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.

86. Clear My Conscience

Annex 086: Clear my Conscience

"He was turned into.. a card? That's impossible!" Iria could not believe what she was saying, nobody could. Roma had disappeared, leaving only a card. "No, living without your blood is impossible. This isn't." Dame Phoebe was responsible for what happened in between, through some method which she explained as she flipped back and forth between her personalities. "It's child's play for dear sweet Martel here. Roma was converted to pure energy and all of his lovely parameters are stored as data inside that card. Be careful not to damage it Adamant. These cards are not that sturdy." She giggled. "If you break it in half, he might come back with the spine cracked or his brain scrambled, ahahah!" She cackled. "You're a monster." Adamant growled. "Flattery will get you nowhere. And you have nothing else to interest me.. Pity." Phoebe waved her hand. "You're the one I want." She pointed her black-gloved finger at Ichirou. "How very forward." The XYZ-Duelist took out the Dark XYZ Dragon card. "I take it this is what you're after?"

"Bingo." Phoebe revealed her Venom Fusion Dragon card. "But we are missing one.. Get me Bakker!" She ordered several fusion guild duelists to bring a special guest. "Bakker?" Eric flinched. That was one of Phoebe's own guildsmen. Now he was dragged to the courtyard, cuffed and gagged. "Oh, didn't you know, Eric? Bakker was the spy. His counterpart in the other world worked for Cassius. Once we learned about these insiders, Martel quickly snuffed them out. Then we passed the information along to the XYZ-Guild through a back-channel." She happily divulged something that was news to Adamant. "You told them? Just so they would strike against the synchro guild? How did you even hear about this?" Adamant had been unable to get any messages out while he was in the castle. "You can thank your friend, Eric." She said with a smile. "That's bullcrap! I didn't say anything!" Eric angrily objected. Was she still using him after all he went through? "You didn't have to, you thought it. Just because you broke free of our hypnosis, does not mean your mind is closed to us."

"Now, will the real Cassius please stand up!" Phoebe shoved the muffling Bakker towards Martel. "Or do we have to make another artpiece out of someone?" The blackhaired kid grabbed Bakker by the throat.

"STOP!" Cassius' voice finally echoed above the duelists. "Ah." The synchro-duelist stood on one of the castle's towertops, with Clear Wing Synchro Dragon in his hand. "If it is me you want, here I am! Let everyone here go, and I will duel you for the right of this card!" If they wanted to get him, they would have to come up. "That's exactly what I hoped for, Cassius." Dame Phoebe gestured at her entourage, they lowered their dueldisks and released Bakker. "He's mine." Dame Phoebe walked off into the castle. "Interesting arrangement. Adamant, hold the fort for me." Ichirou followed her lead. They each headed up a different tower of the castle. Meanwhile the other forces were all on stand-by. "Hmph." The situation was out of Adamants hands.

"Uno..we have to.. we have to go." A small voice whimpered among the noise of the guilds. "Alice!?" The young girl had crept up to Uno, holding him with her shivering arms. "Please.. we have to go. We can..I can't... not again." She was sputtering and trembling, breathing softly yet frantically. "What is happening to her?" Even Iria could see something was wrong, though not why. "She's having another panic attack! Da.. Alice, wait. Calm down! We're here." Eric tried to talk to her, which did not exactly help her. "No! We shouldn't be here! We'll all end up like him! I don't want to! I don't want to!" It just made her scream and struggle. "Argh. I'm no good at this. We need Emily!" She would know what to do with her sister right now. "I can go look for her with some guys. Cassius should be busy right now anyway." Akai offered. "Thanks." Uno nodded. "Come on Alice. We'll go away from the noise." Though she wasn't responsive, she did allow Uno to walk her inside. "This has happened before?" Iria asked Eric. "That's what Emily said..."

Cassius' LP: 8000 Ichirou's LP: 8000 Phoebe's LP: 8000

At this point, the three guild-representatives reached the top. Ichirou, Phoebe and Cassius claimed one tower each. "So this is a battle royal?" Ichirou grinned. "Yes, the winner takes all three dragon cards." Phoebe rubbed her hands. "That is fine by me and my guild." Cassius was ready. "As the host of this battlefield, I will take the first turn! I normal summon Speedroid Razorang!" A golden boomerang(4/2000/0) spun around the tower, its top half unfolded and revealed a masked rider-robot within. "And I special summon Speedroid Taketomborg." The presence of the wind-attribute Razorang suited the summoning condition of the transforming toy borg(3/600/1200). "I tribute it to summon the Speedroid Tuner Red-Eyed Dice." Taketomborg switched zones with the golden dice(1/0/0). "Synchro summon! Hi-Speedroid Hagoita!" Razorang and Red-Eyed Dice tuned with each other to turn into a green/pink paddle-shaped airship(5/2000/1000). It hovered in between the towers. "I set three cards face-down and end my turn!"

