assistance on the matter. He'd be more than willing to help us, as the sooner we deescalate the rising situation, the sooner we can restore operations back to normal."

All three Kings thought this over for a few seconds. Pawn's suggestion was actually a good one. The way things were going, the authorities in Den City wouldn't be able to keep the protests and riots from being contained for long. Plus, a good majority of the authorities were exhausted from the attacks in Den City, so some of them wouldn't be able to help out even if they wanted to.

"The Kings have decided. Go speak to Balius and request his assistance," all three Kings ordered in unison.

"I will get straight onto that immediately." Pawn complied, having given a little bow back in response.

"Take heart, my friends." Jeromy suddenly said, having gotten the attention of the higher ups. "Beware of the Sons of Furutani. If we're not careful, then SOL Technologies will be as good as done for."

"You know the Sons of Myojin and Lyla Furutani?!" Rook exclaimed. "Do you think they're both among the key individuals that SOL Technologies put bounties on in the network?!"

"We will look into this ourselves, Miyama." Perseo assured Rook. "In the meanwhile, resume with your assigned tasks." He turned to Bishop. "Make sure Zaizen is aware that he'll be working with you and Kishi regarding damage control for the time being."

"Leave that to me." Bishop complied, as he and the other higherups bowed before turning into particles.

Lycaon turned to Perseo and Jeromy. "I do not like where this is going at all, brothers. If the Sons of Myojin and Lyla Furutani figure out what's happening behind the scenes, they'll likely tear SOL Technologies down to the ground in retaliation for what happened."

"Thus making the two of them serious threats against us." Perseo agreed, having narrowed his eyes as he thought this over.

A data sphere then appeared in Jeromy's hand as it floated away from him and the others, which then formed into a screen. One that showed Azrael using the Muramasa to unlock the door to the dark vault. Seconds later, it then showed Raguel using Excalibur to unlock the door to the dark vault as he went after Azrael.

"The three of us will deal with them should the situation require it." Jeromy said, with Perseo and Lycaon nodding in agreement. "After all, we have father's power as duelists, and the both of them would be foolish to underestimate the sons of the Dragon King."

"And what about him?" Perseo inquired, as the screen then changed to show Watchman battling against Windy. "What should we do about Arshad Saito should he get further involved in this mess?"

"End his miserable life, of course." Lycaon stated with a giggle. For once, Perseo didn't mind it, as Lycaon's answer made sense. "He was Myojin and Lyla's ally after all. If our father did anything good, it's that he split the pieces of Project: VIII and hid them away so that it can be repeated again one day."

"Brothers, let us observe and see what happens for the time being. Not only regarding Myojin and Lyla's sons, as well as Arshad Saito, but to see the end result of the Ignis War as well." Jeromy suggested, a smirk appearing on his face, as well as on Perseo and Lycaon's faces. "For once it ends, we will act fast, and become the victors of this conflict."

Meanwhile, at Central Japan, during the evening...

Pawn drove down the road in his Hyundai Civic, intent on completing the task the Kings gave him. This was truly a turbulent time for SOL Technologies, what with the riots and protests, the number of deaths, and all the difficulties the company was facing. In essence, it was almost like the incident that occurred years prior, which led to the Dragon King getting kicked out of SOL Technologies before being replaced by his sons. Considering how friendly and beneficial the business relationship between SOL Technologies and Balius was for several years, it was only logical to reach out for help from an ally who trusted them.

Besides, Balius helped SOL Technologies in the past, and the latter did the same when Balius solidified his rule in Central Japan. Now it was time for him to repay the favor for SOL Technologies' assistance.

Eventually, Pawn reached the border of Central Japan, as evident by the gates and various troops in the area.

"Halt! Who goes there?" one of the troops asked, as they walked over to where Pawn's car was. When Pawn rolled down the window, the troop gasped upon seeing him. "Oh, Pawn! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I must speak to Balius. It's urgent." Pawn explained. "If you let me through, I will certainly be grateful for your assistance."

