City Streets

A few minutes later, Aichi and Hitoe had helped Sakuya over to a nearby bench in order to help the weakened Selector regain her strength after her brief experience within Reverse itself. After he had properly introduced both himself and Umr to both Hitoe's friend and Midoriko, the Royal Paladin user along with the Selector herself then went on to discuss about everything that had been going on in the world around them, particuarly since the time that Yuzuki became an LRIG and when Kai had been unintentionally summoned to this world's Tokyo by Takuto. When the red LRIG had finished her explanation of what she had been through, Midoriko immediately held up a hand to interject something of her own.

"W... Wait a moment!" she called "If you told Hitoe about the truth, then...!"

"I know..." Yuzuki murmured "This means I can no longer grant her wish and escape this card. But at least this way, she won't have to do that oath and I can just worry about keeping her safe."

"This is all so confusing..." Sakuya moaned as she clutched her head, trying to get some understanding of everything that she was being brought up to speed on. "Aichi and this Kai aren't from here, there's some White Room with this Mayu and Link Joker thingy and the whole thing about the wishes coming true was somewhat of a sham?"

Aichi could only nod in response, unsure of how to properly answer to Hitoe's friend given the confused state that she was in as of right now and with her mental strength already drained from being in Reverse as well, who could blame her for feeling the way she was as of this moment. The Selector huffed for a moment as she looked down at the ground below the bench.

"Well damn me," she muttered "I just happen to have my head screwed by this Reverse and now I find the coolest risk and reward way of a card battle is evil!"

"W... Well, it's not entirely bad," said Hitoe "I did manage to free you and I'm just happy to be with you and Midoriko-san again after so long."

"I suppose that is true," Sakuya replied with somewhat of a forced smile "Thanks for the save Hitoe. I guess for the first time in years... I owe you one."

The Selector smiled warmly in response as she took a seat on the bench beside one of her closest friends, turning Yuzuki's card in her neck wallet to her left slightly so that they could get a better look at her. As Yuzuki looked over to Midoriko with a warm smile of her own, almost in the vein of reassuring the green LRIG that what previously transpired between the two of them was not her fault at all, the LRIG herself smiled back, almost feeling as free as she would ever be for the first time in days. She then looked up to Hitoe as she looked down at the card containing her.

"I still can't believe that managed to gain so much confidence in yourself in nearly a week up to now," she said.

"W... Well, I had a good teacher to help me," Hitoe answered as she looked back to Aichi who smiled in reply.

"I'm really happy the three of you have managed to get back together," he said kindly "I was really worried when I was watching the battle."

"I will certainly say that Hitoe's skill has become rather... formidable from these past few minutes," Umr interjected from her own card.

Sakuya and Midoriko gazed closely at the LRIG herself, having not previously addressed her during their time in Reverse despite seeing her watching from the sidelines alongside Aichi.

"Well I'll be..." the Selector murmured "I knew Umr was almost a one of a kind LRIG in the regular game of Wixoss, but I never thought I'd meet the real one up close."

"If what Aichi has told me is true," Umr replied "Then it would appear that the prior reputation of my fictional presence precedes me, apparently."

"That's... one way of putting it I guess," said Midoriko.

"Anyway... you wouldn't mind us heading over to your place Hitoe?" asked Sakuya "There's... something I need to come clean about."

Hitoe kindly nodded with a smile on her face, knowing that her parents would most likely be intrigued with what had been going on in Aomori since she had left her old school there. The two Selectors got up from the bench and departed from the park with Aichi.


Selector Battlefield

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Culmination)

The cold air of the battlefield was disturbed for a brief moment by the breeze that blew across the vast expanse between the tables of the two combatants as well as the SIGNI, units and LRIG that they commanded. Kamui shivered for a moment as he looked to Ethics Buster who he had only just grown into at the start of the current turn, the cold air drawn up by Piruluk's Freeze abilities having done little to lift his spirits as he saw that Brainy Papio was still frozen from an earlier effect. Looking back to Amika, he could see that her expression had not changed by much since he had met her moments earlier. Initially, he had suspicions of Reverse playing a part from learning that Aichi, Kai and Ruko had to deal with it previously.

However, everything he saw from the way Amika act and play was telling him otherwise. The fact she was not exhibiting any signs of it as evidenced by the lack of dull eyes or even the indentifiable aura whilst relieving at first had only gotten him far more suspicious of what was really going on. At the same time, Kamui was doing his best to try and not lose his patience with Piruluk, who had barely spoken throughout the encounter thus far, still in her usual monotone. Deciding not to worry about the blue LRIG for the moment, he looked over to the Selector in question.

