"Arliss?" Nessa asked, knocking on the door to her lover and king's dorm room. She knew better then to disturb him if the door was locked, as he had told her that meant he was communing with the shadows and seeking to gather knowledge from the dark magic there.
It was the morning after the big school wide duel, and while most students were sleeping on their day off, Nessa had been up bright and early to head off to her former dorm. Of course, bright might have been the wrong word to use to describe it, as it was still pitch black when she had arrived. Her body, be it because of the new magic flowing in her veins, the transformation, or simple adaptation, was now running on a different schedule then most people's. While an average person would need 6 hours on average, Nessa needed a mere 2 hours to be functioning, anything more putting her at an almost hyper state. Of course, if she entered into a trance like Arliss had taught her and spent time in the shadow realm, she could go for days on end without shuteye.
'How do those weak little humans do it?' She thought as she listened at the door, hearing Arliss moving about the apartment. He obviously wasn't in a shadow trance, but Nessa knew there could have been several other things that would make him need privacy. Things like setting up plans with his link to the outside world, whoever that was, or focusing on rebuilding his deck.
Nessa smiled at this. 'The man that can stare down the demonic inhabitants of the shadow realm without batting an eye…can't even rebuild his deck if someone is in the room with him!' She snickered slightly at Arliss and his weird ways. 'He definitely isn't your average cartoon villain…what super villain watches Pixar cartoons, or enjoys reading Dan Brown novels….or has all the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Dvd!' She smiled, leaning against the door, listening as Arliss grunted, obviously lifting something that was heavy even for him. 'Of course…don't know if I'd want to be with your classic super villain. They seem so boring…Arliss is exciting and…real. He isn't 2d…he is dark, but he also has a heart buried in that well sculpted and very yummy chest of his.' She licked her lips. 'Very yummy. But, with his heart, he just doesn't like to show it…'
She tapped her foot against one of the several boxes that sat right outside the door. Arliss had sent her out this morning to go gather all her personal belongings from her dorm room. Of course, when she had asked him how she would get all the boxes to the dorm, since the Slifer and obelisk men's dorm were on opposite sides of the island. Arliss had merely smirked…and handed her the keys to her brand new motorcycle, which he had bought when they were on the mainland, complete with a mini wheeled luggage cart she could pull behind her.
Nessa had been ecstatic, and also glad Arliss had taught her how to drive him motorcycle. Hers was a just a bit smaller, and painted black with purple trim and a blood red seat, the image of a skull printed onto the red leather. A few minutes later, she had been at the dorm with 3 large boxes in the luggage cart, ready to pack away the last bits of her old life away.
Arliss had given her strict instruction to not throw anything away, be it even things that made her cringe at the thought she had once held it as important. He had told her that they could easily sell off such things for more free cash, or if not, at least donate it to some, as he put it, "poor little fashion challenged girl".
In an hour, the last traces of Vanessa Fox on the island was packed away boxes and on their way to the Obelisk Blue dorm, to be unloaded and decided where to be placed. Some things, like her diary, she hoped would be burned and the ashes spread in some deep dark cave. Others, like her videos of Yugi Moto dueling, would be kept and studied. And, of course, she would have to go through her wardrobe and see if any of the articles could be salvaged.
There was a slight shuffling of feet, and the door opening and nearly sending Nessa toppling right into Arliss. She whipped around to find him grinning at her, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.
"That is not funny?"
"What isn't?" Arliss asked, confused.
"The whole opening-the-door-and-making-me-fall thing."
Arliss scratched his head. "You…uh…didn't fall. So shouldn't it be the whole opening-the-door-and-almost-making-you-fall thing?"
Nessa only stared at him. "…god you are dumb sometimes…thank god for that ass." She gave him a peck on the lips and strolled into his dorm room. "So, where should I put all my…" She paused in mid sentence, looking around.
The entire dorm room had been cleaned out. Or, at least, to her eyes it had been. To many, it would look just like any dorm room: A couch, a TV, bar stools around a kitchen counter and a big bed sitting in the bedroom. But for Nessa, who had spent some time in the room, it was as if Arliss had never lived there. His dvds, his books, his card binders…were gone, apparently packed away in the boxes that sat near the door. His bed had been stripped of the black silk sheets, replaced with the standard blue cotton every obelisk duelist got. All his colognes were gone from the dresser, and it was obvious most of the appliances Arliss had brought with him were gone, leaving the little microwave he never used to sit alone on the counter. All his little mementos and prized possessions were missing, giving the entire dorm a hollow feeling that made Nessa shiver slightly. Even the magical energy she always felt when she entered the room was gone. Had she not seen him standing in front of her, Nessa would have questioned whether this was Arliss' dorm at all.
