"I set one card end and my turn," the final Obelisk Force goon declared after I'd shut down any of his attempts at play. Despite there being over a hundred of them, nothing they could do could penetrate my Tearlaments board—in fact, the interactions with Sulliek and Rullkalos had only helped me gain more advantage. That was not to say that the duel had been easy—managing multiple interactions each turn and keeping track of an ever-growing number of boardstates was a huge mental tax, and I couldn't just fall into an easy rhythm when half of them were running Shaddoll and the other half were on Ancient Gear. I still had no idea why Leo Akaba had decided to equip half his soldiers with a real meta deck, but I suspected it had something to do with the Herald of the Supreme King.
"I'll activate Redoer in end step, detaching a trap to tuck away your backrow and a spell to draw a card," I said. I chuckled lightly as I saw what I'd drawn, before progressing to a full-on evil laugh. This duel had been going for eight hours—eight bloody hours—to get through over a hundred bloody turns, and I was starting to go a bit loopy from the stress of constantly dueling. Thankfully, I had packed a few snacks, but I was still quite tired and hungry.
"It's my turn," I laughed as I drew for turn. "It's my turn, at long last."
"You can't possibly defeat all of us!" one Academia soldier taunted. "After you end your turn, one of us will win!"
"About that…" I said. "Activate Invocation, banishing Aleister and Ash from my yard to make Purgatrio. Invocation grave effect, add back Aleister. I'll activate the effect of Aleister in hand, pitching it to boost Purgatrio by 1000 attack points. Additionally, Perlereino boosts all my fusion monsters by an additional 500 attack points."
"It's still just one monster!" another soldier pointed out. These guys weren't very bright, were they?
"Thank you for stating the obvious," I said drily. "Invoked Purgatrio can attack all monsters you control, once each."
"That still isn't enough damage—" a third began, before I cut him off.
"And Invoked Purgatrio gains 200 attack points for each card you guys control," I explained. "In addition, it has piercing." The trio of fiery demons burned far brighter as I remarked on their attack-boosting effect to give a nice visual representation of exactly how screwed my opponents were.
"Impossible!" the first guy yelled.
Well, if that's how we're going to do this, I might as well make this as anime as possible. "Go, Invoked Purgatrio! Attack all their monsters and finish this! Hellfire Overburst!" I had no idea what "Hellfire Overburst" was supposed to mean, but the result was impressive. With a brilliant flash of flames, Purgatrio leapt forth, consuming the battlefield in fire. The smell of burning flesh reached my nostrils, and it smelled similar to overcooked beef, but also nauseatingly sweet. I gagged and fell to my knees, but I still had one thing left to do.
With a shaky hand, I reached out to the newly installed feature on my duel disk, the button that would card anyone who lost a duel to me. I hesitated a moment before steeling myself and pressing the button. I had asked for this; I couldn't back out now. People were depending on me to do this, to get my hands dirty.
The response was immediate. While a few moments prior the Obelisk Force members had been screaming because of the fire, they now screamed in much worse pain. The smoke cleared, and I could see their faces, contorted in an expression that showed absolute terror. The show really hadn't done justice to how horrible the process was. Tortured cries rang out all around me, and I could barely summon the strength to cover my ears.
Then a light flashed, and cards drifted to the ground among me, each one of them showing another nameless duelist with their face transfixed in horror at their fate. I slumped to the ground, unable to bear the emotions swirling within me any longer.
What had I done?
Was this what war really was?
Was I really just as bad as they were?
Was Yuya right all along?
No.
No, Yuya was wrong. I was doing the right thing. When you're attacked, you defend yourself. You do what you need to do to make yourself safe.
But this went way beyond self-defense. I'd tortured these people, these young men and women, making their final moments nothing but pain and terror.
I couldn't have known. The show depicted people screaming during duels constantly. Why would this be any different?
Ignorance doesn't make things right, though.