The troop nodded, and gestured one of the troops nearby to open the gates, which he and his partner did. "We will let Balius know you're coming."

"Thank you." Pawn replied, before he drove into Central Japan. It took ten minutes, but he eventually found the large mansion he was looking for, and drove down the road that led to it. After parking his car, Pawn got out of it and walked up the steps towards the large mansion. He opened the large doors with both of his hands and walked down the large room, where he found Balius sitting on a throne ahead of him.

"Greetings, Hyodo Hiragana." Balius stood up from his throne and welcomed Pawn with a small bow. "How good to see you again."

"Balius..." Pawn muttered, as he walked over to where he was. Balius, in turn, walked over to Pawn before the two of him shook hands.

"My troops told me you were coming, and they said that the matter was urgent. What is happening on your end since we last spoke?" Balius gestured for Pawn to walk with him, which he did.

As they walked through the palace's hallways, Pawn told Balius of current events. How multiple lives have been lost due to attacks in the real world, just when things were going back to normal after the Turf War. In addition, property had been damaged, technology had been hacked into before getting destroyed, businesses had been crippled, and Uchida Industries had been levelled to the ground.

"Truly sad to hear. The loss of life in the crossfire is something that is truly regrettable." Balius commented.

"And with the way things are going, the situation will only escalate further, especially with how the people are taking it." Pawn replied back.

"Judging from what transpired, I assume you're here to request my assistance?" Balius figured out, having gotten straight to the point.

"I am." Pawn confirmed. "I request the aid of some of your troops to quell things down."

"Couldn't you draw upon the FBI's resources to assist you?"

Pawn chuckled. "SOL Technologies would, but a good majority of it was used up to quell the attacks. Then again, there's only so much the FBI can do, as they're bound by laws. That's why I'm turning to you for help. You know how to keep the situation under control, and act until it's quelled for good."

"Indeed, I do." Balius agreed with a chuckle. "Very well. How long do you need my troops for?"

"At least a few weeks. The last thing we need is to impose martial law. That wouldn't be good at all." Pawn answered, a frown having appeared on his face.

"I'm more than willing to send a platoon to assist you. But..." Balius turned to Pawn as they stopped walking. "I request further insurance this time around."

"Very well. What are your demands?"

Balius thought this over for a few seconds. "Double the usual payment, and Amadeus' release from jail."

"Really now?" Pawn raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I understand the double payment, but why Amadeus? You could ask for any other individual's release from jail, yet him? Why is that?"

"Because aside from myself, Amadeus knows how to run a country." Balius revealed, as he and Pawn resumed walking. "Surely, you of all people understand, right? The trade of a free life for security is more than reasonable, yes?"

Pawn thought this over. It was indeed more than reasonable. If releasing Amadeus would ensure that his mission was complete, then Pawn was more than willing to accommodate to Balius' request... to an extent. "Very well. I will speak to Knight about this, and given the dire situation, he'd be more than willing to secure his release documents." He offered his hand, which Balius reciprocated with a hand shake.

"Pleasure doing business with you as always, Pawn. However..." Balius narrowed his eyes. "What's the situation on Brion Miyahara?"

"Well, aside from Brion being sent to the medical wing temporarily, he was sent to a prison transfer recently." Pawn began explaining, only for Balius to grit his teeth in fury.

"And you allowed that to happen?!" Balius exclaimed, having stopped walking and turned to Pawn. "Have you not taken into account that it could be a setup for potential sympathizers to free Brion, and then work under him to try and take back Central Japan?! If that were to happen-."

"You don't have to worry about a thing. I already looked into the situation myself very carefully. Apparently, another prison volunteered to get him off our hands, and so I allowed their staff to do so after double checking the information they provided me." Pawn assured Balius, before the former narrowed his eyes. "There's still another matter that concerns me, however. Should the Sons of Furutani catch wind of what's going on, it'll ruin everything. Not just for SOL Technologies, but for everyone involved."

