Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers

Chapter 38: Even Knights Cry

Date: May 18th, 2023

So now, Abstractoa and I were going to eliminate the rampaging monsters in Boddly Archives. Because I haven't spent much time there in the game, I'm going to do a summary of how things went there before a timeskip. So, with Abstractoa's help but not too much help, I eradicated monster after monster and fought with my all throughout the entire region. With our efforts, we were able to wipe the monsters out but I was on the brink of death again so before we left, I ate an HP banana. That healed my injuries completely, allowing me to get back up and hold my sword high. We joined my counterpart, Cluu, and Luxerion in the Nameless Kingdom next. Why? It's simple, they had to deal with 2 giant boss monsters instead of 1 and countless monsters. When we got there to help them, I had a very bad feeling about the fight. The battle was decimating the rebuilt Nameless Kingdom. And the 3 we're having a hard time even with the aid of the kingdom's own guards. The city of the kingdom was small but it was still significant, even in a way Evermore isn't. In the center, there is an artifact known as the Heart of the Kingdom that the kingdom relies on to stay around. We hear Cluu scream: "No way! We aren't doing anything to these monsters! Aaaaaaa! No matter how much damage anyone does, they just heal!" I sigh: "This is bad.. If my hunch is right, Treant and Ras are at their tier 6 stages, making them both having over 900 million hp which makes Paradox's earlier 12 million life points seem like nothing.." Abstractoa replies: "You are correct. They are as tough as they can get. I'll help with a larger portion of my power. But remember, I'm only helping so you all make it out on top because it's important all of you grow stronger as you know." I draw my sword. "I understand. If that's how it's going to be, I know I'll be safe under your gaze, Abstractoa. Let's join this fight and not let these damn monsters overwhelm our newest comrades in battle! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

I charge at Ras who is literally a giant fiery knight. "Hey Ras, let's settle this as knights!" Ras simply roars and tries to crush me with their giant sword but I duck out of the way. Abstractoa helps me out by joining the battle themselves. However, they only use around the level of my strength which is nothing compared to when they beat Pmurt easily earlier. The advantage to fighting Ras is that Ras is a little bit limited with their huge sword that dwarfs my stature. More importantly, I attack with my might but don't deal nearly enough damage to make a dent. "Damn it! This one's so tough and to think we also have to deal with Treant and their muck minions! I should have known.. But I'm glad my counterpart hasn't died from fighting these 2 given how hard they are to beat when there's just one of them around." And then, my counterpart dies while fighting Treant before immediately respawning. "Royal Protector, did you just die?! This is really bad!" Luxerion speaks up: "You need not worry. As long your friend contains 2 different souls, they'll be fine. Swiftdrawer will never die for good due to being a player. This whole situation has interrupted our investigation into the Altrasia ruins. I would certainly hope to get back on track for that as soon as possible but there's no rush now that even the Dark Lord is busy fighting monsters. It seems I will have to hold nothing back in this battle too. But this time, I'm going to use my true form to its fullest." Luxerion turns into a huge dragon and fights Ras himself, in acknowledgement of my counterpart and I's preference for fire based attacks which are weak against Ras but effective against Treant. So, Abstractoa and I move to aid Cluu and my counterpart in dealing with Treant instead.

And Abstractoa speaks: "I will begin attacking at a power level almost equal to Luxerion's true power level. But it is up to you to defeat Treant in the end." We nod and Cluu screams: "Stop talking! Treant's coming! It's so big and scary!" Treant charges at us and I get ready to counter. "Not so fast, Treant! Continuous Great Infernal Tornado Slash: 18!" My technique does it's thing but only does some damage to Treant who immediately regenerates from the impact of my attack. "Damn it, I thought I would be able to deal a lot more hurt as a knight against Treant but I was wrong. Nevertheless, we can't give up! Everyone, I will be your shield. I won't let this monster hurt any of you for I have the best armor of anyone here and Abstractoa will not block the damage so we have a chance to get stronger from this battle." I continue to use my ultimate attack but in singular format instead of 18 at once to deal damage and provide a shield for myself. Thanks to this, Treant becomes more focused on me and starts trying to stomp on me. But I manage to manipulate my fiery tornadoes with my Ki. I had no idea I could pull off something like that until now. I may be the hardest hitter but having a tank is extremely important in a battle of this magnitude which is gradually demolishing the Nameless Kingdom no matter what happens. And so, I kept at it. as I kept keeping Treant on me since my armor can withstand that creature's aggressive attacks, I was able to glance at how the others fighting Treant were doing and hear their efforts. "Swiftdrawer! Be careful! Treant is so tough!" "Haaaa! *grunt* Ha! Ha!" "Allow me to aid you as the Guardian of Creativity. Creative Chaos." So many swords clash with the hardness of Treants form as I continue to keep the monster focused on me by making it hard for them to do any damage to me. Between my attacks, my armor, and my agility and Ki, I just kept it up.

But it was clearly taking way too long to deal significant damage to Treant because there were no dents on the boss even after 5 minutes. Luxerion's fight with Ras from the sounds of it sounded like the 2 just couldn't hope to defeat one another. It was just a evenly matched fight between them. "...It's my duty as a knight to protect the innocent and my comrades but if this battle with Treant keeps up the way it's going, we're going to lose miserably. And that's very bad news. If I had to engage Treant all by myself even with just Abstractoa's help, I wouldn't be able to win. I would eventually lose.. Abstractoa, you really are putting us through a incredibly difficult trial of combat, aren't you?" Abstractoa hears me: "I must. Unless you and the others are completely overwhelmed, I must maintain my current level of attack in order to ensure you have a difficult trial to overcome. Think of all your past, present, and future conflicts and battles as training where the gods test what you and everyone else can do. We could have interfered with all your battles this entire time but as I explained, that wouldn't have ended well in several year's time." And so, the fight against Treant continued and I was starting to think we would lose as things stood. The others could only hold on so long before they got completely exhausted. That's when Soulburner and Flame appear with 6 Salamangreat monsters by their side. Soulburner exclaims: "After so much difficulty, we finally vanquished the monsters where we went. My monsters and Flame, I couldn't have done this without you. Now come on, let's help burn this monster to ash! It's time to truly blaze the path to a brighter future!" "That's the exact words to say, Soulburner. I couldn't agree me! Now let's turn the tide of this battle away from this monster, shall we? I generate a Data Storm!" The Data Storm sends Treant flying so far back that they were soon out of the kingdom.

