XVI

Later

Exactly how Angel-IQ was able to sell half of Ryōzanpaku on the fact that 1) their sensei had been brutally injured during a Duel, 2) the LID had avenged Gōdagawa Ryōzan by defeating the person who'd done as much to him, and 3) had recruited the twin sisters that had roughed up the majority of their senior students while all this had transpired in order to make their victory possible—and still keep a full-fledged brawl from taking place—Masumi wasn't sure. The JSDF had secured the area by then, so perhaps that was why; even in this day and age, soldiers with guns could still look more intimidating than kids with Duel Disks. She had spotted one or two students casting a wary look in Shen's direction as well. Add that to the holo-girl literally floating before their eyes, and the psychic twins who still lingered at the gate, and she guessed the staff had simply resigned themselves to the mismatched odds and silently told the students it was pointless to fight.

She was too concerned with other things, at any rate—and one of them had just caught her eye. Kikyō was waving in her direction; seconds later, Emina Rika emerged with Hotene draped over one shoulder.

The Junior Fusion ace was bloodied and bruised, with twigs stuck in her messy blonde hair, a nasty-looking black eye, and what looked like two teeth missing. But she was standing up—and this on its own was a shock to Masumi after seeing her get body-slammed right off the field by a Duel Monster. The Fusion Duelist felt her knees sag in relief before crossing the distance between them.

But Rika held her back, shaking her head. "She's not feeling well," was all that she could say. "I found her in some bushes. It looks like she fell in those instead of on the stairs, but I'm not really sure. I think she needs a hospital."

"'M fine, Rika … tan." Hotene didn't sound it, though. Her speech was slurred, and her eyes were having trouble focusing on her friend. The word concussion immediately sprang to mind in Masumi's brain.

She nodded to Rika. "Get her down as safely as you can," she told her. "I bet there's still at least one ambulance at the foot of those stairs."

The Junior Synchro ace didn't need telling twice. Within seconds she'd conjured one of those Daigusta Synchro monsters of hers, and laid Hotene carefully over the green-feathered back of the giant bird. The two girls left them then, making for the gate and disappearing from view.

Only then did Masumi wipe her sweaty brow in fatigue and relief. On the whole, this Battle Royale had gone much better for their health than their last one. Hokuto and Yaiba were tough enough sorts that they'd waved off the JSDF soldiers who'd offered assistance. Shen, bruised and battered though he was, sprang to his feet so convincingly that the soldier examining him didn't bother after that. Fuyu would probably need a checkup after all the hits he'd taken, and there was a pronounced limp to his gait. But he was walking under his own power, and the Xyz Duelist flashed a quick thumbs-up in Masumi's direction when he saw her looking his way.

There was no reason to remain here any further, she judged, and so Masumi decided it was time for the next round of questions. "Where's Himika?" she asked, turning to Angel-IQ.

"She arrived at Maiami City General Hospital ten minutes ago," the supercomputer's hologram replied. "I have been told that Dennis McField and Sakaki Yūshō have regained consciousness."

"Brilliant. Then they'll get to hear the good news first," muttered the Fusion ace. "Contact Himika and let her know we're on our way. And tell her we're bringing a couple of plus-ones to our little social gathering."

She stole a look at the twins. Angel-IQ seemed to understand, and her hologram vanished into thin air without another word.

Masumi turned then to the rest of the LID. "Let's go home," she said wearily.

"Hear, hear." Yaiba raised a fist in halfhearted triumph. "I need a nap after all that."

"You'll have that and more, babe," Masumi smiled at him as they left the campus, Fuyu leaning on Hokuto for support. "The minute we're at the hospital, I'll call my father and tell him to set an extra chair for dinner."

Yaiba pulled a face. "I'm not looking like crap in front of your dad. Can't I at least clean up first?"

Masumi laughed. "After what we did today? I don't think he'll care."

"You make it sound like you and I did it on our own," Yaiba grumbled. "You and those twins did all the work."

"That's a good point," conceded Masumi. "And it's perfect timing that you'd say that now." They'd passed Kiku and Kikyō just then, and she now halted to turn their way.

"You two are coming with us," the Fusion user said. "No ifs, ands or buts about it."

She crossed her arms, and smiled as thinly as she could. "I think we're overdue for an explanation."

Five minutes later, after Kiku, Kikyō, Rika, and Masumi had squashed themselves into Hotene's ambulance, Masumi took out her Duel Disk, accessed its app list, and selected Record » Audio. She'd only gotten the idea on a whim—since the person who deserved to hear most about the answers to the questions she wanted to ask wasn't here to ask them herself, she'd searched for an alternative solution, and seized on the notion of recording them only seconds later.

Hokuto, Fuyu, Yaiba, and Shen had all decided that there was too little room in there for all of them, and so they'd instead elected to give the ambulance an honor guard of sorts astride Messiers 7 and Yazi, respectively. But Masumi had ensured their Duel Disks would be able to listen in on the conversation to come. Even now, she could just barely hear the blowback from their monsters' wings buffeting the vehicle on either side as they made their way downtown.

The Fusion Duelist soon judged all was well, then pushed a button and began to speak. "Okay—we're set up and good to go. This is Kōtsu Masumi of the Leo Duel School Section of Investigation and Defense—LID for short—recording for Headmistress Akaba Himika after taking out the Ædonai operative Markus Streiter. I'm here with the girls who made this possible—and can I just start this off by saying, I can't thank you enough for all your help."

She'd meant it to sound informal from the beginning, hoping it would help everyone involved relax and avoid any more tension than they'd already been through with Dueling the Kämpfer. But neither of the twins sitting across from her looked in any mood to soften up. If anything, they looked even more worried and apprehensive without Streiter around than they'd been staring him down. Kiku, who alone of the pair could speak, was as silent as her sister, who was staring around the ambulance and looking like she would rather be anyplace else on the planet.

Starting to get a little antsy herself, Masumi decided to opt for a gentler approach. "You know, there's no rush to talk, you two," she said hesitantly. "But I think you and my friends are going to be seeing more of each other. It would be nice if we knew a little more about you, if we're going to be friends ourselves."

"You should have done that before you put us in this deathtrap," muttered Kiku. "We don't like being cooped up."

Masumi bristled at the abrasive words, but still maintained a friendly tone. "Why not?"

Silence. Kikyō's free arm was slowly forming sign language. "We don't remember much else," said her twin. "When you've spent what feels like your whole life as a doctor's plaything, you start to get tired of it real quick."

This was already not how Masumi was expecting this to go. Starting to feel like she was losing control over the conversation, she held up her hands. "You know, when people make introductions," she said, a little bit testily, "they usually start at the beginning."

Kiku and Kikyō traded glances, even though only one of them could see. Seconds passed before Kiku spoke again.

