Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V: The Six Dimensions

by BlaiseCandell

Before the invasion of the Xyz Dimension, scans done by the Fusion Dimension reveal two more dimensions. The Ritual Dimension, and the Link Dimension. Within those two dimensions, Chiaki, Yuji, Miharu and Yuno have their lives turned upside down, and are tossed into a vicious war. Also, why are there five people with the same faces as them?

86. Chapter 86: The Ashes and the Cold

Starting Notes:

Welcome back! Last chapter was the warm-up—and the last fully 'feel-good' chapter for a while. :) This chapter though… this chapter and the next one may be one of my favourite 'two-part episodes' in recent history, just for character interactions, though they are intentionally split due to narrative reasons. So, shall we get to it?

---

Chapter 86: The Ashes and the Cold

Kyorin had just finished checking around them for any danger when she heard a groan from behind her. Quickly, she returned to the injured young man's side, and watched as his eyes slowly opened—revealing eyes that were a similar colour to Hitoda's, though maybe slightly less dark. Royal blue, maybe…?

(Ah, that was her artist's brain coming in again. Still, he was the kind of person who would be interesting to try to draw—all sharp edges, tensed to a ridiculous degree, eyes that were difficult to read.)

He tried to get up immediately, but then winced in pain. His gaze met hers as Kyorin floundered, speaking up nervously: "U-um! You're injured, so please don't move so suddenly!" She reached out, helping him to sit up properly, even as he stared at her, clearly disoriented. "Um… are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere other than your arm? Uh, I'm not actually trained medically, but when you get back, you can get it checked by someone who is probably more capable than me!"

He blinked slowly.

"Um… do you remember how you got here?"

"I do," he said—his voice was a bit deeper than she'd expected, though it was probably because he'd just woken up. "I don't remember seeing you."

"That's fine! Um, I just came across you lying here, and I didn't want to just leave you here, so I, um, bandaged your arm."

The young man sat up, holding up his arm which was indeed wrapped in bandages. He shot her a wary look, even as Kyorin offered him a tentative smile, slightly stressed by his lack of response. Just slightly! Finally, he spoke up. "... appreciated."

Kyorin's smile became a bit wider—more genuine. "No problem! So, uh… what happened to you? And what happened here?" She gestured to the slightly charred ground.

"... dueled someone," he said after a moment of tense silence.

Kyorin glanced around. "A duel?" It looked like someone had taken a flamethrower to the floor. "This? But this is beyond even Solid Vision—these look like real flames, not holograms—"

Her voice died in her throat as she considered that, because there was one thing she knew could cause damage like this… well, it would be ridiculous to assume that Psychic Duelists as a phenomenon only existed in Synchro. They were probably just only acknowledged in Synchro, but they had to exist elsewhere…

So this guy had been attacked by a Psychic Duelist? Academia had someone so terrible on their side?

"O-oh!" Kyorin quickly focused back on the situation. "Um, at least you managed to avoid getting burned?"

The man shrugged—he began to stand up, only to fall back down. He grimaced.

"Are your legs—"

"I'm fine," he said—he sounded far too calm. "My legs are numb from lying down. I should be good to walk soon."

Kyorin hesitated—she wanted to ask if he would consider showing her to the Resistance's base, but he already seemed so wary… maybe later. Instead, she nodded. "In that case, I'll stay with you and protect you until you can go," she said. "I mean, if that's fine…"

"... you're putting in a lot of effort to help someone that you don't know," he muttered. He didn't object though—he leaned back on the wall behind him. "... you're not from the Xyz Dimension. Where are you from?"

Well, that was an easier question to answer! "I'm from the Ritual Dimension," she said, his eyes widening slightly. "Though the group that I'm part of actually spreads across more dimensions."

He looked at her directly now. It made Kyorin feel a… little bashful? "... your name," he said. "What is it?"

"Um, Rinsoka! Kyorin Rinsoka!" She smiled shyly. "Come to think of it, I didn't introduce myself yet, huh?"

"Kyorin Rinsoka," he repeated. "That sounds about right."

"... huh?"

He shrugged, some of the tension draining from his frame. "You look like a Kyorin," he said, and he did not elaborate on that very weird statement. Kyorin had no clue how to respond to that, and so, what escaped her lips was flustered and rambling.

"Um, I guess? I'm glad you think so! Uh, what about you?"

He glanced away from her. "Later," he said. "When this is done, I suppose that I should let you know. You've acted honourably, after all."

Um…

Well, if he was going to tell her later, that would be fine, right? It wasn't like he was someone dangerous.

---

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Yugo?"

Rin nearly spat out the water in her mouth. Yuto watched her with alarm on his face as she choked, before she finally managed to get it down. "What makes you think that?" She sputtered.

"Well, I was just thinking." Now that she had recovered, Yuto's alarm had become amusement. "Ruri and I are dating, and Miharu and Yuno are basically dating too. Yuya and Yuzu obviously have a thing for each other, and I'm not going to pretend that I understand Fujita or Katsuya-san… and I think that Serena and that guy from Fusion have a lot to work through too. That leaves you and Yugo."

"I definitely don't like him!" Rin waved her hands. "He's an idiot and weird and uh—I just don't like him that way!"

Yuto watched her.

"And even if I liked him, which I don't, I'd want him to grow up a bit more first! And like, I—"

A few minutes passed as Rin rambled.

"—but yeah! I don't!"

"Okay," Yuto said, raising his hands. "I definitely believe you. Suddenly, everything about you and Yugo makes sense." He turned his head to look forward again, but then, he froze. "What is he doing here?"

He ran—and so did Rin, a moment afterwards.

After all, anything that could make Yuto look like that was definitely in the category of 'not good'. Fuck.

---

They had stayed quiet as they were leaving the area around Heartland Tower, just to avoid being spotted. When Hitoda spoke up, it was with the wonder of someone who was plainly shocked that things were going so well. "We really should have come across someone by now, huh?"

"Perhaps," Gongenzaka said. "Things seem… peaceful."

And perhaps he should not have said that. Maybe he had jinxed things. But around ten minutes later, as they crossed through another alleyway—

Hitoda dropped to the ground like a stone.

"Hitoda-san?" Gongenzaka called out in alarm—he saw her face wrinkle up slightly as she let out a hiss of pain. "Did you hit something?"

"I'm fine," Hitoda said. She slowly pulled herself up, arm pressed to the wall. She then shot him a bright smile. "No problem at all! I just tripped. Let's keep going!"

"You looked like someone had punched you in the gut." Gongenzaka objected.

"... I assure you, if someone had punched me, you would have seen it. You have eyes," Hitoda said with a shrug. She pushed her arm against the wall, standing up straight, before she began to walk forward.

"Back at the dojo, we had a simple rule," Gongenzaka said, walking in front of her and blocking her path. Hitoda raised an eyebrow towards him. "We do not lie when we're unwell, for it holds the entire dojo back to have a person pretending to be fine when they are not. Hitoda-san… are you…"

"How wise of you! I think that's a good attitude." Hitoda said. Despite her casual, joking tone, Gongenzaka could see the way that she was pressing her hand to her chest—to steel herself against an invisible blow. "But it doesn't matter to me, because I really don't know what you think happened. I tripped, hit my side against something and fell."

"Is that the truth though?" Gongenzaka asked. "Because… hiding injuries isn't good for everyone."

"... well, it hurts a bit, but it's nothing that sitting down later won't help," Hitoda said. She winked. "Why, are you concerned about me?"

Gongenzaka sighed. No one could act so flippant if they were really injured. He must have been overthinking—she was probably fine.

Still, it brought up another question. As they continued walking, she seemed fine. Gongenzaka spoke up a while longer. "The man, Gongenzaka, has been wondering about something for a while, Hitoda-san."

Hitoda turned her head, her hands in her pockets. "Huh? Well go ahead and ask, it's not like we have anything better to do right now." As usual, she didn't seem too concerned with anything—and it was still something that Gongenzaka did not understand about her. He'd had the opportunity to work with her perhaps more than many of the other Lancers. Hitoda Makishima was playfully smug, crossed social barriers like they were nothing, played with her words and used them to weave something almost like a web, controlling the conversation—and the person talking to her rarely had a clue about what she'd done.

Much of that could perhaps be explained by her job as a Charisma Duelist—an idol, in a sense, someone who had to control her image while in front of others. Still, it couldn't explain everything—after all, Yuno didn't act the same way as her.

"Gongenzaka? Hello~!"

Gongenzaka blinked, realising that he hadn't actually said a single thing. "Ah. It was simply that… the man, Gongenzaka, cannot help but notice that you… seem to flirt with others a lot, Hitoda-san."

Hitoda turned to look at him, her usual smile fading slightly—she was still smiling, but he'd clearly shocked her enough for it to show on her face. "... oh, please don't tell me you're one of those white knights that would prefer their girls to be all soft and shy and demure," she said—not quite as bitingly as someone like Nue might have said it, but still somewhat defensive. "There's nothing wrong with a little flirting, especially when everyone knows that it doesn't mean anything."

"I do not mean to say that there is something that you should or shouldn't do," Gongenzaka hedged. "I am simply trying to understand, Hitoda-san. You seem to have a different way of seeing the world, compared to most others. As someone who seeks to follow my own beliefs, it is still important to me to understand those different from me."

"I'm just not a very serious person, big guy." Hitoda was smiling again, her voice carrying a hint of a laugh. "Sorry, but you won't find any kind of self-reflection or stuff like that here." She turned away, looking around.

Gongenzaka, however, didn't let the topic drop. "I do not think that is true, Hitoda-san."

"Hmm?"

"We all agreed that first and foremost, we preserve ourselves. I'm sure that if it was them, they'd prefer it too."

At that moment, something had slipped in Hitoda Makishima's expression—Gongenzaka was very sure of that. He didn't think that she herself had noticed it, but there was something there. A whole other person, a different face that lingered behind the smile, serious and analytical and even pragmatic (and perhaps, too cold.)

That was why Gongenzaka ended up pushing her some more.

"Back there, Hitoda-san, you were far more serious than I've ever seen you—and you said things I had not thought to consider. If you can think so well, why do you do things with no reason?"

Silence.

Gongenzaka briefly wondered if he'd pushed too far.

"... you know, Gongenzaka, I genuinely like you," Hitoda said—as though she was talking about some kind of achievement. "... huh." She smiled brightly. "Life's too short to busy myself with always being so boring and practical! That's really it. Sometimes, I just want to make people laugh; sometimes, I just want to fluster them."

(And Gongenzaka didn't know it, but there was a third part of that statement had not been spoken, and thus, it remained incomplete.)

(Sometimes, I just want to make people laugh; sometimes, I just want to fluster them. And sometimes, I feel like I should crush them a little, just to see how they would react to that.)

"... I see," Gongenzaka said, oblivious to any other intentions. "I suppose I can understand that. It's… perhaps a looser version of Yuya's philosophy, is it not?"

Hitoda laughed. "Should I be offended?"

"No! I simply wished to—I—"

"You're good, big guy." Hitoda patted his shoulder. "But anyway, I only flirt with people that I know won't take it seriously, and people that definitely won't like me. I'm good at judging things like that." She paused. "... well, I'm usually good at telling things like that! For example, I'm completely sure I'm not your type."

Gongenzaka, despite his usual serious nature, felt his cheeks burst into flame.

"Ah, I'm right then," Hitoda said, winking. "Let me guess, you like the more stoic ones? Serious, honourable, similar to you?"

"I don't think this is relevant!" Gongenzaka sputtered. "I—this is highly inappropriate! The man, Gongenzaka, has never had any romantic thoughts about anyone!"

