Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V: The Six Dimensions

by BlaiseCandell

Before the invasion of the Xyz Dimension, scans done by the Fusion Dimension reveal two more dimensions. The Ritual Dimension, and the Link Dimension. Within those two dimensions, Chiaki, Yuji, Miharu and Yuno have their lives turned upside down, and are tossed into a vicious war. Also, why are there five people with the same faces as them? (M for discussions of trauma.)

61. Frozen Azaleas in a Burning Vase

Starting Notes:

Welcome back! I think this chapter might actually beat out Chapter 54 as the chapter I spent the most time on, and it's barely more than half the length of that chapter. The duel took me so long to get right... but anyway, here we go! :D

---

Chapter 61: Frozen Azaleas in a Burning Vase

"Not going to insist that you should step in?"

Rin glanced at Aki. "Huh? Why bother?" She raised a card. "Spell Card, Rain of Mercy." The droplets of healing water landed on the injured man in front of her, and Rin used her gloved hands to push the droplets towards his wounds. It seemed to ease the man's pain, but it wasn't exactly going to heal him completely—just help to keep him stable, and disinfect the wounds a little. Even that was already leaving Rin winded—no matter how strong the Psychic Duelist, manifesting cards for any usage outside of a duel would always be tiring. Even Aki, who was reputably the strongest, looked somewhat exhausted. (Maybe it was also the fact that she had been dueling outside for a long time.)

They couldn't exactly just duel and use these cards either—Psychic Dueling usually only affected the duelists involved. It would be one thing to cause property damage, but for spells that healed, it would only affect the two people within the duel—useless for what they were trying to do.

"You're that confident in Jack?" Aki asked.

"Well, obviously," Rin said. "He's Jack Atlas." She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Aki chuckled. Rin turned to her, and the red-haired woman waved a hand. "Ah, no, I'm not laughing at you. It's more… you see, he was my friend before he ever became the King of this city. That's why I'm always so pleasantly surprised to see people with so much confidence in him—people who idolise him, in a way."

"... Aki-san," Rin said. "I do idolise Jack Atlas." She said it without any embarrassment or shame, because there was nothing to be embarrassed about in finding Jack Atlas cool at all. "He was from our orphanage. So you can imagine how we all felt, back then. Obviously, I didn't know that the two of you knew each other back then, but sitting there, watching someone like me, like us, win against everyone else to become the Duel King…"

She thought that night, about Yugo jumping up, howling with excitement, about the kids all cheering loudly, about herself sitting there, not even bothering to tell them to be quieter, boiling with that same passion within her.

This is a person like me, and he's become someone that the entire city can look up to. That was the simple sentiment that they had all felt back then.

"I wanted to be like him," she admitted. "To be like Jack Atlas. Not a leader, but at the very least, strong enough to make everyone respect me for it. But to me, Jack Atlas is… the strongest."

That was why she believed in him.

That was why the entire city would always believe in Jack Atlas, but the kids from the orphanage he had lived in would always believe in him more.

"Jack will win," she said confidently. "So while he's doing that, I'll do what I can, too."

Aki looked at her fondly. "I'm sure that he'll be happy to hear that," she said. "You should say all of that to him. I can introduce the two of you. Jack would probably pretend to be stoic, but he's always been happy to meet kids who he managed to inspire."

"No way," Rin scoffed. "It's one thing to say it to anyone else. Gushing directly to his face? I'll leave that to Yugo."

Speaking of which… where was Yugo, anyway?

… he was fine. And if not, Rin would beat the person who was hurting him up, and then beat him up for making her worry. That was all.

He would find his way here eventually. That boy was drawn to trouble.

Just as she was thinking that though, a D-Wheel drove in—

And Rin looked up, coming face to face with a child. She did not recognise the grey-haired child, but behind him—

Oh, she certainly recognised that person.

Rin saw red. She lunged forward.

Then, Chiaki grabbed her arm, pulling it back. "Hey, Rin," she said. "If you really want to punch him, that's okay. But they're injured right now, so… could you wait a bit?"

Rin turned her head. It was a small entourage of people that she did not recognise, but the fact that other than Yuji, there were four people with Yugo's face there gave her pause. And also, the girl that Ruri had dueled back during their first failed escape from Academia was there, unconscious like Yugo's lookalikes. She turned to Chiaki with a flat stare.

"I don't know what happened either," Chiaki said. "I came and everyone was already passed out on the floor. She—" She gestured to the green-haired girl behind her. "Refuses to tell us anything—"

"I came late too," the girl said, sounding like she was blatantly lying to their faces, though her smile made it hard for Rin to dislike her.

"So we have to wait for them to wake up to know anything."

"Isn't he awake?" Rin jabbed her finger towards Yuji. "Tell him to tell us."

"He doesn't remember either," Chiaki said.

"Bull fucking shit," Rin said, rolling her eyes.

"Yugo didn't remember anything either," Yuji said.

Rin stared at him.

"Yugo, uh, was there too," Chiaki explained. She let go of Rin's arm, but then she took Rin's hand, squeezing it as an attempt to comfort her. "He said to tell you that he'd be back to find you, as fast as he could."

Huh?

Yugo hadn't gone to find her?

"He's going off to charge into Security," Chiaki said. "To rescue someone who shares our face, I think? He said something like 'Rin's fine, she's super strong, she'll understand', or something like that."

Rin stared down at the ground for a moment. "... do you know first aid?" She asked.

Yuji nodded.

"No, not you." After a moment's pause, Rin continued. "Uh, fuck you. For the rest of you who are not injured, do you know first aid?"

"I do," both the tall girl with auburn hair and silver-haired young man said, and then, the young man elbowed the girl next to him, who shot him a look. "I'm fine, Reiji.

"Fine." Rin didn't look at Yuji. "Put the injured people down. We have a lot of injured people, so if you could help…"

The tall grey-haired youth nodded, and ignoring the dirty state of the ground, immediately knelt down next to a nearby woman. "Do you guys have bandages and other first aid necessities?"

"We're making do with some additional clothes and stuff. There's just not enough."

Just as Rin thought that everything was settling down (and she could start thinking about how relieved she was to hear that Yugo was both okay and doing something impulsive and perfectly in character for him), Aki spoke up from nearby.

"A girl with the same face as Rin?" She said.

The look on most of the conscious members of the group that had just arrived could probably be summed up as 'oh shit', which was not a very good sign. Rin busied herself with looking over the closest person that she could help. (Both with her psychic abilities and her limited knowledge of first aid from growing up in the Commons.)

"I was eliminated in the second round of the Friendship Cup. I know that the third round was supposed to take place today." Aki raised her head, turning towards the orange-haired boy with the same face as Yugo. "Yuno Sugisaki, Yuya Sakaki and Yugo were all supposed to be participants today, as were you, Reira Akaba. As was Miharu Kogami. What… has happened since I was sent to the Underground?"

Rin turned away, even as everyone seemed terribly unwilling to explain what was going on.

She could tell just from Aki's voice that she genuinely cared for whoever this Miharu was.

That was… interesting.

(Rin found herself curious about the girl, so she did listen in, as the man who introduced himself as Reiji Akaba finally began to explain what had happened.)

---

As the King, I have one responsibility, and one responsibility only—

To lead the people.

That seems easy enough, when one first thinks about it. But then again, what exactly does it mean to lead?

… enough.

As it stands, I must answer their leader with my own—

"You must be thinking that if you defeat me, this will all be resolved," Kisara said.

Jack frowned.

"I am not the commander for this invasion," Kisara clarified. "Even if I'm defeated, this will not stop."

"Then, where is your leader?" Jack demanded.

"That… I can't say." Kisara clicked her tongue. "If you defeat me, perhaps I will tell you."

Jack raised his duel disk.

That had been his intention, regardless.

[DUEL!]

Jack Atlas: 4000LP

Kisara Tsutsuji: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Kisara] [H:5]

"I'll start," Kisara said clinically. "I will Normal Summon Parlor Dragonmaid." A green-haired girl appeared, dressed in a black and white maid's outfit. Two dragon ears stood straight up on the sides of her head, and a long tail slinked through the air. She spun a teapot around in her hands, smiling brightly.

[Parlor Dragonmaid (3*/500/1700/WIND/Dragon/Effect)]

"Since Parlor Dragonmaid was Normal or Special Summoned, I can send a "Dragonmaid" card from my deck to the graveyard." Kisara revealed another card in her hand. "I will activate the Spell Card, Dragonmaid Hospitality. I will Special Summon a "Dragonmaid" monster from my hand or graveyard, and send a "Dragonmaid" monster with the same Attribute and a different Level from my deck to the graveyard. Return—Laundry Dragonmaid."

The blue-haired girl dressed in a fluffy purple robe appeared next to Parlor, highfiving the other monster.

[Laundry Dragonmaid (2*/500/1600/WATER/Dragon/Effect)]

"And I'll activate the effect of Laundry Dragonmaid," Kisara continued. "I will send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard." She glanced at them as they fell into her graveyard. "I will activate the effect of the Spell Card, Dragonmaid Changeover in my graveyard. I will target Laundry Dragonmaid on my field, and return her to my hand. Then, I can add Changeover from my graveyard to my hand."

So all of her current milling effects were just searching out more cards from her deck?

"I will activate the Spell Card, Dragonmaid Changeover! I will fuse Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Laundry Dragonmaid in my hand." The two monsters turned into bright swirls above her. "Dragon that rules over the well-meaning mansion. Glitter with the light of the transforming dream and crush intruders with your powerful form! Fusion Summon! Dragonmaid Sheou!"

The black and red dragon appeared in front of her, guarding her with a wry smile.

[Dragonmaid Sheou (10*/3500/2000/LIGHT/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)]

"I will set a card and end my turn," Kisara said. "Your move."

[Turn 2: Jack] [H:6]

"Draw," Jack declared. "I will—"

"During the Standby Phase, Dragonmaid Sheou will allow me to Special Summon a "Dragonmaid" monster from my graveyard," Kisara said. Sheou raised a hand, and a portal appeared behind her. "Come. Laundry Dragonmaid." The blue and purple girl reappeared. "I will send three cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard."

… hmm. But that woman… from the small glimpse that he had seen as he was approaching, her strength laid in the Battle Phase and Standby Phase. Thus, the Main Phase was the best time to counter her.

"I will activate the Spell Card, Resonator Call," he said. "I will add a "Resonator" monster from my deck to my hand."

His deck—built from two archetypes, 'Red' and 'Resonator'. The colour of passion, and the power to resonate with the souls of others around him. A deck fit for him.

He revealed the card that he had added to his hand. "To begin—come, Red Resonator!"

A flaming, dark red fiend appeared, spinning around a tuning fork.

[Red Resonator (2*/600/200/FIRE/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"When Red Resonator is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower monster from my hand! Come! Bone Archfiend!" A creature made entirely out of white bone and skulls appeared, forming a skeleton. Pale purple hair could be seen around the top of its head. Blue fabric looped around its wrists and feet—wristbands and boots, formed by those blue threads. Golden eyes peered through dark shadows cast over its skeletal face. Yellow fabric wrapped around its legs as well.

[Bone Archfiend (4*/1800/0/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"I'll tune the Level 2 Red Resonator to the Level 4 Bone Archfiend! Flames that burst out of purgatory, set the world alight with your blazing nobility! Synchro Summon! Level 6! Red Rising Dragon!" The small, bright red dragon appeared—well, to any reasonable person, it would already be considered normal-sized, but in comparison to Jack's other monsters, it was small.

[Red Rising Dragon (6*/2100/1600/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"When Red Rising Dragon is Synchro Summoned, I can target a "Resonator" monster in my graveyard and Special Summon it!"