"My name's Hamabe Kiku," she said, a little more warmly. "This is my twin sister Kikyō." Masumi nodded—she knew this already, but then, this conversation wasn't just for her benefit. "I can't see, and she can't talk. It's a price to pay for the powers they gave us."

"They?" Masumi seized on the word. Finally we're getting somewhere. "Do you mean the Ædonai? Did they give you your psychic powers?"

But even as she asked the question, she knew that couldn't be possible. The conversation she'd had with Leo had crept back into her brain: " … psychics are only born. Psychic Duelists are made. Trained. They have the sword, but until they learn how to use it, it weighs them down at best … "

"Never mind," she said hurriedly. "Dumb question." She flailed to find a better one for a long moment. "You said something about a price just now. Are you telling me you weren't always … " The Fusion Duelist motioned around her eyes and lips, unsure of how to broach the subject politely, before remembering belatedly that her Duel Disk was only recording what she spoke, and not what she did. " … Blind and mute?" she finished, somewhat lamely.

Kiku shook her head. "We don't know," she replied. "But we've been this way for as long as we can remember. And even that doesn't say much. We don't remember our mom and dad, or where we were born—or even when." Her sightless eyes looked glassier than ever. "I didn't even know what Kikyō looked like until the day we escaped. And I'm still not convinced that that's the face she was meant to have."

Masumi, without breaking eye contact, felt for Rika's hand and gripped it as best as she could.

"What do you mean by that?" she inquired. "'The face you were meant to have'? Are you saying you didn't always look like Hīragi Yuzu? Or any of her counterparts from the other dimensions?"

Kikyō shook her head. Her fingers began drawing all over her face.

"What we look like right now," Kiku said slowly, "wasn't our choice to make. We know who Hīragi Yuzu is—and Serena, and Rin, Ruri … all of them. They were the first names we were made to learn—the first faces they'd force us to see. Once they thought we'd memorized them enough, committed them to our memory, they gave us more names, and made us remember them, too. Sakaki Yūya and Yūri, Yūgo and Yūto."

She was silent for a long time. "One night, a bunch of doctors came with needles and knives," she said quietly. "They stuck the needles inside us before we could ask why they were here, and we both fell asleep. Kikyō still wakes up sweating about the knives before her eyes went black. Silver and shiny—small like claws, but sharper."

Scalpels, thought a horrified Masumi. She felt bile in her throat, and it was all she could do to force it down. These Ædonai hadn't just captured these twins. They'd mutilated them—deliberately carved up their faces with surgical precision, and stitched up the remnants until they looked and sounded just like Yuzu.

An even worse thought crept into her brain then—what if these surgeries had been botched in some way? Scalpels were small, precise instruments—an unsteady hand could have sliced an optic nerve or cut a vocal cord. Could this be the source of their disability? The thought of it enraged her beyond all reason.

"How did you escape?" Her voice was small, even inside the cramped ambulance, and utterly quiet despite her fury.

Kiku did not speak. Kikyō did not sign. But both sisters raised their free hands, leveling them right at Masumi. She was close enough to see the kanji that had been inked onto their palms: eye for Kiku's right, brain for Kikyō's left—

And then suddenly, without warning, her vision went black.

Masumi, however, had no time to cry out in shock, for even as she flailed blindly, her vision was slowly returning to her—but what she was seeing was not the sight she remembered from a mere instant earlier. Gone were Kiku and Kikyō; in their place were two girls who looked nothing like them: one younger, with green hair and an orange ponytail, and a familiar-looking teenager with black hair, dark skin—

It took a flabbergasted Masumi several long moments before she realized she was looking at Rika—and herself. It took several moments more before an even more incomprehensible thought occurred to her.

Before she could give voice to her thoughts, though, Kiku was speaking again—but her voice was so magnified as to be almost deafening. The mixture of strange sights and stranger voices made Masumi's insides swim with nausea.

"My sister and I," the blind Duelist explained, "can only use our powers to their fullest extent when we're touching someone. It's why we have to hold hands all the time. It's the only way we can function like normal people … like normal Duelists. In my case, I can see through other people's eyes, so that I can see what they can see. Kikyō can think with other people's brains—which lets her look at their memories and thoughts. Because we're so close, I'm often the first mind she wants to read—and she's almost always the first pair of eyes that I want to see through. We were … taught to put that to use in a Duel very quickly."

Masumi saw her own lips move as if looking in a mirror, forming the words she knew to be speaking. It made the experience feel doubly unreal. "She looks at the cards you draw and play," she said, thinking out loud, "and then you act as her voice for the cards she draws and plays." Her lips creased in a frown. "Then, when your opponent plays a card, she's the one who sees what it is, how strong it is—and by seeing through her eyes, so do you?"

"Right, wrong, right, and right," Kiku answered. "Kikyō doesn't need my voice. She lets her hands talk plenty."

"How are you doing this to me, then?" wondered Masumi. "I'm not even touching you!"

An afterimage of the kanji she'd spied on their palms flashed in her vision, instantly answering her question.

"I'm touching someone right now," Kiku told her. "It makes our powers more potent, lets us use them on other people if we have something to focus them through."

"They used those powers against me," said Rika from alongside Masumi—even though from her point of view, she was still directly across from her. The Junior Synchro ace sounded rather annoyed. "Kiku was able to see the cards in my hand for just a moment. Then Kikyō saw them too, because they were holding hands, and she played a card that almost shut my whole Deck down because of it." She huffed, pouting. "We call people like that 'cheaters'."

But Kiku didn't seem abashed by the insult. "Desperate times," her booming, disembodied voice replied. "We never want to use them, even if we have to. These powers come with a risk, if we use them like that for too long."

Before Masumi could ask what that risk might be, her vision had started to turn a thick, misty gray; within moments, Rika and her own body had disappeared from sight. At first she wondered if she might be going blind again, but a second later, it turned out the scene was merely shifting. It must be Kikyō—the mute girl must be feeding her some memory inside her head, she thought.

Now she saw a dimly lit cell; stark and empty, and not much bigger than the ambulance in which they were riding. It was cold steel in every direction—walls, ceiling, and even the floor. There were no windows, and the one door that allowed entry had only the smallest slit through which to see. Two figures, hidden in shadow, stood either side of the door. One was tall and thin, and carried a tablet and stylus—on which she was taking notes while fiddling with her long hair—the other, a syringe that still bore some drops of some unidentifiable fluid—

Masumi's heart skipped a beat. She was eyeing the first figure with rising, familiar dread. Gwendolyn Grimm …

"Kikyō says she doesn't know what drove her to do it," Kiku continued. "But she started to hate being jabbed with needles like I hate being tossed in closed-up spaces. Maybe seeing one too many finally made her snap."

