Night brew around the neighborhood, footsteps closing by, as a man's face was fazed from the spectacle he partaken. Trying to revert his eyes away from the scene, but within that moment he knew failure what failure feels like once again. Ryuuji, the man who claimed that the killing will stop in no time, even that was also a promise he failed to keep. Another student was already cut down and sign of life on the scene, he sighed, reaching for his phone and dialed 119 to get in contact with the authorities. Once arriving, they began asking Ryuuji question about the incident.

From a distance, he noticed a figure deep within the alleyway, just watching, once he caught their attention, the figure flees, causing Ryuuji to give chase. Nullifying the police's question, running into the dark alley, in search of a suspicious character. Looking up as he saw them climbing towards the roof with old metal-bar ladder that was attached to the wall. Without delay, he jumped onto the wall and to the other, repeatedly with great haste. Making a zig-zag formation to reach the top in no time.

Making an entrance, he landed on the roof, only to confront the figure, who had a slender body, but the hoodie was covering their head. Nighttime wasn't helping him identify the perp, even with the moonlight assisting him, he heard a faint giggle coming from the stranger. Assuming it was a female, as he was ready to combat the person, even if he would resort to brute force to find some answers.

"May I help you?" She asked, "Why make you give chase to me? I, who was curious about the scene you caused. It was very impolite of you."

Without a moment too soon, he brought out his duel-disk, attaching it onto his arm, getting ready to duel her, "Why did you run from me?" Answering her with a question, his face giving out an intense vibe, "Well, answer me!"

She began to laugh at him the moment he drew out his duel-disk, "If I recall, the duel-disk system shuts down during this time." She said, turning her back at him, walking away from him, "If you truly wish to seek me, you better be prepared to suffer the consequence, even if you discover the truth."

"Don't you run away from me! You killed innocent people, all them that had a future ahead of them!" He angrily yelled at her, "You had no right to cause so damage towards the school and their families!"

She slightly turned her head to see him, giving him a glimpse of her face, revealing a small smile. "Tell me something, do you truly believe that when they dueled one another, were they... themselves?" She questions, waiting for Ryuuji's response, "Were they truly having fun being someone's experiments?"

He gave her question some thought, but in doing so, a monster appeared above him ready to swing its arm at him. Instantly noticing it, he jumped to the side as it struck that at his previous position, with help of the moonlight it revealed the monster's true face. A giant partly-stuffed lion with saw parts around its head, a golden saw in the middle of it body, no torso, arms wrapped in worn-out bandages as it was blood red claws shaped similar to the edge of a saw. Questioning its truly a lion of some sort.

"What the hell...?" Ryuuji questioning the situation he involved himself with, "I never seen a monster nor that archetype anywhere..."

"Oh darn. Looks like Leo missed, no matter. We're departing way, we will meet again soon, Ryuuji." She said, jumping off the building as Leo slashed through the floor, "I would be careful!"

Before he had a chance to question what she meant in the end, the floor collapsed the moment the two left. Which Ryuuji was caught in by surprise, instantly grabbing onto the broken ledge as he was the floor crumb, viewing a black pit blow him, since it was connected to a stairway.

'Talk about lucky...' He thought, letting out a small sigh, pulling himself up and looking around for the two, but they already escaped, "Damnit."

Ryuuji sat down for a moment of rest due to all the sudden adrenaline, looking up at the skies, enjoying the view. A smile resurfaced, as he got up from the ground deciding to call it a night, planning to resume his search tomorrow since today is a school night, with that, he finally took his leave and headed home. Later that night, Shizuka was in a black void, only wearing her school uniform, confused in where she was located at.

"W-What's going on!?" She questions, looking around for any clues as she saw something glowing from the distance, "What is that?"

Her body suddenly moved towards it, not being in command of her movements, she grew scared of the situation she was a part of. Within that moment, it revealed a dragon's head, not just any, it was her servant, Red Dragon Archfiend. Hovering over her, as it roared showing intimidation, striking fear to the core, not being able to move. Only watched, as she was now placed in its palm, hearing one-word echo the entire area.