"…stuff." Nessa finally said. "Arliss…what is going on? When you said we should move in together…I didn't think you meant we get rid of all your stuff and replace it with mine."
Arliss shrugged. "Nothin's goin' on Nessa…merely doing what we talked about."
"What we talked about?"
"Remember, today is moving day." Arliss said simply, lifting a few boxes up and placing them with the others. He stated this as if it were common knowledge that she and the rest of the world should understand; like some asking why he had a pine tree in his room and stating it was Christmas.
Nessa frowned as Arliss continued to move boxes towards the door, looking around ever once and a while to see if he had missed something. "Yes Arliss, I understand it is moving day. That doesn't explain why you are packing everything up in little boxes with brown tape."
"It doesn't?" Arliss asked, distracted as he carefully moved a box marked DVDs to the pile.
"Yea, it doesn't…" Nessa kicked her foot up, pinning Arliss' shoulder to the door. "Now spill."
Arliss raised an eyebrow and looked all the way down Nessa's shapely leg. "No time for love, Dr. Jones!" He said, voice easily slipping into a mid western united states accent. "We have to get going!"
"First off, the accent is cute…" Nessa's own voice shifted to a mock version of Arliss' accent. "But I still ain't gettin' why these here boxes are sittin' around and why your dorm is all emptied out."
Arliss grinned and swaggered over to her. "have I ever told you baby…" He said with his normal accent. "How sexy I find it when you talk all southern to me?"
Nessa licked her lips and gave her hips a little shake. "Mmmm…I do declare Mr. Arliss, are you tryin' to sweet talk me."
Arliss answered by giving her a sweet, tender kiss, wrapping his arms around her form. Nessa murmured pressing against, fingers tangling in his hair. After a minute, the two pulled away breathless. "The room…is emptied…" Arliss panted. "Because…we're movin'."
Nessa blinked. "We're moving…as in out of this dorm and into…another dorm room? Like..co-ed?"
Arliss grinned. "not quite…I got a much better place in mind. Someplace we won't be bothered." He released her and moved to his belongings. "Now then, let's get these to the bikes…we have bit of a drive, and its not all cleared path."
&&&
In an undisclosed location in the United States"You wanted to see me Doc?"
The man behind the desk nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Yes, yes I did." The man said with a hint of a British accent. The man behind the deck was about 30, with blonde hair that was kept cut short and a little stubble on his face. He wore, like the rest of the men and women working for him, a black suit, though underneath the jacket was a tan dress shirt that he kept untucked, as well as a lack of a tie. Within his reach was a elegant cane, which from time to time he would reach out and play with absentmindedly.
The office was surrounded by 4 glass walls, which gave the man a perfect view of the main floor below him, where other black suited agents busied themselves at monitors or rushing about with papers. The office was sparsely decorated, with just a messy desk, file cabinet filled with documents, a beat up leather chair, coat rack where a long trench coat was hung, and several TVs that allowed him to see everything that was going on below.
The other man sat down and watched as his boss looked over a file. "Listen Doctor Allen, if this is about the Nightbane case, I can explain. I thought for sure the suspects were in that building…"
"This isn't about the Nightbane case." Doctor Allen said, pushing a file towards the man known as James. "This is about a new assignment I have for you."
The man picked up the file and frowned. "Duelist Academy…sir, I don't understand?"
Doctor Allen sighed. "We have received…reports of supernatural events going on at this academy. Students mysterious disappearing…duel monster spirits popping up…rumors of secret cards hidden under the school…and as you can see from the report, an old friend of ours is now working there."
The man pulled out a picture of a rail thin man with large black hair, lidded eyes, and wearing glasses, holding a very big and fat cat.
"Professor Liam Banner." The man said.
"Yes." The doc said. "All of this I would have merely kept an eye on…but now, we are receiving readings of extreme shadow realm magic coming from that island…the likes of which we haven't seen since the Atlantis Incident, or with the Millennium Items. I am worried…and I want to know what is going on."
"What did Seto Kaiba say?" The man asked.
"What do you think?" Doc K replied. "He said it was nothing. Same answer from his business partners, the Roads family. All of them say everything is fine and not to worry about."