And then, quite suddenly, Masumi's vision became a blur of movement. She was reminded of a time, very recently, where she'd had to flee two particularly dangerous men who'd aimed to not Duel them or seal them, but detain them and possibly kill them. She could imagine the panic Kikyō must have been feeling in that moment, as she lunged for the adult with the dripping needle—

Her hand closed upon the man's throat—for a man he was, smaller than she yet older by far—but did not choke the breath from it. Instead, the scene shifted once more—and immediately, torrents of images spilled into Masumi's brain—hallways, doorways, corners and intersections, cameras mounted on ceilings, air vents—and in between, for a fraction of a second at a time, she saw the man screaming and writhing on the floor … felt the murderous snarl that twisted Kikyō's lips, and bared her teeth as if they were Masumi's own …

"The more I see through other people's eyes, the less those eyes can see period," Kiku explained as Masumi took all this in. "Same thing with Kikyō. If she holds you for too long—if you resist for too long—you start giving up more than just memories. That much neural activity on the eyes and the brain puts a strain on them—burns them out. It's only because of our psychic link that I haven't made her go blind—or been made a vegetable for my trouble."

She was silent for a moment. "That man wouldn't have lasted five minutes in preschool by the time she let him go," she said quietly. "In that time, Kikyō memorized everything he knew about the place where they were holding us—every inch of it he'd walked himself. That was how she found my cell—that was how she was able to get me through the halls, up through some vents—and finally into a huge space with glass pads around the walls."

The flood of images subsided, and it was at that moment that the room in question now materialized in Masumi's mind. It was indeed huge—the size of a parking lot, almost as dimly lit as the cramped cell in which they'd been kept, and empty as could be but for those glass pads: dark and round, numbering maybe two dozen all told. With a shove, Kikyō sent her sister into one of them, before sprinting to a keypad and punching something into it so quickly that she couldn't make sense of it.

But whatever she'd typed caused the pad under Kiku to glow bright green—and the keypad to spark with electricity. Kikyō sprinted back to her, and grasped her hand tightly as the light beneath their feet flared white—

—and then, before she realized it, Masumi's eyes were her own once more, and she pitched forward with a gasp. The attending medic was too slow—the Fusion Duelist was sick on the floor before she'd even reached for a bucket.

"Eww, yuck!" She heard Rika scrabble as far away as she could, grossed out at the sight—but Masumi was shivering too violently to care much about it. She was too soaked in everything she'd seen—everything she'd been shown.

"When the light faded," Kiku said, her voice mercifully much quieter, no longer booming in her brain, "we were outside. I remember feeling the warmth of the sun on my face, and wishing I could see it with my own eyes. But what I saw through my sister was enough to make me happy. After all that time being caged like animals … it felt good to be free."

"Where did you go?" Masumi asked, still a little green in the face as she cleaned her lips. "What dimension did you end up in?" For as reason and logic had gradually reassumed their rightful place in her addled mind, she had come to suspect that the room Kikyō had taken them to had no other purpose to it than that.

Kiku looked to Kikyō for an answer. Immediately the girl began to weave her hands through the air, tracing crystal-like shapes with her fingers, then slicing them through the air in graceful curves.

"We were far away from the city when we arrived," elaborated Kiku. "We didn't want to spook anyone by popping up in some busy street. So that meant Kikyō was able to see the whole of downtown when we got there, and the whole inlet that it had been built in. I remember when she showed it to me for the first time … a city with a thousand canals, crystals in the sky … and the most perfect seaside countryside for miles and miles around … "

Masumi's mouth suddenly felt dry. "The Fusion Dimension?" In her mind's eye, she could still picture the pastoral scene she had been shown months ago—a prelude to one of the darkest, and yet most consequential nights of her life since she'd become a Duelist. Immediately her mind was working at top speed.

If Gwendolyn Grimm had indeed been one of the doctors who'd been experimenting on these twins, then they must have been in Fusion to begin with. Kikyō must have used her newfound knowledge to try and fool the Ædonai, she thought, by using multiple teleports. And if that was true …

"We couldn't take the risk that we'd been followed," said Kiku. She made no mention of whether Masumi had been right, or indeed any reaction whatsoever to the word dimension. No doubt they'd had the talk before, she guessed—and she had a pretty good idea who'd given it to them. "Kikyō did what she could to keep them from tracking us—she laid false trails she thought they might find more convincing—but there's only so much her body can do … "

"So you went to You Show Duel School." Masumi barely registered both the twins focusing their attention on her like a pair of lasers. "I think I can piece together what happened afterwards. But before I jump to any conclusions on that, there're a couple more questions I want answered. First off—these Ritual Decks you used against Markus. Did you get them before or after Sakaki Yūshō took you into his school?"

Kiku raised an eyebrow. "You really think they'd trust us with Decks of our own?" she said wryly. "Whatever the doctors with this Ædonai group of yours wanted to use us for, it wasn't to pick up a Duel Disk. And if that's your next question, we don't know the answer. To them, we were just weapons they wanted to point at two kids who probably didn't know any better than we did. But Sakaki Yūshō believed we deserved to defend ourselves—and that we would probably have to very soon. He and his school did what they could to teach us Duel Monsters—gave us cards to build our Decks, taught us how our unity could be an example of cooperation and friendship. And over time, as we learned more and more … about him, and them, and us … they came."

She bowed her head as if the memories to come had scarred even her sightless eyes.

"We had no idea of how big or organized these Ædonai were as a group until Kikyō saw them coming one day. They came out of nowhere—by the time we'd run off to warn everyone, they were already circling the school like gnats on the edge of a pond. Dragons made of metal, breathing light that burned like fire. Robots that towered over the school and crushed dorms and classrooms under their feet." She shivered. "Some of us attempted a fight. More of us wanted to join them. But even as his school blew up around him, Yūshō kept on saying that it was more important to make sure everyone escaped with their lives—and ours most of all."

More images flickered before Masumi's eyes. These were more erratic—here one instant, gone the next, then back again before her brain could register the difference; she wondered if perhaps Kiku and Kikyō's stress at reliving this ordeal had something to do with it. She saw Yūshō gesturing to their wrists—and the comma-shaped Duel Disks clasped to them that she had seen today—then saw the screen flare to life, with Dimensional Move » Pendulum splashed over the screen—lightning and blue-green fire had enveloped Yūshō, and then themselves soon after—

And then Masumi's sight was hers once again. Mercifully, she did not throw up this time.

"Yūshō must have known they'd follow you here," she said, after catching her breath and blinking the spots out of her eyes. "But I bet Markus did too. We were told the Ædonai hit every single dimension—not just us and You Show, but Synchro and Xyz as well. You just didn't figure on them having the numbers to send strike forces to every place she'd sent her decoy exits, just to be sure—did you, Kikyō?

Masumi had not meant to sound so accusing. She felt something swoop in her stomach with guilt when she saw the mute Duelist bow her head, just as her sister had done earlier. Her hands were utterly still.