"What's this, a missed opportunity to summon Clear Wing?" Ichirou had the second turn as he was second to reach the top. "I suppose I shall have to set the example." Ichirou placed three cards face-down in the spell/trap zone. "Because there are no traps in my graveyard, I can activate this trap monster during the turn it is set; The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine." Ichirou's trap flipped and transformed into Black body armor(4/0/300), possessed by a blue flame wraith. "And I will normal summon The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor." A full set of possessed black armor(4/1000/2000), sans helmet, was summoned besides Shade Brigandine. These two would make perfect materials for the XYZ Dragon. "Not just yet! I activate Hagoita's effect!" The HiSpeedroid exploded into a million stardust particles. "Hagoita can be tributed to raise the levels of all monsters on the field by 1!" The stardust clung to Shade Brigandine(5/0/300) and Fragile Armor(5/1000/2000) like glitter, making them unusable for a rank 4 XYZ-summon. "Well, that is disappointing." Ichirou sighed and let his turn finish.

"Phantom Knights? You gave yourself some new action toys, didn't you Ichirou?" Dame Phoebe mused as she went into her draw phase. "A new position deserves a new deck, don't you agree?" He replied with his usual serene demeanor. "Heh. You just stitched your deck together around your new dragon. But we will stick to what we like.." She summoned her monster, a stuffed owl plush(3/1000/1000). "Fluffal Owl, coulds you be a dearie and give me my fusion spell?" Through its effect, the summoned Owl plucked Polymerization from the deck and dropped it in her hands. "Oh, but I did not abandon all of my past." Ichirou flipped his continuous trap card as soon her plan became obvious. "Anti-Spell Fragrance? You little bastard." It was the trap that restricted spells, noone could activate spell cards from their hand or during the turn they were set. For a deck that revolved around fusion, that was a crippling blow. "I guess we all have to be a little patient to get to the good parts." She licked her lips and placed the spell card down. Three other cards were also set in the spell/trap zone. "Turn over!."

"The good parts? Do you still think this is a game, Phoebe? This is about our survival! Adamant was right, you are a monster." Cassius normal summoned Speedroid Double Yoyo(4/1400/1400). The yoyo roid used its own effect to special summon the tuner Red-Eyed Dice from the graveyard. "I activate Hagoita's effect from the graveyard; it can special summon itself when a tuner speedroid stands on my field! But for the rest of the turn I can only special summon wind-attribute monsters." The grave opened a portal, and the HiSpeedroid vertically blasted back to the field. "Good thing it is a wind-monster too. I synchro summon the Synchro Dragon!" Red-Eyed Dice had used its effect to raise Double Yoyo's level by 2 stars. The Yoyo(6/1400/1400) and the Dice synchronized; two materials and seven stars collided to shape the white card; Clear Wing(7/2500/2000).

"I don't know what you plan on doing, Dame Phoebe, but your hands should be the last ones to hold these cards. To hold Doms secrets. And you Ichirou, I wont allow you to turn use these cards for conquest. I activate Speed Recovery to special summons a Speedroid from my graveyard." Cassius flipped his set spell to target and return Speedroid Razorang to the field. "Speedroid Razorang can switch itself to defense position to decrease one monsters attackpoints by 800. It will target my own dragon." The boomerang-roid transformed back into its more throw-able mode, and started draining Clear Wings attackpoints. "But because my level 5 monster was targeted by another monsters effect, I can activate Clear Wings power to negate that effect and destroy that monster!" Razorangs energy inflow was reversed. The dragons wings drained it completely, destroying the speedroid and adding its attackpoints to Clear Wing(4500/2000) for this turn. "Clear Wing and Hagoita, attack the Phantom Knights!" The dragon blew up the Fragile Armor knight with one energy blast. The HiSpeedroid shattered the Shadow Brigandine with its shuttlecock missiles. "End turn."