"I will activate the effect of Dragonmaid Sheou," Kisara responded—cold, as though to temper Jack's fiery passion. "I will negate the effect of Red Rising Dragon and destroy it, and then I'll return Sheou to the Extra Deck and Special Summon House Dragonmaid in Attack Position." The dark-haired woman appeared in front of her, even as Red Rising Dragon shattered in front of Jack.

[House Dragonmaid (9*/3000/2000/LIGHT/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)]

Jack, who hadn't seen the two previous duels in their entirety, had of course not known about this. However—

"I wouldn't be the King if a single setback like this would be able to stop me!" Jack declared. Despite losing his first Synchro Monster, he put down another card. "Since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Crimson Resonator from my hand." A far more fiery-looking demon appeared in front of him, still with the same cheeky grin as the other Resonator monsters.

[Crimson Resonator (2*/800/300/DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"I'll send a card from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon Bone Archfiend from my graveyard." The skeletal demon reappeared on the field. "And with the effect of the Vision Resonator that I sent from my hand to the graveyard, I can add a Spell or Trap that lists "Red Dragon Archfiend" in its card text from my deck to my hand!"

Jack gestured forward. The two monsters turned into red streaks, one of them flying through two rings. "I'll tune the Level 2 Crimson Resonator to the Level 4 Bone Archfiend! Come to me again! Red Rising Dragon!" Another copy of the red dragon reappeared on the field.

"So you managed to carry on with your turn anyway."

"And Red Rising Dragon's effect is not an effect that can only be activated once per turn! I'll Special Summon a "Resonator" monster from the graveyard. Return—Crimson Resonator!" The bright red demon reappeared on the field.

"... interesting."

"I will activate the effect of Crimson Resonator. If the only other monster I control is a DARK Dragon Synchro Monster, at the cost of limiting myself to only DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters this turn, I can Special Summon up to two "Resonator" monsters from my hand or deck."

"Two free monsters…" Kisara tilted her head. "And your "Resonator" monsters are all Tuners, it would seem. Are you setting up multiple Synchro Summons then?"

Jack didn't respond to her. Instead, he clenched a fist.

"Burn with the power of passion and bonds, and emerge from the crimson flames! Come from the deck! Synkron Resonator! Soul Resonator!" A shaman-like demon with a mischievous smile appeared, red feathers and green leaves around its face like a fan. It swung around its tuning fork with a cheerful laugh. Next to it, a fiend in blue-black robes appeared as well. There was a small spade, red and blue, embroidered on the white front of its robes. On top of its head was the same spade, split in half, one half golden and one half green.

[Soul Resonator (3*/500/200/FIRE/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

[Synkron Resonator (1*/100/100/DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"When Soul Resonator is Special Summoned, I can add a Level 4 or lower Fiend from my deck to my hand." He gestured forward.

I would go to Scarlight right now, but this woman…

She is a force to be reckoned with. Almost terrifying in her calmness and coldness. I cannot afford to give her an inch in the early parts of this duel, or… I sense that she will completely take control of this duel.

This strange feeling…

I have met many duelists who I respect. Very few who I think are strong enough to rival me.

And yet…

This woman…

She will kill me without any hesitation. She will kill anyone without any hesitation.

There is… purpose to her eyes.

If I fall, the spirit of this city dies with me.

It was perhaps an arrogant thought, but it was still true.

"I will burn my way through this field! I will tune the Level 3 Soul Resonator and the Level 1 Synkron Resonator to the Level 6 Red Rising Dragon!" The three monsters shot up.

"Tuning your monster with two Tuner monsters?" Kisara frowned. "... that was never reported to us."

"Then for once, this should stir your cold and merciless soul," Jack replied. "This Double Tuning, this sight that you have not seen before—burn it into your memory, as the power of my soul bursts into flames! Ruler and Devil, they cross now and here! Touch the soul of the Crimson Dragon, and raise up the cry of creation! Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 10! Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend!"

His dragon's evolution appeared—coppery orange flames flaring up from within its body, burning around it. Its dark red scales glinted in the light of the flames around it.

His burning soul, his determination to protect the city that trusted and admired him…

A leap over what he was most known to be, into what he knew he could be.

[Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend (10*/3500/3000/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

The dragon roared, and it set Jack's heart ablaze—ever alive with the passion for victory.

"Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend," Kisara repeated. She looked it over. "... you came here to preach to me about the importance of nobility. And yet… you use a dragon that invokes the power of demons. Who claims to be a tyrant in its very name. Do you care about nobility, or nobility?"

Jack snorted. "Spare me your wordplay," he said. "It is far more important to be noble than to be born as 'a noble', as it were. That much is important, because I exist." He gestured forward towards her with his fist. "I am where I am today because of my ideals and beliefs. And the embodiment of them, now by my side—"

His dragon roared.

"—will crush your dragons into dust! My Synkron Resonator will allow me to add a "Resonator" monster with a different name from my graveyard to my hand! Then, once per turn, during my Main Phase 1, I can destroy all other cards on the field, but only Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend can attack this turn! You are strongest during the Battle Phase, but if I destroy all your cards beforehand, it matters little!"

The flames surged up around him, before they engulfed the whole field. His own monster—Crimson Resonator—was burned away.

"Burn to ash! Absolute Power Inferno!"

"... let's not get too hasty."

The flames faded. Kisara stared back at him, seeming rather unaffected. Most of her field was gone as well—in an instant. However, there was a single card on her field—Chamber Dragonmaid.

[Chamber Dragonmaid (4*/500/1800/DARK/Dragon/Effect)]

"You could call it a magic trick," Kisara said. "I activated the Quickplay Spell, Dragonmaid Send-Off, in response to the activation of your monster's effect. I targeted my Laundry Dragonmaid. Then, I Special Summoned Chamber Dragonmaid from my hand and returned Laundry to my hand." She gestured forward. "Chamber Dragonmaid cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn, which is how it survived the effect of Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend! And with the effect of Chamber Dragonmaid, I will add a "Dragonmaid" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand."

It could not be destroyed at all this turn?

"I'll set a card and end my turn," Jack said.

Kisara nodded. "And that's the fruitlessness of your ideals and beliefs," she said. "Stopped in place… by a single card."

---

"You don't look too worried," Chiaki muttered to her. Her red-haired lookalike most certainly did not know anything about first aid beyond 'disinfect and bandage', but at least, she wasn't getting in the way. "You've told me about your faith in that Jack Atlas guy, but what I mean is—you're not that worried about your Yugo, huh?"

"I'm not," Rin admitted. "... he's not my Yugo. But if he's going to Security… there will be people who look out for him there. People who are… well, I don't get along particularly well with one of them, but the other one's fine. Security is… probably the safest place in the city for him right now, oddly enough."

Chiaki snorted. "But you'd still much rather have him here," she said. "Right?"

Rin grimaced. Then, she nodded.

"He'll be fine," Chiaki said reassuringly. "You've waited so long to see him again. You'll both be fine."

"I hope so," Rin muttered. "He's impulsive, but… he's never let me down when I needed him." She raised her head, meeting Chiaki's gaze. "And he's right. I am super strong, and I do understand. For the sake of all these people…"

She glanced at all the people around them, all terribly injured from the invasion.

"... I can wait a little longer. We just have to do what's important first."

"... every time that I think you can't get cooler," Chiaki muttered, "you do."

Rin shook her head. "It's not me being cool. It's just… fair to everyone, this way. Those entitled Tops are one thing, but…"

There were Tops fighting right now, alongside Commons. People stepping away from their privilege, choosing to fight on the same battlefield as those they had looked down on.

They had done the bare minimum, and yet, it had caused Rin to feel moved too.

"If people are hurt because I'm not doing my best," Rin continued, "I will never forgive myself. I grew up in an unjust society—I'm not going to become one of the unjust. Never."

The next person that she was working on was the boy with orange and red hair who looked like Yugo. As she pressed a hand to his forehead to check his temperature, her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Chiaki asked.

"Get a cloth and dip it in water for me," Rin said. She grabbed a thermometer from the box by her side and pressed it between the boy's lips, and after a moment, she grimaced. Chiaki, who had stumbled to her feet, returned a moment later.

"Is something wrong with him?"

"He's got a very high fever," Rin muttered. "39.9 degrees Celsius…" She shook her head. "I can't see anything wrong with him though, other than that. Fevers usually happen because the body is trying to fight off something. There's no open wounds or anything that I can see. It's as though his body just decided to… fight, for no reason at all." She pressed a hand to her duel disk, before Yuji raised a hand. He had been trailing around—after checking him over, a nice Tops lady who had claimed to be a doctor had said that he would be fine as long as he didn't strain himself anymore.

"If it's just managing a fever… that's fine," he said.

"... fine," Rin said. "Don't kill him."

"I would not," Yuji said, taking her words literally. Chiaki sighed. She glanced between Yuji and the boy on the ground, as though about to ask something.

Rin glanced at them, before she moved onto the next person.

---

"... this might be unsalvageable," Aki said. "What do you think?"

The grey-haired doctor next to her grimaced. "I'm a general surgeon," he said. "This would require an orthopaedic surgeon—his legs are completely messed up, and even if they're treated, it's not likely that he'll ever be able to walk normally again."

"... I see." They had managed to stop the bleeding, at least, but to hear something so conclusive…

That boy was wearing the uniform of the invaders, wasn't he? A different colour, but the same style.

"What is he doing here?"

Aki raised her head to see three people there, all eyeing the boy on the ground. Shun Kurosaki and Nue Kamisoka's gazes were filled with anger, but the black-haired girl who looked like Miharu Kogami—the one that had spoken—was looking at…

She seemed to be looking at the boy on the ground with surprise.

"Your leader brought him here."

Nue scoffed. "... Reiji Akaba. What are you scheming this time?"

"That kidnapper doesn't deserve anything," Shun growled. "Nothing except to be kicked in the face—"

"And yet, if we didn't treat him, he would die a terrible death from infection and blood loss," Aki replied bluntly. "Is that what you want?"

The black-haired girl flinched.

"I'm sure that Academia has things to treat that," Shun said, but even he sounded a little taken aback. "Wasting resources on an enemy when they're already so limited…"

"Please take care of him."

Shun's head whipped over to look at the black-haired girl.

"Please take care of him," the girl repeated, and now, the surprise had vanished, making way for something achingly sad to emerge in her eyes. "Is Yuto okay?"

"Kamisoka's fine. He's a little scratched up, but he didn't hit his head on anything, so he should be fine there." Aki pointed to the black and purple-haired boy, just a few metres away. The black-haired girl's head whipped over, and then, she walked over next to Yuto. She sat down, and took Yuto's hand, pressing it tightly between both of her hands.

Just from that, Aki could guess their relationship.

Nue and Shun were both clearly concerned, but they still let the dark-haired girl speak to Yuto first, even as they stayed right behind her. Nue, in particular, looked back at Yuri, along with Yuya next to him, and then back at Yuto. There was something strange to her gaze.

The girl squeezed Yuto's hand tightly. There was something tender to her gaze.

Aki felt mildly like she was intruding. She turned back to the boy on the ground in front of her.

"Dr. Schmidt," she said. "Please give him one more check-up."

She did not know this boy, but…

She did not have any negative experiences with him yet, either.

So for now, she would treat him like she would treat anyone else.

Her gaze drifted for a moment. She looked at Kiryu, who was still in the midst of a duel, currently continuing to fight, seeming fearless.

There was a sharp tension to his motions. Someone who didn't know him might not notice it, but…

Aki sighed.

… Kiryu had just seen his friend being carded in front of him. That was probably bringing back memories of that one person who had been so important to him—that person who stood on the line between friend and something else.

In the end, all that she could do was let him work out his anger on his own.

---

When Ruri had seen Yuri lying on the ground, she couldn't contain her shock.

Because that was the person who had defeated her. She had seen how good he was with her own eyes—a skill that had seemed almost invincible. She had seen just how cruel he could be.

And there he was, injured like any other person.

