Chapter 32: The curse broken
As his Life Points hit 0, the Warden collapsed, and I could tell he was exhausted. A card was on the floor by his downed body, and after quickly running to grab it and darting out of his reach, I saw that it was a card similar to the one Yuina found. It was with a white background, but instead of having the indicator for an EARTH monster, it had one for a WIND monster. I found that rather confusing at the time.
"You… will never… defeat us!" the Warden gasped.
"Who is this 'us' that you speak of?" I asked.
"Sayer was the… weakest… of us. His Arcadia Movement… failed. And though… I also failed… our plan… will still continue."
"Since you lost, what is your plan?"
"No light… to weaken the Great Leviathan… but it doesn't… matter anymore. The barriers… are still weak enough… that the Leviathan… need not be restored."
He seemed to have passed out from there, leaving me no information on who else he was working for. Something hit me at that point: there was a card showing the attribute of EARTH, and one showing WIND. That had to mean that there was one for FIRE, LIGHT, WATER and DARK as well. Six organizations, with two being the Arcadia Movement and the Void, but what were the other four though?
I started looking around the room, but the only thing I found was a computer chip labeled 'Instructions' and a hexagonal Duel Disk-type object with six card slots. I wasn't sure what to do with this, but then I remembered something else I was supposed to be looking for. After prodding him a few times, I concluded that the Warden was out cold, whereupon I started rummaging his pockets. I found a pocket on the inside of the first layer of upper-body clothing he wore after failing to find anything in the others, and it was out of that pocket that I pulled a card: Black Card Reverse. "Return all cards removed from play to their owner's Decks and shuffle afterwards. Each person draws one card for every Removed from Play card returned to their Deck" If that meant what I think it meant…
Fantastic. Now I had a way to do for the Void what that strange Dragon Fire did for me, Yuina and Rebecca. I was still intrigued by where I was, however, so I continued to loot, I mean search the room for anything useful. Aside from what I took, I didn't find anything more, so I proceeded back down the lift.
Waiting for me was Akiza, Jack, Yuina, Rebecca and Trudge. I immediately threw Yuina the Black Card Reverse card I picked up from the Warden, after which we all returned to Trudge's car (with the owner being 'persuaded' by my friend). A few Duel Runners had pulled in by the time we reached the car, however.
"Akiza! Are you all right," a raven-haired man shouted. Behind him was a rider with spiky orange hair.
"I'm fine, Yusei," she replied.
"Alright, enough reunions! We are going back to the Void!" Yuina shouted as we entered Trudge's car again. The sky was dark by then, and I was, to put it bluntly, exhausted.
The next thing I knew was Rebecca shaking me on the shoulders, saying that we had arrived. I still felt extremely tired, but judging by the way time passed so quickly, I must have fallen asleep. The crater was surrounded by Securities, all of whom were positioned on the footpath I helped create. Trudge ordered them to make way, after which Akiza, this Yusei person, Yuina, Rebecca and I entered into Cellblock 9, with Jack making sure nobody outside tried anything stupid.
Running through the black cellblock corridors, we reached one of the white high-level lifts, and rode it all the way to the Warden's office. Once we reached his lift, we instead had it move to the Reactor level in between the office and the bridge. This level was somewhat intriguing: aside from what must have been the Ener-D Reactor, there was a card slot sealed inside a glass frame, with three key holes. This was part of a machine that was directly below the reactor. The room, like the bridge, was quite small.
"Well, well, these things finally get to come in handy," Yuina spoke, pulling out her Yellow Key. "The computer data we harvested from Sayer's secret room just happened to contain how to use the card to activate the Reactor. You two, we first need to place our keys in that first row of key holes."
She inserted her Yellow Key into the central key hole, and yellow lines spread along the seal. Rebecca followed with her Blue Key, whereupon blue lines appeared. Finally, I inserted my Red Key, with red lines appearing, and this time, the glass opened. Yuina inserted the card I handed to her into the receptacle, but nothing happened, except blue lights lit up below the screens.
