Familiar of Zero/Yu-Gi-Oh! --- Chapter 3

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 3: The Maiden of the Forest

Saito wandered around in the endless darkness, looking around for something that would resemble a piece of civilization. He felt like he was wandering for hours and all he saw was darkness, darkness, and more darkness. The only thing he could really say he could see was his own body which seemed illuminated in the darkness even though there was nothing to illuminate him.

“Come on,” he whined. “Isn’t there anyone here?”

Saito kept moving, not noticing that stones were appearing near his feet, thanks to the illumination from his body.

He was getting his closer to…something.

(LINE BREAK)

Saito could only gape openly at the image he was seeing. Directly in front of him was none other than his new ace monster, Number 00: Tao Warrior! Of course, the monster was now the size of a fully-grown man. If one didn’t know that he was a Number as well as the Angel of Balance to the people of Halkenginia, one would have assumed that he was just somebody who wore an elaborate suit of armor like knights were sometimes known to do.

Well, the Number being semi-transparent was something of a giveaway as well.

“Don’t panic,” Tao Warrior reassured his wielder. “Nobody but those connected to the Void Realm can see me right now and I doubt you want people watching you to talk to the open air.”

“Hey Tao! Good to see you!” Derflinger greeted warmly.

“Derflinger,” Tao Warrior nodded. “I have much to speak to you two about. We should take this to someplace private.”

“Right,” Saito nodded. Tao Warrior vanished again, allowing Saito to recover himself. Looking around to see if nobody was paying attention, he saw no one was taking notice of him so he quickly stepped out of the Alviss Dining Hall to find privacy elsewhere.

The duo of boy and sword moved through the halls and managed to find one of the empty classrooms in the school. With everyone in the Alviss Dining Hall, no one would likely be coming across them while they were talking to Tao Warrior. Maybe now that he seemed capable of talking to Saito at will, he might be able to get some answers about what was going on with the Ninety-Nine.

Coming into the room, Saito gently brought the door as close to a close without actually shutting it for fear of the iron mechanisms making a noticeable and echoing noise. Once the door was closed, Saito turned his attention to the rest of the room, “Tao Warrior, you here?”

“Yes,” the voice of the Xyz Monster spoke before the human-sized monster faded into existence. “Glad to see you managed to get away so quickly. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

“Yeah,” Saito nodded, grabbing a chair from one of the student desks and pulling it so he could have a seat near his ace. “So just what is going on with the Numbers? Why are they coming out now? Why do they take the form of Duel Monsters?”

“I can answer most of those,” Tao Warrior replied, standing straight. “First of all, do you know how it was the other Numbers and myself came to be part of this world?”

“Um…,” Saito began, remembering Osmond’s explanation. “From what I was told, the Numbers came first when they were summoned by a group of mages who wanted to beat Brimr and his followers. Brimr summoned you to fight them.”

“That is correct,” Tao Warrior nodded. “Brimr, his Familiar Sasha, Derflinger, and myself took up the fight against the other Numbers to prevent them and their masters from overrunning the entire continent and conquering everything in a bloody campaign. Each one we defeated I returned to the Void Realm and sealed them away to prevent them from being re-summoned by the mages who had initially called them into this world. Unfortunately…the seal failed.”

“Do you know why?” Saito frowned.

“The Void Realm is big and there are many creatures that inhabit it, like those musical devils you fought while dealing with Shock Master,” Tao Warrior shook his head. “It could have been someone who wanted their power, a fluke, or the seal could have just weakened enough to have them break out on their own. I wasn’t there when it happened so I do not know.”

Saito frowned, “Okay, so we don’t know how they got out, but do we know how they got here?”

“That part is easy,” Tao Warrior nodded. “It has to deal with you and the girl who summoned you, Louise.”

“Huh?” Saito blinked.

“When the girl summoned you, she ripped one hell of a hole between the barriers that separate our worlds. First she pulled you into the Void Realm and then yanked you into hers. Her control is so rough and minimal, the holes she tore were quite substantial. When the Numbers were freed, they saw the hole and made a break for it.”

“And when I was pulled in, you stuck with me,” Saito nodded. “So, why did they all take the forms of Duel Monsters cards? Why do they have to duel?”

“To understand that, you have to know about some of the rules of existence as beings of a realm such as the Void Realm,” Tao Warrior explained. “There are rules to existence which are placed that even ones such as us Numbers have to follow. If we don’t some very powerful entities would come down on us very hard.”

“So what are the rules?” asked Saito.

“For one, entities such as us are not allowed to enter other realms such as Halkenginia unless we are summoned there,” Tao Warrior explained. “The gaping hole Louise made was more or less interpreted as an invitation to come to Halkenginia. Since no one was there to try and stop them or tell them they were not invited, they shot for it.”

“And you piggybacked with me using the same open invitation,” Saito guessed. Tao Warrior nodded in response. “So, why is it that they took the form of Duel Monsters anyway? Halkenginia never heard of Duel Monsters until I came along.”

“It’s because you came along that we were forced to adapt to Duel Monsters,” Tao Warrior explained. “Another law which is forced on entities like us is that when we enter a new realm, we must adapt to the fairest method of combat. We can have strategies, trump cards and overwhelming power in that method of combat but in the end we are not unstoppable and we are not invincible.”

“It sounds like you guys were when the Numbers were summoned by those other mages,” Saito argued.

“That’s because back then the preferred method of dueling was two mages and their Familiars battling against one another with all of their spells. It actually gave the Numbers the advantage because our powers are so drastically new and different from what Brimr and the other mages were used to dealing with. When they escaped from the seal though, you were the first person they met. Since they saw you first, they adapted to what you felt was the fairest form of combat thinking that you were from the other side of the hole which they were escaping from.” Tao Warrior explained. “If anything, just by being there first you may have helped prevent all out war between the countries here and the Numbers.”

“Okay,” Saito blinked, a little surprised at the frank admission. “So then why is it all of the guys that were summoned were Numbers? There are other monsters in the Void Realm aren’t there?”

“Yes, but the Numbers were what the magi wanted in Familiars,” Tao Warrior explained. “You see, part of summoning is the intent of the summoner. Those mages wanted powerful creatures which would make anybody who saw them tremble in fear, bow to their superiority, or simply be crushed by their power. They were copying Brimr’s methods which proved to be very powerful and tapped into the Void Realm where the source of his magic lies so they got the most powerful beings in the Void Realm, the Numbers.”

“And because Brimr wanted something that could match those guys, he got you, right Tao?” asked Derflinger.

“Indeed,” Tao Warrior nodded. “There are only one hundred numbers because there are only one hundred combinations between two normal numbers, double zero all the way up to ninety-nine.”

“So it was just luck that it was ninety-nine creeps who had a bone to pick with Brimr,” Derflinger shuddered. “Otherwise you would have been working for them.”

“A possibility,” Tao Warrior shrugged. “But one that isn’t going to happen at this point,”

“Okay,” Saito sighed, rubbing his head. “So the Numbers want to pick up where they left off and you feel it’s your responsibility to take them out and decided that I was the one to do it since I know how to duel?”

“And because you were touched by the Void, meaning that the Numbers cannot manipulate you,” Tao Warrior nodded. “You were chosen as the Left Hand of God, the Legendary Familiar which is known as Gandalfr. That means you and Louise can both combat the Numbers and stop them before they can cause the havoc they were famous for in Brimr’s age.”

“I knew there was something special about you Partner!” Derflinger grinned.

“No pressure,” Saito grumbled, feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “If we’re going to have to stop the Numbers then I can’t keep using the same deck over and over again. There might be a chance that the Numbers might work together and share information about how I duel since I’m the only one who can fight them right now.”

“Makes sense,” Derflinger agreed. “After we took down a few of them back in the day, the Ninety-Nine began working together in groups to try and take us down. We could never beat the group entirely so some would run off and soon more groups knew some of our tricks.”

“If you need more cards, then all you need to do is place Number 30 and Number 16 on a flat surface,” Tao Warrior spoke.

Saito blinked, but he did as he was told. Fishing Acid Golem of Destruction and Shock master out of his pocket, he placed them on the display table next to the teacher’s podium. Tao Warrior stepped up to the surface and held out his hand over the two cards with the palm face downward. His eyes narrowed slightly before the two cards began to glow. Saito watched as the two cards began to rise and turned into decks of cards with the Numbers on top!

“What the-?” Saito gasped.

“The Numbers built their decks with knowledge on Duel Monsters from what…I suppose you could call the Ultimate Force, the entity which ensures that the Numbers knew everything about the form of combat that they chose to adapt to. They also took a preference to monsters that shared a link to their hosts like the boy and rock monsters or the man and music themes.” Tao Warrior explained. “Since you now possess the Numbers, you also control the cards they used to fight you. I suggest looking for some cards that support Xyz Monsters. My abilities can only be used so many times after all.”

“Right,” Saito nodded absently, pocketing the decks. “Speaking of cards though, what’s the deal with the levels on the Xyz Monsters? I wanted to Overlay Muzumuzu and Wynn during the last duel but something told me that was a bad idea.”

“It would be since you can’t Overlay Xyz Monsters to make more Xyz Monsters,” Tao Warrior explained. “Xyz Monsters such as I come from a different realm entirely from the monsters you are used to using. Xyz Monsters don’t have levels, but have a rank. So cards that specifically affect or depend on a monster’s level don’t work on them. Remember that for future duels.”

“Right,” Saito nodded. “I’m going to need a place to put these cards.”

(LINE BREAK)

Louise stood riveted in front of the door, watching as Saito talked with his sword and the spirit of the Angel of Balance. She had seen Saito leave and pondered what he was going to be up to. She half-feared that he was going to meet Kirche somewhere and so decided to follow of that was to be the case. She was shocked to see the Angel of Balance appear in a human size to speak with her Familiar. They talked about the other Ninety-Nine Demons, but that was the point to where Louise stopped listening.

It was all her fault.

According to the Angel of Balance, when she summoned Saito she had opened the way for the other Demons to escape into her world.

‘All my fault. All my fault. All my fault,’ she repeated over and over in her mind. It was her fault that Guiche had been turned into a megalomaniac, all her fault that so many children had been kidnapped by the man with the flute. It was all her fault that ninety-seven other demons were now hidden in Tristain, possibly in all of Halkenginia.

She was worse than a Zero, she was in the downright negatives!