Hitoda held her hand over her mouth, something coy to her expression. "Really? My apologies. I wasn't aware that romantic thoughts were inappropriate while in wartime. Let me quickly go and talk to half of our comrades."

Gongenzaka sighed—Hitoda giggled, before coughing once—choking on her own air, maybe?

"Really, you don't need to be this uptight about it! We don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. But you're less tense now, don't you think?"

… now that he was thinking about it, he was slightly less tense now compared to earlier, when they had been running…

So she had been trying to help him relax in her own, strange way?

He didn't really understand her, but…

She was still one of his comrades.

"Be careful," he said. "If you sprained an ankle or anything like that, make sure to tell the man, Gongenzaka, and he will do his best to assist you."

"Hah, aren't you a gentleman?" Hitoda grinned. "Sure, sure. But don't worry, I'm absolutely fine."

So, they carried on walking.

---

As was natural, however, they came across Academia after a moment—six members of the Obelisk Force had been hurriedly heading in their direction. However, they came to a stop briefly as they saw the two of them—and then moved forward, even faster.

"Uh oh. Looks like they were heading back to their base," Hitoda commented. "Want to team up, big guy?"

"You don't even need to ask, Hitoda-san," Gongenzaka said confidently.

Still, the last time that she faced against someone with a partner, her partner had… well, lost. Not that she blamed Yuto, but it was simply a fact that her ability to guard her partner wasn't the best either. Her deck was very selfish, all things considered. She'd have to figure something out.

Still, the Obelisk Force had finally caught up to them. One of them jabbed a finger towards Gongenzaka.

"You must be a member of the Resistance, with that bandanna!"

Gongenzaka narrowed his eyes, touching the red sash tied around his forehead. "Bandanna?" He repeated. "This is my sash! It is the symbol of my determination, my morals, the pride of my dojo—"

Hitoda stifled a laugh.

"Who cares? Come on, we're going to defeat and card you for the sake of Academia!"

"You will most certainly not!" Gongenzaka clenched his fists, fired up. "Let's do this, Hitoda-san! Please give me your support!"

Oh, I will. After all, a guy as honourable as you deserves to let loose once in a while.

Come to think of it, other than the Friendship Cup, she hadn't actually seen Gongenzaka duel properly in person. This was going to be fun.

[DUEL!]

Noboru Gongenzaka: 4000LP

Hitoda Makishima: 4000LP

Obelisk Force Red 1: 4000LP

Obelisk Force Green 1: 4000LP

Obelisk Force Yellow 1: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Obelisk Force Red 1] [H:5]

"I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Antique Gear Advance!" The first member of the Obelisk Force put down a card that was… surprisingly new? "When activated, I can add a "Antique Gear" Spell or Trap other than itself to my hand! However, I can't set cards this turn!"

He picked up the card.

"I'll activate the Field Spell, Geartown! And then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Antique Gear Catapult! I'll destroy Geartown to Special Summon the one and only Antique Gear Golem from my deck! And then, with the effect of Geartown, I will Special Summon Antique Gear Wyvern from my deck!" Two monsters appeared on the field, one of them being the tall lumbering golem and the other being a small dragon.

[Antique Gear Golem (8*/3000/3000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

[Antique Gear Wyvern (4*/1700/1200/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Wyvern's effect! I'll add a "Antique Gear" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand, but I can't set cards this turn!"

… were they actually using combos? This was new…

"I'll add and activate Antique Gear Fusion! I'll fuse Antique Gear Golem with three other "Antique Gear" monsters from my deck—Antique Gear Hound Dog, Antique Gear Knight and Antique Gear Reactor Dragon!" The monsters all fell into the graveyard. "Mechanized hounds that inherited ancient souls! Merge your ten heads, and become chaos and tremendous power! Fusion Summon! Appear! Level 10! Antique Gear Chaos Giant!" An enormous giant appeared, lumbering over them, staring down with a glowing red eye.

[Antique Gear Chaos Giant (10*/4500/3000/DARK/Machine/Fusion/Effect)]

"I'll end my turn!"

"Chaos Giant…" Gongenzaka murmured. "That's the monster that Kurosaki mentioned. The one that is unaffected by Spell and Trap effects, that stops monster effects during the Battle Phase and can attack all our monsters… I can certainly attempt to take it out through battle, however…"

Hitoda held back a laugh. She tapped his shoulder. "How about I take this one?" She said, still amused at the joke that only she knew. "You take the next."

"You think you're going to take me out that easily?" The duelist behind Chaos Giant exclaimed. "Chaos Giant is…"

"You know, you might think that not setting cards is fine, because you're so used to sitting behind a monster," Hitoda said lightly. "And well—I'm not going to continue that line of thought, because Gongenzaka is right here, and he's far better at the whole EARTH Machine shtick. Still, I'm about to show you why it's a mistake to rely on only monsters when I'm your opponent."

[Turn 2: Hitoda] [H:5]

Hitoda held up a card. "Quickplay Spell, Spirit Charmers. I will send a card from my hand to the graveyard—and then, I can set a card from my deck and add another to my hand, as long as they're a part of the archetype I play. So that's "Possessed" Spells or Traps, "Familiar-Possessed" monsters or "Charmer" monsters. I'll set Awakening of the Possessed from my deck and add Familiar-Possessed - Aussa to my hand."

She immediately flipped the set card that was right in front of her.

"Continuous Spell, Awakening of the Possessed. I will then Normal Summon Fairy Tail - Luna from my hand." The blue-haired girl appeared, staring at the opponent's field with an apathetic look in her eyes.

[Fairy Tail - Luna (4*/1850/1000/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]

Gongenzaka looked at Luna, seeming confused. "Have you… always had that card?"

Right. The way that she had gotten this monster…

"Yup," Hitoda said with a sly wink. "It's been here all along." Before he could figure out the lie, she continued with her turn. "I'll use Fairy Tail - Luna's effect to add a Spellcaster monster with 1850 attack points from my deck to my hand. And with Awakening of the Possessed's effect, I will draw a card." She picked up both cards from her deck. "I will Special Summon Inari Fire from my hand, since I control a Spellcaster monster!" The small orange fox appeared, surrounded by bright flames that illuminated the area around it.

[Inari Fire (4*/1500/200/FIRE/Pyro/Effect)]

"And then, I will send Fairy Tail - Luna and Inari Fire from my field to the graveyard," Hitoda said. "And I can Special Summon a specific monster from my deck."

… I do love toppling the hopes of those who use large monsters in front of me, don't I?

"Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire!" The enormous, fiery evolution of the fox spirit appeared on her field, lifting its head and letting out a bestial cry.

[Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire (5*/2000/200/FIRE/Pyro/Effect)]

"I'll activate Greater Inari Fire's effect," Hitoda continued. The fox leapt forward, standing in front of the much larger metal golem. "I'll inflict damage to you equal to the original attack points of a monster you control."

The boy looked horrified—she could see that even through the mask. "You—what?"

"No surprises as to who I'm picking. Topple it, Greater Inari Fire!"

The fox bounded past the dark golem, landing straight in front of their opponent. With a growl, they lifted their head—and breathed out an enormous amount of flames, bathing the field in them. Their opponent was wiped out—without Hitoda ever having to touch their monster.

Obelisk Force Red 1: 4000 - 4500 = 0LP

"No way," one of the others exclaimed. "Their burn damage is that strong?"

"Oh, I'm not a one trick pony," Hitoda said. "But diversity is the spice of life—that's what I say about everything." She gestured forward. "I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Fairy Tail Tales. With its effect, I can now Normal Summon a Spellcaster with 1850 attack points. Come—Familiar-Possessed - Aussa!" The brunette appeared on the field, holding up a staff with a stern look on her face.

[Familiar-Possessed - Aussa (4*/1850/1500/EARTH/Spellcaster/Effect)]

"Open, multi-coloured circuit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two monsters, including an EARTH monster! I will set Familiar-Possessed - Aussa and Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire in the Link Markers! Appear now, ascended figure of the earth! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable!" She brought out the short-haired brunette mage in the Extra Monster Zone, smirking as she did so.

[Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable (L2/1850/EARTH/Spellcaster/Link/Effect/↙, ↘]

"Greater Inari Fire's effect—I will add the Continuous Trap, Unpossessed from my deck to my hand, and I'll set it. Then, Aussa's effect," Hitoda continued. "Once per turn, I can Special Summon an EARTH monster from my opponent's graveyard to a monster zone that she points to." She cocked an eyebrow. "You've lost, but your graveyard is still on the field. Give me Antique Gear Reactor Dragon."

The tall, purple-tinged dragon appeared in her furthest left Main Monster Zone. One of the other members of the Obelisk Force turned to his own comrade, glaring.

"Why did you send that as Fusion Material?" He demanded, which Hitoda found rather hypocritical. The Obelisk Force really were just that prone to searching for the biggest, most dramatic move without doing what was more efficient.

[Antique Gear Reactor Dragon (9*/3000/3000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Since I control one Attribute, Awakening of the Possessed also grants them all 300 attack points!"

[Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable: 1850 + 300 = 2150ATK]

[Antique Gear Reactor Dragon: 3000 + 300 = 3300ATK]

"Antique Gear Reactor Dragon attacks you directly, along with Aussa!" Her two monsters brought down their next opponent.

Obelisk Force Green 1: 4000 - 3300 - 2150 = 0LP

"I'll set a card and end my turn."

"It's a strange sight to see you with one of their monsters on your field," Gongenzaka commented.

"Really?" Hitoda said. "I think that it's very fair." She smiled.

"You can't make fun of us like this!" The third member of the Obelisk Force shouted, drawing their attention. "Even if you're a member of the Resistance—"

Hitoda couldn't help it. She smiled mockingly. "Sorry, but red doesn't look good on me. And I did just Link Summon, you know."

"... you're not Resistance," another one piped up, eyes widening. "You're Lancers!"

"There we go." Hitoda gestured forward. "And?"

[Turn 3: Obelisk Force Yellow 1] [H:5]

"And—it doesn't matter!"

Good answer.

"I'll Normal Summon Antique Gear Hound Dog!" Their opponent declared. Back to usual scheduling, then. The dog appeared, letting out a loud howl.

[Antique Gear Hound Dog (3*/1000/1000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Hound Dog's effect! I'll inflict 600 damage to you!"

"I don't mind that, but Fairy Tail Tales stops the first damage I take each turn, since I have a Spellcaster monster on my field that originally had 1850 attack points," Hitoda said. The flames flew past her harmlessly.

"I'll then use Hound Dog's other effect! I'll fuse it with two copies of Antique Gear Hound Dog in my hand!"

What Hitoda really wanted to ask was how they managed to get all three dogs in hand at the start of the duel all the time, despite running decks that were, at a minimum, made of forty cards. (Then again, to ask that, she would have to question Shun "I insist on summoning three of the same bird despite having better monsters" Kurosaki too. Which she wanted to, just to see the look on his face.)

"Mechanical hounds who carry on the ancient spirits, flock together and become one with new power! Fusion Summon! Appear now! Level 7! Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog!" The 'ace monster' of the Obelisk Force appeared on the field, pacing.

[Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog (7*/1800/1000/EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)]

"I'll then activate the Spell Card, Antique Gear Double Imitate! I'll bring back Antique Gear Hound Dog from my graveyard and Antique Gear Wyvern from my… comrade's! Then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Antique Gear Fusion! I'll fuse Antique Gear Hound Dog and Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog on my field! True leader of the mechanical hounds, emerge and howl out your demands for order! Fusion Summon! Lunge forth! Level 9! Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog!" The largest of Academia's dog army appeared, all of its different heads moving in different directions as it let out a howl.

[Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog (9*/2800/2000/EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)]

"When Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog is Fusion Summoned, I can halve your life points!" The girl gestured to Gongenzaka, who grimaced as his life points fell.

Gongenzaka: 4000 / 2 = 2000LP

"Ultimate Hound Dog can attack thrice per turn, and you can't activate Spells and Traps during the end of the Damage Step when it attacks!"

Hitoda held back the urge to smirk. Ah yes, because Gongenzaka had so many Spells and Traps in his deck, of course. What a devastating effect to use on Noboru Gongenzaka.

"Attack him directly!"

"I will activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulshield in my hand!" Gongenzaka declared. "When my opponent declares a direct attack, I can Special Summon it from my hand and a "Superheavy Samurai" monster from my deck—but they must both be in Defense Position, and while I control either of them, I can only Special Summon "Superheavy Samurai" monsters! Come! Superheavy Samurai Soulshield! Superheavy Samurai Blowtorch!" The two monsters appeared on the field next to each other. Blowtorch was a rocket-like monster, flames swirling around it as though it was going to explode. Soulshield was a black and green mech in the shape of an elongated shield.

[Superheavy Samurai Blowtorch (1*/500/300/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

[Superheavy Samurai Soulshield (3*/1000/1500/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"But it doesn't matter! My monster can attack three times per turn! Attack Blowtorch!"

"Superheavy Samurai Blowtorch cannot be destroyed by battle!" Gongenzaka countered. "This impenetrable wall will not be breached by your monster today!"

Hitoda chuckled fondly.

Ultimate Hound Dog destroyed Soulshield, but Gongenzaka's life points were safe—

And he started his turn, quicker on the draw than the rest of their opponents.

[Turn 4: Gongenzaka] [H:4]

"The man, Gongenzaka, discards Superheavy Samurai Motorbike to add a "Superheavy Samurai" monster from my deck to my hand. I'll then Normal Summon Superheavy Samurai Scales!" The green warrior appeared to the left of Blowtorch.

[Superheavy Samurai Scales (4*/800/1800/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Superheavy Samurai Scales's effect! I'll Special Summon a Level 4 or lower "Superheavy Samurai" monster from the graveyard in Defense Position! Return, Superheavy Samurai Soulshield!" The green and black shield appeared on the field as well. "Then, the man, Gongenzaka will Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter from his hand, since he has no Spells or Traps in the graveyard!" A blue robotic samurai with orange 'clothes' appeared, holding onto a trumpet as tall as himself.

[Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter (2*/300/600/EARTH/Machine/Tuner/Effect)]

"Tuning the Level 2 Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter to the Level 3 Superheavy Samurai Soulshield! Swift sword, cut through the air! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Now show yourself—Superheavy Samurai Swordmaster Musashi!" The tall samurai dressed in gold and red armour appeared, holding up a long sword.

[Superheavy Samurai Swordmaster Musashi (5*/300/2300/EARTH/Machine/Synchro/Effect)]

"Since the man, Gongenzaka, Synchro Summoned Musashi, he can add a Machine monster from his graveyard to his hand. However, I cannot Normal or Special Summon it if there is a Spell or Trap in my graveyard!"

"And of course, there's none," Hitoda said, egging him on.

"Yes! So I will add Trumpeter back to my hand—and Trumpeter's Special Summon effect is not limited to only once each turn! The man, Gongenzaka, will Special Summon it back to the field!" The smaller Tuner monster appeared on the field again. "Opening the circuit of steadfast spirit! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are a "Superheavy Samurai" monster! I will set Superheavy Samurai Blowtorch in the Link Markers! Come, stationary mechanical puppet! Stand still and drive off the evil forces that would destroy us who fight for justice! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 1! Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow!" His Link Monster emerged in his Extra Monster Zone.

[Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow (L1/0/EARTH/Machine/Link/Effect/↙)]

… it was pretty fun to see her own efforts come to fruition too. After all, she had been the one to help Gongenzaka figure out Link Summoning in the first place. Their playstyles couldn't be any more different, but there was something fun about this.

"Scarecrow's effect," Gongenzaka continued. "By discarding a monster, I can Special Summon a "Superheavy Samurai" monster from my graveyard in Defense Position! I will discard and Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Wagon!" A green robotic samurai appeared, pulling along a bamboo wagon.

[Superheavy Samurai Wagon (4*/1200/1800/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Then, by changing Wagon from Defense Position to Attack Position with its own effect, the man, Gongenzaka can add a "Superheavy Samurai Soul" monster from the deck to the hand! Then, the man, Gongenzaka will tune the Level 2 Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter to the Level 4 Superheavy Samurai Wagon and the Level 4 Superheavy Samurai Scales!" The three samurai monsters turned into rings and light again above him. "Raging deity, in unison with the roar of a thousand blades, come forth in a spiraling sandstorm! Synchro Summon! Now come before us, Level 10! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo!"

His strongest Synchro Monster appeared on the field—in Defense Position, naturally. He was a tall, muscular samurai, primarily made of darker red metal that did not glint or shine, with some green and yellow sheets of metal surrounding its limbs and protruding from its back. Red eyes stared forward with an imperial look in them. Finally, Susanowo held up its sword, signalling that it was ready for battle—and more importantly, ready to attack.

[Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo (10*/2400/3800/EARTH/Machine/Synchro/Effect)]

"Nice," Hitoda said with a wink. "And, I assume you're not done?"

"Indeed! I will activate Susanowo's effect! I will set your Antique Gear Double Imitate to my field, but it is banished when it leaves the field!"

Oh, it allowed him to steal the Spells and Traps of others. Sneaky, and a little out of character… but Hitoda definitely approved.

"And as such, I will be using your own technique against you! I will activate the Spell Card, Antique Gear Double Imitate, and Special Summon two "Antique Gear" monsters from any of our graveyards! I will take two Hound Dogs from your graveyard!" The two dogs appeared on Gongenzaka's field, looking very nervous as they paced around in front of him. "And then, I will equip Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker from my hand to Scarecrow—and by tributing Scarecrow, the man, Gongenzaka will Special Summon a "Superheavy Samurai" monster from the deck with Soulpeacemaker's effect! Come! Superheavy Samurai Drum!"

A spinning yellow drum appeared, bordered with red rings of light and black metal that made it look like the barrel of a gun. It spun through the air slowly, glowing in an unsettling manner.

[Superheavy Samurai Drum (1*/300/300/EARTH/Machine/Tuner/Effect)]

"And this is my last Synchro Summon of the turn! The man, Gongenzaka tunes the Level 1 Superheavy Samurai Drum to the two Level 3 Antique Gear Hound Dogs! As fast as the wind! As quiet as the forest! Silent ninja, hit the finishing blow! Synchro Summon! Come! Level 7! Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja!" A tall blue mechanical warrior appeared, its limbs rather thin—it moved in a way that was rather limber, in contrast to its large body. It spun around a shining baton in its hands, staring forward intensely.

[Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja (7*/1200/2800/EARTH/Machine/Synchro/Effect)]

"Three Synchro Summons in one turn," Hitoda said appreciatively. Stealth Ninja, Musashi and Susanowo stared down their opponent's field. "Nice one, Gongenzaka."

"Using our monsters as material… how cheap!" One of them said accusingly. "Both of you are the same!"

Hitoda sighed. "Do you see the state of this field right now?" She asked. "You're facing us in a six on two and you want to complain that he's being unfair to you? And also, you're saying we're the same?" She gestured towards Gongenzaka's field. "He borrowed your monster because it would be a good source of material for his Synchro Summon. I borrowed yours because it was funny. And anyway, at least we're our own people!" She smirked, tapping her cheek. "With those decks of yours, I really could just give you numbers and that would be all the identification we need. Destroy that Ultimate Hound Dog, Gongenzaka. I'll steal it and we'll win with that."

Gongenzaka gestured forward. "The man, Gongenzaka, can attack with his monsters even though they are in Defense Position, thanks to their own effects! And they use their defense points for damage calculation! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo attacks Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog! Kusanagi Sword Slash!" The warrior rose up, cutting straight through Ultimate Hound Dog, much to the chagrin of their opponent.

Obelisk Force Yellow 1: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP

"Then, Stealth Ninja and Musashi attack you directly!" He gestured to their next opponent—who was cut down by his monster's blades before he even got to have a turn.

Obelisk Force Red 2: 4000 - 2300 - 2800 = 0LP

"The man, Gongenzaka, ends his turn!"

[Turn 5: Obelisk Force Green 2] [H:5]

"I—" Their next opponent looked reluctant, but eventually continued with his turn. "Activating Geartown and Antique Gear Catapult!" Destroying his own Field Spell, two monsters emerged on the field—one of them being the classic Antique Gear Golem, the other being Antique Gear Reactor Dragon.

[Antique Gear Golem (8*/3000/3000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

Both monsters were standing tall at 3000 attack points.

"And you can't activate Spells and Traps until the end of the Damage Step when they attack! Antique Gear Golem attacks your—"

"End of the Main Phase," Hitoda said, raising a hand to stop him. "The Continuous Trap, Unpossessed!... okay, you can continue with your turn now."

"... Reactor Dragon attacks Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable!"

"Because you know what my plan is, right?" Hitoda shrugged. "Unpossessed's effect stops "Charmer" monsters from being destroyed by battle. And it's a Continuous Effect, so your card does nothing against it. And a reminder—with Fairy Tail Tales's effect, the first time I would take damage each turn while I control a Spellcaster monster with 1850 original attack points, it's negated."

The attack hit the field, but the energy dissipated harmlessly.

"... Antique Gear Reactor Dragon's effect! After it attacks, I can destroy a Spell or Trap on the field! I'll destroy Unpossessed!"

Oh? That was new. Her Trap Card exploded, but Hitoda did have a response. "Trap Card, Possessed Partnerships!" Hitoda declared. "I'll Special Summon a Spellcaster monster with 1500 defense points from my graveyard or hand to the field—either in Attack Position or facedown Defense Position. Return, Fairy Tail - Luna!" The blue-haired girl reappeared on her field, face-up. "Then, since I control two or more Attributes, I can destroy a card you control! I'll choose Antique Gear Golem!" The monster that hadn't attacked yet was destroyed by a blast of light and earth. "Then, with Awakening of the Possessed's effect, I will draw one card too." She plucked up the card from her deck. "So?"

[Fairy Tail - Luna: 1850 + 300 x 2 = 2450ATK]

[Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable: 2150 + 300 = 2450ATK]

[Antique Gear Reactor Dragon: 3300 + 300 = 3600ATK]

"... I end my turn."

[Turn 6: Obelisk Force Yellow 2] [H:5]

"I'll Normal Summon Antique Gear Hound Dog!" Their last opponent declared. Seeming to learn from his comrades' past mistakes, he gestured towards Gongenzaka instead of Hitoda. "It'll inflict 600 damage to you! Hound Flare!"

Gongenzaka: 2000 - 600 = 1400LP

"Then, I'll fuse it with Antique Gear Hydra and Antique Gear Knight in my hand! Appear now, automaton of destructive agony! Fusion Summon! Antique Gear Megaton Golem!"

A large, silver machine golem appeared, its multiple legs dragging across the ground, insect-like, segmented limbs. Spikes covered its body. Six mechanical fists rose through the air, heavily crashing down on the ground.

[Antique Gear Megaton Golem (9*/3300/3300/EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)]

"... wait," Hitoda said. "That's a monster that can be summoned with three Antique Gear monsters."

"... yes?"

… and instead of this monster, you've been bringing out that three-headed dog?

"Is there a problem?"

Hitoda waved her hands, not correcting her opponent's move. "No problem at all!"

"Battle Phase!"

