Response to Reviews
Thank you to Electriuser, HunterHQ, Guest, Donkeyboy100, Ambiguous, Kingdom Hearts Guy, Guest, Pancakes, Malcolm, Cosmic Cat, Donjusticia, KingOtakuOverYou, Guest, Iris Luster, Noobmaster, Guest, Unnamed, Portal, Decode Talker, Cyber Warrior, Stregone'llbeRe, Naruto1999, Guest, Akechi, E.T. 2000, Pikachu99, and Fusion for reviewing Chapter 67 of Obscured Truth.
Hi, everyone! I hope you're doing well these days. Based on what I'm seeing from your reviews, you put down a lot of insightful content down, which I will do my best in replying to. In addition, it seems all of you enjoyed the duel as well, for which I'm extremely grateful.
With that summed up, let's get to answering some reviews, shall we:
Electriuser: Yup, the whole goal of Chapter 67 was for Azrael to practically break Yuhiro, and you'll see the aftereffects in this chapter.
HunterHQ: It's likely Azrael is aware of what Brion attempted to do despite SOL Technologies covering it up. Turboblaze and Teravolt Dragons obviously have opposite Link Markers, especially considering how they're based off of Reshiram and Zekrom. In all honesty, Lightning should be worried about Herald and Wraith just as much as Aqua, as the former two are unique Ignis's. If Windy and Lightning tried to do what they did to Ai in the anime, they'd get a nasty surprise, as Wraith would easily eliminate it with no effort. No, and I'll confirm it now: Azrael wasn't Ghost Girl's client for the Landios incident. That was someone else entirely, and whether that character will reveal themselves will be determined later on in the story. Since Yuhiro and Herald knew that Malf had Cyberse monsters, it only made sense for Azrael to have them, so they weren't as surprised as they were back then. Honestly, it was needed for Yukage to talk and tear Yuhiro apart like that. After all, it helps character growth, don't you agree? Do you really think Watchman hasn't taken the fact that Blood Shepherd knows Takeru's identity into account? Let's just say the gift Watchman gave Takeru will ensure that Blood Shepherd doesn't track him down in the real world. On the topic of Watchman, there's only so much he can handle. After all, he isn't a god, and is certainly not trying to be one. I mean, Yuhiro did work on the Black Market, and he did complete jobs there. Wraith was obviously not there for the duel, so there was no point in Herald trying to sense his presence.
Guest: Of course that's Aqua's ability. To discern lies and truths is something that's needed in life.
Donkeyboy100: Thanks for your concern. I appreciate it. Also glad you enjoyed the chapter as well.
Ambiguous: They just did after connecting the dots and doing research. And Ace managed to get rid of the old board through bribes, threats, and other things. Lord Kazuma, if you recall, was tasked to inform Speckles' victims, as well as Den Academy, that Speckles was dead, so the news will most likely be spread like wildfire. Yeah. Yukage is really deadly. Keep in mind that only the systems were shut down, so Café Matsuo is still able to do business as usual. That wasn't affected. No. Azrael took Yuhiro's pendant, as the pendants are very unique objects. No, Herald will not create a monster harem or love hotel, and Roxy would practically kill him if he did such a thing. After all, Café Matsuo is a fast food restaurant, not a zoo, and certainly not a love hotel.
Kingdom Hearts Guy: Hey, I haven't heard from you in a while. I hope you're doing well.
Guest: Thx for the advice.
Pancakes: I'm sorry, what exactly did you write in your review? A Skit? Really? Do you really think that's needed right now?
Malcolm: The defects Raguel listened to certainly broke him in many places, though he obviously didn't snap to them this time around. It's called character development for a reason. Of course Oshawott is cute. He's one of my favourite starter Pokemon, which is why I had Herald choose him for Pokemon: Legends Arceus. Because let's face it. He didn't want to be laughed at for choosing a starter Pokemon that became a meme online.
Cosmic Cat: Thank you very much.
Donjusticia: Well, Azrael is a unique character. As for your question, uh no.
KingOtakuOverYou: Well, Azrael had to ensure that Yuhiro couldn't contact his allies for help. I did my best to make this chapter as intense as possible. In Raguel's mind, he was fighting to get justice for Miyu, as well as make sure that she'd be able to enjoy her life again. However, the idea of justice then expanded to the Cyberse World by finding the culprit and making sure they didn't threaten it again. So Yuhiro here is trying to deliver justice for two things at the moment. I'm just going to be honest here by saying this: A duel doesn't need to have a flashy conclusion, and I did the best with what Azrael had at the moment. He only had one card, which was Cychaic Reborn, in his hand. There will be duels where it will have flashy ends and duels that don't have them. I do hope you understand that for the future. Nevertheless, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I appreciate the constructive criticism.
Guest: That's one way to sum Yuhiro and Yukage up, that's for sure.
Iris Luster: Well, I certainly do have a way of catching people off guard. Don't worry when I say this: The systems at Café Matsuo will be restored to normal. Obviously some stuff will happen in Chapter 68, aside from Yuhiro finally breaking down and finding out some info on Project: VIII. Believe it or not, I actually do have something in mind for Akira and Yuhiro, and let's just say it will shock you. Yuhiro's obviously helping in the four episode Lightning's Trap section just before the second half of Season 2. Last but not least, let's just say Yuhiro will be impacted MAJORLY by what happened, as that's something you can't fully recover from.
Noobmaster: The virus vaccine Azrael has is the one needed to save Miyu. Yuhiro's obviously traumatized by his duel against Azrael, and it will affect him later on as well. Demeter is currently trying to figure out how to cure Miyu from Lightning's virus, as Watchman has other tasks to deal with. Watchman was trying to find the culprit who destroyed the Cyberse World, so the fact that he found Lightning's algorithm brings the heroes one step closer to achieving their goal. To prevent that from happening, Lightning sent a squad of Bitboots to eradicate the algorithm. Thanks for pointing that error out. I'll change it as soon as I can.
Guest: While I do have a Raguel vs. Playmaker duel planned out for much later on, Raguel will not be using Zekrom or Kyurem for that duel.
Unnamed: Of course. Azrael's deck thrives on things being destroyed, whether it's by battle or card effect. It benefits him, and detriments his opponent. Yuhiro's obviously discouraged from what happened, both physically and mentally, and no matter how hard he tries to move on from it, the experience will always be with him.
Portal: Of course Azrael defeated Raguel, as he did it both physically AND mentally. And yes, he did it without Wraith's help. Keep in mind that Azrael dueled a total of four times so far, and during all four of those times, he didn't get serious with ANY of his opponents. Aside from Teravolt Dragon, which is his most treasured duel monster, he has stronger monsters to use from his deck. And who is Evan Greyson?
Decode Talker: Glad you liked the duel. As for your question, that will actually be answered in this chapter, so rest assured.
Cyber Warrior: No. Just no. Azrael seriously injured Raguel, both physically and mentally, and if he killed Raguel permanently, then the story would end at Chapter 67. Azrael didn't spare Raguel out of arrogance, nor did he have plans to kill him. And no, Azrael won't repent for being arrogant, as he's not Infearno at all. Sheesh.
Stregone'llbeRe: Quinton has a day job, which is to run the Den City Shelter. That's what he's been doing. Don't worry: He'll come back later on in Season 2, so just be patient.
Naruto1999: Azrael explained how burgers were made, and the consequences that impact those who are involved. In other words, the story is supposed to show that not everyone is equal in this world, as there are people who decide the fate of other people or living beings. In terms of hero of justice, I define it as someone who fights not just for other people, but for the sake of benevolence, justice, loyalty, and love in which they believe in. We all have differing opinions on favorite Pokemon, that's for sure.
Guest: No, I won't do that, and I already have an origin planned out for him...
Akechi: Happy you liked the chapter. Of course Raguel's defeat was felt from the beginning of the duel. He's facing off against a major villain of Season 2, and let's be honest here: Raguel needed another loss, as he only lost twice so far in the story. Once in Chapter 7, and once in Chapter 27. So expect Raguel to be affected by his duel against Azrael not only in this chapter, but moving forward in the story as well.
E.T. 2000: Beyond happy you liked the chapter, as Yuhiro needed this wakeup call for a very long time. Of course it's true. Yukage's a realist. Someone who focuses on reality. Yuhiro's challenge right now is to determine for himself once and for all why he wants to continue fighting. That's what character development is for, after all.
Pikachu99: While Azrael defeated Raguel, the latter did inflict massive damage on him. In terms of Yukage's reasons, he wanted to see how much Yuhiro grew prior to their duel, and also hoped that Yuhiro would see things his way as well. The other reason is that Yukage was after Yuhiro's pendant, as that was the last thing needed for Azrael to access the dark vault.
Fusion: Azrael wanted to duel Raguel for two reasons. One: To see how much Raguel's grown. Two: To steal his pendent. Malf will need to absorb lots of people if he's to reach Azrael's level of strength. In terms of the Turf War, it counts as a genocide because lots of people in the real world and in the network died. No. Herald's not chasing the shiny Pokedex. Rather, he's focusing on the story right now. My first Pokemon game was Pokemon Diamond. As for my team, it was Dialga, Torterra, Staraptor, Gastrodon, Luxray, and Heatran, all Level 100.
Before you read the chapter below, I encourage you to read Chapter 67 again, as I put in some additional information I forgot to put in when it was released. This way, you'll be able to understand what is going on in this chapter. With that out of the way, it's time for the chapter to begin. ENJOY!
Chapter 68: The Imprisoning Truth
The sky appears, full of clouds. Playmaker races through the clouds on his duel board, followed by Raguel, Soulburner, and Slipstream. Two swords then slice the clouds completely to reveal NEW LINK VRAINS. One of the swords, the Muramasa, crosses downwards to the left. Crossing downwards to the right was a typical western sword, with a golden rain-guard and a blue grip. The sword also had symbols inscribed on the blade as well. The two swords made a shining X, causing the Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS! logo to appear, and underneath it, the words "OBSCURED TRUTH" ominously appear.
Yuhiro and Yusaku are walking down the street to school. Naoki runs past them, a large smile on his face. Aoi walks past them on the other side, smiling lightly and blushing at Yusaku. Then Takeru walks up behind them and wraps one arm around Yusaku. He then wraps the other arm around Yuhiro, surprising him for a few moments before being pulled to the side by Rachel, who's clearly happy to see him. Yuhiro smiles back at her.
Tsubaki and Hideki are shown boarding an airplane as they head to their destination. After sitting down next to each other in their respective seats, Tsubaki looks out in the window, which shows a reflection of Rosetta, while Hideki picks up the airplane guide and reads it. In the sky above them is Ace, a malicious sneer on his face.
Go Onizuka is shown wearing a hoodie as he leaves the waterfront for the last time. Outside of his home, he encounters Kenmochi and Yoroizaka, who are waiting for him. Smirking, the three of them raise their left arms into the air and enter NEW LINK VRAINS, with Go in his new avatar riding beside his new allies. Stregone crosses his arms as he looks down at them, a look of shock and disappointment on his face.
Kusanagi is then shown with Roxy at a nearby picnic table, both enjoying food and laughter while talking about technology. Flame and Ai are shown arguing in Café Nagi, while Herald ends up getting annoyed with their bickering. As a result, he snaps his fingers, causing Progleo to jump onto the desk and startle Ai and Flame.
At SOL Technologies, Akira Zaizen and Hayami are shown in Queen's office, with Queen handing them a signed order regarding Playmaker and Raguel. A look of hesitation appears on Akira's face, but he hides it just in time.
Azrael and Wraith are then shown with Ace and Athaliah standing behind them, shrouded in shadow along with their ace monsters Zerrziel, Ruler of the Evil Eyed and El Shaddoll Construct. Standing behind Azrael and Wraith though, is Teravolt Dragon, who roars before disappearing with Zerrziel and El Shaddoll Construct. Jumping above Azrael and Wraith is Malf, sporting a demonic expression on his face. He then extends his right arm forward towards the screen, darkening it completely.
When the screen becomes clear, Playmaker and Raguel are shown riding their duel boards next to each other, with Cyberse Witch and Cyberse Magician in front of Playmaker, and Cyreath Hercules and Cyreath Medusa in front of Raguel. The two are chased by Blood Shepherd, who directs two copies of Battledrone Sergeant to fire at them. Although the two of them are hit by the explosions the missiles caused, they escape unharmed. Suddenly, Drachen orders Red-Eyes Black Dragon to fire at them. In response, Playmaker and Raguel are shown swerving left and right to avoid the consecutive fire blasts. Joining the young man in the hunt is Electrolyzer, who orders PSY-Framelord Omega to attack Playmaker, but Raguel turns his duel board around and activates a card, causing Hercules to glow a bright light before transforming into Cyreath Hercules/Alpha Mode. His eyes glowing red, Hercules/Alpha Mode charged forward with his axe sword and clashed with PSY-Framelord Omega.