Sniffling, Louise choked back a sob and dashed away from the classroom. She couldn’t deal with this! She had only made the world a worse place with her magic! Everyone was right about her; she was absolutely useless at magic!

She would never cast a spell again if misery was all she made!

(LINE BREAK)

Dawn finally came to the school, although it was anything but a normal morning. The Alviss Dining Hall was playing host to numerous children from commoner and noble families who were permitted to stay the night there considering the trials they had been through. Osmond had sent a letter via messenger bird to the authorities to alert them to the fact that they had found the missing children and had dealt with the one responsible. The aged headmaster felt that they would be receiving the help they needed to get the missing children back home where they belonged.

Saito didn’t know any of this though. After speaking to Tao Warrior he packed up his extra cards and went up to Louise’s room so he could finally go to sleep. His protesting body certainly accepted it and soon he found himself asleep and dead to the world with Louise curled up under her covers, seemingly asleep.

The misplaced boy woke up with the sun, a habit he developed in helping get Louise ready for class. Yawning, he dragged himself up to his feet. Scratching his hair he shuffled over to Louise’s bed and saw that she was still curled up under the covers where he had left her the previous night.

“Louise,” he yawned, shaking the lump. “Wake up. Your classes are going to start soon.”

“Go away,” the pinkette muttered, not moving.

“Louise?” Saito blinked. This didn’t sound like the sometimes temperamental girl he had come to known since ending up in Tristain.

“I said go away!” Louise snapped, poking her head out from underneath the cloth. Her hair was frazzled and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Okay! Okay!” Saito yelped, not wanting to get blown up or whipped. “You-don’t-seem-to-be-feeling-well-so-I’ll-leave-you-alone!” He spoke his words rapidly, not wanting to strain Louise’s ire and made his way to the door, slipping through it in a way that would make a thief green with envy.

As he made his escape, he didn’t notice Louise slip under the covers before silently beginning to weep once again.

(LINE BREAK)

Ms. Loungeville, secretary to Headmaster Osmond watched as the maids served food to all of the recent guests that had come to the school after the magical musician had come to try and kidnap the student body. If it hadn’t been for that boy that the Valliere girl had summoned, then all of the students in the school would be kidnapped thanks to that apparent magic that had enslaved them all.

On one hand, the scene confirmed to her that there were still good people in the world as exemplified by the headmaster, as perverted as he could be, was taking the pains and costs of feeding everyone there including the commoners. He didn’t listen as some of the snobbier students complained about having to share with commoners and instead tuned them out, stating that the situation was hardly one to call for decorum.

On the other hand though, to Foquet the Crumbling Dirt it made her task of raiding the academies’ stores that much more difficult since whoever had been taking control of people to cause these crimes would bring a lot of attention from the law enforcement to the school to examine the strange events. It would make trying to break into the vault, and even examining it, that much harder to do.

Still, both Foquet and Ms. Loungeville’s opinions were playing secondary to Matilda de Saxe-Gotha’s. She had been listening in on the conversation the boy and the pinkette had with the headmaster and Colbert. She was surprised to hear about the Demons of the Void, especially when she among most everyone was raised to believe that the Void was holy. What made her heart stop though was knowing that one had given a schoolboy the power to create an army of nigh indestructible golems. Even her Triangle-Class Earth Magic couldn’t compare.

What if one was picked up by an adult?

What if it was a powerful mage?

What if they ended up in the hands of the rebels?

The thought terrified Matilda, especially when she thought about who might be caught up in those demons’ rampages. Albion was in the middle of enough trouble without demons to make things that much worse. It had made her do something she hadn’t done for a very long time.

She wrote a letter home.

‘Tiffania…’ Loungeville thought fearfully as she watched the formerly missing children eat as if they hadn’t had anything for days. ‘Please be safe.’

(LINE BREAK)

In the West Woods of Albion, near the hills of Saxe-Gotha, on the floating land of Albion, people would tell tales. They would speak of a beautiful forest fairy who would appear before weary travelers or the wounded as they passed through the forests and she would offer them aid. The weary travelers would find themselves rejuvenated and in places where plenty of wild berries and mushrooms would grow that were safe for human consumption. The wounded would suddenly awaken to find themselves healed as if nothing had happened to them. All they could agree on was that a beautiful woman had appeared before them and eased their ills. Many wondered if there was anything to the tales and quite a few hormonal young men had gone in search of the woman in hopes of wooing her or at least spending the night with her.

The village of loggers who set up their homes nearby usually saw these travelers a lot and heard the tales about the beautiful forest fairy who no doubt lived nearby. They had heard all the stories by now and while they would lend an ear as well as a smile or nod to those who told tales, they had also gave disinformation to those who wished to find the forest fairy for their own selfish and/or lustful purposes.

Why would they do that? Was it because they wanted to keep the forest fairy a secret lest they face the wrath of said spirit? Was it because they wanted to keep their village filled with an income of gold from those who would come in search of her? Was it some conspiracy in which they were faithful to the fae instead of the royal family?

No, they just knew that the poor girl had a hard enough life already and deserved to have her peace with the poor orphans she took upon herself to raise and educate.

In the West Woods in a section which only the locals knew to find, there was a modest hut which was caringly taken care of and vibrant along with the forest life which surrounded it. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it was certainly cozy.

The lone occupant of the hut was a beautiful young woman that had long blonde hair which trailed down her back. She wore a halter top-style silk dress which rode up on her bare thighs and seemed to struggle to hold in her rather well-developed chest. She wore silk across her arms and legs with simple sandals on her feet. Her face was certainly beautiful, easily comparable to the fairies of myth and such accented perfectly by her crystal blue eyes. One of her most noticeable features though were her pointed ears.

Her name was Tiffania Westwood and she was a half-elf.

Tiffania kept to herself and didn’t go too far from the woods she called home unless she could help it and even then she took pains to hide her ears from everyone. The fear and hate humans held for elves was still strong and despite the people of the town having accepted her, she could tell her ears made them uncomfortable. Still, she was very pleasant company and loved to make people happy, which is what won over the people of the town. Still, she could be a little uncomfortable around people and so remained on her own unless she was at work, one of the only other places she felt at ease with others around.

At the moment, it was early morning and Tiffania was enjoying her breakfast and tea before she set out to do chores and meet the children so to help them have their breakfasts before they could begin their days of play, small chores, and lessons. Still, the young half-elf was half distracted from her meal by a letter in her hands which had come from her older sister Matilda

Dear Tiffania

How are you? I decided to write you since it seemed like work has been getting hectic and I felt a little lonely and decided to write you. Has everything been going well at the orphanage? Have you all had enough to eat? Do you have enough gold to last still? I’ll try and send some more money as soon as I possibly can. I’m just sorry that I can’t visit you as often as I’d like to but as long as I hear from you then I know you’re fine.

Tiffania, I know this is going to be a delicate subject but I believe that it may be in your best interest to summon a Familiar. I worry that you may end up being faced against some brute and I wouldn’t be able to protect you. Rumors from Albion are getting more distressing and I worry about you. I know you don’t like to use magic if you don’t have to but knowing that you had a Familiar there to protect you would set my mind at ease. I know you are probably upset at me for suggesting this but I feel I must, for both our sakes.

If you agree to do so, I wrote down instructions on how to do the ritual. I only hope you receive a powerful Familiar who can keep you safe when I cannot.

Love always,

Matilda

‘Big sister,’ Tiffania frowned prettily. She wasn’t upset at her elder sibling at suggesting to summon a Familiar, but she was right n saying that the half-elf wouldn’t like it. Tiffania could use magic, but she didn’t often use it if she felt she didn’t have to. She wanted to set a good example for the children and…using magic brought back some memories of her past…

Finishing her tea, Tiffania considered what to do about her sister’s letter. The last time she braved going into town, she did hear that the rebels were gaining ground against the monarchy. It was pure luck that the town was of no real strategic value so neither the royal army or the rebels were trying to occupy that place. Still, it didn’t mean that they may pass through at some point. Memories of what soldiers had done to her family caused Tiffania to shudder slightly at the dark memory.

“Should I summon a Familiar though?” Tiffania wondered to herself. “Isn’t there supposed to be a special day for that sort of thing?” The half-elf girl looked down at the letter in her hands, wondering what she should do. Matilda wasn’t really asking for anything totally unreasonable to be honest. Tiffania never really had it in her to say no to her big sister either. Matilda provided so much with the money she saved from her jobs and asked for so little in return.

“Well, if it would make Matilda feel better,” Tiffania convinced herself. Setting the letter down, she read over the written instructions to the Familiar Summoning Ritual. Getting up from the table she moved to a chest used to contain personal belongings which sat near her simple bed. Undoing the latch, she opened it to reveal some of her belongings as well as some items which had belonged to her mother which she kept for keepsakes. Within the bundle of clothing and other small trinkets was a wand, traditional to the users of Halkenginia. It had been a gift from her father to help her harness her magic from her human side should she ever need it. Since she came to live at her hut though, she hadn’t seen fit to use it.

“Hopefully I’m not too rusty,” she frowned in worry to herself.

(LINE BREAK)

Earth -- Tokyo

“Come again!”

The door to the card store opened with a jingle as a satisfied customer left. He wore a red jacket with green accents on the shoulders and sleeves with a blue shirt underneath. He had tanned skin and fair features of a teenage boy, including green eyes which seemed rather round on his face. His hair was black, but cut short with red bangs framing his face. He had a backpack on his shoulders

His name was Raito Kurohoruda. He was the local Duel Monsters champion for his district and he had plenty of trophies to show for it. The prize money he had received from several of those competitions helped him get his collection to the size it was today. He was proud of his accomplishments, but he didn’t want to get stagnant and had made himself the goal of making several powerful decks, one of each element.

It was why he was at the card shop with his whole collection. There was a large swap meet going on and he wanted to see if he could swap some of his unneeded cards for some of the ones he did needed for his goal of making his elemental decks. He had actually made a big leap on that front, getting a lot of cards he did need for that goal as well as getting a few which might come in handy or were part of an alternate strategy that he was working on.

‘Still,’ Raito thought to himself as he walked down the street. ‘Even though I’m working on these strategies, getting these cards, I feel like I’m only being left behind. What am I missing? There’s no tournaments coming up and the pro league tests aren’t for months. Why is it that I feel like no matter what I do I’m just going to remain stagnant unless I do something? What is it I’m supposed to do?’

