Familiar of Zero/Yu-Gi-Oh! --- Chapter 4

I do not own Zero no Tsukaima or YuGiOh! They belong to their respective creator and not me. I am only writing this for fun and in response to the idea Kamen Rider Chrome posted under the same name.

Duelist of Zero

Idea by Kamen Rider Chrome

Story by Ten-Faced Paladin

Chapter 4: A Woman’s Fury

Saito kept trudging along, not sure if he should keep going or just give up and lie down. He saw absolutely nothing around him and that hadn’t changed for what felt like the past few hours.

“Kinda thirsty,” he muttered to himself, still walking along.

Walking along the darkness, he swore he could see a building in the distance.

It had to be a mirage though.

Right?

(LINE BREAK)

Saito lay out in the courtyard of the magical school, looking through his deck along those of his past two opponents. He looked over the cards which Shock Master and Acid Golem had used against him, picking out what cards might be useful and which ones he was better off not touching. The Xyz support cards like Spirit Converter, Overlay Regeneration, and Xyz Reborn among a few other cards looked like they would come in handy. He had his three Numbers which they would be useful with. The Devil Orchestra might be better off with another deck, but they were certainly useful. Looking through both decks, it seemed the Numbers considered themselves the trump cards in a duel, which Saito couldn’t really disagree with.

Still, his mind was only going over the cards with a detached motion, already knowing the actions by heart. The other portion of his mind was on recent events. In the days since the Shock Master made his attempt at freeing himself, a few things had been going on. It had been a bit wild with all of the parents coming to get their children or wagons arriving to cart them back home. A lot of people were ready to burn the musician responsible until the headmaster publicly stated that their  medical staff confirmed that the man had been enchanted, being ordered to do the things he did. It got him off the hook with the law and after he gave a statement to the law officials, he left the academy for parts unknown.

Still, some things were tense in the school.

Kirche was bound and determined to get Saito and drag him to her room where she could ravish him until they couldn’t move any more. Most of her attempts included glomping him, purring about his manliness all the while making sure his face was pressed tightly against her breasts. Strangely enough, Siesta or Tabitha would always show up. The bluenette would distract Kirche with something that would capture her attention while Siesta would have some excuse about needing Saito for something.

Siesta’s reasons for taking Saito away were obvious to any woman who saw the events, the maid wanted the Japanese boy to pay attention to her and was willing to compete even with Kirche for it. Why Tabitha was doing it wasn’t for romantic reasons although it was certainly easy to mistake that. No, Tabitha seemed to be playing distraction in place of Louise who seemed strangely absent from Saito’s company more often than not.

Louise had been sullen and withdrawn since the days after Shock Master’s defeat. Why that was, Saito wasn’t really sure. He half-suspected that it was because her Familiar was outshining her, becoming famous while she was more or less a footnote as the one who summoned him. She sulked in her bed for a day afterwards before she began going to classes again, but it was like a pre-recorded motion for her. She went, did whatever was required of her besides demonstrations, and came back without a word. He was concerned, but with Louise being so unwilling to talk for any extended period of time outside of barking an order he really didn’t see any way he could get any answers from her.

“Lady troubles?” Tao Warrior spoke up, appearing by Saito’s side. The benign Number stood next to his chosen duelist, watching him work.

“A little,” Saito shrugged talking quietly. Only people who were touched by the Void were able to see Tao Warrior, meaning human Familiars like him and Void mages, or sentient Void artifacts like Derflinger. Everyone else only saw Saito talking to himself in those particular cases. “I’ve been meaning to ask, why is it I can talk to you but I can’t speak to Acid Golem or Shock Master?”

“They’ve been sealed upon their defeat, trapped within their own cards,” Tao Warrior replied. “They can’t talk even if they wanted to. Besides, do you honestly want to talk to them considering how much they no doubt hate you?”

“I was just curious,” Saito shrugged, continuing to run through his cards.

“Hey Partner, you’ve got some company,” Derflinger spoke up. “Over by doors into the castle.”

Saito looked up from the cards he was dealing with and spotted a group of the school maids gossiping by the doors. He assumed that they were on lunch break or something if they were just sitting there and talking. All three of them were looking his way and gossiping energetically. He waved to them in greeting, which made them all giggle and wave back.

“You’re getting pretty popular aren’t you Partner?” Derflinger teased.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Saito half-heartedly agreed. He’d never been this popular back in his old school. He had average looks and as a duelist he was alright. Not a pro, but he was pretty skilled in his own right. He’d won some and lost some but he never cared about the stakes back then. They had not been as heavy as the stakes right here.

The Numbers, aka the Ninety-Nine Demons of the Void, was probably the biggest threat this world had come across in a long time. Of course not many knew of them and according to Osmond mentions of them had mostly been erased to protect the reputation of the church who considered Void the holy element since it had been used by Brimir. They could not allow anything to put their faith to question and considered such information blasphemous. Of course it was only because they only wanted to preserve their position.

Meanwhile, there were some students who didn’t like the popularity Saito was gaining. They still looked upon him as a commoner, refusing to believe the stories they had heard about him. He heard the harsh and/or disbelieving whispers in the hallways enough times as he followed Louise to class. They never saw him duel so they refused to believe that a commoner like him was capable of something that they weren’t. Their pride wouldn’t allow it.

He heard footsteps coming closer and turned his head to see Siesta as she knelt at his side. “Hello, Saito,” she smiled at him. He smiled back.

“Hey, Siesta,” he greeted.

“Yo, maid girl,” greeted Derflinger. He rarely, if he ever did, refer to anyone by their names. He only called them by their nicknames.

“I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some food,” said Siesta as she put a tray of food down in front of Saito. She peered at his cards. Twice had two ‘intruders’ (Acid Golem and Shock Master) had used these cards and Saito had defeated them. The first time he’d used his cards had been against Guiche. She was curious about this game from Saito’s homeland.

“These cards must be pretty valuable,” said Siesta.

“These cards right here? You could say that,” he shrugged. Back in his home world though, only rare cards were considered valuable. Commons were just something no people would glance at twice, but Saito considered cards valuable and useful no matter how rare or common they were.

Pressing her fingers together shyly, she asked, “Um…Saito, would you mind teaching me how to play?”

Saito blinked. “Siesta?”

Siesta’s reason for asking was so she and Saito could have something in common. Maybe if she learnt to play, she would have more of a reason to spend time with him. “That is, if you don’t mind?”

Siesta was the first to ask about wanting to learn to play Duel Monster. Saito smiled and said, “Sure, I don’t mind.”

“And what is going on here?” Kirche asked as she came across the pair. Tabitha was with her, a book in hand.

“Just Siesta wanting to learn how to play Duel Monsters,” said Saito. Siesta blushed a bit, embarrassed.

“Duel Monsters?” Kirche blinked.

“The cards,” Tabitha clarified.

“You mean anyone can play it?” she asked, sitting down next to Saito.

“Well, anyone who can afford cards,” said Saito. “It’s got nothing to do with social status or anything. If you love the game and can get the cards then you can play.” To him, Duel Monsters was just a game, but they had seen him play the cards the same way as how he would wield a weapon.

“So it doesn’t need magic?” asked Kirche, looking intrigued.

“Nope,” Saito shook his head, beginning to spread the cards out in front of his friends to start the lesson. Kirche and Siesta were paying rapt attention to the colors of the cards and the interesting artwork which depicted the spells, traps, and monsters.

“Why are they all different colors?” asked Siesta.

“It’s because there are a lot of different types of cards and each have their own qualities,” Saito replied. Having the cards he needed spread out, he began his lesson, “Okay, in Duel Monsters the goal is to reduce your opponent’s life points to zero. All of your cards are used to help in that goal be it directly or indirectly.” Seeing he had everyone’s attention, even Tabitha’s, he continued. “Now there are three main types of cards. Monster cards, magic cards, and trap cards. Monsters are your main offense and defense so most of your cards are going to be monsters. Magic Cards are ways of modifying the monsters or the field in some way shape or form so you should always have a healthy amount of them. Finally, Trap cards are your trump cards, keeping you of out trouble so you need to have them as well.”

“How can you tell them apart?” asked Kirche.

“Well, monster cards are a lot of different colors but they all have star markings on them as well as numbers it indicate their offense and defensive power,” the Japanese boy explained. “Magic Cards are always green and Trap Cards are always purple.”

“Okay,” Siesta nodded. “So why are the monster cards colored so differently?”

“Because of their status,” Saito answered. He picked up a Giant Soldier of Stone from Acid Golem’s deck and placed it down for the girls to see. “Let’s start with normal monsters. They’re colored yellow and they don’t have any special abilities beyond their attack and defense. What you see is what you get.”

He then plucked up Hieracosphinx and placed it next to the Soldier, “Orange cards are effect monsters. They have a special ability which can take effect at any time depending on what it is. Some have activation costs and some don’t while others can only activate at a specific time. The main point though is that once they hit the field the game changes somehow.” Seeing he still had their attention, he continued, “Two kinds of cards I don’t have here are Fusion and Ritual monsters. Fusion Monster cards are light purple and can only be created by sending the two appropriate monsters to the graveyard while using a spell card. Ritual monster cards are blue and can only be summoned with a special Magic Card known as a ritual card. These kinds of monsters tend to be difficult to call sometimes so they’re usually pretty strong.”

Tabitha’s eyes were staring deeply at the cards on the ground, as if trying to burn them into her memory.

Saito pulled out some of his Synchro Monsters, “Next up are what’s new back home, the white Synchro Monsters. These can only be summoned when a Tuner Monster is on the field and sacrifice the proper number of monsters. The combined levels of the monsters have to equal the level of the monster you want to Synchro Summon or it won’t work.”

“What do Tuner monsters look like then?” asked Kirche, trying to spot a differently colored card on display like the others.

“They’re effect monsters so they’re usually orange,” the duelist replied. “They’re low level too so it makes it easy to summon them, but they usually don’t stay on the field long or else they get destroyed.”

“And what about the black cards?” asked the maid, so entranced she seemed to have forgotten about being in the company of Nobles.

“Xyz Monsters,” Saito answered, revealing the devil orchestra that the musician had used against him. “These…I don’t know too much about. I know that to summon them, you have to have at least two monsters that are the same level. Then you place them in the same spot and then put the Xyz Monster on top of them. Every time you use the monster’s effect, discard one of those cards to the graveyard to activate the effect. I’m still learning to be honest.”

“Numbers are Xyz?” asked Tabitha.

“So far they seem to be,” Saito nodded. “Probably all of them are.”

“So then, to get ahead in this game you need to use your monsters’ effects wisely or else you find yourself without anyone to defend you,” Kirche pondered. “That would be where the green and purple cards come in, correct?”

“That’s right,” Saito nodded. “They’re just as important so we’ll move on again.”

And so the lesson continued. Siesta and Kirche both showed a great amount of interest in the game, even if they showed just as much interest in Saito. Tabitha asked a lot of questions and paid rapt attention, something she usually only did for her books or for her lessons before now. Saito explained trap and magic cards as well as the sub-types which went along with them. Kirche noticed how Saito’s Charmers seemed to have a common theme and so he explained the archetypes. He further explained the different types of monster and their alignments under the elements.

“Hmm, these fire monsters sound interesting, Kirche purred as Saito finished an explanation on the only FIRE monster archetype he knew, the Laval monsters. She seemed instantly attracted to the idea of using them. “Darling, where could I find these ‘Laval’ monsters?”

“Not too sure,” Saito shrugged. “So far the only ones who have cards are myself and the Numbers. If there’s a FIRE Number out there, he may have them.”

“Too bad,” Kirche pouted. “The Ice Barrier monsters sounded just perfect for Tabitha too.”

The bluenette seemed to consider the idea before nodded. Saito couldn’t help but agree with the redhead in that regard.

“Siesta!”

The group blinked and turned to see one of the other maids in the school approaching the group. She bowed respectfully to Kirche and Tabitha before she turned to address her fellow aid, “The head maid wants to speak with you.”

“Oh. I see,” Siesta nodded. Standing up, she bowed to Kirche and Tabitha with a soft, “Excuse me,” before she turned to Saito, “See you later Saito.”

“Bye Siesta,” Saito nodded. Smiling, Siesta headed away with her fellow maid.

“Now Darling,” Kirche purred. “Perhaps we can go into some more ‘in-depth’ lessons?” She scooted even closer to Saito, making sure that her breasts were pressing up against his arm. Saito’s face flushed at the contact.

“Ah…sure…” he grinned.

(LINE BREAK)

Louise lay in her bed, more or less ignoring the world around her. Her Familiar was somewhere on the grounds doing whatever commoners did. She really couldn’t bring herself to care. She just wanted to get through her day if for no other reason than to just avoid more dealing with confrontation. The days had blurred together for her since she discovered that it had been her fault that the Numbers had been brought to Halkenginia in the first place.  As a result, she swore to never use magic again.

She continued with her classes, if only due to not wanting to waste her parents’ money on tuition. She kept up with the lessons and did her homework. The difference between then and now though was the fact that she avoided taking part in class. She wouldn’t offer to participate in examples and would turn down offers for the same even though that in itself was rare.

It was shameful, really, more shameful than a noble who couldn't use magic. Refusing to use magic was the same as throwing away one's status as a noble, but considering what she'd learned, she didn't think that it could get worse.

She was worse than zero. Now, thanks to her, the world was going to be consumed by demons who latched onto humans. Yes, her Familiar could destroy them and seal them into the cards once again but he was just one person. There were ninety-nine of those demons which were free and no doubt causing havoc across the continent. How would Saito be able to find them all?

The peace of the continent would be shattered with warlords and it was all her fault.

(LINE BREAK)

The day wore on and Saito felt himself grow bored. Kirche and Tabitha had to leave eventually for more classes but the redhead did offer to take up more lessons about Duel Monsters in her room when he had some free time. For some reason, he figured Kirche had more on her mind than to learn about Duel Monsters.

The sun had sunk over the horizon line, trying to figure out what he was going to do next now that he had some free time to think once again without his deck to distract him.

“Hey Derflinger,” he asked the sword on his shoulder. “Is there any way we can track the Numbers?”

“They weren’t exactly subtle back then,” Derflinger replied. “All we had to do was follow either rumours or the trail of destruction.”

“Nuts,” Saito sighed. “It’s not like they’ll just end up on my doorstep either. The last two were more or less luck. Acid Golem picked Guiche as a host and Shock Master’s host wanted to kidnap noble kids which brought him here. We’ve still got to find the other ninety-seven and Tristain’s a big place, much less Halkenginia.”

