Chapter 27: The Alchemical Opus

"Good morning, Hayley."

"Yeah, whatever, Doc Serd."

Dr. Constance Serdikoff was a fifty-two-year-old counselor who set up a practice in the town of Kazuki; she often worked on commission by Kaiba Corp. to help students, staff, and police who required her services. For the past three weeks, one such client was Hayley Wilson.

"Sit down, Hayley. I am pleased to see you again."

"Don't call me that." Hayley scowled, which was a telltale sign of Hayley's taking a back seat to Serpentina, her angrier counterpart. "I prefer Serpentina."

"Hayley is your given name," Dr. Serdikoff said. "That is the name we'll use in these sessions. Is that alright with you?"

"Whatever. It's not like anyone cares."

"Do you remember what we talked about last week? Try to avoid using it when you mean I. Would you care to try rephrasing that previous sentence?"

Serpentina scoffed sarcastically. "Fine. I don't care what you call me. No one believes I really exist, anyway." At that moment, Serpentina heard a light, single knock on the door; it sounded like someone trying to listen in on a conversation through the two-inch door. "Excuse me for a second." She stood and walked toward the door.

"Hayley? Where are you going?"

She walked over to the door and yanked it open, causing Sean Bivins, a quiet and generally unassuming, if somewhat absentminded, resident of the Yellow Dorm, to topple through the doorway.

"I wasn't!" Sean shouted as he scrambled to sit up.

Rather than ask, "Weren't what?" Serpentina stood over him with an intimidating look on her face. She already knew Sean and his friends were nosy busybodies who had been spying on and spreading rumors about her for a while.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you if I catch you following me again? I'm going to shove a whole bunch of quarters up your nose. Run home to mommy and tell her that." Sean crab walked backwards, unable to get to his feet until he put sufficient distance between himself and Serpentina. Finally he got up and ran off down the hall.

Dr. Serdikoff watched Serpentina sit back down and shifted her seat, which usually indicated a change of therapeutic activity. "Perhaps we should try a reversal exercise."

"Does it involve wrestling? Because I don't do that."

"What I want you to do is imagine yourself in the role of someone forgiving. You tend to act as if other people are against you, and that shows in the way you threaten everyone around you. What you should do is act the part of someone who is the opposite—someone who is always putting aside frustration and forgiving transgressions."

"This person sounds boring."

"Try it. You may find the role is more interesting than you think."

"Being someone who mindlessly forgives all the stupidity in the world?"

Dr. Serdikoff put on her hidden smirk—a generally expressionless visage while smiling only with her eyes. "Don't do it mindlessly. Every forgiveness should have a reason behind it. You will find the complexity of forgiveness is far from boring."

"Yeah, whatever." She sat quietly for a moment. "So… What am I supposed to forgive?"

"Start with the young man who was just here. You claimed he was spying on you; how would you handle that as a forgiving person?"

Serpentina shrugged and sputtered a few times, struggling to come up with any kind of response that wasn't intimidating or borderline violent. She was quiet for a full minute as she tried to think of something, and quite suddenly her expression softened; her smile faded, her eyes sparkled, and she lifted her feet until she sat on her legs.

"Hayley?"

"Hi," she said softly and with a different tone. Her voice tightened and her word was longer than usual. "How are you?"

Dr. Serdikoff recognized this behavior as belonging to Pan, Hayley's more innocent alternate personality. "Hayley? Do you remember what exercise I just asked you to do?"

"Yeah."

"Can you do it?"

"Yeah. Sean's okay. No one will hurt him."

"Remember what we've been working on? You need to own your emotions. It wasn't anyone who threatened Sean; it was you. Right?"

"Okay. I won't hurt him. I'd rather not go near him, anyway. People aren't much fun."

"Why would you want to avoid him? Is there something wrong with people that makes them less fun?" Pan just shook her head coyly. Drawing on her knowledge of Hayley's past from their first interview, Dr. Serdikoff requested, "Tell me about your parents. Were they boring, too?"

