"That fool! He walked into his own death," Amgod ranted. Things quickly turned for the worst after Chuck's death. The following attack of Ira's army forced what little remained of the kingdom's defenders to fall back to the castle. The draw bridge was raised, leaving them isolated on the massive hill. However, everyone knew this would not stall the invaders for long. All they could do was scramble around and set up the best defenses they possibly could.
As this happened, Mana was busy trying to calm a hyperventilating Sarah, "Look at me. Look at me. Breath, okay… breath," to varying success.
Minako hurriedly floated towards the other Magician Girls, "What has happened?! Everything's become chaotic!"
Yuzuki fought back the tears leaking down her face to answer, "It's Charles. H-he DIED!"
The red wizard's eyes widened, "He-he's dead..?" in response, Sarah hollered a wail of pure despair.
"Little Miss, you must calm down!" Mana desperately cried.
"It's-it's-its all MY FAULT!" Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Yes it is!" Amgod exasperated, "If you had simply followed your duty then that other human might still be alive!"
Mana grit her teeth and fired back, "That's enough! She doesn't need to feel worse!"
"Watch your insolent tone, Mana! I will have no insubordination in my kingdom!"
Mana seethed in frustration but said nothing more. Now wasn't the time. The situation escalated out of control so quickly. She needed to make a decision, and it wasn't easy to make. She addressed her fellow magicians, "All of you, go into the catacombs and escort the civilians through the pass."
Kokoa asked in a shaky voice, "What about you?"
"I will remain and fulfill my duty as the Little Miss' guardian."
"But, we need you…" Kiwi argued.
"I am your leader and you will do as I say!" Mana commanded in a forceful tone of voice. The other wizards all reeled back hearing their leader speak that way, "I'm prepared for what might happen, But you must carry on if the worst is to pass."
"My lady, are you planning to lay down your life?" Minako confronted.
"If that is what's necessary, then I shall!"
"That's not fair! You can't just leave us!" Yuzuki whined.
"This is not a discussion!" Mana shouted, "There is little time remaining, you must go!"
It was hard to accept, but the others eventually relented. Before they left, Minako had one final thing to say, "My Lady, you better survive. If you don't, I'll never forgive you!" she said with tears in her eyes.
Mana couldn't look Minako in the eye. When her subordinates left her, she turned her full attention to Sarah, "Listen to me, I know everything looks hopeless now, but please take these words to heart! Everything will work out for the better, I promise you!"
Sarah managed to calm down, even if for even a few seconds, "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do!"
A soldier near Mana doubled over and fell on his knees. He clutched his head and screamed in agony. The blonde wizard looked over to him, "Are you alright?"
"Why the Hell would I be alright?!" the soldier lashed out, causing Mana to reel back, "Can't you see everything's gone to shit?!"
Freed, who was nearby, tackled the soldier to the ground, "You bastard! Don't you ever talk to Lady Mana that way!" the tone of Freed's voice, it sounded very unnatural.
"Damn humans!" Amgod shouted, driving Mana's attention to him, "Why must we suffer for their hatred and arrogance?!" his breathing grew more rapid and ragged. All of a sudden, he hollered a scream of rage and slammed his fist into the wall, creating an indent.
"My Lord?" Mana then felt a twinge of pain surge in the side of her head. All of a sudden, she felt an urge, a need, to blast this tyrant into ash. She readied her wand with dark energy and—she widened her eyes and stopped. Mana felt her throat dry up. It was clear what was happening, "He's here… Lord Ira is nearing the castle!"
Sarah felt pure horror when she heard that, "Lord Ira…"
Mana manically grabbed hold of Sarah's shoulders, "Listen to me right now! You must get away from us!" she spat in desperation, "It's taking everything I have not to vaporize everything in front of me!"
"Mana..?" Sarah trailed off.
"He's coming!" the blonde wizard warned. Mana grasped the sides of her head and screamed in pure agony, "Run away! Run away while I still have sanity!"
