【87 - The Gable and a Pentatonic Propagation!】

Jacob's body rebuilt and he stretched comfortably. His eyes opened to surprisingly vivid surroundings.

"Wow… cyberspace here is sleek."

"Unsurprising. Software is much more refined here." Mercury's voice surrounded him from his glowing aura.

Jacob turned his body. Instead of a deep hue everything was cyan, and instead of being obfuscated he could see the limits of a vast tunnel. The walls were composed of alloy pipes and amongst them were neon-bright tubes. He looked both ways, able to see quite far before it became cloudy. Jacob kicked off and started floating along.

"How's the pressure?"

"Greater than our last intranet, but manageable. Charles has a lot of data, there are dense patches we need to avoid."

"This is the submarine's systems?" he asked for the sake of full clarity.

"Correct."

"We want to get inside the water civ's."

"I thought you wanted to investigate Charles?"

"If he is working with Gaigen we're likely to find security measures or a trap." Jacob mused as he swam, "...In here our bodies have been reduced to fragile data, swimming through an unaccommodating stream of electric impulses... Contrary to video games, cyberspace is more dangerous than real life, not less."

"So no digging here?"

"Not just yet."

"Got it. Towards the underwater city I'm detecting many hubs with differing levels of security. Getting in - no, getting caught - is only one of the problems."

"The denser the areas, the faster I'll 'run out of air', so to speak," Jacob provided.

"There's that too, but I was thinking traffic. In my day the water civ didn't have a bustling, online world. Since I can't just whip up a disguise for you, you're likely to draw a crowd of water creatures. It'll be impossible to go anywhere discreetly."

"So we need to go where the information isn't too dense, with low security and nobody around."

He felt her searching and waited, drifting to a crawl.

"Found a place. Are you ready to go?"

"Let's do it."

Jacob dissolved into a wave. Outside, the grunts monitoring the day-to-day workings of the submarine's systems sat in a dim lower level drinking coffee. They barely noticed one of their transmitters cease its programmed job for a few seconds. A blinking dish outside the sub altered its aim by a couple of degrees, fired a single signal, then inched back into position and resumed its work.

Jacob's consciousness swept through the ocean, the dome, and into a lesser mainframe at near light-speed. Silence traded places with angry noise a few times as they travelled through wires, towers, radio dishes and then reached the cyberspace linking many devices on the south-eastern rim of the city.

Jacob was rebuilt once more. Everything was still lighter-blue but he could see no limits to the vastness. It was also less comfortable, energy pressed him from all sides. It was dearth of details, but satellites drifted distantly as hourglass-shapes with bulbed ends. Jacob had appeared from one. He pushed off, travelling further and faster than expected. Movement here was zippy.

"This is fifteen times denser than on the submarine."

"But we're so remote!"

"The amount of data they generate is tremendous. We can stay no more than five hours."

"Any creatures nearby?"

"An occasional passerby through here, but we shouldn't be noticed if we're careful."

"Did we leave a trace?"

"Yes, but an indistinguishable one."

Jacob pondered. There was no way Gaigen or Drache der'Zen could've expected them to be where they were now. He scooted then zipped around, boosting himself to the outer edge of the structure, then followed as it narrowed to a small terminal in the centre. Jacob pulled up a holo-screen and got to work, familiarising himself.

They made a sweeping attempt at scanning. As expected, Drache der'Zen's secrets would withstand a cybernetic nuke. There was no overconfidence, every measure had been taken to secure the water civ government's data. Jacob was faced with an endless chain of cryptographic blockades. Any further probing was likely to attract attention. Regardless, even if he had a hundred years he'd never get through. Their military and general stats should be hidden, of course, and maybe that was all they were hiding…

Jacob moved on and Mercury hacked a lesser mainframe, just to get a feel for how things operated. They found purchase details related to a national festival for music and haiku readings. Social media was huge, way bigger than expected. Nothing about this society implied its leaders wanted to assist in an invasion, but who knows.

A few minutes had gone by when Jacob shivered from his head to his toes. He sensed Mercury quivering.

"What the hell was that?"

"Impossible…"

"Have we been found?"

"It can't be…"

"Mercury-!" Jacob felt a different tremble then he was forcefully transmuted into energy, sucked into the terminal and sent somewhere else.

