The Kingdom's defenders found reprieve after driving away Lord Ira's forces, thanks in no small part to Chuck's intervention. Amgod stood in front of the young duelist, who carried a look of indifference.
"I suppose I should thank you," he admitted, "But you are still an outsider in this war. You should not have been here in the first place."
Freed stepped in, "With all due respect, Sire, we might very well have fallen without his aid."
"We should keep him around," a stocky soldier chimed in, "Very useful this lad is," a round of confirmatory murmurs among the other soldiers followed. It was clear that they all thought highly of him.
Amgod sighed, "It seems you'll be extending your stay," he said with no shortage of reluctance, "You will stay under the watch of Lady Mana, same as the child," the towering figure stormed off to converse with Freed about strategy.
"Even here, I'm not welcome," Chuck lamented.
"Don't think like that," Mana encouraged, "You did a great thing for us."
"All of us think so," Minako, the wizard in red reciprocated, placing her hand on the young duelist's shoulder, "You can rest easy, we'll stand behind you."
A blonde wizard in a yellow outfit remarked with a cutesy wink, "You should feel honored, being under the protection of such pretty girls."
"You think too highly of yourself, Yuzuki," deadpanned a taller, more mature wizard in a black bodysuit with turquoise highlights.
Yuzuki turned to the other girl, "What do you mean by that, Kiwi? Are you saying I'm ugly?!"
"That's the takeaway you got?" Kiwi asked, not that she was interested.
"You two are such children!" Minako retorted.
"She started it!" Yuzuki whined, childishly pointing to Kiwi.
A wizard with Aquamarine colored hair spoke sweetly to Chuck, "Don't worry about them. They usually make up in about half an hour or so," she wore a navy blue outfit including a crop top and a miniskirt, "My name's Kokoa by the way."
"Nice to meet you," Chuck replied with a combination of courtesy and disinterest.
"If you don't mind my saying, you were very impressive during the battle. I actually thought we were done for. So thank you," she added with a look of gratitude.
"Thanks," Chuck replied, deciding to sit down on a nearby rock. As he did so, he heard a distinctive squeak of discomfort, "Hey, did any of you say something?" that earned him a few raised eyebrows.
Mana eyed the rock Chuck was sitting on with a critical eye. She shook her head and requested of the teen, "Might I trouble you to stand up?" he obliged her. She immediately put her hand on the rock and yanked it away like a piece of cloth, revealing someone underneath. She was a child much smaller than Sarah. She had a wand and wizard cap of her own, as well as a pacifier in her mouth.
"Wh-what?" he stumbled. That rock felt so real. How was it a piece of cloth?
"Momo! What did I tell you? You are to wait in the castle like everyone else," Mana scolded.
The tiny wizard pulled out her pacifier, "But I wanna help!" she yelled in a childishly squeaky voice.
"You're only an apprentice," Mana chided, "You're not ready for something like this. Besides, you're not mature enough yet."
"But Yuzuki gets to be here."
Yuzuki, flailing her arms about, wailed, "I'm more mature than you!"
To which Kiwi remarked: "Debatable."
"YOU'RE SO MEAN!" Yuzuki cried.
This is an elite force? Chuck thought to himself. This was more like a dysfunctional family. He sighed in annoyance at that thought.
Mana continued, "The point is, Momo, you're too young for this battle."
"But what about Miss Sarah?" Momo questioned.
Mana scrunched up her face and responded, "That is not the same thing and you know it! I order you to remain in the castle until this is over!"
Seeing she wasn't going to win this argument, the pint sized wizard slumped and sadly relented, "Okay…" and put her pacifier back in her mouth.
"Minako, can you escort Momo back to the castle?" Mana asked.
"Of course, My Lady," her friend replied with a courteous nod.
Sarah looked on as Minako and Momo left the group. She stood by, unable to discern what she should be doing at this situation. Lost in her thoughts, she overheard two soldiers having a conversation.
"Did she even do anything?"