The screen then shifts to slipstream watching the duel between Playmaker and an obscured Bohman, while Raguel duels Electrolyzer. Noticing Haru, who's also watching the duel between Playmaker and an obscured Bohman, Slipstream takes a card and summons Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, who roars at the boy. Haru, in response, takes a card and summons Hydradrive Nagini, who hissed at Clear Wing in the process.
Blue Girl and Rosetta are shown in NEW LINK VRAINS at a picnic table, laughing and enjoying each other's company. The two of them then turn their heads towards the duels going on in the sky, a look of concern on each of their faces.
Watchman's group is then shown, with Percival standing slightly apart from them as he makes a fist with his left hand. Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon appear before a massive, red-skinned demonic looking monster with golden elements, several eyeballs embedded on its body and four tentacles with bladed claws rises from behind them.
The Knights of Hanoi are shown summoning their monsters. Motor Worm Spread Queen, Helixx Necro Darwin, and Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps first appear before fading into the background. Next is Dark Magician, Berserker of the Tenyi, and Lucifer, Condemner of the Burning Abyss, with Sunavalon Dryanome behind them. Borreload Savage Dragon then rises from behind the four monsters and roars loudly.
Akira is shown at Green Park with Emma, Gekiryushi, and Aoi, giving them details on finding the Ignis. Emma proceeds to make a flirtatious gesture at Akira, making Gekiryushi facepalm and comment on how flirting can be useful at a time like this. The two women then begin to argue, with Akira and Aoi trying to break up the argument.
Yuhiro and Progleo are shown with Miyu at the Den City Hospital, trying to help her walk. Miyu, who's using the parallel bars, ends up slipping, only for Yuhiro to immediately catch her from behind and help her stand up. Roxy then runs out of nowhere and starts pummeling Yuhiro, causing Miyu to almost fall backwards again to their shock. Catching her this time though is Medusa, who appears behind her and smiles, much to everyone's relief. Miyu smiles back, grateful for Medusa's help. The screen then flips around before showing Yuhiro on his knees, clasping an unconscious Miyu's hand in sadness and rage.
Cyreaths Hercules/Alpha Mode, Medusa, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus are then shown in the air, with Turboblaze Dragon racing past them. The five of them prepare to attack alongside Turboblaze Dragon, who unleashes his Desolation Flare attack as well.
Raguel and Herald are then shown on top of a tower, facing off against Azrael and Wraith in a duel. Behind Raguel and Herald is Turboblaze Dragon, while behind Azrael and Wraith is Teravolt Dragon, both of their dragons proceeding to roar at one another. Raguel reeves up his sword, while Azrael unsheathes his katana before the two of them and their dragons charge at each other.
Yuhiro, Roxy, Miyu, Kusanagi, Takeru, and Yusaku are all shown sitting outdoors at a picnic table near the Den City Hospital, all of them eating hot dogs, and Takeru, Kusanagi, and Roxy are laughing. Three duel disks are shown on the table, with Flame lecturing Ai while Herald plays a game on Yuhiro's tablet.
Yuhiro, Roxy, and Miyu are sitting down on a bench outside the Den City Hospital, with Medusa standing nearby them and Progleo on Roxy's lap. Miyu proceeds to rest her head on Yuhiro's shoulder, causing him to blush as she smiles. Yuhiro smiles back at her, while Roxy and Medusa both smile at them, happy they're able to find happiness with each other. The scene then switches to NEW LINK VRAINS, with Raguel, Playmaker, and Soulburner standing on a building and looking out into the radiant sky.
At Café Matsuo...
"Arashi, help me out!" Roxy frantically told him, as Arashi immediately went over and put his right arm around Yuhiro's left shoulder, while Roxy put her left arm around Yuhiro's right shoulder.
"We have to get him to the hospital asap, Roxy." Arashi stated, only for Yuhiro to cough up blood.
"With a wound like that, I don't think Yuhiro will make it by the time we get to the hospital, Arashi." Roxy pointed out. "We have to tend to his wounds here." She and Arashi then got Yuhiro out of the backroom before bringing him upstairs to the living room. Eventually, they dragged Yuhiro to the kitchen before putting him on the kitchen table.
"I'm too weak... A coward... I'm a freakin' coward..." Yuhiro muttered in pain.
"Arashi and Herald, put pressure on Yuhiro's wounds. I'll get the medical kit. Hurry!" Roxy said, before running upstairs to get what she needed. Meanwhile, Arashi grabbed multiple cloths and put pressure on each of Yuhiro's wounds. While a good majority of them were small, the trickiest wound to deal with was the one at Yuhiro's chest. If it were any bigger, it was likely a good part of Yuhiro's heart would have been injured.
"NO! You are not dying on me, Yuhiro!" Herald cried out of fear, as he put shields across Yuhiro's wounds to hold them in place. I wish I was stronger, he lamented in his mind. If I was stronger, I could have stopped Azrael's blade from piercing Yuhiro's chest.
"I got the medical kit." Roxy stated, now heading over to the kitchen table and putting down at a nearby chair before grabbing a bottle of Antiseptic Wash. Pouring some of it on a cloth, she put it down on the wound on Yuhiro's chest, who screamed upon contact. "Stay with me, buddy. Stay with me!"
While Herald continued putting up shields to try and slow down Yuhiro's wounds, Arashi got a bucket and filled it with hot water. He and Roxy alternated between using cloths filled with water and cloths filled with antiseptic wash in trying to prevent Yuhiro's wounds from going out of control. While they found success with the smaller wounds, the one at Yuhiro's chest proved to be difficult in getting under control. To make things worse, blood continued to seep out of it no matter their efforts.
"Damn it! This wound won't calm down!" Roxy cried out of frustration and fear. Fear that Yuhiro won't be able to... no. She couldn't think that right now.
"Ugh..." Yuhiro muttered in pain, gritting his teeth to try and prevent himself from passing out fully.
"Stay with me, Yuhiro! STAY! WITH! ME!" Herald exclaimed, as a burst of energy fired out of his hands, which formed into a shield that managed to stop it from spreading. Seizing the opportunity, Roxy immediately grabbed a healing stim in the medical kit and jabbed it into Yuhiro's chest, which released a green fluid into his body as he painfully screamed for a few seconds before letting out a pain-free moan. What happened next caught the trio off guard, as they saw the wounds on Yuhiro's body having begun to try and repair themselves. While the smaller wounds now resembled cuts in the process of fading away, the wound on Yuhiro's chest was still there, only it was now much calmer when compared to earlier.
"I know you injected Yuhiro with a healing stim, Roxy, but what the heck are we looking at right now?" Arashi questioned out of surprise. "Because I don't think the healing stim is supposed to do that."
"It's just like before..." Roxy realized, upon putting two and two together.
"Huh?" Arashi turned to Roxy. "What do you mean by-?"
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Arashi then headed downstairs while Roxy headed over to the medical kit and took out some stitches, a needle, and thread before beginning to sew up the wound on Yuhiro's chest. Upon opening the door, Arashi saw Yusaku, Takeru, and Kusanagi at the doorstep.
"Thanks for coming, guys," he commented. "Follow me." The quartet headed upstairs to the kitchen area of the living room, where they saw Roxy having begun sewing up Yuhiro's chest wound. Kusanagi had a grim look on his face. Takeru grit his teeth as his body shook. Yusaku had an expression of utmost grief as he looked at his unconscious friend.
"How is he?" Kusanagi asked Roxy.
"He's doing better. The cloths, healing stim, and Herald's shields helped out a lot." Roxy answered. "Though you'll be surprised at the other factor that helped Yuhiro."
"Other factor?" Takeru repeated out of curiosity. "What do you-?"
"Yuhiro has something called Link Trigger. According to Watchman, it enhances Yuhiro's physical and mental abilities at the cost of his emotional state." Herald explained, before turning to Yuhiro's body. "And as shown recently..."
"Turns out Link Trigger helps Yuhiro heal his wounds, but only to an extent." Roxy finished. "I slapped Yuhiro for his failure in getting Miyu back eight times a while back, and the next day, the bruise was healed. It's the most likely explanation, as bruises take time for them to heal."
"But who did this to him?" Yusaku questioned. After logging out of the network, he found Café Nagi in motion, with Kusanagi driving immediately to Café Matsuo. When Yusaku asked what was going on, Takeru immediately said that Yuhiro's been injured, much to his shock.
"I'll tell you who, Yusaku. The azure assailant named Azrael." Herald replied in an angry tone.
"Azrael?" Ai said. "That's the name of our azure assailant? Malf's master?"
"The same guy who fried our systems and cut communication off with you guys? Yup." Roxy bitterly confirmed, which scared Ai and surprised the others.
"It'd be better if I told you guys what I witnessed, as Yuhiro's obviously in no shape to do so right now." Herald stated.
"Yeah. There's also some information we need to share with you as well." Arashi added, as the five humans and the three Ignis headed over to the living room section of the second floor before sitting down on the couches. "So, who wants to share what they learned first?"
"I'll go first." Yusaku answered. He then proceeded to talk about his encounter with the Earth Ignis, who called himself Earth. How Earth wanted to immediately duel him to see what humans were like so he can eventually decide what side to be on for the continuing conflict. During the duel, Yusaku and Ai learned about Earth's conversation with the Water Ignis, who he called Aqua, where she told him of the Cyberse World splitting due to their differences. Following the duel, Playmaker wanted Earth to tell him what he knew about Bohman... only for Earth to admit that he had no information because he never heard about Bohman before. And Earth's excuse to this? He's... socially awkward.
"If there's one thing we got from what happened, it's that the Ignis will eventually be divided by the conflict. Shame that we didn't get any information about Bohman, though." Kusanagi stated.
"I'm still peeved that Earth didn't know anything about Bohman, and his excuse is him being socially awkward." Ai commented, doing bunny ears at the 'socially awkward' part.
"Well, Ai, we can't expect to get what we want all the time. If instead, we expect disappointment from time to time, we can never really get disappointed." Flame pointed out.
"Still, it would have been nice for Earth to join forces with us. With the enemies we have right now, we'll need as many allies as possible." Roxy said, before turning to Arashi. "How'd your encounter go with Watchman? I hope he gave something good in exchange for you and Takeru's assistance, because we need that right now."
"Well, not exactly." Flame answered. "All he did was imbue Takeru's network account as Soulburner with a non-encryption traceable encryption code. He also promised to think of something else that will solve the problem for good. Not sure what else Watchman has in mind to help Takeru, but I trust that he has it figured out."
"I hope so. Because there's a fair chance that Blood Shepherd may try to track down Takeru in the real world, and the last thing we need right now is for that to happen." Kusanagi stated with a frown, the others nodding in agreement.
"I mean, Watchman could neuralize Blood Shepherd. Then Takeru's problem will forever be solved." Roxy said, as she made a mental note to send him a neuralyzer in the event he didn't have one. "Flame, what else did Watchman give you?"
"He also gave us this." Flame answered, as numerous fragmented bits and bytes of a program emerged from his hands, which made both Ai and Herald gasp upon further inspection.
"That's an Ignis Algorithm!" Ai realized, the others also surprised at Ai's announcement.
"More specifically, that of the Light Ignis." Herald clarified before turning to Flame. "Where did you get this?"
"Watchman found it in the destroyed Cyberse World, and when he got it, numerous Bitboots were alerted." Takeru explained.
"But why would multiple Bitboots be guarding the Light Ignis algorithm?" Kusanagi wondered.
Yusaku thought this over for a minute before speaking. "I may have a possible theory. The person controlling Bohman and Haru may have given the Bitboots orders to sweep the destroyed Cyberse World for anything Ignis-related, where they seized the Light Ignis's algorithm upon inspection."
"While that theory's a likely one, it isn't like the Light Ignis to be reckless. Remember? I told you he's calm and collected, so him leaving his algorithm around is anything but whack." Ai pointed out.
"Or the mysterious mastermind kidnapped the Light Ignis and had his troops eliminate all traces to reduce the likeability of rescue." Arashi countered, before he realized something. "Oh, shoot! Roxy, where's your laptop?"
"It's going through an update in the backroom. Why?" Roxy questioned, as Arashi raced downstairs to the backroom, intent on getting the laptop.
"Since everyone's shared what happened from their missions, I'll tell you all what happened when Yuhiro and I confronted Azrael." Herald said. "To begin with, Azrael was Monty's client from a long time ago, and is also responsible not just for the Turf War, but for freeing Ace, Athaliah, and Speckles as well."
"So the client Yuhiro was working for a long time ago was Azrael?!" Ai exclaimed, as the others now paid close attention to what Herald was saying.
"Yes, and it's not just that. He also stole the Hanoi's Data Gale and Another Virus." Herald continued. "The worst part is that Azrael knows all the identities of the Lost Incident children as well."
"What?!" Yusaku gasped, while Takeru's eyes widened in pure horror. Shocked expressions also appeared Kusanagi and Roxy's faces, having been frozen out of pure fear. For Azrael to not only instigate the Turf War, but also steal the Knights of Hanoi's resources made him far worse than the Hanoi. As if to break the silence, Arashi arrived upstairs, Roxy's laptop in his arms.