He emerged in a prism-shaped vastness.

Its longer north and south sides pointed outward so the room resembled the inside of a double-pointed crystal. The walls were smooth blue, the insides almost limpid. Occupying the centre was a raging white star. Even if Jacob could see limits, he couldn't deduce the scale of everything from his vantage. Cavernous yes, but was this astronomical in dimensions or did it just look that way?

Jacob stared into the fiery whiteness.

"...what's the density here?"

"I don't know. Someone's shielding my shield."

Behind them a voice boomed impressively: "As I live and breathe, never thought I'd reunite with a phoenix of my own generation."

Jacob turned.

A body composed of artful lapis shards, with symphonious ribbons of blue light and a fanning of violet wings with peacock-patterned eyes.

"Supernova Neptune Shutrom…? You're alive?" Mercury was astounded.

"Indeed I am. Please, face me as yourself. It's been so long." He noticed Jacob's trepidation. "I'm an ally. Jacob will be safe without you bonded to him."

Jacob conceded with his thoughts, so blue light erupted out his back, surging and expanding until Supernova Mercury Gigablizzard was visible too. Blue and sea-green with fin-like wings, traced with diamond-ice shards and seaweed hair from her comparatively small head. Phoenixes had beautiful cosmic forms, and Jacob was like a bug floating between them.

Neptune's small head shifted. "Good to see you."

"I wish I could share your joy, but pulling us like you did was very abrupt. I don't know where to begin with my questions. For starters, what is this place?"

"It's a pocket of cyberspace I created."

"Impossible?" Mercury remarked yet again, staring out at the inscrutable size.

"Let me explain. Much time has passed since you left for the human world. I appointed myself guardian of the Duel Masters Proof."

"The Proof vanished without a trace. Nobody could find it and many thought it destroyed."

"Correct, there was no trace of it. Many creatures had sought it for themselves, and just as many sought to hide it from those with too much ambition. None succeeded for any great length of time, until me."

"I see," Mercury straightened. "Among water creatures there are those, like us, who can turn solid matter digital. No wonder there was no trace. You transported it into cyberspace."

"Then I used its power to build its own prison. There." He pointed with a delicate finger, long and sharp. "That star is so dense and powerful that nobody can remove the Proof from the centre and use it, not even me."

Jacob stared at boiling volcanic white, feeling strong rays against his face. Mercury also stared and several seconds went by.

"Good work. It is excellently imprisoned."

There were small shadows near the star and as Jacob focused against the brightness, he made out the largest: another terminal.

"In all this time I've been studying the Proof. Its power is cyclically infinite, it generates more of itself by exerting itself. Even if nobody can use it, it's still a limitless supply of energy. Using that energy, I created this space and made myself immortal. With it, I can see all of cyberspace while remaining undetectable."

"That's incredible…" Jacob murmured.

"And just as well I did," Neptune continued. "Aeons ago a creature with the Proof struck a deal with some megalomaniac from the human world. Two other humans came back with it though and lost it. It traded hands a few more times before I found it."

Mercury shifted her gaze back to him. "You're probably wondering why I'm in this world."

"That was to be my first question, yes. Pulling you here may have been abrupt, but I hope you understand that the secrecy of my existence and this room is paramount to all our safety."

"My world's in danger." Jacob got to the point.

"That is a common occurrence across many of the Duel Masters timelines…" Neptune sighed, unperturbed.

"But our enemies are unbeatable, hyperdimensional space-gods."

"The Gatekeepers!?" Neptune exclaimed, suddenly terrified.

Jacob and Mercury paused.

"Yes."

"Are they here!? Are any of their vessels in this dimension!? Tell me now!"

"N-no…" Jacob stammered and Neptune relaxed a bit. "Urobach's not here, but one of his lieutenants is."

"They need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Also, you cannot be allowed to stay here." The sudden shift in countenance was staggering.

"...what?"

"I'm sorry, Mercury. The Gatekeepers are the ultimate blight of all timelines. Any world they meet is destroyed, without exception. If they know of your world, it's already too late. But the creature world might still be saved."

"No… no! There has to be something that can be done! There has to be!"

Neptune regarded him with pity.