"Look! There are activation keys here!" Rebecca announced, having found something to the left of the console. That was also when I looked to the right, and found a screen. I noticed that a light below each screen was previously off, and the screen was blank saying that there was no card inserted. Now, the light at my screen was on, but blue, with the words 'Card detected: Memory Block Release Key inserted.' now displayed on the screen. There was also a key hole below the light. Relaying my findings, Rebecca told me that her screen detailed the area of activation of the card. This interface supposedly included all areas of the Void, from low to high-level access.
"According to the instructions we harvested, your screen details where the card effect should target. You will need to remove your Keys and use them in those sockets you spotted to confirm. First select the areas to be targeted by the Spell, but once you turn the Key inside, know that it saves those settings from your side," Yuina resumed
"Where should I target then?"
By now, judging from what the previous Gatekeepers relayed to me, there are probably prisoners all over the place due to the riots our escape caused. Select all areas,"
"Okay. It's giving an overload warning, though."
"See if you can take some pressure off the main reactor."
"Doing that now. Rerouting to the twenty four sub-reactors. Have any other prisoners escaped aside from us, though?"
"Not from the sounds of it. The Gatekeepers told me that the guards blocked off the exit, and any others who did slip out were forced back in by Sector Security until 'they can clarify the cause of the crash'."
"I'm diverting as much stress as possible to the secondary reactors. We've still got a possibility of an overload, though."
"We will have to risk it!"
Yuina, from what I saw, removed her Yellow Key (closing the Seal in the process with our card inside) and placed it in a fourth keyhole below the Seal holes. When she turned it, a voice sounded "Chamber Sealed. Preparing Card for Activation. Please specify Area of activation," and I saw my screen produce the words 'Card armed', with the blue light now having turned green. Looking to my left, Rebecca was typing madly away at her screen, after which she also removed her Blue Key from the Seal keyhole, and inserted it into a keyhole below her screen as well.
My light turned yellow, the voice noted "Area of activation selected", and the screen noted the area of effect, from the Bridge to the Lower Observatory. My screen also had the words "Area of activation specified. Activate Card?" with the pressure indicator on the Reactors, the area of effect specified by Rebecca, the card in the seal that had been primed by Yuina and a warning that the reactors are likely to overload.
"Okay," Rebecca announced. "I've redirected all of the secondary reactors' functions to take some strain off the main reactor. The rest of the place has only got emergency power."
"Toby," Yuina continued, "now the fate of those who had their memories stolen is in your hands… fire."
I grabbed my Red Key from the Seal and inserted it into the keyhole below my screen. Turning the Key, the screen changed again, this time saying 'CARD ACTIVATING' with the light now having turned red. A holographic satellite appeared above Yuina's console, and a ring formed above it. Following that, the ring descended, the satellite passing through it, yet the power allocation was getting a bit out of control. As the ring descended through one third of the way, there were explosions at eight points of the upper third of the satellite and we felt somewhat of a shockwave.
"We've lost the first eight reactors!" Rebecca shouted. "More power is feeding through the main reactor! It's now 33% towards critical failure!"
"Not just yet…" Yuina gasped. The ring descended through the middle of the Void, but just as it hit ground level where we crashed, there were eight more explosions.
"We've lost another eight secondary reactors! Main Reactor is now 67% on its way to critical failure!"
"I summon Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, in Defense Mode. Everybody get behind it!"
The monster appeared, and the five of us retreated towards the lift. Just as we reached our target, Hamon loomed over us and encircled us with his wings. Yuina's 'Light' Kanji was glowing. I placed my left hand over hers, and my 'Flame' Kanji appeared on my hand as well, in addition to Hamon's presence feeling stronger. Rebecca also placed her left hand over mine, causing her blue 'Oni' Kanji to light up, but the next action was the most surprising of all: Akiza placed her right hand over the kanji, with a red claw-like symbol lighting up on her arm. Or was it more a talon-like symbol? Anyway, Hamon's presence felt like it couldn't get much stronger.