"Oi Amika, just what's going on?!" he called "Why did you bring us here in the first place?!"

Amika bit her lip for a moment, still almost quivering as she was earlier when the two of them had reunited back in the streets of the city around them.

"I met her..." she spoke "I... encountered Kiyoi. Or rather..."

"Or rather what...?" Ethics Buster questioned, keeping a stance.

"The truth is..." the Selector continued "The person who beat Kamui in Kiyoi's body... was Kiyoi's LRIG, Remember."

Kamui was caught off guard at this sudden revelation as evidenced by his surprised and somewhat confused expression. Apparently, the person he had fought back in his own world had the body of Kiyoi to face him, but wasn't the actual person in question herself, if what Amika was saying still happened to be true. Then recalling back to the fight that he had the previous day, he suddenly remembered a detail that he had seemingly overlooked, when he thought that he was briefly seeing Remember as a unit in the place of 'Kiyoi'.

"Wait a minute...!" he called "Are you saying that Remember 'unit' I saw on those cards... was that actually...?!"

"Correct," Piruluk replied in her usual monotone "Deception is something that Remember is rather skilled at, regardless of who she appears as. Believe that when I say that I know, Katsuragi."

"But if that's true..." Kamui murmured "Then where the heck is the real Kiyoi?!"

The blue LRIG remained silent in response to the Nova Grappler user's question, as if she had no intention of saying anything more to him at this point, almost as if she was expecting him to find out the answer for himself. When he saw that he wasn't going to get anything more from Piruluk as he had expected, Kamui huffed as he placed down two more cards onto his table as the units Beast Deity, Death Stinger and Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos joined Ethics Buster and the frozen Brainy Papio that were already present and accounted for.

"Let's go!" he called "Hatred Chaos attacks!"

Hatred Chaos took up a stance before rushing off across the battlefield towards the Aqua Force unit Tidal Assault before leaping into the air and landing a kick on the Aquaroid's face, banishing him from the battlefield. Shortly afterwards, Death Stinger had swiftly scuttled on its legs up to the Aqua Force Heal Trigger unit, Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir before thrusting its stinger tail into her, banishing it from Amika's table as well. Ethics Buster's eyes flashed for a moment as it soared over towards Piruluk who gazed at the Beast Deity with her usual disinterested expression.

"Amika, what's so important to make you want to go through with this?!" yelled Kamui "Aichi knows all of the shadier stuff from Kai and I bet that Piruluk does as well!"

As Ethics Buster was about to throw a large punch with its massive right fist, a glow appeared in front of Piruluk as Emerald Shield, Paschal projected a barrier in front of her, shielding the blue LRIG from the oncoming attack. When the Beast Deity with a growl of frustration retreated back to Kamui's table, just as the Aqua Force Sentinel unit disappeared from sight, the Nova Grappler user looked ahead to see the Selector keep her head down with her depressed expression still present on her face. However, something seemed a little different than what he had seen earlier thus far.

"Yeah... I know alright," she spoke "The whole body-swap, the catch in becoming an Eternal Girl. But right now, my own well being isn't what's important right now...!"

"What do you mean?"

"If I don't win enough battles to make my wish come true, then... my mother will die!"

Kamui's heart skipped a beat for a brief moment as he allowed what the Selector had just told him to sink into his mind. Now everything was finally starting to make sense to him, from Amika's depressed expression when she had left Card Luck when she said she had to attend to 'family business' to the fact that she appeared somewhat desperate before opening up the battlefield to where they now found themselves. However, that revelation in itself had done very little to qwell his growing concerns.

"Your wish... is to save your mom?" he breathed.

Amika bit her lip for a moment as she raised her head to look up at Kamui, seeing the evident confusion in his eyes as to why this was the case in the first place. A part of her was hesitant to talk to him about what was really going on, but when she gazed down at Piruluk who simply looked back at her in response, nodding once for a brief moment, the Selector decided to face the Nova Grappler user once more to tell him her side of the story.

"My mother... she's been diagnosed with an illness for some time and she hasn't been able to leave the hospital since..." she began.

(End Music)

Flashback; Amika's POV/Narration

"Aside from her, there's my father who's been working harder ever since she's had to go into care to keep everything together and my two younger brothers."

Amika stepped out of her bedroom and into the living space of her home where she was greeted "good morning" by her father and two much younger boys around half of her own age. All three of them in contrast to the Selector had a much more darker shade of brown in their hair in comparison to her much more brighter shade. Smiling for a moment, she patted the head of one of her brothers in a teasing manner as she and the other one giggled in amusement for a brief moment.

