The Rise and Fall of History II: Opposing the Present

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached its climax. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story brought everyone together. People are united and yet, an unknown world suffers in their shadow. The fallen one returns in the midst of their peace, pursued and still a stranger to those around. There is not much time to save both his home and his friends.

11. And the Pursuit of Happiness

Redux 080: And the Pursuit of Happiness

"Eric..." Uno did something unexpected. He took his pendulum off his neck and gave it to Eric. "Eh? What're you giving me this for? Are you going somewhere?" Alice was still in the middle of her duel, with the conclusion uncertain. "Something does not feel right. If we're in danger, then.." Uno didn't finish that thought. "I'm going to see who that was. I wont take long. Just keep the pendulum in the mean time. You will need it more than me." In case the other Eric returned, this one would need the crystal to stay safe. "I know Alice will do spectacular, it's just... this is something I need to do myself." Uno then disappeared into the crowd. "Himself?" Eric could make neither heads nor tails of this.

Alice's LP: 3500 Zenshin's LP: 8000

At the same time, at the duel, Alice completed her third ritual summon. "I was wondering whether or not you used all three Nekroz spells in your deck, and what you would use to supplement Kaleidoscope if you did. Infernoid Tierra as a tribute, is.. creative." Nekroz Kaleidoscope took its sacrifices from the extra deck to bring out as many Nekroz ritual monsters as possible. "I got it.. from a friend." Through Erics Infernoid Tierra card and its eleven levels, Clausolas(3/1200/1300) and Valkyrus(8/2900/1700) were called out. "I see. But did you have more lined up? You did realize that Clausolas wouldn't work against a ritual monster." Zenshin controlled the Black Luster Supersoldier(8/3000/2500) right now. It wasn't an extra deck monster, so Clausolas could not weaken it. "I did.. I wanted Valkyrus the most." Alice activated the Nekroz spellcasters effect. "He tributes two monsters to draw two cards, Clausolas from my field and Exa from my hand." By tributing Exa, the Enforcer of the Nekroz, Alice could trigger that monsters effect. Exa added one dragon-type Nekroz from the deck to her hand while Valkyrus drew two cards from that same deck. "Exa will give me Nekroz of Decisive Arms."

"Ah." Zenshin saw her strategy now. That Decisive Armor would help her in battle, the draws were just a bonus. "Hey..." One of those cards she drew was a Jar of Avarice. "That's Liza's card..." It was the trap an XYZ-duelist gave her when the two dueled ages ago, to satisfy her guild's ante rule. That was the first time she had to duel for a purpose.. for someone else. "She said this world would eat me alive. Maybe she was right, but... if I go back now. Where can I go? I have to keep dueling!" Alice took a deep breath. "I'll enter my battle phase now. Valkyrus attacks the Super Soldier. And when it does, I activate Decisive Arms." Valkyrus summoned lightning down to his staff and redirected it towards the chaos soldier. The dragonic armor Nekroz added 1000 attackpoints to the warlock(3900/1700) for this one battle. Zenshins ritual monster was no longer the stronger one; it turned to dust on the spot. "Well done. If nothing else, you can at least claim to have landed a hit on me." Zenshin smirked.

Zenshins LP: 7100

"But what happens when the Super Soldier dies?" The destruction of his ritual monster set off a new effect. "A Gaia the Fierce Knight is summoned from my deck! In this time I choose to summon Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight!" Another Gaia(7/2300/2100) rode in on his dark-blue horse, this one wielded two red spears. "That's as far as I can go for now.." Alice placed two traps down. "I end my turn." It was now that finally the effect of Evening Twilight Knight resolved. The card it banished face-down card returned to Alice's hand. "Well then, can you tell me what happens when I activate Super Soldier Ritual from the graveyard now?" When his turn started, Zenshin banished the soldiers ritual spell. "You.. can special summon another Supersoldier?" Alice predicted. "Correct." Zenshin happened to have that monster in his hand. "The ritual banishes light and dark monsters from my graveyard; the Knights of Beginning and Evening to ritual summon my Soldier!" The black knight of dawn and white knight of twilight combined into chaotic energy once more. A second Black Luster Super Soldier(8/3000/2500) appeared on the field. "And you can use those banished monsters, right?"