"I got the laptop, guys. You won't believe what we've-." Arashi began speaking, only for him to stop upon seeing everyone's expressions of fear, shock, and horror.
"Azrael knows your real-life identity, Arashi, and is responsible for the Turf War." Flame summed up really quickly, which made him gasp out of shock.
"So he just told you and Yuhiro all of this during your duel, Herald?" Roxy asked, trying to gather her thoughts as Arashi sat down beside her on the couch.
"Yup." Herald confirmed. "And get this: Azrael also has a Link Spell in his arsenal."
"A Link Spell?" Flame repeated out of surprise. "That would mean he may be in league with Bohman and Haru, along with their mastermind."
"Azrael is in league with them." Arashi stated, now getting everyone's attention. "All of this information is on Roxy's computer. Since we're all on the same topic, we might as well go over everything we can, for it will help us in the long run."
While Roxy began connecting her laptop to the TV nearby, Yusaku turned to face Arashi before he asked, "What do you mean by this, Arashi?"
"A few days ago, a kid named Gil Ariba stopped by at Café Matsuo, wanting to speak to Yuhiro. And yes, he knows not just Yuhiro's identity, but our identities as well." Arashi began explaining.
"Great! This is just great! What is this? An everyone knows your identity bargain sale?" Ai complained.
"Ai, I highly doubt it's something like that. Although we'll need to take measures to protect each other, especially considering how Azrael can mobilize against us in the real world at any moment." Kusanagi stated, the others nodding in agreement.
"Okay, here we go!" Roxy said, putting her laptop down on the table between the couches before grabbing the TV remote nearby. After pressing a button on it, the screen changed to show footage of Athaliah seizing before blood burst out of her body. In addition, a purple-like gooey substance cracked Athaliah's bones and ripped out her flesh, fully appearing into the network, much to everyone's surprise. "As shown here, Athaliah's dead. Not just by the Another Virus, but by Malf as well."
"Makes sense, as Azrael didn't want her to spill any information." Yusaku figured out immediately.
"That's just the icing on the cake, Yusaku. What's popping up next on the screen is just as important as the information we have now." Roxy commented before pressing a button on the TV remote twice, which showed a blueprint of Bohman himself beside an orb that contained portions of different-coloured data. Clicking through the blueprints like a slideshow, everyone was shocked upon what they found.
Athaliah planned to give Bohman the necessary upgrades so he can absorb the Ignis into his body.
"What the Hell?!" Ai exclaimed. "That's the mastermind's plan?! To absorb the Ignis into Bohman's body?!"
"By what we're seeing, yes." Flame answered out of pure fear, the others just as shocked as they were, save for Arashi, Herald, and Roxy, who already knew this information.
"This isn't good. This isn't good at all. Now the three of us, Earth, Aqua, Windy, Wraith, and the Light Ignis are in danger..." Ai panicked.
"You no longer need to worry about Wraith, Ai." Herald told him, which got his attention.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Azrael... he killed Wraith, along with the eighth Lost Incident child." Herald tearfully said, the others having gasped upon hearing this.
"WRAITH'S DEAD?!" Ai exclaimed out of shock, tears falling from his eyes. "No. It can't be..."
"I'm so sorry..." was all Yusaku could say, for in truth, he didn't know what else to say at all. For now, all he could do was be there for Ai.
"No. I refuse to believe it. Besides, if Wraith died, wouldn't the other Ignis feel it?" Ai questioned, now turning to Herald and Flame for hope.
"Yes. We would have felt it." Flame confirmed.
"So if we didn't feel anything, that means Wraith's alive!" Ai cheered.
"We don't know that for sure, Ai." Herald pointed out. "What we do know is that Azrael murdered the eighth Lost Incident child, and that is something he'll pay for, along with everything else he's done to us."
"Say, Arashi. What did Gil want in exchange for this info?" Takeru inquired, the others turning to face Arashi.
"The good news is that he doesn't want any of our information. Nothing technology-related." Arashi assured them.
"Then what does he want?"
"Um..."
"He wants desserts. That's all." Roxy replied for Arashi, which made the others blink. That... wasn't the answer they expected at all.
"If that's all he wants, then we can accept his help for the time being. But we'll have to figure out what his goal is in helping us." Yusaku told everyone else. Soon, they heard Yuhiro stir, now relaxed from everything that happened.
"Yuhiro will get through it, Roxy. You don't have to worry about him." Takeru assured her.
"I know he will. That doesn't mean I'm not worried for his safety." Roxy responded, now turning to face the others.
Flashback: Five years ago, at the Den City Shelter...
"Just like how Miyu and Brea mean a lot to me, Yuhiro does too. While I knew that there were others who went through the Lost Incident just like Miyu, I was scared that if she didn't meet someone who was also there, she wouldn't be able to connect with anyone due to the traumatizing experience. So when I heard that there was a child from the Lost Incident at the Den City Shelter, I immediately looked into adopting Yuhiro. If I can give a child who went through the Lost Incident a chance at a better life, it'd make me the happiest person in the world."
Roxy whistled a calming tune as she drove to the Den City Shelter. The good news was that it was close by to Café Matsuo. Only a ten minute drive from there to the Den City Shelter. After she spoke to the owner of the Den City Shelter, Quinton Monell, and completed all of the appropriate paperwork a few days ago, she was approved to officially adopt Yuhiro as her son.
Eventually, she arrived at the front entrance of the Den City Shelter, where she saw children playing. Getting out of the car, Roxy walked over to the front door before knocking on it. After a few seconds, Quinton answered the door.
"Ah, Roxy. Great to meet you in person again." Quinton said, as he offered his hand, with Roxy shaking it back in response.
"Good to see you as well, Quinton." Roxy said back. "I trust that you have all the appropriate paperwork?"
"Yes, and it's been finalized by the authorities." Quinton confirmed, now motioning for Roxy to enter inside, which she did. The two of them then walked down the Den City Shelter's hallway. "After hearing your reasons on why you want to adopt Yuhiro, I must say. I'm grateful. Although just to give you a heads up, Yuhiro can be a bit... shy and stubborn at times."
"Shy and stubborn? That's an odd combination, if you ask me."
"It's not bad, if that's what you're wondering about. The thing is, Yuhiro's been insecure since the Lost Incident, and found no joy in interacting with others. But when I taught Yuhiro duel monsters, he managed to not just find joy, but interact with others again. In doing so, however, I found that his stubbornness comes from a desire to put on a brave front, so a balanced talking to at times should help him get his head on straight. I do hope you'll be able to handle him when he enters that stage, as I've done."
"Don't worry, Quinton. I know when to be kind and when to be firm, as well as when to be in between. Trust me when I say it runs in the Matsuo family, as we don't deal with sass and lies." Roxy assured Quinton. Eventually, the two of them reached a room, where Quinton knocked on the door.
"Yuhiro," he said, "You have a visitor."
"Come in." a boy's voice responded, as Quinton opened the door, letting himself and Roxy in.
The room was small, with a single bed, desk, and closet. Resting on his bed was a boy with cyan eyes and brushed down white hair that had a white-ruby pendent around his neck. His clothing consisted of a simple red shirt and jeans.
"Quinton, who is she?" Yuhiro asked, his eyes now having turned to look at Roxy curiously.
"Yuhiro, this is Roxy, the person I said would be adopting you a while back." Quinton reminded him. Unfortunately, this made Yuhiro nervously bring his knees to his chest.
"Would you mind if I talk to Yuhiro one on one? I don't think two adults in the room will help things here." Roxy requested.
"Of course." Quinton replied, before stepping out and closing the door, leaving Yuhiro alone with Roxy.
"Hi, buddy. I'm Roxy." Roxy introduced herself, as she went over to the bed and sat down beside him.
"Yeah, I know." Yuhiro nervously responded. "Are you really here to adopt me? Or do you plan on using me for some nefarious plot of yours?"
Upon hearing this question, Roxy's heart broke. This poor kid in front of her was obviously traumatized, just as what Quinton said about him. The anxiety and fear on his face, along with the fact that he experienced nightmares... it was evident that Yuhiro was fearing for his own life. "No. No. I'm here to really adopt you. While I may not fully understand what you've been through, I do want to assure you that I want to give you a better life."
After hearing Roxy's response, Yuhiro was about to look up and face her... only for him to move away from Roxy. "No. I can't believe that. I can't. If I let my guard down, I'll be tricked and used again. I don't want to-." But before Yuhiro could continue speaking, Roxy moved beside him and quickly pulled him into a hug. While Yuhiro struggled, he eventually began to relax as Roxy held him tightly.
"I promise to ensure that you have a better life. One that helps you move on from the pain you experienced. One that helps you open up, enjoy, and learn all the things it has to offer." Roxy stated, tears now forming in her eyes.
Seeing Roxy about to cry, Yuhiro looked up at her. At that moment, he didn't see a shady person. He saw a genuine human being, who, like Quinton, cared for his health. But there was one thing Yuhiro wanted to ask to make sure what he was seeing was the truth. "Do you mean that?"
"Yes, of course sweetie. I swear on my family name that I really do mean that." Roxy promised him, which made Yuhiro widen his eyes. In hearing this, Yuhiro buried his head into her chest, tears now forming in his eyes.
"I believe you. Help me... please."
"Don't worry, Yuhiro. I will do my very best to help you. I promise."
Flashback End: Present Day...
"And that's how I adopted Yuhiro." Roxy finished, now feeling tired from telling the story. Everyone was now silent, trying to process the story for a few moments before someone spoke up.
"Yuhiro's lucky to be with you, Roxy. If it weren't for you, then he wouldn't have met any of us." Kusanagi stated.
"Like I said earlier, if I can give a child who went through the Lost Incident a chance at a better life, it'd make me the happiest person in the world." Roxy reiterated. "And if anything happens to either of you, I promise that they'll receive an ass whooping from me personally!"
"I think we should be fine, Roxy. But thanks for the offer." Takeru sheepishly replied with a chuckle.
"Do you mind sending this information to us, Roxy?" Yusaku asked, with Roxy nodding in confirmation as she opened a secure email before sending it to him.
"Done and done. Now you guys can look it over at your own time, and we'll do the same to see if there's anything else Gil gave us." Roxy stated, the others nodding in agreement.
"Augh..." was the first thing Yuhiro said, as he slowly regained awareness before slowly sitting up, which got everyone's attention.
"Oh my God, Yuhiro! You're okay!" Roxy cried out in relief, before rushing over and hugging him tightly, which surprised him.
"Of course I'm fine, Roxy. Though would you mind loosening your hug? I'm still injured, remember?" Yuhiro requested, as Roxy loosened the hug.
"Welcome back, buddy." Arashi stated, now standing up with the others as they went over to the kitchen table. While Takeru and Yusaku attached their duel disks to their respective arms, Arashi brought over Herald, who was just as happy as the others were.
"Did I miss anything important?"
The humans and Ignis frowned, which pretty much confirmed Yuhiro's question. He missed out on something important. A discussion of information that he couldn't participate in.
"I'll tell you everything in the morning, Yuhiro." Roxy promised him. "For now, you need to get some rest." After Roxy helped Yuhiro down stand up on his feet, she helped him walk to the stairs towards the bedrooms before turning to the others. "I'll take it from here. Thank you so much for coming here, guys. I appreciate it."
"Hey, it's no problem. Yuhiro's our friend, and after everything that's happened, we're just glad he's okay." Takeru replied.
"Same here." Kusanagi agreed, Yusaku also nodding as well. As if on cue, his phone beeped before he looked at it. "Guess it's time to go for the night. Some r and r's certainly needed, especially after today." He then turned to Yusaku and Takeru. "Considering the coming rain storm later tonight, I'll drive you back to your places first, guys. See you tomorrow." Kusanagi headed downstairs to exit Café Matsuo, an exhausted look on his face. Takeru and Yusaku also followed him, but not before the latter turned to look at Roxy, who nodded in reassurance before he joined the former in leaving Café Matsuo.
"Yo, Arashi!" Roxy said, now heading upstairs with Yuhiro, who was starting to fall asleep.
"What's up?" Arashi replied.
"Would you mind doing a diagnostic on the systems? Azrael somehow managed to fry them, and the sooner they're repaired, the sooner we can get back in business." Roxy requested.
"Yeah, sure. I love a good challenge." Arashi answered, now heading downstairs, eager for a challenge, even though it was during the night. After Roxy brought Yuhiro to his room, he put a blanket over his body, who was at the verge of sleepiness.
"I screwed up, Roxy. I'm so sorry..." Yuhiro began speaking, before Roxy placed her finger on his lips.
"Just rest. We'll talk about what happened tomorrow morning." Roxy promised, with Yuhiro nodding in confirmation before falling asleep. Now assured that he was going to be okay, Roxy quietly exited Yuhiro's bedroom before closing the door and walking downstairs. While Takeru was right in saying that Yuhiro will be okay, she was still worried for his safety. After all, any mother would worry for their child's safety.