“Yeah, they stomped all over the place so we had to do a lot of legwork to find them all,” Derflinger agreed. “That’ll be hard enough to do even without them hiding out as small cards.”

“Makes me wish we had some kind of lead,” Saito sighed. It seemed that the only chance Saito got in finding the Numbers was when confronted by one in a duel. It was a waiting game. Either that or be on the lookout for weird phenomenon, well, weird in a world of magic. It was still all new to Saito but at least he had his duelling skills and cards to help him out.

His stomach interrupting his internal thoughts, Saito got up and went to grab something to eat for dinner. The kitchen staff was always kind enough to give him something to eat, especially after he’d beaten Guiche. They idolized him, and it was better because he wasn’t some stuck up noble who was so proud of their magic and thought they had a god-given right to trample on plebeians.

He was also thinking about talking with Louise. He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he could tell she was depressed over something. She hid it well enough but he could feel like something was wrong. He wanted to try to help her and not because he was her Familiar. It was because…well, they weren’t friends. Louise’s pride wouldn’t let her befriend a commoner. Partner? Companion? Wonder what the right term would be? Well, it didn’t matter. He was here in this world because of her so he might as well try to get along with her and vice versa.

He entered the kitchen and greeted the staff. But then he noticed the mood was a sombre one. Marteau had his arms crossed and looked especially grim while three maids were milling about, their professional perkiness just drained out of them.

“Woah, who died?” asked Derflinger.

Marteau looked up and saw the boy and sword, “Oh, Mr. Saito…”

Now Saito knew that something was wrong. The chef Marteau always referred to him as ‘Our Sword’ and was always happy to converse with him even if it was as simple as handing him a bowl of stew for lunch. Even when the guy griped about the nobility, he always seemed to have a chuckle ready to bust out. Seeing him as downtrodden as he was just didn’t fit the image that Saito had painted of the man.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” asked Saito in concern.

“She didn’t tell you?” asked one of the maids who had a braid. She sighed and shook her head. “Siesta mustn’t have wanted to worry you.”

“Worry me about what?” Saito pressed.

“Siesta got hired by Count Mott to be his personal maid,” Marteau sighed. “She got the message today and had to leave a few hours ago.”

“Huh?” Saito blinked. Siesta got hired away? Well, it was certainly depressing to the academy staff who were no doubt close to one another, but why was everyone acting like they were about to go to a funeral. “Why is that bad? Wouldn’t she get extra pay and such from being a noble’s maid rather than a general one?”

“Yes,” a maid with glasses nodded. “That would be a good thing for just about any other noble, but the fact that it’s Mott makes things really bad!”

“And who is Count Mott?”

“He’s the royal messenger,” Marteau replied. “Whenever the royal family needs a message sent somewhere, they send him to make sure that the message gets there. I suppose if the message is important having a messenger who can use magic would make sense.”

Saito scratched his head. Why would being a royal messenger be considered a noble title? He could ponder it later though. Right now it seemed like this Mott fellow was bad news in some way and form and he had to find out why Siesta was working for the guy.

“So what makes him so bad?” he asked.

“The man’s a complete and filthy lecher!” the glasses maid frowned. “Every time he comes here he blatantly ogles every woman he sees, practically undressing us with his eyes! Old Osmond may be a pervert too, but at least he respects us as people! Mott just acts like we should be thankful that he’s giving us his attention!”

“And he’s an ugly middle-aged man too!” the braided maid gagged. “He thinks he’s such an incredible and respectable noble since he deals with the royalty all the time but nobody can stand him! He throws around the royal names all the time and threatens to go to them whenever things don’t go his way. I even hear nobles complaining about him whenever he comes by.”

“If he’s so bad, why is Siesta working for him?” Saito gaped.

“Probably because he’s forcing her to,” Martaeu grumbled. “Whenever the nobility wants something, we can’t exactly say no. Likely Mott also threatened to complain to the headmaster or royalty if she tried to deny him too. He could make up some lie about her which would get the royalty to do something here or to her home in response.”

“Would the royalty or headmaster really believe it?” asked Saito incredulously.

“Hard to say, but would you really take the risk when it could be your family or hometown could suffer the consequences when one noble makes a complaint against you to the wrong person?” the chef frowned. “Nobles are more likely to believe another noble in affairs rather than a simple commoner even when the noble is an outright liar.”

Saito gulped, not liking the sound of what was going on, “But why would Mott want Siesta so bad?”

“Likely because she’s one of the prettier maids here,” the glasses maid shrugged. “That and she has one of the bigger chests. He’d hone in on her like a bee to honey. He probably wants to keep her as a mistress for his personal pleasure too.”

“WHAT?-!” Saito cried out. As inexperienced with Halkenginian society as he was, even he could figure out the mistress angle. In other words, Siesta would be a kept woman who would be allowed all of the finery and money that Mott had to offer, but in return she would have to tend to his physical needs whenever he demanded it. What made the situation worse was unlike most mistresses you’d hear about in novels or something Siesta wasn’t going to be a willing participant. Mott was forcing her under threat of making up some report to either Osmond or the royal family which could result in serious consequences. Add in the fact that there was likely no birth control like in Saito’s world and Siesta could be looking at being a young mother with no husband which would utterly destroy any future prospects since the child would be a bastard child. From what he heard, Mott was likely the petty type who would throw Siesta out the moment he found out she was pregnant too.

“It’s sad, but it happens,” Martaeu grumbled. “Just another way the nobility likes to lord their status over us.”

That was the last straw and Saito stormed out of the kitchen. He needed to speak to someone in charge.

(LINE BREAK)

Prof. Colbert spotted Saito coming while exiting Headmaster Osmond’s office. He opened his mouth to greet the young duellist only to be ignored as Saito walked past him and shoved the door open. At the moment, Osmond was starting to enjoy one of his ‘special books’ in private when Saito suddenly barged into his office.

“Mr. Hiraga!” Old Osmond sputtered as Saito stepped up to his desk and slammed his palms down onto the surface.

“How could you give Siesta away to some old lech!-?” he yelled.

(LINE BREAK)

Meanwhile, Louise was out of her room. Saito had yet to return and she was on her way to look for him. That was when she saw Prof. Colbert, coming towards her. “Prof. Colbert.”

“Ah, Ms. Valierre,” he smiled. “I hate to bother you outside of class, but it’s your Familiar.”

“What has he done now?” she questioned, already feeling a headache coming to her mind.

“It’s not so much something he did,” Colbert replied. “It’s more like something has happened that he’s reacted badly to.”

“Nnnnn!” Louise growled. “Very well. Show me where he is.”

Colbert led the way and the pair soon arrived at the headmaster’s office. The door was open and outside was Ms. Loungeville who was looking inside with what looked like an air of satisfaction. Colbert and Louise moved next to her and peered inside the office.

Inside the office was Osmond and Saito, the Japanese boy holding the old man by the lapels of his cloak and shaking him back and forth. Saito was obviously angry if the frown his face was sporting was any indication. Derflinger just seemed to find the sight amusing and was laughing.

“How could you do it?-!” Saito demanded hotly.

“I’ll explain if you let me go!” Osmond cried, looking quite panicked.

Louise frowned and stomped into the room, “That’s enough! What’s gotten into you, Saito? Your behaviour is inexcusable!”

“I think it’s perfectly excusable!” Saito snapped back, stopping his shaking to look at the pinkette. “This guy just gave Siesta away to that lecher Count Mott!”

“That maid?” Louise blinked, taking a moment to recall which maid that Saito had been known to hang out with. Then the rest of the sentence caught up with her. “Wait, Count Mott? That lecher? Ugh!”

“I know!” Saito nodded before he turned back to Osmond. “How could you just give her away like that?-! Was it because she’s a commoner and she just doesn’t matter to you?”

“If you let me go I can explain!” Osmond cried back. Normally he wouldn’t be so afraid of one boy but this boy was the Gandalfr and holder of the Angel of Balance! He’d be crazy not to be intimidated!

Louise frowned and grabbed Saito’s arm, “Saito, let him go so he can speak.”

Saito frowned, but obeyed mainly out of a desire to know why Osmond would allow Mott to take Siesta away.

“So, out with it,” said Saito, crossing his arms.

“Saito!” Louise admonished her Familiar for his rudeness but he didn’t care. He didn’t think he was overreacting. He was reacting perfectly to the given situation.

(LINE BREAK)

Saito stormed out of Osmond’s office with Louise behind. She knew that look on his face. It was a look of determination. She’d seen that expression during his past duels and she knew what was running through his mind.

Saito had been royally pissed at Osmond’s explanation. The old man hadn’t given Siesta away but the maid left on her own. Of course, Mott probably had a hand in that. Osmond explained that the role of Royal Messenger wasn’t truly a noble title but a court appointed position. It was actually more or less a position which needed filling and usually handed to somebody who needed to be kept out of the way in the current times of peace. The Mott Family was in truth in decline in terms of reputation. They were one of the wealthiest next to the Valliere Family and which brought them more than a few important connections and they liked to lord it over everyone, acting like they were entitled to anything they wanted. Mott was by far the worst since he avoided any true noble calling like the plague. So he bought the role of Royal Messenger from someone in the government and was happy to coast throughout his life. It was because of his mindset that absolutely no noble family could stand the man but only put up with him because of his money and position.

Osmond of course knew all this because he had been a teacher in the academy while Mott had been a student. The spoiled teenage boy from back then had grown into a spoiled adult man who threw his money around like candy, thinking he could get away with anything due to his position.

A lot of people did fear Mott, thinking that he truly did have the ear of the monarchy. He would meet with the rulers of Tristain and would be able to speak to them directly so it would be a great opportunity to make a comment which could make the royalty believe that the people Mott was whining about needed to be dealt with. It was hard to say if it was true or not, but not many people were going to risk gaining the royalty’s ire in a society where your life could be made or ruined depending on the approval of the ruling body.

Saito didn’t care about that though.

He was going to save Siesta himself even if he wasn’t going to get any help.

“Saito! Saito, wait!” Louise cried as she caught up with him. He stopped and she bumped into his back.

“Louise, don’t try to stop me and don’t try to tell me Siesta isn’t worth it for being a commoner,” Saito said.

“But if you just go in like this you might get killed!” she argued.

“I have my deck. I think I’ll be fine.” He continued onwards.

“But you don’t even know where Count Mott’s estate is!” That caused him to freeze in his tracks. Whenever Saito got angry, he rarely thought things through.

“…Well, shit,” he muttered. He didn’t know where he needed to go but he didn’t have anytime to waste. By now Mott would be doing things to Siesta, vulgar and lewd things, and she wouldn’t be able to defend herself.

(LINE BREAK)

Mott Estate

Siesta was given a room that was more than a maid of her status would deserve. It was lavish, with a four-poster bed with a canopy, a lush, soft carpet and beautiful curtains covering the windows. Of course, the only reason she was here in Count Mott’s abode was not to be his maid.

She was to be his mistress.

Siesta shuddered as she thought about the idea of the Count touching her body and taking her innocence. The way he stared at her made her feel completely unclean and he was just itching to molest her. That gleam in his eyes, full of blatant and unrestrained greed and lust made his intentions very plain to her. She was saving herself until she found the man she loved but now that was not going to be possible. She looked to the clothing she was made to wear for Count Mott. It wasn’t appropriate for a maid at all since it revealed too much. The skirt was too short, and it was obviously going to fit her tightly so she’d have to leave some buttons undone to reveal her cleavage.

To calm her thoughts, she decided to take a bath. The room was equipped with a bathroom. She stripped herself bare before going into the tub to relax herself.

“Oh…Saito…” she murmured.

“The Count deserves to die.”

Siesta gasped and splashed as she jumped in the tub. “Who’s there!-?”

“A friend.”

“Friend…?”

“That man is despicable, too despicable to exist.”

Siesta couldn’t agree more. He’d brought her here to be his mistress, his pleasure toy and bed warmer in exchange for money and luxury, like some kind of whore. She was no whore.

“But what can I do?” she questioned.

“Just accept my power, Siesta.”

“Who are you, really?”

“Who am I? I guess you can call me your ‘guardian angel’…”

Before Siesta’s eyes, a sparkle of light emerged from the wall, taking the form of a small rectangle. The light had a blue tint to it which Siesta found entrancing as she stared into it. Her eyes fogged over as she reached out and plucked the item out of the air. The light died down, revealing a black card with a blue dragon in the picture. On her body, just above her left breast a red marking which looked like a one and seven appeared.

“My…angel…” she murmured, dazed and apparently lost to the world.

“Oh Siestaaaa! I hope you want some company!” the voice of a cheery man echoed from her bedroom. She easily recognized the voice as Mott. Apparently he had come to spend some time with his new mistress for the first time.

As she held the card, Siesta’s face turned to a snarl at the insulting and disgusting thought of that man laying a hand on her.

“Let’s end this pervert!”

“Yes….”

(LINE BREAK)

Tristain Academy

At the moment Saito needed three things: transportation, a map and directions. He needed to go to someone and ask/demand directions for Mott’s estate. Someone in this school had to know the way and to his knowledge nobles were a tightly knit group.

Someone did know, and Saito was homing in on him.

The scene was in the ground floor of the girls dormitory, a common room where male and female students could mix and mingle with one another without penalty. Saito was in fact the only one who could go to the higher sections without an invitation since he was Louise’s Familiar and had to room with her.

In this common room, another teenage social drama was playing out. Guiche was once again with Montmorency, begging for her forgiveness in regards to his wandering eyes. She wasn’t mad at him for his escapade with the first year Katie since he received suitable punishment. No, she was angry at him now because he had been caught walking with another girl she didn’t know and even handed a flower to her with compliment and charming smile. Needless to say, the curly-haired girl was not pleased and was giving him the cold shoulder once again.

“Montmorency, please tell me what I can do to prove my faithfulness for you,” he begged.

“Go jump off a cliff!” she huffed before she stormed away, leaving Guiche with a black cloud over his head. She may have loved Guiche but the guy just could not keep his eyes away from other pretty girls.

“Women troubles?” Saito asked, feeling a little sympathetic but then he pushed those feelings aside to focus on the task at hand.

“Ahhh, indeed. Far too many to count,” Guiche sighed, sitting on a cushioned. “Is there anything you need Saito?”