(LINE BREAK)

Halkenginia – Albion

Tiffania quickly set to work, drawing the circle on the ground with her wand like Matilda’s letter told her to do. Making the pentagram of the five elements, she positioned herself at one of the points. She looked over the incantation that her big sister had written, Matilda swearing that the incantation had brought a very unique and strong Familiar to another mage she met.

Memorizing the incantation, Tiffania raised her wand and began to make waving motions. As her magic began to shine on the tip of her wand, she began to speak.

“I beg of you… My slave who lives somewhere in the universe! Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit! I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!”

(LINE BREAK)

Earth – Tokyo

Raito heaved a sigh while he continued walking. He was about halfway home, the weight of his collection and Duel Disk beginning to wear on him a little. Turning a corner on one of the lonely streets, he hefted his pack and kept walking without a word. As he came the corner though, a sudden rising green light came up from his feet.

“Huh?” Raito looked down to see that he was standing in the middle of some kind of circle with a pentragram in the middle. He could only stare at the arcane circle for only a few moments before the ground suddenly gave away beneath him. He passed through the sidewalk like it was air!

“WOOOOAAAAH!”

Raito’s world turned black, but not because he lost consciousness. Everything around him was darkness and he was falling through it feeling like he was falling through molasses. He tried to find something solid to grab onto, but everything was the same darkness no matter where he grasped.

“What is going on?-!”

Looking down, he saw a light beginning to shine as he fell towards it. Yelping, Raito struggled even more to stop falling but it was to no avail. The light soon engulfed him and…

*BOOM!*

He landed heavily on his back in the midst of an explosion. He coughed from the smoke coming into his lungs as he felt his back jab him sharply in the back. He felt covered in soot and he was in something of a fair amount of pain.

“Ow,” He groaned.

Maybe he should move…

“Oh my! Are you all right?”

Raito opened his eyes to see who was talking. He expected to see the sky and sun at first, but quickly found that something was blocking it. As his eyes came into focus and he managed to get a look at who as talking to him.

‘Moons,’ was his first thought, although anyone who would ask him would receive a quick denial. ‘Two nice full moons. And very big moons they are. They are much bigger than I thought possible…’

Standing above him was a very pretty girl wearing a pretty green dress which showed off her body very well. The silk on her arms and legs were a very nice decoration too, making her appear innocent and maidenly. She had long blonde hair and gentle blue eyes which only made her face that much more appealing.

And her chest…so perfectly shaped yet so massive at the same time. A paradox at being so big and yet fitted on such a graceful and lithe body.

Huh…she had pointy ears too. Cool.

“Are you okay?” the vision of perfection asked again, clearly worried for his health.

“Uh? Oh, yeah!” Raito answered, coming to his senses. Pulling himself into a sitting position he looked around. So far, all he saw was a forest and a small hut. “Where am I?”

“You’re at my home in the West Woods,” the girl offered helpfully, but it wasn’t so helpful to Raito who had no idea where that was. She shuffled slightly on the spot, looking at the ground with a shy look. “I…I…um, summoned you.”

“Summoned me?” Raito blinked, standing up. “Summoned how?”

“With my magic,” the girl answered, still averting her eyes shyly. “To be my Familiar.”

“Huh?-!” Raito gaped.

“But it wasn’t my intent to summon you!” the girl tried to reassure him. “A Familiar is usually an animal who is complementary to the summoner…or so I was told…” she flushed in embarrassment as Raito continued to gape. “I didn’t mean to summon you though! I-I must have gotten the spell wrong or something!”

“Okay…” Raito nodded. “Then can you send me back? I was on my way home.”

“Um…well…” the busty blonde shuffled looking at the ground again. “I…I don’t know…I never heard of a spell that does that…”

“So I’m stuck?-!” Raito cried out.

“I’m sorry!” the blonde apologized quickly.

Raito rubbed the back of his head, his mind a whirlwind in trying to figure out what to do. Looking around, he didn’t see anything which told him anything about where he was. He didn’t see a sign of a city anywhere. He also didn’t quite want to see the blonde so upset. She looked like she was about to cry since she was so upset about what happened.

“Can you at least tell me where Tokyo is?” he asked hopefully.

“To-Key-Oh?” the blonde sniffled. “Where’s that? Is it anywhere near Albion?”

“Huh?-!-?-!” Raito felt his eyes bulge.

(LINE BREAK)

Raito had several shocks that day, the first of which being dropped into the busty girl’s lap. She introduced herself as Tiffania Westwood, amongst many profuse apologies over how she had more or less taken him away from his home. Further shocks came when she explained that he was on the country of Albion, which according to the admittedly outdated map was part of the continent of Halkenginia. It sort of driven home the point that he wasn’t in his own world anymore. He didn’t need it to be explained to him, he came to that conclusion on his own.

Tiffania offered to let him stay with her until they could figure out something to do about him. Her cabin was cozy but she allowed him to stay for as long as he needed to.

“You can stay as long as you like,” Tiffania offered, presenting the bed for his approval. It was an old room and likely hadn’t been used in years. Tiffania had kept it clean mostly out of habit than necessity.

“Thanks,” Raito nodded, feeling numb since the revelation of his position.

“I hope you make yourself comfortable,” the pointy-eared girl continued. “I’m afraid that I am kind of in a hurry though.”

“A hurry?” asked Raito.

“Yes. You see, I’m a caregiver at the nearby orphanage,” Tiffania explained. “And my day is starting soon. The little ones will be awake soon and I have to help them get their breakfast and morning baths ready.”

“Oh,” Raito nodded. “Don’t let me keep you then.”

“Thank you,” Tiffania nodded. “I’ll be back tonight so place make yourself at home.”

The busty girl then left in a hurry, leaving Raito alone with his thoughts. He walked to the bed and sat down, slipping off his backpack. Trying to remain calm, he zipped the bag open. Inside was of course his Duel Disk, his collection fit inside three binders, and his two complete decks. One by one he pulled the items out. He turned on the Duel Disk and examined it to make sure that it was working properly. He flipped through all of his cards to ensure that he wasn’t missing any of them and finally he checked both of his decks to make doubly sure that he wasn’t missing any of his cards. Even one missing would disrupt his strategies.

“At least one thing has been going okay.”

The entire day Raito spent simply working on his decks, trying to see if he could update them with some of the cards he had gotten from the swap meet and what could be made into a new deck to use later.

Who he’d play against though…

Sighing, he set his cards down and decided to walk around a bit. Locking himself away from the world wasn’t going to make his situation any better. His situation wasn’t as bad as it could be though. Tiffania was really nice and more than willing to help him out while taking responsibility for just plucking him off the street with her summoning spell. He could have been summoned by some sort of haughty spoiled brat who would whip him for not doing what he wanted.

The hut wasn’t very large, so Raito found himself outside before too long. The outside was a minimal clearing. There was nothing much to truly look at which meant that Tiffania likely didn’t need much in her life in terms of creature comforts. The hut itself was big enough for about two people to fit in snugly. Still, it was way better than sleeping on the ground or something.

The only real features to the place besides a small path and the trees seemed to be a small clearing at the side which was apparently for laundry which was currently hanging on a single clothesline with a wooden bucket nearby. The clothes looked as clean and pure as Tiffania came across.

…and a guy was riffling through the clothes that had yet to be hung.

‘Wait, what?-!’ Raito thought sharply, his senses revved back to life as all of his mental facilities came to full power. “Hey! You!”

The guy riffling through the laundry yelped and crashed into the clothesline from jumping in shock, concealing his identity. Raito dashed towards the guy, but the pervert was quick. He recovered himself quickly and charged into the foliage, dropping Tiffania’s clothes as he went. Raito followed the trail as much as he could, but the guy knew the land better than the duelist did and quickly vanished. Raito didn’t want to risk chasing him further since he had no idea how the forest panned out and the risk of getting lost was very real.

“Pervert,” Raito growled, turning back to head for the hut again. He picked up Tiffania’s dropped clothes as he went. Hopefully she wouldn’t think it was him that did this.

He set the basket of clothes down by the hut so that he could keep them in sight just in case the pervert came back for a second attempt. The clothes were now ruined and now had to be washed again. Raito just sat himself on the front stairs to the hut and waited for Tiffania’s return while keeping an eye out for the pervert.

Some more time passed and Raito remained diligent until the sun reached its zenith, “Mr. Raito!”

The duelist looked up from his guard duty, spotting Tiffania returning from her duties at the orphanage she claimed to work at. In her hands was what looked like a plate filled with food. Had she really come all the way back to her hut to give it to him?

“Tiffania,” he blinked, but then remembered what he needed to tell her. “Listen, while you were out today something happened to your laundry…” he tried to explained, but Tiffania’s ears twitched as she noticed the dirty clothes in the basket.

“Oh no!” she pouted. “Not again! This is the fifth time this week!” placing the plate in Raito’s hands, she approached her clothing and began to examine it. “Ooooh, I wish I could do something to stop this animal from going through my things!”

“Animal?” Raito frowned. Did she know about the pervert?

“Yes!” Tiffania nodded. “For the last few weeks, some animal has been wandering through the area and rooting through my laundry. I think it’s because I use scented soap which smells like fruit. I do wonder how an animal is so hungry though when the growing season is so good…”

Raito blinked at her pondering, wondering if the girl was serious. After a moment as he watched her do a tally of her clothes, he realized that she really did believe that it was a wild animal that was rooting through her clean clothes. Was this girl really that naïve?

“Um…the one I saw going through your clothes was a person,” Raito spoke up. “I chased him into the woods but he got away.”

Tiffania blinked in surprise and looked up at Raito, “A person was going through my clothes? Why in the Founder’s name would they do that?”

‘Is she kidding?’ Raito blinked. “Well, have any of your undergarments went missing?”

“Yes,” Tiffania nodded. “Several of my panties disappeared. Why do you ask?”

The sheer innocence in her question almost made Raito face fault. Could this girl really not know why a man would riffle through her laundry? Having the underwear of a beautiful girl was a pervert’s cheap shortcut to actually touching that girl! With how busty and beautiful Tiffania was, Raito was sure that she would have dealt with guys wanting to hit on her more than a little during the course of her life. How could she not know what he was talking about?

‘How to put this gently?’ Raito thought to himself. “Tiffania…I don’t think it was an animal that’s been taking your underwear. I think it was a man that was doing it.”

“What?-!” the half-elf squeaked in shock, jumping to her feet. “But-but-but why? That’s a terrible thing to do!”

