Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Deluxe Dragons
Disclaimer: This one doesn't own the Yugioh series.
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Chapter 21 – Queen of the Souls
Kiryu is out and about, working hard on his D-Wheel. He doesn't remember how he acquired it, but he's not going to let it rot. Maybe if he can clean it up, he can remember what happened with it, as well as why he isn't in jail.
He tosses the rag aside to reach for a wrench. But as he does, his body suddenly drops. He lies on the floor unconscious, marks appearing on his face.
…
"Demak!" Luca shouts in shock.
"No way! What are you doing here?!" Lua shouts in fear.
"Little Titania. So glad that you remember me, and what you did," he speaks, his tone bold and deranged.
"You shouldn't. Why else would you be here?" Luca states as she gets up.
Leonite recovers as well, staring dead into his eyes with fear. "Demak?"
"Hello, Professor Titania. Having family troubles again?" Demak lifts a finger, and Leonite is brought to him by an invisible force. He floats in the air, the invisible force gripping him by the neck.
"Demak… what are you-"
"I was following you to get what I needed from you, but here she already is. Now all you must do is watch." He tosses Leonite aside, eyes on Luca.
"When you were resurrected, you weren't supposed to remember what happened!" Luca declares.
"And I didn't, for a minute. But I never forgot what I did before my death." Demak steps toward Luca, his footsteps creaking the floorboards. "My obsession led to dreams. Those dreams awoke something. Remnants of what happened."
He raises his left arm, pulling the sleeve covering it to reveal a series of lines. These lines glow bright red along with the rest around his body. "The Earthbound Gods haven't given up. They left an imprint on one of the resurrected Dark Signers. As a result, I will bring them back to reality and finish the job, as their High Priest Linewalker!"
Demak stretches his hand out, causing dark energy to pulse. The images of the giant, lizard, monkey, and hummingbird geoglyphs form behind him. Their Signer Marks glow, repelling his power. Annoyed, Demak scuffs before clenching his fists. "Still protected. But, I can go somewhere you have to follow." Darkness billows from his shadow, giving him an exit to pass through. "Follow me if you wish to protect your friends."
"Why would I do that?!" The priest holds a hand out, summoning a portal that shows four different people: Carly being taken to the hospital with Jack, Kiryu lying along the ground by his lonesome, Misty in the medical ward, and Bomber being looked at by his family.
"Ah! Carly!" shouts Lua when he sees her.
"Misty…" Aki mutters in terror.
"Otherwise, these four shall return to the darkness they escaped, little girl." The priest laughs as he parts his arm, entering the darkness.
As he vanishes, Luca clenches her fists tightly. The same image from before she would often see reappears. "Demak…"
"Wait, Luca!" Lua grabs her arm, stopping his sister from doing what she's about to do. "Where are you going?"
"The Duel Monsters Spirit World. It's the only place he could have gone."
"Spirit World? NO!" Leonite goes to his daughter. "You can't go!"
Luca looks at her father in shock. He sounds so desperate. True, it makes sense since she's his daughter, but there's some manner of story behind this. She needs to know, and now is not the time for secrets.
"Father, what's going on? What did you do to Demak? What happened with our… aunt?" Mrs. Izayoi recovers as things finally calm down. Aki helps her mother up.
"Yeah. We have an aunt?"
Leonite digs deep into his mind to recall those memories. His body shakes in terror. "You… you had an aunt."
Both kids gape, appalled by this knowledge. "I was supposed to protect her, but she's gone."
Lua's eyes widen in shock looking at him. It hits hard. "She died… because of that place. And I didn't want anyone else to get involved."
Everyone else looks at each other, and then at Leonite. Despite his words, Luca tightens her face. She rushes upstairs to collect her cards. After strapping her duel disk to her arm, she comes down, holding the Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"Demak used Ancient Fairy Dragon to transport me. Maybe I can do it." Luca holds the card up, ready to transport. Her father stops her.
"Luca, no!"
She tries to wrest control. "Father, I have to do this!"
"You can't! I won't lose my daughter the way I lost my sister!"
"This is something only I can do! You have to let me!"
"I said no!"
Lua reaches up and grabs his arm, pulling it free from his sister. "Let her go."
"Lua!"
Luca holds the card up, her mark and the card itself glowing. Ancient Fairy Dragon appears in reality through Luca's power. Seeing it, Mrs. Izayoi passes out, with Aki catching her knowing such a thing would happen to normal people.
The azure dragon flaps her fairy wings gazing down upon the humans. She notices Leonite, eyes batting warmly at him. Seeing her, the man feels caught in a daze. "Luca, we must go."
"Luca, you can't! You won't be safe there!"