"And so you teleported into Maiami City," the Fusion user said heavily, "and into the middle of a terrorist attack." Meant for you, she refrained from adding, and you alone.

No one spoke for a long while after that. Masumi was too busy digesting the story she'd been told—and especially shown. Rika chewed her tongue, looking like she wanted to break the uncomfortable silence.

Finally, she shrugged, and decided to bite the proverbial bullet. "You said," she said hesitantly, "that they had been chasing you 'from one Dimension to the next'. Those were your words. But it sounds like you never left the Fusion Dimension at all. How much of that was true? Were you lying to us?"

"No more than Markus lied when he said we were pariahs," answered Kiku. "As far as they were concerned, we'd visited every dimension. Maybe we even did. Maybe we'd even escaped before. They said we'd tried, and that they'd wiped our memories when they captured us, so we wouldn't know how we escaped in the first place. They didn't even leave enough intact for us to figure out which dimension we were even born in. It was something we were always told when they experimented on us—that we'd been given up as lost causes, or left to survive by ourselves in some dark alley. That no matter how hard we tried, we'd never find anyone who could shelter us."

She gripped Kikyō's hand tighter than ever. "But everyone has to have someone, right? Someone they can turn to when there's no light to their day, or voice to their words?"

Masumi thought of Yaiba, and nodded before she was even aware of it. "Sakaki Yūshō took us in and trained us to fight because he thought we deserved to have that right—to have that someone!" Kiku went on. "Someone loved us enough that they gave birth to us—brought us into a world that they thought deserved us, too! We may not know who—but until we find out, my sister Kikyō will be that someone for me, and I for her. When we find them—and we will," she added, her eyes glinting with such steel that Masumi almost believed Kiku had gained her sight back for just that one split second, "she and I will be there. Together."

"And we'll be right behind you."

Masumi had completely forgotten the rest of the LID were still listening to this live recording. So engrossing had the twins' tale been that even the familiar tones of Tōdō Yaiba had made her jump out of her seat.

Hokuto chimed in moments later. "Angel-IQ filled us in on the last bits of your Duel with Markus. You girls did great. I think Yūshō would be proud of how far his training got the both of you."

"They'll have the chance to tell him all about it when they get here."

If the Fusion Duelist was honest, she had been expecting to hear from Himika sooner or later. Previous experience had made her suspect that her Q&A session with the twins had been broadcasting directly to the LDS Headmistress from the moment she'd started recording. And even though she'd heard her direct superior sound much colder and more hostile in the past, Masumi still felt a frisson shiver over her spine at the coolness in her voice.

Kiku and Kikyō, meanwhile, were seen to bristle at the words of a woman they had yet to meet personally. "Are … are you saying Yūshō's alive?" Kiku asked uncertainly.

"Alive, and recovering," replied Himika. "He's already been told of your victory against Markus, and he wants to congratulate the both of you. But I'm afraid that's all he'll be doing for some time. Getting body-slammed against a building tends to do that to the human body," she added dryly.

"What about Dennis and Gōdagawa?" Masumi cut in.

"Dennis is slated for discharge this evening. I believe he and Hotene will have a few bumps and bruises to compare for the brief time they see each other here. But … " The Fusion Duelist heard the slow intake of air hissed through teeth. "That is rather more than I can say for Gōdagawa."

"What happened?" Masumi suppressed a gulp. "Did he—"

"He's alive," her headmistress quickly cut in. "But I would suggest meeting me at private ward twenty-three when you arrive at Maiami General. Let these plus-ones of yours see that every action must come with a consequence."

And on that ominous note, Himika left the call, leaving Masumi, Rika, and the twins to trade uneasy glances.

Twilight was seeping into the sky by the time the LID reached Maiami City General Hospital. Hotene's gurney was rushed inside from the very millisecond she was safe to move. Masumi and Rika led the charge in after her, trotting at a light jog so as not to disturb anyone else they came across. Bringing up the rear were Hokuto, Fuyu, Yaiba, and Shen, boxing themselves tightly around Kiku and Kikyō and somehow looking like more of an honor guard without their monsters than Masumi imagined they had with them. Not that she would have been able to see for herself.

Ward twenty-three was among the more secure rooms in the hospital. Masumi and the LID had availed themselves of these more secluded wards this past year, and so she found much in common between them and the space into which Hotene was presently herded. But in a first, they did not have this room all to themselves. The curtains of the beds were drawn, so Masumi could not tell who lay where, but she had a good idea of who was in here at all.

At length, Hotene was moved to en empty bed, and she was immediately swarmed by a number of nurses. At least one of them bore a plush pig that Masumi was pretty sure Hotene had cuddled extensively her first stay here—and sure enough, Hotene squeezed it in a tight hug as if the stuffed animal was an old friend.

"I think that's a good sign," remarked another nurse next to her. Masumi, knowing very little of concussions, could not tell if they were joking—but the gesture of affection made her smile all the same.

That smile promptly slid off her face when Akaba Himika swept into the ward with all the silence of the first zephyr that preceded a far-off typhoon. Her omnipresent aide, Nakajima, was right behind her. Blue eyes flashed with lightning, and each step Nakajima's shoes made against the floor crack and rolled like the thunder in its wake.

Her gaze turned upon the twins. Kikyō wasn't even daring to move a finger, let alone a whole hand. Kiku, if it was possible, looked even more dumbstruck. Masumi could only guess what was brewing in their psychically entwined brains. Perhaps an apology for drawing the Ædonai to her doorstep—or a silent I-told-you-so that strangers didn't always have to be enemies? Or perhaps there was a challenge in the gaze they were leveling at each other—that one desired to keep the other under her thumb, but the other was refusing?

Whatever it was passed almost before she knew it. Himika broke eye contact with them at length, and moved to one of the beds. She pushed aside the curtains, and Masumi's heart gave a start when she saw Sakaki Yūshō at last.

His garish, vivid clothes and top hat had been folded, and placed to one side on a swinging table attached to his bed. Masumi thought she could see at least one stitch in the fabric from where his Duel with Streiter had likely ripped them. His body still looked a mess; she saw whole swaths of bandage under the hospital gown he was wearing. But Yūshō was breathing—the mask over his mouth that pumped oxygen into his body still fogged with his own breath, and when he saw everyone assembled before him, his golden eyes sparkled with a smile no mouth could wear.

Kikyō's free hand moved. "I missed you too," said Yūshō, mimicking her movements as best he could. Then his arms reached out, and Kiku and Kikyō raced for each one. Masumi felt her eyes swim with emotion, and she stifled a sob as she watched the headmaster of the You Show Duel School embrace the students he'd known so briefly.

Fortunately, Yaiba was right next to her, and the Synchro ace let fly with a pained gasp as his girlfriend seized him in a tight hug and buried her head in his shoulder.