"Correct again. Banishing Beginning Knight puts a ritual spell in my hand. Banishing Evening Twilight Knight puts a ritual monster in my hand. I choose.. Chaos Form and Blue Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon!" Zenshin gathered the two sides of the ultimate chaos ritual "Blue-Eyes?!" She gasped. "Indeed. Though the Chaos Form card may summon any Black Luster or Chaos ritual monster, only one reigns supreme! I sacrifice Arisen Gaia on the field and Relinkuriboh in my hand!" Zenshin needed eight level stars to summon his dragon, so Gaia had to be paired with a level 1 Kuriboh-cyborg to start the ritual. "Chaos Form summons the Chaos MAX Dragon!" The blue-eyed white dragon, already impressive in appearance, now appeared as a towering dragon(8/4000/0) whose brilliance filled the arena. "Chaos MAX cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects. And when it attacks a defending monster, it will pierce through its defense and double the battle damage!" The master then pulled another card from his deck. "When Relinkuriboh is tributed, one card is drawn." Then he placed his fingers on the graveyard. "Finally; when Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight is tributed, one Black Luster Soldier may be summoned back to the field. The Supersoldier can only be special summoned once a turn. So..."

"Uhm! So you can only summon Sacred Soldier, right?" Alice answered him just as he was about to revive a certain card. "... Correct?" Zenshin didn't get the chance for that, because Alice chained her trap to the effect of Arisen Gaia. "Is it okay if I take it first with Monster Rebone?" It was the continuous trap that took one monster from the opponents graveyard, if that opponent had special summoned his own monster this turn. "I special summon Black Luster Sacred Soldier in defense mode!" The number of monsters on each side of the field had evened out, with Alice as the Soldiers new master. "An unexpected parry. How very interesting. But.." Zenshin activated the spell card Relinkuriboh had drawn for him, his Reinforcement of the Army, and added an Envoy of Chaos warrior from his deck. ".. how much life will you have left after just two attacks?" The master entered his battle phase, beginning the attack with Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX. It fired an array of dazzling bursts from its body, which burned holes through the body of the defending Sacred Soldier. It exploded and Monster Rebone broke apart. "Zero..." Already she lost 3000 lifepoints, because of the doubled piercing damage the dragon inflicted. If the Super Soldier finished off Nekroz of Valkyrus, she would lose another 3000 lifepoints. No Decisive Arms-like tricks would save her this time, the Envoy of Chaos in his hand would add 1500 attackpoints to any battling Black Luster Soldier, while reducing the other monsters attack to its original amount.

Alice's LP: 500

. "That is why.. I am gonna let Sphere Kuriboh help me." Just as the Black knight raised his sword, a plastic Kuriboh ball popped up underneath its feet. "The card that returned?" This was what Zenshin banished from her hand last turn. That's why he didn't see it coming now. "Yeah. When you attack, Sphere Kuriboh puts your monster in defense mode." The mighty soldier stepped on the Sphere and tripped, tumbling backwards into a defensive stance. "A Kuriboh for a Kuriboh. You're the first Nekroz duelist I've ever seen with one of those." It was a fact that put a smile on the masters face. "Good. I end my turn." Her lifepoints were secure for this turn. But against these overwhelming odds, Alice would need more than what she had. "Okay. My turn." The draw phase was not that generous, it only put a Djinn Releaser of Rituals in her hand. She still needed a ritual spell. "If I had no monsters on my field, I could .. but.. what if it doesn't work out?"

"No. I can't think about that. I can't win if I don't take the risk." So she resorted to another effect. "I activate Jar of Avarice." Liza's trap, that would have to be her savior. "I return five cards to my deck to draw one card." Half her grave (Aqua Mirror Cycle, Monster Rebone, Mermail Abysspike, Nekroz of Decisive Arms, Nekroz of Clausolas) was recycled for one spell. "!" It was a beginning. Alice could already see the end. "I activate Nekroz of Valkyrus! I tribute two cards!" Valkyrus tributed the Djinn and itself, so that Alice could draw two cards from the deck. "And I activate Nekroz Kaleidoscope too, I banish it and Nekroz of Valkyrus from my grave. Now I can add Nekroz Mirror to my hand!" Alice kept a few cards in her graveyard for this occasion. "Whoa." This turn she started with nothing and now she had four cards in her hand. "What's she up to?" The spectating duelists honestly couldn't figure out her plan yet, not even Eric. "Is she gonna pull it off?"