And even if she was an adopted mother, Roxy would make sure that Yuhiro recovers from what Azrael did to him one day at a time, no matter what.
Besides, in Roxy's mind, that was what family was for.
In LINK VRAINS...
Azrael was on top of a building near a massive city, where he looked down to see several people in different costumes and clothing spending time with one another. How ignorant these people are of the realities of this world. Whereas they spend time with one another in comfort and prosperity, there are other people who toil and struggle just to survive another day. These people are the ones Azrael can empathize with, as he too had to struggle just to survive, especially with how he died not once, but twice. And in a world where not everyone and everything is equal in this world, it was important for Azrael to focus only on himself. As such, he sought power not as a want, but as a need for him to survive. If Azrael was to avoid the hands of death again and not fail in doing so, he had to become so powerful that no one could surpass him, but for that to happen, he had to surpass two people. One of which was Yuhiro, and as for the other... well, that was a personal matter. Once that was done, he'd be able to eradicate the trauma in his head forever.
And then there was Yuhiro. Azrael hoped that he would understand the realities of this world by the time they met, but it seemed he didn't. To think that Yuhiro would be shackled with his pathetic values of justice and companionship, as not only did they not matter in an unequal world, but also chained one down as well. Besides, shouldn't Yuhiro be grateful to Azrael for what he did? Had it not been for Azrael, then Monty would have sold him out to save his own skin. It's just how the world worked, as people would always try to one up someone else for their own benefit. Even though Yuhiro failed to meet his expectations for now, Azrael hoped that their duel would give him the reality check he certainly needed. After all, when someone is facing a situation, there were only two choices they can choose from. Adapt, or Die. Besides, Azrael wanted to see what choice Yuhiro would make next, and if he chose the former, then things would get interesting down the road.
He took out two pendants. One that was wrapped around his neck, and the other from his pocket. One that was white-sapphire, while the other was a white-ruby pendant. The keys that would break the seals Myojin Furutani put in place, and once those seals were finally broken, he'd get the final piece of the Project: VIII data.
"There you are."
Azrael turned his head, where he saw Wraith appear from a portal before he went into Azrael's duel disk.
"Seems you took your time, Wraith." Azrael commented. "How was the reunion?"
"It was good to speak with Earth again after all this time, even though he's still socially awkward." Wraith answered.
"Earth?" Azrael raised an eyebrow before it hit him. Ah. It seemed the Earth Ignis gave himself a name to be identified by. Makes sense, as the Ignis's names were too hard for humans to comprehend.
"That's what the Earth Ignis called himself. Unfortunately, he was dueling against Playmaker, which was why it took a bit longer for me to talk with him." Wraith explained, before turning to look at the pendants, which caught his eye. "Seems you were successful in getting Raguel's pendant."
"Of course I was, Wraith. What's more, I left a parting gift for Raguel." Azrael told him.
"Parting gift? What do you mean?"
"Simple." Azrael grinned. "I slammed Raguel with the flaws of his pathetic values on justice and companionship, as well as reprimanded him for using them to justify his actions. They mean nothing in this world, and the sooner he realizes this, the sooner he will work on himself alone."
"Wow. I... I never thought you'd do that to him, especially since..."
"Quiet! Do not go there!" Azrael snapped in a deep tone through gritted teeth, which caught Wraith off guard.
"Sorry. I... I didn't mean to cross a line there." Wraith apologized. While Azrael was calm and stoic, he, just like any human being, can snap. And when that happens... well, let's just say it won't end well for anyone who chooses to provoke Azrael.
"It's fine, Wraith. I know you don't mean to do it intentionally." Azrael calmly replied. "That being said, no one can stop me now that I have both pendants."
"Hold on, Azrael. I have a request." Wraith said, which got Azrael's attention.
"Oh? What is it?"
"Can we look for Aqua first and make sure she's okay?" Wraith asked.
"Aqua's the Water Ignis, right?" Azrael put away the pendants in his hands.
"Yes." Wraith confirmed. "I'll be honest. I was moved by Earth's feelings in his duel against Playmaker, especially after he told me of how he was searching for her. Besides, we can benefit in pursuing this endeavour, as Earth may join us in gratitude for making sure she's safe. Who knows? Maybe Aqua will join as well, for they're practically a couple in the Cyberse World."
Azrael thought this over. While it was only natural for an Ignis to look out for their brethren, there was still the chance that Earth and Aqua would refuse their offer to join their side. If that was the case, Azrael can use the love they have for one another to coerce them into joining. After all, love was certainly a powerful weapon, especially when you can motivate someone into action just by hurting those they care about. That was what made Raguel weak, as the more allies he had, the more ways Azrael can break him.
"Fine," Azrael allowed. "We'll go search for Aqua. My uncovering of the truth can wait a bit longer, for I found out some interesting information you may want to hear."
"Information, you say?" Wraith repeated, now giving Azrael his full attention.
"Yes. During my duel against Raguel, I found out that Judgment Arrows was the weapon used to destroy the Cyberse World. To put it simply, the Light Ignis was responsible for what happened."
"WHAT?!" Wraith exclaimed, a furious expression on his face. "While I had my suspicions, I never thought the Light Ignis would be capable of committing such a sin. That does it! Let's go destroy him, Azrael. It's time to put him in his place, as well as put Bohman, Haru, and Windy under our control!"
"Not yet. Let's bide our time a little longer, for the Light Ignis can still be of use to us. Besides, the Light Ignis can provide resources for when I attack the dark vault." Azrael pointed out. Besides. I want to give Yuhiro some time to catch up, as well as whether he learned his lesson the next time we meet, he thought in his mind.
"Very well. If you believe we can gain something from letting the Light Ignis live, then I'll restrain myself." Wraith conceded. "In the meanwhile, we have an Ignis to find." Azrael then unsheathed the Muramasa and sliced the air in two, which created a portal large enough to travel through. After Azrael stepped into the portal, it closed behind him.
Meanwhile, at Café Matsuo, during the night...
"..." Yuhiro slowly got up on his feet before looking around at his surroundings. It was a hellish landscape, which had an apocalyptic sky, as evident by the fiery clouds and the bloody moon. Oh no. Don't tell me this is like before, Yuhiro dreaded in his mind, as he took a few steps forward, keeping his guard up in the process. Unfortunately, his eyes widened in horror when he spotted injured people he recognized on the ground ahead of him. Yuhiro immediately ran over to Playmaker, who had suffered multiple wounds, as evident by the large cuts all over his body, blood coming out of the top of his head, and his duel disk broken beyond repair. "Come on, Playmaker. Wake up! I'll get you-."
"You're useless." Playmaker cruelly interrupted so fast that it caught Yuhiro off guard. "You claim to be a warrior of justice? Pathetic. When you try to help people, there are always consequences. Even a blind fool like you must be aware of that." His body then glowed with accursed, bloody light before it began turning into particles.
"No. Playmaker, stay with-." But before Yuhiro could finish, Playmaker was gone, the bloody particles attaching themselves to Yuhiro and transforming to blood. Looking around, he found Soulburner trying to hold onto dear life. Yuhiro quickly ran over to him, where he saw Soulburner covered in bloody wounds, along with a large wound across his back. "Come on, Soulburner. Stay with-."
"What a disappointment you are, Yuhiro." Soulburner interrupted in pure anger and grief. "You're no hero, nor are you my friend. You're just a failure, both to us and to yourself." Before Soulburner could say more, his body glowed with the same light as he immediately turned to particles, which once again drenched Yuhiro with blood.
"I can't believe I called you big brother," a voice called out, which got Yuhiro's attention as he saw Numera walking towards him. Large gashes were all over her forehead, chest, forearms, and shins. Yuhiro quickly ran over and caught her before she fell to the ground. "A big brother is supposed to keep their younger sibling safe. Why couldn't you do something as simple as that, Yuhiro? Do you not care for me, is that it?" Before Yuhiro could respond, she exploded into particles that stained him with blood for a third time.
"Stop." Yuhiro tried to wake himself up. "Wake up. I don't want-!"
MUNCH! MUNCH!
Yuhiro quickly ran over to where the munching sounds were, and to his horror, he saw Slipstream trying to escape Malf as the latter ripped out his heart before proceeding to eat it. "SLIPSTREAM!" He quickly ran over to help his friend before shooing Malf away, who surprisingly turned into particles upon being spotted. "Stay with me, buddy. I'll go get-."
Slipstream suddenly grabbed Yuhiro's forearm before speaking. "Why... why couldn't you help us in our time of need? Are we disposable to you? Is that it?"
"No. None of you are disposable to-." Yuhiro began speaking, only for Slipstream to immediately explode into particles, which hit Yuhiro and soaked him in blood for a fourth time. "What's going on? Why is this-?"
"I'll tell you why this is happening."
Turning around at the voice, Yuhiro then spotted Miyu up ahead as he immediately stood up on his feet, relieved that one person was alright.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Yuhiro stated, as Miyu gently put her left hand on his right cheek, a loving smile on her face. "We need to-."
SLAP!
Yuhiro took a step back out of shock.
"It's because you're a worthless, incapable human being." Miyu continued, her eyes glowing red as bloody cuts and gashes now appeared all over her body. Without a moment's hesitation, she pierced Yuhiro in the chest with her right arm. "I held you in such high regard, but for you to do things in my name? That's not heroism. That's just the act of a coward, trying to justify their actions."
"You don't understand, I- GAAAAHI!" Miyu pulled her right arm out of Yuhiro's chest, which made him press his hands on it to stop the blood coming out of it.
"You're no warrior of justice. You're just a child, blinded by his unrealistic morals." Miyu reprimanded Yuhiro, before turning into particles, which drenched Yuhiro in blood upon impact for the fifth time.
"NO!" Yuhiro cried out, pain evident on his face as he hugged himself, tears falling from his eyes. Was everyone right? Was Yuhiro unable to recognize that there were consequences when he tried to help people? Was Yuhiro truly a failure? Was Yuhiro truly a coward? Was Yuhiro nothing more than a child, blinded by his morals deemed unrealistic in this world?
"You're starting to realize it now, aren't you?"
Yuhiro looked up, only to see Azrael walk up to him.
"All this death... all this suffering was caused by your inability to face the truth, as well as failing to accept the reality of this world." Azrael told Yuhiro.
"SHUT UP!" Yuhiro roared, running over to try and punch Azrael, only for him to turn into particles.
"Foolishness, Yuhiro. Foolishness. Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself." Azrael's voice echoed in the air before dissipating completely. Soon, the whole area became surrounded in a dark and red fog, preventing Yuhiro from seeing anything.
"Sucks to be bitch-slapped with reality, doesn't it?"
Yuhiro turned around, only to see a girl in her pre-teens with red eyes and shoulder-length blond hair, whose attire consisted of a white and blue Greek-styled dress, along with sandals.
"Who... who are you?" Yuhiro questioned, maintaining his guard, even though he had been injured in his nightmare earlier.
"Come now, Yuhiro. You studied Greek Mythology. You should already know who I am," the girl mockingly replied with a laugh. The next thing Yuhiro knew, a black-armoured knight appeared just ahead of him, which caught him off guard. The knight's helmet had a spiked plume arching over it, along with dark-steel plates on his arms. Strapped to his sides were a pair of jagged, chained blades, each one having a demonic red-orange glyph pattern on them. Attached to his back was a long sword with a massive blade, as well as a set of arms that had large hands, each one having three claws.
Before Yuhiro could start running, the knight suddenly appeared in front of him and grabbed his throat. Yuhiro gagged as he was lifted off his feet and forced to look at the knight, who had a collection of multicolored shapes that resembled eyes.
"You should also know who he is as well," the girl mockingly told Yuhiro, as he struggled to release himself from the knight's cold grip.
"You wretched humans... you never learn from your mistakes!" the knight cackled, rage and hatred radiating from his voice.
"Let go of me!" Yuhiro panickily ordered.
"I don't think he will," the girl said with a smile, which made Yuhiro widen his eyes out of horror.
"The cleansing... will begin... with your sacrifice!" the knight screamed, now consumed with an aura that made Yuhiro close his eyes before he screamed.
When Yuhiro opened his eyes, he was now in a large, damp room that resembled a dungeon. A large gate was in front of him, along with a large grate attached to the ceiling that provided light. When Yuhiro went over to the door to try and unlock it, it didn't budge one bit. I need to get out of there, he thought, as he had a bad feeling about this.
Suddenly, the gates began opening, but before it could fully open, a clawed hand emerged and smashed them apart. Emerging from the destroyed gates was a massive and tall beast resembling a hybrid between man and bull. The beast had white skin all over his body, a massively long and wild white mane, white hair, red scars all over his body, and very long horns that were not only cracked, but were also colored red halfway. He wore iron armor like a corset over his bulky and scarred body, along with iron rings around his arms and legs. The beast also wore a broken iron mask that resembled a bull's head, with the right side being the only remaining piece of it. His inhuman red and yellow eye that was shown on the left side of his face looked at Yuhiro before he grinned, now filling with hunger and killing intent.
