I could feel the concern in Bronk, Rio, Orbital, and all of Yuma's friends in the ship. I tried to get off of my tiny land-strip, but I felt something tightening and pulling on my ankle. I looked down to see that there was a Baria crystal shackle on my ankle, holding me down; undoubtedly Vector's handiwork. I tried using a Gateway, but the shackle seemed to be created to hold me where I was for the whole and Yuma assumed that Sargasso is a field spell, which Vector confirmed that they triggered. Yuma and Astral didn't look too happy with it, but Kite and Shark seemed to welcome the guaranteed damage. Astral figured their Barian enemies would also take damage, and the plan was pointless. I, however, could see that two of the three Barians were willing and able to use a card to protect them. I could sense Yuma's growing rage towards Vector; Astral warned him to keep his anger in check.
Though Yuma and Shark each set a facedown and had their LP reduced to 3000, Kite activated Starliege Lord Galaxion's ability. Using both OLUs, Kite was able to bring out Photon Dragon directly from his deck. Then he set a facedown, ending his turn and having his LP reduced to 3000 as well.
The Barians each took their draws, bringing out their Over-Hundred Numbers in the process. Vector used Number 104: Masquerade's effect to disable Utopia as well as send the Sargasso Lighthouse spell to the Graveyard, protecting his LP. If you ask me, Masquerade is a perfect name for Vector's Over-Hundred on account of his plan. Dumon brought out the enormous Star Seraph Sentry - who I'd previously met - and also sent Sargasso Lighthouse to the Graveyard. I nearly yelled at him until I heard what he was thinking; to my surprise, it was directed towards me. I can see that you do not approve of this action, but I must be strong for my comrades. Mizar told me beforehand that he won't use Sargasso's Lighthouse, so as to remain equal with his rival. I must remain as leader until our missing comrades return alive and well. Please understand, young Phantom. Mizar brought out his Tachyon Dragon, but didn't use the spell card - true to Dumon's thoughts. He let himself take the hit from the field spell, as he wanted to be on a level dueling field with Kite - to duel with honor. I respected the blonde Barian's sense of honor and conscious choice to take the damage, even if he had the very card to stop it.
Once the Barians' turns ended, Yuma was more than ready to bring out Utopia Ray V. Astral didn't want him to, suspecting something strange about Vector's tactics. Yuma was unfortunately blinded by his rage, as he wanted desperately to avenge "Ray" and started arguing with the blue spirit; I could feel their minds clashing. It seemed that Yuma's friends were able to pick up on it, taking it as bad news. The two were far too focused on winning over the other to let me use my telepathy to tell them both it was a trap. Yuma brought out Utopia Ray V, taking the price of 500 damage, bringing his LP to 1600. Using Utopia Ray V's ability, Yuma destroyed Masquerade and dealt Vector damage equal to his Over-Hundred's 2700 atk; he merged with his decoy of "Ray's" body in the following explosion.
In a painfully slow manner, "Ray" struggled to a kneeling position, getting everyone's hopes up. Yuma started running toward him, but suddenly stopped when insane laughing broke out from "Ray". Yuma and his friends looked on in shock as "Ray" struggled to his feet, pulling an explosively strong Barian Battlemorph as he reverted to his true self, showing off the span of his demonic wings.
Vector explained his entire plan to Yuma and the crew, revealing every secret, as he felt no need to hide them anymore. I and the other two Barians looked over at Vector in disgust at his tactics, and unrelenting hatred towards my family that nearly made me relapse hearing people's hatred to Phantoms when I was little. I began to feel very cold, and my powers started flashing through my scars; nevertheless, I kept my head. I already knew most of Vector's plan, and began to feel an abnormal bitterness rising in Astral's mind. He clearly didn't like how Yuma has been keeping secrets from him this whole time.
Yuma's direct attack from his monster was immediately stopped by Vector's Vain Betrayer trap. It negated Utopia Ray V's attack; undid its abilities; sent the "V" cards in Yuma's deck to the Graveyard, sending five more to the Graveyard for each one, and returned Vector 500 LP for each "V" card. Vector regained 2500 LP, sending it back up to 3800. Yuma now only had three cards left to draw; a perfect deck-burning strategy from Vector. If Yuma has no cards to draw at the start of his turn, he automatically loses!
Yuma was really upset that he was deceived in such a manner. He and Astral were blaming themselves for all that had happened. As Yuma kept falling for Vector's mind games, a feeling of betrayal began to come out of Astral. Over on Shark's side, he managed to pull a few countering moves to thwart Dumon and his Sentry. Shark's opponent complimented him for his strategy, comparing Shark to his old friend, Nash. With the Galaxy-Eyes duelists, Kite brought out Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. In turn, Mizar brought out Neo Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon; much more controlled than last time, as we could see the real, metallic form of the monster.