"She has to go, Leonite. This is her duty. She's the only one who can freely travel the Spirit Realm safely." Lua looks at the dragon. How does she know his name? Did Luca tell her, or was she listening?
"I'm ready." Luca holds the card to her chest as a bright light shines around her. The girl is then taken away, entering the pillar of light and going skyward. Within time, she is gone.
Elsewhere…
"This should be good," says Yusei as he finishes typing.
"Let's be sure to save it this time," Bruno says as he takes a USB drive and attaches it to the computer.
With their engine program finished, Yusei leans back in his seat before turning his monitor to show the news. His attention is gripped when he spots someone familiar onscreen. "Breaking news?"
He sees that an hour ago, Misty Lola collapsed at a fashion show. "Misty?"
"You know who she is?" asks Bruno as he looks. He's highly infatuated from the earlier shot, before gasping when she faints.
"Yeah. Misty Lola was someone we helped before," he tells Bruno. "What happened?"
His Signer marks shine in that moment. That sets his senses into top gear. It can't be a coincidence that his marks are glowing at the same time as this. The pain he's feeling is telling him something. "Luca?"
"Luca?"
Yusei goes to the phone and taps numbers.
…
Opening her eyes, Luca finds herself in a different landscape. Looking around, she is in the Spirit World. Like before, it's a plain covered in grass and flowers, tall enough to cover her ankles. A part of her wishes she put pants or shorts on instead of the school uniform she left on; Aki lacked her older pjs.
"Luca." Behind her, Ancient Fairy Dragon appears floating. "Luca, thank you for coming."
"Ancient Fairy Dragon, what is happening? Why does Demak want to kill us?" Luca asks, getting right to the importance of the situation.
The blue dragon jesters her head over to a nearby spring surrounded by yellow sand. "Let's move over there first. There is something you must see first."
Both Signer and Dragon make their way to the secure lake. As they do, Ancient Fairy Dragon speaks, "It was not supposed to happen. When the Dark Signers were defeated, their bodies were supposed to return to the underworld."
"But when the King of the Underworld was defeated, they all returned except for the Goodwins."
"Exactly. That was Yusei at work, using the Crimson Dragon's power to revive them. When he did so, their memories of becoming Dark Signers were erased." Ancient Fairy Dragon regales the truth of it all. "It was to protect them from the horrors of their actions."
Luca thinks about that choice and sighs. It makes sense to an extent. "But, Demak somehow recovered his memories. As well as the memories of everyone else's."
Luca recalls how the geoglyph symbols appeared around Demak. Maybe that's what that was about. "So then, Demak is gaining their powers?"
"All the other times we've faced the Dark Signers, we've managed to seal them back into the underworld. But in the previous cycle, they had a secret weapon." Soon they reach the spring. Staring down into the water, Ancient Fairy Dragon says, "Drink from the Magical Spring, and you shall see."
Luca approaches the water and dips her hands inside. She lifts enough to drink with, uplifted by how refreshing it tastes. As the water hydrates her soul, she gasps when something kicks in.
Within her mind, Luca appears in the skies of darkness. She checks her surroundings in surprise until she spots a group passing her in the air.
It's the Crimson Dragon and the five Signer dragons. Seeing them head towards the Earthbound Gods plaguing the land, she recognizes this memory. It is the one she had before Yusei's duel with Kiryu. Watching the dragons destroy the evil gods is proof enough.
Uru shoots out webbing to capture Ancient Fairy Dragon, dragging her into the geoglyph along with it. 'That's right… the memory stopped at this point.'
The light shines, showing Ancient Fairy Dragon entering the landscape. She cries out as she falls apart. From the peak of the light, someone enters from the darkness. The crimson glow from her right arm tells Luca that this must be her ancestor, the previous Signer of the Claw. She grabs hold of Ancient Fairy Dragon's hand. Her power allows the dragon to resist destruction, allowing Ancient Fairy Dragon to shriek and fly. Luca watches and gains a sigh of relief seeing her friend is safe.
The light dies out, revealing the two have entered the Spirit World. Luca gasps when she sees a man dressed similarly to Demak standing within the zenith of the darkness plaguing the world. He extends his hand out, as Luca's ancestor repeats the action countering him. The two clash, gripping hands tightly and fighting back.
The mark of the condor geoglyph forms on his back, granting him the strength to force her back. Her left arm is destroyed as a result, causing Luca to gasp. The female Signer is then gripped by the throat, about to be murdered.
That's when the past Ancient Fairy Dragon fights back, unleashing Eternal Sunshine to repel the Dark Signer. He responds by summoning Wiracocha Rasca, the pink condor releasing its Polestar Obey attack to strike Ancient Fairy Dragon. Luca cups her mouth in horror as the fairy dragon is shattered, utterly torn to bits and pieces.
