The night was quiet and dull, both devoid of light and sound. This was surprising for an "army camp". You would think that in an army camp you would hear the roar of jeep engines or the blow off the wind as helicopters land. However in this "army camp" which Manjoume and Ryota agreed to call "the Haven" was suspiciously quiet. You would think that a fortified area would be heavily guarded. But do not forget that this is not a war fought with guns and bombs but a war fought with the very spirit of monsters and creatures summoned from another dimension. You didn't need constant lights to see the enemy coming like in the traditional conventional war. You just needed people who would miss sleep to duel for the protection of the camp.
After his talk with Cronos sensei all he could think of was the old days at duel academy and his rise and fall from fame and stardom. Everyone and everything has changed since then.
"I can't take this anymore…" Manjoume thought. As he quietly put on his clothes, especially his iconic black coat. Being careful not to wake up his newly made friend. He carefully opened the door, luckily there was no wind to make the air whistle into the room which would have caused quite a racket. He closed the door to his cabin and walked to the main entrance and exit of the army camp. There were dozens of people who would look like just random civilians as they all wore casual clothes. But the former pro knew that they were duellists guarding the entrance.
"Open the door." Manjoume said with a commanding tone.
"Why should we let you out?" one of them retorted.
"Why should I tell you punk?"
"Because you could be a spy, trying to gain information from us and reporting it back to our enemy!" another one answered.
"I just want to go out for a walk, to catch a breath and see nature. Is that a good enough reason for you?"
"Don't talk to us that way, scum. We don't want to cause trouble here." The largest one of them shouted whilst crackling his knuckles.
"What is your name?" The same, large man added.
"Call me Thunder" Manjoume answered in a rough tone.
"I asked what your name was!" The behemoth grabbed Manjoume and threw him into the concrete ground.
Manjoume felt searing pain throughout his body. But he had other things to think about which slightly lessened it. With a lot of effort he managed to lift himself up and barely stand before the bulky man. If this was him back then he would have instantly ran away no questions asked. But now he had had enough of people bossing him around. He wanted to change things back to what it once was. Being a CEO of his own company and being filthy rich, telling people what to do whilst having countless fans who admired and even worshipped him in the duelling world.
"Why don't we have a duel? You are must be the courageous type, picking on someone nearly half your size!" Manjoume teased, hoping that the ego will get to him. Because if it didn't then he himself would be a goner.
"Ok..." The behemoth smiled, obviously trying to supress his rage for the smaller man.
Manjoume hot out his deck he made earlier in the day, or yesterday as it was currently 1:07 am according to his expensive watch that he got specially made for him by a famous designer.
"May I please have a duel disk?" Manjoume asked with a mocking demeanour.
One of them threw a duel disk at Manjoume, intending for it to hit his head and potentially knock him out. Manjoume however caught it swiftly with his left hand.
"What is your name?" Manjoume asked his opponent
"Mizu." The man answered proudly.
"Water boy… how cute" Manjoume teased, attempting to get to Mizu's nerve.
"Let's get this over with!" The attempt was successful. And "water boy" exclaimed utter rage.
"Duel!" They both shouted.
Manjoume: 4000LP|Mizu:4000LP
"I summon Axe Raider In attack mode! (1700/1150), and end my turn!" Mizu shouted.
"You lose…" Manjoume smiled.
"How? You haven't even begun your turn yet!"
"I draw. First, I play Dark world dealings!" Manjoume shouted as they both drew 1 and discarded 1 card.
"Now, since I discarded Makyura the Destructor, I can play trap cards from my hand this turn!" Manjoume continued.
"I play Raigeki Break! Now by sending 1 card from my hand to the grave I can destroy 1 monster you control! And I destroy Axe Raider!" Manjoume explained as the Axe Raider was zapped by the lightning and destroyed.
"Now I special summon the Alexandrite Dragon (2000/100) which I discarded to the grave via Raigeki Break's effect with Call of the Haunted! Now I summon Marauding Captain (1200/400) and use its effect to special summon another Marauding Captain (1200/400)!"
"Now I attack you with Alexandrite Dragon!" Manjoume declared and attack and the dragon whipped Mizu with its powerful gem-coated tail (4000-2000).
