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.

64. Trinity

Annex 064: Trinity

"A friend of Uno?" From the very first word, Alice knew that there was something wrong with December. "If you're his friend, then you should know his real name, right?" She didn't know him, yet her gut was telling her to not believe his words. "..." December actually appeared to be mildly stunned that she did not just take him at his word. "The pendulum." He noticed the crystal around Uno's neck. "We are the same. That is what matters." December put his hand through his hair, revealing a diadem that held a yellow colored jewel. "You're one of those!" Of course Alice recognized it. It was the same jewel as in Uno's pendant and Neters belt. He was one of the Four. "So is he, when he should not be. He has to answer to us." He took his first step into the room. "But..but.. he's not awake! He's hurt! He cant tell you anything!" She tried to protest in various ways. "Not important." December kept on walking. "But he doesn't want go!" She yelled again. "He has no choice, he does not belong here." He did not listen.

So Alice grabbed her dueldisk. "I don't want him to go!"

"..." December stopped. She had not officially challenged him yet, but if she did, he would have to respond. "What you want? Do you understand the consequences of this desire?" What he did next he did without any physical movement. "Ah.." The air in the room got heavier with every passing second. The whole tower trembled and the glass seemed like it could break at any moment. "My desire does not include harming innocents. Yet if any stand in my way, I will use all of this power to remove them. You can not win, there is no point. Move." This was his force; his willpower was like a physical presence. The pressure weighed on her. "But.." There was a lump in her throat, her hands clammy and her legs were numb. She wanted to run to get away from this man. He would let her, he was not lying about that. Yet.. "I.." Alice looked at Uno again. He could not fight for himself. They would take him and he would never return. "N-No!" She didn't want that and that feeling was stronger than all the others. "He's staying here!" She activated the disk and placed her cards inside.

Alice's LP: 8000 Decembers LP: 8000

"So be it. I hold no responsibility for what follows." December turned on his device and drew his cards. "My turn is first." He predicted one second before the disks themselves actually have him the first turn. "Dark Contract with the Gate." He opened with his continuous spell. Through this contract he could add a D/D monster from his deck to his hand. He used it for a D/D Swirl Slime card. "D/D monsters?" Now Alice was in unfamiliar territory. There was no telling what would happen next. "D/D Swirl Slime, D/D Cerberus, combine.." He activated a monster effect from his hand. "Huh? Fusion! Is that what they're for?" Alice saw a one-eyed slime fiend merge with a threeheaded hellhound. D/D Swirl Slime could fuse monsters in a players hand to create D/D/D fusion monsters. "Be reborn, D/D/D Oracle King D'arc!" Two D/D monsters were required for this fusion monster. They formed a devil in silver armor, the fallen knight D'Arc(8/2800/2000). With that done, December focused on his backrow. He placed two traps down and ended the turn.

"Okay. Okay.. please slow down." Just the presence of that one monster sent her heart into overdrive. The Oracle King was there and she was made of flesh and blood. "It's not so scary. It isn't. He uses fusion monsters. My deck is good against this." She had her Nekroz, she could overcome this. The monsters might be real, but the rules were those of a game. "I.. summon Manju!" She called out the tenthousand handed Manju god(4/1400/1000) and used its effect to add a ritual monster from her deck to her hand. "I take Nekroz of Clausolas. And I will use him! If I discard him, I can get a Nekroz spell card." Alice traded the level 3 ritual monster for the Nekroz Cycle ritual spell card in her deck. "And.. I will play it... Nekroz Cycle!" The ritual commenced. The sacrifice was the level 3 Ritual Djinn Releaser in Alice's hand. The monster it would summon was already in the graveyard. "I'm ritual summoning Nekroz of Clausolas!" A red and white-haired boy warrior(3/1200/2300) jumped into his new mistbird armor, made from the remnants of the original Clausolas. "He can take away a monsters attackpoints and effects for one turn, if it was summoned from the extra deck!" Nekroz of Clausolas brought about off a vortex of green winds. The storm encircled D'arc and drained all of her(0/2000) powers away. "Then I will.. attack!" The ritual warrior took out his feather-blade and flew towards his prey inside the violent winds.