Balius smirked. "Do you really think I'm unprepared for the Sons of Furutani, or Brion for that matter?" He gestured Pawn to follow him to a room nearby, and upon opening the door, Pawn looked inside. The room resembled that of a military control room, as evident by the huge monitor at the other end of the room, along with the numerous computers and seats. Balius pressed a button nearby, which caused the huge monitor and computers to turn on. All of them showed footage of Balius' troops maintaining order in Central Japan. Whether it's maintaining traffic, stopping crime, or regulating areas, they were there. "I control Central Japan in ways you could not imagine."

Pawn looked at the numerous monitors in the room. This was good to hear. If one was to maintain control, they needed a way on how to know anything and everything going on before acting. After all, information was just as powerful as armies. The more information you had, the stronger you were.

"Fear nothing." Balius said, having gotten Pawn's attention. "I will provide the troops SOL Technologies needs, and my trafficking operation will provide all the material for their projects. And should Brion and/or the Sons of Furutani get involved, I will destroy them!"

A smirk appeared on Pawn's face. With Balius' assistance, the situation back at Den City will finally be brought under control, just like how the incident was quelled years prior. SOL Technologies will survive and continue running, no matter what must be done to ensure long-term survival.

Elsewhere, in a different area of the network...

Jericho clapped with glee as he watched the footage on the light-green monitors in front of him. It was truly spectacular. So much death. So much carnage. So much destruction. He enjoyed it all.

"Bravo! Bravo, everyone!" Jericho exclaimed, having continued to clap for a few more moments. "Whether you died or not, you people have truly put on a great show for me!" He typed on the digital keyboard, causing a few screens to pop up on the monitors. It showed the Charisma duelists dueling against some of the Bitboots, with a few of them dueling against Drachen as well before getting one turn killed. "To think a bounty hunter managed to defeat some of you in a single turn. Such a disappointment. While you were strong, I bet you weren't prepared for the strategies those Bitboots had, am I not correct?"

Jericho once again typed on the digital keyboard, which caused three screens to pop up on three of the monitors. The first one caught Jericho's eye, where it showed Watchman briefly battle against Windy. No way. It can't be. Arshad Saito's on this planet. Impossible, Jericho thought in his mind. The last time Jericho and the others encountered Watchman was all those years ago, where he and Myojin proceeded to banish them to the dark side of the network.

Narrowing his eyes, Jericho turned to the second screen, which showed Azrael and Stregone's duel. Thanks to Wraith leaving a tracker in Earth, he was able to see what was happening on his end. All without Wraith knowing what was going on. Jericho let out a chuckle at Stregone and Azrael's conversation, where the former talked about his dream, with the latter trying to deny its existence. In a sense, Jericho agreed with Azrael. A world where people can spend time with one another and pursue their dreams through the bonds they made was nothing more than a fantasy. Such a thing can never be achieved.

Huh. Azrael and Raguel are brothers. That's interesting, Jericho thought in his mind. Just get to the action already. Sure enough, the duel ended with Azrael defeating Stregone with Teravolt Dragon after Stregone's final attempt to win the duel. Overall, at least Stregone did a better job than those other Charisma duelists who lost in the end at the beginning of their duels.

The third screen showed Azrael walking towards the door of the dark vault before unsheathing the Muramasa and putting it in one of the two keyholes. As a result, the door opened, allowing Azrael to enter inside. A few minutes later, Raguel then showed up, and put Excalibur in the other keyhole, causing the door to open up once again before Raguel went inside. The door then closed afterwards. Interesting. So the swords Raguel and Azrael had were able to unlock the door to the dark vault, Jericho thought, as he typed on the digital keyboard before zooming in on the swords used.

Upon doing so, Jericho's jaw dropped, having recognized Excalibur and Muramasa. "Those are the blades Myojin Furutani used against us. I mean, he obviously used another sword, but the fact that Excalibur and Muramasa are here on this world as well could mean there's more than meets the eye. Could it be that Earth is the lost world we're looking for? No. I can't make assumptions yet."