Knowing what he had to do, Yuhiro immediately rolled away from the monster as he tried to grab him. I know that monster, he thought in his mind. I studied Greek Mythology. I know that monster. Yuhiro continued running around and dodging the beasts attacks, but unfortunately, he was grabbed by the beast's right hand.
"HEEHEEHEE. HEEHEEHEEHEE!" the beast cackled, looking at Yuhiro as he brought him closer. "YOU LOOK... GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!"
"No, don't! Please! I don't want to die!" Yuhiro begged, the beast now proceeding to eat him. "AAAAAHHHHH!"
Yuhiro gasped and opened his eyes. He vaulted upwards within seconds, breathing hard and clutching his chest. Yuhiro then proceeded to pull out the white-ruby pendant that was wrapped around his neck... only for him to realize it wasn't there. What? That's impossible! How come it's not, Yuhiro began thinking in his mind, only for it to hit him. Azrael stole Yuhiro's pendant after stabbing him following their duel. But that's impossible. One can't simply steal an object from the network and have it disappear from the former owner's possession in the real world in the process. Such an object doesn't exist!
Unless Yuhiro's pendant was no ordinary object.
An object that can transcend both the physical and virtual world.
Before Yuhiro could dwell on this information, Azrael's words then popped in his mind.
"Just look at yourself, Raguel. Kneeling before me, your strength having been depleted. Serves someone like you right, especially how you refuse to face the truth. About yourself and about everything."
"I'm disappointed in you, Raguel. You have the answers in front of you this whole time. The secrets to your past, yet you refused to look into it. Why is that? Is it because of the fear of the unknown? A lack of courage?"
"Foolishness, Yuhiro. Foolishness. Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."
Yuhiro grit his teeth in anger and sadness as he dwelled on those words. It was true. Azrael was right along. Yuhiro was a coward. Not just for not looking into the data when he had the opportunity to, but also because of how he used Miyu's name to justify his own actions without him realizing it. How could Yuhiro do such a thing?! How could he not realize that his reasons for the actions committed were selfish?! Did that mean his morals on justice and companionship were nothing more than shackles?! Ones that had no place in this world, and were better off discarded for good?!
Thinking quickly, Yuhiro got up from his bed before quietly exiting his bedroom and walking downstairs. He had all this time available to look into the Project: VIII data. To find out why the Lost Incident and Project: Apotheosis existed, what the original motives were for launching these initiatives, and to see if there were any other victims involved in those projects. Heading to the backroom, Yuhiro saw that the systems were repaired. Whether it was by Roxy or Arashi, or both, he didn't have time to think about it right now, as he needed answers once and for all.
Turning on the systems, Yuhiro immediately went over to the nearby drawer and grabbed the USB stick before putting it into the USB port, a determined expression on his face. After it finished downloading, Yuhiro clicked on a file containing Project: VIII information from Gamma before combining it with the one the FBI had. Once that was done, he began searching through it, trying to find what he was looking for. First, Yuhiro clicked on a file called 'Anointed Alphas', where a list of eight names popped up. Looking at the list, he saw that the eight chosen test subjects, who were teenagers, were from many worldwide charities, orphanages, refugee homes, relief programs, and other scenarios recruited to participate in Project: VIII.
"Jason Albinor, Hisato Kugutsu, Eira Winters, Mara Ravencroft, Barak Ryuzaki, Nobu Katoa, Callum Gushiken, and Shion Izumi." Yuhiro read all eight names, his eyes widening out of surprise. There were eight more victims other than Yuhiro and the others! Eight other victims who were kidnapped….no. Volunteered for a run-through of what appeared to be a first Lost Incident. What happened to them, Yuhiro wondered, as he scrolled down the document to find a report. One containing the truth as to what happened to the victims, which was something Yuhiro didn't think he would find.
According to the report, a catastrophic incident occurred, where one of the scientists named Ukyos Albinor lost their life. The second scientist, Myojin Furutani, destroyed the evidence before leaving with his newly-formed family. The third scientist, Arshad Saito, was sworn into secrecy following the incident. As for the eight teenagers, they died. What the Hell?! Watchman was involved in Project: VIII, Yuhiro angrily realized. And Myojin Furutani... who the Hell was that guy?! Is he some long-lost relative I don't know about? And how does Azrael know about him?!
As Yuhiro scrolled down the report, he found out that the Dragon King, SOL Technologies' first CEO, was fired for supporting Project: VIII. Didn't know that SOL Technologies had only one person in charge. This must be before it had multiple higher-ups, Yuhiro thought in his mind. Exiting the webpage, Yuhiro proceeded to scrolling down through it, where something caught his eye. It was a file called 'Anointed Betas', where a list of eight names popped up before he began scrolling down the list, seeing if he can find anything from there. To his horror, he felt his heart sank when he read the last name. Yukage! You were a part of the Lost Incident too, Yuhiro thought in his mind as he thoroughly looked closer at the information, which made his eyes widen upon seeing his last name. And you're a Furutani as well?! What the Hell is going on here?!
Seeing the reference number beside Yukage's name, Yuhiro hovered the mouse key over to it, which caused words to pop up in doing so.
Project: Cross Breed? What the Hell is that, Yuhiro wondered. A part of him was saying not to click on the link. That once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown. In other words, if Yuhiro made the choice to click on the link, there would be no going back.
Making his decision, Yuhiro clicked on the link, which took him to a webpage that had a video on it. Upon pressing the 'Play' button, the video showed footage of a hospital room, where there were several doctors and nurses. But a total of five individuals caught Yuhiro's eye.
The first was a man who not only wore a dark-blue lab coat, but also had cyan-coloured eyes as well. He had a small, trimmed moustache and black hair, which also consisted of two white locks standing out in the front and one on the right side of the head.
The second was a woman who wore a white vest, grey and green cropped pants, and brown shoes, along with light-green eyes. She had blond hair that had some strands curling underneath her chin, along with thin locks that were behind her ears.
The third was a man who not only wore a dark-red lab coat, but also had black-coloured eyes as well. He had salt and pepper-coloured hair, which was neatly combed on his head.
As for the other two, they were a pair of baby boys on operating tables. One that had been just born into the world, the other had just been released out of a cryokinetic state.
"My name is Ukyos Albinor," the man wearing the dark-red lab coat began speaking. "Today, we're going to discuss something called Project: Cross Breed. The purpose of it is to take two or more patients who have been dealt a bad hand upon birth and use their unique functioning parts to create a miracle through any means necessary. This will be done through methods such as genetic code grafting and editing, organ transplant, and blood infusion. Allow me to introduce those who are involved with this project." Ukyos directed the camera crew to turn to the man with cyan-coloured eyes. "This is Myojin Furutani, one of SOL Technologies' most well-known employees. Tell us, why did you and your wife decide to participate in this project?"
"My wife, Lyla Furutani, and I are barren. While we always wanted children, we couldn't have any on our own." Myojin began explaining.
"So when we heard about the two baby boys, we volunteered to be a part of the operation." Lyla finished, the cameras now having turned to her. "The boys have been abandoned by their parents, with no say on the matter."
"They have, and upon complete succession of the operation, we intend to adopt them as our own." Myojin added.
"Thank you very much, Myojin and Lyla." Ukyos said, now getting the camera crews' attention as they went over to the boys. "The boy on the left is Yuhiro Nakama. He was born premature to parents that decided to abandon him, as they weren't prepared for the responsibility to raise a child. As for the boy on the right, his name is Yukage Oyama. He was stillborn to parents who were dying, and died due to complications in the birth. To prevent this, I ordered the team to cryogenically freeze him until we could find a match to save his life. Doctor Colmer, do you have any medical information on file for the boys?"
"Yes, sir." Doctor Colmer answered, who was a man with glasses, light-blue hair and orange eyes. "Upon further analysis, Yuhiro's condition is called Alkalosis, which is a condition where the body fluids have excess base alkali. As for Yukage, we found that he has a condition called Acidosis, which is a condition where there's too much acid in the body fluids."
"Would you mind explaining the procedure to Myojin and Lyla, and the role they'll be playing for the operation?"
"Of course, sir." Doctor Colmer went over to a projector and projected an image on the surface, which showed the defects for the babies as Myojin and Lyla paid attention to it. Yuhiro nearly puked upon seeing the screen. "As seen here, Yuhiro's lungs has been damaged, and is also missing veins in his right arm and left leg. Yukage, on the other hand, had his liver damaged, and is missing veins in his left arm and right leg. In addition, the boys have different sided organs as well. Long story short, due to the boys' unique medical conditions, a buffer solution will be needed to stabilize them until the procedure is complete. This is where you two come in, as based on your medical scans, we found unique elements in your blood that can save the boys' lives. "
"Thank you for telling us all this information, Doctor Colmer." Myojin stated, with Lyla nodding in agreement.
"I trust you're both ready for the procedure to begin?" Ukyos asked the couple.
"Yes," both Myojin and Lyla confirmed at the same time.
"Good. Then let us begin."
For the next several minutes, Yuhiro watched in horror as the two boys were operated on. Pieces of one boys' lung going into the other, pieces of a liver going into the other, some veins from one boys' right arm and left leg going into the other, some veins from one boys' left arm and right leg going into the other. Incision cuts were made into the boys' respective body parts to ensure the smooth implantation through the use of medical tools. Both boys were given an anesthetic through an IV, small clips on their fingers to measure their oxygen levels, cuffs on their arms to check their blood pressure, and small pads for the doctors to check their heart rates. The screen then flipped to show Myojin and Lyla giving blood, which went into a blood bag that was transferred over to the baby boys as the procedure continued.
Yuhiro, who couldn't watch anymore, exited the video as he panted out of pure horror. So I was... abandoned by my birth parents? I was... experimented on, with no choice at all. No. It can't be, he thought, all this information racing through his head. Eight other victims... Watchman being a part of Project: VIII... the fact that he had a brother who wasn't just by blood... having pieces of his brother inside of his body... all of these things made Yuhiro's stomach twist.
He quickly exited out of the file and scrolled down the list of files, hoping he can keep his sanity intact. After scrolling through the files, Yuhiro eventually found something else. It was a police report, which had a video link on it. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, and still grief-stricken by what he saw earlier, Yuhiro clicked on the file before playing the video, where it showed footage of something that caught him off guard.
The footage showed a car driving down a road as a driver on a motorcycle with a visor on his helmet began following after it. After riding parallel with the car, the motorcyclist pulled out his gun and shot at the two people in the front seat numerous times, which caused their car to crash into a street light. Parking the motorcycle nearby, the motorcyclist got off their vehicle and began walking to the car, where they saw a man and a woman having successfully got out of the car, the latter helping their daughter get out as well.
"You don't have to do this," the man pleaded to the motorcyclist, getting in front of his wife and daughter.
"Forgive me, but your termination is necessary," the motorcyclist replied, as he took off his visor, which showed a familiar face Yuhiro saw on the footage earlier from Project: Cross Breed. Without hesitation, the motorcyclist pointed their gun at the man and fired at him numerous times, which caused him to fall to the ground out of shock before dying. The motorcyclist immediately turned their gun to the woman and fired at her numerous times, causing her to also fall to the ground as her body was filled with bullet wounds.
"Daddy! Mommy! Wake up!" the girl begged her parents, only for them to not respond, as they were dead. She looked up at the motorcyclist as they aimed their gun at her, ready for it to be fired once again. However, the girl immediately fainted and fell to the ground in response, much to the motorcyclist's curiosity as they went over to check the girl's heartrate. He then pressed a button on his earpiece, as if someone was communicating with him. Having saw a light beeping from the car, the motorcyclist immediately shot the light before finding a camera nearby and shooting at it multiple times, causing the footage to end with static.
At that moment, Yuhiro finally figured it out.
He finally knew who was responsible for not only killing Miyu's parents, but for putting Miyu in the hospital for eight years as well.
"You... How could you do that to her?" Yuhiro quietly seethed under his breath in pure grief and rage. Wherever you are, I will find you, and make you suffer a fate worse than death, he swore in his mind. For him to get vengeance, Yuhiro needed help. Not from the sentient Cyberse creatures Herald currently made, as they can only do so much for him. Instead, Yuhiro will create a new set of Cyberse duel monsters for his deck and use Herald's algorithm to give them sentience. Ones that bore great hatred and resentment against humanity, wanting to see them suffer as they had suffered.
A girl who couldn't feel the reprieve of death went insane because she was unable to complete her godly given task.
A knight sent by the gods to punish mankind for their sins.
A monster locked away in an ever-changing dungeon because everyone feared its strength.
This unholy trinity will certainly help Yuhiro in making sure that the killer eternally suffered for the rest of his days. After they were completed, he had the cards printed and sent to his duel disk. No one needed to know about the unholy trinity. Not now. Not ever. They were his secret weapons after all.
"GAAAAAAAHHH!" Yuhiro screamed and slammed his fists down on the digital keyboard, unable to keep the sadness and rage inside of him.
