XII

Maiami City

"Well, that was a waste of time," the redhead grunted to her twin sister. She didn't need to look at her free hand to know what she might be saying. Glares were perfect communication on their own.

"I know, I know. You warned me." She took a deep breath, exhaled. "I just hope we lost them."

For the past fifteen minutes, they'd been sprinting through wooded streets with the knowledge that as many as a dozen Duelists, physically superior to either of them by orders of magnitude, were hunting them down. Twice they had had to defend themselves from sudden ambush or attack—these kids were much quicker than they looked.

Quicker still, however, had been the mystery youth who had suddenly flown in from out of nowhere, and knocked the wind out of the three boys in the lead as though it had been child's play. He had overpowered them with such ease, in fact, that he seemed not to have noticed whom it was they'd been chasing—or if he had, he had not stopped to give them a second thought as to who they were or why they were being pursued at all. That was all to the better for them: the fewer strangers knew they were in this dimension, the safer they would feel. So neither had ventured to argue the unexpected burst of luck, watching the bald boy haul his defeated foes onto his dragon-like monster, then fly off without a word—and almost as soon as he'd arrived.

Their spirits had leapt even higher when the green and brown of the forest started giving way to silver skyscrapers and clear blue sky. The outskirts of Maiami City had never looked so inviting. It helped that they weren't under threat of invasion this time.

Unless they count a pair of girls invaders these days, she thought ruefully.

She stared at the tallest of the buildings in the distance, glinting like a crystal in the sun, only faintly aware of her companion's hand continuing to contort this way and that.

"Yeah, I bet it looks nicer from out here," she said quietly. "Maybe you can describe it to me when all this is done."

"There they are!"

"Quick—before they reach the streets! After them!"

The redhead swore. Did that sensei send his whole school after us?! "Sightseeing's over, sis—we've got to move!"

And as quickly as they'd stopped for breath, they were off again, with the sound of Duelists and Duel Monsters alike chasing them towards their one remaining hope for sanctuary.

Ryōzanpaku

Li Shen, recent graduate of the Shanghai branch of LDS, had changed little from the last time Masumi had seen him. On the surface, his tall, lean build looked no different from that of Hokuto—there was barely an inch's difference in their height. He dressed simply—Masumi wondered if his orange, single-sleeved tunic was the same one he'd been wearing when they'd first met—and carried nothing on his person: no tattoos, no jewelry, not even a single hair on his body. But she saw a subtle difference to how he carried himself; he looked older than a boy of eighteen should be.

He looked like a man now, thought Masumi—the kind of man who showed his age not by the years he gained, but by what those years had taken from him. But with Shen, it hadn't been one year—or a month, or even a week. In one day, an impossible Duelist had shattered the simple life he'd led outside of the game, laying waste to the shrine he helped to tend and forcing him into a Duel. A full third of the thirty-three dead had died there, including the highly respected sifu in charge. A helpless Shen could only watch them expire one by one.

Shen had carried their names with them from then on, committed them to memory as the LID fought the Duelist responsible—and carried them back to China when the battle was won, that they might also commit the fallen to their memory. Perhaps it was the weight of these eleven names that had aged him so. Even as he drew himself to his full height, Masumi thought his body did not seem to possess the quickness and agility she'd seen from him as a boy.

But there was a difference between speed and haste. A body was only as fast or slow as the mind that moved it—and Shen had been very fast indeed in his youth, even before he'd been a Duelist. He had been reared in a Shaolin monastery in the Himalayas, and had learned much from them until enrolling at LDS. That included how to be faster, stronger, and far more indomitable than most boys his age had any right to be; the Fusion user had seen him leap tens of feet into the air and dent titanium—titanium—with the strength of his legs, and little else.

Not all of this required speed. Even less of it asked for haste—and Shen had never been hasty, even then. And yet, Masumi thought, seeing him now after only months, he looked slower than in his youth—but certainly, she amended, not for lack of it.

Yaiba had often practiced with Shen, and thus knew him better than anyone in the LID. If he'd picked up on this subtle slowness, he didn't acknowledge it. "You know, you didn't have to stop for takeout," he was saying with a laugh, nodding to Isao's body. "We could've used you earlier."

"I know." Shen's dark eyes blinked in the sunlight. They looked older than the rest of him. "Kachidoki seemed very convinced I would get in his way."

"You didn't rough him up too bad, did you?" asked Yaiba. "He's not exactly feeling like himself today."

Shen did not turn around—but Masumi knew he was smiling. "I suspect," he said, in his formal but stilted speech, "that he will not be feeling much of anything for some time. I apologize if you wanted him conscious—if it had been up to me, I would have Dueled him and his comrades in order to prevent them from chasing down the two girls I assume you told me about earlier. But you seemed more important at the moment."

Yaiba cringed. "I'm touched—but I wouldn't have said that so loudly." He gestured to Streiter. The German was still on his phone, but he was exhaling the slow sort of sigh Masumi was quick to equate with a man who suddenly wasn't getting his way. "That's the guy who sent Kachidoki and his crew after those two girls in the first place. So I wouldn't say sorry just yet. And besides," he laughed, "it was probably a long time coming after what he did to me, right?"

Shen was not one to anger quickly. But Masumi still remembered Yaiba telling her about how he had reacted when he'd found out Kachidoki had punched and kicked him all over the field at the Maiami Championship. Turnabout, even to someone like him, might have been fair play today.

And he seemed to agree. "To deny that," he said, nodding slightly, "would be a most egregious lie."

" … As you wish, Direktor." Streiter, at length, finally pocketed his phone. "It seems I will not be leaving without a fight after all," he said, more loudly so the rest of the LID could hear. "My superior has apparently been keeping a closer eye on you than I was previously aware. He has directed me to … well. His exact words were 'to halt your investigation prematurely, persuasively … and permanently.'"

"So you are working for Kagemaru." Hokuto crossed his arms accusingly. "Let's hear it. What's he promised you for committing acts of interdimensional terrorism, Markus?"

Masumi saw the stormy eyes widen by a millimeter, and knew he'd been caught off guard just by hearing the name.

But Streiter recovered quickly. "Leo told you." It wasn't a question. "I knew he was going to spill his guts sooner or later. I just didn't think he was willing to do it in front of kids like you."

"What can we say?" Masumi smirked, but kept her gaze steely. "We're moving on up in the world."

Streiter sighed. "You. Masumi, is it?" The Fusion Duelist didn't deign to give him an answer. "I like your eyes."

"I—sorry, what?" She blinked, wondering if she'd misheard him.

"Oh, yes." The huge man spoke calmly and conversationally; they might be sitting in a restaurant. "I wish I had the luxury of seeing them more closely, when we first met at You Show. But now that I see you before me today … one warrior to another …" He nodded. "You have the makings of a true fighter, and I don't say that just because you've opposed my colleagues in the past. There's a spark to your eyes that none of your comrades possess—as plain to see as all the lines in my face. But it's only a spark. Here and gone between one moment and the next."

He inclined his head. "Look at my eyes." He widened them slightly, and pointed to the irises—as blue and gray as the sea in a churning storm. "Tell me what you see."

Yaiba snorted rudely. "An old fart that's too delusional to quit."

The Kämpfer chuckled—much to their surprise. "Well, you're half right," he admitted. "I am old. And I don't quit. Not until the battle is over, and the war is won. Surely even you can see that much in my eyes, can't you?"

"I think you need glasses," huffed Rika.

Streiter sniffed. "I can see you just fine," he told them. "You may have a spark, Kōtsu Masumi—if only a spark. But the rest of your friends don't even have that. And as for myself … I have a fire that was born from a spark much like yours. As long as that fire burns within me, I will not give up the fight. And you will not win."

"We're not in this to win," Fuyu rasped from next to Hokuto. "Just to save the world from people like you."

"What happens to your world isn't up to people like me," said the German simply. "I'm only a soldier. I have my orders. I am bound by my duty to carry those orders out. Up until now, you weren't a part of them. But Director Kagemaru has decreed that you should be—and that you shouldn't be for much longer, if you take my meaning."