Ruri's surprise was not at his presence. (His shadow had been haunting her mind for a while, filling her with paranoia that she might be taken from her family again.)

Her surprise was that the person she feared so much could be injured.

It was something that made him look strangely human. And with his eyes closed like that, his expression relaxed…

He looked like Yuto.

Ruri didn't feel any of the anger that she'd expected to feel. Instead, she just felt a deep sadness in her heart.

Oh, she thought. You're human too.

"Please take care of him." The words left her lips before she could consider them. She immediately chided herself. She was too soft, because she already wanted to forgive him, and he hadn't even apologised to her yet. He was still their enemy, and yet…

Ruri Kurosaki disliked the part of her that wanted to be kind, even to an enemy. The part of her which wanted to argue that she didn't want to treat anyone as an enemy at all.

(She disliked her own kindness. After all, it had failed her once before.)

She asked about Yuto, because she didn't want to think about Yuri anymore. She didn't quite remember her own words. She then walked over to him.

Yuto.

Ah.

Ruri had hoped that they would both be in… better shape, when they met again. Seeing him injured like this…

It pained her heart.

She leaned down, kissing his forehead.

"I won't leave your side," she whispered softly into his ear. "I'll be here for you, no matter what, as long as you still want me here…"

And she couldn't help but cry. It was the worst feeling in the world.

She hated seeing him like this.

"I missed you," she said. "I missed you so much. So… wake up soon, okay?"

She felt her brother's comforting hand on her shoulder. Nue reassuringly patted Yuto's other shoulder, settling down next to him.

They all looked so tired.

And what exactly had Ruri been doing this entire time? Sitting in a tower and waiting to be rescued?

---

The battle raged on, naturally.

[Turn 3: Kisara] [H:3]

Kisara drew a card. Currently, she only had Chamber Dragonmaid on the field, while Jack only had Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend on the field. However, the disparity in power was very obvious.

"I will activate the Continuous Spell Dragonmaid Welcome," she said. "And I will Normal Summon Nurse Dragonmaid." The pink-haired girl appeared on the field.

[Nurse Dragonmaid (2*/500/1600/EARTH/Dragon/Effect)]

"I will Special Summon Laundry Dragonmaid from my graveyard." The blue-haired girl reappeared, and more cards fell from Kisara's deck into the graveyard. "Since The White Stone of Legend was sent from my deck to the graveyard, I can add Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to my hand. I will use Dragonmaid Welcome's effect to add a "Dragonmaid" card from my graveyard to my hand. And I'll activate the effect of Dragonmaid Changeover in my graveyard. By returning Nurse Dragonmaid from my field to my hand, I can add it back to my hand."

Jack gritted his teeth. That meant…

Kisara played the card, and she sent Nurse Dragonmaid and Blue-Eyes White Dragon from her hand to the graveyard. Then, right in front of her, Sheou emerged again.

She can just use that effect until she runs out of House Dragonmaids in the Extra Deck. If she has three… this is about to get very unpleasant.

"I'll move to the Battle Phase," Kisara said. "Laundry and Chamber Dragonmaid's effects. I will return them both to my hand and Special Summon two Level 7 Dragonmaid monsters from my graveyard." Two dragons rose up on either side of Sheou. "Come—Dragonmaid Ernus. Dragonmaid Nudyarl!" Pink and purple, the two dragons both let out rather cute-sounding roars.

[Dragonmaid Ernus (7*/2600/1600/EARTH/Dragon/Effect)]

[Dragonmaid Nudyarl (7*/2600/1600/WATER/Dragon/Effect)]

"And with the effect of Dragonmaid Welcome, all my monsters gain 100 attack and defense points for each "Dragonmaid" monster I control."

[Dragonmaid Ernus: 2600 + 100 x 3 = 2900ATK; 1600 + 100 x 3 = 1900DEF]

[Dragonmaid Nudyarl: 2600 + 100 x 3 = 2900ATK; 1600 + 100 x 3 = 1900DEF]

[Dragonmaid Sheou: 3500 + 100 x 3 = 3800ATK; 2000 + 100 x 3 = 2300DEF]

Jack narrowed his eyes. Sheou's attack points had now exceeded Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend's, but…

"Dragonmaid Sheou attacks Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend!" Kisara declared.

Jack flipped over his set card. "Continuous Trap, Red Screen!" Strange, glass barriers formed around him. "My opponent's monsters cannot declare attacks while I control this card!" Sheou was blocked off by a barrier, and Kisara sighed.

"... I see," Kisara said. She betrayed no sign of nervousness."So you want to protect that ace of yours?"

"My dragon represents my soul," Jack said. "It will burn on and on—no matter the adversity that I face!"

"... a soul that burns on and on…" Kisara mused. "Interesting, I suppose. But if you want your soul to burn so much, don't be surprised when it burns out." She raised a hand—ending her Battle Phase, much to Jack's surprise.

She wasn't using Sheou's effect?

"You look surprised," Kisara replied. "Did you not think that the obvious problem wouldn't be clear to me? Dragonmaid Sheou can destroy your monster by battle, but House Dragonmaid cannot." She narrowed her eyes. "You probably have a way to defend your monster from card effect destruction, which is why you're trying to ward off battle destruction." She shrugged. "Have at it. I'll set a card facedown." That left her with three cards in hand—Laundry and Chamber Dragonmaid, obviously, though the third one was unknown.

Still though, everything that she had played so far led Jack to believe that she was at the very least, decently strong. However…

There was no sign of that ferocious, large dragon which had drawn him here in the first place. The dragon that had stolen away Crow Hogan's life. And that worried him.

… she was either playing the long game, or she did not think that she had to use that monster against him.

His dragon roared. Jack looked at it.

I feel the same way.

I am insulted by her. By how much she lacks the spirit of challenge.

Then I will force it out of her—I will not take an empty victory! That is not Jack Atlas's way.

Besides—up until now, they were still testing each other out.

Jack reached out and sharply drew a card, his gaze cutting across the field.

[Turn 4: Jack] [H:5]

"Draw," Jack said. "Your monster?"

"Why, thank you, Atlas-san," Kisara said, completely unruffled. "Dragonmaid Sheou's effect. I will Special Summon Nurse Dragonmaid from my graveyard." The pink-haired girl reappeared. "And with Nurse Dragonmaid's effect, I will Special Summon Parlor Dragonmaid from my graveyard. With Parlor Dragonmaid's effect, I will send a "Dragonmaid" card from my deck to the graveyard."

"Essentially, you're just going to keep looping with that monster." Kisara now controlled five monsters. "Is that all… you want to do, in a duel like this?"

"... tell me, Jack Atlas," Kisara said, folding her arms, adjusting one sleeve. "Have you done anything that would require me to do more?"

"... I'm not used to being looked down on like this," Jack said. "In this city, no one has dared to look down on me for a long time."

Then, he smirked. Just something small and smug. Kisara seemed to catch it, judging by her arched eyebrow.

"It's a nostalgic feeling. Just like I showed them that I am not to be so easily looked down on, I will show you the same." Jack flung a hand forward. "You and your dragons—you lack passion! Every move that you make is filled with nothing but calculative coldness. You feel nothing when you duel! Better to burn myself with my own passion than to remain frozen like you! I will activate the Spell Card, Resonance Astray. Since I control a "Red Dragon Archfiend" Synchro Monster, I will destroy all cards on the field, except DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters!"

"Even your own Red Screen?" Kisara questioned. She shrugged. "You're the only one going down in your flames. I will banish the Spell Card, Return of the Dragon Lords from my graveyard. My dragons survive." Her backrow, however, still burst into flames, all the cards vanishing, along with Jack's Red Screen.

Jack wasn't fazed, though he did make a mental note—Sheou wasn't this woman's only defence against card effects, as it turned out.

"I will Normal Summon Chain Resonator," he said. A fiend with bright red, glowing eyes appeared, a dark, shadowy chain attached to its head and behind it.

[Chain Resonator (1*/100/100/DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"If Chain Resonator is Normal Summoned while I control a Synchro Monster, I can Special Summon a "Resonator" Tuner monster from my deck!"

"... that's the one," Kisara murmured.

"Huh?"

"I have had to teach a few classes, back in Academia. When the Professor requested it, anyway. To third years—in other words, the talented ones, which Academia deems worthy of attention." Kisara gestured forward. "When a person makes a move, it is a link in a chain. If you sever it—it becomes far harder for your opponent to reach the goal that they're reaching for. From what I've seen thus far, you Normal Summon a monster, who Special Summons the rest of the materials that you need for your Synchro Summons. But if I remove that Tuner before you get the chance…"

Jack glanced at another card in his hand.

"I can slow you down," Kisara said. "Sheou!"

Chain Resonator was destroyed—and Kisara was right, that did slow him down. Sheou vanished, and House Dragonmaid reappeared on the field.

Jack considered his next move, before he picked up a card from his graveyard.

"I will banish Red Rising Dragon from my graveyard to Special Summon two Level 1 "Resonator" Tuner monsters from my graveyard," he said. "So what if you sever a link in a chain? I can always find another way to weld things together!" Chain Resonator and Synkron Resonator reappeared on his field, side by side.

"... why does dueling always make people far more fond of puns?" Kisara muttered.

"Since I control a Tuner monster, I can Special Summon Wandering King Wildwind from my hand!" The bestial man in a green cape appeared on the field as well.

[Wandering King Wildwind (4*/1700/1300/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"The monster I'm about to summon can only be Synchro Summoned with a single non-Tuner monster," Jack explained. "In exchange—I can use as many Tuners as I want! I will tune the Level 1 Chain Resonator and the Level 1 Synkron Resonator to the Level 4 Wandering King Wildwind! Ruby jewel that lies within the kingly domain! Synchro Summon! Level 6! Red Resonator Dragon!" A crimson dragon appeared, with two demonic horns emerging on both side of its head. Its tail resembled a tuning fork, swinging through the air, glinting golden. Two black, sooty eyes stared forward, seeming like deep tunnels—an abyss.

[Red Resonator Dragon (6*/1600/2100/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"Red… Resonator Dragon…" Kisara tilted her head to the right, studying the dragon. "Rather fitting for you, I'll admit that."

"When Red Resonator Dragon is Synchro Summoned, I can add a card that lists "Red Dragon Archfiend" in its card text from my deck to my hand, or a "Resonator" monster from my deck to my hand!" Jack swiped up a card. "Synkron Resonator also lets me add a "Resonator" monster from my graveyard to my hand. And then, I will Special Summon Creation Resonator from my hand, since I control a face-up Synchro Monster!" A grey fiend with a blue fan attached to the back of it appeared on his field. "And I will tune the Level 3 Creation Resonator to the Level 6 Red Resonator Dragon! Demon King unleashed from the darkness of the abyss! Let your rage explode with the power of my very soul! Synchro Summon! Level 9! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss!" Yet another form of his dragon appeared, the same one that had finished off Yuya Sakaki at the start of the Friendship Cup.

[Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss (9*/3200/2500/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"Battle Phase!" Jack declared loudly.

"... you weren't around when the other three dueled me, were you?" Kisara raised her left hand, before snapping her fingers once—a surprisingly loud sound. "At the start of the Battle Phase, Parlor Dragonmaid will return to my hand. I will Special Summon Dragonmaid Lorpar from my graveyard in Defense Position." The green dragon appeared on her field.

[Dragonmaid Lorpar (8*/2700/1700/WIND/Dragon/Effect)]

"And when a "Dragonmaid" monster I control returns to my hand, I can target a monster you control and destroy it."

"I will activate the effect of Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss!" Jack might not have known about this beforehand, but he certainly had a way out. "I will target your House Dragonmaid and negate her effects until the End Phase!"

"... hmm." Kisara nodded. "Nurse Dragonmaid's effect."

"You have another Level 7 Dragonmaid?"