Raito sweatdropped. Did Tiffania really need the reason why someone would steal her panties from her spelled out? Well, if she really needed to know, “Well, men can do stupid things when it comes to women.”

Okay, he copped out but Tiffania was just too innocent to bother with a man’s perversion.

“Still, it’s not right,” Tiffania frowned prettily.

“I know but people do bad things a lot,” Raito shrugged. Looking at the plate of food in his hands, he decided to at least try to change the subject, “Say, why don’t we get some lunch and we can talk about your day?”

“…okay,” Tiffania smiled.

(LINE BREAK)

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”

Stumbling through the forests was a young man who was dressed in simple clothes which were thick enough to cover his limbs and protect him from the scratches and bumps. He was a teenager, one of the young men who would normally be out helping their fathers in the logging and such, but this certain young man wasn’t one of them.

He had brown hair which was obviously uncared for. His clothes were actually relatively clean and his hands didn’t show the usual wear and tear that the men from the town usually had from helping out with the logging all day. That was easily explainable in that this particular young man didn’t go out to help the loggers.

His name was Kenneth Beauregard. He came from a family of loggers and pretty much everyone in town expected him to go into logging like his family. He did go into logging, but it only lasted for about a month before he saw someone get killed in an accident. After that, he left the job and began living life his way.

It more or less meant that he didn’t do much of what one would call a productive life. He lived from day to day, living cheaply and avoiding what could be called gainful employment. To support himself, he tended to a single beehive which he would harvest the honey out of. It was a sizable hive, which allowed him to sell a decent amount to the local inn for a decent profit. People kept saying if he wanted to make himself respectable he should make more and sell it to other towns, but Kenneth wanted to live life his way.

Living life the way he wanted wasn’t always enjoyable what with the dark looks and distaste coming from several of the locals who had nothing nice to say about him. He had heard all of the comments over fifty times by now, ‘Shame to his family’ ‘left them high and dry’ ‘oh what must his parents think’ etc. He didn’t care what others thought. He was still alive, had his health, and a decent income so who were they to look down on him when their husbands and brothers ended up crippled, dead, and unable to bring in an income to support them?

It did tend to hurt his chances with the ladies though. Since all of the girls around the town knew about him, the respectable ones never liked him since he was considered a freeloader. The ladies who did offer him any attention were the ones even a slacker like he knew better than to associate with lest he lose what money he kept close to his heart.

But there was one woman he was determined to sink his teeth into.

Tiffania was more or less the local celebrity to the village. Even though she obviously had some elf blood in her, everyone had nothing bad to say about her. After all, could you really speak ill about a girl who was as beautiful as she was and took care of orphans? Nobody cared about her heritage and the older people seemed to treat her almost like a surrogate granddaughter in a few cases. Apparently the girl had some kind of dark past that she wanted to get away from and everyone was willing to help her with that.

She was shy in a very cute way and she had a lovely body which no man had yet to touch. She was the perfect woman who was just begging to be plucked. Kenneth tried talking to her several times, but she would just say hello and be on her way during the rare times she’d come into town. He followed her back to her small hut one day and decided to get a ‘souvenir’ from his trip. He’d started up something of a collection, the mementos fuelling his fantasies until he’d finally snare the elusive little forest fairy. She’d be the perfect wife and her elf magic might make his hive produce better honey without the added effort.

One problem though…

“Who in the Founder’s name was that guy?” Kenneth demanded hotly as he pushed past some bushes. “He can’t be a lover or something, can he?”

He had been trying get to Tiffania for months now! No way would he just let some two-bit traveler get in his way! Tiffania was his! He earned her! She was his even if she didn’t know it yet!

“Bold words drone,” a dark voice suddenly called out.

Kenneth came to a halt in front of a large oak tree, looking about to try and figure out who was talking to him. Looking at the tree itself, he spied what looked like a small glowing rectangle stuck in the bark. Staring at the item, Kenneth’s eyes began to grow dull. Like he was sleepwalking, he stumbled towards the tree with his hand stretched out.

“The girl shall be your queen and the new colony shall thrive!”

(LINE BREAK)

After a lunch together, Raito and Tiffania talked and got to know one another. He learned that the reason Tiffania had such pointed ears was because her mother was an elf while her father was a human. She had seemed to expect some kind of reaction from him, but Raito merely commented ‘that’s cool’ and asked her what real elves were like. It had taken her a while to recover from the shock of his attitude.

Apparently elves and humans hadn’t gotten along since Founder Brimr’s time of 6000 years ago. They used to live together in the same country and at least tolerated one another but something happened which caused the elves to kick the humans out of the country into what would become Halkenginia and hadn’t let them back in since. Humans hated elves for that, but they also feared them because they apparently had incredibly powerful magic which normal humans couldn’t compete against.

It made Raito wonder how Tiffania’s father managed to get together with her mother.

Still, Raito didn’t care about the history of elves and humans for the time being, only getting to know Tiffania since they may very well be roommates for some time to come. He told her that he was an amateur duelist back home. She first feared that he dueled like people in Halkenginia did, but he quickly assuaged her fears by showing off his Duel Monsters cards and explaining what the game was all about. It put the half-elf’s fears to rest and she grew more comfortable after that.

The evening eventually came down and both Tiffania and Raito enjoyed some time at the fire. Tiffania was playing a harp which sounded beautiful in the calm air. Neither of them spoke, just wanting to enjoy the music for the evening. Listening to the music allowed Raito to forget his current troubles and just bask in the good things which were going on at the moment. Tiffania was definitely not the worst host one could ever deal with. So he had his pack next to his chair, looking through his cards.

And the buzzing started.

“Hm?” Tiffania blinked, stopping her music. “Mr. Raito, do you hear that?”

“Yeah,” Raito frowned. “Sounds like…bugs or something.”

Frowning, Raito got up and headed to the door to check outside. Were there just an absurd amount of crickets in the night or something? Reaching the door, he grasped the handle and opened the door to peer outside. Tiffania timidly followed behind him, holding a candle in her hand.

They were met with millions of eyes reflecting the candlelight.

Bugs. Thousands, if not millions of bugs swarmed around the cabin. Centipedes crawled over the open area, making it appear as if it were alive. Moths fluttered through the air, making it sound like giant wings were beating in the skies. Spiders hung from the trees with their silk glinting in the low light. Mosquitos buzzed like airplanes in the air, just itching for something to dig their needles into.

“EEK!” Tiffania wailed, clutching onto Raito’s back in fright. The Japanese boy could only gape at the sight of the mass of insects. He didn’t have a phobia of insects, but if things went wrong he might get one pretty soon.

“What…is going on?” he gaped openly.

The sound of his voice seemed to irritate the insects, making chirping and buzzing noise in a rapid pace.

“Kill him. Take the girl,” came an echoing voice.

The insects took the command as gospel and began to charge towards the porch where the boy and girl were standing. Tiffania screamed, dropping her candle. Raito would have done something, but the moths and mosquitoes came at him like a cloud. He swatted at them, grunting while trying to keep his eyes and mouth free of the insects. The centipedes reached the porch first crawling towards his pants with hopes of biting his legs.

Raito didn’t see them coming, but he didn’t need to. Something yanked him by the back of his shirt and he fell backwards into the cabin. His eyes were watering too much from the bugs in his eyes to see anything. He did hear a door slam, but the mad chattering was still there. He heard Tiffania sniffling, but he was swatting his face, trying to get the remaining bugs out of his eyes or out of his ears. What he did feel though was something trip against his thrashing legs and a sharp ‘ah!’ before something fell on top of him…

…and kissed him.

Pentagram of the five elements, grant your blessings on this being and bind it as my Familiar!

There was a sudden flash of light which almost blinded all onlookers, but it cleared the sight of Raito and Tiffania who found themselves staring into each other’s eyes as their lips touched. The bugs which still assaulted Raito were vaporized by a pulse of light. The magic pulse spread out from the house, sending the insects sprawling backwards while the unlucky ones were vaporized by the pulse of magic. Raito felt his face heat up, staring into Tiffania’s crystal blue eyes. His heart felt like it was going to melt. He didn’t quite notice the burning sensation on his heart nor the Nordic runes appearing across his chest.

“I WON’T BE DENIED MY RIGHTFUL WOMAN!”

The outrage from outside was enough to snap Raito and Tiffania out of their stupor. Blushing, despite the situation they got up and tried to see outside once again. The mass of insects that was swarming the clearing was cleared with lots of dead bugs littering it while the rest had retreated into the forests again, leaving a man standing in the clearing. He looked rather nondescript to Raito, but he gave a vibe of a freeloader. What did catch his attention though was the silver ant head attached to his arm that looked eerily similar to a device that Raito knew very well in his own world.

“GIVE ME THE ELF GIRL AND I WON’T HAVE MY BOYS KILL YOU!” the master of the bugs demanded angrily, making Tiffania whimper in fear.

Raito frowned at the man while his insects seemed to be getting their second wind back. Soon they’d be swarming towards the hut again and there likely wouldn’t be a blast of light to knock them all away again. They had to stop this guy once and for all before he tried to take Tiffania again and this time be more successful.

“If you want her, then you’ll have to duel me for her!” Raito shouted back.

“Mr. Raito?” Tiffania sniffled.

“A duel?” the man frowned, his voice lowering. “You can’t be serious! You are definitely not a noble and even if you were you couldn’t compare to my power!”

“I don’t need magic!” Raito retorted. “You’re a duelist right? That thing on your arm tells me that! You duel me with the cards inside and if I win, you take a hike and never come back!”

“Bah! I don’t have to obey your –GYAAAHHH!” the man was about to gloat over his power when he suddenly screamed and clutched his head, the eyes of his Duel Disk glowing as if angry about something. “OKAY! OKAY! I’LL DUEL! I’LL DUEL! I ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE!”

Raito heaved a sigh. That was one worry out of the way. Heading back to the fireplace, he grabbed his Duel Disk, one of the common models which came out of Neo Domino. Strapping it to his arm, he activated it with the machine’s lights coming to life. He then grabbed his deck cases, one purple and one yellow. After a moment of consideration, he opened his purple deck case and took the cards out before inserting them into the deck slot for his machine.

“Mr. Raito, are you sure you should be doing this?” asked Tiffania, looking like she was ready to panic.

“It’s the only way I can fight this guy without him taking advantage of his bugs,” Raito replied. He then looked up to the half-elf girl. “He won’t lay a hand on you Tiffania, I promise.” Tiffania blushed slightly, but Raito was already out the door and in the clearing staring down the bug master.

