The Rise and Fall of History: A Past Unseen

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached a standstill. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story pits every side against each other. It is a game no more. Duelists are divided, and an unknown enemy watches from afar. In the midst of all this chaos is one man who brings a new power that can forever end the conflict; a stranger to this world and to himself.

41. The Exiled Cipher

Annex 041: The Exiled Cipher

"Well mark me down as confused." If his mask allowed it, Dom would spat out the juice he was drinking. "Pendulum Call was not in his deck. It wasn't even on the release schedule." He could accept Uno getting his hands on unreleased cards, but he could not accept Uno getting more in the middle of a duel. Uno had shown all his cards to them before, that spell was not one of them. "It is the same as it was in the Casino, sir." Iria had seen this phenomenon before with Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "The records were altered during the duel. Look." She pulled up Uno's current decklist which claimed that Pendulum Call had always been a part of his deck. "The only way I can explain this is if his dueldisk has the capability to print existing cards during a session." The only other explanations exceeded manmade technology, and she was not going to open that can of worms. "But.. we found no such hardware in the one we retrieved earlier. It is uncertain.."

...

Neters LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 7000

"You'll give me everything you took; my family, my friends! You will return it to me!" Uno roared. There was an anger burning inside him, greater than any fit he could remember experiencing. He could not control it, nor did he want too. The anger felt right, and good. "I'll tell you whatever I want, if you can tag me!" Neter was mocking him still, wagging his finger as he flipped his face-down quickplay spell card. "Stellarknight Skybridge! Target a tellarknight; special summon a tellarknight" monster with a different name from the deck, and shuffle the targeted monster into the deck. While the monster summoned by this effect blah blah blah. I get to switch knights, that's what matters!" Satellarknight Alsahm(4/1400/1800) flew up to to the great light-bridge in the skies, heading towards the distant star. A new female stellarknight(4/1500/1000) took his place. "I special summoned Deneb.. she.." This monster was smashed by the charging Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000) instead. Uno did not wait for explanations. "Oh, you got her. But you missed me." The Satellarknight had been special summoned in defense mode, so her destruction cost Neter nothing. "You're still it!"

"This is not a game!" Uno cursed as he ended his turn. "Looks like one. It has cards, pretty cards. What makes this not a game; The stakes? Boring! Just show me more dragons.." Neter added a card to his hand first. "Oh, right. It's gonna be my turn. Welp! What I wanted to say; Satellarknight Deneb adds a new Tellarknight to my hand whenever she is normal or special summoned. I took this lady, Vega." Then Neter shuffled his deck, an act he seemed to enjoy a lot, and drew his next card for his drawphase. "I summon her!" Satellarknight Vega(4/1200/1600) was a more mature priestlike warrior in white. "If she is summoned, she can summon a different Tellarknight from my hand! Soooo, you saw Altair before I hope?" Vega used her power to call Satellarknight Altair(4/1700/1300) from Neters hand. Altair could in turn revive a fallen Tellarknight. "Yeah, Deneb again! Let's do that!" The angel warrior special summoned the star warrior out of the graveyard. This time Neter used her effect to add a Satellarknight Rigel from his deck to his hand.

"The three stars of the summer triangle!" Neter had his three level 4 monsters. "XYZ-time!" He overlayed them. Vega, Altair and Deneb were attached to the summer star paladin, Stellarknight Delteros(4/2500/2100). "Yeah its attackpoints arent as good as your dragons now.. so what if I do this?" Neter also activated a field spell card. " Hexatellarknight!" A six-sided energy field was placed between the two duelists, and between the rings of the theater. Three of its points contained radiant energy. "My Stellarknight gets 200 attackpoints for each of his XYZ-materials!" Delteros spread his wings and passed through the barrier. He(3100/2100) absorbed some of its energy into his sword and used that to cleanly cut Odd-Eyes Dragons head off. "Oh and.. wanna know what Delteros can do for an effect?" Neter detached one material from his XYZ-monster. Delteros(2900/2100) placed that energy in his shield and fired a triangular beam that destroyed the Stargazer Magician in Uno's pendulum zone. "That!" Delteros could destroy any face-up card once a turn.