Just then, there were eight more explosions in the lower areas of the holographic satellite, and the voice announced "Card activation complete." That was, however, also when the Ener-D reactor this level exploded. The blast wave was tremendous such that, had it not been for Hamon, we would most likely have evaporated into various gases on the spot. The rest of the room disintegrated, with the walls blowing out from where I could see, under the Sacred Beast. As the wave hit Hamon, the monster grunted for five seconds and disintegrated, but we were protected from the shockwave. Once he was gone, though, we were greeted with a disaster area as rubble and shrapnel was strewn everywhere and everything above us was destroyed, leaving the now ruined Reactor room open to the night sky. The only thing to survive, aside from us, was the elevator.
"Okay, it looks like that's that," Yuina stated. "Not only have we run our program, but we have put the Void out of commission. Only the twelve emergency reactors should be operational, and with their power, only the lifts, cells and internal lighting will run. Even then, I give it about a week before they shut down."
We re-entered the lift, and although it was still working, it took us a bit longer to get back to the Warden's office (aside from which the bridge had been disallowed on account of the 'ERROR: UPPER SHAFT STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED'. Once there, however, we were greeted by the Gatekeeprs, Nightshade, Hunter-Killer, Beast, Dancer, Sky Fairy, Bombardier and Queen.
"Carnivore, what happened?" Beast asked. "We heard you came back, and we all wanted to rendezvous with you, yet all of a sudden, I found myself remembering events of my past. Memories from before I became known as the Beast. Happy memories."
"Yes, Carnivore, what happened?" Nightshade resumed.
"Okay, it looks like it worked," Yuina stated. She, however, found a microphone on the Warden's desk, pressed a button saying 'Void-wide broadcast' and spoke into it. "Attention everyone: You should have gotten memories back that the Void stole from you. Also note, however, that the main reactor and the twenty-four secondary reactors have been destroyed in the efforts of me, Magician and Succubus to break the blocks on your memories. Now there is only enough power provided to operate the lifts, lighting, Cell controls and basic life-support systems for a week at most. To that end, this place is now essentially destroyed, and as such, you cannot stay here. An exit has been created in Cellblock 9, through which you can leave this place and return to the outside world. Now go, your freedom awaits you!"
Turning the microphone off again, she motioned for the rest of us to follow. I had forgotten then, but Rebecca had other plans as she told the rest of them to go on ahead, keeping me back to talk. Once everyone was gone, she pushed me against the wall and lowered herself to my eye-level.
"What's wrong, Rebecca?" I was somewhat anxious about her sudden behavior.
"I told you, Toby, using my Raviel had a price: that I get what Yuina and that Akiza girl got from you. Now, I think it's about time to collect," she whispered, placing her lips against my own. It felt quite similar to the first time with Yuina, except I could feel more vigor, and quite a bit of joy. I could feel then that she was happy, and I shared a lot of that happiness with her: happiness of freedom from the Void, happiness of finding someone who would accept you, happiness of being able to return to society. I could feel that she was so happy and excited to return to the outside world especially because, during our moment, she leaned and pushed forward, causing me to slide down the wall and onto the floor. We stayed like that for a while longer, with me sandwiched between her and the carpet of the Warden's office.
Once she broke away though, she helped me back on my feet. Leaving the office, we saw Yuina at the end of the corridor: apparently everyone else had left and only the three of us were remaining. Yuina, surprisingly, seemed quite content with what just happened, but there were other concerns weighing down on us. We descended in the VIP lifts to Cellblock 9, and from there, we were greeted with a whole mass of people waiting to get out.
Although it was a black night, there was still white light beyond the opening we had made. That white light symbolized our hope… our freedom forever from the Void.
Final End note (for now): Although this is the end of the Void (both the space station and this particular story), it isn't the end of Toby's story. I already have a sequel planned for this, and while I won't give away major spoilers, the fight continues against these new enemies. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed, and I also hope to be back soon with the first chapter to the sequel.