"You'll have the whole night to catch up, if you wish it," Himika was telling the twins. "I've asked that the two of you be kept here for observation overnight. No needles, no tests—nothing that you don't wish for," she added.

She turned to Masumi as she surfaced from Yaiba's embrace. "I know when to eat my own words," she muttered.

Then she and Nakajima moved to a bed on the far corner. Her face looked much more tense now. Exactly why this was became apparent immediately as she slid the privacy curtains aside.

Before today, Masumi had only seen Gōdagawa Ryōzan from a distance, in the stands of the Maiami City Stadium. Her opinion back then was that he and anyone who went to his school was best viewed that way. In light of the fight he'd put up against Markus Streiter, that opinion had since been softened. He'd looked more … human to her then.

But that didn't make him any less easy to approach today.

The muted gasp from the rest of the LID, and everyone else in the room, barely registered in her ears as she stared at the broken, unconscious headmaster of the roughest, toughest Duel School in mainland Japan. Though his body was mercifully covered with a white sheet, his bloodied face and bare feet were not. Nor did the sheet leave everything to the imagination; Masumi thought Gōdagawa looked much more imposing when he stood up.

Here, in this sterilized environment, far from the sanctum of his Duel School, he looked like he was wasting away.

"We knew his injuries would be extensive from the start." Masumi had never heard Himika's voice sound so quiet. "He and Markus were both old men, and both strong men—but Markus was ex-military. Gōdagawa was not. They can reset the fractures in his arms and legs, and they've already stopped the worst of the internal bleeding, but … "

She swallowed. "MRI says T6 to L3 were completely shattered."

Shattered! Masumi felt her hands clap to her mouth. Images flashed in her brain, of her arriving barely too late as Streiter's Gladial Beast Gyzarus pile-drove Gōdagawa into the earth. Had that—?

Himika seemed to read her mind, and nodded solemnly. "Most of the bone fragments got lodged in his spinal cord," she said heavily. "That's already an ASIA B. We have the technology and the rehabilitation. But the human being hasn't been born that can turn back time. His age weighs too much against the rest of him."

She turned away, and closed the curtains. "Gōdagawa will never walk again. Nor will he ever Duel again."

Each word felt as though a wrecking ball had been taken to Masumi's insides. Never … again? Nor was she alone. Yūshō and the twins had forgotten their reunion completely, and now stared at the paralyzed sensei in shock.

"And even if his body," Himika plowed on, "should defy the odds and prove me wrong out of spite for the man who beat him, I do not think his trials will end there."

"What do you mean?" Yaiba looked utterly lost. He was stealing glances at Gōdagawa's bed, still unable to believe someone that tough could be injured so thoroughly—so permanently—in a Duel.

Himika exhaled through her teeth. "Did Yūya go into detail about his encounter with Kachidoki Isao in the Fusion Dimension?" A pause. "Exhaustive detail?"

Masumi, still horrorstruck at the news, slowly shook her head. "From what I remember him saying, Isao fell out of favor at Ryōzanpaku after losing in the Maiami Championship. Then Dennis offered a chance to even the score."

"That much we know," said Himika. "The police corroborated Dennis' story when they came to question him. He's since been cleared of any wrongdoing with regards to the Ædonai incursion."

"But?"

Another hissing exhale. "We already know that Dennis was brainwashed by Markus Streiter into believing that he was an old teacher from his days at Broadway. What we don't know is whether this was the first time they'd ever met. I think Gōdagawa might help fill in the blanks to that particular story."

She pulled out her mobile. "Before he underwent his MRI, Gōdagawa made a request to the hospital staff. He asked that he be able to make a public statement, with representatives of the MCPD and the NTA as his witnesses."

"NTA?"

"National Tax Agency." Himika did not exhale, but merely bared her teeth. "I think Gōdagawa knew about Dennis sending his own student to the Fusion Dimension. If that's true—and if he wants the NTA to hear whatever he's to say now, instead of back then—then I also think Markus Streiter, or someone else in Academia, was bribing him."

The Fusion ace felt Yaiba put an arm across her shoulders, and it was only then that she felt herself swaying where she stood. Bribery! In a Duel School—and its own headmaster, no less?! Her entire world swayed before her eyes; it felt as though she'd taken a knee right into her face.

"I don't understand." She could scarcely whisper out the words. "Why would Gōdagawa do something like that?"

The LDS headmistress pocketed her phone at last. "I hope to find out soon enough," Himika replied. "He will be giving his statement in less than an hour. But I have no plans to hear the gory details personally. Bribery and failure to register as a foreign agent are the least of my worries right now."

"Why?"

Himika raised an eyebrow as though the answer to Hokuto's query was blindingly obvious. "I have a train to Chuo City to catch. The Headmistress of the Endymion Duel School believes that the Lancers as they exist now are too ill equipped to deal with a threat as organized as the Ædonai. We'll be discussing the thought of expanding their ranks over dinner while I'm there. And I aim to take Reira as well—she does love children."

Ever the businesswoman, Masumi couldn't help thinking.

"And what of Reiji?" Shen wanted to know. He was still looking at Gōdagawa's bed. "Will he be attending this statement in your place?"

"No." It was Nakajima who spoke up this time. "The International Court of Justice has ruled that due to the current instability within and beyond the Interdimensional Corridors, Akaba Leo is to stand trial for war crimes committed under his leadership of Academia within the Pendulum Dimension. Subsequently, the Minister of Justice personally ordered he be extradited to The Hague within forty-eight hours. Reiji and I will be departing the city soon, to make sure that this extradition goes as smoothly as possible—and with the utmost secrecy."

"The rest of you are free to go for the night," said Himika. "Come by LDS in the morning, and we'll discuss my meeting with the EDS headmistress then. Hotene—I'll talk to the nurses before I leave and make sure you're discharged as soon as possible. From all that I've heard from Masumi, that should be soon," she added, smiling at the little girl. "You're very resilient, even for someone your age. Always the type to bounce back."

Hotene gave a tiny thumbs-up from where she lay in bed. But Masumi saw that her messy hair still looked as drab and lifeless as it had when they'd arrived, and she suspected it would take more than witty words to help her heal.

The door burst open just then. A startled Masumi jumped so high it felt like her first time in Gravity Sixteen all over again. She put a hand over her chest to calm her thundering heart.

By then, Dennis McField—his frizzy red hair no longer swathed in bandages, but looking so sticky with sweat that he must have been sprinting through half the hospital to get here—was already halfway between her and the door. "I heard the news!" he panted. "Is he—is Markus—"

Masumi patted the holster that stored her Duel Disk—and the card of the man himself. "Yeah," she said quietly.

Dennis let fly with a great whoosh of a sigh. "Oh, thank something." He had to feel for a place to sit down; finding none, he perched himself on the corner of Yūshō's bed—ignoring the stares of the twins behind him. "You guys have no idea how much I was kicking myself for the past few hours. When they told me what had happened, I—"

"Just one sec." Yaiba stepped forward accusingly. "How do we know you're still not acting all brainwashed?"