"I remember what you said about your dragon, mister Zenshin. It cannot be targeted or destroyed.. but.." Alice activated Nekroz Mirror. "Trishula does not target." She needed sacrifices. The Mirror could already use dead Nekroz monsters, so Exa the Enforcer was the first with its five levels. The level 3 Djinn Releaser and the level 1 Sphere Kuriboh filled out the quota. Both these monsters had effects that allowed them to be tributed from the graveyardfor ritual summons. "I summon Nekroz of Trishula from my hand!" Thus the silverhaired dragon knight(9/2700/2000) returned for round two. "I see." Trishula demanded a card from Zenshins hand, field and graveyard; not even Chaos MAX Dragon was immune to this. It was banished, along with the dead Relinkuriboh and the Chaos Envoy in his hand. "That just leaves the Soldier." He still had the superior monster.. so far. "But.. Exa was banished, so I can use his other effect and special summon another Nekroz that was banished. I choose Shurit the Strategist." Exa assisted the young swordsman(3/300/1800) with the blue and red eyes out of the other dimension back during Trishula's ritual.

"And now.. I will use Preparation of Rites and take a ritual spell back, and a level 7 or lower ritual monster from my deck!" This was what 'Avarice' gained her. The spell of Rites grabbed Nekroz Mirror and Nekroz of Clausolas from the graveyard and deck. "I can discard Clausolas again, to get Nekroz Cycle again. And I will use it, with Shurit acting as the entire sacrifice, for Nekroz of Gungnir!" The Cycle was renewed. Clausolas added a second copy of it to her hand. Then upon its activation, the Strategist on the field gave his life for the the redhaired sorceress(7/2500/1700) in the graveyard. "Sorry, but your soldier is gone too." Alice knew that he did not need to be reminded of this monsters effect. By discarding the Nekroz Mirror card from her hand, she could destroy one of his monsters. Gungnir waved her scepter around to turn Black Luster Soldier to ice and shatter his body. "And due to the effect of your Djinn Releaser, I cannot summon a Gaia Knight at this time." All of Zenshins special summons were sealed while Trishula, the monster that the Djinn was sacrificed for, still lived. He was wide open.

"Just wait a little longer." And since Shurit had been tributed, Alice could add a warrior Nekroz card from her deck to her hand. "I will take another Exa. Want to know how I am going to summon him?" Right now she needed a tribute, as it was level 5 monster. However.. "With... the Legendary Ocean!" Alice activated her field spell, drowning her side of the field in water and letting ancient ruins rise to the surface. "Now all my water monsters have 1 less level." Trishula(8/2900/2200) and Gungnir(6/2700/1900) dropped one level star, while gaining 200 attack and defense points. So did the monster in her hand. "Ta-da." She could normal summon Exa(42200/1200), free of charge. "Flawless." A field like that could ease the costs for Nekroz ritual summons greatly. And Alice wasn't even using the Ocean for that. "Yeah. Now I am where I want to be. Mister Zenshin.. I'm attacking you now." Exa with its claws, Trishula with his sword and Gungnir with her staff; the dragon/warrior/caster trio delivered their fatal attacks on Zenshin to end the duel. "Oops. No, should I be calling you master Zenshin now?"

Zenshins LP: 0

"Aha.. I wouldn't be concerned about that. Think more about what has happened here." A loud horn sounded, to advertise the news of Alice's victory across the academy. "You are a part of this school now. And I, as a master, personally welcome you." He shook her hand with both his hands. "Oh. Thank you! I don't really know what to say.. Do I have to do something now?" She was never sure where things went from here. The duel was the part she knew the best. "Oh, you will just need to a sign a few online forms. But you can do so at your own leisure. The process is already largely automatic. Your dueldisk and your cards were registered to the network, and since you defeated a Scale 9 duelist, you have immediately been promoted to Scale 3." The kind of jargon Zenshin was giving her sorta made sense, when she compared it to that system the guilds had. But that usually went over her head. "Oh..I get it. Like Pendulum scales." She at least got the joke behind calling it 'Scales' now. "So, what do you intend to do now that you've joined the academy?"