Since the days of their first duel together, Saito and Guiche actually formed a sort of friendship. He was grateful to Saito for rescuing him from the Acid Golem of Destruction and even believed that Saito was capable of magic power, even if it wasn’t the same kind that he was used to. After all, the world was a very big place and Halkenginia couldn’t have been the only land which had magic in it.

“Yes,” Saito answered. “I need you to tell me where I can find Count Mott’s place.”

“Count Mott?” Guiche blinked before he grimaced. “Eugh. Why would you want to find him? He’s so arrogant and full of himself.”

“Wait, even you think this guy’s arrogant?” Derflinger spoke incredulously.

“My father has to deal with him since he’s high in the military and needs to contact the royalty often,” Guiche explained. “So Mott would stop by my family’s estate to deliver messages and such. He’d always speak to my father like he was so much more important than a general in her majesty’s army just because he was the Royal Messenger. We all hate him.”

“Wow,” Saito gaped. Mott was so arrogant even a guy who was admittedly full of himself like Guiche couldn’t stand him? Shaking his head, he asked he answered his questions. “Mott’s forced my friend Siesta to be his personal maid, but really he’s forcing her to be his mistress, likely by threatening to complain to the royalty or some other important person if she disobeyed him.”

“What?-!” Guiche gaped. “Are you serious?-! He can’t do that! It’s completely immoral and even illegal to have anyone forcibly serve you! It’s a serious abuse of authority that the crown does not allow!” The blonde then grew introspective. “I’ve heard that he would use his position to his advantage to get what he wanted, but to go this far…”

“So we can confirm that what he’s doing is wrong and not just a social taboo?” Saito asked, feeling much more hopeful than before. Having a mistress was likely not approved as a social norm but it was hardly illegal. On the other hand, abusing your authority to force people to give you what you wanted was likely a serious breech of conduct which would have heavy repercussions.

“Of course it is!” Guiche nodded. “I’ll write down the directions to Mott’s estate. I will not allow an innocent maiden to be abused by such a blatant and dangerous pervert for one moment! I’ll write a missive to my father immediately so that we can bring justice to the people Mott has manipulated.” Guiche’s face looked most resolute. “And then Montmorency will see for sure that I am a good man!”

“O…kay,” Saito blinked, well, whatever got the job done. “I’ll go save Siesta then. Her testimony will probably help bring down Mott, especially with the other people Mott threatened to complain to the government about.”

“Right!” Guiche nodded, excited at the idea of rescuing a damsel in distress. “I’ll get a quill and some paper and write the directions for you! You get a horse or something!”

“Right!” Saito nodded.

(LINE BREAK)

Guiche came through on his instructions and soon Saito was on his way on horseback to get Siesta back. Guiche’s directions had been quite clear and he managed to find the place. Mott’s mansion certainly looked extravagant and filled to the brim with riches. Still, there was one thing which made it stand out…

“…OK, this isn’t what I expected,” said Saito as he dismounted. The place looked like a tornado had hit. “Where are the guards?”

Riding his horse to the front door, Saito met no resistance. Dismounting, he entered the mansion proper and quickly found that the destruction was as bad inside as it was outside. All of the artwork was destroyed and chunks of the walls looked like they had been struck by a cannonball. What was really odd was that there were pools of water all over the floor and the air hung heavy with moisture.

This alone made Saito worried. Mott was a Water Mage or so he was told so he was certainly capable of doing this. Still, Mott was a guy who liked to show off what he had by keeping it pristine if only for other people to gaze at it and envy his fortune. Why would he go on a smashing spree in his own home? Even he wouldn’t do that unless…

“A Number…” Saito’s eyes bulged in horror.

“What?” Derflinger asked.

“Mott must have gotten a Number and it amplified his power!” Saito explained, beginning to run up the main foyer stairs. “Outside of someone attacking his home, why else would he go on a smashing spree? He’s the only mage here and he can use water!”

“Holy cow!” Derflinger gasped, getting Saito’s reasoning. “Maid girl’s in trouble! Let’s go!”

(LINE BREAK)

Saito ran through many of the hallways, looking for where Mott could be. It was easy since he followed where the trail of destruction was non-existent, figuring that Mott wouldn’t want to damage his finest things which could in fact show how superior it was. He found the place he was looking for at the top floor at a pair of double doors accented with gold and almost statuesque frame. Lining that particular hall were pictures of the man, all fairly large and adorned with his smirking face, proving the man was indeed an incredible narcissist. Funnelling his anger into his legs, he burst through the door to Mott’s personal throne room where he loved to pretend he was royalty.

“Siesta!” he called and he came to a halt at the sight he saw.

Again, not something he expected.

“Welcome, Saito~” Siesta purred as she sat on the throne with her legs crossed, looking as imperial as any queen. Kneeling by the throne was Count Mott but he was wearing a collar with a chain that was held in Siesta’s hand. He was battered, bruised, shamed, and soaking wet. Siesta was as dry as a bone and was dressed in the obscene excuse for a maid uniform but this time she was wearing it proudly. Her sizable bust was all but on display and a lot of her legs were revealed, daring to reveal her panties underneath. She seemed completely comfortable in the outfit despite what Saito had come to know about Siesta such an outfit would have left her mortified in shame.

“Um…I came to rescue you?” he asked, now unsure of what to do.

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you Saito!” Siesta giggled, her eyes looking sultry and seductive, easily matching Kirche’s when she got in the mood. “Oh how can I reward such a hero like you for coming to my rescue?” She sensuously uncrossed her legs, indeed revealing what was underneath her skirt.

‘White!’ Saito gasped, blood dribbling from his nose for a moment. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on what was going on. “Siesta, what’s going on here? Everything is trashed and I thought Mott got a Number!”

“Oh, he and I just had a disagreement,” Siesta giggled, standing up from her throne and walking towards him, dropping g Mott’s leash like a piece of trash. “He wanted something that wasn’t his to take and I wasn’t willing to give it to him. A few sparks flew from our disagreement.”

“Partner,” Derflinger whispered. “Something’s not right with maid girl.”

“No kidding,” Saito muttered under his breath. He turned his attention to Siesta and…did the opening on her blouse get bigger? “Siesta?”

“I’ve always had my eye on you, you know,” she purred. Reaching Saito, she began to trail a line down his chest with her finger. “Seeing you stand up to a noble and actually win…it filled me with so much hope and confidence.”

“Umm,” Saito gulped, feeling himself get flushed at the contact.

“But I was so shy then, feeling so inadequate compared to the likes of that Germanian girl who seemed so very fond of you,” Siesta continued, coming closer so that her breasts pressed against Saito’s chest. “Now though, I don’t intend for anything to stand in my way.” She drew her face in closer to her intended suitor. “I will make you mine Saito.”

“Um…uh…wuh…” Saito stammered before backing away from the seductive maid. “Siesta, are you feeling okay? I mean, you’re not yourself right now.”

“Oh, I’ve been liberated Saito!” Siesta giggled. “No longer will I be forced to serve under those rotten nobles who play with our lives like it’s a game. I will stand strong against the people who will try to take advantage of me and punish them for their arrogance!”

A rattle of chains interrupted the conversation followed by quite laboured breathing. Siesta and Saito turned to the source only to find Mott back on his feet with a wooden staff in his hand, obviously his means of controlling magic. He looked incredibly angry and was holding the item out menacingly.

“You little whore!” he growled. “How dare you humiliate me this way?-! How dare you even think of raising a hand against me! I don’t care what noble sired a bastard child like you! You are a commoner to me and you will OBEY!”

“I thought I threw that stick away,” Siesta frowned, uncaring of the threat. “I really should pay more attention to what the trash does.”

“Siesta!” Saito gasped, now very sure something was wrong with the maid since he had never heard her speak that way before.

Mott raised his staff high above his head, conjuring a massive ball of water with his magic. Glaring hatefully at Siesta, he prepared to show the maid her place. It was a shame, really. She did look quite good and would’ve been fun in bed but since she had humiliated him, then he had the right to punish her.

Of course Siesta had this to say to Mott as he launched water snakes towards her. “Pathetic.” She pointed her hand towards him, palm open, and her eyes glowed as power flowed through the body. The marking of the Number who had possessed her glowed upon her breast and the water snakes stopped in midair.

“What?” both Mott and Saito gaped.

She flicked her wrist and with a silent command the water snakes all flew straight towards Mott. He was struck painfully by his own spell, repeatedly, and forced to his knees as his staff was wrenched free from his hand and sent flying through the air to land on the floor. The water snakes then started to whip Mott to submission as he cowered in agony next to the throne, crying out for mercy.

Saito stared at Siesta. This was not his friend. This was not the gentle maid girl who’d shown him kindness.

“Oh shit, Partner,” uttered Derflinger with a grimace. “I think the Number brought out her dark side and I think I know which one it is.”

“You do?” Saito asked, openly gaping at Siesta as she kept the stream of water rerouting back at Mott despite his pleas for mercy.

“Yeah, I remember this ability since it’s almost like a Square-Class mage if not a Pentagon-Class one,” Derflinger spoke darkly. “The Demon Dragon of the Abyss. The mage who summoned that one was a woman who tried to seduce Brimr hoping for a share of his power but he shot her down. She wasn’t too happy about that.”

Once she was done punishing Mott, who began to sob, she smiled at Saito and traced a circle around his chest. “So…Saito? What do you think?”

“Of what?” he questioned, a little nervously.

“Of my power! Now I know why nobles have so much fun abusing their magic! I feel so…so empowered! I can do things I never thought before and I can finally take what is mine! Happiness! Love! Fame! Fortune! I can have it all!”

“Yeah, she’s definitely possessed,” Derflinger spoke up.

“Okay, Siesta, you need to calm down,” Saito tried to soothe the maid out of her newfound megalomania. “You remember what the Numbers did to Guiche and that musician guy? It’s doing the same thing to you. It’s turning you into a power drunk madwoman.”

“Oooh, are you afraid?” Siesta purred, sounding more like a panther than a kitty cat. The tone set Saito on edge rather than soothe him like it would have before. “Hmmm, I suppose you would be considering what you had to deal with before.”

“No kidding,” Derflinger grumbled.

“I know just the perfect way to ease your worries,” Siesta smiled, backing away from Saito. “You and I will have a duel Saito. You’ll see that I’m in total control and that my Number isn’t controlling me like it did the others. When I win, you and I will become lovers. We’ll become a new noble line in Tristain!” her smile turned sultry again. “I’ll even let you have that Germanian girl so we can forge ties with Germania. I’ve seen how she fawns over you.”

“B-Both?” Saito gibbered, his nose beginning to bleed again. His mind began to wander to very dangerous territory as he imagined himself, in bed, with two hot and naked girls. He shook his head to break himself out of his daydream. He was here to save Siesta, not drool over her.

(LINE BREAK)

Louise was on her way to Mott’s mansion on horseback, cursing herself for letting Saito go off on his own. Meanwhile, up in the sky, was Sylphid who had Tabitha and Kirche riding on her back. The dragon was faster than the horse and Louise snapped the reins to command the horse to run faster.

She had tried to head off Saito before he could run and get himself in trouble with Mott. She ran into Guiche to see if Saito had met him, but the blonde boy had already given Saito the directions he needed and her Familiar had already left. Guiche proudly stated that he had already sent off a message to his father concerning Mott’s extreme abuse of authority and beech of decorum. Saito was going to rescue Siesta so that she could act as a witness among many who would no doubt rise up to confirm the allegations against the Royal Messenger. When Louise tried to go and find a horse to get moving after Saito, she ran into Tabitha and Kirche who just had to know what was going on.

Louise felt a little upset and jealous that’s Saito would go so far for a maid, but then she remembered that Saito only saw Siesta as a person, not a commoner. He also considered her a friend and he wanted to save his friend from harm. She had to respect that at least. There were proper channels to solve this kind of problem but they would take too long and Siesta would probably be damaged beyond repair by the time it was resolved so Saito decided to deal with things personally.

Hopefully they could keep Siesta safe until Guiche’s message was received and a proper investigation could be launched.

(LINE BREAK)

Siesta strode over to the throne and grabbed Count Mott’s chain. She glared at him in contempt in disgust as he gazed back up at her in fear. Cruelly, she tugged on the chain to choke him. “Don’t you ever attack me again,” she warned.

Her trash disciplined for the moment, Siesta took her seat on the throne once again. She then raised her arm up while her red 17 marking appeared once again. Water which was pooling in the floor suddenly lurched to life and surged towards Siesta’s limb before it pooled together there and actually transformed into a solid material. It looked like a circle, composed of sections of scales which were a deep blue. In the centre of it all was a red gemstone. The sections then opened with five pieces sticking outwards switching to a sideways position to become monster and magic zones. Another panel on the opposite side shifted and revealed both a deck and a graveyard slot. Finally the red gem in the centre lit up with a life point counter in the centre.

Saito grimaced and allowed his zero markings to materialize, summoning his Tao Duel Disk. Reaching into his pocket, he produced his cards. When the Duel Disk unfolded, he inserted his deck inside, bringing the machine to life.

“Ready when you are Saito,” Siesta smiled.

“I am,” Saito retorted.

“DUEL!”

Saito: 4000 --- Siesta: 4000

“I’ll start things off!” Saito announced, taking his first six cards. Taking a look at his hand, he decided to start things off carefully. There was no telling what kind of deck Siesta was given by her Number so it would be best to put up a defence and see what he was dealing with. “I’ll place a monster face down in defence mode.”

In front of Saito, a large card appeared in a horizontal position, keeping the monster hidden from sight.

“Then I’ll play a card face down,” Saito continued, making a second card appear. “I’ll end my turn with that.”

“Aw, you’re being gentle with me!” Siesta giggled. Reaching to her Duel Disk, she began, “Then it’s my move!”

Saito: 4000 --- Siesta: 4000

“I draw!” Siesta called out, taking her cards. Like Saito, she glanced at them before she plucked one out to begin her move. “I’ll summon Drill Barnacle in attack mode!”

Siesta played the card, bringing a flash of light out. From it emerged what indeed looked like a large barnacle with tentacles coming from the bottom. However, from the openings in the barnacles came sharp drills. (3/WATER/Fish/300/0)

“Oh man,” Derflinger commented. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so shrimpy.”

“Oh, it’ll only be shrimpy for now,” Siesta giggled. “You see, it has a special ability. One that allows me to attack Saito directly!” Saito flinched at the call while the barnacle’s drills began to spin. “Go!”

