Author's note: Any cards highlighted in bold are not actual Yugioh cards, but cards that I made up. I will put this note up every time there is a Duel involving such cards.

Chapter 8: Breaking Point

I jolted up from my bed, and I could feel myself sweating. Did I sleep that badly? I found myself not in the Void, but in my sister's apartment. It was mostly a lightish brown color, and the bed was much more comfortable.

"Toby, are you okay? You looked like you were having a terrible nightmare," I heard Misty's voice by my bed. Looking to my left, I could see her, and from what I saw, she looked worried.

"Onee-chan?" I had to ask. "Was I here the whole time?"

"Yes, Toby. You were shaking quite a bit and even crying in your sleep."

"So that was all a dream. Thank goodness, I thought I lost you."

"Listen, Toby. I know it's not the best time to say this, but you are running late for school."

"Darn it! There's that test on Spell cards today!" I yelled as I darted out of my bed and quickly got changed into my blue Duel Academy uniform. Once I was changed, I grabbed a slice of bread and my Duel Disk and was about to run out the door when Misty offered to give me a lift.

As the two of us got out the door, we spotted someone from Sector Security who demanded that my sister remain at home unless someone beat him in a Duel. I couldn't stand this, so I activated my Duel Disk on the spot. It was different from the standard-issue Duel Disk in that only one part of the actual Disk was visible: a thick, dark blue crescent shape that would extend, rotate 90 degrees and spit out the card slots from the inner area, culminating in a blade. I even heard a voice telling me to win this, that I can win this, and to drain his powers dry… every last drop. Once the Security armed his Duel Disk, I opted to go first, being the challenger. I just placed four cards face-down to end my turn.

The Security summoned Iron Chain Repairman (1600/1200) and from there, he used Double Summon to summon another Iron Chain Repairman. For his next move, he played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two, and used the effects of each Iron Chain Repairman to Special Summon a Level 4 Iron Chain Coil and a Level 2 Iron Chain Blaster. Those two monsters were Synchro Summoned to bring out Iron Chain Dragon (2500/1300). As a result of its ability, the monster gained 200 ATK for every Iron Chain monster in the Security's Graveyard, which brought it up to 2900. He played Poison Chain, followed by Paralyzing Chain and finally, Card of Demise, the last of which allowed him to draw up to five cards in exchange for discarding his hand in five turns.

From there, he played Graceful Charity again, drawing three and discarding two, after which he used Soul Charge to Special Summon two Iron Chain Snakes (800/1200) from his Graveyard, presumably discarded via Graceful Charity.

"Trap Activate: Aura of Life Transfer!" I shouted, as his Life Points decreased from 4000 to 3000, mine increased from 4000 to 5000 and the area was engulfed in a dark purple/pink mist. As the damage registered, grey vapors started emanating from him and streamed towards me, turning blue along the way. "This card activates whenever anyone loses Life Points, and causes the other to gain as many Life Points. What's more, this Trap Card, although a Continuous Trap Card, is now forced to be moved to the Field Spell Card zone and obey Field Spell Card rules."

From there, the guy didn't see fit to attack me for some reason. That was when Poison Chain activated, forcing me to send cards to my Graveyard equal to the combined Levels of all Iron Chain monsters he had on the field. His Iron Chain Dragon was a Level 6, with two Level 4 Iron Chain Repairmen and two Level 3 Iron Chain Snakes, which equaled 20 cards, leaving me with 14 cards in my Deck. Paralyzing Chain then activated, dealing 300 damage for each card sent to my Graveyard via that effect, dealing me 6000 damage. I revealed Spell Textbook, discarding my entire hand to draw one card and reveal it, with immediate activation if the card was a Spell Card. I drew Emergency Provisions, activating it immediately, destroying my two remaining Set cards to gain 2000 Life Points. As a result of that, Aura of Life Transfer activated another effect where any gain in Life Points for one player is a loss in Life Points for the other, meaning he was down to 1000 while I was at 7000, but due to Paralyzing Chain, the numbers were reversed. I was now on 1000 Life Points while he was on 7000, and blue vapors emerged from me and streamed towards him, turning grey along the way. I felt severely weakened after that, and wanted nothing more to take back what was truly mine!

There were now 26 cards in my Graveyard and 13 in my Deck, 12 when I drew. I played my Card of Sanctity, drawing until having six cards, leaving me with 6 in my Deck. From there, I played Blue Medicine, increasing my Life Points by 400 and decreasing the Security Officer's by 400 in turn, coming to 1400 and 6600 respectively, again, having grey vapors stream towards me, turning blue along the way. After that, I used Heavy Storm to destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field, but my… let's call it a Field Trap Card… remained.

"Your Trap should have been destroyed!" the Officer yelled.

"There is a third effect to the card," I explained. "It cannot be destroyed by Spell Cards, Trap Cards or Monster effects."

I used Pot of Greed to draw two cards, then used Spell Reproduction, discarding two Spells in my hand to return one from my Graveyard. There were only two cards in my hand and four cards left in my Deck, so I used Card of Demise to draw those four cards and give me a hand of five, with me discarding that hand in five turns. I now had no cards in my Deck, five cards in my Hand and about 33 cards in my Graveyard. I placed two cards face-down, used Dark Hole to destroy all of the Officer's monsters, and played two Spell Cards. The first was Sad Story – Harbingers of the Chapters, and although it did nothing now, that was what my second Spell Card was for: Sad Story – Sorrowful Memories. This forced both of us to, if we drew a Monster Card during our Draw Phase, shuffle it back into our Deck. My first card activated an effect, Special Summoning one Harbinger of Tragic Endings – Suffering from my Hand, Deck or Graveyard, my Graveyard in this case. My new monster gained 500 ATK for each card that had 'Sad Story' in its name, bringing it up to 1000 points, although sadly it couldn't attack.