"But you are worried?"
Doctor Kevin nodded. "Yes, I am…" he leaned close to the agent. "Listen…we need a man on the inside, someone that can tell us exactly what is going on at Duelist Academy." The doctor passed a second folder to the man. "Inside are personal documents, as well as money, passports and a plane ticket. I want you to join the school as a new teacher, and report back what you find. Make sure to grab a dueling deck for R&D, as well as any other gear. You're dismissed."
"Yes Doctor Allen." The man said, hurrying to get to the research and development area so he could get ready to leave. He had been sure his boss was going to nail him for the destruction of the building and almost killing civilians that shouldn't have gotten in his way…but instead he got a very juicy case.
Up in his office, Doctor Allen sighed, watching the agent happily rush out. He didn't turn as another agent, a higher-ranking one then the one previously in his office, stepped in.
"You give him the case Doc?"
Doc Allen nodded. "Yes Tristan, I did."
Tristan Taylor nodded, sitting down in an empty chair. "You think this is wise? He isn't exactly our brightest agent…and after the Nightbane case, he should be fired and have his memory wiped."
"I know Tristan…and trust me, this isn't out of the goodness of my heart. Something is going on at Dueling Academy, and I want to know what it is. But I also don't want to send my best agents there to figure it out. For one thing, we have bigger things to worry about…like this White Association shit." He pointed to a monitor where two agents were watching some duelist use a dark version of the Elemental Hero Sparkman to defeat his opponent. "And more then that…there is something dangerous at Duel Academy…and I don't want to loss someone like you by being rash."
"But losing…" Tristan began.
"Yes. Should he figure anything out…then great, he's redeemed himself. But if he gets himself killed, at least we got some info and we can better equip another agent."
Tristan shook his head. "You're feeding him to the wolves…let it never be said that you aren't a cold hearted guy Kevin."
Doctor Kevin Allen sneered at Tristan. "Then why do you and Serenity work for me, Tristan? You could be off in Domino acting like cheerleaders."
"Hey man, I was just joking!" Tristan said, holding out his hands. "You need to lighten up." He leaned forward. "I would have done the same thing…Seto Kaiba's school needs to be looked into, but we can't afford to send a top agent…this is the best choice, and it might kill two birds with one stone…"
"Pun intended with the 'kill' part?" Doc K asked.
"Sir…" Another agent said over Kevin's intercom. "Zedd from the New York branch is on line one." Kevin nodded, dismissing Tristan and taking the call.
&&&
"What do you think?" Arliss asked, pushing the visor of his helmet up and turning his motorcycle's engine off. Nessa looked at him, then at their new home, a cute little pout gracing her features.
"It sucks." Nessa said simply.
Arliss' face fell slightly. "What do you mean it sucks…it's perfect! No one will bother us…"
"Because it's in the middle of the forest."
"…There is lots of room…"
"Because no one else would want to live here."
"…and it is simply beautiful!"
Nessa stepped in front of her king, hands on her hips. "Arliss…it's an abandoned building."
"I believe they call it the abandoned dorm." He corrected.
"And that makes it better?" She grabbed a hold of his arm, giving him a shake. "Arliss, we are suppose to be royalty. Royalty lives in palaces, in grand mansions or stately manors. Their homes are the envy of all that see them. They do not live in abandoned buildings!" At this point, she had grabbed him by his coat and was shaking him hard, trying to get some sense into him.
Arliss calmly removed her hands from his jacket, brushing it off. "Now see here girl. You should know more then anyone that appearances aren't anythin'. You honestly think that it would be in our best interests, at this moment and time, to have a base that would be drawin' attention to us?"
Nessa frowned. "no…but why couldn't we have stayed in the dorms? They don't dare attention. A lot better then a cold, powerless, waterless, looking like it's about to fall in on our heads, hidden dorm all to ourselves?"
Arliss shrugged and wheeled his cycle towards the dorm, making sure to lifted the rope that the school, for some odd reason thought would keep students out, up for Nessa so she could drive her motorcycle up to the door.
'Seriously, this school has some major issues.' Arliss thought as he grabbed two boxes from the luggage cart. 'They have no security at the ports…no security in here, no security at the dueling arenas, and no security…anywhere! The worst I have seen is that super action squad thing, and all they do is bring you in front of Chancellor Shepard.' Arliss sighed as he opened the door to the dorm with a blast of shadow magic, leading Nessa into the dusty many chamber.