"... okay, there's a problem. I'll banish Possessed Partnerships from the graveyard to place Unpossessed face-up on my field." It was a simple statement—battling her had become useless again.

"Antique Gear Megaton Golem attacks Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja!" The Synchro Monster was destroyed, but Gongenzaka took no battle damage, meaning…

Well, things were fine.

"I'll end my turn!"

[Turn 7: Hitoda] [H:3]

"Then it comes all the way back to me," Hitoda said. "Draw! I will activate the effect of Aussa! I will take Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog from your graveyard!" The large chimeric dog appeared on her field, letting out a growl of annoyance as it turned towards her. "No, you're mine now. Settle down." It paced, before finally turning towards their opponents. "Good. I'll activate Fairy Tail - Luna's effect and target Megaton Golem. You have to send another copy of it from the deck or Extra Deck to the graveyard—but you don't have one, do you? So both Luna and Megaton Golem return to the hand!"

"That's fine!" Their opponent snapped. "When Megaton Golem leaves the field, I can Special Summon a specific monster from my Extra Deck, ignoring summoning conditions! Come, Antique Gear Ultimate Golem!" An even larger version of the golem appeared, black wires emerging from around it. Electric sparks danced around its rust-covered body.

[Antique Gear Ultimate Golem (10*/4400/3400/EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)]

"You're not getting past this!"

"… oh, but I don't need to," Hitoda murmured coyly. "You just hung yourself with that move. I'll show you how, alright? I'll use the effect of Fairy Tail Tales to Normal Summon Fairy Tail - Luna—and with her effect, I'll search out another monster from my deck with 1850 attack points. And with my Continuous Spell's effect, I'll draw one more card."

There it was.

"Fairy Tail - Luna's effect," Hitoda continued. "I'll bounce your copy of Antique Gear Reactor Dragon." One of the only monsters their opponents had left vanished from the field, and she picked up her monster again. "I haven't actually used my Normal Summon yet this turn, so I'll Normal Summon Fairy Tail - Luna again!" The blue-haired girl reappeared. "And her effect isn't a hard once per turn either. I'll search out another of my monsters!"

She now had five cards in her hand. Most of them were monsters—but she already had the answer for that.

"Spell Card, Graceful Charity," she declared. "I'll draw three cards and discard two." She dropped the two monsters that she had just added to her hand. "Then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Pot of Avarice. I will shuffle Familiar-Possessed - Hiita, Inari Fire, Familiar-Possessed - Aussa, Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire and Familiar-Possessed Wynn into the deck to draw two cards!"

She picked up the cards, cheerfully placing down a different one that had already been in her hand.

"Spell Card, Bonfire. I can add a Level 4 or lower Pyro monster from my deck to my hand—namely, my Inari Fire. And I'll go ahead and Special Summon it again." The fire fox appeared on the field in front of her.

Their opponent paled.

"You remember now, don't you?" Hitoda clapped her hands together. "I'll send Fairy Tail - Luna and Inari Fire to the graveyard! Come from the deck, Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire!" The enormous fox made of flames reappeared, letting out a loud cry. "I'll select Antique Gear Ultimate Golem! Torch it!"

The flames shot across the field, knocking yet another opponent back.

Obelisk Force Yellow 2: 4000 - 4400 = 0LP

"I still control two Attributes," Hitoda said with faux-contemplation. "Let's make it four for now, shall we? I still control a Spellcaster monster, so I will Special Summon Ranryu and Jigabyte from my hand!" Two of the other three familiars appeared on the field, boosting the attack points of every monster on Hitoda's field by a ridiculous amount. The dragon slid in between Reactor Dragon and Antique Gear Ultimate Hunting Hound, while the blue reptile warrior stood on the far right.

[Ranryu (4*/1500/200/WIND/Dragon/Effect)]

[Jigabyte (4*/1500/200/WATER/Reptile/Effect)]

"And I—"

… ow.

She shifted slightly, hoping to hide her discomfort. She kept her smile on her face, even as on the inside, she had to hold in the urge to flinch.

Bad timing. And now my mood's all gone too.

I'll just open the way to finish them off quickly.

"My Awakening of the Possessed gives all my monsters 300 attack points for each Attribute I control," she said. "You can see the result of that yourself."

[Awakening of the Possessed - Greater Inari Fire: 2000 + 300 x 4 = 3200ATK]

[Ranryu: 1500 + 300 x 4 = 2700ATK]

[Jigabyte: 1500 + 300 x 4 = 2700ATK]

[Antique Gear Reactor Dragon: 3600 + 300 x 2 = 4200ATK]

[Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog: 2800 + 300 x 4 = 4000ATK]

[Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable: 2450 + 300 x 2 = 3050ATK]

"Impossible! That means…"

"Your Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog can attack three times per turn," Hitoda said. "There are two of you still in the game. One of you still has a Antique Gear Wyvern to hide behind, while the other has nothing." She gestured forward. "... I think I'll finish you off with your own monster. And even if you had Spells or Traps, you couldn't use those when it attacks."

The dog chomped down thrice—finishing off their remaining opponents.

Obelisk Force Yellow 1: 3000 - 2300 - 4000 = 0LP

Obelisk Force Green 2: 4000 - 4000 = 0LP

Winner: Hitoda Makishima & Noboru Gongenzaka!

Hitoda breathed out again, watching their opponents teleport away. She'd been hoping to save one or two of them for Gongenzaka to take out, but… that person had pretty much put himself in the exact position for her to defeat him in a single move. She couldn't help it. If she had gone for Rasenryu instead and returned that other card to the hand, she would still have defeated him anyway—she had too many monsters left to use.

… I'm just not in a good mood today, it seems.

Still…

"At that level, we probably could have handled nine of them," she said, still thinking about how literally any of their opponents could have summoned Megaton Golem and been better off.

"... you really are stronger than you look, Hitoda-san," Gongenzaka said, and Hitoda laughed, though it soon transitioned to a short cough that she quickly cut off. She felt slightly out of breath.

"I'm still a performer, Gongenzaka! Not nearly as strong as most of you."

Now that's a lie. But most of my strength belongs to a different face than what you see here, so I guess it's true in its own way? The most strength I've put into a duel so far has been against him, after all…

She was thinking so hard that she didn't realise it when the world was shifting and turning—and when she toppled to the ground, it was only that brief spike of pain in her chest that brought her briefly back to reality—

And then, darkness.

---

"Elaborate on that more."

Hitoda grinned, sipping on the drink in her bottle. "Elaborate?" She repeated, shooting him a wink. "Wasn't I pretty clear about it? Or are you offended just because you're a closeted fan?"

"When you say that you dislike your fans," Ryoken said with a shrug. They were sitting by the fountain in a park that was near her apartment—one of those impromptu meetings without any real purpose, uncharacteristic for both of them. It was already nighttime—he probably lived somewhere near here, though she wasn't going to question that. "It seems counterintuitive to me. I'm familiar with some other Charisma Duelists—one of them is rather close to my sister. But if you don't enjoy the attention, then you don't have to do it."

Hitoda tilted her head towards him, smirking. "It makes money," she said. "Some attention's bad, but some of it is good. Would you have given me the time of day if I wasn't Soothsayer?"

"No."

Hitoda pretended to frown. "So honest!" She winked playfully. "You'll wound me terribly someday with your words."

He glanced at her stoically. "You still haven't explained yourself."

"Maybe I'm just the kind of person who doesn't like to explain myself." She thought briefly about poking him in the chest just to see how he'd react, but she managed to exercise some level of restraint. (She'd already seen the brief moment where his eyes had widened when she'd said that mildly controversial statement of "I can't stand my fans". She'd mostly only admitted it because she wanted to see how he'd react.)

"I already know that much," he said. If he was less formal of a person, he'd have scoffed—or if he was currently taking on the face of Revolver. After all, when he was taking on the role of Revolver, he tended to be far more antagonistic and confrontational in the way that he acted.

That was the kind of world that they lived in, after all—where everyone had at least two different faces. Of course, it couldn't always be said that one of those 'faces' was fake, but at the very least, everyone was far more aware of how they presented themselves in different situations.

"Sometimes, I wonder if you act mysterious simply to annoy people, or if you're as complicated as you make yourself out to be."

"Bit of Column A, bit of Column B," Hitoda said flippantly. Before they could go any further down that line of thought, she changed the subject back to what they'd originally been talking about. "I don't like my fans because they like me… that's really the long and short of it."

"... you don't like them because they like you," he repeated flatly.

"Yep. Thing is, Blue Angel once asked me if I was faking how I acted." Hitoda flippantly gestured to herself with a hand. "I said no, because apparently, I don't have the decency to tell my kind of sort of friend that I'm… well, kind of sort of a bitch. Or something like that."

He was watching her rather intently, wasn't he?

"That's a lot of qualifiers, huh?" Hitoda winked, spoiling his concentration and making him roll his eyes. "I do like what I do! But the thing is, if someone likes Soothsayer, it's that superficial kind of 'like' that I can't stand." It was the kind of affection that she usually used to her own advantage, precisely because she disliked that superficiality.

"You are an absolute hypocrite if you think you can say anything about superficiality."

"So harsh! I'll cry."

"If I believed you, I'd apologise."

"Oh, but I'm very sincere." Hitoda put a hand on her heart, leaning back and grinning at him as he turned his head to look at her. She saw a brief warmth in his expression—it made her feel strange, so she once again cut it off. "You look handsome today, by the way!"

It was like a shutter had come down again. He scoffed.

"I cannot take you seriously. You lie as easily as you breathe."

Hitoda couldn't help it—she giggled, a light laugh, nothing like her usual mocking but down-to-earth chuckle. "If I say that's a lie, aren't I technically telling the truth? You don't mind it anyway, do you? I mean, if I don't hurt anyone, then it's fine, right?"

"It's annoying. And I won't pretend to understand why you do it." He didn't look at her. "But it's not like I have the right to tell you to stop. It's your life."

Hitoda's light fidgeting stopped at that. She looked at him consideringly, until he turned to look back at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, remembering to smile at the last moment. "If only more people could be like you. Life would be easier."

---

In retrospect, Shun should have expected to bump into Academia quickly, just because that was how his luck usually went. However…

"Well," he said, looking at the snivelling man that looked like he was a few seconds from bolting. "We've never met, but with that officious uniform, you're likely a lieutenant or higher rank. Lieutenants don't tend to survive long in Heartland, so… you're that second-in-command that we've heard about, right?"

"I—" The man blustered. "I'm a non-combatant!" He ran a hand through his oily, mop-like brown head of hair. "I'm not dueling you, I'm leaving!"

Shun scoffed. "There are no non-combatants in Heartland, Mamoru Noro. Academia decided that itself!" Next to him, Reira blinked in recognition—after all, Shun had mentioned this man's name during the briefing before they had come back to Heartland. Mamoru Noro, the supposed second-in-command and Deputy Commander of the Heartland Occupation Force. Supposedly just a paper pusher, he had never really been spotted by any of them except Mariko, though that was mainly due to the girl's tendency to spy on Academia's meetings outside of the base without getting into fights with them. He fit the profile that Mariko had provided—neurotic, constantly nervous, overly proud and entitled despite his lack of ability. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

The man shook his head. "I—I don't have to answer that! I'm not fighting you, Ace of Spades!"

Shun arched an eyebrow. So this person did know who he was, huh? Still…

He thought about the ruins of the Duel Lodge, and felt a certain anger in his heart as he took a step forward. "The fact that you're here means that Academia has business in this area," he said. "Do you think that I'll just let you do as you please? It doesn't matter to me if you don't want to fight me, because if you're Academia, I want to fight you!"