Then I heard it. A yell, a primal cry, one that spoke of pain that came from the heart.
"YUZUUUUUUUUUU!"
—| |—
"YUZUUUUUUUUUU!" Yuya screamed, head turned skyward as Yuzu flew backwards, defeated.
Yuzu's opponent—he called himself Ruberum, but Yuzu had correctly identified him as the Herald of the Supreme King—stalked towards Yuzu's downed form.
Yuzu, Yuya's closest childhood friend, whom he had sworn to protect, had been defeated, and he had stood by, unable to do anything. Ruberum's deck was too much for her, his Thunder Dragon Colossus sealing Yuzu's ability to search for cards while Ruberum's Branded cards tore apart her meager defenses. And Yuya… he had been forced to watch, unable to move, restrained by shackles of shadow.
Seeing Yuzu brutalized like she had been had snapped something within him. Joshua had told him to stay calm, but after seeing that… nobody could stay calm after seeing what Ruberum had done to his closest friend.
Ruberum picked up Yuzu, cradling her in a bridal carry while stroking her face and arms. "Beautiful…" the Herald of the Supreme King whispered, before taking her bracelet off of her wrist and crushing it with his bare hands. "Ray will not interfere here," he proclaimed, tossing the piece of broken metal aside.
Yuya glared at the cloaked man, his vision obscured by a haze of anger. His eyes glowed bright red before shifting to a blinding white. "You… damn you… DAMN YOU!"
"Angry, are we?" Ruberum said mockingly, before gesturing to his duel disk, Yuzu still held in his other arm. The intent was clear.
"I'll kill you," Yuya stated flatly, as if it was a fact, not a declaration. "Duel!"
"Would you like to take the first move, milord?" Ruberum asked, bowing.
"It doesn't matter," Yuya responded coldly. "You'll soon be dead all the same."
"In that case, since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Kashtira Unicorn from my hand!" Ruberum said, grinning madly. "My lord, you are still too weak, too incomplete. Allow me to show you the power I have, the power you must surpass!"
Yuya said nothing, merely glaring murderously at Ruberum. Through the haze of red, he could barely distinguish the shape of the monster the cloaked man had Summoned.
"Unicorn effect, add Theosis. Activate Theosis for Fenrir, Fenrir for Riseheart…" Ruberum rattled off the steps to his combo at breakneck pace, similarly to how Joshua used to duel when he'd first arrived, summoning monster after monster without a pause. Before he knew it, half of Yuya's deck was banished face-down, and all of his spell and trap zones had been rendered unusable by the effect of Ruberum's Xyz monster. This… this was something far more powerful than even the most fiendish board of negates he'd ever been able to construct.
"End turn," Ruberum declared after what seemed like an eternity. "Well, Yuya? You said you'd kill me, so make your move!"
Yuya grimly looked through the cards in his hand, realizing that none of them could deal with Ruberum's two copies of Kashtira Shangri-Ira and Kashtira Arise-Heart. Yet an otherworldly confidence flowed through him, telling him that he'd be able to find his way out of this, and all he had to do was…
"Draw!"
Edo's footsteps echoed loudly within the silent halls of Academia. Normally, this part of the island would have at least some noise as high-ranking officers came and went, even this late in the evening, but today it was silent, as this was the day of the invasion of Standard. The Professor's strange fixation on Serena had caused him to send a number of officers as part of the invasion force, including Yuri, his personal enforcer. It made absolutely no military sense to Edo, but on this island, the Professor's word was law, even if some of his commands sounded like the rantings of a madman.
The door to the Professor's sanctum was open, and the man himself reclined lazily on his throne, giving no indication that he might be worried about the success of the invasion. The Professor nodded in greeting to Edo, and the general knelt to the floor below the throne, awaiting the Professor's orders.
After a silence that seemed as though it had stretched for minutes, the Professor gestured for Edo to speak.
