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.

73. Abandon all Hope

Redux 19: Abandon all Hope

To go home again; it sounded nice. But the way it was requested and the timing of it, introduced some resistance. "Are you sure we have to leave? Can't we stay just a little longer?" Dom hardly got to savor the delights of this far more advanced world. "No can do. December wants everyone back in their original dimension. Zach and Iria are already waiting for you there." Uno understood their reluctance, but he would have to take him there regardless. August was watching his every move. "If it is the fusion guild you fear, do not bother. The tower in the other timeline was cleared out by December and January. You will not find any enemies there." The traveler said with an impatient scowl. "So this is it then?" Tory meanwhile would have to stay. She did not even get the chance to say goodbye to half of these people and it was a coincidence at all that she was here in the palace hall when Uno came to fetch Dom. "Well.. It was at least nice to meet you I guess. I wont forget what you've done for me." She extended a hand to Uno. "The feeling is mutual. Where is Stonewell anyway. I want to give him the same.."

Their hands separated soon and not willingly. "What the?" Several loud explosions echoed throughout the floors of the palace. "What caused that?" Uno raced to the window to look up to where the sound came from. "Dont ask us, the sky's been loopy all day." All he, Dom and the others could see were the storm clouds above and odd red lightning. "Is this an effect of the timewarp?" Tory panicked. "No. This is an ongoing duel, between January and your sister." August bluntly revealed. "What!?" Uno gasped out loud. "I have to get up there!" He reached for his pendulum, only for August to stop him by grabbing his hand. "No. You need to finish your tasks, concern yourself with what you can." He glared at the master and his disciples. "But why.. why are you dueling Ana?" Uno pulled himself free. "Because she resisted us. Involving us was your idea, Fortuno Nisell. You wanted to surrender your family to us in order to save what remains of this world. I guess she decided to disagree."

...

"Shining XYZ evolution?" Eric, Stonewell, Adamant and Alice were above the clouds and felt like it too. They witnessed the 39th Number's shining evolution. A fully charged Utopia the Lightning(4/5000/2000) came after Anastasia's ultimate Kozmo Dark Planet(10/4000/4000). "i can. i can not." Under normal circumstances, the Lady would have activated Kozmo Landwalker(6/2400/1200)'s effect to trade the destruction of one Kozmo for another. If not that, she could have outright negated January's monster effect with Kozmoll Dark Lady(5/2200/1800), for a measly 1000 lifepoints. However.. Utopia the Lightning surpassed all; the Number's effect prevented the activation of other effects and cards during its battle step. "my world." Observation was the only choice left for Anastasia. She observed how the Planet that once dominated the sky blew up, piece by piece. "Yay! I took the big one down!"

Anastasia's LP: 3600 January's LP: 4700

"This is the power.. from the world that created XYZ-monsters?" Adamant was nearly left speechless. This kid was the only duelist who could have summoned such a monster. "Yes. January is the last of his world who can tell the story of the Numbers. I suppose your guild owes a lot to that." June said with a melancholic smile. "Well whatever it is, I am glad its winning. I should have known you were up to no good either." Stonewell provoked the lady Nisell while January placed a trap card down and ended his turn. "Yeah.. uh.. don't know why this is happening, but maybe its time to throw in the towel?" Eric didn't think Anastasia could top this Shining Number. "the past... no." Anastasia shook her head and entered her drawphase. "you cannot take me yet, you cannot take from me." As Anastasia's turn started, her Kozmo DOG fighter(6/2000/2400) summoned a DOGfighter token(6/2000/2400) to her field in attack position. "dark destroyer." And Kozmotown's effect freed Kozmo Dark Destroyer from the banished zone, putting it back in the lady's hand. As that card had eight levels, the field spell took away 800 lifepoints.

Anastasia's LP: 2800

"Oh? We're still dueling? If that's what makes you happy, I can go another couple of rounds, yea-heh!" January laughed out loud and activated a trap card. "Balance of Judgment! Gonna have to use some math, but nothing too hard!" The kid moved his finger across the field, counting the cards; from Kozmo Landwalker, Dark Lady, DOG Fighter, the token, the field spell and her face-down trap card. "You have six cards on your field. But I only have one on my field and nothing in my hand! Balance of Judgment will fix that!" The trap allowed January to draw a number of cards equal to the difference; five total. "That many cards at once?" Eric stuttered. "He tends to surprise people like that." June nodded. "the draw of hope.." Anastasia repeated January's earlier words. "there will be no hope, if it ends now." She activated her own trap card: Multiple Destruction. "Whoa?!" January's cards were dragged down to the bottom of his deck, one by one. "multiple destruction destroys our hands if they hold three or more cards." Anastasia emptied her hand too. "and i lose 300 lifepoints for each card." The total came down to eight 'destroyed' cards; 2400 lifepoints. "And now, we will each draw five new cards." Anastasia refilled her hand, and so did her opponent. "Huh? You just wanted me too get my hopes up? Hehhh, that's pretty mean!"