He stood up and started heading toward the entrance of Cafe Matsuo. While Yuhiro didn't know Watchman's location, he did know the location of one of his allies. He'd get his answers confirmed or they'd regret not sharing them with him.
"Yuhiro, what's wrong?" Roxy questioned, having run downstairs upon hearing the loud scream. Upon hearing his name, Yuhiro turned to look at her with an expression that contained anger, sadness, and pure fear. Seeing this, Roxy's eyes widened, having seen that facial expression ten years earlier.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Yuhiro shouted with such rage that it took Roxy aback. Seizing the opportunity, Yuhiro ran out of Café Matsuo and into the cold, rainy night.
"Yuhiro! Come back! YUHIRO!" Roxy called after him, who didn't respond.
"Roxy, what's going-?" Arashi began speaking as he ran downstairs, only for him to stop upon putting two and two together. Roxy immediately ran upstairs to her room, where she searched her room to find her phone before obtaining it. Seeing what she was doing, Arashi narrowed his eyes. "I'll go get my phone and let Kusanagi and the others know what happened.
"Go do that. I'll get Herald." Roxy told him, who nodded as he went upstairs as well to get his phone. Roxy, on the other hand, went into Yuhiro's room and acquired his duel disk. "Herald, wake up!"
"... Roxy, I'm-." Herald was about to speak, when Roxy interrupted him.
"Yuhiro's ran away!" she stated, much to Herald's surprise.
"What?" Herald's eyes widened out of shock. "Then we have to find him!"
"Obviously." Roxy agreed, now heading to the backroom before putting Herald on the desk nearby, where the both of them saw a file currently open. Whatever Yuhiro saw must have traumatized him so much that he's acting irrationally, Roxy figured out, now closing the file before opening up a few screens. After Roxy connected Yuhiro's duel disk to the USB port, she typed on the digital keyboard for a moment or two, which caused camera screens to pop up. "See if you can find Yuhiro, Herald."
"Leave that to me, Roxy." Herald said, having immediately begun the search. Roxy, on the other hand, left the backroom and dialed a number. After her rang for a bit, a person answered on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Greg, it's urgent! Yuhiro's ran away, and I need your help. Not just your help, but her help as well. Can you both help me?"
"Yes, of course. The children are under the FBI's protection, after all." Greg immediately complied. "Send me his location when you can."
"Got it." Roxy hung up and let out a sigh, stressed out with what just happened.
"I let Kusanagi know about what happened. He's also keeping an eye on the cameras." Arashi said, now entering the general area of Café Matsuo. "You doing okay?"
"I'll be okay once we find Yuhiro and bring him home." Roxy snapped, now heading to the garage, hoping to find Yuhiro on foot. Arashi headed to the backroom, as if he knew that Roxy would tell him to assist Herald. As Roxy started up the van, one thing ran through her mind.
She would find Yuhiro and bring him home.
After all, he was her son, no matter where he came from.
Meanwhile...
Raindrops fell to the ground as lightning cackled in the clouds. Even though Yuhiro wore no coat, he was hellbent to get to his destination: Den City Hospital. That was where one of Watchman's allies was located. He'd get his answers there, no matter if he ended up sick as a result. While it usually took Yuhiro longer to reach the Den City Hospital by foot compared to car, for some reason, it took him a bit faster than usual, considering he felt his speed increase. None of that mattered right now. Given the situation he was in, what did matter was getting his answers validated. Yuhiro needed to hear the truth, as this new piece of information was tearing him apart from the inside out, and nothing would stop him from getting his answers confirmed.
Eventually, he made it to the entrance, breathing heavily as he opened the front door and went inside. Yuhiro didn't notice the people staying away from him as he walked over to the receptionist's desk, who had a terrified expression on her face.
"I'm here to see Miyu Sugisaki." Yuhiro told the receptionist.
"Sir, visitor hours are ending within-," the receptionist began speaking.
"Don't worry. I won't be too long." Yuhiro reassured her. "And before you say anything, I know where to go." Nodding in response, the receptionist allowed Yuhiro to walk down the hallway, which he did. Yuhiro eventually reached Room K3, where he saw Emica checking Miyu's vital signs.
"Oh, I wasn't aware there'd be a visitor tonight." Emica said, having seen Yuhiro. "Would you like me to-?"
"There's no need. After all, I came to talk to you, Dr. Okubo. Or should I say, Demeter." Yuhiro correctly deduced, which caught Emica off guard.
"I... I don't know what you're..."
"Emica isn't even your real name, isn't it?" Yuhiro continued with a serious expression, now entering into the room. "I looked into the file, and saw that your real name is Yua Kogami. Husband of Dr. Kiyoshi Kogami. Mother of Revolver, aka Ryoken Kogami."
"How..." Yua began shaking out of fear. "How did you-?"
"Changing your hair and name, using untraceable eye contacts, creating a backstory on how you went missing after your divorce certainly helped you hide out in the open, didn't it? All thanks to Watchman." Yuhiro went over to Yua, his serious expression now changing to one of fury. "Where's Watchman, Yua? I need to speak to him."
"I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. There's far more going on than you realize!" Yua countered back.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Crisis this, the Crisis that. Let's move that aside for a moment and focus on the now, shall we?" Yuhiro replied. "Aside from your real name, I saw loads of stuff. How I have a brother by blood, adoption, and foster care, how there's more than eight victims, and how Watchman was involved with Project: VIII from the beginning. Why did you and Percival and Watchman hide this information from us?"
"There comes a time and place for you to know-."
"A time and place? A TIME AND PLACE?!" Yuhiro repeated with a shout, which scared Yua. "LIAR! If you and the others told us this information, we could have-."
"There's only so much information that's needed in a situation!" Yua interrupted. "We had to focus on the Hanoi at the time, and we didn't want you-."
"To get distracted." Yuhiro finished, anger still evident on his face.
"I now have a question for you: In the time between now and after the Tower of Hanoi, why didn't you look into the information yourself?"
Hearing that question from Demeter froze Yuhiro in place. He had heard the same question from Azrael earlier, and it was just as bad.
"I..." Yuhiro couldn't provide an answer, as there was no answer he could give Yua. That was the truth. Anything else was a lie. He had so much time available to look into the data, and made the choice not to under the excuse that he wanted everyone to find out at the same time.
"You were afraid, weren't you?" Yua figured out, which made Yuhiro nod in response. "You wanted everyone to find the truth out at the same time. So you wouldn't feel alone again, just like you were all those years ago."
Yuhiro remained silent, his anger having been temporarily put on hold.
"All humans are plagued by fear one way or another." Yua continued talking, now walking over to the window, where she could look out into the stormy sky. "For instance, I fear the day where I'll see my son again. Will he accept me back with open arms when he finds out the truth, or push me away out of anger? It's also due to fear that we act irrationally." She turned to face Yuhiro. "Like during the Turf War, where you and your duel monster spirits attacked the troops from Alpha in broad daylight. While you neuralyzed the general populace into thinking they were the ones who protected the hospital, they don't know the truth like you and I do. You attacked those troops and saved the lives of the staff and patients there."
Yuhiro rolled his eyes. Of course Watchman would know about what really happened. If Gil managed to figure it out, then there was a fair chance for someone capable to figure it out as well. Still, there was something he had to get across. "Don't act so high and mighty, Yua. Surely, there was a time where fear made you act irrationally."
Yua sighed. "You're right, as I too acted irrationally. After the Lost Incident, everything went to Hell. SOL Technologies issued bounties on everyone that was involved. With my husband having been imprisoned and the others on the run, I was afraid that I'd be targeted because I was married to him. The ironic thing was that I unknowingly contributed to the Lost Incident by providing food and water for Kiyoshi's project. I thought that his experiment would change the world when he told me about it, which is why I helped him. What I didn't know was the procedures used for the project, and how they broke all the principles for research ethics."
"You ran away, just like the others. The only difference was that you had assistance." Yuhiro deduced.
"That's right. Thanks to Watchman, I was able to escape under the pretense that I divorced my husband. That's what the world believes, anyway." Yua confirmed, a serious, yet guilt-ridden look on her face. "When I learned later on that the whistleblower was Ryoken, that broke me. Still, I had to keep going, as I promised to help Watchman stop the Crisis in exchange for asylum. To this day, the guilt in abandoning my son still haunts me."
Yuhiro narrowed his eyes as he thought this information over. For Yua to do that... she feared for her own safety, and acted irrationally with no thought on how her actions would affect other people, especially Ryoken. While his situation was different compared to Yua's situation, they both acted impulsively like cowards.
"Now that you uncovered the truth about yourself, as well what Project: VIII is about and those involved, what will you do now?" Yua suddenly asked Yuhiro, who remained silent.
If Yuhiro was being honest with himself, he didn't know how to answer that question. He was still torn with all this information he found out recently. Not just about himself, but about Project: VIII as a whole, the people involved, and how his values meant nothing in this unequal world... it was just too much for him to take in. It felt like Yuhiro could explode at any moment.
He went over and stroked Miyu's forehead, the confused and torn expression still on his face. Everything Yuhiro did was for Miyu's sake, and if it meant seeing her happy and safe, he'd do whatever it took to ensure it would happen. But Azrael called Yuhiro out on this, saying that doing such a thing had split his spirit to the bone. Tainted his own name beyond redemption. How could Yuhiro call himself a warrior of justice after what he had learned? Not just from the Project: VIII information, but from Azrael as well.
Before Yuhiro can dwell on it some more, Miyu's right hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, much to his surprise.
"Trust her, Yuhiro. There's always good in people," Miyu's words echoed in Yuhiro's mind, as if she were communicating with him telepathically. Yuhiro shook his head and grit his teeth as he got Miyu's right hand off his wrist, knowing they were nothing more than thoughts trying to shake him. No one can communicate telepathically. It was impossible. He also knew the truth: That Miyu speaking to him during his duel against Infearno was nothing more than a dream, which was formed by his feelings for her. He didn't even know whether he saw Miyu as family or something more, but that was something for another day, as it was pointless to think about it now.
Yuhiro then turned to Yua, who stared back at him for a few moments before speaking.
"So you're undecided on your answer. That's fine for now." Yua said, as she turned away from Yuhiro to the window, where she can look out into the stormy sky. "Still, I have to warn you. If you stray onto the wrong path, you'll have no future. Make that mistake, and you'll lose everything." Her warning contained no scorn. Instead, it contained concern and emptiness. She turned away from Yuhiro and looked out the window to see the stormy sky, the serious and guilt-ridden expression still on her face. Yuhiro then left the hospital room, knowing there was nothing else to discuss with Yua.
He exited the hospital and walked outside into the stormy night. There was only one other place for him to go. The Den City Cemetery, where Myojin and Lyla Furutani were buried. He just needed to be alone right now.
After a long walk, Yuhiro eventually reached his destination and walked through the gates. He walked down the graves vertically, hoping to find where they were buried. Eventually, after a few more minutes of walking, he found them.
Myojin Furutani.
And Lyla Furutani.
"Dad. Mom." Yuhiro began speaking. "I looked into the information, and found out everything. About how you guys not only saved my life, but my brother's life as well. About how you worked on a project with Arshad and this guy named Ukyos just to reach some goddamn root, whatever the Hell that is. About how the incident cost not only Ukyos' life, but the lives of eight other victims as well!" He grit his teeth. "Even though you saved me, you cursed me in the process! Turned me into some abomination, with pieces of my human body that aren't my own! A monster that hurts people instead of helping them!" Yuhiro then looked upwards, the rain falling down on his face. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME?! IS THIS WHAT I AM?!"
"There you are, Yuhiro!" a voice cried out of relief, which made Yuhiro turn around to look behind him. Upon doing so, he saw Rachel, who was wearing a raincoat.
"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Yuhiro immediately inquired. He didn't need her presence right now. He just wanted to be alone and vent with no one seeing.
"Why, I came to look for you, silly." Rachel answered, now walking towards Yuhiro. "Roxy asked Greg and I to help search for you, as we're all concerned for your wellbeing."
Of course Roxy's concerned, Yuhiro thought. All parents were responsible for their child's wellbeing, whether the child was of pure blood, an adopted one, or someone that came from foster care. The fact that Yuhiro was all three made him sick to his stomach.
"And now that I found you, I can bring you back to Café Matsuo safe and sound." Rachel continued, now circling around Yuhiro for a moment before reaching to grab Yuhiro's right hand. "So follow me! I'll help you recover from your-."
"Shut up!" Yuhiro shouted, pushing Rachel away in a fit of rage, which surprised her. At that moment, he realized what he done, as evident by the shocked expression on Rachel's face.
Yuhiro fell to his knees and began crying, now feeling deep shame and sadness with everything that had happened up until now. To his surprise, Rachel walked forward and gently stroked Yuhiro's hair with both her hands.
"It's okay to cry, Yuhiro." Rachel assured him, which made Yuhiro look at her.
"Rachel... You're not mad at me?"
"Of course I'm not. I'm on your side, Yuhiro."