Mercury asked, "Neptune… how do you know the Gatekeepers?"

"The Proof, as it turns out, is a fractal." He explained, bunched in and voice sharper.

"Fractal?"

"Yes, the transcending of anything into godhood releases these… germinations that spread across timelines. Lesser copies, fingerprints."

Jacob's memory was triggered. It was something both Heidi and Kanoa had heard, but the memory was faint because it happened while they were out-of-body while meditating. Their memories weren't firsthand, but a series of recollections afterwards.

Neptune continued, "I learned through my studies that the Proof, in all its glory, was merely a fractal of a hyperspatial, hypermassive object. It contains double the mass of the human universe - your entire universe."

"That's…"

"It's called The Gable. It's the source of the Gatekeepers' powers."

"What is it?" Jacob asked, his eye catching the light again. "A star?"

"Yes, it's like a star. Space in 3D is mostly empty, and even more so in the higher dimensions, but there are still high mass objects. The Gable is one of them, and the only one of its kind in our neck of the multiverse."

"There has to be something we can do," Jacob repeated. He recalled Heidi's relentless belief in the face of futility.

"Such ignorance!"

"You just said the Gatekeepers are being sustained by something, right? The Proof is cyclically infinite, but apparently the Gatekeepers aren't? Even if they're bigger than galaxies, they're not inexhaustible - that's what you literally just said."

"I will speak no more on this!"

"So there is more?"

"Mercury, I must ask you reign in your chosen!" Neptune faced her and she went quiet for a while.

"...When I was appointed a guardian creature for the human world I swore an oath, Neptune…"

"You'll endanger everything!"

"You're running scared!" Jacob knew full well his civilisation preferred endlessly thinking and rarely acting.

"Quiet, human!"

"Yes Jacob, quiet." Mercury's reprimand surprised him, but then he sensed her resolve. "A battle to settle this is in order."

"I will not duel him!"

"You're duelling me. As two water phoenixes from a saga long-gone, I challenge you Neptune, to fulfil my oath as a guardian creature of Aurellia, to save my chosen and his people. By not cooperating you're standing in my way."

"...you can't possibly be so narrow-minded-"

"Do you accept?" she calmly interrupted.

"...the fate of everything for someone else's-"

"Neptune." Mercury stared harder.

"Fine!" He battered his brilliant wings. "In the hopes you'll see reason! Us phoenixes shall duel as the humans do!"

A current slammed Jacob back, further than he was accustomed. He wobbled in place. A table generated for him, grid-lined then solid. Shields expanded to be as big as houses. He was staring out against a giant, then he looked back at Mercury hovering behind him. She may want him to handle the cards, but this was foremost her fight.

"I'll start!" Mercury proclaimed and Jacob charged for her.

Neptune aimed his palm, needle-fingers stretching, "I fortify my shield with Submarine Fortress Lair!" A cybernetic tower built up around his centre shield, flashing underwater-blue. Without a human partner, he used telekinesis to position his cards.

Mercury's feelings directed Jacob, he set down the card while she spoke, "We summon Java Kid, Aqua Boy!" He swam up, split cape undulating on either side. A card floated up, revealing itself to be a second Java Kid before flying into Jacob's hand.

"My turn," Neptune announced, his fortress emitted a computerised screech. "I draw, then you draw, then I draw again." Neptune charged something tri-coloured: blue, green and black. "I summon Fuuma Dantario!" It looked human enough from the waist up, but landed severely on four crouching crab legs, its rubbery skin a nighttime-indigo.

"A grand devil?" Jacob sensed.

"Supernova Neptune Shutrom evolves from grand devils, angel commands and demon commands. His deck centres around himself as a finisher too."

"Alright, Merc!" Jacob felt an unexpected bubble of laughter. Was he crazy? He couldn't help but enjoy the sight of two giant water phoenixes squaring off. "Let's show him who the boss phoenix of the water civ is!"

Despite enjoying their camaraderie, she cautioned him, "Stay focused." Jacob drew for her. "We summon another Java Kid, Aqua Boy!" A twin swam up beside the first. Ragnarok the Clock floated off his deck and in not being a liquid person it jammed, sparking with blue before returning.

