Chapter 4 - Agony in Crimson
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"What's with the shocked expression? Oh, don't tell me…" Aidan gasped in fake shock. "You've forgotten all about me, haven't you?"
He started laughing, but the maniacal expression on his face quickly turned to a pained one, and his tone of voice changed into a more serious one.
"Then again, it's unfair of me to think that you'd remember me," his voice sounded entirely different from before, now that he temporarily dropped the façade of a madman. "Especially after they–"
He stopped himself before accidentally revealing something he didn't want to.
"It took me nearly a year to recover. And even after all that time, I still couldn't believe that you would…" he choked up before managing to finish the sentence, took a deep breath and continued. "Ten months of my life I spent contemplating whether or not tomorrow is worth it, because you decided to–"
"Are you trying to guilt-trip me for something I haven't done?" Laura interrupted him.
"Back then, I thought that… You know what, never mind. You never cared about me in the slightest, so why should I expect that to change now," he said. "Forget I ever said anything and carry on, we've got a duel to finish."
"Hey, are you alright?" a familiar, yet distant voice came through one ear and out the other. Alex slowly opened his eyes, unable to make out where he was. The room was pitch-black, and nobody was in Alex's field of view, making him wonder whose voice he heard just moments ago. Suddenly, a man popped into his view, with a knife in his right hand and a triumphant smile on his face. After taking a moment to process what he was seeing, his brain decided that the best course of action would be to run, though his legs hadn't received the message yet, so he ended up tripping over himself and breaking the rather flimsy chair he was sitting on. With no other options, Alex stretched his arms out and prepared for the worst.
"Wait, no, I–" the man in front of him tried to explain himself, but figured he'd get rid of the knife first, so he threw it over his shoulder to make sure it was out of reach for both of them.
"I was just freeing your hands," the man tried to cast suspicion off himself, and waved around a piece of rope in his left hand, hoping that would convince Alex.
"How do I know you weren't trying to tie me up?"
"Why would I need a knife for that?"
"I–" in all his panic, that previous sentence was all Alex could string together before his voice collapsed into a mess of undecipherable noises.
"Don't worry, I'm not with Aidan, if that's what you're worried about."
"Who?"
"The person who brought you here," the man explained. "I stopped by your house earlier since I wanted to ask you what he told you, but you pretended like you had no idea what I was talking about."
"You couldn't have been any more suspicious," Alex regained some of his composure now that he seemed to be out of harm's way. "How did you know about that in the first place?"
"I tried to sell you the story of an anonymous tip, but you were clearly too smart to buy it," he continued. "The truth is that I've been following Aidan for a while because of what he's doing. That's why I'm here in the end, because he didn't exactly make himself difficult to follow while taking you here. I just didn't want to start explaining everything to you on your doorstep. I would've explained it eventually, but you weren't quite as cooperative as I had hoped."
"I had full reason to distrust you," Alex said.
"Admittedly, there are very few ways I could've made myself appear less trustworthy," the man shrugged. "Mistakes were made, the more important thing is that I'm here now, and I've already wasted too much time."
"What do you mean?"
"Turns out Aidan doesn't just have a grudge against you, but your friend Laura as well. He kidnapped you, then blackmailed her into dueling him."
"How do you know so much?" Alex said.
"That's not something you should be concerned about at the moment, not that I'd be able to answer that question in the first place," the man told Alex, making sure that he said as little as he could in as many words as he could. "You go home and get some rest, and I'll try and stop the duel if it isn't too late–"
"I'm not going anywhere," Alex cut him off. "I don't trust you nowhere near enough to leave all of this up to you."
"I don't know why I even tried to persuade you against doing this," the man got up. "Come on, then."
Alex followed him out of the room, and along the way, carefully picked up the knife the man discarded earlier in case he tried to do anything suspicious.
"I saw that," the man thought, but decided against letting Alex know that he failed at being subtle. "Carry that around if it makes you feel safe, I guess."
"I don't know him, and I've never known him," Laura told herself, but despite her conviction, Aidan succeeded in implanting the seed of doubt in her mind. "He's just trying to get into my head. Ignore him and–"
"I know exactly what you're about to play," Aidan reverted back to his usual self. "Continue with your turn already."
"I have no idea if you're mistaking me for someone or if you're just insane, but whatever it is, I had no idea who you were before you forced yourself into my life by taking away a significant part of it," Laura said. "And I'll make you pay for that."
"I'd love to see you try."
"I activate Songbook - Scattered Rhymes," Laura threw the Spell into the air, where it scattered into dozens of worn out pages with words scattered on them. They fluttered towards the ground, where they became suspended in mid-air, as if time had stopped.