"Ha! You fell for my trap! I special summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! (2700/2500) from my hand! In addition to this powerful monster I get to summon an Emissary Token equal to the amount of damage I…" The man said triumphantly, but then was interrupted by his opponent.
"Fruitless effort, I activate Solemn Notice from my hand (4000-2500)!" Manjoume interrupted as a man with a long white beared appeared and struck Gorz down with divine lightning.
"It's over! Now activate with both my remaining monsters!" Manjoume finished as his two Marauding Captains cut Mizu with a cross shaped attack (2000-0).
Mizu crashed down to the ground and was weakened from the humiliating victory. Manjoume walked over to the now pitiful behemoth, and started kicking him whilst he was on the floor.
"That was for throwing me on the ground before." Manjoume grinned. Happy that he got his revenge.
He then picked up Gorz the Emissary of Darkness among the scattered cards on the floor.
"And this is for refusing to call me Thunder." He picked up the card and promptly placed it on top of his own deck and shuffled it.
"Hey! That's my c…" Mizu tried to finish his sentence but was silenced by kick to the face.
"And that is for refusing to open the gate." Manjoume spat at his fallen opponent and began walking towards the gate.
"Open." Manjoume commanded.
The guards, who were now terrified of the professional duellist opened the gate with absolutely no hesitation. Manjoume "walked" out of the gate and into the forest which was beyond. It was obvious that he wasn't walking and that he was limping and obviously still feeling the pain of being thrown down into the concrete. Manjoume was obviously trying to hide the fact that his pain lingered even though the guards obviously knew otherwise, but kept their mouths shut.
He managed to walk for 5 minutes but then collapsed, he found himself sitting on the dirt ground with his back leaning against a tree trunk. He realised that the adrenaline from his duel earlier finally wore out. He experience the full pain throughout his body, he sat there pondering and contemplating a memory which he never forgot.
"Alright love! Just sit there and behave and I will be back after I prepare the icing ok?" A woman with blonde hair said lovingly to her 3 year old son.
The toddler nodded with a big smile. He always loved cake, especially when it was his mum who made it, the local cake shop was rather boring for the boy as they had to follow health restrictions and had a limit to how much sugar they put in their cakes.
The boy fiddled with a picture he drew for his mother earlier, turning it one way and flipping it one way. The boy was obviously proud of his work. However soon he felt a sharp feeling on his fingertip which he would later know was a paper cut. Soon a cry was heard throughout entire room and the mother quickly ran to the scene.
"Jun-chan, are you alright?" His mother quickly said, very concerned for her boy. And was very paranoid about the boy's current stage as he is almost always quiet and well behave and it took a lot to cause a tantrum from her angel.
She then quickly notice a red cut on her child's left index finger and immediately grabbed a band aid from the pantry to wrap up the cut. She quickly held the sobbing baby and calmed him down by gently rocking him.
The little Manjoume knew that absolutely nothing could hurt him when his mother was with him, but now he learnt that that rule did not apply when she wasn't there. After all these years That little boy still remembered the first time ever that he got hurt physically, and he would carry this memory even up till now.
"Mother, if only you were here. Things would have been way easier wouldn't it?" The thought lingered in Manjoume's head until he quickly came to his senses and decided it was time to return to his cabin as he had already cleansed his mind of the stress that he had been enduring ever since being captured. Whether it was the walk, his memory of his mother or the duel with water boy that finally relaxed his mind and rid of his stress, he didn't know and he didn't care. Realizing that the pain had subsided, he walked to the main gate.
"Open!" The distinct voice made the guards shudder and like before, they opened the gate without hesitation.
He loved being superior again, he always wanted to be in control. He was in control of his own company, he was in control those guards and he was even "in control" of the hunt for Amnael back in his academy days. But that all change when he was wrongfully charged in court he remembered. And that also all change when he was disowned from his family. But Manjoume saw that things were brightening up and that he began to regain his "control" of other people, and more importantly himself. Manjoume fell asleep in his hard bed, although Ryota was snoring very loudly the noise did not overcome Manjoume's sleepiness.
"Moooorning Slackers!" Cronos yelled at Manjoume's dorm.