Drill Barnacle shot through the air, soaring over Saito’s facedown card before diving directly at him. He attempted to dodge to the side, but one of the drills managed to knick his side, “Ow!” Glancing down at his side, he saw that the drill had torn a hole in his shirt. “Man…”

Siesta only giggled when her fish monster came back to her side, “Now Drill Barnacle’s other effect activates. Whenever it makes a direct attack, it gains 1000 attack points!”

Drill Barnacle came to a rest at Siesta’s side of the field before it began to rattle. Soon, more barnacle openings emerged from the creature, each of them sporting another drill to cut down any and all enemies with.

“Okay…” Derflinger gulped. “It doesn’t look so shrimpy anymore.”

“I’ll finish my turn with a facedown card,” Siesta giggled as she placed her card. “I’ll end with that.”

“Fine! Ore no Ta-n! Doro!” Saito took his next card.

Saito: 3700 --- Siesta: 4000

“Hope you got something that can take that down quick,” Derflinger spoke. “Most of those little guys you have tend to be on the low side of attack points if what you said about the rules is right.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Saito replied, looking at the new card he took. “I’ll play Maiden of Macabre in attack mode!” In front of Saito, there was a flash of light before a beautiful woman, dressed in the garb of a geisha rose up, complete with the ornate headdress such women wear. However, her skin was so pale it was almost blue and in her hand was a menacing scythe which had skulls on the shaft. (4/DARK/Spellcaster/1700/0)

“Huh?-!” Siesta cried out. “I don’t remember seeing that!”

“I showed you a lot of cards, but I didn’t show you all of my cards,” Saito grinned. “Maiden of Macabre, attack Drill Barnacle!”

The woman didn’t charge across the field as she did glide. It seemed almost graceful, but the way the woman moved seemed…unsettling. Approaching the Drill Barnacle, she unleashed as savage slash with her weapon that cut through the fish. Both pieces fell to the ground, exploding into pixels as the Maiden returned to her side. Siesta grimaced, shielding her eyes from the sudden flash of light. At her side, Mott coughed over the smoke the explosion caused.

“Now her special ability kicks in!” Saito continued. “When she destroys a monster via battle, she gets a Spell Counter. For every Spell Counter she has, she gains 200 attack points!”

The Maiden smirked and raised her weapon, revealing that the skull at the bottom of the scythe’s shaft began to glow through the eyes, adding to the unsettling aura that surrounded the woman.

Maiden of Macabre: 1SC: 1700 → 1900

“I’ll end my turn with that,” Saito finished.

“Then it’s my turn!” Siesta smiled, taking her next card.

Saito: 3700 --- Siesta: 3600

“I guess flirting between us is over now. How tragic,” the possessed maid sighed regretfully. “I shall play my Hammer Shark in attack mode!”

Emerging on Siesta’s side from the field was a hammerhead shark, which literally had a hammer head where it’s mouth should have been with the claw section acting as a strange horn. It’s mouth was on the face section of the hammer, open with numerous sharp teeth to make up how silly it may have looked. (4/WATER/Fish/1700/1500)

“Now Hammer Shark has a special effect Saito,” Siesta smiled. “By reducing his level by one, I am allowed to special summon a level 3 or lower monster from my hand. So, I’ll turn Hammer Shark into a level 3 monster…”

Above the shark, four orbs containing stars appeared. They were there for only a moment before the one on the far left blinked out, leaving only three.

“…to summon Friller Rabca in attack mode!”

Another flash of light unleashed yet another fish monster, this one looking more like a green eel with bladed fins and a lot of bad attitude. (3/WATER/Fish/700/1500)

“Why play it in attack mode?” Satio frowned.

“Uh…Partner?” Derflinger spoke up. “Their levels are the same!”

Saito blinked, but then noticed the same thing, “Oh no!”

“That’s right!” Siesta giggled with a saucy wink. “I’ll Overlay my two monsters together!”

Friller Rabca and Hammer Shark both dissolved into orbs of blue light before shooting into the air. In the middle of the field a red portal opened, spinning like the middle of a galaxy. The two orbs of blue then dove into the centre, causing a geyser of energy to rise up.

“Exceed Summon!” Siesta called out. “Come out, Black Ray Lancer!”

Emerging from the vortext was a figure dressed in black armour with white metal wings coming out of its bac. Its bottom half was in fact a blac metal tail. At the end of that tail was two more smaller white metal wings, likely used for steering rather than movement. Gripped in the figure’s hand was a red lance with a diamond-shaped tip. Circling around the new monster were a pair of purple orbs. (3/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Xyz/2100/600)

“Better than a Number, but still not good,” Saito frowned.

“Now Black Ray Lancer will attack your face down card!” Siesta ordered. The Beast-Warrior perked up at the order before soaring across the field. Rearing its arm back, it gave a powerful thrust of it’s lance, burrowing into the card itself. There was a flash and an image of several imperial-looking bookshelves filled with magical tomes appeared before vanishing into gold pixels.

“So much for Royal Magical Library, (4/LIGHT/Spellcaster/0/2000)” Saito frowned. “But why didn’t you attack Maiden of Macabre instead?”

“To show I’m still me silly!” Siesta giggled. “I want to win, but I also want to make this as painless as possible! Now, I’ll play one card face down and end my turn,” the card appeared signalling the next move.

“Ore no ta-n!” Saito called, taking his next card.

Saito: 3700 --- Siesta: 3600

“I’ll start my turn by activating my facedown card!” Saito called revealing the one hidden card he had. “Pitch-Dark Power Stone!” The art on the card flashed, turning into the giant magical stone which had three lights on it. “When I activate this, it gets three Spell Counters on it. During my turn I can move them to any card that accepts Spell Counters. So now I’ll move two of those Counters to Maiden of Macabre!”

The stone flashed before two beams of light exited it, shooting towards the Maiden and entering two of the skulls on her scythe, making them glow with an eerie light. The woman herself smirked and sent her near-dead gaze at the enemy monster.

Maiden of Macabre: SC:3 1900 → 2300

“Now Maiden of Macabre will attack Black Ray Lancer!” Saito ordered. The Maiden accepted the order and began another unsettling glide across the field, aiming to cut down another foe and become stronger thanks to the death.

“I don’t think so!” Siesta grinned. “I’ll activate Black Ray Lancer’s ability by removing an Overlay Unit!” Siesta acted fast, removing a card from underneath the Xyz Card on her disk. The monster itself had one of the orbiting Overlay Units change course and merge with its lance, making the weapon shine. “Now I can select one monster on the field and negate it’s effect until the End Phase!”

“Oh no!” Saito grimaced.

“Is that bad?” asked Derflinger.

“It means my Maiden won’t have her special abilities anymore!” the Japanese boy replied.

Black Ray lancer made a growling noise as his weapon became empowered before pointing it at the approaching maiden. Black Ray Lancer then shot a stream of red light from its weapon, showering the woman in crimson power. Maiden of Macabre made a ghostly wail, but continued her charge despite her powers being cut off.

Maiden of Macabre: 2300 → 1700

“Now counterattack!” Siesta beamed.

Black Ray Lancer cut off the energy and twisted it’s weapon before lunging at Maiden of Macabre. The ghostly woman didn’t stand a chance as she was impaled by the weapon. She made a shrill shriek which haunted the ears of those watching the duel.

“Ergh!” Saito grimaced as his life points took a hit.  Getting himself steady, he tried to mount up something of a defence. “I’ll play a monster in defence mode and one card face down.” The two cards appeared on the field, looking none too threatening. “I end my turn.”

“My turn again!” Siesta smiled, taking her next card.

Saito: 3300 --- Siesta: 3600

“Hmm,” the maid pondered as she got her next card. “I wonder what to do next.” She hummed a little tune as she considered what move to make next.

“The tension’s killing me…” Derflinger whined.

“It’s killing you?” Saito frowned. “I’m the one who’s actually duelling!”

“Aha! Got it!” Siesta suddenly beamed. “I’ll play Big Jaws in attack mode!” Once the card was placed on the disk, the newest monster appeared on the field. This one was a massive shark which had metal jaws and incredibly sharp teeth complete with a dorsal fin outfitted with a blade edge (3/WATER/Fish/1800/300)

“Now he’ll attack your facedown card!” the maid continued. Big Jaws obeyed the order and launched itself through the air, looking like it was already tasting the flesh of whatever monster was hidden beneath the card.

“I don’t think so!” Saito smirked. “I activate a trap! Negate attack! Now the battle phase ends with no damage being dealt!” The card flipped up before it generated a barrier that Big Jaws crashed into. The shark growled before swimming back to Siesta’s side.

“Oh well,” Siesa shrugged. “Now Big Jaws’ ability activates. If he fought during the battle phase, then I have to banish him.”

A black vortex appeared beneath Big Jaws, pulling the shark inside as if it were a black hole before shutting again. Siesta picked up Big Jaws’ card before she gave a sultry look at Saito and slipped the card into her cleavage.

Saito had to struggle not to stare or erupt into a nosebleed. Why did the bad girls have to be so sexy? Was there a rule about that like how all bad guys had to be butt ugly except for the bosses?

“You know,” Derflinger decided to comment. “I’m a sword and even I think that’s hot.”

“Yeah…” the teenage boy couldn’t help but agree.

“I will then place one card face down,” Siesta continued, making another large card appear. She made another seductive wink at Saito. “Your turn!”

“Uh…” Saito mumbled, thrown off by Siesta’s sudden bout of sexiness. He managed to snap himself out of it with a shake of his head. “Right! Ore no ta-n!”

Saito: 3300 --- Siesta: 3600

‘Get your head in the game or else you’re going to lose more than just the match!’ Saito scolded himself. Taking his next card, he looked it over before he decided that it was time for something big. “First I’ll play The Magical Citadel of Endymion!”

The room around the duellists and their captive (literally) audience of once seemed to crumble and fade away before the found themselves inside the courtyard of what was obviously a magical castle. Siesta blinked at the splendour of the place while Saito was still concentrating on his moves, obviously used to the place.

“Now I’ll summon Petit Dragon in attack mode!” Saito continued. Setting the card down, the monster appeared in a bright flash. The small serpentine yet cute form of Eria’s familiar gave a squeak of determination before staring down Black Ray Lancer. (2/WIND/Dragon/600/700)

“How cute!” Siesta giggled. “But I don’t see how he can help you.”

“You’ll see,” Saito smirked. “But first I’ll flip summon Element Saurus into attack mode!” The hidden monster flipped at Saito’s command, flashing brightly before the dinosaur which helped bring down Guiche in that schoolyard scuffle appeared with a resonating roar. (4/DARK/Dinosaur/1500/1200)

“Next I’ll play my spell card, Natural Tune!” Saito placed the card on his disk, allowing it to appear on the field. It depicted a cute cloud-like monster going through a magical green ring and receiving some kind of power up. “When I play this card, I can select a monster on my side of the field and turn it into a Tuner monster. The monster I pick is Petit Dragon.”

The little dragon squeaked with a smile as it gained a green glow across it’s body. At the same time, one of the many crystals which decorated the castle lit up with light.

“A Tuner?” Siesta frowned as she tried to remember what those did. Her eyes then widened when it hit her. “You don’t mean-!”

“I do!” Saito nodded. “I tune together Petit Dragon with Element Saurus!”

Petit Dragon let out an excited squeal before flying into the air. When it was high enough, it’s body shone with white light before vanishing into sparkles, leaving two stars behind. Those two stars then spread out into a pair of green rings. Element Saurus took a look at the rings before leaping up towards them. Passing through the first ring, his image shifted to an orange wireframe version of itself with four stars inside.

“Huh?” Siesta blinked.

“What…what magic is this?” Mott gaped.

As the Dinosaur began to vanish with only the stars left behind, Saito began to chant.

“Disciple of the storm. Apprentice of Endymon. Empower my allies with the magical winds and even the weak shall become strong!”

The rings and the four stars inside of it were suddenly engulfed by a bright light.

“Synchro Summon!’ Saito shouted out. “Rise up! Tempest Magician!’

From the light emerged a woman dressed in dark blue rombes which hung down to her feet. She had deep blue hair which hung past her shoulders and she wore an ornate gold band on her forehead. Gold bands were likewise on her wrists. Gripped in her hands was a silver scythe with an ornate inhuman skull on the top with a clear blade coming out of it, but if the blade was made out of glass or wind was debateable. (6/DARK/Spellcaster/Synchro/2200/1400)

When the magician was clear of the light, one eye of the skull on the scythe began to glow, indicating that she had gained a Spell Counter. “When Tempest Magician is summoned, I am allowed to attach one Spell Counter to her. Now Tempest Magician will attack Black Ray Lancer!” Saito ordered. “Arcane Tempest Slash!”

The woman nodded at the order before sharp gusts of wind began circling her weapon, making the blade go larger. With an echoing battle cry, she leaped across the field before slashing at Black Ray Lancer. The Beast-Warrior attempted to defend, but the cutting edge of the empowered scythe cut through its weapon, and its body, like a knife through hot butter. The wound glowed brightly from the magic used to make it before the monster exploded with smoke going in all directions.

“All right Partner!” Derflinger cheered. “I wonder why she didn’t activate any of those cards she’s got on the field though.”

“I only took 100 life points from her so she probably thought it was an acceptable loss,” Saito replied. “Either that or those traps can only be used in specific situations. Either way, they’re likely going to be bad news.”

Siesta’s coughs echoed from the smoke as it cleared, revealing the girl in question as she pouted at her love target, “Saito, that was mean!”

“Can’t really help it,” the Japanese boy shrugged back. “I end my turn.”

“Okay! Then it’s my move now!”

Saito: 3300 --- Siesta: 3500

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 1

Siesta took her next card before she smiled again. “It seems I get a reprieve.” She slapped the card onto the field, revealing a Magic Card that produced a large grinning blue and green pot.

“Pot of Greed,” Saito frowned. Behind him, another crystal lit up.

“Exactly! Now I get two cards,” Siesta explained, drawing to her hand. “Then I’ll play Skull Kraken in defence mode!” At her command, an octopus covered in gray exoskeleton armour rose up. It had sunken eyes with red glowing centres and a groove on its head that looked like it had teeth in it. On the top was a circular mouth with even more teeth in it. Were the creature to be upside down, it would look like a skull with tentacles coming out of it. When it appeared fully, it wrapped its tentacles around itself to hide its face. (3/DARK/Aqua/600/1600)

“I’ll end my turn,” Siesta finishes.