'Weak... You are weak...' Its voice seemed to be coming from Red Dragon Archfiend.

She was frightened to give a proper response, as the dragon finally spoke once more to her.

"You... You're too weak..." It said, as it slowly faded into the void.

Releasing her from her grasp, Shizuka began to fall into the void, feeling helpless. Not knowing what to do but repeat the word "weak" In her head countless amount of time. In that sinking moment, she truly believed she was weak in the core, not being able to change anything. A bright light shined below her, once she passed through it, she woke up from her dream. Breathing heavily, sweating entirely, looking at the clock which was 4am. Recollecting her thoughts, remembering what happened yesterday.

What was that dream? Why in the hell was Red Dragon Archfiend doing there? So many questions I wanted to ask, but in the end, I was too scared to ask it myself. What Yurika said truly made me question myself, I cannot rely on action cards is what she said, if I remember correctly. I forced myself out of bed, turning on the lights, feeling a slight stain in my eyes, also annoying. But I got over it in a few seconds, placing the deck that was left behind for me to use, and looking over the cards.

"I need to advance even further... If I am going to be continuing dueling, I need to continue to go even further pass my limits." I said to myself, wondering what cards to take out, "This may take a while. I am going to need help on this."

Feeling disappoint on my side, I forced myself back to sleep after turning off the lights, only wasting five minutes of sleep, which wasn't a big deal. Time flew by, waking up once again before the alarm hit the 7am mark. Making me feel a bit proud of myself, also relieved that the same dream didn't occur twice in one night, almost making me smile for once. Despite the fact with all the ruckus that has happened lately in Seijuro, making me not want to go back.

I didn't have a choice, I finished my shower, coming out of it, wrapping a tower around my body. Drying my hair first with another towel before I begun brushing it down, fixing my hair style first. I finally felt my body dry up a bit, putting my school clothes on, having a minor problem with the shirt. But I ended up squeezing it in, which became a huge mistake, since it was too small and my breast were feeling shoved in, causing the button to pop out, hitting the mirror. In the end, reflect back, hitting me at the forehead, tearing up a bit as I grabbed another shirt, with a bigger size. I wasn't happy about it...

After that disaster, I finally walked out of the apartment, looking down, to my surprise, Delthea and Yurika were waiting for me this whole time. My heart filled up with sheer joy, as I jolted my way down the stair to reach them quicker, afterwards, we left the area, with a smile on my face.

"Shi-Chan, did you hit your forehead with something?" She asked, pointing the light bruise on my forehead, causing me to blush, "It isn't bad, I am just asking is all."

"I-I don't want to talk about it Yurika!" I said, feeling embarrassed about it, noticing Delthea snickering, "Not you too!"

"H-Hey! I got to enjoy this one way or another, Shizuka!" Delthea said, not holding in her laughter anymore, "We all have those mornings, so don't feel bad."

"So, you guys have to deal with breast sizes as well?!" I questioned, both of them showing a sign of defeat, "W-Why the gloom faces!?"

Quickly they responded to my question, and in sync too, "We're fine! Just forget about it!"

We stood quite for a while, until we met up with Takashi and Johan, laughing it up as always. Still find it weird that we're all hanging out together, one day we are arch enemies and now we are best of friends. Just feels so sudden, but it is a breath of fresh air to not have any more dilemmas with Delthea anymore. We all talked about the weather and festival coming up until Johan said something interesting.

"You guys heard? Another Seijuro student was found dead last night." Johan explained, feeling sorry for the guy, "That's not all, I heard Ryuuji encountered the madman and survived!"

I was in shocked from what I heard, that means not all of us are sent to death if we encounter this monster, that was some good news to hear. I sudden feel more relaxed about the situation which is carless of me, there is a murderer on the loose. Get it together Shizuka!

"Even so, the perp still got away Johan." Delthea said, with a disappointing tone, "We still have to deal with the savage, who knows what could happen at any given time."

"She is right, just because one survived, there is no need to feel invincible about it either." Yurika stepping in the conversation as always, "It still too dangerous to be outside. It's a matter of time, until they switch their pattern."