"I have a second copy of Nudyarl in my graveyard, yes. It helps to just keep milling the top few cards of my deck." She gestured forward, and Nurse Dragonmaid transformed into Dragonmaid Nudyarl, also in Defense Position. "So?"

Two monsters in Defense Position, three in Attack Position.

There was one obvious target…

"Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss will attack House Dragonmaid!"

The monster was destroyed, and Jack took first blood—

A ridiculous thought, considering that they were four turns into the duel.

Kisara: 4000 - 200 = 3800LP

"When Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss inflicts battle damage to you, I can Special Summon a Tuner monster from my graveyard in Defense Position!" Synkron Resonator reappeared on the field. "And Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend will attack Dragonmaid Nudyarl!"

Jack's dragon sliced through the blue and purple dragon, shaving off another small amount of Kisara's life points.

Kisara: 3800 - 900 = 2900LP

Still though, every amount counted.

"I will move to my Main Phase 2—"

"The effects of Dragonmaid Nudyarl, Dragonmaid Ernus and Dragonmaid Lorpar activate," Kisara said. All three of the remaining dragons on her field glowed. "I will return all three of them to my hand."

"Your large dragons return to your hand?"

"Right. You haven't gotten to see that yet." Kisara held up three cards. "I will Special Summon Laundry Dragonmaid, Parlor Dragonmaid and Nurse Dragonmaid from my hand!"

The three girls appeared. Laundry glowed, and once again, Kisara sent more cards from the top of her deck to the graveyard.

So her cards looped themselves in and out during the Battle Phase? But her large dragons seemed to only be able to Special Summon monsters from the hand, strangely enough.

"I will tune the Level 1 Synkron Resonator to the Level 9 Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss," Jack said.

"... hmm. Another Level 10 Synchro Summon."

"Let the peaks roar! Split the mountains and come forth, along with the flames of the earth! Synchro Summon! Level 10! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane!" A large, dark red dragon appeared, wings seeming strangely feathered—rough in texture, as though they had been charred in some way by the dragon's own flames. Orange, molten light shone from under its scales, like gems embedded in dark rock. Thin, demonic horns extended from both sides of the dragon's head, with a bright red gem between them, positioned right above the dragon's eyes and snout. Large metal blades protruded from both of the dragon's arms, stopping right above jagged claws.

[Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane (10*/3500/3000/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"I will use Synkron Resonator's effect to add another "Resonator" monster from my graveyard to my hand. Then, I'll set a card facedown and end my turn," Jack said.

[Turn 5: Kisara] [H:6]

"Draw," Kisara said. "I will activate the Spell Card, Trade-In. I will send a Level 8 monster—Dragonmaid Lorpar—from my hand to the graveyard to draw two cards." She glanced through her hand. "It seems that you will get your wish, Jack Atlas. I hope that you don't regret your decision to ask for more."

She revealed a card in her hand.

"I don't think you've seen this trick yet. Whatever effects your monster has, they'll have to wait. I will activate the Continuous Spell, Piercing the Darkness—and then, the Quickplay Spell, Successor Soul. I can tribute an Effect Monster I control—and send an Effect Monster you control from the field to the graveyard!"

And she wasn't destroying his monster, meaning that—

"I do not know what effects either of your monsters have—not in full, at least. But when there is not enough information to make a logical decision, it's better to default to mental warfare. I will choose Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane, naturally."

Mental warfare?

His dragon roared, before being dragged down into the ground by a beam of light. Parlor Dragonmaid dissolved into light as well, though she was smiling—somewhat more graceful.

"Then, I can Special Summon a Level 7 or higher Normal Monster from my deck." She held up the card. "Naturally—come, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

And there it was—

The noble dragon in white and blue, its scales bright, reflecting light from all around it.

[Blue-Eyes White Dragon (8*/3000/2500/LIGHT/Dragon)]

"Since I Special Summoned a Normal Monster, Piercing the Darkness allows me to draw a card, though I can only use this effect once per turn. I will then return Nurse Dragonmaid from my field to my hand to add Dragonmaid Changeover from my graveyard to my hand."

Another Fusion Summon, then?

"I will activate the Spell Card, Dragonmaid Changeover. I will fuse Dragonmaid Nudyarl in my hand with Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field. Tell me, Jack Atlas. Do you truly know what a tyrant is?"

Jack narrowed his eyes.

She's building up to something…!

"The quality of tyranny comes from three things," Kisara said. She closed her eyes. "Obduration. The inability to leave a path that you have stepped on—a stubbornness that will last until death. Obsession. A reason that drives you to seek any means for your goal, no matter how vile. And, of course…"

She raised a fist, clenching it.

"Outrage."

It was a strange word coming from a woman who looked so calm.

"A belief," she said, "that you have been wronged. It's a belief that leads a person to believe that they deserve more. That they have been wronged, and that they deserve to wrong others. The feeling that no matter how many corpses you step on, they are worth it for your goals."

She then smiled—it was a rather lovely smile. It was one that he had not expected—tight with bitterness, for all that it cast an elegant crescent across the bottom of her face.

"I do believe," she said, "that I have been wronged. And I will do anything to right that wrong that was inflicted upon me. And I will never stop." There was no hesitation to her voice. She fully believed in what she was saying.

So—

There was no greater good that she was fighting for. Nothing like that.

She was an intelligent, calculating woman, whose motivations were entirely her own—not those of Academia's.

"So—I am a tyrant, if I consider it that way." She raised one of her hands. "It's not too bad of a feeling."

A beam of light shot down from the sky.

"Emerge like a shining star, and crush others beneath the brightness of your ferocious glare. Fusion Summon! Level 8! Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon!"

A large silvery-blue dragon appeared, with golden white wings of light emerging from behind it. It was almost unbearable to look at, because of how bright it was.

[Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon (8*/3400/2900/LIGHT/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)]

"Let's battle our tyrants against each other," Kisara said. She gestured forward. "Battle Phase. Laundry returns herself to my hand." Dragonmaid Nudyarl reappeared on her field. "Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon attacks Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend!"

What?

"And when an attack is declared involving a monster I control that was Fusion Summoned using a Normal Monster as material and a monster my opponent controls, once per turn, I can activate the effect of Piercing the Darkness." Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon shone even more brightly, somehow. "My monster gains attack points equal to your monster's attack points until the End Phase."

[Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon: 3400 + 3500 = 6900ATK]

Jack's eyes widened, before he swiftly reacted. "I will banish Soul Resonator from the graveyard to protect Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend from destruction!"

The damage washed over him in a destructive wave, despite that. His dragon roared in anger.

Jack: 4000 - 3400 = 600LP

And Jack understood why.

After all—

The reason that Kisara had left his monster alive was to crush it with her own.

What exactly did it mean to him, to have a monster named as a tyrant?

"After Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon battles, once per turn, I can set a Trap from my graveyard to my field." Kisara gestured forward. "On the turn that I use Successor Soul, only one monster I control can attack. I will end my Battle Phase. Nudyarl will return to my hand, and I can Special Summon Laundry Dragonmaid in Defense Position. I will send three cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard. I will also set a second card facedown. Your move."

[Turn 6: Jack] [H:4]

"Draw!" Jack declared. She had swiftly removed Bane from the field… hardly unexpected from someone like her. However… "I will activate the effect of Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend!"

His dragon roared, raising its head to breathe out flames again—

"I think that you've severely misunderstood just what kind of person I am," Kisara said. "Counter Trap Card, activate. Solemn Strike. I will pay 1500 life points, negate the activation of your effect and destroy your monster."

Kisara: 2900 - 1500 = 1400LP

Jack's eyes widened.

A bolt of lightning shot down.

He had an effect that he could use, but…

Solemn Strike was a Counter Trap. Thus, it followed Spell Speed 3. Jack could not respond to it with any effects that had a lower Spell Speed.

Thus…

His dragon was destroyed, white light shattering crimson flames, thrashing beneath the bolts of lightning.

---

As Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend shattered—

From all around Jack, members of the Commons let out sharp cries.

Because Jack's ace was more than just a monster. It was a symbol of the city's hope.

And this wasn't Jack choosing to let his monster be destroyed, just so that he could revive it later. This was an enemy bursting through so many different things—Jack had been continuing to fight this entire time, and yet, now…

Even his defences had been worn down?

At that moment, the people of the Synchro Dimension felt one thing.

'Hopelessness'.

That simple question.

If they're powerful enough to destroy Jack's very soul—

What can we do against them?

We're just normal people.

And yet, at that exact moment…

Jack raised his head. And anyone who was transfixed on that empty space where the dragon had been turned to look at him.

And they saw the determination still in his eyes.

"It's not over," Jack Atlas said, still confident as ever. "I haven't lost to you."

And with those two exclamations—

It was like the stadium had been injected with adrenaline.

"... you are exactly that type of man," Kisara responded with a sigh. "How unfair it is, that I have to duel someone who makes me think of such unpleasant things."

In the hearts of the people of the city…

Hopelessness did not become despair.

The voices of the crowd rose.

"You can do it, Jack!"

"You'll win, I know it!"

"Jack Atlas! Jack Atlas!"

Cheers came from everywhere. Some people that had been cowering away before this stood up, seeming to steel themselves—still afraid, but they still moved to fight anyway—moved by Jack's survival, by his refusal to bow, even when he had lost something so important to him.

---

"Jack Atlas! Jack Atlas!"

"Let's drive these bastards away from our city!"

Jack saw Kisara glance around. There was something almost… fascinated, to the way that she was watching the rest of the people there. As though she was seeing something completely foreign to the environment around her. "You haven't even done anything worthy of praise yet," she murmured. "How interesting…"

"I will Normal Summon Red Resonator!" One of the cards that he had added back to his hand with Synkron Resonator's effect appeared on the field again. "And with Red Resonator's effect, I will Special Summon Magical King Moonstar from my hand!" The dark humanoid fiend appeared, dressed in purple, holding onto a golden staff.

[Magical King Moonstar (3*/900/600/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"Since Magical King Moonstar was Normal or Special Summoned, I can target a monster on the field or in the graveyard, and Moonstar will copy that monster's Level. I will choose Red Rising Dragon!" He lifted the second copy of Red Rising Dragon to show her. "So Magical King Moonstar becomes Level 6!"

[Magical King Moonstar: 3* → 6*]

"I will tune the Level 2 Red Resonator to the Level 6 Magical King Moonstar! The heaven and earth shall tremble before the king's might. Let the power of the one and only supreme ruler be carved into your soul! Synchro Summon! The savage soul, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!" The powerful, glowing dark red dragon appeared with a loud roar, and Kisara shielded her gaze for a brief moment. Even her Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon seemed surprised—letting out a sharp roar in response, unwilling to back down to the other dragon.

[Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend (8*/3000/2500/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"So this is that dragon's 'base form'?" Kisara raised an eyebrow. "If its evolution couldn't finish the job, do you think this will work?"

"Do you look down on your House Dragonmaid because you have your Dragonmaid Sheou?" Jack retorted. "Yes. He'll do just that. Quickplay Spell, Absolute Powerforce! I will target Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend, and apply all of its effects! When the monster affected by Absolute Powerforce battles, it gains 1000 attack points until the end of the Damage Step. My opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. If it attacks a monster in Defense Position, it deals piercing damage. And my opponent takes doubled battle damage from that attack."

He gestured forward.

"Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! My very soul! Attack Laundry Dragonmaid! Scorching Crimson Hell Burning!"

Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon had 3400 attack points. Doubled damage would mean 1200 damage, which wouldn't be enough—leaving Laundry Dragonmaid as the obvious option. He could have used Scarlight's effect, but if she could negate that again somehow, it would cost him. Better to defeat her in one blow in battle, where she could not respond to anything. While Jack did want to battle it out with their dragons, he still had to go for victory.

Otherwise, it would be completely unfair to the people who were putting their faith in him.

"At the start of the Battle Phase, I will return Laundry Dragonmaid to my hand," Kisara said. "I will Special Summon Dragonmaid Nudyarl from the graveyard in Attack Position."