He typed on the digital keyboard once again, hoping to get an inside look on whatever's going on in the dark vault. However, something blocked his attempts. It was as though whoever set up the dark vault also established some sort of electromagnetic barrier that prevented anyone from seeing inside. And no matter how Jericho tried, he just couldn't use Wraith's piece of data to take a look at the situation from his eyes, which really irked him.

To make things worse, an electromagnetic pulse appeared, which caused the footage on one of the monitors to go static. Hmm. It seems either Raguel or Azrael must have brought an EMP to erase the data in the dark vault, Jericho thought to himself. What a shame. For he really wanted to know what was in the dark vault. Then again, as long as it slowed down his enemies, he didn't really care.

Jericho typed on the digital keyboard, which caused another screen to pop up on one of the monitors. It then played footage that showed Playmaker dueling against an AI-enhanced Go Onizuka. As he watched the footage, Jericho couldn't help but smile with glee at his handiwork. Him tampering with SOL Technologies' AI chip was one of the best ideas he ever had, as he got the opportunity just to see how far a human's mental capacities went before it shut down permanently. As per the duel, Go managed to access the maximum level of the chip called Brain Hack Overlimit, which enabled him to nearly defeat Playmaker. What intrigued Jericho was how Ai revealed the second part of Neo Storm Access's effect, which led to a series of plays that resulted in Playmaker winning the duel.

Following the duel, Ai tried to get Earth's data back, only for SOL Technologies to try and capture Playmaker and Ai. Suddenly, the footage showed Malf piercing Go and pulling him up, which was where the footage ended.

"Results obtained. Thanks for being a nice lab rat, Go Onizuka. Have a nice afterlife!" Jericho commented, the results from the AI chip flowing into one of the monitors. Thanks to his hacking, Jericho was able to acquire all results that came from Go's duels with the AI chip. Now he had a great sense in how far a human's mental capacities can be pushed before shutting down permanently.

But despite his victory, he was still troubled by what he saw from the footage in the network. Watchman's appearance, along with Excalibur and Muramasa, as well as the dark vault, were all intriguing factors that came up recently. Suddenly, a red light flashed nearby, which caught Jericho's attention. Great. Not now, he cursed in his mind, as he stood up from his chair before going over to a nearby console, where he pressed a button or two that caused the floor to open up. Jericho then went downstairs to the massive chamber below his laboratory, where he walked towards the walkway and to the large monolith at the end.

Upon reaching the monolith, it revealed none other than Shalem.

"Tell me what you've learned." Shalem said.

"I've acquired the results from SOL Technologies' AI chip project, and will send them to the Great One as soon as possible." Jericho reported. "It's a good thing you called, for I've found out some other stuff you'd be interested in."

Shalem narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"As I was watching the footage of the recent attacks, I managed to notice Arshad Saito confronting the Wind Ignis." Jericho began speaking.

"Arshad Saito, you say?" Shalem questioned, surprise evident on his face.

"Yup. The one and only. Here." Jericho pressed a few buttons on his duel disk, which showed Watchman briefly confronting Windy. "On top of that, you need to see this as well." He pressed another button on his duel disk, which showed Azrael and Raguel unlocking the door to the dark vault with Excalibur and Muramasa.

"Those swords..." Shalem muttered.

"The swords that Myojin Furutani had on hand. Excalibur and Muramasa themselves." Jericho said. "Do you think that Raguel and Azrael are the children of Myojin Furutani? The spawn of one of the Great One's greatest enemies?"

Shalem thought this over. "It could be a possibility. One of great concern should it be true."

"You'll also be happy to know that I've located all the Ignis. Every single one of them." Jericho continued. "The Water Ignis recently joined Raguel and the other Ignis's with them. Specifically, the Ignis's of Dark, Fire, and Time. The Earth Ignis has been decompiled, with what's left of his data being inside a card called G Golem Crystal Heart. The Space Ignis is currently with Azrael, and thanks to the former putting a tracker inside the Earth Ignis, I determined that the Space Ignis, along with the Light and Wind Ignis's, are launching operations a different area of the network. A Mirror LINK VRAINS, if you will."

