"Would you look at that? Deadend Crow, or should I call him Deadend Cure, was taken down himself. D.K.'s crew seems to be tougher than I thought. I think it's time I went out there." Shura said as he was excited to get in on the action and take on Demon King once again.

"Not just yet." Poseidon Nero said.

"Say what?! You don't even have anyone left to fight!" Shura said. "Let me go out there and let me fight! I've got a score to settle with Demon King!"

"And that is why I'm not going to let you go. Are you focused on your own objectives or what I need you for?" Poseidon Nero said, but Shura was getting rather annoyed with his father. As for Ijuna, she didn't need to say anything. She was on her way.

"Ijuna? Where are you going?" Shura questioned.

"Sorry, Shura. I might be your assistant, but I'm not confined to here as much as you are. I'm free to fight for Poseidon Nero himself." Ijuna said. "I have matters of my own to take care of. Once I'm done, I'll be back to help you against Demon King." With that, she took off on her own. This is rather interesting. Ijuna has been standing on the sides this entire time and has just simply aiding Shura. Now she's taking action herself? What could have possessed her to do something like that?

...

Wiseman

After the duel with Cure, Holy finally got what she's desired for a long time. The man she's been after for so long has finally been taken care of. At this point, she couldn't care less if he was gone forever and never came back. At least that's one less enemy to worry about.

"Hey. You doing okay?" Wiseman asked. "How does it feel knowing you finally had your revenge?"

"Bittersweet." Holy said. "I'm glad he's finally been dealt with, but it doesn't change the fact that my sister is gone. At least I can take comfort knowing he will never harm another again. Even if we end this and all those gone come back, we know where to find him now."

"Holy!" Both of them looked and saw Feather flying in and joining them. "What's going on here? I got your message about Cure. He was really the enemy?"

"Yes. He was the true face behind Deadend Crow." Holy said. "Luckily, thanks to a little help from Wiseman here, he was dealt with. It would appear that he's been digitized as well. That's why I want you to get in contact with the base and locate Cure's actual body and apprehend it."

"It's already in the process with the others." Feather said. "What I find fascinating is that you teamed up with one of Demon King's comrades, but I suppose I can see the reason in it." She already got an idea of what was going on, so that saves them the time of the explanation. "Everything seems to be currently under control, but what happened to the avatars of Cure and Justice? Where is their data being stored if their being digitizied?"

"I don't know, but we're going to get your buddy back." Wiseman said. "Poseidon Nero and his son, Shura, should really be the only ones left. There could still be this Ziggy, but he's a bit of a wildcard. Now, if you lovely ladies will excuse me, I got bad guys to beat." He flew off and headed back to Poseidon Nero's realm. The women didn't even attempt to go after him and stop him.

"You're not going to stop him?" Feather questioned.

"We currently have a truce." Holy said. "We have a common enemy at the moment. In fact, Demon King and his buddies don't really seem like bad people. They might bend a few lines, but they clearly have good hearts. They're not afraid of a fight."

"I suppose so, but that doesn't mean they're above the law. Justice certainly isn't just going to let them go." Feather said.

"And this provides us an opportunity." Holy said. "While Demon King and his buddies are keeping Poseidon Nero and his buddies busy, we can get to work on tracking them down. Even if they're defeated, they can still escape into the real world."

"Not a problem. Work is already being made, and a few clues into their identities have been made. They won't escape." Feather said. That was good for them. This battle with Poseidon Nero might be coming to an end much sooner than they expected.

...

Demon King

"Eden, do you think we're going the right way?" Demon King said. He ran around the castle to try and find an enemy, but there hasn't been any sign of one for him just yet.

"Not sure. I don't have access to the layout of this place." Eden said.

"Can you at least tell me if any of the others are okay?" Demon King said. "I'm a little worried if they do lose a duel, they will end up the same way as Justice?"