'Ancient… Fairy… Dragon…'
The Dark Signer then proceeds to murder the Signer, knowing she has no one to help her anymore. Luckily, a miracle forms; on her back forms all the Signer Marks, creating the Mark of the Dragon. With this added power, she breaks free and extends her hand, releasing a powerful wave that repels the Dark Signer. All of the remains of Ancient Fairy Dragon reform, turning into sunshine that eradicates the Dark Signer and his god.
From there, the memory begins to fade. Luca returns to the present. "What… what was that?"
"What you saw was the Linewalker of the Earthbound Gods," Ancient Fairy Dragon tells her. "When the Dark Signers were defeated, it would appear their souls merged into one being. The priest you saw was the manifestation of their soul amalgamation, a Duel Monster."
"Duel Monster?" That takes her off guard. "They became a Duel Monster?"
"It is how all humans are; Duel Monsters who die in the Spirit World will often traverse to the human world as spirits. Sometimes they try to revive by devouring human souls or haunting them. Other times, they will attach to a newly born human and become them. The first recorded piece of this came from Egypt, where they were referred to as Ka."
"But…" Luca thinks back to Demak. "So then, Demak had this priest spirit attached to him?"
"That is what's happened. When he revived, that part of his soul awoke. It must have revived his memories, and the others must be having an adverse effect."
"You mean Carly and the others?" asks Luca in heart-twisting fear.
"We must hurry." Ancient Fairy Dragon eyes an area not far from their location, one with dark clouds forming overhead. Luca climbs up to mount the back of her dragon's neck. Together, they fly in the direction of the darkness.
Back to the Real World…
"Got it. We'll see you soon!" Aki hangs up the phone after speaking to Yusei on the other line. "Yusei and Bruno are on their way over. But he hasn't seen Jack or Crow."
"Good. That gives us time to talk to you about what's going on, Dad," says Lua to his father sitting at the table. Aki returns to her mother, fanning her for fainting earlier.
Leonite sighs as he stares at the table. "My… oh, where do I begin?"
"How about where mom comes in."
Leonite holds his eyes closed for a bit, mentally preparing himself. "Your mother worked for Yliaster when I met her, but I didn't know."
"She did?!" Lua shouts, causing Aki to lift her head while fanning.
"Back when we were younger, I started a team of archaeologists to go digging in Ireland. I met your mom in that team and we worked hard and discovered evidence of another world parallel to this; we called ourselves the Spirit Hunters."
"The Spirit World?" asks Aki, to which he nods.
Lua repeats the word 'spirit hunters,' before a thought occurs that he vocalizes. "So, you knew all along?"
"Of course, I did, Lua. You think I couldn't see the spirits that Luca surrounded herself with?" Leonite groans while holding his face. "We couldn't go public with it, because our whole group was working for Yliaster except for Luna and I. They wanted us to keep this secret contained between to as few of us as possible."
He shrugs. "Still, we got acclaim and I earned my scholar position earlier than I normally would have. And I had to do things they needed, to keep others from discovering this parallel world."
Aki narrows her eyes. "One of your colleagues… was he Demak?"
His silence tells everything they need to. "He was released from the project before we got further. We hadn't heard from him until Zero Reverse and he started digging."
Outside, the sounds of D-Wheels stopping can be heard. "It was my job to make sure he failed, and a smear campaign put an end to that… until he came back."
From the doors bursting open come Yusei and Bruno. "Aki, Lua, Luca!"
"Yusei, it's terrible…" says Aki as he enters.
Back to Action…
Ancient Fairy Dragon reaches the certain of the darkness. There, she and Luca witness the six charmers using their elemental powers against an evil force. All their efforts, however, become meaningless when they're forcefully repelled.
"Eria! Everyone!" Luca jumps off and rushes to her friends.
"So, you've come at last." Demak's voice calls out to Luca, catching her attention. He stands tall with a specially made-duel disk at his disposal.
At first, Luca had been afraid of him. Now, she's just angry. "Demak… what have you done? You're going to throw your life away just like that?"
"Not everyone can live a happy ever after when their peak was being an avatar of darkness. I have accepted who I am, just as you have." He gestures to himself in arrogance. "I am who I am."
"So all of this is revenge? You were brought back to get a new lease on life. A second chance," Luca tells him.
"What point is there in living if you're still the shame you were before? If you were a murderer?" Demak's words frighten Luca.
"… murder?"
"In Ireland, the Burren, there is the Poulnabrone dulmen. That wasn't just a portal tomb. I had reason to believe that it was also a portal to the Spirit World." He thrusts his hand back, showing to all a misty circle. It depicts images that slowly clear up.
Luca looks in surprise to see someone there, someone who looks nearly identical to her. She's tied up and pulled by a rope held by Demak as they near the Poulnabrone dulmen and she's tossed to the floor.