"Try it." Hotene swaggered up next to Rika, Duel Disk already ablaze. "We've faced tougher than you before!"

"So I have gathered." Streiter pointed to the tiny Duelist. "Menoko Hotene: Junior Fusion ace student of the Leo Duel School. Spirit Beast Deck enables rapid Contact Fusion. Flagged for retrieval, unnecessary force approved."

Before Hotene could even be properly furious at this, he had moved on to her friend. "Emina Rika: LDS Junior Synchro ace student. Gusta Deck combines recycling resources with Synchro Summoning. Hybrid potential for Tag Duels has been noted. Flagged for eradication, unnecessary force approved."

Rika's mouth fell open. "Eradication?!"

But the Kämpfer paid her no more attention. "Li Shen: alumnus of LDS Shanghai, currently semi-pro in the Chinese circuit. Dracomet Deck is able to Synchro Summon during any turn at virtually any time. Flagged for eradication, unnecessary force approved. Rokkaku Fuyu: LDS Junior Youth Xyz student … are you seeing a pattern yet?!"

He crossed his broad arms. "All of your Decks," he said coldly, "were made to show off your respective talents in the Summoning method you are or were enrolled in at the Leo Duel School. That's it. That's all. Not one of you has an answer to the strategy that matters—because none of you ever bothered to even learn it. You're not soldiers. You're just kids playing pretend—and I would have thought you'd learned that much after what I did to Gōdagawa," he added, with a sidelong look at the man, still not stirring where he lay.

Masumi was stung more by his callous admittance of responsibility for the Ryōzanpaku sensei's injuries than by the slight to the LID's purpose. "We've learned more than you think, Markus," she retorted. "We know how to use that knowledge against you. We just don't want it to come to that."

The German heaved another sigh. "Choice. Why does it always come back to choice?" he said ruefully, rubbing at his brow. "It matters not. You and your LID no longer have a choice in any of this, Masumi. My orders from the Direktor are very clear—I am to use any and all means necessary to stop you from interfering with the Ædonai's plans any more than you already have."

Yaiba frowned. "You're after those two girls, don't you?" he ventured. "The twins we saw in Maiami City?"

Streiter stopped. For a moment, Masumi wondered if he'd been caught off guard a second time. But there was a strange look of satisfaction on his weathered face. The smile he wore looked far too soft for such a brutal man.

"Yes," he nodded. "Yes, I am. But I don't intend on leaving you in any shape to know why."

Masumi, meanwhile, was thinking. Rika was too green to bring into a Battle Royale against such a dangerous man—let alone with this much at stake. There was no telling what Markus would have up his sleeve against them.

She knew this would cost her precious manpower, but … "Angel-IQ."

She waited until the supercomputer's digital avatar had materialized next to her. "Get Gōdagawa and his students to safety. There ought to be paramedics on the school's front drive any minute."

"Understood." Angel-IQ raised her hands—passing them over each unconscious Duelist—and within moments all four of them were enclosed in spheres of white hard light, like huge glowing eggs. A single gesture from the hologram's fingers levitated them upwards—cages of Solid Vision protecting fragile cargo too important to damage further—and she drifted away with them, towing them to the main gate as fast as they could be safely carried.

Masumi then turned to Rika. "Go with her," she told the Junior Synchro ace. "Shen can fill in—we can take it from here. Once those four are in an ambulance, you need to find those two girls—and fast. Angel-IQ can help you."

She smiled reassuringly, and patted Rika on the shoulder. "Hotene will be just fine with us," she soothed.

Rika clearly had her misgivings, but a thumbs-up from her friend quelled most of them. " … Okay," she muttered.

A few seconds and about as many cards on her Duel Disk later, Daigusta Falcos had shimmered in front of her for the second time today. The little girl hopped aboard her monster mount, taking off after Angel-IQ without a word.

Yaiba tossed something small and thin to Shen, who caught it without even seeming to move. "You heard my girl, Shen," he laughed. "Feel like bringing the band back together?"

Shen drew himself to his full height, sliding Yaiba's gift into his snow-white Duel Disk. He clenched his fist, and a fiery chevron identical to the one lining Masumi's wrist sliced through the air.

"I would like nothing more, Yaiba." His voice was unnaturally calm. "Jiù xiàng guòqù yīyàng."

The Synchro ace rolled his eyes. "Save the theatrics for later," he replied, advancing forward until he was level with Masumi. "We're on the clock—and we've got bad-guy ass to kick." He grimaced. "Again."

Hotene matched him. "You say way too many bad words, Yaiba," the little girl said wryly. "You know that, right?"

Yaiba chuckled as Hokuto took up a position between them. "Guess I just rub off on the wrong people," he replied.

"You're dating Masumi," Fuyu reminded him, voice muffled beneath his helmet. He shuffled up to the left of Shen and ignited his jet-black Duel Disk, bringing its lavender blade to bear across his chest. "I think that cancels it out."

"Smooth." Masumi couldn't resist smirking. But all too quickly, it was time to focus on why they'd come out all this way. "Battle Royale rules," she challenged Streiter. "Six on one. No one draws or attacks on their first turn. We'll even give you the dignity of the first move," she added daringly, "for all the good it'll do you against us."

Yaiba spun around. "Masumi, are you sure about that?!" he said warily. "This guy's awful composed for someone who just got told a whole entire army wanted to take him out. I'd feel better if he didn't have any advantage at all."

"Just stick to the plan we made on the way," soothed the Fusion Duelist. "I guarantee he won't know what hit him."

Streiter's only response was to bring his Duel Disk against his chest in a salute. "Activate terrain program: Dungeon of the Gladial Beasts – Colosseum," he rumbled, and blue fire spilled out from underneath the courtyard in cracks, splitting it at right angles towards the four walls of Ryōzanpaku, and igniting otherworldly fires atop its pillars.

Then, the German leveled the heavy device point-first at them. His intent was clear, and his gray-blue eyes were steely with resolve. There was only one more word to be said after that—and the seven of them all said it as one.

"DUEL!"

Rika and Angel-IQ did not linger for very long. Once the ambulance doors had closed in front of Kachidoki, his two classmates, and the insensate Gōdagawa, they were off again, heading for the skyline of Maiami City in the distance.

From astride her Daigusta Falcos, the Junior Synchro Duelist listened intently to the supercomputer's holographic avatar. Angel-IQ, it seemed, had no desire to stay cooped up in a Duel Disk for too long, and had resorted to using one of her own monsters as a hover-board of sorts, soaring level with her Synchro Monster as they skimmed meters over the rapidly receding tree line.

" … I have interfaced with the RSV network of Maiami City," the supercomputer was saying, her blue eyes dancing with a million tiny lights. "The security cameras in each node will allow me to locate our targets more easily."

"About that?" Rika maneuvered Falcos around a particularly large tree. "Do we actually know what these two girls look like? Masumi said they had Hīragi Yuzu's face, but cameras won't be able to pick up on that, will they?"

"Masumi-san also said that one of them had blue hair, and the other red," Angel-IQ pointed out. "That will ease our efforts considerably. Furthermore, I am not looking for two girls—I am looking for students of Ryōzanpaku chasing two girls." Abruptly, she jerked her head straight ahead. "And I appear to have found them."

Red spots flashed over her holographic eyeballs. "Secondary targets confirmed—six Ryōzanpaku students in sector GN-18. Scanning surrounding sectors for primary targets."

"Should we call the police?" Rika wondered out loud. "This seems like something we ought to call the police for."

"If those two girls have technology from the Fusion Dimension," Angel-IQ said, "then it stands to reason they could send themselves back there, or to another dimension outright, at a moment's notice. If they found out the authorities were after them, on top of Duelists from two different schools, they might then feel compelled to escape again."

She put on a burst of speed that Rika was just barely able to match. "That is a risk Himika-sama is no longer willing to take. She has already issued orders that these two girls be detained and interrogated on her watch—no one else's. Which means, in turn, that you and I must confront them—alone."

Rika huffed at the news. "I should have stayed in bed today," she grumbled under her breath.

Whether or not Angel-IQ had heard, she didn't know: her Solid Vision eyes had suddenly lit up with blue light.