“Then I’ll start mine!”

Saito: 3300 --- Siesta: 3500

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 2

Taking his card, Saito peered at it before considering his next move. He knew that he was begging for a trap to kick his ass if he kept attack, especially such an obvious target but he wasn’t going to save Siesta by playing it safe either. Checking his field and then looking to the cards he had, he decided to forge ahead.

“I’ll play Royal Magical Library in defence mode!” Saito announced, bringing up more of the rose of books that he used earlier in the duel. This time they were in closed ranks that no person could slip through. “Now I’ll send the last Spell Counter on my Power Stone to my Citadel!”

The Pitch-Dark Power Stone shattered at the command, sending the last pit of power it possessed into another crystal which decorated the castle around them. Seeing he had three Spell Counters, Saito continued, “Now I’ll use one of the Citadel’s effects. Once per turn I can remove Spell Counters from it to activate the effect of another card that would require me to do the same for it. So, I’ll remove the three Spell Counters from the Citadel to activate the Royal Magical Library’s effect!”

The three glowing crystals shot their power down to the library shelves, making them shine with light as the innate magic of the shelves themselves took affect. Saito reached to his deck as he continued to explain, “Royal Magical Library’s effect is that I may remove three Spell Counters from it to draw a card.” Taking his one card, Saito continued his turn.

“Now I’ll activate Card of Sanctity to fill out hands!” Saito announced, revealing the card with coins falling out of the air, igniting another Spell Counter as he did so. He and Siesta drew the cards they needed until their hands were full once again. “Next I’ll have Tempest Magician attack Skull Kraken!”

The Tempest Magician frowned and activated her wind magic once again, beginning her charge towards the sea creature that was to be her opponent. Siesta though, had a trick up her sleeve.

“I remove Friller Rabca from my graveyard!” Siesta announced, slipping the fish from her graveyard slot and slipping it next to Big Jaws. In response, the same eel appeared on the field before swimming towards the approaching magician and biting her arm. Tempest Magician flinched in pain, halting her attack before stumbling back to her space.

“Huh?” Saito and Derflinger gaped.

“Friller Rabca’s effect allows me to banish it from the graveyard to stop an attack on a Fish Sea-Serpent, or Aqua-type monster,” Siesta explained with another seductive giggle. “It also drains 500 attack points from that monster until the end of my next turn.”

“HUH?-!” both boy and sword cried out.

Tempest Magician: 2200 → 1700

“Too bad!” Siesta continued, winking at the boy. “Maybe next time!”

Frowning, Saito grbbed one of his cards and placed it on his disk, making a larger version appear on the field, “I play one card facedown. Turn end.”

“My move!”

Saito: 3300 --- Siesta: 3500

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 1

“Now I will begin my turn by playing Graceful Charity!” Siesta announced, revealing the familiar, but handy card. Another Spell Counter lit up in the Citadel in response. Siesta drew her three cards before she dropped another two into the graveyard.

“Wanna bet one of those cards is that Friller Rabca fish?” asked Derflinger.

“No doubt,” Saito agreed.

“Much better!” Siesta beamed, “I’ll play another Big Jaws in attack mode!” A flash of light brought out the enhanced shark which snarled at Saito and his monsters. “Now he’ll attack Royal Magical Library! Overbite!”

“Huh?” Saito blinked.

Big Jaws snarled and surged towards the rows of books. Once it was close enough, it attempted to chomp down on the rows of wood and paper. A golden field quickly surrounded the shelves and deflected the fish, sending it sprawling back to Siesta’s side, taking some of her life points with it.

“Just what was the point of that?” demanded Derflinger.

“So I can use Big Jaws’ ability to banish him from the game!” Siesta replied. Once again, the dark hole in the floor opened before sucking Big Jaws down into it. For a third time, Siesta plucked up her card and slipped it between her boobs with a smoky look in her eyes. “Next up is activating my trap card, Fish Rain!”

One of Siesta’s three cards finally flipped up, revealing a fish monster dropping out of a wormhole while another was being sucked inside, “When a Fish, Sea-Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster is removed from play, I can special summon a level 3 or lower monster of the same type from my hand. So I pick another Friller Rabca!”

A flash of light came and so did the angry eel from before.

“Which I’ll now Overlay with my Skull Kraken!” the maid continued. Friller Rabca vanished into a blue orb of energy while Skull Kraken vanished into a purple one. Both soared up into the air as the spiralling red vortex appeared below, allowing both streams to dive into it with another wellspring of exploding power.

“Exceed Summon! Submersible Carrier Aero Shark!”

What came out of the vortex what what appeared to be a pair of great white sharks that were mounted on some kind of orange high-speed underwater vehicle that looked like it was armed to the teeth. Around it circled a pair of blue spheres. (3/WATER/Fish/Xyz/1900/1000)

“Explains why she summoned Friller Rabca,” Saito frowned, seeing the monsters rank. “It was probably one of the only level three monsters she had.”

“I wouldn’t worry Partner,” Derflinger offered. “She ended the battle so she could use that other fish’s ability, right? It can’t attack anything!”

“That’s where you’re wrong Mr. Derflinger!” Siesta announced with another sultry smile. “My Aero Shark can still fight. But not yet.” she then played a Magic Card depicting a sprite-like woman ascending to a shining sky. “Now here’s Soul Release! With it, I can remove up to five cards from either of our graveyards. I’ll remove Hammer Shark, Drill Barnacle, and Black Ray Lancer from mine,” she plucked the three cards and stuck them in her cleavage. “Then you lose Pitch-Dark Power Stone and Natural Tune from yours!”

Saito grimaced, but he removed the cards and placed them in his pocket. Still, he had his own plan, “I’ll activate a trap in response to this! Tower of Babel!”

The trap card turned up, revealing an unsteady-looking tower that rose impossibly high into the air. The card flashed and vanished. A rumbling then caught everyone’s attention before outside of the Citadel walls, a massive tower rose into the air, climbing so high it seemed to vanish into the atmosphere. At the same time it looked wobbly, as if it could fall on either one of them.

“Be careful on how you use your Spell Cards now Siesta,” Saito warned. “Tower of Babel gains a Spell Counter every time a Spell Card is played. When it reaches four, the person who placed the fourth counter takes 3000 damage.”

“How scary!” Siesta squealed in fake horror. “You’ll protect me though, right Saito?”

“Maybe if you didn’t have that Number…” Saito replied coldy.

“Oh…” Siesta pouted. “How mean. Well, it seems like I’ll have to activate my own trap card. Explosive Urchins!” the card flipped up before it flashed, producing three underwater mines which had angry eyes on them. “I can only activate this when my opponent activates a trap card. Now for the next three of my standby phases, you take 1000 damage! Isn’t that fun?”

“I’m ecstatic,” Saito replied sarcastically.

“You will be once I take you to bed,” Siesta purred. “You’ll need it after this too. I’ll remove an Overlay Unit from Aero Shark!” One of the orbs changed course and merged with the cockpit of the shark-propelled machine, making it flash.

“Aero Shark’s ability allows me to deal 100 points of damage to you for every monster I have removed from play,” Siesta explained. “As of now, I have six!”

One of the missile launchers attached to the sides of the sharks came to life, launching a torpedo directly at Siesta’s opponent. The casing of the projectile broke open once it reached the halfway mark, sending six smaller missles at Saito which landed all around him, exploding with flames and smoke.

“GAAAH!”

“Partner!” Deflinger cried out. “Partner, you okay?”

The smoke exploded, revealing small craters all around Saito. He was singed and panting from the pain he received from the bombs but he was still standing, “Just…peachy.”

“Good to see you’re okay! I knew my control would hold back the worst of it!” Siesta beamed. She then took a card and placed in on the disk. “I’ll end my turn with one facedown.”

“My turn,” Saito grit his teeth, taking his next card.

Saito: 2700 --- Siesta: 3300

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 3

Tower of Babel: 0

As the turn ended, Tempest Magician finally seemed to get over what Friller Rabca had done to her before and regain her posture as a disciple of Endymion.

Tempest Magician: 1700 → 2200

Saito rubbed his eyes to get the stinging sensation from the smoke out of them before he really tried to make his next move. Scanning the cards in his hand, he began his turn and he intended to make it count.

“I’ll first play Crusader of Endymion in attack mode!” Rising up from its summoning was a man donned in armour that was ridiculously thick, deep blue with silver lines decorating it not like Endymion, and Spell Counter orbs embedded in it. Magical circles were hovering around his arms and legs which had the armour hovering as if it were as light as a feather. (4/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Gemini/1900/1200)

“Now I’ll use Double Summon,” Saito continued, activating the Spell Card. Another crystal lit up in the citadel, but a glowing orb of flame began to circle around the base of the tower. “I can use this to normal summon another monster.” A smile overcame Saito’s lips. “Instead though, I’ll use this second summoning to Gemini Summon Crusader of Endymion.”

The Crusader pered as a glowing arcane circle appeared behind him, obviously empowering him.

“Gemini Summon?” Siesta quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Saito nodded. “Gemini monsters while they get placed on the field are initially treated as Normal Monsters. If I want to use their effects, I have to Gemini Summon them which essentially means I have to normal summon them a second time.”

“Sounds complicated,” Derflinger commented.

“Which is why I only have Crusader as a Gemini Monster,” Saito shrugged. “Now that he’s Gemini Summoned though, I can use his abilities. In this case, I can place a Spell Counter on a card that accepts them to give him 600 attack points! So I’ll place another Spell Counter on my Tower of Babel!”

Crusader of Endymion brought his hands and the blunt fist-like ends of his armour together and spoke in a magical language that no one understood. A light shone in his hands before solidifying into a sphere of magical power. The Crusader then threw it at the Tower, watching it begin to orbit alongside the first. Having down so, the orbs in his suit began to shine.

Crusader of Endymion: 1900 → 2500)

“Now I’ll have my Crusader attack your Aero Shark with Arcane Fist!” Saito announced, pointing at the enemy fish.

Crusader of Endymion grunted and made a charge at the Aero Shark, rearing back his magical armoured fist to smash the fusion of fish and machine into scrap metal. The armour even began to glow in preparation for the attack.

“I don’t think so Saito!” Siesta smiled. “I remove another Friller Rabca to negate the attack and drain 500 attack points from your monster!”

Once again, the green eel emerged from the ether before swimming towards the attacking monster. Circling the Crusdaer’s arm, Friller Rabca bit down into his revealed flesh, causing the Spellcaster to stumble and retreat back to Saito’s side, growing weaker as he went. The annoying eel made a snarling noise before vanishing.

Crusader of Endymion: 2500 → 2000

“Damn that thing is annoying,” Derflinger huffed. “How many do you think she has?”

“According to the rules, she’s only allowed three,” Saito replied absently. Looking to his hand, he plucked out another card before setting it down. “I’ll place a card then end my turn.”

“And start mine!” Siesta smiled, taking a card.

Saito: 2700 --- Siesta: 3300

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 4

Tower of Babel: 2

As Siesta took her turn, Crusader of Endymion began to groan as he lost the power boost that place a Spell Counter had given him, further draining his power.

Crusader of Endymion: 2000 → 1400

“Now during my standby phase, you have to take 1000 damage due to Explosive Urchins,” Siesta smiled. “Better brace yourself.”

At her side, one of the three mines began to blink red, signalling that it was about to explode. Perking, it suddenly darted across the field, past Saito’s monsters and towards the boy himself. He barely had enough time to cross his arms over his face before the mine exploded violently.

“GAAAHHHH!”

“PARTNER!”

Siesta’s giggles turned slightly darker, “Now I’ll remove the last Overlay Unit from Aero Shark to deal you 700 damage now that I have seven banished monsters!”

The final Overlay Unit surged into the cockpit of the machine, prompting the shark on the right to unleash another torpedo. Once it was close enough, it separated into seven missiles which exploded all around Saito, leaving him with both burnt clothes and burnt skin.

“AHHHH!”

“And last but not least, my Aero Shark will attack your Crusader!” Siesta finished, almost shrieking with glee. The twin sharks snarled before they both unleashed torpedo attacks that cut through the air and struck Crusader head on, obliterating him on impact.

“GAAAAH!” Saito screamed in pain. The force from the impact alone sent him flying backwards, skidding across the ground before coming to a stop. His clothes were smouldering with holes and patches of his skin had turned bright red with burns. Blood was leaking out of the side of his mouth as well down the side of his face from a head wound.

“Partner! Patner! Get up partner!” Derflinger cried from his sheathe. “We just teamed up Partner! You can’t die yet!”

“Oops!” Siesta tittered mischievously. “I may have overdone it!”

“You…You…!” Derflinger growled. “If I had arms I would knock some sense into you! That Void Demon wouldn’t now what hit it!”

“Well, it’s up to Saito to hit me,” Siesta teased back. “In the meantime, I’ll just keep going with my turn. I’ll continue with the Spell Card Surface.” The card appeared on the field depicting a submarine rising to the surface. Another Spell Counter appeared on the Citadel with a third flame circling the Tower of Babel. “With this, I can take a level 3 or lower Aqua, Fish, or Sea-Serpent and summon it face up in defence mode. So I choose Needle Sunfish!”

A puddle of water pooled up on the ground before a large blue flat fish with a groove under its face and running alongside its body leaped out and simply drifted in the air. (3/WATER/Fish/1500/100)

“Now, that should finish-!”

WHAM!

The doors leading into the tower at the Citadel opened up, revealing the inside of Mott’s mansion behind them. Charging through those doors was none other than Louise with Kirche and Tabitha following close behind.

“Saito!” Louise cried out, but then she saw her Familiar lying on the ground, burned and bloody, “SAITO!”

“Oh no! Darling!” Kirche gasped in horror. Both girls dashed to the boy’s side with Tabitha silently taking up the rear. The redhead and pinkette kneeled at the boy’s side, helping him sit up. Kirche looked panicked and looked to her bluenette friend. “Darling, wake up!”

“GET AWAY FROM MY MAN YOU HUSSIES!”

Louise, Tabitha, and Kirche looked up, having not noticed that Saito was in the midst of the duel. Looking to where his opponent was, their eyes widened when they spotted the maid that they all knew that Saito had come to rescue. Kneeled at her side like a dog was the man who had stolen her away to be his mistress in the first place, battered, bruised, and soaking wet.

“Isn’t that…the maid?” Louise blinked, surprised at the absolute fury in Siesta’s features.