"General Edo Phoenix reporting, sir," he said shakily. He knew that the news he had would not be received well by the Professor, and what happened to those who drew the man's ire was spoken of only in hushed whispers, accompanied by rumors of the enigmatic Doktor.
Swallowing, Edo continued. "The special kill-task unit has been entirely neutralized by Joshua Cohen," he said slowly. "The rest of the invasion force is being resisted. Enforcer Yuri was defeated by an unknown agent from Standard and is now going on a rampage, seemingly unable to distinguish friend from foe. Nearly one hundred and twenty soldiers have been carded so far."
"I see," the Professor said coldly, but the man's fury was written obviously on his face. "We underestimated the power of Standard duelists, it appears."
"Indeed," Edo said, choosing his words carefully. "Sir, I believe the best course of action would be to withdraw from Standard before more men are lost."
The Professor reacted strangely to Edo's suggestion. A multitude of emotions flashed across his face, including rage, confusion, and disappointment, but there was one that Edo hadn't expected—fear. It had only lasted for a fraction of a second, but he had never seen the Professor fearful before.
"We cannot withdraw," the Professor said firmly. Of course. It was fate that this invasion would fail, just as it was fate that the invasion of the Xyz dimension would succeed. Better to let fate run its course than attempt to disrupt it. The Professor was a learned man, he understood that.
But still, Edo cared for his men. He couldn't leave them out there on the battlefield, left to be carded by a demonic duelist who had taken out a hundred elite soldiers in one turn or tortured by a man they considered their ally. "There's no point in wasting more men, sir. We'll be losing valuable information along with even more of our forces."
Again, there was that strange fear on the Professor's face. Finally, the Professor relented, his head bowed down in defeat. "Very well. I will recall the troops. Go now."
Not one to stick around when the Professor was clearly not in a good mood, Edo left quickly—not walking hurriedly, as that would show weakness, but deliberately. Whatever had struck fear in the heart of the Professor… he hoped that he would not be fated to experience it as well.
—| |—
"During the Standby Phase, Kashtira Shangri-Ira allows me to Special Summon one Kashtira monster from my deck!" Ruberum explained. "I summon Kashtira Fenrir in defense position."
Yuya glared at the cloaked man. "Main phase one," he declared. "I activate Odd-Eyes Revolution Dragon! By discarding this card and paying 500 life points, I can one level eight or lower Dragon Pendulum Monster from my deck to my hand! Come to me, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
[Yuya: 8000 - 7500]
"Kashtira Arise-Heart's effect activates!" Ruberum yelled. "I attach my banished Kashtiratheosis to it as material."
"I activate Performapal Monkeyboard in my Pendulum Zone!" Yuya said. "Once per turn I can—"
"Kashtira Arise-Heart's effect!" Ruberum interrupted. "By detaching three materials from this card, I can target one card you control and banish it face-down!"
Yuya glared as the circus monkey was blasted out of the heavenly pillar of light of the Pendulum Scale by Arise-Heart.
"In this instant, four effects trigger," Ruberum stated. "Kashtira Arise-Heart attaches one banished card as material, Diablosis banishes cards from your deck face-down equal to the number of face-down banished cards you control, and both Shangri-Iras will lock another of your zones! Then, since Diablosis banished cards you own face-down, both Shangri-Iras will trigger an additional time! You only have one zone remaining, Yuya!"
"One zone is all I need," Yuya said coldly. "Since Kashtira Arise-Heart, Diablosis the Mind Hacker, and both copies of Kashtira Shangri-Ira have activated their effects, I can tribute them!"
"Impossible!" Ruberum spat. "Impossible! You shouldn't be able to have—"
"I summon Kurikara Divincarnate!" Yuya yelled, slamming the card onto the duel disk. "Kurikara Divincarnate gains 1500 attack for each monster tributed to summon it, bringing it up to 7500 attack points!"