"I don't have access to that information." Eden said. That didn't really make Demon King feel any better. "I'm sure they are all fine. They are skilled duelists. You have faith in their abilities, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Demon King claimed, but that didn't make him feel any less concerned about his friends. "Oh man. I just hope they're all okay."

"About that, there is one thing I noted that I think you should be aware of. It's about Laguna." Eden said. Demon King listened as he was curious about it. "Don't you think it's odd he continued to stay with us and joined us in this fight?"

"No. Doesn't he want to be friends?" Demon King asked.

"I don't think he has the same motives as you." Eden said. "What I'm trying to say is that I believe Laguna has a hidden objective, an ulterior motive for helping us. He was the first to go off on his own, so this might be his chance for that. Do you still believe he is on our side?"

"Anyone who is willing to help us, I would consider a friend. Whatever it is, I trust him." Demon King claimed, and perhaps he is right to put his trust in Laguna despite being a former enemy.

...

Laguna

As for Laguna, he paced himself as he searched around the castle. It was his idea to divide and conquer, but there was something else going on in his mind besides stopping Poseidon Nero. He was looking for something...or rather someone. He kept walking around the halls until he came to a stop. He noticed someone coming from down the hall and came to face...her. It was none other than Ijuna herself.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember someone sending you an invitation." Ijuna said. "You're not really allowed to be here, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"If you truly knew me, you would know that I can't do that." Laguna said with them apparently having a standoff. "Honestly, you knew me much better than that, Ijuna."

"Hello, Laguna." Ijuna said. "I must admit that I'm a little surprised to see you here. I never would have thought you would have gotten mixed up in all of this. Last I heard, you got caught up with Drakken Joe? Now you're with Demon King? I thought you wanted to be an actor, not a troublemaker."

"It's funny you should say that when you're the reason I'm here." Laguna claimed. "When they came to recruit me for my help, they mentioned a woman. When they told me about the woman, I knew it was you." He thought back to how those two were in the past. The truth of the matter was that Laguna and Ijuna knew each other for years. They were friends when they were children. "What are you doing in a place like this, Ijuna? Why are you helping these people?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Ijuna said.

"I'm just here for my own needs." Laguna said. "I had to know why you are a part of this. It's been far too long since we last saw each other. When your father got a brand new job and had to move away, we were forced to part ways. So, I can't understand how you got involved in this."

"It's simple really. This was my fate." Ijuna said.

"Your fate?" Laguna questioned.

"Yes. The red string of fate has brought me to Shura." Ijuna said.

"Shura? Red string of fate?" Laguna said. "I know you were always a fan of romance novels, but this isn't one of those. How can this be your fate?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Laguna. Fate works in mysterious ways." Ijuna said. "That is how you and I got to be on opposing sides of this war. You see, my father's new boss ended up being Poseidon Nero. We met through them. After that, I found myself being drawn to him. I could tell fate was bringing us together, and it was the red string of fate."

"I think you've read to many of those romance novels." Laguna said. "Ijuna, even if that was the case, surely you can see that everything that is happening here is crazy."

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Laguna, nor do I expect you to understand." Ijuna said. "All you really do need to understand is that you and I are enemies. We have only one way to settle this." She took her stance and made it clear she's opposing Laguna.

"You intend to duel me? You were never much of a duelist to begin with." Laguna claimed.

"That was back when we were kids. Things will be different now." Ijuna said. Laguna didn't really like this, but it seems like there was no other choice.

"Very well. I know you well enough to know that once you set your mind, there is no changing it." Laguna said. He had no choice really. Laguna accepted her challenge and the two faced each other.

"Let's duel!" Both of them said as they started their duel with 4000LP.

"Allow a lady to go first." Ijuna said. "I'll start this off with my favorite. I play my Maiden in Love." She summoned out a cute maiden with her having 400atk points. "I'm sure you know what this might do. If you attack it, your monster will gain a maiden counter. What's more is that my maiden can't be destroyed in battle."