“I SAID GET AWAY!” Siesta shrieked. The seventeen on her bosom lit up with light as two pillars of water surged to her sides. Pushing her hands out, the pair of streams shot towards the trio of ladies with pointed tips almost shrieking in the air.

Tabitha reacted the fastest. Waving her staff through the air, the streams of water were flash frozen, turning into a pair of ice sculptures that sparkled in the sunlight above the Citadel. They were only able to stand for a moment before they shattered over their own weight, breaking into tiny pieces.

“I thought she was a commoner!” Kirche gaped. “How is she able to use Square-Class Water Magic?-!”

“Number,” Tabitha answered, pointing at the glowing digits on Siesta’s chest. “There.”

“Huh?-!” Louise gaped, spotting the sight. “You mean the Numbers can allow commoners to use magic too?-!”

“My Void spirit grants me its powers! I’m going to create a new noble line in Tristain!” Siesta growled. “One that won’t look down on people just because they’re lucky enough to use magic! We won’t play with the lives of the people simply because it’s funny! We will become a noble line because we will BE noble! Not like the rest of your fat and lazy families that spoil you all and leave you with no skills outside of waving a stick!”

Kirche and Louise blinked at the sheer venom coming out of Siesta’s voice. They knew that the Numbers amplified the darker aspects of a person’s personality but could that much hate come from the Number itself or did it amplify what was already there? A lot of the commoners did not like the current system and as much as Louise wouldn’t have liked to admit it, there were more than a few nobles out there who liked to lord their status over the people. Mott was certainly a prime example of that.

“Guhhh…” Saito groaned, bringing the girls’ attention back to him. He struggled to open his eyes, managing it after a moment. “Huh? Louise? Girls?”

“Saito!” Louise gaspoed. “Saito, you’re hurt! We’ve got to get you to a water mage!”

“No…” Saito groaned, managing to get to get to his knees, more blood dribbling from his lips. “I’m in a duel…I gotta…gotta save Siesta.”

“Darling you can’t fight in your condition!” Kirche pleaded. “Please, one of us will take your place. You taught me and Tabitha how to duel!”

“You…you’re not ready,” Saito grunted, shakily getting up to his feet. He almost fell backwards, but Tabitha pressed her staff against his back to make sure he stood up. “Besides…I got a plan.”

“But…Saito…” Louise (almost) begged her Familiar.

“Oh, you have a ‘plan’ do you?” Siesta huffed. “I’d like to see that. I’ll end my turn so why don’t you show my what your big plan is.”

Saito stepped away from the girls, making Kirche and Louise watch in panicked concern.

“Ore no…ta-n,” Satio panted, taking his next card.

Saito: 500 --- Siesta: 3300

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 5

Tower of Babel: 3

Saito’s hands were trembling as he held his cards, but he managed to keep a death grip on them despite how his vision blurred at random intervals. Grabbing a monster card, he slipped it onto his duel disk, hidden. “One monster…facedown in defence mode.”

“Is that it?” Siesta wondered.

“Now, my next card,” Saito continued weakly. “Book of Taiyou.”

The Spell Card appeared on the field, immediately lighting another Spell Counter in the Citadel. Unfortunately, a fourth sphere of energy lit up around the Tower of Babel. All four spheres then turned red and dove for the base, causing four massive explosions. The wobbly tower groaned from the sudden loss of its base and began to lean towards Saito’s side. Gravity soon took hold and the massive tower was on an equally massive collision course with the boy, aiming to crush him beneath tons of mortar and stone.

“Forget about that Tower, didn’t you Saito,” Siesta giggled, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Want to escape the pain?”

“No…just healing,” Saito grinned weakly. “I activate…Rainbow Life!” The facedown card flipped up to reveal a duellist being protected by a rainbow barrier from two fiendish-looking monsters.

“Now I…discard a card,” Saito explained, dropping a card from his hand into the graveyard slot. “Now all damage I take this turn…becomes life instead.”

“WHAT?-!” Siesta gaped.

The girls watched in terror as the collapsing tower fell towards the boy they had come to know. Before the first bricks of it could hit him though, a flash of light spread over the curface of the tower and instead turned it into a massive spiral of rainbow energy. In one continuous rainbow stream, the energy soared down towards Saito and entered his chest.

The girl watched, transfixed as right before their eyes all of the wounds Saito picked up vanished. The burns on his skin faded away, the open wound on his head closed up, the blood flaked off like peeling paint, and even the burn marks and soot on his clothes vanished leave him as good as new.

“Darling!” Kirche cheered in awe at the sight of her newest love recovering from his injuries.

“Oh man Partner!” Derflinger sighed. “If I had a heart it would have stopped a few minutes ago!”

“Sorry, but duels at these stakes aren’t easy on anyone,” Saito grimaced. “Now for the rest of my turn. Since Tower of Babel was destroyed while the Citadel is in play, the four Spell Counters it had go to the Citadel.” Four streams of light flew from where the tower was based and lit up four more crystals on the Citadel. “Now Book of Taiyou resolves, flipping my hidden monster face up.”

The card flipped and vanished in a flash of light, leaving in its place a girl with long blue hair and a staff in her hands decorated with a large crystal water drop. She wore brown clothes, a short skirt, and had a small bipedal reptile with her. Of course the girls knew her, Eria the Water Charmer (3/WATER/Spellcaster/500/1500)

“Now her effect activates, allowing me to take control of a WATER monster on the field namely Needle Sunfish!” Erie smiled and waved her staff with an aquatic glow. Needle Sunfish seemed to take attention to the glow, swimming to Saito’s side of the field where Eria began to pet the fish’s head.

“Now that I have two monsters that are the same level, I’ll overlay them together,” Saito announced.

Eria and Needle Sunfish turned into blue energy before soaring up into the air. In the middle of the field, a black portal appeared, appearing like a spiralling galaxy. All the while, Saito spoke the invocation. “Ni tai no Monsutā ga Obarei Nettowāku Kōchiku suru!” The two streams of blue energy soared into the middle of the vortex, creating an immense blast of power. “Ekushīzu Shoukan!”

Rising up from the power was the familiar for of metal blocks crammed together with pillars of contained purple fluid rising out from it with two blue spheres orbiting it.

“Hanarete fuhai o tokasu! Tachiagaru! Nanbāzu Sanjū: Hametsu no Ashiddogōremu!”

The pillars sank into the metal body before the cubes began moving in a flurry, reconnecting to form the massive steel body of the monster it was meant to be. The Acid Golem’s feet touched the ground, it’s large 30 emblazoned on its leg while acid dripped from its body onto the ground. (3/WATER/Rock/Xyz/3000/3000)

“Looks like I got my Number out first!” Saito smirked. “Now Acid Golem will attack Aero Shark! Exceed Acid Stream!”

The Golem groaned and lifted its arm up to point at the Aero Shark before launching a stream of purple acid from its fingertips, consuming the opposing Fish-Type monster with the acid. Fortunately the acid was thick enough to prevent anyone from seeing the monster melt and instead it looked like the Aero Shark sank into a purple puddle.

“GHGH!” Siesta growled in pan as some of the acid splashed on her legs, creating angry red marks. “Saito! That hurt! Getting all manly now that Louise and the Germanian girl are here now, huh?”

“I saw an opportunity and I took it,” Saito replied. “Like now! Tempest Magician! Attack Siesta Directly! Arcane Tempest Slash!”

“I don’t think so!” Siesta sapped. Another card on the field flipped up, revealing a Greek statue-like figure blowing something away with only it’s breath. “Zeus’ Breath! When you declare an attack, I can negate it and deal damage equal to the number of WATER monsters I have!”

“Finisher,” Tabitha commented, her eyes trained on the duel, although she made sure she was directly behind the Acid Golem so it couldn’t see her.

“So, she planned for Saito to attack her weaker monster and finish him off with that trap,” Kirche nodded.

“Okay, seriously, how do you get that much from one word?” asked Derflinger.

“But, then why not use it to save her monster?” asked Louise.

“Because…Saito’s decided to take this to the next level,” Siesta scowled. “1100 life points are an easy price to pay for the victory I’ll have later!”

Saito frowned, knowing that Siesta was likely going to try and play her Number soon. He would have to finish it soon and hopefully before Number 17 managed to make an appearance. Looking to his hand and field, he noticed that Royal Magical Library had a number of green books sticking out of the shelves, glowing brightly to indicate Spell Counters. Six of them to be precise.

‘Too bad I can only use that ability once per turn,’ Saito thought, but then pushed ahead. “I’ll give up three Spell Counters on Royal Magical Library to draw a card.” Three of the green books lost their glow and settled back in their rows while Saito’s deck flashed and allowed him to draw another card. “I’ll end my turn with that.”

“Then I shall move!”

Saito: 3500 --- Siesta: 2200

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 10

Siesta drew her card before smirking at Saito, “Explosive Urchins activates a second time!” Like before, one of the bombs began to flash red before it surged toward’s Saito’s side of the field. The teenage boy shielded himself as best as he could before the bomb exploded, singing his clothes all over again and taking a chunk of his life points.

“Now I’ll play Shocktopus in attack mode!” Siesta continued. A flash of light brought out what t first looked like a purple shark with a saw-blade nose, but the back end spread out into sizable octopus tentacles, revealing the fish to be a hybrid. (4/WATER/Fish/1600/800)

“Then when I play a Fish, Aqua, or Sea-Serpent-Type monster from my hand I can Special Summon Shark Stickers from my hand!” From behind Shocktopus, apparently attached to one of its tentacles came a barracuda-like fish with a suction cup plate stuck to its head. It then curled up in defense mode. (3/WATER/Fish/200/1000)

“I’ll then play one card face down,” Siesta finished. “End turn.

“My go!”

Saito: 2500 --- Siesta: 2200

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 10

Saito looked to his hand at the few cards he had before looking to his field to begin his turn. “At the start of my Standby Phase, I remove an Overlay Unit from Acid Golem so I don’t get burned by its effects!” a blue orb changed course on Acid Golem and entered its chest, making the monster flash.

“Now I’ll remove the last three Spell Counters from my Citadel to draw a card,” Three crystals decorating the Citadel went out, allowing Saito to take another card. He could have used the Counters on the library itself, but he felt it would be best to save them if he could. Looking at his new card, he grinned. “Now I’ll play MY Pot of Greed to draw two new cards!” The Citadel and the Library both received their due Spell Counters as Saito took his next two cards.

“Man I’m glad I added this card,” Saito nodded as he slid his next card into a Magic/Trap Zone. “I’ll equip Acid Golem with Axe of Fools, negating its effects and giving it 1000 attack points!” The giant axe with the laughing face appeared before it was gripped in Acid Golem’s hand, making it glow with a giggling noise.

“Now I’ll play my Apprentice Magician in defense mode!” Saito continued. Appearing in a kneeling position next to Acid Golem was the young purple-lad magician. “When he’s summoned, I can add a Spell Counter to a card that I want so I pick the Citadel!” Apprentice Magician raised his staff and muttered a few words before it flashed, igniting the light in yet another Spell Counter.

“Next I’ll play Monster Reborn, reviving my Crusader of Endymion!” the young man continued, bringing the famous charm to the field before it flashed, reviving the armoured form of the Crusader who looked ready for a fight.

“Finally, I’ll play Natural Tune to transform Apprentice Magician into a Tuner Monster!” Saito added, placing another card in the Magic/Trap zone. A green aura surrounded Apprentice Magician, making him smirk. “Now, let’s tune Crusader and Apprentice Magician together!”

Apprentice Magician called out another spell, making his staff glow before he vanished in a flash of light which left two glowing stars behind. Those stars then created two Synchro gates which Crusader leapt through, turning him into a wireframe image which held four more stars inside of it.

“Magician of flames. Disciple of Endymion. Destroy our obstacles with the magical fire and lead us to victory!”

Crusader’s image vanished to leave the stars behind before a pillar of light engulfed both them and the gates.

“Syncrho Summon! Blast out, Explosive Magician!”

Emerging from the light was a man covered in white and golden robes. At his waist were several Spell Counter orbs while in his hand was a two-pronged staff that had a flame ignited between the tips. His face was stern and he wore a pointed hat similar to that of Endymion. (6/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Synchro/2500/1800)

“Next I’ll use Explosive Magician’s effect,” Saito continued. “By giving up Spell Countrs in groups of two, I can destroy 1 spell or trap card for every two counters I give up. So now I’ll give up four counters from my Citadel!” Four of the crystals sent their enrgy down to the flame on Explosive Magician’s staff, causing the flame to burn brighter. “Now I’ll destroy Explosive Urchins and one of your facedowns!”

Explosive Magician scowled before he waved his staff, speaking in an arcane language. Two fireballs then burst from the massive flame and soared towards Siesta’s side of the field. Explosive Urchins was struck first, causing the card to burn up and vanish while one of Siesta’s facedowns met the same fate, turning to cinders.

“Why didn’t you destroy all three?” asked Louise.

“Because I need my Spell Counters to be high in case of emergencies,” Saito explained. “That way, in case of an emergency, I can remove them all with Tempest Magician and deal 500 damage for each one removed.”

“Why?” asked Tabitha, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yes Darling,” Kirche nodded. “Why not do that before?”

“To be perfectly honest, it’s because I hate doing that to win,” Saito sighed. “Dueling is a very big deal back home. You respect your cards, you respect your opponent, and you respect their efforts. I felt that simply crushing opponents mercilessly isn’t a way to duel at all. I’ve only done that move twice before and it made me feel bad after I did it. Besides, there’s no guarantee I can free Siesta unless I destroy her Number in a duel. For all we know, if she doesn’t play it then even if I win she may still be influenced by it and not have to give it up!”

Kirche and Louise blinked at how seriously Saito seemed to take his game in his homelands, even having a code of honor concerning it. It was rather…impressive to be honest. Tabitha merely nodded her head in agreement to Saito’s declaration. One must take pride in what they do or else they would never progress with it. Dueling was apparently no different. If one didn’t respect the cards and ones opponents then they wouldn’t be able to really call themselves duelists in the first place.

“I knew you cared about me Saito!” Siesta giggled in rapture. “Oh once I win I’ll make sure to reward you properly!”

“I’ll be the one to win this duel Siesta,” Saito replied to the maid’s outcry. “Now, Acid Golem will attack Shocktopus! Exceed Acid Stream!” The purple golem raised it’s arm again in preparation to launch another stream of corrosive fluid at its opponent.