"I don't remember. Mom moved away a long time ago, and Dad was never around." She looked under her jacket at her shirt while she spoke; it was a royal blue shirt with a picture of the duel monster Water Dragon.

"Where did your mother move?"

"I don't know," Pan replied, suddenly starting to rock herself back and forth in her place. Dr. Serdikoff noticed that nervous behavior and asked for more details. "Mom spent a lot of time in the hospital before she left. Dad said she was moving away and wasn't coming back."

"Are you aware that your mother died? Do you remember that?"

Pan repositioned herself into the seated fetal position. "Yeah."

"Can you tell me what 'dead' means?"

"She's not coming back."

"Right." Dr. Serdikoff thought of probing about Hayley's father, the man who neglected her through much of her childhood, but based on their early interview, she suspected the father's neglect was only a vague contributor to Hayley's Dissociative Identity Disorder; a neglectful father can be trying, but it hardly describes the level of trauma that initiates a new persona.

"Tell me about Satchel."

Pan finally put on a smile. "He's my big brother."

"Where is he now?"

Very suddenly, Pan's smile gave way under an expression of shock, and she put her feet back on the floor. She closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed her face as if waking up for the first time that morning. Dr. Serdikoff noticed and asked, "Hayley?"

"Dr. Serdikoff?" Hayley looked around confused for a moment, but she soon sighed with realization. "Serpentina brought me here."

"You remember this time?"

Hayley nodded. "I think so. It felt like it was a dream, but I'm starting to gain awareness when Serpentina and Pan take control. You asked her about Satchel."

"Remember what I told you: Treating your alters like they are separate people will only hinder your mental unification."

"Sorry. I meant to say you asked me about Satchel. Well, he practically raised me after Mom died, especially since Dad didn't give a rat's ass. Satchel taught me how to duel." She looked down at her shirt again. "He used the Water Dragon a lot. He was actually a student here, at Duel Academy."

"Where is he now?"

Hayley's expression sank, yet she still seemed in shock. "He disappeared a few years ago. He was a sophomore here—same as I am now. There were no leads or anything. The case is really cold by now. I spent all of last year talking to Sgt. Baker about it, and he graciously told me the only evidence they had is a general description of when and where he disappeared."

Dr. Serdikoff nodded as she listened to Hayley describing the case. Compared with other topics, the details she provided were remarkably inconsistent. Her memories of her brother's disappearance were shaky at best, and that suggested Satchel Wilson's disappearance was a source of her dissociation. Now they were making progress.

"What do we know about these events?" Matt asked. He was starting to pace again, but this time he had multiple people around to throw in extra pieces of information whenever he came across a shortcoming. "We know for certain that these people look like I do, they are impressive duelists, and they have only been defeated by duelists who have beaten me at some point."

"You're so humble about it," Cary remarked.

Matt ignored her and continued, "What we do not know for sure but have good reason to suspect is that these people may actually be one and the same."

"I still believe that to be a long Frisbee," Darius suggested.

"Far-fetched," Matt corrected him. "And yes, maybe it is. But I felt that energy flow from Citrinitas through the circle and straight back into him like it was gathering all the remnant energy that Rory expelled during the duel."

Bryan said, "You make it sound like she has gas."

"I do," Rory joked back.

Matt looked around with an accusatory look on his face. "Are we done? Have we figured out what's going on here yet?" Bryan said 'no' and grabbed Lucy's hand while Rory apologized. "Good. Because I think this is one man going through a supernatural developmental process."

"How do you explain the Albedo character?" asked Ellie, Darius's girlfriend and Kasumi's roommate. "She's a girl, but the others are all boys."

"Cary is the one who figured that out for me," Matt explained. "You see, according to Jungian theory, the stages of the alchemical opus are analogous to the developing human personality. The Ouroboros is a sort of 'pre-dawn' state that represents a person without a personality. Nigredo is a moment of pure despair and depression before a person can determine what kind of personality he or she will have. The Albedo is a sort of acknowledgement of our contrasexual sides—that is to say it is the feminine side of a man or the masculine side of a woman. And after that, the Citrinitas is a stage of awakening in which the personality is beginning to emerge and wisdom sets in."