"Well done, Jericho." Shalem praised Jericho. "Urizen will be pleased. However, what you told me does raise some concern. For if one of the two sides should win and acquire full control, it'll pose a problem. One that you'll rectify if needed, yes?"

Jericho nodded. "Of course. You leave that to me. In addition, there's an experiment I'd like to perform. One that, if successful, will not only lead to more findings, but also powerful slaves as well." He whispered it so that no one but Shalem could hear it. After finishing speaking, Shalem grinned.

"That is a good idea. Those two individuals can most certainly be powerful weapons for the Great One to use for the cause, whether they willingly join us or not." Shalem commented. "Urizen gives you permission to proceed."

"Excellent. I will make the necessary preparations immediately." Jericho responded. "One of my Cyberse creatures also captured one of the scientists from the Lost Incident a while back, and is held in captivity as we speak."

"And the Ignis?"

"Oh, that's easy, especially with the conclusion I've made from my findings." Jericho smirked. "With the coming Ignis war, they'll certainly come together in one place. Once both sides are worn out from fighting, I will capture all of them at once, and synchronize the unity upon doing so."

Shalem narrowed, having processed everything Jericho told him. "Go. Interrogate the prisoner. Acquire the needed information, capture the Ignis, and perform your experiment."

"He will tell me what he knows, or I will rip it out of him." Jericho assured Shalem, the monolith having reverted to its original shape in the process, indicating that the meeting was over. He walked down the walkway before turning left, having begun walking downstairs that led to the prison section of the massive chamber.

Jericho looked over each of the cells, where he saw several Cyberse creatures being tortured for information about the whereabouts of the Ignis. He had to admit, their resistance was strong, especially with how his Cyberse creatures were torturing them. The Cyberse creatures that Jericho wielded in his deck were strong, having come from the dark side of the network itself. Anyone that got in his way would fall by their hands, no matter who he faced.

Eventually, he found the cell he was looking for. Inside that cell was a short man who had patches of pointy lavender-colored hair. He wore a grey shirt and black trousers, as well as grey shoes that had black soles. He also wore a lab coat, along with red-tinted glasses. The clothing was tattered, with pieces of his lab coat having tears on it. One side of his glasses was also broken as well, which was evidence of the torture he went through.

"So you've shown your ugly face, huh?" the scientist said, as Jericho entered his cell. "Like I told your little buddies, I'm not giving up any information!"

"Is that so?" Jericho replied, as he unsheathed his short sword from the sheath strapped onto his black buckle belt. "Did you know that Lingchi is translated as the slow process, or as generally known as death by a thousand cuts? I think that's an appropriate torture method for a situation such as this. You're going to answer all my questions, or else you'll die a slow death. The choice is yours."

"I'll never betray Dr. Kogami or the others!" the scientist defiantly reiterated, before Jericho went over to a console and pressed the button, which caused wires to emerge from the walls before pulling the scientist up and strapping him to the wall.

"Whether you live or die, you eventually will." Jericho promised, as he proceeded to cut the scientist's body with his short sword. He did it just enough to cause the scientist pain, but not enough to kill him. For Jericho wanted to have fun during this interrogation, as one way or another, he'll get what he needed in Urizen's name.

And with all the findings obtained, Jericho will obtain his father's favor once again, which is something he'll ensure happens, no matter who got in his way.

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 duel monsters appear in pairs. First is Firewall Dragon and Firewall eXceed Dragon, second is Salamangreat Heatleo and Violet Chimera, third is Cyreath Hercules/Alpha Mode and Turboblaze Dragon, fourth is Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and Hi-Speedroid Kitedrake, and fifth is Borreload Savage Dragon and Borreload Dragon before all of them disappear one by one. 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

No new cards introduced in this chapter.

QOTC

If I were to do slice of life chapters in Obscured Truth, what would you want to see (no inappropriate suggestions, please.)?