Yuhiro gasped, his eyes widening out of surprise. He had just pushed away an honest, pure show of affection out of anger and pain. Yet Rachel was still here, trying her best to comfort him. "You're...on my side?"
"Of course I am." Rachel confirmed with a smile, which put Yuhiro at ease. "While I don't know what happened to you, I do know this: You're still a good person to the core, and you care for the wellbeing of others. That's why I'm your side, Yuhiro."
"Rachel... thank you," was all Yuhiro could say back, happy that someone could say that to him, even if he was not himself.
"Rachel, where are you?" a voice cried out, which made Rachel and Yuhiro turn as they saw Greg emerge from another area of the cemetery. "Ah, there you are, and you found Yuhiro too."
"Hey, Greg. I'm sorry I caused you and the others trouble." Yuhiro sadly said, as he walked up to them.
"No. No. You didn't at all." Greg assured him before wrapping an emergency blanket around his body. He and Rachel helped Yuhiro stand up before walking back to the car. After Greg started up the car, he pressed the 'Call' button on the screen in front of him before dialing a number, where a person answered immediately answered on the other end.
"Hello?"
"We found Yuhiro, Roxy." Greg immediately stated which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank you guys so much. I'm so grateful for your help." Roxy said out of gratitude.
"See you in a bit." Greg ended the call before beginning to drive on the road back to Café Matsuo. As Yuhiro looked out the window, Rachel placed her right hand on his left hand in comfort, assuring him that everything will be okay in the end.
Several minutes later, at Café Matsuo, in the living room...
"Just what the Hell were you thinking, Yuhiro?!" Roxy demanded, as Yuhiro took a sip of hot tea from his cup. After Greg arrived at Café Matsuo, Roxy had a look of relief on her face as she brought Yuhiro inside. While Roxy didn't mind Rachel staying for a bit to help make sure Yuhiro was okay, Greg unfortunately said that it wasn't the time, as it was late and they had to go home for the night.
"Yeah, Yuhiro. You made us all worried!" Herald added, his arms crossed out of disappointment. While Arashi was nearby the living room, he didn't speak, lest he say the wrong thing and make the situation worse unintentionally.
"I wanted to be alone," was all Yuhiro told them.
"Alone? You could have stayed in your room by yourself and recuperated, but no. You decided to bolt out in the rain, God knows where!" Roxy exclaimed. "You had us all worried, and if it weren't for Rachel and Greg, you'd be still outside with nowhere to go!"
"So?" Yuhiro looked up at Roxy. "I'd be fine. I would have returned home after I got everything off my chest."
"Yeah, right. Considering how you were injured by Azrael not only physically, but mentally as well, you were not fine. " Herald pointed out, his eyes having been narrowed at Yuhiro.
"I don't care about my injuries. I needed to get answers. They're more important than my well-being." Yuhiro stated in an uncaring voice, before putting his cup of tea and standing up from the couch.
"Noting's more important than your well-being, Yuhiro Furutani!" Roxy exclaimed, also standing up from the couch she was sitting on. "After what happened, you need to recover and get your-."
"I. Don't. Care." Yuhiro then walked away and began heading downstairs, only for Roxy to follow after him.
"I know you're going to the backroom, Yuhiro." Roxy said. "Hey! Yuhiro! You have to listen when people-."
"DON"T COME ANY CLOSER!" Yuhiro suddenly pleaded, which surprised Roxy as he took several steps back, fear, panic, and grief in his voice.
"Yuhiro?"
"You don't know who I really am." Yuhiro said.
"Who you really are?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. "Don't be silly. The only Yuhiro I know is the one who's been living here all this time."
"You're wrong. You don't know who I really am." Yuhiro reiterated, his body now shaking. "My real name is Yuhiro Nakama. I was born to parents who didn't want me, and left me to die at a hospital."
Roxy gasped. She didn't know this about Yuhiro. All this time, she thought he had been kidnapped from a family before he was forced to partake in the Lost Incident. But for parents to do something like that to Yuhiro... was unforgivable.
Yuhiro hugged himself, hoping to stop his body from shaking, but that didn't work. "I wasn't born pure. I had damage to my liver, and needed to get veins for my right arm and left leg, as they were also damaged upon birth. And who better to give them to me than my hybrid brother, who was born a year earlier and cryogenically frozen to prevent him from dying."
"Your hybrid brother?" Roxy repeated, now cautiously taking a few steps forward. "What do you mean?" She was afraid to hear what would come out of Yuhiro's mouth next.
"I looked into the Project: VIII files, and found out the truth about myself." Yuhiro confessed, now on the verge of crying. "I was adopted into the family who initiated not just Project: VIII, but Project: Apotheosis and the Lost Incidents as well! My hybrid brother was also responsible for putting Miyu in the hospital! And because I come from a family who's hurt so many people, that means I'm guilty by extension! Where's my home for someone like myself?!"
Roxy went over to Yuhiro and approached him, who didn't stop her. "This place is your home, Yuhiro. Always."
Yuhiro, in response, shook his head over and over again, as if he was trying to deny what he just heard. "No. I'm a monster. An abomination. A freak. Someone born only to hurt others, not help them. As long as I exist, I'll only continue hurting the people around me. Don't you see now, Roxy?" The tears began forming around Yuhiro's eyes. "I DON'T DESERVE TO BE YOUR SON!"
The next thing Yuhiro knew, Roxy went over and hugged him so fast that he gasped out of surprise.
"You are my son, and will always be my son. That will always be true, no matter what." Roxy assured Yuhiro firmly.
"Mom..." Yuhiro muttered, the tears now falling from his eyes as Roxy hugged him tightly. While he never called Roxy 'Mom' his entire life, the fact that Roxy still accepted Yuhiro after everything she learned was the most motherly thing he ever witnessed in his life.
"You aren't a monster, or whatever you called yourself. What makes you different from your family is that you're a good and kind human being, who cares for others. I never met anyone who is as selfless as you are, and that's why I'm damn lucky that you're my son." Roxy told Yuhiro, the words helping him calm down. Seeing this, Roxy let go of Yuhiro, who looked down at the ground.
"That day, when Miyu was kidnapped by Azrael, I couldn't save her. If I was stronger, I could have succeeded." Yuhiro said, before looking up at her. "I'm so sorry, Roxy, for failing to save Miyu. I failed you, I failed her, and I failed myself." Roxy then proceeded to gently ruffle his hair, a grateful smile on her face.
"I forgive you, buddy." Roxy replied. "Trust me when I say this, Yuhiro: We will get her back. The fight isn't over yet, and we will succeed in getting her back."
Yuhiro smiled back before proceeding to hug Roxy, who hugged him back. "I hear you. And thank you very much. For adopting me that day."
"You're welcome, buddy. You're welcome."
"This is awesome." Arashi commented out of nowhere, interrupting the moment between Yuhiro and Roxy as the duo slowly turned to face him, who had went downstairs to the backroom. "It's awesome, you know? You guys are breaking down walls, you're healing. It's important. I ruined the moment, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did. Yes." Roxy answered with an annoyed look, as Yuhiro facepalmed himself.
"In that case, I'm gonna make some more tea." Arashi quickly ran upstairs, lest he faced Roxy's infamous wrath for ruining the moment.
"We're so giving him the evening shift tomorrow, right?" Yuhiro asked Roxy, who smirked in response.
"We so are." Roxy agreed. "You feeling better?"
"A bit. It's a lot to process, but I should be better in the next few days." Yuhiro assured Roxy, as he began went upstairs. "I'm gonna get some needed rest. Considering everything that happened..."
"It'll help. Trust me on that." Roxy replied.
"Thanks, mom." Yuhiro smiled, which made Roxy smile back.
"Anytime, Yuhiro. Anytime." Roxy stated, as Yuhiro then proceeded to go upstairs. When he approached the living room, he saw Herald playing Pokemon Legends: Arceus, while Arashi was in the process of making some tea.
Without strength, I can't protect anything... I know that now Yukage, my brother, Yuhiro thought in his mind, as he walked upstairs to his bedroom, intent on getting a good night's sleep.
As Arashi continued to make some tea, a frown appeared on his face. Hey, Takeda. I finally found the person who put you in the hospital. Would you be proud of me for my actions, or would you be disgusted with the person I've become, he wondered in his mind.
The next day...
"So that's it. That's who I am." Yuhiro finished his story to Yusaku, Takeru, and Arashi, who were walking to Den Academy with him. With everything having gone back to normal since the Turf War, the school announced a return to in-person learning, much to the joy of the students there. While there will be security checks for the time being, Den Academy was confident that it can continue teaching its students the course material needed for them to thrive in life. "What do you guys think?"
"Yuhiro, I... I'm really sorry. That must have been a lot for your to take in, especially when you've done it in a single night." Takeru said first.
"I for one am surprised about this information. To think that eight people before us actually volunteered for the first Lost Incident." Flame added, before turning to Yuhiro. "Were you aware that you and Azrael were brothers?"
"I always thought Yukage was my childhood friend, Flame. But to think that my own hybrid flesh and blood could cause so much pain... well, it certainly disgusts me at the very core. If Yukage can do such a thing, what are the chances of me doing something like that later on?" Yuhiro questioned.
"Yuhiro, I highly doubt you're someone who hurts other people. I mean, everything you've done so far was for the betterment of other people, not just for your own benefit. So give yourself a break, dude. It will help you a lot." Arashi stated, trying to help Yuhiro out.
"I appreciate your efforts in trying to cheer me up, Arashi. It's just..." Yuhiro frowned, unsure of how to finish the sentence.
"You're not sure on what to do next." Yusaku finished.
"Yeah." Yuhiro agreed. "But at least opening up to you three is a first step towards healing." The others nodded in agreement.
"Still, I'm angry that you didn't tell us this information earlier!" Ai exclaimed. "If we knew about it earlier-."
"Knock it off, Ai! Yuhiro's been through enough as it is, and he doesn't need your damn sass right now!" Herald reprimanded him.
"I'm sorry!" Ai immediately apologized to Yuhiro.
"Don't worry about it." Yuhiro simply replied, before turning to Yusaku. "What are your thoughts on all of this new information?"
Yusaku thought it over for a moment before speaking. "It's a lot to take in. I didn't expect there to be eight other Lost Incident victims before us, especially ones who died. Nor did I expect Watchman to be involved in the first Lost Incident of Project: VIII. Do you know if he was involved in Project: Apotheosis by any chance?"
"No. Project: Apotheosis was conducted five years after the second Lost Incident. I'm certain of that." Yuhiro immediately answered.
"Is Roxy aware of the information you're telling us?"
"She is, and is telling Kusanagi about it as well. This way, we'll all be in the loop." Yuhiro confirmed.
"That's good, as we can discuss it more as a group." Ai stated. "Put all our brains together in a single room, come up with some hypotheses..."
"Ai, I don't think you're helping right now." Flame gently told him.
"Hey! I was trying to put in some comedy here, Flame! Considering the dark stuff Yuhiro learned, I just want to at least try to brighten up his day a little!" Ai protested, which made Yuhiro chuckle a bit. "See? It's working, Flame! In your face! Because Ai succeeded!" Both Flame and Herald facepalmed after hearing that last comment. Even in serious situations, Ai always found a way to be... annoying, but at least he made a sincere attempt to be helpful.
"Furutani, what are your thoughts on all of this information?" Yusaku asked, which got Yuhiro's attention as he thought everything he learned last night over for a minute or two. In his mind, it was a lot to take in, as Takeru pointed out. A part of Yuhiro even wondered what it would happen if he didn't look into the information last night, and instead looked at it earlier when he had the time available. Would the result be the same? Would Yuhiro be shunned by the others for being a part of a family that caused everything to occur? Would Yuhiro ultimately end up alone for being... inhuman, unlike everyone else, who was human?
But all those possibilities weren't worth thinking over, as it happened, and there's no going back.
"Honestly, I'm shocked with everything I found out. The fact that my adopted family was responsible for everything makes me feel guilty by extension. Project: VIII, Project: Apotheosis, and the Lost Incident wouldn't have existed if it weren't for them." Yuhiro began explaining.
"You don't know that for sure."
"I hear you there. Still, it's because of my family that so many people were affected by those experiments. You, Takeru, Arashi, Jin, Miyu... your lives changed forever because of what happened." Yuhiro continued. "Guys, I am so, so sorry that I didn't explain this earlier when I had the chance. I hope all of you can forgive me for my foolish mistake."
"Hey, it's okay, Yuhiro." Takeru assured him. "I'm just glad you told us all of this now, rather than not telling us, if you get what I mean."
"You're forgetting something else as well, Furutani. You aren't defined by your family's actions. You are your own individual. One whose choices and beliefs have made a positive difference not just for himself, but for others as well. One I'm proud to call my friend." Yusaku pointed out as well.
Yuhiro in hearing this, smiled. "Thanks, guys. I appreciate what you're saying very much." He then turned to Yusaku. "You're right, Fujiki. I'm my own individual, whose choices and beliefs are-."
"Yusaku."