".. Dark Contract with the Witch." That was when December did what Alice feared he would do, use one of his trap cards. It was a continuous trap that added 1000 attackpoints to all D/D monsters during the opponents battlephase. However that was merely its weakest ability. By discarding a Dark Contract or D/D-card, the Witch could destroy any one card on the field. "Perish, Nekroz of Clausolas." December sent a D/D Lilith from his hand to the graveyard to satisfy the contract. Witches on black wings ambushed Clausolas in mid-air and tore him to pieces. "Aaahh!" It was not a pleasant sight, even if its death was swift. "I.." That was as far as Alice had plotted out her turn. Now she had nothing. "I set a card." At best she could defend herself with one of her traps on the next turn. This turn would lead nowhere.

"..." With the new turn came the return of the D/D/D Oracle(2800/2000)'s attackpoints and effects, as she broke free from the vortex. That was just in time for December, as the Dark Contracts would claim their toll during the standby phase. "Hey.. What is..happening to you?" Alice could not help but notice that her opponent was reaching for his chest, as if he was in pain. "The contracts, they shorten ones life energy. Each turn they will take 1000 lifepoints away." December gathered the now visible negative energy in the palm of his hand, the spell and trap card together inflicted 2000 points of damage. "However, the Oracles sees all and prevents all." He threw the energy away, allowing D'arc to catch it with her claws. "The Oracle King turns pain to pleasure!" Instead of losing the lifepoints, December gained 2000 lifepoints. "Oh!" And then, once the main phase rolled by, the D/D duelist put the Dark Contracts to use again. With the Witch's Contract he destroyed Alice's face-down trap, Vanity's Emptyness. With the Gate's Contract, he added a D/D Night Howl monster from his deck to his hand.

Decembers LP: 10000

"Be born, D/D Night Howl." That was the monster he normal summoned. It(3/300/600) was little more than a gaping maw with rows and rows of sharp teeth inside and two eyestalks on top. "Be reborn, D/D Lilith." The effect of Night Howl was one that special summoned level 4 or lower D/D monsters from the players graveyard, with their attack and defense reduced to zero. D/D Lilith, a winged red demoness(4/0/0) with the lower body of a segmented snake, was chosen in this case. "And return D/D Cerberus to me." Lilith had her own ability. Once a turn she placed D/D monsters back in a duelists hand, whenever she was normal or special summoned. The previously fused Cerberus was taken from the graveyard. "Now, harmonize!" But possibly the most astounding of all, was the simple fact that D/D Night Howl was a tuner monster. "Ah? You have synchro monsters too?" Alice said out loud as the Howler synchronized with Lilith. Their seven stars formed a majestic warrior king(7/2500/2000) with an emerald-green cape billowing in the wind. "You have come, D/D/D Gust King Alexander!"

And the duelist was still not finished. "Banish yourself, Swirl Slime. Then show yourself, Cerberus." The D/D slime had a secondary power, t could summon D/D monsters from the players hand all the way from the graveyard. Though it banished its own remains to do so. Now the threeheaded pendulum beast(4/1800/600) materialized by itself. "Is it.. No, it isn't?" Alice watched as yet another monster was special summoned. "Alexander, choose your servant!" This was the doing of the Synchro D/D/D. Gust King Alexander could special summon level 4 or lower D/D monsters from the graveyard whenever a D/D monster was special summoned. D/D Lilith(4/100/2100) was reborn, now in her fully powered form. "Equalize, Lilith and Cerberus!" Then came the final shock. December placed the two level 4 monsters on top of each other to XYZ-summon as a rank 4 XYZ-monster. "No way.." On any other day, she would have marveled at this sight, fusions, synchro and XYZ on the field all at once. Now she could only despair. "Come, D/D/D Wave King Caesar!" The dark knight emperor(4/2400/1200), wielding a massive sword, cut a path open in its own creation portal to step down into the room.