"I have them," the supercomputer said. "Primary targets confirmed—two teenage girls, alliance unknown, localized to sector HP-20. Isao's pursuit squad has caught them in a pincer movement—we must inter—"

She broke off suddenly. The glow in her eyes had turned a violet color that made Rika uneasy. "What is it, Q?"

"I am detecting high-Level Fusion radiation in the vicinity of our primary targets," answered the hologram. "It is not from a Summon—the source appears to be dormant. But the intensity of this radiation is analogous to the energy produced from a native Fusion Summon—ergo, from a Fusion Monster that has already been Summoned."

"And for those of us who don't know how to speak LDS?" Rika wanted to know, not a little bit testily. All this talk of radiation and energy was years beyond her level of education. Ten-year-olds shouldn't have to know this stuff!

Angel-IQ narrowed her still-purple eyes. "Hotene told you of the Fusion Monster she battled during the Infernoid incident, correct?"

There had been no need to; Rika had seen news reports of the Duel atop LDS from her hospital bed that night and well into the morning. The sheer size of the monster—miles in length and height—had strained her knowledge of what Duel Monsters could be capable of in size, imagination … and ferocity.

Her jaw was slack. "You're not telling me this monster could be bigger?!"

"That, I cannot answer for sure," Angel-IQ responded. "But it may very well be an order of magnitude stronger."

The amethyst light faded from her eyes. "Himika-sama must be informed of this. We can no longer delay, Rika—we must intervene now. Before Ryōzanpaku loses more than they already have for one day," she added.

And before the Junior Synchro ace could protest, the hologram had streaked off with more speed than she could have managed as flesh and blood. Rika, still muttering in an undertone about the superior comfort of her bed at home, followed suit with her Falcos after a reluctant few seconds.

Slowly, the LID fanned out, spreading themselves in a pincer formation around Streiter—keeping him against the outer wall of the Ryōzanpaku campus. LP gauges, set to 4000 apiece, faded from their Duel Disks as the battle ahead began to take shape.

The Kämpfer made the first move, plucking two cards from his starting hand. "I Summon Gladial Beast Lanista in Attack Position," he announced, watching an eagle-headed warrior in dark green armor soar onto the field, a broad, blood-red spear twirling in its claws (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 1200). "I then Set one card"—he slipped his other card of choice into his Duel Disk—"and end my turn."

Shen furrowed his brow at this. "He did not Fusion Summon?" he wondered out loud.

"His Deck doesn't work that way," Yaiba said to him. "It's older—slower. But he makes it work. These Gladial Beasts have the ability to swap themselves with each other after one of them battles. So if we attack that Lanista, and it's somehow not destroyed, he can replace it with a whole other one from his Deck."

"And every time a monster gets Special Summoned from the Deck," added Hokuto, standing next to him, "the Field Spell he uses for a terrain program can power his Gladial Beasts up more and more with every Summon."

"The thing is, Markus has the ability to use Contact Fusion, just like Hotene," Masumi said. "Where she banishes, he shuffles into the Deck—but the mechanics are still the same in that he has to do it from his field. So we keep the monsters he controls to a minimum, and make sure he doesn't Summon enough of them to bring out his Fusions."

And it's time to put that strategy to work, she thought. "All right, Fuyu! You're up first—remember the plan!"

She could not see the Xyz Duelist's face under the helmet he wore. But the small nod he made—and the cards he played seconds later—told her he was ready to follow through, and do more besides.

"Here goes," he rasped, and he too swiped a pair of cards across his Duel Disk, one at each end of the blade. "I use my Scale 1 Æsatellarknight Sephirathuban, and my Scale 7 Astellarknight Sephirabuth, to Set the Pendulum Scale!"

Masumi's eyes widened. Huh?! It wasn't that she didn't know Fuyu had Pendulum Monsters in his Deck—she'd learned that much from the ride to Ryōzanpaku. Indeed, the strategy they had formulated to take down Streiter on the way had hinged on those monsters, and all the others Himika had sent ahead with them.

What surprised her was that he was Pendulum Summoning so soon—and Fuyu's efforts had been successful, too, for someone who'd done it his first time: two columns of blue light had shot into the sky on either side of him, each encasing a white-armored and -winged warrior inside them. One was possessed of a reptilian tail and eyes to match, with green edges to his armor; his companion's was tinged with teal, and much more human-shaped in comparison.

"With these two monsters, I can Pendulum Summon monsters with Levels from 2 to 6!" the Xyz Duelist explained, and without further ado, he raised his hand to the heavens, and began to chant with all his lungpower:

"Loyal knights of the starlit sky! Anointed by the goddess of creation, assemble to vanquish your foes!"

"Pendulum Summon! Come forth before us, my Satellarknights—Betelgeuse, Procyon, and Sirius!"

The first Pendulum Summon Fuyu had performed in his Dueling career was visually different from the one Yūya oft employed: Masumi saw no arcs of light drawing themselves across the æther. But a great sigil appeared between Sephirathuban and Sephirabuth, who had raised their arms such that they must have conjured it themselves: a circle with a single downward point, topped by an arch with five more such points ringed across its length. It was from the midst of this circle, however, that space turned, twisted, and finally gave birth to Fuyu's chosen trio of warriors.

Of the three, Procyon was by far the smallest, being only slightly taller and older than Hotene even in his golden armor (Level 4: ATK 1300/DEF 1200). Sirius, standing more than half his height again in similar armor, flanked him at his right like an older brother (Level 4: ATK 1600/DEF 900), while Betelgeuse had appeared to Procyon's left, brandishing a sword across his body in a protective posture (Level 4: ATK 700/DEF 1900).

"But I won't stop there," Fuyu rasped. "Now I'll use all three of my Level 4 monsters to construct the Overlay Network—and Summon this in their place!" He raised both his hands, having used all of his cards to make this possible, and waited until the golden glow of his monsters' armor shone so brightly that their material forms were lost to sight, transforming them into so many spheres of light that raced into the heavens:

"Great knight of the winter sky, whose blade was forged in the farthest reaches of the void, vanquish your enemies with furious might!"

"Xyz Summon!" Fuyu declared. "Come forth before us! Rank 4! Stellarknight Triver!"

As an excited Masumi looked on, the mass of stars that had erupted above her began to shine with a triangular shape. Then, from its center, an armored fist had reached out, clutching this shape as it would a shield. Seconds later, the owner of fist and shield hurtled into real-space with meteoric speed, swinging his violet-colored blade in a wide arc. Triver alighted before Fuyu with such grace that not one mote of dust stirred from under his feet—or from the three glowing rings he held between himself and Markus as a shield (Rank 4: ATK 2100/DEF 2500; ORU 3).

That shield now began to pulse with a lavender light as Fuyu stepped forward. "My Triver's effect activates the moment he's Xyz Summoned," he explained, grinning under his helmet, "and returns all other cards on the field to the hand!" And with a grunt, Triver lunged forward with his shield, unleashing a wave of energy that rippled over every hologram on the field. Sephirathuban and Sephirabuth shimmered briefly, but did not fade from view; Fuyu, it seemed, had reset his Pendulum Scales the moment he had used his Triver's effect. But Markus did not have the same luxury with his cards—Lanista and whatever Spell or Trap he'd placed face-down had disappeared completely but for a few stray photons that lingered where they'd stood just moments ago.

"Now for Triver's second effect!" Fuyu cried. "Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can send 1 random card in my opponent's hand to the Graveyard!" One of the golden spheres that revolved around his monster winked out at that moment, and as Triver's blade absorbed whatever Satellarknight he'd detached, it bloomed so bright that Masumi had to cover her eyes—but only briefly. With a flick of his wrist, Triver had lashed out with his blade like a whip, conjuring an arc of energy that struck Markus' right hand, causing him to recoil and drop a single card.

The Fusion user saw the German's nostrils flare as he slipped the unlucky card into his Graveyard slot. She hoped fervently that it was the Lanista with which he'd tried to make his field—one less monster in his Deck to Summon.

"Turn end," Fuyu finished, nodding to Shen. "Take it away."