Instead of catching a breath, we all went after the monster and began fighting in a field just outside of the Nameless Kingdom's domain. When we caught up, the monster was just starting to get back up. They weren't expecting such a thing as a Data Storm and it goes to show. And so, we begin fighting Treant there in the field and start dealing a little noticeable damage with me continuing to act as the tank and distractor, keeping Treant from hurting anyone else. Despite not even being close to defeated, Treant roars in rage and goes into a rampage. This made my Great Infernal Tornado Slash strategy just straight up become completely useless as the monster managed to make a gap in my armor, causing debris to pierce through my robes and my skin underneath them. "This pain. It hurts but I won't stop keeping you off of everyone else! I guess I must take you more seriously! I will attack with my sword and use my armor as my defense. No more playing just the role of a tank since you just made that perfectly pointless!" Even as I bled again, I kept my posture how it normally is and began attacking Treant head on with the others. Abstractoa was doing the most damage and I was in 2nd place of dealing damage now but the margins between our attack damage was significant. But since my strength is greater than my counterpart's is at the moment and Abstractoa was now fighting at a level nearly equal to Luxerion, the gap wasn't too overwhelmingly big. It was still huge but not enormous. And so, I swung my sword while upholding the values I value most as a knight. The battle raged on and I started getting more and more hurt as the primary protector of the others. But still, I persisted through the pain as we aimed to defeat Treant. My sword was in perfect condition and as sharp as ever. There was no worry about the condition of it because it was always ready at any moment's notice at this point.

With my weapon, I kept on blocking while delivering intense sword swings even though it meant Treant kept attacking me. I could see that my armor was beginning to take more damage but I just didn't stop doing what I needed to do. If anyone was going to die today, it was going to be me and me alone. I live an ironic existence. My lives in 2 different bodies are a near contrasting duality. In this body, I'm a knight who fights while willing to put their life at stake every single day. In the other, my body isn't very strong. I'm a swordsman who really needs to take on more responsibility instead of chilling nearly all the time. If I became more responsible in my other life, then it would reflect greatly on this life, allowing me to become more devoted to the cause of leftism with a knightly twist as well as the protection of the innocents and space-time. Anyway, as the battle dragged on, it became even more clear that we were still so far away from defeating Treant and I was starting to get really injured. The leather of my metal gloves were torn through for the umpteenth time and as blood covered my sword, I still kept going. The only thing keeping me from going insane was continuing to swing. The unbearable pain I was experiencing only became bearable because I kept using my sword to protect others. The sensations from swinging my sword as well as the thrill of action and the sounds of battle were keeping me from focusing completely on my pain. In fact, my pain only fueled my resolve as I wanted to make it stop desperately, willing to do anything to make it stop. And the only way I could make it stop at this point was defeating Treant. The reason being that I can't exactly run from the battle because not only were my legs injured too but also, I just couldn't abandon my comrades in such a difficult battle. "Comrades! I won't stop no matter how much it hurts! I won't stop because if I stop, then we will suffer so much! I know Abstractoa will keep us alive but still, I want to make it out of this by mostly our blood, sweat, and tears, the majority of the blood being mine!"

The battle continued with the same brutality for 5 more minutes and the blood loss was finally starting to get to me. My swings started being less effective. I was going to collapse again very soon if nothing changed. And that's when the Cooking Witch appeared with the other witches. They helped Luxerion crush Ras, destroying the boss within seconds. And now, they turned towards Treant and helped destroy the other boss even faster. I didn't realize this at first as I just kept swinging my sword in spite of everything. I was in a trance generated by swinging to power through my pain. Unbearable pain only can become bearable if it is shared with others or you have something else to focus on besides the pain. Abstractoa touches my right shoulder as I began to collapse: "Swiftdrawer, it's okay now. The bosses are defeated. Relax. I'm healing you now and restoring your normal blood supply." Abstractoa healed my injuries, restored my blood, fixed my armor, and relieved me of any muscle exhaustion I had built up. But my mental and emotional exhaustion in the midst of everything remained. Every battle I had been in lately took a toll on me mentally and emotionally in the aftermath of the battle with Treant. I stagger to the ground and feel both burnt out and sad at the same time. Abstractoa speaks to the others: "All of you, you must go help out in the Winter Wonderland and Glittering Grotto immediately. I will remain here, repair this kingdom, and help Swiftdrawer fully recover. Go, Ni No Kuni needs the aid of all you immediately." The others nod and head off through various means. In an instant, the Nameless Kingdom is restored by the Guardian of Creativity. They gesture to me to sit down in a bench they just created out of thin air in the middle of this field we're in. I do so and they sit down on it too. Abstractoa spoke as soon as we were comfortable on the bench: "Swiftdrawer, you are not okay right now. Have you not been taking enough breaks from the burdens you carry? I can't observe any specific individual all the time."