Anastasia's LP: 400

"...kozmo tincan." Anastasia normal summoned one of her new cards, the tin robot on wheels. "dark eclipser and dark destroyer." Tin Cans effect activated, along with the effect of Kozmoll Dark Lady. The two banished themselves from the field to summon higher leveled Kozmo machines from her hand. One of them was Kozmo Dark Destroyer(8/3000/1800). "Wow! You drew another one of those? You're pretty lucky!" The other was the commanding vessel of the kozmo space fleet, the black and twisted Eclipser(9/3000/2600). "i will.. destroy your hope. i have to." Dark Destroyer's effect targeted Utopia the Lightning for destruction, and there was not much January could do about it without traps. "It's gonna take a little more to smash my hope!" But January discarded an Effect Veiler from his hand to target Kozmo Dark Destroyer and negate its effect. "... then i will find another way to end it" The lady activated a spell card. "temple of the soul." Her spell allowed her the activation of a Soul-card, even if it was a trap card.

Temple of the Soul, Quickplay Spell
Activate 1 "of the soul" card from your hand.

"point of the soul." She activated a continuous trap from her hand. "Ah! It's that one! Now she can't lose lifepoints that are higher then what she has right now!" Alice yelled out to prepare January. "if he did not know already. then it is too late now." Anastasia slowly directed her finger towards the shining number. "your xyz-monster can only use its effect one more time." Utopia the Lightning needed two xyz-materials for its attackboosting power, and two xyz-materials was exactly as much as it had left. "dark destroyer, attack utopia." So Dark Destroyer would make the Shining Number use up its power on the first attack. While Dark Eclipser could destroy it with the second attack. "Ooh! Good idea! Too bad I got one of these!" As the Kozmo spaceship approached, January activated a monster effect from his hand. "Honest!" The discarding of the virtuous angel raised the attackpower of a light-monster, adding Kozmo Dark Destroyer's attackpoints to Utopia(5500/2000). The warrior did not need its own ability to counterattack now and it destroyed the Kozmo Dark Destroyer. "..." Anastasia's plan broke down again.

"He drew cards of that kind, with Balance of Judgement?" Adamant was stunned. This could not simply be the result of luck. "Yep! That's the power of hope! I can always come back to a happy place! You can have it too, lady. You can make whatever you want!" January's turn came and he made Utopia the Lightning attack the DOG Fighter. Another ship from the Kozmo fleet got cut down from the skies. "I just don't get it; you're so selfdestructive! I'm only taking the pendulum, not your other cool powers! As long as you don't travel back in time, you can do whatever you want!" January then summoned another one of his Satellarknights. The cape-carrying fencer surrounded by a purple radiance; Betelgeuse(4/700/1900). "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse! I tribute you!" Through the sacrifice of the Satellarknight, a player could retrieve one Satellarknight from his graveyard. January settled for Satellarknight Vega. "Anyway. I'll just keep slashing until I get somewhere. Cant really think of a quicker plan yet." He placed two trap cards down to cap off his turn.

"i do not understand you either.. none of you. you should hate me, you should want to take everything from me... I.. i can not believe it." Anastasia drew her next card, and her eyes flickered with a curious light. "i.. use an equip spell on my token... moon mirror shield." The DOG fighter token was coated in a silver layer of metal. "now, my monster will automatically gain the attackpoints of the monster it attacks.. plus one hundred." She started the battle phase and the token charged January's Utopian knight with the shield. "Nice spell! Too nice maybe!" The kid activated one of his traps, Typhoon. "Gonna have to smash it!" An inverted whirlwind of thunder and dust shot up from the clouds below, threatening to suck the equip spell into its funnel. "kozmo dark eclipser.. once a turn it can negate the effect of one trap." The lady dispelled the storm before it could get to that point, negating Typhoon with Eclipser's effect. "you can not stop this. i cannot stop this. 'tempus' blessed me.. each time you try, fate will find a way to put me back on top. so there is only one ending to this story." The Token readied its lasers and locked on to Utopia the Lightning.