The Synchro Duelist fanned the cards in his hand, staring at them for a split second and muttering to himself in Chinese, before he acted. "I will use the Scale 1 Treasure Dracomet – Sephira-Fuxi," he said, plucking two of the rightmost cards and placing them at each end of his blade, "along with the Scale 7 Secret Dracomet – Sephira-Qiuguo, to likewise set the Pendulum Scale."

Him, too? But Shen didn't seem hesitant about whether or not he'd done it right; perhaps he'd had a taste of the method while he'd been away in Shanghai. And so Masumi, already giddy with anticipation, watched as wreaths of smoke wrapped around Shen, spiraling into the air before splitting in two. She saw two heads at their summits—one snarling like a lion, the other longer and more tapered, like a horse's, and both with the exact same white wings she'd seen on Fuyu's Pendulum Monsters—before they peeled off in opposite directions:

"Guardian phantoms chosen by the goddess of creation, grant these vessels your long-sealed power!"

"Pendulum Summon! Descend from the stars! Jiaotu, Dracomet of Darkness—and Taotie, Dracomet of Evil!"

Shen leapt into the air—ten, fifteen, then finally contorting into a somersault at twenty feet, framed perfectly against the sigil that contorted the space behind him, identical in almost every way to the one Fuyu had displayed in his own Pendulum Summon. At that moment, another pair of smoky tendrils burst forth from its depths, solidifying into more translucent, dragon-like creatures—one burly and dripping with indigo smoke (Level 2: ATK 0/DEF 2000), the other rippling with muscle and growling viciously, baring its fangs in a hideous smirk (Level 5: ATK 2200/DEF 0). Both Jiaotu and Taotie prowled onto the field, flanking Shen and stealing looks at him, awaiting his command.

The Synchro user gave that command not one second later. "Next, I will Tune my Level 2 Jiaotu with my Level 5 Taotie!" And without further ado, he dropped low to the ground in a basic tiger stance, bringing his hands upward and curling the fingers like claws. His two monsters rushed into the air, although even now, as Shen began his own chant, their smoky bodies were beginning to glow from within—Jiaotu with green light, and Taotie with white:

"Seething phantom of darkness. Reach out from the void, and devour the unworthy with your shadow!"

Jiaotu's physical form twisted sinuously, disintegrating into a pair of green-tinged rings that looped around Taotie, who had also transformed itself. Nothing remained of its broad body save five motes of light, forced into a line by the miniature tornado Jiaotu had conjured around itself. Lightning flashed among their combined forms, illuminating something large and snarling—it was almost here—

"Synchro Summon!" bellowed Shen. "Descend from the stars! Level 7! Yaizer, Dracomet of Wickedness!"

Masumi felt her heart skip several beats as Yaizer bulled its way onto the field at last, propelling itself upward with a single blast of its wings—then dropping like a stone back to earth with a THUD that nearly sent her tumbling to her backside. Seen in full, the wolf-like dragon looked no less intimidating than the first time Masumi had seen it for herself, though its dark gray scales and blood-red eyes looked marginally more friendly considering she wasn't facing it as an enemy this time (Level 7: ATK 2600/DEF 2100).

Summoning Yaizer had taken all but one of the cards in Shen's hand to pull off. "I Set one card, and end my turn," he said, placing that one card into his Duel Disk and watching its hologram fade from view.

So far, so good, Masumi thought; her strategy was proceeding without a hitch so far. The knowledge that Streiter's monsters thrived during the Battle Phase meant that, at some point, they would have to meet him in combat. So what she'd proposed on the way over to Ryōzanpaku had involved them staggering their strategies—one would play defensive, another offensive. By allowing each Duelist to pick between these two roles, Masumi had reasoned that this would keep them in the Battle Royale for that much longer; if Streiter were somehow to pull off some trickery while their monsters battled his, he would now have to decide between getting rid of their defensive monsters, thus costing him precious time to make his getaway and risking becoming a bigger target for the massing JSDF—or with exposing his own monsters to the biggest guns the LID could point in his face.

She quickly took her mind off her own thoughts; Hotene had just started her turn—and her ubiquitous smile, as wide and toothy as a hungry shark, proved that turning ten had done nothing to help her work on her total lack of poker face. But Masumi didn't care; watching Hotene grin like that usually meant she had something good in her hand.

Sure enough: "I use my Scale 1 Heroic Spirit Beast Tamer – Sephirampirika," Hotene declared, holding two cards aloft, "an' my Scale 7 Shadow Spirit Beast Tamer – Sephirawendi to set the Pendulum Scale!"

She slammed them either end of her blade, and a mighty wind blew Hotene's famously messy hair every which way, so strong that her body was actually shimmering in place. Blurry images of pink and green danced within the gale, solidifying into monsters that an ecstatic Masumi recognized from experience to be the Spiritual Beasts Rampenta and Petolphin. Each bore the same white wings as the Pendulum Monsters of Fuyu and Shen, and was mounted by a girl that she assumed to be another Spirit Beast Tamer; one she didn't recognize—although the Fusion Duelist couldn't help but notice the green-haired girl looked rather like Rika—but the other looked too similar to her Spirit Beast Tamer Wen to be anyone else. Both monsters soared into the air, bearing their riders aloft as they moved their arms in tandem, forming yet another identical arch-and-circle sigil between them:

"Now, let purest hearts of man and beast, blessed by the goddess of creation, form an unbreakable bond!"

"PENDULUM SUMMON!" cried Hotene. "Appear! Spiritual Beast Petolphin! Spirit Beast Tamer Wen!"

From the heart of this symbol, and the twisting space inside it, leapt another pair of monsters. Masumi had no trouble recognizing them as the same duo that formed the Sephirawendi she'd used moments ago, though they looked much younger, and a fair bit smaller as well (Level 4: ATK 0/DEF 2000; Level 3: ATK 1500/DEF 1000).

She had a feeling they wouldn't stay that way for long—oh, there it is, she thought. Hotene's toothy grin, somehow, had become so wide that it threatened to stretch right off her face.

Hotene stared down Streiter, taunting him. "Ever listen to that song? 'Anything you can do, I can do better'? I bet it's older than you are," she sniggered. "Well, I'm gonna show you something that's a lot stronger than your Fusion Monsters! I'll banish my Wen an' my Petolphin, an' Special Summon this from my Extra Deck! Let's go!"

If Streiter seemed at all slighted by Hotene's insult, he didn't show it. As a matter of fact, Masumi wasn't sure he'd even changed expressions ever since this Duel had started. His gray-blue eyes continued to stare at them all one by one. Was he analyzing their moves, she wondered … or trying to put them in a false sense of security?

A blinding light from behind distracted her then, though it shouldn't have: she knew Hotene's two monsters had touched each other, just barely—but enough to bring out the monster she had in mind to combat Markus' Deck:

"Now, when the bond between man and beast is at its strongest, the swirling tempest will be united with the purest mind of childhood!"

"Contact Fusion!" Hotene chanted. "Appear! Spiritual Beast Rider Petolphin!"

A shadow darkened the earth at her feet; Petolphin had swum into the sky as though it was its own personal ocean. The pink dolphin had grown considerably, Masumi now saw; half as long and tall again as it had been just a minute ago. The same was not true for Wen—though the girl's wide eyes spoke of vaster memory and experience than her years let on. She mounted Petolphin as it loop-the-looped through midair, finally alighting before her Summoner, and creating as much of a shield for Hotene as their combined mass could allow (Level 6: ATK 200/DEF 2800).

"We had a little peak at your monsters on the way over, Mark-y-boy," Hotene smirked. "An' I'd like to meet the one that could even put a scratch on my Petolphin here. Her effect keeps her from being destroyed by card effects, too! So you gotta go through me the hard way now!"

Hokuto glanced worriedly at the tiny Duelist as she Set the last card in her hand to end her turn. "Mark-y-boy?" he repeated, shaking his head helplessly. "If I were him, I'd be going after you first for calling me something like that. This guy doesn't look like he knows how to take a joke—let alone one of yours."