Mitsuro made a face. "That sounds really weird. But it could explain why your clone looked like a girl for a while."

"And why Ouroboros appeared to have split personalities," agreed Maikeru, a hallmate of Darius who lost a duel to Ouroboros earlier in the year.

"And why Citrinitas always mentioned logic in his decisions," Rory pointed out.

Bryan still wasn't sold on the idea of a man turning into a woman, however. Matt told him, "Just think about. A clone, born in a laboratory not as a human but as some kind of homunculus, undergoes discontinuous development in stages that are clearly separate from one another. Every step is distinct among the psychological scale, and the body, which is still in a state of flux because of all that circulating energy, responds to each psychological stage by altering the physical appearance to match."

"So why do all the physical appearances look like you?" asked Maikeru. "And why did he take my card?"

"Well, it is fair to assume from Cary's conversation that the man who created these clones is my father. I am not sure what purpose of the clone is, or why this year was selected as the appropriate time for its creation, but if that man combined his genome with that of my mother, then it only makes sense the clone would end up looking like me."

Cary suggested, "Or maybe whoever created the clone got a sample of your DNA from you."

"Well, sure, that's a possibility. But the theory of my father's involvement is much more interesting because it gives us somewhere to start. And it can already be narrowed tremendously because I spent much of last winter trying to find my parents."

Mitsuro asked, "Do you know anything?"

"I know that I was adopted by a pile of scum in human form, and that the adoption agency has no records of my birth parents whatsoever. I've pretty much gone as far as I can between my own legwork and . I asked some of the professors if there's anything they can do to help; Pr. Baker said he may be able to pull some favors among law enforcement databases and Dr. Apple offered to help spread the word that I'm looking. Dr. Lankford mentioned checking the Kaiba Corp. files, but I don't know how fruitful that will be."

"Albedo said your father lived on the island," Cary reminded him. "Did the police find anything?"

"About the same information they got from checking the registered Duel Disks used by our colorful clones," Maikeru explained. "I asked Baker about it, but he said the search wasn't that easy. No one has Matt's last name because it's his adopted name, and there's really no other way to figure it out. Without records, it's tough to prove a relationship."

"What about DNA?" Ellie asked. "Can't they get Matt's DNA and match it to someone?"

"TV makes it look easy," Mitsuro argued. "DNA profiling is expensive and takes weeks to complete. I doubt Kaiba Corp. would front the money just to find out who Matt's father is."

Bryan said, "Let's go back to the alchemy connection again. Supposing this guy really is one person who is continually reborn each time he reaches a new developmental stage, what's with the disappearing act this time? What happens after this awakening stage?"

Matt nodded to acknowledge Bryan's suspicion. "According the Jung, there is one final stage of individuation: the Rubedo, where the wholeness of Self becomes apparent and the personality is revealed."

"Then this man is still near," Darius concluded. "What might his goal be?"

"My first guess was to collect rare cards," Maikeru suggested, "but that doesn't seem to be the case. He only seems to target random people once or twice before finding someone who can beat him."

"And Rory was the exception," Cary pointed out. "Citrinitas targeted her specifically."

"He was acting logically," Matt determined. "If losing a duel speeds his development to the next stage, and he was thinking logically enough to want to reach his final developmental stage as quickly as possible, he would target someone he thought could beat him."

Rory smiled at him, and then she said, "That's brings up another important question: Where did that card come from?" She reminded everyone about the Elixir of Life card that she never put in her deck and she hasn't seen since that duel.

"That's the same card Naoto found," Mitsuro explained. "He also lost the card after the duel."

"I located Chrysopoeia," Darius said. He described the effect he remembered using, and Cary agreed that was the same card she drew. "From where did they originate?"