"When we learned that it was possible that mother could die from her illness, it took its toll on all of us, especially my brothers. Ever since then, I've had to try and do my part to make sure everything is alright, in the hope that she can be cured. It made me feel hopeless, knowing that even though I was keeping everyone calm... to not raise panic in front of them or my classmates at school... there was nothing I could do to save her."

The Selector was then in the hospital room overlooking her mother in a deep sleep along with the rest of her family both beside and in front of her. It was the late afternoon as evidenced by the dim light cast into the otherwise dark room where the sun was setting outside in the far distance of the city. Amika held a hand over her two younger brothers to try and keep them calm as well as reassure them that 'everything was going to be alright'. Or at the very least, she hoped it would.

"But then... when I got a deck to the Wixoss card game out of interest... I met Piruluk."

Later that same evening, the soon-to-be Selector opened up a box containing the cards that made up the deck that was simply titled, 'Blue Appli'. After reading through the rules througly and inspecting what she assumed was all of the cards that she had recieved, she turned the very last one she found, evidenced by the recognizable white backing with both the Wixoss logo and 'prophecy' text inscribed upon it, she turned it around to see the LRIG in question, intrigued by her current pose. Piruluk's eyes widened for a moment as if she had almost seen a ghost for a brief moment before she brought up her hands to rub her eyes. When she did however, Amika had suddenly frozen up in sudden confusion as she tilted her head, followed by a rather loud scream.

"Our first meeting... could have gotten much smoother than I thought..."

As her father and brothers came scrambling to her room, wondering what had caused the Selector to scream, Amika in a state of shock and panic tried to explain everything she had just witnessed, even by going as far as to wave Piruluk's card around in front of them to make sense of what she was talking about. Much to her dismay and Piruluk's slight discomfort from the way her card was shaken to a somewhat excessive degree, the rest of her family currently present were utterly confused as they did not have Selector rights of their own, preventing them from seeing the alive LRIG in the stead of the still image that they could see.

"Thankfully though, she did manage to clarify things quickly before I got into a right mess."

A few minutes and dinner later, Amika was finally alone in her bedroom to talk to the LRIG again, now that she had calmed down and accepted that he could see and hear her for that manner. Piruluk gazed up at the Selector as the two of them learned of each other's names and as Amika explained her situation with her family, the LRIG in turn laid out the 'rules' of her new role as a Selector and asked her for her wish. Needless to say, she had already laid out her wish as clearly as she could and Piruluk nodded her head in acceptance of that wish.

"I finally had hope that I could save my mother... even if the method was somehow strange and somewhat unorthodox. Of course... things didn't exactly go according to plan at first."

The very next day, Amika had emerged from her first Selector Battle, practically at a loss for words as to what she had witnessed and how things had played out in regards to it. Chiyori was celebrating with Eldora over their first victory together since their previous loss to Yuzuki at the time, much to the LRIG's exasperation and Piruluk's hidden utter disbelief, which was hidden behind her usual expression. Amika was initially shocked at first from losing her very first battle and that she could not afford to lose twice more right out of the gate, but she immediately regained her composure and offered a hand to Chiyori to congratulate her on the victory, to which the younger Selector was all too eager to accept.

"I now realised that I couldn't just expect things to go my way if I wanted to save mother."

Present

"And that's why..." the Selector murmured "That's why... I have to defeat you!"

Kamui couldn't help but tense up a little more, now seeing that Amika was serious in fulfilling her wish through to the end, even if it had meant Piruluk taking over her body as a 'result' of the oath required. He wanted to argue further on the subject, but he knew the Selector had already made up her mind, knowing there was little he could do to change her viewpoint at this moment as he had no other option but to end the current turn there as the ice around Brainy Papio shattered.

End of Turn 6

Kamui vs Amika

Hand - 3 : 4

Life Cloths - 3 : 4

Current LRIGs - Beast Deity, Ethics Buster : Code Piruluk G

SIGNI : Beast Deity, Hatred Chaos - Beast Deity, Death Stinger - Beast Deity, Brainy Papio : EMPTY - EMPTY - EMPTY

Ener - 2 : 8

Amika breathed in and drew her two cards to start her next turn as she tried to keep her composure under control. Deep down, she knew that she was going to have to tell the truth behind her wish to Kamui after running into him again, if only so he could understand why she was going through with what she was doing. Looking to her Ener Zone and deciding that she had everything she needed there, she held out one hand towards her LRIG space.