"Alright—"

"You can't declare an attack until you declare the start of your Battle Phase," Kisara said—steely and cold. "I still have effects to activate at the start of the Battle Phase." She flipped over her set card. "Continuous Trap. Dragonmaid Downtime. I can target a "Dragonmaid" monster I control, and return it to my hand. Then, I can add another "Dragonmaid" card from my deck to my hand." She returned Nudyarl to her hand.

And so, that meant…

"The only monster you can target for an attack now is Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon," Kisara said.

"You don't care about what happens to your dragon?" Jack demanded. "Shouldn't you try to save both it and yourself? Our monsters are our partners!"

Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon roared. It sounded almost offended—at Jack, for some reason.

"... you're the one destroying him," Kisara said. "His work is done. With the cards I have, I can't protect him. Should I go down just to keep him alive? Should I fall with him instead of doing my best to live? I'm the duelist, and I'm the one that chooses what happens to me."

"... who is 'he'?" Jack responded.

Kisara furrowed her brow.

"The person that you're seeing when you look at that dragon," Jack said. "The real owner of that dragon, if I'm not mistaken… who is it that you're seeing? Who did you fail to protect? Who were you unable to sacrifice yourself to save? Who are you trying to move on from?"

"... I am not trying to move on from anything," Kisara replied, after a moment of tense silence—a feeling like something crawling over Jack's skin. "That's… an incorrect assessment." She gestured forward. "I'm not interested in oversharing my past. Especially not with you." She crossed her arms again, fingers brushing against her elbow—close to fidgeting.

Jack grimaced.

He pointed forward, and Scarlight destroyed the bright dragon.

[Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend: 3000 + 1000 = 4000ATK]

… he got no joy from it. It felt predetermined—like destroying a buried corpse.

Kisara: 1400 - 600 x 2 = 200LP

"Since Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon battled, I can set a Trap from my graveyard to my field," Kisara said. She lifted a card from her graveyard, and she continued to be unfazed by anything.

"I'll banish Wandering King Wildwind from the graveyard to add a Fiend Tuner with 1500 or less attack points from my deck to my hand. I'll also activate the Spell Card, Red Dragon Vase. Since I control Red Dragon Archfiend, I can draw two cards. Then, I will set a card and end my turn," Jack said.

"A single set card, to try and save your monster…" Kisara nodded. "Let's see you pull that off."

[Turn 7: Kisara] [H:8]

"Draw," Kisara said. She revealed the card. "Spell Card, Graceful Charity. I will draw three cards and discard two."

No doubt discarding those high-Level Dragons again…

"I will activate the Spell Card, Twin Twisters," she said. "I will discard a card to destroy up to two Spells or Traps on the field. I will choose to destroy your set card—and my Dragonmaid Downtime."

Huh? Why was she destroying her own card?

Either way…

"Trap Card, Red Soul!" Jack declared—because he had to activate this card now. If it was destroyed, there was no hope left. "I will send two monsters from my hand to the graveyard and target Scarlight! For the rest of this turn, Scarlight cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects! Furthermore, any damage that I take is reduced by the total attack points of the monsters that I sent to the graveyard as a cost for this effect! I sent Vision Resonator and Clock Resonator to the graveyard, so that's a total of 1600 attack points!" With Vision Resonator's effect, he also added another card that listed "Red Dragon Archfiend" in its name from his deck to his hand.

"... I see," Kisara said. She nodded. "... I'll admit that I had a different plan for finishing you off. Involving… well, involving three, rather than two."

"What are you talking about?"

"I will activate the Quickplay Spell, Ultimate Fusion. I will shuffle two copies of Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my graveyard into the deck to Fusion Summon."

Shuffling materials from the graveyard into the deck?

"Destructive force that burns everything down," Kisara chanted. "Ultimate, infallible form of light. Now, thrash and roar, and rain down chaos on all that opposes you! Fusion Summon! Twin-headed creature of destruction—Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon." A twin-headed white dragon (though that was rather self-explanatory) appeared, strangely cybernetic lines of blue light running over its body. Four claws struck through the air, casting sharp shadows across the ground for a brief second. Tossing back both of its heads, the dragon let out a deafening roar—one higher in pitch than the other, overlaying for a mess of sound that would make anyone cringe.

[Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon (10*/3000/2500/LIGHT/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)]

"It has equal attack points to Scarlight…"

"Equal attack points is all I need," Kisara replied. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Advanced Ritual Art."

From nearby, Rua gasped. Jack glanced over.

"I will send the Level 8 Normal Monster, Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to the graveyard to Ritual Summon. Accept my sacrifice, and pull open the gates to the land where dragons are born! Gaze upon us with eyes of arrogant divinity! Ritual Summon! Level 8! Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon!" The blue, metallic dragon appeared in front of her, the lights within its wings shining across the field, harshly cutting through the shadows cast by Scarlight's wings.

[Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon (8*/3000/0/DARK/Dragon/Ritual/Effect)]

Jack nodded to himself. He had been right.

When pushed—

This woman revealed a very different side to herself.

"Don't look so satisfied in yourself," Kisara said. "Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon attacks your monster!"

But…

"Since Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon was Ritual Summoned using Blue-Eyes White Dragon as material, when it declares an attack, I can change the battle positions of all monsters you control, and the attack and defense points of all monsters you control become 0! Azure Roaring Overwhelm!"

What?

Scarlight was stripped of its strength, the dragon toppling to the ground.

[Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend: 3000 → 0ATK; 2500 → 0DEF]

"And don't think that you're out of the woods," Kisara said. "You wanted to reduce the damage that you take by 1600? That's fine with me. Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon inflicts piercing damage when it attacks a monster in Defense Position. That's 1400 damage after taking into account your effect—you still won't survive."

Jack narrowed his eyes.

"So this is how you die, lonely red king on the battlefield," Kisara said. "Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon! Finish him off!"

"I'll discard Shield Resonator!" Jack discarded one of the last two cards in his hand. "Scarlight will gain 500 attack and defense points times the total number of Synchro Monsters in my graveyard! I have Red Rising Dragon, Red Resonator Dragon, Abyss, Bane and Tyrant!"

Scarlight glowed, its attack and defense points rising.

[Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend: 0 + 500 x 5 = 2500ATK/DEF]

"Thus, I would take 500 damage, but with Red Soul's effect, that damage is reduced to zero!"

The attack blew past him, but nothing happened.

"... so you spent everything to stay alive," Kisara said. "But you won't be taking your dragon with you." She gestured forward. "Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon attacks your monster."

Scarlight still wouldn't be destroyed though…

A bright burst of light consumed Jack's monster.

"At the end of the Damage Step, if Twin Burst Dragon attacked a monster and the opposing monster wasn't destroyed—I can banish that monster."

"What?" Jack exclaimed.

"You protected your monster from destruction so determinedly." Kisara tilted her head. "There was never an outcome this turn where you would get to keep your monster. The only difference is that you survived."

Immediately, Jack understood.

She was… mocking exactly what he had said to her earlier.

Scarlight vanished in another bright white blast of light.

Jack frowned.

Why hadn't she summoned any more monsters? The last time that he'd checked, she still had those two cards—Laundry Dragonmaid and Chamber Dragonmaid in her hand. If she had done so, she could have swapped them out for cards in the graveyard. If she had summoned them…

Well, he would not have lost. But it would have been close.

Was it a misplay, or…

"I'll set a card. It's your turn," Kisara said.

Jack looked at her carefully.

I thought so.

For someone who seems to pride themselves on strategy, you are a decidedly emotional person.

You didn't go for the victory there because you wanted me to feel how you felt. To understand how you felt when I called you out for not protecting your monster.

I couldn't protect Scarlight there, and you couldn't protect your dragon either, back then.

You couldn't protect 'that person', because you needed to survive too.

… what a piece of work you are. Are all of your world's higher-ups like you?

If I had experienced what you had…

'Devastation' would not be enough of a word to express how I would feel…

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about how much I value the woman I love," Jack said without flinching—and that got a reaction from her. Something sharp and visceral to the way that she turned her head away from him. "Living in this city as a Commons taught me one thing, early on. When we are so… lonely, so suppressed, feeling like there is nowhere else we can go but where we are now…"

Oh, to still be under Martha's comforting roof, never having to look at this terrible city… there was a wistful, child-like part of him that still thought about that possibility.

"We will do anything to protect what we have left," he said. "We will do anything to try and reclaim the lost possibilities we are owed."

It was the same story that had landed Kiryu and Sherry and their friends in jail, it was the same story that led so many Commons to try to participate in the Friendship Cup.

"I would not be half the man I am today if not for Carly Nagisa, and I'm the one who knows that best," Jack said. "But… I don't think you should cling to that person the way that you are now. I finally understand why your dueling puzzled me so much."

"I don't really care if it puzzles you," Kisara said. That much sounded honest.

"But I do not like things that I do not understand." Jack narrowed his eyes. "... I will not lie. I have never felt outrage—not in the way that you describe it. I am perhaps the most fortunate that anyone in the Commons has ever been. I had a good place to grow up in, I had the talent, and I had the chance to earn the respect of others. I have never been personally wronged. On that front—you and I are complete opposites."

Kisara watched him—but she didn't seem to be ignoring his words.

"On the other hand, the outrage that I do feel is about how my people have been wronged," Jack said. "Because I am the King, when you wrong my people, you have wronged me."

"... in that case, you and I will never get along," Kisara said, folding her arms. "I do not care for a 'cause'. I do not care for anything bigger than what I want."

"... you are truly twisted," Jack said. Not 'evil'—only children could believe in such a black and white term. But completely twisted up in herself and her own selfish motives…

And strangely enough, Jack felt like he could understand. He would never agree, but he could see what lay behind that coldness—this woman's tangled mind.

"In that case," he continued, "it falls to me to deny you your selfish ambitions, as a selfish man myself."

---

When Rin saw the next group arrive, she immediately made way for them, her eyes widening.

"Martha-san!" She exclaimed. The woman was pretty roughed up. "What happened to her?"

"Academia attacked the orphanage," the tall boy there said. "The man, Gongenzaka, and his comrades evacuated them as fast as possible."

"... thank you," Rin said. She looked at Martha. "Martha-san? Can you hear me?"

"... Rin…"

"Yes. It's me." Rin fumbled for one of the cards that Aki had given her. "Rest well, alright?"

"Is… Yugo okay?"

"He's perfectly fine," Rin said with conviction, even though there was no real way that she should know that. But she believed so strongly in Yugo—and she needed to convince Martha to rest. "We all are."

She had missed the orphanage so much. But if it was destroyed, her home was gone too, right?

"Big sister Rin!"

And then she was crowded by the kids, and Rin exhaled slowly.

… well, her home had always been these people.

There was still a single piece missing though. A single person who was an important part of Rin's 'home', who still hadn't shown up yet.

She would wait, of course.

But she was tired of waiting.

This will be the last time that I'll ever be made to wait by someone else again.

---

"He's pretty important to you, isn't he?"

"Only if you like him," Yuji said neutrally. He dabbed the washcloth across Yuno's forehead carefully. "Otherwise, he's just my ally."

"Ally…" Chiaki looked back at Yuno. "... those are harder to find than friends."

"He wanted to…" Yuji paused. To fill in the silence as he searched for the words, he turned away for a moment. "Stop them from fighting me."

"Even though you were their enemy?" Chiaki snorted. "Naive. And… I guess, very kind of him. He's the kind that understands, huh?"

"He's…" Yuji shook his head. "... not like you. Or me." He looked back at Chiaki. "Is it okay?"

Is it okay if I want to understand someone? That was clearly what it meant. Yuji wanted to know if it was normal—if what he was feeling right now, this feeling that was so rare for him, was something that was wrong for him to feel.

"It's okay. Obviously." Chiaki looked at him. "Can I…"

Yuji nodded. With that approval, Chiaki tousled his hair.