"Well, that's his problem right there," scoffed Hotene. "Maybe the Ædonai wouldn't be around for us to fight them if they all just learned to laugh every now an' then!"

Different things make different people smile, Masumi thought ruefully, curling her lip as she ruminated on previous experience. "I think we leave that to the philosophers for right now," she chided Hotene. Then, turning to Hokuto, "In the meantime, we could use a little more offense on our field."

"I was thinking the same thing," the Xyz ace smiled back, turning his gaze to the Duel at hand. "First, I activate the Continuous Spell: Star Sign of the Sacred—and then I'll Summon Sacred Dabaran in Attack Position!" The bull-like figure that stomped onto the field to his left looked as broad and tall as Markus even without his silver armor—and the curved horns atop his helm added a good foot to Dabaran's height as well (Level 3: ATK 1300/DEF 800).

"Sacred Dabaran's effect activates when it's Normal Summoned," Hokuto went on, "and lets me Special Summon a Level 3 Sacred monster from my hand! I Summon Sacred Leonis in Defense Position!" To his right, a silver-blue figure, with hair that flowed with all the majesty of a lion's mane, unsheathed a blade from within its arm and hunched down in a defensive posture, growling threateningly at Streiter (Level 3: ATK 1000/DEF 1800).

"Leonis' effect grants me a second Normal Summon of a Sacred monster once every turn," explained Hokuto, "so I'll use that Normal Summon on my Sacred Gredi! C'mon out!" He threw out his hand, and from behind him, a slender woman in sparkling silver armor catapulted herself next to Leonis (Level 4: ATK 1600/DEF 1400). "And just like my Dabaran, Gredi's effect activates when she's Normal Summoned, and lets me Special Summon a Level 4 Sacred monster from my hand! So I'll Summon my Sacred Acubes in Defense Position!"

The monster that now stalked onto his field towered above any he'd yet Summoned by at least a head. Scorpion-like claws, glowing like molten gold, clicked and snapped on its broad, silver-armored forearms (Level 4: ATK 800/DEF 2000). But even as Masumi watched, impressed at how Hokuto had managed to Summon more monsters than any one Duelist thus far, Acubes' ATK gauge was climbing upward, finally stopping at 1300.

"Acubes' effect activates if it's Special Summoned, and grants every Sacred monster I control another 500 ATK!" Hokuto swept a hand over his field, showing off his other monsters' ATK one by one—Leonis at 1500, growling like the very lion it resembled; Dabaran at 1800, curling his hands into mighty fists, and Gredi at 2100, tensing her body, ready to attack at a moment's notice. "But that doesn't matter now. Because I'm going to use every single one of my monsters to construct the Overlay Network twice over! First—my Level 3 Leonis and Dabaran!"

At once, the two monsters to his immediate left and right stiffened, and leapt into the air as though they'd been shot from the same cannon. Golden energy streaked from their armor, consuming them in seconds before even the whirling mass of stars above them had even finished forming:

"The sworn protector of a hundred stars! Manifest in all your radiance!"

"Xyz Summon!" Hokuto recited. "Pristine defender of the night sky! Rank 3! Sacred Hyades!"

He had to hunker down a full foot—such was the force with which his monster landed in a three-point stance before him. Eight feet tall, and holding a wide, kunai-like sword nearly half that long in each hand, Hyades looked every inch the protector Hokuto had described it to be (Rank 3: ATK 1900/DEF 1100; ORU 2).

"Now for my Level 4 Gredi and Acubes! Overlay!" The aftershocks from his monster's landing had barely even faded before Hokuto's other two monsters were subsumed. So quickly had he made his move that the same galaxy that had birthed Hyades had no time to fade away, and instead swallowed his next monsters as well:

"The fighting spirit of a hundred stars!" chanted the Xyz ace. "Manifest in all your fury!"

"Xyz Summon! Peerless host of the night sky! Rank 4! Sacred Beehive!"

THUD. Hyades was dwarfed by half by the warrior that dropped from the skies. The enormous plates that adorned Beehive's armor made him look even taller and broader than the nine feet he stood. Equally imposing were the mismatched clawed gauntlets he carried as weapons; their edges sizzled with molten metal, and clacked together as though they would like nothing more than to crush Streiter's throat (Rank 4: ATK 2400/DEF 800; ORU 2).

"Two Xyz Monsters—and I didn't need any Pendulums to do it," Hokuto said smugly. He stole a quick look at Hotene, who made a face at him in reply. "And once per turn, if I Special Summon a Sacred Xyz Monster," he added, "my Star Sign of the Sacred allows me to draw a card!" He did so, arched his eyebrows as he inspected his catch, and finally tucked it into his fingers with two words: "Turn end!"

"Awful quick to toot your own horn, aren't you, Hokuto?" Yaiba smirked. "What's the matter? Spent too long in a card? Are you that eager to show off that Markus' minions weren't enough for you?"

"Can you blame me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Yaiba plucked a card from his hand. "But you and Masumi and I don't need any fancy toys from Himika. We wouldn't be the aces of the whole entire school if we didn't get there on our own, right?

"Now!" He started sliding cards across his Duel Disk. "I'll start with the Field Spell: Saber Vault, and the Spell Card: One for One! By sending a monster in my hand to the Graveyard," he explained, "I can Special Summon a Level 1 monster from my hand or my Deck! I Summon the Tuner monster X-Saber Palomuro from my Deck in Defense Position!"

Several things happened at that moment: the blue flames that lined the battlefield took on a strange silvery glow. Then, as if spat from one of the very pyres from whence these fires had arisen, a green-scaled, reptilian brute—slightly taller than Yaiba, though just as broad in its pristinely polished armor, leapt onto the field with gleaming sword in hand (Level 1: ATK 200 » 300/DEF 1000 » 900).

"My Saber Vault's effect causes every X-Saber on the field to lose 100 DEF times its Level," Yaiba went on, "but grants that much ATK to them in return! Next, I'll Summon XX-Saber Garsem in Attack Position!"

With a leap that Shen might have been able to match on a good day, Yaiba's newest monster joined the field with all the grace of a gazelle. This was fitting; from up close, Masumi saw that under all the silver armor it wore, Garsem did indeed look like a gazelle—albeit one that walked on two legs. The two swords it sliced through the air were half as long again, and just as curved, as the horns on its head; lightning crackled from their lengths as the monster's steel-shod hooves pawed the ground (Level 4: ATK 1400 » 1800/DEF 400 » 0).

"And then, since I have at least 2 X-Sabers on my field, I can use the effect of my XX-Saber Faultroll to Special Summon him from my hand!" Yaiba slapped his last card onto his blade with gusto; moments later, he and every monster he'd Summoned up to this point was dwarfed by a scarlet-armored giant of a man, whose shining sword looked large enough to change the local terrain in one swift stroke (Level 6: ATK 2400 » 3000/DEF 1800 » 1200).

"Faultroll's effect!" cried Yaiba. "Once per turn, I can target a Level 4 or lower X-Saber monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon it! So I'll Special Summon the Tuner monster X-Saber Airbellum in Attack Position!"

He slammed his free hand upon the earth—and Faultroll followed suit with his blade almost immediately, carving a furrow so long and wide that Airbellum had no trouble climbing out of it to appear on his field. The half-dozen bladed claws on its gauntlets looked ready to scythe through flesh as easily as earth and stone, and the bestial roar of the monster wielding them suggested he wanted to start right now (Level 3: ATK 1600 » 1900/DEF 200 » 0).

Yaiba was in his element. "All right!" he whooped. "First, I'll Tune my Level 3 Airbellum with my Level 4 Uruz!" His chosen monsters began to hiss with energy, glowing green and white as they leapt into the air:

"Master of the crossed blades! Scythe through your foes and leave naught behind but ruin!

"Synchro Summon!" Yaiba growled. "Show yourself! Level 7! X-Saber Urbellum!"

Something huge hurtled down from the sky, landing on the battlefield hard enough to crack the earth beneath it. When the dust cleared, a barbaric-looking figure thrice as tall as Yaiba had stepped forward, unhooking a pair of massive swords from the tattered red cape swathed over his shoulders (Level 7: ATK 2200 » 2900/DEF 1300 » 600).