The fiery goddess emerged in a burst of mystical white fire as the enormous forms of the Shangri-Iras collapsed into ash, while Ariseheart and Diablosis were incinerated in pillars of flame. Ruberum stepped back, stunned.
"Of course…" he breathed, regaining his composure. "Of course you would be able to create the out, milord Zarc."
"Silence," Yuya spat, raising his arm towards the sky. "With Performapal Skullcrobat Joker and Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, I set the Pendulum Scales! Swing, pendulum of my soul! Form an arc of light that splits the sky! Come forth, my monsters! My faithful servant, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Burn everything with your dichromatic eyes!"
"You still don't have enough damage to win," Ruberum pointed out.
"Battle!" Yuya declared. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks Kashtira Fenrir! Spiral Flame Strike!"
With a mighty roar, Odd-Eyes sent a blast of swirling energy towards the red-armored lupine warrior. Even as Fenrir attempted to block with its ax, the blast pushed through, causing Fenrir to shatter into a shower of pixels.
"Kurikara Divincarnate attacks you directly!"
[Ruberum: 8000 - 500]
"You've lost," Ruberum spat. "With this flimsy board, I'll win next turn. Your deck is almost gone."
Yuya merely smirked. "I activate Wavering Eyes!"
Ruberum shook his head. "Do you even have targets left in deck? I doubt that… wait. No. No, not like this!"
"Since I destroyed at least one card, Wavering Eyes inflicts 500 damage to you!"
[Ruberum: 500 - 0]
[Yuya: WIN]
"Let Yuzu go," Yuya said firmly, taking a step towards the cloaked man.
"And why exactly should I do that?" Ruberum asked, cradling Yuzu's body in his arms. "She has proven to be excellent motivation for you so far."
Yuya said nothing, merely taking another step towards Ruberum.
"I see," Ruberum said. "You'd pursue me anywhere to get her back. In that case, we will meet again later in the Synchro dimension. Goodbye, my lord."
In a swirl of shadow, Ruberum disappeared, leaving a very angry Yuya staring at the spot where he had stood just moments prior.
—| |—
Himika Akaba glowered at the panel of screens showing the events of the Battle Royale. Despite her better judgment, her son Reiji had not yet given the order to cut the feeds, thus allowing the entire world to see the brutal war fought within the bounds of Maiami City. She'd watched as Joshua Cohen slaughtered over a hundred Academia soldiers, and she'd seen the Yuya-lookalike from Academia go on a rampage through his own comrades. She'd seen the politician's son, Shingo Sawatari, lock down five members of the invasion force, and the mysterious third party, the Herald of the Supreme King, kidnap one of Yuya's friends despite losing a duel.
And yet none of this was considered unfit to broadcast by Reiji.
"Why are we still broadcasting this?" Himika questioned.
"We haven't gotten any orders to stop yet, ma'am," one of the people monitoring the events said.
"I'm going to get some answers," Himika declared. Turning on her heel, Himika strode towards the elevator that ran through the Leo Corporation Tower, ignoring the protests from the other people in the room. With a single deliberate motion, she entered the elevator and jabbed at the button for the top floor, where Reiji's office was located. Reiji's butler, Nakajima, followed her inside as the doors closed. Not more than one minute later, the elevator doors opened, and Himika stepped out before freezing in shock at the scene before her.
Reiji was lying on the floor of his office in a pool of his own blood. His shoulder and right arm appeared to have been crushed by something, and bones were sticking out of the skin in places. The skin had been scraped off the right side of his chest, and smaller scratch wounds peppered the rest of his body.
"Who did this to my son?" Himika demanded, rushing over to Reiji's side.
"I don't know, ma'am," Nakajima replied. "We haven't seen anyone going in or out of his office."
Himika held her son's wrist and let out a sigh of relief when she felt a faint pulse. "He's still alive and has a pulse, but he's weak. Are you trained in first aid?"
"I am, ma'am," Nakajima responded. "I'll stabilize Master Reiji. Go get medical help."