"Only way through is forward, right?" Jacob looked up.

"Right!"

He'd always felt her presence when duelling, but this was his first game where he could see and speak to her. It was a different kind of encouragement.

"Java Kid, ike! Attack Submarine Fortress Lair!"

"Fuuma Dantario blocks!"

The former swam, trailing bubbles while the latter sprang to intercept. They collided and detonated like undersea mines.

"My turn!" Neptune declared alongside another mechanised shriek. "I draw, you draw, I draw again." His cards lined up for him. "I summon Jasmine, Mist Faerie and destroy her to boost." The little fae cheered then died, a card flipped over into mana. "Then… I summon Jurandeath, Heaven Slashing Demon Dragon!"

Jacob's enthusiasm curbed. Smile slowly fading as a shadow loomed over his table and entire battle zone.

"How the… How can a one-cost creature have 24,000 power!?"

It was a blood-maned albino lion. Demon horns, zombified tattered wings, bone shards across its flank and the segmented vertebrae of its long tail. His fear became bemusement when he noticed the hulking figure was… sleeping.

"It's not from the TCG obviously, but not so relevant that you would've seen it in what's currently meta," Mercury explained. "Jurandeath enters play tapped and cannot untap until its controller has thirteen cards in their graveyard…" At that Jacob aimed his sensing at Neptune's tabletop. They took another moment before jumping back in.

"Our turn again."

"We evolve Java Kid into Java Jack, Ultra Flash!" Mercury said and the leftover kid morphed into the cerulean and turquoise fighter. Four new cards flew up from the deck and two were sent to the bottom. "Java Jack, double breaks!"

It flew and drilled a cone of water into the base of the tower, then sprang back. The structure buzzed, malfunctioning then blowing, the falling wreckage clearing a second shield.

Stoically, Neptune started his next turn with only the one draw.

"I summon Belladonna, Demon Faerie and sacrifice her to boost." Another cap-wearing fae cheered and exploded. "I cast Faerie Re: Life to boost more mana, and seeing that it's mono-coloured nature, I'll cast another Faerie Re: Life too. End."

He'd added another three cards to both his mana and his graveyard. Mercury and Jacob needed to exploit his lack of board presence.

"We cast Streaming Shaper!" Four cards were added to Jacob's hand, but he still hadn't drawn Mercury.

Mercury looked at him, then ahead, "We summon Aqua Evoluter!" It swam up with tangling, mermaid-purple hair. Jacob raised his arm while Mercury continued, "Java Jack, ike!" Another two panels cleared, and unfortunately for their adversary they weren't hitting any triggers.

"I summon a second Jurandeath," Neptune growled. Another sleeping giant appeared beside the first, more sizzling snores from huge nostrils. "And I summon Amodegoras, Sutured Devil Element!" It was a crystallised dragon with skull-headed appendages worming out from behind. A 9000 blocker with a myriad of other abilities as well.

"He's also using Dispectors."

"Ex-life. I shieldify." A panel reformed behind it.

Jacob again considered using his Filler Robo Concurrion to shuffle Neptune's graveyard into his deck. He felt Mercury dismiss the idea. Neptune had only six cards, under half of what he needed for his world-breaker Jurandeaths to untap. More likely they were to distract them from the real threat.

"We summon another Aqua Evoluter and evolve it into Crystal Paladin, bouncing all blockers!" It swam in and shimmered, crystallising into the glassy centaur with a honeycomb-pattern shield. It reared and with a point of its lance, a whirlpool blasted across.

"The Ex-life shield leaves instead!" The water parted around it and back together, splintering the panel.

"We summon another Java Kid." Another Crystal Paladin was revealed before spinning into Jacob's hand. "Crystal Paladin, final shield break!"

"Shield trigger, Fuuma Dantario!"

"Aqua Evoluter, todomeda!"

"Fuuma Dantario blocks!" Another double-elimination on both sides.

The big Amodegoras stood between them but Jacob smirked, "We've got you now..."