"I know you," she said, as though it was the most simple thing in the world. "... Academia could have broken you."

Yuji shrugged. It was neither a 'yes' nor a 'no'.

"You choose the easy way out," Chiaki said. "Usually, at least." For a brief moment, she fidgeted. "Working for Academia, without any hope of a way out… you would have broken down, eventually. The hope of rescuing me must have died by then, right?"

"... yes," Yuji said. It was not something that he liked to admit.

"So there had to be some other hope. Someone must have reached out to you—I heard that Kyorin was here. She and him, maybe?"

"I said—to Kyorin. I said a lot of cruel things."

Chiaki let out a hissing sound—half-chiding, half-empathetic. "Oh, Yuji. No."

"I don't want to be the person who said those ugly things to her." Yuji shook his head. "Even if I don't understand why they're so ugly… I don't want to say those kinds of things to anyone anymore. I want to be quiet, so I don't…"

"Always so careless with your words," Chiaki murmured. "Though you can't help it, huh?"

To her surprise, Yuji reached out. His hand rested on her knee—and there it remained. Yuji had never liked physical touch, and Chiaki rarely initiated it as a result. Now, however, it was a reminder that they were both there, not separated by Academia's cold walls and empty promises.

"Fine," Chiaki said. To break the tension, she offered him a small, slightly smug look. "I chose to ask you to like Kyorin last time." That had been what she had truly meant when she had asked Yuji to buy the girl cake, after all—'can you like this person? Is it okay if I like this person?' That was what they had truly been asking each other this entire time, because the two of them had only ever trusted each other from the start. "This time—you get to choose. If you like him, I'll do my best to like him too."

"... and if I'm wrong?"

"If it's like what happened with those two again," Chiaki said, thinking about the other two 'friends' that they'd had, "I'll never give them the chance to betray us."

"... then I'm relieved." Yuji made a few clicking noises with his tongue, as he tried to piece together his feelings. In the end, he still borrowed the words of someone else. "When you give me your opinion, I always know what is right. Your judgement is my rule of right."

"... I'm not so sure about that," Chiaki murmured. "Recently, I don't feel like doing good things anymore."

Yuji's eyes widened slightly, and he turned to her. But before either of them could say anything—

A blue-haired girl stood there, looking at both of them. Chiaki blinked—

"You're taller," she said. "And you haven't cut your hair in a while, huh? Hah. I've been in Academia, so I have an excuse, but if your hair gets any longer, your pigtails are going to affect your sense of balance, you know—"

Kyorin, alarmingly, burst into tears.

"Oh, come here." Chiaki didn't move away from Yuji, but she did gesture for Kyorin to come over. Kyorin, this poor girl that had been left behind. Not a traitor like Johan or Asuka, but waking up confused one day, wondering why her friends were gone.

Gaining the strength to decide to travel to another dimension for them. Chiaki didn't need Yuji to tell her that much—there was no other reason that Kyorin would be here.

Chiaki wrapped her arms around Kyorin gently. Kyorin just cried even harder, burying her head in Chiaki's shoulder. Her fingers were stiffly pressed to her skirt, as though she didn't know whether to raise her hands and return the hug or not.

I don't regret meeting her. Unlike those two traitors, she's loyal enough that she would literally walk worlds to figure out where we went. Enough of a friend. Maybe an ally.

Next to them, Yuji sighed. His gaze didn't leave them though.

Maybe he was nostalgic too.

---

If asked, Sora would say that he was doing fine, thank you. Perfectly fine.

He was not bitter about the fact that Yuri fucking Kaiba had apparently suffered a wound to his legs, the same as a certain someone else. But apparently, his legs could still recover. Oh, he'd have a limp, but he'd be fine. He wouldn't need to amputate a whole leg.

Sora didn't usually swear, but fucking hell. This was the most unfair thing that he'd seen in his life.

He turned away from Yuri before he gave into the urge to punch something.

"Here."

A bottle of water was pressed into his hands. Sora glanced up to see Tsukikage there, and wow, this was going to be awkward.

"Thanks," he muttered. "... have you seen Yuya or Yuzu?"

"Yuya Sakaki was injured and is currently unconscious. He's being treated." Sora's eyes widened. "Yuzu Hiiragi and Shingo Sawatari are currently en-route to the stadium. They both seem to be in good condition."

Sora sighed in relief.

"If that is all, I must get going."

"Wait—"

Sora didn't even recognise his own voice when he interrupted Tsukikage. He clenched his fists. His earlier anger had evaporated—while he was sure that it would come back if he thought about Yuri again, it seemed unfair to allow himself to be angry when he had wronged Tsukikage even more than that.

"I'm sorry," Sora said. "I… really am. I'm not just saying that because I defected from Academia. I… regret what I did to your brother."

Tsukikage was strangely stiff as he turned around.

"I know I can't take back what I did," Sora continued. "And it's alright if you don't… forgive me."

"Make things right."

"Huh?"

"Make things right." Tsukikage turned his head and looked at him. "I will never forgive you. But you are my comrade now. So put your life into making things right. That's the only way you can redeem yourself."

"... alright. I will." Sora shook his head. "So… we're good?"

"... we're fine," Tsukikage replied with visible hesitation.

---

[Turn 8: Jack] [H:2]

"Draw," Jack said. "I will banish my second copy of Red Rising Dragon from my graveyard! Return! Shield Resonator! Synkron Resonator!" The two monsters reappeared on the field. "And I'll tribute Shield Resonator! With its effect, by tributing it and paying half my life points, I can Special Summon one of my banished DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters!"

And there wasn't a single doubt as to who he was going to pick.

Jack: 600 / 2 = 300LP

"Return to my field, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!" His ace reappeared on his field, wreathed in flames. "And I'll activate Scarlight's effect! I will destroy all monsters you control with equal or lower attack points to it, and inflict 500 damage to you for each!"

"I obviously can't allow that to go through." Kisara picked up another card from her graveyard—just how many cards had she milled from her deck at this point? "Trap Card, Breakthrough Skill. By banishing it from the graveyard, I will negate your monster's effects for the rest of this turn."

… well, that was fine. He'd expected something like that.

But he would need to defeat those dragons this turn. Otherwise…

Well, to be honest, he had no chance of survival otherwise. That was the long and short of it.

"Spell Card, Red Reborn!" He declared. "I can Special Summon a "Red" monster from my graveyard! Return! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane!" The stronger monster reappeared on the field. "And with Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane's effect, I can tribute a monster to Special Summon a "Red Dragon Archfiend" monster from the graveyard."

"... that would be Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss," Kisara concluded. Jack nodded, and Synkron Resonator vanished. "I wasn't aware that monster had a revival effect."

Jack's dragon reappeared on the field.

"Synkron Resonator's effect. I will add another "Resonator" monster from my graveyard to my hand." He picked up the card. "I will activate the Continuous Spell, Crimson Gaia. Then, I will begin my Battle Phase! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss attacks—"

"Trap Card, Dragonmaid Tidying. I will target Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss and Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon, and return both of them to the hand."

"I will negate that card's effect with Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss's effect!"

"I know," Kisara said. "I was leaving you with no other option." She flipped over her other set card—the card set with Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon's effect. "Trap Card, Burst Breath. I will tribute Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon. And all monsters you control with equal or less defense points than my monster's attack points… well, they're destroyed."

Which was all three of his dragons.

That was… after he'd just gotten them back…

Even so, he refused to be intimidated by her.

"Since a monster on the field was destroyed, I can activate the effect of Crimson Gaia!" Jack called. "I can Special Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" from my graveyard. Return!" Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend reappeared, letting out a loud roar—annoyed at just how much it had been destroyed in this duel, Jack assumed. However, his dragon was in Defense Position—a last resort. Jack had been forced on the defence by this woman, and the thought stung him less than the actual situation.

The truth was… this woman was likely a bigger threat than any of the small fry that Jack had dueled on the way here. He had already figured that much out.

It stung his pride, but to try to assure his own victory, he had no choice but to guard himself properly.

"I will move to my second Main Phase," Jack said. "I will activate the effect of Scarlight! I will destroy all monsters with equal or lower attack points, and inflict 500 damage to you for each! Absolute Powerflame!"

"I'm sure that would work against someone else," Kisara said. "However… you've been surprisingly resilient this duel. I'm not surprised that you revived your 'soul' again. And that's why I tributed my Twin Burst Dragon, instead of my Ritual Monster." She looked at him directly. "Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects."

And Jack's efforts failed to take out the monster.

"Even attacking to destroy both monsters would have been a more efficient choice," Kisara continued.

"I would never treat my soul in such a manner."

"Such nobility," Kisara said. "And yet… you couldn't finish me off."

"I will use the effect of Crimson Gaia to add "Red Dragon Archfiend" or a card that mentions it in its card effect from my deck or graveyard to my hand." He added a card from his deck to his hand. "I will activate the Spell Card, Red Dragon Vase again. Since I control "Red Dragon Archfiend", I can draw two cards. I will set a card facedown again and end my turn."

Both of them were running low on defences—just from this duel, Jack could tell that she was just as much of a person who preferred attacking as he was. Neither of them liked… well, going on the defence.

And while both of them had started by adding more and more cards from their decks to their hands, as they had begun to force the other to counter their plays, their hands were swiftly thinning. Kisara had gotten around that by using the cards that she had randomly sent to the graveyard instead, but it would only last so long too.

This duel was going to come to an end, one way or another.

[Turn 9: Kisara] [H:3]

"Draw," Kisara said. She glanced at the card. "I hope that set card can save you. I will Normal Summon Chamber Dragonmaid." The dark-haired girl appeared. "I will use her effect to add a "Dragonmaid" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand. I will add and activate Dragonmaid Hospitality. I will Special Summon Laundry Dragonmaid from my graveyard, and send my third copy of Dragonmaid Nudyarl from my deck to the graveyard. I'll use the effect of Laundry Dragonmaid as well, to send three cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard."

She lifted the card that she had drawn this turn.

"Spell Card, Dragon's Mirror! I can perform a Fusion Summon by banishing monsters from the graveyard! I will banish Dragonmaid Nudyarl, Nurse Dragonmaid, Dragonmaid Lorpar, Kitchen Dragonmaid and House Dragonmaid from the graveyard!"

Five monsters shot up, turning into bright streaks of light above her.

A Fusion Summon with five monsters…

Five.

Ah.

So that meant that she was summoning…

"The earth shifts and trembles," Kisara said. "Savage beast born of disgraceful blessings. Emerge from your slumber and ravage that which opposes you. Fusion Summon! Level 12! Five-Headed Divine Dragon!"

And apparently, those dragons could still get larger.

Naturally, a five-headed dragon appeared. That was probably the simplest description that anyone could use for its appearance. Each of its heads seemed to represent something different—one made of bright red flames, another covered in fins, blue scales gleaming brightly. Yet another one was made of tough brown rock, hard to break. Strange, incorporeal dark shadows formed its fourth head. Finally—bright green, thin feathers covered its fifth head.

It was large—

And Jack's surprise at its size (though he had seen it once before) was only exceeded by his surprise at its stats.

[Five-Headed Divine Dragon (12*/5000/5000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)]

"Oh, and Five-Headed Divine Dragon gains 500 attack points for each banished Dragon monster I control," Kisara said, as though that wasn't enough.

[Five-Headed Divine Dragon: 5000 + 500 x 5 = 7500ATK]

"… the truth is," Kisara said, "I would like to see if you truly can solve this. If you can truly back up your words. So I'll give you the crucial information you need to know. In return, if you lose—lose with grace." She raised two fingers. "Five-Headed Divine Dragon cannot be destroyed by battle with a DARK, WATER, FIRE, EARTH or WIND monster. And it is unaffected by the effects of other cards. Including my own, naturally."

She gestured forward.