“I don’t know why my Spirit wants to duel you so bad, but I’ll just win anyway,” the man grunted. He raised his arm with the device on it and activated it. The ant eyes flashed before the area in front of the eyes extended, revealing a slot in which a graveyard would be. The mandibles extended to the sides before flipping over, revealing monster zones on the left mandible and slots for magic and trap cards on the right. The space between the pinchers also split open when the mandibles moved to reveal a deck. Finally, the ant eyes flashed and revealed life points.

“Let’s duel!” the man grinned.

“Game Start!” Raito retorted.

Raito: 4000 --- Kenneth: 4000

“I’ll start this duel off!” Raito announced, taking six cads off of his deck. He looked over his options, trying to see how many moves he could accomplish. He and Tiffania were the ones who were going to pay the price if he ended up losing. He couldn’t allow that to happen!

Picking one card from his hand, he placed it on his Duel Disk, “I’ll summon Dark Grepher to the field in attack mode!”

There was a flash of dark light in the clearing before a man in black leather armor with blue skin, white hair, and a sinister look on his face appeared with a dark broadsword in his hands. (4/1700/1600). Tiffania trembled slightly at the sight of the dark warrior, but she tried to stay brave.

“Now I’ll activate his special ability,” Raito continued. Dark Grepher became covered in a black aura. “By discarding a DARK monster from my hand, I can send a DARK monster from my deck to the graveyard,” He picked a card from his hand and placed it in the graveyard, allowing his Duel Disk to pop out a card from the deck area to do the way. “So by discarding Dark Simorgh, I can send Dark Valkyria to the graveyard.”

“Why would you do something like that?” asked Kenneth with a frown. “It serves no purpose!”

“It’s part of my strategy,” Raito frowned. He then took another card and placed it in his disk. “I’ll place one card face down to end my turn.”

Raito: 4000 --- Kenneth: 4000

“Then I shall begin my turn and the first step to winning!” Kenneth grinned, taking his cards. Picking one, he slapped it onto his disk. “I’ll summon Inzektor Centipede in attack mode!”

A flash of light brought forth a man in a black bodysuit, covered in brown armor which was styled after a centipede. He was armed with a pair of shields which had bladed edges and silver discs in the centre. (4/1600/1200)

“Inzektor?” Raito frowned. “What kind of monsters are those? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“They’re quite unique,” Kenneth grinned. “Myths say that they are a people who only look like men, but started their species life as insects.”

“You mean they’re humans that evolved from insects?” Raito gaped. Now he knew he had never heard of these kinds of monsters before.

“And as insects, they share a colony mindset, assisting one another for the good of all!” Kenneth grinned. “It shows in their special effects. My Inzektor Centipede can equip an Inzektor monster from my hand or graveyard to him so I’ll equip Inzektor Hornet!”

Kenneth placed a card on the Duel Disk and a flash of light created what looked like an arm-mounted hydraulic spear which was yellow and black like a hornet. The weapon flew to Inzektor Centipede and attached to the top of one of his shields.

“Does it do anything?” asked Raito warily.

“Indeed it does,” Kenneth nodded. “When Inzektor Hornet is equipped to a monster, the monster gains three levels, 500 ATK and 200 DEF!” In response, a yellow aura covered Inzektor Centipede and changed his stats.

(Inzektor Centipede: 3/1600/1200 → 6/2100/1400)

“Oh crap,” Raito frowned. This was something he wasn’t expecting. It was almost like an evolution of Union Monsters or something.

“Inzektor Centipede! Attack!” Kenneth ordered. “Hornet Sting!”

The armored man leaped forward towards Dark Grepher. Rearing his arm back, the Centipede prepared to attack with a hydraulic hiss coming from his weapon. Lashing out with his weapon, the tip shot forward. Dark Grepher tried to block with his sword, but the weapon broke right through it, piercing the dark counterpart’s chest. The warrior groaned before shattering into violet pixels.

“Erg!” Raito grimaced, blocking his face from the shockwave from the attack. Even worse, he could feel a draining sensation in his chest as his life points dropped from the attack. “What is going on here? That wasn’t just some hologram…that actually felt like a real explosion.”

“Of course it did!” Kenneth laughed. “My patron Spirit grants me magic power and in duels the stakes are as high as they can get!” The man chuckled darkly before he looked to his hand. “I’ll place one card on the field to end my turn.” The card appeared on the field to signal the move.

Raito: 3600 – Kenneth: 4000

“Ore no ta-an! Doro!” Raito announced, taking his next card. “I’ll summon another Dark Grepher in attack mode!” Another black light gave birth to another blue-skinned warrior with the dark broadsword.

“Ha! He didn’t help you last turn!” Kenneth laughed.

“Well, he will once the Sword of Dark Destruction comes into play!” Raito announced, placing the card on his Duel Disk. “It’ll increase my monster’s attack by 400!”

A flash of light brought out a dark sword which had a monstrous hilt with a red rapier-like blade. Dark Grepher grinned at the blade and dropped his own weapon to take the new weapon in his hands, increasing its attack power at the cost of defense.

(Dark Grepher: 1700/1600 → 2100/1400)

Raito glanced at his hand, trying to consider his options. He had a few monsters, but they had specific summoning conditions. Suiciding Dark Grepher would just leave him open for another assault. That would likely be a bad thing since he had no idea what other surprises the Inzektors had up their sleeves. Hopefully having a monster that was of equal strength would prevent Kenneth from trying to attack again.

“Turn End,” Raito announced.

Raito: 3600 --- Kenneth: 4000

“Then I’ll draw!” Kenneth announced, drawing another card. Placing it with the rest of his hand, he began his move, “Now, Inzektor Hornet has a special ability while it’s an Equip. I can remove it and send it to the graveyard to destroy 1 card on the field!” Inzektor Centipede pointed its arm out at Dark Grepher with the Hornet Spear pointed at the dark warrior.

“I activate a trap card! Dark Illusion!” Raito acted quickly, revealing his card. “When a DARK monster is targeted by a spell, trap, or monster effect I can activate this card and destroy that card!” Purple fog erupted from the trap, forming a copy of Dark Grepher. Inzektor Centipede reacted as if by reflex and fired its spear clear at the fog copy, wasting the effect while the weapon on Centipede’s arm vanished. The fog then rolled away to clear the field. “Nice try!”

“Oh well,” Kenneth shrugged. “Now Inzektor Centipede’s effect activates. When an equip card leaves him outside of the damage step, I get to draw an Inzektor card from my deck.” The eyes of the ant disk flashed before a card slipped out for him to take. Grabbing it, he returned his attention to the field. “First I’ll switch Inzektor Centipede to defense mode.”

The Inzektor kneeled down in a protective stance while holding his shields in front of him. Kenneth wasn’t finished though, taking another card. “Now I’ll equip Inzector Ant to Inzektor Centipede.”

A dark blue handheld weapon with a large short blade appeared in Centipede’s hand, “Now my monster gains three levels, 200 ATK and 600 DEF.”

(Inzektor Centipede: 3/1600/1400 → 6/1800/1800)

“Now I’ll put two cards face down and end my turn,” Kenneth smirked. “One step closer to my victory and my new wife!”

Raito: 3600 – Kenneth: 4000

“You won’t lay a finger on her!” Raito frowned, taking his next card. “Okay, since a Counter Trap Card I own like Dark Illusion resolved successfully, I can tribute one monster to summon my next card!” Dark Grepher vanished into a violet orb which crackled with dark energy. Raito raised his next card and placed it on his disk. “Come forth, Dark Voltanis!”

The orb unleashed a lightning storm electricity which heralded the arrival of a new monster from the orb. A dark golem-like creature hovering above a mass of dark crystals with a gnarled staff and dark stone wings appeared with dark energy crackling over its body. (8/2800/1400)

“When Dark Voltanis is summoned this way, I can destroy 1 card on the field,” Raito explained. He then pointed at one of Kenneth’s face down card. “Dark Voltanis, destroy that one!”

The dark fairy accepted the order and raised its staff, unleashing a blast of dark power which struck the card. The card was flipped up, revealing a gauntlet being held by a heavily armored Inzektor monster. The card then shattered, it’s effect unresolved.

“Okay Dark Voltanis, now destroy Inzektor Centipede!” Raito ordered, pointing at the armored man. Dark Voltanis once again obeyed, collecting dark crackling power before launching the energy at the defending Inzektor Centipede.

“I activate Inzektor Ant’s ability!” Kenneth announced. “By removing it from a monster, I can prevent that monster’s destruction!” Inzektor Centipede gripped its blue weapon, throwing it into the path of Dark Voltanis’ attack. The weapon exploded on impact “And since an equip was removed from Centipede outside of the damage step, I get to take another Inzektor card from my deck!”

The smoke from the explosion cleared, Tiffania coughing at the side. On the battlefield, Inzektor Centipede was alive and well while Kenneth was taking another card from his deck.

“I’ll then play Allure of Darkness,” Raito continued, bringing up his Spell Card. “I get to draw two cards, but then I have to remove a DARK monster from my hand from the game.” Raito plucked his two cards and examined them in comparison with his hand. “I’ll remove Dark Horus from the game to satisfy this effect.”

“Now you toss cards out of the game?” Kenneth gaped, watching Raito place a card in his pocket. “Are you even trying to win?”

“I don’t mock your strategy!” Raito shot back. “Then I’ll play Monster Reborn to place a monster face down in defense mode to finish my turn.” A card appeared, bringing with it a silver charm with a red jewel centre that shone a light down on the field. In the spotlight, a card appeared horizontally beside Dark Voltanis.

Raito: 3600 --- Kenneth: 4000

“If you are in a hurry to lose then allow me to assist!” Kenneth laughed as he took his next card to begin his turn. “First I’ll activate my Continuous Trap Card, Variable Form!” One of the facedowns turned up to reveal an image an Inzector being adorned with heavy armor. “More on that later. Next will be Graceful Charity!”

The Spell Card depicting an angel with a card. Kenneth looked to his deck and drew three new cards before he dropped two of them into his graveyard. The card didn’t need explaining to Raito, any duelist worth his deck knew what that card did.

“Now I’ll summon Inzektor Dragonfly to the field,” Kenneth continued. Playing the card brought out a man in a dark bodysuit with red armor making him resemble a dragonfly. He was armed with a red crossbow and held it at the ready. (3/1000/1800)

“I’ll then equip him with Inzektor Ant from the graveyard due to his own effect,” Inzektor Dragonfly was armed with the blue, large-bladed weapon from its comrade.