"Confident aren't you, human? But I'm not cornered as you believe. I summon Fuuma Galsha!" An avian chimaera flapped in place. "And now I'm perfectly set up for my debut! I cast Faerie Gift, reducing my cost by four." The new grand devil and the sleeping darkness creatures shone before twirling up as lights, spinning and combining, "Galaxy vortex evolution! I summon myself: Supernova Neptune Shutrom!" He flew out then, into the swirling light which burst, scattering sapphire sparks and stretching his peacock wings beside the dispector. "Without further ado, I attack!" He unleashed ribbons that ranged from cerulean to teal, like an orchestra of sound made light. A shockwave from his indigo cape sent the ribbons falling like streamers, ripping through three shields.

Jacob threw out his arm, catching a card while Mercury declared, "Spiral Gate bounces Amodegoras!" A wave-spiral washed out his last attacker, and only blocker.

Neptune froze, denial packing into hard anger.

"Our turn, and it's time I met you head on." Mercury readied, "We summon Aqua Evoluter and Aqua Guard, then fuse them with Java Kid! Vortex Evolution!"

Mercury emerged through light the same as Neptune, the two water phoenixes at eye-level for a moment.

Mercury and Jacob yelled as one: ""Todomeda!"" Then Mercury blew her horn, an icy wave rippling blue. Neptune was blown back, grunting in pain.

"There. We proved our strength. Now tell us what you know."

Neptune steadied and his hard anger bled out into acceptance.

"Follow me…" Neptune flew around, over to the biggest shape silhouetted against the star. Mercury and Jacob shared a look before complying, Mercury gently boosting him along with her wing.

For a while they didn't seem to get any closer, then the shadow became more defined.

The construct was larger than both phoenixes, solar-powered through a wide dish. It had reaching spires and looked partway through construction. Clumsy but remarkable for its sheer size.

"I'm building a dyson sphere. It uses the Proof's unlimited power for computations. Its most impressive feature is mapping timelines in hyperspace."

Neptune focused, raising his sharp-fingered hand and manipulating the screen telekinetically. It displayed coloured threads against black. Jacob's eyes widened. The details were fine, but he could see the glimmer of short branches.

"This thread is your world, Aurellia. Here." A sharp fingertip tapped a line.

Mercury studied it, "The branches further back are the replica worlds…"

Neptune suppressed himself. "Every thread has an alpha timeline, its future can somewhat shift but is ruled mostly by determinism. At rare points, chance or choice create branches, but there can only be one ongoing, alpha branch. See how the lesser branches stop short? All of them inevitably succumb to doom in some form. This is a natural consequence to preserve the limited energy and concentrate it through the alpha timeline."

"Determinism… All possible actions that can be taken don't all exist as other timelines then?"

"No, and that's just how physical laws work out there."

"Okay. How is this going to help us?" Jacob asked.

"I know just one course of action you can take. I cannot do it because I didn't originate from your world, and neither can Mercury. Only you can do this, Jacob."

He cut through the ominous hesitancy, "Do what?"

"Create a new branch. And hope that when the Gatekeepers eliminate your alpha timeline, they don't notice the new branch, and that you and everyone alive can take over as the new alpha timeline."

"...create a new timeline?" His head was buzzing with the implications.

"It will be identical to the current one, but gradually chance will cause divergences, then choices, and then the events in both worlds will be separate."

"This… wouldn't actually save anyone." Jacob realised. "It would just clone everything, and then we leave the original Aurellia and everyone there to die." His eyes hardened as he accepted that this was where his and Heidi's heroism diverged. She'd never accept this option, but Neptune said this was the only way, so it was better than nothing. Jacob swam forward.

"Jacob…" Mercury let out the faintest resistance, more for emphasis than rebuttal.

"There is no guarantee that the Gatekeepers won't notice the new timeline and destroy them both," Neptune said. "Double the deaths..."

With no compunction, Jacob floated to the terminal. A sick high momentarily overcame him as he realised he was about to seriously play God. He retook control, reached out and lightning shocked him. Grunting against the electricity, he felt Mercury's fin touch his back, sharing her aura and boosting him until he was strong enough. Jacob focussed on the thread that was his home, allowing Neptune to then also focus and work the magic of the Proof's limitless energy. Jacob's very being quaked.

A pulse blew him back.

Mercury scooped him, and Jacob felt intensely drained all of a sudden.

"...Did it work?"