With tears clouding her vision, Sarah turned from Mana and ran as far as her little legs could take her. From behind, she heard the sounds of violent destruction behind her. She kept running. Where she went, she didn't know. He's dead. All she knew was that she needed to get away. It's all my fault. The toll her running took on her small body was terrible. I'm weak. Exhaustion took over, forcing herself to collapse onto the floor. I can't do it. She just managed to flip onto her back; however, her breathing would not slow down. I'm worthless. She could only, stare into nothingness, alone with her thoughts…
All alone. It's all my fault. Everyone's going to die. I'm weak. He's dead. I can't do it. I'm worthless. It's all my fault. I can't. Dead. Alone. Everyone dies. Weakling. He's dead he's dead hes dead hes dead hes dead… hes—he—
Sarah's ragged breathing and heavy heart rate slowed when she felt a small and warm lump lying atop her stomach. She lifted her head, her vision focusing to see Melffy Fenny curled up into ball. Her shaking arm slowly lifted to pet the small and fuzzy creature, who purred in delight. Sarah calmed down enough to see her other Melffy monsters surrounding her in a circle. She bade them closer and they obliged, snuggling with her.
"Everything will work out for the better," she repeated to herself. Sarah at that moment experienced a sobering realization. Try as she might, she could never escape the reality of the situation. She needed to face Lord Ira. If he was allowed to roam free, then everything in both worlds would be lost.
This was her destiny.
Sarah's eyes widened when she heard heavy and metallic footsteps. All of her Melffy's vanished and returned to her deck. The little girl quickly pushed herself back up standing and looked in the direction of the footsteps. Her pupils dilated and her breath grew ragged when she saw the massive figure in black armor slowly emerge from the shadows. She could only surmise him to be:
"Lord Ira…"
"Interesting, you don't appear to succumb to my power," he mused. It quickly dawned on Ira what this meant, "You are of THAT bloodline!"
Sarah began crying in fear at the sight of the most dangerous being she knew of. Her speech became incoherent, her body trembled, and a stream of liquid fell from underneath her dress and splashed at her feet. Sarah screamed in distraught when she realized what happened.
Ira laughed maniacally, "So this is the chosen duelist? A terrified little infant who needs her diaper changed?" Sarah wanted to fire a comeback, but all she managed was a squeak of fright, "Your ancestors have halted my path of destruction more times than I care to count. I will enjoy making you suffer," Ira tossed to Sarah's feet a beat up old duel disk. When she locked eyes with the device, she released a loud and tortured gasp. This duel disk, it was the same one that… "Pick it up!" Ira demanded.
Sarah put on her best brave face and secured the duel disk around her arm. She then slotted her deck inside, "I won't lose!"
"We'll see," Ira held out his arm. Five blades appeared on his forearm and spun in a circular rotation. They then snapped horizontally, forming a more proper duel disk.
Now the stage was set. The duel fate itself determined had begun.
"Let's Duel!"
Sarah had the first move, "I-I summon Melffy Wally," Sarah's monster (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast, Atk. 0, Def. 400) was a kangaroo carrying two little ones in her pouch. The pint sized duelist then played a spell, "Next I activate Melffy Hide and Seek. This continuous spell can save each Melffy monster I control from destruction once per turn," with this set up, Sarah could hopefully control the flow of the duel.
"My turn," Ira declared in a low voice as he drew his card, "I set one facedown card on the field. Then I summon Unchained Twins - Rakea," (Lv. 3, WATER, Fiend, Atk. 1500, Def. 1500), Ira's monster looked somewhat human, but the broken chained restraints tied to it's limbs suggested it wasn't meant to be free.
"I activate Melffy Wally's effect!" Sarah immediately blurted. Wally evaporated into a sprite of light that flew into Sarah's hand, where it retuned to being a card, "When you summon a monster, I can return Wally to my hand and special summon two Melffy monsters from my deck," Melffy Puppy (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast, Atk. 300, Def. 100) and Melffy Catty (Lv. 2, Earth, Beast, Ak. 200, Def. 200) were summoned in defense.