Chapter Preview

Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth. Chapter 80: Lessons in Reconciliation. Due to recent events, Revolver contacts Playmaker and his group, hoping to ally with them, with Watchman joining in as well. However, Soulburner lashes out at Revolver, the trauma from the Lost Incident fresh in his mind, thus leading to a duel between the two. Following the meeting, Arashi has doubts on what to do next, and Yusaku approaches him with an idea in the hopes of helping his friend out….

Author's Notes

Well, that was quite the chapter after the previous action-packed chapters, don't you agree? Then again, dialogue chapters are necessary, as it lets things cool down, and allows the characters to process what happened. I know it's not the chapter I wanted to commemorate the third anniversary with, but I do hope you enjoyed what you read nevertheless. As such, a quick recap is needed to truly make sense of what happened in this chapter:

First up, it wasn't explained what happened in the anime following Kengo's loss in his duel against Lightning. So I put in a scene where Roxy and Emma team up to find Kengo and take him to the hospital, thus clearing up a plot point.

Next is the scenes in the hospital, where because of what happened, there's more patients than before. Here, Yuhiro, Miles, and Gil visit Quinton, who's also in the hospital as well. Allow me to share with you a few things here. First is Yuhiro's thoughts based on what's going on. The poor guy's feeling powerless because of what happened, and how he couldn't do more to prevent it, or at least mitigate the casualties. While Miles assures Yuhiro that he did his best, Yuhiro counters that his best is never enough, and how he needs to be better than best. It shows Yuhiro's guilt, for had he known what was truly going on, he could have arrived to at least reduce the damage. But the sad truth is that Yuhiro can't predict what's going to happen precisely, nor can he stop it from fully happening. It's like a natural disaster, which is something you obviously can't stop once it gets going.

For Gil, I want to say this: He isn't a pure hero like the others. Rather, he's only helping the good guys because it benefits him in the end. Besides, if Lightning wins, the humans are destroyed, and Gil loses clients. As such, Gil offers to help however he can so that he can survive and resume business. Now I do want to say that Gil draws the line in who he helps, and refuses to help people he is wary of. For instance, Gil wouldn't help scumbags like Dr. Kogami and Athaliah, nor would he obviously assist Lightning and Azrael. Whereas the first two cross the line regarding human ethics, the second two are basically out to complete their goals at all costs. Gil does have a heart, though, as he promised Yuhiro that he'd help out the Den City Shelter and Orphanage however way he can.

Now onto Arashi. He's processing what's going on in a different way, as the whole situation's basically reminded him of what happened to Takeda, and how he couldn't prevent his hospitalization from happening in the first place. But similar to Yuhiro, he feels powerless that he couldn't prevent recent events from fully happening. Rasterliger counters by saying that he can't save everyone, nor can he predict what's going to happen next. You could say that right now, Arashi's continuing to deal with his struggle on the topic of letting go of control fully.

But it's here where Arashi realizes that someone's in trouble, and so he and Rasterliger go to the nature trail to find out what's going on. The duo find Brea having sprained her ankle, along with a gash on her forehead, a bear approaching her. So Arashi and Rasterliger end up fending off the bear and scaring it away. It's here that Arashi was able to prevent someone from experiencing further pain, for his actions helped save a life, which in this case was Brea's. He then offers to get her out of the nature trail, and in the midst of conversation, Arashi tells Brea that he's taking her back to Café Matsuo, for he didn't want to risk the sprained ankle getting into further pain.

Having learned that Arashi knows Yuhiro and Roxy, Brea ends up demanding Arashi to put her down, which he does once they get to a bus stop shuttle. Here, she reveals what happened to her in her life. How Brea was treated harshly by her birth family, how in her mind, Roxy abandoned her, and now having been impacted with this fear that she'll get abandoned by other people, no matter what happens. To put it simply, Brea's greatest fear is being alone in the wide world. And Arashi's response? He compassionately listens to Brea, and assures her that it will be okay. Arashi also points out that acting tough all the time hurts, and how opening up to people helps deal with the pain. What's more, he tells Brea that Roxy missed her more than she realizes, thus surprising her as a result. Do note that Roxy taught Brea how to detect truth and lies, so Brea knew one hundred percent that she was hearing the truth.