Ichirou's LP: 4500

"First blood, eheheh." Phoebe enjoyed watching Ichirou taking no small amount of damage. "I suppose he isn't playing favorites." Ichirou dusted himself off before drawing his next card. "Still, Cassius, you can only delay the inevitable. I summon The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves." A specter(3/1000/500) of blue and red flames manifested, inhabiting black armor and large black gloves. "When I control a Phantom Knight, I may special summon The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots." Another blue-fire phantom(3/200/1200) in black rags sprinted to the top of the tower. "Are you going to use Hagoita's effect on these knights, hmm? I think not." Cassius did not know where this was going, but he did know he did not want to give Ichirou two level 4 monsters. "I will XYZ-summon The Phantom Knights of Break Sword." The two phantoms merged their spectral bodies and their armaments, to create a black-armored and headless centaur(4/3000/1000). Any Dark-type XYZ-monster that was XYZ-summoned with Ragged Gloves as the material, would gain 1000 attackpoints. "Break Sword can destroy one monster on both sides of the field." The Black centaur knight slashed down one of its XYZ-materials with its massive sword. "I destroy Hi-Speedroid Hagoita and Break Sword!"

"Break Sword?" Cassius was surprised by both choices. If he wanted to, he could have targeted Clear Wing. The Synchro dragon did not negate multi-targeting effects. Instead Hagoita was destroyed, and the XYZ Phantom Knight dissolved. "When an XYZ-summoned Break Sword is destroyed, it can summon two Phantom Knights of the same level from the graveyard." The armor parts left behind by Break Sword were taken over by the spirits of Silent Boots(4/200/1200) and Ragged Gloves(4/1000/500). "And as you might have noticed, these summoned monsters gain an extra level." The XYZ-duelists grin grew as wide as it could. "Is he going to do it!?" The crowd below shouted. "I overlay my Knights." Ragged Gloves and Silent Boots left their physical hosts and gave their energy to shape the Dark Dragon(4/3500/2000) of the Rebellion. As it was a dark-type monster, it similarly gained 1000 attackpoints from Ragged Gloves. "The second.." From below, Adamant saw it for the first time. "The same points, the same appearance." Not only did it resemble Clear Wing, it resembled Uno's Pendulum Dragon. "Are these appearances remnants of something forgotten?"

"Alice. Can I get you anything? Tell me what we can do." Inside the castle, just out of sight of the mobs, Uno and Eric were attempting to console Alice. But the girl was so out of it, she couldn't even register their words. "Guh.." It was in this unfortunate moment that Uno felt a pulse near his heart. "Not now." He reached for his chest. "What the... The jewel?" Eric was seeing the same thing, the shimmering light of the pendulum. "Something has got it upset, something close." Uno's ears picked up a noise that Eric seemingly did not. It was a low indescribable wailing. "The dragon?" It stopped when Uno touched his deck and took out Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "It's just like the last time, Odd-Eyes does not like the other dragons." He might not have summoned them this time, but the Pendulum Dragon could still feel their presence. "You are not suggesting the card caused a reaction from that crystal, do you? Dom said the dragons were inspired by yours, that is the only connection." While Iria still refused to accept the idea that the cards were alive in some way. "I felt something, Iria. And I do not believe in coincidences.."

Back at the duel.. "Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragons effects targets one monster to steal half of his attackpoints." The black dragon detached its two materials and selected the Clear Wing Dragon as its victim. "If it is straight-up showdown, than the synchro dragon will win, Ichirou!" Cassius countered with Clear Wings effect, as a level 5 monster had now been targeted. "Will it?" Except then Ichirou activated his trap card. "Phantom Knights' Wing. This trap negates the first destruction of my monster, while giving it 500 more attackpoints." Rebellion Dragons wings were covered by ghostly-blue flames. Though the effect was stopped, Clear Wing could not destroy Dark Rebellion(4000/2000) to increase its own powers. "Then, by banishing Phantom Knights' Wing from the graveyard, a Phantom Knight may be special summoned from that grave." The blue flames descended into the ground like a phoenix and resurrected the fallen black knight Break Sword(4/2000/1000). Now with its original attackpower.

"Now, let's have a few more Phantomknight effects activate from my graveyard. Banishing Phantom Knight Ragged Gloves sends a Phantom Knight card from the deck to the graveyard. Banishing Silent Boots adds a Phantom Knight card to my hand. And banishing Fragile Armor discards one Phantomknight card to draw one card." Ichirou sent Phantom Knights' Spear, added Phantom Knights' Sword, and discarded The Phantom Knights of Tomb Shield to draw. "Well, we can have our battle phase. Break Sword attacks Owl." The headless phantom knight allowed Fluffal Owl to share an experience, as it decapitated the bird with one swing from its sword. "You boys and your dragons. You are so adorable." Dame Phoebe clicked her tongue and activated one of her traps; Fluffal Crane. "I will stick to what I know. My trap takes back the destroyed Fluffal Owl and draws one card." This destruction was not all negative for her.