"...!" A fierce glow emanated from Decembers eyes as he extended his hand towards his opponent. "Kyah!" Alice was attacked by all three monsters. The Synchro king unleashed his cutting gales to eliminate Manju the Ten Thousand Hands, the XYZ-emperor created real tidal waves of water and the Fusion Oracle blasted the room with bolts of lightning. "Ha..aaaah!" Though none of that energy touched her body, the sheer tension of all three elements was enough to drop her to one knee. "What..was..that?" Real monsters, real agony. This felt worse than anything the XYZ-Guild had done to her. "That was just the tip. I see no need to cause further injury. But your fate is unchanged, you will lose. If you do not surrender, you will have to live through this power a second time." He gave her his final warning. "No. I can't..." Alice did not have much energy for words, but her intention was crystal clear. "You choose suffering, for him? You do not know him, you do know who he used to be. He is not one of you. Why do you wish to save him?"

Alice's LP: 1700

"Because... He is..

"Because I like him!" She blurted out.

"I dont know where he came from or who he used to be, but I know who he is right now! He's nice, he's funny, he doesn't want to hurt anybody! He just wants to make people happy! He's like.." Alice stopped herself before she could say more. She had not expected her answer to get this long. "No more. I wont let anything happen to him anymore. You're not the same." Alice started her turn. She drew a monster card, Nekroz of Unicore. "..I can't..." Unfortunately there was no way to ritual summon it or the other ritual monster in her hand, not with the usual ritual spells. "No, I have to do something! For him." There was only one spell that could, one she would normally never use because of its requirements. For this duel, she feared she would have to use it. And she did. "I discard Nekroz of Unicore." The hand effect of the level 4 ritual monster was used to reclaim Nekroz of Clausolas from the graveyard. "I use Nekroz Cycle, so I can get a new Nekroz spell.." Alice activated Nekroz Cycle's second effect to banish the spell and Nekroz of Unicore from the graveyard. She then looked into her deck to find it. "Nekroz Kaleidoscope!"

"...?" December clasped his hands together and observed Alice's new card. "I activat this spell! I can sacrifice a monster.. in my extra deck, to ritual summon Nekroz monsters from my hand if their combined levels are the same of the extra deck monster!" A monster was dragged out of the extra deck, a fusion monster. "Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is the sacrifice!" Uno's fusion monster. "Pendulum dragon." The eyes of her opponent widened briefly. "It's a level 8 card; I can summon both Nekroz of Clausolas and Nekroz of Catastor!" The feathered warior(3/1200/2300) and the dragonic slasher(5/2200/1200) emerged from her hand and crossed through the kaleidoscope. "I always hated them; fusions, synchros, XYZs. But I will use even them, if I can help a friend that way!" Alice then normal summoned the Great Sorcerer of Nekroz(4/1500/800), completing her legion. "I will attack them all too!"

She entered the battle phase. Dark Contract of the Witch would not stop her since December had no cards to discard anymore. The continuous trap did power up all three of the D/D/D monsters, but that did not matter as Nekroz of Catastor gave every Nekroz on the field the ability to slay extra deck monsters regardless of their defense or attackpoints. The Sorcerer and Clausolas both destroyed Oracle King D'Arc and Gust King Alexander this way. Catastor on the other hand impaled Wave King Caesar with his own claws, after Clausolas had robbed the emperor(1000/1200) of all his original attackpoints with its effect. The death of the three Kings released a violent burst of elements across the room. The glass windows had taken all they could and they shattered loudly. The cold wind outside blew away all the smoke. "Wh-wh-what?" And three figures walked out of the smoke. Alexander, D'Arc and Caesar(2400/1200) were all restored to their original glory. "But I destroyed them, I know I did! I hit you!"

Decembers LP: 8800

December had the damage to show it, and monsters had been destroyed. "I do not allow my Kings to stay dead. Wave King Caesar detached one XYZ-material before its demise, so that all destroyed monsters return to the field at the end of the battle. The next turn, Caesar will demand 1000 lifepoints during for each rebirth." He had chained this power to the effect of Nekroz of Clausolas, so that it could be used before Ceasars effects were all sealed. "No.." Alice could not believe she hadn't noticed. She hadn't been paying attention. "I.. ." That attack had barely hurt him, and he would recover 5000 lifepoints now on his next turn when the Oracle King converted the damage from Caesar and the Dark Contracts into healing energy. "I..set a card." Her turn was already as a good as done, setting another trap was the only thing left to do. "And I end my turn.. but.." In spite of all these setbacks, she had held on to one trick in her sleeve. "I can use Clausolas' power during your turn too!" The flying ritual warrior reawakened the vortex and captured the fusion D/D/D(0/2000). "D'Arcs powers are negated! So you're not getting any lifepoints back this time!"