"When Scattered Rhymes is activated, I can take a Songmaster from my deck, and either place it in my Pendulum Zone, or add it to the extra deck," she continued. "I place the scale 7 Songmaster - Darkened Ray in my Pendulum Zone!"
Darkened Ray was similar in appearance to the other Songmaster on Laura's field: It was a faceless, vaguely human figure with a smooth body. It had no wings, and what seemed to be its legs were completely detached from its body. The left half of the monster's body was a shade of purple so dark it could pass off as black, and the right half was a glistening white, with a texture of marble but none of its imperfections. Three parallel lines appeared on its chest, shining with a bright yellow glow.
"Next, I Special Summon Songmaster - Weeping Nightingale (EARTH/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect/Level 5/ATK 2000/DEF 1700) from my hand by returning Darkened Ray to my hand!"
The dual-coloured angel disappeared off the field to make way for an even stranger creature. Its wings were similar to those of Graceful Vengeance, meaning they were composed of various small pyramidal segments, but its body was decahedral in shape, with its edges smoothened out. Its surface was incredibly smooth, dark blue in colour, and reflected almost no light. On each of the ten triangles that made up the prism, there was a shining white X.
"Then, I use the scale 1 Songmaster - Banished Virtue and scale 7 Songmaster - Darkened Ray to set the Pendulum Scales!"
The familiar purple and white angel appeared to Laura's left, and to her right was a brand new Songmaster. It was the most human-looking of all of them, though it still had no facial features except the roman numeral for seven in the middle of its head, written in thin, pitch-black letters. The monster's colours were different the further down its body you looked: the head was a bright red, which turned to burgundy around its waist, and then deep purple once you reached its feet.
"Since another Songmaster monster was summoned this turn, I activate the effect of Songmaster - Graceful Vengeance, and add Songmaster - Weeping Nightingale from my deck to my face-up extra deck" she continued. "Next, I set Graceful Vengeance and Weeping Nightingale in the Link Markers! Descend upon this earth, illuminate the shadow of lies cast upon our lives and reveal the truth concealed within! Link Summon, Songmaster - Infinite Providence! (EARTH/Fairy/Link/Effect/Link 2 [Markers: BL/BR]/ATK 1700)"
Infinite Providence's body was pure white in colour, as were its wings, and the entire creature shone brightly as the it slowly flew down onto the field. As it landed, a thin and barely visible split appeared straight down the middle of it. Silently and in an instant, its body split clean in half, and the two parts slowly drifted apart. A circle materialized around each half, and the two shapes connected to form the symbol for infinity. Once again, a roman numeral appeared on the monster, but the number four was split evenly among two halves of its torso.
"When Infinite Providence is Link Summoned, I can shuffle a Pendulum Monster from my extra deck into the deck," Laura continued. "I return one copy of Weeping Nightingale to my deck, then draw one card."
A see-through hologram of Weeping Nightingale appeared above the field, and immediately disintegrated into tiny particles of purple light, which rained down upon Infinite Providence.
"Next, I Pendulum Summon the Songmasters Graceful Vengeance and Weeping Nightingale from my extra deck, and Banished Virtue (EARTH/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1100) from my hand."
The strange gallery of creatures reappeared on Laura's field, with the red Banished Virtue in the middle, and Graceful Vengeance and Weeping Nightingale either side of it.
"Next, I activate the effect of Darkened Ray in my Pendulum Scale. Since I control another Songmaster, I can destroy one face-up Spell or Trap on the field," Laura continued. Aidan cracked a smile, knowing what was about to happen, but she carried on regardless. "I use this effect to destroy Songbook - Scattered Rhymes!"
The pages floating around Laura ignited suddenly, casting a warm orange light all over her.
"When it's destroyed, the second effect of Scattered Rhymes activates, allowing me to destroy one–"
"That's what I've been waiting for!" Aidan interrupted her. "From my hand, I activate the Counter Trap, Rakurai!"
"What?"
"When an effect is activated in your graveyard while I control a LIGHT monster, I can activate this card, and since I control a Thunder-Type monster, I can activate it from my hand," he continued. "I negate the activation of Scattered Rhymes' effect and banish it, then I can destroy one card you control."
A bolt of lightning struck one half of Infinite Providence, and it slowly began disintegrating as the electrical current transferred to the other half. Slowly and out of sync, both halves of the white angel turned to dust.
"Wasn't exactly expecting a Trap from the hand," Laura thought, watching her monster disappear. "But I can still do something here."
"I don't know why you still think you have a chance," Aidan taunted her.
"Banished Virtue gains 200 ATK for each of my face-up Spells and Traps, and for each of them, Weeping Nightingale decreases the ATK of all your monsters by 200."