Tears fall out of my eyes: "...I.. I'm having so much trouble trying to express what I'm trying to say.. All these battles have gotten to me.. Enduring all this pain during the battle with Treant was the last straw. It reminded me of my life situation in my other body and that combined with all of this was too much for me.. I'm completely burnt out and I just want to cry.." "Swiftdrawer, you know this as well as anyone else in BRAINS. You can rarely hope to accomplish something great by yourself. You have to become more willing to share the burden of defense with others. I know you have a hard time and many fears regarding your relatives in your world and that you're better at sharing your pain with us but.. Don't take on all the challenges by yourself. You have to trust in certain people to shoulder the pain with you whenever you can't take it all on by yourself. As you have said to others, let it all out. Cry it out. Don't hold it in anymore. Let your tears flow. As a knight, you have the burden of fighting on the front lines while taking on as much pain as you possibly can." I nod and start crying everything out as Abstractoa gives me a surprise hug. They aren't someone who hugs. Normally, they're complete calm and rational. As the teardrops dripped onto my armor, they with the sunlight managed to create some small barely visible rainbows. Soon, I had no more tears left to cry and was dehydrated. Abstractoa stands up. "This entire series of conflicts, adventures, and personal problems have completely gotten to you. But you have to let yourself feel what you need to feel. You look so drained right now, I have upgraded the bench to be more comfortable. Rest here as long as you need. I will be providing my help to the Waivro tribe in Woebegone Wilds. If I'm not there, try the Golden Grove or another region. I will see you again when you're ready to move forward on this mission with your sword in hand."

I slowly nod as they teleport away. After they've left, I lay down on the bench and create water from thin air to hydrate myself within. Even though my eyes were red and puffy, my use of Artist's Eye for that didn't put that much of a bigger strain on my left eye. Instead, I started feeling better but was still mentally exhausted. Completely burnt out. I held onto my sword as a source of comfort even as I laid down. "..I.. I wish I were stronger.. I'm held back by so much fear and uncertainty in my other life.. I just want to make existence a better place but it's so hard that sometimes, it seems like nothing will ever change no matter if I even give my life up in the name of positive change. I believe in the destruction of social classes, capitalism, and fascism because those things hurt so many people.. I just want to live in a multiverse full more of peaceful and collaborative societies. I want people to be free to be themselves, contribute to the whole, be happy, have peace where they live, and be able to live their lives without fear of being prosecuted for how they live. I want real justice focused on the removal of the irredeemable and the rehabilitation of as many scumbags as possible. I want an end to the pandemic allowed to spread without any active counter measures in my world.. I want the workers to finally have a real say and safe working conditions as well as truly decent wages. I want free college and healthcare. But it's like we can't have anything.. The people get something and the powerful immediately plot to take it away.." I sigh as I struggle to feel any better about anything now. Even my sword isn't enough to change my mood. So I just lay there, trying to mentally recover and feel better but it just isn't working. That's when a little kid with a blue shirt and a pumpkin on their head sees me and eagerly runs over. "WOOOOOOW! Are you a knight?! You look so cool!" "...Yeah, I'm a knight.." "Hey, what's wrong? Aren't knights always supposed to be confident and strong, unafraid of anything?" "

"I don't want to talk about it.." "Oh come on! You're a knight! You should be laughing in the face of danger! You should be out there protecting people because that's what cool knights do!" "Kid, I've been through a lot.." The kid then relentlessly tickles my face. "This oughta do the trick! I bet even a knight like you can't resist a good tickle!" "Ahahahaha! Stop it! That tickles! I'm sensitive!" "No! I won't stop until you feel better! How can a knight protect anyone if they're sad?!" "Please! Seriously! Stop it! It tickles so much! Ahahahahaha!" I sit up on the bench again at last with a smile on my face. "See?! That wasn't so hard, now was it?" "Kid.. What's your name? I will remember this. You helped restore my smile. And I'm so thankful that you spotted me and insisted on trying to make me feel better." "Well, my name's Jam and I'm a proud resident of the Nameless Kingdom despite just being a kid! What's your name, cool knight?!" "It's nice to meet you, Jam. I'm Swiftdrawer." "Woah, that's an awesome name! Hey, can we be friends?! I want to grow up to be a knight just like you!" "Sure, we can be friends but I have to get going. You have reminded me of the strength I need in order to push forward with an indomitable will as strong as my very armor. I'll see you again someday. Stay safe, have fun, get strong, and don't make me have to go on a wild goose chase to find you when I have time to see you again. Farewell, Jam." "Sounds good! I promise to listen to your advice! I pinky promise!" We do a pinky promise and I teleport to the Woebegone Wilds where Abstractoa is fighting with the Waivro tribe just as they stated they would be doing. Abstractoa notices me immediately. "You're here now. Good. The situation is not what I foresaw. I once again forgot about this part of this adventure even though everything has played out the same way in every single cycle. There is no field boss located in this region. But there are a lot more monsters here than anywhere else. Come Swiftdrawer, join the fight with us. You can explain how you recovered later."

I nod: "Now that my spirit is completely restored, I'm ready to give this my all!" And then, a bunch of UMC, Earth, and Miitopian troop foes appear in an ambush. And they all target me and Abstractoa. "Oh yes, this ambush. I neglected to recall this one until now. There have and will be other such ambushes throughout Ni No Kuni. Pmurt Nedib has decided to keep his United Mining Company alive. Despite being the leader of the Freedom Front, he continues to run his deceptively named business." "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's take them down!" "Yes. We will do that." Seconds later, the ambush has been overcome and Abstractoa sealed all of them away instead of either of us killing any number of them. That was nice and very helpful. And then, we ran over to where Sir Fierce Fists and his tribe were fighting. "We Waivro are strong! We won't let these monsters disrupt our home! For the pride of Waivro, we fight!" There was a lot of cheering as well as war cries as he inspired his people to fight even harder against the monsters. With Abstractoa and I join in the fray, monsters just started getting destroyed rapidly. And to add to that, Sir Fierce Fists and others would every so often yell loud enough to provoke more monsters into coming to our current position. That allowed for a constant stream of monsters to kill. The monsters just didn't stand a chance against the combined strength of us all even with Abstractoa holding back over 99% of their power and using such a small fraction of their full power as a result. "Haaaaaaa! Stay down, monsters! Continuous Great Infernal Tornado Slash: 18! You will not stop us from freeing this region of your enraged terror! We won't allow you to hurt anyone else! This I promise! Haaaa!" And so, we just kept decimating them. Even I began yelling loud enough to provoke more monsters in coming over. After 30 minutes of this, we successfully wipe out all of the extremely aggressive and excessive monsters. Now that all those monsters were taken care of, it was time to go help out elsewhere or so we thought.