"Battle Phase. Chamber Dragonmaid will return to my hand, and I will Special Summon Dragonmaid Nudyarl from my graveyard!" One of the copies of Nudyarl reappeared on the field. "Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon attacks. And your monster is changed to Attack Position, with its attack and defense points becoming 0! Azure Roaring Overwhelm!"

[Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend: 3000 → 0ATK; 2500 → 0DEF]

"I am not a very graceful man by nature," Jack replied. "And while some might be intimidated by that dragon… I only see the force that killed a man that I respect. I will banish Red Resonator Dragon from my graveyard! I can negate the attack, and Special Summon two "Resonator" monsters from the deck, but they are destroyed during the End Phase. Come! Red Resonator! Soul Resonator!" Two more monsters appeared. "With Soul Resonator's effect, I will add another Fiend monster from my deck to my hand. Since Red Resonator was Special Summoned, I can target a monster on the field and gain life points equal to its attack points!"

Kisara's eyes widened.

"I can still target your monster, and this effect does not affect your monster! I will choose Five-Headed Divine Dragon!"

Jack: 300 + 7500 = 7800LP

"So your powerful monster helped me, in the end!"

"... I suppose it did," Kisara said. There was something wry to her expression. "Five-Headed Divine Dragon will attack Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend."

Scarlight was destroyed, and Jack shielded himself—the life points that he had gained immediately being torn away—

But regardless, he was still alive.

Jack: 7800 - 7500 = 300LP

"Dragonmaid Nudyarl attacks Red Resonator." Kisara left Soul Resonator alone, in the end. The next attack was aimed at the smaller fiend. Since it was in Defense Position, nothing happened to Jack.

"Since a monster was destroyed, Crimson Gaia lets me Special Summon Scarlight from the graveyard!" The red dragon reappeared on the field.

And that was it… right?

"Main Phase 2," Kisara said. "I will activate the effect of Dragonmaid Changeover. I will return Dragonmaid Nudyarl from my field to my hand, and add it from my graveyard to my hand." She revealed the card. "I will activate the Spell Card, Dragonmaid Changeover. And I will fuse Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon and Dragonmaid Nudyarl."

… what. Why was she fusing away her monster?

Her third copy of Dragonmaid Sheou appeared on the field—in Defense Position.

"You've already shown me that you can increase your dragon's attack points. If I left Nudyarl on the field, I would lose to your dragon's effect damage. And if I kept my dragon, Crimson Gaia would let you add that Spell from earlier to your hand, and you could just defeat me with piercing damage."

That had been Jack's plan.

He reconsidered his strategy.

… he wasn't out of cards to play. Or rather, would it be more fitting to say that he still had one card left to play?

"You said if," Jack pointed out. "On some level, you, Kisara Tsutsuji, have accepted the chance for my victory."

"... I am sufficiently proud of my knowing something to be modest about my not knowing all." Kisara said. Her voice carried a practised composure to it. "Even if I am sure of something, there is always a small possibility that you can turn it around, if you are able to harness your skill well enough."

"I see," Jack said. He nodded. "I will show it to you then—the weight of my pride."

[Turn 10: Jack] [H:4]

"Draw," Jack said. Kisara didn't revive any of her Dragonmaids, for the same reason that she had removed her other two monsters from the field earlier. "I will activate the effect of Crimson Gaia, to add a card that mentions "Red Dragon Archfiend" from my deck to my hand."

Kisara didn't use Sheou's effect in response to that.

"I will activate my third and final copy of Red Dragon Vase! Since I control Red Dragon Archfiend, I can draw two cards!" He glanced at the cards. "I will Special Summon Red Nova from my hand!" A pale red fairy with dark red hair appeared, red-tinted angelic wings keeping it in the air. Its eyes were solid yellow, similar to the bright, narrow gaze of his Resonators.

[Red Nova (1*/0/0/FIRE/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"Tsutsuji-san." Jack gestured forward. "I do not wish to be a tyrant, in the end. Not to my people, or this city. So this power that I am about to show you—I will only ever direct it to fighting for my own beliefs. Not the oppression of others. I will tune the Level 1 Red Nova and the Level 3 Soul Resonator—to the Level 8 Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!"

"Two, two, eight…" Kisara's eyes widened. "So, this is…"

"That's right! This is a Level 12 Synchro Summon!" His monsters turned into thick, dark rings of flame, which Scarlight flew through.

His heart beat faster—adrenaline, adrenaline, adrenaline…!

"The King and the Devil, here and now shall become as one. Savage soul! Lift up the very cries of Creation itself! Synchro Summon! Level 12! Come forth, Scar-Red Nova Dragon!"

A brilliant red dragon appeared, even brighter than Scarlight itself. There was a blue gem in the centre of its chest. There was a skeletal pattern to its claws and torso. There were thin spines on the back of the dragon, and along its tail. Twin black wings with sharp edges—like the wings of a glider—appeared. Red flame-like patterns lined the top of its wings. White bone-like claws scratched through the air. A thick red protrusion could be seen on the top of its head.

It looked… strangely fiendish. There was a dark shadow that seemed to be cast over it from nowhere else—a dark aura.

But it was undoubtedly the aura of a ruler.

King. Devil.

What was the difference?

Both were punishers, at the end of the day. There to oversee judgement.

And Jack could certainly find it in himself to judge the actions of others.

[Scar-Red Nova Dragon (12*/3500/3000/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"Scar-Red Nova Dragon…" Kisara murmured.

"This is the power of the belief that others have placed in me, for no other reason than the fact that I am me," Jack said. "It is my vow to honour those beliefs—and still do things my way!"

Jack clenched his fist.

"Scar-Red Nova Dragon's effect. It will gain 500 attack points for each Tuner in my graveyard! It's a Continuous Effect, so you can't use your Sheou's effect!"

"Every Tuner… a Synchro Monster that gains power from its own origin."

"I have nine Tuners in my graveyard!" Jack shouted. "So Scar-Red Nova Dragon gains 4500 attack points!"

Kisara, being… well, rather intelligent, immediately did the math. Her eyes widened.

[Scar-Red Nova Dragon: 3500 + 500 x 9 = 8000ATK]

"You managed to exceed my Five-Headed Divine Dragon's attack points?"

"It's a powerful, destructive creature," Jack said. "But it's a front. I don't have to destroy it. I don't even have to defeat it. As long as I reach behind it, to the woman behind it… it's good enough." He clenched his fist.

It was too powerful to defeat. Not like this.

And so…

Jack was not someone who could use the light to defeat the darkness.

He was just a man. He just wanted victory, not empty satisfaction.

He could use Red Nova's effect, but…

This was enough.

At the very least, Kisara seemed like she'd had enough too.

"Roar with the power of our souls, Scar-Red Nova Dragon!" Jack shouted. "Burning Soul!" Bright streams of flame shot up from the ground—each of them with a different colour, resembling the different monsters that were powering up his monster—sacrificing their very souls, and having them be absorbed right into Scar-Red Nova Dragon.

Then, his dragon roared—

Flames splitting through the darkness of the night.

And while Kisara's dragon did not die—

Her fragile life points melted away, like icy petals under the darkest flames.

Kisara: 200 - 500 = 0LP

Winner: Jack Atlas!

"Yes, Jack!" Rua cheered.

"Well done," Aki offered, right behind him at the time.

"Who'd have expected anything different?" Rin muttered from nearby.

Jack just looked at that woman.

"... I will accept this loss," Kisara said. There was something graceful to her posture. She lifted a hand, pushing her fringe behind her ear. "As a result, I assume that your terms are simple—I am to retreat. Correct?"

Jack lifted his head. The stern look in his eyes said all that he needed to say.

Kisara nodded. "Until we meet again then—Jack Atlas."

And then, she smiled.

There was something terrible to that smile. Something that assured Jack that no, losing had not changed her. His victory might have driven her back with whatever small amount of honour that she still had—but she was still their enemy. She was still every bit the twisted, devastated woman that he had seen, cast in the shadows of those dragons that she loved. Those dragons that entrapped her heart. She would still continue pursuing her goals, no matter how cruel they were.

And it was that smile that told Jack something.

If they met again…

This woman would most likely still try to kill him again.

Kisara walked forward. Her gaze landed on Yuri. Aki immediately took a step in front of the boy.

"He's my patient," his friend said firmly. "I'm afraid that he won't be discharged from my care until I deem him fit to go."

Kisara arched an eyebrow. "Keeping one of Academia's greatest weapons away from us?" She chuckled after a moment of hesitation—a moment which betrayed her true feelings. She was not nearly as casual on the subject as she was pretending to be. "And I see Fujita behind there too, along with the girl from the Ritual Dimension. We truly have lost too many resources that we did not account for."

"Resources?" Aki repeated—clear disgust in her tone for the word.

Kisara walked past her, and straight towards—

Reiji Akaba, who raised his head to look at her.

---

Reiji was visibly tired—which said a lot, considering that usually, someone like him would be able to muster up the energy to look perfect even when exhausted. Mion was probably one of the only people there who could tell though. Reiji was… truly pushing himself too much, this time, both physically and emotionally.

Even so, he still rose to the challenge when one of the dangerous commanders of Academia approached them.

"Didn't you say that you would leave?" The leader of the Lancers said.

"As a reward for Jack Atlas's victory," Kisara said, "I would like to offer you a single piece of advice. Call it… well, information that you will never be able to attain by yourself."

Next to him, some of the other Lancers—those that were conscious, anyway—eyed her with suspicion.

"Strength does not equal trustability," the white-haired woman continued. "And… kindness does not equal dependability." She looked past Reiji, who tilted his head back—

To see Yuno Sugisaki, unconscious on the ground, Yuji Fujita gently tending to him. Chiaki Katsuya and Kyorin Rinsoka were shooting confused looks at them—though Chiaki's was a tad bit more wary.

"If I were you," Kisara said, "I would not trust those three so much."

"Which three?" Reiji replied. Mion shot him a sharp look—was he really entertaining this?

"The three from the Link Dimension in your ranks," Kisara replied. "Hitoda Makishima, Yuno Sugisaki and especially Miharu Kogami. Our infiltration and alliance of the Link Dimension has already provided us with plenty of information… even 'classified' information. With what I know about those three…"

Her eyes were dead serious when she finished the sentence.

"I would advise you to be prepared. It is not a matter of 'if' they betray you. It's a matter of 'when'. They will willingly turn their backs on you—of their own volition."

"They're our trusted comrades," Mion shot back.

Kisara turned her gaze to her. She looked somewhat amused. Then, she turned back to Reiji Akaba.

"If we fail here today," she continued, "Academia will likely begin resorting to some… less direct measures. Measures that you would consider inhumane—but those orders will be carried out, regardless. Regardless, Academia's goal will always be the same, and for my own goals, I will follow those cruel orders. This… is simply a warning. You have a long way to go before you achieve the victory that you are searching for."

With that, she turned and walked away—

Only to come to a stop, as she was about to leave the stadium.

Mion followed her gaze, and oh, fuck.

Oh no.

That was perhaps the last enemy that Mion wanted to see right now, when everyone was exhausted—from the Tops to the Commons, as well as the Lancers. When people were losing the energy and will to fight just from the sheer amount of fighting.

(It was already several hours past midnight. They had all been awake for a long time, and doing nothing but running and dueling, over and over.)

There was the sound of metal rolling and rumbling on the uneven ground.

Kisara blinked. "I was beginning to suspect that you would refuse to participate the whole way through," she said. "And suspecting you for certain… other actions."

"Please. I know what treason against Academia is punished with. You're done—I'm not." Shino Gitsune hummed. "Go home, Tsutsuji-sensei!" There was something playful to her voice—and at the same time, something steely beneath it all.

There was an ulterior motive this girl had, for her presence.

"I'll handle what comes next," Shino continued. "Of course, I can't hope to win against a stadium of people by myself. And there's no point to that—people like them aren't really a threat. Academia's true enemies are just the Lancers! But… there's something wrong here. And there is a very good reason that I have to step forward right now."