"Yes, but it must remain in attack mode." Laguna said. "That means that if I attack it enough times, you will eventually lose."

"You can try, but it won't be as easy as you think." Ijuna said. "Next, I activate my Secret Love Letter. Thanks to this spell, I draw until I have a monster with less than a 1000atk points. Then, I can summon it. Any other cards I draw will be shuffled into my deck. The best part of Secret Love Letter is that if I already have a monster on my field, I can gain life points equal my summoned monster's attack points. It's sort of like they will be doing something nice, but too shy to say anything because of love." She drew her card and it was just the monster that met the conditions. "The monster I drew was Healing Wave Generator. It has 800atk points. That means I can summon it and gain 800LP." She summoned out a mirror-like monster to the field with her life points increasing to 4800. "Next, Healing Wave Generator's ability grants me an extra 100LP per level of one monster on my field. Since my maiden is a level two, I gain 200LP." Her generator shined a light against her with her life points increasing to 5000. "I'll place one card facedown to end my turn."

"My turn! I draw!" Laguna said with him drawing his card. "I'll begin by summoning my own maiden. Crying Maiden Lv. 3!" He summoned out his own maiden with her rising with 1000atk points. "Next, her special ability allows me to drop one monster's attack points my 300. I choose your Healing Wave Generator." He said with his maiden using her power to have Ijuna's monster have only 500atk points. "Next, I activate my Level Up! She now becomes Crying Maiden Lv.5!" Laguna summoned out a new monster with it having 2000atk points. "Now that she's summoned, she can knock away 500atk points of a monster. Now your Healing Wave Generator will have no power." His monster used her power once again to have Healing Wave Generator's power drop to zero. "With that done, I can now have her attack your Healing Wave Generator to prevent you from gaining any more life points. Attack!"

"Hold that thought! I activate my Defense Maiden continuous trap!" Ijuna called with her trap activating. "This trap forces you to attack my maiden instead! She loves everyone and will protect those that she loves." Her maiden stepped in the way when Laguna's maiden attacked. Maiden in Love got hit by the attack, but she was able to endure it with Ijuna's life points dropping to 3800. "Since you just attacked her, your Crying Maiden now gets a maiden counter. Maybe that will get her to smile." She said with a heart stamped right on Laguna's monster.

"As if I don't know what you are planning." Laguna said. "I take it one of the cards you have is a card called Cupid's Kiss. That card will allow you to take control of those who have a maiden counter, but you have to attack with the equipped monster first. You'll probably use that spell on your maiden since she can't be destroyed in battle, but it will cause you to lose life points. That's why I'm sure you have plenty of cards to replenish your life points."

"Oh? You think you have it all figured out?" Ijuna said.

"I do, and it won't work. Here's why. I activate the Level Down!" Laguna said. "By returning my Crying Maiden on my field back to my deck, I can resummon my lower level maiden in my graveyard!" He brought his Crying Maiden Lv. 5 back and brought back his level 3 maiden. "Without a maiden counter, you won't be able to take control of my monsters."

"That's not how the red thread of fate works, Laguna." Ijuna claimed. "There's a reason it can't be seen. It's because we can't control our fate."

"That's got nothing to do with that red string you are so fond of." Laguna said.

"But it's the same. You think you can control fate, but you can't." Ijuna said.

"And you think you're some sort of expert on it?" Laguna teased.

"No. Just a fellow believer in it." Ijuna said. "My fate is tied to Shura. You and I were fated to be friends that would have to face each other on the battlefield."

"What is your point? What are you trying to say?" Laguna questioned.

"Fate works in mysterious ways. That might be true, but I can tell you that fate has determined this duel won't go the way that you think." Ijuna said. "My fate is with Shura, and yours will be to meet your demise here." This girl claims everything that has happened is by fate. If what she said is even true, Laguna has to figure out how to break that fate or else he could actually fall to someone that was once his friend.