"You—I'm not going to waste my time with you!" The man was looking around frantically. "I will… uh…"

Then, his gaze landed on Reira, and he looked like he'd just seen the sun.

"I'll duel them!" He declared, gesturing to Reira. "Yeah! I mean, you don't want to waste your time on me! If I have to duel, I'll duel them!"

Shun stood there. He exchanged a look with Reira, slightly speechless. Because this was Reira Akaba, who despite her young age, was still an extremely strong member of the Lancers. And this guy thought that he was going to have an easier time against her.

Despite his anger, Shun felt the strange urge to laugh.

"Alright," he said. "If Reira's fine with it, I'll let her handle you."

Reira nodded, seeming… confident. She stepped forward quietly.

"That's—that's more like it! Fine then—prepare yourself!"

This should be good, Shun thought. And if not, he could always step in.

… he wasn't exactly going to play fair against a higher-up of Academia. It should be fine though.

[DUEL!]

Reira Akaba: 4000LP

Mamoru Noro: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Noro] [H:5]

"I'll… uh… activate the Continuous Spell, Future Fusion!" The man gulped. "During my next Standby Phase, I can reveal a Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck and send its materials to the graveyard. I will set a monster and a card and… pass."

… okay, that was just insulting to Reira. Shun raised an eyebrow. Did this man really think that Reira was so incompetent that she couldn't handle a single set card and monster?

[Turn 2: Reira] [H:6]

"Draw," Reira said quietly, studying her cards. If Shun remembered correctly, the deck that she had now was based on an already existing archetype—Reiji Akaba had simply made new Extra Deck monsters for the archetype, and Mion had contributed some of her cards from her previous Spellcaster toolbox deck as well. Still, this would be the first real opponent that she would be facing with that deck…

Uh.

Would this be considered a real opponent?

"Activating the Spell Card, Spell Power Mastery," Reira called out. There was no sign of nervousness in her voice, just the usual stoicism. "I will add an "Endymion" card from my deck to my hand. I will add Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery from my deck to my hand." She didn't use the Spell Counter effect, meaning that while there was some overlap, her deck wasn't focused on the same things as Mion. "I will Normal Summon Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery." A dark-haired man dressed in blue and purple robes appeared on the field, holding up a staff tipped with gold and bright, odd pink. Purple runes floated around him in rings.

[Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery (4*/1300/1700/WATER/Spellcaster/Effect)]

"Endymion's effect. I can equip a "Magistus" monster from my Extra Deck to Endymion itself. I will equip Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden to her." The translucent spirit of a girl with long platinum blonde hair appeared, her bright gold wings stretching out behind her as she floated behind Endymion.

"Equip a monster from the Extra Deck?" Noro said with a frown. "What does that mean?"

Reira ignored the question. It immediately became clear that this was because she had been about to explain it anyway. "While Artemis is equipped to a monster, once per turn, I can add a "Magistus" monster from my deck to my hand." She picked up the card. "I will activate the Spell Card, Magistus Invocation. I will perform a Fusion Summon using monsters from my hand or field, including a Spellcaster monster—and if I'm Fusion Summoning a "Magistus" monster, I can also use monsters that are equipped to a "Magistus" monster I control as material. I will fuse Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden with Rilliona, the Magistus of Verre in my hand."

Above her, the familiar vortex of Fusion Summoning appeared. Shun grimaced, but he didn't complain.

"Saintly spirit with the knowledge of this world, the laws that govern it and those beyond! Be invoked in our presence in this instant! Fusion Summon! Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit!"

In front of Reira, a large blue and silver creature appeared—its body seemed to flow in a liquid-like manner. There was something eerie to it, to the way that its body seemed to change colour as it moved, something that seemed… unstable in its existence. Still, even as blue energy surrounded it, it slinked onto the field in front of Reira in Defense Position.

[Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit (8*/2000/2800/WIND/Fiend/Fusion/Effect)]

"Then, the Spell Card, Magistus Vritra." Reira gestured forward. "I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower "Magistus" monster from my graveyard. Return—Rilliona, the Magistus of Verre." A blue-haired woman dressed in bright white robes appeared—there was something holy-looking to her appearance and bright, as opposed to Endymion and Aiwass's darker appearance. She was wearing an enormous witch's hat that she had tipped backwards, exposing a cocky smile. She swung a staff through the air gracefully.

[Rilliona, the Magistus of Verre (4*/800/1800/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]

"Rilliona's effect. I'll add a "Magistus" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand. Then, I'll overlay the Level 4 Rilliona, the Magistus of Verre and the Level 4 Endymion, the Magistus of Mastery. Beautiful witch that wields magic with creativity, dance in the shimmering light! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe!"

A taller version of Rilliona appeared on the field—she was wearing a far puffier, far larger dress than before. It was still white, but now there were blue accents to it. A pink ribbon ran around the waist of the dress. Some of the dress's skirts pooled on the ground beneath her—it was just that long.

[Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe (R4/1000/2800/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

Rilliona was in Defense Position as well.

"Fusion, and then Xyz?" Reira's opponent sounded like he was about to start crying.

Reira lifted her head. "Rilliona's effect. I can detach one of her Overlay Units and Special Summon a "Magistus" monster from the deck." One of the orbs spinning around Rilliona vanished, and the witch raised her hand in the air—one of the blue ribbons that was loosely swirling around her glowed, and as she snapped her fingers, a portal appeared. "Come—Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame!"

A tall man with long, vibrant red hair appeared, standing next to Rilliona. He was wearing black and yellow, and around him, flames were spinning swiftly, illuminating both his dark clothing and melding into his bright hair.

[Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame (4*/1500/1500/FIRE/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect)]

[Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

"Zoroa's effect. I'll equip a copy of Ninaruru, the Magistus Glass Goddess to him." A translucent blue spirit appeared, floating behind Zoroa. "And Zoroa's effect. When he is equipped with a "Magistus" monster, I can Special Summon a Level 4 Spellcaster monster from my hand or graveyard with its effects negated. I will Special Summon Endymion." The dark spellcaster from earlier returned to the field. "And then, Ninaruru's effect. While equipped to a "Magistus" monster, once per turn, I can target a "Magistus" card in my Spell and Trap Zone and a Spell or Trap my opponent controls—and I can destroy both of them. I will target Ninaruru herself and your set card."

"Trap Card, Threatening Roar! You can't declare an attack this turn!" The card was still destroyed, but Noro got to buy himself another turn.

Reira nodded. "... tuning the Level 4 Zoroa to the Level 4 Endymion," she said. "Blazing dragon that dances in the cloud's wake. Awaken and incinerate! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Vahram, the Magistus Divinity Dragon!" And then, in front of her, a large red dragon dove down from the sky, golden flames and embers falling around the ground. Its underbelly was stark white in contrast to the bright red of its scales, and its wings had a different colour scheme from its scales too. They were almost parrot-like—the outer feathers were sky blue, while the inner feathers were golden. As a whole…

It was a rather striking monster.

… it was also in Defense Position.

[Vahram, the Magistus Divinity Dragon (8*/2500/2900/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"F-fusion to Xyz to Synchro?" Noro stammered.

Shun folded his arms. "It looks like that part of your playstyle hasn't changed," he commented. "You really do take after your brother." It seemed to be the right thing to say—Reira didn't smile or anything, but the way that her eyes widened and she shot him a hopeful look was the equivalent of another person glowing. After a moment, she returned to the duel, but there was something more energetic to it—before it, she'd seemed a bit too cautious, but now…

Yeah. Shun had probably said the right thing, huh?

"I'll set a card and end my turn." Good move. She couldn't attack anyway.

[Turn 3: Noro] [H:3]

"D-draw. With Future Fusion's effect, I'll reveal Worm Zero in my Extra Deck!"

Worm? Was that his archetype? Shun valiantly held in the urge to comment, before remembering that this was in fact a piece of shit from Academia, and anything that he said would be valid. "Fitting," he said.

"Huh?"

"Worms. You're already squirming like one, and Reira's barely even done anything yet."

"Y-you!" The man seemed to be riling himself up to argue. Shun raised an eyebrow, pretending to raise his duel disk—immediately, the man backed down. "You—just wait! You'll see! I'll send twenty-three monsters from my deck to the graveyard as material for Worm Zero!"

Twenty-three monsters as material? That was…

"I'll Flip Summon Worm Cartoros!" And then on the man's field, a monster that was distinctly not a worm appeared. It resembled a beetle of sorts, rendered in desaturated, rusty-looking red-grey. Blue and yellow patterns covered its furry 'wings'.

[Worm Cartoros (4*/1200/500/LIGHT/Reptile/Flip/Effect)]

"Cartoros lets me… add a Level 4 or lower "Worm" Reptile monster from my deck to my hand! And then, I'll use the effect of Worm Queen in my hand—I can Tribute Summon it with just one "Worm" Reptile monster! I'll tribute Cartoros! Come, Worm Queen!"

If the first monster had already obviously not been a worm, this one was even less so. The top half of its body was distinctly humanoid in shape, but the bottom half resembled that of a mantis. Furthermore, even if the shape had been right, it would never have looked fully human—its skin was bone white, its limbs were thin and spindly, not just the insect legs but the humanoid hands as well. It looked like it was carved from clay and marble, but at the same time, it just looked… wrong. And in its right hand, it was holding onto a large, purple piece of goop that was moving—an alien creature, perhaps?

[Worm Queen (8*/2700/1100/LIGHT/Reptile/Effect)]

"I'll then activate the Continuous Spell, Solidarity! If I only have one Type of monster in my graveyard, all monsters I control of that Type gain 800 attack points!" Worm Queen glowed.

[Worm Queen: 2700 + 800 = 3500ATK]

"Attack Vahram!"

"I'll activate my set card," Reira said quietly. "The Quickplay Spell, Magistus Theurgy. I'll equip a "Magistus" monster from my deck to a "Magistus" monster I control. I'll equip another copy of Aiwass." The blue spirit appeared, swirling around Vahram. "When Aiwass is equipped to a monster, that monster gains 1000 attack and defense points." Vahram let out a defiant roar.

[Vahram, the Magistus Divinity Dragon: 2500 + 1000 = 3500ATK; 2900 + 1000 = 3900DEF]

"Counterattack!"

Vahram breathed out golden flames on top of Worm Queen—while she wasn't destroyed since Vahram was in Defense Position, Reira's opponent still took damage.

Noro: 4000 - 400 = 3600LP

"I… ugh, I'll set a card and end my turn!"

[Turn 4: Reira] [H:4]

"Draw!" Reira gestured forward. "Rilliona!" The other Overlay Unit dissolved, and then, another copy of the younger Rilliona appeared on the field.

[Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe: OU:1 - 1 = OU:0]

"With the effect of Rilliona, the Magistus of Verre, I can add a "Magistus" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand. Then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Twin Twisters!"

Noro's eyes widened. "No!"

"I'll discard a card to destroy your set card and Future Fusion!" The two cards exploded—meaning that Noro was no longer going to be able to access his Fusion Monster. "Then, Aiwass's effect! Once per turn, I can equip it to a monster on the field! I will equip it to Worm Queen!"

"Huh? Why?"

"When Aiwass is equipped to my opponent's monster, I can take control of that monster!" Reira gestured forward—the blue mist consumed Worm Queen, dragging it over to her side of the field. "And that monster gains 1000 attack and defense points!"

So Worm Queen lost Solidarity's effect, but it didn't matter, thanks to Aiwass's effect.

[Worm Queen: 3500 - 800 + 1000 = 3700ATK; 1100 + 1000 = 2100DEF]

… ah. Reira had allowed him to summon a stronger monster just so that she could steal his monster with Aiwass. That was… surprisingly tactical, all things considered.