"Well, I don't know how strong that blessing is. But I am pretty blessed too! I got too live, and I got to stay as the boy I always used to be! So let's see what's stronger; a blessing stops bad things from happening or a blessing that makes good things happen!" He revealed his final trap card. "XYZ-Reborn!" The trap revived one XYZ-monster in attack position and attached itself to that monster. "King of hope: Utopia!" That monster was the original 39th number; Utopia(4/2500/2000). "Utopia can negate one attack by using one XYZ-material!" The warrior detached the XYZ-Reborn trap card and blocked the attack of the DOGfighter token with one of its wings. "Whoa! He stopped her!" Eric gasped. "But he can only do that once." Stonewell pointed out. "And if that monster has no XYZ-materials when it is attacked, it will destroy itself." Kozmo Dark Eclipser carried out its own assault and blew the hope king to pieces. It died before damage calculation could even take place. "..." So Anastasia redirected her attack towards Utopia the Lightning. "Oh boy!" This time January used the last two materials from his XYZ-monster to bring its attackpoints back up and to have it(5000/2000) destroy the attacking starship. Of course, Point of the Soul lowered the battle damage to nothing.

"There's nothing left." Alice softly said. Even though January survived this turn, he didn't have any hope of actually winning unless he could get rid of Anastasia's spells. Utopia the Lightning was seemingly at its limit. "oh, it is time." While Anastasia switched Kozmo Landwalker to defense mode, the tower tip behind her released another laser into space. "the towers are now at full power. the satellites cover all target areas. you could not find my brother, you could not bring me hope. can you still say that everything will work out?" The mournful lady inquired as she let her turn come to a rest. "Yup. I am not worried! I bet December is already knocking on your brother's door right now!" January shrugged. "Stop playing with her, January. This has gone on long enough." June chided the kid. "I guess so. But I had fun. You're really good, lady Tempus." He pulled the card from the top of his deck and grinned. "Go and go, Satellarknights Vega and Rigel." He started this last turn the same as his first turn. Vega(4/1200/1600) was normal summoned by his master. Rigel(4/1900/1300) was special summoned by Vega's effect.

"And activate the spell together! Tellarknights Genesis!" The starknight duo crossed their arms and gathered the light of the stars around them. "genesis?" The effect of the card caused Anastasia to go pale with dread. "Yup! Tellarknights Genesis destroys one of your spells or traps, for each of my Satellarknights! Two for two!" The young duelist clapped his hands twice, and his spell targeted Point of the Soul and Moon Mirror Shield. "that would .. mean a loss?" The cosmic duelist needed more time then she got, to process the situation. Without her spells, there was nothing to shield her monsters or her lifepoints. "Utopia the Lightning! Bring down the token!" The shining hope warrior was her downfall. Utopia the Lightning used one sword to destroy the DOGfighter token, and to remove Anastasia's remaining lifepoints from the aether. "He defeated her!" Stonewell shouted. "Y-yeah.." Alice responded with less excitement. It was a victory, yet it did not feel like one.

Anastasia's LP: 0

"you.. won.. you stopped me." Anastasia dropped down to her knees. "now what will you do?" She looked down, letting all the cards fall out of her hand. "Well stop your satellites, for one thing." June picked up the golden millennium card and inserted it back into the control panel. "Oh and we will be taking your crystal too. Both of them." January pointed his finger at the lady's head ornament and what she still carried inside her mantle; Martels creepy puppet with the crystal eye. "..but what about me?" Anastasia asked, as her voice cracked. "What do you want them to do?" Alice shuddered. The way she behaved right now unsettled her. "She wants to receive punishment.. justice." Adamant was guessing. "Justice?" Stonewell scoffed. "It is true." June confirmed Adamant's suspicion. "You were hoping that we could end everything, that we would do to you what you have done to our friends and family... that we would erase you from time. That is why you pushed this far, to get Alice.. and then us to come after you." June turned off the signal from the city tower with a simple sequence of button-pushes; preventing the worldwide carding operation from reaching its final stage. "Anastasia Nisell, that's not something you can bargain for, you will not get an easy way out."

"Ana."