"I am gonna tell aaaall my friends about it until they're sick of it!" She answered with a big wide grin. "Oh yes, that is right. Your friend had a duel scheduled with me too. I suppose he is next in line." Zenshin looked over her shoulder. "But he doesn't seem to be here now." Alice turned around. "What?" Zenshin was right, Uno wasn't standing besides Eric anymore. "Oh, maybe he was hungry and had to find a snackmachine?" Alice suggested, to Zenshin and to herself. "I'll check." She bowed to the master one more time and ran off the stage. "See, what did I tell you? You always show them who's the boss!" Eric chuckled, forgetting the situation momentarily due to his excitement. "Thanks.. But I couldn't have done it without your help. By the way.. do you know where Uno is?" She wanted to be happier at a time like this. But she could only imagine unfavorable reasons for Uno's absence. "Oh. He said something about some girl stalking him, or something. He went to go check it out. I doubt he's gonna stay gone much longer." He stated. He was surprised Uno hadn't returned already. "A girl? That's strange.. but you're right. I am sure he will come back soon."
...

But he didn't. Uno did not return in time for his duel with Zenshin, or after that. It got to the point where Alice asked Zenshin for help with looking for him. And he wanted to be of assistance, yet neither duelist or teacher had seen him inside the building. The network indicated he left right as Alice won her duel, and could not track him that well after that since he did not have a registered ID yet. All they could do was wait outside the academy to see if he would return. The city was so big, they did not have an idea of where to start looking. "This can't be good. What if someone got to him?" Alice was picturing the worst, seeing flashes of the Inquisitor. "Uno said that this person didn't look like Silver though." Eric tried to re-assure her, even though he never got a good look at this mystery person himself. "What if he didn't think he was coming back. What if he gave you the pendulum because... because.. Hey it's doing something!" Alice pointed a faint light in the crystal around Erics neck.. "Yaah! Why? You think it's telling us about Uno?" Eric didn't feel much for carrying it around anymore. "No. It did that when you showed up near.. the other Eric!"

A van drove up the streets. "It's Adamant and Iria.. and.." It stopped in front of the building, three duelists came out. "What happened? Where is.." Stonewell did not take it well when he saw that Tory was not with them. "What did you do to her?" His first instinct was to go after Eric. "Whoa hey calm down!" Eric raised his arms to defend himself, but Adamant grabbed Stonewell by the shoulder first. "Do not make a scene here. What would people think if they saw two of you?" They were already getting funny looks from a few duelists. "Do you think I care?" Stonewell only heeded his advice a little, as he stayed in the shadow of the van. "What happened? Tell me!" He still wanted answers. "It was.. Iria.. the other Iria." Alice couldn't even talk about it without shuddering. "The Inquisitor." The disciple Iria did not like what she heard. "She uh.. met us when we woke up, took one of your friends. Tory stayed behind to keep her company while giving us a chance to get away." Eric managed to explain it, and in a way that wouldn't sound suspect to any passerby who could catch parts of the conversation. "Silver.. found us? How?!" Stonewell looked at Alice now. "It was.." Though she flinched, she remembered what Tory had been told. "The templars cards. They were marked."

"No." Hearing this, Stonewell slumped against the van. "The cards? My cards?" Taking the Igknights had been his idea, he was the one who dueled Iria with them. "It's all my fault. And now she is.. they are.." At this point Iria came to a grave realization. "Where is Uno?"

...

In truth Uno had planned to meet with the others again as soon as he heard the announcement of Alice's victory in the background. He was only halfway through the academy's front yard.. But then he got those strange goosebumps again. This time he got a better image of the source, a dark-haired girl in what appeared to be a purple poncho-coat. It was too little; something compelled him to keep chasing her. He forgot himself and his friends for that moment and gave chase, following a trail of frequent glimpses here and there. It was almost as if she was trying to lead him somewhere. Was it a trap? His heart did not think so. This was something else, a nostalgic sensation. For the first time since he got back here, he felt like he knew where he was going. That stopped when he came to a small funfair in the middle of the city though. He lost her, she'd vanished behind a carousel and..

"Uno?"

Showed up again right behind him. "!?" He stood face to face with this girl and her purple eyes, her long hair that curled outwards at the back, her bloodred headband ornament that made it look as if a cross had pierced her head... Why did all of this agitate his mind, make his emotions swell. "You.. how do you know that name?"

(To be Continued in Redux 079: Tell me about Yourself)

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Sphere Kuriboh

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Jar of Avarice

New Cards used by Zenshin
Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight
Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon
Relinkuriboh
Envoy of Chaos

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Chaos Form
Reinforcement of the Army