"What are you sighing about?"
"About how easy it is to take control of this school. Any half brain could easily walk in here with a gun and take the school hostage, and there isn't anyone that could stop them!" Arliss shook his head. "Pathetic."
"No reason to sigh though." Nessa said as Arliss led them up some stairs. "IF it were hard, it would make our lives tough."
"Rather have it tough then no challenge. We are hunters…prey shouldn't come easy." Arliss paused, before selecting a hallway. "Thank god for people like Jaden Yuki…he'll at least make this takeover fun."
Nessa chuckles weakly. Though she had been listening to Arliss, the more she looked around their new home, the more she didn't like it. While her old room was small and maybe a little bug infested, this place was so full of dust and grime she was sure she was going to see a Muk or Grimer pop out.
'Maybe I should ask Arliss for a pokeball.' She thought as Arliss paused as a door, pressing his hand to it. A series of symbols flashed upon it, and the door swung open. 'Wonder what's in…whoa!'
Nessa could only stand slack-jawed in the doorway, looking around the massive bedroom. Nearly triple the size of Arliss' old place, the room looked as if it had been frozen in time, not touched by the decay that seemed to affect the rest of the house. The walls were done in fine oak, reaching up the high ceiling were images of clouds and a flock of birds had been painted. The carpet was super lush and thick in the color of fine wine. Nessa looked over at Arliss, who, reading her mind, snickered and waved his hand, letting her know she could explore the rest of the room while he got the rest of the boxes. Nessa didn't waste a moment, doing the first thing that popped into her mind: pulling off her boots and socks and allowing her feet and toes to be swallowed up by the luxurious carpet.
She walked around, examining everything. A king size canopy bed sat ready to be fitted with sheets, on each side a nightstand with plenty of space for lamps, alarm clocks and anything else they could want. By the door sat 2 desks, with laptop computers already hooked up and ready to go. Between them was an empty spot with cords coming out of the wall. She quickly learned what this was for, when Arliss opened a box and set up the flat screen TV from his dorm. On one side of the room, there was a massive bookcase for all their card binders, Arliss' dvds and books, and even space for some of the personal items that Nessa had decided to keep. And next to it was a giant walk in closet, the size of her old dorm room.
Opposite the closet was the bathroom. She had thought Arliss' previous one was good…but this one blew it out of the water. The entire room was done in a jungle theme, with the walls made up to look like rocks. The shower was a waterfall that they could turn on and off, and there was a sunken Jacuzzi tub the size of a small pond. There were two sinks with a massive mirror covering ones side of the wall, and, of course, another enclosed area where the toilet sat.
Leaving the bathroom, Nessa watched as Arliss hooked his dvd/vcr to a wireless connector near the bed, to allow them to watch movies in bed without having to get up once they had selected a few. Leaving him to his work, she noticed for the first time two large bay doors. Throwing them open, she gasped at her new discovery: a roof covered balcony, complete with little table and chairs. Leaning over the railing, she could see below her the back of the dorm, blocked from outsiders by a large wall. But what was within the walls was what made her take back everything bad she had said about Arliss and his choice of rooms.
They had a pool.
'My god…how did he do all this?' Nessa cried out in her head. The pool looked like it had been transported directly from a hotel resort in Florida and plopped right in their backyard. There were tables all around it with those big umbrellas to guard against the sun, as well as potted plants and a little changing shack.
Nessa slowly turned around and stared at Arliss, who wore a big grin on his face. During her 10 minutes of exploring, he had managed to unpack all of his boxes and almost all of hers. "The bed still needs to be made, but I think you see what I was goin' for her Nessa…you like?"
"Do I like?" Nessa mumbled, her brain on overload. "Arliss…how…h-how did you do this?"
The southern duelist shrugged. "it wasn't that hard. Remember, I was here a few days before you got to try out for the duelist academy, so I had time to scope this place and figure out what needed to be bought. Then, when we got here, I had all of this shipped in off boats bringin' in all the students' personal belongin's." He walked towards her slowly, still telling her how he had managed to turn an abandoned dorm into paradise on earth. "I spend a day getting most of the dorm ready, unpacking some stuff and the like. I spent two more days working on this room when I was on medical leave, after our 'fight' with the girls…and the day before that I had worked on getting most of the stuff in storage." He shifted slightly, and Nessa made a mental note to ask about the storage later on. " I had wanted to get the kitchen and living room done before you got here, but I never planned on bringing you to the dark side so quickly…I had thought you would fight me a bit more."