Neptune faced the screen, Jacob was too tired to see. "Yes… it did. Now I must ask that you both go at once, eliminate the lieutenant, then leave the creature world forever."

"We will," Mercury said, "But first, is there anything more you can tell us about The Gable?"

"There exists a race of aliens that also feed off its power, but unlike the Gatekeepers they're humanoid, more or less. They're called Gableons. I have no idea how to reach them, but they'll know more. Now, farewell." He fired energy into them and they were beamed back, through the water civ to the submarine and out into the physical world once more.

"Woah…" Jacob staggered in a narrow room with a wall monitor. It regulated the aircon for this level, but in being connected like all the sub's features it'd served as a private doorway inside their cybersystems.

"Neptune doesn't want us taking our time…"

"Sometimes Merc, one meeting changes everything." The action he took was a fait accompli, the others would be weighing in after the fact. "We know so much more now. And even if we don't have an answer… at least we've got a backup plan."

On another world, Urobach stood with heart racing, insides cold and the hairs of his neck standing on end. If this didn't immediately result in their deaths, they would likely die immediately after success. Urobach had been fiddling away, not bothering to hide his fear from his subordinates. His moonbase was in orbit and spinning to create gravity via centrifugal force. Below them space traded places with a cratered, white-grey desert. He fussed with the end of a ballpoint pen, the back slid off, bounced off his boot, and rolled into the centre of the room. He eyed the fertile world rotating in front of them and swallowed to dislodge his throat.

"Fire."

The enormous cannon pulsed, firing a quick beam of deadly green. Several seconds passed and then they watched Aurellia shrink before their eyes until it was gone, blasted through the vortex.

It worked.

Urobach felt the seconds go by, "Where's the Gatekeeper?"

"Is it possible he died, Sir?"

Urobach waited. He'd spend an hour waiting, then take a proper breath. He'd spend the day waiting, then finally unclench. And after that, he'd wonder if Gatekeeper Pluto had simply lost interest and left their dimension, and if he might finally be free and safe.

On another world, and simultaneously, Urobach stood with heart racing, insides cold and the hairs of his neck standing on end. He was twisting the back of a ballpoint pen, it slipped off, bounced off his boot, and rolled under the control panel.

"Fire."

The cannon pelted the corrupting strange matter that proceeded to eat away the world.

It worked.

On a third world, Urobach stood. The end of the ballpoint pen slipped off, bounced off his boot, and rolled to the side.

"Fire."

On a fourth world.

"Fire."

On a fifth world.

"Fire."

A soldier splunged before he could pull the lever.

There were gasps and shrieks as blood dribbled down the glass. Urobach slowly shut his eyes. He felt, rather than heard the man appear beside him.

"Something is different," Pluto murmured, motionless in his champagne kimono, the onyxes at his ears swaying just a touch.

Urobach wet his mouth and swallowed again, in sheer dread but resolute, "...Sir? I… I can explain…"

"Not you. Something shifted."

"Sir?" Urobach had expected him to be smug, potentially apoplectic, yet Pluto was distracted.

"Await my orders…" He vanished. Space itself seemed to relax with him gone. Urobach wiped the blood from his face and flicked it languidly from his gloves.

"Sir, our plan didn't work?" A soldier asked. Behind him other personnel were hyperventilating and trying to calm each other. One standing guard seemed unaffected until he lurched and emptied his stomach.

Through the bloody glass, Aurellia remained as a healthy, clouded sapphire gem.

"Of course it didn't work…" Urobach answered bitterly, utterly unsurprised and not even in the mood to yell. He turned to leave his subordinates to clean up, the door whooshing open then closed behind him.

『AN: A rather plot heavy one this time around. Thanks to Convergence for reviewing the first three chapters of Light Arc! So I was able to use Shuriken's favourite phoenix in this one lol, giving Neptune a short but important part. Note to any fellow joggers out there: buy the expensive running shoes. I've twisted my damn ankle pretty bad, but it's wrapped up and healing, no bones broken. I should be right as rain in a few days. Also, I was talked into putting off my work placement by family, them suggesting that I should hold out for the best internship I can find. Well, I still aim to finish AUrellia this year and I should have more freedom with one less subject this semester. Auditing class is proving to be heavy though, one of my readers knows about that.』

。