"Grow!" she called "Code Piruluk Omega!"

(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Consternation)

A series of flashes rose up around the LRIG space of the table as Piruluk's appearance was altered for the fourth time throughout this battle as she gained another pair of crystal wings in addition to the three pairs that she had in the prior form, her garb gained some additions to the fabric in addition to a collar-like brooch with a blue gem hanging around her neck and a pair of glasses that materialized in front of her cold blue eyes. She gazed upon Kamui and Ethics Buster with her uninterested gaze as the Nova Grappler user tensed up, recalling in the previous battle that Amika did not have a chance to show off this form to him meaning that he had no idea of what to expect at this point.

"Piruluk's skill!" Amika called "I discard one card from your hand!"

Kamui gasped in shock as one of his three cards hovered up into the air before shattering immediately into glass like fragments and reappearing in his Trash Pile, much to his annoyance. It was one that he had needed at this point and losing it at this late stage of the battle to that ability was most disadvantageous at this point. The card that he had lost from the effect was Beast Deity, Solar Falcon.

"That annoying skill again...!" he growled.

"We're not out of this yet," Ethics Buster spoke "Just pull through this and we can knock them for a loop."

"I got it!" Kamui replied, regaining his focus immediately.

As Piruluk looked back to Amika who nodded in agreement, she moved another three cards from her Ener Zone to her Trash Pile before revealing a card from her LRIG deck, one that was vastly familiar to the blue LRIG herself from the previous occasions that it had been used.

"Let's go!" she called as she placed the card down onto the table "Peeping Analyze!"

As the remaining two cards in Kamui's hand hovered up again, much to his surprise, he looked on ahead to see that Piruluk's eyes had turned into a blank white glow as she stared intensely towards him. He saw Amika's expression tense up in nervousness as even she knew that using it at this point was mostly a gamble and a lucky guess at this point, something that she was not so good at holding her composure in regards to that.

"Calm yourself..." Piruluk spoke "You have looked through his deck before."

"R... Right," the Selector replied as she took a deep breath and pointed towards Kamui's table "Level 2!"

As Kamui gasped in shock, both of the remaining cards in his hand hovered up before one of them shattered immediately and reformed in his Trash Pile, indicating that Piruluk had successfully managed to destroy even more of his hand, leaving him with very little options to try and defend with against Amika's next wave of attacks. Then looking down at himself for a moment, he could see that his chest was glowing for a moment much to his shock.

"W... What the heck is this?!" he gasped.

"Utterly hopeless..."

The Nova Grappler user blinked for a moment, seeing that it was Piruluk who had bluntly spoken out presumably towards him as he stared back towards the blue LRIG seeing that her gaze had not stopped for even a second as the same coloured aura on him surrounded her eyes.

"Did you see his wish...?" Amika breathed.

"My wish...?!" Kamui exclaimed "B... But I never had...!"

"His goddess..." Piruluk spoke "... is Sendou's sister."

The Nova Grappler user suddenly froze in shock, wondering in utter bewliderment, surprise and slight embarassment how the LRIG has somehow managed to find out about his crush on Aichi's sister, Emi. His face had gone beet red from the exposure of his desire without his own consent, but at the same time, he inwardly cringed upon realizing that he had made that his wish after his battle with Chiyori, just seconds before Aichi and Kai had found and explained everything that was going on to him. But at the same time, he knew that there had to be more to this signature trick of Piruluk's he had just fallen victim to.

"W... Wait a minute...!" he called "How did you even...?!"

"Peeping Analyze has one additional effect with my gaze," Piruluk spoke "I can peer into a Selector's heart and see what their wish is. Of course, this technique hasn't worked on everyone I have encountered. Kominato Ruko and Kai Toshiki to name as examples."

"Kamui..." Amika breathed "Was I not supposed to...?"

"Fine... I'll admit that Emi-san is my one true 'goddess'!" Kamui huffed "But... I'll never throw that wish on the line! Not if it means throwing her into this mess as well!" And Aichi would never forgive me for that!

Piruluk remained uninterested as her gaze into his heart continued onwards as she patiently waited for the side effect of Peeping Analyze to come to an end so that Amika could continue on with her turn. As it was coming down to the last few seconds, the LRIG's eyes suddenly widened for a brief moment as she inwardly gasped upon what else she had found. Before she had time to peer more into this however, the lingering effect of Peeping Analyze had finally worn off, meaning she could no longer peer through Kamui to find more information. However, what she had found at this moment combined with her own memories was enough to tense up her own expression as she clenched her right fist, unbeknowst to the Nova Grappler user.