Songmaster - Banished Virtue: ATK 1700 » 2100
Apex Assault Visionary: ATK 2000 » 1600
"Banished Virtue, attack Apex Assault Visionary!" Laura declared.
"That's not happening either," Aidan revealed another Trap. "I activate Apex Assault Formation by tributing a Level 10 or higher Tribute Summoned monster. I tribute Visionary, and draw three cards!"
Banished Virtue ceased its attack as the target was no longer there.
"And since Visionary is no longer on the field, there are no monsters on my field you can attack over."
"I set one card," Laura begrudgingly moved on with her turn.
"I activate the effect of Apex Assault Formation in the graveyard," Aidan stopped Laura before she had a chance to end her turn. "By banishing it from the graveyard, I can Normal Summon an Apex Assault monster!"
Aidan released the sword-wielder on his field to make way for a larger threat.
"I tribute Apex Assault Swordsman, and Tribute Summon Apex Assault Cannoneer! (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 11/ATK 1600/DEF 2100)"
One bird-like creature was replaced with another. Cannoneer's feathers were half white and half brown, and it was shrouded in loose-fitting green robes. With both of its muscled arms, it grasped the large cannon, encased in emerald, that rested on its right shoulder.
"And don't forget, the ATK of Apex Assault monsters goes up by the original ATK of the monsters tributed for their summons."
Apex Assault Cannoneer: ATK 1600 » 2900
"Then, Cannoneer's effect activates, allowing me to destroy one card for each monster I tributed for its summon," the cannon on the monster's shoulder was aimed squarely for the flying decahedron on Laura's field. The cannonball shot out at such a speed that nothing had a chance of dodging it, and it left a cloud of black smoke behind it.
"I end my turn," Laura said after being forced to watch Aidan pick her field apart before his turn even arrived.
"Out of options, are you?" he asked. "Let's finish this already."
Turn 3 - Aidan (LP - 8000 / Hand - 3 / Field - Monsters: Apex Assault Cannoneer, Spells/Traps: Apex Assault Strategy)
"First, I activate the scale 12 Apex Assault Aeromancer in my Pendulum Zone," Aidan said, and another birdlike creature appeared behind his left shoulder. Aeromancer's feathers were light green in colour, and since it had no wings, it kept itself afloat by manipulating the air beneath it. "Its effect decreases the stats of all monsters on the field by 300, except those of Apex Assault monsters."
Songmaster - Banished Virtue: ATK 2100 » 1800
Songmaster - Graceful Vengeance: DEF 1600 » 1300
"Using Aeromancer's Pendulum Effect, I tribute Apex Assault Cannoneer, then add Apex Assault Swordsman and Visionary from my extra deck to my hand!" Aidan continued, then immediately tapped one of the cards that were added to his hand to select it. "I activate the scale 9 Apex Assault Visionary in my Pendulum Zone, and complete the Pendulum Scales! And while it's in the Pendulum Zone, Visionary's effect will increase the ATK and DEF of all Apex Assault monsters by 300!"
The densely feathered creature appeared to Aidan's right, and the robes that covered most of its body fluttered gently in the wind created by Aeromancer.
"Now, I open the gates to victory," Aidan declared, and a green, circular portal appeared above him, stretched between the two monsters in his Pendulum Zones. "From my hand, I Pendulum Summon Apex Assault Lancer (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 10/ATK 1000/DEF 2400) and Apex Assault Thunderknight (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 11/ATK 1500/DEF 2100), and from the extra deck, Apex Assault Cannoneer!"
The cannon-wielder appeared was the first of the three monsters to appeared, quickly followed by two similar looking creatures. Both were completely covered in white feathers and wore dark-coloured robes, though Lancer's were dark crimson, while Thunderknight's were brown, and looked as if they were made of leather. One wielded a lance with a long handle that was made entirely from emerald, while the other had a sword in its right hand, the blade of which seemed to be made out of condensed light. None of these three was going to stick around for long.
"I tribute all three of my Pendulum Summoned monsters, and Tribute Summon Apex Assault Swordsman!" Aidan continued. The master of the emerald blade appeared once more, after all three of its companions vanished off the field.
Apex Assault Swordsman: ATK 1300 » 5700
"Now, I activate Swordsman's effect! When it's Normal Summoned, I add an Apex Assault monster from my deck to my hand," Aidan said as he revealed the Sorcerer he was adding. "However, since Swordsman was Tribute Summoned by tributing two or more monsters, I can add an additional Apex Assault card from my deck or graveyard to my hand."
He revealed a brand-new Spell, and although Laura couldn't manage to read the card's effect before it was added to his hand, she didn't have to wait long to find out what it does.