The two men groaned, got dressed and brushed their teeth with the toiletries supplied to them. Manjoume welcomed the former professor in. He would not have done this years ago, but he began to acknowledge Cronos-sensei took to ensure the best for his students and this was the least he could do at the moment.
"So… How early do you even have to wake up? It seems like a difficult job to wake up every cabin in this area of the base. Besides don't we set our own alarms to the required time?" Manjoume questioned as he finished brushing his teeth and began to prepare toast.
"As a matter of fact that is not even my job! I just came here to say hello to you slackers!"
"What's up with 'slacker', I am not a mere student anymore."
"You still are to me!" Cronos was clearly heart torn when Manjoume's year level graduated, so it is easy to understand why Cronos changed from "Cronos" to more of a "Daitokuji".
"And who is he?" Ryota asked Manjoume curiously.
"We were old... friends. I mean he was one of my teachers back when I was at the Academia."
"Oh… I see, hahaha you must be a really good teacher to have taught Thunder over here!" Ryota jokingly remarked to the blonde man.
"He wasn't that good, I also learned from life experiences."
"Sure you did, slifer" Cronos hinted a fact that he knew would push Manjoume's buttons.
Knowing that Manjoume was trying to suppress his fury. Ryota changed the subject to a more important and relevant one.
"I heard from others that we are going to be deployed to an espionage operation here. But I want to ask you something Cronos-san. Why can't we just use actual weapons? Why do we have to duel these guys? What about nuclear weapons and all that? Why can't we just end it right then and there? I mean surely Kaibacorp would have nuclear weapons as the company also has ties with the military."
"Boy you ask to many questions. But to keep a long story short in is kind of a mutual agreement between us and them. If either of us would result to conventional warfare then the other will join. If we used weapons of mass destruction then they would as well. The world would be doomed and we will both lose. Duelling reveals one's true strength, and that is a fair way to determine which side truly deserves to live in this world."
"Well then why can't we just use guns, or weapons that are not of mass destruction? Ryota asked, now really confused.
"Because the same scenario would happen. It would be too scary to go up to them and say "Here are the rules, anything goes except weapons of mass destruction". One side would use guns, the other follows. Then it will slowly escalate. From guns, to artillery, to bombs, to missles and then finally one side gives up and just blows up everything as a last resort."
"Well then if we can't just go up to them and say "Here are the rules we agree on." Then how did create this mutual agreement to duel in the first pla…"
"Because one's heart and intentions are revealed in a duel." Manjoume interrupted their discussion.
"Well then wouldn't the situation still happen even when we are duelling? One side is about to lose then they blow up the world as a last resort."
"Young man… You still have a lot to learn. Anyone can play dirty in a conventional war. But if you play dirty in or "cheat" in a duel. You will never truly win. Let us assume that they nuked us and win the war immediately. After that no one will follow them so they too lose."
"I am 32 mine you."
"Also, in addition there can never be a situation that is impossible to win in dueling, unlike in conventional war or chess where there are situations where it is literally impossible to win, so it is highly unlikely they would take us with them if they are 'about to lose'" Manjoume added.
"Sorry to end this conversation big boy but I think you two have to be at the submarine in around 2 minutes." Cronos teased knowing that that will get into the sea man's nerves.
Manjoume and Ryota ran to the submarine, they made it just in time to be boarded on the submarine.
"He really got on my nerves" Ryota cringed in annoyance.
"Do not take it personally, he obvious loves you." Manjoume chuckled.
"Ok, whoever defeats the most people wins! I mean of course I will win unsurprisingly…" Manjoume added both to the conversation and the annoyance of Ryota.
"Were you always like this, like back in the Academy as well?"
"Yes…"
"Some things never change."
"That is true, and applies to the fact that I am the best!"
"We'll see about that! Will we… Manjoume!" They both looked at each other eagerly. To the amusement of the surrounding people, they were the only ones who were not terrified of what was about to come.
Author's note: Sorry for whoever is reading this for the long update. But I may update around next week. Also some of the card names in this fic will be a mixture between Japanese translation and English printing, so cards like Solemn Strike will be called Solemn Notice.
Have a good day guys. Concrit is appreciated.