“I don’t think so!” Siesta smiled. “I remove my last Friller Rabca!” Like the previous two times, the green eel appeared and launched itself at the attacking monster. This time, it crashed into Acid Golem’s head, knocking it’s attack off course before it fired. The acid flew through the air and struck the stone wall surrounding the Citadel, melting through it rather than the monster that it was initially meant for. Acid Golem groaned and brought it’s hand to its face where it’s eyes were blinking as if something was irritating them.

Acid Golem of Destruction: 4000 → 3500

“No big deal,” Saito shrugged. “Tempest Magician will attack Shokctopus then! Arcane Tempest Slash!” The female magician called the whipping winds around her weapon once again, preparing to attack. Once the scythe blade was large enough, she lunged across the field, aiming for the shark-octopus hybrid. The fish sent tentacles at her in retaliation, but a sharp swing severed them all before a final overhead swing sliced the monster’s head in half, causing the beast to vanish in an explosion.

“Barely a dent!” Siesta smirked. “Now Shocktopus’ ability activates! When it’s destroyed by battle, I can equip it to my opponent’s monster like say…your Acid Golem of Destruction!” A light flashed behind Acid Golem, forming into the Shocktopus which immediately latched onto the massive monsters, wrapping its tentacles impossible lengths over its arms and torso, effectively pinning it.“Now your monster has zero attack points and can’t attack! I told you it was a small price to pay!”

Acid Golem of Destruction: 4000 → 0

“Tsk!” Saito grimaced. “Well Explosive Magician can still attack Shark Stickers! Arcane Explosive Blast!” The white-clad magician raised his staff once again to fire…

“Activate Quick-Play Magic!” Siesta interrupted, flipping up her one facedown. “Final Offering! By giving you a card in my hand, I can end the battle phase!” Plucking one such card from her hand, Siesta tossed it across the field showing uncanny accuracy as Saito grabbed it. Looking at the card, the boy from another world saw a purple-skinned monster that seemed to be made out of nothing but mouths filled with sharp teeth. It was called Jawsman. (6/WATER/Beast-Warrior/2600/1600) It was a strong monster, but it couldn’t be special summoned and the only tributes he was allowed to use for it were WATER monsters and the only one Saito had at the moment was Acid Golem. Maybe next turn he’d think about playing the monster. As it was… “I’ll put one card face down. End turn.”

“Then I shall begin!”

Saito: 2500 --- Siesta: 1600

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 7

Siesta glanced at her new card before she sighed, “It seems Saito that you truly do not believe that I am in control of myself and that we can have so much together because of it. So now it has come to this.” Taking her newest card, she placed it on the disk. “I will play my third Big Jaws in attack mode.” More light came forth before the augmented shark appeared.

Saito frowned as he realized what Siesta was doing, “Siesta…don’t do this!”

“But I must,” Siesta replied. “To prove I am the one in control and that I can be everything you need in a woman.” She looked to her monsters. “I Overlay Big Jaws and Shark Stickers together!” The two fish responded by turning into orbs of blue energy that shot into the air. On the ground between the duelists, a spiraling black vortex which looked like a galaxy opened up, swallowing the two beams of energy and Siesta spoke, “Je vais créer un réseau de superposition de ces deux monstres!” The portal finished swallowing the twin streams before almost exploding with light. “Exceed Invocation!”

What emerged from the portal was what looked like an orb made of a single length of segmented dark blue steel. On the top were several scythe-like blades that hung ominously. At the bottom were several spikes which acted as stands. In the middle was a gap in the lengths that held an ominous red glow which made it look like a giant eye that was staring hatefully at everything in front of it. Of course, orbiting it were two glowing blue spheres. All the while, Siesta continued to speak…

“Punir ceux qui ont péché contre moi! Lève! Numéro Dix-Sept: Dragon Léviathan!”

The lengths of segmented steel began to move like an automated line, making a groaning noise as they went. The scythes at the top began breaking apart, taking the form of wings rather than bladed weapons of some sort. As the body of the construct began to unravel, the red light in the centre began to rise up, emerging into the sunlight. The source of the red light was the monster’s eyes revealing a dragon-like face with a crest of horns, the one on the monster’s left side bearing a glowing red 17. The length of segmented body unraveled, becoming a serpentine body for the dragon with the spikes acting like six bone-like legs and the scythes forming into six muscled wings for the new monster, Number 17: Leviathan Dragon! (3/WATER/Dragon/Xyz/2000/0)

“I totally called it!” Derflinger cried out. “I knew it was the skanky one!”

“Well, does it have a weakness then?” asked Louise hopefully.

“Uh…maybe if we were fighting it like a dragon…but as it is now, I dunno,” the sword replied. If it could have, it would have shrugged.

“THAT’S A BIG HELP!” the pinkette screeched back in anger.

“GAH!” Siesta’s scream echoed through the duel space. All eyes turned to her as she gripped her head in pain, a dark blue aura beginning to wrap around her body. “What are you doing?-! You said you were my friend!”

Most shocking of all was the deep feminine voice which slipped from her mouth next, “I lied.”

Siesta’s terrified and painful scream echoed through the air as the blue aura sank into her body. She struggled with it, but in the end it overcame her, forcing her to become still. After a baited breath from those watching, her head lifted up to reveal eyes that had turned the same shade of blue as the dragon’s armor.  A breathy chuckle escaped the possessed girl’s lips as she began stretching as if wearing a new set of clothes. “Hmmmmmm!”

“Oh no,” Saito grimaced.

“She had no control at all, did she?” asked Kirche. “That thing just made her think so.”

“Trick,” Tabitha agreed.

“Indeed. She was so desperate for a savior from the fat fool she latched onto me like a babe to it’s mother,” Leviathan Dragon smirked. “Although I would have preferred to have a host like that lovely redhead over there, I really can’t complain about this one.”

“Hey! Siesta’s a person, not a piece of property!” Saito snapped.

“Well, she’s mine now to do what I want,” the dragon in human form laughed. “In fact…” Reaching to the blouse of the outfit, she began undoing several of the buttons, revealing even more of her cleavage than even the corrupted Siesta would have thought acceptable. The opening was so low now; the girl’s breasts could have fallen out were it not for the tightness of the blouse and the button left done up at the bottom of her breasts. Saito had to struggle not to stare, but a drop of blood did escape his nose. Smirking, Leviathan Dragon reached to the skirt and actually tore the sides, revealing her new legs all the way up the hips, baring all for anyone’s viewing pleasure.

“Well, she may be a demon but she has good taste,” Kirche commented idly.

“Zerbst! Not the time!” Louise snapped.

Saito was merely struggling not to have a nosebleed, reminding himself of the situation.

“Much better,” Leviathan Dragon nodded to herself. “I’ve always been of the mind that if you’ve got it, flaunt it. That way the whole world comes to you.” Giggling again, she looked to the field. “Now, where were we?” Looking to the situation, a smirk came to her lips. “Ah, now I see. Excellent. Well, I shall begin by using up one of my Overlay Units to grant myself 500 attack points.” Leviathan Dragon’s true body snarled and actually swallowed one of the orbiting Overlay Units, boosting its strength.

Leviathan Dragon: 2000 → 2500

“Now, since the golem there has no attack points and no way to change positions, I’ll attack it and end this duel immediately! Vice Stream!” Leviathan Dragon announced. Her true form obeyed and reared back its head, collecting a dark blue energy in its mouth. Lunging forward, it sent the blast of power through the air with the intent of crushing Acid Golem in one blow.

“Not this time!” Saito called out, pressing a button on his disk to cause his hidden card to flip up. “I activate Spiritual Water Art – Aoi!” The card revealed showed Eria in the middle of a blue arcane circle, obviously responding to water magic. “By sacrificing a WATER monster like Acid Golem, I can look at your hand and cause you to discard one card!” On the field, a circle of arcane power that was glowing blue circled Acid Golem, causing the Number to sink into it as if it were sinking into a pool of water. The Vice Stream sailed overhead, missing Saito and the others by a wide margin. The magic circle then flashed, indicating the effect was taking place. Frowning, Siesta turned her cards around, allowing Saito to see she had three cards. He immediately spotted one with a title that he did not like.

“Send Life Regeneration to the graveyard!” he called, pointing at the card in question.

“Fine,” Leviathan Dragon shrugged. She dropped the card into the graveyard.

“Also, when Acid Golem was sent to the graveyard, he had Needle Sunfish as an Overlay Unit,” Saito explained. “It was under my control when it was sent to your graveyard so that means the effect works for me. Now your true form loses 500 attack points!” Rising up from the blue magic circle was indeed the Needle Sunfish. It didn’t’ make a sound before the groove in it’s body opened up, revealing it to be a large opening with several sharp spikes inside. The spikes suddenly surged out of the fish, hurtled across the field and crashed into Leviathan Dragon, causing the Dragon-Type to lose attack points.

Leviathan Dragon: 2500 → 2000

“Annoying,” the possessed girl frowned as Needle Sunfish sank into the circle. “But not as annoying as this!” she took one of her remaining cards and slapped it onto her duel disk. “Raigeki!”

“NO WAY!” Saito cried out.

“Old card tricks sometimes work best,” Leviathan Dragon laughed as a stome cloud appeared overhead. “I let Life Regeneration stick out with Raigeki tucked underneath it with only a bit of the title and without the picture being revealed. You were drawn into the card I wanted you to drop I managed to save the card I didn’t want to lose! Now you lose everything on the field!”

Numerous thunderbolts shot down through the air, smashing into the monsters that Saito had on his side of the field. The Royal Magical Library burnt to ashes while both of his Synchro Monsters were destroyed in one blow. Saito grimaced as the explosions rocked the field, sending smoke and dust in all directions. Thankfully, his life points were safe since Raigeki didn’t hurt life points and the battle phase had already ended.

“Congratulations, you live one turn longer,” Leviathan Dragon smirked. “I’ll place my last card face down and end my turn.”

“Good. Ore no ta-n!” Saito cried out.

Saito: 2500 --- Leviathan Dragon: 1600

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 8

Saito took his next card, the only card he could really count on. Seeing the card brought a smile to his face though. Looking to Leviathan Dragon, “I’ll remove six Spell Counters from my Citadel in order to summon Endymion the Master Magician!” The six Spell counters in question fired their power to a spot on Saito’s side, forming an orb of power which soon burst to reveal the master of the Citadel as well as the teacher of Tempest Magician and Explosive Magician. He frowned deeply, seeing the one who harmed his disciples. (7/DARK/Spellcaster/2700/1700)

“Now his effect activates, giving me a Spell Card from the graveyard!” Saito continued. Endymion waved his wand, creating a light from the graveyard slot. “And the card I pick is Card of Sanctity!” The card responded to Saito’s command, slipping out of the graveyard for him to take. He then placed it on a spot to activate it. “Now I’ll play it, giving us both six cards once again!”

“Careful, you’re giving me a boost as well,” Leviathan Dragon chuckled through Siesta’s lips.

“At this point, I don’t care,” Saito retorted. “Now for my next move I’ll play The Shallow Grave!” The card appeared on the field, depicting a monster with a skull helmet pulling himelf out fo what appeared to be its own grave. “Now each of us is allowed to Special Summon a monster in our graveyards in face down defense mode!”

“How generous,” Leviathan dragon chuckled. Riffling through her graveyard, she spotted Shocktopus. ‘Ah. Good. Once the fool attacks this card thinking it to be an easy mark, I’ll equip it to his monster and have myself wipe it out, dealing massive damage and ending the duel!’

Leviathan Dragon and Saito placed their hidden monsters on the field, ending the effects of The Shallow Grave. Looking to his hand, the Japanese boy kept his momentum going by picking out another card, “Next I’ll okay Element Soldier in attack mode!” Rising up in another spot was a man dressed in an earthen brown suit of armour which covered everything save for his face. A blue cloth hung from his wast and he wielded a spear which had liquid hovering over it’s surface. (4/DARK/Warrior/1500/1200) When the Soldier got a look at Leviathan Dragon’s true form, its cloth began to glow. Saito explained as he looked through his hand, “Since there’s a WATER monster on the field, the control of Element Soldier can’t be switched. That aside, I’ll now use my second Book of Taiyou to flip up my next monster!”

The card appeared, forming the book of the sun which opened, shining it’s light down on the hidden card. The card flashed before vanishing, leaving the familiar form of the Crusader of Endymion to stand tall and proud next to the Element Soldier.

“You could have Gemini Summoned it you know,” Leviathan Dragon snickered. “Or were you so distracted by me you couldn’t remember?”

“No,” Saito snorted, although the female form in front of him could be distraction. “I’m going to Overlay them!”

Element Soldier grunted and turned into an orb of purple energy while Crusader of Endymion turned into its own orb of yellow energy. Both of them surged into the air while below them, a familiar portal opened up, spinning like a galaxy between the opposing sides. Both light and dark power surged down, swallowed up by the power as Saito invoked the power, “Ni tai no Monsutā ga Obarei Nettowāku Kōchiku suru!” The light and dark power sank into the vortex causing an explosion of energy as another Number was called. “Ekushīzu Shoukan!”

“Nanbāzu Zero! Watashitachi ni shidō-ken o fuyo! Tao Woriā!”

Rising up from the portal was the yin-yang orb with a pair of yellow orbs circling it. At Saito’s words, the orb transformed and soon took the familiar form of the Angel of Balance which so many people in Halkenginia were unaware helped save them all from the Demons of the Void, Tao Warrior! (4/LIGHT/Warrior/Xyz/2500/2000)

“Yes! Now Darling has a chance!” Kirche cheered.

“No he doesn’t!” Leviathan Dragon smirked. “Not after I activate this! Splash Capture!” The trap card lifted, revealing a glowing figure with two Overlay Unites being carried away by two sharks that had the figure’s arms held in their mouths. “I can only activate this when you Exceed Summon a monster. By removing two Fish-Type monsters in my graveyard, I can take control of the monster you summoned! So I remove Big Jaws and Needle Sunfish to take control of Tao Warrior!”

“No!” Saito cried.

“Yes!” Leviathan Dragon sneered. Slipping the two cards from her graveyard between her breasts like the others, a pair of sharks surged out of the ground behind Tao Warrior, clamping him by the arms before dragging him to the other side of the field, forcing him to turn and face Saito. The foreign boy grimaced, but then felt the warmth in his hand beginning to fade. Looking down, he watched in horror as the double zero marking vanished. Looking back to Leviathan Dragon, he saw her twist to show off her bare thigh where the twin zeroes returned.