"I've got one more magic in me yet," Dennis said, managing a smile. "And the offer's still on the table to be my lovely assistant for it, Masumi." He winked.

Yaiba narrowed his eyes. "Lovely assistant?"

"That's good enough for me." Masumi felt a vein on her forehead pulse. "He's not brainwashed."

"I was told Markus gave me a big knock on the head before he left," Dennis said, laughing awkwardly. "Maybe he didn't do much to me. Or maybe he did and he just hit me that hard. But I feel like I'm myself again now. The city is saved, I feel like celebrating—"

"Yeah—no." Masumi crossed her arms. "We're one Duelist down, with a whole army to go. Or did you not notice all the Chaos Giants stomping half the city today?!" Then, as an afterthought, "And the offer's off the table, thank you." She felt for her boyfriend's hand, and made sure to grasp it as tightly as she could, where Dennis could see.

And see he did. The single "Ah" that croaked from his lips made him sound as if he'd swallowed his own tongue for an appetizer—and decided to follow through with his foot for the main course.

"Well." He looked around the ward, tugging at the collar of his shirt. He seemed to have just now noticed how many eyes were on him. "This is all … suddenly very awkward."

"Awkward?" Just saying the word made Masumi's insides feel like she'd downed a bottle of vinegar. "Are you even aware of just how much happened because of you?!"

And then suddenly she was yelling. "Markus used you to get to Yūya and Yuzu! He unleashed a whole army on our city just to cover his tracks! Two of the best headmasters in Maiami City are in this room, right now, because Markus thought they were in his way—and one of them will never touch a card again after what he did to him!" She pointed to Gōdagawa. "How does none of this make you even the slightest bit furious?! How can you just sit there and make jokes when our friends are still in the hands of the enemy?!"

Her hands balled into fists. "How can you even call yourself a Lancer after all that's happened because of YOU?!"

Masumi did not register how close she'd drawn to Dennis until the last word burst from her lips. Nor was she aware of the dead silence in the hospital ward—or of all the faces trained on her. Her eyes were hot with her own tears.

When she next spoke, it was with the barest of halting whispers. "This stopped being awkward a long time ago," she choked out with a sniff. "We're angry right now. We all are. Just … learn to read the room."

Dennis said nothing. He looked round at everyone else that wasn't Masumi—but even here, it seemed he could not bring himself to meet anyone's gaze for more than a split second.

"I don't," he mumbled under his breath, low enough that she could barely hear him, "know how to be angry anymore."

And before anyone could say anything, he'd turned round and made for the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Nobody spoke for nearly a minute after that. "That was a low blow, and you know it," Yūshō finally said. "Not all of us cope with grief the same way you do, Masumi. Sometimes it just takes a while to sink in. And just because someone smiles at times like that doesn't mean they don't hurt, too. We all need a reason to smile. Maybe it's so everyone else can, too—that our lives don't get consumed by anger and hopes for revenge."

We all need a reason to smile. The Fusion ace remembered with a pang that Hotene herself had once told her that, during the Duel they'd fought at Trampo-Land on the day they'd first met. That day seemed so long ago now.

The feeling of vinegar within her bowels seemed to have multiplied, threatening to spill out from her mouth. All of a sudden, she was regretting her outburst at Dennis—but the anger that still surged within her had yet to be put out.

"I wish Markus hadn't sealed himself," she said through bared teeth, pulling out his card and staring at it as though she wanted it to burst into flame. Her eyes were hot with furious tears as she looked upon his image. No matter how she sliced it, it all led back to him—he was the cause of all this, the source of every miserable thing that had happened today. "I should've put him in the hospital—just like he did with Gōdagawa. I should've made sure he wasn't in any shape to—"

"The fact is, you didn't," Himika cut in. "And I think, in the end, that will make all the difference in the universe." She gestured to Masumi, indicating that she wanted to see Streiter's card. She handed it over.

Himika turned it over in her fingers, musing out loud as she did so. "What makes a game is not the game itself," she said, "but rather the people who play it. And every person Duels for the same reason—no matter which Dimension they live in. Do you know what that reason might be?"

Masumi shook her head. She found it impossible to believe she Dueled for the same reason Gwendolyn Grimm did.

"Let me give you a hint." Himika tapped her hand to her breast—tap-tap, tap-tap. The rhythm was regular enough that the Fusion user thought it might be—

"Heartbeat." Hokuto had beaten her to it. Then his eyes widened. "You're saying they have heart? That's it?"

Himika nodded. "That's it. Our entire purpose for picking up our Deck and playing every single card inside it lies in here." With her free hand, she traced a heart just above the neck of her dress. "Not every purpose is so noble, to be sure; Markus made that quite clear. But purpose will always win over power in my book." She glanced at Kiku and Kikyō, still engaged in their reunion with Yūshō. "That purpose is why you defeated him, and not vice versa."

She leveled her eyes at Masumi. "And it's also why you didn't do the same thing to him that he did to Gōdagawa."

Masumi frowned. "You once told me I wasn't ready to hold the lives of civilians in my hands," she said.

"That I did," conceded the headmistress. That had been a tense conversation they would not forget any time soon. "But there's a difference between holding those lives and defending them. And in that, Masumi, you and the LID have been exemplary. I should hope that you'd be ready to do that again—and quite possibly sooner than we think."

The Fusion ace let the compliment slide off her. Now wasn't the time for that. "Yūya and Yuzu are still out there," she knew, voicing her thoughts out loud. "But so is Grimm, and Kagemaru as well—and we still don't know a thing about him, or why he wanted them kidnapped—or even why he wanted the twins."

"The man in between them has been dealt with, however. For one day, that is enough." Himika gave Streiter's card one last glimpse, then made as if to pocket it—before freezing as though she'd been struck by a thought.

Then, before Masumi could stop her, she'd clasped the card with both hands—and torn it in half at the middle.

The ripping noise, tiny as it was, sent the room into instant uproar. Rika had screamed. Fuyu was swaying so badly that he looked ready to faint. Yaiba, Hokuto and Shen were frozen in mid-step, as if they'd been trying to seize the card from their headmistress' hands before she'd done the deed. Yūshō's reunion with Kiku and Kikyō had been forgotten completely. Their eyes followed the torn halves of Streiter's prison as they fluttered silently to the floor.

For three full seconds, Masumi did not breathe. She could not—her insides felt like cardboard. "What did you do?" she whimpered. Her cheeks felt green. "Markus was sealed inside that card! Did … did you just kill him?!"

"You really think a piece of cheap cardstock could hold a human being?" Himika scoffed. "Because that's all this is." She cast a withering look at the nearest half of the card she'd destroyed.