Uno's LP: 6400

"You think you can shut down my pendulum summons?" Timegazers scale dropped from 8 to 4. Both Stargazer and Odd-Eyes had gone to his extra deck and Uno had no way of summoning them back to the field now. Unless he forced a way. "I will get what I want, Neter." As soon as Neter ended his turn, he sprung into action. "In my blue zone, I set Performapal Trump Witch!" A brand new pendulum was activated, a masked witch girl with a paintbrush for a wand. "What're you gonna do with that?" Her scale was 4 too, Neter didn't see any summons happening like this. "Plenty! I activate Pendulum Shift to raise Timegazer's scale!" The scale-shifting quickplay spell came into play. It reformed Timegazer into a scale 8 card for this turn. "Pendulum.. Summon!" Now Uno could resummon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and call out Stargazer Magician(5/1200/2400) along his side. That was all normal so far. His next on the other hand was new for the audience, and he performed it like it was his second nature. "Now I will fuse them!"

"Ehhh, fusion?" Neter blinked as the Magician and the dragon were mixed together by a polymerizing vortex. "Yes! Performapal Trump Witch can fuse monsters on the field once, if she is set in my pendulum zone!" For this Uno did not need Polymerization. "Odd-Eyes, when fused with a spellcaster, becomes Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The dragon transformed into its runic more mechanical form(8/3000/2500), an eyepatch covered one of its asynchronous eyes. "Because one of his materials was a pendulum monster on my field, he's immune to all effects this turn!" Neters face-down cards would not slow it down, much less stop it. "Wow. That's awesome. Buuut.. are you unaffected too?" The opponent asked all of the sudden. "What?" Uno did not get the time to contemplate the question as Neter flipped his trap card; Threatening Roar. "No!" Threatening Roar barred Uno from declaring any attacks this turn.

"You cannot keep this up!" Uno placed a card down and ended his turn. Sooner or later, his defenses would have to crumble. "Maybe. Still, a short turn. Your dragon isn't immune anymore. I guess time keeps on slipping by, hahahaha!" In his turn, Neter detached another XYZ-material from Stellarknight Delteros. Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon would be its next target. "Will it be funny if the same happens to you?" Uno responded with his trap. "Misdirection Wing! I make my monster stronger and negate the effect of yours!" The golden ring on the dragons back lit up with purple flames. The fire expanded like wings and wrapped around Neters XYZ-monster. "Awwww. Mean!" Delteros was utterly helpless now. Neter had to switch it to defense position to safely end his turn. "I didn't hear you laughing that time, Neter!"

Misdirection Wing, Normal Trap
Activate only if you control only 1 monster, negate an effect activated by 1 card your opponent controls, then target your monster: until the end of this turn, it gains 800 ATK.
During your turn, you can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 monster you control; until the end of this turn, it gains 800 ATK.

"Is it normal for duels to be this intense?" Heather, like everyone else, could tell how furious Uno was. This was nothing like the games she always saw her daughters play when they were younger. "Some of them are.." Emily had to admit. She had been in a few herself. "But he isn't normally like this!" Alice defended Uno, despite the fact that she did not understand what had brought about this change in his attitude. "He knows duels are meant to be fun, to make people happy." This duel was not making him happy now, Uno was rushing through his turns. "That Neter kid. I don't think he is your run-of-the-mill duelist." Emily'd seen the crystal that Neter so happily showed off to Uno. If her guess was right, then Cassius had been right as well. It was not safe here.

"So that is why UNO made that." Dom spoke about yet another card that paradoxically revealed itself to be a part of Uno's deck. "Sir?" Iria detected a hint of realization in her masters words. "Our UNO, he made the Performapals. He even made that Trump Witch card. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why a pendulum effect supported fusions. Now I do.. It makes you wonder.. how many more has UNo made?"

Back at the duel, Uno drew his next card. "Attack, Rune-Eyes!" What he wanted to see now, was the destruction of everything on Neters field. "Aye!" However Neter countered it with the second effect of his field spell. "I discard Rigel." Hexatellarknight could negate attacks that were intended for XYZ-Tellarknights, at the cost of a Tellarknight in his hand. "Another miss!" The forcefield stopped the dragons teeth as it was mere inches away from its prey. "It's useless! I made Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from a level 5 spellcaster. It can attack monsters three times in a turn! Again!" Rune-Eyes tried another attack. "Missed me again!" Neter slapped the dragon away by discarding a Satellarknight Capella from his hand. The Hexatellar barrier could keep going as long as there were cards to throw away. "That was your last!" Which Neter did not have anymore; his hands were empty. "Destroy it. Kill it!" With the third attack, Rune-Eyes finally managed to defeat Stellarknight Delteros. With one blow, the star triangle paladin was smashed into stardust.