"Wouldn't have fought you at all if I had known this place was available." Nessa purred as she walked towards him. "But tell me…how did you get the pool all ready? And the bathroom? I mean…I can kinda get how you could do the bedroom in two days…but everything else?"
Arliss looked at her, confused for a moment, before slapping his head. "Geez…no wonder you were pitchin' a bitch about this place, Nessa!" Arliss laughed to himself, moving back to the bed and flopping down. "I can't believe I forgot to teach you about shadow perfection!"
"Shadow Perfection?"
"A spell." Arliss said with a laugh, amused to no end that he had totally forgotten to give Nessa this particular lesson. "A weaker version then what you went through after you accepted your dark half." He calmed himself and then continued. "You see, shadow magic as the ability to change the world around us into a better state. It can find how something once was or could have been, and then make it so. In theory, a shadow mage could age a baby into a perfect adult, or bring people back from the dead…though neither case has ever been proven or even tried with a pinch of success." He looked about the room. "the more complex the thing you are changing, the harder the spell is. For you, it took would have taken all my power to transform you into this form, and that's considering that you would have been willing. Luckily, it's a lot easier to change yourself then another, so I didn't do squat but give you a push."
Nessa nodded, understanding that part well. She had been curious as to why she had developed the way she had, and now it seemed that this body was her subconscious' preferred form. "But what about this place?"
Arliss nodded. "The easiest shadow perfection spells are to restore what once was and has now fell into decay. It's easier to reverse damage then to change it, so I merely brought this dorm back to what it once was: A paradise for the top obelisks in their class. Of course, I still need to do some renovation…this place is ok, but with my personal touches, it will be the perfect point to begin our kingdom."
"Ok, I get all that." Nessa said, sitting next to him. "But I don't get why everything looked so bad when we first got here."
Arliss shook his head. "I keep forgetting that I haven't taught you a lot about your magic. You are so advanced with your dueling that I keep thinkin' that you and I have been trainin' much longer then we really have…you've kinda thrown a wrench in my plans, what with you going through some things quicker then I had originally planned." He glanced at her and smiled as she blushed at his kind words. "It's mainly a glamour spell…though I guess the word 'glamour' is an oxymoron." He chuckled softly at his own joke. "The spell, which you saw when I opened the door to this room, covered up all the end results of the shadow perfection spell, and makes mot people see this place as a wreck. Watch." Arliss held up his hand and chanted under his breath, and the room around them shifted into a dilapidated, run-downed mess. The bed was falling apart, the walls were drab and lifeless, and everything Arliss had brought in was gone. "The perfect security system."
"I'd say so…though I wish you could have shown this too me after we moved in, instead of this being the first sight that greeted me." She laid a hand to her chest. "I swear, you nearly gave me a heart attack when I first saw this place! Thought you had gone totally nutso or something."
Arliss laughed, pouncing on his lover and nuzzling her neck. "oh…did I make my poor queen thing I would force her to live in a horrible little dive?" Nessa nodded and Arliss began to kiss her neck. "I'll have to make it up to her."
&&&
Meanwhile, in Egypt…The old man frowned, wiping his brow with a discarded rag, before he returned to his work. His employer would be here shortly, and he knew that the man would not like it if the items he had purchased were not at their highest and finest quality. He sat down back at his workbench and began to polish the metal of one of the pieces, getting it up to a grand luster. Satisfied, he slipped it into the foam packing material that sat within a silver Halliburton.
Once he was sure he had everything in order, the old man stood up and moved through his shop, trying to get everything tidy to give his employer a better impression. The workshop was filthy, with bits of unfinished metal lying about, the smelting pots in need of a scraping, the floor covered in silver, gold and bronze flakes, and no visible place to sit other then his lone stool at the finishing table.
'This place is pathetic.' The man thought to himself, taking out a broom and sweeping up, dumping the excess bits into the recycle bin. He couldn't afford to lose even a tiny bit of metal. 'I shouldn't be in here…I was once the top blacksmith in this town! The rich and famous came to me, begged me to make some of my masterpieces for them. And I did so…for I hefty price. I was the unofficial king of this pathetic place, and everyone did what I said!