Matt sucked in a deep breath slowly, hoping to find an answer in that amount of time. "I have no idea," he finally decided. "It seems almost like magic that those cards happened to appear when they did. There's got to be some connection to the Transmutation Circles but I just haven't the foggiest idea what that connection is."

Bryan stood up at that point and stretched his arms as high as he could reach. "Well, this has certainly been something to think about. Personally, I need to stretch my legs a little." Just then, Sean Bivins came stumbling into the room, looking back over his shoulder as if he were being chased. "Good thing you didn't decide to play a real sport, eh, Bivins?"

"Sean?" Ellie asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied, suddenly standing upright and looking perfect. "Why? What've you heard?"

"Just you tripping over yourself," Maikeru answered. He grinned as he realized, "Hayley saw you, did she?" He looked to Ellie and laughed. "I told you spy work required someone more graceful."

"What happened?" Darius wondered for Sean's safety.

Sean somewhat nervously explained, "She's got a mean side. Do you know what she said to me? She said she was going to stick quarters up my nose!"

"What song was she going to play?" Matt asked without missing a beat.

As if responding to the ruckus, Dr. Apple poked his head into the room next. He smiled when he saw the size of the gathering. "What's going on in here? Is it some kind of game night? It couldn't be a study session, could it? Perhaps a duel royale to determine who gets to participate in the Graduation Duel?"

Matt shook his head and answered, "No. We're just hanging out… chatting… making jokes at one another's expense… College stuff."

"Ah, yes. I remember those bright college days. Ivy-covered professors in ivy-covered halls. Oh, the parties we tossed, and the games that we lost. Of course, today most of my classmates claim that we won them after all. There's not a whole lot of honor when it comes to past-tense football games now that I think on it."

Dr. Apple's tangents often drew puzzled expressions from the people listening, but no one dared ignore his words because he often asked questions about those tangents on his exams just to see who was paying attention in class.

"Um…" Cary dared to interrupt. "Can we help you with something?"

"Oh, right." It was like Dr. Apple forgot what he was doing the moment he started talking. He looked to Matt and said, "I found some relevant information for you. It's somewhat complex and of a personal nature, and so I figured you might be more comfortable hearing it one-on-one."

"Sure," Matt agreed eagerly. Dr. Apple didn't sound like he had all the answers, but if he found even a small piece of the puzzle, it was better than idling in neutral. He looked to the rest of the group. "You guys stay here and discuss the possibility of turning silver into gold, or finding the Fountain of Youth. I'd love to do either before I die. Come to think of it, doing the latter could prevent my death." He shook it off and said, "Anyway, I'll be back eventually."

Watching Matt leave the room with Dr. Apple, Bryan suggested, "Those two may be the nuttiest people on this island. Clever though; turning silver into gold is called chrysopoeia, and the Fountain of Youth is supposed to have the same effect as the Elixir of Life."

"He's pretty good at that," Cary agreed, referring to Matt's ability to talk about something without letting anyone outside the circle know what he was saying (i.e., not telling Dr. Apple about the magic alchemy cards). "Where should we get started?"

"Where can we get started?" Mitsuro countered.

"I like the idea of taking a walk," Bryan replied quickly. He released Lucy's hand and told her, "I just want to go for a quick run. You know… stretch my legs, get the blood flowing, work my brain into gear… I'll be back before you know it."

Bryan's walk was even more productive than he hoped. Using a map and the knowledge of each of the clone's duels, he estimated a few possible locations on the island where he might find the final clone Rubedo. He felt compelled the check the beach first because that was where Yul Tan helped defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon and free Dave from the Shadow Realm last year, and that guess was right on the money.

As he got closer, Bryan could see blank cards littering the ground and a single man standing in the sand, gazing out into the water was almost the perfect replication of Matt. His height and body composition were identical, yet the red hair atop his head gave him a red aura—a very different look from his counterpart. And it wasn't red like that shade of orange people call 'carrot top'; it was heavy red like one might find on a rose. Rubedo was a fitting name.

"I knew you would come to me," Rubedo spoke as Bryan approached.