"Uno!?" Little brother was suddenly with them. He came for his friends, instead he got this scene. "uno.. how long have you been.." Anastasia turned her eyes away. "Long enough. I wanted to come sooner, but.. That's not important. Ana, I know why you did this. The man I used to be, made all of this possible for you. I am not angry." He walked towards her and sat down. "But I don't think I can be that Uno anymore. I feel the same guilt. That's why I brought the travelers in. I am sorry, I never thought how you would feel about this. You wanted to help. You have helped! Adamant is still alive because of you!" If she needed living proof, the XYZ-duelist was right there. "I cannot deny, that this power to defy time can bring forth good." Adamant did not like to think about it. But he already kept glancing at where his wound used to be, so it was hard to forget. "Yeah! You're not a bad guy like your brother!" Eric declared. "Not as bad at least." Even Stonewell sort of agreed. "but.." Anastasia still looked forlorn. "..even if i've stopped, marco will make me... us keep going." She took the crystal from her headband. "none of this would have happened, if the pendulums did not exist."

"That is true." August showed up from the inside of the tower and snatched the crystal from her hand. "Can I have the other one?" January picked up Martel's doll. "Do what you want." August snarled. "Now make no mistake.. your brother will soon be dealt with." He gave his partners a knowing glare. "Wait. You.." Uno's eyes widened. "Yes. December has located Marco Amadeus Nisell. We are heading there now, January." The red duelist ordered. "Yes sir! Well it was fun, but we gotta go now!" January waved at the duelists and prepared his pendulum. "Wait!" Uno got back up. "I am going with you! I need to see this through for my sake and Ana's sake." It didn't matter to him if they were going to let him come along or not. He was going to follow them regardless. "Didn't you have other matters to resolve first?" June inquired. "I do, but.." Uno took off his necklace and handed it to Alice. "She can do the rest."

"Huh?" Alice blinked. "Alice. Find your dad, find Erics mom. Then take the others to the fusion guilds tower and through the gate. I already showed Dom, Iria and Zach the way through." He knew she could use the pendulum's teleporting power just as well as he could. "You're leaving?" This was the first Stonewell heard of this. "I am?" Eric sputtered. "The sooner the better." August growled. "Even if we stop Marco, you should return to your original dimensions. After all, you wont be able to see your counterparts anymore once we claim all the pendulums." June clarified it a bit further. "A true separation of timelines, would be the best solution." Adamant agreed with the plan. "Can we at least say goodbye to everyone?" Alice asked. "I will allow you ten minutes, no more." June nodded and looked at Uno. "Are you ready to go?" He nodded back. "Goodbye guys. Catch you on the other side." He saluted his friends one last time, and January whisked him, and the timetravelers away to parts unknown. "uno.. please stop .. everything." Anastasia whispered as she gazed across the horizon.

...

The Grand Inquisitor was waiting. Her lord was resting, charging his powers while keeping his mind far away from the physical realm. Though this island resort was off the grid and unlikely to be discovered by outsiders, she was told to prepare for the worst. The worst exceeded her expectations. "They're here! Protect the Lord!" They invaded with no lead-up: Uno and the four timetravelers. January brought them right on their doorstep. But she felt she was ready and ordered all loyal troops to start firing at them. "Hmph." August the synchro user deflected all their shots with a swarm of summoned wyrms and dragons. "Aahhh!" The next thing the enforcers experienced was pain and terror as the telepath June entered their minds and shut them down. "What have you done!?" One by one the soldiers fell down, forced into a deep slumber. "Removed the weakminded from the equation. That just leaves you." Only this world's Iria Silver stood between them.. "We've come for my brother, Silver!" And the lord Amadeus. "You can collect him from my bleeding hands! I.." Still the Inquisitor was willing to take on these odds. She reached for her dueldisk.

"No. There is no Need, my Inquisitor." That was when Marco woke up, opened his eyes and rose from the floor. "You cannot Stop them. But I can.." He smiled at his guests. "Welcome, Friends.. to the end of this world."

(To be Continued in Redux 018: Condemned to Repeat)

New Cards used by Anastasia Nisell
Kozmo Dark Eclipser

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Temple of the Soul
Moon Mirror Shield

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Multiple Destruction

New Cards used by January/Neter
Effect Veiler
Honest
Satellarknight Betelgeuse

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Tellarknights Genesis

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Balance of Judgment
Typhoon
XYZ Reborn