Himika nodded, all but running back to the elevator. "I'll also instruct the team handling the tournament to cut the feeds." With Reiji unable to orchestrate the event, she would have to act as damage control. The public opinion of Leo Corporation was going to tank unless she figured out a clever way to handle this mess, and Joshua's insistence on morally dubious acts of heroism (not to mention Reiji's enabling of said acts) was going to make things much harder.
—| |—
Yet another group of Obelisk Force goons blocked my path. This was the fourth group I'd encountered on my way to Yuya's presumed location, and it was extraordinarily annoying. None of the groups had consisted of more than ten members, excluding the initial hundred-man attack force, of course, but they still slowed me down, and they seemed to intentionally slow play at times. I was being stalled, and it was irritating.
And every time I encountered them, the result was always the same. I would take the initiative and set up a nigh-unbreakable Tearlaments board, they would slam their ineffectual Ancient Gear or Shaddoll decks into it, and then I'd OTK next turn. I carded these groups with ruthless efficiency, like a farmer harvesting wheat. After that first time, I barely paused after carding them, allowing the adrenaline that was currently fueling my body to shield me from their screams.
This group was a bit different from the previous ones, and only ten minutes into the duel, the Academia soldiers disappeared in streams of light. Presumably they had been recalled back to Fusion, which meant that the invasion was most likely over.. I resumed my sprint, hoping that I wouldn't get interrupted again.
And indeed, I wasn't. Ten minutes later, I found Yuya, eyes glowing bright white, staring at an empty spot on the ground.
"Yuya," I called, but he didn't acknowledge. Dammit, I had precisely zero idea what would snap him out of his berserk state. I took a moment to assess the situation. Yuzu wasn't here, presumably taken either by Academia or taken to Synchro by Yugo. Yuya wasn't actively causing harm, and it was established in the anime that he'd go back to normal either after falling asleep or after time passed. Ironically, the best thing I could do right now was to leave Yuya alone and check for any stragglers that hadn't returned to Academia. Making a mental note of Yuya's current location, I picked a random direction and jogged off. As I did so, I could've sworn I saw a shadowy figure move within the trees, but when I looked again, there was nothing.
—| |—
Ruberum stood in Leo Akaba's throne room, glaring at the Professor. If looks could kill, Leo would have been dead a hundred times over.
"I warned you that there were consequences for betraying me, Leo Akaba," Ruberum said. "Now, you shall experience them. I'd kill you now, but that would be far too merciful. Those girls—Yuzu, Ruri, and Rin—they're very dear to you, aren't they?"
Leo nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Ruberum cut him off. "I don't want to hear about how you miss your daughter, you insignificant worm. I will ensure that for the rest of your life, you will never be able to see Ray again."
"No…" Leo breathed. "Please! Anything but that!"
"We had a deal," Ruberum stated coldly. "We had a deal, and you broke it. You withdrew your troops, yet Joshua Cohen still lives."
"I couldn't allow my forces to continue getting slaughtered—" Leo pleaded.
"I don't care," Ruberum spat. "Do you think I give a damn about your precious daughter? Why would I care about the army of a pathetic, broken man? You disgust me, Leo Akaba."
With that, the cloaked man vanished in a swirl of shadow, leaving the Professor alone with his thoughts. He'd been a fool to accept the deal, but it wasn't like he'd had a choice in the matter. What could he have done? Allow himself to die by Ruberum's hand? Send his men into the meat grinder, leaving him with no forces left for the planned invasions of Standard and Synchro? No, he'd made the best choice he could've. Every other route he could've chosen would've led to disaster.
A knock at the door interrupted Leo's brooding. "Enter," Leo said, steadying his voice.
A soldier whose name he couldn't bother to remember walked in, clutching a tablet like it was his lifeline. "Sir, the high-security special prisoners have escaped," he said fearfully. "Their whereabouts are unknown, and it appears that they've left the island."