"Worm Queen attacks directly!" The two monsters moved forward, striking down Reira's opponent and knocking him back.

Noro: 3600 - 3700 = 0LP

Winner: Reira Akaba!

"Well done," Shun said approvingly.

Reira turned to him and nodded. "... thanks for the support," she said—clearly still a little shy.

Shun scoffed. "It's not like I did anything. That was all you."

"Yes, but… being there. I would have been scared if I was alone… but you trusted me to win. You didn't insist that you had to protect me from everything. Thank… you."

… well, Shun had to look away after that. It was just a bit too earnest.

They were both so distracted, however, that Shun didn't notice the man turning and trying to run away until a different figure swooped out from the nearby ruins—duel disk raised. Shun moved instinctively—despite his distaste for the man that Reira had just defeated, despite the fact that his mind had not yet consciously processed the situation—

Unconsciously, the sight of someone's duel disk raised, ready to card someone, was something that he had to stop, no matter who it was.

His arm collided with another. Shun lowered his head, meeting the attacker's eyes. He froze in place. Familiar eyes, that familiar blue-grey, and yet the look in them was anything but familiar. It was sheer, raw anger and hatred, something glassy with disbelief and a need to destroy, to hurt—

Deadened. Furious.

"... Kaito?" He breathed out—hardly daring to believe his own eyes.

"Why are you stopping me?" Kaito spat out. "Why aren't you carding him? You've won!"

"What are you doing?" Shun shoved Kaito's arm back, but the other man was unrelenting—still glaring at him. "He's—"

"He's from Academia!" Kaito barked out. "We defeat them, we card them, we get rid of them—what's there to question about that?"

Shun narrowed his eyes. He… could he even talk Kaito out of whatever was going on? This was clearly some kind of episode—Kaito wasn't thinking straight.

… it felt like a role reversal. Back then, Shun was the one who had dragged everyone down with him—so mentally unwell that it had taken several of his comrades to hold him back from doing terrible things, and he hadn't really stopped doing those things until he had been forced to confront himself. Kaito had been one of those comrades that had helped him back then…

And now, whatever had happened…

What had happened to him, to make him act like this—so disconnected from everything around him, insisting on violence?

"Kaito," Shun said, keeping his voice level. He took a step forward—he didn't want to fight his friend, not really, if he could help it. Not if Kaito could be reasoned with. Especially not when Reira was right there. (The coward of an Academia agent had already run away.) It was at times like this when he wished that he had more gentleness to him, but that had never been in his nature—he didn't have Ruri's sweet kindness, Yuto's calm helpfulness or even Nue's rough but well-meaning compassion. "What's going on? Let me help."

Kaito's voice was cold when he responded. "Like the person who couldn't even protect his own little sister could help me," he snapped.

Shun's first reaction was anger—that was far too personal of a wound for anyone to use against him, no matter whether it was a friend or not. Anger at himself, anger at Kaito, and more than that, a cold and bitter anger at Academia and Yuri Kaiba for everything. His inability to protect Ruri—Ruri, who clearly now carried her own burdens of guilt for not having been with them…

Salt in the wound.

"Ruri's back," Shun said—he couldn't stop the anger from entering his voice. "She's fine. Don't mock me for that—that's just cruel."

"Ruri's fine?" Kaito looked at him. "... so what?"

So… so what?

"Why are you acting like this, Kaito?" Shun clenched his fists. "You know Ruri. We're friends—"

"I don't have friends anymore," Kaito said. "I don't need any of you."

"We're comrades—and before that, we were friends! What about Nue? If she was the one standing right here, would you reject her too? The two of you—"

"Don't try to appeal to me! I told you I don't need anyone. I'm the only one strong enough to take down Academia—I'll make them fall and repent!"

This uncaring attitude towards Ruri, and even towards Nue—all in favour of hatred.

"Then, did you abandon the Resistance just to go at it alone? How could you do that? They need you, they need me, they need everyone they can—"

"Then why did you leave?"

Shun fell silent at the sharp, accusatory question.

Kaito's fists were clenched so tightly that his skin had gone white. "It's so fucking rich of you to say that," he spat out. "As though it's all alright because you're now alright, as though things are now fixed just because you get to be happy…" He was shaking, his nails scraping his own skin.

"Kaito—"

"You're back," Kaito snarled out, "and you're expecting to connect with us—with me again—as though you weren't the first to abandon your own comrades for your own selfish desires!"

Selfish…

"You encouraged us to go," Shun protested. It sounded weak to his ears. "I—"

"Everyone knew that Ruri was your everything, so they let you go, because they knew that you wouldn't stay anyway!" Every word was a dagger, sharpened to hurt. "But at that point, we were still fighting off Academia constantly—we still needed every person that we could get. And you abandoned us all because you wanted to find your sister!"

"What difference would I alone have made?" Shun shouted back—before he flinched. Shouting had been an instinctive response; contemplation came afterwards.

"You alone?" Kaito repeated. "You alone? Don't act like you held no responsibility towards the Resistance back then, Ace of Spades!" The title sounded derogatory now, coming from a place of hatred rather than respect. "Don't act like you didn't know that in a group full of civilians who wouldn't even touch a duel disk, losing you wouldn't be a huge disadvantage! Just as much as losing Yuto and Nue, who went with you!"

"... they chose to," Shun said. "They're free to make their own choices."

"Don't act like you gave them a choice," Kaito said with a scoff.

Shun's eyes widened in shock—what exactly was Kaito insinuating right now?

"You really think that Yuto wouldn't leap on the idea of 'saving Ruri' immediately?" Kaito demanded. "If you phrased it that way, he would always follow you, no matter what. And what about Nue? You know how protective she's always been over Yuto—as protective as you were over Ruri. If you took her brother with you, of course she would follow! You told the girl that feels the responsibility to protect everything that is hers that she had to choose you and Yuto, or the rest of the Resistance, and obviously, there was no path for her to follow except for the one that you and Yuto were walking—the unknown path that two of the most precious people in her life were following! You made her choose!"

The area around them was completely silent. Their breaths were both heavy from shouting.

"So much for being in love with that person," Kaito finally spat out, when the silence dragged on for too long.

"Enough!" Shun stepped forward again. To his surprise, Kaito wrapped his arms around himself—a defensive response. Then—was lashing out also a defensive response for him?

Something terrible must have happened to the Resistance in his absence—something that turned Kaito into this. But what was it? What could possibly have…

Oh no.

Ruri was Shun's everything. As for Kaito…

"... Haruto?" Shun breathed out.

Kaito's head snapped up—

A few seconds later, he'd crossed the distance, slamming his fist straight into Shun's jaw. Kaito slammed his fist down again, the two of them toppling on the ground, bits of rock and rubble digging into their skin.

"Don't say his name!" It was more a howl than a shout—more animalistic than human. "You don't have the right!"

Oh—oh no. Shun finally understood.

He caught Kaito's next punch, but the blond kneed him straight in the chest. Shun couldn't bring himself to hit back, all of a sudden—because he had Ruri back, but Kaito had lost his brother. That was the reason why Kaito was so angry.

And… maybe Shun deserved it. Maybe that had really been his fault. Maybe Kaito had a right to—

"Please stop!"

Both Kaito and Shun froze. They turned their heads.

Reira was looking at them—eyes wide in horror.

"Please don't hurt each other," she whispered—practically a whimper. "You… you're friends, right?"

Shun pushed himself backwards, getting to his feet. Kaito followed, still glaring at him with the same venom.

"We're friends," Shun said shortly.

"No, we're not," Kaito shot back. "He's not my friend! He left when we needed him! I—"

His voice stopped suddenly—he clutched at his throat, leaning down briefly, as though he might claw out his own neck. A low, pained wheeze left his throat.

Shun felt a flash of concern, despite their argument. Before he could say anything, Kaito had already stumbled back, eyes wide, limbs uncoordinated.

"Don't…" He gasped out. "Don't touch me—don't—get away from me—"

He staggered backwards again, and then began to run away—Shun would have followed, but Reira was right there, and there was no way that she could run as fast as them.

So he was forced to watch his friend go.

He knelt down in front of Reira, who was trembling slightly.

"Sorry about that," he said, keeping his voice lower to not scare her anymore. "Did I scare you?"

"... you don't need to say sorry to me," Reira said. She clutched her bag closer to herself, despite her own words. "Are you… okay?"

… of course not.

They were all on the same side, all against Academia, weren't they? Fighting like that…

"… as though you weren't the first to abandon your own comrades for your own selfish desires!"

Shun didn't know how to feel right now. Guilty? Angry?

… he just had to fix things.

If Kaito reacted so viscerally to him, then Shun could only imagine how hurt everyone else was. Haruto Tenjo would never have been put on the frontlines of battle. So, their base… their base must have truly been compromised by Academia, to the point that they couldn't evacuate. Clover Branch. Spade Branch. The Duel Lodge.

How many casualties had the Resistance suffered since they'd left?

What if he could have done something here? What if their deaths really were his fault—for leaving, for taking Yuto and Nue with him? What if he could have stopped all of this?

His mind conjured up the picture of Kaito's furious gaze again.

What if he could have stopped his friend from going mad with grief? Ruri had ended up saving herself, right? In that case, had he abandoned everyone else for no reason? Had he saved his own mind by dooming others?

How was he supposed to explain? If he'd understood what had happened to Haruto from the start, then he might not have argued with Kaito. But at the same time, Kaito had already been mad at him, before hearing anything else from him, before telling him anything. In the end, wasn't that mess because of both of them?

"Are you… okay?"

Nue wouldn't ask him that kind of question right now, he thought to himself. She'd immediately set up a plan to get him and Kaito to apologise to each other—she would act, instead of allowing this kind of hurt to linger. He already missed her, and they'd still been together this morning. She and Kaito had always shared similar attitudes towards things—if she found out about what had happened in their absence… would she blame him, too?

He shook his head, dismissing the question. "I'm not the main concern right now," he said, pushing down all of that doubt and hurt—he couldn't allow himself to be wrapped up in those kinds of possibilities right now, when there were real problems that needed to be solved. "Come on, Reira. We need to find the rest of the Resistance—I need to ask—"

He couldn't stand this. He couldn't stand knowing whether he should be hated, whether he was hated…

… he just needed to find the rest. He'd deal with their judgement later.

---

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all, that Shun Kurosaki could come back smiling and happy to see him. It wasn't fair that Shun fucking Kurosaki was rewarded for abandoning everyone and everything that had depended on him, and that he got his sister back when Haruto was gone, when Haruto was never, ever coming back again—

"Nii-san!"

"It's alright, because you'll keep me safe, right, nii-san?"

"I'm not scared!"

He was hit with a sudden feeling of vertigo—his head spun, and he grabbed onto the dusty cupboard to stop himself from falling.

"Haruto," he muttered to himself. "Haruto, Haruto, Haruto—"

"Nii-san! Nii-san, where are you! I needed you!"

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—

"Breathe, Kaito, breathe."

Kaito didn't know what he was saying—he knew that words were leaving his throat, but they were lost to the wind—he could not perceive them in the slightest. All he could hear was Haruto's voice, all he could see was Haruto's smile, all he could feel was guilt guilt guilt—

"It's not your fault. Kaito, it's not your fault."

As if you would know!

He brought up his hands, shoving the figure in front of him away—there was the sound of a thud, and he panted, breathing out heavily. His vision was still shaking.

"You can hear my voice, can't you? Breathe, Kaito, it'll pass. In, out. In, out. In, out…"

Kaito found himself following her voice, even as another part of him begged to scream.