"Pitiful," Ira boasted, "I activate Rakea's effect. Once per turn I can target one card I control and destroy it," Ira set card glowed in a red aura before exploding
Sarah was confused, "Why would you do something like that?" she would soon find her answer when she saw a dark aura appear next to Rakea. Another human-like monster emerged onto Ira's field, "W-what..?"
"I can special summon an Unchained monster when a card effect destroys Abominable Chamber of the Unchained, such as Unchained Twins - Sarama," (Lv. 3, DARK, Fiend, Atk. 1500, Def. 1500).
Sarah put on her best brave face, "You special summoned a monster, so I activate Melffy Puppy's effect in response to your summoning. Now I return Puppy to my hand to special summon a level two or lower beast type monster from my deck. I chose Kalantosa, Mystical Beast of the Forest," Sarah's little hedgehog (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast, Atk. 200, Def. 1400) replaced Melffy Puppy's place on the field in defense. The latter was returned to her hand, "Kalantosa has the effect to target and destroy a card on the field whenever it's special summoned by the effect of a beast type monster. I choose Sarama!" Sarama screamed in agony as green energy enveloped it, resulting in it's destruction.
Ira responded, "Your attempts to destroy me are as weak as you are. Rise, Abominable Unchained Soul!" to Sarah's complete shock and horror, a new monster appeared on Ira's field (Lv. 8, DARK, Fiend, Atk. 3000, Def. 1500). It may have looked human, but Sarah could tell it housed an unfathomable evil.
"What just happened?!" the little girl cried.
"Destruction is the core element of my Unchained monsters," Ira crowed, "Destroy one with effects and another will take its place."
Sarah balked. She couldn't use the trickery of her Melffy deck to destroy Ira's board. The only way to effectively destroy Ira's monsters was by battle, but most of her monsters had low attack power.
"Abominable Unchained Soul's effect activates. When this monster is special summoned, I can discard one card to destroy one card you control," one of the cards in Ira's hand vanished in a burst of darkness. When this happened, Sarah's Melffy Hide and Seek disappeared from her duel disk, causing her no shortage of panic, "Now I'll erase both of your pitiful monsters," Rakea attacked a scared and panicking Melffy Catty. Sarah didn't bother using its effect because she knew it wouldn't help. Abominable Unchained Soul went next, eviscerating a terrified Kalantosa, "I set a card and end my turn."
"M-m-my turn…" Sarah pulled herself together for the time being and drew her card. She managed to calm down when she saw it, "I activate Obedience Schooled. This spell special summons three level two beast type monsters from my deck with their effects negated," three of Sarah's monsters immediately appeared on the field. Who they were, however, ultimately didn't matter.
"I activate my trap Needle Ceiling!" Ira barked. In an instant, a plate of spikes appeared above the whole field. Before Sarah could even comprehend it, she screamed in utter terror as the plate crashed down on every monster in play. The little girl bordered on hyperventilating when she saw the pools of blood left behind when the plate vanished, "Rakea's effect activates, unleashing Unchained Soul of Disaster!" while this defense position monster (Lv. 8, DARK, Fiend, Atk. 0, Def. 3000) didn't seem to have any physical form, the spirt contained in it's bonds Sarah could tell housed the same incompressible evil she felt before.
"What is this power?" the little duelist then received the shock of her life when a skeletal ghost flew right past her, scaring her silly. It flew over to Ira and shrunk itself into a card, which he forcefully grabbed.
"Secondly, now that Abominable Unchained Soul, a level eight fiend monster, was sent to the graveyard, Dark Spirit of Malice returns to my hand."
"When was that in your graveyard?" Sarah asked. She suddenly felt a chill down her spine when she remembered. Ira discarded a card to activate Abominable Unchained Soul's effect. It must have been Dark Spirit of Malice.
"Of every opponent I faced of your bloodline, you are easily the weakest," Ira insulted, chuckling darkly to himself.