Ray's fragments. His daughter—the pieces of her that he held within his stronghold here—she was gone. He was back to square one, with the pieces of Ray scattered across the dimensions once more.
Leo barely had time to collect his thoughts before another messenger rushed through the door. "Sorry for the interruption, sir, but it was important that you hear this. The Doktor is dead and his equipment has been destroyed."
"I see," Leo said calmly, fighting the panic that was rising in his chest. "Leave me. I will plan our next course of action." The Doktor was a valuable asset, though he despised the disgusting white-haired man, he was undeniably useful. Without the Doktor, the plan to control Ray's fragments was gone. All that he had worked towards over the years since he'd left Standard… Ruberum had ruined much of it within the span of a few minutes. This was a catastrophe.
No. He still had his troops and all the energy they'd harvested from the invasion of the Xyz dimension. There was still something he could do to bring his plans to fruition.
—| |—
Ruberum stood under the shower, shivering as the cold water touched his skin. This shower was in a luxurious bathroom within a mansion in the Synchro dimension. He'd performed a kill-and-replace on some rich idiot from the Tops shortly after arriving to this world, having been violently ripped out of his previous life by a passing truck. It was a very nice place, and the servants obeyed him perfectly, but no amount of comfort could improve Ruberum's mood.
He scrubbed furiously at his skin, attempting to wash away the feeling of disgust that clung to him. Why had he touched Yuzu like that? Intellectually, he knew the answer. He needed to make Yuya mad, to make Zarc awaken, so his plan for the Battle Royale could succeed. Yet he still felt like a creep for doing that. He could've done any number of other things to her unconscious form that would've made Yuya just as mad, and yet he'd chosen to do that.
Ruberum stood up and let the cold water wash over him, hoping it would give him some clarity of mind. His plan had failed miserably—Joshua had survived, and none of Zarc's fragments had fused together. It was infuriating how badly he'd messed up. The whole excursion had practically accomplished nothing.
Well, not nothing. Yuzu, Ruri, and Rin were sleeping peacefully in one of the mansion's many guestrooms, and the Doktor, damn that disgusting man, was dead. That was two good things done. Briefly, Ruberum considered changing his ultimate plans. He could just join the Lancers when they came to Synchro, defeat Academia, and live his life happily. Nobody had seen the face of the Herald of the Supreme King. He could just leave all this stupid nonsense about Zarc behind him.
A glance at his right arm put a stop to those thoughts. His arm was withered and blackened from the mid-forearm down, and the corruption spread slowly with each passing day. Defeating someone in a Shadow Duel would cause it to stop, if only for a small amount of time, but using his powers would accelerate the corruption once more. The deity that had brought him here had placed him under a sadistic curse, one that would only be lifted once he accomplished his goal.
His goal… never before had it seemed so far away and firmly out of reach. Ruberum had created a plan as soon as the deity that brought him here had told him his task, and the first part had gone off without a hitch. Then everything after that one fateful night where he'd battled Joshua had been a massive clusterfuck. He'd expected another weak duelist using an anime-style deck, and what he'd gotten was a competent meta player.
As much as Ruberum hated to admit it, he'd been coasting. Floowandreeze, Branded, and Kashtira had all given him extremely easy wins against every duelist he'd encountered up until that point, and he'd started to get sloppy as a result. The misplays he'd made in that duel against Joshua were quite embarrassing. Forgetting to loop his only piece of disruption? Really? And losing to burn damage of all things to top it off… the memory infuriated him even now.
Ruberum placed his hand on the shower faucet and switched off the flow of water. Dwelling on the past wasn't going to help him now, and he needed a new plan, one that wouldn't fall apart at the first sign of resistance. The time for damage control was over. He'd simply have to abandon the persona of the Herald of the Supreme King and find a new mask to wear.