In addition, allow me to mention that Brea is a tsundere, as evident by what Gabriella said about her back in Chapter 74. I do hope that I've done it well.

Arashi's actions in helping Brea in her time of need, as well as bringing her back to Café Matsuo also led to Roxy's reconciliation with Brea, the both of them having finally buried the hatchet on what happened. Roxy is similar to Yuhiro, where fear paralyzed her from contacting Brea. She was afraid that if she reached out, then Brea would denounce her for good. So when Arashi brought Brea to be treated, Roxy finally had the opportunity to patch things up, and she took it. That's why she wasn't there when Yuhiro and the others logged into the network to find Earth, only for them to obviously encounter Go, as evident in the anime.

On the topic of the anime, I'm just going to say it: When I first saw the Playmaker vs Go rematch, I was extremely pissed off with how things started. If Playmaker acted logically and prepped his defenses instead of summoning three strong monsters just to end the duel fast, then he could have had a far better chance at the beginning than rely on Deus Ex Machina at the end. In the duel recap, I also put in Raguel's thoughts about the duel, and he's angry with Playmaker for his reckless moves at the beginning. If Raguel was in Playmaker's position, he would have solidified his field before mounting an offensive. Then again, Playmaker was the one dueling Go, not Raguel, and Slipstream told Raguel that this was Playmaker's business.

Following that fiasco of an anime duel, Malf basically swoops in and pierces Go in the chest before ripping out his heart. As a result, Malf achieved his Perfect form. While Malf can obviously take people's hearts in duels with his Skill, he decided to take a different approach by watching the duel and taking the loser's heart. He is an assassin, after all. And Azrael did say to let others clean up their problems. In addition, Malf reveals that the only way to cure the fallen victims is for someone to defeat him in a duel, which is why the others can't hurt him. For if he dies through any other means, then the victims are basically dead within seconds.

From there is the remaining scenes at Café Matsuo, where Yuhiro basically puts together how Brea's in Café Matsuo in the first place. After Brea asks what's going on with the world, Yuhiro then explains to her current events, as well as his past. Brea's response? She obviously has no animosity, as Yuhiro's parents didn't cause her any pain in one form or another. Plus, Brea sees Yuhiro as a reliable ally as well. After learning about how Yuhiro and Arashi met, Brea decides to volunteer and join the fight, despite the dangers. She obviously can duel, and has a kick ass deck to prove it, so you'll see her duel later on in the story. Not in Season 2 obviously, as we're almost near the Mirror LINK VRAINS arc. And for those of you who are concerned, Brea will obviously not go to Mirror LINK VRAINS because she has no close relation to what's going on in the frontlines, so she'll help in the sidelines instead. Before Roxy takes Brea home, the latter apologizes to Arashi for misjudging him, and asks if he'd be willing to be friends with her. Obviously Arashi agrees to this, with Brea going back to tsundere mode in response. You could that Arashi's actions and kindness over the past few chapters helped him earn Brea's respect, gratitude, and friendship.

Now onto the SOL scenes. Here, it wasn't explained what happened to Queen following the AI chip incident. So I had Pawn swoop into the scene and had security detain Queen, but not before she tries to demand that Akira help her, or else Aoi pays the price. Pawn, in turn, warns Queen that threatening a sibling's employee won't look good on her, and so security ends up taking her away. He then tells Akira to take Go to the hospital before granting Akira and the staff members the rest of the day off. Later on in the chapter is the meeting of the higherups, and this time, the Kings appear in person instead of holograms. Per their word, Perseo proceeds to kill Queen on behalf of the Kings, wanting to make an example of what happens when someone disobeys their directive during a critical time such as this. However, Queen ends up surviving her wrath for three reasons. One: Bishop and Knight's strong points. If the Kings killed Queen, the situation wouldn't change, and it'd become worse if word got out that SOL Technologies had blood on its hands. Two: Queen's past service. She's served the Kings faithfully to the letter, and hasn't failed them. Why get rid of a strong, well-rounded employee? Third: Plot armor. If it weren't for this, I would have killed Queen in the story. However, she must survive, as she obviously appears in Season 3.