"You're still going. Stop." December was neither impressed nor unprepared. He flipped his other trap card, Contract Laundering. "Nothing will change." He even activated the effect of the Witch's Contract during the same standby phase. One card was discarded and the witches destroyed another card; Nekroz of Catastor. "Nothing has." After that, Contract Laundering resolved. The normal trap sacrificed the two Dark Contract cards before they could inflict damage to December. "Huh?" Contract Laundering gave December 1000 lifepoints and one new card for each Dark Contract that was sent to the graveyard. December drew the top two cards from his deck. "I can't.." December still took the 3000 points of damage from Caesars effect, but it hardly mattered anymore. "I can't win this." He was too strong; in a class of his own. Nobody could top that.

Decembers LP: 7800

And more bad news arrived. "Hey! December is dueling too!" Neter, June and August dropped in from the aether. "They were here too?" One was too much already, four would be impossible. "Hello Alice. We met your friends, they fought bravely until the end. Don't worry, I only put them to sleep afterwards." The woman of the group told her. "What? You dueled them?" Alice did not even know that that had been going on upstairs. Apparently the three won very quickly at that. "They were the ones who made the mistake of challenging us. December, I thought you were going to make this extraction quick? You lecture me when I engage in pointless duels and now you're dueling this girl?" August said with a growl. "Our powers do not work on her. The pendulum protects those who touched it recently, which she has done." December was 'kind' enough to justify the matter for his companion. "Is that the reason? I think there must be something more.. The same thing happened at the castle, her and her friends saw right through the mind filter.." June had her own interpretation. "Discussing this further is pointless." December decreed as he entered the battle phase. Wave King Caesar drowned Nekroz of Clausolas with the forces of the sea.

Alice's LP: 500

"Oh. Okay. What can we do? Should we help ya? Or carry Uno out while you keep playing?" Neter excitedly requested more orders. "There is no need. This duel has ended." The Gust King Alexander brandished his sword. One more attack now would inflict enough battle damage to put this duel to rest. He was not falling for her bluff; her trap was not something that could save her now. The Synchro King was an inch away from cleaving right through the Great Sorcerer of Nekroz. "No. Nononono .." They knew it. Alice knew it. This duel had been futile from turn one. "Uno." And she was scared. She was scared of the pain but more so of losing a friend. "I thought I could save you..." She wanted to give up, she wanted to run away. There was nothing else she could do yet the thought of failing Uno made her sick. It was too late either way.

"Performapal Barrier Balloon Tapir!"

"Huh?" But something besides her monster was cut down by the Synchro Kings sword; a purple tapir that popped like a balloon. "A Performapal?.. Uno!" Alice turned around and saw Uno getting up , activating the Tapir card from his hand. As he got up, a wave of light escaped his pendulum. "If a monster on my field battles an opponent's monster: I can discard the Balloon Tapir and neither player takes any battle damage from that battle!" He had drawn six cards and joined the duel as Alice's teammate, That was why he could save her lifepoints with his Performapal, even though her Nekroz Sorcerer was slain. They were his lifepoints now too. "You're awake! You're better! Uno. How did you." Alice couldn't believe her eyes. Neither could August and the others. "How did you reawaken? You damaged your pendulum, you could not have repaired it." The crystal had fixed itself before their very eyes, something they had always deemed to be impossible. "December, is it?" Uno read the name that his dueldisk gave. "I guess you are the leader of this group. Well... I had help. Let me show you what I mean!"

Alice and Uno's LP: 500

(To be Continued in Annex 065: The Day that Never Ends)

New Cards used by Alice
Nekroz of Clausolas

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Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon

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Nekroz Kaleidoscope

New Cards used by December
D/D Swirl Slime
D/D Night Howl
D/D Lilith
D/D Cerberus

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D/D/D Oracle King D'arc
D/D/D Gust King Alexander
D/D/D Wave King Caesar

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Dark Contract with the Witch
Contract Laundering

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Barrier Balloon Tapir