"Is… is that?"
Past Demak then pulls out a rusty knife with ancient writing on it. The blade digs into the woman's heart.
"N-No… no!" Luca cries, tears flowing through her eyes. "You… you killed my aunt…"
The vision fades, allowing Demak to face Luca. "I have nothing to go back to, so don't expect me to show mercy. Not to your father who ruined my life, and not to you who stopped me."
"My father didn't ruin your life. You did!" Luca shouts, tears flowing freely from her lids.
"You may have stopped the Dark Signers, but where Rudger failed I shall succeed! My Ka shall see it through!" He then roars as his image shifts. Demak's appearance becomes that of the Earthbound Priest.
"Prepare to be swallowed in darkness, Signer of the Claw! You won't defeat me as easily as you did before!" He extends a hand out to her.
"I've beaten you before, so I'll do it again!"
"You beat me when I only had Cusllu. But I hold the power of all of the Earthbound Gods, and their powers shall be directed upon you." He releases a dark wave upon the girl, but the charmers hold up a forcefield to block. "I shall offer your soul to revive the King of the Underworld!"
"No, you won't!" Lyna shouts as her magic shines.
The six charmers manage to repel the priest. He doesn't mind, only opting to laugh. "Now… do you accept?!"
"I do." Luca activates her duel disk, causing him to do the same. The six charmers nod before entering Luca's deck.
DUEL
High Priest Linewalker: 4000
Luca Titania: 4000
"In our first duel, you went second. This time, you can begin." He extends a hand out to her.
"Don't mind if I do." Luca draws for her turn, examining her options. "I summon Aussa the Familiar-Possessed!"
Aussa appears to the field with a trembling in the earth, taking on an offensive position. "Next, I will set two cards and end my turn."
The high priest laughs before drawing. "So predictable. I will play the Field Spell – Earthbound Geoglyph."
As quickly as the card appeared, a geoglyph of violet and white flames formed, taking the shape of the Tree. They stand within the center of the tree. Luca's mark shines in response. "What is…"
"The Tree was a special geoglyph; instead of being a god itself, it was the connection point that bridged the worlds together, like the Qliphoth or Yggdrasil." At the six points on the side, six lights glow representing different attributes. "My plan back then was to fuse the Spirit World and the Human World with the Underworld. All we required was the corpse of one of the Signer Dragons. I can do it now, now that Demak has released Ancient Fairy Dragon's imprisoned spirit."
"What are you talking about? Demak was the one who sealed her away!"
"Only after he released her from her first prison." The high priest then takes two cards and sets them. "I will set these cards and activate the effect of the Death Priest Supay."
He reveals a female Inca priest in his hand. "By discarding one card, I shall summon her to the field." The stunning priest appears in a crouching position, holding her scepter.
Duskwalker Supay: 2200/1900 (5)
"Supay's effect will also summon Supay from my deck." Next up is a fancy, Incan mask, forming over the priest's face.
Supay: 300/100 (1) Tuner
"I will end my turn with that."
'He summoned a Tuner without a Synchro Summon?' While fearful, Luca draws to begin her turn. "During my Main Phase, I will special summon Jigabyte in Attack Position!"
Appearing in an electrified torrent of water is the evolution of Gigabyte.
Jigabyte: 1500/200 (4)
"And, I will summon D'harc the Familiar-Possessed." With three monsters in attacking positions, Luca is ready to make her move.
'Whatever his facedown is, it'll probably stop my monsters from destroying his. But…' "I will open my facedown card, Unpossessed!"
Her trap flips over, causing her two Spellcasters to gain power. "Now D'harc and Aussa will gain 800 attack points when they battle. Go!"
Aussa raises her staff before aiming at the priest. As Luca expects, the high priest activates his trap card. "Open – Premature Revival."
A large puddle of the earth rises before the high priest, an orange light shining from the depths. The earth takes the form of a giant hummingbird familiar to some. It blinks twice before shrieking, slapping its wings, and unleashing a powerful gale that swallows the skies in darkness.
Aslla Piscu: 2500/2500 (10)
"Second, I shall activate my other trap; Subspace Matter Transporter." His other trap causes Aslla Piscu to fade. "This shall remove my monster from the field until the end of the turn."
But, before it disappears, the bird devil shrieks before coming down upon Luca's field. "And, when Aslla Piscu is removed from the field, all of your monsters are destroyed and you take 800 points of damage for each."
Luca gasps when big bird jabs its beak into the earth, sending a wave of destruction that blows away her monsters mercilessly. The shockwave also sends her flying into the air with a scream.
Lightz: That settles that. Next chapter, we have a big conclusion. Can you predict how it ends?