"I activate Apex Assault Training Grounds by targeting Apex Assault Swordsman," Aidan declared. "With this, the targeted monster's ATK increases by the difference between its original and its current ATK."
Apex Assault Swordsman: ATK 5700 » 10100
"I'll give you one chance to back out of this," Aidan told Laura. "Forget that friend of yours and–"
"No," Laura cut Aidan off. "I would rather–"
"Die?" Aidan asked, and his tone of voice once again changed to be a bit calmer than usual. "Tell me, where did this resolve of yours come from? Everything I remember you trying to do, every single thing you tried to make happen, never did. You were always so content with sitting on your ass in one of your family's mansions, and doing nothing, wasting away weeks at a time."
"I have no idea who you're talking about, but–"
"Well I do!" Aidan's voice quivered. "You never had the courage to step out your comfort zone, not that you had any reason to. The one time you actually took a risk, you ruined my life. And now, all of a sudden, you're strutting around like you'd be willing to die for–"
"I would," Laura interrupted Aidan once again. "Not that you would understand why."
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know if you're mistaking me for someone or if you've just made up this ridiculous story in your head, but I've never met you before," Laura carried on. "You've said many things about me, a lot of which are true, but from the short time I've unfortunately had to spend with you, I can say with certainty that you're not much different. I can say that you haven't met anyone who makes taking a risk worthwhile. Nobody you care about enough so much that you'd be willing to die for them. And that's exactly why–"
"Apex Assault Swordsman, attack Songmaster - Banished Virtue!" Aidan declared.
"Oh, have I struck a nerve?" Laura smiled in spite of what was about to come her way.
"I've had enough of your drivel," Aidan said as his winged monster took to the sky, and prepared to launch an attack. "Let's test this resolve of yours."
"Yes, let's," Laura said, fully aware that this duel was over if this attack goes through. "I activate Songbook - Great Desire, and use its effect to Special Summon Songmaster - Weeping Nightingale from my extra deck!"
The purple winged prism appeared on Laura's field right before Swordsman started plummeting towards her.
"Great Desire gives all Fairy monsters I control 200 ATK, and since there is another face-up Spell or Trap on my field, Banished Virtue gains an additional 200 ATK," Laura continued. "Then, because of Weeping Nightingale's effect, all monsters you control lose 200 ATK for each face-up Spell and Trap I control."
Songmaster - Banished Virtue: ATK 1800 » 2200
Apex Assault Swordsman: ATK 10100 » 9500
Despite managing to reduce the damage she would take, Laura's efforts turned out to be in vain. The sword wielder descended upon her monsters with great speed, slicing the red and purple fairy clean in half, then embedding its sword deep into the ground in front of Laura, causing a shockwave strong enough to catapult her towards the other end of the room, showering her with debris, as well as discarded pieces of its emerald blade, in the process.
Laura: LP 8000 » 700
As the monster, now bereft of its blade, returned to its owner, he started slowly walking towards Laura, who was left unconscious by the impact. He knelt next to her, lifted her chin up from the dust it was lying in, and took a look at her face. Blood was pouring down from the cut next to her eye, and streaming down her cheek and onto the floor.
"That could've taken your eye out, you idiot," he said, and opened her eyes to see them one more time. He stared into her glazed eyes for a couple moments before putting her head down, filled with regret because of what he was about to do. As he got back on his feet, someone entered the room and started running towards him. Whatever sanity Aidan had left just dissipated, and his tunnel vision drowned out the sounds of the incoming footsteps.
He raised his foot above Laura's head without a hint of hesitation, but before he had a chance to do anything, something stopped him. A sudden rush of pain surged through his entire body, and he felt a warm liquid soak the back of his shirt. He stood there expressionless for a few seconds before realizing that there was a knife in his back. He turned around to face the culprit, and saw Alex, who seemed remarkably shocked at what he had just done, as well as the mystery man standing further behind.
"I guess some things never change," Aidan mumbled, then reached behind himself to take the knife out of his back. Instead of trying to retaliate, he tossed it aside, leaving a thin red line across the floor as blood trickled down from the blade.
"Once a murderer…" Aidan gurgled, but collapsed onto the floor before he managed to finish the sentence.
"What have I–" Alex started saying, but panic overtook him before he could finish the sentence.
"The knife isn't big enough to go through anything vital," the man behind him said. "Just make sure Laura's alright, and I'll take care of him."
Alex grabbed her lifeless body, and stormed out of the room, choosing to trust the man despite barely knowing him, not wanting to know what "taking care of him" implied. Much to Alex's surprise, he left the room just moments after him.
"What have you done?" he asked.
"Not something you should be worried about, though he's definitely alive if you were worried that was going to be keeping you awake at night" the man replied. "Now come on, let's get her to safety."