(Inzektor Dragonfly: 3/1000/1800 → 6/1200/2400)

“Next I’ll equip Inzector Centipede with Inzector Hornet once again,” Kenneth continued. The yellow and black hydraulic spear appeared and attached to Centipede’s arm.

(Inzektor Centipede: 3/1600/1400 → 6/2100/1400)

“And then for my next trick, I’ll Overlay my monsters together!” the insect master grinned.

“Overlay?” Raito frowned. Just what did that mean?

Centipede and Dragonfly transformed into swirling masses of purple energy which dove up into the air. Below them, a red portal opened up in the middle of the playing field like a swirling storm. All the while, Kennith spoke, “I will create this Overlay Network with my two monsters!” The streams of energy then dove into the centre of the portal, bringing a blast of light.

“Exceed Summon! Inzector Exa-Beetle!”

Rising up from the portal was a massive armored being that was covered fro head to toe in thick golden armor. The shoulders were large and pointed with red accents while its helmet was styled after a rhino beetle, the long horn rising into the air. Attached to its arm was a golden lance with red accents on it. Finally, two violet orbs orbited around the monster like small moons. (6/1000/1000)

“Mr. Raito, what is that thing?” Tiffania asked, growing quite afraid at the sight of such a large monster.

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like it before!” Raito called back, still staring at the gold armored monster.

“First time seeing an Xyz Monster?” Kenneth laughed. “Well, you will certainly be surprised by his special abilities!”

“Special abilities?” asked Raito with a frown.

“Yes,” Kenneth nodded. “You see, when Exa-Beetle is summoned, he can take a card from either graveyard and equip it to himself. So, I’ll pick the Inzector Giga-Mantis that is in my graveyard!”

Inzector Exa-Beetle held out its hands before a pair of large bright green blades with handles to wield them like tonfa appeared in the large armored monster’s hands.

“Now pay attention since this next part is complicated,” Kenneth explained. “When Giga-Mantis is equipped to a monster, that monster’s original ATK becomes 2400.”

(Inzektor Exa-Beetle: 1000 → 2400)

“Now comes Exa-Beetle’s effect,” Kenneth continued. “When Exa-Beetle equips a monster from the graveyard due to its effect, he receives half of that monster’s ATK and DEF.”

(Inzektor Exa-Beetle: 2400 → 3600)

“Oh crap!” Raito grimaced. A monster that could obliterate a Blue-Eyes White Dragon was certainly never a good thing when it was against you!

“Now I use the effects of Centipede and Dragonfly since their equips were removed outside of the damage step,” Two cards popped out of Kenneth’s deck. “For Centipede, I can pull an Inzektor into my hand from my deck. The with Dragonfly’s effect I can special summon an Inzektor from my deck like Inzektor Hornet!”

Another flash brought out a man in a black bodysuit who wore yellow armor styled after a hornet. Strapped to his arm was the familiar hydraulic spear which Raito had been seeing Centipede use during the duel. (3/500/200)

“Now I’ll activate its special ability to equip Inzector Ant from the graveyard,” Inzector Ant’s weapon appeared in Hornet’s free hand.

(Inzector Hornet: 3/500/200 → 6/700/800)

Next comes the effect of Variable Form!” Kenneth pointed to his revealed trap card which began to glow.

“Is your turn going to end anytime this century?” Raito asked.

“Oh, soon enough,” Kenneth laughed. “Now on with Variable Form. I can select an Inzektor monster equipped with another Inzektor and special summon that equip Inzektor in defense mode!”

Inzektor Hornet through its blue weapon away, losing its power boost in the process. The weapon flew into a free monster zone before shining with blue light, forming into a man in a black bodysuit with blue armor styled like an ant, holding the familiar weapon in its hand. (3/200/600)

“Next, another Overlay!”

Hornet and Ant vanished into spheres of purple energy which flew into the air. Below them, another portal opened but this one was dark, spiraling out like a sprawling galaxy with a light in the centre. “Je vais créer un réseau de superposition de ces deux monstres!” The twp streams of dark energy dove down into the portal to cause an almost supernova-like blast of light. “Exceed Invocation!”

Rising up from the light was what looked like a pillar of some sort with a red stone near the top, coloured the same as cooling magma with red cracks following its surface. “Lève-toi Numéro Vingt! Essaim mes ennemis avec vos armées! Giga-Brillant!”

The pillar turned jewel side away from Raito before the front split open to look like a pair of blade-like wings. Large purple legs unfolded from behind those wings, extending further and revealing large insect-like feet. The middle of the construct folded, making it look like an insect body while a pair of silver legs unfolded out. The top section folded downward before the jewel split in two with the pieces moving to the sides to for a head before a pair of mandibles extending from the front and antennae rising from the top where two small rubies were mounted. On the apparent ant’s right wing a pair of red symbols lit up, forming something which looked like a number 20 while the cracks vanished from the monster’s skin. Transformation complete, the monster screeched loudly. (3/1800/1800)

“What the-?” Raito gaped up at the giant ant, or Giga-Brilliant as it was called. There was something about the monster that just seemed…wrong. It felt so different from normal monsters. Even from the Exa-Beetle which was next to it. Giga-Brilliant was NOT a normal Duel Monster.

“ORAAAHHHHHH!” Kenneth suddenly bellowed, alerting Raito to something happening with his opponent. He was enveloped in a dark miasma which made his clothes flutter like a strong wind was surrounding him. His shirt lifted slightly, revealing a burning red marking on his left side which matched the one on Giga-Brilliant’s wing. The miasma seeped into Kenneth’s body before he slumped over. After a moment, he stood up again but his eyes took on the same silver color as Giga-Brilliant’s armor.

“Ahhhhh, free at last,” the man heaved a sigh of relief. “About time that this drone summoned me to the field.”

“Summoned you?” Raito blinked with a frown. He blinked and looked at Giga-Brilliant before turning back to stare at the being possessing Kenneth. “You’re not saying-?”

“Correct drone!” the man laughed. “I AM Giga-Brilliant! Of course, I also go with another name which the people of Halkenginia may know me as. Back in the day of that stupid drone Brimr, I was called the Demon of Pestilence!”

“Demon of-?” Raito begin.

THUD!

Raito’s head jerked towards the noise and saw that Tiffania had collapsed onto her knees. She had been silent for most of the duel, obviously unsure as to what to do or how she could help. Now she was sitting on the ground, trembling almost violently. Her pupils had shrunk and she looked devastatingly pale.

“Tiffania!” Raito cried, turning his back to the monsters and wanted to run to the half-elf’ side, but his legs felt like they were rooted to the spot and not because his body wasn’t responding due to nerves or fear. “What-?-!”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Kenneth, or rather Giga-Brilliant tsk-ed. “When one is in a Numbers Duel there is no escaping it until it is over!” he turned his attention towards Tiffania’s whose gaze was riveted on him. “It looks like the elf-drone knows about me. Why don’t we let her tell the story of the Ninety-Nine?”

“The Ninety-Nine?” asked Raito, looking at Tiffania.

“M-M-Mama told me stories about the N-N-Ninety-Nine,” Tiffania trembled. “T-T-They ravaged Halkenginia and almost destroyed it. F-Founder Brimr defeated them though!”

“Ha! As if that dimwit had it in him to beat us!” Giga-Brilliant scoffed. “He had Number 00 help him do it while he and his little elven woman played the distractions. If it weren’t for that traitor, we would have taken this world as our own! ”

“Well I don’t know about the other ninety-eight, but you aren’t going to be leaving here!” Raito frowned. “This duel…it’s not normal. Losing has some pretty high stakes even for you doesn’t it?”

Giga-Brilliant frowned, “Blame the higher powers. Yes, duels like these have to have high stakes for me as well as you. I win, I’m free to pick up where I left off but should I be defeated then I get sealed again. Not something I’m going to allow to happen.”

“We’ll see about that!” Raito frowned, taking his place on the field again. “As I recall, it’s your turn so we should get this show moving!”

“That we should,” Giga Brilliant agreed. “So allow me to show you my special effect by using up one of my Overlay Units!” One of the orbiting yellow spheres changed course before being absorbed into the rubies near its antennae. “Now all monsters I control gain 300 ATK! Power Pheromone!”

Giga-Brilliant’s true form unleashed a glowing aura which spread over itself and over Exa-Beetle, making both of them glow while their attack points grew.

(Inzektor Exa-Beetle: 3600 → 3900)

(Giga-Brilliant: 1800 → 2100)

“As if things didn’t look bleak enough,” Raito grimaced.

“Now Exa-Beetle will attack your Dark Voltanis! Mantis Slicer!” Giga-Brilliant ordered. The golden Inzektor charged forward with his green tonfa blades and slashed them expertly, cutting through the through the dark fairy, toppling it like a demolition tower. The monster exploded in dark energy, the backlash striking Raito like a mammoth-sized fist to the gut.

“GUGH!” the Japanese boy grunted, the force actually taking him off his feet before he fell onto his back with the wind being knocked out of his lungs.

“Mr. Raito!” Tiffania cried. She managed to force her legs to work as she scrambled towards the boy she had summoned to try and help him. Reaching his side, she helped him sit up while he got his breath back. Seeing how scuffed up he had been from the impact, she felt her eyes grow wet while tears trailed down her face. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. First I take you away from your home, *sniff* and now because of me you’re like this!”

“Hey,” Raito grunted, getting to his knees. He turned to Tiffania, smiling slightly, “Who said this was your fault? You may have brought me here, but it wasn’t you who had this guy show up. You also didn’t make me square off against him. I promised that I wouldn’t let him touch you,” he grinned. “So have some faith in me, will you?”

Tiffania blinked, tears still running down her face, “Mr. Raito…” Still, she got the message. Rubbing her eyes, she gave him her brightest smile. “I have faith!”

“Then that’s all I need,” Raito nodded, getting to his feet before helping Tiffania to her own.

“Faith is not going to be enough to save you when I attack your face down monster!” Giga-Brilliant shouted, pointing at the card. The true Giga-Brilliant lunged across the field towards the hidden cards. What appeared was a woman dressed in dark robes. She sported tarnished silver armor on top of it and black metal wings with red jewels inside of them. Her face held a sinister smirk and she wore a tarnished silver helmet with more red stones in it. (4/DARK/1800/1050). She didn’t remain long before Giga-Brilliant crushed her between its mandibles with a loud explosion.