When his vision stabilised, he saw her kneeling there in front of him—he was sprawled on the floor, half sitting and half lying down, his head bent at an awkward angle. Her hand was hovering in the air—not touching him, but still suspended there in a wish to help.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He spat out. For her to see him like this—for her to always know, somehow when he was like this…

"I was in the area to pick up some food." Now that Tsubaki said it, he could see the bags strewn on the ground behind her, filled with cans—she must have placed them down in a hurry when she had seen him. "And I saw you."

"You don't know. You don't understand—"

Her fingers pressed against his knee, giving him pause. Her brown eyes glanced out from under her dark sunhat. "I saw you," she repeated. Her expression was calm as a lake, as usual. "I heard your words. I know what you said to him."

A chill filled the air.

"You know nothing," Kaito said.

"I know everything. I was there." Her gaze was searching. "I remember it as well as you do—"

"But you still care for them." Like some strange mixture of chemicals, his fury bubbled up again. "Don't deny it. You still do. To you, no matter how terrible it was, you still think of everyone in this damn city as someone for you to protect—"

"Am I wrong? You used to think the same."

"But your way doesn't work," Kaito said. "Look at all the fucking progress we've made against Academia so far. And that time that—"

"I don't know if any of us could have predicted that. I will take the blame for it, if you want. But other than that, casualties from the Resistance have pretty much fallen to zero, and have stayed that way for so long because of me. Instead of recklessly moving forward by sacrificing others…"

It was as pointed as her tone would ever get.

"I want to keep as many people alive as possible, for as long as I can."

"Well, you've done such a good job," Kaito said mockingly—unable to stop himself from striking back. There was a part of his mind that was shouting at him in horror to stop, especially considering who Tsubaki was, who she had been to him once upon a time…

That part failed. And so, the most venomous words at all escaped his lips.

"Tell me, how are your brothers doing these days?"

The words hung in the air—aimed to hurt, aimed like knives.

"... you always hold this over my head," Tsubaki said quietly. Her voice was still carefully neutral. "Isn't it enough that I'm still here with the Resistance? That I didn't fail or turn on our people?"

"But it's not enough," Kaito said. "There is no way forward other than to destroy Academia completely—" He was getting worked up again, but he couldn't control it. "And if you can't do that, if you're too weak to do that, I can't work with you, I'll just do it myself—"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to—"

"Kaito." A hand pressed to his cheek—gentle but hesitant. Kaito cut himself off. Despite his fury, he could feel his cheeks burning slightly. "You're going to pass out if you break down again so quickly. If you want to fight, at least keep yourself in better health."

"... I just hate how you do things," Kaito said, his voice uneven. "I hate that you don't get angry. I hate that you're so strong but you'd rather burn yourself before you burn someone else. I hate that you let people rely on you so much. I hate that I can say the nastiest things to you and you can still… touch me like this, like you care, like anyone really cares now that they're gone, now that I have nothing…"

"Don't," Tsubaki said quietly, and he hated that too. The fact that she would not defend herself against those words, the fact that she was still trying to act like she could somehow compensate for his suffering—

"... it makes me wonder how much more you tolerate," Kaito spat out. "How you let other people treat you."

A shrug, a glance to the side. "... it's different. They're people I've been charged with protecting. You're…"

She fell silent. Kaito wanted to grab her shoulders and make her say what he knew she was going to say. Yes, yes, say it. What am I to you? What are you to me?

In the end, she didn't say the words. "... I just know you're hurting. I know you're all hurting. And I said that I would protect everyone. You said the same."

"Clearly, I lied. I'm not one of your people anymore. You can quit looking out for me and focus on your people. You know, in case another incident like your brothers happens again."

This time, he actually winced at his own words. He couldn't help it though—all those ugly words were just burrowing their way out of his chest, stoked by the blazing coals of unfairness.

Get angry at me, he wanted to say. Cut me off. That way, I can finally, finally be alone…

It was what he wanted, right?

"And what happens the next time you're begging a ghost for forgiveness?" Tsubaki stood up, still staring at him—she let go of him. (When had she been holding onto him?) "... I don't think that I'll change your mind—you're too used to this—" She gestured to both of them. "—by now. But maybe, just try to believe that there's a chance that things can get better."

"That's the problem and you know it," Kaito snapped. "The people that believe that any of this can be fixed… they are the problem. They're the ones holding us back. You know it. There is no future except revenge. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool—I didn't take you for one."

There. Finally a reaction—there was a sharp tension to her fingers, as though she was about to clench her hand into a fist.

"And when we destroy, are we satisfied?" She said—quietly dangerous.

"You tell me. You're the firebird."

She didn't respond. Finally, she started to walk away—

And Kaito noticed that she was limping.

He got up—stumbling briefly, before he caught her sleeve in a burst of sudden concern.

"No," Tsubaki said, without even hearing what he had to say. Maybe she already knew.

"You're hurt."

"And? You were hurting me too, and you didn't seem to have a problem when you did it."

"That was—" The words caught in his throat. "I—"

When she brushed his arm off, she almost seemed tired. "You think you've gone far, Kaito, but if you saw what I did today, you'd still shudder."

"I don't believe that."

"... it doesn't matter. You don't get to be worried about me when you're not worried about anyone else. I'm not special, Kaito Tenjo, and I have never been. As long as you're stuck in the past and I fly towards the future, neither of us have the right to work together."

And with that, she walked away, refusing any help from him.

(Maybe, deep down, Kaito knew that he deserved it. As it stood, he just remained there, unable to say a thing.)

(And then, he was off again too.)

---

"Tsubaki!"

The red-haired young woman turned around. "Mariko," she greeted, as her friend moved over to her side. "... you've heard about it already?"

"Hmm?"

"You're clearly out here for a reason. I know that the Lancers are already here—I'm assuming that it's connected to that somewhat."

"Heard about it, yeah. I've been moving around," Mariko said flippantly. "Went to the docks first, just because I thought that would be interesting—Rio was working on my ADTR since I was taking a bit of a break today, and when she took a break, she bumped straight into one of the Lancers. Apparently, the same lookalike that Yuto warned us all about."

"... oh?"

"Apparently," Mariko said, clearly holding in a laugh, "Yuto was wrong. Different person kidnapped Ruri. Anyway, after that fight settled and Rio decided to bring them back, I made sure that she saw me and that the rest didn't, and I signalled to her that it was probably fine. As I was moving around the rooftops, I saw a few others from the Resistance and made sure to tell them not to get in a fight with the Lancers either, so we'll probably be able to avoid those painfully cliche misunderstandings. But then I saw you out here by yourself, so I figured that I should check on you before I kept going!"

"You never slow down," Tsubaki remarked. Then again, that might have been a bit of an understatement—there had never been a wilder traceur in Heartland than Mariko Ejiri, and her fearlessness when it came to parkour and her capability to not get in a fight every few minutes had made her Tsubaki's best ally—not that she would have considered Mariko any less, considering that they were in fact best friends.

"Slowing down is a waste of time," Mariko said. "Anyway, I did not find Hisako, but since she's one of us, she knows the situation anyway! I'll let her handle herself."

"… I'd still feel better if you went to find her. You know how she gets."

"Mm, yeah, flies to honey and all. I swear, that girl could talk a man into giving her his duel disk." Mariko hummed. "And should I leave you all the way out here on your own, huh? What's with the limp, and why is there soot on your clothes? Set a man on fire or something?"

"Yes."

"Well, uh—" Then, Mariko did a double-take. "… oh. Oh shit. What did he say to you?"

… it wasn't a half-bad feeling to be understood in that way. To have it be understood that it was unintentional, that she'd tried to put out the flames immediately afterwards by stopping the duel, that it had taken a spectacular loss of control for her to let go in that way—

"My father," she said.

Mariko narrowed her eyes. "What a dumbass," she muttered darkly. "Why would he do that?"

"Ask him. He should be fine—I did some basic checks before I left." Tsubaki shrugged. "You're faster than I am, and I can handle myself. Go pick up any Lancers that you can find and direct them to the base."

"And is that a direct order, Tsubaki-sama?" Mariko teased—no less bright despite what she'd just learned. Tsubaki had always thought that it would take something truly spectacular to change Mariko's smile—not even the invasion had managed it, after all.

"… it's whatever you want it to be."

"Okay then." Mariko cheerfully hugged her for a moment, before she adjusted the straps of the backpack that she was wearing, and she was off again, continuing her search.

Tsubaki glanced into the distance.

… I suppose I should pick up as many of them as I can find too.

---

That was Shun Kurosaki, Ace of Spades and Kaito Tenjo, Ace of Clubs in the same place! No, there was absolutely no way that Noro was staying there, not a shot in the dark—

As he ran, he eventually ended up tripping, falling to the ground. He let out a whimper, before there was a sigh from nearby.

"You're so incompetent. How have you survived this long?"

Noro glanced up. Sweeping her cloak behind her, the girl there watched him with her typical air of arrogance. Noro gulped as he recognised her—and then, he processed her words and flared up with annoyance. "D-do not insult me, Lieutenant Phoenix! This is insubordination!"

Eri Phoenix sighed again, drawing her hand through her long black hair—her fingers lingered on her scalp for a moment, clutching onto a tangle of dark strands, as though she was considering pulling it out. She was wearing the simple cloak that most higher-ups of Academia wore when they left the base, though there was something fanciful to its the gold lining that edged the brown cloak. (Noro hadn't done it just because it was a bit too stuffy, obviously.) She was also wearing one of the masks that would typically be worn by a member of the Obelisk Force—white with red film over the eyes that was transparent on one side and opaque on the other. No helmet though. She looked nothing like her brother. "Insufferable," she muttered. "How does my brother deal with you on a daily basis?"

"Just because you spend all your time exploring Heartland and searching its ruins for whatever the Professor wants doesn't mean that the rules that the rest of us follow are any less important," Noro said with a sniff. "Your brother gives you too much wiggle room for a mere lieutenant."

Eri arched an eyebrow, smirking. "And I'm infinitely more useful than you'll ever be, thank you. And anyway, the Professor did inform you of the circumstances, no? While I'm here, I report to Edo and no one else. Certainly not you."

Noro knew that much. He gritted his teeth, irritated. The number of times that he'd been cut out from the plans that the Phoenix twins had made… it was more than he could count.

Right. Edo Phoenix.

"Regardless," he said, "I—"

"Let's not waste time, Noro-san," Eri said, taking a step forward. Her voice was frigid. "... I heard that something's gone wrong and that several groups of the Obelisk Force have been deployed by you. That it's all hands on deck right now. And yet, you haven't called me in. What is the reason behind that? I know that Edo would have told me if something was going on."

Noro gulped. There was a very good reason why he had not called her in, and it was because—

—the girl reached out, grabbing him by the throat. "It's because something's happened to Edo, isn't it?" She said, a hard edge to her tone. "It's because that impulsive dumbass's gotten himself into a bad situation again."

"Unhand me this instant, you—"

"Tell me what the situstion is now, or I'll make sure that your next stop is the reactor in Academia."

"We don't know!" Noro burst out, terrified of her—he knew that she would follow through. The one lieutenant in the Heartland Occupation Force who had lasted this long, who hadn't been carded in the matter of weeks. Just as ruthless as her mentor. "We don't know—he left this morning, we've been looking for him this whole time—you have no right to do this to me, Phoenix—"

"Oh, don't I?" Eri let go of him, before kneeing him in the chest. "I've spent so long helping with gathering information and searching this city for the Resistance's secrets that I barely sleep two nights in a row at the base. I'm the Occupation Force's navigator and cartographer, you proud asshole. More than anyone else, if I was informed, I could find him." She turned her head. "I was on the hunt, but I'm going to go and look for Edo now. If he's injured and found by any of the Resistance's scouts, and word gets back to that girl in charge of this, the Hearts will eat him alive."