—| |—
I woke up in a cold sweat for the third time that night, the blanket tangled around me and the screams of my nightmare still ringing in my ears. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back there in the Battle Royale, the cloying scent of burning flesh filling my nose as Academia soldiers, transfixed in horror and screaming in pain, were turned into cards. Glancing at my watch, I found that it was barely past 2:00 AM, which meant I hadn't had more than half an hour of sleep.
I reached for the glass of water on my nightstand only to find that it was empty. Dammit, this wasn't getting anywhere. At this point, I was hesitant to even close my eyes, fearing the return of the nightmarish images. I needed to clear my head.
Making a decision on impulse, I exited the apartment building and walked out into the cool night air. The calming effect was almost instantaneous—the rush of fresh air allowed me to think more clearly than I had been able to for the past few hours.
I wandered aimlessly through Maiami City, eventually ending up at a secluded location within the park where I'd met Yugo. As I sat down on a bench, exhaustion hit me like the blow from a hammer, and I realized just how tired I was. I could barely get up, let alone walk back to the apartment. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to just sit here a while and let the night air soothe me. My eyelids drooped as I relaxed, and I found the bench to be extremely comfortable.
—| |—
When I opened my eyes again, the sun was already up, my back was extremely sore, and my mouth was dry. A quick look at my watch confirmed that it was 9:32 AM, thus I'd gotten roughly seven hours of sleep. Thankfully, those last few hours had been dreamless, and I hadn't woken up again, though I could still picture that scene from yesterday as if it had happened mere seconds ago. How long was this accursed memory going to keep haunting me?
I found myself lost in my thoughts once more, just sitting on that bench and staring off into space, to the point where I barely noticed when someone sat on the bench beside me until they poked me on the shoulder.
Snapping my head over to see who it was, I saw Serena sitting next to me, saying something about breakfast.
"Breakfast?" I responded slowly. "Aren't there leftovers in the fridge?"
Serena shook her head. "Yugo ate them all last night. What are you doing here?"
"Went for a nighttime stroll and fell asleep," I answered lightly. There was no need to burden her with my problems. "How'd you find me?"
"This is the place you took me and Yugo to teach us your style of dueling," Serena pointed out. "It helped me a lot against the Obelisk Force unit sent to retrieve me, by the way. Those weaklings didn't stand a chance,"
"I'm glad it helped," I said weakly, not really wanting to think about anything Academia-related right now. "Do you want to go get breakfast?"
Serena's stomach growled in affirmation. I chuckled lightly as she flushed in embarrassment before my stomach grumbled as well. "I'll take that as a yes, then."
I stood up from the bench, wincing at the soreness. Thankfully, my body seemed to be as resilient as when I was fifteen, thus I would be feeling perfectly fine within a few hours or so. My movements were stiff, and that stiffness was exacerbated by my lack of quality sleep.
"You didn't sleep well," Serena pointed out bluntly.
"You could say that," I responded idly as I consulted my mental map of Maiami City through the fog that pervaded my mind. After a moment of pondering, I recalled the way to the restaurants and started to walk.
Serena and I walked in silence for several minutes. It was oddly comforting to simply have the presence of someone else around me. The bustle of the city provided a contrast to my wanderings last night, the streets that had been empty now full of people going about their day. I spotted some duels going on in the middle of the street. It appeared to be a casual match, as I spotted a couple of Madolche main-deck monsters on one field and a Dark World monster on the other.
Memories rushed back to me unbidden, the primal screams of pure terror from yesterday still fresh. I could've sworn that I saw the two duelists with their faces contorted in expressions of horror as a blinding light appeared.
"Joshua?" Serena said, and I realized that I'd stopped walking. The duel was still continuing as normal, and the crowd kept moving, barely acknowledging the duel in progress. Nobody was getting carded right now.
"I'm fine, just a bit short on sleep," I responded. I couldn't exactly say that I was seeing things.
Serena frowned at me and followed my gaze before shaking her head. "You carded someone yesterday," she stated.