Sarah felt her knees weaken looking at the state of the duel. Ira was in full control and she'd done essentially nothing to him. Was there any way out? That's when she saw it. In her hand, there was a card that might be able to turn the tide. Why didn't she see it before? With something resembling a plan forming in her head, Sarah took two cards out of her hand and finished her play.
"I set a monster in defense, and another card facedown. I end my turn, and during the end phase, both Melffy Wally and Puppy return to the field."
But before they were summoned, Ira interjected, "You've activated an effect, therefore I discard Dark Spirit of Malice to resurrect Abominable Unchained Soul. Be reborn!" the monster Ira destroyed previously returned to the field, filling Sarah will all kinds of dread, "Because this monster was resurrected this way, it's effects are negated, not that it will make a difference."
Now Wally and Puppy returned to the field. Both of these monsters were summoned in defense. Sarah steeled herself. This plan just had to work.
"My turn," Ira took a moment to look at the card he just drew, "Humans are pathetic, but their creations have their uses."
"What?"
"I activate the continuous spell Wailing of the Unchained Souls. With this card in effect, when an Unchained Link monster is summoned to my field, I can destroy one card in play."
"Link summon?" Sarah repeated. How did Ira get the capability to do that?
"Unchained Soul of Disaster has the effect to target a monster you control and use it as material for a Link Summon," Sarah felt her body go numb. Ira had the power to do that?
"The summoning conditions are two monsters including an Unchained Soul monster," a Link gate appeared above both duelists. Melffy Puppy screeched in terror as it converted into a crimson wisp, as did Soul of Disaster. Both wisps flew into the Link gate as it opened, forming arrows at the top and bottom, "Link Summon! Unchained Soul of Rage!" the entity that flew out of the Link gate, Sarah could tell, housed an unspeakable evil. This creature was Unchained Soul of Rage (Link - 2, DARK, Fiend/Link, Atk. 1800), "Wailing of the Unchained Souls activates, destroying your set card," Sarah felt immense pressure as her set trap, Melffy Playhouse, evaporated.
Despite the overwhelming aura of this Link Monster, Sarah enacted her plan, "I activate the effect of Melffy Wally. She returns to my hand and summons two Melffy monsters from my deck: Melffy Fenny and Melffy Pony," both in defense, Fenny (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast, Atk. 100, Def. 300) scampered onto the field along with Melffy Pony (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast, Atk. 400, Def. 0), a small equine with a hot pink coat complimented with a light blue mane and tail.
"Do you intend on hiding behind these weaklings forever?" Ira taunted.
"These 'Weaklings' have more fighting spirit than you realize!" Sarah bravely responded, "I activate Melffy Pinny's effect from my hand. Since a Melffy monster was added to my hand because of it's effect, Melffy Pinny is special summoned," this new Melffy (Lv. 2, WATER, Beast/Tuner, Atk. 300, Def. 100) was a small seal that clapped it's fins in excitement, "And when Pinny is summoned this way, Pinny can Synchro Summon using a Melffy monster in my hand."
"Synchro Summon?"
Sarah closed her eyes tightly, Please, give me your strength, she opened them into the best glare she could muster, "Level two Melffy Pinny tunes level two Melffy Wally," Pinny flipped into the air and converted into two green rings. Wally would jump into these rings, dissipating into two stars, "Synchro Summon! Emerge! Merry Melffys!" the Merry Mellfys (Lv 4, EARTH, Beast/Synchro, Atk. 1500, Def. 1000) were true to their name. They were a collection of Melffys having a merry old time at a river.
"When Merry Melffys are summoned, I can target one monster and return it to the hand," the Melffys rushed forward towards Abominable Unchained Soul. With terrific effort, they heaved the Fiend over to Ira, dissolving it back into a card in his hand. The Lord of Rage was not happy with this event.
"Damn brat!" Ira seethed, "I know of your cowardly tactics with these annoying creatures. I'll end my turn here."