“Number 00 is mine now,” she smirked. “Got any more bright moves before I take the rest of your Numbers away too?”

“Saito?” Louise asked, fear seeping into her voice.

Her Familiar growled, but didn’t say anything in regards to his feeling, “I play two cards face down. Turn end.” They were a bluff, but hopefully she wouldn’t call it.

“And now for my final turn!” Leviathan Dragon gloated.

Saito: 2500 --- Leviathan Dragon: 1600

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 5

“Now I’ll start the beginning of the end!” Leviathan Dragon gloated. “A shame I can’t use up my last Overlay Unit since without them I cannot attack you directly.” A sinister sneer came over her face. “But I can have Tao Warrior attack you instead!”

“Saito!” Louise cired.

“Darling! Get back!”

“Run,” Tabitha agreed.

“He can’t! The rules forbid it!” Leviathan Dragon laughed. “ Tao Warrior, I order you to-!”

The possessed girl suddenly came up short before the order could be given. She began to tremble violently, making the group fear that the magic had become too much for her and it was harming her body. Her eyes began to flicker between the blue of Leviathan Dragon and the regular sky blue that they always were. Everyone was silent for a moment, wondering what was going on to stop Leviathan Dragon’s imminent victory.

“NOOOOO! LET ME GO YOU BASTARD!”

The sharp cry made Louise and Saito flinch, but Tabitha and Kirche looked like they hadn’t even heard it. Continuing to watch, the mage and Familiar spotted Tao Warrior emerge from Siesta’s back in his spectral form. With him, he yanked out a smaller version of Leviathan Dragon. He wrestled violently with the beast, attempting to free Siesta from her control and hopefully prevent Saito’s defeat and very possible death at the hands of the possessed girl.

“Satio! You have to get the maid to end her turn! It’s the only way to survive!”

“You bastard! You’re cheating! You’re cheating in our match!”

“Am I?” asked Tao Warrior. “You know one of the rules of magic is to never cross incompatible types. I can’t help it that my power is incompatible with yours!”

Siesta trembled for a moment more before she dropped to her knees, her eyes wide and frightened. “W-w-where am I? W-what’s going on?”

“Siesta!” Saito called out, realizing he had an opportunity. “Siesta, listen to me!”

The frightened maid looked up, “S-Saito?”

“Siesta, Leviathan Dragon made you duel me! If you don’t end your turn now she’s going to win and end up killing me! I know I can win, but you have to pass before she can take control of you and finish me off!”

“Don’t listen to him!” Leviathan Dragons screeched as she tried to escape Tao Warrior’s grasp. “He’s just jealous he couldn’t be your shining knight! I’m the one who saved you from the pervert! I’m the one who stopped you from becoming his private whore! I’m the one who’s on your side and the only one who you should be listening to!”

Siesta whimpered and covered her ears, her mind in a whirlwind of what she should or shouldn’t do. Look up, she saw Saito’s Tao Warrior struggling against Leviathan Dragon. It said that she was her friend, but the dragon had lied to her and forced her to be someone she hated. Saito had come and was now risking his life to stop Leviathan Dragon from rampaging like the books said that the Demons of the Void were known to do. Biting her lip, she looked across the field, “I END MY TURN!”

“NOOO!” Leviathan Dragon screeched, smacking Tao Warrior in the face with her tail, causing the spectral image to vanish. With Tao Warrior gone, it allowed Leviathan Dragon to dive into Siesta’s body again, forcing her eyes to turn the deep blue to show who was in control. “Wait! I take-!”

“ORE NO TA-N!” Saito interrupted, drawing his next card.

Saito: 2500 --- Siesta: 1600

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 5

Looking at his next card, Saito’s eyes widened at what he was looking at. “All right! Time to end this!” Looking at Leviathan Dragon who was now sweating bullets, he playing his next card. “I activate Change of Heart, taking control of Tao Warrior for this turn!” The card flashed, producing a woman who had one demon wing and one angel wing. She flew across the field before phasing into Tao Warrior. The Angel of Balance grunted and swiftly crossed the field, removing the Double Zero from Leviathan Dragon’s thigh and returning it to Saito’s right hand.

“Next I’ll play Element Magician in attack mode!” Saito continued, calling to the field an Asian woman dressed in a green dressed that revealed her thighs and arms. Her feet were bare, but she had green gloves covering her hands. Her blue hair was done up in buns with several strands floating harmlessly about her. A blue ring of magic began circling in front of her, indicating that like Element Soldier, with a WATER monster on the field her control could not be changed. (4/LIGHT/Spellcaster/1500/1200)

“Next I’ll activate Nightmare Archfiends!” Saito added, flipping up his trap card, showing three small devils dancing in front of a duellist. “By sacrificing a monster I control like Element Magician, I can Special Summon three Nightmare Archfiend Tokens to your side of the field!” The trap flashed, turning Element Magician into sparkles that were sucked into the card. In another flash, three fireballs were launched to Leviathan Dragon’s side which formed into three skinny devils that had spiked hair and black skin. The grins on their faces as they danced in their spots were rather aggravating. (6/DARK/Fiend/2000/2000)

“Now for the final trick,” Saito grinned. “I remove an Overlay Unit from Tao Warrior to activate his effect!” A yellow sphere orbiting Tao Warrior changed course and merged with the jewel on his chest, creating an aura of light and shadow around him. “I select a monster on your side of the field and it’s attack or defence depending on its position is divided by the number of monsters you control! In this case, by five!”

“NO!” Leviathan dragon shrieked in rage.

Tao Warrior and Saito didn’t listen to the evil beast. The dark and light energy was pulled into Tao Warrior’s chest, making the centre shine brightly. Saito looked at the blue dragon which had hurt his friend and glared at it, “Now target Leviathan Dragon with Eternal Balance!” Tao Warrior inhaled deeply before unleashing a tornado of black and white which cut through the air, smashing directly into Leviathan Dragon’s true for, making it screech as its attack points were cut.

Leviathan Dragon: 2000 → 400

“Okay Tao Warrior, it’s time to end this!” Saito cried out. “Equilibrium Strike!”

Tao Warrior drew his swords while his wings of power burst out from his back. With a single charge, he cut through the air towards the opposing Number. Leviathan Dragon screeched and attempted to fire dark blue fireballs to shoot the Warrior-Type out of the air. Because of Tao Warrior’s effect though, the fireballs fell short and missed entirely. Tao Warrior didn’t even slow down as he reached the Leviathan Dragon. Rearing back his arms, he unleashed duel slashes which left black and white streams as they went. The strikes dug clean through the dragon’s hide, cleanly severing the dragon’s head from the rest of its body. A final screech echoed through the air before Leviathan Dragon’s true form exploded, creating a massive shockwave.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Leviathan Dragon screeched in Siesta’s body before the shockwaves knocked her onto her back, At the same time, the last of her life points dropped to a big fat zero.

Saito: 2500 --- Leviathan Dragon: 0

SAITO WINS!!!

The Citadel vanished alongside all of the monsters which were on the field, returning the area to Saito’s smashed up audience room. When the last of the images vanished, Saito’s left hand began to grow warm with the Gandalfr runes shining bright. Pointing his hand towards Siesta’s fallen form, the runes flashed before a rectangle of light rose up from her chest, causing her Duel Disk to vanish along with the cards she had. The card flew to Saito’s open hand, allowing him to take it. Holding up the card, the glow vanished to reveal Number 17: Leviathan Dragon. Grimacing as burning entered his side, Saito lifted his shirt to see a glowing red 17 appear on his right hip. It stayed there, glowing ominously before turning yellow like the 00, 30, and 16 before on his right hand, right shoulder, and left rib cage.

“Whew,” Saito groaned, taking his cards and combining them with his deck again before his Tao Duel Disk closed up again. “I think this is the hardest duel I ever fought.”

“Which wouldn’t have happened if you used your tempest whatever to win quickly!” Louise snapped, running to Saito’s side. “Honestly, are you stupid on purpose or does it come natural?”

“I win by skill, not by brute force,” Saito sighed.

“How manly!” Kirche purred, preparing to pounce on Saito yet again. However, she felt a yank on the back of her cloak courtesy of Tabitha’s interference.

“Later,” the bluenette commented.

“Oh poo!”

Panting, Saito turned to see Siesta groaning on the ground. Growing concerned, he ran to the opposite side before kneeling down, “Siesta? Siesta, are you okay?”

“Mnn,” Siesta groaned. Shifting slightly, she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry for a few moments as her eyes adjusted before she recognized the young man kneeling over her. “Sai…to?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Saito nodded, relief on his face. “You okay?”

“Fine…” Siesta groaned, slowly managing to sit up. Her breathing became hitched as her memories of how she was acting came back to her. “Saito…I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” the Japanese boy tried to reassure her. “Leviathan Dragon made you do it.”

“But…but…I said so many awful things, acted so lewdly and shameful,” Siesta sniffled.

“And we know you wouldn’t do that normally,” Saito insisted.

“Yeah Maid Girl, that dragon messed with your head,” Derflinger agreed. “Besides, we won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”

Siesta sniffled again, but managed to break out in a smile. Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha watched the exchange, respecting Saito’s attempts to comfort his friend. Louise crossed her arms impatiently, but even she could read the mood. Kirche thought it was just another example of how charming her new Darling was and began plotting in ways to get him to herself. Tabitha merely watched, her emotions a mystery since not a hint of it was on her face.

“Well, let’s get out of here,” Saito smiled. “I think Mott’s had enough of us.”

“Mn!” Siesta argreed.

“I don’t think so!”

The voice of Mott pulled everyone’s attention to one side of the room. Standing as imperiously as he could despite the number of bruises on his body and his soaked clothes was the form of Count Mott holding his staff threateningly at the group of teens. Panting, he kept his staff aimed at as many of them as he could. “You will leave the girl with me. I have more than a few punishments planned for her after her little stunt. You’ll also leave those cards and device in my possession as well!”

“What?-!” Saito growled. “Why you-!”

“Do it, or I’ll have the royal guard storming the gates of the Academy by dawn!” a smirk came to his lips. “After all, I can just tell the princess that a group of rebels using blasphemous magic intend to try and take the crown, possibly in connection to the Albion rebels! Who would believe a bunch of brats like you over the trusted Royal Messenger with the money, respect, and resources which come from associating with me?”

“Pig,” Kirche cussed under her breath.

“Why you-!” Louise prepared to try and blow up the Count for his threats, her decision to not use magic be damned!

WHAM!

The door to the chamber was unceremoniously kicked open as numerous men and women began filing inside. Each of them were dressed in military gear that would not have looked out of place on a Musketeer in Saito’s mind. They wore ornate, but still functional tunics, pants, and leather boots which while representative of somebody high in the political hierarchy, was still meant for functionality over appearance. Over their shoulders they all wore white cloaks with gold symbols on the shoulders Each of them had wide brimmed hats that had feathers sticking out, but how foppish the hats were was offset by the swords that each of them wore on their waists and Saito was pretty sure he saw flintlock pistols hidden at their sides.

One figure walked into the room dressed the same as the others. He had messy brow hair that stuck out on the right side and blue eyes, but what stood out about him though was the fact that he didn’t have Caucasian features like everyone else in the room did. Instead, he looked Asian just like Saito did.

‘Is he Japanese too?’ Saito thought hopefully to himself.

“Ah, excellent! My rescue party!” Mott grinned. “I just captured these ruffians attempting to assault me, possibly to try and steal important messages from the royalty! I held them off as best I could and was about to capture them for punishment! I believe they’re rebels in league with Albion! We’d best execute them quickly!”

“That’s a lie!” Saito shouted loudly. “He was going to blackmail Siesta into being his mistress and now he’s trying to blackmail us!”

“No lie will save you now comm.-!” Mott snarled back imperiously, but was cut off.

“ENOUGH!” the leader of the group shouted. Crossing the room, he stopped several feet in front of Mott, looking at him with a frown. “Royal Messenger Count Jour de Mott?”

“That’s me,” Mott nodded. “Of course you know of me.”

“Yes. I’ve heard quite a bit,” the young man nodded. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out what looked to be a scroll. Mott’s eyes widened as did the eyes of other girls in the room when they saw the wax seal holding the document shut.

The royal family of Tristain.

Breaking the seal, the young man opened the scroll and held it out for Mott to read, “Count Jour de Mott, by the royal order of Princess Henrietta de Tristain, you are herby remanded to the custody of the Musketeer Squadron pending investigation into various charges and gross violation complaints against you. Your assets will be frozen and your properties temporarily seized until the end of the investigation where punishments, if any are needed, are handed out.”

“WHAT?-!” Mott screeched, his voice going an octave higher. “That’s ridiculous! I am the Royal Messenger! You can’t charge me with anything!”

“When the princess lays those charges, we can,” the young man replied.

“Bah! You lie! What charges could possibly be applied to an upstanding noble like me?”

Turning the scroll to his own eyes the young man read off the charges applied to Mott, “Let’s see…blackmail charges against noble and commoner alike…gross violation of behaviour standards of nobility…fraud in the name of personal gain…threatening bodily harm through a third party…and even lying to the crown for personal gain…the list goes on Count. Shall I say more?”

“You have no proof!” Mott insisted, sounding more like a whiny child who was caught than a proper Count.

“I think these young women and their male friend can offer us information,” The young man retorted. “We also have numerous witnesses who are willing to come forward and talk about their dealings with you, both noble and commoner.” Looking to the others in the room, he spoke, “Take him to the carriage.”

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” Mott screamed out as two of the men grabbed his arms and began tugging him towards the door, another picking up his staff. “I AM THE ROYAL MESSENGER! I AM THE HEIR OF THE MOTT FAMILY! I’LL SEE YOU BEHEADED FOR THIS INSULT! I SAID LET ME GO-!” his shouting vanished as he was pulled into the hallway. The other soldiers in the room left, leaving the Asian young man behind to watch them go.

He sighed before turning and approaching the group. Kneeling down to Siesta, he removed his hat and bowed his head, “I can only apologize for not coming sooner to stop Count Mott from taking you ma’am. I can only be thankful you had your friends come to rescue you before Mott did irreversible damage.”

“Um…It’s alright,” Siesta blushed. “But…who are you?”

Standing up, he smiled at the group as a whole, “My name is Kurogasa Chevalier de Kuruguri of Tokyo, Japan. If you want to be runic though, I’m called Kurogasa of the Ice Barrier.”

Turn End...