"A Duel Monsters card is more than just a card," she told them, baring her teeth. "It's circuits, programs, and codes, all contained in a piezoelectric wafer that activates them all the moment it's read by the sensors inside the Duel Disk that produces their holographic image in battle. That's what Academia sealed people into back then—just like what the Ædonai are doing today."

"What are you saying?" Masumi edged closer to Yaiba, feeling ready to collapse again.

"I'm saying this card is fake." Himika eyed the ruined card like it was a dead roach. "Markus Streiter is still alive."

"Hello? … Who is this?"

"Legion. Consume. Twelve. Adapt. Violet. Twenty. Evolve. Biding. Six. Crucible. Survive. One."

" … Good afternoon, sir. It's good to hear your voice again after so long. Agent 552, reporting for duty."

"Very good. You must listen carefully, as these instructions will not be repeated. The reacquisition of Assets 1 and 2 has failed. For the time being, the Lancers are licking their wounds, but the time to strike back is short. You will take orders from Agent 139 henceforth, per the Direktor. This drop phone is to be kept on your person at all times until you have been briefed on your impending assignment, and disposed of in secret thereafter."

"Yes, sir. I'll organize my team at once."

"That has been seen to. Prep for level-five shadow op and await orders. Unum in multis."

"Multi in unum."

The sigh that Markus Streiter heaved from his body was louder and longer than any he'd ever made in his life.

He had been less than pleased, when the light had faded from his vision, to find out that it had not, in fact, been the self-sealing technology that was implanted into the Duel Disk of every Ædonai soldier in the event of capture by the enemy—but rather the dimensional travel technology of someone else's Duel Disk. The Kämpfer, like so many soldiers under his command, was prepared to give all of himself for the cause he had championed. Anything less, as had happened here, made him feel like little more than a coward at best … and a traitor at worst.

But happened it had—and as the truth had rushed into Streiter's brain at the same time as the blessed air that inflated his lungs once more, he had used his first breath to curse the dolt who'd pulled him out at the last possible moment. His second breath had been given to complimenting this same dolt for the admittedly clever switch they'd pulled—teleport a specially made card into the same place that a Duelist had once been, at the exact same time, and the ruse would last just quick enough for them to believe he actually had been sealed.

The third breath had promptly died in his lungs when he turned around, and saw not the one dolt responsible, but two.

Where he had been teleported to, Streiter could not say. He wasn't even certain if he'd been pulled into a different dimension. All he saw was a decrepit alley, its pavement cracked, its walls seared with graffiti, and its very air rank with the stink of trash from some overflowing bin. The shadows of the late hour consumed it all, but there was light enough in the sky that he guessed it might be sunset. But he was far enough inside it that he'd doubted anyone who lived in this city knew he was here—to say nothing of the two people on earth who could possibly boss him around.

"That's my part finished in this," he said wearily, relinquishing the phone he'd used to make his call just now.

Dr. Gwendolyn Grimm took it delicately from his hand, pocketing it within the frayed overcoat that hardly ever left her person. The Psychic Duelist, already tall and thin, felt more so today—or perhaps Streiter himself was feeling more diminished in comparison thanks to his defeat at the LID's hands. Her remaining green eye scrutinized him with a look he had never seen to it before, and it took him some time to realize that she wasn't really looking at him. The emerald glint to it was dull; her mind was already miles away with what he'd just set in motion.

Streiter, irked by this silence, ventured to add, "Although … I still wish it didn't have to end at all. I'd have lo—ah, preferred"—he'd almost said loved, but bit his tongue at the last possible moment—"to see this war of ours through till its end. It doesn't seem right for me to just … sit on the sidelines."

"Ah, but that is the price of failure, Kämpfer."

The second voice wheezed forth from a man far older than he, and with even less constitution. But there was still authority within the aged, half-clouded eyes that peered up at Streiter from the motorized wheelchair that served as his throne—an authority that had not diminished one iota since his own undignified exit from Academia.

Even in those days, the youth that had made Director Kagemaru the Duelist of renown—the energy and vigor that, combined with his Dueling abilities, had secured him his lofty position within that institution—had forsaken him. Muscles and sinews once the source of envy in many a boy, and admiration from many a girl, had atrophied. The hair that once fell to the small of his back like an obsidian waterfall was now a wispy plume of sputtering white. Only his skin seemed as though it retained any semblance of days gone by—and even here, the weathered flesh was spotty and pockmarked, like bad clay. But Streiter could have sworn that it looked smoother than it had the last time they'd met—more youthful, even. There had been more liver spots on his arms back then, too.

But he was in no mood to contemplate why this might be. "With all respect, Direktor," he said, clearing his throat, "I fail to see how our actions in the Pendulum Dimension are a failure. Losing the Assets is regrettable, to be sure. Nevertheless, I stand by what I said before: the Lancers and the LID will still be licking their wounds by the time we strike again. Taken together, they are in no shape to stop us now."

"But it's more than the twins we have lost," said Dr. Grimm, speaking up then. "Your altercation with Gōdagawa did not silence him as thoroughly as we wished. My sources say he intends to confess to the authorities regarding his dealings with you. And now, on top of it all, you have been foiled by the same LID that once foiled me … "

"We had hoped to gain a foothold in the Pendulum Dimension through Ryōzanpaku and its sister school at Kōrōmu Academy," said Kagemaru stiffly. "If Gōdagawa confesses all, that foothold will be at risk. And even the Golem can no longer ensure his silence in time."

He sighed. "But you are correct in one assumption. Your actions today were not a complete failure."

The aged Direktor tapped a keypad on one armrest with his finger, and his wheelchair drifted towards Streiter a few feet. "This is the last they will see of you, Markus Streiter. That much must be made plain. But it will be merely the first deed they ascribe to you—the first that ensures your chapter in history. You are the stone I have cast into the silent lake; all the deeds you have made possible, and all that will pass because of them, are the ripples I have sent along its surface." He smiled. "Your war is now all but inevitable. You have started it … and I shall finish it."

His eyes, rheumy as they were, narrowed with a dangerous glint. "Most decisively."

With a gesture, his throne revolved to face the Psychic Duelist behind him. "Agent 139—your final report."

Dr. Grimm stiffened, her fingers forgotten. "Markus' former connections in Misgarth intelligence have proved most fruitful," she said smartly, not one syllable out of place in her speech. "The Duel Hunters have been reactivated, and reorganized for field duty. I have procured agents from the Weitsicht and Wechselbalg divisions. They await orders even now. Divisions Vergiften and Moloch are on standby pending … indoctrination of new agents."

"What we have will do for now," Kagemaru said shortly. "Mobilize your team. Advise Agent 552 that she is clear to proceed with Operation Solitaire. Make certain they know their window is closing fast."

The Psychic Duelist silently saluted. With a whine of motors, Kagemaru turned his attention back to Streiter. "Our reserve forces are prepared?"