'Then, some big nosed bitch had to examine an earring I made for her. Couldn't leave well enough alone, could she? What does it matter if I hadn't been making things out of real gold! They looked the same, and that's all that mattered!' He gripped his broom tighter. 'But no! Everyone needed to begin questioning my work…and when they found out I had made none of their pieces with real precious metals, I lost everything! I had to sell my house, my shop…just to payback all the buyers. And now, I have to work in this dump, tinkering with broken necklaces…and I can't even dare to use anything but the finest metals, what with everyone examining every step I make!'
The man paused from his rantings to look at the silver case. 'I had thought for sure I was done for…then I got this job. All I had to do was craft some strange trinkets with specific symbols on them…and now I'm about to be paid handsomely! I will be able to move away from this hellhole and start all over…someplace where I can rebuild my reputation…and best of all, I didn't even have to buy ant of the gold! That fool gave it too me!'
The metal worker laughed to himself, dreaming of what he could buy with the cash he was getting from this deal.
"Is somethin' funny?" A voice calmly asked. The old man let out a yelp and turned to find his employer standing in the shadows, his face hidden from view. "Because I would love to hear it."
"N-no!" The man stuttered. "Nothing is funny…just…laughing to laugh." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. His employer gave him the creeps, especially with his habit of never letting anyone see his face.
The man in the shadows nodded. "If that is the case then…I would like to have my items now."
The blacksmith nodded and ran over to his table, grabbing the Halliburton and bringing it over to the shadowy figure. "Here they are, all the items you asked for, made from the gold you gave me, with that symbol…" He pointed to the raised Egyptian eye that was on one of the items. "…found on each one. I followed your instructions to the letter, and every one is flawless."
The man frowned. "I'll be the judge of that." The man reached into the case, and pulled from it what appeared to be the hilt and crossbar of a sword. The handle was just big enough for the man to grip with his right hand, and the crossbar was done in the design of the Egyptian Eye. He tested it's weight, and when he was satisfied, he closed ran his fingers along each of the other items.
"You know, I have gotten quite a few orders like this…are you fascinated with the millennium items?"
The man nodded. "That I am."
"Hope you aren't planning to use them in a duel…these things are just for show." The man laughed. "No millennium items here."
The other man didn't laugh. "You're right…" He squeezed the sword hilt, and the blacksmith froze in terror as a shaft of dark energy burst forth from it, making a dark aura blade. The man swung his new toy around, a grin slipping onto his face. "…only shadow items here."
"Shadow…I-items?" The blacksmith asked. "How…"
The other man took a step forward, sword raised. "You'd be amazed what can be found out…allow me to let you in on a little secret: These items are different from any of the other ones you made, or even other shadow items. They are a lot stronger, and do you know why?" The blacksmith shook his head. "because these were made from gold I found at the ruins of Kul Elna …"
"…no." The man whispered in horror. "not…"
"The same village that was sacrificed to make the original items…It's funny, people worry about the items, but they never wondered about the extra gold!" The man laughed as he stepped closer to the metal worker. "They all just assumed every drop was used…but I knew better. There had to be some that was left…and I found it. A team had been digging for months, in the end, they found the ancient forge where the items were crafted, and I was able to secure pounds of the extra gold, scraped from the very smelting pots the villagers were thrown in!" The man had now backed the blacksmith into a wall, and was leaning in close. "Do you know why I am telling you this?"
The man stuttered, before all the air left his lungs. He looked down in horror at the shadow blade that now pierced his stomach, then back up to it's wielder, who stared him down with cold dead eyes.
"You don't think I know you were going to cheat me? I know how much gold I gave you…there should have been pounds left over…yet I'm willin' to bet that if I look in that suitcase you gots by the door, I'll find a few brinks…thinkin' of skippin' out on me boy?" The blacksmith tried to plead with him, but his employer merely twisted the shadow item's blade, before he drove it up, splitting the worker in half and sending a rain of blood upon everything in the workshop.
The man allowed the sword to diminish back into a hilt, and wiped the blood from his golden toy.
"Tell Lucifer…Arlen Lockehart says hello."
Next Time on G/X: Hunters-
Night means many things. It is the end of one day, but also heralds the beginning of another. And this night will be no different. Arliss and Nessa are beginning the next chapter of their lives, Alexis is ready to close one, and Arlen is closing the chapter of one life while he opens another. By the end of this night, everything will change, and the fate of Arliss, Nessa, Alexis, Jaden, Syrus, and the rest of the duelist academy will be transformed forever.
Episode 17- First Night, Last Night
…Arlen is coming, and with him, a new future.