Because all of our comrades just showed up at our location at the same time. Aquarius speaks: "All of the excess monsters as well as invading troops from other worlds have been dealt with. It's time for me to resume watch over my castle and the Glittering Grotto. Thank you all for your help." And that's when we hear a familiar voice. Cyrus. "Not so fast! Now that all the monsters have been destroyed, our temporary alliance is over! Did you really think we weren't going to take advantage of this situation drawing out the remaining 3 World Keepers? With you 3 corrupted by chaos and under our control, the Black Circle will destroy the Legion after we destroy the rest of you! It's going to be simple! And with my Mechadragon back to normal functionality, you're all as good as doomed! Especially when you see I brought the entire Black Circle with me! This is the end for all of you and the start of the real rise of the Black Circle! No longer will the Legion stand in our way of our goals nor will any of you! This world will be plunged into chaos and none of you will be around to stop it anymore soon enough! Say goodbye!" And so, the next battle began. Cluu replies: "We won't let you get away with your plans! We'll stop you here! We'll stop all of you! Isn't that right, Swiftdrawer?" My counterpart nods and readies their sword. I tighten my grip on my own sword as Ignis, Aquarius, and Luxerion pull out their weapons and stand their ground. Our comrades and allies also get ready to fight. With that set in stone, things get chaotic very quickly. I end up facing Hector, the man with goggles by myself. He smirks at me: "Hey knight punk, you won't be able to overcome me! We of the Black Circle are perfectly prepared to face the likes of you! This is where you fall with the rest of them!" "We'll see about that! Haaaaaaa!" After 10 minutes, I managed to defeat Hector by myself because the metal of my sword was able to cut through the metal of Hector's contraption he's always fighting or traveling inside of.

Once it collapsed, it was easy to defeat him. I didn't kill him because I have no idea if his survival is important to mostly preserving the future of Ni No Kuni or not. That and he wasn't worth killing. Not dangerous enough. I don't know if the Black Circle were destined to make a comeback regardless of everything that's happened today so far. That unknown forces me to spare him from even just capture. It was a relief to not have to kill him but that was just a very tiny silver lining in the middle of this whole battle. Most Black Circle members had already been defeated by the time I beat Hector. The only one left fighting was Cyrus himself on his Mechadragon. It even withstood a sudden assault from the Sky Pirates above in the air. But neither him or his robotic dragon managed to last long because of how many of us there were. Abstractoa even took a step back to not contribute in the fight against him as it concluded quickly now that the rest of the Black Circle had been defeated. Less than a minute after his dragon was blasted by the Sky Pirates, we shut it down and he fell to the ground again. Cyrus sighed: "Damn it! Why did you all just have to get in my way?! It's not fair! I was so close to beginning the path of revenge against the Dark Lord and his Legion! The Black Circle will remember this! We will be back and when we return, none of you will last even a second against us! This I promise along with the destruction of the Dark Lord! He stole the Sword of Discord and Natrum from me! That isn't fair!" He and the rest of the Black Circle members get up and run away to the Rainbow Valley. Cluu yells: "Yeah! That's right! You better run!" Edelian speaks up: "Is everyone okay? Today has been a very unexpected series of events. Strangers, you have earned my respect and the trust of the Evermore guards." We all nod in response to her question. "I'm relieved to hear that. I must return to Evermore to help restore order. Thank you everyone for coming out today to stop the threats plaguing the entire kingdom and beyond." But then, Dio of the Dusk Syndicate appears and tries to kidnap her. However, she's faster and he's knocked to the ground.

He yells: "Damn it! This is not what I wanted to happen! Now that Dusk Island is cleared of any enemies, we would have offered your body as a vessel for the Dusk Genie but no, you had to ruin it! And there's more of you than I thought they'd be. I can't run away in this state. So be it. Dusk Syndicate, let's do what we do best!" The Dusk Syndicate appear around him before running off before any of us could notice, even me. Then, Sir Fierce Fists yells as even Dio runs away unnoticed: "When did we get so many members of our tribe here?! They weren't here before!" Cluu groans: "Damn it! They did it again, disguising themselves as Waivro members! They're easy people to mimic! How in the world could you expect any of us to be able to know if someone really is a member of the Waivro or not?!" Gosling appears with Hedgie: "Help! The monsters inside Sirius are on the verge of escaping!" "..Just when things couldn't have become more difficult.. We'll have to deal with those monsters first.. This isn't fun!" Cluu then groans loudly as my counterpart draws their sword early. Chloe speaks: "Why don't you just go into Sirius already, Cluu?!" Gosling screams: "It's too late for that! They're coming out! Everyone, get back immediately!" We all get back as a whole bunch of big colorful monsters appear in front of us. And the fight against all of them begins. There were each tougher than Hector so it was obvious that they were going to be a pain to defeat even with all of us who were fighting. The Waivro tribe stood their ground as some of the monsters came right for them. In the end, when some of them got close enough as I took down a big green muck monster by myself, the Waivro charged. In the fight that ensued, the Dusk Syndicate members easily exposed themselves by not getting into battle while disguised as Waivro tribespeople. I hear Dio scream: "Damn it! We don't fight like they do! Dusk Syndicate, we'll settle our differences with all of them later! Let's just destroy these annoying monsters with them for now!"