How is it... that he knows Sakaguchi's name?!

"Is everything alright, Piruluk?"

Upon hearing Amika's voice call out to her, Piruluk snapped out of her trance and looked back to the Selector who seemed somewhat concerned with her LRIG by noticing her clenched fist at this moment, wondering what had caused her to do so.

"Nothing of your concern," she bluntly replied "It's still your turn."

The Selector nodded as she then placed down the SIGNI onto the empty spaces of the table that were to the left and right of Piruluk. These were the Level 4 Blue SIGNI named Code Art CL and Code Heart VAC who respectively stood in different stances facing the direction of the units on Kamui's side of the field that opposed them.

"With CL and VAC," Amika spoke "I discard the last card in your hand and banish Brainy Papio!"

Kamui groaned as the last card in his hand shattered in an instant before reappearing in his Trash Pile again as Brainy Papio then vanished from the field in a flash of white as its card reappeared in his Ener Zone, much to his annoyance.

"CL's skill!" the Selector continued "Since I already have a copy of VAC in my Trash, I can add ICE BREAK back to my hand."

Shortly after she had recovered the Spell from her Trash that was used earlier for growing Piruluk into her current form, she then placed down the SIGNI Code Art PZL who held her hands out in front of her, forming a white glow within them. Then before Kamui knew it, a formation of ice had imprisoned one of his units once again, this time being Hatred Chaos.

"Now with ICE BREAK, I banish Hatred Chaos!"

A brilliant flash surrounded the ice that imprisoned Hatred Chaos before shattering it as the unit vanished in the same manner as Brainy Papio, showing that it was banished from the battlefield. Kamui huffed for a moment as he looked down at his field, seeing that the only unit that remained in front of Ethics Buster was Death Stinger and it would easily be defeated by an attack from PZL in the coming Attack Phase.

She's not just destroying my hand... she's mowing down my units before she's even attacked... he muttered in his thoughts I guess Amika wasn't kidding when she said that she was holding back the other day.

"Let's go!" called Amika "My SIGNI attack Ethics Buster and Death Stinger!"

PZL materialized a large crystal of ice within her hands before throwing it across the battlefield towards the lone Death Stinger who could do nothing to avoid it as it crashed right into it, banishing the unit from the field. Ethics Buster looked on ahead to see CL and VAC running towards it and raised both of its fists and charged towards them in response. It slammed down its fists onto the floor of the battlefield, but missed the two Blue SIGNI as they shocked it through the large glove like weapons they wielded. Kamui's next two Life Cloths revealed Beast Deity, Death Stinger and Beast Deity, Van Paurus.

"Tsk!" he hissed "Death Stinger's Life Burst is useless... but I can still draw 1 card!"

"Piruluk attacks!"

Piruluk nodded in response to Amika's command and took flight towards the downed Ethics Buster who had barely managed to recover from the onslaught of attacks from CL and VAC just moments earlier. Kamui looked down at the card he drew and could only close his eyes in annoyance as he knew that he could not guard at this very moment. The blue LRIG materialized several large ice spear like formations around her and immediately launched all of them at once upon the Beast Deity in front of her. Ethics Buster groaned as it shielded its face from the onslaught of the ice spears as Kamui's next Life Cloth revealed itself to be Beast Deity, Yamatano Drake. Both the unit and the LRIG retreated to their respective combatant's tables as Amika's turn came to an end.

(End Music)

Man, that was rough...! Kamui murmured in his thoughts But... I have everything I need to go all out this turn. He then gazed towards Piruluk whose uninterested gaze remained upon him as usual, only unbeknowst to him, there was something a little different about it. Let me show you that I'm not as much of a pushover as you think.

"My vanguard!" Ethics Buster called, bringing the cardfighter's attention back to it "Let's do it now!"

"Yeah!" Kamui called "The great Kamui ups and draws!"

As soon as he drew his next two cards, he looked upon them closely and smiled, if almost bitterly for a moment.

Not exactly what I wanted... but they'll do it just fine!

As he moved three of the cards in his Ener Zone to his Trash Pile, he held out one hand over to his LRIG space as Ethics Buster was enveloped in a blinding neon green glow, indicating the form that it was about to change into at this very moment. As Amika looked on in worry for a moment, Piruluk remained unfazed as she was, almost as if she had expected this to happen.

(Cardfight! Vanguard Neon Messiah OST: Kamui vs Ibuki)

"Go! Burning Fire! Roaring Thunder!" called Kamui "The great Kamui Crossbreak Grows the furious, Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme!"