"Hahah. That still doesn't count as a hit though." Neter shook his head. "It's not even gonna help you. Nope." When Neter put his XYZ-monster in the graveyard he read its effect out loud. "If Delteros is sent from the field to the graveyard: You can special summon one Tellarknight from your hand or deck." His wide smile came back as he used Delteros' effect to special summon a second Satellarknight Altair(4/1700/1300) from his deck. "Damn it." Naturally, and much to Uno's frustration, Neter used Altair's effect to special summon Satellarknight Deneb out of the graveyard. Consequently, Deneb's effect added a Satellarknight Sirius card from Neters deck to Neters hand. "I set a card in the spell/trap zone, end turn!" Though Uno had managed to get rid of one XYZ-monster. Neter now had new materials for another.

"Okey-dokey! Go, Satellarknight Sirius!" Another knight(4/1600/900) in full-body gold and silver armor showed up to join Deneb and Altair. Sirius' helmet was shaped like a dog, which fit with a name derived from the Canis Major constellation. "If this card is Summoned: Shuffle five Tellarknights in the graveyard into the Deck, then draw 1 card." Neter shuffled Satellarknights Rigel, Vega, Altair, Capella and Stellarknight Delteros back into their original decks. He drew a trap card from his deck afterwards. "Hmmm. It's not enough to blow up one card this time. I am gonna get rid of them all!" Neter overlayed his three level 4 Satellarknights and he XYZ-summoned the white star swordsman(4/2100/2500). "Stellarknight Triverr!" Triverr promptly unleashed its power. Now that it had been summoned, it would return all cards on the field back into the players hand. Or in this case, it would push Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon back into the extra deck. "Bye-bye fusion dragon!"

"Who cares about Pendulum dragon?!" That was when Uno flipped the trap card Pendulum Reborn, before it could be returned. "Wha?" Pendulum Reborn revived a face-up pendulum monster from the extra deck or from the graveyard. Uno used it to resummon Stargazer Magician to his field. "Oh I get it! You wanted your pendulums back!" Stargazer, along with Trump Witch and Timegazer Magician, were returned to Uno's hand. Rune-Eyes returned to Uno's extra deck. The downside was that Uno had no defenses anymore. "Neat!" Neter declared a direct attack; the XYZ-monster swung his sword through Uno's body. "Hey-hey Uno, did you know Triverr can discard a card from your hand? Better hope I pick the wrong one!" One material was detached from the Stellarknight while Neter thought about which card to take away from Uno. "Hmm. That one!" He chose the leftmost one. "Heh." This time Uno was doing the smiling. He discarded a Performapal from his hand. "Trump Witch? Geeeez. Well, at least I stopped your fusions!" It was not that bad a choice in the end. "Hmm. I set two cards in the back row. That was it!"

Uno's LP: 4300

"Stopped me? You don't understand, do you Neter? I will never stop." Uno took his turn. This drawphase he gained Performapal Silver Claw. "I set the pendulums!" Timegazer and Stargazer were activated as pendulum scales again. "So I can pendulum summon these three monsters!" The hand released Performapal Silver Claw(4/1800/700), Performapal Kaleidoscorp(6/100/2300) upon the field. Odd-Eyes escaped the extra deck. "There is more than one way to fuse monsters! Your friend June can tell you that!" Uno took Silver Claw and Odd-Eyes. "By sacrificing the fusion materials; a beast-type monster with a dark-type dragon, I can special summon this fusion monster!" The wolf and dragon were forcibly mixed together. "This is what I'll create: Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The essence of the silver beast transformed Odd-Eyes. Bone-plate armor, spikes and fur covered its body. Uno had done it again. This dragon(8/3000/2000) of pure rage was another card that had not existed before now.

"Is that card really a part of the deck?" Alice shivered. The appearance of this beast was far more horrifying than that of Rune-Eyes. There was mad wide-eyed glow in the dragons eyes. Uno had that same glow. "I.." Emily did not even know what to think. She thought she knew Uno enough by now. That card took everyone else by surprise too, especially the Fusion Guild. "Uno has more than one fusion monster?" Eric had not even seen Uno use the first one before. Reality itself seemed to have shifted around for this duel. "Yes..that is interesting." Dame Phoebe observed the duel with great interest as well. "Who knew he was this attracted to our kind of power."