"W-What do you mean, Yurika?" I asked, being frightened by her answer.

"It's only a matter of time until the perp attacks in daylight." Yurika said, as everyone stopped to look at her, myself included, "It's just a theory guys, don't take it seriously."

"Yurika, even if you say that. The possibility can still happen." Takashi stated, entering the conversation, "If the face of the monster is found out, certainly they will cause a ruckus before they are caught."

"Takashi, don't over think this, remember? The festival is about to arrive." Yurika, said, with a smile, "This is going to be tons of fun, also we get to see the match of Delthea and Shi-Chi."

"Speaking of our match, have you guys received an error code on your duel-disk, Yurika?" Delthea asked, sounding concern, "Lately, my duel disk acting weird."

"Weird? How so?" Yurika responding with a question, "You mean the hologram system? Has it been damaged lately?"

"I don't know, I am taking to maintenance today. I am just concerned." Delthea said, as the group reached the front gate, "I just hope nothing went wrong with it."

Delthea seemed highly concern with her duel-disk, even though it seemed sudden. I mean she is partaking in the festival, so I am pretty sure she needs it to dazzle the crowd with her tricks. I wonder what kind of deck she ran, most of the group went their separate ways, as Delthea and I went to maintenance to figure out the problem. The clerk took in the system, and ran a viral-scan. Giving a confused look on his face, as we saw him type more than usual, not a good sign.

"I have no idea how to explain this…" The clerk said, handing over the system back to Delthea, "But apparently, the system had a minor login error. I was able to retract it, but for safety precautions, I added an extra software, that allows to detect and nullify any users that try to tamper with it."

"T-Thank you sir…" Delthea thanked the guy, placing the duel-disk inside her bag, "Let's go, Shizuka..."

I nodded as we walked together and headed towards the cafeteria, looking back the guy as his eyes were locked on Delthea. Pretty creepy, but she seemed to noticed as well, finally out the guy's plain sight.

"Delthea, are you okay? You seemed… scared." I asked, noticing she had a nervous look on her face, "D-Delthea...?"

"S-Someone hacked into my system…" Delthea softly spoke, feeling fear in her tone, "Someone used my system I.D last night while I was asleep, but why me…?"

"Delthea, calm down!" I yelled out to snap her out of it, "It was just a login error! Doesn't mean someone used your I.D. out of nowhere!"

"She is right you know." A voice unfamiliar to the both of them, as they looked at the stranger, "Hello, my name is Fafi."

The female gave us a angelic smile, her hair was long that it reached passed her waist, red as roses. Her eyes were gold, wearing reading glasses, as the light revealed her peach-toned skin. This is someone you don't see daily, as she looked uncomfortable with the stares.

"I-I am sorry if I interrupted. Your friend seemed frightened, so I thought I would lighten the mood…" Fafi said, being concern for others, even if we are strangers, "Please forgive me…"

"N-No! It's fine, just your words seemed to calm down Delthea." I said, being relieved as I watched Delthea sigh, "Thank you!"

"Sorry Fafi, we must be going. I am sure you are busy with that stack that is being carried." Delthea mentioned.

After her words, I just realized she was carrying a stack of important file in her hands. Giving us another smile, as she took her leave as the both us headed to the cafeteria. Once we entered, many eyes watched us get in the line as the whispers they made became in reach for them to hear. Mentioning about how I held a ancient card, Red Dragon Archfiend. I never used this card until my duel with Yurika, but the thing… I don't remember much of what happened, as soon as I synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend. As soon as I noticed Yurika was already defeated. Something about this card worries me, why wasn't I in control of my body and why I wasn't conscious at the time?

Guess I won't find out for a while, I will just let it slide for now. As soon as Delthea and I grabbed our trays, we noticed Yurika waving her at us, signaling to sit with her. As we sat down, we chatted about the festival that is coming up tomorrow, what an exciting time to be at school. I wonder what it will be like?

To be Continued...

Chapter X: The Festival Arrives! The Treasured Idol Taking Stage!

Author's Notes:

I hope you today's chapter. Many delays happened for the past week. Hopefully the story still entertains you! As well as the book cover!