Phoebe's LP: 7000

"Hmmhhmm. Then Dark Rebellion will slay its counterpart. That would be the most poetic thing to do." The black dragon unleashed its dark thunder upon the white dragon. "Not so fast! I activate Follow Wing! My synchro-monster cannot be destroyed and will destroy monsters that fight it!" Now Clear Wings wings were given a radiant force. "Ah but that trap only works on level 5 or higher monsters. It is useless against a monster with a rank." The XYZ-dragons lightning passed through the golden wings and struck Clear Wing in the chest. But the blow did not kill it. "Aargh! Follow Wing still makes my dragon indestructible." Cassius grunted. "I guess we will keep this rivalry going then." Ichirou placed one card in his spell/trap zone. "Your turn, Dame."

Cassius' LP: 6500

"Finally. You XYZ-duelists always take a damn eternity." Phoebe snarled as she switched her dueldisk to her right wrist. "And you are just as guilty, Cassius! Why go through such boring and complicated plans when you can just cut straight to the chase?" She drew one card and normal summoned a demonic maw of tomahawk axes(4/1800/800). "Edge Imp Tomahawk, become Edge Imp Saw!" The Edge Imp used one of its abilities to discard another Edge Imp from the deck and assume its name. The fiend exchanged its axes for chainsaws. "Polymerization, lets fuse Fluffal Owl with Edge Imp Saw and fusion summon Frightfur Leo!" Phoebe flipped the fusion spell card. EdgeImp Tomahawk mutilated the fuzzy owl to stitch together a new toy of death; a pale lion(7/2400/2000) with saws all over its body. "Leo, you know my hearts desire. Tear up Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon!" The lion hurled saws from its torso towards the black dragon. "My my.." Ichirou would lose the monster and lifepoints equal to that targets original attackpoints, if he did not act soon.

"Clear Wing!" And it came as a surprise to him, that Cassius acted first. "Synchro Dragon can also negate an effect activated by a level 5 monster on the field!" The white dragon flew in between the two other towers and deflected the saws back towards Frightfur Leo. "Eheh?" Phoebe's fusion beast was ripped to shreds, and Cassius' synchro monster(4900/2000) absorbed its attackpoints for this turn. "Is this your way of offering a truce, Cassius?" Ichirou inquired. "No, I just saw an opening to remove a threat. I know you did not need my help, Ichirou." Ichirou's traps and spells could also have saved the XYZ-Dragon. But Clearwing cured the ailment, rather than treating the symptoms. "Heheh. As if there was not enough evidence that you two could never work well together." Phoebe took this chance to activate her trap card. "Designer Frightfur! It summons an Edge Imp from the graveyard and treats it as a 'Frightfur' monster!" The Tomahawk Edge Imp was revived, and given a deathly-pale makeover. "Here is my gift. Edge Imp Tomahawk discards one Edge Imp in my hand, to inflict 800 points of damage to my enemy!" An Edge Imp Frightfuloid was tossed to the grinding axes. This meal gave the Imp the energy to lob one of its tomahawks in Cassius' arm. "Guaah!"

Cassius' LP: 5700

"Synchronization, invasion; you all have your own little schemes to help a handful. Fusion has a bigger appetite." The girl said as she poked the last card in her spell/trap zone with the tip of her finger. "The only way to save anyone, is to combine what we have. And since we can't get along peacefully, I wont ask nicely!" She flipped the spell face-up. "Frightfur Fusion! I fuse the two Frightfurs in my graveyard with the one on the field!" The discarded Edge Imp Frightfuloid counted itself as a 'Frightfur' monster. It, the dead Frightfur Leo and the 'redesigned' Edge Imp Tomahawk were banished by Frightfur Fusion to special summon the toy of death made from three other toys of death. "Frightfur Chimera!" The horrific fusion(8/2800/2000) between stuffed beasts and killing metal rose in between the three towers, overshadowing the two dragons. "I shall take both your dragons! Then, just like Dreamworld, you will have no choice but to fuse with my guild, permanently!"

(To be Continued in Annex 087: The Four Signs of the Apocalypse)

New Cards used by Cassius
Speedroid Razerang

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Hi-Speedroid Hagoita

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Speed Recovery

New Cards used by Ichirou Azora
The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor
The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves
The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots

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The Phantom Knights of Break Sword
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon

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The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine
Phantom Knights' Wing

New Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Fluffal Owl
Edge Imp Saw
Edge Imp Frightfuloid

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Frightfur Leo

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Designer Frightfur