And so, we're forced to work with the Dusk Syndicate all over again. With their reluctant help, we take down all the monsters in 20 minutes. Once that was done, they immediately transformed into doppelgängers of the World Keepers who had been moving around in search of any nearby threats. Luxerion just shakes his head: "That trick is not going to work if you're trying to impersonate World Keepers like us. Oh wait, you can transform into our dragon forms too, can't you? Now I'm being mimicked in voice and personality. This is quite the unexpected turn of events." Cluu groans: "How in the world are we supposed to tell who's who now? Those crafty Dusk Syndicate members. Disguising themselves as World Keepers.. An annoyingly clever move. Why do things have to be so difficult?!" Llenn yells: "From what I've seen, those World Keepers will not cower in the face of Picchan and I! Watch this!" Llenn loads her pink gun with bullets and starts rapid firing her gun. Seiya says: "Hey, you just inspired me to do pretty much the same thing! Pegasus Meteor Punch!" I pull out my BRAIN Blaster. "And me." I start firing the disintegrating laser blasts in conjunction with the meteor punches as well as the bullets. They have the intended effect. The real World Keepers are unaffected by them all but the Dusk Syndicate members weren't so immune. They screamed as they broke character to avoid everything. And as they started running around, it was easy for everyone to defeat them. Dio lays on the ground with Beerus pointing destructive energy at him. "I assume this mortal's existence will not be required to preserve the future of this planet as much as possible, correct?" Cluu replies: "It's been so long since we've seen the Dusk Syndicate. Do what you want!" Beerus smirks: "Mortal, your name was Dio, was it?" Dio trembles in fear. "Yes.." "Well mortal, this is the end of your existence. Goodbye Dio. Haikai."

Dio screams as he is slowly erased from existence by the power of the God of Destruction. Llenn points her gun at the remaining and defeated members of the Dusk Syndicate. "If you guys want to live, I suggest you surrender and not hurt anyone else ever again." The Dusk Syndicate tremble as well and bow their heads as a sign of surrender. Some of them even pull out white flags. One even yells: "Don't kill us, please! Without Dio, we have no reason to hurt anyone! He was our leader! And the Dusk Genie will be asleep for a long time anyway! What's the point of trying when we keep failing?" "Good, now leave before I change my mind or someone else wishes to get rid of you permanently instead!" With Llenn's gun still pointed in their direction, the Dusk Syndicate run away, never to be seen again for a long time. But then, the sea pirates appear. Goldbeard speaks: "We were bested fair and square. We won't go after any of you who were responsible for taking away all our treasure. We just wanted to stop by and thank you for helping us fight that vile human. We will return to the Vermuda Archipelago at once and gather more treasure after we get back there. Crew, we set sail immediately once we reach the nearest docks." "*unison* Aye aye!" One of the pirate generals, a pirate with dreadlocks clad in red named Rojo waves to Cluu and my counterpart. "It was good to see you both again. We may have last seen each other on bad terms but you allowed us all to come together whether you intended it or not. And you have demonstrated true strength. Even we pirates can respect that. Farewell, flying pig creature and his quiet friend." "HEY!" The pirates head out before Cluu could say anything else. And then, the Dream Witch appeared, full of great power and a desire for revenge against Cluu and (mostly) my counterpart. However, we all struck her down before she could even get a chance to attack. And that signaled the end of the crisis in both Duel Links and Ni No Kuni or DID IT?! Soulburner gets a message from Ghost Gal.

He reads it: "Soulburner, I hope you're reading this. Anyway, we have a huge problem in Duel Links. You and the others in Ni No Kuni better come as soon as you can. Thanks hun." Beerus gets furious: "Another problem in that virtual world?! What kind of crisis is this?!" I sigh: "Guess that means we can't stay to explain a lot of things. And of course the Legion didn't shown up here to get rid of us. The Dark Lord is far more patient than Cyrus or Dio." Llenn asks: "Can't we just bring everyone here with us to Duel Links and explain everything there after we enlist their help to take care of whatever's going on there now? Wait, did I just get a message from M? I have to check.. I see.. Guess I'm a member of this 'BRAINS Collective' now." Okay if I previously mentioned in one of my Equestria arc writings that she and her friends joined BRAINS before now, I'll need to explain that technical plot hole. Basically, if they joined, everyone forgot and they just sort of lost their BRAINS membership due to a random glitch in the system. But they're 100% BRAINS members now for sure so it doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, we convinced many of the inhabitants of Ni No Kuni with us at the moment to come to Duel Links with us. Not all though. Sir Fierce Fists said: "We Waivro will not be coming with you to this strange other world you speak of. We must defend our home no matter what and prove how strong we really are!" Varum was next: "The players in my group and I are just going to go explore further into this game world. See ya." Edelian then left too with any Evermore guards she brought with her. The rest of us however did go to Duel Links via teleportation. Now that we were inside the world of Duel Links together, we soon discovered the problem. Or rather, problems. The Duel Links versions of Z-One and Aporia showed up as Raid Duel bosses at the same time.