Yuhiro raised an eyebrow and frowned, wondering why Yusaku decided to interrupt him.
"You might as well call me Yusaku. I mean, we've known each other for quite a while, don't you agree?" Yusaku asked with a smile.
Yuhiro, after hearing this, smiled back. "I agree. As long as you call me Yuhiro, I will certainly call you Yusaku."
"This is great! Everyone's on first-name basis now!" Arashi cried out of joy before proceeding to wrap his arm around Yusaku, who was surprised as he wrapped his other arm around Takeru, much to his surprise. Arashi then tried to pull Yuhiro in for the group hug, only for him to step to the side just in time. A moment or two later, Yuhiro noticed his right hand being tugged, and when he turned to his right side, he saw Rachel, who was happy to see him. Seeing this, he smiled back at her.
At that moment, Yuhiro realized something.
He wasn't alone.
He had friends and family. Ones that still chose to accept him, even after having learned the dark truth about him and his connection to the family that started Project: VIII.
And that's the advantage Yuhiro will always have over Yukage, no matter what happened next.
A light shines and the letters spelling out VRAINS light up the screen before a network is formed and several cards are drawn in towards a pillar of light. Playmaker, Raguel, and Soulburner are shown with their respective Ignis and stats, along with real-life forms that across the backgrounds that match their Ignis' colors. The screen then shows each of them being shocked while wearing VR sets as kids, along with Arashi.
The screen gets swallowed with darkness at It reveals a young Yukage huddled up and crying, his shadow shrinking behind him before taking the form of Wraith and comforting him. Yukage looks up with a menacing and soul piercing glare before the darkness consumes him and he's replaced with an older version of himself. Azrael and Wraith are then shown in NEW LINK VRAINS, as they look out into the digital sky. The scene then shifts to Bohman standing tall above NEW LINK VRAINS and holding the earth in his hands with Haru by his side. Malf grins in the shadows behind them, his red eyes shining bright in the process.
A drop of light falls down, and as it explodes, it reveals Playmaker, Raguel, and Soulburner, standing on buildings watching over the network, along with Slipstream as well. Blood Shepherd is shown commanding a trio of Battledrone Sergeants before the screen shifts to Drachen, who is shown commanding Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The screen then shifts a third time to Electrolyzer, where above him was PSY-Frame Driver, with PSY-Framegears Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta. The screen then shows Go Onizuka, Kenmochi, and Yoroizaka with Dinowrestler King T Wrextle, Gouki the Blade Ogre, and Gouki the Solid Ogre behind them ready for battle.
Blue Girl, Ghost Girl, Numera and SengokuQueen are then featured together riding their duel boards across the night sky with shooting stars flying across them. Trickstar Holly Angel was with Blue Girl, while Numera was with Geomathmech Final Sigma. Ghost Girl was with Altergeist Dragvirion, while SengokuQueen was with Secret Six Samurai – Rihan.
The screen then changes to Raguel, Playmaker, and Soulburner riding on their duel boards with Cyreath Medusa and Cyreath Hercules/Alpha Mode, Cyberse Magician, Cyberse Witch, and Salamangreat Heatleo behind them. Following the trio is Slipstream and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. The four of them join together with a fist bump and smile in the real world as the wind blows, with Kusanagi, Roxy, and Greg watching them from Kusanagi's truck. Rachel then runs toward the quartet, and more specifically, Yuhiro, a look of joy clearly on her face. Unbeknownst to everyone, they're watched from the shadows by a hooded Yukage, who glares at them, biding his time.
Card Gallery
No cards introduced in this chapter.
QOTC
What are your thoughts on the information revealed in this chapter? Also, in your opinion, do you think Fanfiction is like a Multiverse?
Chapter Preview
Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth. Chapter 69: Noble Calling. With reluctance, Watchman helps lead Raguel to a weapon that may give him the edge he needs to match Azrael's strength. Accepting the responsibility that comes with it, Raguel prepares himself for the trials that await him along the way. Meanwhile, a strong duelist charges at Watchman with pure fury, forcing him to use his full power to defeat the intruder in a duel...
Author's Notes
Well... that was a heavy chapter to write. Not only because there was a lot in this chapter, especially a chapter with no duels, but it was because of the way I wanted to present it to all of you. I think a recap is needed here, don't you agree?
As this chapter picks up right where we left off in Chapter 67, it starts with Roxy, Arashi, and Herald trying to tend to Yuhiro's wounds. Keep in mind that Azrael's sword, the Muramasa, inflicts damage not only in the network, but in the real world as well. Long story short: If you're stabbed by the Muramasa in the network, the injuries you sustain will be transferred to the real world. That's why the trio had difficulty in trying to tend to Yuhiro's wounds. Luckily, thanks to a combination of Herald's shields, the healing stim, and Yuhiro's Link Trigger, they were able to treat them in time. Now to point something out: Link Trigger can only do so much in healing Yuhiro. For instance, bruises and cuts, as well as broken limbs, can be healed. Here, however, it wasn't able to fully heal the cuts all over Yuhiro. I'll just say this now: While the cuts around Yuhiro's body will eventually fade away in time, the wound on his chest will always be there like a scar. A reminder on how Azrael managed to best him both in physical and mental combat.
When the others arrive, they inform one another of events on their respective ends. Ex. Yusaku's meeting with Earth, Takeru and Arashi's meeting with Watchman, and Yuhiro's encounter with Azrael. Now here, I'll address something that I should have put in Chapter 67 when it was released: The probability that Blood Shepherd knows Takeru's identity and may search for him in the real world. While Watchman put the non-encryption traceable encryption code into the Soulburner avatar to prevent anyone from deducing his identity, there's still that risk, so Watchman will find a way to address it. Arashi also informs the others about the information that Gil gave him and Yuhiro a few days ago (refer to Roxy's Reports 31 for further information). Unlike the anime, where Yusaku and the others didn't know about Bohman's goal being to absorb the other Ignis, they now have a head lead against the Light Ignis.
After everything is discussed, Roxy then tells the others on why she adopted Yuhiro. I felt that it was important to include in this chapter, as it shows Roxy's genuine desire to give someone who suffered from the Lost Incident a better life. Another reason Roxy did this was to help Miyu out, as interacting with someone who also suffered from the Lost Incident will help her heal. I hope that you liked the flashback here.
Then is the discussion between Azrael and Wraith. After the both of them update the other on what happened on their respective ends, Azrael tells Wraith that the Light Ignis was responsible for destroying the Cyberse World. While Wraith wants to tear the Light Ignis apart, Azrael suggests that they bide their time a bit longer, as the Light Ignis can still be of use to them. In exchange, Wraith asks if he and Azrael can search for Aqua, which Azrael agrees to do.
Next is the nightmare sequence, which is basically Yuhiro's friends scolding Yuhiro for his inability to save them, as well as mock his morals in the process. Now here is the interesting part: Yuhiro ends up encountering three people. A girl, a knight, and a monster. I'll tell you this: While all three of them are Greek-Mythology related, I'm not telling you their identities. That's something I'll have you figure out yourself.
After the nightmare, Yuhiro, having been haunted by Azrael's words, decides to look into the Project: VIII files once and for all. Pay attention here, as I'm about to sum up Yuhiro's findings. First is the identities of the people involved in the first Lost Incident. Do note that these people chose to volunteer for the experiment. They weren't kidnapped, nor coerced. They chose to volunteer. The names of the eight people involved in the first Lost Incident are, as follows: Jason Albinor, Hisato Kugutsu, Eira Winters, Mara Ravencroft, Barak Ryuzaki, Nobu Katoa, Callum Gushiken, and Shion Izumi. What role will these eight people play later on in the story? Let me hear your thoughts.
The next finding Yuhiro discovers is footage of a person killing Miyu's parents. Now I won't reveal who killed Miyu's parents and put Miyu in the hospital, as that's basically spoilers. For Yuhiro, it's pissed him off so much that he proceeds to use Herald's Ignis algorithm to create three new duel monster cards, as well as give them sentience. They are the girl, the knight, and the monster from his dreams, which he refers to as the unholy trinity. Something tells me those three figures will play a role in the story later on, don't you agree?
Now is the most important and critical finding of Yuhiro's investigation: The fact that he has a hybrid brother named Yukage Furutani. All this time, Yuhiro thought that Yukage was his childhood friend, but in reality, he is his hybrid brother, and the eighth Lost Incident victim. Before you get angry at me, allow me to point something out: I actually planned for them to be brothers, but after getting feedback for the idea, I decided to make some changes so I can differentiate it from the other VRAINS fanfics. As such, allow me to explain it in detail: Yuhiro was born premature to parents who didn't want them, and has a condition called Alkalosis, which is a condition where the body fluids have excess base alkali. Yukage, on the other hand, was born stillborn to a different set of parents one year prior who died giving birth to him. As a result, he was cryogenically frozen for an entire year... until Yuhiro was born, and there was a match for Yukage. Yukage's condition is called Acidosis, which is a condition where there's too much acid in the body fluids.
During Project: Cross Breed, Ukyos Albinor announced its purpose, which was to take two or more patients who have been dealt a bad hand upon birth and use their unique functioning parts to create a miracle through any means necessary. Methods to do this would include genetic code grafting and editing, organ transplant, and blood infusion. Due to Yuhiro and Yukage's conditions, as well as the fact that they have different-sided organs, Myojin and Lyla Furutani were brought in to provide their blood to help with the operation, for a buffer solution was required. After the procedure was complete, Myojin and Lyla proceeded to adopt the boys because they were barren and sterile. Therefore, Yuhiro and Yukage are blood, adopted, and foster brothers at the same time, which I simplify it as hybrid brothers. Let me know what your thoughts are on this.
After examining the Project: VIII file, Yuhiro runs away into the cold and rainy night and heads to the Den City Hospital, where he encounters Emica Okubo, who's actually Demeter. Not just that, but Emica Okubo is... Yua Kogami this entire time! Yes, that's right. Emica Okubo's real identity is Yua Kogami, who is Demeter in the network! At the hospital, Yua explains why she ended up joining with Watchman. She originally helped Dr. Kogami with the Lost Incident by providing food and water for the subjects, unaware of the methods used to acquire results. When Yua found out the truth, she was crushed, and afraid of being targeted due to being associated with him, sought out Watchman to help her escape under the pretense that she divorced Dr. Kogami. Some time after she did that, Yua found out that her own son, Ryoken, was the whistleblower. So in a sense, she unintentionally abandoned Ryoken without her knowing it. Now Yua helps Watchman in dealing with the Crisis in exchange for asylum from the other authorities. As for how Yua was able to hide in plain sight, she changed her own name, got untraceable contact lenses to change her eyes, underwent a new hairstyle, and creating the backstory where she's somewhere else in the world, having divorced Dr. Kogami.
Here, there's a similarity between Yuhiro and Yua: Both acted out of fear. Whereas Yua acted because she was afraid of being arrested by association, Yuhiro didn't look into the Project: VIII files earlier because he was afraid of being alone. Let me know your thoughts on this in your reviews.
Following the discussion, Yuhiro heads out to the Den City Cemetery, where he finds his adopted parents' gravestones. After a bit of venting, Rachel finds Yuhiro, only for him to deny her attempts to help him out. And what does she do in response? She comforts Yuhiro, and assures him that she's on his side. It shows how caring Rachel is to Yuhiro, as she knows he wouldn't do it on purpose. He's grieving, and all Rachel can do right now is to comfort him and help her 'big brother' out.
After that is the scene with Yuhiro and Roxy, the latter obviously angry with the former for running away. It gets to a point where Yuhiro, out of pure fear and grief, tells Roxy that he looked into the Project: VIII file. That he was born damaged to a family who didn't even want him, that he was adopted to the family that caused Project: VIII, that his hybrid brother was responsible for putting Miyu in the hospital, that he's guilty by extension simply for being a member of a family that caused people pain, and that he didn't deserve to be her son. And Roxy's response? She hugs Yuhiro, telling him that he will always be her son no matter what, as well as assuring him that he's not a monster, but a kind human being. Here, it shows that Roxy truly cares for Yuhiro as a mother, and has chosen to look at him as the person he is now, rather than judge him by his past.
Last but not least is the ending scene, where we got some scenes between Yusaku, Yuhiro, Takeru, and Arashi, with Rachel showing up at the end. I hope those scenes give you some good feelings, as they gave me some, especially with what was revealed this chapter.
So without further ado, thank you everyone for reading Chapter 68 of Obscured Truth. As always, please let me know your thoughts about the chapters below in your reviews. Also, constructive criticism is appreciated, as your tips and advice helps make the story better. In addition, don't forget to favorite and follow the story. That way, you will get a notification once the next chapter is released.
What did you enjoy the most from this chapter? The Project: VIII information finally being unveiled? The fact that Yuhiro actually has a brother who is by blood, adoption, and foster care? The nightmare sequences? The heartwarming moments between the characters? Or was it something else?
That's all for now. Stay tuned, for next chapter, I got something really special for all of you!