Urbellum let fly with a guttural growl at Streiter as if he wanted to run the man through with those blades himself. But again, the German showed no semblance of fear—or of any emotion at all—and that only served to make Yaiba madder. "I'm just getting started!" he told him. "Next, I'll Tune my Level 1 Palomuro with my Level 6 Faultroll!"

He dropped to a knee—and so did Masumi. Even as his other two monsters rose into the skies, glowing with light, she had a feeling about what her boyfriend was going to Summon next. And as much as she wanted to kiss him for bringing it out, she knew there was no time; this would help her keep her footing for when it came:

"Wielder of crossed blades of light!" chanted Yaiba. "Trample over this mountain of corpses!

"Synchro Summon! Come forth! Level 7! X-Saber Souza!"

WHAM. Masumi was right to believe Yaiba would go this far on his first turn—but Souza's bulk still came very close to unseating her where she knelt. He was shorter than Urbellum—only by inches—but was much broader at the shoulder, and built far more solidly beneath his silver armor; every step Souza took as he plodded toward Yaiba shook the earth with elephantine force (Level 7: ATK 2500 » 3200/DEF 1600 » 900).

"Turn end." Yaiba looked just as smug as Hokuto did when he'd finished his turn, and with good reason.

Masumi, determined to show why she'd been named an ace student of her school alongside both boys, didn't even wait for her paramour to give her the floor; the cards in her hand told her exactly what she needed to do.

"I activate the Spell Card: Gem-Knight Fusion!" she began, swiping her favorite card across her Duel Disk. "This lets me Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, using monsters from my hand or field as Fusion Materials! From my hand, I fuse my Gem-Knight Saphire and my Gem-Knight Obsidia!"

She saw them both at the edge of her vision—one armored in jet black, another in deep blue—right as she felt her hair begin to whip about from the swirling force behind her. It sucked her knights into its depths seconds later, and the winds behind her only intensified as she began to chant:

"Sharp jet-black darkness! Stone of selfless sacrifice! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"

"Fusion Summon!" Masumi yelled. "The one who pursues honor! Gem-Knight Aquamarine!"

The maelstrom she'd conjured now spat out an enormous suit of gleaming armor, bluish-gold and eight feet tall. Aquamarine looked as sturdy as a tank beneath every plate of it, and the bladed shield it held in one hand looked thick enough to protect it from an actual tank as well (Level 6: ATK 1400/DEF 2600).

"Gem-Knight Obsidia's effect!" Masumi threw out her hand. "If it's sent from the hand to the Graveyard, I can target a Level 4 or lower Normal monster in my Graveyard, and Special Summon it! So I'll revive my Gem-Knight Saphire!" One whoosh of energy later, and there Saphire stood: silent and resplendent in polished silver, his arms rippling with writhing whitewater (Level 4: ATK 0/DEF 2100).

"Now for Gem-Knight Fusion's second effect! By banishing a Gem-Knight from my Graveyard, I can return it from my Graveyard to my hand! I banish my Obsidia!" And one swiped card later, Masumi's card was back where she wanted it—but it didn't stay there for long. Under ideal circumstances, it rarely did.

"Then, I'll play Gem-Knight Fusion again," she said, "and fuse my Saphire with the Gem-Knight Iola in my hand!"

Saphire promptly conjured a wall of water around itself, shrinking the amorphous mass around it until it looked like a second suit of armor. For a brief moment, the Fusion Duelist saw the reflection of a bluish-armored figure within it—but by then, the knight had already leapt into the colorful hurricane that had erupted directly above her:

"Stone of selfless sacrifice! Become one with the crystal of eternal ice to create a new dazzling radiance!"

"Fusion Summon!" chanted Masumi. "The one who pursues vigilance! Gem-Knight Amethys!"

The vortex faded—and a second later, a second knight, not as broad as her Aquamarine but a good head taller, had dropped onto the field next to her other monster. Pure water swirled around Amethys' violet gauntlets, solidifying into a round, jagged shield of ice that it carried in one hand, while a second stream coiled and rippled around the other gauntlet like a semisolid whip (Level 7: ATK 1950/DEF 2450).

"Turn end," Masumi finished. She surveyed the field with no small amount of satisfaction; her team of six Duelists had managed to perfectly divide themselves between offense and defense with their nine monsters. Having this many monsters in Defense Position would bait Streiter into attacking them as the "safe" choice, diverting his Gladial Beasts away from their offensive strength that they'd use for their counterattack. His monsters would survive, and likely be used to activate their teammates' effects, but they'd do so at the cost of his own LP—eventually, he'd be too weak to risk attacking with his monsters for too long.

The only weak point she could see in their opening field was her own Aquamarine and its 1400 ATK—but that was intentional, she thought, smirking inwardly. If Streiter took the bait and attacked that first, his field would be crippled before he could even bring out his Contact Fusions—and therefore allow the LID to strike for the win!

For a brief moment, as the heat of the Duel abated around her, she permitted herself to relax.

The moment did not last, however; without a word, Streiter had drawn his card, inspected it—and smiled.

It was not an evil smile—certainly a far cry from the malevolent smirk of Dr. Grimm that still haunted her dreams—but much softer in comparison. On Herman von Stadion, it might have been reassuring. But knowing von Stadion's fate—and who had been the cause of it in the first place—made the Kämpfer's smile look far more sinister.

"I Summon Slave Ape in Attack Position," he said, swiping the card he'd drawn across his Duel Disk and generating a cybernetically-enhanced monkey (Level 2: ATK 700/DEF 300) that barely reached the huge man's knee in height. "Then"—Streiter plucked two more cards from his hand—"I activate the Continuous Spell: Gladial Rejection, and the Spell Card Rallying Gladial Beast! This allows me to Special Summon a Gladial Beast from my hand or Graveyard with a different Type than the monsters I control, and prevent it from being destroyed by battle! From my Graveyard, I Special Summon the Gladial Beast Lanista that was discarded by Stellarknight Triver's effect!"

Fuyu drew back a pace. Masumi suspected the Xyz Duelist was biting his lip under his helmet, putting two and two together as the eagle-headed monster reformed before his eyes (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 1200).

"Gladial Rejection's effect!" Streiter told them. "My Gladial Beast monsters cannot be targeted with card effects outside of the Battle Phase—which means if you want to destroy my field, that time is now! Go!"

He threw out his hand. "Slave Ape! Attack Gem-Knight Aquamarine!" The primate stiffened, electric shocks coursing from its mechanical parts—before lunging with a shriek right at Masumi's monster.

The battle, however, was over before it began: with a swing of its bladed shield, Aquamarine connected with the monster so hard that Masumi heard the crunching of bones. The Ape's misshapen body ricocheted off the shield, and exploded the moment it hit Streiter across his chest, causing the man to stumble as his LP slipped to 3300.

Yet the Kämpfer seemed as though he'd been expecting this to happen; an instant later, Masumi knew why. "Slave Ape's effect," he said, still smiling slightly as he ejected a card from his Deck. "When it is destroyed by battle, I may Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Gladial Beast from my Deck. I Special Summon Gladial Beast Laquer in Attack Position—and then, because a monster was Special Summoned from my Deck, my Colosseum Field Spell activates its own effect, and gains a counter that grants my Gladial Beasts 100 ATK and DEF!"

The fires burning around them leapt a few inches higher, right as Streiter's new monster hit the field: a muscular, slavering tiger wreathed in even more flames that belched from small, pointed machines revolving around it (Level 4: ATK 1800 » 1900/DEF 400 » 500). Masumi was reminded uncannily of missiles as she stared the monster down, and hoped that wouldn't factor into whatever ability Laquer might have possessed.

"Next! Gladial Beast Lanista—attack Gem-Knight Amethys!" With a keening cry and a storm of wings, Lanista soared into the air—but Markus was already playing a card. "And since a Gladial Beast monster is battling, I can Special Summon this Gladial Beast Vespasiaus from my hand with its own effect!" He swiped it across his Duel Disk, and a blue-scaled abomination as tall and broad as Masumi's Aquamarine stomped onto the field next to Laquer, swinging its sword this way and that (Level 7: ATK 2300 » 2400 » 2900/DEF 0 » 100).