"Not a thing, she just hid behind Lady Mana the whole time."
"Hard to believe she's Sir Fredrick's kid, huh?"
"We're all dead if she's really the one who faces Ira. I say we have the other human do it."
"You know it doesn't work that way. We wouldn't be relying on a child if there was another."
"The Cycle of Prophecy, huh? What a pain."
Sarah whimpered. They were right, they shouldn't be depending on her. She couldn't keep focus in a normal duel, let alone one with stakes. Sarah saw Chuck sitting on a rock, a real one this time. With a racing heart, she tried to make conversation.
"Chuck..?" he didn't speak back. He instead turned his back on her. Clearly, he was still upset with her. She pleaded, "Chuck, please say something."
"Go away," he said, "I don't want to talk to you."
"Please, I'm so sorry about all this! I was just so desperate! I couldn't—"
"Yeah, we're all sorry, aren't we?" Chuck bitterly lamented, "You're sorry for dragging me into this war, and I'm sorry I wasted so much of my life on dueling."
That cold tone of voice sent a shiver down Sarah's spine. He's talking exactly like Martin, "you shouldn't talk like—"
"Shut up," he interrupted, paralyzing Sarah, "Just shut up. Dueling's only ever gave me heartbreak. You of all people should see how it breaks relationships apart. Nothing good comes of it."
Sarah couldn't believe her ears. Maybe Nanny was right all along. Maybe dueling really is a poison.
Across the vast landscape, there was no movement to be seen, save for a single living thing walking slowly towards the army. In the middle of his conversation with Amgod, Freed noticed this figure.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" he yelled, drawing his sword. His outburst alerted others around him, creating a domino effect where everyone eventually locked their eyes on this approaching being. It was a single figure, face and body concealed with a tattered black cloak. His wooden and methodical movements made it hard to believe he was a living creature at all. He kept walking, despite Freed's warnings, but he would not listen. He continued walking until he was in plain view for all to see. A squadron of soldiers pointed their spears threateningly at him, yet he would not flinch. Sarah looked at him and felt intense dread.
"I can sense it," she said, "He carries a piece of Ira's power," Chuck widened his eyes at that statement, "It's so overpowering. It's like he doesn't even have a human soul."
"State your business!" Amgod demanded.
The figure replied in an emotionless tone, "I seek the one who commands the dragon of creation."
Chuck widened his eyes. The dragon of Creation? That sounded like Shooting Quasar Dragon. He stood up and walked towards the figure, passing by the spear toting soldiers.
"What do you want?" the teen duelist questioned.
The robbed figure answered plainly, "I've come for you, at the behest of my master."
"Your master? Are you talking about Ira?"
"'Lord' Ira."
"Whatever, just tell me who you are."
"My name is of no importance," he replied, "All you must know is that your life is nearing its end."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, a promise," the robbed figure held up a device his cloak previously concealed. Chuck recognized it as a duel disk, a duel disk that was callously tossed to the ground in front of him. Chuck kneeled down to grab the shabby looking tech. It was an older model, but it still seemed to be functional. As he strapped it into place, his opponent held his arm forward. In a swirl of dark energy, a duel disk materialized. It was made of an unrecognizable black material and carried all manner of wicked shapes and contours.
"Okay then," Chuck uttered, "Let's get this over with," This shouldn't be so hard. Mana floated over to him.
"You should be careful, young Charles," she warned, "There's something about him that seems unnatural."
"Trust I know what I'm doing," he replied. Mana nervously nodded in response and returned to Sarah, who was more worrying than anyone.
Chuck can't duel the way he is now, she repeated in her head. Both duelists drew five cards out of their decks.
"Let's Duel!"
The hooded figure took three cards out of his hand and slotted all of them into his duel disk, "I set three cards and end my turn."
The young duelist balked. No monsters. Normally, his proficiency in the Ikari Family BS Detector could allow him to deduce if his opponent was making a bluff or a proactive move; however, something about this situation felt wrong. Chuck couldn't tell what his opponent's strategy was, and that worried him. Mana was right, something was unnatural about this guy.