I nodded and started walking again. "More like a hundred," I clarified.
"Some soldiers at Academia have that sort of reaction the first time they card someone. It happened to me as well," Serena explained. "It gets better. Usually."
"Usually?" I repeated. That was both comforting and worrying.
"The ones who have people to talk to, other students that took to carding well, those are the ones that recover. The ones that can't, they usually fall into a downward spiral until they're sent to the Doktor for 'treatment'—" Serena made air quotes here, and I did not wish to imagine the kind of "treatment" the Doktor might give. "—or they're removed from Academia entirely," she concluded. "I don't want to see you fall into that."
"Thanks, Serena. I'm happy to hear you care about me," I said, and I meant it. "But I really don't want to be a burden to you. You've got your own things to worry about, there's a war going on, and I'm sure you have stuff you'd rather be doing."
"The fact that there's a war going on is the whole reason I'm trying to help you!" Serena yelled, causing people to stare. "Look, just check your e-mail, okay? It'll make more sense."
I dug my duel disk out of my pocket, wondering exactly what sort of e-mail was so important that Serena would feel the need to act as my bloody therapist. As I opened the mail app, I noticed that I had quite a large number of unread e-mails, all from this morning or last night. I scrolled down and read the earliest one, which was sent from Leo Corporation.
Dear Mr. Cohen,
As you may already know by now, this year's Arc-League Championship was chosen to be located in Maiami City and specifically designed in order to find promising duelists to defend Standard against the forces of Fusion. All of those who have finished the Battle Royale are candidates for the Lancers, the task force CEO Reiji Akaba created to protect Standard.
As Mr. Akaba is currently hospitalized, I, Himika Akaba, act with his authority.
"Reiji's in the hospital?" I asked. "What happened?"
"No idea," Serena said. "Someone attacked him in his office, but nobody knows how that person got in."
I had a theory about who it might have been, but decided to keep reading before forming plans.
For your invaluable contributions to Leo Corporation's development of Pendulum and your actions before and during the Battle Royale, I have decided to appoint you as second-in-command of the Lancers Selection. Until Reiji Akaba is able to resume his duties, you will be acting as the Lancers' leader. The other Lancers should be reporting to you soon.
Sincerely,
Himika Akaba
Headmistress of Leo Duel School and Acting CEO of Leo Corporation
"What the hell," I said. This was a lot of responsibility. Any small error I were to make now would be magnified a hundredfold. At this juncture, making mistakes was simply not an option. And yet… part of me was excited. Leading the Lancers would make executing my plans much easier, and I could use my meta-knowledge to patch any security vulnerabilities such as Dennis Macfield. Slowly, a plan was forming in my mind.
I briefly skimmed through the rest of the e-mails, most of which were the other Lancers Selection candidates reporting in. One other e-mail caught my eye—it was also from Himika, requesting a meeting with me "at my earliest possible convenience" to discuss various matters pertaining to my role in the Lancers. That was all perfectly fine, and I knew my next course of action.
"I need to make a few calls," I said.
—| |—
Author's Note: This chapter was finished roughly two weeks ago. It contained over 10000 words. Then I read it with fresh eyes, and promptly deleted it. That atrocious first draft contained formulaic duel after duel, with little time given for the characters to breathe. I came to a realization after reading it—while I might be writing a story about dueling, I am still writing a story, and a story lives and dies by its characters. Thus I wrote the chapter you see before you now. Am I entirely happy with it? No, I think I may be a bit heavy-handed. But I certainly like it better than the dull 20-page document detailing combo after combo.
I want to be more open about my writing process so both me and anyone reading this who is writing or thinking of writing a fic can learn from my mistakes. I might upload some of the deleted scenes after reworking them as side stories, but they need extensive reworking and I need to plan out the character arcs for all the side characters I was planning to spotlight.
Anyway, please do tell me what you thought of this chapter. It would help me in maintaining and increasing the quality of this fic.