"Vespasiaus' effect activates whenever it would be Special Summoned by another Gladial Beast's effect—including its own," Markus explained, indicating the green light that was suddenly shining around it and his other monsters, "and grants its brethren another 500 ATK while it remains on the field! Press on, Lanista! Laquer"—he pointed to his monster—"reinforce your comrade! Attack Amethys as well!"

Masumi, however, had already done the mental math, and was smirking as the claws of both Gladial Beasts sank into the ice-encrusted shield of Amethys—but did not shatter it. Instead, with a mighty heave, Amethys physically threw both monsters off its armor, where they careened into their Summoner. Again Streiter stumbled from the double blow, but he kept his footing, and brushed the dust off his shoulders even as his LP had slipped to 3200.

It was this inconsequential loss of Life Points—seven hundred for three monsters, and only a hundred between two of them—that caused Masumi's smirk to slide off her face as quickly as it had formed. The more she thought about why Streiter had chosen to attack a monster of superior DEF with two monsters that had exactly the same ATK, the more she'd been flummoxed by the choice, even as she knew her monster would survive. But these were Gladial Beasts, she knew as well—monsters that relied not only on fighting battles, but surviving them as well.

He'd meant to make those attacks, she realized—Streiter didn't care about Summoning Fusion Monsters right off the bat just to prove he could do it better than anyone else. Everything he'd done just now had been for a reason.

And it was this that made her bite her lip as Streiter shouted, "Vespasiaus! Destroy Stellarknight Triver!" while his monster lunged for Fuyu's. The Xyz Duelist braced himself, though his Life Points were in no danger—yet he still cringed where he stood as Streiter's monster sliced Triver in twain through shield, armor, and stomach alike with its blade, blasting the warrior into a billion tiny points of starlight.

Fuyu, for his part, was able to recover quickly enough. "Stellarknight Triver's final effect!" he rasped. "If it's destroyed and sent to the Graveyard while it still has Overlay Units, I can target and Special Summon 1 other tellarknight monster from my Graveyard! So I'll Special Summon Satellarknight Betelgeuse in Defense Position!"

He swiped a card onto his Duel Disk, and the pink-armored knight Masumi had briefly seen earlier now materialized once more (Level 4: ATK 700/DEF 1900). "Then," Fuyu went on, "if Betelgeuse is Summoned, I can activate its effect! By targeting a tellarknight card in my Graveyard and sending Betelgeuse to the Graveyard, I can add that target to my hand!" He did so—and by the time his chosen card was nestled in his fingers, Betelgeuse had already shimmered out of existence with a flash of rose-colored light.

Streiter curled his lip. "Battle Phase, end! Now—because my Lanista and Laquer battled this turn, I can activate their effects, and shuffle them into my Deck to Special Summon other Gladial Beasts in their place! I therefore Special Summon Gladial Beast Hoplomus in Defense Position and Gladial Beast Sagittari in Attack Position—which in turn will place more counters upon my Colosseum! Double Tag Out!"

Here we go. Masumi felt her apprehension ratchet up another notch as both Lanista and Laquer disintegrated in twin bursts of white light, replaced soon after by the familiar forms of the shield-ringed rhinoceros and the slender, golden-haired centaur she'd seen used in Gōdagawa's ill-fated Duel (Level 4: ATK 700 » 1000 » 1500/DEF 2100 » 2400; Level 3: ATK 1400 » 1700 » 2200/DEF 1000 » 1300).

Hoplomus snorted and stamped its armored feet on the ground. "Because my Hoplomus was Special Summoned by a Gladial Beast monster's effect," Streiter continued, "its effect allows its original DEF to become 2400. And when my Sagittari was likewise Summoned, I may use its effect to discard a Gladial Beast monster and draw two cards!"

He began swiping cards in and out of his Duel Disk again as Hoplomus' DEF gauge rose to a daunting 2700. "Then, because a Gladial Beast monster was Special Summoned from my Deck, I can activate the second effect of Gladial Rejection, and Special Summon another Gladial Beast from my Deck whose Type is different from those already on my field! As I control a Sea Serpent-Type, a Rock-Type, and a Winged Beast-Type, I therefore Special Summon the Beast-Type Gladial Beast Andal in Defense Position!"

The fires of Colosseum leapt a foot higher. Not all of it was due to its empowering effect; the dark-furred bear that had just plodded onto the field (Level 4: ATK 1900 » 2300 » 2800/DEF 1500 » 1900) looked so heavy that each step it took shook the earth—and Masumi's legs with it. Hoplomus, Sagittari, and Vespasiaus in particular looked like they'd grown a few inches as well—no doubt due to their point gauges of 1600/2800, 2300/1400, and 3200/400.

"This next monster is one I think you'll be getting to know very, very well," Streiter told them. He loosened his tie a little—and then threw out his hand. "I shuffle my Andal, my Sagittari, and my Vespasiaus back into my Deck—and Special Summon this from my Extra Deck in their place!"

"No way!" Hotene's jaw nearly bounced off the ground. The little girl had taken a step backwards; she was reeling where she stood. Masumi thought she might know why, too—whether or not you were expecting it, to find out that you were no longer the only person in your life that could do what you do best could rattle anyone to the core. So it had been with her, a long time ago … how innocent she'd been in those days, before her life had changed …

And now Streiter's chosen trio had locked hands, paws, and claws together, bursting into scintillating white light with a shockwave that made Masumi stumble. The earth was rumbling under her feet: a long, continuous sound that lent an unearthly quality to the Kämpfer's gravelly chanting:

"Cruel serpent of the deep seas that lived in ancient times! Merge with the souls of gladiators and become a warrior of legend!"

"Triple Contact Fusion!" He slammed a palm into the ground. "Come! Gladial Beast Domitianus!"

CRACK. Masumi nearly jumped out of her skin: a silver, gleaming trident had thrust itself out of the ground several meters in front of Streiter, followed swiftly by a geyser of gushing water. Clutching this weapon was a massive fist, attached to an arm as big around as both of hers together, scaly and dark purple and pulsing with muscle. A second fist arose from the chasm—and finally, Domitianus emerged onto the field in full: an armored leviathan that might have been Vespasiaus' bigger, nastier brother. The coils of its spiked tail seemed to go on forever, curling lazily behind the monster's bulk as it drew itself to his full height (Level 10: ATK 3500 » 3900/DEF 1200 » 1600).

Shouts and murmurs at the sight of this newest Duel Monster hissed behind her—Hotene's sputtering disbelief was loudest among them—but Masumi didn't pay them any mind. She was too fixated on the monster's face, and the eyes set therein. Small, beady, and glowing, they peered out over the world above a fanged maw that spoke a language she could not readily place—smiling wider and meaner all the while.

The Fusion Duelist felt a chill. Something about Domitianus didn't sit right with her, and it wasn't just because of its insurmountable point gauge. The cruelty and malice it exuded with every foul breath was almost palpable.

This monster was bad news.

Maiami City

The redhead wanted to howl. She didn't need any powers to know her cooler-haired sister wanted to do the same.

One of the students that had been chasing them must have had the bright idea of calling the police—because not five minutes after she'd felt smooth asphalt against her shoes, she'd heard the wail of sirens, and the screech of tires from three different directions. Six police cars—one pair to seal off the three streets ahead and either side of them.

Leaving just as many Duelists to block off the way they'd came.

"This is the MCPD!" someone called through a bullhorn. "Keep your hands in plain sight and stay where you are!"

She grit her teeth, feeling her sister crush her other hand anxiously in her grip. They'd come so close …

That was when she heard a birdcall in the sky—too long and loud to come from any bird known to nature.

What happened next was too much for her to take in at once—from what her sister told her later, a pair of girls had descended onto the intersection on Duel Monsters. One wasn't even in her teens, yet mounted a huge green eagle with the skill of a practiced rider, and carried a Duel Disk. Another, a blonde, was in her mid- to late teens, astride what she could only describe as a glorified surfboard—yet for some reason had no Duel Disk on her person.