"How's that? Are you a psychic, or did you just see my reflection in the water?"

Rubedo pulled the corners of his mouth into a half-grin. "It is fate. Unfortunately, it is beyond my control or yours."

"I don't believe in fate. It's a cop-out excuse for people whose lives don't go the way they want."

"Perhaps for you, that is true. Fate has controlled my life since I was born. It just took me this long to understand it." He sighed and turned his gaze to the sky. He closed his eyes for a moment and leaned back as if to project himself into the clouds with the birds. And then he looked to Bryan with fire in his eyes and an active Duel Disk on his arm.

"I wish I could change things, but that would mean to deny my purpose in life… and to deny my father."

"Yeah, yeah," Bryan muttered. "If your whole purpose is to lose this duel, then it should be a piece of cake for me, right? Or did your personality develop into something stronger than that?"

"My development has given me the insight into my purpose," Rubedo explained. "Losing to the Gravekeeper's Visionary gave me clarity. Losing to Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord gave me empathy. Losing to Dragunity Knight – Gae Bulg gave me logic. And losing to Cyberdark Dragon gave me existence. I have seen into the higher existence—that collective consciousness you call the Shadow Realm."

Bryan's heart actually did skip a beat at those words. He remembered his brief bout with the Shadow Realm as the worst experience of his life. Between having his mind temporarily detained by the shadows and the recognition that ascending into that higher plane dissolved his former mentor's body, Bryan treated the Shadow Realm as akin to a living death.

"I'm sorry you ever had to experience the shadows," Bryan said as he activated his Duel Disk. "No one should have to suffer that. Perhaps beating you in a duel will rid you of any remaining pain."

"You misunderstand," Rubedo assured him. "The knowledge of the Shadow Realm lets me see the world in a way you couldn't understand. I can feel the presence of the Shadows right now. It is the power that has come to me through development. I see everything: all that is, all that was, all that ever could be…"

Bryan just looked bad in awe of what he heard. Something compelled him to believe Rubedo's words, but he just couldn't convince himself. "Is that so? Then winning a duel should be no big challenge for you."

"As you wish," Rubedo agreed.

Always a fan of taking the first turn, Bryan quickly drew his cards. "It looks like I get to start this duel strong: I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Clayman and Lady Heat into Elemental Hero Nova Master (8/2600/2100)." Fusing in yet another Hero combination, the hulky Clayman and the blazing Lady Heat swirled and merged into a strong warrior wearing a full suit of red and gold armor complete with a red cape; he looked like he was ablaze. "That will do it for now."

"Your monster is powerful for one summoned on the first turn. I have to set a monster and a card to end my turn."

"That's all?" Bryan asked. "I expected a tougher start. For me, I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos (4/1800/300)." His blue-skinned hero wore blue armor and a pair of gyros on his back for flight. "When Stratos is summoned, he destroys a number of Spells or Traps equal to my Heroes." Stratos charged the gyros for a moment, and then he buzzed across the field and charged straight through Rubedo's Trap.

"Nova Master is going to attack your monster next." The blazing fist of Bryan's Hero melted the Ancient Gear Cannon (2/500/500) that appeared only briefly on the field. Because of Nova Master's effect, Bryan also got to draw one card. "And then Stratos is going to do a direct fly-by." Charging the gyros again, Stratos buzzed the field and landed a heavy punch to Rubedo. "I'll set one card and end my turn."

Bryan 8000: Rubedo 8000 – 1800 = 6200.

"I struck first," Bryan taunted.

"I knew you would. I'm going to summon Ancient Gear (2/100/800)," a monster that resembled a sentient gear with wheels for a lower body and mechanical feet. "Machine Duplication also lets me summon two more Ancient Gears (800) from the deck. And I'll use my own Polymerization to fuse two Ancient Gears with Ancient Gear Golem in order to summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem (10/4400/3400)." Almost the biggest machine Bryan ever saw, it had a centaur-like appearance: four thin legs, a long body with a split chain for a tail, and a torso that resembled the Ancient Gear Golem if its left arm were upgraded to a heavier claw. The entire machine jolted with electricity to demonstrate its power.