“So much for Dark Valkyria,” Raito muttered as he shielded his eyes from the explosion. “Are you done yet?”

“Ha! Giving up?” Giga-Brillant taunted. “I end my turn.”

Raito: 2500 --- Giga-Brilliant: 4000

“Doro!” Raito announced, drawing his next card. Eyeing his hand, he eyed all of his cards before beginning to smile. “Okay, it’s time to take this duel back!”

“Oh?” asked Giga-Brilliant, unbelieving of the comment.

“First I’ll start with Pot of Greed!” Raito announced, bringing out the familiar green and blue grinning pot which laughed and allowed two cards to be taken from the top of Raito’s deck. “This card allows me to draw two cards, which means more options!”

“I’m trembling,” Giga-Brilliant scoffed.

“Well, here comes the next move!” Raito continued. “Since I have five DARK monsters in the graveyard, I can Special Summon The Dark Creator from my hand!” A black surge of power came forth before a man who looked like he was made of tarnished silver rose up with silver bat-like wings filled with an orange membrane (8/2300/300)

“Now that Dark Creator is on the field, I can remove a DARK monster from my graveyard to Special Summon a DARK monster that is already in my graveyard,” Raito continued, removing a Dark Grepher from his graveyard. “I’ll use this effect to Special Summon Dark Simorgh!”

Dark Creator pressed his hands together and spread them apart to reveal a glowing dark orb. Taking it, The Dark Creator tossed it to one of the open monster zones. A black whirlwind kicked up, making Tiffania squeak before clutching Raito’s arm for security. From the tornado emerged a massive bird covered in black feathers with wings decorated with dark decorations and a black ring on its back and a crown on its head. (7/2700/1000)

“Better, but not enough,” Giga-Brilliant frowned, losing some of his confidence.

“Next I’ll remove Dark Valkyria in my graveyard to activate Dark Creator’s effect again,” the duelist boy continued, removing the card from his graveyard to place with Dark Grepher and Dark Horus. “Now return to us Dark Voltanis!”

The Dark Creator created another dark orb of energy and tossed it aside, sparing another blast of dark energy which formed into the body of Dark Voltanis. Electricity crackled across the dark fairy’s form and despite not having a true face the monster looked angry just the same. (8/2800/1400)

“Next up is Foolish Burial,” Raito placed his next card down, activating a spell which had a fully formed hand coming out of a grave with a shovel. “I’ll take my Dark Grepher in my deck and place it in the graveyard.” The card popped out of his deck and Raito moved it into the graveyard.

“Wait a second…” Giga-Brilliant frowned.

“Figured it out yet?” Raito smirked. “Dark Counterparts work pretty well in the graveyard. Since I have exactly three DARK monsters in the graveyard, I can Special Summon THIS monster to the field! Dark Armed Dragon!”

A black void ripped across the ground before a truly massive dragon pulled itself out. It had night black skin and all of the ridges and horns it sported were all a tarnished silver color. Head to toe it was covered in sharp edges, looking truly like a nightmare. (7/2800/1000)

“Oh crap,” Giga-Brilliant frowned. It seemed that he knew what he was dealing with in the monsters that he was dealing with.

“Next is the Sinister Sprocket!” coming from yet another portal was some kind of machine which had a chain wrapped around its small tubular body with a round head and a gear acting as its neck. (1/400/0)

“Not as scary-looking as the others, but he does do one thing that the others don’t,” Raito grinned. “Sinister Sprocket! Tune together with Dark Simorgh!”

The gear around Sinister Sprocket began to spin before the monster flashed brightly, turned into a shining star which rose into the air, turning into a green magical ring. Dark Simorgh screeched and flew into the air. Passing through the ring, Dark Simorgh’s body turned into an orange wireframe with seven glowing stars inside of it. All the while, Raito began to chant.

“Uchi no watashi no yami. Watashi wa anata ni tewosashinoberu. Detekuru to watashi no teki o makikomu!”

‘Is this a spell?’ Tiffania wondered, seeing Dark Simorgh’s body vanishing to let the seven stars move into a line which then erupted into a pillar of light.

“Shinkuro shōkan! Watashi no dākusaido ni hyōji sa reru! Daku Endo Doragon!”

The blast of light erupted in a fog of darkness which gave birth to a massive bipedal dragon which had a long neck and large bat-like wings. It had large spikes coming from the sides of its head perfectly horizontal. The centre of its torso was a second massive face with a large grinning mouth, yellow eyes, and a red stone between them. (8/2600/2100)

“EEP!” Tiffania squeaked, clutching Raito’s arm tightly.

“Don’t worry Tiffania,” Raito assured the half-elf girl. “It won’t hurt you. This dragon is on our side and will help protect us.” Tiffania looked at Raito like he had said something shocking, but she didn’t say a word.

“Ha! You had me worried there for a moment!” Giga-Brilliant scoffed. “But it seems like you’ve lost any chance of beating me now that you’ve exhausted your hand! None of your monsters are strong enough to beat Exa-Beetle!”

“Did you forget about special abilities when you’ve been using them so much?” Raito grinned. “Dark End Dragon has one of those too! By subtracting 500 attack and defense points from it, I can destroy 1 monster on the field!”

“What?-!” Giga-Brilliant gaped.

“Now Dark End Dragon!” Raito pointed at his monster. “Destroy Inzektor Exa-Beetle with Dark Fog!”

(Dark End Dragon: 2600/2100 → 2100/1600)

The face on Dark End Dragon’s chest inhaled deeply while it’s main head lifted up. With the main head clear, Dark End Dragon’s chest exhaled an almost liquefied black smoke which raced across the field and engulfed it entirely. The form of Exa-Beetle struggled against the smoke before it was dragged into the darkness that pooled at its feet before vanishing.

“No!” Giga-Brilliant hissed.

“Next, I’ll remove Dark Grepher from my graveyard from play to activate Dark Armed Dragon’s special ability!” Raito took the card out of his graveyard which began to shine with dark light. Dark End Dragon bellowed before the blades on its stomach began to spin before unleashing a dark energy disk which flew towards Giga-Brilliant. “Destroy Number 20 and clear the road for us!”

The disk flew through the air and collided with Giga-Brilliant, sending black smoke in all directions.

“Got him!” Raito grinned.

“Hurray!” Tiffania smiled.

“It’ll take more than that to bring me down.”

Raito and Tiffania froze and peered into the smoke. To their mounting horror as the smoke cleared, Giga-Brilliant could be seen standing strong and untouched as if the attack hadn’t been dealt in the first place.

“How’d you avoid Dark Armed Dragon’s ability?” demanded Raito hotly. “You didn’t activate any facedowns or traps!”

“It’s because of my other special ability,” Giga-Brilliant laughed. “A Number can only be destroyed by other Numbers. Maybe if there were trap and spell cards which specifically target Numbers they’d count too but none exist.”

“Crap,” Raito frowned. “You still lose life points since your true form is still in attack mode! Dark Creator, attack! Dark Thunder of Creation!”

The Dark Creator reared its arm back, collecting a ball of dark electricity which it threw across the battlefield which crashed against Giga-Brilliant’s head. The electricity sparked out, but Giga-Brilliant’s host flinched which revealed that he still lost life points even if his true body wasn’t destroyed by the attack.

“Dark Voltanis, attack! Dark Storm of Judgement!”

The monolithic dark fairy raised its staff and unleashed a massive bolt of electricity which crashed against Giga-Brilliant’s back, making its legs buckle but the monster stood firm in the face of such power. The host again flinched from the pain.

“Dark Armed Dragon, attack! Dark Armed Flare!”

The massive black dragon reared back its head before unleashing a blast of purple fire that crashed against Giga-Brilliant, cutting down the host’s life points even further.

“Impressive firepower, but not nearly enough!” Giga-Brilliant coughed from the kicked up dust. “You don’t have what it takes to beat me!”

“I seem to be doing pretty well so far!” Raito retorted. “I’ll end my turn.”

Raito: 2500 --- Giga-Brilliant: 2500

“And my turn! No more games!” looking over his cards, he too one and slapped it onto his disk. “I summon Inzektor Wig in attack mode!” Light shone before producing a man in a black bodysuit and deep blue armor which was styled after an earwig while in his hand was a large scythe. (4/1000/1000)

“Then I’ll equip him with Inzektor Luciol!” Giga-Brilliant continued, placing the card on his disk. A large silver backpack appeared on Wig’s back, changing his statistics. “He gains 100 ATK and DEF along with one level.”

(Inzektor Wig: 4/1000/1000 → 5/1100/1100)

“Next I’ll play Double Summon, allowing me to Normal Summon a second time,” the card appeared on the field and flashed, activating its magic. “So now I’ll summon Inzektor Gruf to the field in attack mode!”

Another man in a black bodysuit appeared, this was decorated in bright red armor decorated with red disks decorated with black on its shoulders, chest, hips, and knees. It didn’t look like it was styled after any insect, but the name suggested it was styled after a grub which was naturally featureless. (2/500/100)

“Next I will equip Inzector Hornet to Gruf,” the host of the Number continued, equipping gruff with the hydraulic spear on its right arm. “I’m sure you now the effects by now.”

(Inzektor Gruf: 2/500/100 → 5/1000/300)

“I’ve seen this before,” Raito frowned.

“So you have! So I’ll Overlay my two monsters together!” Giga-Brilliant grinned. Both Inzektors turned into purple energy spheres which leaped into the air. Below them, the red spinning portal appeared once again before the two sources of energy dove down into the centre, creating a blast of power as a new monster began to appear.

“Exceed Summon! Appear, Inzektor Exa-Stag!”

The monster which rose up from the portal looked quite similar to Exa-Beetle save for a few differences. His shoulders were box-like instead of rounded while his gauntlets were equipped with pincher-like claws. The head was silver like the rest, but sported a pair of horns which made the monster seem styled after the stag beetle. As expected of Xyz Monsters, two spheres orbited the monster, colored purple. (5/800/800)

Raito frowned at the sight of the monster. Despite being level 5, it only had 800 attack points. That meant that it had to have one heck of a special ability to make up for the low attack points. He just wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know although he was likely going to find out anyway.

“Now comes its special ability!” Giga-Brilliant announced. “By giving up an Overlay Unit, I can equip one monster from your graveyard to Exa-Stag!”