She moved forward, still smiling—that friendly, sweet smile.

"I would like to take Yuri back to Academia," she said, her tone sharp and tense—like an unsheathed sword, ready to attack. "Is that alright?"

Reiji Akaba looked back at her. "And if I say no?"

"... well," Shino replied, "then I have a problem with you."

---

OC Cards:

Red Resonator Dragon

(6*/1600/2100/DARK/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)

1+ Fiend Tuners + 1 non-Tuner monster

This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of cards in your possession. If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can add 1 "Resonator" card or 1 card that mentions "Red Dragon Archfiend" in its card text from your Deck to your hand. (Quick Effect) If a monster your opponent controls attacks a monster you control: You can banish this card from your GY; negate that attack, and if you do, Special Summon 2 "Resonator" monsters from your Deck in Defense Position. You can only activate each effect of "Red Resonator Dragon" once per turn.

Trivia: I totally always felt like there should be a Red Resonator Dragon. That's really just it. :) I took matters into my own hand.

Resonance Astray

(Spell)

If you control a "Red Dragon Archfiend" monster: You can destroy all cards on the field, except DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters, also you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn, except DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters.

Trivia: Not gonna lie—I made this card because I got all the way through the duel and then remembered that if you activate Tyrant's effect, it's the only monster that can attack. Ugh. It's a stopgap for now—but I'm tired of rewriting this duel, so I'll probably come back at a later date and redo the middle.

Shield Resonator

(1*/100/100/EARTH/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)

You can Tribute this card and pay half your LP; Special Summon 1 of your banished DARK Dragon Synchro Monster(s) in Attack Position. During either player's turn, if a DARK Synchro Monster you control battles an opponent's monster, at the start of the Damage Step: You can discard this card from your hand; that monster you control gains ATK/DEF equal to the total number of Synchro Monsters in your GY x 500.

Five-Headed Divine Dragon

(12*/5000/5000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)

5 Dragon monsters

Cannot be destroyed by battle with a DARK, EARTH, WATER, FIRE, or WIND monster. Unaffected by other cards' effects. This card gains 500 ATK for each of your banished Dragon monsters. Effect not fully revealed.

Trivia: The draw effect is both a reference to the number of heads and to Yamata Dragon, which is one of my favourite cards ever for no reason, lmao. The rest of the effect, on the other hand, is a reference to Five-Headed Link Dragon. And the ATK gain is just one more 'fuck you' in case this monster wasn't already going to one-shot you.

---

Different Card Effects from TCG:

Creation Resonator - Anime effect.

Red Dragon Vase - Anime effect.

Red Soul - Anime effect.

---

End Notes:

Can I say, Rin and Chiaki's interactions here are really complicated by Yuji's existence, but all things considered, they definitely respect the other's opinion, and they're both a lot more hot-headed than Ruri, so they get along in terms of temperament.

The non-duel scenes in the chapter are intentionally chaotic—it's a lot of characters talking to each other, while Rin and the other narrating characters have like 0% idea who most of them are. Also, in case the subtext isn't obvious enough, yes, Kiryu and Yusei were very much in "will they won't they" territory at the time of Yusei's death.

Anyway, Jack vs Kisara, Red Dragon Archfiend vs Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I wrote this duel four times. I scrapped it each time until now, because I wasn't satisfied with the first three. Also, Jack and Kisara's decks both have difficult interactions. The last chapter to give me this much trouble was Chapter 34, which I still maintain as the one chapter in this fic that is getting a full rewrite once I can stand to look at it again. Still though, I am at the very least satisfied with this duel, so I decided to stop here and just publish it. At a certain point, it began to feel like meaningless stretching out of the duel. Hope you all enjoyed!

Also, leaving a note here for myself to come back and check through the names of Jack's cards here when the official translations come out. Cards that have not officially been translated as of now: Bone Archfiend, Absolute Powerforce, Soul Resonator, Vision Resonator, Crimson Gaia.

So anyway, for the sake of my sanity—Jack plays far more Resonators than Red monsters in this chapter, so that out of the two decks involved, I only have to suffer with one. *cough* why did I think it was a good idea to write three Dragonmaid duels *cough* And for the same reason, Kisara plays a lot more Blue-Eyes than usual in this chapter, so that things at least feel a bit different. Let's just assume that they drew more of those cards specifically. :D

Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon was 100% not the optimal play in that situation, but if you thought I wasn't going to capitalise on the fact that both of them had monsters that were tyrants, you were very wrong. :) I could have given Kisara ROTDL or Silver's Cry to bring back Blue-Eyes, instead of using Successor Soul to get it from the deck. However, I didn't want literally every draw she got that turn to be perfect. (Also, if that was the case, Tyrant Dragon could have attacked twice for game, so I had to make her draw a little less perfect.) I could also have used normal FGD and literally nothing would have changed, but introducing the retrain early sounded fun too. Is FGD entirely an anti-climax here? Yup! It'll get a better show next time, but letting it show off was impossible. We were at that point in the duel where I couldn't let it do too much. In reality, Kisara's MVPs in this duel were Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon and Dragonmaid Sheou.

Me for 90% of this chapter: "Stop making me do math, Kisara. There's a reason I'm an arts person." Preparing the duel so that Jack would end up with exactly enough Tuners in his graveyard was pretty important too. I definitely saw the fact that Red Nova Dragon's name was Scar-Red Nova Dragon in Japanese and went ? before immediately yanking that name out. So yes, this is one of the rare moments when I'm mixing OCG/TCG names within archetypes, because that's too good, haha. Anyway, Nova shows up as Scarlight's alternate evolution here. (Plus, it fits Scarlight quite well, namewise.) Also, I designed Jack's power curve long before Supernova was released, so… hmm, take what you want from that. Red Nova Dragon was his final evolution in the original plan.

This duel is also definitely uh… well, there's quite a lot of hypocrisy in the dialogue, admittedly. Jack is self-aware about his own hypocrisy in some ways—and hypocrisy isn't necessarily a bad thing, in this context. Kisara, on the other hand, is a lot less… ah, I just really like some of the lines exchanged between them. :) And yet, while Kisara vs Jack is important for both characters, the ending of the chapter still turns its focus to the Lancers because in the end, the Lancers are still Academia's greatest enemies.

If you're wondering why there've been two cases so far of someone else narrating a scene and then Ruri coming in with her own narration… well, it's to contrast the two perspectives. In this story, Ruri is a delightfully insightful but unreliable narrator, and that's going to become far more apparent in later arcs, when it becomes far more plot-relevant. It's not that obvious here yet. She's still every bit the kind girl of canon, but she's also dealing with an enormous emotional burden that makes her more critical of herself.

"When you give me your opinion, I always know what is right. Your judgement is my rule of right." This is a quote from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. While the novel itself is questionable, there are some lines that make you stop and go "?" because they're actually pretty good. I'll mention that this quote does have an 'answer' to it that is conspicuously missing here.

"I am sufficiently proud of my knowing something to be modest about my not knowing all." - Vladimir Nabokov.

I won't comment too much on Kisara's words at the end, but I will point out that Kisara does not know these people. In truth, she has no knowledge of them as people. What she has access to is information without context—knowledge of something about them, which, in isolation, has led her to… conclusions. Are those conclusions true? Well, you can decide. :) It's been 60 chapters or so. I trust that I don't need to reassure anyone about the morality of Yuno and Miharu of all characters. (Ok, Hitoda is slightly more dubious, but…) But will her words affect the Lancers?... :)

Also, most of the Lancers are careening down the slippery slope to burnout at a frightening rate—after all, they've been stressed out the entire time in the Synchro Dimension. Yuno vs Miharu happened around 6-7pm, and in the story right now, it's around 4-5am. Plus, the people in the Underground have pretty much not slept the whole time for the last two to three days. :D

Finally, there's a lot of background reveals in this chapter. If you're unclear about something… it will probably get explained directly in a later chapter. The struggles of needing to reveal so many things at this specific point while the relevant characters are still unconscious… ugh. Still though, feel free to point out every future plot point that you spotted in the background—if you get every single one, you get a digital cookie! :)

Shino being all like "can I take him back?" while smiling like a kaomoji, flowers everywhere—and meanwhile, her tone is just *knife stab knife stab knife stab* "you'd better say yes" is a hell of an ending to leave you all on. Is there something slightly off about her actions right now? :D I plead the fifth. All will be explained eventually. That is a cliffhanger though. *clears throat* we're going to take a while to get back to that. :D The next chapter shifts perspectives to a different character, and it's going to be… fun. :) Will it probably take less time to write that duel, because [spoilers]? Yes. Will it take more time to write everything that isn't the duel, also because [spoilers]?... also yes.

Review responses!

To Bryz0n, mm, when I was planning this, I was debating on whether to give the match to Kiryu or Jack. In the end, I gave it to Jack, because of… well, how the rest of the arc is going to play out. Kisara probably would have steamrolled either Rua or Ruka individually, but the twins are genuinely quite competent in this story as Tag Duelists—their first loss as Tag Duelists in their entire lives was to Kisara.

To naminexriku2468, I feel like I've already made it very apparent why Kisara works for Academia, even if it hasn't been directly stated by her. Regardless, the term 'bad guy' is just boring to me. I don't want to write one dimensional antagonists who just do things because they're 'bad'. That feels too childish for the kind of story that I want to tell. Academia is certainly antagonistic to the main characters, but to say that anyone who joins Academia is 'bad', or that anyone on the Lancers' side is 'good'... that's one of the black and white ideas that this story doesn't want to fall into.

To Ben23ten, hmm, the moment that I was referencing was actually the duel with Aporia. Now that you bring that up though, I do get the same vibe. And honestly, what you bring up there is a really insightful way of looking at it.

To PhilJS89, haha, Supernova is… a complicated monster to bring in. I've been planning for this duel to be the debut of Scar-Red Nova Dragon since the start. And yup, not giving her Chaos Max Dragon was entirely to stop her from sweeping Rua and Ruka in one turn, but I also wanted to give her the chance to also gain stronger cards over time. That's also why Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon doesn't come out here. While Kisara does have the chance to bring it out (look at her Twin Burst summon), she chooses not to because it's less powerful in that situation.

To T.V. 2000, thanks! Mm, I won't deny it—characters will certainly be carded in this story over time. It's more that I prefer to only kill off characters when there's more I can do with their death than their life, so to speak. As for your question about the current arc, I'm sorry, but I didn't really understand it, so would you mind explaining it again for me? I'll respond to it in the next chapter! :D

To phantomdragons, yeah, when the Structure Deck leaks came out (wow that was a long time ago), I praised the heavens for giving Resonators more consistency (as if they needed it lmao). You're right that trying to give any specific details on how exactly death works in this story would most certainly be a spoiler, but what I can say is that once a character is carded, for all intents and purposes, they're treated as dead by the plot, just like in Arc-V. And that no one has plot armour in this story, except the Bracelet Girls (because Leo Akaba + Academia + obvious reasons). Characters will lose, and if they happen to lose in a situation where things are serious, they will probably be carded. That's all. :D

To kikuruhime, I do plan on giving most of the important 5Ds characters at least one on-screen duel during the invasion. Read that as you will. As for story ideas, I would personally never expect someone else to write a story idea that I was interested in! We're all far more motivated when we're writing our own ideas, after all. I do always enjoy seeing the creative ideas that others can come up with though. :)

QOTC: What are some rarer pairings that you would like to see in a YGO fic? There are some pretty standard/obvious ones, like OC/Serena, Bracelet Girls/Yu-boys and OC/Bracelet Girls, but I'm also a fan of rarepairs! Are there any less conventional pairings you all like?

Personally, I'd like more pairings for the Yu-boys that aren't just the Bracelet Girls, but that's just me :D

Alright, see you next time!