"That's even bigger than Matt's Cyber End Dragon," Bryan noted, "although I have seen Matt use Power Bond to make it stronger."

"Here, you do not contend with the Cyber End Dragon. This machine is much more dangerous. When it attacks, you cannot activate facedown cards until the attack ends. Ultimate Gear Golem will destroy Stratos (1800)." The giant, clawed hand reached out, and the claws pierced Stratos's skin and destroyed him. "That will end my turn."

Bryan 8000 – 2600 = 5400: Rubedo 6200.

Bryan waited for his turn to begin, but he already had the card in hand to fight back. "I'll play Fusion Recovery, which lets me return Polymerization and Clayman to my hand. And just to be fun, I'll play Polymerization again to fuse Nova Master with Clayman and summon Elemental Hero Gaia (6/2200/2600)." The two Heroes merged into a hulking, black-armored Hero that resembled a giant Clayman with boosters around his wrist. "When he's summoned, your Golem's (-2200) points cut in half and Gaia (+4400) absorbs those points. Now it's payback time for Stratos." Gaia lumbered across the field and grasped his hand around the Ultimate Gear Golem's chest; he held his hand there for a moment while the boosters on his arm ignited and blasted the machine with a magma-like charge. When the machine crumbled, Bryan smirked and reported, "That ends my turn."

"Destroying Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem allows me to summon Ancient Gear Golem (8/3000/3000) from my Graveyard," Rubedo explained as the massive torso of his mechanical centaur arose with feet of its own.

Bryan 5400: Rubedo 6200 – 2200 = 4000.

When Rubedo played his next card, a burst of energy struck the ground and surrounded the beach with a glowing, red ring. "Transmutation Circle – Rubedo. It is the last transmutation circle of my development. And to activate it, I will remove one card from my deck while you remove one from your Extra Deck." He removed Mechanicalchaser.

As he removed Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman, Bryan said, "Really? A normal monster with only 1850 points is your strongest card?"

"Power holds no sway for duel spirits. By Rubedo's effect, I can draw one card during my Main Phase." He picked up an extra card and added it to his hand. "I'll activate Geartown." A series of buildings popped up across the field, each designed either to resemble or formed from a large cog. "With this one the field, I can summon a second Ancient Gear Golem (8/3000/3000) by offering only Ancient Gear as a Tribute." When the small gear disappeared, a second mechanical, humanoid giant ambled onto the field. "Let's destroy Gaia (-2200)." The enormous fist of the mechanical giant shot forward and pummeled Bryan's Elemental Hero, crushing and destroying it almost instantaneously.

"You don't duel like someone who wants to lose," Bryan commented.

Rubedo covered it with a sigh, but he briefly let slip a scowl. "I don't want to lose; it's fate. An attack from Ancient Gear Golem should kick you into gear."

"My Trap still hasn't resolved from your first attack," Bryan said.

"Traps can't activate against Ancient Gear Golem."

"This one doesn't even try until the end of the Damage Step," Bryan explained. "Hero Signal activates when a Hero is destroyed." A searchlight on the field hit the dark clouds in the sky over Geartown and projected the image of a heroic H. "I get to summon an Elemental Hero, such as Woodsman (4/1000/2000), in defense mode."

The second Ancient Gear Golem slammed its fist into Woodsman, but the force of the strike continued through to Bryan. "My Golem possesses a piercing ability, meaning your Life Points aren't safe. I'll set one extra card to end my turn."

Bryan 5400 – 800 – 1000 = 3600: Rubedo 4000.

"Looks like your 'fate' or 'god' or whatever isn't so interested in my victory," Bryan mocked as he drew his card. As soon as his card separated from the deck, a golden light shone across the field. Bryan gazed upon the golden card in awe, momentarily shocked enough to believe there was such a thing as fate. The card he now held was one that didn't belong in his deck.

"What are these cards?"