As the neon green glow died down, the changed and upgraded Ethics Buster descended onto the table with its new armaments, now ready to take on Piruluk at full strength as it hovered just a little above the surface.

"Break Grow skill! When Ethics Buster attacks, I can up two of my Silver SIGNI and attack with them again! In addition, all of my SIGNI gain 2000 power at all times!"

"The same as last time..." Piruluk murmured as she kept her sharp gaze up at the towering Battleroid at the far end of the battlefield.

"With a Salvage ARTS, I'll get back Brainy Papio," Kamui continued "Then I'll summon him back along with Yamatano Drake and Brutal Jack!"

As Brainy Papio and Yamatano Drake appeared on the table, both of which were familiar to Amika and Piruluk from seeing them in the previous battle, a Nova Grappler unit that was partially unfamiliar to them appeared onto the far left of his formation. The new unit was not a Beast Deity as it did not possess that title, but looked just as formidable. He was covered in black armour with green spikes trailing down the back down to his tail, had three eyes present on either side of his head and he wielded two different weapons, one for each arm. On Jack's left were two razor sharp blades and a rounded weapon with multiple spikes almost resembling a saw of some kind. All of them gained an orange coloured aura for being powered up by Ethics Buster's presence.

Beast Deity, Brainy Papio: 5000 - 7000

Beast Deity, Yamatano Drake: 8000 - 10000

Brutal Jack: 8000 - 10000

"I power up Brainy Papio with Doping and pay the cost to release Jack's restraint!" Kamui called "Here I come!"

As the eyes of the three units in front of Ethics Buster lit up all at once, showing that the Nova Grappler user was prepared to go all out with his attacks available to him, Piruluk closed her eyes as Amika looked to her LRIG deck.

"Don't Escape!" she called as the ARTS revealed itself "I down Yamatano Drake!"

A series of energy coils erupted from Kamui's table as they wrapped themselves around Yamatano Drake and forced it down to the ground, just as its card turned sideways to show that.

"That doesn't matter! Go, Papio and Jack!" he declared.

Piruluk remained motionless as the two Nova Grappler units unleashed their attacks upon the defenceless Level 4 SIGNI that were beside her on the table. Brainy Papio unleashed a barrage of missiles that struck down CL in an explosion whilst Brutal Jack fired a large orange laser that shot out of its jaw and directly impacted into Code Heart VAC, banishing her from the field as well.

"Go, Ethics Buster Extreme!" Kamui called.

"You got it!"

Ethics Buster soared into the air once again as it flew across the length of the battlefield towards Piruluk who remained motionless still as if she was not even concerned about the situation that she and Amika were in. The Selector looked down at her hand and shook her hand to dismiss a decision that was previously considering at this point.

"No guard..." she spoke as an orange Vanguard circle flash in front of Ethics Buster.

"Limit Break activated!" Kamui called "Twin Drive!"

As he reached out from his deck, he flipped over the first card to reveal Beast Deity, Rescue Bunny, a card that he wasn't after in this time of need as he sent it back to the bottom of the stack of cards. He then revealed the next card to be Beast Deity, Max Beat which he immediately added to his hand as the energy coils that were wrapped around Yamatano Drake shattered, allowing it to stand back up. Ethics Buster raised its arms high into the air as a large neon green sphere of energy crackled in its palms before it threw it down towards Piruluk who still did not move as Amika raised her arms in front of her face to shield herself from the impact of the oncoming blast.

As the sphere impacted, a large explosion rocked the table as Amika's next Life Cloth revealed itself to be Medical Officer of the Rainbow Elixir, whose Life Burst was useless as she still had more Life Cloths than Kamui at this present moment. The Nova Grappler user looked on as the smoke cleared up to see that despire the damage that was sustained to her garb and the fact that her glasses gained from this form were destroyed by the impact of the blast, Piruluk herself had remained virtually unfazed by the entire attack. Looking to Code Art PZL who he wasn't able to previously banish thanks to Amika's ARTS, he decided that at least getting rid of her SIGNI would be a small achievement in itself.

"Let's go, Yamatano Drake!" he called.

Yamatano Drake's centermost head opened its jaw and began to gather up energy for its atack, followed shortly by the other six heads that it had on its mechanical body. Then concentrating their power together, they unleashed the seven beams from their head together as they joined to form one attack that immediately banished Code Art PZL from the battlefield upon impact.

"Brutal Jack attacks again!" Kamui continued.