"My turn. I draw!" Sarah looked at the card she drew. With this card, she could finally gain some momentum, "I summon Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest!" a small fawn with a white flower bed on its back (Lv. 2, EARTH, Beast/Tuner, Atk. 400, Def. 900) happily pranced onto the field, "Now I overlay Valerifawn, Melffy Fenny, and Melffy Pony," all three of these monsters converted into golden wisps that converged into a black vortex, "With these monsters, I build the overlay network. Matriarch of the forest, let your children bask in your warm embrace. Xyz Summon! Melffy Mommy!" Sarah's giant puff ball of joy (Rank. 2, EARTH, Beast/Xyz, Atk. 1000, Def. 1000) bounced onto the field, happy to be battling with her master once more.
Or so it would seem.
"Fool…" Ira purred, "You've dug your own grave. During your turn, Unchained Soul of Rage targets a special summoned monster you control. The targeted monster is then used as material along with Soul of Rage to Link Summon a DARK type Fiend monster. I will use your Synchro monster as material," the Merry Melffys all panicked as they were sucked into the appearing Link gate with Soul of Rage. The arrows were the very top and all three at the bottom, "The summoning conditions are two monsters including a Link Monster. That which lies dormant, break free of your chains and deliver destruction untold! Link Summon! Be unleashed! Unchained Abomination!"
In that moment, Sarah understood true fear as she saw the horrifying monstrosity emerge from the Link gate. This was the evil she had been sensing all this time. This was Ira's ultimate monster, Unchained Abomination (Link - 4, DARK, Fiend/Link, Atk. 3000), it's piercing roar cracked the stonework and shattered any nearby windows.
"Your fate is sealed," Ira taunted, "Wailing of the Unchained's effect activates. Since a Link monster was summoned, your weakling of a monster vanishes!" Melffy Mommy screamed in agony before disintegrating into nothing. As Sarah tried to process this information, Ira continued, "Now Unchained Abomination activates it's effect. When a card is destroyed, it destroys another card," Unchained Abomination reeled back and slamed down on Sarah's set Mine Mole, destroying it, "You have nothing left to protect you."
Sarah could only stammer, "I…. I—"
"My turn," Ira declared. After he drew his card, he inserted a different one into his duel disk, "I set a card. Now I activate Unchained Soul of Sharvara's effect. I target the card I set and destroy it. This allows me to special summon Soul of Sharvara," a horrifying red beast appeared (Lv. 6, FIRE, Fiend, Atk. 2000, Def. 1500). Ira's set card was destroyed, but this was a part of his plan, "A card effect destroyed Escape of the Unchained, therefore, I summon Unchained Soul of Shyama, from my deck" now a blue beast similar in appearance to Sharvara appeared (Lv. 6, WATER, Fiend, Atk. 2000, Def. 1500).
Sarah felt her breath die in that moment. Now that she had nothing to defend her, she understood what was about to happen. Ira relished the fear in Sarah's eyes, "Now, feel the depths of my hatred! Attack, my beasts!" all three of Ira's monsters attacked Sarah directly. All three of these attacks tortured and battered the small child beyond what she should be physically capable of enduring. The resulting attacks decimated the castle walls, leaving behind a thick pile of rubble and dust.
After the onslaught, Sarah was left with only 1000 lifepoints remaining. While she could continue playing, it was abundantly clear she had no stamina remaining. Her limbs were numb, her lungs felt heavy, even the act of blinking proved difficult. Ira slowly walked to his opponent, roughly grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up to eye level.
"You lose," he declared. In that moment, despair overtook Sarah's heart. Mana was wrong, nothing would turn out okay. She failed everyone and everything. All hope was lost, "The cycle ends here," Ira said, tightening his grip around Sarah's arm, "Fear not, you shall live for now. You're more useful to me alive. But make no mistake, you will beg me to end your pathetic life!" Ira grabbed Sarah's other arm and twisted it wrong, resulting in a sickening crack and a wail of pure agony. Despite her screaming, no one would hear her. Ira cackled at Sarah's suffering with gleeful malice. He hollered in victory:
"Who will stop me now?! WHO?!"
After looking into the light, something inexplicably pulled him back out. He only knew he was awake because his body ached all over. With great strain, Chuck opened his eyes.