But that doesn't mean Queen gets away with her disobedience scot-free, as the Kings sentence her to probation away from the company until the mess is cleared up, and she's taken away by Soltis. For those of you who are confused, the Soltis that appeared aren't the ones available to the public in Season 3. These Soltis are special androids that serve as the foot soldiers of the higherups. I wanted to show you a sneak peek of an enemy that will pop up down the road of the story, but obviously not right now. Following the judgement, the Kings warn the higherups to beware of the Sons of Furutani, for should they catch wind of what's going on, SOL Technologies is doomed.

As such, to quell the situation, Pawn offers to contact Balius to acquire troops, which the Kings approve of. After the higherups are dismissed, the Kings reflect on what to do about their enemies, with Jeromy saying that they should observe what happens. For they will become the victors of the conflict once the fire dies down. And get this, ladies and gentlemen! The Kings are the sons of Dairoku Saionji, the Dragon King himself! Surprise! Oh, and rest assured: The other higherups will obviously duel later on in the story.

In Central Japan, Pawn goes to meet Balius, where the two of them act like old friends. After Pawn explains the situation, Balius agrees to help on two conditions. The first is double payment, while the other is Amadeus' release from jail. Why, you ask? Because Amadeus knows how to run a country, and Balius needs men like him. So Pawn agrees to the terms, as they benefit SOL Technologies in the long run. Prior to the conversation ending, Balius expresses fear that Brion may group up with rebels and attack Central Japan in revenge for what happened. While Pawn tells Balius that Brion was part of a prison transfer, we all know that Brion's been captured and put in the slave force as a result of Ace. But neither Pawn nor Balius know the truth. Before Pawn leaves, Balius assures Pawn that should Brion or the Sons of Furutani attack Central Japan, he'll take care of it.

Next is the scenes in Mirror LINK VRAINS. Due to Ai acting on instinct, Lightning and the others weren't able to get the remnants of Earth's data. Here, Bohman summons Azrael and Wraith so they can answer his questions, which they proceed to do. However, Azrael reprimands Bohman for acting under a directive, and tells him that if he's to defeat Playmaker, he must understand humanity. After all, to defeat your enemy, you need to know them. In addition, Azrael tells Bohman that if he's to win, he must cast aside honor and fair play, for those don't apply in survival of the fittest. Azrael also tells Bohman about some of Project: VIII, the Construct's role and the Root of All Knowledge to be specific. Once Azrael finishes his discussion with Bohman, he leaves, but not before the latter tells the former that he'll be going after Wraith once their common enemy is destroyed. Azrael, in turn, gives Bohman a gift, which is obviously footage for those of you who are concerned. And what's on that footage will be revealed later on.

Finally is the scene where Jericho comments on his findings, having been caught off guard by a few of them. After informing Shalem about his suspicions, as well as revealing that he imprisoned one of the Lost Incident scientists, Shalem orders Jericho to interrogate the prisoner. Jericho also proposes an intriguing experiment, which Shalem says that Urizen approves of it. What is this experiment? You'll find out later on. As for the Lost Incident scientist, he's the other unnamed scientist that the anime only shown, but didn't give a role to. His appearance is based off of Pluto from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The chapter basically ends with Jericho beginning to torture the scientist. That's all.

Without further ado, I want to thank you all for reading Chapter 79 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 was your favorite part of the chapter? The heartwarming scenes between Arashi and Brea? Yuhiro's thoughts about recent events, and how he's no longer himself? The meeting between the higherups? The interaction between Azrael and Bohman? Jericho commenting on what's going on? Or was it something else?

That's all for now, folks. Before I sign off, I have a special announcement. We're only four chapters away from the Mirror LINK VRAINS arc. My goal is to get there by Christmas, and with your support, we can do it. Let me know what you're looking forward to next. In the meanwhile, I will see you in the next chapter, for things are going to get epic down the road!