Rubedo explained, "There are two possible outcomes when a duel spirit is offered as a sacrifice to power a Transmutation Circle: Either the spirit is overpowered and absorbed into the energy flow, or the spirit redirects all that power and gives it back to you in the form of an alchemy card—the only cards that compete with the Transmutation Circles."

"So how come the cards Cary and Rory got had actual effects and this one doesn't do a whole lot?"

"Because the other cards grant temporary and superficial power. That card draws upon the potential you already possess and amplifies it."

Bryan nodded at the explanation. "Fair enough. I'll activate The Philosopher's Stone!" A red stone appeared on the field and activated the Transmutation Circle, channeling its energy in Bryan's favor. "According to this, I get to select any card in my deck and move it to my hand." He flipped through his cards quickly. "And I choose Elemental Hero Ocean (4/1500/1200)," a man who possessed a fin atop his head, giving him a fish-like appearance, and a two-pronged spear in hand. "I'll play Miracle Fusion to fuse Ocean on the field with Woodsman in the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Terra Firma (8/2500/2000)!" This Hero was massive and white, and he had a blue gem on each shoulder and his forehead plus a red gem on his chest. "But before I continue, I'll play Parallel World Fusion to return Ocean and Woodsman to my deck in order to fuse them again into Elemental Hero Absolute Zero (8/2500/2000)!" This Hero was coated in white armor and bore a white cape that billowed in the frosty air.

"Are you scared yet? My two Heroes are fated to be stronger than your Golems, right? Well by sacrificing Absolute Zero, Terra Firma (+5000) gains a power boost equal to his partner's AP." The air of the field filled with cold, and spears of ice began to rain down on Rubedo's side of the field. Two massive spears pierced the Ancient Gear Golems' chests, destroying their internal batteries and removing them from the field. "When Absolute Zero is sent away, all your monsters get destroyed."

"So I see."

Bryan huffed. "Are you impressed by me? What about by that Philosopher's Stone card? Maybe you just think you aren't good enough to win."

"Fate sided with you a long time ago," Rubedo told him. "Even my own father doesn't expect me to live much longer. No matter my strength or potential, this is not my victory to be had."

Bryan scoffed. "I agree. Victory only comes to those who take it, and despite all your time developing and growing stronger with your Transmutation Circles, you ended up rather worthless." He scoffed again, this time rather angrily. "You may look like Matt, but that's all you have in common. Terra Firma (5000) will end this duel!" Rubedo closed his eyes and waited as Terra Firma pulled his arm back and swung a mighty fist.

Something suddenly snapped, and Rubedo looked up with fire in his eyes. "Activate Waboku!" Three women wearing green robes and bearing gem-studded wands appeared on the field in front of Rubedo; when they each held their wands in front of them, Terra Firma turned see-through, and his punch traveled straight through the women without contact—as if he were a ghost. "All Battle Damage is negated this turn."

Bryan cracked a grin. "I knew there was some fight in you. Even you won't sit still and let Fate control you."

"The outcome is still fated," Rubedo claimed, "but you will have to prove yourself worthy."

"That's more like it. I'll set one card and end my turn."

Rubedo drew his next two cards and sighed; it seemed like he was struggling against his decision to fight back—like maybe he regretted not letting Bryan win right then. But the fire in his eyes suggested he was going to stick to his newfound conviction.

"I'll activate End of the World." Suddenly a portal appeared in the sky over Geartown, and a solid beam of energy struck the ground; the energy flooded the ground so heavily that it ruptured the surface and shone between all the buildings. "By sending Ancient Gear Soldier (4) and Gear Golem the Moving Fortress (4) to the Graveyard, I can summon Demise, King of Armageddon (8/2400/2000)." The energy blasting from the portal gave way to a monster as big as an ox, wearing black and white armor with a horned mask and carrying a heavy battle ax. "Now by exchanging 2000 Life Points, see what devastation Demise can bring." Rubedo's monster swung his battle ax heavily into the ground, and the entire earth shook, wounding Bryan's monster and collapsing all of Geartown; every card on the field except Demise was destroyed.