Uno activated the effect of Kaleidoscorp. The scorpions light tail created prismatic clones of Beast-Eyes. It could attack any monster on the field for the rest of the turn. "Tag." Uno pointed his finger at Stellarknight Triverr. "You're gone." The attack followed. Scorching flames traveled up the dragons throat. With one infernal breath, Beast-Eyes laid waste to the caped knight. "And you're it, now, Neter! Beast-Eyes inflicts effect damage whenever it destroys an opponents monster!" The fire did not dissipate after the clash. It expanded and formed a flaming aura around Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "The damage will be equal to the attackpoints of the beast-type fusion material! Maybe you feel like talking after this, Neter?"" The fire spread further, narrowly missing Neter as it tried to catch the kid. "Eep." He managed to flip backwards to avoid the flames. His coat was less fortunate. "Hot, very hot!" The coat-tails had been singed.

Neter's LP: 5300

"Did you see that sir? That fire was not just a projection!" One of Adamants followers detected the damage done. Not just to Neters coat, but there were black marks on the floor as well. Naturally Adamant had seen the same. "This is what happened at Dreamworld last week.." That was the kind of power Kyle had accused them of having. So these duelists had it. "There was no intel on this." The fact that Uno was the one who caused the damage, was the strange part "How did he do it?"

Back at the duel, Neter dusted off his coat. "Well, you did tag me. But I really can't tell you who you are. I don't know that, my friends don't. We have an idea though... What you are is easier! If you have one of these.." Neter gave his armband a tap. "Then you're like me! You're not from this time. This is not your world. You are only here because of the pendulum." That was as much as he felt like saying before he turned his attention back to the duel. Triverr had been sent to the graveyard while it still carried XYZ-materials. So it's third effect was set off. Neter used that effect to special summon Satellarknight Altair back to his field. Next in line was Satellarknight Sirius who was revived through Altairs effect. "You think I will let you off with those answers? Or are you just giving me more chances to damage you!?" Summoning two new monsters just meant that Beast-Eyes could attack two more times. It did not matter if they were summoned in defense mode, the dragon would inflict 1800 points of damage for each kill.

"No. I don't think you'd be all smiles from just that. But that is all I can say. Unless you are the one we're looking for.. unless you are Tempus. It'd make my job a lot easier. since I'd get to use my best cards! Yay!" Neter activated one of his trap cards. "Wonder XYZ! I can XYZ-summon during my opponents turn!" The trap started up the overlaying process. Satellarknight Altair and Sirius were placed on top of each other. "Tempus? Who is Tempus? Answer me! You cant avoid damage this way either!" Uno did not care what rank 4 monster would come this time. Beast-Eyes could attack that one too. "Wanna bet?!" Neter laughed. A wave of raw pressure made the ground shake. "What?" Uno caught sight of something he could not comprehend. A bizarre mark appeared on Neters hand, like a burning tattoo. "I summon Number thirtyn.."

"That is quite enough." The summoning process was brutally cut short. "Hu-hey!?" Neters dueldisk was suspended, and a barrier erected. "Lame. You keep interrupting duels when they're about to get good!" Neter whined at the holographic image of Iria that came included with the barrier. "It was getting into forbidden territory. The cards Uno played were illegitimately added to his deck. The card you were about to play does not even exist in our database. You are disqualified, officially. The people on the other side of this barrier already can not see you. They only see an empty stage." It was not easy to pull off; modifying recorded three-dimensional footage and pasting it unto a six-sided barrier. This theater was the only place in which a 'cloak' on such a grand scale could be created. It would fool the duelists for now. "Heehhhh.. That is so cool! But still.. it's not nice to end the duel now. I was having fun, you know? How would you like it if.." Then, the kid pulled a similar vanishing act.

"... I came into your place and interrupted your fun?" Neter appeared behind the actual Iria Silver, in the skybox were Zach and Dom also were. "Guh.. How.. how did you?" Iria could not begin to comprehend what her eyes showed her. One second he was down there, trapped inside a cage of energy. Now he was here. "It's what I do. Now, wanna have some fun with me?"

(To be Continued in Annex 042: A Name with Two Duelists)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Trump Witch

-
BeastEyes Pendulum Dragon

Misdirection Wing (+)
Pendulum Reborn

(+ Based on the trap used by Yuya in YGO Arc-V)

New Cards used by Neter Decan
Satellarknight Deneb
Satellarknight Vega
Satellarknight Sirius

-
Stellarknight Skybridge
Hexatellarkight

-
Threatening Roar
Wonder XYZ