He nodded, and did not bother to suppress a smile. "The Bestatter reports all battalions ready. Her followers have already sworn to personally provide the last line of defense. I give it twelve hours before the Lancers take the bait." It was a pity he would not be around to see how this particular trap turned out.

"Good. The LID has custody of the Assets now. It makes them more formidable—but they know that makes them a target as well. They just don't yet know what kind of arrow's been shot their way." Kagemaru stole a knowing look at Dr. Grimm. "Leaving them undefended will be to the better."

"As neat as neat can be," Dr. Grimm agreed. "Leave them to me."

"Quite. And talking of 'neat'." Now Kagemaru was fully focused on Streiter. " … I can still see one loose end in all this, that must be dealt with if our success is to be sure and swift."

The Kämpfer forced a grim smile. "I'd hoped to have this talk later rather than sooner. Unum in multis, correct?"

His Direktor nodded. "Multi in unum. We are all in this together." He sat up straight in his wheelchair. "Thank you for your services, Herr Colonel. But the Ædonai will not need them any further."

Streiter's memory was still sharp enough that he sensed the parallels to the send-off he himself had given to Dennis. Seeing no briefcase nearby, however—or indeed, any other heavy implement with which to assail him—he relaxed.

"If it's all the same to you," he said, "would you permit an old soldier one final request?"

Kagemaru said nothing. "Let me leave with a Duel Disk on my wrist, cards in my hand … and a smile on my lips," said Streiter. "I can think of no better end for a veteran soldier like myself."

The old man tapped at his chin with a finger. "I wish," he wheezed, "that I could agree with you."

Streiter saw Dr. Grimm whirl on Kagemaru in surprise—but the instant of distraction had already cost him. One of the Direktor's gnarled fingers pressed a button, and a familiar arrowhead shape now slid out from a recess in the back of his wheelchair to point straight at him. Another button, and violet fires streamed along the edges.

The last cogent thought Markus Streiter's brain was able to conjure was to stress that the color was Fusion violet.

Then the beam of sealing energy enveloped his body; a curious, weightless sensation came over him, then a feeling of enormous compression … and finally, a feeling of falling forever …

Trembling fingers picked up the card that had not been lying on the cracked pavement a second ago. Violet flames sputtered and died as the dark slime around them continued to drip endlessly from its source.

"Lieutenant Colonel." Only the edge in Kagemaru's voice kept Dr. Grimm from jumping in shock. Hastily, she slipped the card of her erstwhile teacher inside one of her overcoat's many pockets, and stood to attention.

"I sense from your silence that you did not approve of what I have done," said the Direktor. "Your thoughts?"

The Psychic Duelist recovered—but only after taking a deep breath, and wiping a bit of caustic sludge off her cheek. "He wanted to go down fighting his war. To give his all for the good of the Ædonai, and the goals we pursue."

She bowed her head. "What more could a soldier of his like ask for … than to die for what he believed in?"

Kagemaru sniffed—the closest a man his age could come to a dignified laugh. "Don't overdramatize, Lieutenant Colonel. The Kämpfer is far from dead. He has merely ended his usefulness as a soldier. But now, as a symbol … "

He stared into the distance wistfully, and did not speak for a long minute. "Deliver his card to LDS. Our forces will remember Markus Streiter as a martyr for the cause. His name will become a battle cry from this point forward."

«But did it have to be now?»

Dr. Grimm went pale. Her eye patch pulsed with more infernal pus, but stayed itself just barely from leaking. She had not meant to think such blunt thoughts out loud—she was usually more careful than that in the presence of her superiors. There were times, however, when a Psychic Duelist's greatest strength could be her own worst enemy.

"He had a request to make, Director," she supplemented, showing Kagemaru her own arrowhead-shaped Duel Disk—the same navy-blue paint and violet trim as the one she had borne at Academia. "I was ready to fulfill it."

Kagemaru eyed the device, and sniffed again. "We have overstayed our welcome here as it is," he said shortly, "and I do not intend to fight a war of attrition. In case you haven't noticed, I am not a man with all the time in the world." He settled back in his wheelchair. "The sooner we win this war—and the more convincingly we win it—the happier the Wise Man will be." Clouded eyes flicked towards the Psychic Duelist. "Proceed with Operation Solitaire."

But Dr. Grimm was still staring at the spot where Streiter had been sealed. " … I was his student," she murmured.

The Direktor pursed his lips impatiently. "As I recall, you had more than one teacher. Whom do you mean?"

Dr. Grimm did not answer. She knew that every student held hopes of surpassing their master in time, when they were ready. She had been no different—but over the course of her career, she had been fortunate enough to have three: one for every aspect of the life she led as a Duelist of the Fusion Dimension. Now one of those teachers was gone. Another was indisposed. Which only left—

" … It doesn't matter," she muttered to herself, shaking her head to clear the stray thoughts from the confines of her brain. "I'll be inbound with dispatch, Director."

"Very good." But Kagemaru did not turn away from her. "You know the part you must play in this, Lieutenant Colonel. You know what you must do."

His eyes narrowed. "Even if you should fail."

Dr. Grimm could not stifle the glob of black goo that spattered onto the ground and burst into flame. But for once, she could temper her uneasiness at the mission to come with a modicum of humor.

"I would remind you, Director," she said with a smirk, "that Markus thought up this entire operation himself—just like the last one, and the one to follow this."

She shook her head. "There's no conceivable way for me to fail."

Kagemaru returned the smile—but not the humor it carried. "I am quite tempted," he replied, "to hold you to that."

Then the smirk was gone, and instinctively the Psychic Duelist knew the discussion was over. "Unum in multis."

She brought her left arm, Duel Disk and all, to her breast in a salute. "Multi in unum."

Kagemaru punched a code into the keypad of his wheelchair—and instantly the blue light of a dimensional warp encircled him. It flared blinding white for an instant before fading from view, leaving only a few stray particles in its wake to settle and die upon the decaying alleyway.

Dr. Grimm spared them one last passing moment before inputting another code into her own Duel Disk. A portal shimmered around her, and consumed her exactly one second later—but within that second, deep inside her brain, she had already begun to weave the beginnings of her subtlest assault yet …

"Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all … for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."

– The Book of Revelation, Chapter 18, Verses 21b, 23d; KJV

MATERIAL:01: GLADIATOR – RESOLVE

A/N: And that's the end of part one! There'll be a quick interlude to follow, and then part two will begin with the chapter after that.

It may be some time in coming; on top of some other projects I plan to revisit now that I've reached this point in the story, I also plan on releasing a separate, shorter fanfic to tie in with the narrative I've got planned for the future. I've made some headway already, so here's hoping for publishing sooner rather than later.

Until then—rate, review, and recommend if you so desire, and thanks for reading! – K