One of the floating orbs changed course and was absorbed into the left gauntlet. The weapon began to shine which Exa-Stag launched at Raito’s Duel Disk. In front of the duelist, a purple arcane circle with a black void in the centre appeared. The claw vanished into the void before it pulled back out, holding Dark Simorgh in its clutches.

“Dark Simorgh!” Raitoh cried out.

The dark counterpart was pulled to Exa-Stag’s arm and was transformed into what looked like an energy cannon which was styled after a black bird with Dark Simorgh’s head acting as the barrel of the cannon head.

“Now my monster gains half of the ATK and DEF of the monster it equipped!” Giga-Brilliant grinned as his monster began to glow.

(Inzektor Exa-Stag: 800/800 →2150/1300)

“Next I’ll play an equip spell, Inzektor Axe – Zektahawk!” Giga-Brilliant announced. Another flash lit up and a double-headed axe appeared in Exa-Stag’s free hand. “Not only does my monster gain 1000 ATK but it also prevents you from using spell or trap cards when the equipped monster attacks!”

(Inzektor Exa-Stag: 2150 → 3150)

“Not good,” Raito frowned before glancing to Tiffania, “Tiffania, get behind me!”

“Next up, I’ll use my own special ability to give all of my monsters 300 ATK by giving up an Overlay Unit!” Giga-Brilliant laughed.

The last Overlay Unit for Giga-Brilliant fused with the rubies on its forehead. Once again, the gold aura spread over the Number’s body which spread to Exa-Stag’s, increasing their attack points.

(Inzektor Exa-Stag: 3150 → 3450)

(Giga-Brilliant: 2100 → 2400)

“Now Inzektor Exa-Stag, attack Dark End Dragon! Dark Simorgh Strike!” Exa-Stag raised its cannon which collected dark power in its bird-like mouth. The attack fired out like a windstorm of dark power which collided against Dark End Dragon. The dragon attempted to resist the blow, but it ultimately failed and was destroyed in an explosion. Raito stood in front of Tiffania, spreading his arms out to prevent any debris or the shockwaves from hitting her, letting his body take the damage as his life points dropped.

“Now I’ll attack Dark Creator myself!” the host announced.

Giga-Brilliant’s true body lunged forward and trapped The Dark Creator in its mandibles. The dark counterpart tried to fight it, but Giga-Brilliant’s grip was too tight and the monster shattered from the attack, taking more of Raito’s life points away.

“Mr. Raito!” Tiffania screamed over the noises of destruction.

“Just a little bit more and I’ll be free to go on my merry way,” Giga-Brilliant laughed. “End turn.”

Raito: 1050  --- Giga-Brilliant: 2500

“Mr. Raito…” Tiffania whimpered, seeing the smoke rise up from the young man’s clothes as he grimaced in pain from the impact of the attacks.

“I’m okay Tiffania,” Raito grunted, adjusting his posture. That was something of a half lie though. If he took more hits like that, not only would he lose the duel but his health at the same time! “Ore no ta-an! Doro!”

Looking at his new card, he saw that it was his only option. Placing the card on his disk, he activated its magic, “I activate Card of Demise, letting me draw five new cards but I have to discard my hand on my fifth standby phase.”

“No card you have can save you!” Giga-Brilliant retorted.

Raito ignored the puppet and drew his five new cards. Looking over the cards, he saw a strategy appear before his eyes. It would be a shot in the dark to an extent, but if it worked it would secure him victory. His Dark Creator was gone, meaning he couldn’t bring back his heavy hitters anymore. He could use Dark Armed Dragon to get rid of Exa-Stag, but it wouldn’t work on Giga-Brilliant and with the monster’s attack points as high as they were would only bring a little damage from an attack. Then it would be the puppet’s turn again and who knew if he had more of those Exa-Inzektors or worse in the wings waiting for an attack?

‘Here goes nothing,’ Raito frowned, picking up his next card. “I play my spell card, Dark Hole, destroying all monsters on the field!”

The night sky opened up to reveal a starless void which revealed an infinite darkness that began drawing in a relentless void of suction. Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Voltanis couldn’t resist its pull before they were pulled up into the air and sucked into the darkness. Exa-Stag wasn’t an exception as it too was pulled up into the black hole to be destroyed.

“You forget my Number ability?” laughed Giga-Brilliant. “I can only be destroyed by other Numbers!” Like its host, Giga-Brilliant dug its claws into the ground and resisted the pull from the Dark Hole until the magic sustaining it failed and it shut to reveal the night sky once again.

“But you can still take damage!” Raito retorted. Looking to his hand, he activated another Spell Card. “Now I play Burial From A Different Dimension! This card lets me take three monsters removed from play and put them back into their owner’s graveyard!” the card flashed, making the graveyard slot glow like a welcoming light. “I’ll put Dark Valkyria, Dark Grepher, and Dark Horus back into my graveyard.” Pulling the cards from his pocket, he slipped them into his graveyard.

“Enough graveyard shuffling!” Giga-Brilliant snapped, quite irritated. “Are you going to try and even mount a defense?”

“I’ll do better than that! I’m going to win!” Raito shouted back. “Now I’ll remove seven DARK monsters from my graveyard from the game!”

Dark Valkyria, Sinister Sprocket, Dark Grepher, Dark Horus, Dark Voltanis, Dark Armed Dragon, and Dark End Dragon all slipped out of the graveyard for Raito to take and slip into his pocket. “Since they all have different names, this allows me to Special Summon Rainbow Dark Dragon to the field!”

The air lit up with a borealis which seemed to be made of dark colors. In the midst of it all formed a dragon with a white serpentine body which seemed to be tainted with a dark sheen. Its sides had gemstones colored after the rainbow and large wings which were covered in black feathers. Its head was accented with a black crystal horn. The beast let out a powerful roar which echoed into the night. (10/4000/0)

“4000 attack points?-!” cried Giga-Brilliant.

“Oh, more than 4000 attack points!”  Raito grinned. “When he’s special summoned like he was, I can remove all DARK monsters in play and in the graveyard to give him 500 ATK for each one removed!” The graveyard gave off a small light before four cards slipped out. Picking them up, Raito showed off The Dark Creator, Dark Simorgh, and two Dark Grephers to Giga-Brilliant. All four lit up in dark energy before four beams fired out and merged with Rainbow Dark Dragon’s horn, making it roar again.

(Rainbow Dark Dragon: 4000 → 6000)

“6000?-!”

“Does this mean we win?” asked Tiffania, daring to hope for that conclusion.

“Darn right we do!” Raito grinned. “Rainbow Dark Dragon! Attack with Dark Spectral Surge!”

Rainbow Dark Dragon reared its head back before unleashing a blast of prismatic energy which was tainted with a black aura. The blast cut through the air, smashing mercilessly against Giga-Brilliant’s true body. The monster vanished in the dark light, but was still there. The excess energy flew past the Number and crashed into the host, engulfing him like it did the silver insect.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Raito: 1050 --- Giga-Brilliant: 0

RAITO WINS!

The light died down and Rainbow Dark Dragon vanished into the ether, taking all of the other cards with it. Giga-Brilliant likewise vanished, having lost the duel. Number 20’s puppet was flat on his back, smoking from the impact the dragon’s attack had dealt to him.

“Game Over!” Raito grinned, feeling quite victorious.

“You did it!” Tiffania cheered, hugging Raito around his torso.

“Y-yeah,” Raito agreed, stuttering from both the pain in his body from the hits he took and the sensation of Tiffania’s sizable bust being pressed against him.

Suddenly, Raito’s heart heated up. Light shone through his shirt, forming into the runes which were marking his skin. Warmth spread down his arms, making them move into a cupping position as if he were about to scoop up water. On the other side of the battlefield, Kenneth’s Giga Duel Disk and deck vanished save for a single glowing card which crossed the area before landing in his hands. The glow died down, revealing the Xyz Monster Number 20: Giga-Brilliant.

“What the-ACK!” Raito began, but that cried out in pain when his right forearm lit up in a burning sensation. Grabbing his sleeve, he pulled it up to reveal that the symbols which Giga-Brilliant sported, forming a two and zero appeared on his arm. They remained for a moment before turning gold and fading away.

“Mr. Raito, are you okay?” asked Tiffania, looking over the area where the number had been a moment ago.

“Think so,” Raito frowned, running his fingers over the area. Pulling his sleeve down, he looked to the concerned half-elf, “You know, you are allowed to just call me Raito. You don’t have to put ‘Mr.’ in front of it.”

“Oh…” Tiffania’s cheeks turned slightly rosy, but a moment later she began to smile. “Okay, but only if you call me Tifa. All of my friends do.”

Raito smiled, “Okay Tifa. Friends then.” Glancing to where Giga-Brilliant’s host was, he heaved a sigh. “Let’s find out who this guy is and see if we can’t help him.”

“Right!” Tiffania beamed.  

Separating, the pair moved to see who the guy that attacked him was. As they moved though, Raito felt the pains from his duel remind him that they wanted attention. It really made him wonder if he was the only one who had to deal with such things.

(LINE BREAK)

Tristain – Tristain Academy

The sun was at a respectable height as another day came over the magical school which the majority of Tristian nobility sent their children for education. Approaching the school on horseback was a man dressed in the finery which revealed him as nobility, if not incredibly rich. He wore a red cloak and blue clothing with a ruffled collar at his neck. He had brown hair which was thinning slightly, showing that he was a man at least in his thirties, but was heavily oiled with the sides curled. His mousetache was similarly styled into curls.

The man was approaching at a leisurely pace, looking like he believed the world could wait or rather believed that the world moved at his pace rather than for anyone else. He approached the gates of the school, which the guards at the front spotted him. They easily recognized him and pushed open the large wooden doors for him to pass through.

He passed through the courtyard to head for the stables. He looked about and noticed a small gathering of commoners who were being watched over by some of the guards. The man sniffed in disdain at the ‘street rats’ who obviously tried to sneak into the school. Reaching the stables, one of the handlers too his horse while he dismounted and headed towards the school.

He moved through the halls with practiced ease, having both been a student there as well as having visited on numerous occasions. He travelled up stairs towards one of the main towers, looking rather bored as he went. Coming up to the highest floor, he saw a pair of large double doors which belonged to the Headmaster’s office.

His attention wasn’t there though.

Polishing one of the decorative urns which lined many of the hallways was one of the maids. She didn’t seem much older than the students, although she was a fair bit more developed. Her black hair looked silky to the touch and her eyes very expressive.

He knew right then that he wanted her.

Turn End…