Brutal Jack's eyes lit up as he charged across the battlefield in a rampaged like manner towards Piruluk who once again did not respond or move as the unit came towards her. When he reached Amika's table, the unit swung both of his arms across her, dealing the next damage before returning back to Kamui's table as a shower of rockets from Brainy Papio then struck the surface in front of her, knocking her back slightly as she leaped up and landed back on her feet in an elegant manner. The Nova Grappler user kept his gaze upon Piruluk, trying his best to not let her unfazed appearance get under his skin again.

"Using Papio's skill, I stand Jack for another attack!" he called "Then with the skill of White Tiger as the attack hit, I Exceed it and stand Papio!"

An afterimage of Beast Deity, White Tiger appeared above Brainy Papio whilst an orange aura surrounded Brutal Jack's eyes as the two units stood up once again, giving Kamui the two attacks that he would need to end the battle.

"Go Jack!" he declared.

Brutal Jack opened its jaw once again as a large orange laser erupted from there and struck Piruluk down in a large explosion as she shielded her face from the attack, still not changing her expression or opening up her eyes even once.

"This is the finishing blow!" Kamui boldly called "Brainy Papio attacks Piruluk!"

As Brainy Papio unleashed one final shower of rockets from its head that soared and whistled through the air on their way towards Piruluk, the blue LRIG finally opened up her eyes as her usual gaze was directed upon the Nova Grappler user once again.

"Katsuragi..." she addressed in her usual blunt monotone "Do you think I haven't already seen through that 'attack' before...?"

As Kamui blinked for a moment, a blue flash suddenly appeared in front of the LRIG as Amika revealed a card from her hand.

"Blue Storm Guardian Dragon, Icefall Dragon!" she called "Quintet Wall!"

As the Tear Dragon appeared in front of Piruluk as a whole, a green circle was generated in front of it as Code Art PZL, Servant O and Tidal Assault materialized alongside it, making it just enough SIGNI that were need to deflect the attack. The missiles from Brainy Papio impacted onto the shield generated by Icefall Dragon, but it along with Piruluk and the units it summoned remained completely unharmed.

"Damn it...!" Kamui groaned as he realized that he could no longer attack again for the rest of the turn. The best I could do was knock her down to no Life Cloths! And worse than that... it's her turn again!

(End Music)

End of Turn 8

Kamui vs Amika

Hand - 2 : 2

Life Cloths - 0 : 0

Current LRIGs - Strongest Beast Deity, Ethics Buster Extreme : Code Piruluk Omega

SIGNI : Brutal Jack - Beast Deity, Yamatano Drake - Beast Deity, Brainy Papio : EMPTY - EMPTY - EMPTY

Ener - 0 : 9

As Amika sighed in relief, she drew her next two cards to begin what could be percieved as the 'last turn', given that Kamui had exhausted almost all of his resources and lacked quite a lot of defensive cards himself as she had seen his deck the previous day when she was helping him to understand the rules of Wixoss.

"Kamui... I understand where you're coming from..." she spoke "I really do. But... I've already made up my mind. So please, don't bear any hard feelings towards me or Piruluk for this."

"Not yet!" he yelled back in response "I can still protect myself until the next turn...!"

"There is no next turn..." Piruluk interrupted bluntly as he gasped in shock.

"Using my Servant O from the Quintet Wall as a Red ARTS," Amika spoke "I use One Rule, Two Birds to restrict the SIGNI you can guard with!"

Kamui groaned as he realized that he could no longer protect himself as his last means of defense was Beast Deity, Solar Falcon. But because it was Level 1 and the ARTS prevented him from guarding with Guard SIGNI of that Level, he knew at that moment, there was nothing more that he could do.

Why did I have to lose Shieldraizer to Remember...?! he groaned within his thoughts Amika and Piruluk already shredded through my hand early on and froze my SIGNI to the point where even my best wasn't enough...!

As he delved into his thoughts, something suddenly occured to him as Piruluk was taking flight to deal the finishing blow to Ethics Buster who could only take a defensive stance in preparation for the inevitable.

Wait a moment... Kamui murmured Freezing... discarding... and the fact that Piruluk knows that Kiyoi is actually this Remember who was her LRIG... and she used the same tactics in our fight...!

He then looked back up toward Piruluk as she was materializing multiple ice spears that was preparing to launch right at Ethics Buster, realizing that even though he had already lost the battle, there was something he still had to confirm.

"Hey Piruluk!" he called, bringing her attention down to him "Are you... Are you the real Kiyoi?!"