"My turn. I draw," before Chuck could even look at the card he drew:
"I activate the trap card Banquet of Millions!" his opponent activated his trap, "When I activate this card, I select a number of monsters in my Extra Deck and banish them. For every card I banish, the same number of cards are randomly banished from your extra deck until the end phase."
I think I see what he's going for. He wants to try and cripple me this turn so he can buy time for a card he needs.
Chuck would soon find out that his prediction couldn't be any further away from the truth. In a swift act, the mysterious figure remorselessly flung fifteen cards out of his duel disc, enough cards to fill an Extra Deck. The young duelist's eyes dilated when he saw the cards scatter to the ground.
"You banished your entire Extra Deck…" Chuck breathed in shallow bursts of air, shocked that any duelist would treat his cards so disrespectfully.
"Since I banished fifteen cards, your entire Extra Deck is banished for the remainder of the turn," Chuck felt an unseen force wildly tug on his arm, lifting his arm and his duel disk up in the air. The compartment for his Extra Deck popped open forcibly. One by one, all fifteen cards flew out as if caught in the wind.
"No! Don't go!" he cried as he saw his cards vanish into thin air, leaving behind only dust. Only when the last card disappeared was Chuck's sore arm released.
The second trap flipped up, "Now I activate the trap, D.D. Dynamite. This card deals you 300 points of effect damage for every one of your banished cards. You have fifteen banished cards. D.D. Dynamite deals you 4500 effect damage."
A lit bundle of dynamite materialized right in front of Chuck. He barely had enough time to gasp before it exploded in a violent storm of dust and shrapnel. The pain Chuck felt was instant, shocking every nerve in his body with unparalleled agony. The result of this move left Chuck with 3500 lifepoints.
"What just happened?!" Mana exclaimed, "He hasn't even started his turn yet!"
"Wh-what..?" Chuck sputtered, coughing blood as he spoke. His clothes were singed and tattered, and his skin was burnt in certain places. It was a struggle just to stay standing up. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was not finished.
The final trap activated, "I activate Trap Trick. When this card is activated, I banish a normal trap card in my deck to set a copy of it onto the field," Chuck felt his voice die when he saw what was in his opponent's hand, "The chosen card is D.D. Dynamite," he set it on the field, "I activate D.D. Dynamite."
Another bundle of dynamite appeared in front of Chuck. He didn't even so much as gasp before everything went blank. There was no sound, no sight, no smell, no feeling at all.
The defenders all watched with baited breath witnessing a second explosion enveloping Chuck. No one dared speak a word waiting for the dust to settle. Sarah felt her heart drop when she saw Chuck's limp body. His head hung high, his lifeless eyes looking up above into nothingness. The cards in his slumping hand unceremoniously fell to the ground. It was then his body began tipping forward. Almost immediately, Chuck collapsed onto the ground with a pathetic thud.
Sarah's cry of pure despair reached all ears, drowning out the chaotic marching of Ira's demon hordes. The defenders didn't even have a chance to get in formation before the enemy descended upon them.
The robed figure knelt down to Chuck's limp body. He checked for a pulse. As expected, there was none. With his mission complete, all that was left was to dispose of the trash. While the two armies fought for supremacy, the figure grabbed hold of Chuck's arm and dragged his corpse to the edge of the cliff. With callous abandon, he flung Chuck's body over the edge, watching it splash into the raging rapids at the bottom. The victor let out a sigh. He should be thankful. This was a mercy, a relief from suffering.
On that day, professional Duelist Charles Ikari lost his life in the realm of Duel Monsters.
Ashley: Oh where could he be.
Aella: Don't worry about it, I'm sure both Chuck and Sarah are somewhere.
Ashley: you don't sound confident. I have a feeling something terrible happened to them.
Next Time: The Lord of Hatred
To be Continued…