Z-One who modified his voice and face to match Yusei Fudo's was in the air with one of his Timelords behind him. The monster has a pretty realistic human face on it. Meanwhile, Aporia had Meklord Astro Mekanikal behind him. This was bad. Very bad. We were soon joined by a lot of duelists like Yuya, Reiji, Playmaker, Ghost Gal, Blue Maiden, Katori, Asuka, Yugi, and even Kaiba. Aporia speaks: "The Ark Cradle will be allowed to destroy this world! All of you will feel the same despair I have felt throughout my life! My first despair was losing my parents. My second despair was losing the love of my life. My third despair was losing almost all of humanity. Our timeline was destroyed and now, we will prevent that disaster by destroying Neo Domino City when the Momentum reactors of our present and your present collide. The Ark Cradle will spark the end of Duel Monsters! We will succeed where Paradox has not managed to succeed!" In a twist of events, the versions of Z-One and Aporia we have fought with as comrades in BRAINS show up too. Our Z-One speaks: "You do not have to worry. We will take on our counterparts in the name of the future Yusei Fudo and his friends have fought so hard for in Master Duel format. There was no need to bring allies from Ni No Kuni here." With that statement made, we watched as the 2 Z-Ones began to duel each other. While that happened, myself and the others who went to Ni No Kuni turn to those we brought from Ni No Kuni and started with the help of some others to explain literally everything they needed to know. That didn't just include info on BRAINS, it also included info on Pmurt among other things. And since Luxerion is so cheeky, he already somehow knew of all of this and used that fact to help assist in explaining everything. That was fortunate because the 2 Z-Ones just kept dueling each other, unable to overcome one another. When we were done explaining and giving Quantum Leap bands to most of the Ni No Kuni residents brought to Duel Links, they went back there and our Z-One had something interesting to say.

His words shocked everyone, especially his Duel Links self. "All of you, I have been stalling to allow these explanations to happen and show you all the true abilities of the Timelords as they are as well as weaken the life points of my other self. My Timelords were the least understood monsters by all of you until now but now that they are, I can end this latest duel with the hope for a better future I lost for such a long time. Now, I will overlay the 5 Timelords on my field in order to Xyz summon." The other Z-One replies: "What the?!" "I have been shown many different dimensions and it was through one that my dueling evolved even further with my Timelords. I Xyz summon. Ultimate Timelord Zabadas(ATK: 0, DEF: 0). Zabadas now activates their effect. For every overlay unit they use, one of your monsters is removed from play until the end of this turn. I use all 5. Time Banishment! Now that all of your own Timelords have been removed from play, the next part of that ability activates. My Ultimate Timelord gains 500 attack points for each monster banished until the end of this turn. That's 2500. Banishing Empowerment. You do not have any spells or traps in play. This duel ends as does the plan to destroy this world with the Ark Cradle, a mistake I almost let loose myself. You only have 2500 life points. It's over." Duel Links Z-One loses and is erased along with his best Timelord. Now that that was over, Z-One stepped back to allow Aporia to face his Duel Links self. At this point, the rest of us were just here as spectators. Like it or not but that was just how it was. Duel Links Aporia went first. "You will not stop me, my other self! I summon Wise Core! That ends my turn!" "It's my turn. I draw! While you use your despair to crush others, I use mine as motivation to create a better world. I also summon Wise Core. That ends my turn."

"It's my turn! I summon Meklord Army of Wisel! Meklord Army of Wisel, attack!" "I may have lost life points but now, Wise Core's affect activates. Appear, Meklord Emperior Wisel Infinity! Wisel Top! Wisel Guard! Wisel Attack! And Wisel Carrier! Now combine into Meklord Emperor Wisel!" "I should have seen this coming. I end my turn. Make your move so I can show you I'm using my despair better than you ever did!" "I draw. Next, I will now overlay my 5 pieces of Wisel individually." "You can Xyz summon like your version of Z-One too? It doesn't matter! I'm going to win and crush you in the end! Astro Mekanikal will soon arrive to bring you to your doom! And I will ensure the Ark Cradle still descends upon this world!" "I won't allow it. I have given so many humans despair but now I also see that humans aren't all selfish or full of despair or greed. I will build the overlay network. I Xyz summon! Meklord Emperor Wisel Xyz(ATK: 2700, DEF: 2000). That's not all. I use my monster's effect. By using one overlay unit, I can add one Wisel, Granel, or Skiel card from my deck to my hand and equip it onto Wisel Xyz, boosting its attack points by 400. It is a once per turn effect. However, I activate the spell Meklord Skip. By paying 2000 or half of life points, your next turn is skipped. I summon Meklord Army of Wisel as well. I end my turn and start my next turn now. I draw and summon Meklord Army of Skiel." "This can't be. This can't be! What have you done?!" Aporia then pounds his counterpart in the dirt, taking away a good portion of Duel Links Aporia's life points. After Aporia narrowly escapes being blasted by his counterpart's Raid Duel ending skill, he speaks to the rest of us duelists. "I have allowed the groundwork to be laid to defeat my counterpart. You all must contribute to defeating him now. He is shocked and confused. Now is the time. This an important battle for the future of Duel Links as well as Link VRAINS and the worldwide network of the dimension where Link VRAINS is being hosted from."

The enemy Aporia's health is really high at a staggering 100 million health. It took every single one of us duelists to reduce his life points to 0 but we did it and he was erased too thankfully. Llenn was returned to GGO and we all just kind of went to Miitopia. Our aid helped drive back our foes there for now. That allowed us to keep much of Miitopia safe once again despite how much it hurt.