"That's a little better," Bryan agreed. "But my card is Book of Moon, which means your monster is going into defense mode now."

"Demise is still protected against his own effect. But now the effect of Geartown activates; when it's destroyed, I can summon any Ancient Gear monster from my deck. I'll summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon (8/3000/2000)!" This new monster was unlike the previous Ancient Gear monsters; it resembled a dragon in shape—a twelve-foot wingspan, a lengthy tail, and an elongated neck ending in a snout with sharp teeth—but its body was composed of gears welded to hunks of metal with three noticeable divots for bigger cogs. Still, it was a powerful creature.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bryan shouted excitedly.

"Gadjiltron Dragon will attack you directly!" The mechanical dragon sounded clunky when it moved, but it managed to fly and strike Bryan's LP. "That ends my turn."

Bryan 3600 – 3000 = 600: Rubedo 4000 – 2000 = 2000.

"This was a good duel," Bryan admitted. But then his Graveyard began to glow. "Unfortunately for you, the Philosopher's Stone has too much energy to be used only once; I get to move it back into my hand and play it again. This time, I'll take Skyscraper and activate it!" From the wreckage of Geartown, buildings with glass walls and spires high enough to pierce the skies grew, dwarfing the two duelists. "And for my regular draw, I got Pot of Greed!" A green jar with a goofy grin appeared on the field and revealed two more cards from Bryan's deck.

"Maybe you were right," Bryan commented. "Maybe Fate was with me this time. Or maybe your god just doesn't care about the minutiae of duels. Either way, I found Avian and Burstinatrix, and they always play nice together, especially when I have my second Polymerization." His monsters began to swirl into a single spot in the air and merge into a bigger monster, a green warrior with one white wing and a red, dragonic arm that extend down his backside into a long tail. "Meet Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/2100/1200).

"Now," he said as he pointed to the Skyscrapers. "When an Elemental Hero attacks a stronger monster, Skyscraper gives him an extra 1000 points. I bet you and your fate didn't see that coming, no matter what psychic claims you make."

Rubedo huffed. "Your knowledge of god is limited by human perception."

"Meaning?"

"What you call 'god' is not merely a physical form residing beyond the reaches of the universe. The universe is only a portion of his consciousness. The physical world is real to us, but to god it is simply illusion, one he can alter or destroy at any moment he wishes."

"Reality is what we make of it," Bryan suggested.

"The reality you see is just like a wave on the surface of god's ocean. You can see only that wave, and so you develop an exaggerated sense of ego and worth. Your size and your skill are relevant only within that individual wave. In reality, you are the only a physical representation of the ocean, and the ocean is everything that you are. When your ripple finally fades, you will become one with the ocean, but the reality is that you always were. The belief that you were independent is a mere illusion.

"In the same way, we all exist within god, and god exists within us."

Bryan understood the words, but he couldn't grasp the deeper meaning. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that the purpose of my existence is to awaken the god already residing on earth. And his current form is your best friend."

Two more chapters to go. The next one is basically done and may be up tonight. The last chapter will be a chance to tie up and a few lingering emotions and unravel a few more in order to set up the next arc.

Credits:
Darius Mantzios...tiramisu19
Jason Maxim...Maxim and Knight
Nathan Zislaw...Mavrik Zero
Hillary Delaney...Nodqfan144
Lili Von...Happy2BMe
Carter Jade...Jaden2010
Mitsuro Itachu...Titanic X
Sean Bivins...DarkVestroia2
Naoto Kurotsuki...Kurotsuki Haru
Hayley Wilson...TeamRocketDiva
Maikeru Stone...onyxshade7
Victor Rocks & Abel Shinzou...Iron-Arm-V
Alister Kazama & Jessica Parks...ZaneKazama001
Synthia Spencer...Madly Chessur
Leila & Linear Lockhart...Windraider
Romulus Malligan...Maximus1
Logan Wilson...MercWithTheMouth13
Everyone else so far...YamiRuss