I was still trying to get the annoying chain off my ankle when a huge disturbance came up from behind me. Still in my cloak, I saw a huge black hole pulling both me and the airship with Yuma's friends into it. Out of desperation, my powers forced through the crystal chain, breaking it apart. I could see Tori and the others manning the ship from inside, Orbital being with them. They were heading out of the hole full-force, but still needed a hand. I used my powers to drag the already stressed airship to safety as the hole closed. Relieved that they were safe, I teleported down to the rivaling dragons and their duelists.
Yuma and Astral were ready to pull their Zexal Morph, but Vector's mind games were getting to Astral, too. Vector's words and Yuma's oblivious betrayal had grown too strong for the little Astral being to handle. Barian power had painfully transformed Astral's light into cruel darkness, turning him half black. The corrupted spirit forced the Zexal Morph, bringing forth a dark-armored morph, radiating a black aura with Astral's total possession.
Seeing that I had to save Yuma and Astral before things got any worse, I quickly turned into shadow and entered the key; too fast for the morph to notice. The scenery had turned a malevolent purple hue where it should've been sky-blue. Not far away, Yuma was standing and looking up at a stone statue of Astral, with a stained glass window where the heart would be. I went over to Yuma, removing my cloak's hood. I touched his shoulder to get his attention, and he spun around to see me. He seemed somewhat relieved and somewhat surprised to see me.
"We should probably get up there," I suggested, looking up at the statue. He nodded in agreement and determination. Without another word, we ran to the statue, hoping to find the Astral being. We split up, dashing up the statue's legs, through staircases and corridors lit by torches of blue flames. But it didn't keep out Yuma's thoughts of sorrow for betraying Astral and keeping secrets from him. Above, I could feel the corrupted entity's hatred to Yuma, and the ceiling started crumbling behind me, and undoubtedly Yuma.
In the next floor, I saw that Yuma had managed to get ahead of me. I was met with a pack of dark gray wolves, radiating a teal aura with glowing red eyes. Yin came out and did away with the aggressive wolves, letting me progress further towards Astral and Yuma. I could feel negativity from Astral and fear from Yuma as I continued going up. I began to hear crashing from one of the upper floors, pushing me to go faster.
By the time I reached the desired floor, I could see the corruption in Astral growing stronger by the second. The spirit conjured tentacles of pure destruction and shot them to me and Yuma. Yuma started running towards Astral, barely slipping past the tentacles. Seeing where he was going, I too started snaking through the attack, making my way to the window. Once close enough, Yuma grabbed Astral's torso; the force pushing them through the shattering window. They started falling from the unbelievable height of the statue as I took my chance. I fired a Shadow Stream at the source of Astral's corruption, destroying it. A bright flash erupted from the two that had to have broken the dark Zexal Bond.
Next thing I knew, I was slammed into the ground back where I was before the extortion occurred. I slowly got up to my feet as Yuma ended his turn. We missed out on what was happening, but from what I could see in their minds, it wasn't good. Yuma was giving off a final attempt to stop Vector's Chaos Number 104: Umbral Horror Masquerade. He used the abilities and effects of several monsters he had in the Graveyard to stop Vector's attack and Sargasso's effect.
On Shark's side, I could hear Shark confirming that Yuma would never give up to the final card. He told Dumon that Vector was in for a "rude awakening." That hit home in Dumon's mind, as he fell silent. Once Yuma took his draw - LP reduced to a measly 25 - he fell in exhaustion, not far from Astral. Their hands laid flat on each other as they joined in a stronger Zexal Morph. The morph's power transformed his Rank-up Magic Limited Barian's Force to Rank-up Magic Numeron Force. Once it was activated, Utopia was evolved into Utopia Ray Victory, also negating Sargasso's effect. Using an OLU, Utopia Ray Victory gained Umbral Horror Masquerade's atk, bringing it to 5800. With a final Rising Sun Double Victory Slash, Vector's Chaos Over-Hundred was destroyed, his LP plummeting to zero.
We were glad that Yuma had won the duel, but Sargasso began to implode on itself. We were transported back to the airship to make our way home, but not before I could direct a thought to Dumon and Mizar: Maybe one day we will be on the correct sides of this war of worlds. Mizar, hopefully you'll come to respect your rivaling Galaxy-Eyes Master. Dumon, I pray that your missing friends will return to you safe and sound. But until then, you both must try to make sure that Vector doesn't do any more damage than he already has. His solitary schemes might well hasten the undoing of your world.
On our way home, I managed to tell Kite about the ties between the Arclight and Choseki families. He was quite surprised that I had first met their family when I was barely a month old. He told me what his father said about my family moving away because of Mr. Heartland; I may have been only a year old at the time. He also explained his own family ties with the Arclights, specifically Chris. The way Kite was trained as a Number Hunter to help his younger brother, and that he doesn't have to now that Hart's free.
When we were back home, the airship was parked atop Heartland Tower. I kept to myself the fact that some Barians might not be as bad as they may realize. We were glad that we had won against Vector and his plan of treachery and betrayal. But Astral confirmed that we still had challenges up ahead. Yuma was more than ready to face said challenges head-on. With all of these guys, I was certain that I had found a great group of people to be around.