"You should guard me on my way back! I mean, I'm important too—"

A laugh that was sharp and cold left her throat—and then, Eri cut it off, as concerned with appearances as always. "If you think that your life matters to me at all when compared to my brother, you're out of your mind," she said simply. "If you've been lucky enough to survive this long, you should be fine. Have fun on your trek."

---

The young man, who still hadn't introduced himself, had asked a few more questions about their surroundings, but Kyorin hadn't been able to answer them, by virtue of having come to this city less than an hour ago. Eventually, there was a certain awkward silence—and Kyorin ended up being the one to break it, just because she felt flustered by… everything. Just, everything…

"So, uh… do you have siblings?"

He blinked, and Kyorin scrambled to clarify herself.

"Um—I mean, I was just thinking that I should say something—you don't have to answer if you don't want to! I, uh…"

"Two sisters and a brother," he said shortly. Not having expected an actual response, Kyorin let out a yelp, before she quickly replied.

"Uh, that's great! I mean, I'm technically a younger sister, but I actually haven't met my older brother before?" She pressed her fingers together, trying to calm herself down. "Family things, ahaha…" She really shouldn't even be talking about her family, but there was something surreal to the situation, and it made her more loose-lipped than before. She should have said she was an only child, like she'd always said, like she'd always… "What about you?"

He didn't reply for a moment, seeming reluctant to talk. "… I get that," he finally said. "Complicated families, at least. I was fostered by a different family after my…" He stopped, something strange flickering in his eyes. "Well. I have a foster brother and sister because of that, though I haven't seen them in a long time too. And I have an older twin sister, but things between us are… probably as complicated as things between you and your brother."

"Oh," Kyorin said. "So… you're the youngest in your family? You don't seem the type!"

"… guess not." He seemed more at ease now, thankfully. "And I assume you were in the foster care system too then."

"Um… not really," Kyorin said shyly. She knew how privileged her situation was, after all. "My parents' friends took me in after… yeah, things."

"... I see." He turned to look at her. "... I apologise. You—"

(Kyorin wouldn't get to hear what he was apologising for.)

"Get away from him, Kyorin!"

Kyorin turned her head at the shout—she saw Yuto and Rin approaching. Her first instinct was to be relieved, but then she processed his words and the look of worry and… fury on Yuto's face?

Huh?

(She didn't see the way that the boy next to her tensed up, the coldness in his expression as he looked at Yuto.)

"What's wrong, Yuto?" Kyorin got to her feet. "I just… he was injured, so I…"

Yuto glared at the boy on the ground. "You couldn't have known," he said, his instinct being to reassure her first. "But this guy… this guy isn't anyone good."

"I thought he was a member of the Resistance…"

"He would never be one of us." Yuto's expression was livid. "If he let you think that, then he was just using your kindness against you, to get you to help him. You bastard." The last part was directed at the grey-haired young man, who had since stood up. "That guy isn't a member of the Resistance. He's the Commander-in-Chief of Academia, Edo Phoenix!"

Kyorin froze in place.

She turned her head.

Edo Phoenix drew his cape around himself, looking at her. "He's correct," he said calmly. "And I am shocked that you didn't realise it, even when I realised who you were the moment you spoke to me."

It felt like time had stopped. Kyorin stood there.

"You're too trusting, my dear! You're very sweet, but it's the kind of thing that will help people hurt you. Just be careful!~ And do look out for yourself!"

"You're the Three of Spades, Yuto Kamisoka—a priority elimination target," Edo continued. "And the girl next to you… green hair, and that face. Rin Izayoi, one of the priority capture targets that escaped Academia. You'll be returning to Academia right now."

"As if!" Rin clenched her fists. "I'm not going back there as a prisoner—if I do go back, it'll be to defeat all of you!"

"And you're not going to defeat me or card me," Yuto said. "I've heard about you from so many people. You're the one who led the invasion that killed so many people. You're responsible for this!" He waved out a hand. "All of this! Look at this!"

"I've been looking at it for months now," Edo said, folding his arms. "It hasn't changed much in that time, I will admit."

"You bastard—you don't even care—"

Edo shrugged, seeming rather nonchalant about it. "I guess I don't. We've made it clear since the start that Academia's goal is a utopia—a world where everything is perfect. When that world exists, everyone comes back. I don't see an issue here—if anything, you are the ones stopping us from fixing everything. It's on you."

"Bullshit," Yuto shot back. "Don't blame us for this! Right now, I'm going to defeat you!"

"... so that's a challenge?" Edo's gaze was still as cold as before—there was something almost arrogant to it.

Kyorin winced. She wanted to say something, anything—half of her desperately wanted to apologise to her comrades, for forcing this fight on them by accidentally helping their enemy. The other half…

As much as she hated to admit it, the other half of her was worried that Edo would open up the same wounds she'd just treated.

She was worrying about the enemy. That was just wrong. She shouldn't…

Edo raised his duel disk. "If you want me to bow to your will, you know the answer," he said. His eyes were only on Yuto. "I didn't expect to meet you Lancers so quickly, but I suppose it can't be helped. Very well. I hope for your sake that you haven't bitten off more than you can chew, Yuto Kamisoka."

Kyorin watched the duel with a sinking feeling of dread. As it began, she buried her head in her hands.

I'm so sorry.

She almost couldn't bear to watch. But she had to, anyway.

Otherwise, it would be like she was running from the responsibility of what was happening.

Please, please win.

---

OC Cards:

Superheavy Samurai Soulshield

(3*/1000/1500/EARTH/Machine/Effect)

You can target 1 "Superheavy Samurai" monster you control; equip this monster from your hand or your side of the field to that target. It gains 200 DEF. When an opponent's monster declares an attack while you have no Spell/Trap Cards in your Graveyard: You can Special Summon this card from your hand in Defense Position, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Superheavy Samurai" monster from your Deck in Defense Position, but you cannot Special Summon monsters while you control the monster(s) Summoned by this effect, except "Superheavy Samurai" monsters.

Trivia: Not gonna lie, this card exists because I goofed and thought that Soultorch protected from direct attack damage, which it technically doesn't. Oh well. :)

---

Different Card Effects from TCG:

Antique Gear Hound Dog - Modified effect, the burn effect is still soft OPT, but doesn't need the opponent to have a monster.

Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog - Anime-only card.

Antique Gear Double Imitate - Anime-only card.

Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog - Anime-only card.

---

End Notes:

Everyone knows that I have… some gripes with how Edo was written in canon. However, I'm going to say one thing now. I don't like redemption arcs where someone is just "made better by the kindness and hope of someone else". They have to be the one to put in the effor. Otherwise, it just feels a bit disingenuous.

… just a statement. :) Take from it what you will. Kyorin, you sweet summer child… well, Hitoda did warn you, and you've already been burned so many times by traitors, but you just keep trusting people anyway. :)

Anyway, this chapter was fun. Some parts of it… more painful than others. It starts off all nice and sweet—I'm sure that everyone already knew the 'plot twist', and it was really only a twist for Kyorin, anyway. And then it slowly unravels.

I kind of like the Hitoda-Gongenzaka dynamic, though I'm not sure why. It's another one of those platonic dynamics in this story (like Yuno-Yuya, Miharu-Reira, Serena-Ruri) that just worked out surprisingly well. Gongenzaka is definitely not naive in the same way that Kyorin is, but he's inclined to think the best of his comrades. And he and Hitoda play off each other rather well.

This scene with them has taken on a lot of different forms, but the duel has always played out in a similar way—the move of Hitoda taking out a player with Greater Inari Fire without touching their field just because they were overconfident about it was… nice :)

And there is also something hilarious with Hitoda Makishima, now revealed to be younger sister of that Soulburner, saying that red doesn't look good on her.

And yes, in my brain, I do headcanon Reira as a Magistus user in most universes… take that how you will :) In most of my AUs, Reira usually has a close relationship with a Spellcaster user, and takes after that person, along with also learning from Reiji—and as such, Magistus works well with her. I did have this planned for a long time—after all, Mion used Crowley in like… Chapter 10, if I remember correctly.

I initially had Shun hold in all of the snarky comments he was making, and then at some point in editing, I was like "nope, he would definitely just say this to Academia's face, because to him, they're all pieces of shit". So there we are.

Worms are so bad, but like, despite deciding to actually make him a duelist on Academia's side, I forgot to actually assign Mamoru Noro a deck, so I was scrambling for a bad Fusion deck to give him. (If you know, you know. :)) In the end, I was brainstorming the dialogue first, and the line about 'squirming like a worm' came before I decided on the deck, so I worked it out.

Me: So Kyorin found a guy with grey hair.

Everyone: So Kaito? Omg, she must have found Kaito.

Me: … am I colourblind?

Shun does not get it easy in this arc, I'm sorry. As much as we all love the badass bird man, let's not forget the fact that he and Yuto did in fact abandon the entire Resistance to their own devices just to chase after Ruri in canon, despite being some of the strongest duelists there. There's a certain degree of irresponsibility that the two of them (and Nue) are going to have to answer for. That being said, Kaito "abandoned the whole Resistance too" Tenjo is not necessarily the one who has the most right to call him out on it.

Kyorin: "aww what a sweet guy!" Yuto: "no no no no no—"

… I promise I don't mean to torment Kyorin this much, it just always seems to happen.

I'm afraid to say too much about the specific plot of this chapter, just because there's so many interconnected things that I want people to figure out for themselves or that will be properly explained later in the arc. I will take a moment to talk about specifically Eri though. She was perhaps the character that I was most conflicted on adding to this arc, for reasons that I can't really explain yet, though she always would have appeared in the story. I did need to give Edo a few competent subordinates, and well, we already have the Tyler Sisters from canon, but I just needed more, or they'd just get overrun. I will confirm that she is indeed Edo's older twin sister, but that things are… complicated.

Review responses!

To Enigmathenightmare, mmm, glad that you enjoyed all the character interactions! Burning Abyss is a pretty fun deck, haha :) Sayaka was... not competent in canon, haha. In the end, though, I did have to give her a boss monster that wasn't Fairy Cheer Girl, just so that I could justify her being alive. And well, that last part's a cool theory! Will it happen? *shrugs* You were wrong about who Kyorin met, but I can see how you would think that.

To CruelDiamond422, I've been looking forward to it too! It's going to be a fun arc for me. Machine Xyz decks have always been really cool.

To Bryz0n, tbh, I was kind of hoping that Konami would give me something to work with, but unfortunately not. Machinas are fine though, and have always been fun! And yeah, moments of humour in the arc are always welcome. As for Kyorin... you would be right! :) I'm guessing that you caught onto the 'plot twist', if it was one, pretty early.

To T.V. 2000, oh, definitely, I never really liked Allen in canon just because his 'character development' felt largely rushed or non-existent in the arc. (Then again, that's everyone in the arc, to be honest.) And nope, Yuji's duel isn't in this chapter, though it will eventually happen.

To phantomdragons, did you pick up on who Kyorin found? That's interesting :) And yes, I have never made it a secret that the Arclights are like... top tier for me, character writing-wise in ZEXAL.

To cardfan135, yup, Mion is definitely the one who's gotten stuck with the most insufferable group, haha.

To TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r, thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy what happens next.

QOTC: Are there any songs/OSTs that you associate with any parts of the story?

Mostly just curious, since I don't listen to a lot of music.

But yes, god, we're finally getting to Chapter 87. For my current outline, the next chapter is just one duel (you know what the duel is) and it's supposed to be a shorter one, but we'll see how it turns out when I actually write it :) I'm excited for it! It's one of those duels that I've known was going to happen since the start of the fic. :D Hope you enjoyed the chapter!