The Officer drew, but he drew a Monster card, and as a result had to shuffle it back into his Deck. That was when the effect of Harbinger of Tragic Endings – Suffering activated: since a card was targeted by a Sad Story, the affected player lost 500 Life Points, putting him on 6100 and me on was also when I revealed Exchange of the Spirit. I paid 1000 Life Points to force both of us to swap the cards in our Decks with the cards in our Graveyards, leaving me with 900 Life Points and 34 cards in my Deck, while he had 7100 Life Points, but only 12 cards to draw, with 7 of them being sealed off.

He sent three monsters to his Graveyard to Special Summon a Montage Dragon (?/0) from his hand. The monsters he had sent were Iron Chain Repairman, Iron Chain Snake and Iron Chain Coil, two Level 4s and a Level 3, and the Levels put together, then multiplied by 300, meant that Montage Dragon had 3300 Attack points. With that, he tried to attack my Harbinger, but I revealed Nightmare Wheel, stopping the attack. There was nothing more he could do, so he ended his turn.

When my turn came, I drew Nibelung's Treasure and dealt 500 damage to the Officer from Nightmare Wheel, putting him on 6600 and me on 1400. I played my new card, allowing me to draw 5 cards and activate a Spell Card on my opponent's side of the field, so I chose to activate Darkworld Shackles, equipping it to the Officer's Montage Dragon and subsequently changing its stats to 100 ATK and DEF, forbidding it from attacking and making its owner take 500 points of damage during each of my Standby Phases. As I drew, I pointed out that since this happened outside of the Draw Phase, nothing would have been targeted by Sad Story. Then I summoned Bowganian (1300/1000) and activated my Advanced Machine Duplication, allowing me to summon two more from my Deck. Its effect was to select one monster with 1500 or less ATK and Special Summon two more from the Deck, destroying the summoned monsters if the original monster's ATK points exceeded 1500. One Graceful Charity later, in which I drew three and discarded two, I placed two cards face-down to end my turn.

The Officer drew, and he revealed a Spell Card, allowing him to keep it. He subsequently played another Card of Demise, drawing until he had five cards in exchange for discarding his Hand in five turns. He was already two turns away from discarding his hand as it was, and from there, he played a Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the Nightmare Wheel, and afterwards, a Spell Card called D – Burst. This allowed him to destroy an Equip Spell Card he controlled, destroying Darkworld Shackles, and allowed him to draw one card. After that, he attacked my Harbinger of Tragic Endings – Suffering with his freed Montage Dragon, now back to 3300 ATK, but I revealed Turn Jump, moving the turn count forward by three. Since three Standby Phases passed, I had all three Bowganian monsters activate their effect three times: during each of my opponent's end phases, he loses 300 Life Points. For one Standby Phase, that would be a total loss of 900, but for three turns, that translated into 2700 points of damage, putting him on 3900 points and me, as a result of my Trap in the Field Spell zone, on 4100 Life Points. My other card activated as well: Burning Pain, a card that, although a Continuous Spell Card, can be activated as a Quick-Play Spell card. I banished a Spell card from my Graveyard, Nibelung's Treasure, to double the effect damage done until my End Phase, which made the damage 5400, bringing him to 1200 and me to 6800. From there, I banished a Trap Card, my Cemetery Bomb drawn and discarded via Graceful Charity, to instead triple the damage, making him take 8100 points of damage and completely deplete his Life Points to 0. This also increased mine to 8000 as a whole mass of grey vapors streamed towards me, turned blue along the way and got breathed in by me. I personally found the taste very enjoyable.

One thing I noticed during the Duel was that, as I lost Life Points, I felt myself getting weaker, but as I gained Life Points, I felt my powers grow, and with the win, I felt like I was on top of the world! The Sector Security officer, however, was a different story, as he was on all fours gasping for air. My powers as a Psychic Duelist had grown, and I felt as though it was quite enjoyable.

On my way to school in Misty's car, I couldn't help but wonder if the Void was really all just a bad dream. It had to be, there was no way that there could be anyone as violent and scary as that Carnivore person I saw in my dream, and maybe the Rebecca Scarlet character was just something my mind had conjured up based on how I had been tricked by school bullies before… yet those experiences in that place felt so real.

"Something on your mind, Toby?" Misty asked.

"Sorry, Onee-chan, just that dream I had," I replied.

"Was it that horrible?"

"Onee-chan, have you ever felt as though you're dreaming, but the dream feels so real?"

"I know the feeling, Toby. It can drive you mad. Try not to think about it."

"Okay."

"Listen, I have to go to a photo shoot this afternoon, so I'll only be able to pick you up during the evening. Is that okay?"

"That should be fine." This felt true actually, as although Duel Academy seemed to be full of bullies who liked picking on me at the earliest opportunity, I felt extremely invigorated by my victory this morning.

End note: The design for Toby's new Duel Disk was sort of inspired by the Disks used by Dartz and his men in the original Yugioh.