The blonde moved strangely, and far too fluidly—within seconds of her landing, light had gathered at her fingertips. This she launched at the Duelists, who were promptly flung head over heels by the concussive blast that followed. The noise was deafening—she'd needed to use her free hand to click the fingers in her ears, to make sure she hadn't gone deaf. That would have been exceedingly unlucky for her—though perhaps not as much for her sister.

"Stand down!" yelled the older of the new girls. Whether it was quiet enough for her to be heard, or she was just that loud, neither twin could be sure. But heard she was, and for a moment nothing reached her ears save the faint groans of the students she'd flattened with whatever sorcery she'd used on them.

"This is LID business," she went on. "The headmistress has been advised of this development and authorized our intervention. Withdraw to two blocks' distance and warn any civilians in the vicinity to seek shelter at once."

The redhead bit her lip. Even the sound of the police cars retreating to carry out their orders a few seconds later wasn't reassuring. It sounded like this girl intended to challenge them both to a Duel—and wasn't too particular about how much property damage she might end up causing.

Suddenly, her twin sister clenched her hand so tightly that she almost gasped in pain. Within moments her attention was fixed on the girl's twitching fingers.

Seconds later, her mouth fell open. "What do you mean, you can't read the tall one?!" she hissed under her breath.

The bird-rider's voice drowned out any reply her sister might have given her. "We don't want to fight you!" she cried. "We just want to know why you're here! You've attacked innocent people and you haven't told us why!"

She felt her sister tug her arm. Fight now. "We don't have any choice!" she yelled back at the unknown pair. "We can't go back—we know what'll happen if they find us again! And we won't take it anymore! We're through being chased from one dimension to the next! We're not going anywhere—not with you, or anyone else!"

Her Duel Disk sizzled to life—and her sister's followed an instant after that. "If you've got a problem with that," she challenged them, "then you'll just have to go through us the hard way!"

They leveled the devices to their breasts as one. "DUEL!"

Streiter, meanwhile, had Set the last two cards in his hand to end his turn. He was smirking slightly—and that, more than anything else, scared Masumi out of her wits about what his Fusion Monster could pull off.

"You know, Masumi," he was saying as he drew himself to his full two-meter height, "when I met you … from the first moment I laid eyes on you … I felt a change in the winds. That spark you carry in that blood-red gaze told me all I needed to know—that sooner or later, you and I would be at each other's throats, battling to the bitter end."

"I … " Masumi needed a moment to form a retort; she had never been told that her eyes were the color of blood before, and the comparison left her quite unsettled. "I'm not a soldier, Markus. Don't talk to me like I am. That's not who we are—we're supposed to live in peace. You and your Ædonai don't have a reason to fight anymore!"

Streiter narrowed his eyes at her. "A human without any reason to fight is a human without any reason to live," he growled. "You have all tasted battle before; I have heard enough of your exploits to know this. Surely you do not mean to suggest that by embracing peace, you have given up on living life to the fullest?"

Masumi sputtered where she stood. "Of course not!"

"There's plenty of things that make life worth living," Yaiba added. Masumi would have been blind to notice the long stare he sent her way, and she blushed. "You'd be shocked how many of them don't involve any fighting."

"To the contrary," said the Kämpfer. "A wise man once said that the best things in life are worth fighting for. Or did you wonder why every man, woman, and child in the Ædonai was welcomed into its ranks at all?"

"Because they think Fusion Summoning is better than everything else," groused Hokuto.

"And that everyone who doesn't think that way has no business picking up a Duel Disk," Fuyu added bitingly.

"To be sure," Streiter replied. Shen's stony, silent glare spoke for the rest of the LID at the callous simplicity of his words. "But like so many human beings, their reasons for wanting to join us are, by and large, material to the point of tedium. He wants power; she wants fame—and to blazes with the lesser orders that stand in their way. Among us, however, are a special few—those of us whose desires are not so easily granted … or taken away."

"An' let me guess," sniffed Hotene, crossing her arms disdainfully. "That's where you come in, isn't it?"

The German nodded again. "I joined the Ædonai because I had a wish," he said. "And that wish is why I am so very grateful to have met you, Masumi—to have met you, and to fight you at last."

He cracked his neck, ignoring the Fusion Duelist's skeptical stare. "I have often thought of peace as a work of art—even when called such inferior names as calm and quiet. As with all forms of art, there is a process to it—a means of bringing it into the world. And in all the years I have lived, the one constant truth I have witnessed is that if peace is a work of art … then war is the crucible through which it is made. The longer, bloodier, and more memorable the war, the more fulfilling the peace—until someone, somewhere, decides they have reason and resources to forge, by more acts of war, a peace that pleases them. And so goes the cycle of conflict and creativity, of calm and reflection.

"But … I have lived too long." Something darkened in his eyes—there was far more gray than blue to them now. "For a man of my age, there is no peace left to live that the meager years left to me will truly appreciate. Perhaps I will spend my twilight in comfort as the younger generations pursue this peace in my stead—but for how long? If the death of one human becomes the reason one peace is ended, and another war begins—then what peace is that?"

He shook his head in sorrow. "When Academia was cast down along with Z-ARC, and the four Dimensions were allowed to remain separate from one another, as opposed to what they once were, Kagemaru and I both knew that the peace it created would never last. Sooner or later, the crucible that forged it would be used again … whether they wished to be or not."

Whether they wished—Masumi gasped. "Sakaki Yūya!" she realized out loud—and Hīragi Yuzu!

"Precisely." Streiter's face was as foreboding as the storm that ever lurked within his gaze. "Because of my efforts, the product of this fragile, failing peace between your Dimensions and mine will see use once again—but this time, Yūya and Yuzu shall not be its end, but rather its beginning. What they help the Ædonai in forging shall be much grander in scale and size, and much more enduring in the eyes and hearts and minds of mankind because of it."

Masumi gulped. The Kämpfer smiled. "There shall be peace," he admitted to them, even as Domitianus gave them a look that was anything but peaceful. "But first, there must be war—a war so beautiful, terrible, and awesome in its scope that none can resist its allure, and that no war that follows will dare to be its equal. No dimension will survive it without blemish, or without cost. Even you—children though you are—cannot avert your eyes from its reality for much longer; I have made sure of this. For as every fire starts with a spark, so too does every war start with a battle. And while you have fought your share of battles … you have yet to taste of all-out war."

He swept his arms wide, gesturing to the Duel around them, and the monsters each Duelist controlled. "But you will taste of it today, by the time we are finished here. History will look back on this Duel, and remember it forevermore as the flashpoint to the magnificent struggle that awaits us all. And though I doubt I will live long enough to see its final creation, I have served as a soldier for long enough to know that in the end, every battle I fought and every war I ever served in made a lasting difference in the world. Thus it is that I shall go to my grave content enough to know that I was the one who made this peace possible.

"Because that," finished Streiter, "was the wish I confided to Kagemaru, when I first pledged myself to the Ædonai … the one burning desire in my mind that, for all my talents and knowledge, convinced him once and finally that I was worthy of joining his cause."

He raised his Duel Disk—and motioned for them to make their move. "I wished for a war worth fighting," he said, as Domitianus growled viciously, "and a peace worth fighting for."

A/N: Markus has proved to be one of the more complex antagonists I've written—certainly as part of this series of mine. He has no special powers, like Dr. Grimm—nor does he have particularly über-fancy tech, like J.D. Crowley. He's older than them both combined—enough that he's tasted his fill of fame—and everything he's done as a soldier has sated his desire for personal power. What he does have—perhaps the only thing he has, I should say—is a vision, and the means to carry it out. And I think this normalcy, in comparison to his predecessors in villainy, makes his vision stand out from the more maudlin hopes and dreams of his minions.

We'll learn a little more about the girls he's been hunting in the next chapter, I think—but I won't be focusing exclusively on that. This Duel is too long and complex for me to just set aside for very long.

Drop a line with your thoughts if you like—I always love critique—and as always, thanks for reading! – K