As she closed her eyes in response for a moment, Amika held down her head as Kamui gazed over to the Selector, wondering if she already knew the answer to his question at that very moment. When he looked back up to Piruluk, she opened up her eyes, her gaze remaining unfazed as ever.

"Yes..." she replied "I am... the true Mizushima Kiyoi."

And with that, she pointed one finger down towards Kamui's table as the ice spears crashed into the surface, forcing the Nova Grappler user to take cover underneath as several of the projectiles crashed into his seat upon impact as Ethics Buster Extreme screeched out loud in pain. When the barrage of ice had finally passed over, he came back up to see that the Strongest Beast Deity was now flat on the ground, completely weakened after suffering the fatal blow that ended the match in victory for Amika and Piruluk.

"I'm sorry... Ethics Buster..." he spoke in disappointment.

"Ugh..." the unit groaned as it dug itself free from the rubble of shattered ice "Azure Dragon isn't going to be happy about this, that's for sure."

Shortly after Ethics Buster had made that remark, the entire battlefield went pitch black.


City Streets

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Profane Wish)

When Kamui and Amika regained consciousness, it was now very late in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to set in the distance behind them. The Nova Grappler user could only bite his lip to prevent himself from ranting on in frustration over his failure to make a difference to the Selector's stance on the situation around both her ill mother and the family she was doing her best to take care of in these dire times.

"Rats...!" he muttered as he punched the wall of the nearest building in anger.

As Amika looked over to him in worry, she tried to approach him only for him to hold back a hand in response as he turned around to face her.

"I guess... there's no talking you out of it," Kamui murmured.

"Y... Yes," she said "I'm sorry things had to end this way, Kamui. But... you really were close there. I'm sure you can beat Remember and take back your units with enough pr..."

"Right now, he isn't in that shape to do it."

Kamui glared over to Piruluk, or rather Kiyoi as he now knew her by as evident by her answer to his question in the closing moments of the battle, still feeling annoyed about being addressed by her blunt tone.

"If you cannot defeat me," she continued "Then how do you expect to overcome Remember, let alone take back the units she's stolen from you?"

Knowing that he did not have an answer to respond to her question that was directed at him, the Nova Grappler user simply looked away from her and clenched his fists in response. Seeing that it was possible that Kamui could explode at any moment from his already volatile temper at this instance, not helped by Piruluk's blunt comments towards him for the way that he was now, Amika held one hand to his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"Kiyoi..." Kamui muttered "If you help Amika with that 'contract thingy'... you better help her with that wish of hers."

Piruluk remained silent in response, not showing a waver of her expression as Amika began to back away from him and walk away to return home to her father and two brothers, knowing that they would no doubt be waiting for her to be there.

"I'll see you around Kamui..." she said "And... don't give up on getting back your units! I'm sure you can beat Remember this time around!"

Kamui, huffing for a moment, dropped his angered expression as he breathed in deeply and waved goodbye to Amika, now having calmed down from having a little faith restored in his own self-confidence. Knowing that there was nothing more he could do to change her mind, he began to take the long walk back to Kai's apartment, having finished what he had tried to do for the day. As Amika was walking away from the Nova Grappler user, inside the card from within her pocket, Piruluk had her eyes closed, deep into thought about everything that had transpired in the battle. But there was one aspect that was bothering her at this moment and that was when she had discovered that Kamui had knowledge of the name 'Sakaguchi'.

That boy has no concept of the powers he is up against... she murmured in her thoughts as she imaged Remember in her LRIG appearance, holding a cruel smile beneath her seemingly innocent expression Not even he could understand Remember... or the name that he somehow knows.

(End Music)


And there! As Aichi and Hitoe bring Sakuya up to speed with everything that's been occurring in the Selector Battles whilst informing her of the truth behind them, Kamui continues his battle against Amika, attempting to knock some sense into her about the truth behind the conditions to becoming an Eternal Girl. But when he learns that she already has knowledge of this, she reveals to him that the Kiyoi he fought was really her LRIG Remember who possesses her body. He later discovers that Piruluk is also the real Kiyoi and that Amika is fighting to save her mother from an illness that could claim her life. Unable to change the Selector's mind and frustrated from losing to the real Kiyoi, Kamui leaves the pair to tell his friends the bad news. What will unfold next? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG!

Please share your thoughts and criticisms in the reviews and I'll see you all next time! Until then!


Card of the Chapter:

Peeping Analyze

ARTS

Colour: Blue

Cost: 3 Blue

Use Timing [Main Phase]: Declare a number. Look at your opponent's hand and discard all SIGNI with the same level as the declared number.