*Meanwhile at UMC headquarters* Pmurt Nedib was angrily pacing back and forth. "Even the monster hordes weren't enough! Ni No Kuni will not be mine for now but that won't stop me! I will become the most powerful god ever and all freaks, sinners, and more will be exterminated! America will become the only country in the entirety of existence for now on! The past will be erased so there's only it! When I win in Miitopia, I will be able to bring together nearly all of the number cards! There's only a few still out there in that Goha City! I know where those numbers are. While I was there, I took a copy of Fusion. I should have taken all those copies of Fusion for I'm the only one who deserves powerful objects like the Fusion cards! When all the number cards become mine and I fuse with all of them, I will be unstoppable! Those powerful cards! Those powerful cards! They were part of why Gorganan and The Shadow failed! With them merged with my power, no one will be able to stop me with all those sinners who have been fighting me! I just can't wait! But first.." Pmurt Nedib goes to another room to meet with one of his troops. A plain looking man who screams stereotypical American in terms of appearance. "Oh! Your holiness! Pmurt Nedib! It's an honor to be in your presence!" "You're too loyal! Your words really fuel my ego! Yes! Give me more positive words! Delicious! Delicious! Only I deserve praise! But if you want to get praise too, there is something you must do for me, your holy god." "What is it?! I'll do anything for you!" "Good because I will ensure you make it into Heaven even if this fails. I want you to be my test subject for an unstoppable new kind of soldier! A frozen soldier frozen to absolute zero by my power. My very holy and divine power. Do you understand what I'm asking of you to do for me? This will allow us to exterminate the sinners faster than ever before." "Yes, I accept, almighty lord, 2nd coming of Christ!" "Perfect. This is going to hurt a lot but I'm sure you won't mind, will you?" "Of course not! I'll suffer if it means I get respected by the likes of you!" "Then we will begin! Stay still and don't scream too much, screaming in this sacred headquarters is a taboo sin."

And so, Pmurt's experiment begins and his test subject suffers so much. After the experiment fails, Pmurt shrugs as one of his employees comes to haul the now dead man away: "He was perfectly useless anyway. Now to find someone who isn't so useless to be my next test subject." *Weeks later, same location* Pmurt breaks something. "Those useless frozen troops! I lost Powdered Peaks because of them! They were decimated there! That's it! I can't rely on them forever." He walks to the lab inside of the company's headquarters and yells at the scientists there: "Move it, you smart people! I gave a lot of thought into keeping you alive so you better get to work on speeding up the development of those ice androids I designed! If you don't, you will become my next test subjects for something else!" The scientists replied in unison: "Right away, your holiness, Pmurt Nedib!" The CEO grins and walks out of the room. He heads to his office where he says: "There's only one useful pawn in power in Miitopia now. King Jack. I'll take over all the nations left besides his and then, I'll merge him and my empires together with his supposed consent. He will remain my perfect pawn. We want the same things but once we win or he fails, I won't hesitate to dispose of him. His past is disgusting, even to me. He used to be a whimp which I told him in a major sin to me. He understands."

*With Swiftdrawer and Herbsalvin after the Peculia liberation succeeded* Now that dinner had been enjoyed in the Miitopia BRAINS base and we had some time to kill before the next battle that required our aid began, Herbsalvin and I decided to drink Sleep Replacement potions. Why? Well, we were becoming roommates for a very specific reason. Their room was scientifically moved to go behind mine and then, the wall separating the rooms were destroyed by the both of us. And with the help of a handy piece of tech created last summer by Dominic, we turned our 2 rooms into one larger and more cohesive room filled with elements of both of our personalities, containing stuff from our old rooms and so on. Once that was done, we agreed to spend our time before the next battle together in our new joint room after taking a shower together for the very first time. Our relationship in case you haven't read that 21st Miitopian Civil War chapter's ending has evolved. We don't just have a friendship, knight-pegasus/knight relationship, or comradery anymore. We're romantically together. That's right. After becoming single again, I'm together with Herbsalvin now. Once we finished our shower together, we went to our new shared room together. I immediately picked up my fellow knight and kissed them in multiple places. "Herbsalvin, your everything is so majestic, you are really so hot and beautiful." "You're beautiful and hot too." We had a lot of fun together, both doing things that are okay to write about in a PG-13 story and things that are definitely NOT okay to write about in a PG-13 story. We clashed lovingly in multiple ways, most notably in a quick round of Duel Monsters and in a sword sparring session as well. And then, the next battle soon began and we had to get completely serious again, fighting like hell in order to help end it in our victory. Once it was over, the both of us were among the many who jumped into the conflict to liberate the Travelers' Hub. We teleported there together. And the scene was chaotic. It was frozen soldiers and ice androids against every single individual living in or temporarily staying in the Travelers' Hub. It was clear our previous efforts to turn the public against fascism were highly effective here too.

Even the Town Guide Mokuba was against the fascists and he was known to be well, a guide. Guides are generally not politically opinionated openly but he was so that was nice for us. The visiting mii travelers were from the Tomodachi Islands or even, alternate versions of Miitopia where the timelines didn't diverge too far from the most common outcome for universes with Miitopia contained within them. So that was that. They joined the fight too even if they couldn't do much in terms of attacks. All of them still contributed. That was a really good thing to see. I turn to Herbsalvin as I dual wield swords: "Are you ready, my precious Herbsalvin? The wings to my wind?" They nod and instead of kissing again, we remained serious and joined in on the fight. It seems that Pmurt and King Jack's forces have yet to be replenished from yesterday. After all, they were overwhelmed when all of us came to lend the angry residents and travelers of Travelers' Hub a revolutionary aiding hand. It also helped that with the former ruler of the Travelers' Hub killed by Pmurt himself, there was no one paying full attention to the hub anymore. And the policing force that was there had been vanquished while we fought for the liberation of Peculia. At this point, it's been weeks since Ni No Kuni and Duel Links and the transitional socialist government was already in full swing, overseeing all the areas of Miitopia we liberated except Galados Isle which remains overseen by several indigenous tribes who are natives to that island. The transitional socialist government also oversees the Villa and even the Tomodachi Islands. In other words, there's been a side effort to bring the rest of Mii World together with us. Even on the other continent that exists as well. That continent contains a now discontinued Miiverse hub as well as places housing the locations of the likes of Wii Sports and the Street Pass Plaza.

That wasn't even the plan at all until very recently. But there was nothing wrong in spreading the revolution so it was and now, Pmurt will be more desperate in his attempts to win this war. Any area he previously used outside of Miitopia to produce things was now under our collective control. As for the transitional socialist government, there's something I want to note. It's members consist of elected representatives of various groups and regions in Mii World, not just Miitopia. I'm a member of it as the knight representative, serving the role I also serve in BRAINS on occasion. Part of the free time we do get I spend in talking to other knights to get their opinions to bring to the meeting place of the transitional socialist government which is currently Greenhorne Castle. It's ironic but it works because most of the castle is inhabited by all kinds of miis and monsters now. The government is organized as a council of sorts with plans to create a judicial body in order to handle punishments for any scumbags who remain free after the war is over. It's not necessarily my preference but it is important that we establish it. The ultimate goal still is classless and governmentless communes and we have been building those. However, until we have purged all corrupt and evil elements as best as we can and help stabilize the entirety of Mii World, the government will have to remain in place. We cannot allow for the rise of more tyrants so we have to hunt down any remaining fascist and bigot after the war sadly. Based on their level of danger, we'll have to send them far away, rehabilitate and reform them, seal them away, or kill them outright. So that's that explained. Back to the fight for the Travelers' Hub. It ended up being a tough but repetitive battle despite the fact our foes were overwhelmed and not expecting so many of us to come to the aid of the people and monsters living there. It took the whole day to free it but we finally did it after a long series of fights that aren't even worth writing about. Pmurt needs to get more original with what he throws at us to try to get rid of us all.

With the liberation done, Herbsalvin and I managed to spend more time together. But this time, it was being among the first individuals to guard Travelers' Hub as it was the duty of all of us to guard every region in Miitopia and beyond that was liberated. So we didn't speak too much but when we got the chance, we did stare at each other, smile, and more. Our main duty was keeping the residents and travelers there safe above all else. And now, I want to turn back the clock a bit in my telling of what has gone on. In the next chapter of this story documenting my interdimensional adventures revolving around the hunt for the missing number cards, I will start recounting the conflict in Goha City. Let me explain that city here so I don't have to next time. Goha City is a city built by Goha Corporation with the help of a construction company who has students connected to them at Goha 5 Elementary. The antagonists of the city want to destroy a style of quick paced and action packed dueling called Rush Duels. I have explained what those are in the past so I don't think I need to explain here. Anyway, Rush Duels were a threat to Goha's desire of conformity and corporate dominance. Yuga Ohdo created Rush Duels despite being in Goha 6 Elementary. He and his ever expanding group of friends have gone on adventure after adventure to have fun dueling and protect Rush Duels. Yuga is a tech genius, reprogramming a Goha drone into a friend he named Kaizo. Through a series of many events, the summoning methods Maximum summoning as well as a new version of Fusion summoning emerged. I have explained those in the past too. But it was Neiru who created Maximum summoning.

Goha City is a colorful and often quirky place where duelists of all kinds of styles are present. From Yuga's Seven Roads monsters created by an Ex-Goha employee named Otes to Seatbastian's Scare Chairs to Romin's musical supergroup of monsters. The events that go on in Goha City give an interesting perspective on the creativity of kids, the rules of corporate life, schooling, and more. If only solving problems were as easy as Rush Dueling a children's card game over them. Can you imagine the level of peace that would emerge in worlds like Mii World if Duel Monsters were used to solve most disputes? We're actually working on making Duel Monsters a popular game in Miitopia. Unique duel disks were already designed specifically for Miitopia residents like myself in the same vein the Synchro Dimension duelists usually have duel disks that have a common shape to them when activated. There's even plans to print some original Duel Monsters cards that can only be found by going to Miitopia. And the best part is that they will be offered free of charge. Those of us in BRAINS making them don't want the money so they'll be free as well as the duel disks due to our many sources of resources and energies such as dead planets, cloning devices, and supernovas. It goes to show it might actually take sci fi level technology for many worlds to overcome restricting things such as greed, inequality, and money. I know that the version of Earth myself and pretty much all you readers are from it not ready at all for worldwide peace, tolerance, or socialism. The day may never come for humanity to evolve beyond the need of governments in favor of leaderless and classless communal communes. I'm going to believe in it still but as long as some alternative to capitalism and fascism is put into place that makes humanity a better species and Earth a safer world to live, that's what really matters. Whether it's every government becomes socialist or whatever, something ethical has to replace the evils of capitalism and fascism. And time is running out.

*Goha President office, Goha Tower* Yuo Goha, a character with nicely done short orange-brown hair, magenta eyes, light skin, a white and yellow helmet of sorts with animal shaped ears, a gray face mask, a red bow, a yellow undershirt, and a gray outfit is sitting in the office with the talking and hovering menacing looking head known as Goha President next to him. That's when 3 number cards of 7 enter his body after traveling to this point in time through a portal. The other 4 went somewhere else in Goha City. When the cards enter his body, his personality immediately begins to change but not by much for once. "Ahahahaha! Yes! Oh yes! Forget my once missing brother! Forget him! I have the power now to destroy Rush Duels forever! That's right, Yuga Ohdo! With these number cards with me, I will be unstoppable and bring forth a summoning method you have never seen before! It's coming together now! Soon, Goha will no longer be threatened by Rush Duels and there's nothing anyone can do!" The talking mask says: "Yuo, just what are you going on about now? Number cards? What are you planning?" "I'm going to defeat Yuga Ohdo, his friends, and all of my siblings! When I accomplish that, I will be free to destroy Rush Duels! They have been a thorn in the side of Goha for too long! No more! No more! No more Rush Duels! No more Yuga Ohdo! That's how it's going to be!" Mere hours later, he has defeated everyone who stands in his way. No one could overcome the nearly unstoppable ability of numbers to never be destroyed in battle by non number monsters. But he wasn't the only one out to destroy Rush Duels. There was someone else. Someone who preferred a more ninja and ladybug way to get what she wanted. And now that she was possessed by 4 number cards, her tricks and schemes were far more dangerous than ever before. To be continued..